MacRumors

Microsoft yesterday announced at its Worldwide Partner Conference 2009 that its forthcoming Office 2010 suite will gain a web-based component offering free, ad-supported access to browser-based versions of Word, PowerPoint, Excel and OneNote to anyone with a free Windows Live account. Notably, the online versions will be compatible with Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Safari.

Wired provides an overview of what users should expect from the web-based version of Office 2010 when it launches alongside the paid desktop version early next year. In short, Wired cautions users that the web-based Office applications will serve in practice more as an enhancement to the desktop version than as an everyday document editing suite.

We won't get our hands on Office Web Apps for another month, but what we do know is that they will be lightweight, dumbed-down versions of their desktop counterparts. They will remain closely tied to, and largely dependent on, the Windows desktop. This is understandable, since Office for the PC desktop has proven to be Microsft's most valuable cash cow behind its Windows desktop and server products.

So while its competitors are gaining steam with full-blown productivity applications that run completely in the browser -- namely Google Docs and start-up Zoho with its office suite -- Microsoft is still firmly entrenched in the "software plus services" camp.

The Office Web Apps will reportedly provide "lightweight" editing capabilities and viewing that offers proper formatting of documents. Real-time collaboration will be supported for Excel, allowing users to see each others changes as they are made. Collaboration support for Word and PowerPoint will not be included in the initial release.

The paid desktop version of Office 2010 will initially only be available on Windows platforms, as the Mac Office suite follows a different development cycle and is not expected to be revised until late 2010 or more likely 2011. Consequently, while Mac users will be able to take some advantage of the web-based tools deployed in Office 2010 on a standalone basis, they will not be able to utilize the integrated Office experience until the next version of Office for Mac is released.

Apple today announced that iPhone and iPod touch users have downloaded over 1.5 billion applications in the App Store's first year of operation. There are currently over 65,000 applications available in the store.

Apple today announced that customers have downloaded more than 1.5 billion applications in just one year from its revolutionary App Store, the largest applications store in the world. The App Store is also growing at an incredible pace with more than 65,000 apps and more than 100,000 developers in the iPhone Developer Program.

"The App Store is like nothing the industry has ever seen before in both scale and quality," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "With 1.5 billion apps downloaded, it is going to be very hard for others to catch up."

Apple also notes that it has sold over 40 million iPhones and iPod touches capable of running App Store applications.

The App Store surpassed one billion downloads less than three months ago. Today's announcement suggests that the 500 million downloads since that time occurred two weeks faster than the previous 500 million, demonstrating continued acceleration in the download rate.

In the past, we've speculated that Apple's resistance to supporting Adobe's Flash on the iPhone and their efforts to add new features to HTML/CSS is, in part, to reduce their long term dependence on Flash.

Ajaxian points to an impressive demo by Charles Ying which shows off hardware accelerated 3D CSS Visual Effects that are now supported in Snow Leopard's Safari builds as well as the latest Webkit nightly builds. If you have either of these versions installed, you can view a live version yourself here. Otherwise, you can watch this video of the demo:

These new 3D effects have been proposed for standards inclusion. If successful, future browsers will also adopt these effects.

While these will help provide standards-based tools for accomplishing visual effects that have been the realm of Flash in the past, there has recently been a setback on efforts to standardize on a specific video playback format for HTML5. Video remains the most popular use for Flash on the web. Due to ongoing disagreements between Apple, Google and other web browser developers, the acceptance of a single video codec standard for HTML5 has been indefinitely delayed.

"After an inordinate amount of discussions, both in public and privately, on the situation regarding codecs for video and audio in HTML5, I have reluctantly come to the conclusion that there is no suitable codec that all vendors are willing to implement and ship," Hickson wrote. "I have therefore removed the two subsections in the HTML5 spec in which codecs would have been required, and have instead left the matter undefined."

Apple, of course, has been pushing H.264 and opposes the Ogg Theora alternative due to the potential patent claims in the future. Mozilla and Opera have their own issues with cost and licensing issues with H.264 and prefer Ogg Theora. The inability to come to an agreement means that there will be no accepted standard format for HTML5. As a result, Flash will likely remain the dominant format for online video for the time being.

In a blog post over the weekend and a press release issued today, Czech iPhone developer PoweryBase notes that Apple appears to be blocking Push Notifications on iPhones that have been unlocked for use on non-official wireless carriers. PoweryBase is the developer behind NotifyMe [App Store Links: Paid ($3.99), Free], a popular application that utilizes push notifications to offer reminders and to-do alerts to users on the go.

According to PoweryBase, push-enabled iPhone applications contact Apple's servers to request a unique ID to establish a link for Push Notifications, but Apple's servers fail to respond to such requests when coming from unlocked iPhones.

"When the Push based application such as NotifyMe requests an ID from APNS, the server responds within a second and identifies the device with the unique token. From that point, the connection between APNS and user's device is successfully established," said Pavel Serbajlo, PoweryBase's lead developer. "However, on a unofficially activated device, APNS keeps the application wait forever and does not provide any respond at all, keeping user wait infinitely or time out the connection, if the target application is capable of timing out."

PoweryBase reports that it has received an overwhelming proportion of its support requests since the application's release last week from users on unlocked iPhones who are unable to utilize the push service, and the company has no ability to address the issue since it is strictly under Apple's control. While PoweryBase is recommending that users on unlocked iPhones not purchase NotifyMe or other push-based applications, it is attempting to provide information to those users, directing them to the company's support pages for additional information if a user's application is unable to establish a connection with Apple's push servers after 20 seconds.

Update: The iPhone Dev Team has reportedly been working on a fix for this issue for some time now, so it appears that there may be a solution for those users on unlocked iPhones.

NVIDIA has released new drivers for the GeForce GTX 285 aftermarket graphics card which has been available for the Mac Pro. NVIDIA representatives have also informed MacRumors that the new driver will deliver "up to 20% better performance" for gaming compared to previous driver versions.

Also, Mac Pro customers using the GeForce GTX 285 will need to update their card's driver before upgrading to Apple's next OS X update. Failure to upgrade the driver prior to updating the OS reportedly can cause system hanging.

The GeForce GTX 285 is currently available from the Apple Store for $449.95 and delivers a significant upgrade over the standard graphics card options available on the Mac Pro. The GeForce GTX 285 is not offered as a build-to-order option on new Mac Pros and must be ordered as an aftermarket upgrade. The card is compatible with both "Early 2008" and "Early 2009" Mac Pro models.

Taiwanese news site InfoTimes reports [translation] that Apple is slated to debut its long-rumored netbook this October. Taiwanese companies Foxconn, Wintek, and Dynapack have reportedly received orders from Apple related to the manufacturing of the new device.

The report notes that Apple is looking to adopt a 9.7-inch touchscreen for the new netbook, slightly smaller than the 10.1- or 10.2-inch screens typically used at the large end of the netbook range.

According to reliable information, Apple will not follow the current market trend (by producing netbooks with screens about 10.2 or 10.1 inches in diagonal length.) Instead, Apple will produce screens with about 9.7 inches in diagonal length. Touch screen will be installed. Wintek will be the main manufacturer of the touch screen.

Exact pricing remains unknown at this time, but the inclusion of a touchscreen and Apple's history of refusing to compete at the lowest price points suggest that the netbook may be priced at around $800.

Because Apple will adopt touch screen technology on its netbooks, Apple will not target low-end consumers, avoiding direct competition with Acer, Asus, as well as their less-than-500-dollars netbooks. Apples netbook (or a "tablet" as many call it,) will probably be sold at around $800 USD each.

Apple has repeatedly stated that although it has been looking at the growing netbook market, it is not interested in releasing a low-end netbook product that produces an inferior user experience as current products do. Other sources have recently "confirmed" that an Apple netbook is in the works, but claim that it will not arrive until 2010.

With the release of the OS X Snow Leopard 10A402 beta yesterday, users have been poring over the new version looking for changes. Among the most obvious changes have been a few visual tweaks, although several other enhancements have also been discovered.

- Contextual Dock Menus in List View: Apple has modified the theme of contextual menus within the Dock when using list view. The menus now utilize what some users are calling a "heads-up display" theme of white text on a charcoal background.

- Finder Window Slider Button: The new-in-Snow Leopard Finder window slider button for adjusting icon sizes has now taken on a grey color as opposed to the standard blue buttons found elsewhere.

- Expos for Multiple Monitors Fixed: Expos reportedly now functions correctly when using multiple monitors, with windows remaining on their respective monitors in Expos rather than all being collected on the primary monitor.

- System Responsiveness and Speed: Many users are reporting greater system responsiveness and significant increases in speed. Startup and shutdown times appear to be significantly improved.

- Third-Party Preference Panes: Third-party System Preferences panes reportedly are now functional.

- Battery Life for Notebooks: A number of users have reported their battery life indicators estimating significantly longer run times than under previous Snow Leopard builds. This has not, however, been confirmed in actual battery life tests yet.

- New QuickTime Version: QuickTime X has been upgraded to Build 10.0 (42). There is no word on any visible changes in the new build.

Reuters reports that Google CEO Eric Schmidt, who has served on Apple's Board of Directors since 2006, will discuss with Apple how his role on the board may change in the wake of increasing overlap between the two companies' markets. The report comes just one day after Google announced that it will be entering the operating system market with Chrome OS, initially targeted at netbook computers.

Because Google's new Chrome OS would compete with Apple's own computer software, Schmidt said on Thursday he would talk to the Mac computer maker about whether he should recuse himself from Apple's board.

"I'll talk to the Apple people. At the moment, there's no issue," Schmidt told reporters at a Sun Valley media and technology conference organized by boutique investment bank Allen & Co.

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission last month reportedly began taking an interest in the two companies' ties for potential antitrust reasons, as both Schmidt and Arthur Levinson, former CEO of biotech firm Genentech, are directors of both Apple and Google.

With Google's release of its Android operating system for mobile phones, Schmidt has recused himself from discussions regarding the iPhone at Apple board meetings, and it now appears that the operating system overlap between the two companies may necessitate further restrictions on Schmidt's participation with Apple, if not an outright resignation if potential solutions are deemed unworkable.

Apple has seeded developers with another incremental update to Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard). The latest update reportedly brings software up to Build 10A402.

This Snow Leopard Developer Preview Update is recommended for all users running the Snow Leopard Developer Preview Build 10A394 or later. This update includes general operating system fixes for stability, compatibility, and security.

No word on what notable changes (if any) it brings. Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) is the next major Mac OS X release to come from Apple. It is expected to bring many "under the hood" changes that could significantly improve overall performance across multi-core Macs.

Snow Leopard will ship in September and will cost $29 for current Mac OS X 10.5 owners. Meanwhile, those customers who have purchased a Mac since June 8th can receive Snow Leopard for $9.95 though Apple's "Up to Date" program.

The Korea Herald reports that Apple has agreed to recall first-generation iPod nanos sold in South Korea following four reports of the device's batteries overheating or exploding. The recall comes several weeks after a request from the Korean government after which Apple initially offered to replace only those units found to be defective, but continuing pressure ultimately led to a full recall of the 155,000 units sold between October 2005 and December 2006.

With a series of media reports following the report of The Korea Herald, Apple said it would replace the batteries and shells of its first-generation iPod Nano with new ones.

"Customers who are concerned about possible overheating of the battery can get it exchanged," Park In-kyu, an official with the Korea Agency for Technology & Standards, told The Korea Herald, citing a document sent by Apple Korea on July 7.

The Korean recall follows similar complaints in Japan that ultimately resulted in Apple offering to replace overheating first-generation iPod nanos there last August.

Update: In a statement to The Loop, Apple denies any specific recall or change in its policies. As detailed in a support article, Apple has recognized since last summer the possibility for overheating batteries in the first-generation iPod nano and has addressed the issue with customers on a case-by-case basis.

"There has been no change to this policy in Korea or anywhere else, and as always, any customer who is concerned about the battery in their first generation iPod nano should contact AppleCare," reads Apple's statement.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office published several dozen Apple patent applications this morning, and Unwired View highlights one group of them primarily related to iPhone software. The patents cover object and facial recognition, messaging, and voice modulation.

Object Recognition: One patent application, filed on June 17th, 2008, describes methods by which a mobile device user could detect an object via camera, RFID sensor or other means and have their device automatically identify and provide additional information on the object. In Apple's background information on the patent, an example of an art museum is used, describing how a user might take a photo of a piece of art and wish to have it automatically identified and additional information on it provided, or engage in an audio tour or podcast and wish to access additional content beyond that provided in the audio files.

Facial Detection: Another patent application, filed on March 8th, 2008, addresses the use of facial detection to allow a device to determine whether a user is passively interacting with the device. As an example, Apple describes how a user watching a video may have to periodically interact with a device in order to prevent a screen saver from activating. Apple's invention utilizes automatic facial detection via a camera on the device to determine that a user is present. The method may also be used to grant or deny users access to restricted applications or other data.

Message Filtering: Conceived as an extension of Parental Controls, this application, filed January 3rd, 2008, covers the ability for users to filter incoming or outgoing text-based messages based on their content. User-defined criteria could allow messages containing objectionable material to be edited to remove the content or be blocked entirely. Additionally, the technology could be used to require certain content to be present in messages. For example, a parent might require that messages contain proper spelling and grammar, or certain vocabulary words, or a certain number of words in a foreign language over a set period of time in order to aid a student in his or her studies.

Managing Multiple-Recipient Messages: In a patent application filed January 6th, 2008, Apple describes a method for managing messages with multiple recipients. The invention covers the ability for an application monitor whether the message has been delivered to all recipients, and if not, provide a simple interface for resending at a later time to those who have not received the message.

Unread Message Alerts: An application filed January 3rd, 2008 covers the ability for a device to automatically provide unread message alerts when a user is about to contact another party. For example, as a user begins to compose an e-mail to another person, the device may alert the user to unread messages from the second party that they may wish to view before sending their e-mail. The alert criteria may simply include the message recipient's name, but could also be expanded to specify content on the same subject as the intended message.

Voice Modulation: In a final patent application filed April 2nd, 2008, Apple describes methods for modulating voice audio output to simulate additional voices. Apple's examples describe a mother who could have an audiobook read in her voice to her child or a student who wishes to alter a section of a podcast lecture for emphasis.