The "classic" LCD panels are getting older and older with each day, and it seems that LED-backlit displays are going to form the next computer displays technological wave. Obviously, Apple is going to open the path once again, planning to use LED-backlit displays in all MacBooks by 2009!

<-125x125 Button - left->Considering the fact that mercury-laden panels are not environment-friendly at all, the Cupertino-based company will solve two problems at once, with this update. First, they will become a "greener" company, and second, their notebooks will have better displays with a lower power consumption than most of the competitors on the notebook market.

According to latest reports, Kenmos Technology, a back light unit maker, will be the primary provider of displays for Apple, since they already are connected with Apple, providing the LED BLUs used on the MacBook Pro with LED-backlit display, introduced back in 2007.

I know, this sounds only like a rumor for now, but here's what Steve Jobs said in an open letter regarding the environment issue:"Our ability to completely eliminate fluorescent lamps in all of our displays depends on how fast the LCD industry can transition to LED backlighting for larger displays."

At the same time, Jobs added that Apple plans to eliminate the use of arsenic in all its displays by this year's end, so everything matches. Now, we just need to wait a little more...

Remember the Mighty Mouse? No, not Apple's mouse, but the cartoon superhero! Almost two decades ago, I was watching the cartoon series, I must admit I tried not to miss a single episode. Oh, those days! The Ninja Turtles, the Mighty Mouse, and all the other great cartoon series... but let's get back to 2008, shall we? Now, it seems the Mighty Mouse name is the reason behind a new lawsuit!

Currently, the Mighty Mouse name is shared by Apple and CBS, but a company called Man and Machine decided to go against both of them, claiming CBS didn't have any rights to license the name to the Cupertino-based company. OK, but who is Man and Machine, after all?

Man and Machine is a small company specialized in producing hygenic water- and chemical-resistant keyboards and mice for hospitals and laboratories, already holding a trademark for use of the Mighty Mouse name for an interface controller.

While they claim the term was used in 2004 for the first time, their trademark request was filed in December 2007, while CBS' trademark, also covering Apple's device, was filed in July 2007, indicating the time of its first use to be dated in 2005, when the Mighty Mouse from Apple came out.

My guess is that this whole deal will be solved off-court, but it's worthy being noticed, especially since it reminded me about one of my childhood heroes...

Did you ever run into problems when moving from a computer to another? Unfortunately, a lot of people would give a positive answer to the previous question, and sometimes carrying portable applications on a USB drive doesn't solve all the problems. Now, a new Apple patent has just laid the foundation for a feature allowing computer users to transfer their accounts from one computer to another!

I know, this is not something out of ordinary, but it's something everyone tries to accomplish these days, so let's see why Apple's version should be considered different, shall we?

According to the Apple patent number 737824, filed at the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office, user accounts will be portable across different multi-user computer systems, while being able to be stored on external data storage devices. The best part of the deal is that changes will be performed directly on the removable data storage system, and not only on the local disk, as the patent says.

As I was saying in the beginning, Robert T. Bowers' and Steve Ko's patent isn't really a breakthrough, but it would be interesting to see where is Apple going to use it, because I am sure they won't simply allow roaming user accounts for Mac OS X, because that's already possible. Having common settings for your iPhone, iPod touch and MacBook, now that's something interesting!

In the last months, Apple's iTunes Music Store had no competition, continuously increasing its lead on the market. Now, Napster is back with a vengeance, promising to turn back the tide, and things look pretty well, as far as I can see. Obviously, we can't draw any conclusions yet, because their music store has been opened only a few hours ago, but I guess we should take a closer look at this...

According to Chris Gorog, Napster's chairman and chief executive, "It's great that we have finally gotten here. It is really the beginning of a level playing field, which I think is essential for Napster, but also for the health of the digital music business in general."

From now on, you can get MP3 files from the Napster Music Store in a DRM-free format, compatible with virtually any portable media player or music phone, including the iPod and the iPhone, obviously!

Currently, Napster is the first subscription service to feature content from major labels and offering its entire catalog in MP3 format. But...how large is that catalog? Well, while Amazon claims its catalog exceeds 5 million tracks, Napster is already beyond the 6 million tracks mark. If I think well, that should be enough music to party and entire life, don't you think? :)

Oh, yeah, I almost forgot the most important part - pricing. Don't worry, I won't leave the pricing-related questions untouched, so here you go - 99 cents per track, and full-album downloads start at $9.95. Good enough for you?

The PC market is huge, and still getting larger, despite the global economic cooldown, but seeing Apple at 66 percent is something absolutely incredible! Did you fall off that chair? Well, you should get back and pay a little attention, because Apple didn't manage to grab 66 percent of the global PC market just yet. Obviously, they couldn't do that yet, considering the lack of computers for low-budget users, but when it comes to computers priced over $1,000...

...things look really great for the Cupertino-based company, as you can see in the image above! If we look closer, it seems that on the desktop market, the Macs are getting really close to domination, with an impressive 70 percent of that market, but things cool down when we look at the figures connected to the entire PC market.

Anyway, 14 percent is also amazing, since we talk about the global market here, and those 64 percent achieved in the $1,000+ notebooks category isn't something to overlook either.

Do I have to say more? Maybe having our own statistics would also help...but since I am sure we can't gather data all over the world to reflect reality just yet, I will ask you: what do you think about this whole deal? If you would have to buy one desktop computer and a notebook, with a budget of about $1,500-$2,000 for each, what would you buy and WHY?