Technology - Computers - Apple/Mac latest news

Three interesting topics were kicked around in Apple-minded blogs this week. Entirely unsurprisingly, survey results show that Apple tech support kicks butt in the PC industry at large. Also, AT&T is forbidding vacation time to hapless iPhone salespeople, and it appears Macs have gotten a foot in the door at work.

From their hole-in-the-wall office in Doral, Fla., brothers Rudy and Robert Pedraza are waging war on Silicon Valley. The 24- and 22-year-old computer whiz kids are undercutting Apple by building "clone" computers with Mac software and selling them for less money than the tech behemoth. The daring move has sent shock waves through the techie world.

Microsoft's Zune and NBC's downloadable television shows stand at the center of the latest digital rights management dustup. On Wednesday, New York Times blogger Saul Hansell reported that Microsoft might build a copyright manager into every Zune player, ostensibly in response to an NBC demand for copyright protections of its downloadable content.

Researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have suggested building a supercomputer based on low-power embedded microprocessors to improve global climate change predictions. Using the embedded microprocessor technology used in mobile phones, iPods and other consumer electronic devices, the boffins propose a cost-effective machine for running complex computational models.

Late last month and early this month, Starbucks customers who were packing iPhones reportedly discovered free AT&T WiFi Internet access at some of the coffee shops. All iPhone users had to do was enter in their valid AT&T iPhone phone number, and boom, free wifi access to the world. Then AT&T mysteriously cut off the access.

PC World - Two giant offers for free Wi-Fi extended, one from AT&T to iPhone users, and another from Cablevision for its millions of home territory broadband subscribers.

PC Magazine - Orb Networks claims to have "the world's first way to stream live TV to the iPhone and iPod Touch."

Macworld.com - Softpress Systems on Thursday announced the release of Freeway 5.1, a new version of its Web design software for Mac OS X. A free update for 5.0 users, Freeway is available in Express and Pro versions for $79 or $249 respectively.

AP - Apple Inc. has agreed to settle a pair of class-action lawsuits in Canada alleging it misled customers about the staying power of their iPods, the latest courtroom truce over the dwindling battery life of early generations of the device.