MacRumors

Intel has begun shipping Core Duo T2700 series (2.33 GHz), the company's latest and greatest "Yonah" derived CPU (via DailyTech). It is currently expected that this will be the last Core Duo release before the mobile Core 2 Duo, aka "Merom" is released in August.

It is unknown whether Apple is planning to upgrade its line to accomodate the T2700 at this time. Currently, Apple's top of the line Intel processor offering is the 2.16 GHz Core Duo (T2600) in the 15" and 17" MacBook Pros.

Now available via Software Update:

The 10.4.7 Update is recommended for all users and includes general operating system fixes, as well as specific fixes for the following applications and technologies. It includes fixes for:

- preventing AFP deadlocks and dropped connections
- saving Adobe and Quark documents to AFP mounted volumes
- Bluetooth file transfers, pairing and connecting to a Bluetooth mouse, and syncing to mobile phones
- audio playback in QuickTime, iTunes, Final Cut Pro, and Soundtrack applications
- ensuring icons are spaced correctly when viewed on desktop
- determining the space required to burn folders
- iChat audio and video connectivity, creating chat rooms when using AIM
- importing files into Keynote 3
- PDF workflows when using iCal and iPhoto
- reliable use of Automator actions within workflows
- importing and removing fonts in Font Book
- syncing addresses, bookmarks, calendar events and files to .Mac
- compatibility with third party applications and devices
- previous standalone security updates

For detailed information on this Update, please visit this website: http://www.info.apple.com/kbnum/n303771.

For detailed information on Security Updates, please visit this website: http://www.info.apple.com/kbnum/n61798.

The Mac web is buzzing with a report yesterday by ChinaCSR , a corporate social responsibility website focused on China, which claimed that iPod manufacturer Foxconn had admitted that their employees work about 80 extra hours each month, which is 44 hours over the maximum 36 hours overtime work allowed in Chinese law. The site also claimed that Apple's special investigatory team had signed off on the factory conditions, apparently even after the news broke.

Despite many sites having run the story (AppleInsider, Engadget, Inquirer, etc), it appears that ChinaCSR is the only and original source for the story. MacRumors cannot independently confirm the story's contents, and given its brevity and lack of supporting quotations, we have some doubts about some of the assertions made (although we cannot rule out its accuracy either).

Last week, Foxconn denied claims that it was running an 'iPod sweatshop' in its factories in China. Apple has sent a team to investigate the conditions but has not officially reported any findings.

Announced in a press release this morning, Steve Jobs will headline a group of Apple's top brass to preview OS X 10.5 "Leopard" at the Worldwide Developer's Conference beginning at 10:00 a.m. PDT on August 7. The rest of the team is set to include Philip Schiller - senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing, Bertrand Serlet - senior vice president of Software Engineering, and Scott Forstall - vice president of Platform Experience.

From the press release:

Throughout WWDC, developers will receive detailed information and best practices on developing Universal applications that take advantage of the performance of Intel-based Macs, including special sessions on performance optimization using Apple software development tools.

The five-day event, which runs from August 7 to August 11, will deliver more than 175 technical sessions and labs with new content designed to serve a wide range of Mac developers, including tracks that preview Leopard and dozens of hands-on labs providing opportunities to work developer-to-developer with Apple engineers.

A recent Gartner report points out that Apple's buying power may be able to press NAND flash prices low enough for greatly increased capacity Nano's when their rumored refresh appears in the fall.

Gartner forecasts that a 16Gb (2GB) device will be available in the third quarter for about $30, down from its current price of about $35. Due to Apple's procurement power and investment, it is conceivable that it could get pricing for a device at $25 or even $20. This pricing would enable capacities of 12GB, leaving enough room for the remaining component and manufacturing costs as well as Apple's margin, while still reaching a $250 price point.

A recent rumor stated that Apple has been stocking up on NAND flash memory, presumably for iPods. The current highest-capacity iPod Nano is 4 GB.

Apple has announced an eMac Repair Extension program for eMacs that were sold between April 2004 and June 2005 and are experiencing scrambled and/or distorted video, no video, or no power. Users who feel that their eMac may be affected by the issue can learn more about the program by visiting the program's site.

This issue was initially brought to light on various discussion boards and was highlighted in a page 2 story. A common issue with the affected Macs were bulging and cracked capacitors on the logic board.

AppleInsider is reporting that an updated release of iTunes Producer includes the ability for record labels to encode music in Apple Lossless Codec (ALC), which may indicate that Apple is preparing iTunes for distribution of music in ALC.

There has been other evidence of these developments, with one MacRumors source claiming that Apple is indeed planning to add higher quality songs to iTunes in the near future including the possibility of ALC's use. However, since similar previous claims were discovered to be unfounded, the claim was considered at best uncertain until AppleInsider corroborated the story.

With the recent release of the final version of Parallels Desktop for Mac OS X (Intel), some are wondering where market-leader VMWare is in developing a virtualization solution for OS X, if at all. While previous comments by VMWare CEO Diane Greene had stated that their product was running on Macs in their labs, little has been indicated about a release timetable, or if the company was going to release the solution at all.

Virtualization.info recently interviewed Raghu Raghuram, Vice President of Platform Products at VMware. While not offering a ton of new information, he did indicate that announcements were forthcoming.

With Apple switching to x86-based processors, robust and proven virtualization capabilities for Apple users is an interesting opportunity. We have stated that we do have VMware running on Mac OS X in our labs - stay tuned for future announcements in this area.

With the news that Shake 4.1's release brought a $2500 price drop to the popular compositing application, most people seem to have missed a less publicized consequence of the release. According to Apple:

Apple will no longer be selling maintenance for Shake and no further software updates are planned as we begin work on the next generation of Shake compositing software.

This will be the last released version of Shake. This surprising end to Shake was predicted by a Page 2 Rumor along with some new details about this next generation application.

The upcoming high-end compositing replacement software is codenamed Phenomenon and will reportedly be based on the current Motion code, but will build off users existing Shake experience and knowledge. The most unusual aspect of this cross-over is that the new software is not expected until 2008.

Businessweek provides some added commentary and color to the Apple negotiations with the movie industry to provide content for an iTunes Movie Store.

Beyond echoing statements that the pricing appears to be the main hurdle between Apple and the studios, Businessweek cites other Hollywood sources that the store was ready to be up and running within weeks, but the disagreement in terms may push it back into 2007.

Even if launched, the movie studios are said to be considering holding back their "hottest titles", which they want to sell for $19.99, above Jobs' $9.99 for-every-movie pricing.

Meanwhile, experts are still waiting for the killer consumer electronics hardware to stimulate digital movie sales. Interestingly, according to one Businessweek source, Steve Jobs "feels like there are few threats for consumers' electronics-related dollars for the remainder of the year". Rumor sites have long predicted a full-screen video iPod, with persistent hints of its imminent arrival.

Apple has released the iPhoto 6.0.4 update in the Mac OS X Software Update. The new update is described as follows:

This update to iPhoto contains a variety of new Greeting Card and Postcard themes for use with Apple print services, including invite and thank you card designs for summer parties, weddings, birthdays, etc.

iPhoto was last updated to 6.0.3 alongside the rest of the iLife suite in May 2006.

A new section on the iTunes Music Store home page, with a heading of "Made in iTunes," has appeared in the stores for some countries.

It appears that Apple is adding them country by country. As of the start of Tuesday June 20 (midnight Pacific time), 11 of the 21 stores showed the new section in the bottom right corner of the home page. So far, the section is empty in all stores, with only its heading showing.

The section title is "Fatto da iTunes" for Italy, "Hecho en iTunes" for Spain, and "Made in iTunes" (English) for all other stores.

Countries with the new section as of the time of this posting: Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland.

Countries without a Made in iTunes section: Australia, Austria, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Luxembourg, UK, and USA.[Update] Apple has removed the Made in iTunes section from the iTunes Music Store for all countries, leaving no visible evidence of the unexplained additions last night.

According to one source, Apple will finally be releasing the Universal version of Shake (4.1) tomorrow. Alongside it will be a significant price drop, rumored to be $499 (down from $2999).

The future of Shake, however, would be in jeopardy, as the 4.1 release is said to be the last release with scale backs in the development team. The demise of Shake, however, would be relieved by another high-end compositing application not due until 2008.

There have previously been reports of a high end "Final Cut Extreme" application in the works.

Update (moved to page 1): As rumored, Shake 4.1 (universal) has been released, with a significant price drop as expected (now $499 USD). There are no official indications that this is indeed the last major release of Shake beyond Apple not continuing its maintenance program, but that does not preclude the possibility, as Apple may still want to sell the reduced-priced compositing software until their new high-end solution is available circa 2008.

Update 2: According to Shake users who have contacted Apple regarding software maintenance issues, Apple states that users will be unable to receive further updates for Shake as development has been focused towards the "next generation" of the application. Partial quote below, with full quote in the thread.

Apple will no longer be selling maintenance for Shake and no further
software updates are planned as we begin work on the next generation of
Shake compositing software.

According to our source, this "next generation" program is not based on Shake code, but rather is based loosely on Motion code, which may explain why Apple is licensing Shake code to select Maintenance customers for $50,000.

Hip hop artist 50 Cent is in talks with Apple about a 50-cent branded Mac that is affordable for inner-city residents according to Forbes (summary by AppleInsider).

"[Jobs] is setting a new standard in the music business," said 50's manager, Chris Lighty. "Let's just say we get each other."

No technical or pricing details are given, but one can assume that the price will be more than $.50.

Update: Thread closed due to off-topic discussion.

Variety has posted an update on negotiations between Hollywood execs and Apple on the rumored iTunes Movie Store. According to the report, negotiations are still ongoing with Hollywood execs, who don't know whether to regard Jobs as a friend or foe.

"He came in with a lot of bravado and said, 'We set our mind to what we were going to do in the music business and revolutionized it, and now we want to do the same thing with film," recalls one studio person close to the talks for movie downloads.

Movie execs anxious to beat piracy are debating how much power to give Jobs, who recently was successful in strong-arming music executives into sticking to a flat $.99 (USD) pricing model per song. Movie execs are hoping to have a tiered model, whereas Jobs is insisting that movies be sold at an easy-to-remember $9.99 (USD).

On March 14th, Apple made its first full-lenth TV movie feature available on the iTunes Music Store at $9.99 USD. The movie seemed to indicate that much of the technical groundwork had been laid for iTunes movies, with only content left to be obtained.

Also complicating the deals: The studios are working out terms with a host of other distributors, including Amazon, Movielink and BitTorrent, in part to make sure that one company does not dominate. It seems that none of the studios wants to be first in making a deal with Apple. Disney would be the logical leader, but even they are cautious, fearing it will look like in-house synergy rather than a business decision.

Movie studios have been rolling out their own movie services in past months, including Starz's Vongo (subscription-based) and Universal's own download-to-own store.

Update: There appears to be two similar versions of the original story floating around the web. This Forbes mirror adds that the agreements may be in place by the end of the year.