MacRumors

AppleInsider reports that Apple is preparing to introduce HDMI connectivity into some its new Macs later this year, bringing increased compatibility with home theater systems as well as the ability to deliver both video and audio over a single cable.

More specifically, prototypes of a new Mac mini -- Apple's smallest and most affordable system, commonly employed by tech savvy Mac users as an ad-hoc living room media server, has been making the rounds with an HDMI port in place of its legacy DVI connector, according to two people familiar with the matter.

The Mac mini prototypes are claimed to look otherwise identical to existing models and continue to offer a mini DisplayPort alongside the HDMI port.

As the report notes, HDMI is electrically compatible with the DVI standard, allowing conversions from one connector to the other with a simple dongle. Unlike DVI, however, HDMI also offers support for audio, which would allow purchasers of future Mac mini models to connect their machines to their televisions or home theater systems with a single HDMI cable, as the Apple TV does today.

The report's sources claim that the Mac mini prototypes include NVIDIA's MCP89 chipset, although a licensing dispute between Intel and NVIDIA over chipsets for Intel's Nehalem platform suggests that Apple may have to continue using Intel Core 2 Duo processors in the next-generation Mac mini models if it is planning to use NVIDIA's chipset. Alternatively, Apple may choose to utilize an Intel chipset that would allow it to take advantage of Nehalem processors.

As for Apple's other Mac lines, the report claims that Apple has also prepared a mini DisplayPort-to-HDMI adapter capable of carrying both video and audio. The adapter reportedly had been scheduled to ship with Apple's most recent iMac revision alongside Blu-ray drives, but was scrapped as part of the decision to not include Blu-ray compatibility.

Digital Daily reports on a new research note from analyst Peter Misek at Canaccord Adams claiming that availability of Apple's iPad tablet device may be limited at its launch later this month, citing a "manufacturing bottleneck" at partner Hon Hai Precision that may result in initial distribution being limited to the U.S. or even delayed entirely.

"We have ... heard that the upcoming iPad launch may be somewhat limited as a manufacturing bottleneck has impacted production of Apple's newest device," Misek writes. "An unspecified production problem at the iPad's manufacturer, Hon Hai Precision, will likely limit the launch region to the US and the number of units available to roughly 300K in the month of March, far lower than the company's initial estimate of 1,000K units. The delay in production ramp will likely impact Apple's April unit estimate of 800K as well. It is also possible that, given the limited number of units available in March, the launch will be delayed for a month."

The source and veracity of Misek's information is unknown, although it is perhaps wise to note that Misek predicted that Apple's January media event that saw the introduction of the iPad would also include the introduction of iPhone OS 4.0 and an announcement regarding a Verizon-compatible iPhone for mid-2010, neither of which came to fruition.

Update: According to Wired, an Apple spokeswoman has confirmed Apple's plans for late March availability of the iPad, but did not address any possible shortages or tightening of geographical distribution at launch.

Update, 11 a.m. PDT: An Apple spokeswoman told Wired.com on the phone that the "iPad will be available in late March."

The New York Times reports that magazine publisher Cond Nast is firming up plans to bring its content to Apple's iPad, rolling out dedicated versions of a number of its high-profile titles beginning in April.

The first magazines for which it will create iPad versions are Wired, GQ, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker and Glamour, the company plans to announce in an internal memorandum on Monday.

GQ will have a tablet version of its April issue ready. Vanity Fair and Wired will follow with their June issues, and The New Yorker and Glamour will have issues in the summer (the company has not yet determined the exact timing for those).

The report notes that Cond Nast will be running a multi-month test with the titles, examining pricing, advertising, and technological implementations as it looks to to develop its platform strategy. The publisher will be making its content available through iTunes during the test phase, with Wired also being made available in a non-iTunes format, although it is unclear exactly what that distribution method entails.

Cond Nast has been relatively proactive about bringing its content to the iPad, having demoed a digital version of Wired for tablet devices as early as last November with no direct knowledge of Apple's iPad plans. The publisher also already offers an iPhone application that has seen relatively strong sales since it launched late last year.

Ars Technica reports on Apple's new A4 chip which was introduced alongside the iPad in January. Apple has released few details about their custom chip design, though many expected it to have adopted the latest Cortex A9 multi-core design.

Ars Technica's Jon Stokes counters this belief with multiple sources who indicate the new processor is actually based on the Cortex A8 -- the same design as the current iPhone and iPod Touch.

As I watched the videos and read the reports of the iPad in action at the launch event, I was thoroughly convinced that the device was built on the out-of-order Cortex A9, possibly even a dual-core version. But it turns out that the the A4 is a 1GHz custom SoC with a single Cortex A8 core and a PowerVR SGX GPU. The fact that A4 uses a single A8 core hasn't been made public, but I've heard from multiple sources who are certain for different reasons that this is indeed the case. (I wish I could be more specific, but I can't.)

We've heard similar whispers which make us believe this report is true. The iPad A4, of course, runs at a higher clock speed (1GHz) than the processors found in the iPhone (600Mhz) and iPod Touch. Stokes goes on to speculate that the PA Semi team could have added their expertise in lower power consumption, and the A4 could find its way in a future iPhone release.

A forum thread has been generating some buzz around the Mac web by suggesting that Valve will be porting their Steam platform to the Mac. Steam is a digital distribution system for PC games -- essentially an PC game App Store. A Mac version of the store would still require games to be ported over to the Mac platform before becoming available.

The screenshots (above) posted to the thread reveal Mac OS X menu components in the Steam file directory -- though some have suggested that these could simply be a Mac OS X-based theme. More convincing, perhaps, is the presence of Mac OS X-like menu definitions and strings that suggest support for multiple platforms:

"steam_welcomeaction_platformwrong" "%gamename% is not available on your current platform."

Even more suggestive of Valve's plans was a recent report that Valve Software's Chris Green has been recruiting for Mac engineers:

Chris Greens Summary

I work for Valve. You should work for Valve.

REALLY looking for senior Linux + Mac engineers.
Always hiring Senior Engineers, Artists, and Mappers

Steam is only available on Windows/PC at present.

The Associated Press today announced plans to create a new business unit known as "AP Gateway" that will focus on mobile platforms, with an application for Apple's iPad tablet device set to serve as the launch product from the division. AP Gateway will also seek to leverage the technology behind its iPad application to assist its local news affiliates with creating packages of their own content.

It appears likely that the application will require a paid subscription as the new organization continues its attempts to monetize mobile distribution of its content, although an AP executive suggested that it may appear as a free application at first.

The group already has drawn up plans to charge for an application designed for the iPad, a 1.5-pound tablet computer that Apple Inc. is scheduled to release at the end of March. The price of the application has yet to be determined, although it might start free, according to Jane Seagrave, a senior vice president who becomes the AP's chief revenue officer Monday.

Much like the AP Mobile news product, the iPad app will show custom packages of headlines, stories, photos and video from the AP and from newspapers and broadcasters that choose to contribute their content and share the revenue. AP members also could use the same system to offer their own iPad apps that show their own content.

Attempts to bring newspaper content to the iPad have hit a few hurdles as the device's launch approaches with internal units of The New York Times reportedly vying for control over the distribution and disagreeing over pricing for the newspaper's content. Newspaper and magazine publishers have also been expressing concern over revenue sharing with Apple and the company's unwillingness to share subscriber information that publishers depend on for marketing and tailoring their content.

Gizmodo reports that it has received official word from Apple that the company has addressed issues with flickering and yellow tinting on its 27-inch iMac models.

We've addressed the issues that caused display flickering and yellow tint. Customers concerned that their iMac is affected should contact AppleCare.

For its part, however, Gizmodo notes that it is still receiving reports of yellow-tinted displays from iMac purchasers, although it is encouraged by reports of at least some customers receiving machines free of the issue.

Early reports of flickering have been addressed through a pair of firmware updates that appear to have solved the problem for existing users. More recent complaints of yellow-tinting on the iMac's displays also surfaced, with a report claiming that Apple had at least internally acknowledged the issue and had halted production of the machines pending a fix.

Apple quickly refuted claims that production had been halted, and pointed to high demand as the cause of ongoing shipping delays for the machines. Apple had also reportedly been offering 15% rebates to purchasers of the troubled machines, but today's comments from Apple are the first official claim that both issues have been addressed.

Meanwhile, availability of the 27-inch iMac models has continued to improve, drifting down to 3-5 business days for shipping windows earlier this week from 5-7 business days earlier and as much as three weeks for orders placed through Apple's U.S. online store back in January.

The Wall Street Journal reports on strategies being employed by accessory manufacturers as they prepare for the launch of Apple's iPad next month. The companies, many of them already experienced with pushing out accessories for the iPhone, are taking a range of strategies, with some rushing certain products to market as quickly as possible to match the launch of the device itself, while others are holding back, waiting for customers to dictate what they want to be able to do with their iPads before engaging in product development.

The moves show how an entire ecosystem of new hardware is ready to spring up around new Apple products. While Apple in recent years has spawned cottage industries of new software businesses -- particularly around its iTunes App Store -- the accessory business around its gadgets has also thrived and driven the growth of many third-party manufacturers. According to Piper Jaffray & Co. estimates iPod and iPhone accessory sales -- including cases, headphones and chargers -- totaled about $3.7 billion world-wide in 2009.

The report points to several major case manufacturers, which have the advantage that their products will almost certainly be in demand by iPad customers. Consequently, Griffin's president notes that his company was reportedly drawing up case designs within hours of the iPad's introduction, while Targus had even been designing products before the iPad was revealed, relying on rumors to develop ideas that only needed slight tweaking once the iPad's true dimensions were known.

Companies developing more complex products such as external batteries and speaker docking stations, will take a bit longer to come to market, while others are planning to sit on the sidelines to make sure that a market for their products exists before committing their resources.

For its part, Apple has announced several accessories for the iPad, including charging stands with and without a keyboard, a case that doubles as a stand for the device, and docking adapters to allow users to connect their digital cameras to the iPad for photo transfers.

Fortune reports on a new research note from prominent Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty citing strong sales of Apple's iPad and the potential for increased growth in the iPhone segment from new models she predicts will carry lower total cost of ownership as drivers for Apple's stock price over the next several years.

In a report to clients issued Friday, Morgan Stanley's Katy Huberty offered one of her patented risk-reward snapshots of Apple (AAPL), this one even more optimistic than the last, thanks to what she sees as two new catalysts:

- The iPad launch in March. Huberty is anticipating unit sales of 6 million in calendar 2010, considerably higher than the Street's consensus of 3-4 million
- New iPhones in June. She's expecting new models that offer "both a lower total cost of ownership and new functionality, potentially including gesture-based technology"

Huberty doesn't appear to have elaborated on the basis for her iPhone prediction or exactly what she means by "gesture-based technology", and it is unclear whether such cost of ownership savings would primarily come from the cost of the device itself or the much more significant monthly subscription pricing offered through Apple's partner carriers, as both have been cited as significant barriers to entry for customers.

As part of her analysis, Huberty offers three "bull scenarios" that see Apple's stock pricing surging to between $325 and $435 by fiscal year 2012 depending on the balance between subsidies paid to Apple by carriers and global market share. Huberty also offers tamer scenarios in which Apple's iPhone proves to show slower growth, and projecting stock prices in the $180-$250 range.

Patently Apple reports that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) today published a trademark application filed earlier this week by Apple covering the term "Magic Trackpad". The application requests registration in International Class 009 under a number of categories relating to computer hardware and software, as well as several types of peripheral devices.

International Class 009: Computers; computer software; computer operating system software; computer utility software; computer hardware; computer peripherals; scanners; touchscreens; keyboards; computer mice; trackballs; trackpads; touchpads; light pens; joysticks; game controllers; graphics tablets; digitizers; cables and connectors; flash memory drives; USB drives; solid state storage devices; barcode readers.

It is not entirely clear what technology the trademark is meant to apply to and whether it would be some aspect of existing trackpads using in Apple's notebook computers or if it would be some other device offering trackpad functionality.

There has been speculation about some sort of multi-touch "trackpad gadget" since John Gruber mentioned such a possibility ahead of an October product launch from Apple that saw the introduction of every one of his claimed products except the trackpad gadget. The speculation was further fed several months later with the revelation that Apple had filed for a trademark on the term "Magic Slate".

At the time, Apple had yet to introduce its much-rumored tablet device, and so speculation was consequently centered around that release. But with Apple filing this new trademark application a month after the tablet device was introduced as the iPad, it appears that Apple may yet have something more up its sleeve.

In a NYTimes' blog post, Nick Bilton describes how PCs aren't as easy to use as the iPhone, and explores why the iPhone OS simply can't be used in a future iteration of Mac OS X.

Bilton quotes a former senior Apple engineer who explains that implementing global multi-touch support onto the existing Mac OS X would be a hard task. While Apple has added multi-touch features into a few apps, the whole OS simply wasn't designed for touch input. However, Bilton's source then raises the interesting possibility of adding iPhone OS as a layer on top of Mac OS X -- much like how Front Row presently works.

Front Row is Apple's media center software for the Mac which adopts an Apple TV-like interface. When invoked, the entire Mac OS X desktop fades out, leaving a TV-friendly navigation system that looks nothing like Mac OS X. What's been suggested is that Apple could adopt a iPhone OS layer that would greatly simplify tasks for some users. Now, it's not clear if this was actually something Apple had been actively exploring or if it was just presented as speculative option by Bilton's source, but we felt it was an interesting topic of discussion.

Apple's iPad has been felt to represent this shift to an easier computing paradigm. The iPad is essentially the iPhone OS on a larger form factor, but it's that larger size that introduces new possibilities that encroach on the functionality of current desktop/notebooks.

Opera today announced the release of Opera 10.50 Beta for Mac, bringing several new features to the Web browser.

Highlights
- Cocoa
- Unified tool bar
- Growl notifications
- Multi-touch gestures
- Happy Easter! Well almost, but multi-touch users should look out for the egg

In addition, Opera 10.50 Beta offers stabilization improvements over earlier versions, support for HTML5 video tags, and support for widgets as standalone apps.

Computerworld had a chance to run some quick JavaScript benchmarks on the new version and found that Opera 10.50 is 10% faster than the latest version of Safari and also tops WebKit and Chrome browsers included in the study. According to Opera:

A completely new JavaScript engine makes Opera 10.50 run Web applications more smoothly. Up to 8x faster than its predecessor, the new Carakan engine speeds up even the most demanding Web sites.

Opera has been pressing forward on bringing its latest offerings to Apple's products, having just last week demoed running an iPhone version of Opera Mini. The application has not yet been submitted to Apple for approval, although Opera is hopeful that the speedy browser will be accepted for inclusion in the App Store.

Bloomberg reports on comments from Apple CEO Steve Jobs out of the company's shareholders meeting today regarding Apple's growing war chest of cash and the company's plans for it in the face of questions from shareholders. According to Jobs, Apple is building its reserves for future investments that would be calculated to return significant value rather than simply returning the money to shareholders.

Apple Inc. Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs said he prefers having cash for investments to paying dividends or doing stock buybacks.

Apple is holding onto cash to take "big, bold" risks, Jobs said at the company's shareholder meeting today. The company had about $25 billion in cash and short-term investments as of December.

Apple Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook mentioned earlier this week at a Goldman Sachs conference that Apple has looked at large companies for acquisitions, but that none have been the right fit. Consequently, Apple has restricted itself to purchasing smaller companies, such as Quattro Wireless and Lala Media, primarily for their technology and talent.

Cook noted that remaining focused on a relatively small number of products and making them the best they can be is key to Apple's strategy and that it would not simply acquire another company to boost its bottom line. A report last month, however, claimed that Apple is becoming more serious about corporate acquisitions in the wake of Google's acquisition of AdMob, a company Apple had been looking at purchasing itself.

In other news from the meeting, all seven members of Apple's Board of Directors, including Jobs, were re-elected by shareholders.

Apple is currently conducting its annual shareholders meeting on the company's campus in Cupertino, California, and while attendees were not permitted to bring communication devices into the meeting, Fortune is gathering reports from those in attendance who were able to get details out. Apple CEO Steve Jobs is in attendance and reportedly answering the majority of questions from shareholders after missing last year's meeting due to health issues related to a liver transplant.

In addition to expected agenda items such as re-election of members of Apple's Board of Directors and discussion of environmental and sustainability issues that have become a staple of Apple shareholder meetings, one brief item of interest coming out of the meeting is that Apple senior vice president of retail Ron Johnson noted that the company is planning to open 25 retail stores in China. The timeframe for the store opening of these stores is currently unknown, although more details may be forthcoming.

Apple opened its first Chinese retail store in Beijing in July 2008 ahead of the Olympic Games, and Johnson noted at the time that it was the "first of many" stores the company was planning to open there. A year and half later, however, that location remains Apple's sole Chinese retail store. Plans for a second store in Beijing surfaced in mid-2009, but the project has been put on hold, although Apple Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook briefly noted during his comments at a Goldman Sachs conference earlier this week that a store will be opening in Shanghai by this summer.

Update: CNBC's Jim Goldman reports that Johnson said that Apple is planning to open "up to 25" retail stores in China over the next 24 months.

Mobile advertising firm AdMob today released its January 2010 Mobile Metrics Report, revealing some interesting data about application usage and demographics for iPhone and iPod touch users, as well as users of Android and webOS handsets.

Among the more interesting statistics collected in the opt-in survey of nearly 1,000 respondents were results showing that 50% of iPhone users download at least one paid application per month, compared to only 35% of iPod touch users. Only 20-25% of Android and webOS users similarly download at least one paid app per month. But while iPhone users are more likely iPod touch users to download paid apps, iPod touch users download more apps in total. According to the survey, iPod touch users download an average of just over 12 applications per month with 1.6 of them being paid, while iPhone users download only 8.8 applications per month with 1.8 of them being paid. iPod touch users also spend 25% more time using applications on their devices than iPhone and Android users.

In looking at demographics of users, AdMob's survey found that iPhone, iPod touch, and webOS user bases are all in the range of 54-58% male, while Android skews much more strongly to 73% male. iPod touch users are also typically much younger than the smartphone users, with 78% of iPod touch users being below the age of 25 while only 24-25% of iPhone, Android, and webOS users are similarly below age 25. The data corresponds with previous comments made by mobile analytics firm Flurry regarding Apple's positioning of the iPod touch as building a base of future iPhone customers.

AdMob's survey also asked users about their plans for purchasing Apple's iPad tablet device and found that 16% of iPhone users are planning to purchase an iPad in the next six months while only 11% of webOS and 6% of Android users are planning similar purchases. This compares with only 6% of iPhone users, 5% of Android users, and 2% of webOS users who are planning to purchase a Kindle in the same timeframe.

Finally, the survey questioned users about their willingness to recommend their devices to others, and the iPhone (91%) and iPod touch (88%) topped the list. 84% of Android users are likely to recommend their device, while webOS brought up the rear with only 69% of users willing to recommend their device and 3.4 times more likely than iPhone OS users to specifically not recommend their device.

Intuit today announced the release of Quicken Essentials for Mac (QEM), a complete rebuild of the company's personal financial management application.

QEM launches a new era for Quicken on the Mac. It marks Intuit's first Mac-native application for Quicken, that is, a product developed specifically to run on a Mac operating system, instead of adapting a product originally designed for a PC. QEM's features serve a broad array of essential customer needs, focusing on quick set-up, ease-of-use, and Mac-like intuitiveness in design and workflow. The redesign reflects the influence of the Mint.com product team and its deep experience with Apple products.

Walt Mossberg offers a review of the new Quicken, finding "seriously mixed feelings" for the update. Mossberg notes that the application now benefits from a true Mac look and feel, along with updated data conversion from Windows versions and more banking interface options. QEM, however, also feels to Mossberg like a stripped-down version of Quicken for Windows and even loses some features that were present in Quicken 2007 for Mac.

Most important, Quicken Essentials doesn't display, or even allow you to enter or edit, individual transactions in investment accounts. It only shows a snapshot of the current status and value of the overall investment account and of the securities or funds it holds. It also lacks a bill-paying feature. And it can't export your data to Intuit's popular TurboTax program. Even the much-maligned older Mac version could do these three things.

Mossberg reports that the Mint team now in charge of the division has conceded that the Mac version is missing some important features and is currently targeted at users new to personal finance software with only basic needs. The company plans, however, to add such features as detailed investment tracking and bill pay to a future update.

Intuit announced in early 2008 that it would be rewriting Quicken for the Mac platform, and was expecting at that time to release the new version later that year. After several delays and another complete ground-up rebuild, Intuit committed last July to a February 2010 release that it met with today's launch.

Quicken Essentials for Mac is available via CD-ROM or direct download for $69.99, or from Amazon for $59.99.