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The most trenchant observation at the Web 2.0 Expo came from Dan Lyons, the Forbes editor better known as Fake Steve Jobs.

"Facebook is like Webkinz for adults," quipped Lyons in his keynote address. "It's the biggest waste of time ever invented."

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There's been much speculation in the blogosphere about the legitimacy of Mac clone-maker Psystar, and whether it really exists. Now there appears to be proof.

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A Miami-based system integrator that's selling an unauthorized Mac clone also is offering the open source Ubuntu Linux desktop as an option on the system, as well as Windows XP and Windows Vista.

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When Apple launched iTunes movie rentals in January, it said it would have 1,000 movies available for rent by the end of February. That's not an impressive number -- Netflix offers 90 times as many. And Apple is falling far short of even that modest goal, according to Macworld.

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A Miami-based vendor that has ported Apple's Leopard operating system to generic PC hardware says Apple's restrictive licensing terms run counter to antitrust laws -- and it's vowing to fight.

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Jason Snell at Macworld has some totally awesome tips for making you into an iPhone ninja. My favorite batch of tips apply to any camera phone: Use the camera to take pictures of, well, anything you don't want to forget.

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Outspring Mail, a mail client that learns by watching you, got an upgrade recently that fixed some bugs in an early version, and also clarified its pricing. The software is available for an introductory price of $59.

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Apple plans big changes to its MacBook and MacBook Pro notebooks, with new versions that use more powerful, recent Intel processors, eco-friendly materials, and that borrow design elements from the new, thin MacBook Air and aluminum iMacs.

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When I launched iTunes over the weekend, I got the typical software update notification pop-up that I've come to expect every couple of weeks from Apple. As part of this update, however, there was a request to install the Safari browser -- which I had absolutely no interest in doing.

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Daring Fireball's John Gruber has a fling with Firefox, but comes home to Safari. He praises Firefox's extensions, memory management, auto-restore of closed windows, the way it handles history, and more. But he decides that he prefers Safari because of a laundry list of small features that seem big to him.

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Windows still nearly monopolized enterprise desktops in 2007, even though it lost some market share at the expense of Apple, according to a report by Forrester Research. Enterprise Windows market share dropped nearly 4%, but 95% of business users run Windows. And Apple market share tripled, but it's still just 4.2%, limited to enthusiasts and small workgroups.

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I've recently been bumping up against the rough edges of Apple Mail, and so I was very interested in learning about Outspring Mail, a $95 Mac e-mail program that's designed to observe the user's actions and learn from them.

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Mark your calendars for the annual developer conference in San Francisco, but expect more than just the iPhone SDK on the agenda.

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One of the underground developers working on hacking iPhones says that the Apple SDK is "crippled," and predicted that the thriving market in jailbroken applications will continue.

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Apple is betting its future in the smartphone market on a control-freak business model. Where other smartphone platforms let anybody build applications for them, Apple demands to be the gatekeeper for what goes on the iPhone, to protect users from inappropriate and dangerous content, and to generate additional revenue for itself. But developers might decide that Apple's business model is too much hassle and give their business to competitors instead. And Apple needs third-party developers to ensure the ongoing success of the iPhone.

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In a case of great minds thinking alike, even as I was putting the polish on a wishlist of third-party iPhone apps, Macworld was doing the same. They had a few ideas I missed, including a finger-painting app, voice recorder, and app for listening to Internet radio.

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The iPhone is a terrific smartphone, but it's got some glaring gaps in what it can do. Many of these gaps are baffling because they're not particularly glamorous -- capabilities that have been available for more than a decade on other PDAs and smartphones are unavailable on the iPhone today. I'm excited about the imminent availability of sanctioned third-party apps on the iPhone in part because I'm looking forward to the iPhone getting some basic capabilities that, frankly, should have been there all along.

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An upcoming documentary interviews more than 50 "Macheads" in an unsuccessful attempt to figure out what makes the Mac inspire such loyal and fanatical devotion.

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What's the main improvement in the three-day-old Mac OS X 10.5.2? Increased stability. With previous versions of Leopard, I had to force-quit a frozen application once or twice a day, but with 10.5.2, I haven't had to do it even once. "It just works" is once again a description of the Mac, not just wishful thinking, as it has been since Leopard shipped in October.

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The iPhone is a versatile device, but can it save lives? A Tulsa, Okla., man says his abuse-resistant iPhone let him call for help after he was knocked into a pond by a falling tree and left lying on the ground, freezing and wet, with a broken foot.

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Here's a nifty workaround for accessing menu items in Mac applications without taking your fingers off the keyboard. The Unofficial Apple Weblog:

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A couple of the more reliable Apple blogs are reporting that they're getting solid tips that Apple has scheduled an event for Feb. 26, where it will launch the software developer kit for the iPhone and iPod Touch, and applications including Exchange and Lotus Notes support.

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Researchers from Internet ad network Mindset Media say the Mac guy in the "I'm a Mac/I'm a PC" commercial is typical of Mac users: superior, self-satisfied, control freaks, perfectionists, politically and socially liberal -- and satisfied with their purchases.

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Apple chief executive Steve Jobs sent an e-mail to employees to reassure them that Apple investors will soon recoup their losses, and more, according to a report in AppleInsider.com. "As you can see, we have outperformed many other blue-chip tech companies, including Google," he said. "I continue to believe that our fundamentals -- our remarkable people, our clear and focused strategy, our new product pipeline, our 200+ retail stores, our $18 billion of cash in the bank with no debt, etc., will serve us well in the coming months and years."

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I was going to post this blog about why Apple is the most hated company on the Internet first thing yesterday. But my Mac crashed and ate the post, so I spent most of the day re-doing my work. I think that might be a sign.

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Earlier today my colleague, Eric Zeman, reported that IBM is ready to extend Notes access to the iPhone. Now one rumor claims that AT&T will offer the iPhone to its business customers. Who said the iPhone was not ready for the enterprise?

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Never one to hide his opinions, Apple's Steve Jobs yesterday sat down with John Markoff of The New York Times Bits blog to share his thoughts on a number of topics including Google's Android. Guess what? Steveorino doesn't think Android is such a good idea.

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Earlier today I was sitting around in a design-induced stupor as I gazed longingly at online pictures of Apple's latest killer product: MacBook Air. For all of its amazing design, the MacBook Air is missing one important technology: 3G. Why doesn't Apple build 3G into its notebooks?

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Put away your varsity jackets and cheerleader outfits -- you don't have to lie about being a student anymore to get access to Microsoft Office for the Mac for the lowest price. With Office 2008 for Mac, being introduced Tuesday, Microsoft is replacing the student and teacher edition of Office, priced at $149, with a home and student edition, priced at $149.95.

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NewsGator is going to stop charging money for the popular -- and terrific -- NetNewsWire RSS reader for the Mac and FeedDemon for Windows, as well as its other services, including the Web-based RSS reader, and NewsGator Go for Windows Mobile and the BlackBerry. Greg Reinacker, founder and CTO of NewsGator Technologies, says the company is freeing its consumer services to build demand for its enterprise products.

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Wouldn't you know it? I installed the new Firefox beta, and took two days to explore it and write a review. During those two days, Firefox crashed three or four times on my Mac, so I dutifully reported that Firefox beta 2 was less stable than beta 1. We posted the review a couple of days ago -- and Firefox hasn't crashed on me since.

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For Mac users traveling without a laptop, it's a cold and lonely world out there. You're forced to rely on the kindness of others for access to computers, and those others -- hotel business centers, family members -- are usually running Windows. Wouldn't it be great if you could run a cut-down version of Mac OS X on a USB drive? Then you could have access to your favorite Mac programs wherever you go.

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For Mac users traveling without a laptop, it's a cold and lonely world out there. You're forced to rely on the kindness of others for access to computers, and those others -- hotel business centers, family members -- are usually running Windows. Wouldn't it be great if you could run a cut-down version of Mac OS X on a USB drive? Then you could have access to your favorite Mac programs wherever you go.

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Maybe if enough lawyers sue Apple for violating monopoly laws with its iTunes/iPod service, eventually one of them will find a judge bonkers enough to agree. The latest lawsuit brings up variations of the same old arguments: Start with the assertion that Apple dominates the online media market, follow up with a lot of handwaving, conclude by saying that Apple should be required to write a big check. Be sure to pay the lawyers first.

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Year over year, Apple has been selling more Macs. 2007 was no exception; the Mac's market share continued to grow. The surge might have seen more sales thanks to Vista or the release of Leopard. Either way, there is some kind of iPod "halo" effect going on.

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It's the second day of the year and it seems almost everyone is finalizing their schedules for CES next week. Filling the news void, bloggers are busy rehashing the big news from last year and pontificating on the new year. So, I decided to add my own thoughts to the mix. What does mobile promise in 2008?

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We've been hearing rumors for months that Apple is working on some kind of tablet PC, most likely an ultramobile PC (UMPC) of some kind. One of my colleagues, Mitch Wagner, thinks that Apple has no plans for a tablet. Other industry insiders, like futurist Mark Anderson, think Apple is about to enter the UMPC market just as this device category hits the tipping point. So which is it?

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Alas, poor Nick Ciarelli, I knew him Horatio. A fellow of Infinite Loop, a most excellent Apple fan boy. He hath borne me on his back a thousand times; and now how abhorred in my imagination it is! Still... good luck with that pile of cash from Apple, buddy.

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It seems that lots of Googlers are really into the iPhone, including Googler-in-Chief Eric Schmidt. Google has been launching new mobile applications specifically for the iPhone, just as the company also prepares its own Android platform. Is there a hidden connection between the iPhone and Google Android?

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Think Secret, the target of an Apple lawsuit to find out who leaked information to the site, has announced that it has reached a settlement with Apple at the cost of its existence, though not its integrity. Nick Ciarelli, publisher of Think Secret, said the site will close.

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It's not every day that the U.S. government files a lawsuit against an Apple iPhone. I noticed the lawsuit over the weekend and started looking into it, thinking at first that the government might be taking action against Apple's decision to offer the iPhone exclusively through AT&T.

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While Apple's iPhone this year captured the imagination of the U.S. market and spurred a global dialogue about the future of smartphones, it's not taking Europe by fire in the sales department. In fact, if my colleague Eric Zeman is right, the iPhone could be a flop in Germany. What gives?

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Details and specs of the much-anticipated, touch screen iPhone killer, the BlackBerry 9000, have supposedly been leaked. Let's take a look.

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A few weeks ago I sat down to discuss Mobile 2.0 with handset giant Nokia at Mobile Internet World. This time I wanted to deepen the conversation and cover mobile widgets with Beth Goza, senior marketing manager at startup Zumobi. Guess what, widgets are key to bringing Web 2.0 to the third screen.

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Almost milliseconds after Verizon Wireless said it will open its networks to outside devices starting next year, I was swarmed with e-mails asking me if the iPhone would soon be able to run on Verizon's network. At first, I said no. EDGE phones don't run on CDMA networks. Then, I thought through the question again.

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2007 is quickly winding down and its time to start looking ahead to the new year. So far, location-based services and GPS look to be the big trends for 2008. To get a broader perspective, I sat down with noted technologist and trend prognosticator Mark Anderson of The Strategic News Service to get a sneak peak at what the new year promises for wireless.

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The January classic will be bigger than ever and more comprehensive than in years past. But unless Apple makes an announcement, don't expect to get insider scoop on how to hack an iPhone at Macworld 2008.

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Yesterday the blogosphere erupted when evidence surfaced that Apple was potentially spying on iPhone users. Now other bloggers are claiming that Apple is not spying on its users. So which is it?

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This commercial stars the Dances With Wolves actor as a hip executive who bicycles to the office with his dog and uses a Lisa when he gets there.

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Apple last week delivered a far-fetched warning to investors that Boot Camp on Macs could backfire, and cause developers to write fewer Mac apps. That's just plain wrong.Boot Camp is an incentive for Windows users to switch to the Mac, which will lead to more demand for applications and therefore more -- not less -- Mac software.

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