Friday, April 27, 2007

iTunes Movies in Europe!

MacWorld.co.uk reported that Apple's vice-president for Europe, Pascal Cagni, revealed that Apple has plans to add Movies to the iTunes Store in Europe before the end of the year. It was previously reported that the latest version of iTunes includes rating for TV shows and Movies in Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand and the UK. The UK rating had only Movies rating while all other countries have both Movies and TV Shows ratings. This comment by Pascal Cagni appears to corroborate this previous report and should mean that TV Shows and Movies are coming outside the US very soon.

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

120 GB iPod soon?

Samsung announced today a new 1.8" 120 GB hard drive that could be used in new iPods. Many reports were previously saying that Apple might be looking at releasing Flash only full size iPods. This would make sense considering the advantage of Flash memory, but it is unlikely that Apple will move towards a Flash only iPod lineup so soon. The demand for large video files and higher quality songs is increasing and Apple will not want to release an iPod that stores less songs than its predecessor. Apple could possibly go with a 32 GB flash video iPod and a 120 GB hard drive video iPod.

Saturday, April 21, 2007

New version of VLC!

A new version of VLC was released earlier this week. It is now version 0.8.6b (it was 0.8.6 before). I noticed a few improvements including one that was actually stopping me from using it as a full QuickTime replacement. Download it here!

Thursday, April 19, 2007

Aperture and Security update!

Apple just released today an Aperture and a Security update. Both updates are available through the "Software Update" software. The security update is recommended to all users and should be done as soon as possible.

Sunday, April 15, 2007

Final Cut Server, Final Cut Studio 2 and more!

The NAB conference saw the announcement of a new Final Cut Server that will be priced at $999 US for 10 users or $1999 US for an unlimited number of users. Also released alongside is a new version of Final Cut Pro 6, Motion 3, Soundtrack Pro 2, Compressor 3 and DVD Studio Pro 4. These new versions and the new application called Color will form the new Final Cut Studio 2 that will be sold for $1299 or $499 Upgrade or $699 Upgrade from an older version. Apple also announced an IO-HD box that will convert within the hardware into ProRes 422. The IO-HD box will be available in July and Final Cut Studio 2 will be coming in May.

Saturday, April 14, 2007

NAB tomorrow!

Apple already announced that they will hold a special event at NAB tomorrow. After the 8 core Mac Pro that appeared last week, many are expecting Final Cut Pro updates and I think it is safe to assume it is one of the most likely possibility. We will all see what is really coming tomorrow and I will be posting on the site throughout the presentation with updates and news! The event is at 11 am PDT and at 2 pm EDT.

Thursday, April 12, 2007

Finder gets a new look!

http://www.hackint0sh.org/ has posted some screenshots of the new Leopard build that was just seeded to the developers. It looks like the Finder is moving away from the brushed metal look to adopt the new look of iTunes 7.0. Copy of the screeshot here:

Leopard officially delayed!

Apple announced today that Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard is delayed until October. The delays are reportedly because of the iPhone. The development of the iPhone apparently occupied Apple software engineer. Apple feels the current version of Leopard has too many issues. They say that even though the features will all be present in Leopard by the WWDC in June, they wouldn't deliver the quality release they usually offers.

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

MGM and United Artists Movies now on iTunes!

MGM and United Artists Movies appeared on the United States iTunes Store today. The studios now selling movies on iTunes are Lionsgate, Paramount, Disney, United Artists and MGM. Let's hope Apple is planning on offering this great content outside the US soon.

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

New ad for Apple TV!

Apple started a new ad campaign yesterday. It is about the Apple TV:

Friday, April 6, 2007

Predictions for NAB!

Apple has already announced that they will hold a special event at NAB on April 15th. Many speculations were surrounding an 8 core Mac Pro. The 8 core option was however released this week. We were all kind of taken by surprise but it gives us a lot of information on what to expect at the event. We must keep in mind that NAB is entirely oriented towards professionals, which makes iMac/Mac Mini updates and a Leopard preview very unlikely. The fact that Apple released the 8 core this week also tells us that they wanted to get this out of the way and they didn't want to lose time at the event on this. It is most likely because they have something big coming. The most likely options are now a new version of Final Cut Studio and perhaps a new version of Logic. There is only one thing that is certain however and it's that we'll be impressed by whatever is coming because the circumstances show that it won't be just a regular update.

Wednesday, April 4, 2007

Octo Core Mac Pro Released!

Apple updated the store this morning with a new option for the Mac Pro: 8 core. This update has been long anticipated. The 8 core option is only an added Built-to-Order and is not in the base configuration. The option is for a 3.0 GHz 8 Core Clovertown and costs an additional $1498 over the base 2.66GHz Quad. There has been no price drop for the 2.0, 2.66 or 3.0 GHz Quad Core Woodcrest. The option is currently only available on the US and Canadian Apple Store. The other store will most likely be updated, but not necessarily today, depending on stock of the Quad-Core Clovertown in different production places.

Monday, April 2, 2007

DRM-free music!

Steve Jobs announced in the press conference this morning that the entire EMI catalog is going to be available DRM free and at a better quality. The encoding is going to be 256 kbps. The options when buying EMI music, starting in May:

$0.99 DRM 128 kbps music
$1.29 no DRM 256 kbps music
$9.99 no DRM 256 kbps album

There will also be a $0.30 option to upgrade the previously purchased track to a no DRM 256 kbps version.

Sunday, April 1, 2007

Steve Jobs' press conference tomorrow!

Macworld.co.uk reports that Steve Jobs will be present at a press conference tomorrow, Monday April 2nd. It is a joint Apple and EMI press conference. Macworld confirmed that it is not concerning the addition of the Beatles to the iTunes store catalog. Rumors point to an introduction of DRM-free music on the store.