MacRumors

A report from AppleInsider points to a release of iTunes 7.5 as early as next week. The release will contain a host of small improvements and bug fixes according to the site, though no radical changes should be expected.

Better management of duplicate video and song entries will be included as well as a more stable experience for users upgrading their songs to iTunes Plus purchases.

Currently in late-beta, the site expects that the software could be released within the week, however notes that such high-impact releases such as iTunes can occasionally see unforeseen setbacks. Nonetheless, the release should be out by mid-November at the latest.

As rumored, Apple has quietly updated the MacBook tonight to the Santa Rosa architecture with mild speed bumps and the GMA X3100 integrated video.

White 13.3"
$1099.00 2.0GHz/1GB RAM/80GB/Combo/GMA X3100
$1299.00 2.2GHz/1GB RAM/120GB/SD-DL/GMA X3100

Black 13.3"
$1499.00 2.2GHz/1GB RAM/160GB/SD-DL/GMA X3100

Despite comparable clock speeds (2.0 -> 2.0GHz, 2.16 -> 2.2GHz) to the old models, the new MacBooks use the Santa Rosa chipset which boasts a faster 800MHz front side bus over the previous MacBook models. The introduction of the GMA X3100 video card also provides significant benefits over the previous models. The new specs can be seen at the Apple Store:

Apple's product pages on the rest of the site had not yet been updated at the time of this writing. The new MacBooks appeared in Apple Retail stores on Wednesday, but the boxes were accompanied by instructions not to open them until further notice.

Update 2: Apple's store pulled the new specs, and now is showing them again.

Update 3: The MacBook Pro now has the option to upgrade to a 2.6GHz processor for $250, and also has the option for a 250GB drive.

In an unusual move, Apple has quietly shipped boxes of new MacBooks to their retail stores this week, many of which arrived today. Special instructions on these boxes indicated that they were not to be opened at this time. But according to reports, the boxes do contain updated Santa Rosa MacBooks. We've even heard claims that some have been inadvertantly sold to unsuspecting customers. A blurry spy photo is offered as "proof":

The specs are said to be as follows [Confirmed]:

White 13.3"
$1099.00 2.0GHz/1GB RAM/80GB/Combo/GMA X3100
$1299.00 2.2GHz/1GB RAM//120GB/SD-DL/GMA X3100

Black 13.3"
$1499.00 2.2GHz/1GB RAM//160GB/SD-DL/GMA X3100

The 2.0/2.2GHz speeds do suggest that these MacBooks are based on the Santa Rosa chipset, and they reportedly do include the X3100 integrated graphics chip that had been spotted amongst Leopard's drivers. Note that Apple often sells slightly upgraded models in their retail stores so the 160GB models may be retail configurations.

We can only assume they will be officially announced next Tuesday.

Update: The Apple Store is now showing the new specs.

During the build up to Leopard's release, we overlooked a very interesting patent application from Apple that appeared last week. This latest application is another product of Apple's Fingerworks acquisition from 2005. Fingerworks had commercialized versions of multi-touch interface input devices, such as this TouchStream keyboard.

The TouchStream keyboard served a dual purpose, acting both as a keyboard as well as a multi-touch gesture surface.

While this design is space-efficient, the use of one surface to accomplish both typing and touch-sensing is less than ideal. Apple notes that traditionally, membrane or surface keyboards used raised ridges to denote key edges, however, this disrupts the surface when it is used as a touch device. Meanwhile, users have a hard time typing on a completely flat surface, so some form of key detection needs to be offered.

The solution they come up with is quite interesting. They go through the motions of describing other possibilities, including small bumps on the surface of the keys as well as a mechanical actuator system in which small bumps protrude at the corners of the keys when needed.

In the end, however, what they describe is a flexible surface which lays completely flat over the keys, and can be used as a smooth flat-surfaced touch-pad. When used as a keyboard, however, small bumps rise up under the flexible surface in each of the four corners of each key. This causes a tenting effect which provides a concave surface for each of the keys. By being tied to a mechanical system, the keys can effectively appear and disappear on demand. They even describe the software being able to tell when the keys are needed based on detecting typing motions (keyboard) vs swiping gestures (touch pad).

Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple, was interviewed by LaptopMag.com about various topics surrounding Apple.

Wozniak provides his insight into Leopard, Mac Marketshare, as well as some disappointment at the direction computers have gone:

Early on with the first Apples, we had these dreams that the computer would let you know what you wanted to do. .... The real dreams of how it will work for someone who knows nothing about the computer have been lost and don't get addressed anymore.

Also of interest, Wozniak is specifically asked about what his opinions are on the iPhone. Woz is clear that he feels that the iPhone should be "more like a computer" and Apple should allow anyone to develop applications for it. Regarding jailbreaking the iPhone for 3rd party applications:

[Apple has] a right to lock [the iPhone]. But I am really for the unlockers, the rebels trying to make it free. I'd really like it to be open to new applications. I'd like to install some nice games. Why in the world can I not install a ringtone that I've made? How would that hurt AT&T's network? Here is Steve Jobs sending letters to the record companies saying [they] should provide music that's unprotected, but here he is taking the opposite approach with the iPhone. I don't know to what extent AT&T is involved in the thinking and direction.

While Apple has announced they are working on a Software Development Kit to be released in February 2008, the details of the restrictions have not yet been announced.

Steve Wozniak co-founded Apple in 1976 along with Steve Jobs.

A security research firm is criticizing Leopard's security, namely the new system's firewall.

Heise Security was highly critical of the firewall and declared that it failed every test. The tests centered around Apple's default configuration and whether the firewall configured correctly due to user input.

[Leopard's firewall] is not activated by default and, even when activated, it does not behave as expected. Network connections to non-authorised services can still be established and even under the most restrictive setting, "Block all incoming connections," it allows access to system services from the internet.

The company does acknowledge that the system services that it communicated with in its tests did not seem immediately exploitable (though one, ntpd was out of date). However, the company does advise that the issues be addressed by Apple and users beware of the shortcomings.

Apple has been touting Leopard's security as one of the many features of Leopard.

IDG News reports on comments by Taiwan's Asustek Computer that Intel was unable to keep up with the high demand on mobile CPUs. Laptop sales are expected to hit record highs this year, and so is demand on Intel's mobile CPUs.

"The biggest shortage in notebook components is in CPUs, Intel CPUs. Intel isn't meeting demand," said Jerry Shen, president of Asustek, answering questions at an investors conference in Beitou, Taiwan.

Aside from their own computer sales, Asustek performs contract-based sales, including production of Apple's MacBook computer in the past. Whether or not this may affect future MacBook supplies remains entirely speculative. Asustek, however, reassured investors that it did not expect this shortage to affect its sales.

In a separate note, despite our belief that an upgraded MacBook was scheduled for arrival as early as today (or "within the next week"), this was not the case. New information reveals that this specific expectation was based on faulty information, and should be disregarded.

This, however, does not negate the existing rumors that the MacBook was expected in the "first half of November" and MacBooks could still see updates imminently.

AppleInsider reports that Steve Jobs recently met with founder Martin Varsavsky about FON, a company that is trying to provide "WiFi for Everyone". Steve Jobs was reportedly "very interested" in FON's technology and service.

FON is described as the largest WiFi community in the world and works by offering users a community WiFi router that allows individuals to securely share their internet connection. In exchange for setting up this public WiFi node, you are allowed to use other FON users WiFi spots around the world.

"I really think [Jobs] liked the idea of FON. I think he loves the idea of a world where people share WiFi. That I could tell," Varsavsky said. "I think he would like for there to be an opporunity for everyone to share WiFi."

FON addresses security concerns by separating the connection into an encrypted private and public network.

Apple is likely interested in the possibility of a public Wifi network for use with its iPhone and iPod touch devices.

Apple announced today that they sold over two million copies of Mac OS X Leopard on its opening weekend.

"Early indications are that Leopard will be a huge hit with customers," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "Leopard's innovative features are getting great reviews and making more people than ever think about switching to the Mac."

According to ArsTechnica, it took Apple a month to sell 2 million copies of Mac OS X Tiger -- the previous release of Mac OS X. Leopard launched officially on Friday, October 26th at 6 p.m.

Apple and T-Mobile announced rate plans for the iPhone in Germany today.

The plans start at 49 euro/month and include unlimited data plans, Visual Voicemail and access to T-Mobile's over 8,000 W-Fi Hotspots in Germany.

"We're thrilled to be partnering with T-Mobile and can't wait to start selling the iPhone in Germany in just a few short weeks," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. "Starting at just 49 per month, we think these three rate plans give customers the flexibility to experience all of iPhones revolutionary features at affordable and competitive prices."

The numbers correspond to an earlier leak of the rate plans reported by MacNotes.de.

NBC and Universal's joint venture Hulu.com has launched in private beta. The new video service will feature premium video content delivered over a Flash-based web interface, and is already being syndicated to sites such as video.aol.com. First impressions have been positive, and Hulu allows you to embed content into other websites. As a private beta, access to the site appears to be limited, but the embedded player allows you to browse other content.

At present it appears the content is ad-supported, with very short ads playing at designated times during playback. Ads are noted on the timeline as small dots.

An entire episode of The Office is embedded below, but the player reportedly does not work outside the U.S:

In August, NBC pulled their television content from the iTunes store due to disagreements in pricing structure.

ArsTechinca's John Siracusa posts an in depth review of Leopard, which refreshingly goes beyond the typical superficial glance at features. In fact, portions of the review may be too technical for the many readers, but does point out several under-the-hood improvements in Mac OS X 10.5 that may not be immediately obvious. Indeed, Siracusa summarizes the 17 page review:

As I've learned more about Leopard, it's become increasingly clear where, exactly, those two-and-a-half years of development time went. Leopard is absolutely packed with improvements. It seems that not a corner of the OS has gone untouched.

Perhaps that's not as clear to the casual user who just sees the surface changes and the major new features in Leopard. But even in that case, there's more than enough to recommend it. if you're wondering whether you should upgrade to Leopard, the answer, as it's been for every major revision of Mac OS X, is yes.

That being said, the review does touch on some aspects of Leopard's superficial changes, including the new standardized look of windows, changes in Finder behavior and the impracticality of Apple's current Stacks implementation:

There's just not enough room in a single Dock tile for a stack of icons to convey any meaningful information. Only the top one, two, maybe three items have any visual impact. And those few items may be misleading (e.g., the home folder appearing to be the Desktop folder) or completely generic (e.g., the Pictures and Movies folders showing up as plain folder icons.) Seriously, Apple, this is a bad idea.

Siracusa is, however, enthusiastic about Time Machine ("people will actually use") and describes steady and significant improvements in Mac OS X's performance and responsiveness. Leopard's kernel is also said to be better about scheduling processes, allowing you to make better use of multi-core CPUs.

Of technical interest, the article explores Leopard's implementation of DTrace to assist in debugging, the full transition to 64-bit, and the full adoption of Cocoa:

The last vestiges of the original Macintosh API are finally being put to rest. They've done their job and are being given a decent burial, I think. A slow, almost natural transition. Bugs will be fixed in the 32-bit Carbon APIs, of course, but no new features will be added. All new GUI APIs in Leopard and future Mac OS X releases will be added as Cocoa-only APIs.

This transition, of course, affects some of Apple's biggest developers (such as Microsoft and Adobe) who have a large library of Carbon code for their applications.

A lot of groundwork has also been laid towards implementing resolution independence, though even Apple's implementation across their own applications is thus far inconsistent. Full Resolution Independence support as a user-accessible feature is not expected until 2008. But this should allow Apple to introduce super-high-resolution displays and provide a consistent user experience.

The full review is worth reading if you have an interest in Mac OS X Leopard.