It’s been an interesting week. Intuit got through the tax deadline filing without a major hitch, and TurboTax for Mac OS X just keeps getting better and better. No one likes collecting receipts and documents and ploughing through the endless questions, but TurboTax makes it almost fun.

A few years ago, H&R Block abandoned its Apple customers for one year without warning and with no explanation. While they’re back on the Mac now, that brief encounter with Tax Cut left a bad taste in my mouth. After that fiasco, I’m back to TurboTax and haven’t looked back.

On Monday, Blockbuster started thinking about buying Circuit City. I saw it as handwriting on the wall for those brick and mortar companies that simply rent plastic discs. Jeff Gamet, TMO’s Morning Editor, and I noticed that in Denver, a chain called Hollywood Video is going out of business. Big companies have the resources to at least try to act to control their fate, and poor Hollywood Video looks like one of those that hasn’t been able to. Even so, I question whether Blockbuster has the technical savvy, if it does acquire Circuit City, to integrate it into their operations and make money. After all, Circuit City just passes on products made by others. That’s not a prescription for profits.

Speaking of acquisitions, there was an intriguing opinion article at 9 to 5 Mac on Monday about how Apple may have just hired an attorney who is an expert at acquisitions. Lots of people have made predictions and suggestions about what kind of company Apple might acquire. Sun is certainly not one of them. Neither should Circuit City or any other retail chain be on the list. The best one I’ve seen lately is Adobe — that would sync with Apple’s ambitions in content creation. A plus is that the two companies aren’t very far apart, Cupertino and San Jose. It’s intriguing thinking about it. But when it does happen, we’ll all sigh, smack our heads, and say, “Of course!”

I’m not sure about the date on this one, but I ran across an article pointed to by one of our readers about how the Switched Digital Video system being tested by the cable companies, through its research arm, CableLabs, is designed to torpedo CableCards and the intentions of Congress. In my opinion, I don’t think so. SDV is essential if the cable companies, sans optical fiber, are ever going to successfully challenge satellite providers DIRECTV and Dish Network. CableLabs is already working with TiVo on integrating the SDV boxes to allow continued, unattended recording. Anyone else who says their equipment is not compatible has been asleep at the wheel. It also just shows how slow the U.S. Congress can be dealing with technologies. Laws that try to promote competition are an oxymoron.

The true value of a fiber optic connection, and some of the headaches, were described by Max Kalehoff on Friday when he had Verizon install FiOS, short for Fiber Optic System. For $99/month he’s getting phone service and 20 Mbps on the Internet. In my case, I’m paying for an official 6 Mbps with Comcast, but in the past I’ve routinely averaged 10 Mbps downloads. The other day, doing research for an Apple TV, I ran Apple’s suggested speed test at the very bottom of the Apple TV technical specifications page. You’ll need a connection with 6 Mbps to be happy with an Apple TV. Here’s what I got.

That’s not so bad at all, but I admit, I’m in a neighborhood where I’m not sharing a lot of bandwidth with tech-happy neighbors. By and by, we’ll all get to the holy grail of 100 Mbps into our homes.

On Monday, MultiChannel News noted that the premiere of Battlestar Galactica got off to a great start. But that’s a relative term, since they only had 2.1 million viewers and a 1.6 rating. Considering the fact that BSG is a great TV drama, I don’t understand why the audience isn’t larger. Come on TiVo users. Party on Friday and watch BSG on Monday, now that we have no more Sarah Connor Chronicles.

On Tuesday, TV happenings expert Phillip Swann predicted that Sony and Microsoft would come to terms on a Blu-ray player in the Xbox 360. Sony will, not doubt, demand that the player be inside this time, not an add-on attachment. Then, when supplies mysteriously dry up because Sony is putting Blu-ray players in their HDTVs, Microsoft can watch their Xbox sales tank. Ah, the irony…

Mr. Swann also predicted that Blu-ray player prices will drop below $200 by Christmas. Considering that Walt Mossberg just slammed the entire U.S. broadband industry, the question is: Can broadband in the U.S. advance faster by Christmas than Blu-ray player prices? I doubt it. Comcast has rolled out DOCSIS 3.0 cable modems in Minneapols/St. Paul and is offering 50 Mbps for $149/month. That’s gonna be a real winner in this economy for sure. I think Blu-ray discs will be around for a long time. While I’m on Blu-ray, engadgetHD said on Thursday that a boxed set of the short-lived, cult SciFi show Firefly is coming to Blu-ray. If you missed this one season SciFi show on Fox, check it out. It was the precursor to the theatrical movie Serenity.

On Wednesday, it was reported that Hewlett Packard shipped a batch of USB keys infected with the W32.Fakerecy and W32.SillyFDC worms. The worms can infect Windows 98, Windows 95, Windows XP, Windows Me, Windows NT and Windows 2000 systems. I thought it was odd that a company with HP’s resources would allow something like that to happen.

On Thursday, I saw a really cool article on how the current technical era, bursting with new technologies, can be compared to the discovery of the laws of nature in times past. It used to be that the workings of nature were a puzzle to figure out, and men like Newton and Einstein spent their whole lives working out the details. The ecosphere of the Internet today is just as marvelous and complex and ripe for discoveries. I think it also explains why physicists make the best programmers … if I may say so myself.

Also, on Thursday, there was a completely ridiculous article at CW about an Oxford University professor who believes that the closed, proprietary systems like the iPhone are killing the Internet and innovation. The idea is that when people can’t tinker, like they did with their PCs, life and innovation will die. To cap it off, he used hackers and thieves who stalk the Internet as proof that user tinkerable systems are preferable. I guess he never heard of Xcode and the Apple iPhone SDK. I would have written a rebuttal editorial, but no time.

Also on Thursday, there was a rumor about Blockbuster thinking about building a box to deliver streamed movies to user’s home TVs. The idea is to combine their huge movie library with instant gratification. It was called a rumor by Blockbuster. But if they’re thinking about it, it has to be one of the worst money losing ideas ever. Think box fatigue.

Finally, on Friday, I found out about a completely open source alternative to Windows, ReactOS. It’s a free, open source OS that functions just like Windows XP with binary compatibility for applications and device drivers. It’s similar to what Linux did to the UNIXes of old. It’s still in extreme alpha, but has all the earmarks of a disruptive technology that could have Steve Ballmer throwing yet more chairs around his office. Check it out.

On Thursday, Channel Web reported that Windows XP, SP3 has been released to manufacturing. That update has to be one of the best kept secrets ever as Microsoft hopes that people will just forget about XP and briskly move to Vista. And on Friday, Bill Gates is so excited about Vista that he talked about how Windows 7 may be coming sooner than believed. Can things get any more confused? Probably.

Now for all those who just can’t wait to install Vista into Parallels, Microsoft is offering a secret, cost saving ($110) upgrade to Vista by purchasing the SP1 upgrade alone. Microsoft knows about the loophole. I guess it’s a good idea to sell Vista in as many ways as possible.

Earlier in the week, for all those who aren’t entertained by Microsoft enough, the New York Times reported that Microsoft has reached an agreement with a company headed by Peter Safran, a veteran producer, to produce original content for the Xbox. One can have a lot of fun thinking about what kind of original stories Microsoft and Mr. Safran will dream up. Is John Hodgman the real Iron Man? Who knows?

On Monday, the Mercury News pointed out that an iPhone can turn one from a mere know-it-all into an incredibly annoying know-it-all, and Erica Sadun can prove it. After all, if you have the entire Internet in the palm of your hand…

The Newton Virus is a piece of software that exploits the accelerometer in a MacBook Pro to create all kinds of havoc on the screen. The idea is that you wait until the target, er, user, steps away and then insert the USB drive with the code. People should think long and hard about this stuff. We all like to think we have a good sense of humor — except when it comes to our PowerBooks. Watching the promo movie is probably more fun than getting shot at or fired after you install this software on your boss’s Mac.

Of course, we all know why Blu-ray discs are so expensive, right? They require new equipment to make and can’t be made on the old DVD mastering equipment. That truth, however, probably doesn’t reveal the fact that it costs maybe 50 cents to master a DVD and $1.50 to master a Blu-ray disc. So why not sell movies for $40? Greed seems to work for Hollywood. These prices aren’t going to last long in this economy. The studios better wake up fast.

It seems game manufacturers are getting hammered by piracy and are turning more and more away from PCs to game consoles. The result this week is that EA announced that there will be no Madden 2009, according to ars technica. We could be off to the passing of an era.

Finally, in ultimate irony, Sony BMG has been accused of piracy. A French company, PointDev, found unlicensed software on Sony’s servers in France. “For Sony, the development seems to mark a copyright-related public relations debacle,” according to MediaPost. Delicious scandal indeed for a company that backs the RIAA.

I think it’s time for Apple to give up on the idea of mystery updates. By that I mean updates that tell the user nothing or almost nothing about what’s changed, what impact it might have, and why the user should install the update.

Apple does this, I believe, because they don’t want their customers to be either dismayed with the realities of the updates nor confused by them. Too much information, like the world of Linux, can cause the customer to feel overwhelmed. Buying and owning a Macintosh should be a happy experience.

Unfortunately, that’s a fantasy world. Even the most Pollyanna Apple customer is confronted with a vast array of technologies to integrate. There are dedicated backup devices, other external drives, printers, iPhones and iPods and who knows what else that all have to be kept working in unison, perfectly.

Worse, it looks unprofessional and it makes Apple look like it has something to hide. While security updates are detailed fairly well as to the documented vulnerabilities that have been patched, other updates, like the recent Apple TV 2.0.1 update appear with no explanation at all. At iLounge on Monday it was reported that some users were having issues with the update. There’s nothing more frustrating than applying an update, because Apple puts it out there, and then having problems that must be solved by asking others in the forums, “What the hell just happened?”

Corporate users hardly ever install updates until they understand the impact on their systems — the ones they try so hard to maintain in a delicate balance of usability and stability. That’s why Red Hat and Fedora Linux branched. Red Hat remains stable and supported for the enterprise. Fedora is free to experiment. Constant tinkering and fine tuning leads to unstable systems.

It takes some time to understand what a problem is, then create a solution and test it. As a result, Apple engineers know what the problems was, why they fixed it and how. Hiding that information from the paying customer for the sake of the illusion of carefree simplicity is out of sync with the needs of customers.

Today, it was announced that Apple is being sued for allegedly making false claims about their 2nd generation iMac 20-inch screens. This is another trust related issue. One of the keys to making a no-brainer decision for Apple is that the customer trusts what Apple is doing in all areas, design, hardware, user interface and security. Backing away from full disclosure may make Apple look like a happy-go-lucky company, but it also strains our trust.

Right now, today, we need trust a lot more.

[23:15 UTC] On Tuesday, Steve Jobs mentioned some possible candidates to become his successor. Two were Apple COO Tim Cook and CFO Peter Oppenheimer. These recommendations to the board say a lot about Apple’s future.

In the not too distant past, Apple was a beleaguered company, at risk of going bankrupt. When Mr. Jobs returned, Apple was struggling to generate revenues of US$5B. Now, in 2008, Apple is a $25B company, almost certainly headed for $40B in just a few years. They have more money in the bank than the gross domestic product of Nicaragua.

Mr. Jobs’ choices say several things to me. First, Apple is a confident company. While many enjoyed kicking them around in the past, the stark reality today is that Apple is a force to contend with and no one is making fun of them anymore. That’s going to translate into a substantive threat to Microsoft — just as father Steve intended.

Next, Apple is looking for a stable, sober manager to manage Apple’s growth and finances. The next CEO will be a seasoned businessman, an executive to guide the company through its new found success. Mr. Cook may be a little on the sedate side and Mr. Oppenheimer isn’t exactly rock star material, but that no longer matters. Apple won’t be in desperate need of a firebrand to resurrect the company. Instead, it will need someone to guide it through the international introductions of future iPhones, advanced iPod touches, and new products to come.

What Apple will miss will be the taste and judgment of Mr. Jobs who knows just as much about features to omit as features to add. Even so, after ten years of Mr. Jobs at the helm, the culture is firmly in place.

Finally, as I mentioned, the threat to other companies will become even harder to ignore. Apple is well on its way to double digit market share with Macs. When we get into double digit market share of, say, 16 percent, that’s one in six Macs. The banking industry, developers, and the U.S. government will suddenly find that it’s no longer easy or convenient to ignore the Mac. American technical culture will change.

When the end of Mr. Jobs’ reign comes, and I hope that’s a long time from now, we’ll look back fondly on the fireworks and the RDF. But change is certain, and Apple will be a more mature, confident, wealthy and businesslike company in that future. What else could we wish for?

My wife uses Linux, Java, Perl, and C++ at work. Recently, she wanted to get a new PC with Fedora 8 so that she could do work and research at home on a fast system. Her old custom built PC was aging and is really only suitable for interface testing. The local shop that built it is out of business.

Now, running Fedora 8 is possible in Parallels on a MacBook, but she didn’t want to do that — she wanted direct access to the hardware with no hassles.

We looked around. PC Connection and the local Microcenter have various PCs, but Lea’s colleagues have advised that Hewlett Packard PCs don’t have the best quality parts. And she’s very allergic to Dell. We had a bad experience buying a notebook from Dell a few years ago and ended up sending it back. Also, the cheap retail PCs use shared memory for the graphics card which we wanted to avoid.

A friend of mine suggested we look into eracks.com. These guys will build a custom PC to your specifications, install the OS of your choice, and ship it to you. The order page has popups just like Apple’s store. If options you chose are incompatible or haven’t been tested, they’re generally blocked. In any case, the technicians at eRacks will size up your machine profile and let you know if you’ve done something too far out of the mainstream. We ordered one of the BOOQ series computers with a Core 2 Duo, 2 GHz, 2 GB RAM, 320 GB drive, and a very good graphics card with 256 MB VRAM.

I was very impressed with this outfit in California. I had a personal sales rep who clarified some ordering options, kept me advised of fab progress and provided the tracking number when it shipped. They’ll even include the install disk for the Linux distribution you select.

It took a little longer than quoted for build process, and we had a one day delay for President’s Day, but it was well worth the wait. Order day was Feb 5th and delivery was Feb 22nd, UPS Ground. (You get to pick the carrier.) It was packed very well. If you don’t want to build your own PC from scratch, and you want a solid PC built to order, these guys are the next best thing. I recommended them.

Please welcome John Martellaro, Afternoon Editor for TMO, to Blogs.TMO!