Well, the new ad blitz from Microsoft has begun. Advertising agency Crispin Porter + Boguksy is back at it with a new web video and click through banners that tell the story of Lauren, a Los Angeles woman (and member of the Screen Actors Guild) who was recruited from Craigslist. She supposedly didn't know she was in a Microsoft ad, but instead thought she was in a laptop marketing test.

She was given a thousand dollars after saying she wanted a 17-inch laptop with a good keyboard. She tried an Apple Store, but couldn't find anything at the price she wanted. She wound up with an HP Pavilion (here are the specs) running Windows Home Premium and a pretty slow AMD processor. She has minimal screen resolution and about 2 1/2 hours of battery life if she's lucky. All in all, not a bad machine, but certainly not a 17" Mac which would have been a lot more money.

Of course the laptops were not comparably equipped, so the cards were stacked in Microsoft's favor. That's what commercials do. Microsoft has been pummeled for more than 3 years by the extremely popular Mac vs. PC guys. Microsoft responded last summer with the Mojave ads, where people were tricked into believing they were seeing a brand new OS from MS, when in fact they were just seeing Vista. They were told about the features, and loved them. What they weren't allowed to do, however, was actually use Vista, or try to install it on their own PCs. Those were telling omissions.

Microsoft followed up with the Jerry Seinfeld-Bill Gates ads. They were fun to watch, but had no discernible message. Interestingly, Vista was never mentioned.

Now we come to the new ads, which doubtless will be followed by more shopping trips. In the first ad, Vista is never mentioned, just like in the Seinfeld commercials. Interesting. MS does not make computer hardware. Instead, their main product is an OS which is currently Vista. Yet in 2 out of 3 'expensive' ads, not a word about the flagship operating system.

Some Windows Vista users are having significant problems using iTunes 8, which crashes the operating system with a "blue screen of death" when an iPod or iPhone is connected to the PC.

Apple today released a tech note, suggesting to uninstall Apple Mobile Device Support, restart the computer, and re-download and re-install the iTunes 8 installer. It's unclear what about Apple Mobile Device Support was causing the problem.

According to Macworld and ZDNet, Apple simply replaced the files associated with Apple Mobile Device Support (usbaapl.sys or usbaapl64.sys) with the versions shipped with iTunes 7.7.

Computerworld highlighted several irate comments from an Apple Discussions thread on the subject, including precious gems such as "I love how Apple owns up to problems... IT'S NOT US! IT MUST BE YOU! OR MICROSOFT! OR YOUR MOUSE! OR YOUR CHAIR!"

Adorable.

A little friend showed up yesterday on Boot Camp-equipped Intel Macs and PCs with Apple apps (iTunes, Safari, QuickTime) installed -- an update to the updater that updates our updating. Apple Software Update 2.1.1 for Windows is out... there's no download page at Apple, so for now the only way to get your hands on it is via the existing Apple Software Update on your machine.

What does it do? Well, it improves security and overall reliability. Recommended for all users. Keeps your refrigerator smelling fresh and can be used as a dentrifice ... wait, no, sorry, wrong stuff. If you do install the update and you notice any changes, positive or negative, do let us know.

Thanks Adam!

Intel has decided that for its own employees, Windows Vista just won't cut the mustard. According to the New York Times, "Intel information technology staff just found no compelling case for adopting Vista."

Ouch. Intel's IT staff arrived at their decision after a lengthy cost-benefit analysis.

Intel has 80,000 employees worldwide, and could be seen as a bellwether for large companies still on the fence about upgrading to Vista. Since Microsoft has been a tight partner with Intel for years, it remains to be seen what kind of pressure Intel will get from top Microsoft management.

In related news, Microsoft released a Windows Vista SP1 "reliability update" that fixes problems with launching large applications, and crashes involving QuickTime.

ComputerWorld's Preston Gralla posted a blog entry titled, Five reasons why Vista beats Mac OS X. Clearly, this was link-bait, but you know what, I'll bite.
And although I vehemently disagree with the post's title and assertion, I want to make it clear that I'm not coming at this from the typical rabid Mac-fangirl stance. Until August of last year, I still used a PC as my primary computer (I used Macs at school and for creative work); I used to work as a PC technician. In our TUAW backchannel chat, I'm usually the first person to take the "don't knee-jerkingly attack the PC" stance.

Still, it was impossible to read the post and NOT respond. Let's take a look at Mr. Gralla's arguments and dissect them one-by-one.

Ever since the iPhone was released it seemed that Apple was funneling all of its advertising budget into iPhone advertising. This meant a lack of those fun Mac vs. PC commercials that we have all grown to love. Luckily for us, Apple has just started airing three new entries into their 'Get a Mac' ad campaign, and i must say that these are the best yet.

All two of the three ads (Podium and PR Lady) focus on the general public's lackluster response to Vista, and the fact that some PC users are actually downgrading to XP. The Podium ad actually made me laugh out loud, which is high praise for a commercial.

The remaining commercial (Boxer) focuses on people switching to the Mac for its ease of use.

All of the ads have been updated with an iMac sporting Leopard's default desktop.

What do you think of the new ads? Sound off in the comments.

Battlefield 2142 is already on the Apple Store, along with all the other games EA has released on the Mac, but we haven't heard anything official about Battlefield 3 yet, for any platform. That's why DigitalBattles was so surprised to find a list of Battlefield 3 features in a document meant for investors. And the most interesting "feature" on the list was this: "Windows Vista and OS X." That's right, if the leaked document is true, it appears EA wants to release Battlefield 3 simultaneously on OS X and Vista. And not on XP. That's what I'm talking about!

Of course, EA wasn't real happy with all the speculation, but they didn't actually deny anything. And as DB points out, the investor document didn't say that XP wouldn't be supported, it only specified Vista and OS X.

But still, if you told me earlier this year that Battlefield 3 would be released on OS X and not XP, I would have laughed in your face. If EA really is planning to bring out a top tier, anticipated title like this simultaneously on OS X, they might be able to redeem themselves to Mac gamers yet. Sure, I'm still angry at them for buying out BioWare, but brand new games on the Mac is good for everyone.

[via IMG]

Rounding up on 9 months of Vista being on the market, Microsoft is of course at work on Service Pack 1 which is slated for an early 2008 release. At the official Windows Vista blog, Brandon LeBlanc has offered extensive details on what the focus of Service Pack 1 is, and while much of it is targeted at businesses and independent software vendors, an interesting section outlining some of the fundamentals mentions that support for the EFI booting standard is on its way (under the Introducing Windows Vista Service Pack 1 section; there aren't any anchors I can link in this extensive post, so you'll have to search for that title or simply 'EFI').

In their hype and marketing for Boot Camp, Apple makes a pretty big deal about Intel-based Macs supporting EFI while "Windows XP, and even Vista, are stuck in the 1980s with old-fashioned BIOS" (check the sidebar of the Boot Camp page). So what could it mean if Vista catches up to the EFI bandwagon? I'm not quite sure yet. It could likely make the Boot Camp engineers' lives a lot easier, and while I know less about virtualization software like Parallels Desktop and VMware Fusion, they might be able to sleep better at night as well. Ultimately, if EFI support in Vista makes it easier for Apple to support running Windows on a Mac, this could likely yield even more sales from swtichers - especially those who need Vista for things like work or gaming. As to speculation on whether this could bring some of the wilder stuff like running Windows apps in Mac OS X without the need for the Windows OS or virtualization tools, I'll leave that to the tin foil hat enthusiasts in the audience.

Thanks Adam

Ever since Boot Camp was released it has been no surprise to find out that the Intel Macs also make for some of the best Windows machines too (well, if you can bring yourself to install it, that is). Anyway, Walt Mossberg, dean of tech writers, has gotten one of the new iMacs and for kicks installed Vista via Boot Camp. And sure enough, Uncle Walt says he tested it "using Vista's built-in Windows Experience Index, a rating system that goes from 1 to 5.9, with scores above 3.0 generally required for full, quick performance. My iMac scored a 5.0, the best score of any consumer Vista machine I have tested." This was apparently the 2.8GHz machine as he says it was the top-of-the-line model. I know some folks were disappointed with the new iMacs slightly anemic graphics cards, but it's good to know they can still rock Vista if called upon to do so.

[via MacVolPlace]

Apple has released a new version of Bonjour for Windows, 1.0.4, just in case you're zero-configuration networking with any Windows PCs in the area. There's no changelog available, but this version dropped as a preview onto the ADC page last month, and apparently "includes Windows Vista support and various other bug fixes and enhancements."

The release is good, of course, not only for Vista, but also for Windows 2000/2003 and XP. Additionally, Apple's covering their 64-bit bases as well-- they've got a 64-bit compatible release ready too. Like it or not, we can't all be on a Mac all the time, and fortunately, Bonjour makes networking without the hassles possible on both platforms.

[via Ars Technica]

I own a Wii, and i installed Windows Vista in Boot Camp on my MacBook Pro primarily so I could play Half Life 2 and catch up with some of the other rockin' games coming out for PCs (buying Vista at OEM prices via a local computer shop numbed some of the pain). With all this rockin' gaming I have going on, however, I am still admittedly a sucker for a good Breakout-style game, and Ricochet Lost Worlds is just such a game. Yes I know Breakout is one of the traditional jokes about Mac gaming, but those stereotypical days are disappearing anyway. Cool powerups and some unique challenges in Ricochet caught my attention, and a today-only sale at MacZOT for $10.95 instead of its regular $19.95 in the Mac Game Store just netted a PayPal purchase from me. If you're looking for some basic gaming that doesn't take an hour just for the warmup, Ricochet Lost Worlds is a good choice.

I haven't watched the keynote yet, and I've been spending most of my time looking through the other new features of Mac OS X Leopard. After I found that non-transparent menubar mod for Leopard, however, I can't get over how hideous that new menubar really is. I also hate to say it, but Apple's secrecy with this UI change until now screams 'Cupertino borrowed one of Redmond's photocopiers' (the new Windows Vista, for those who haven't seen it, contains what many - including myself - consider to be a literally dizzying overabundance of transparent window borders and menus).

Seriously: what is Apple thinking by turning the menubar nearly invisible, but keeping the 'just slightly' translucent aspect and white color of previous menus? I think this looks absolutely dreadful, as it doesn't even look like the menubar and the menus have anything to do with each other anymore, and I'll be damned if Apple takes the actual menus this translucent as well. In fact, if they went that over the edge, I could comfortably say that I wouldn't buy a copy of Leopard until someone developed a modification that switches the menubar and menu back from the brink of "hey look, Vista went transparent!"-ness (of course, a simple Apple-provided checkbox in System Preferences would do just fine as well).

Given Peter Maurer's mod and disinterest in this change surfacing from others, I can only hope that more voice their opinion - whether they do or don't like it - and that Apple listens if it the consensus on this menubar change turns out to be a thumbs down. After all, Leopard still is a developer-only beta, and October is still a long way away.

This week in Ask TUAW we have questions about the MacBook Pros, exporting from iMovie, Autofill for the Shuffle, Windows gaming on an iMac, and more. Remember new Mac users and Switchers who are enjoying our Mac 101 series should feel very welcome to post questions for Ask TUAW; we're happy to have them. As always, please submit your questions for next week by commenting on this post.

When a leading computer publication has a revolving-door editor-in-chief hiring policy, it can make other weird editorial decisions look sane and prudent by comparison. Exhibit A: the annual PC World "100 Best" feature, which presents the 100 best products of 2007... online in May, and in print for July. Not even half the year has gone by, but the farsighted crew at PCW has already figured out the best of the bunch! Might as well take the rest of the year off, then...

The real reasons that the 100 Best comes out mid-year (covering the end of 2006 and the start of 2007) are detailed in a post from once-and-current big kahuna Harry McCracken. It comes down to legacy scheduling of the product awards around the June date of the no-longer-extant PC Expo trade show. That's a relief; I was worried that we were changing the calendar again.

Anyway, more to the point: the list is top-heavy with some big Mac products, including TUAW darling Parallels Desktop at #6 (the top-ranked application on any desktop platform, not counting #1 Google Apps Premier Edition), Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger at #9 and AppleTV at #11. The Intel Core 2 Duo processor that powers new Macs is a top pick at #2. Noticeably absent from the top 100 was the latest hotness from Redmond, which may correlate with PC World's comment on the Tiger ranking: "Name a good Vista feature that goes beyond what's in Tiger. Yeah, we can't either." Brrrrr.