September 8 - 11:45pm EDT   While still shy of its anticipated 242 retail locations, Apple will open a fifth Ohio store on Saturday, while Melbourne will see the third Australian store. In Ohio, the Crocker Park location will open its doors at 10am, bringing a nearly two year long construction to an end, according to ifoAppleStore. Little was known about the location until it recently was adorned with typical Apple Store architecture. For months at a time, the former construction site saw little to no activity. [full story]

March 12 - 11:40am EDT   Apple has added a third store to its opening roster for Australia for this year. The company now plans to debut two stores in Sydney in the CBD and in Chatswood and another in Chadstone, Victoria. The Sydney Morning Herald reports that Apple is now putting the finishing touches on its three-level flagship store in the Sydney CBD, located on the corner of George Street and King Street. That store will reportedly sport the transparent glass edifice made famous at other flagship stores, along with a large, white suspended Apple logo. Sydney's store will also feature a glass staircase, which will connect the three levels. The store is expected to be open by June. [full story]

February 5 - 5:00pm EST   Linux creator Linus Torvalds recently blasted Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard for having a file system that is "complete and utter crap" at a Linux conference in Melbourne. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Torvalds says that while he prefers Leopard to Windows Vista, both companies are guilty of using their respective operating systems as a way of exacting control over their users, forcing both software and hardware upgrades upon them. This was in response to a query on what he felt regarding the two systems. [full story]

January 9 - 11:35am EST   The first of Apple's planned retail stores in Melbourne, Australia has been confirmed. Although talk had originally pointed to a streetfront store, the beginning of Apple's presence in the city can be found inside the Chadstone Shopping Center, where a construction barrier marked "Apple opening soon" has been erected in front of an outlet next to Nike Women. The location is said to be two to two-and-a-half times wider than most normal ones in the mall. [full story]