MacRumors.com

TUAW reports that U.S. pre-orders for both Wi-Fi and 3G-capable iPads will go live on Apple's site at 5:30 AM Pacific Time / 8:30 AM Eastern Time tomorrow morning. Apple last week announced that pre-orders would begin on March 12th, but did not specify a time in that release.

We asked Apple PR to help you plan your day tomorrow, and they responded:

"Customers can pre-order online at apple.com at 5:30am Pacific time on Friday, March 12."

In addition to pre-orders, U.S. customers will also be able to reserve iPads for pickup at their local Apple retail stores once they become available, guaranteeing product availability and speeding the purchasing process.

While U.S. customers can pre-order any of Apple's six iPad models (three Wi-Fi and three Wi-Fi + 3G) beginning tomorrow, only the Wi-Fi models will be available on the launch date of Saturday, April 3rd. Customers purchasing Wi-Fi + 3G iPad models will need to wait until late April to receive their orders.

International orders for both Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi + 3G iPad lines in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland and the UK will begin shipping in late April as well, although Apple has yet to announce a date that it will begin accepting pre-orders in those countries.

Apple today released Safari 4.0.5 for Mac and Windows, bringing a number of enhancements to Apple's Internet browser application.

This update is recommended for all Safari users and includes improvements to performance, stability, and security including:

- Performance improvements for Top Sites
- Stability improvements for 3rd-party plug-ins
- Stability improvements for websites with online forms and Scalable Vector Graphics
- Fixes an issue that prevented Safari from changing settings on some Linksys routers

Safari 4.0.5 is available via Software Update and Apple's Safari download page. The download weighs in at 30.52 MB (Snow Leopard), 38.59 MB (Leopard), 26.78 MB (Tiger), or 30.18 MB (Windows 7, Vista, and XP).

Consumer Reports yesterday announced the release of new ratings of computer tech support ratings for both laptops and desktop, and while the full details are restricted to subscribers, CNET reveals that Apple dominated the rankings. Not only did Apple top both the overall laptop and desktop categories, but also took top honors in every single sub-category, including problem resolution, phone wait times, phone staff performance, and online support.

For laptop computers, Apple scored 86 out of a possible 100. That's 23 points above its nearest competitor, Lenovo, which scored a 63. In fact, Apple scored the highest in each of the Consumer Reports categories.

Apple saw even better performance in its desktop computers, grabbing a score of 87 and easily out-distancing second-place Dell, which earned a score of only 55. Also of note is Acer, which had by far the lowest tech support scores in the ratings even as it has surged past Apple in U.S. market share by riding the wave of netbook popularity in recent years.

Apple has traditionally performed very well in Consumer Reports' surveys, and last year the company's notebooks even sweeped the magazine's recommendations.

Barnes & Noble today officially acknowledged that it is developing an iPad-specific application that will provide access to content available in the company's eBookstore.

Designed specifically for the iPad, our new B&N eReader will give our customers access to more than one million eBooks, magazines and newspapers in the Barnes & Noble eBookstore, as well as the existing content in their Barnes & Noble digital library. (That includes eBooks and content customers have downloaded to their nook eBook reader.)

The news should not come as a tremendous surprise, as the company already offers a B&N eReader application for the iPhone and iPod touch. Unlike the existing iPhone application, however, Barnes & Noble's eBookstore will offer direct competition with Apple's iBookstore planned for the iPad.

Barnes & Noble's eBookstore allows users to purchase electronic book material and store it online in their "eBook Library". Users who wish to view content on-the-go can download it to their portable devices and view it using the company's eReader applications for a number of different platforms.

Forbes reports on information obtained by App Store research firm Busted Loop as part of its AppSlice project, revealing Apple's plans for eBook categories to be rolled out for its iBookstore.

AppSlice's findings point to a highly organized approach to bookselling. Apple has designated about 20 "top-level" categories for books, including "Fiction & Literature", "Reference," "Romance," "Cookbooks" and "Comics & Graphic Novels." Below those categories lie more than 150 sub-categories, including some very specific genres, such as "Manga" under "Comics & Graphic Novels," "Special Ingredients" under "Cookbooks," and "Etiquette" under "Reference." Some sub-categories, such as "Fantasy" and "Science Fiction & Literature," even have sub-sub-categories ("Historical" and "Paranormal," for example.) There are also two sections for "Erotica" books; one under "Fiction & Literature" and one under "Romance."

The report notes that the apparent categorization system for eBooks, which has reportedly changed several times since the iPad and iBookstore were announced January, appears to offer a great deal more specificity than Apple's App Store, which currently offers 20 different top-level categories with only its "Games" category offering sub-categories for further sorting.

Busted Loop's data also reveals that a little over 10% of the App Store's current applications have already been certified as being iPad-compatible. As with the existing App Store system, the "iPad Wi-Fi" and "iPad 3G" appear as separate entries for developers to list compatibility, as some applications such as those requiring GPS functionality will only be compatible with the 3G models. Likewise, some existing App Store applications such as those utilizing the iPhone's camera will not be compatible with the iPad at all.

BBC News reports that Pink Floyd has won a legal battle with its record label EMI over whether the label should be allowed to distribute digital versions of the band's material on a track-by-track basis as it does through Apple's iTunes Store. Pink Floyd is one of a number of high-profile bands that have objected to the splitting up of what it considers to be single pieces of work.

The rock legends, signed to EMI since 1967, said their contract meant their albums could not be split up without their permission.

A judge agreed, saying the contract contained a clause to "preserve the artistic integrity of the albums".

EMI has been ordered to pay £40,000 ($60,000) in costs, with a further fine to be decided.

Pink Floyd's current contract with EMI was signed prior to the advent of digital download music stores, and the band's lawyers argued that it made little sense that the contract's restrictions against the splitting up of "seamless" material would apply to physical distribution while digital distribution would be treated as a "free-for-all". For its part, EMI argued that use of the word "record" in the contract suggested that the agreement covered only physical media.

Pink Floyd's content remains available on an individual track basis in the iTunes Store, and it is unclear if there will be changes to that arrangement in the near future.

AppleInsider reports that it has received information from sources claiming that iPhone OS 4.0, likely scheduled for release later this year alongside new handset models, will support multitasking by allowing multiple applications to run simultaneously. The report, however, offers no details on how this will be implemented beyond noting that it will take advantage of interfact technology used in Mac OS X.

People with a proven track record in predicting Apple's technological advances tell AppleInsider that the Cupertino-based company has developed a "full-on solution" to multitasking on the iPhone OS but offered no specifics on how the technology would optimize resource conservation and battery life -- two of the most critical issues surrounding the matter, alongside security.

From a user-facing perspective, Apple plans to deliver a multi-tasking manager that leverages interface technology already bundled with its Mac OS X operating system, according to those same people. It was requested that specifics be withheld at this time, as the iPhone Software 4.0 remains under development and reportedly has a quite 'way to go' before it's ready for prime time.

A separate report several months ago indicated that iPhone OS 4.0 will include multitasking, although the OS was at the time expected by some to be introduced at Apple's late January media event where it introduced the iPad.

Apple last year implemented Push Notifications as a means to allow applications to offer information to users without requiring that they be running.

In its annual list of the world's billionaires, Forbes this year ranked Apple CEO Steve Jobs in a tie with six others for 136th place with a net worth of $5.5 billion. Jobs' net worth is up from $5.1 billion in an October 2009 Forbes ranking of richest Americans and up from $3.4 billion and 178th place in last year's world ranking.

Following months of rumor and speculation, cultish king of the iGeeks presented the highly anticipated iPad in January; ten-inch, multi-touch computer intended to fill gap between smartphone and laptop. Delighted: nerds everywhere. Scared to death: newspaper and magazine publishers. Also unveiled new iBookstore and iBooks application in direct challenge to Amazon's Kindle; several book publishers have committed to content agreements.

Jobs is Disney's largest individual shareholder by virtue of the company's 2006 acquisition of Pixar, and continued increases in Disney's stock price since a deep low almost exactly a year ago have pushed his stake in the company to $4.2 billion. Apple's stock, meanwhile, has continued to soar and is up more than 150% over the past year.

Mexican telecommunications tycoon Carlos Slim Helú took the top spot in this year's rankings at $53.5 billion, just ahead of Microsoft founder Bill Gates, who had held the top spot 14 out of the previous 15 years.

ZDNet reports that it has received information from tipsters claiming that Apple will release new Mac Pro models next Tuesday, adding a hexacore Core i7-based model to its lineup.

I'm getting tips in from sources who claim that Apple is set to revamp its high-end Mac Pro line, adding a 'hexacore' Core i7-980x model to the line up.

All information points to this happening next Tuesday, March 16th.

Some confusion has arisen over what chips Apple will use in its next-generation Mac Pro. Hardmac has been keeping a close eye on Mac Pro developments, and has been talking up Intel's hexacore Core i7-980X as the next chip for the Mac Pro as cited in today's ZDNet report. That processor is reportedly scheduled to be launched next Tuesday, coinciding with rumors of Apple's Mac Pro refresh.

Apple, however, has typically used server-branded Xeon chips in its Mac Pro line, and Intel is also expected to debut a number of new Xeon 5600-series chips on that day. In particular, the Xeon X5680 rumored for release on Tuesday is very similar in many respects to the Core i7-980X and could also be a candidate for inclusion in the Mac Pro.

Apple yesterday released the fourth beta version of the SDK for iPad developers, and observers have started to find a few differences popping up in the latest update.


9 to 5 Mac reports that Apple has added support for "3Tap" and "LongPress" gestures to the SDK, suggesting that the company is opening the door for developers to take advantage of these gestures in their applications. The gestures themselves are not new, as Apple has utilized them for such options as turning the iPhone's display on and off when using VoiceOver (triple tap) and activating copy/cut/paste (long press), but the added files should make it easier for developers to use them.

9 to 5 Mac also notes that Apple has removed several icons that previously hinted at the ability to accept or decline video chats on the iPad. Despite the apparent absence of a camera in the iPad, hooks for videoconferencing were discovered in the iPad SDK, leading to speculation that either a camera would be an added feature announced before launch or had been planned and was scrapped for unknown reasons. Hints of front-facing camera capabilities have continued to surface in iPad SDK betas, but it appears that Apple has begun removing some of these references.