"Steve Jobs writes, "With the stunning global success of Apple's iPod music player and iTunes online music store, some have called for Apple to "open" the digital rights management (DRM) system that Apple uses to protect its music against theft, so that music purchased from iTunes can be played on digital devices purchased from other companies, and protected music purchased from other online music stores can play on iPods. Let's examine the current situation and how we got here, then look at three possible alternatives for the future..."

" Hi Mike, I downloaded and tried iSoftphone yesterday but was not impressed. (A reader yesterday said it had Echo problems on his MacBook Pro-Mike) There are actually a number of very good and free (mostly) alternatives for the Mac. I compiled a list of some of my favorite apps that are interoperable with Windows. Some programs require you to pay for premium features like PC to Phone calls but the software itself is free. As far as I know Gizmo is the only one that allows free PC to phone calls, with certain restrictions.

Voice and Video
http://www.wengophone.com
http://www.sightspeed.com/
http://www.ineen.com/ (looks exactly like the Xten's EyeBeam SoftPhone (not free) mentioned yesterday. Alan replied)
There is a reason ineen looks the same. they use the free X-Lite package from the same company.

"CounterPath's X-Lite 3.0 is the market's leading free SIP based softphone available for download. Based on the advanced architecture of eyeBeam 1.5 (CounterPath's carrier grade telephony client), the new X-Lite is designed to showcase some of the feature rich capabilities available with our commercial softphone such as superior audio and video quality, zero-touch configuration, IM & Presence, and a comprehensive personal address book."

SIP VoIP based
http://www.gizmoproject.com/index.html
Gizmo is my favorite application for making computer to telephone voice calls since I find the quality to be superior to Skype. They also offer an all calls free program to make unlimited telephone calls when both parties are active Gizmo users. They also seem to be very Mac friendly and have a great support forum. They have announced that they will be bringing video and many new features in an update soon.

Web based
http://jajah.com/
They offer a free trial. Jajah allows you to enter your telephone number as well as the person you are calling and then your phone will ring bypassing the need for a computer microphone or high speed connection.

http://gizmocall.com
(site temporarily down today, but tried it yesterday and worked well. A new service by Gizmo. They give 10 minutes of free calls to actual telephone numbers every day. FAQ here http://geobay.com/69fe17
-Alan "

The reader that commented on iSoftPhone and EyeBeam yesterday replied to the above:

" ...trouble is most of them seem to be closed apps where ISoftPhone and Eyebeam (counterpath or Xten) etc are great as they are open SIP phones and you can connect them to any SIP PABX like asterisk and most cheap VOIP providers to make calls.
Also Eyebeam (xten) seems to do a lot of packaging of their product to 3rd parties and www.ineen.com is obviously one of them.
cheers, Russell "

Mike, Got the N router yesterday at work (I was out).
Would you like some unboxing images? How about that I even took it apart! :)
http://homepage.mac.com/macanix/PhotoAlbum1.html
Enjoy! (sorry if pix are low-res but I wanted low-bandwidth!)
-Ed"

" New Superdrive deals - PowerBook G4 now from $69.95
OWC has the solutions for adding/upgrading to a new - Faster - SuperDrive DVD and CD Burner to your Apple iMac, eMac, Mac mini, PowerMac, or PowerBook!

Up to 16X DVD, 8X DVD Dual-Layer, and 40X CD Burn Speeds for PowerMac G4, iMac G4, eMac G4, Mac Pro Quad Xeon from $29.99

Up to 8X DVD, 2.4X DVD Dual-Layer, and 24X CD Burn Speeds for your PowerBook G4 from $69.95

Up to 8X DVD, 2.4X DVD Dual-Layer, and 24X CD Burn Speeds for your iMac G5 for $119.99

Up to 8X DVD, 2.4X DVD Dual-Layer, and 24X CD Burn Speeds for your Mac mini from $99.95

Special Software and Media bundles offered or included for even greater value. These SuperDrives allow for the use of Apple iLife applications including iDVD, iTunes, iPhoto; Roxio Toast; NTI Dragon Burn Ï and others for the creation of CDs and DVDs. Upgrade today for new, faster burn capabilities for sharing that creativity more today."

" Apple's font smoothing is bugged in Mac OS X, and it looks like it may not be fixed in Leopard. On rotated displays, Apple's subpixel renderer does not take into account the rotated LCD pixel elements and, as such, generates a hazy, distorted display. Have a look at the bug-report (issue still "Open") that I submitted to Apple back in September. http://www.bytecellar.com/archives/000090.php
-Blake P. "

• Data Rescue II 1.1.1
• Jumsoft Introduces Home Business Trio '07 for Mac OS X
• Freeverse Introduces "Think" for Mac OS X
• Default Folder X 3.0.3
• ImageWell 3.0.2
• GameRanger 4.6.5
• iPod Will Be the New CD (wired)
• Wal-Mart joins the movie download business
• Fujitsu Beats Apple and HP to the Punch with LED-backlit Ultra-portable
• What To Expect With Lightroom 1.0 (PCworld)
• More megapixels, better photos. Fact or fiction?
• Kodak Invents Photo Ink That'll Last 100 Years
• Nvidia facing possible lawsuit over Vista drivers
• U.S. Army Sued for Surveillance
• Dell Describes Cost Cuts in Leaked Memo (PCworld)
  
  Updated Apple Knowledge Base Docs:
• Some USB Bluetooth adaptors may not allow wireless keyboard or mouse to wake some Macs from sleep
• Do It Yourself iMac G5 parts you can install
• Mac OS X Server 10.4: Serial number "invalid" alert after enabling firewall service on an Intel-based Mac
• Portable computers: Noise when powering on or waking from sleep is normal
• Unable to drag and drop in Disk Utility while started from install DVD
• Americas: Service Certification Training and Testing Centers
• How to tell if 802.11n-enabling software is installed
• Mac OS X: Firmware Updates for Intel-based Macs (reference - not a new update)
• iWeb: Menu items are unavailable after Archive Install
• Aperture: How to burn images to optical media