New and Noteworthy: Will this be the Summer of the Mac?; FireWire 800 comes to CardBus; more

Will this be the Summer of the Mac? BusinessWeek says that a promising new set of chips, a possible Quark version for OS X, a surge in online advertising, and a new music store could goose sales -- and the stock. "For three years, investors have turned up their noses at Apple. Like most tech outfits in the postbubble economy, Apple suffered sliding profits and declining sales. Its stock, which had been trading at around $15 for almost a year, saw a slight uptick at the beginning of May on news of Apple's foray into the music business, and has been around $18 since." More.

FireWire 800 comes to CardBus FireWireDirect.com is now taking orders for a FireWire 800 / 1394b CardBus adapter. The Dual-port 1394b/FireWire 800 Type II Cardbus (PCMCIA), 9-pin 1394b FireWire 800 port with 6-pin legacy FireWire connector (cables not included) is priced at US $ 95. More.

Mac Opera escapes limbo After months of uncertainty, a new version of Opera for the Mac has been released. "We've decided to stay and fight on the Mac platform," Opera Software representative Pal Hvistendahl wrote in an e-mail. "Tomorrow we are releasing a new version for the Mac." Jon von Tetzchner previoiusly warned that continued development of Mac Opera--which commands a small percentage of Opera's already tiny market share-- might not be "viable" with Apple becoming yet another competitor. More.

Video comparison: Apple and Dell laptops Personal technology columnist Rob Pegoraro reviews Dell's Inspiron 600M and the Apple Powerbook G4 for the Washington Post. More.

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