MacRumors

Microsoft today announced the release of Office for Mac 2011 version 14.2.4, which brings support for the Retina display on the new MacBook Pro released in June.

We’re happy to announce that Office for Mac 2011 (version 14.2.4) now supports Retina display for Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook. Text everywhere is incredibly crisp and all key areas of the interface are now sharper than ever. We hope you enjoy this fantastic software experience!

Beyond Retina display support, the update also brings a number of other enhancements for Outlook, including calendar event reminders, Mountain Lion compatibility for signatures, and fixes for several other issues.

Alongside today's launch of iOS 6, Apple has also released OS X 10.8.2 to the public. The update is currently available via the Software Update functionality in the Mac App Store.

The update includes a number of enhancements, most notably Facebook integration and Game Center. It also includes support for several features integrating with iOS 6, such as Passbook passes and iMessage/FaceTime access via phone number.

This update is recommended for all OS X Mountain Lion users, and includes new features and fixes:

Facebook

- Single sign on for Facebook
- Adds Facebook as an option when sharing links and photos
- See Facebook friends' contact information and profile pictures in Contacts
- Facebook notifications now appear in Notification Center

Game Center

- Share scores to Facebook, Twitter, Mail, or Messages
- Facebook friends are included in Game Center friend recommendations
- Added Facebook "Like" button for games
- Challenge friends to beat your score or achievement

Other new features

- Adds Power Nap support for MacBook Air (Late 2010)
- iMessages sent to your phone number now appear in Messages on your Mac
- You can now add passes to Passbook (on your iPhone or iPod touch) from Safari and Mail on your Mac
- FaceTime can now receive calls sent to your phone number
- New shared Reminders lists
- New sort options allow you to sort notes by title, the date you edited them, and when you created them
- Dictation now supports additional languages: Mandarin, Cantonese, Spanish, Korean, Canadian English, Canadian French, and Italian
- Dictionary app now includes a French definition dictionary
- Sina Weibo profile photos can now be added to Contacts

Direct downloads available through Apple's site include:

- OS X Mountain Lion Update v10.8.2 (665.48 MB)
- OS X Mountain Lion Update v10.8.2 (Combo) (665.39 MB)

As expected, Apple has just released iOS 6 to the public, making the download available to users of recent iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch models. Users can obtain the update either by connecting their devices to iTunes and clicking the "Check for Update" button or checking for over-the-air updates on their devices via Settings -> General -> Software Update. It may, however, take a few minutes for the update to propagate to all users.

iOS 6 adds over 200 new features, including Apple's own Maps app, Facebook integration, Siri improvements, Apple's new Passbook digital wallet app, and more. Discussion of the new operating system is ongoing in our iOS 6 forum.

iOS 6 is compatible with the third-generation iPad, iPad 2, iPhone 4S, iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, and fourth-generation iPod touch. It will also ship on the iPhone 5, which launches on Friday, and on the fifth-generation iPod touch launching next month. The operating system arrives as the golden master build 10A403 for existing devices, and Apple has also posted a special 10A405 build for the iPhone 5 and a 10A406 build for the upcoming fifth-generation iPod touch.

Following yesterday's publication of the first unboxing photos of the iPhone 5, several unboxing videos have now begun appearing. Among the first is one from UK gadget site T3, which received an official review unit from Apple and published its review as the embargo lifted late yesterday.

T3 has also posted a number of other videos showing off features of the iPhone 5.

A second video has been posted to the official YouTube account of Vodafone Germany. iFun.de noted that the video was pulled soon after it was noticed, but it has reappeared on the official Vodafone account.

Finally, a third awkward unboxing video has been posted by a YouTube user who tells us that he pre-ordered his iPhone 5 through Apple and that it was delivered by UPS earlier today. Apple's standard practice involves coordination with delivery companies to hold shipments until the official launch date, but it is not unheard of for a few deliveries to slip through these holds.

Update: Vodafone Germany has removed its video once again. We've replaced our embed with an alternate version.

Two weeks ago, Bloomberg reported on Apple's struggles to reach television content deals that would enable the company to broaden its living room reach by providing set-top boxes to blend live and recorded material. The report noted that cable companies have generally been reluctant to work with Apple as they seek to retain control over the software and other aspects of their businesses, with Time Warner Cable said to be the major cable company most receptive to Apple's proposals.

The Hollywood Reporter now notes (via TechCrunch) that Time Warner Cable Chief Operating Officer Rob Marcus acknowledged at an investor conference today that his company would be willing to cede control over the user interface in scenarios such as those being rumored for Apple's proposals, as long as it can retain the existing customer relationship. The comments by Marcus appear to specifically address integration of the cable company's guide information with Apple's mobile devices, but could obviously extend to other products such as set-top boxes.

Time Warner Cable is "hard at work at a cloud-based [TV] guide experience" and is open to giving up control of the user interface as it looks to make its service accessible via new devices, including Apple's iPhones and iPads, president and COO Rob Marcus told an investor conference in New York on Wednesday.

But he emphasized that this does not mean that the cable giant is willing "to give up the customer relationship" as the company is committed to ensuring that people know its TV services are provided by TW Cable and not any device maker or other third party.

Apple is rumored to have been working on a television product for quite some time as it continues to toy with the current Apple TV set-top box, which the company has repeatedly referred to as a "hobby" that it will continue to pursue as it assesses whether there is a larger opportunity in the market.

Rumors of an Apple television set have largely given way to talk of a new set-top box in recent months, a device that would bring Apple's hardware and software expertise to the consumer cable industry in an effort to meld live television with recorded and on-demand content while integrating into Apple's existing ecosystem. But with both cable companies and content providers being reluctant to strike deals with Apple, progress has been slower than many had hoped for.

Physical mockups of Apple's rumored "iPad mini", presumably based on leaked design specs from case manufacturers, have appeared with increasing frequency in recent weeks, and Gizchina.com has now obtained one of the dummy units to share new photos and a video giving an impression of how the device might look and feel. The dummy units are widely available through Chinese online marketplace Taobao for roughly $15.

Similar mockups in both white and black have appeared over the past several weeks showing the rumored thin side bezel design that would make the device more comfortable to hold in one hand than a uniform bezel such as that seen on the full-size iPad. The video also offers a good overview of the external features of the device.

Apple is expected to introduce the iPad mini at an October media event once the publicity from the iPhone 5 launch begins to subside.

IHS iSuppli has released its estimate of the component costs involved in building the iPhone 5, performing a virtual teardown based on information revealed by Apple and industry knowledge. The estimate, which does not include numerous other costs involved in product development, manufacturing, and sales, such as research and development, software, patent licenses, marketing, and distribution expenditures, pegs the component cost of the entry-level 16 GB iPhone 5 at $199.

The new iPhone 5 carries a bill of materials (BOM) of $199.00 for the low-end model with 16Gbytes of NAND flash memory, according to a preliminary virtual teardown conducted by the IHS iSuppli Teardown Analysis Service. When the $8.00 manufacturing cost is added in, the cost to produce the iPhone 5 rises to $207.00. For the 32Gbyte version of the iPhone 5, the BOM cost increases to $209.00, while 64Gbyte version is estimated at $230.00, as presented in the table below.

The estimated $199 bill of materials (BOM) for the 16 GB model is slightly higher than the firm's $188 estimate for the iPhone 4S at that device's launch last year, but a halving of flash storage prices over the past year means that Apple's margins improve as capacity increases. While the 32 GB and 64 GB models of the iPhone 4S carried BOMs of $207 and $245 respectively, those estimates move to $209 and $230 for the iPhone 5.

While the price of some components, such as NAND flash, has fallen during the past year, the iPhone 5’s overall BOM has increased mainly because its display and wireless subsystems are more expensive compared to the iPhone 4S.”

Compared to the iPhone 4S, flash storage pricing declined by roughly $10 on the entry-level iPhone 5, but that decrease was more than offset by a $7 increase in display costs to $44 due to the adoption of in-cell touch sensors and a $10 increase in wireless costs with the move to Qualcomm's latest LTE-compatible chips. At the 64 GB level, a $37 decrease in flash memory compared to the iPhone 4S is able to overcome the other increases to lower Apple's overall estimated costs for the device.

The London Evening Standard reports that Apple design chief Jonathan Ive and his entire team made a trip to London yesterday in order to accept a prestigious award from Design and Art Direction (D&AD). The acceptance of the award, which recognized Apple's design team as "the best brand and the best design studio of the last 50 years", was reportedly the first time the entire team attended such a ceremony.

Sir Jonathan Ive, the company's design guru, who usually eschews publicity, came to collect the awards, which were held at a dinner at Evolution in Battersea Park in London.

Even more unusually, Apple flew in its entire design team from San Francisco in recognition of the importance of the D&AD Awards and all 16 of them - 14 men and two women - accompanied Sir Jonathan on stage to collect the award for best design studio.

Ive and his team have long worked in extreme secrecy on Apple's campus, with Ive himself opting to remain out of the public eye as much as possible. Ive has, however, become significantly more visible in recent years as Apple's stature has grown and recognition of his team's design work has continued to accumulate, with Ive even being knighted earlier this year.

AnandTech publishes the first SunSpider Javascript benchmarks for the iPhone 5. SunSpider measures Javascript performance which runs in web browsers.

Smaller numbers are better, so the final score of 914.7ms is better than all of the other devices on the chart and is the fastest SunSpider test they've ever recorded for a smartphone. The iPhone 5 is two and a half times as fast as the iPhone 4S (2250ms) and notably faster than the Samsung Galaxy S III (1442.9-1824.9ms).

Javascript is used as a measure of web browser performance, but the final score can be impacted by both the processor as well as the particular Javascript implementation on the device. Javascript is a common area of optimization due to its common usage on websites and may have been improved in iOS 6 which ships with the iPhone 5. AnandTech notes that the superior performance is likely a reflection of the Apple A6's improved memory subsystem.

The iPhone 5 does not officially launch until Friday, but pre-orders are clearly continuing to roll in through Apple's online store as the company has now bumped shipping estimates for new pre-orders to 3-4 weeks. Apple sold out of its launch day pre-order stock in just about an hour last Friday, with shipping estimates quickly moving to two weeks and then drifting to 2-3 weeks, where they have been for the past few days.

The new 3-4 week estimates are in place in the United States, Canada, and Australia, while several other launch markets including the United Kingdom, France, and Germany remain at 2-3 weeks for the time being. Accounting for shipping time, the new estimates suggest that those placing orders today may not receive their devices until mid-October.

Not only are Apple's lengthening shipping estimates coming before the first round of launches in nine countries this Friday, but the new pre-orders are being pushed well past Apple's second round of launches set to take place in 22 more countries and on additional carriers in some of the first-round markets on September 28. Apple will undoubtedly be reserving some stock for launch availability in the new countries and is of course holding stock for in-store sales beginning this Friday as it rolls out availability, but online orders are now seeing even more substantial delays for the popular device that saw two million pre-orders in just the first 24 hours of availability.

The embargo has just lifted on the first iPhone 5 reviews. Apple has provided some publications with an early review unit of the iPhone 5. We are collecting some of the more interesting points from each review, but you can click each title to read the full writeup. The iPhone 5 will officially launch on September 21st and will be available in retail stores beginning at 8am.

CNet Review

- "The screen size lengthening is subtle: but, like the Retina Display, you're going to have a hard time going back once you've used it."
- "LTE, in my tests, ran anywhere from 10 to 20 [Mbps], which is up to twice as fast as my wireless router's connection at home."
- "Still pictures taken while recording video aren't shot using the normal 8-megapixel Web cam; they're screen captures of the video itself. The aspect ratio is different, and the image quality's a bit weaker."
- "callers I reached via speakerphone noticed a crisper, clearer call on the iPhone 5 versus the iPhone 4S."
- "The phone's lasted roughly the whole day each day, unplugging around 8 a.m. and engaging in a mix of calling, web surfing, video playback, downloading, game playing, FaceTime calling over Wi-Fi and LTE, and even a little 4G LTE hot spot use via my MacBook Air."

The Loop Review by Jim Dalrymple

- "If you told me that I would be able to see another few rows of emails or more of a Web page, I don’t know that I would see the importance, but when you look at the iPhone 5, it’s more than that. You have to see it to get an idea of what can be done."

The New York Times Review by David Pogue

- "The new phone, in all black or white, is beautiful. Especially the black one, whose gleaming, black-on-black, glass-and-aluminum body carries the design cues of a Stealth bomber."
- "The camera is among the best ever put into a phone. Its lowlight shots blow away the same efforts from an iPhone 4S."
- "It’s just too bad about that connector change. Doesn’t Apple worry about losing customer loyalty and sales?"

Engadget Review by Tim Stevens

- " At 112 grams it's 20 percent lighter than the 4S, a figure that doesn't seem like it would make much of an impact. It does -- so much so that it's the lightness, not the bigger display or the thinness, that nearly everybody praises when first getting a chance to hold the iPhone 5 in their own hands."
- "the Lightning connector is infinitely easier to connect. It slots in nicely and does so regardless of orientation, plugging in right-side-up or upside-down."
- "More problematic is the speed of this new connector. " -- Based on USB 2.0, so no faster than existing connector/cable.
- Taking photo speed is much improved.
- "On our standard battery rundown test, in which we loop a video with LTE and WiFi enabled and social accounts pinging at regular intervals, the iPhone 5 managed a hugely impressive 11 hours and 15 minutes."
- "In general, iOS 6 has seen some nice nips and tucks where it needed it. iCloud integration is tighter, Safari is better and the overall experience is more polished. But, it isn't a major step forward in any regard. "

Wall Street Journal Review by Walt Mossberg

- "I found the new iPhone screen much easier to hold and manipulate than its larger rivals and preferred it. In my view, Apple’s approach makes the phone far more comfortable to use, especially one-handed."
- "The iPhone 5′s battery lasted between 9 and 12 hours every day, in mixed use. For most people, the phone would last the day without recharging."
- "The biggest drawback I found is the new Maps app. Apple has replaced Google Maps with a new maps app of its own. "

T3 Review by Luke Peters

- "Don’t get us wrong, it’s a miracle how Apple has shed so much excess podge and millions of people will love the lightweight design, but we preferred the more robust, weapon-like nature of the 4S."
- "Given that iPhone 4S users can upgrade to iOS 6 and do just about everything the iPhone 5 can do, and that Android users can get similarly impressive handsets for less dosh, we reckon the smart money won’t all be going on a new iPhone this year, even if the mass market can’t get enough of it. It’s good, very good. But it’s no longer the best around."

Pocket Lint Review by Stuart Miles

- "It is now chamfered and while that looks pretty, we've already noticed that on the black model the edge has started to wear, revealing the shiny silver aluminium metal underneath the "slate" coloured coating and, indeed, we've witnessed it on two separate models, ruling out a fluke manufacturing error."

TechCrunch Review by MG Siegler

- "One nice side effect of the letterboxing is that the iOS system elements can still use the larger screen. So, for example, when Push Notifications come in, they flip down from the top of the screen and settle perfectly above the 3.5-inch app (as opposed to on top of it)."

Others

- USA Today Review by Edward Baig
- Daring Fireball Review by John Gruber
- CBC Review by Peter Nowak

Overall, the reviews are very positive. Regular iPhone users seem to enjoy the added space. Everyone seems to comment on the lightness and thinness of the device. Apple's 2x speed claims and battery claims seem accurate. The new Lightning connector seems to be physically nice, though there is disappointment there is no speed improvement in syncing as compared to the old sync cable/connectors.

The teardown experts at iFixit are undoubtedly itching to get their hands on the iPhone 5 later this week, and in the meantime they've decided to bide their time by taking apart Apple's new EarPods to see how the earphones compare to their predecessors. Overall, the teardown reveals a significantly revamped design with greater durability in the form of better-sealed components and increased cord strain relief features.

Among the most interesting changes is a move to paper cones surrounded by a polymer, shifting away from the all-plastic design seen in the previous headphones.

- Apple's switch to paper-based speaker cones may be the source of their advertised improved low and mid-range response.

- We also discovered that the speaker basket has a much more refined look than previous models (see comparison in next step), with a fine mesh covering the back and symmetrically-placed vents. The basket is a critical component, as it must be rigid to maintain consistent sound quality while still being open enough to not inhibit movement of air behind the vibrating diaphragm.

Early reviews of the EarPods indicate that they perform significantly better than the stock headphones included with previous iPhone and iPod models, but still fall far short of higher-quality offerings available from other companies. Apple is including the EarPods with the iPhone 5 and the new iPod touch and iPod nano, and is also selling them as a standalone $29 accessory.