Matthew Rothenberg

Mobile Mac fans, rejoice: New Books are on the way. Its brief flirtation with cloning notwithstanding, Apple Computer has always been under unique pressure compared with its counterparts on the Windows side of the fence. As the sole promulgator of Mac hardware and software, the company has shouldered the burden of keeping both sides of […]

Make no mistake about it: Apple Computers decision to cancel this weeks Apple Expo in Paris was a disappointment to Europes Mac fans and an upsetting echo of current uneasiness about air travel in the wake of the Sept. 11 World Trade Center tragedy. This tiny ripple of the current global crisis was certainly not […]

Whether its thanks to Europes lengthy relationship with the Mac, my enduring friendship with many of the regions Mac developers and journalists, or simply a taste for the indigenous pastries, Ive long taken a special interest in Apple Computers performance across the Atlantic. And when Apples moves on the Continent break precedent with long-established policy, […]

Apple Computers recent out-of-court settlement with a former employee who leaked details of its forthcoming hardware to the Web started me thinking again about a topic thats as old as the Mac itself: When does Apples legendary veil of secrecy begin to stifle – rather than protect – product innovation? Before I continue this line […]

Late July and early August are the dog days of the Mac social calendar. Mays Worldwide Developers Conference, Junes MacHack and Julys Macworld Expo/New York are history. Those of us who make it our business to track Apple Computer and the Mac now find ourselves with a bit of time on our hands until September, […]

Before it falls too far beyond the event horizon, I thought Id use this weeks column to revisit last weeks Macworld Expo/New York. Since I share the rest of the medias longstanding sweet tooth for Apple eye candy and its stamina for the P.T. Barnum exploits of Steve Jobs, the last installment in this series […]

There are moments when I dont envy Steve Jobs. Sure, Apple Computers CEO and co-founder is richer than me, more famous than me, and thinner than me. Whether or not you buy into the personality cult that has grown up around Jobs over the past quarter-century, its hard to ignore the sheer magnetism that has […]

While Mac enthusiasts generally relish their reputation for nonconformity, the semiannual Macworld Expo gatherings on either U.S. coast have imposed a time-tested rhythm on major Mac news. Like kids popping open the paper shutters of an Advent calendar, Mac fans spend the days leading up to the next big show speculating about what tasty new […]

Oops, I did it again. I fear Im starting to sound like a kid whos eaten too much chocolate birthday cake before the arrival of the piñata, but I just cant resist taking another bash at the curious relationship between Adobe Systems and Mac OS X. In a couple of recent columns, I asked a […]

Is it safe? Like Laurence Oliviers evil dentist in “Marathon Man,” I seem to have drilled straight into a nerve with my last column on Adobe Systems relationship – or lack thereof – with Macintoshs OS X. The miracle of hyperlinking means I dont have to step back over the dirt Ive already kicked upup. […]

The last time I tackled the relationship between Adobe Systems and Apple Computers next-generation operating system in an opinion piece was four years ago, and the scars still havent quite healed. It was spring 1997, and CEO Gil Amelios Apple had recently purchased NeXT Software; NeXTs Unix-based OpenStep OS had beaten out competitors such as […]

Of all the quirks that set Apple Computer apart from other PC makers, few irk some members of the Windows majority like Apples dogged defense of the Mac look and feel. Apples protracted – and ultimately unsuccessful – legal efforts to curb Windows as a Mac knockoff in the early 90s raised the hackles of […]