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Although Apple doesn't have any clear Netbook plans on the horizon, that hasn't exactly stopped anyone from getting their own Apple Netbook the hacky way. Hackintoshes, i.e. PCs with Mac software loaded on them, hadn't truly started stealing the spotlight until the Netbook phenomenon. For as little as $300 and a copy of Leopard, you too could have the sort of ultraportable that Jobs and Co. would only sneer at.

The downside, besides no official hardware support from Apple, has been battery life, an area where OS X hasn't exactly been Netbook-friendly.

That is, until … Read more

Real Networks is suing the movie studios to license their RealDVD software. The studios are suing Real to stop the DVD-burning software form being sold. Meanwhile, there are hundreds of DVD rippers out there, and many claim to be legal. Why is Real under the microscope?

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There are tons of good backup-software applications available on the Web. Brian likes Second Copy and Rafe recommends Carbonite.… Read more

As expected, Tuesday was all about the iPod.

At Apple's fourth straight September music event, Steve Jobs took the stage to update Apple's iPod lineup and iTunes features. CNET's Tom Krazit will have more in-depth analysis for you, while Donald Bell will review the devices and give us his expert reviewer's opinion soon.

Until then, here's a quick summary of the newsworthy announcements from this morning's event.

iTunes 8 is out. The new Genius feature is a music discovery service, the first for Apple.

NBC content is back on the iTunes Store, so we … Read more

Just days after Mark Shuttleworth asked the Linux desktop community make pretty things, Make Tech Easier has come along and created a UI for Ubuntu that looks just like Mac OSX.

It's pretty astounding how quickly this was able to be done. Now if only someone could port all the necessary apps.

On Thursday, security vendor SecureMac reported seeing new variants of AppleScript.THT Trojan horse in the wild affecting users of Mac OS X 10.4 and 10.5.

The new variations exploit a vulnerability within the Apple Remote Desktop Agent, and can avoid detection by opening ports in the firewall and turning off system logging. The new Trojans can log keystrokes, take screen shots, take pictures with the Apple iSight camera, and enable file sharing, according to SecureMac.

The Trojans are using an AppleScript called ASthtv05 and/or may be bundled as an application. You must download and execute the … Read more

If you enjoy IM (and who doesn't?) on the Mac and are not using Adium you are missing out. Adium is fast, has a friendly UI and is generally very stable.

As a frequent Skype user I find myself annoyed by the fact that it crashes incessantly and the lack of integration with my primary IM client.

Today I decided to install the Skype plugin and it somehow it made everything blow up. I could no longer start/stop Adium or Skype and had to throw both away, clear the Library and re-install.

My immediate thought (after "oh, … Read more

Bug is a dirty word in the software world. After all, it means "mistake" and no one wants to admit they made a mistake. Instead of calling the fix for a mistake by its rightful name, a bug fix, software companies refer to "patches" or "updates". Soft words. Happy words.

The bug itself is called a "hole" or a "vulnerability". Initially, bugs were called "issues" but eventually people caught on. Did you happen to notice that Mitt Romney recently "suspended" his campaign (a soft word), as … Read more

Halloween is the one day of the year when it's OK to go all-out on a geeky costume. CNET News.com reporter Caroline McCarthy gave us 10 suggestions for techie Halloween costumes this year.

While we editors didn't see any dancing Mark Cubans or software pirates (believe us, we kept our eyes peeled), we did see a pair of LOLCats, a Nintendo Wii avatar, and...Facebook. Brace yourself for our techie Halloween slide show, and start your planning for next year.

Webwag is a single-page aggregator that's been around for nearly a year now. Like other similar services, it lets users create one or more customized start pages, filled with modules of content that update continuously throughout the day. These feeds can be searched and browsed through a fairly large directory, along with the capability to drop in any old RSS feed. What's a little cooler, however, is Webwag's Widget-on-Demand tool, which will let you grab a live snippet of any Web page, and turn it into its own widget. If you're familiar with the Webclips service … Read more