Apple's new in-browser Reading List that was hidden in previous builds of Lion is now up and running. Reading List appears as a special shelf in the browser that is called upon with the special icon:
Sites can be added to your Reading List for later reading:
And recalled by clicking on them.
Click on images for larger screenshots.
Per MacStories, Apple has released a new Mac OS X Lion Developer Preview 3 to its developers this evening as well as Xcode 4.1 Developer Preview 5. Apple last updated Lion for developers in late April. That version contained several UI changes presumably based on feedback from developers.
Apple is expected to discuss lion at WWDC which takes place in early June. Apple has targeted Mac OS X Lion for a summer release. No word yet on what's new in this build of Lion. The build for this latest version is 11A459e.
Update: MacStories reports: "We’re hearing the first changes in Lion DP 3 include a new boot animation, new graphical elements in the Finder’s toolbar, new desktop wallpapers and the Reading List, now enabled in Safari."
Update: Itsalltech.com details (with screenshots) many of the new changes in Lion:
- New options in System Preferences>Mission Control
- There is a new animation when logging into the computer and displaying the desktop (seems buggy at this time)
- New Reminders menu in iCal
- New next desktop button in Dashboard space:
- New options when right-clicking (this appears to be buggy at this time):
- Compatibility to external displays has been improved (especially in Mission Control)
- There is now a Mission Control app
- Finder’s toolbar has been slightly updated:
- Desktop wallpapers have been updated (and new ones have been added);
- Reading List has been enabled in Safari:
- New changes in Mission Control: can add “desktops” right from Mission Control by clicking “+” button, close spaces from Mission Control, Mission Control no longer displaying text “Desktop 1″ etc., when hovering over desktop thumbnails, magnification of thumbnails are seen
- Scrollbars now change color depending on the background (black background=light scrollbar and vice versa):
Update 2: Reading List screenshots.
New Login screen:
New Wallpapers:
MacRumors has received word that Apple today seeded the first developer build of Mac OS X 10.6.8. The build, termed 10K521, comes nearly two months after the public launch of Mac OS X 10.6.7.
No details on changes included in the update have yet been revealed.
Work on Mac OS X 10.6.8 comes as Apple continues to move toward a "summer" release of Mac OS X Lion, which has been in developer previews for some time now and will undoubtedly be a major focus of Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference early next month. Consequently, Mac OS X 10.6.8 may be the final maintenance update for Snow Leopard, depending on how long it takes to make it through the refinement process and Apple's final timeframe for launching Lion.
Forbes reports on a new research note from Jeffries & Co. analyst Peter Misek claiming that Apple's next-generation iPhone will be a relatively minor revamp known as the "iPhone 4S" and will debut in September. Misek also claims that Apple will be expanding carrier availability in the U.S. to include Sprint and T-Mobile by the end of the year, with China Mobile also reportedly coming on board.
"According to our industry checks, the device should be called iPhone 4S and include minor cosmetic changes, better cameras, A5 dual-core processor, and HSPA+ support," he writes in a research note.
But he also says that "industry checks indicate Apple will likely announce Sprint, T-Mobile, and China Mobile as new carriers."
The "iPhone 4S" name first gained publicity last month in claims that Apple has been providing select high-level iOS developers with souped-up iPhone 4 devices, with the source citing an unofficial name of "iPhone 4S" for the device.
Misek's report goes on to note that the next-generation iPhone is not likely to bring compatibility with faster LTE 4G networks rolling out in some markets, as the required chipsets from Qualcomm are not yet available in quantity to support the inclusion of the technology.
As for LTE, he says the Qualcomm LTE chipset Apple would have used "is currently not achieving yields sufficient for inclusion in the iPhone 5." He says Apple had hoped to have the LTE chipsets ready, but was planning a version without LTE called iPhone 4S.
The claim regarding a lack of LTE compatibility in the next-generation iPhone fits with earlier reports that the required chipsets won't be available to make their way into handsets until 2012.
Bloomberg reports that Eastman Kodak has achieved a victory with an initial ruling from a U.S. International Trade Commission judge stating that the company has not infringed two Apple patents cited in a lawsuit filed last year. That lawsuit by Apple was initiated in response to a patent lawsuit by Kodak filed several months earlier.
Neither of the two patents in Apple's case before the ITC were being infringed, and one of the patents is invalid, Judge Robert Rogers in Washington said yesterday. The judge's findings are subject to review by the six-member ITC, which has the power to block imports of products that infringe U.S. patents.
A similar initial determination in Kodak's case against Apple and Research in Motion ruled against Kodak in January, but the broader ITC panel decided to reexamine the case, breathing new life into Kodak's efforts to extract as much as $1 billion in licensing fees from Apple and Research in Motion.
Just over two months ago, Adobe released a beta version of Flash Player 10.3, which notably included new privacy controls and integration within System Preferences on the Mac OS X platform. Also included was an automatic update notification system for Mac OS X.
As announced by Adobe yesterday, Flash Player 10.3 has now officially launched and is available for download.
New features in Flash Player 10.3 include:
- Media measurement (desktop only) - Measuring video usage just got easier. Using Adobe SiteCatalyst with Flash Player 10.3, developers can implement video analytics for websites with as little as two lines of code for the first time. Media Measurement for Flash Player allows companies to get real-time, aggregated reporting of how their video content is distributed, what their audience reach is, and how much video is played. Mobile support will be available in an upcoming release.
- Acoustic echo cancellation (desktop only) - With Flash Player 10.3, developers can create real-time online collaboration experiences with high-quality audio for telephony, in-game voice chat, and group conferencing applications. Developers can take advantage of acoustic echo cancellation, noise suppression, voice activity detection, and automatic compensation for various microphone input levels. End users will be able to experience higher quality audio facilitating smoother conversation flow, without using a headset.
- Enhanced privacy protection - Flash Player 10.3 enables local storage clearing within browsers' privacy settings and streamlines the controls of the Flash Player privacy, security and storage settings within the local control panel of desktop OSes.
- Security enhancements including the support of auto-update notification for MacOS - See the Security Bulletin APSB11-12 for more details.
Flash Player 10.3 is available for Mac OS X, Windows, Linux, and Android.
Yesterday, we received word from Rob Gloess of Computer LogicX, the company behind the Mix & Mash and Mix & Mash LITE applications for iOS, that he had received legal documents threatening a patent lawsuit over the use of an "upgrade" button in the lite version of his application linking users to the App Store where they could purchase the full version.
Our app, Mix & Mash, has the common model of a limited free, lite, version and a full version that contains all the features. We were told that the button that users click on to upgrade the app, or rather link to the full version on the app store was in breach of US patent no 7222078, we couldn't believe it, the upgrade button!?!
The patent in question was filed in December 2003 as part of series of continuations on earlier patent applications dating back to 1992. The patent is credited to Dan Abelow, who sold his extensive portfolio of patents to holding firm Lodsys in 2004. Lodsys is indeed the company issuing the threats of a lawsuit regarding the patent in question.
Computer LogiX is not the only App Store developer being hit with threats of a lawsuit, as Cult of Mac notes that James Thomson, the developer behind PCalc, has been hit with a similar notice. While Thomson has not identified the company pursuing the action, the timing and details suggest that Lodsys is also responsible.
"Just got hit by very worrying threat of patent infringement lawsuit for using in-app purchase in PCalc Lite. Legal docs arrived via fedex," Thomson wrote.
"No idea what to do... They seem to be effectively claiming the rights to in-app purchase, but going after me, not Apple."
Thomson has reached out to Apple for guidance, and it remains to be seen how things will play out. According to Thomson, the patent holder is demanding that a license be negotiated within 21 days or a lawsuit will be filed.
At least one other developer is cited in the report as receiving similar notice of patent infringement, and that total will almost certainly grow as awareness of the situation increases, so it appears that the action is a relatively widespread one by Lodsys.
Notably, Lodsys cited the same patent, among others, when it filed suit against a host of major printer companies earlier this year.
TouchArcade and GameInformer note that acclaimed game developer Bungie has started work on a mobile game under the company Bungie Aerospace. The new company was started by Bungie and has filed a trademark for "Crimson" which is described as:
"Computer game software downloadable from a global computer network; Computer game software for use on mobile and cellular phones; Downloadable computer game software via a global computer network and wireless devices.
Gamespot points out that Bungie writer and designer Joseph Staten teased of the new project at GDC 2010: "Wouldn't it be great if we could make a world that was always there for you, with lots of stories to tell, like a big, infinite storytelling horizon? Man, that would be great."
Bungie was originally a Mac developer and responsible for first person shooter Marathon. Bungie, of course, was later acquired by Microsoft and launched Halo as an Xbox exclusive title. Bungie split from Microsoft in 2007 and is in a publishing contract with Activision. While no one has mentioned the iPhone or iOS specifically, given the size of the market, any mobile phone game in the works is likely to be targeted at Apple's platform.
The prototype demonstration marks the first time this resolution has been available for the tablet market in the popular – 10.1-inch – format, rivaling the highest resolution smartphone displays now on the market. Samsung expects to have commercial availability of this technology for tablet applications later this year.
The screen comes in at a screen density of 300dpi and is expected to become available for tablets later this year.
Such a high resolution display could pave the way for a true Retina display in a future iPad. We all got very excited earlier this year when it seemed that Apple was already prepping artwork for a double-resolution iPad of 2048x1536. At the time, one of the arguments against it was the lack of availability of such high density displays. TUAW points out that this particular display isn't likely to be used in an iPad, but proves that such high density displays are just around the corner.
For what it's worth at least two analysts have predicted that the iPad 3 will indeed get a pixel-doubled Retina display.
Patently Apple reports on an interesting new patent application from Apple describing the use of environmental sensors to generate screen saver content for mobile devices such as the iPod nano. As an example, the device could sense such environmental characteristics as motion, sound, temperature, or even camera input, using that information to provide the users with screen saver content relevant to the setting.
As one example of the technology in practice, Apple describes a screen saver displaying raindrops falling down the screen. By employing the environmental sensing, the device could automatically determine which way is down regardless of the device's orientation, allowing the screen saver to always display the raindrops falling downward.
Apple's figures for the patent application show a device that appears nearly identical to the current iPod nano, a square device with a touch screen displaying up to four icons on a home screen. With the text and images included in the patent application also addressing the possibility of using images taken by an onboard camera to inform screen saver activity, it offers additional evidence that Apple is considering adding a camera to the diminutive iPod nano.
Interestingly, Apple's patent application was filed in November 2009, nearly a year before the sixth-generation iPod nano debuted with the form factor depicted in the drawings.
It was 3:48 p.m. on Friday April 29 and traders who had purchased Apple (AAPL) April 29 $350 "calls" -- options that gave them the right to buy Apple shares in blocks of 100 for $350 per share -- were sitting pretty. The stock was trading around $353.50 and those calls were worth more [than] $350 apiece (the difference between the price of the stock and the so-called "strike price" of the option times 100).
Then, in an extraordinary burst of trading -- exacerbated by the rebalancing of the NASDAQ-100 scheduled for the following Monday -- more than 15 million shares changed hands and the stock dropped below the $350 strike price just before the closing bell. Result: The value of those calls disappeared like a puff of smoke.
Fortune went back and charted the daily closing prices for Apple stock over the past eight weeks, comparing the Friday closes to the "max pain" price at which options on both sides of the equation (puts and calls) have the least value in aggregate. Throughout the time period, Apple's stock consistently moved toward the max pain point on each Friday, sometimes over a period of only minutes as trading came to a close for the week.
While the phenomenon is not new and not unique to Apple, the reasons for it are not entirely clear. Some have argued that normal hedging activity is responsible for the drifts in stock price, but scientific studies have shown that such stock price behavior would not be accounted for by simple hedging and is thus indicative of stock price manipulation, which is illegal under U.S. securities law.
Apple is obviously one of the most closely watched stocks these days, and with the second-largest market capitalization in the U.S. markets has the potential to significantly influence trading. And so an apparently consistent manipulation of Apple's stock price makes for an interesting story, even if it is not yet clear who is responsible for the activity and how it is being accomplished.
As reported by ifoAppleStore, however, Apple has apparently decided to use its recent strategy of expanding and/or relocating existing stores to take on Microsoft in the Bellevue Square mall. To that end, Apple is moving its retail store to a new location within the mall, doubling its size and taking a position on the second floor away from but still within view of the Microsoft store on the lower level.
Whatever their motive, later this year the Apple store will move, from its ground-floor location that opened in 2003 with 4,600 square-feet, and into a second-level space formerly occupied by three separate retailers. When the move is finished by year's end, the store will double its current size and, most importantly, will be visible to every single visitor leaving the Microsoft store across the hallway and one floor below.
Apple has been making a concerted effort to both build larger stores to help accommodate the large crowds, as well as expand or replace a number of its older, smaller stores that see foot traffic well in excess of desired capacity.
Media research firm Nielsen yesterday revealed that overall music sales in the United States are up 1.6% year-over-year so far in 2011, driven in large part by a 12.4% surge in digital music sales that appears to coincide with the debut of The Beatles on iTunes last November.
While physical albums saw a decline in year-over-year sales from the same period in 2010, digital album and track purchases went up 16.8 percent and 9.6 percent, respectively. Digital retailers received more than half of all music transactions, propelling a 12.4 percent growth in sales over last year.
Catalog album sales are up 5.4 percent in 2011, thanks in part to a long-awaited 2010 deal allowing digital distribution of The Beatles’ albums for the first time.
As noted by All Things Digital, however, it seems hard to believe that The Beatles are responsible for the continued bump in digital sales still being seen six months after the group's iTunes debut. Regardless, music executives are undoubtedly happy that music sales are at least holding steady after what has been an extended decline in overall sales and a flattening out of digital sales, although it will obviously take some time to determine if this is a true shift in sales momentum or simply a brief respite.
For the main 3.5" SATA hard drive bay in the new 2011 machines, Apple has altered the SATA power connector itself from a standard 4-pin power configuration to a 7-pin configuration. Hard drive temperature control is regulated by a combination of this cable and Apple proprietary firmware on the hard drive itself. From our testing, we've found that removing this drive from the system, or even from that bay itself, causes the machine's hard drive fans to spin at maximum speed and replacing the drive with any non-Apple original drive will result in the iMac failing the Apple Hardware Test (AHT).
As the report notes, the change does mean that anyone seeking to replace the hard drive in a new iMac will have to go through Apple, limiting options and increasing costs.
It is not a matter of "if" but rather a matter of "when" your hard drive is going to fail. We preach this all the time in regards to having a proper backup strategy in place to prepare from when that failure happens. But it seems now, that when that happens to the main drive on your iMac, you're left with two options - buy a new drive from Apple and have them install it via one of their Authorized Service Centers, or enjoy the rather large Apple logoed paperweight on your desk. Want a 3.5" drive larger than 2TB? Too bad - Apple doesn't offer them.
Apple has not officially supported do-it-yourself hard drive replacements on the iMac for many years, but many users have still elected to take on the task themselves or have others not specifically authorized by Apple perform the swap for them.
This morning we've launched a long awaited MacRumors redesign as well as a number of under-the-hood improvements. It may take some time for the new design to propagate completely, so if you aren't seeing it, please be patient.
If you have any specific issues with the new design, please email us any bugs reports and we'll try to address them as quickly as possible. Here are some of the new features and changes:
• Full RSS Feeds - All existing RSS subscribers have been automatically upgraded to full content feeds. If for some reason you prefer the truncated feed, we are continuing to offer that at this url.
• Fixed or Fluid - The default view for the site is now a fixed-width design. For those who prefer a fluid (variable) width design, you can turn it On or Off. If you change your mind later, the links for those settings are at the bottom of this page.
• Page Load Times - Pages will load faster and the site will be able to handle more traffic.
• Content Changes - The content of the MacRumors front page will remain the same. As always, it will highlight the most significant iOS and Mac news and rumors. Page 2 has been retired and has evolved into a Mac Blog, and our iPhone Blog will expand to cover iOS and iPad topics.
RSS Feeds
• All MacRumors Stories
• Front Page - Existing subscribers have been upgraded to this feed.
• Mac Blog - Existing Page 2 subscribers have been upgraded to this feed.
• iOS Blog - Existing iPhone subscribers have been upgraded to this feed.
Social Media
• @MacRumors on Twitter - our comprehensive Twitter feed. We also offer individual components at @MacRumorsFP, @MacRumorsMac, @MacRumorsiOS
• MacRumors on Facebook - Like and share MacRumors stories on Facebook.
Update: Turn off "Minimal" MacRumors extension as it conflicts with the design. We've also added a "Fluid HD" option for those who want the design to stretch to a super-wide width.
As reported by The Loop, Apple has reached a milestone in its iAd mobile advertising push, with its 100th ad campaign having rolled out with content from real estate company Coldwell Banker.
The campaign began in late March and so far, the results are glowing. [Coldwell Banker chief marketing office Michael] Fischer said the iAd garnered and average of 11 pages viewed per visit; average user engagement time of more than one minute; tap rates 5 times higher than average online banner ad click-through rates; and conversion rates four times higher than online display and search ads.
It is unclear from the report whether the figure of 100 iAd campaigns includes iAds for Developers, a lower-cost option that allows App Store developers to advertise in other apps with a basic ad format, although presumably these are not included in the total.
Apple earlier this year sliced the buy-in fee for major advertisers in half from $1 million to $500,000, hoping to draw in new advertisers as the company has sought to increase fill rates amid exploding device sales and developer adoption that have dramatically increased the number of available ad slots.
Just last month, Apple released an iAd Gallery app for iOS devices, featuring some of the campaigns that have made appearances in the iAd program.
Apple yesterday released iPhoto 9.1.3, a minor update addressing an issue with merged events transferred to iOS devices.
This update fixes a problem that could cause some events merged in iPhoto to be split back into multiple events on iOS devices after being synced.
This update is recommended for all users of iPhoto '11.
The update weighs in at 106.29 MB and requires Mac OS X 10.6.6. The update comes just a few weeks after the late April release of iPhoto 9.1.2.
In a pair of reports today, DigiTimes claims that Apple's manufacturing partner Foxconn is experiencing shortages of both labor and component supplies required for iPhone and iPad production, with Apple also being among the companies still scrambling to secure component supplies in the face of increasing supply chain tightness resulting from the Japanese earthquake that has seen suppliers nearly run through any cushion they may have had.
Taiwan-based electronics manufacturing service (EMS) provider Foxconn Electronics (Hon Hai Precision Industry) is reportedly facing a shortage of both labor and materials at its plants in Chengdu, China, which is likely to affect shipments of iPad 2 and iPhone 4 orders in the second quarter, according to sources from upstream component makers.
According to the reports, Foxconn had planned 52 iPad production lines at its Chengdu plants capable of pumping out a total of at least 40 million units per year, but the component shortages and labor issues have meant that the manufacturer is falling short of Apple's current demands for 2.5-3 million units per month.
The component shortages stemming from the effects of the Japanese earthquake and the resulting country-wide power issues are said to have led to electronics manufacturers seeking to stockpile existing supplies of components while attempting to play down those moves lest suppliers realize the extent of the shortages and increase prices.
The sources pointed out that PC- and smartphone-related players have all claimed to have not seen any supply issues after the earthquake because of concerns that it might cause upstream players to panic and even raise their product prices, while trying to prevent the subject from impacting their new product launches. However, most of these makers have all been working on stocking their component inventory behind the scenes, the sources added.
The sources noted that several component suppliers are already close to having shortages with the real challenge expected to hit in June. The shortage crisis is also expected to bring issues such as rising costs and an increased rate of defective products in the future.
Apple shipped 4.69 million iPads during the first quarter of 2011, well below what most observers were expecting. The shortfall was reportedly due to the production transition from the original iPad to the iPad 2, with several technical challenges including light leakage on displays from LG and speaker production issues also affecting shipments.
Pride wallpaper, carrier satellite connectivity for iPhone 13, Screen Time improvements, and more.
Apple Intelligence is what Apple is calling its artificial intelligence feature set. Here's everything we know.
Image Playground is Apple's dedicated image creation app that can build cartoon-like pictures based on text descriptions.
If you're experiencing issues with iPhone Mirroring, follow these steps to get it working again.
Apple's annual developer conference where it will unveil iOS 19, macOS 16, and more.
Biggest design overhaul since iOS 7, new Apple Intelligence features, and more.
Apple's next-generation iPhone models with a new "Air" or "Slim" model replacing the current Plus model.
2 days ago by Tim Hardwick
3 days ago by Tim Hardwick
3 days ago by Tim Hardwick
3 days ago by Tim Hardwick
4 days ago by Joe Rossignol
Pride wallpaper, carrier satellite connectivity for iPhone 13, Screen Time improvements, and more.
Apple Intelligence is what Apple is calling its artificial intelligence feature set. Here's everything we know.
Image Playground is Apple's dedicated image creation app that can build cartoon-like pictures based on text descriptions.
If you're experiencing issues with iPhone Mirroring, follow these steps to get it working again.
Apple's annual developer conference where it will unveil iOS 19, macOS 16, and more.
Biggest design overhaul since iOS 7, new Apple Intelligence features, and more.
Apple's next-generation iPhone models with a new "Air" or "Slim" model replacing the current Plus model.
2 days ago by Tim Hardwick
3 days ago by Tim Hardwick
3 days ago by Tim Hardwick
3 days ago by Tim Hardwick
4 days ago by Joe Rossignol