MacRumors

iPhone Savior points to this photo of the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts that Apple has decorated in anticipation of the "It's Only Rock and Roll" media event.

The lead up to the event has generated some speculation about what Apple might be announcing. Apple is, of course, expected to update the majority of their iPod line as they have done for the past several years during their September media events.

The addition of a camera is the main feature rumored to be added to both the iPod nano and iPod touch. Appleinsider, however, has posted a vague suggestion that the new iPods may arrive late due to last minute technical issues. HardMac has a similar report with more details saying that the early iPods have been found to have a production defect:

According to one of our reliable source (however, it remains a rumor), Apple is facing problems with the production of the new iPod Touch. The issue would be linked to the new camera module. We did not get any further details, but the problem has been spotted in the first dozen of thousands units produced. Those units have been put aside.

If true, given the scheduled media event, it seems that this might just delay production rather than the product's introduction on Wednesday.

As reported on iPhone game site TouchArcade.com, Apple has finally approved a Commodore 64 emulator called C64 [App Store] for sale on the App Store. The emulator had originally been rejected by Apple in June for violations of the SDK agreement, despite being officially licensed from both rights holders of the Commodore ROMs and the individual games bundled.

Apple has since been in contact with the company and a slightly modified version of the application has been approved for sale on the App Store. In particular, Apple appears to have requested the removal of the Commodore BASIC interpreter from the application which allows running arbitrary code.

The application bundles 5 games (Dragons Den, Le Mans, Jupiter Lander, Arctic Shipwreck, and Jack Attack) and the company plans on offering additional (properly licensed) games for sale and download. The cost of the additional games will be dependent on the conditions of the license holder but most are expected to be in the $0.99-$1.99 range (or even Free). The emulator only allows you to run these officially offered disk images and will not run arbitrary disks.

This video shot by TouchArcade shows the emulator in action, but shows titles that are not yet available, such as Bruce Lee and International Karate.

Manomio has said that they are actively working on bringing additional titles to the emulator.

Update: C64 has been pulled from the App Store Apple after it was discovered that the BASIC interpreter could be re-enabled through the software. A revised version of the application addressing this issue has been submitted to Apple for approval.

Alongside yesterday's announcement that it will be bringing MMS to the iPhone on September 25th, AT&T released a video clip featuring "Seth the Blogger Guy" explaining the explosion in data growth over the past several years and how AT&T has been working to expand its infrastructure to handle the demands on its network.

In particular, Seth briefly addresses the steps AT&T has undertaken to prepare for the launch of MMS on the iPhone, noting that the company wanted to ensure that the feature works properly from the start.

We've been working for months to prepare the radio access controllers in our network to support this launch. That means calibrating base stations all over the country, and frankly that's a very time-consuming process. MMS for the iPhone will be coming on September 25th. We wanted to make sure that when MMS for the iPhone launches, the experience was great. We wanted to get it right.

Seth then addresses the broader investments AT&T has made in its network, totaling $38 billion over the past two years, to increase capacity and deploy coverage based on the 850 MHz spectrum, which offers improved capacity and in-building coverage. Finally, Seth points to AT&T's ongoing work to deploy technology to improve data transfer speeds and the expansion of 3G to additional markets.

Silicon Alley Insider reports that the location-based social networking service Loopt has struck a deal with AT&T that will permit the service to monitor a user's location (with their permission) in the background.

Via a deal with AT&T, and with your permission, Loopt will be able to access your location all the time you have a network connection, even when you're not actively using the iPhone app. (The app isn't running in the background; it's working server-to-server.) Loopt cofounder and CEO Sam Altman tells us that it's been users' most requested feature.

As pointed out, the application itself is not actually running on the iPhone at all times, but Loopt is able to pull your location information at all times with the cooperation of AT&T.

Loopt, which was highlighted at the App Store launch at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference in June 2008, allows users to track the locations of their friends and offers several related social networking features. But until now, Loopt and other similar services such as Google Latitude have required iPhone users to be actively using their applications to locate other users. Despite the fact that Loopt currently only updates a user's location every 1-2 hours, implementation of an "always-on" location tracking service will lead to more useful tracking of friends and development of additional location-based features as the technology continues to develop.

Always-on, real-time location information is critical for the future of location services, Altman tells us. You'll be able to get alerts when you're near a person or place you're interested in, for example. You can build a "life graph" of all the places you've gone, he adds. (Maybe a running map?) And -- Altman doesn't say this, but we're making the next logical step, here -- this opens the door to easier location-based advertising, promotions, etc.

Loopt is offering a free 14-day trial of the background service for 5,000 users. Always-on service beyond the initial trial period will cost $3.99 per month and will appear on users' AT&T bills.

Update: To clarify the "background" nature of the feature, location updating is done strictly on a server-to-server basis, with Loopt receiving information directly from AT&T. The Loopt iPhone application itself does not run in the background.

Engadget posts a gallery of images showing third-party cases claimed to be for the next-generation iPod touch and iPod nano. The cases, being exhibited by accessory manufacturer Hama at the IFA electronics convention in Berlin, contain holes to accommodate digital cameras expected to be included in the next-generation devices. The iPod nano case also appears to accommodate a wider screen rumored to be offered in the forthcoming model.

The new cases are by no means the first to appear, and a number of manufacturers have developed cases of similar design, but the hands-on views and packaging images shown in this latest gallery may be of interest to readers.

New iPods are widely expected to be introduced at next Wednesday's Apple media event in San Francisco.

World of Apple posts the seed notes from the first Mac OS X 10.6.1 Snow Leopard update that has begun seeding to a limited audience. The 71.5 MB update details these changes:

The 10.6.1 Update is recommended for all users running Mac OS X Snow Leopard and includes general operating system fixes that enhance the stability, compatibility, and security of your Mac, including fixes for:

- compatibility with some Sierra Wireless 3G modems
- an issue that might cause DVD playback to stop unexpectedly
- some printer compatibility drivers not appearing properly in the add printer browser
- an issue that might make it difficult to remove an item from the Dock
- instances where automatic account setup in Mail might not work
- an issue where pressing cmd-opt-t in Mail brings up the special characters menu instead of moving a message
- Motion 4 becoming unresponsive

Snow Leopard was officially launched on August 28th. Apple typically continues non-stop development after the initial launch of a major operating system to quickly address remaining bugs and outstanding issues.

Update: The new build updates Adobe Flash to 10.0.32.18, addressing a concern reported earlier today.

AT&T has issued a press release today announcing that MMS will become active for iPhone users on September 25.

We've been working for the past several months to prepare our systems and network to ensure the best possible experience with MMS when it launches - and that launch date is: September 25 for iPhone 3G and 3GS customers. MMS will be enabled through a software update on that day.

AT&T points to the need for the company to build out its network infrastructure to handle the demands of heavy MMS messaging volumes as the primary reason for the delay in launching the service compared to carriers in other countries that have offered MMS since the launch of iPhone OS 3.0 in June.

As announced in June, MMS messaging will be included at no additional cost to users with an iPhone text messaging plan.

There has been much speculation on the availability of MMS from AT&T, some with dubious origins. Next week's Apple media event had been the subject of some speculation as a possible venue for AT&T to launch MMS, which was first promised at Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference in June, though today's news has put all such rumors to bed.

Over the past few days, a number of sites have been reporting a rumor that AT&T may be preparing to launch MMS for its iPhone customers alongside iPhone OS 3.1 at next week's media event. In tracing the history of this rumor, however, MacRumors finds rather questionable sources for the claim.

Many sites are pointing to Know Your Mobile as a source for the rumor. That story, however, appears to be a slight embellishment of claims made by FSMdotCOM last week. FSMdotCOM's report, in turn, quotes a ModMyi user who noticed portions of MMS functionality in the iPhone OS 3.1 beta and who reportedly received word from an AT&T representative that MMS would be enabled by the end of the month in backing up a previous FSMdotCOM report from early August simply claiming that MMS functionality would be coming "later this summer" after the launch of iPhone OS 3.1.

Further confusing the issue is that the follow-up FSMdotCOM report citing the ModMyi claim was made in late August, and the end of the month has come and gone with no sign of MMS on AT&T. Other sites, however, didn't pick up on the story until September, and some have misinterpreted the report to be claiming an end-of-September timeframe.

In essence, all of the claims seem to stem from the original FSMdotCOM report from early August that simply noted what was already known or reasonably surmised.

The information i just got from my AT&T ninja , seems to be the same as "later this summer". He told me that AT&T will enable MMS for its users once the new iPhone firmware 3.1 will be released . Released date for the new firmware is not certain, all we know is that it will be released towards the end of August or early September.

This is not to discount the possibility of iPhone OS 3.1 being launched next week with MMS from AT&T coming along for the ride, as it is a reasonable guess based on Apple's introduction of iPhone OS 2.1 at last year's event and MMS being turned on by default in iPhone OS 3.1 betas, but claims of anything more than speculation appear to based on little solid information at this time.

AppleInsider reports that Apple began seeding Mac OS X 10.6.1, the first maintenance update to Snow Leopard, earlier this week to a select group of developers. MacRumors can confirm that it received similar word earlier this week that Apple had opened a discussion forum through its invitation-only AppleSeed program to allow OS X 10.6.1 testers to provide feedback to Apple engineers and that Apple had begun the seeding distribution.

Those receiving the first builds are part of smaller, more exclusive seeding programs run by the Cupertino-based company. They traditionally operate on an invitation-only basis, unlike the Apple Developer Connection open all developers willing to pay membership fees.

The report notes that builds seeded to this limited audience generally make their way to broader developer distribution through the traditional ADC channels within a week or two.

Antivirus firm Sophos reports that Mac OS X Snow Leopard ships with an outdated version of Flash Player that contains several security vulnerabilities patched in the most recent version of Flash Player that was released by Adobe on July 30th. Importantly, an upgrade installation of Snow Leopard over an existing Leopard installation containing an up-to-date Flash Player downgrades Flash to the earlier version with no warning to the user that it has done so.

Unfortunately during the course of that update (and unknown to you) Apple downgraded your installation of Flash to an earlier version (version 10.0.23.1), which is known not to be secure and is not patched against various security vulnerabilities.

The version you should be running is the latest version of Flash Player for Mac - 10.0.32.18.

Mac users are not informed that Snow Leopard has downgraded their version of Flash without permission, and that they are now exposed to a raft of potential attacks and exploits which have been targeted on Adobe's software in recent months.

The report urges users to double check their Flash Player version and upgrade to version 10.0.32.18 if necessary in order to be sure that they have up-to-date protection against security threats.

CNET reports that Apple has obtained the rights to distribute pre-cut ringtones via iTunes and is rushing to have the feature enabled in time for next Wednesday's media event.

Owners of Apple's iPhone have long had the ability to create custom-made ringtones for their devices. The new music snippets are mainly a convenience, as they make it possible for iPhone owners to obtain a pre-cut ringtone instead of having to create their own.

Apple will announce the ringtones on September 9, the day the company has scheduled a press event, if managers can get them ready in time to sell, the sources said. An Apple spokesman declined to comment.

Custom ringtone creation was added to iTunes in September 2007 and allows users to create their own ringtone snippets up to 30 seconds in length from iTunes Store songs for $0.99 each. There is no word on pricing for the new pre-cut ringtones or for what portion of the catalog the feature will be offered.