This resentful little error message is displayed to Mac users by Microsoft's new Photosynth tool. All it needs is a "Yeah, right" at the end.

The iPhone launched in Poland today and like in the U.S., there were plenty of long lines. Unlike in the U.S., those in line were there because they were actors hired paid to look enthusiastic. "We have these fake queues at front of 20 stores around the country to drum up interest in the iPhone," a spokesman from mobile operator Orange told Reuters, which describes the move as "as part of a marketing campaign." What's odd: Unlike in the U.S., where shoppers could only buy an iPhone from AT&T outlets or Apple Stores, Polish shoppers — all abuzz about the iPhone because Orange's marketing campaign — can just buy their iPhones from line-free T-Mobile outlets. (Photo by AP/Sokolowski)

Steve Wozniak explains how Steve Jobs convinced him to leave Woz's dream job and help found Apple Computer:

"This is a known iPhone bug that is being fixed in the next software update in September," says a one-line reply from His Steveness Himself to an AppleInsider reader who had written to complain about his iPhone's third-party apps being disabled. Yes, it's really him. Jobs has been spotted in customers' inboxes in 2006, 2007, and earlier this year. Jobs's replies are usually limited to a simple yes-we're-fixing-that. But sometimes, the Dan Lyons version of his demeanor peeks through: "I suggest you calm down. Everyone knows the issue and it is being worked. Steve."

Before it landed Microsoft's $300 million account and hired Jerry Seinfeld as a spokesperson, the admen of agency Crispin Porter & Bogusky met with Fast Company's Danielle Sacks in April 2007. That's when Alex Bogusky explained exactly what kind of computers it uses, and why:

An Alabama woman says Apple's become "unjustly enriched at the expense of Plaintiff and Class members" because her iPhone 3G doesn't get a good reception. She says where she lives supposedly gets good AT&T coverage and that her iPhone doesn't work as well as Apple said it would in its commercials. It's a common complaint. Check out the video comparing the speed of an iPhone in an Apple commercial versus real life embedded below . But we have to ask: instead of filing an expensive lawsuit, why doesn't the plaintiff just junk her iPhone and buy a Palm Centro or a Nokia N90? That seems easier and, you know, vastly less annoying to the rest of us.

You know Microsoft is hopelessly out of touch when the opening paragraph of the Wall Street Journal article that's supposed to be touting the tech giant's marketing coup starts off something like this: "Microsoft Corp., weary of being cast as a stodgy oldster by Apple Inc.'s advertising, is turning for help to Jerry Seinfeld." Huh? Microsoft is hoping to appeal to the Gen Y demo—people in their 20s—by hiring a spokesman who is 54? Better yet: Seinfeld will be appearing in the commercials alongside Bill Gates himself, who doesn't exactly conjure up an image of cool with iPod-listening, Macbook-carrying hipsters on the L train. The $300 million campaign, which will debut on Sept. 4th, will be promoting Microsoft's Vista operating system, which, company officials acknowledge, has generated a "negative public perception." (That's probably because it sucks.) Why did Seinfeld decide to participate? We're guessing it may have had something to do with the $10 million paycheck.

In an effort to promote its poxy Windows Vista operating system, Microsoft is paying Jerry Seinfeld $10 million for an endorsement, the Wall Street Journal reported this morning. Yes, because if there's one surefire way to convince everyone Vista is cool, cutting edge and not liable to get frazzled by life's minor complications, it's hiring a 1990s sitcom star and professional kvetcher! Who, um, very visibly owned a series of Macs on his show. This is Microsoft's worst promotional concept since, well, since its last Vista campaign, the Mojave Experiment, which decisively proved that people hate Vista but will use it if they are tricked into thinking it's something else, like a stable, functional tool. Here's how Madison Avenue is responding:

A gaggle of iPhone programmers have figured out a way to solve the iPhone's most embarrassing shortcoming: The inability to cut and paste text between applications. OpenClip creates a shared clipboard that doesn't violate Apple's technical restrictions on iPhone applications. It works, but only for applications that are updated to use OpenClip to access the clipboard. The demo starts at 0:58 into the jargony video report above.

Credit InfoWorld's Tom Yager this: He's open with his failings. Perhaps too open. In his latest column "In memory of iPhone 3G," a review of Apple's mobile device, Yager writes, "Well, this is embarrassing but I might as well blurt it out: The iPhone 3G that Apple loaned to me was stolen." But Yager needn't fear Apple. They'll certainly let him test future devices after the warm review he gave this one. Instead, its the rest of us — or those of us that drive — that should fear Yager's testing method:

As if fanboys of Apple and Google weren't shrill and relentless enough! The American Customer Satistfaction Index has ranked Apple tops in personal computers and Google tops in Internet portals and search engines. Yahoo's score in the latter category slipped, proving that any publicity may not, in fact, be good publicity. Both companies improved their scores significantly over the previous year, and both are running well ahead of the competition. Of course, thanks to Google it took mere milliseconds to find that orgasmic Apple MacBook Pro unboxing that I promise will make you throw up a little in your mouth.

Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry claims “there have been multiple cases of overheating and fire damage, in particular during recharging" iPod Nanos sold during the model's first year of production in 2005. An Apple spokesperson confirmed that “in very rare cases”, batteries in first generation iPod Nanos sold between September 2005 and December 2006 can overheat. Full statement from Apple:

After claiming over and over that MobileMe migration problems had only affected "1 percent" of us who use Apple's hosted email service, the company sent out an apology and a free extra 60 days of service to all MobileMe users Monday night. Cash value: $16.27.

A year and some after the Facebook platform's launch, few of its widgetmakers have made any real money — unless you count the venture capital they've raised. Just a month after the iPhone 3G launch, Apple CEO Steve Jobs says that $30 million has already changed hands through the iTunes App Store. Even the guy behind the do-nothing "I Am Rich" application made a few thousand bucks. So you, wantrepreneur Web developer, you're thinking: Gee, I made, like, four-and-a-half Facebook Zombie widgets this past year. Maybe I should cook myself up an iPhone app. But hold on there, Steve Jobs Jr. Do you really know what you're getting yourself into?According to Iminlikewithyou's Charles Forman, who's working on porting his startup's copycat games to the iPhone, there's not much in common between the platforms besides the word "app."

Apple is now saying that the recent fire at its Valley Green building is worse than previously thought. The original damage report: "Not very big, but there is going to be a lot of smoke damage." The revision: $2 million worth of repairs needed, with extensive damage done to the roof. The cause of the blaze is still unknown, though reports are saying that the fire burned for more than 3 hours before coming under control. Quick: Someone go buy 10,000 iPhones! [Ars Technica]

"A MacBook is in the same ballpark as a roughly similar Dell or HP, and less than a Sony." That's the conclusion of Technologizer editor Harry McCracken, after running the numbers several different ways on competing notebooks. The MacBook didn't win most hardware categories, but it came out well-rounded, with superior warranty service and media software. McCracken, until recently the editor in chief of PC World, was infamous among local tech journalists for toting Apple laptops to work.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Apple's engineers are working on a software upgrade to fix problems with the iPhone 3G's "immature chipset and radio protocol stack," the most likely cause for complaints that the new models drop calls a lot when in 3G mode. Apple uses a custom chip made by Infineon, a German supplier. Officially, no one is saying anything. In reality, "people familiar with the matter" are getting out the word for the companies involved. (Photo by AP/Paul Sakuma)

Best Buy will begin selling Apple iPhones this September, but it won't make much or any money at all doing so, according to retail analyst Colin McGranahan, who writes in a not the chain won't markup the phone more than $50 if at all. So why's Best Buy doing it? One, to sell higher-margin accessories like iPhone cases and speakers. Two, iPhone buyers are the kind of customers Best Buy wants to see more of in its stores — wealthy, and happily swayed by good marketing into buying the lastest shiny new objects.

A security company that crawls the Net turned up personal information for between 100 and 200 users of Apple's MobileMe email service, stored on a server used by phishing scammers. By contacting victims, investigators at CardCops learned that they'd fallen for this week's unusually convincing MobileMe scam. Which really raises the question: Why are most phishing emails so obviously phony? [InfoWorld]

Nancy Heinen, former general counsel for Apple, has reached a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission. She neither admits nor denies wrongdoing over charges that she forged board documents to backdate executive stock options — instead, she gets to avoid a trial. Heinen also agrees to pay $2.2 million and is barred from serving as an officer of a public company or practicing law before the SEC for five years. Who will sculpt a bust wreathed with laurels in the honor of a woman who so courageously fell on her sword for tyrant CEO Steve Jobs? [WSJ]