MacRumors

AppleInsider reports that Apple has seeded a new version of Mac OS X 10.6.3, termed Build 10D538, to select developers for testing. According to the report, the update addresses issues in several areas, including QuickTime X and Logic Studio.

More specifically, people familiar with Friday's beta say it includes an update to QuickTime X that, when finalized, will improve security and compatibility while simultaneously enhancing overall reliability. The release will also include tweaks that aim to enhance the performance of Apple's 64-bit Logic pro audio suite. Other planned improvements include better compatibility with third-party printers and OpenGL-grounded applications, those same people say.

One documented known issue reportedly remains in the latest build, involving the viewing of photos via Front Row.

Apple seeded its first test version of Mac OS X 10.6.3 to developers earlier this month, revealing a significant number of fixes in the new update, as well as several outstanding issues still needing attention at the time.

Mac OS X 10.6.3 also reportedly contains greatly improved support for OpenGL 3.0, which would offer significantly improved graphics performance should Apple implement full support for the standards. It is unknown at this time whether the latest 10.6.3 build has made any additional steps toward that goal.

Illusion Labs, developer of the popular iPhone game Touchgrind, has posted a video demonstrating a Mac version of the game utilizing the multi-touch capabilities of the MacBook's trackpad.

The developer describes it as tech demo and hasn't committed to releasing it. Illusion Labs is the same developer who demoed their iPhone games on a large multi-touch table in 2009.

All of Apple's notebooks now contain a multi-touch trackpad that could be used for such purposes. In fact, Apple's multi-touch trackpads can track up to 11 distinct multi-touch presses.

Despite conflicting reports, we have reason to believe that the upcoming Apple Tablet will indeed carry a front facing video camera as recently described in the Wall Street Journal:

This person said Apple has experimented with the ability ... for the gadget to automatically recognize individuals via a built-in camera.

While the presence of a front facing camera could allow for this novel use of facial recognition, it would also open up the possibility for video conferencing, which has been a long requested feature for the iPhone. Apple already supports video conferencing with their Mac OS X iChat software, so the ability to tie in video conferencing with their existing technology would be trivial.

The focus of the tablet rumors has been on content deals and multi-touch, though a camera could introduce other interesting features.

Hardmac reports that new ultra-low voltage Intel chips, introduced earlier this month as part of a major roll-out in conjunction with CES and presumably destined for the next revision to Apple's MacBook Air, are not yet being produced in mass quantities. The delay in chip availability may result in Apple having to push back the introduction of updated MacBook Air models by several weeks or else offer Intel a premium price to snap up limited quantities of the chips currently available and in production.

According to the last rumors, the MacBook Air might not be updated in a very near future with either Core i3/i5 has it uses Low Voltage version of the Intel mobile CPUs. Such processors are not fully ready/available and Apple will have to delay the update of the MacBook Air by couple of weeks. It is still possible that Intel ships first samples to Apple, in small quantities, at a premium price.

According to our buyer's guide, Apple's MacBook Air is nearing the end of its usual product cycle, and when combined with the new chips from Intel, many have thought that a product update might be in store in the near future. The company's MacBook Pro and Mac Pro models are also reaching the end of their usual update cycles, leaving several opportunities for imminent Mac hardware updates.

Apple has scheduled a media event for next Wednesday, where the company is widely rumored to be introducing its tablet device, as well as possible details on iPhone OS 4.0. There have been no reports of refreshed Mac hardware being announced at the event, as Apple may prefer to spend its limited time in front of the media focused on its handheld products.

BusinessWeek reports that Apple has been in talks with the educational arm of publishing giant McGraw-Hill to bring e-textbook content to Apple's tablet device. The discussions also reportedly include portions of McGraw-Hill's Connect online learning system.

Apple's talks with McGraw-Hill cover how the two companies can market textbooks for the tablet and ways their software development teams can collaborate to publish digital textbooks and educational content on Apple's latest device, two people say. "The talks are as much about marketing as they are about software development," says one of the people involved in the discussions.

According to the report, Apple and McGraw-Hill have held extended discussions for about a year, supporting earlier claims that McGraw-Hill had been actively working to bring its content into the iTunes ecosystem. McGraw-Hill is also one of the partner's in CourseSmart, an e-textbook company that has already brought thousands of titles to the iPhone and iPod touch and has envisioned how its offerings might work on a concept Apple tablet.

McGraw-Hill's Connect, which apparently developed out of the collaboration with Apple regarding e-textbooks, offers professors a convenient means to manage electronic homework assignments and testing while offering students the ability to watch video, read textbook materials, and complete assignments.

McGraw-Hill is certainly not the only publishing company talking to Apple about tablet possibilities, as the report notes that both Hachette and Wiley have been in discussions, and a report earlier this week claimed that HarperCollins was also participating in negotiations.

Fox News reports that Apple is in last minute negotiations with both AT&T and Verizon to provide wireless service for their upcoming tablet device. Support for both networks suggests that Apple will be producing two versions of the device to support the different wireless standards:

Nevertheless, Apple is in talks with both AT&T and Verizon to support the tablet, according to sources within the companies: One version of the device will run on CDMA networks such as Verizon's, and one will operate on GSM networks like that owned by AT&T.

The upcoming Apple tablet is expected to have Wi-Fi connectivity, but has also been said to have optional 3G service for internet use when away from a hotspot. Even if deals are reached by next week's event, Fox News does not believe data pricing plans will be settled by that time.

As the tablet event approaches, there seems to be no shortage of rumors and speculation about exactly what form the tablet will take. It's probably a good time to remind readers that prior to the iPhone launch, a number of wildly different specs and descriptions had been floating around. As it turned out, Apple had made efforts to create bogus handset prototypes to prevent the rumor sites from getting a clear picture of the iPhone.

iLounge today reports, however, that they have "double-confirmed" a couple of interesting details about the new Apple tablet. iLounge has generally been a reliable source of pre-release information.

According to the site, the tablet will have two dock connectors to allow the device to be docked in either portrait or landscape orientations. This should allow the device some flexibility when docking with 3rd party accessories, avoiding awkward cable positioning. Next, the back of the tablet is said to be metal but with a "long rear stripe" for wireless broadcasting, akin to the original iPhone due to the fact that metal prevents radio signal transmissions.

Finally, iLounge believes that the new tablet will likely offer optional 3G service in addition to built-in Wi-Fi. This, of course, raises the questions of contract pricing for this data service.

Apple today issued a media alert announcing details for the January 25th release of its financial results for the first fiscal quarter of 2010, corresponding to the fourth calendar quarter of 2009. The results will be released after the close of trading on Monday at approximately 4:30 PM Eastern / 1:30 PM Pacific. Apple's conference call discussing the results will follow at 2:00 PM Pacific and will be available via a live audio webcast. MacRumors will provide running coverage of the conference call highlights.

Apple issued several Mac product releases during the quarter, updating its MacBook, Mac mini, and iMac lines in mid-October. At the same time, Apple introduced its multi-touch Magic Mouse. The period also marked the first full quarter of sales since Apple refreshed its iPod line near the end of the previous quarter.

For the quarter, analysts are predicting net earnings of $2.06 per share on revenue of $12.05 billion, above Apple's guidance of $1.70-$1.78 profit on $11.3-$11.6 billion of revenue. Apple's year-ago results for the first fiscal quarter of 2009 included net earnings of $1.78 per share on revenue of $10.17 billion.

AppleInsider reports that it has received information from sources detailing the appearance of Apple's much-rumored tablet device, noting that it is reminiscent of a "first-generation iPhone that's met its match with a rolling pin."

According to the report, the device looks remarkably similar to a concept rendering published early last year but with even more similarities to the iPhone beyond those depicted in the rendering, offering buttons and other features nearly identical to the iPhone 3GS.

Nestled in an aluminum shell that leverages the Apple's expertise in unibody construction but thinner proportionality than the original iPhone, the tablet reportedly sports all of the same buttons found on the handset, right down to its iconic home button -- which, like the volume toggle, is missing from the rendering.

Similarly, the tablet is said to sport all the same in/out connectivity as the current iPhone 3GS, including a 3.5-mm stereo headphone jack, built-in speaker grills, a microphone, GPS, 3G connectivity and a 30-pin dock connector. Like the rendering, its 10-inch display is framed by a black border that bleeds into its wrap-around aluminum enclosure.

Such proclaimed similarity to the iPhone 3GS may lend credibility to recently-published images claimed to be the tablet's front bezel. The images had been thought extremely suspect, in part due to their near exact likeness to the iPhone 3GS.

Other sources cited in today's report also claim that prototypes of the tablet have offered components making it compatible with CDMA wireless networks such as Verizon's, which would back up increasing claims, including some as recently as today, that Apple and Verizon have partnered on the new device. AppleInsider is careful to note, however, that it has been unable to confirm CDMA compatibility for the final shipping product.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office today published several new patent applications from Apple, revealing research into several areas, including the use of gesture-based input devices and solar panel technology in the casings of iPods.

In the first application, entitled "Methods and Apparatus for Processing Combinations of Kinematical Inputs", Apple describes the use of force and velocity sensors included in an input device such as a mouse to record gestures, which can then be interpreted as input by a computer.

Some embodiments of the present invention therefore enable a user to provide a series of gestures as input to the receiving device. Such gestures may include, for example, brushing motions, scooping motions, nudges, tilt and slides, and tilt and taps. The application can then respond to each gesture (or gesture combination) in any number of ways.

Embodiments of the present invention may therefore have applicability to any electronic system or application capable of receiving input. For example, embodiments of the present invention may be useful with video games, file browsing, interactive navigation, communication systems, control systems, military systems, medical devices, and industrial applications.

The patent application, which was filed on July 18, 2008, is credited solely to Apple engineer Omar Leung.

The second application, entitled "Power Management Circuitry and Solar Cells", describes a power management system that would allow portable media devices such as the iPod and iPhone to operate primarily on solar power. The details of the application describe methods for integrating both solar and battery power sources, using switches to reconfigure sections of solar cells on the exterior of the device such that a constant voltage is generated even if certain solar cells are obstructed by a user's hand or device orientation.

The patent application, which was filed on August 5, 2008, is credited to prominent Apple iPod engineer Michael Rosenblatt and iPod systems engineer Daniel Warren.

Apple has revealed an interest in solar technology for its portable devices in the past, previously filing a patent application describing the addition of solar cells behind the glass of an LCD screen. It is unknown, however, whether such technology will ever be included in shipping devices, as Apple has a history of applying for patents on technologies that never end up seeing the light of day.

The New York Times reported late last night that Amazon is deploying a software development kit (SDK) to allow developers to bring applications to the company's Kindle e-book reader. The move follows a change in the Kindle Store's e-book royalty program, with the two events suggesting that Amazon is making a major push to tackle Apple's as-yet-unreleased tablet device head-on.

Amazon says it has already released the Kindle Development Kit to a select number of partners, including the video game giant Electronic Arts, and will make it more widely available when a limited beta period starts next month. It anticipates formally adding what it calls "active content" to the Kindle store sometime later this year.

According to the report, Amazon will be allowing free, paid, and subscription-based applications on the Kindle and will use the same pricing structure as its new e-book royalty program: 70% of revenue (after subtracting delivery costs) goes to developers, roughly comparable to Apple's App Store arrangements.

While well-known companies such as gaming firm Electronic Arts and Handmark, developer of Zagat restaurant guides for mobile devices, have been looking into the Kindle SDK, the current Kindle hardware will impose some limitations on the types of offerings that can be included. The Kindle offers only a monochrome e-ink display and has limited graphics capabilities, meaning that traditional-style handheld games and video will not be possible. But certainly a wide array of applications would be able to make their way to the Kindle in one form or another.

The Wall Street Journal provides some new tidbits of information about the upcoming Apple tablet that is expected to be announced next week. The article summarizes many of the recent rumors and suggestions about the tablet device which is expected to be 10 to 11 inches in screen size and be priced around $1000. The article cites several different people "in the know" about Apple's plans and reveals the following new tidbits.

According to those familiar with the situation Apple will be targeting the new device at both homes and classrooms. Apple is said to envision that one device might be shared by multiple family members to read news and check email. For classrooms, Apple is looking into electronic textbooks. The device will include a virtual keyboard for input.

Apple is, of course, working with book, magazine and newspaper publishers for content, but also television networks. Apple has apparently been pitching some sort of "best of TV" subscription service to media companies. Invites to the gaming media seem to have some substance as Apple is also said to have worked with EA to show off the tablet's gaming capabilities.

In the end, it seems Apple is working on all fronts to bring various types of media together on the single device. Sharing of a single device seems to have importance to Apple with experiments in users leaving virtual sticky notes for each other, and even automatically recognizing the user by built-in camera. The author isn't sure if these features will make it into the final shipping product.

Yesterday, we uncovered evidence that Apple has been pursuing trademarks for the name "iPad", with some filings occurring as recently as late last week. The move has obviously led to speculation that Apple may be planning to use that name for its tablet device rumored for introduction next week.

At the time, we noted that Apple had not pursued an "iPad" trademark in the United States, ostensibly due to existing claims on the name by Fujitsu for an electronic retail inventory device. While Fujitsu initially filed its trademark application for "iPad" in March 2003, the trademark has yet to be officially accepted, and was in fact classified by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) as "abandoned" in April 2009 after Fujitsu failed to respond to a request for additional information. In June 2009, Fujitsu applied to have the application revived and, after amendment, was published for public comment and opposition on September 1, 2009.

Gawker reports today on documents dug up by a new tablet-focused blog that show that Apple's lawyers have filed three requests with the USPTO over the past few months asking for extensions to the allowed time for parties to oppose the trademark application filed by Fujitsu. In their most recent request, which has been granted, Apple's lawyers requested an extension of the opposition period to February 28, 2010.

The reason for Apple's potential opposition is unknown, with speculation of course centering on its desire to publicly introduce its tablet device as the "iPad" before filing documents stating its case to the USPTO. While it is possible that Apple may simply object to Fujitsu's "iPad" trademark on the grounds of possible confusion with its similarity to Apple's "iPod" trademark, those circumstances do not necessarily offer an explanation as to why Apple has requested so many extensions to the opposition period rather than simply filing its opposition.

With Apple's media event only a week away, research analysts are lining to offer up their predictions of what the company will introduce at the event and over the next few months. 9 to 5 Mac offers a summary of several of the reports hitting the news wires today.

The report points to analyst Ashok Kumar of Northeast Securities, who claims that Apple is preparing to launch its tablet at a price point of $600-$800 with shipment expectations of one million units by March and 400,000-500,000 units per month thereafter. Also rumored is the ability to dock with a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse, as well as cellular data access, likely through Verizon.

Among the most provocative of predictions comes from Richard Doherty of Envisioneering Group, who takes a longer-term view and sees four products in Apple's pipeline: two different tablet models in the 7-to-9 inch range, a gaming-focused "iPod touch on steroids" with a screen of approximately 5 inches, and a touchscreen iMac as has been recently rumored.

When it comes to the tablet, most sources are continuing to point to an ARM-based chip design from Apple's in-house P.A. Semi team, with Samsung reportedly manufacturing the chip. In particular's ARM's multi-core Cortex A9 is seen as a likely engine for many of Apple's forthcoming devices.

Another report from Shaw Wu of Kaufmann Bros. suggests that the ship date for Apple tablet may slip to June as the company works to address "minor issues" with battery life and durability. Many reports have pointing to a March or April shipping date for the device.

Meanwhile, on the iPhone front, Peter Misek of Canaccord Adams predicts that Apple will announce both iPhone OS 4.0 and that the iPhone will be coming to Verizon in mid-2010. Misek also predicts that an LTE "4G"-capable iPhone will likely not be available until a mid-2011 revision as carriers begin to build out their infrastructure, and that tiered pricing for data plans are likely in the near future.

Amazon today announced a revised royalty program for its e-book Kindle Store, significantly increasing the potential return to authors and publishers in exchange for commitments to meet certain feature requirements. The move, which takes effect on June 30th, essentially bumps the royalty payments to 70% of an e-book's list price, up from the existing 35% rate that will remain in effect for publishers who do not wish to meet the requirements of the new program.

For each Kindle book sold, authors and publishers who choose the new 70 percent royalty option will receive 70 percent of list price, net of delivery costs. This new option will be in addition to and will not replace the existing DTP standard royalty option. This new 70 percent royalty option will become available on June 30, 2010.

Delivery costs will be based on file size and pricing will be $0.15/MB. At today's median DTP file size of 368KB, delivery costs would be less than $0.06 per unit sold. This new program can thus enable authors and publishers to make more money on every sale. For example, on an $8.99 book an author would make $3.15 with the standard option, and $6.25 with the new 70 percent option.

Amazon will require that works offered under the new increased royalty program meet certain standards, including list prices of between $2.99 and $9.99 and at least 20% under physical book prices, as well as support for Kindle features such as text-to-speech.

The announcement comes just one week before Apple's media event where it is expected to introduce its long-awaited tablet device. e-Book functionality is expected to be included on the new device, with Apple reportedly in talks with book publishers to offer their content on the tablet. Apple currently offers developers whose applications appear in the company's App Store for the iPhone and iPod touch 70% of revenues, sparking speculation that Amazon's e-book pricing change is an effort to match what it expects Apple could offer publishers for distribution through the iTunes Store.