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Morning, everyone!

Despite the rainy weather today, we've got some good news on the Apple front! After thirty years of dominance, Apple's closing the gap between itself and Microsoft faster than ever.

Movin' On Up
Although both companies were started in the dawn of personal computer time in the 1970s, Microsoft was the top earner from the very beginning. It grew more quickly, sold more product, garnered more market share, and by the 1990s had a market cap of approximately $270 billion dollars to Apple $5 billion. But you all know what happened next...Steve Jobs came back. His innovations and tight fisted leadership increased the company's revenue over the years and made last quarter's crazy profits a reality.

We bet that Microsoft wishes it hadn't invested all that money in Apple in 1997--$150 million to be exact--because now, the formerly inconsequential computer company is nipping at the giant's heels. For instance, Apple's stock has risen about 900% in the past ten years, while Microsoft has seen a 35% fall. Apple has the innovation and imagination necessary for continued growth in the market and Microsoft had better watch its back!

Safari Security
Apple released Safari 4.0.4 yesterday and if you haven't downloaded it yet, hie thee to Software Update! It fixes laggy JavaScript, enhances history search and makes third party plugins more secure. But the real kicker is down deeper in the update--it addresses quite a few security flaws in applications that run WebKit, Safari's rendering engine. Windows Safari user? Yeah, this applies to you too. Download, restart...you know the drill.

New Use for Facebook
We live here, so it's ok for us to say that this kind of stuff only happens in New York. In what seems to be the first case of a social networking update used as evidence for the defense, a Harlem teen was released from a robbery charge based on the time he updated his Facebook. Seriously. It served as his alibi for a mugging at gunpoint and saved him some serious jail time...Congress's 2006 decision to admit electronically stored information as evidence usually helps out the prosecution more, but this time it definitely came to a young man's defense.

How long 'till Apple pulls up alongside Microsoft? Wager on Twitter!

Till tomorrow, Newsies...