From All Things Digital, July 2, 2008:

Sales of Apple’s Macintosh computers have been growing much faster than PC sales overall, with many new Mac buyers switching from years of using Windows computers. For that reason, every month I get emails from readers asking about the differences in using the Windows and Macintosh operating systems.

While the Windows and Mac user interfaces are broadly similar, they do have subtle variations in day-to-day use that require some re-education for switchers. And because there are so many fewer Mac users than Windows users, help from friends and co-workers can be harder to obtain than it is for people switching the other way, to Windows from Mac.

So, read on for a quick tip sheet explaining a few of the most common differences in the daily use of Windows XP, from which most people would be switching, and Apple’s Mac OS X Leopard, which switchers would be adopting.

Good news for the Apple faithful: Mac sales were rising at an even faster pace in May than the robust first-quarter growth, according to Lehman Brothers' analysis of NPD data.

Mac sales remain the primary driver of Apple's earnings, but there's also some good news for the iPhone-obsessed among us: Morgan Stanley is forecasting 27 million iPhones will be sold in 2009, with an average unit prices of $550 per phone.

That price seems high, but even at $200 a phone 27 million units would generate $5 billion of revenue, Henry Blodget notes.

On a separate but (clearly) related issue: Apple shares are down today, but notice how the "concerns about Steve Jobs' health" story faded as the stock rebounded in recent days? Does that mean Jobs' health and succession issues are no longer a long-term concern for Apple and its shareholders? Clearly not.

As Henry and I discussed before the launch, it was going to be hard for the 3G iPhone to live up to the considerable hype. But when the stock fell in reaction, many observers needed to pinpoint a fundamental reason why. Jobs' health was (and is) a legitimate concern, so that became the focus -- and not just for the short-sellers.

In other words, "price dictates news," as the old Wall Street saying goes.

From Silicon Alley Insider, June 17, 2008:

Why are the biggest U.S. Internet service providers, like Time Warner Cable (TWC), AT&T (T), and Comcast (CMCSA) trying to change the way they sell high-speed Internet service from all-you-can-eat to pay-per-use? In part, because Web video is only starting to take off, and the amount of bandwidth used on the Internet could jump sixfold in the next five years, according to a Cisco (CSCO) projection summarized in today's Wall Street Journal.

Cisco, the network gear maker, projects Internet traffic will soar from 7 exabytes per month -- the equivalent of two billion DVDs -- last year, to 44 exabytes per month in 2012, says the WSJ. A big part of that growth: Web video, which Cisco expects to increase from 30% of today's traffic to half of it by 2012.

With the dollar dropping, crude prices are soaring again early Monday. The action is likely to please the crowd on Wall Street, where "the trade" is: long commodities/short the dollar and financials.

But the smart trade today is to take profits on that trade and do the opposite, says David Herro, who oversees about $20 billion as Harris Associates' chief investment officer, international, and also runs the $6.4 billion Oakmark International Fund.

"The golden days of oil area coming to an end," says Herro, who SmartMoney named as one of the "World's Greatest Investors" of 2007.

For investors with true long-term time horizons, Herro sees opportunities in financials, media, retail, and tech stocks, and danger in the "hot" commodity/agriculture names -- even as they maintain short-term momentum.

From Silicon Alley Insider, June 13, 2008:

Apple's (AAPL) explanation of why Steve Jobs looked thin and wan at WWDC on Monday has not put to rest concerns that he's suffering from something more serious than a "common bug." Apple's stock has been smashed in recent days and is down another 3% this morning.

Specifically, Apple's explanation did not rule out the possibility that Steve's cancer has come back. Unless/until Apple or Steve issues a statement that clearly rules out this possibility -- or unless/until Steve appears publicly again looking to be in robust health -- we expect these concerns will persist.

News that the Microsoft-Yahoo talks fizzled without a deal raises a number of questions, among them where Steve Ballmer will steer his company next.

Clearly, Ballmer doesn't come out of this unscathed. As Henry says in the accompanying video, it appears that the Microsoft CEO helped botch a $34-$35 deal back in February, and I argue that this and other bungling effectively drove Yahoo into the Google camp.

An even stronger Google is precisely what Microsoft was trying to prevent in its pursuit of Yahoo, which is an argument for the Redmond software giant to scrap its competition with Google and fortify its hold on corporate computing. Advertisers may want a No. 2 in search, but Microsoft -- or anyone else, for that matter -- isn't going to be it.

From Silicon Alley Insider, June 9, 2008:

Live Coverage from Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference at Moscone West in San Francisco:

2:33: 3G iphone: full plastic back, camera, fushed headphone jacks, improved audio, black back.

2:34: nationalgeographic.com took 21seconds to load on 3G, 59 seconds on Edge 2.8x faster. Only four seconds slower than WiFi. 36% faster than the N-Gage and the Treo.

2:36: E-mail application -- 3G -- 5 seconds, Edge -- 18 seconds, WiFi -- 3 Seconds.

2:37: Battery life: 300 hours of standby life. 10 hours of 2G talk time. 5 houtrs of 3G talk time. 5-6 hours of high-speed browsing. 7 hours of video. 24 hours of audio.

2:38: GPS built in (big cheers). Location services are going to be a really big deal on the iPhone. It's going to explode. Data from cell towers, WiFi, and GPS.

2:39: Enterprise Support on 3G iPhone: full MS Exchange, tremendous feedback from enterprise users.

2:40: Third-Party apps -- best way to distribute them to the world.

2:40: More countries -- All of North America, much of Central America, almost all of South America, all of Western Europe, Much of Eastern Europe, some of Africa. India, Australia, New Zealand, Phillipines, Japan. 70 countries total.

2:44: iPhone 3G will sell for $199 (raucous applause). 16 GB is $299 and comes with a white one. No new models. 

For more coverage, go to SAI.

Documents unsealed Monday evening reveal some sexy details on the process inside Yahoo, but probably don't change the dynamic with Microsoft, Carl Icahn -- or Google, for that matter.

Among the highlights:

• Microsoft made a $40 per share bid for Yahoo in January 2007, but was rebuffed by then CEO Terry Semel.
• Microsoft went public with its 2008 bid after attempting another private transaction and coming to the conclusion that Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang was adamantly opposed to selling.
• Yahoo's own compensation advisor thought the employee retention package adopted in the wake of Microsoft's 2008 bid was "nuts," and even Yahoo CTO Ari Balogh thought it went too far.

The revelations, released by a Delaware judge in response to a complaint by some Yahoo shareholders, might move a few more shareholders into Ichan's camp. But they are unlikely to materially change the situation confronting the companies:

• Having "moved on" -- witness its search deal yesterday with H-P -- Microsoft has little or no incentive to revive talks for an all-out acquisition of Yahoo, unless the company is brought to it on a silver platter.
• As Yahoo's "late July" shareholder meeting approaches, the pressure on Yahoo's board will ratchet higher, especially if its second-quarter earnings on July 22 prove disappointing.
• The passage of time also puts pressure on Icahn and those supporting his proxy fight, with Google the only apparent winner as this saga slogs on into month five.

The swag bag for last week's All Things Digital conference was pretty tight. It included wine, DVDs, and Guitar Hero III. I'm suggesting an addition for next year: mogul trading cards. They could have vital statistics, outlandish one-liners, the biggest go-for-the-jugular business moves, and, of course, any trophies in the form of mansions, yachts, and famous wives.

It would be fitting, because this fantastic conference, organized by Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher, isn't about financial results. Nor is it really even about technology. It is all about the moguls behind the giants of tech and entertainment, as these two industries meld into one in our evolving world. And with the likes of Viacom's Sumner Redstone, News Corp.'s Rupert Murdoch, and InterActive Corp.'s Barry Diller getting older, I'm a little concerned about our mogul farm system.

No one on stage was a slouch. Each keynoter has created a fundamental shift in media or technology, affecting how millions of people interact with the world and each other. But is it too much to ask for a little showmanship in the modern mogul?