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Liquidmetal Technologies, a California-based manufacturing firm, is an under-the-radar fabrication company that has had its fair share of ups and downs in past years as it has tried to land contracts to manufacture a variety of objects from golf clubs to gadget cases. In doing so they've rooted out some issues with their own proprietary product, a hard and lightweight metal alloy that can be processed as easily as plastic.

But what's got Apple interested is their acquisition of the world's only prototype of an injection-molding machine that reportedly can create seamless metal parts just as injection molders make solid, single-piece plastic objects. Such a machine would allow Liquidmetal to manufacture anything from better iPhone antennas to seamless gadget cases, though some seem to think they might use the technology to manufacture the entire next-gen iPhone.

Why? Because Apple just signed an exclusive licensing deal with Liquidmetal to use its technology for commercial products reportedly worth some $11 million in ongoing dealings. Right now there is but one prototype injection molder in a factory in Korea, but with Apple's financial might behind the technology there could be many more relatively quickly.

That means Apple could conceivably manufacture their wares at far reduced cost (though who knows if Lord Jobs might pass those savings down to the little people) while making the components durable, uniform, and -- true to Apple form -- very, very pretty. Supposedly Johnny Ive, Apple's chief designer, is pushing hard for the Liquidmetal technology.

It's worth noting in closing here that such rumors are coming from people involved in Liquidmetal, and that -- also true to Apple form -- Cupertino has nothing to say about whether or not they may or may not be possibly thinking about future long-term manufacturing with Liquidmetal. But if they do, it will be significant for a few reasons.

First of all, many fabrication houses have been trying to replicate injection-molding properties in strong metallic media for a long time, so if someone as big and reputable as Apple is getting on board it bodes well for the notion that the technology is finally catching up with the idea.

But further, though Apple has an exclusive deal with Liquidmetal, no licensing deal lasts forever. If the tech really is as good as Apple may or may not think it is, a variety of consumer goods -- not just Apple products -- could be manufactured more durably and at a lower cost. That's good news across the board.

[Cult of Mac]

As reported in Israeli newspapers, the Israeli government banned the import into the country of Apple iPad. Customs officials confiscated the tablet at the airport travelers arriving in the country. Officials justify their actions by saying that iPad may harm the local wireless networks. Standard wireless networking in the U.S. is more signal powered than the networks in Europe and Israel, that is iPad can interrupt the signal for other devices operating in the Israeli network.

Tourists who have confiscated the tablet at the entrance to the country can regain it at departure by paying a fee for storage devices at the airport. The Apple does not yet commented on this fact, however, they are unlikely to be glad of such developments. The ban coincided with the news that the date of the appearance of Apple iPad on sale in Europe was postponed due to the incredible demand for the device in the U.S., which already sold more than half a million iPad.

Apple's iPhone reigned supreme, followed from a distance by the Google Nexus One

The MOTO lab folk ran both "medium touch" and "very light touch" tests with the robot finger on each of the four smartphones previously tested with human fingers, and threw in a Blackberry Storm 2 and Palm Pre for good measure.

So who came out on top? Apple's iPhone touchscreen bested the competition by a good margin, but Google's Nexus One and the HTC Droid Eris also turned in solid performances. The Motorola Droid fared the worst and ran into trouble even on the "medium touch" test, while both the Palm and Blackberry devices showed signal loss on the "very light touch" test.

Take a look at MOTO's light-fingered robot in action:

Robot Touchscreen Analysis from MOTO Development Group on Vimeo

[MOTO]

New Apple Mac OS X Leopard is a leader in Japan by selling copies. Last month Mac OS considered to have 53,9% of OS market in Japan.

During from November the 6th till November the 12th share Mac OS X Leopard in total amount of retails of operational systems in Japan made 47,9 %. The second place on popularity at the Japanese users program platform Windows XP Home with the second borrows service-pack - 10,5 % from a total sales volume. On share Windows Vista Home Premium last week 4,5 % from the general number of spears of the sold operational systems had.

It is necessary to notice, that together with client version Mac OS X Leopard company Apple has released a server updating a program platform. And if earlier in the license on Mac OS X Server (for example, on version Tiger) it has been specified, that on one computer it is possible to use one copy of operational system in the license for version Mac OS X Server Leopard it is spoken, that on one server use at once several spears of a program platform is supposed. It means, that company Apple has resolved application of means виртуализации on computers from new OS.