MacRumors

Following a Tweet last month in which he hinted at an updated Apple TV arriving sometime this month, former TechCrunch writer MG Siegler is now "pouring a small amount of water" on his own claim, suggesting that major changes to Apple's television-related hardware are not yet ready to be shown.

Well, now I feel the need to pour a little — just a little, mind you — cold water on the rumor fire. While I still haven’t heard anything concrete, the most recent whispers I have heard is that the Apple TV project has been delayed a bit.

That doesn’t mean we won’t see an Apple TV update at the event — we could see an updated unit with a spec bump or something. But the thing to be more excited about, the device with some sort of newfangled control system, doesn’t seem like it’s ready just yet.

Siegler notes that he had originally heard about a new Apple TV hardware (not a television set) targeted for a November launch, but that the information was not concrete enough to warrant a full article at the time. Given the publicity his original Tweet garnered, however, he has felt the need to address the issue now that it appears his original information is unlikely to pan out on that timetable.

Last month, 9to5Mac separately reported that Apple has been testing Xbox Kinect-like motion control for televisions, though it was unclear if that would make its way to the Apple TV set-top box or was being held for a standalone Apple television set farther in the future.

Apple will hold a media event this Tuesday, October 22 where it is expected to unveil both the fifth-generation iPad and the second-generation iPad mini, along with other Apple products such as OS X Mavericks, the new Mac Pro, and updated Retina MacBook Pros.

Ahead of Tuesday's media event, Apple has revised its Built-in Apps page for the iPhone 5s to reveal the full set of new iOS 7-themed icons for the six iLife and iWork apps offered for iOS. The new GarageBand and iPhoto icons had appeared in the Settings app on some users' devices last week.

Aside from the new icons, the updated page also reveals in a footnote that GarageBand will become a free basic download for all iOS 7 devices, joining the other five iLife and iWork apps that became free alongside the release of iOS 7.

GarageBand will, however, include in-app purchase content from Apple, with additional instruments and sounds available for a fee. Licensing fees associated with some of those sounds had been the presumed reason why GarageBand was left out the original move to make Apple's iLife and iWork apps for iOS free of charge, and it appears that the company has settled on in-app purchases as a way around this issue, offering basic functionality for free and then premium content through the paid upgrade options.

GarageBand is free on the App Store for all iOS 7 compatible devices; additional GarageBand instruments and sounds are available with an in-app purchase. iPhoto, iMovie, Pages, Numbers, and Keynote are free on the App Store for qualifying iOS 7 compatible devices activated on or after September 1, 2013.

Each of the new entries for the iLife and iWork apps contains a link to a dedicated page that will give full details on the new versions of the apps, but those pages are not yet live. The brief blurbs for each app do, however, point to new features such as photo books and prints for iPhoto and new "iMovie Theater" functionality for iMovie.

Apple is expected to unveil the new apps at Tuesday's media event as part of a broad set of updates to iLife and iWork for both Mac and iOS, as well as new web-based iWork for iCloud offerings. Other announcements should include updated iPad and iPad mini lineups, new Retina MacBook Pros, and the official introduction of Apple's redesigned Mac Pro, as well as a final look at OS X Mavericks before its public launch in the coming days.

Update: Apple has reverted the changes to the page, removing the new text and icons.

(Thanks, Julien!)

Apple has seeded a new build of the OS X Mavericks Golden Master to developers, a little more than two weeks after the first GM seed. According to 9to5Mac, the build is only available for users performing a fresh install of Mavericks, with some users having luck re-installing the new GM over the prior version.

The prior GM had a build number of 13A598, while the new release is build 13A603. Apple is reportedly targeting a late October launch for Mavericks and it's possible the company will give a final release date at Tuesday's media event.

Apple premiered a new ad called "Metal Mastered" during NFL games this afternoon, showcasing the new gold iPhone 5s. The ad, which features the song "Ooh La La" by Goldfrapp [iTunes] and no dialogue, depicts golden liquid metal morphing into the iPhone 5s.

Earlier this week, Apple launched the first magazine ads for the iPhone 5s, also featuring the gold model.

The new ad is very similar to the Plastic Perfected spot for the iPhone 5c that debuted in September.

Apple has been heavily advertising the iPhone 5c on television in recent weeks, but we have seen relatively little about the 5s, likely because of tight supplies. The new television spot, in fact, includes a "subject to availability" disclaimer at the end.

High-profile KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has released a new research report outlining some of his expectations for Apple October 22 media event, focusing on the company's iPad and Retina MacBook Pro lineups.

In line with our previously summarized expectations, Kuo believes that Apple will be introducing a thinner and lighter fifth-generation iPad, as well as a new iPad mini with Retina display. The latter has been the subject of considerable debate, with some sources believing that Apple is not yet ready to bring Retina displays to the iPad mini, but while Kuo believes that Apple will indeed be able to introduce a Retina iPad mini, supplies will be highly constrained at first.

Kuo also weighs in on several other rumored additions for the iPad and iPad mini, claiming that "probably" neither a Touch ID fingerprint sensor nor a gold color option will be available in either line. He believes that production of components related to those features are still being prioritized for the iPhone 5s, which remains in very tight supply, and thus will not yet be able to make their way into the iPad lineup.

As for other upgrades, Kuo believes that the fifth-generation iPad will adopt a new A7X chip while the new iPad mini will be equipped with a slightly less powerful A7 chip like the one found in the iPhone 5s. Kuo also reiterates his earlier claim that the rear camera on Apple's new iPads will be upgraded to 8 megapixels. Finally, Kuo believes that both the fifth-generation iPad and the second-generation iPad mini will include Apple's new "M7" chip that debuted in the iPhone 5s, offering significant improvements for motion tracking.

Alongside the iPad updates, Kuo also believes that Apple will be introducing its Retina MacBook Pro on Tuesday, moving to Intel's latest Haswell chips for improved performance and battery life while also upgrading the FaceTime camera to 1080p quality, a claim he has made in the past.

Overall, Kuo unsurprisingly believes that the new fifth-generation iPad will drive a significant increase in sales for Apple's full-size iPad, while the new iPad mini will result in a more modest bump due to the very tight initial supplies. He also predicts a very strong bump for the Retina MacBook Pro, as pent-up demand for new Haswell models should lead to strong sales heading into the holidays.

Unaddressed is Apple's Mac Pro, which is expected to be given its full introduction on Tuesday in advance of a launch before the end of the year, but Kuo has generally not covered Apple's Mac Pro line in his report.

Kuo has been fairly accurate with his claims over the past several years, earning him significant attention from the rumor community. He has, however, had some misses, as seen with his prediction that the Retina MacBook Pro would be updated at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference back in June. That update had been widely expected, but did not come to pass and customers are still waiting for the new models to appear over four months later.

Apple is cutting iPhone 5c orders from its suppliers by 35 percent according to analysts at NPD DisplaySearch (via AllThingsD), echoing prior reports from The Wall Street Journal and Reuters.

However, the new report goes further, claiming that iPhone 5s production has been boosted by 75 percent. This would seem to be promising news for Apple because increased sales of the 5s would lift its average revenue per iPhone sold.

While the fate of the iPhone 5c is still to be determined, the iPhone 5s is doing quite well, indicating that Apple still has a strong hardcore base for its premium devices. It is worth mentioning that iPhone 5 production is scheduled to end Q3 2013; iPhone 4s’s end of life is still to be determined, as it still receives orders of 1 to 2 million units per month and only recently started selling in Indonesia.

The iPhone 5s has been in somewhat short supply with shipping lead times of 2-3 weeks from the Apple Online Store.

Apple recently began a new print ad campaign for the iPhone 5s, the first advertisements we've seen for that device after several weeks of a sustained and prominent television campaign for the iPhone 5c.

Apple CEO Tim Cook warned earlier this year about looking at any particular rumor out of the company's supply chain because, even if one is accurate, they do not paint a full picture of Apple's operations.

U.S. Cellular, will begin offering the iPhone 5s and the iPhone 5c on November 8, according to an email the company sent out on Friday afternoon. U.S. Cellular, the fifth largest carrier in the United States, first announced that it would begin carrying Apple products back in May, but did not give a timeline on when the products might appear.

Aside from a release date, U.S. Cellular has not given additional information on plan details, such as pricing, but the company’s current plans offer unlimited talk and text with 300MB to 75GB of data starting at $40 per month and it is likely that device prices will be competitive with other retailers.

While Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile offered the iPhone 5s and the iPhone 5c at launch, many smaller, regional carriers did not begin selling the device until October 1.

Supplies of Apple’s iPhone 5s remain constrained, with estimated shipping times from the Apple Store remaining at 2 to 3 weeks in the United States. iPhone 5c supplies remain plentiful, with all models and capacities shipping within 24 hours.

After iOS 7 was released, some iOS 6 users discovered that as much as 3GB of storage was being used up by an automated over-the-air download of iOS 7.

For many users, this was handy because they didn't need to wait for a large download to complete before updating -- but for those who wish to remain with iOS 6, they have found multiple gigabytes of storage used up by a software update that they will never use, with no way to free up that space.

One user, Mark Menacher of Poway, California, has filed suit in small-claims court against Apple CEO Tim Cook, alleging in a statement that "Apple's disregard for customer preferences in relation to iOS 7 is corporate thuggery".

Steve Jobs was reportedly rough on company employees in pursuit of happy customers, but Tim Cook apparently cultivates a culture of contempt for customer satisfaction in pursuit of corporate profits. It is a policy that will eventually fail.

According to CNET, Menacher asks for a way to delete the iOS 7 installer from his iOS 6 device, plus an additional $50. He has filed a similar complaint with the Better Business Bureau.

Apple's iOS 7 adoption rates may have been slower than previously thought, according to a new report from mobile advertising firm Millennial Media, which suggests that iOS 6 adoption happened more rapidly than iOS 7 adoption.

According to the report, iOS 7 impressions on Millennial Media's advertising platform climbed an average of 185 percent each day during the seven days following the September 18 launch of iOS 7. One week after launch, 16 percent of total iOS traffic came from devices running iOS 7.

Comparatively, Millennial Media saw an average of 264 percent growth per day following the seven day release period after iOS 6 was launched on September 19, 2012. A week after launch, 35 percent of total iOS traffic came from devices running iOS 6, suggesting users adopted iOS 6 more rapidly than they adopted iOS 7.

Millennial Media hypothesizes that some consumers may have been hesitant to download iOS 7, given the major interface changes associated with the update.

What’s behind these patterns? We can’t say for certain, but we have a couple hunches. When comparing iOS 7 to iOS 6, we think that it is very telling that impressions were the same on Day 1, and iOS 7 slowed down significantly after that. Because iOS 7 was such a major update, it seems likely that early adopters downloaded it as soon as possible, but for other consumers, there may have been hesitation after reading about how radical the changes were. The internet was abuzz with iOS 7 reviews, and people may have decided to wait some time before adopting the new OS.

Millennial Media’s data seems to directly contradict earlier reports on iOS 7 adoption, which indicated users were downloading and installing iOS 7 much more rapidly than iOS 6. Back in September, just a day after iOS 7 was released, mobile analytics firm Mixpanel reported that 36 percent of active iOS devices were already running iOS 7, while ad network Chitika estimated iOS 7 adoption at 18 percent, putting both estimates far ahead of Millennial Media’s own estimates.

As of today, Mixpanel's data suggests that iOS 7 is now installed on approximately 72.5 percent of devices, with adoption continuing to climb steadily. In the past, Apple has emphasized the rapid adoption of its newest operating system upgrades as a major strength of the iOS platform comparative to competing platforms such as Android, which is plagued by fragmentation.

Apple is making considerable progress on its project started yesterday to cover the glass facade of the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco with decals bearing a colorful design and a white Apple logo, with new photos from David Jones showing the project wrapping around two sides of the building now nearly complete.

Apple's event kicks off next Tuesday, October 22 at 10:00 AM Pacific Time and the company is expected to introduce a number of new products including both hardware and software. New iPads are expected to be a major focus of the event, but OS X Mavericks, Mac Pro, and other products will also be addressed.

With just four days to go until Apple's October 22 media event in San Francisco, expectations for what will be shown are in many cases continuing to firm up, while in other cases questions remain. Our regularly updated Roundups section continues to offer a good overview of what is expected for each product and highlights the significant number of Apple products due for updates. Among the expectations for next week:

- iPad: Expect a new iPad mini-inspired design that is thinner, narrower, and lighter. [Read More]

- iPad mini: Retina display expected, but there have been questions about production and whether Apple be able to ship the new device in significant quantities, if at all, before the holidays. [Read More]

- OS X Mavericks: Reportedly due for launch before the end of the month, we should see a final unveiling next week. Other software updates including new versions of Apple's iWork and iLife suites, including iWork for iCloud, are also expected. [Read More]

- Mac Pro: Announced by Apple as launching "this fall" following a sneak peek at WWDC in June, Apple's radically redesigned professional desktop should get a thorough introduction next Tuesday. Some have speculated that updated displays may arrive to complement the new Mac Pro, but there has been no specific evidence of a display refresh. [Read More]

- MacBook Pro: An update for Apple's Retina MacBook Pro line has been expected for several months, moving to Intel's new Haswell processors for improved battery life. While it seems that Apple would want to feature the MacBook Pro improvements at its event, the list of products to be covered is beginning to get rather long and so it is unclear if the updated notebooks will make an appearance at or alongside the event or at a separate time. [Read More]

- Mac mini: There have been no specific rumors about the Mac mini, but it too is due for an update to Haswell processors. [Read More]

- An Apple TV wildcard: There have been some rumblings over the past several months that Apple is planning some sort of TV-related announcement for late this year, but there has been no concrete evidence of any imminent introduction. While Apple has been said to be planning its own connected television set product, that product may not be ready and the effort could continue to progress incrementally with an updated set-top box.

Yesterday, researchers made a presentation at the Hack in the Box conference arguing that Apple's iMessage system could theoretically allow Apple or another party to intercept the encrypted messages. The concern stems in part from Apple's use of a private server for storing users' public keys used to encrypt messages, meaning that senders have no way of knowing whether a potentially false key has been inserted in order to intercept messages intended for a different recipient.

In a statement to AllThingsD, Apple once again denies that it can read iMessages, noting that it would require the service's systems to be re-engineered and that the company has no interest in doing so.

Apple says that QuarksLab’s theory is just that — a theory, and one that would require a rearchitecting of iMessage for it ever to be a threat in the real world.

“iMessage is not architected to allow Apple to read messages,” said Apple spokeswoman Trudy Muller said in a statement to AllThingsD. “The research discussed theoretical vulnerabilities that would require Apple to re-engineer the iMessage system to exploit it, and Apple has no plans or intentions to do so.”

Apple's statement does not actually refute the original claim, simply confirming that as the service is currently configured it is impossible for Apple to intercept iMessages. The researchers' argument rests on the observation that changes could be made to Apple's systems to allow for iMessages to be intercepted without users being aware of the changes.

The result is that Apple is arguing users should trust that the company has no interest in making such changes, and if users take Apple at its word, the researchers' concerns remain merely theoretical. But some users may remained concerned that Apple could be quietly compelled to make changes by government security agencies, compromising Apple's touted "secure end-to-end encryption" for iMessage.

The Cupertino City Council today posted a video of the press conference it held yesterday, announcing its approval of Apple's Campus 2 plans. Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer spoke during the conference, thanking the community for green lighting its plans and providing some additional details on the campus.

This is a very special moment for us at Apple. We have put a tremendous amount of love and energy into this campus, and we can’t wait to get started building it. Cupertino is Apple’s home. We love Cupertino, we’re very proud to be here, and we were thrilled that Apple Campus 2 will be a part of Cupertino.

We’re going to build the best office building ever built in the world and we’re going to put it in a hundred acre park, returning the site to its natural beauty. It will be a place for the best team in the industry to innovate for decades to come.

We’re very grateful to the city council, to the city staff, and most importantly, our neighbors and the citizens of Cupertino and the surrounding communities who supported us last night and along the way to get to this point.

Oppenheimer went on to say that Apple’s new campus will be the most environmentally friendly building of its size, using water and landscaping efficiently and garnering 70 percent of its energy from solar and fuel cells with the rest coming from green energy sources within California.

During a question and answer period when he was asked about the use of the campus should Apple vacate, Oppenheimer noted that Apple is excited about the future products it has in the pipeline, which are going to surprise and delight customers, keeping Apple at its Campus 2 location for decades to come.

The Cupertino City Council unanimously approved Apple’s "spaceship campus" on Tuesday. Provided no petitions for reconsideration are filed within the next 10 days, Apple will be able to break ground with ancillary permits later this month. A second public reading, which will result in a full set of permits, is scheduled for November 19.

Apple’s first building phase will include the construction of the 2.8 million square foot ring-shaped structure along with multiple parking facilities, a fitness center, and an auditorium. During a second phase, Apple will construct offices with an additional 600,000 square feet of space and will also continue to occupy its current buildings in Cupertino and surrounding areas.