Hot News provided by Apple.

• Snow Leopard Server “a tremendous value”

In an in-depth review of Mac OS X Snow Leopard Server, Ryan Faas (computerworld.com) cites “performance gains, improvements to several collaboration tools introduced in Leopard Server, enhanced simple administration for non-technical users and new features designed for mobile access and for supporting the iPhone.” Adds Fass: “Snow Leopard Server is a tremendous value.”


• New Quad-Core iMac “worth the wait”

Reviewer James Galbraith (macworld.com) gives the new quad-core 27-inch iMac computers with Intel Core i5 and Core i7 “Nehalem” processors 4.5/5 mice, calling them “worth the wait.” In performance tests, writes Galbraith, the 2.55GHz Core i5 iMac was “the fastest standard configuration Mac we’ve ever tested” and the Core i7 “showed even greater performance prowess.”


• “The Obama Time Capsule”

A custom coffee table book by co-author and publisher Rick Smolan takes you back to — and into — the story of Obama’s rise to the presidency. Says co-author and publisher Rick Smolan: “Every component of this project, from photo editing to design to video, was created entirely on a Mac.”


• Cutting Health Care Costs on a Mac

Using a Mac Pro as the keystone of his rural radiology practice in Bemidji, Minnesota, Dr. Hilton Bakker is able not only to reduce the costs of his own practice but those of the hospitals who use his services. Says Bakker: “If hospitals can use Mac technology to do radiology cheaper, that’s my goal. Health care costs too much. If I can do my little bit to make it cheaper, that’s cool.”


• Mac mini with Snow Leopard Server a “fantastic deal”

Reviewer Jason Snell (macworld.com) awards Mac mini with Snow Leopard Server 4.5/5 mice, calling it a “fantastic product for workgroups, small businesses, and even schools to use.” Emphasing value, Snell adds: “Mac mini server is just too good a deal to pass up.”


• Nuru Uses Macs to Fight Extreme Poverty

Jim Dalrymple (loopinsight.com) reports on one-year-old non-profit organization Nuru, formed by ex-Marine platoon leader Jake Harriman, who “served two tours of duty in Iraq where he realized that the key to ending terrorism was to end extreme poverty.” To that end, Nuru educates communities in impoverished nations using technology, particularly Mac Pro and MacBook Pro computers, iPhone, Final Cut Studio, iChat, and MobileMe.


• Apple Store Upper West Side

Apple opens its newest retail store on New York’s Upper West Side on Saturday, November 14 at 10:00 a.m. Set beneath a breathtaking all-glass arched roof, the street level of the Apple Store Upper West Side will offer more Macs, iPods and iPhones than any store in the world and feature the largest area ever created by Apple for personal training and technical support, including a 45-foot Genius Bar.


• Taking iPhone to New Depths

At DOER Marine, a California company that designs and builds subsea vehicles, engineers are working to create a manned vehicle that can explore the ocean floor. VP of Operations Ian Griffith credits iPhone for keeping their engineering team responsive and nimble enough to make it happen — no matter where they are in the world. “The iPhone accelerates how we perform as a team,” says Griffith.