Cody Taylor

Microsoft was in panic on Wednesday after a prototype phone loaded with top-secret software created to rival Apple’s iPhone was stolen, prompting fears of industrial espionage.

A report issued on the flash RAM market indicates that Apple is inhaling supplies of memory components in preparation for the next generation iPhone, causing part shortages and raising the spot price for memory.

“If the technology industry has a soul, Apple’s employees are its keepers. And more than a few companies have tried to replicate a little of the Cupertino, Calif.-based company’s success by hiring Apple employees. The result: Former Apple employees have taken the lead in efforts to take far-out new technologies to mass audiences.”

A survey examining users’ satisfaction with recent PC purchases and their near term buying outlook gave Apple the top spot and a distant lead in consumer approval rankings and improved numbers related to buyer’s immediate plans for new notebooks.

Slatterz writes “Going just a bit further than your average unboxing, someone has stripped a new 17-inch Apple Macbook Pro to its component parts revealing one or two little surprises. The biggest of which is that the built-in battery is easily accessible, requiring the tinkerer to remove just the 13 Philips screws which hold the bottom cover in place, and the three tri-wing security screws which hold the battery in place.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.