MacRumors

Apple's job postings are usually pretty unremarkable. Over the years, Apple has learned to keep from posting anything too revealing as they know that people are watching their every move. A recent job listing for a software engineer, however, seems unusually enticing to us.

Apple is looking for an engineer to work on a team "tasked with creating the next generation application for manipulating media". They are looking for someone to be involved in creating "new user interfaces" with the purpose of "allowing the user to manipulate content in new and exciting ways".

While the job listing remains sufficiently vague, it does raise some interesting possibilities. User interface design is a topic that runs to Apple's core. Ever since the original Macintosh introduced the mouse/window interface to the masses, UI has been a point of pride for Apple. "Next generation" interfaces could mean anything, but with Apple's focus on multi-touch interfaces as well the leaked images of a multi-touch trackpad, our imaginations jump right towards those possibilities.

With the launch of Steam for the Mac, a lot of attention has been focused on the relative performance of Mac gaming. Early benchmarks have shown that the same Steam games run at a significantly slower framerate under Mac OS X than under Windows.

The reason for the discrepancy has been described as due to relatively immaturity of drivers on the OS X side as well as other slowdowns. Some modest improvements may be seen with the upcoming release of Mac OS X 10.6.4, but more dramatic improvements remain in the pipeline.

Responding to concerns about performance on some Mac Steam games, Valve employee rbarris provides some reassurance that further performance updates will be coming:

Performance is going to improve as drivers are updated. I would expect modest improvements in short term and larger ones in longer term. No, I can't put dates on them. We are making a lot of progress is identifying specific issues that need work inside the game and inside OpenGL and drivers. Apple, ATI and NVIDIA are all involved.

Steam is said to be working with Apple, ATI and NVIDIA on these optimizations for improved gaming performance. Driver-level features should arrive over time with future Mac OS X updates.

As rumored, Apple's new iOS application dedicated to the company's retail store experience is now live in the App Store. Known simply as Apple Store, the free application allows users to shop the full online Apple Store, pre-order the new iPhone 4, locate Apple retail stores, and sign up for retail store appointments and workshops.

With the Apple Store app, you can:
- See new and featured products from Apple.
- Shop the full selection of products available from the Apple Online Store.
- Find the latest accessories and software.
- Read customer reviews and get answers to product questions.
- Buy or reserve a new iPhone with just a few taps.
- Locate any Apple Retail Store in the world, instantly.
- Make Personal Shopping, Genius Bar, and One to One appointments.
- Sign up for workshops and events at your favorite Apple Retail Store.

While Apple Store is compatible with the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad, it is not a universal application and thus does not offer an iPad-specific interface when installed on Apple's larger tablet device.

Unfortunately, launching the application currently showing only Apple's "We'll be back soon" sticky note, as the company's online store has been taken down after briefly going live with iPhone 4 pre-orders and a redesigned Mac mini.

Update: Apple has posted a press release announcing the release of the application. The release does suggest that Apple Store is initially available only in the United States, and it is unclear whether the company is planning to extend availability to other countries in the future.

Apple has quietly updated the Mac mini with a brand new design.

- 2.4GHz or 2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
- 1.4" thick Unibody enclosure
- NVIDIA GeForce 320M Graphics Card
- Built-in Power Supply
- HDMI port and Mini DisplayPort
- Removable bottom panel shown here:

The removable bottom panel gives you access to memory. Back ports include: Ethernet, FireWire 800, Four USB 2.0, SD card slot, Audio Line out, HDMI, Mini Displayport.

With all the improvements, the base price of the Mac mini has increased to $699, though that includes more hard drive space, faster graphics and the features listed above.

Apple's online store has returned with details on how to pre-order the iPhone 4 for delivery on June 24th. As previously, reported, only the black iPhone 4 is available for pre-order. Apple gives no timeframe for when the white iPhone 4 will become available.

Apple seems to be preparing for the iPhone 4 pre-orders which are set to kick off on Tuesday, June 15th. They've brought the Apple online store down, presumably to make changes. There's been reports that no other retailer will be offering these pre-orders, so Apple might be the only option.

The exact time Apple will start accepting pre-orders has been a subject of debate.

Update: AT&T's Wireless site briefly allowed users to pre-order before going down for maintainence:

Pre-order page now accessible but no iPhone 4s are in their system yet.

As one of the launch retailers for the iPhone 4, Radio Shack is offering special trade-in deals for existing phones that can be applied to the new iPhone 4.

At a Brooklyn-area RadioShack, a sales representative named Shaquana told eWEEK that only some electronics trade-ins will be allowed in-store, and others will have to be arranged online. Devices that one can safely trade-in at the store, she said, include phones and game consoles, chargers, old cameras and camcorders.

Radio Shack's Twitter account has been filling in some blanks on the policy. Edible Apple has been tracking the tweets which revealed that the iPhone 3GS can be traded in for a $200 credit to the new iPhone:

The trade in value on an iPhone 3GS is $200, so if you're currently toting around last year's iPhone model and are eligible for an AT&T upgrade any time in 2010, you can pick up the new iPhone 4 for free. While trade-ins can ordinarily be done online, Radio Shack is advising users via its Twitter account that if the iPhone 4 is on your radar, your best bet is to show up in-store.

The iPhone 4 pre orders begin on Tuesday with the final U.S. launch taking place on June 24th.

(Note, you may do better than $200 selling your iPhone 3GS on your own, though with potentially more hassle)

Starbucks announced that they would be activating free Wi-Fi access across all U.S. locations starting on July 1st. The move is seen as a response to increased competition from other chains which already offer free Wi-Fi to their customers.

iPhone customers have already enjoyed free Wi-Fi at Starbucks stores in conjunction with AT&T. While the move negates this advantage for iPhone customers, it opens up more free Wi-Fi hotspots to iPod Touch and iPad owners who were previously excluded from the service.

ModMyi reports that it has received a purported internal AT&T memo from a source revealing that the carrier will only be taking pre-orders for black iPhone 4 models, with white models not set to become available until "later this summer".

Apparently (see above image emailed to AT&T employees) the iPhone 4 will ONLY be available in black for pre-orders and launch. The initial lineup will be the 3G[S] in 8GB, and the black iPhone 4 at 16GB and 32GB.

The white 16GB and 32GB iPhone 4 will be available "later this summer."

It is unclear whether such restrictions would apply only to AT&T distribution or if it is a broader issue that will result in a delay of the sale of white iPhone models from Apple and other distribution points. No reason is given for the delay.

Apple is set to begin taking pre-orders for iPhone 4 tomorrow morning, but has not specified when its site will go live to accept sales.

Update: German site Macerkopf.de is reporting that Deutsche Telecom will also only be offering iPhone 4 in black at launch.

Apple today seeded Build 10F569 of Mac OS X 10.6.4 to developers. The new build comes six days after the last seed and continues to list no known issues with the update. As with the last several developers builds, testers are asked to once again focus their efforts on Graphics Drivers, SMB, USB, Voice Over, and VPN.

Seeding of Mac OS X 10.6.4 began in late April and today's build represents the eighth version pushed out to developers for testing.

A public release of Mac OS X 10.6.4 had been rumored to occur during last week's Worldwide Developers Conference, but Apple appears to still be putting the final touches on the next maintenance update for Mac OS X Snow Leopard. The most recent public version of Snow Leopard, Mac OS X 10.6.3, was released in late March.

Just like in the United States, additional bits of information on UK availability for iPhone are beginning to trickle out. Earlier today, a test page on Vodafone's site, which now loads only occasionally in a partially completed state, appeared showing the company's rate plans for the new iPhone. Fortunately, Engadget grabbed some screenshots while it was active, revealing that the carrier will be offering a basic 1 GB cap for data access across all monthly plans, double that of O2's lower-end plans.

Like O2, Vodafone will be offering 18-month and 24-month contracts, with monthly prices checking in at a 5 premium for the shorter contract. All plans also include up to 1 GB of Wi-Fi data access on BT OpenZone networks. Phone costs begin at 189 (16 GB) and 280 (32 GB) on low-end plans, before dropping all the way down to free for 45/50 plans (16 GB) and 60/65 plans (32 GB).

In other UK news, Virgin Mobile has indicated that it is working to bring iPhone 4 to its network.

A Virgin Mobile spokesperson said: "We are in ongoing talks with Apple. There are no further developments at this point."

Virgin would join existing major UK networks O2, Orange and Vodafone, as well as T-Mobile and Three, which are coming on board with the iPhone 4 launch.

With Apple set to begin taking pre-orders for the iPhone 4 in a handful of countries tomorrow, including the United States, the company's retail partners are also beginning to firm up their plans. Last Friday, we noted that Wal-Mart was gearing up to offer the new iPhone at launch, following news earlier in the week that RadioShack would begin taking pre-orders on the 15th for a June 24th launch as well.

Electronics chain Best Buy had been rumored to be preparing its plans for launch, and today confirmed that it too will be taking pre-orders beginning tomorrow.

Beginning June 15, Best Buy Mobile, the mobile specialty retail unit of Best Buy Co. Inc (NYSE: BBY), launches its pre-sale of iPhone 4 from Apple. Pre-sale orders can be placed at any Best Buy or Best Buy Mobile standalone store nationwide. The iPhone 4 will land in Best Buy and Best Buy Mobile stores June 24.

Apple's U.S. carrier partner, AT&T, has also been working to get ready for launch day, with employees set to debut new company T-shirts for the event and the company has also put together a video providing information on upgrade pricing policies and data plans for the new iPhone.

The company is also planning to open its retail stores at 7:00 AM on the launch day of June 24th and is offering rebate credits or handset upgrades for those customers who purchased an iPhone 3GS in the month before iPhone 4's announcement.

MacRumors has heard from several sources that Apple is planning to launch a new iOS application tomorrow that will offer customers access to the company's online store and iPhone pre-ordering, as well as the ability to book Genius Bar appointments at brick-and-mortar retail stores.

As long ago as last November, we began hearing rumors of a "Concierge" iPhone application that would offer brick-and-mortar retail store scheduling services.

In addition, early last month we received word from a customer who had emailed Steve Jobs to ask about the possibility of an iPhone-friendly online Apple Store, to which the Apple CEO responded "Coming soon."

Consequently, it appears that Apple may be set to deliver an all-in-one application for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch that will integrate retail store services with broader online shopping capabilities through the company's online store.

AT&T has sent emails to customers of its iPad 3G data service apologizing for and providing additional information on the exposure of their email addresses and SIM card identifiers last week.

The letter outlines in brief detail how the information was accessed and the company's response once it was notified of the breach. AT&T also reassures its customers that their password and other account information, as well as any data on their devices, are unaffected. It also suggests that the primary risk of the information leak is increased spam and the possible use of such information in targeted phishing tactics attempting to gain additional personal information about customers.

The security breach is currently under investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which is examining the circumstances surrounding the information exposure and what may have been done with the data obtained.

Apple's Worldwide Developer's Conference wrapped up at the end of last week. The conference kicked off with a flurry of announcements surrounding Apple's new iPhone 4. The response to those who had actual hands-on time with the upcoming iPhone has been overwhelmingly positive with a particular focus on the high quality of the display. Several people we spoke to echoed Steve Jobs' comments that it will be hard to go back once you start using the 326 dpi display.

This weekend Robert Scoble posted high resolution photos comparing the new display to the existing one (iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS). The images clearly show the increased readability of web pages while fully "zoomed out". Macworld's hands on also echos the sentiment::

We placed an iPhone 3GS and an iPhone 4 side by side. The results were readily apparent. Text on the iPhone 3GS, while quite readable, showed noticeable pixelation. We couldnt pick out any pixels on the iPhone 4s text; as Apple claims, this screen really makes text look like something youd find in a book or a magazine, with none of the artifacts that weve come to expect from a LCD display.

Apple has claimed that the new display exceeds the limits of the human retina. While there has been some debate about the accuracy of these claims, at least one expert considers the claims close enough to reality.

For another point of reference, Apple provides this actual screenshot of an iPhone 4 screenshot. Click to see it at full resolution:

Of course, this same image when viewed on an iPhone 4 shows the same number of pixels but within the space of a 3.5" display.

HSUPA Support

Meanwhile, iLounge has noted that the iPhone 4 supports 3G HSUPA (High-Speed Uplink Packet Access) for its uplink. iLounge cites a theoretical maximum of 5.76 Mbits/second. Meanwhile, the iPhone 3GS is limited to only 384kbps. Any faster uplink speeds will obviously help out in emailing high definition video clips over 3G networks.

Apple Outsider's Matt Drance reports on another change made to Apple's iPhone developer terms earlier this week that should please certain developers, a change which allows game developers in particular to continue to use interpreted languages such as Lua in their App Store applications.

The change eases up on restrictions implemented along with Apple's more highly-publicized prohibition against Adobe's Flash-to-iPhone compiler as part of Apple's broader effort to keep third-party meta-platforms from eroding the user experience and stifling innovation as developers become reliant upon them to roll out support for new features introduced by Apple. Drance notes:

I've said before that Apple's aversion to interpreted code and external runtimes is the potential for someone else to take the platform over. That's not the whole story, though. Games in particular tend to use engines and libraries that leverage interpreted languages such as Lua. Many of these applications pose no threat, neither implicitly nor explicitly.

While explicit approval from Apple is still required, these new terms seem to acknowledge that there's a difference between an app that happens to have non-compiled code, and a meta-platform.

The change comes alongside Apple's further modifications of its iOS developer terms that again allow for limited analytics data collection to aid advertisers and developers, but appear to shut out non-independent companies such as Google's AdMob from receiving the data.

CNET reports that Wal-Mart has confirmed that it will carry iPhone 4 in its stores as of its June 24th launch, adding another major outlet to the growing list of retailers that appear poised to be U.S. launch partners for the new device.

Walmart said Friday that it will be one of several retail outlets who will have the iPhone 4 on June 24, its first day of availability anywhere. While Walmart has carried previous versions of the iPhone, this is a first that it will be for sale in its stores on the device's official launch day.

Electronics chain RadioShack announced earlier this week that it will be carrying iPhone 4 at launch, with pre-orders set to begin on June 15th, the same day Apple begins the pre-ordering process. Best Buy has also been claimed to be carrying iPhone 4 as of the 24th, although the company has yet to officially confirm availability and its pre-ordering policies are unknown.

Wal-Mart gained considerable attention in the weeks leading up to Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference and the iPhone 4 introduction by slashing the price of the 16 GB iPhone 3GS in half to $97 with a two-year contract. With iPhone 4, however, Wal-Mart is expected to only slightly undercut Apple's own pricing by offering the 16 GB and 32 GB versions at $197 and $297 respectively. The company did not carry the low-end 8 GB iPhone 3G during the previous product cycle, and so it is unclear if it will be offering the 8 GB iPhone 3GS during this cycle.

Wal-Mart has also been reported to be expecting to carry the iPad beginning later this year.

Hardmac reports that it has received information from one of it most reliable sources at Apple indicating that the company could offer two Worldwide Developers Conferences per year, separating Mac OS X and iOS content into individual events.

One of our most reliable sources at Apple told us that the company could decide to organize two different WWDC every year, one dedicated to the iOS, iPhone, iPad, iPod, etc... and the other one to Mac OS X and the Mac.

The report's choice of words to say that Apple "could" offer two WWDCs makes it unclear whether there are actual thoughts of Apple making this happen or if it is simply an idea that has been tossed out.

This year's WWDC has been notable for its focus on iOS, as evidenced by the keynote's focus, mix of developers sessions, and the axing of Apple Design Awards for Mac OS X applications. Apple has indicated that the shift focus is simply a timing issue, with the new iPhone and iPad fresh in people's minds and rolling out new features while the Mac platform remains in the middle of a cycle with Mac OS X Snow Leopard well established and Mac OS X 10.7 not yet ready to show.

Even with the scaling back of Mac OS X this year, the conference sold out in only eight days with over 5,000 registrants packing the Moscone West convention center in San Francisco for the event this week.