MacRumors

Apple has issued a statement to Macworld clarifying that there are no plans for any new products before the holiday season.

"Our holiday line-up is set," Apple spokesman Bill Evans told Macworld.

This announcement squashes circulating rumors that the iMac and Mac mini are scheduled for imminent updates.

An iMac update had initially been seen as a surprising possibility, as it was one of the more recently updated Apple products. Still, the iMac generally shares the same internal hardware as Apple's notebooks, making it natural to believe that they might see similar upgrades. The fate of the Mac mini remains unknown, as it has not been updated since August 2007.

The next major Apple event is Macworld San Francisco which will be held in early January 2009.

Related Roundups: iMac, Mac mini, Mac Pro
Related Forums: iMac, Mac mini, Mac Pro
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A new free application called MobileFiles offers MobileMe customers access to their iDisk files from their iPhone. Features include:

- Access files stored remotely on your iDisk folder (separate MobileMe account required)
- View files on your iPhone or iPod Touch in landscape or portrait with pan and zoom
- Download from multiple iDisk accounts or friends shared public iDisk folders
- Store downloaded files on your iPhone or iPod Touch for faster offline viewing or listening
- Manage your files with our built-in Filemanager for convenient file organization

MobileFiles supports the same standard filetypes supported in Apple's Mail client. This includes Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint as well as PDF and image files.

App Store Link: MobileFiles, Free

Related Forum: iPhone

AlleyInsider reports on a new analyst report from Friedman Billings Ramsey which claims that Apple's iPhone production could fall "more than 40%" in the 4th Quarter of 2008. AlleyInsider points out this may simply represent a surplus of iPhone production from Q3 2008 and the decrease in Q4 is to adjust inventory to match demand.

Another contributing factor is believed to be the recent economic downturn:

That the firm's iPhone production plans are being revised lower suggests that the global macroecomomic weakness is impacting even high-end consumers, those that are more likely to buy Apple's expensive gadgets, and that no market segment will be spared in this global downturn. This is a negative signal for global demand, in our view.

The analyst bases his findings on "recent checks" on the chip industry which supplies parts for Apple's iPhone. The news comes shortly after Apple reported record iPhone earnings capturing 2.3% of the mobile phone market.

Related Forum: iPhone

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FastMac announced that their extended battery pack for the iPhone is now shipping. The add-on pack for the iPhone called iV provides significantly extended Battery time as well as a camera flash. Features include

- Up to 24 Hours of Talk Time
- Up to 72 Hours of Audio Playback
- Up to 20 Hours of Video Playback
- Up to 31 Days of Standby Time
- Flash Light for Emergency Use and Low Light Photos
- Additional USB Port to Charge Multiple Devices
- Charges via 30-pin Dock Connector Cable
- Fits in iPhone Dock & Universal Dock

The accessory allows for continuous iPhone use even as it is being charged and is available for $79.95 from FastMac.

Related Forum: iPhone

Bit-tech.net has benchmarked the new Nehalem (Core i7) processors from Intel ahead of their official launch. The hardware site compares the new processors to Intel Core 2 Quad, Core 2 Duo and AMD Phenom X4. From a Mac perspective, the Intel Core 2 Quad (3.2GHz QX9770) most closely resembles the high end Xeon processor currently available in the Mac Pro.

Bit-tech found that the memory benchmarks were dramatically better on the new processors even at the same clock speeds. This improvement reflects the new underlying architecture technologies found in the Core i7. Overall, these improvements did result in substantial real world improvements for many tasks. In encoding video, they found the new processors showed improvements ranging from 18%-22% at the same clock speeds as existing chips. Even more impressive improvements were seen in Cinebench 10 testing with clock-for-clock improvements of 29% at the high end. Gaming results, however, were a bit more mixed with only modest improvements in Crysis and Half Life 2, and performance decreases in Far Cry 2.

Based on these findings, they concluded:

If you're very interested in video encoding, transcoding, image editing or you need to compress files that much faster Core i7 is the de facto choice - even the least expensive Core i7 920 is worth the upgrade.

While this should be a good marker for performance improvements coming to the Mac Pro, it's still not clear when Intel will be introducing the appropriate server-class (Xeon) versions of Nehalem. Apple has traditionally used Intel's Xeon chips for their Mac Pros which are due to be updated.

Update: TheInquirer has organized a roundup of Core i7 reviews and benchmarks. Anandtech's conclusion was similar to Bit-Tech's:

The Core i7's general purpose performance is solid, you're looking at a 5 - 10% increase in general application performance at the same clock speeds as Penryn. Where Nehalem really succeeds however is in anything involving video encoding or 3D rendering, the performance gains there are easily in the 20 - 40% range. Part of the performance boost here is due to Hyper Threading, but the on-die memory controller and architectural tweaks are just as responsible for driving Intel's performance through the roof.

Related Roundup: Mac Pro
Buyer's Guide: Mac Pro (Neutral)
Related Forum: Mac Pro

Netflix's beta for streaming content directly to Macs is now available for open beta at:

http://www.netflix.com/silverlightoptin

Netflix notes a few things to consider before signing up:

- There may be bugs. We are logging all errors, but if you run into problems you can help out by posting details here in the blog comments.
- Not all movies are available to watch with Silverlight. You may notice errors or lower than normal quality when watching certain titles.
- Our new player works on PCs and Intel-based Macs.
- Windows users should be aware that if you opt in, you will need to use Silverlight on all the machines you use to watch instantly.

Netflix previously announced that they had begun limited beta testing of the new Mac service and expects the final release to be available by the end of the year.

Netflix is best known for its mail-order DVD rental service but also includes unlimited video streaming with their fixed monthly plans starting at $9/month. Up until now, this streaming service has not been Mac compatible.

In a profile this past week of Opera Software, the New York Times had indicated that Opera's Mini Browser had been rejected from the App Store based on anti-competitive grounds. Apple has rejected other applications claiming the submitted application's feature set mirrors one of Apple's too closely; a practice which has drawn heavy criticism.

This particular case, however, may not be entirely accurate according to further research by John Gruber.

My understanding, based on information from informed sources who do not wish to be identified because they were not authorized by their employers, is that Opera has developed an iPhone version of Opera Mini - but they haven't even submitted it to Apple, let alone had it be rejected.

Gruber had previously believed that the browser had been rejected due to a built-in JavaScript interpreter, however he clarifies that this was incorrect. In fact, Opera Mini does not contain such interpretive code. As explained by Gruber:

In a nut, it works like this: You request a URL in Opera Mini. Opera Mini makes the request to a proxy server run by Opera. Opera's proxy server connects to the web server hosting the requested URL, and renders the page into an image. This image is then transmitted (in a proprietary format called OBML - Opera Binary Markup Language) to the Opera Mini client. Opera Mini displays the rendered image on screen. This may sound convoluted, but apparently the result is very effective - its faster to transmit, because only OBML (a compressed binary format) is transmitted to the mobile device over the phone network, and far faster to render on slow mobile processors.

However the current version of Opera's Mini browser for other platforms is coded using Java (and BREW) which is not supported on the iPhone and is against the terms of the SDK. In order for Opera Mini to be made officially available, the program would have to be ported to C/Objective-C.

Update: Upon further investigation, the differences between the New York Times and John Gruber's accountings may be based in semantics rather than substance.

An Opera employee blog seems to indicate that Apple is indeed using anti-competitive reasoning for keeping the Opera Mini browser off the iPhone. However, neither the employee's blog entry nor the New York Times article indicate that the browser was officially submitted to the App Store and rejected, the point to which Gruber took issue. It remains possible that Apple and Opera have been communicating via channels outside of the App Store submission process.

Related Forum: iPhone

Fudzilla claims that they've been hearing whispers that iMac and Mac mini updates could be coming as soon as November 10th. They are not particularly confident about the date which would fall on a Monday.

While we don't place too much confidence in Fudzilla as a rumor source, the information is consistent with circulating expectations of pre-holiday iMac updates. Apple typically issues updates on Tuesdays, but has had an occasional Monday release including the last iMac update on Monday, April 28th.

Related Roundups: iMac, Mac mini
Related Forums: iMac, Mac mini

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The new version of the MacBook Air has arrived and one reader has posted unboxing photos to Flickr. Another forum member has also received the latest MacBook Air.

Apple revised the MacBook Air during their October 14th media event. The new model features the NVIDIA chipset and integrated graphics card. This should provide the MacBook Air with substantially better graphics performance over the first generation model.

A couple of early XBench benchmarks have been posted here and here, showing off the new 128GB SSD drive. Comparison scores can be found at Xbench. Further discussion can also be followed in our MacBook Air forum.

Related Roundup: MacBook Air
Related Forum: MacBook Air
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The stylish bookreading app Classics is now available in the App Store for $2.99.

We previously previewed this app which provides classic book reading with some style, including page-turning animations. Some may be happy with the free Stanza reader, but for those wanting a more immersive experience, Classics seems the way to go. Books included:

- The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
- Gulliver's Travels
- The Time Machine
- Call of the Wild
- The Metamorphosis
- Paradise Lost
- Hound of the Baskervilles
- Alice in Wonderland (illustrated)
- Flatland (illustrated)
- 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
- Robinson Crusoe
- The Jungle Book

App Store Link: Classics, $2.99

Related Forum: iPhone

Nikkei Trendy reports that SoftBank's president has confirmed that emoji (Japanese emoticons) are coming to the iPhone in Japan:

"This was made possible by us telling Apple that emoji is essential for Japanese users. And this is Japan specific service."

He also mentions that they will also introduced a 3rd party accessory which provides mobile television service and an extended battery pack for the iPhone. SetteB.IT provides a photo of the device:

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The device will act as a TV tuner which will transmit video to the iPhone via Wi-Fi but can also act as an extended battery pack when connected directly to the phone. An App Store application is required to support the device and will be made available for free through the Japanese App Store. Price has not yet been announced.

[Thanks coelacanth]

Related Forum: iPhone

CNet reports that IBM has filed a lawsuit against former employee Mark Papermaster for accepting a job at Apple. Papermaster was IBM's vice president of microprocessor technology development but recently accepted a position at Apple to begin in November.

IBM claims that Papermaster is violating his prior employment agreement by accepting a position at a competitor and may divulge IBM's trade secrets to Apple. Papermaster reportedly has authored several papers on PowerPC chip development and is considered a "top expert in Power architecture and technology."

CNet speculates that Apple's interest in Papermaster was due to of his experience in both chip and system designs.

Papermaster's expertise in system design--putting together the entire package of processor, chipset, and the rest of the guts that form a computer--could serve him well at a company that prides itself on soup-to-nuts design.

Of course, Apple could also be interested in having Papermaster help with their recent P.A. Semi acquisition. Apple has been said to be working on their own ARM processors for use in the iPhone and iPod Touch.

If Apple wants to continue its strategy of designing and building complete systems, hardware, software, and now chips for iPhone and iPod Touch, it's going to need someone who can predict the future of chip design and advise Jobs and Apple's executive team on how Apple can best take advantage of those trends. Papermaster, with a unique set of skills in the tech industry, might be just that guy.

The NY Times profiles Opera Software, the company that distributes the Opera browser for multiple platforms. According to the article, however, Apple is not allowing an iPhone version of the browser into the App Store:

Mr. von Tetzchner said that Operas engineers have developed a version of Opera Mini that can run on an Apple iPhone, but Apple wont let the company release it because it competes with Apples own Safari browser.

Gruber speculates that it could have to do with the Javascript interpreter or, more clearly, that Apple has been restricting apps that compete directly with some of their built in iPhone apps such as Safari.

Apple has been criticized for its decision to restrict certain applications from the App Store, and this suggests users shouldn't expect any other web browser alternatives (such as Firefox) to appear in the App Store at any point in the near future.

Related Forum: iPhone

ZDNet points out that memory sales company Ramjet has published on their website that the recently MacBook and MacBook Pros can support a maximum of 6GB of RAM. This configuration is possible with the use of one 2GB and one 4GB stick.

This finding is consistent with the experiences of previous MacBook Pro owners. 8GB of RAM has been shown to cause stability issues under Mac OS X when the additional RAM is accessed. For some reason 6GB appears to be the practical limit on the latest MacBook Pros, despite hardware support for 8GB.

Apple officially advertises that the new laptops can only support up to 4GB of RAM.

Related Roundup: MacBook Pro
Related Forum: MacBook

The Register reports on iPhone marketshare numbers for Q3 2008 as reported by research firm Strategy Analytics.

According to the latest numbers, Apple ranks 6th amongst phone suppliers with 2.3% marketshare for Q3 2008. The numbers reflect unit sales rather than revenue. In contrast, Steve Jobs pointed out that when ranked by revenue, Apple ranks #3 amongst phone suppliers. This, of course, reflects the higher average cost of the iPhone. Still, 2.3% brings them well above their initial plan to reach 1% of mobile phone sales.

In absolute numbers, Apple still falls well behind Nokia which is the present market leader in unit sales with 117.8 million phones sold in Q3. A direct comparison is difficult, of course, since Apple only has a single high-end phone currently available, as compared to a multitude of Nokia models which span many price points.

Apple, however, appears to be making inroads with even lower-income households according to a new study. ComScore reports that the fastest growth in iPhone sales came from households that earn less than the median income. Despite its higher relative cost, the iPhone is said to help reduce costs by replacing a number of other devices:

"We see that lower-income consumers are increasingly turning to mobile devices to access the Internet, to listen to music and for email," said Mark Donovan, senior analyst at comScore. "A 'Swiss-Army knife of a device' like the iPhone offers a phone, a music player, a camera and a way to connect to the Internet, which may appeal to consumers cutting back their spending on gadgets."

Recent analyst speculation suggest that Apple could afford to drop the sales price of the iPhone even further to $99 to attract even more customers. Steve Jobs has suggested that Apple needs to be aware of a possible "price umbrella" below the iPhone that competitors may take advantage of.

Related Forum: iPhone

Microsoft announced the release of a 12.1.4 update to Mac Office 2008 that fixes an Entourage bug introduced with the last update:

Weve been working hard for the last week and a half to bring Entourage users todays 12.1.4 update. Its incredibly frustrating when we get through a release process and a new issue is introduced by an update. When we start to hear feedback and customer reports about issues with an update, I simply cringe because so much work goes into preventing that from happening. Unfortunately, the recent Office for Mac 2008 12.1.3 update introduced a bug that prevented some Entourage users from sending meeting invites to others. Were sorry.

The update is available for download.

Arstechnica points to a new support document which details many changes that Apple has implemented into the MobileMe site in late September. Apple points out that since MobileMe is a server-side service, updates occur transparently to all users of the service:

Since server-side updates are a bit more innocuous than a standard software update to Mac OS X or Microsoft Windows, it's easy not to notice that updates are occurring. Usually the only hint of these updates is that things just "work better"

Apple uncharacteristically details a number of changes which include many performance issues and bug fixes to all services.

MobileMe is the online mail, calender, 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.

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AT&T has announced that they are now offering free Wi-Fi access to iPhone subscribers across the U.S.

AT&T knows Wi-Fi is hot, and FREE Wi-Fi is even hotter. Which is why FREE AT&T Wi-Fi access is now available for Apple iPhone at thousands of hotspots nationwide, including Starbucks*. Users can relax and access music, email and web browsing services with their favorite blend in hand from the comfort of their nearest location. For information visit www.att.com/attwifi.

AT&T provided a number of early hints that the service would be coming. AT&T has also sent out an SMS message to iPhone users announcing the plan.

Customers can locate Wi-Fi spots through AT&T's online tool or can locate a Starbucks using this tool. In order to access AT&T Wi-Fi from your iPhone, you must follow these steps:

- Activate Wi-Fi from the settings icon on your iPhone
- Select "attwifi" from the list of available networks
- Enter your 10-digit mobile number and check the box to agree to the Acceptable Use Policy. Tap 'continue'
- You will receive a text message from AT&T with a secure link to the AT&T Wi-Fi hotspot. You will not be charged for the text message.
- The SMS link will only be valid for 24 hours at the location it was requested. Another request must be submitted when using another hotspot location.
- Open the text message and tap on the link for 24-hour access to the AT&T Wi-Fi hotspot

Related Forum: iPhone