By Glenn Chapman
Agence France-Presse

SAN FRANCISCO — A “Tap Tap Dance” videogame built exclusively for Apple’s hip iPhones was launched Thursday, challenging users to stay in rhythm with songs by tapping the device’s screen in time to the music.

Offering an Internet-age stage for a new generation of musicians, the game is the brainchild of Tapulous, a start-up based in Palo Alto, California.

“We went from a game familiar to people that play ‘Guitar Hero’ or ‘Rock Band’ to something more similar to an interactive music video,” said Tapulous chief executive Bart Decrem. “We are really pushing forward and defining our own experience. We are really proud of that.”

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By Agence France-Presse

SAN FRANCISCO — Apple replaced advice on Wednesday that people install anti-virus software on Macintosh computers with assurances that the machines are safe “out of the box.”

The move prompted online speculation as to whether Apple was merely polishing the Macintosh image or that the increasingly popular computers are as impervious to hackers as the California company maintains.

Apple routinely touts how rarely Macintosh computers are afflicted with malicious software as compared to machines based on Microsoft Windows operating systems, which run more than 90 percent of the computers in the world.

On Tuesday Apple removed a 2007 Knowledge Base posting telling people to install “multiple anti-virus utilities” in Macintosh computers to thwart ill-willed software savants with arrays of defenses.

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