Airport Extreme now shipping

According to our sources, the new Airport Extreme Base Station is now shipping. It will most likely appear in store this week.

802.11n enabler released

Apple quietly released the 802.11n enabler today at the same time as the new shuffle. It is sold for $1.99 US on the Apple Store. It works for all Core 2 Duo (Except 17" 1.83 GHz) and Xeon Mac.

New colored iPod shuffle

Apple just released four new iPod shuffle. The specs are the same and they come in pink, green, blue and orange. The price point is the same at $79 in the US.

Apple Store is down!

It seems that the rumors were true as the Apple Store is down!

More iPod shuffle or new softwares?

MacRumors claims to have received more reports confirming new products for tomorrow, Tuesday. There would be four new products at $79. The most possible options are new colored iPod shuffle or new softwares. It could also possibly be the introduction of iWork 07 and iLife 07. They weren't released at Macworld and these products have always been released in early January. Despite the speculation, only tomorrow will tell! Stay tuned!

Possibility of a new iPod for tomorrow?

AppleInsider reports that Apple may be launching a new iPod model tomorrow, Tuesday. According to the report, this would not be a complete new model such as the widescreen iPod but more a complement to the existing line. The rumor includes the possibility of a 2GB Red Nano or a Beatles special edition iPod.

45 nm Intel chips

According to the NY Times, Intel demoed the new 45 nm chips that are scheduled to be released by the end of the year. Apple is apparently involved in the testing on Mac OS X. The 45 nm chips will be a lot more powerful and run cooler compared to the existing 65 nm chips.

Apple launches new ads in the UK

Most of the new ads are the same ads already shown in the US refilmed for the UK. It seems that there is one ad that is exclusive to the UK however. You can see the ads here on the Apple UK site.

Possible event for February 1st

MacRumors has just posted an image of a possible invitation for a February 1st special event. There is no confirmation yet as to whether it is a fake or not.

Airport Extreme Update 2007-001

Apple just released an Airport Extreme update for Intel Mac. It weighs 7.4 MB. Apple description: This update is recommended for all Intel-based Macintosh computers and provides compatibility with AirPort Extreme base stations and networks.

10.4.9 expected very soon

Apple has once again released a new version of the 10.4.9 update today. Unlike previous versions, Apple reports three known issues with this version. The pace at which Apple is releasing the beta to the developers points to a release in the near future.

WWDC 2007 in June?

According to AppleInsider, the 2007 Worldwide Developers' Conference will be taking place from June 10th to 15th. Last year WWDC saw the introduction of the Mac Pro and a lengthy Leopard preview. AppleInsider also reports that a new Mac will be introduced at this year Developers' conference.

Leopard screenshots

Some brand new Leopard screenshots were just posted on Flickr. Some of the new features shown in these screenshots include: new screensavers based on Core Animation, tabbed Terminal and new options in Parental Controls.

Security update 2007-001

Apple released a security update today to solve security flaws in QuickTime. Security updates should be installed as soon as possible.

802.11n draft to be compatible with the final version

According to Infoworld, the draft version 1.1 of wireless standard 802.11n has been approved. A draft version 2 is expected to come before the final approval in 2008. The approval of the draft 1.1 is a good news for Apple and would mean that a simple firmware upgrade would make their n card compatible with the final version.

New features in Keynote 4 require Core Animation

MacRumors reports that the Keynote presentation Steve Jobs presented at MacWorld San Francisco was based on the version 4 of Keynote. The Keynote reportedly included some new transition based on Core Animation, one of the big new feature in Leopard. This could explain why iWork '07 hasn't been released yet as most of the new features seem to be dependant on the new 10.5 operating system.

Led blacklight on MacBook Pro

AppleInsider reports that Apple will update the 15" MacBook Pro to a Led backlight. This would greatly improve light eveness, colors and energy efficiency. It might raise the cost however. The 13" and 17" model will reportedly by updated later in the year.

iPhone ringtone

MacRumors.com posted the iPhone ringtone. It is pretty cool.

Also some more site posting the iPhone skin and ringtone were sent cease and desist letters.

SATA Xserve RAID prototype

AppleInsider reports that a SATA Xserve Raid prototype escaped the grip of Apple. This is very suprising when taking into consideration the high security surrounding unreleased Apple product. The pictures are very impressive. I suggest you take a look.

Leopard 10.5 update for Developers

An update to Mac OS X Leopard 10.5 is now available to developers. The last update date as far back as December 13th. This indicates that Leopard is well underway and should ship in time. Apple is still talking of Spring 2007 for the release.

802.11n update price confirmed at $1.99

Apple confirmed that an upgrade price of $1.99 will be required for all owner of Core 2 Duo and Xeon Intel Mac who want to upgrade to the wireless 802.11n standard. A simple firmware update will be needed.

iPhone margin

According to the analyst group iSuppli, the components in the iPhone will totalize a cost of $230. This doesn't take into consideration the cost of manufacturing, research, development, adverstising, warranty, etc... It is still quite a good markup since the $500 price tag requires a two years contract. This leads to the possibility that there could be future price drop!

Possible Apple announcement on February 4th

According to the TorontoSun, Apple has a special announcement planned for February 4th with a SuperBowl commercial. This announcement could possibly refer to the Apple/Beatles rumors here:

The TorontoSun reports that Apple and the Beatles would be about to announce the release date for the Beatles catalog on iTunes. There are two possibilities according to the article: release the songs gradually in the next months or release all the content at once at the beginning of June.

Intel sales are sky high but profits are down

The chip maker Intel Corp. reached a peak in processor sale but their profits are surpisingly down by 39 %. According to AppleInsider, this could be associated with the ongoing price war between Intel and AMD.

No iPhone theme on other brand

Apple's lawyers requested from website offering iPhone style theme for other mobile phone to stop selling them immediately.

10.4.9 coming soon

The Mac OS X update 10.4.9 will be released very soon as a new version of the update was released to developer this week for further testing.

802.11n update

The new base station introduced last week includes installer to upgrade the latest Core 2 Duo and Xeon Mac to 802.11n wireless. Many were wondering why you were forced to buy this new base station to get the high speed n wireless capability. According to iLounge, a law limits Apple power to add a new functionality for free after the product shipped. It still doesn't explain why it is not included with the Apple TV. It is rumored that Apple will sell this wireless n unlocker for $4.99 at a later date.

Apple TV is Intel based

AppleInsider just reported that the chip located in the Apple TV is a portable Pentium M processor. It is apparently Yonah predecessor called Crofton. It is a 1GHz chip with 2 MB of cache. The Apple TV also includes 256 MB of ram and an nVidia G72M with 64 MB of video ram.

iTunes and QuickTime update

A new version, iTunes 7.1 and QuickTime 7.1.5 are planned to be released within the next month and it will add AppleTV compatibility.

While our sources had previously reported that the Apple TV would begin shipping at the end of January, some customers have just informed us that they received an estimated shipping date of late February when ordering.

iPhone info

David Pogue posted additional information on the iPhone.

Interesting points are:
- No Java
- The iPhone will charge with a white dock similar to the iPod
- The iCal for iPhone is not finished yet but it will be present on the iPhone when it's released
- The screen is made of the same material then the iPod screen but apparently it's been enhanced
- The screen only reacts to skin and cannot be used with nails or a stylus

Microsoft Office 2004 update

Most of us were so engaged by the Macworld announcement this week that we missed this Office 2004 and Office X update. This update is recommended to all Office user and it's available here:

Office 2004
Office X

It can also be downloaded through Microsoft Updater.

Additional iPhone information

According to Macworld.co.uk, the iPhone OS X is only 500 MB in size. Also, one of the biggest complaints regarding the lack of third-party developer was that there would be no way to run Microsoft Office on the iPhone. Apple will apparently respond to this problem by releasing iWork for the iPhone. This could be as early as the next version, iWork '07, which was expected at the keynote but didn't appear.

Negotiations between Apple and Cisco

According to our latest informations, Apple and Cisco were negotiating until the last minute before the keynote, hoping to get an agreement regarding the trademark infringment. It seems that Cisco didn't budge, wanting interopability between the two devices. This was an unacceptable option for Apple.

Some lawyers also mentionned that Cisco might not be the owner of the iPhone trademark anymore as they didn't prove they were using it by the required deadline last year.

4 layers Blu Ray

Just after the presentation of the new 3 layers HD DVD with a possibility of 51GB, the Blu-Ray camp answered with a 4 layers disc capable of holding 100 GB of data. Best of all this four layers disc can be read with the regular Blu-Ray drive currently sold with a simple firmware update. Clearly, if the market adopts the best product, Blu-Ray will be the winner. There are many other things to consider, however, such as which format has the best movie offering. This will probably be the determining point as many consumer are not aware of the technical information and will base their decision on the choice of movies.

iPhone details

Some more information reveals that Cingular has an exclusive contract for the iPhone but also for all future models. According to this reports, other models could join the rank of the iPhone "very soon". It is also rumored that Cingular could release a new data plan exclusive to the iPhone, something that is probably necessary to the success of the iPhone as so many features are dependant of this and data prices are sky high right now.

It's not quite certain yet which carrier will have the iPhone in Europe but possible candidate are O2, Vodafone, Orange and T-Mobile. There is still no word yet about Canada and Apple didn't speak of any possible release date but one of the most likely choice of carrier is Rogers Wireless/Fido.

Apple TV might start shipping in January

According to the manufacturer, the Apple TV will probably begin shipping in January. Apple would be able to ship the first 100,000 this month.

More iPhone info

Many peoples were wondering if third-party apps would be able to run on the iPhone since according to the keynote, the iPhone runs a stripped down version of OS X. It seems that there is very little left from OS X in the iPhone and it is more like an iPod because there won't be any third-party apps except for application developed in collaboration with Apple. Apparently the situation will be very similar to iPod games.

Microsoft announces Office 2008 for Mac

Microsoft has just annouced that the Mac version of Office 2007 will be called Office 2008 for Mac and will be released in the second half of 2007. It will be the first Universal version meaning that it will run both on PowerPC and Intel Mac natively.

Cisco sues Apple for Trademark Infringement

Apple surprised many yesterday with the introduction of the iPhone scheduled to be released in June in the US. Another surprising thing is that Cisco currently holds the iPhone trademark and they released a product called iPhone in December. Many speculation were that they had an agreement. It doesn't seems like it's the case however and Cisco now sues Apple for trademark infringement. Apple will most likely have to deal a financial agreement or it will be forced to change the name. All the details here: http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20070110006120&newsLang=en

Keynote QuickTime

The Keynote QuickTime is now available at
http://events.apple.com.edgesuite.net/j47d52oo/event/

No iLife and iWork 07' and new Airport Extreme Base Station

One of the first MacWorld San Francisco Keynote since a few years without update to iLife and iWork. They are probably dependant on new features in Leopard and will then probably be released alongside 10.5.

There is also a new Airport Extreme Base Station supporting high speed 802.11n networking for five times the speed and two times the range of regular 802.11g. It also comes with three ethernet ports for hooking up wired computers. The base station comes with an enabler that adds 802.11n capability to all Core 2 Duo and Xeon Mac (except the 17" 1.83GHz).

iPhone announced, shipping in June

It is a widescreen iPod, a mobile phone and an Internet Communicator all in one. It runs a stripped down version of OS X.
Syncs photos, music, music videos, podcasts, movies, calendars.
WiFi
GSM/EDGE
Bluetooth
Runs with a regular SIM card
Runs Safari, Mail, Google Maps, Widgets
4 GB $499 US (with 2 years contract with Cingular)
8 GB $599 US (with 2 years contract with Cingular)
Exclusive to Cingular in the US
Available in Europe by the fourth quarter this year
Available in Asia in 2008
More information will be added as it's released.

Apple TV announced, shipping in February

The iTV has just been announced and it is shipping in February. Its brings all your content, music, photos, podcasts, music videos, tv shows and movies from your computer to you tv. Its official name is Apple TV.

USB2, Ethernet, Wifi (b/g/n)
HDMI
RCA
Component
720p HD video
40 GB Hard Drive
$299 US

Apple Store is down!

The online Apple Store is now down for all the updates that will be announced during the keynote.

Mac News!

Is there a better day to introduced this all new "Mac News" website than today when today is the day where many new products will be announced by Apple? Yes, you guessed it, today, we will have a Keynote presented by Steve Jobs at the Macworld San Francisco Expo.

This blog was created because there was no place to find Mac related news in a clear and concise way. It is also following suit with our other site "A New Mac Tip Everyday', created last week. Its web address is tips4mac.blogspot.com

Regarding the keynote, some people like to have the news right away along with great products explanation while others prefer to watch the Keynote QuickTime stream. We decided to please everyone, on this blog, you will have all the news, dissected and explained while on "A New Mac Tip Everyday", we will post the link to the QuickTime stream as soon as it's available without posting any spoiler.

See you later today for all the info on the new Apple products.