ripoff
Latest
Mac "G6" now available for $499
Want an Intel-based Mac but don't want to pay Apple's prices? A company called Red PCs may have what you're looking for -- if you're willing to face the wrath of Apple's lawyers. Red PC is now offering something they're calling a "PowerPC G6 Macintosh" for $499. According to the specs, the box is basically a generic Pentium-based PC running a hacked version of the Intel version of Mac OS X. For your $499, the company is also throwing in copies of Photoshop CS2 and Microsoft Office 2004, making this quite the deal, given that Photoshop alone can go for over $400. But, then, we assume you're prepared to deal with Adobe and Microsoft's lawyers as well if you're ready to buy this. Unfortunately (or fortunately, as the case may be), the Red PCs web site seems to be down, though the machine is still listed on the Alibaba.com site as available for purchase with free global shipping and a one-year warranty.[Via OSX86]
Keepin' it real fake, part XXVII: Samsung admits to knocking off Apple
We all know the Korean companies raging against the Chinese knockoff artists aren't exactly innocent of taking "design inspiration" themselves. As soon as one comes up with an original design, the other knocks it off and vice versa until it spins out of control into hideously mutated 10 megapixel cameraphones. But one thing you won't see them do is admit it -- until now. We're lacking hard detail on the assuredly pride-crushing debacle, but according to Telecoms Korea, in an interview with Korean publication Yonhap News Samsung fessed up to plagiarizing the menu icons and design work in their SCH-V890 and SPH-V8900 handsets from none other than Cupertino's finest. Not that anyone should really be surprised or anything that a company knocked off Apple's design, but you know what they say about the steps to recovery: the first step is admission that you have a problem.
RIM's BlackBerry to battle "RedBerry" clone in China
In a surprising turn of events, China has decided to create a cheap domestic rip off of a popular product. With RIM finally readying the BlackBerry for its Chinese release, after a couple of years of delays, China Unicom has launched a "RedBerry" service that will offer push email to current subscribers on their existing CDMA handsets. Never the type to shy away from copyright infringement, China Unicom issued a press release stating: "The RedBerry name extends the vivid name of BlackBerry that people are already familiar with, and it also combines the new red symbol of China Unicom." Good to know they're feeling chipper about it. So far there's no word from RIM, but if a lawsuit doesn't end this there could be some stiff competition in the low-end between the services since the RedBerry offering sounds to be considerably cheaper than RIM's.[Thanks, Paul]
