Usually, if you think about Opera vs Safari, you can't forget about Firefox and Internet Explorer. In the end, it all gets down to a fierce battle between the major competitors on the Web browsers market, but this time I'll leave this aside. After all, we're on BindApple here, right? Today's story could be considered less interesting than what I described above, especially since we're going to talk about a battle that ended before it really started. This time, the Opera vs Safari match ended with a clear victory for Safari, but...

...the interesting part is not who won, but how. So... how did Safari manage to beat Opera? Even more, where did this happen? These are exactly the questions who need answers, and that's what we're going to do right away - give some answers!

First, I'll give you the location - the App Store. Why the App Store? Because that's the place where Safari could beat Opera without any scratches, and without having to do anything. It was enough to yell "Dad! That big, bad Opera wants to beat me!" - <-125x125 Button - right->it may sound like a joke, but that's the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth!

The story goes like this(the "how" part I mentioned above) - Opera Mini has been ported for the iPhone already, but it can't get into the App Store. The reason is that Apple's rules reject anything replicating the core functionality of the iPhone or iPod Touch, even if they do it better.

Other than the above, it's mumbo-jumbo. Apple is leaving the users behind, and pushes forward its own products, taking away freedom of choice. Afraid of seeing Safari kicked down by Opera Mini, guys?

If you want to look for iPhone statistics, you will usually end up facing sales numbers, market share value, and so on, but these are less interesting than what we're going to talk about today. iPhone demographics, that's the topic of the day, and it seems the latest study is crushing the general opinion placing Apple's gadget into the luxury market. Interesting enough? Let's check it out, then!

If you ask me, I still consider that $200 cover charge, combined with a minimum $70 monthly recurring service fee means luxury (I usually spend less than $70 per year for my mobile service, and I talk a lot with my friends), but the latest comScore study shows otherwise.

First of all, let's point out two facts: last week, Apple officially announced the iPhone reached the 10 million units mark; now, the All about iPhone study shows we're not talking about 10 million rich iPhone owners, and since this is <-180x150 Small Rectangle - right->not a story to tell before you go to sleep, here you have the numbers(household income and growth percentage stats from iPhone 3G's launch to August's end):

- Under $25,000 - 16 percent
- $25,000 to $49,999: 48 percent
- $50,000 to $74,999: 46 percent
- $75,000 to $99,999: 3 percent
- $100,000 or more: 16 percent

Mark Donovan, senior analyst at comScore explained that "Smartphones, and the iPhone in particular are appealing to a new demographic and satisfying demand for a single device for communication and entertainment, even as consumers weather the economy by cutting back on gadgets."

To close this story with the answer to the "What you're doing with your iPhone?" question, I must also add that the report mentioned here shows a strong growth in e-mail, Internet and news browsing, and - obviously - listening to music.

These being said, you got your iPhone statistics for today, but if you have something to add here, please go ahead and do it, I am sure there are some uses for the iPhone comScore never thought of, like boiling it, feed it to the dogs, or teach it to swim(you can take this as a joke, but some of the guys posting in the iPhone 3G problems article are surely taking it very seriously)...

According to TUAW, "Apple has given developers a taste of the new iPhone firmware, version 2.2 beta 2, and it includes a host of spiffy new features that are making the rounds online," but that's not something boiling hot, since we talked about the iPhone 2.2 beta here, on BindApple, just a few days ago. Back then, we were talking about the new Google Street View feature, and now we're going to move one step further - today, it's all about podcasting!

Since last month Apple stopped an app called Podcaster from entering the App Store, it seems now things are becoming a bit cleared. TUAW's Robert Palmer continued by writing that "A tipster shared with us some screenshots of the new firmware, including what appears to be the ability to download podcasts directly to your iPhone (and presumably your iPod touch). <-180x150 Small Rectangle - right->This could tidily explain why Apple rejected the Podcaster app last month."

While the iPhone 3G proves to be a really useful blogging tool for those crazy enough to use it for such a purpose(excuse me, but I would rather write a 10,000 words article using my computer's keyboard, instead of a 150 words one, using the iPhone; I am sure I'm not the only one who's feeling this way about it).

Now, podcasting makes things even more interesting - if the iPhone 2.2 will come with support for line-in audio, as it goes the rumor right now, you can even start your own radio station, with the iPhone 3G and a mike. That's great, but I really want to see the iPhone 6.6.6 update coming up, with support for making pancakes. There's no rumor about that, yet, but this is one of my secret iPhone desires...

Currently, Safari and QuickTime are the most notorious Mac programs on Windows, but there's a little twist here - we're not running exactly the Mac programs, we're running their Windows versions. What if people could easily run Mac programs on Windows, just as it happens with Windows programs on Mac for those using CrossOver? Obviously, that would really be a breakthrough, and it seems we're closer to that then most of you think...

Since Cocotron is the open-source project that's going to do exactly that, if everything works well. Most chances are to see Cocotron delivering what's currently just a promise, since this application is coming from Magnetism Studios, <-125x125 Button - right->a company with a good history behind, since they already managed to successfully port the Mac FileMagnet Uploader to Windows.

Currently, all we know is that Cocotron "aims to implement a cross-platform Objective-C API similar to that described by Apple Inc.'s Cocoa documentation," so applications for Mac OS X written in Xcode should become easily to cross-compile for other operating systems, especially Windows.

From theory to practice there's a pretty long road, and until we get to see first Mac programs on Windows, without being completely rewritten for Microsoft's platform, we can have a few more trucks of beer(at least I can). Anyway, if you're a Mac OS X developer, it is my pleasure to inform you that Cocotron is available for free, being released under the MIT license, so go ahead, download it, and take your time to see how easy can be turning your Mac OS X code into Windows code. Just...don't forget to get back here and tell us more about your quest, all right?

Today, I will make another confession - I am crazy about grabbing the best deal in town, no matter if we're talking about a car, or a chocolate. That doesn't mean I spend a lot of time shopping, and when it comes to online shopping, it's pretty much the same. Why spend 1 minute buying something, when I can spare some 10-15 extra minutes, and save some money? In the end, it may be possible that the time I waste is not worth the bargain, and to help you avoid such a situation, I have to share with you some of the best deals you can get when looking for cheap MacBooks.

Since talking won't get us anywhere, let's go right to the sweet spot - today's cheap MacBooks! While the best deals can be had by grabbing one of the 13-inch MacBooks, having a MacBook Pro or the Air for less than the usual pricing isn't that bad, either. Less money for the notebook, more for beer. Hooray!<-336x280 Large Rectangle - right->(No, I don't have a drinking problem - I drink, fall down, get up, drink some more, fall down, get up - no problem, you see?)

For starters, Amazon is offering $50 rebates, bringing the 13-inch MacBooks down to the following prices:

13-inch MacBook 2.1GHz (white): $944.00
13-inch MacBook 2.0GHz (unibody): $1244.00
13-inch MacBook 2.4GHz (unibody): $1544.00

While MacMall offers the cheap MacBooks above for exactly the same price, if you don't have any problems with pre-October white MacBooks, you can get one for only $868.99.

Moving up, we find that Amazon can get even more generous, with no less than $100 rebate on the new MacBook Pro, so you can get the 15-inch MacBook Pro for $1864.97(the 2.4GHz unibody) or $2394.00(the 2.53GHz unibody version).

At last, we have the heavyweight models - the Air and the 17-inch Pro, with the first one going as low as $1744.00, for the 1.6GHz model, and $2444.00,  the 1.86GHz one.

At last, while MacMall has the Air models priced just as Amazon, they are also offering the new 17-inch MacBook Pro for $2694.00, after the $100 rebate.

These being said, I hope you have the money to grab one of these beauties, especially if your current Mac lineup doesn't include a notebook, or the one you have begs you with every key pressed to be retired...