MacRumors

Apple generated some headlines on Tuesday when statements by iTunes vice president Eddie Cue suggested that Apple might shut down iTunes rather than pay increased royalty rates to music publishers.

Few took the threat seriously, but CNet reports that the Copyright Royalty Board decided to keep royalty rates at 9.1 cents. Music publishers had been pushing for an increase to 15 cents per track, while Apple was insisting that the price increase would not be tolerated by the market.

The 9.1 cents/track rate is now set for the next five years. An Apple spokesperson stated they were very pleased with the decision.

Apple has also released the Apple TV 2.2 update tonight. Apple TV owners can download the new updates from their Apple TV's by accessing the "Update Software" menu option in their Apple TV's settings.

Aside from addressing some security issues, Apple has also included support for features introduced in iTunes 8.0, including Genius playlists. Features discovered by our forum members include:

- Music Video playlists
- Genius playlists
- On-the-Go Playlists
- Standby Option
- HD TV Show Playback and Purchase

Apple has released an update to iTunes to version 8.0.1. The update is available in Mac OS X's Software Update and provides the following features:

iTunes 8.0.1 improves stability and performance and provides a number of important bug fixes, including:

Seamlessly plays the current song when creating a new Genius playlist.
Improves syncing spoken menus to iPod nano.
Addresses an issue of deleting HD TV episodes when downloading.
Improves checking for updates from the App Store
Improves accessibility with VoiceOver.
Addresses problems syncing Genius results to iPod.

Apple released iTunes 8.0 on September 9th. iTunes 8 introduced Genius playback, High Definition TV shows, and a new iTunes visualizer.

While many readers await definitive news of a MacBook update, the void of legitimate rumors have triggered ongoing speculation about the anticipated release.

For lack of any new details, a lot of speculation has focused on the "Brick" codename that was first revealed by 9to5Mac. It seems any story about a possible Apple product tries to tie it to the mysterious codename. The problem with most of these predictions is that they ignore that the origin of the name relates exclusively to the new MacBook. There seems little chance that "brick" represents a new class of product.

The July rumor that Apple may adopt alternative chipsets has recently gotten a bit of traction with speculation that Apple could adopt the NVidia chipset which is scheduled for release on October 15th.

Readers may recall that October 14th is the rumored date of the Apple notebook refresh. There have been some incorrect reports that Apple had planned some sort of announcement on September 30th, but that simply turned out to be a routine conference call with their resellers.

And no lead up to a release would be complete without likely fake spy shots which claim to depict the new MacBook Pro.

Netflix posted an announcement about new content available for streaming, including new movies and television shows:

Today we announced an agreement with Starz Play that adds around 1,000 choices that you can watch instantly today, and will add another 1,500 by the end of the year. Movies include No Country for Old Men, Ratatouille, Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End, Superbad, and more.
...
Recently we also added a lot of new CBS, Disney and NBC TV episodes including of CSI, NCIS, Numbers, Jericho, Hannah Montana and Heroes.

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. Netflix also recently launched a $100 set top box that allows customers to stream video straight to their television.

The blog post also confirms that Mac support for streaming video will arrive by the end of the year:

And, for all of you Mac users (of which I am one) weve been busy working getting a solution that will allow you to watch instantly on your Mac. So hang in there - well have something for you by the end of the year.

Netflix had previously revealed planned Mac support in January 2008 during Q4 financial results.

Earlier this week, a report posted to a French newspaper claimed that an odor being emitted from some Mac Pros could actually be toxic fumes.

A scientist quoted in the article says the odor contains several toxins, including benzene. Prolonged exposure to benzene raises the risk for diseases, including cancer.

An Apple spokesperson spoke to Macworld and stated that they have not found any evidence to prove this claim, but states they will continue to investigate it.

A strange startup odor has been noted by some Mac Pro owners on Apple's discussion forums.

Scott Davilla has released a method to (relatively) easily install Boxee onto your existing Apple TV. The process involves using the atvusb-creator software (Intel Mac only) to create a bootable USB drive which you plug into your Apple TV. That bootloader will subsequently patch your Apple TV to install the Boxee interface as a separate menu option in addition to the existing Apple TV functionality.

Boxee is a free personal media center that offers an alternative and flexible media browser for several platforms. Boxee originated from the XBox Media Center project but has added social networking features and multiple platform support, now including the Apple TV. CNet took an early look at the software back in June and thought it was going to be the "next big thing" in media center software.

So what does Boxee do? If you've ever used Joost, it's somewhat similar. You can plug in feeds of Web videos and browse through them, complete with video thumbnails and meta data. What makes it different is that it taps into your local media like videos, photos, and music you have saved on your hard drive. Both layers of media (online and offline) are wrapped up together with a social network of other Boxee users, so if you like something you're watching you can recommend it to friends.

While the social networking features are nice, Apple TV owners will also enjoy the ability to browse media on their compuetrs, across a network, or on the Internet and playback a wide variety of video/audio formats including hard-drive saved DVD video with menu support. iTunes protected content, of course, is not available under Boxee, but those can still be played with the original Apple TV menu options which are preserved.

A demo video shows off the interface for Boxee. Boxee remains in alpha testing, so users should proceed with caution. At present Boxee is invite-only but users can easily apply and we've been assured that they will try to issue invites "as quickly as possible". Users can also invite other users and we ask that readers focus invite requests in this thread rather than cluttering up the article discussion thread.

Apple has announced that they have dropped the iPhone Non-Disclosure Agreement for released iPhone software.

We have decided to drop the non-disclosure agreement (NDA) for released iPhone software.

We put the NDA in place because the iPhone OS includes many Apple inventions and innovations that we would like to protect, so that others dont steal our work. It has happened before. While we have filed for hundreds of patents on iPhone technology, the NDA added yet another level of protection. We put it in place as one more way to help protect the iPhone from being ripped off by others.

However, the NDA has created too much of a burden on developers, authors and others interested in helping further the iPhones success, so we are dropping it for released software. Developers will receive a new agreement without an NDA covering released software within a week or so. Please note that unreleased software and features will remain under NDA until they are released.

Thanks to everyone who provided us constructive feedback on this matter.

Apple is expected to release a new version of the NDA next week which will still cover unreleased software and features. This move should open up discussion between developers as well as publication of books on the iPhone SDK. Both activities have been limited due to the continuation of the non-disclosure agreement.

Developers can discuss iPhone programming in our dedicated forum.

According to Fortune, the Copyright Royalty Board in Washington D.C. is expected to rule on Thursday about a request by the National Music Publishers' Association to increase royalty rates for downloads from online music stores such as iTunes. The request asks for an increase in rates from 9 cents to 15 cents a track. It should be noted that this group represents the copyright holders of songs and is distinct from the record companies themselves.

Understandably, Apple is opposed to the rate increase and, in a statement submitted to the board, even suggested that Apple might close iTunes altogether:

"If the [iTunes music store] was forced to absorb any increase in the ... royalty rate, the result would be to significantly increase the likelihood of the store operating at a financial loss - which is no alternative at all," Cue wrote. "Apple has repeatedly made it clear that it is in this business to make money, and most likely would not continue to operate [the iTunes music store] if it were no longer possible to do so profitably."

Apple claims that the market would not accept an increase in the per-track price and that overall sales would decrease. The Fortune article writer doubts that Apple would take such drastic measures as closing the iTunes Store as Apple has used it to leverage hardware sales of iPods and now iPhones.

As noted by Arstechnica, AOL has launched a beta of AIM for Mac. The new instant messaging client offers an alternative for iChat users. AOL says they have a commitment to the growing Mac market. Advantages listed include:

- Users can customize their AIM for Mac experience with AIM Expressions - Change your AIM sounds, wallpaper, emoticon set or Buddy Icon.
- File Transfer, Tabbed IM conversations, friendly names, AIM Groups, AIM Blast groups are supported.
- With a single click, you can view your mail in AOL or AIM webmail.

AOL had previously released a version of AIM for the Mac but that version was last updated in 2004. AIM for Mac Beta 1 is available as a free download.

Flash Magazine reports on comments made by Adobe's Sr. Director of Engineering Paul Betlem during a Town Hall meeting at the Flash on the Beach Conference.

Betlem provides some followup for comments made by Adobe's Chief Executive Shantanu Narayen in March. Narayen claimed that Adobe would develop an iPhone Flash player themselves and release it through the App Store. There was some debate about the feasibility of this given the restrictions of the iPhone SDK.

Betlem now confirms that an Adobe Flash player for iPhone depends entirely on Apple's approval, but claims that a player could be made available "in a very short time" if they are given the go ahead.

"My team is working on Flash on the iPhone, but it's a closed platform." He noted that Apple makes all the decisions, so in other words, the ball is in Apple's yard at this time.

Apple's Steve Jobs has claimed that the full version of Flash would not run well on the iPhone.

The big news amongst Mac gamers this past week was the release of Call of Duty 4 for the Mac. The sequel to the popular first-person shooter has been available on PCs and gaming consoles since November of 2007, but the Mac version has only just been released.

Featuring a tense storyline, filled with plot twists, the title thrusts players into battle like never before. With amazing special effects, including rim-lighting, depth of field, texture streaming and character self-shadowing, players are enlisted into one of the most photo-realistic gaming experiences imaginable.

Some early physical copies of the game have been found to be faulty, causing activation problems, but this appears to have been resolved. The game can be found at Amazon or your local retailer. Aspyr is also offering the game as a direct digital download from GameAgent.

The game requires an Intel Core 2 Duo Mac running at 2.0GHz. The game is not compatible with integrated video chipsets or PowerPC Macs. Apple recently highlighted the game on their website.