MacRumors

Parallels has announced version 7 of their popular virtualization software that allows Mac users to run Windows on their machines alongside Mac OS X. The new version is said to include 90 new features and enhancements including:

- Lion integration and support, including Launchpad and Mission Control for Windows programs
- Shared iSight and FaceTime HD cameras in both Windows and Mac
- Up to 1GB of video memory, for ultra-high resolutions
- Improved graphics performance, up to 45% faster 3D
- 60% faster resuming Windows
- Windows on Demand - purchase and automatically install Windows on your Mac from Parallels Desktop 7 in the U.S.

Parallels 7 supports running OS X Lion as a "guest" operating system under virtualization, meaning you can run a completely separate copy of Lion within your main copy of Lion. In July, we reported that Apple had changed the license agreement in OS X Lion that allowed users to run up to 2 additional copies of Lion on a single machine without the need for extra licenses.

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With the release of the iTunes Match Beta to developers earlier week, there has been a lot of confusion about whether or not the service was "streaming" or not.

Early hands on videos seemed to show that iTunes Match was a streaming service for both the Mac and iOS devices. Music would play over the internet, but not appear to be permanently downloaded to your device.

Apple, however, later denied that the service was actually streaming. Instead they described it as "a simultaneous listen and download". We labeled the distinction one of semantics and still considered it streaming based on what had been observed in the early build.

With the release of iOS Beta 7, however, Apple is right and iTunes Match (for iOS) is a listen and download service, and not a streaming one. InsanelyGreatMac put together a new video of how things have changed with this latest release.

Songs that are played are now permanently downloaded to your iPhone, iPod or iPad library. Even if you skip past a song, the entire song is saved directly to your device. That means as you listen to music, songs are pulled from the iCloud and stored. The main distinction is that users may have to manually free up space over time. Once a song is deleted, it will again be available for download once again in the same manner.

As a result, the original impression of streaming may have just been an iOS user interface bug or simply an oversight by Apple. What makes us think it was not just an interface bug is the fact that songs are still streamed in iTunes Beta for Mac. Even with the newest iTunes beta release from tonight, users can reportedly stream songs from iTunes Match and those songs are not saved permanently to their Mac. Mac users must explicitly press the iCloud button to download and save songs locally -- of course, this could change.

Apple's clearly continuing to tweak and make changes to iTunes Match, and we hear there remain a lot of bugs in the interface itself. We should know more for certain when the software seeds stabilize as we approach the expected launch this fall.

Earlier today we posted an image to our iOS blog from Apple's upcoming Photo Stream instructions that seemed to show an unusual looking iPhone icon. We had initially dismissed it as possibly being a generic artist rendition, but upon further consideration, it does seem too coincidental that an icon closely resembling circulating rumors would appear in an official Apple release.

The icon can be seen in context above. There isn't a whole lot of detail with the icon, but on overview, it seems to show an iPhone-like device with an enlarged screen and possibly an elongated home button at the bottom. This matches up nicely with many of the circulating rumors about the iPhone 5.

Here we've enlarged the icon and put it alongside our designer's layout of what the iPhone 5 might look like based on the leaked case design documents. We previously posted fully rendered versions of images based on the design. There's been some debate about what size the iPhone 5's screen might be with a recent report claiming it would be less than 4".

As pointed out by one of our readers, Apple tends to be very precise with their artwork, even at small icon sizes.

Thanks NICKPR0

Apple has released the seventh beta version of iOS 5 to developers as an Over-the-Air update. The delta release, which only downloads changed code, is a lighter one, weighing in at around 70MB, compared to 144MB for beta 6.

We'll be on the lookout for new features and changes in this release, which comes just 12 days after beta 6 was released. In addition to iOS 5 Beta 7, Apple has pushed Xcode 4.2 Developer Preview 7, iTunes 10.5 beta 7, and Apple TV Software beta 6.

An Apple employee has lost a prototype iPhone at a bar, again. The iPhone was lost in late July at Cava 22, a Mexican restaurant and bar in San Francisco's Mission District, according to CNET:

A day or two after the phone was lost at San Francisco's Cava 22, which describes itself as a "tequila lounge" that also serves lime-marinated shrimp ceviche, Apple representatives contacted San Francisco police, saying the device was priceless and the company was desperate to secure its safe return, the source said. Still unclear are details about the device, what version of the iOS operating system it was running, and what it looks like.

Apple tracked the iPhone to a home in San Francisco's Bernal Heights neighborhood. San Francisco police and Apple investigators reportedly spoke to a man in his twenties about the device, but he denied knowing about the lost phone. After a search, they found nothing. There is no word if Apple ever got the phone back. A spokesperson for the San Francisco Police Department told CNET that Apple did not file a police report about the missing phone.

Readers will remember that last year Apple lost an early prototype of the iPhone 4 at a bar in Redwood City near the company's headquarters. That device was picked up by another customer and sold to tech site Gizmodo. That sequence of events triggered a criminal investigation which ended just this month.

A late-July iPhone in field testing would presumably have been the upcoming iPhone 5 or perhaps the low-cost iPhone 4.

(Image of Cava 22 courtesy James Martin/CNET)

Update: Some doubts have been raised about this story.

Yesterday, we noted that new Apple CEO Tim Cook has been taking time to respond to the many emails coming his way congratulating him on his new position, wondering if he might follow the precedent of Steve Jobs and be willing to engage directly with customers via email as the contacts turned more toward questions and complaints than pleasantries.

Evidence of Cook's engagement in addressing more substantial issues comes today by way of a report from iPhoneinCanada.ca noting that Apple is planning on bringing its iTunes Match service to Canadian customers "shortly". The revelation came after a customer emailed Tim Cook, who apparently forwarded the question to Apple's vice president for Internet services, Eddy Cue. Cue quickly responded to the customer, sharing the news that Apple is working hard on bringing the service to Canada.

Hi Sheldon,

We’re working on adding Canada and hope to do so shortly after the US launch.

Eddy

The news is certainly welcome for Apple's Canadian customers, and should offer hope to users in other countries still waiting for word on the service making its way to their markets. As with any content offering from Apple, iTunes Match requires highly-localized contracts to be negotiated with the content rights holders, complicating the process of making such services available in all markets in a timely fashion.

While emails to Steve Jobs have sometimes resulted in follow-up contacts from members of Apple's support staff, it is still encouraging to see emails to Tim Cook being quickly passed along to be answered by appropriate personnel, even including other executives.

Update: Another MacRumors reader has let us know that he emailed Tim Cook to ask about iTunes Match coming to the UK, and he similarly received a reply from Eddy Cue promising that Apple is working on launching it shortly after the U.S. debut.

Hi Stuart,

We're working on adding more countries and hope to add the UK shortly after the US launch.

Eddy

Hardmac reports that Apple has made an internal announcement that it has completed work on tools that will allow support technicians to utilize remote diagnostics on iOS devices, receiving key information about device state. The report notes that the tools will allow Internet and telephone support staff to provide enhanced device support without customers having to bring their devices in to an Apple store or service center.

In effect, this systems operates entirely online. An email is sent to the device containing a URL (this can alsoo be entered by hand) and the device will connect via Mobile Safari and the telephone to start internal checks and sends the result of it to the Apple servers to which the service centres are connected.

The diagnostic system submits the Unique Device Identifier (UDID), device name, battery health and charging information, installed iOS version, and data on improper hangs and shutdowns.

As noted by AppleInsider, this tool sounds essentially identical to the existing iosdiags.apple.com site, which has been used for some time by Apple retail stores to wirelessly gather system information.

Currently, the Web application only works with an employee Apple ID and is not connected to an iTunes account. The data culled from the service reportedly provides an Apple Genius with the same information they would obtain plugging in an iPhone at the Genius Bar with a USB cable.

The system was said to have been put in place to make it easier to conduct mobile appointments away from the Genius Bar, in an effort to make it less crowded, AppleInsider was told. Using this tool in-store allows an employee to access diagnostic information wirelessly and quickly.

That iOS diagnostic functionality has been around for quite some time, first appearing as an OS X application for Geniuses known as Behavior Scan and used to read diagnostic information from devices connected via USB. That functionality later made its way to iOS in the form of the hidden iOS Diagnostics application, documented in our forums a year ago.

One of our retail contacts has told us that the iOS Diagnostics feature is currently not widely used in retail stores, as it is generally faster and easier to simply plug the device in at the Genius Bar. But it appears that Apple may finally be preparing to officially expand the remote diagnostics to allow users to take advantage of it upon direction from an Apple support agent. The expansion would offer a new method for remote support staff to receive information directly from a device rather than relying on the user to accurately track down and report the relevant details.

Apple has just begun offering refurbished iPad 2 units in its online store, opening the way for modest price savings on available models. Discounts currently come in at only $50 off of pricing for brand-new units, and no low-end units are currently available.

Models currently available in the U.S. online store include:

- 64 GB Wi-Fi: both colors ($649)
- 32 GB Wi-Fi + 3G: all four carrier/color combinations ($679)
- 64 GB Wi-Fi + 3G: all four carrier/color combinations ($779)

All refurbished iPads carry the same return and warranty policies as brand-new units, and also include new batteries and outer shells. All other components are cleaned and tested during the refurbishing process, with defective parts obviously being replaced. Current stocks are listed as shipping in 1-3 business days.

Apple has been offering refurbished original iPad models at its lowest prices ever, with the 16 GB Wi-Fi model coming in at $299. Availability of the low-end models has been scarce, however, as stock has been quickly depleted by customers taking advantage of the deep discounts.

Bloomberg reports that the U.S. government filed a complaint today seeking a court order to block AT&T's acquisition of T-Mobile. Antitrust concerns are at the heart of the complaint:

AT&T’s elimination of T-Mobile as an independent, low- priced rival would remove a significant competitive force from the market.

AT&T first announced its intent to acquire T-Mobile in March, stating that the merger would increase the company's network quality and expand the reach of its LTE capabilities.

AT&T was the only carrier offering the iPhone in the U.S. from its release in 2007 until its exclusive agreement ended earlier this year when Verizon began offering the iPhone 4 in February.

Although T-Mobile has never been an official iPhone carrier in the U.S., the company claimed that over one million iPhones were running on its network earlier this summer. Just last week there were reports that T-Mobile USA would begin offering the iPhone 5 at its release, which is widely expected in October.

Several MacRumors readers have forwarded us a "member only" email from Ideal-case.com claiming to show the antenna band for what would seem to be the "iPhone 4S" based on the current iPhone 4 design. While the antenna band was partially visible in a casing leak from last week, the new photos show direct comparisons between the new antenna band and both the GSM and CDMA iPhone 4 bands.

The iPhone 4S antenna band is essentially a hybrid of the two earlier designs, showing the same four breaks as the CDMA iPhone 4 but with a SIM-card slot as in the GSM iPhone 4. In the photos, the GSM iPhone 4 antenna band is on top (labeled "4G"), the iPhone 4S antenna band is in the middle (labeled "5G or 4GS"), and the CDMA iPhone 4 is on the bottom (labeled "CDMA").

Interestingly, this is not the first time this particular design for the antenna band has surfaced, as a similar part appeared as long ago as early January, before the CDMA iPhone 4 had even been unveiled. That part was the first to show the shift in the antenna breaks that also necessitated a slight shift in the position of the mute switch on the CDMA iPhone 4, but also contained a SIM-card slot.

A number of parts appearing very similar to their iPhone 4 counterparts have surfaced in recent weeks, with the suggestion being that these could for a low-end "iPhone 4S" model being developed by Apple. The company has also been rumored to be developing a more significantly updated iPhone 5 offering a thinner design, although little has been seen of this design beyond third-party cases based on a claimed leaked design document.

CNet reports that Apple has finally contacted Carl Frega about a prototype laptop that he had put on sale earlier this month. The laptop appeared for sale on eBay where it received bids upwards of $70,000 before it was pulled at the request of Apple.

The 2007-era MacBook Pro featured a Magsafe Antenna and SIM slot that suggested it was an early prototype of a 3G-capable Apple laptop. CNet reports that Frega was contacted by Apple this afternoon to have someone pick it up.

It seems the laptop had a strange journey before ending up in Frega's hands. He originally picked up the machine off someone on Craigslist. He repaired the machine and tried selling it again on Craigslist. The new owner brought the machine to an Apple Store Genius Bar, where the machine was opened and determined to have non-standard parts. The repair invoice describes the reason they refused repair.

Opened machine to observe that nearly every internal part was 3rd party; main logic board, optical drive, display, hard drive, top case, and others. Machine number (W8707003Y53) is also not recognized as a valid number.
Proposed Resolution: Denied services; machine has been modified by unauthorized providers beyond repair."

As a result of these "3rd party" parts, Apple's store refused service. That second buyer took Frega to small claims court thinking the machine was a fake, after which Frega had to accept the machine back and refund the money. It was only after that that Frega tried to sell the laptop on eBay.

Due to the publicity surrounding the eBay sale, Apple has contacted Frega and asked to set up a time to pick up the machine. No word on when it is expected to be returned to Apple.