Didn't you hate it when you were a kid, and you would complain to an adult about something one of your siblings was doing, just to end up getting yourself in more trouble than they ended up in?

Well, you might say that's exactly what is happening to Palm and the ongoing dispute with Apple over the Pre's ability to sync with iTunes. The company has landed itself in some hot water after drawing the attention of the USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF) by filing a complaint against Apple for violating "the letter and spirit of the USB-IF Membership Agreement," which is "intended to facilitate interoperability between USB devices."

What that's referring to, of course, are Apple's repeated attempts to block the Palm Pre from syncing with iTunes. The whole question of whether or not Apple is in the wrong by doing so is entirely debatable, but the USB-IF seems to be of the opinion that Apple is following the letter of the law:

"In the view of the USB-IF, Palm's allegation (if true) does not establish that Apple is using its Vendor ID (VID) contrary to the USB-IF's policies... Therefore, under present USB-IF policies, the USB-IF does not consider the alleged use, without more, to be 'improper.'"

To summarize, the USB-IF does not believe that Apple is in violation of the agreement, based on the information provided in Palm's complaint. What is interesting with this chain of events is how Palm continues to shoot itself in the foot trying to find a resolution. Rather than work out a deal with Apple or write a custom application to legitimately communicate with iTunes, Palm has chosen the sly path of attempting to trick iTunes into working with the Pre, first by simply identifying the device as an iPod that was made by Palm, to actually using Apple's assigned USB vendor identifiers to completely masquerade as a true Apple iPod.

Perhaps even more startling, however, is that Palm is completely open about the whole process, even going as far as detailing the workaround in the complaint to the USB-IF, saying "Palm will shortly issue an update of its WebOS operating system that uses Apple's Vendor ID number for the sole purpose of restoring the Palm media sync functionality." Although openness is usually a good thing, it seems that Palm may have encountered too much of a good thing: the USB-IF turned the tables, and hinted that Palm itself may be in violation of its own agreement (emphasis added):

I attach for your information the USB-IF's adopted and published policy regarding Vendor Identification Numbers (VIDs). Under the Policy, Palm may only use the single Vendor ID issued to Palm for Palm's usage. Usage of any other company's Vendor ID is specifically precluded. Palm's expressed intent to use Apple's VID appears to violate the attached policy.

Please clarify Palm's intent and respond to this potential violation within seven days.

What's next for Palm? Will the company finally decide to work something out with Apple? Will Palm start embedding USB chips out of refurbished iPhones so that it isn't technically misreporting the device's identity? Only time will tell, and in the meantime, at least we can look back and say "Palm, we told you so."

As Dave and Mike discussed during last night's talkcast, Sunday's episode of The Simpsons included plenty of wink-wink-nudge-nudge references to our favorite fruit company. (The video is also available on Hulu.com.)

Lisa discovers a "Mapple store" has appeared in the Springfield Mall, complete with "myPods," "myPhones," and even a "Brainiac Bar." Comic Book Guy wants to know why OS 4.2 is built so poorly, and Krusty the Klown wants to get rid of his myPod.

Mapple CEO "Steve Mobbs" also makes an appearance, with typical Simpsons hilarity ensuing. While not particularly biting social commentary, the sketch pokes fun at Apple Mapple customers' willingness to shell out big bucks for their products.

The Simpsons have taken on Apple before, with the now-famous Newton "eat up Martha" gag. You might say this is one more thing to add to the list of gags that The Simpsons have done. In the words of Steve Mobbs and Steve Jobs, it's "insanely great."

Thanks to everyone who sent this in!

Apple's Get a Mac ads have inarguably struck a chord with both the advertising and our culture. People clearly either love 'em, hate 'em or wanna spoof 'em, and one only needs to comb our archives or check YouTube to see what we mean. Recently, Novell (yea, the Linux guys) tossed their hand into the mix with their own spoofs which debuted at their BrainShare conference (which you can attend virtually). The first video, linked here at YouTube, plays off the Win/Mac rivalry and pokes fun at how the industry often ignores Linux and its surprising (to some) user base size. The second video, embedded in this post, is arguably funnier, as it does a great job of poking fun at the way Microsoft and Apple market their products while pointing out open source software's advantage of being a community effort. They're both good for a chuckle and a nice effort from Novell, or whoever actually put them together.

Thanks, geezer.

The folks over at iPhone Hacks have posted a spoof (read: this is fake) of an upcoming Apple product that minimizes the functionality and branding of the recently release iPhone. The new iPhone shuffle (again, this is fake kids) carries the slogan of "Life is random," and its ground-breaking industrial design indeed conveys this idea with the exclusion of most typical phone features such as a full keypad and screen. Details are slim, but the iPhone shuffle appears to feature nothing but the soon-to-be-iconic singular iPhone button, presumably for dialing friends, family and co-workers completely at random. Since we can assume the iPhone shuffle synchronizes contacts from your Mac or PC (or possibly just a random selection of them?), it is likely that you have a good chance of calling someone you know and possibly even want to talk to.

Not much else is known about the iPhone shuffle, though I think it is also safe to assume that its price could lean more towards an introductory demographic, due to its extremely minimal design. Unfortunately, Apple declined to comment as to when the iPhone's little brother will come to market, or, surprisingly, whether the device exists at all.

[via Macitt]

The other day, I posted about a Zune video riff on "I'm a Mac", fully convinced that it was a fanboy production. After all, you can't "squirt" video from one Zune to another (at least without resorting to the "rename-it-as-a-jpeg" hack) and it takes more than a single button hit to send data, and so forth. Lots of inaccuracies.

So I was surprised to find out on the semi-official Zune Insider blog that the spoof video actually came from Microsoft itself. The video was first screened at an internal Microsoft meeting, and had the Microsoft people "rolling". Like the "Microsoft designs the iPod package" video, it was meant for an internal Microsoft audience, but someone leaked it to Youtube.

I was waiting for someone to add Linux into the mix, and TrueNuff TV did a pretty good job with a series of Mac Spoofs. Parodying (of course) the latest series of love-em-or-(mostly)-hate-em ads, TrueNuff has produced 6 spoofs that poke fun at the Mac, though Linux, admittedly, takes quite a beating as well (but c'mon - it's Linux!). The spoofs are featured at TrueNuff TV's site and also on YouTube. Enjoy.

Hooray for music television stations that do anything but these days: VH1's 'Best Week Ever' has spoofed the new Mac ads, and we have to say: they're pretty darn funny. They might not be safe for work (mild language), but they did a good job of capturing the somewhat pretentious and put-off attitude of 'the Mac'. Enjoy.

Mad TV has produced one of the raunchier iPod spoofs we've seen to date (meaning: probably not safe for work) in the form of an advertisement of, how shall we say, pads for women who 'think different'. The 'iPad' ad wins bonus points for coming complete with a spoof of the iPod silhouette ads and a mock voice-over of Bono.

We get all sorts of interesting email here at the TUAW compound. Stephen sent us this spoof of 'Broke Back Mountain' entitled 'Broke Mac Mountain,' which is very amusing. I especially enjoyed the line, 'Actually, it's pretty common.'

I suppose this would be rated PG-13, so do with that info what you will.