User:Whytee/Spymac rewrite1

File:Spymac logo.gif

Spymac is an online community consisting mainly of Apple Mac users. Its website features a online magazine, Mac-related news and product reviews, message boards, e-mail, web hosting, and other services.

History

Spymac was founded as a Mac enthusiast site in late 2001. Spymac now provides paid and free Internet services which are listed below. As of 2006, nearly one million Spymac accounts have been created, although it is not known how many of these accounts are currently active.

One of Spymac's early stories concerned the iWalk, a purported Apple PDA that was to be released on October 23, 2001. The photographs and description were shown to be a hoax, possibly based on the rumors generated by the iPod's development (the iPod was unveiled on the iWalk's purported release date). Early in 2002, Spymac reported on the upcoming release of a similar product, again called iWalk. This article, complete with video of the supposed device, was not conclusively debunked, but criticisms of the video cast doubt on its authenticity [1]. As of 2006, Apple has not produced a PDA.

Spymac launched the Internet's first free, publicly-available e-mail service with 1GB of storage, in April of 2004. This announcement came days after Gmail's heavily publicized beta launch. On January 30, 2006, Spymac attracted criticism when ceased POP3 services to all free accounts.

In 2004, Spymac opened its online store called Spymac Shop, which featured a line of notebook cases produced by Spymac, computer accessories and office furniture. Spymac Shop has since been discontinued.

Products and Services

Spymac - Spymac offers a group of free services available to all members, including 1 GB e-mail (no POP access), web hosting, iCal hosting, member profile, member forum, blog and photo sharing through the Spymac Gallery.
Gallery - An open-to-all-members image gallery at Spymac. The Gallery allows users to upload their photographs and have them rated by peers for whatever qualities the photos may possess.
Spymac Club - Released in mid-November 2005, Club replaced Spymac's Wheel and MailPro services. It includes a blog, e-mail, a homepage with 3GB of storage, and a suite of applications that allow access to Spymac's features from a user's desktop. It was originally scheduled to be released in September 2005, however the release was delayed due to "unexpected issues" [2].
Spymac Hosting - Paid web hosting using Spymac's proprietory hosting software, on servers located in the same facility as Spymac's own web servers.

The Apple Collection

The Apple Collection is a part of the Spymac Network - a group of web sites affiliated with Spymac. The Apple Collection collects pictures, posted on the internet, which contain the Apple logo. It provides galleries of these images listed by category and many desktop pictures.

The Apple Collection was subject to controversy when it was revealed that it contained pictures taken from Spymac's user-submitted image galleries. This resulted in claims by some members that The Apple Collection had infringed upon their copyright by including their original work, uploaded to Spymac's image galleries ^[3].

Contests

Spymac regularly has contests and giveaways involving prizes. The website has given away iPods, iPod minis, Spymac Sunglasses, subscriptions to Spymac services, and many other items to its community. Some contest are made open to members, and non-members alike.

Some contest winners have claimed that they have not received their prizes [4][5].

External links

Footnotes

^ A web site containing a statement from The Apple Collection owner Mr David Vincent.