Apple set a new record last Friday, closing at US$270.83 a share. And three Apple execs took advantage of that.

"Fortune" (http://macosg.me/2/6m) notes that "among the people lucky -- or prescient -- enough" to sell before the stock dropped to $256.41 in mid-morning trading Wednesday were three senior Apple officers: Scott Forstall, senior vice president for iPhone software; Mark Papermaster, senior vice president of devices; and Betsy Rafael, vice president, controller and chief accounting officer. According to SEC Form 4s filed Tuesday, the trio sold a total of 61,632 preferentially owned shares between Friday and Monday at prices ranging from $267.01 to $271.43 a share. Total proceeds: $16.5 million.

Needham & Company analyst Charles Wolf told clients in a note today that Apple's retail stores have attracted lots of users from the Windows world and play a pivotal role in the Apple-Microsoft competition.

"[The Apple Stores] have become a magnet in attracting Windows users to the Mac platform," says Wolf.

He says that -- as Apple Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer has said -- that Windows users purchased half of the 606,000 Macs sold in the stores during the March quarter, he added. Needham estimates that, since 2004, more than 18 million Windows users have switched to a Mac.

"Mac sales in the March quarter were almost four times higher than they were in the second quarter of fiscal 2004," wrote Wolf. He adds that Windows switchers have more than doubled the size of the Mac installed base.

The analyst said that same-store sales rose 8% in the March quarter of 2010, thanks to a 22.3% year-over-year increase in Mac sales, even though no new...

Harman International (http://www.harman.com) has announced a new addition to the Harman Kardon Go + Play family with the new Harman Kardon Go + Play Micro. It will retail for US$399 and go on sale in May.

The Harman Kardon Go + Play Micro is a one-piece 2.1 iPhone and iPod dock and features a built-in subwoofer. It's designed for on-the-road travel or a day out at the beach. The Go + Play Micro sports four Odyssey drivers and an Atlas bass driver. Plus, it can stream video from web sites such as YouTube from a user’s iPhone or iPod directly to his or her television with a composite video connection.

Also, the Harman Kardon Go + Play Micro is one of the few iPhone docks on the market that has the capability to sync an iPod or iPhone directly to a computer through a USB connection when it's docked. Eight C batteries allow users purportedly provide up to 18 hours of continuous music playback. There's an...

BenQ (http://www.benq.com) has announced the E1260 HDR (High Dynamic Range) camera. It sports 12 megapixels, a 28mm 4x optical wide angle zoom lens, the ability to shoot 720p movies, a 2.7-inch LCD screen, an advanced smart scene mode, a G-Sensor application and HDR image enhancement technology.


The E1260 comes with an upgrade on the advanced smart scene modes compared to its predecessors, automatically detecting up to 12 different scenes: Landscape; Portrait; Backlight; Backlight Portrait; Night Scene; Night Portrait; Macro; Sunset; Text; Foliage; Snow and Still Mode. Other features of the E1260 include: Auto Face Tracking; Blink Detector; Self/Love Portrait; Beauty Enhancer; Smile Catch; Smart Focus; File Management; Auto Rotation; 3 Second Prerecording and Super Shake-Free (S.S.F.).

The E1260 comes in “Metallic Gun-Metal Gray” and “Metallic Blue." It will be available worldwide in May. Pricing hasn't...

The New York Forum (http://www.ny-forum.com), to be held on June 22 and 23 in New York City, says that the global business gathering will be the first of its kind to go completely paperless. All participants will receive an iPad featuring the program, background information, schedule, and any other relevant materials.

The New York Forum is a global business leader meeting aimed at addressing the future of the global economy, including focusing on strategies to spur job creation and develop new business models. The first annual forum will purportedly bring together hundreds of international business leaders, entrepreneurs, sovereign fund managers, regulatory officials and academics for a series of results-oriented discussions, debates and dialogues, with a mission "that is both bold and urgent: to reinvent business models, to stimulate job creation and restore faith in the international economy."

TRENDnet (http://www.trendnet.com) has announced the availability of the 150Mbps Mobile Wireless N Router. The US$99 device connects to the Internet by using either a traditional hard wired connection or by connecting with a compatible USB modem from a 3G/3.5G Internet service provider such as SprintT, AT&TT, or Verizon.

It comes withe a replaceable 2.5 hour lithium ion battery that purportedly offers four hours in idle mode. For long road trips, TRENDnet will also offer a Car Adapter, model TA-CC, to power the unit.

The compact router connects to the Internet from any 3G/3.5G cellular phone signal. No installation is required; you plug the 3G/3.5G modem into the router to share an Internet connection.

Thinking Code Software has released Dejumble 2.0 (http://www.dejumble.com) as a public beta. It's an update of their organizational application for Mac OS X. Just remember: beta software is unfinished software so use with care.

Dejumble provides a menu-bar-accessible view for collecting notes and tasks, as well as advanced features for searching and organizing to-do lists and notes. The 2.0 update features wiki-like syntax and formatting. Projects are defined as generalized, broad goals, and tasks and notes are grouped within projectsn. Dejumble accommodates informal projects such as simple reminder lists, but also supports more formal task management methods such as GTD.

Getting Things Done (GTD) differs from traditional task management theories that emphasize prioritization of tasks. GTD proposes a workflow process emphasizing control and perspective, with shifting priorities in the middle of...

Apple has announced that it will hold its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) June 7 through June 11 at San Francisco's Moscone West. The five-day conference includes the first ever iPad development sessions and hands-on working labs for iPhone OS 4, as well as Mac OS X core technology labs.

"This year's WWDC offers developers in-depth sessions and hands-on working labs to learn more about iPhone OS 4, the world's most advanced mobile operating system," Scott Forstall, Apple's senior vice president of iPhone Software, said in a press announcement. "WWDC provides a unique opportunity for developers to work side-by-side with Apple engineers and interface designers to make their iPhone and iPad apps even better."

WWDC 2010 is focused on providing advanced content for skilled developers across five key technology tracks: Application Frameworks; Internet & Web; Graphics & Media; Developer Tools; and Core OS. Apple engineers will deliver over 100 solutions...

The Tiffen Company (http://www.tiffen.com) has released two new Domke bags to the line -- the Quick-Shot Sling and the Photo Courier. The Quick-Shot Sling camera bag is a light weight bag with padded interior and adjustable dividers.

It's available in small and medium sizes in Brown RuggedWear and Black Canvas. The bags will be available in May at manufacturer's suggested retail prices ranging from $104.99 to $129.99.

The Domke Photo Courier is a bag created for today’s photographer who needs to carry a camera at all times but, doesn’t always want to look like it.  It's fashioned after the versatile bike messenger bag. The Photo Courier is available in small, medium and large sizes in cotton Black canvas or Brown RuggedWear waxed canvas.  All bags feature YKK Zippers and will be available in May from $139.99 to $254.99.

On one hand, Apple is being criticized for censoring apps at the Apple App Store. On the other, the socially conservative Parents Television Council (PTC) thinks many of the iPhone/iPod touch apps available -- such as "My Vibe," which converts the iPhone into a vibrator, and "Love Positions Free," which has drawings of couples having sex -- should be banned as well, notes "FOX News" (http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/04/27/apple-iphones-porno-apps-stimu...).

The group has publicly demanded that Apple stop providing porn to children -- and clean up its act. And they want Apple to do more.

Gavin McKiernan, the PTC's grassroots director, said Apple executives assured the group that the content on its App Store would be clean, and he hopes that any...

Electric Peel Software is making their newest application, Ariena (http://www.electricpeelsoftware.com/ariena), available for pre-order at a 50% discount. It's an upcoming Mac application designed to help music teachers organize their teaching businesses by keeping track of student information, payments, and lesson notes.



Ariena offers integration with iCal and Address Book. The amount that each student owes is automatically calculated based on the teacher's iCal calendars, and student contact information is synchronized with Address Book. Payments received from students can be organized and viewed in Ariena. Ariena can display several reports, such as a list of all students currently owing money, and a list of all payments received in any particular year. Ariena can also manage lesson notes. Lesson notes can be sorted by student and date.

It requires Mac OS X...