MacRumors

Apple is still hard at work on the next version of Mac OS X 10.5.6 according to published reports on the hmbt.org.

The latest Mac OS X 10.5.6 (9G35) build appears to focus heavily on testing of MobileMe syncing features for notebook computers in various scenarios. MobileMe is the online mail, calendar, contact and sync services available to Mac or PC users. MobileMe's initial rollout in July was marred by poor performance, downtime and some data loss.

Mac OS X 10.5.6 also incorporates the usual laundry list of big fixes and other tweaks to the 10.5 operating system. Apple release the last update to Mac OS X in September. There is no timeframe for 10.5.6's release, but it will be a free update to all Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) customers.

In a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal, Steve Jobs acknowledged that the iPhone and iPod touch "may emerge as really viable devices in the mobile games market this holiday season."

The sentiment also echoes comments made by Apple's Greg Joswiak, the vice president of worldwide iPod marketing, when asked about the state of iPhone and iPod touch gaming.

I think you're going to see a wide variety (of games on the App Store). And they range all the way from casual to big time action games. This is where we are, less than four months into it. Squint your eyes and imagine where we will be in six months time, or a year. The graphics capablity is greater than the DS, we have multitouch, the screen is larger and there's an accelerometer. And we have the App Store. I think it's the future of gaming.

The Wall Street Journal notes that Sega has sold over 500,000 copies of Super Monkey Ball and that about 25% of the more than 200 million applications distributed by the App Store have been games.

These success stories have started to attract big name developers, including id Software who is said to be working on two iPhone games at this time.

TouchArcade.com covers the emerging iPhone gaming market which has recently seen the release of a wide variety of genres, including shooters (Defend!), 3D platformers (Armado) and retro remakes (Crystal Quest).

Apple may be finally preparing to ship both the new In-Ear headphones and new 24" LED Cinema Displays to customers. Apple pre-announced the products at their September and October media events, respectively.

According to sources, Apple has just today end-of-life'd the old Apple 23" Cinema Display and old In-Ear headphones. This means that Apple will no longer be supplying these products to resellers. This is generally considered a sign that the new products will be shipping soon.

Apple describes the new In-Ear headphones as being "engineered for superior acoustic accuracy, balance, and clarity" and were originally promised in October. Meanwhile, the 24" Cinema Display uses an LED screen for the first time, and incorporates the new Mini Displayport found on the new Apple notebooks.

AppleInsider claims that Apple has been looking into replacing aluminum parts with carbon fiber parts in an effort to make the MacBook Air even lighter than it presently is.

Apple enthusiastically claimed ownership to the world's thinnest notebook earlier this year with the introduction of the MacBook Air, but is rumored to be unsatisfied with the system's weight, which it now hopes to drop below 3 pounds.

Carbon fiber is described as an extremely lightweight material that is exceptionally strong.

Apple is expected to keep the upper aluminum chasis of the MacBook Air, but may replace the bottom cover with one constructed from carbon fiber. This could trim the notebooks weight from slightly over 3 pounds to 2.78 pounds.

The rumor site believes the shift could happen as early as next year.

iPhoneHellas.gr claims that the iPhone 2.2 firmware will become available on November 21st based on what they describe as a "reliable" source. Meanwhile, Gizmodo also describes the iPhoneHellas site as "reliable" but we at MacRumors have had very little experience with the site.

iPhoneHellas.gr also recaps the new features that have been found to be in the early 2.2 iPhone betas:

- New look for the Safari with the Google search bar now occupying its own space on the title bar
- Toggle On / Off to disable the auto-correction
- 461 Japanese emoji icons
- Support for new languages.
- Line-in audio is activated and can be used through the headphone jack
- Google Street View, Google Transit information - Routes public transport, Walking directions, Location sharing.
- App Store: 'Categories' now shows the icons of the applications instead of the list, In each page of the application has been added by a button 'Tell A Friend' & 'Report A Problem', Added the possibility of scoring the application when the user chooses to delete from the device, Added the possibility for direct downloading of podcasts from the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store

iPhone 2.2 betas have been distributed to developers for early testing.

Parallels has announced the immediate availability of Parallels 4.0. Parallels allows Intel-Mac users to run Windows alongside Mac OS X.

The latest update to their Windows-virtualization software for Intel Macs promises new performance, security, backup and power saving features. Performance is said to be "up to 50% faster".

Parallels Desktop 4.0 for Mac introduces support for DirectX 9, DirectX Pixel Shader 2.0 and OpenGL 2.0, providing fast video performance, while the Adaptive Hypervisor dynamically allocates resources to meet user needs. The responsiveness to all applications is further enhanced as the virtualization engine has been optimized to consume 15-30% less resources than previous versions.

This release also finally introduces support for up to 8 way symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) to take advantage of the multi-core CPUs found in all Macs. Other features include:

- Improved Windows and Mac integration, True Drag & Drop and Copy & Paste, SmartX Technologies and Built-in Installation and Migration Tools.
- Adaptive Hypervisor, FastLane Architecture, up to 8 way SMP and 8 GB RAM plus 64-bit support for each VM, HyperBus and support for DirectX 9.0, DirectX Pixel Shader 2.0, and OpenGL 2.0.
- Parallels Internet Security powered by Kaspersky, Acronis True Image Home backup and restore, SmartGuard, PowerSaver, Full-hardware ACPI support and Acronis Disk Director Suite disk management.
- eMac OS X Leopard Server and Windows Server OS support, VM Directory, CLI and Scripting support, SDK and API, remote control from iPhone, PXE Boot, improved networking and VM Templates.

Version 4.0 retails for $79.99 and is available as a paid $39.99 upgrade to existing Parallels customers. A free trial is also available.

Update: Parallels is offering a $5 coupon through our affiliate partner.

Despite Apple's reluctance to enter the netbook market, at least one person has taken it upon himself to fashion a "MacBook Nano" based on the MSI U100 netbook. This Flickr photo set made the rounds on Monday as an interesting example of what could be if Apple decided to pursue this market.

This 1.6GHz Atom-based machine sports a 10" display, 2GB RAM, 320GB hard drive and weighs in at 2.2 lbs. While the process of installing Mac OS X onto the MSI U100 has been long detailed, the external case of this machine has been modified to display an Apple logo and be labeled as a "MacBook Nano". We're not sure the back-story on this hack but the machine does appear to come out of the Chinese retail box already modified.

Steve Jobs has said that they are not yet interested in the low cost netbook category but did hint that Apple had "some pretty interesting ideas" about it. Some earlier whispers had suggested that Apple might deliver some sort of sub-notebook in early 2009. Despite Apple's launch of the ultra-thin MacBook Air, some users want a notebook with a screen size smaller than 13".

The NPD Group issued a press release today revealing that the Apple iPhone is now ranked #1 in consumer phone sales for the 3rd quarter of 2008. The iPhone surpassed Motorola's RAZR phone which had been ranked #1 for the previous 12 quarters.

"The displacement of the RAZR by the iPhone 3G represents a watershed shift in handset design from fashion to fashionable functionality," said Ross Rubin, director of industry analysis for NPD. "Four of the five best-selling handsets in the third quarter were optimized for messaging and other advanced Internet features."

NPD bases their data on online surveys each month that are projected to represent the entire population of U.S. consumers age 18 and over.

The iPhone and RAZR were followed by the RIM Blackberry Curve, LG Rumor and LG enV2 in the top 5 ranking.

Fortune provides a detailed profile of Apple's COO Tim Cook and asks an ongoing question: Could this be Steve Jobs' eventual successor? Speculation about who might replace Steve Jobs has remained a hot topic ever since his scare with pancreatic cancer four years ago. Cook is certainly high on the list as he was chosen by Jobs to take over day to day operations at Apple while Jobs was out for surgery in 2004. Steve Jobs has since made a made a full recovery with recent reports indicating that there has been no recurrence.

Fortune describes Cook as a workaholic who has been essentially running Apple for years. Meanwhile, Cook's demeanor is described as demanding and unemotional. He is credited for helping Apple become the "cash-generating machine" that it is today:

There are two basic ways to get great profit margins: Charge high prices or reduce costs. Apple does both. The marketing and design drive consumers wild with desire and make them willing to pay a premium; Cook's operational savvy keeps costs under control.

Cook is one of the highest paid executives at Apple and is said to be involved in more aspects of Apple's operation than any other executive.

Critics of the possibility, however, point out that Cook does not share Jobs' vision:

"They need a brilliant product guy, and Tim is not that guy. He is an ops guy - at a company where ops is outsourced."

But others suggests that Cook might simply need to surround himself with those who complement his weaknesses "just as Steve has Tim around to make up for his".