MacRumors

While rumors have focused on iPod Nano and iPod Touch updates as early as September 9th, the fate of the MacBook Pros and other updates have been less clear.

It appears, however, that Apple could be prepping for a wide range of product updates, with signals to at least some resellers to halt resupplies of Mac minis, MacBook Pros, iPods and even Cinema Displays.

Unfortunately, reseller signals can be misleading and could simply represent temporary supply shortages. Best Buy, for example, had shortages of MacBooks towards the end of July.

Our buyer's guide does show that many of Apple's products are due for revision.

As rumors continue to build of upcoming Apple product updates, more hints are starting to suggest that Apple will be holding a special event in September to launch these new products.

A rumor over the weekend originating from Kevin Rose claimed that we could see iPod Nano and iPod Touch updates in the next few weeks. A subsequent report from Rose indicated that September 9th could be the date for the launch.

While we had initially housed that rumor on our Page 2 (rss) which consolidates minor news and unverified tidbits, an ArsTechnica article now suggests that there may be some validity to that "general date".

More possible case photos for the upcoming 4th Gen iPod Nano and 2nd Generation iPod Touch have also been posted to Page 2.

Update: Brian Lam of Gizmodo has "heard similar things" regarding the September 9th date.

EA's Spore Origins has arrived for the Classic iPod and iPod Nano [iTunes link (not compatible with iPhone or iPod touch)] well ahead of its multiplatform launch scheduled for September 7th.

The $4.99 game offers an early look at Spore Origins which is also expected for release on the iPhone and iPod Touch soon. EA describes the gameplay:

Eat or be eaten when you play SPORE Origins on your iPod. Guide your spore through its evolution and shape its destiny. Devour smaller creatures, explore primordial worlds filled with bizarre organisms, and avoid larger, lethal life forms. Grow from single-cell to complex predator as you rise through the levels. Customize your spore, and watch it move to the tunes in your iPod. Battle friends by importing their spores into your iPod from the Sporepedia website.

Spore Origins was expected to be released across the iPhone, Nintendo DS and other mobile platforms on September 7th. Spore Origins is a smaller companion game to the desktop version of the game called Spore.

Apple demoed Spore as one of the many examples of iPhone apps that could be developed with the SDK.

Update: A couple of early adopters (see discussion thread) are having trouble getting the game to run.

Update 2: Apple has pulled the game from the App Store.

Mac4ever (french) received word from ATI that while the Radeon HD 4870 X2 will not be coming for the Mac, ATI has confirmed that both the Radeon HD 4870 and Radeon HD 4850 will be coming for the Mac "soon".

For those interested in benchmarks, AnandTech provides an extensive testing roundup of the two cards with benchmark comparisons to the ATI Radeon HD 3870 which was released for the Mac Pro in June.

BareFeats also provides more limited testing under Boot Camp between the Radeon 4870, Radeon 3870, GeForce 8800 GT, and (not available for Mac) nVIDIA GeForce GTX 280. While the GTX 280 beats the 4870 in most benchmarks, Barefeats still believes that the Radeon 4870 is the better choice for Apple:

Why? Because ATI has optimized their Mac Edition drivers and firmware for the Radeon 2600 XT and 3870 so that they run Core Image effects much faster than comparable nVidia cards including the GeForce 8800 GT and Quadro FX 5600.

In other words, if Apple is truly serious about optimizing their suite of Pro Apps (FCP, Motion, Aperture, etc.) for Core Image performance, then the Radeon HD 4870 should be the next CTO "shoe" they drop.

These cards are for use in the Mac Pro only, which allows the use of 3rd party graphics cards.

Apple has seeded yet another version of Mac OS X 10.5.5 (9F23) to developers on Friday as well as a new version of Safari 4.0 Developer Preview, according to AppleInsider.

The latest Mac OS X 10.5.5 seed came just days after the previous seed. Unlike the previous seed, this one had one known issue related to general searching of email messages in Mail.

Perhaps more interesting was that Apple released a new Safari 4.0 Developer Preview for Leopard, Windows and Tiger. Apple first gave developers a look at Safari 4.0 in June. Safari 4.0 incorporates many of the latest enhancements found in WebKit. The latest HTML 5 features supported, according to AppleInsider, are said to include:

- CSS support for masks, gradients, reflections, and specifying a named canvas.
- Rudimentary support for the WAI-ARIA (Rich Internet Application) and cross-site XMLHttpRequest specifications.
- the ability to send messages between documents
- storage of data either locally or just for the user's session
- the option of running web applications outside of a browser or when disconnected from the network
- canvas pixel manipulation

Safari 4.0 also incorporates the latest SquirrelFish technology which provides dramatic JavaScript speed ups. Apple has not yet announced the expected release date for Safari 4.0.

More evidence is appearing that supports the rumored taller iPod Nano design with a curved screen. Case designs (seen above) at Alibaba (via Engadget) depict new cases for an iPod Nano 4G. The 4th generation iPod Nano has been rumored to have a taller design with widescreen to allow for video playback. The rumor was first reported in July, with additional claims a few days ago from Kevin Rose.

Meanwhile, iDealsChina has posted renderings of the 4th Generation iPod which also match the rumored description:

iDealsChina was previously responsible for leaked iPhone 3G case moldings that turned out to be accurate. These renderings, however, omit the iPod's universal dock connector.

Separately, and perhaps more interestingly, iDealsChina claims that the next generation iPod Touch will contain GPS. The iPod Touch is expected to see a revision in the next few weeks.

Digg.com's Kevin Rose has posted a new blog entry and YouTube video claiming to have knowledge of upcoming iPod updates with a significant number of details:

- Revamp of entire iPod line.
- Small cosmetic changes to Touch, Nano to see significant redesign (see above)
- iPods to see fairly large price drops to distance itself from the $199 iPhone.
- iPod touch 2.1 software, iPhone to get update very soon after.
- iTunes 8.0 ("it's a big update w/new features").
- All of this coming in the next 2-3 weeks.
- Blu-Ray support coming in Mac OS X 10.5.6

Rose details the rumors in this video:

Rose has been the source of a number of Apple related rumors over the years with his most recent claims having some accuracy. The new iPod nano that he describes is depicted above and is consistent with claims made by iLounge.

Update: Rose's rumor track record: 3 right, 2 wrong, 1 part right.