MacRumors

TG Daily reports that Intel's next generation mobile platform, code-named Santa Rosa, is currently tracking for a May release.

The platform will feature many improvements over today's incarnation found in the iMac, MacBook, and MacBook Pro. While the processor will remain of the Core 2 Duo "Merom" variety and will top out at 2.4 GHz, the front side bus speed will be increased to 800 MHz.

Also, systems that use integrated graphics (MacBook, Mac Mini) will stand to see a big boost from Intel's latest graphics technology. The GMA X3000 will implement several important graphics features in hardware and support pixel and vertex shader models 3.0, whereas GMA 950 only supports pixel shader model 2.0. This improvement will no doubt be a boost for casual gamers and for Apple's desire to include even more impressive visual effects in their systems.

Lastly, Santa Rosa will feature Intel's flash caching technology, code-named Robson. The technology should bring better system performance, especially in the areas of battery life, system startup, and access of frequently used applications.

Today marks the Steve Jobs' 52nd birthday and MacRumors.com's 7th birthday.

Steve Jobs was born on February 24, 1955 and later co-founded Apple with Steve Wozniak in 1976. Jobs was forced out of Apple in 1985, but later returned in 1997 after Apple bought NeXT (also founded by Jobs). Steve Jobs is Apple's current CEO.

MacRumors.com began on February 24, 2000 as a site to consolidate interesting rumors and news surrounding Apple and has grown to one of the largest Mac communities on the internet.

Actioncorp TV posts an interesting video (Youtube) detailing some features of the iPhone which were glossed over during the keynote.

These "hidden" features include:

- Calendar screenshot, and interface
- Google maps traffic
- Letter tapping to "jump" in lists
- Ringtone syncing from iTunes

Actioncorp TV has also posted a higher quality version on their website.

Apple introduced the iPhone at Macworld San Francisco 2007 in January. The iPhone is expected to be released in June 2007, but a teaser ad is expected during the Academy Awards on Sunday Feb 25th, 2007.

Macworld reports that Apple will be featuring a teaser advertisement for the iPhone during the Academy Awards (Oscars) this Sunday.

Macworld was unable to get any further details about the ad but "the new ad was described as being made for the Oscars".

The 79th Academy Awards airs this Sunday at 8 pm Eastern. Apple introduced the iPhone at Macworld San Francisco and is not expected to be shipping until June 2007.

Macworld.com rarely posts rumors, so this report carries a high level of credibility.

Analyst Ben Reitzes with UBS Investment Research published (via Appleinsider) another research report this week with a couple of new predictions about Apple.

- "We believe Apple is likely to hold another event by April or May to launch Leopard and/or other new Mac products (models with larger displays at least)"

- "Apple may push iPhone technology into other products, including Macs next year and more 'ultra-portable' devices that can bridge the gap between media playing, basic wireless computing needs and even eventually some type of gaming and GPS capabilities."

In recent years, analyst reports have increasingly been the source of predictions about upcoming Apple products, though their accuracy has been very poor.

Benjamin Reitzes' predictions (and his peers) are being tracked in our Guide pages.

ThinkSecret believes that Final Cut Pro 6 will finally make its debut at NAB, which takes place April 14-19. The software was originally expected at last year's NAB which instead saw the release of the 17" MacBook Pro.

Final Cut Pro 6 has been rumored to bring 5.1 surround sound editing, 1080/24p and 1080/30p DVCPROHD support (Update: Those original specifications appear to already have made it into Final Cut Pro 5.1). ThinkSecret adds that the extra development time has afforded Apple to enhance Final Cut's realtime video editing engine with Core Animation technology.

Lastly, ThinkSecret reports that the high-end Final Cut Extreme targeting Avid users will also make its debut at NAB. Little is known about the product at this time, but it is said to be a hardware and software solution with a pricetag near $10,000.

CNet reports that Microsoft has been hit with a $1.5 billion patent verdict over MP3 audio technology used in Windows since 2003.

Microsoft reportedly licensed the technology from Fraunhofer, a company that helped develop MP3 compression alongside Lucent's Bell Labs. Though details are scarce, Lucent apparently does not recognize Fraunhofer's (now Thomson) licensing as sufficient. The decision is of particular interest to other technology companies who have licensed MP3 technology from Fraunhofer. This includes hundreds of companies including Apple. This decision could put these companies at risk for future litigation and licensing fees.

"Therefore, today's outcome is disappointing for us and for the hundreds of other companies who have licensed MP3 technology," Burt said. "We are concerned that this decision opens the door for Alcatel-Lucent to pursue action against hundreds of other companies who purchased the rights to use MP3 technology from Fraunhofer, the industry-recognized rightful licensor."

PC World notes that this is the first of six patent lawsuits currently underway by Lucent. The remaining lawsuits directed at Microsoft cover speech pattern technology, user interface patents, Xbox 360 technology, and video technologies.

Microsoft, of course, has stated they "will seek relief from the trial court, and if necessary, appeal".

Recent comments to Prudential analysts indicate that Apple will be focusing on their existing product lines, rather than breaking into any "new categories":

In the meantime, Apple said it "doesnt expect to broadly proliferate into any new categories for a while," and will instead focus on its four existing product categories in Macs, iPods, iPhone and Apple TV.

This may dash some hopes of those hoping that Apple would build the iPhone technologies into a tablet form factor. Even so, Apple could easily cross this technology into future iPods (or Macs) and stay true to this statement.

Cisco and Apple have announced that they have reached an agreement over the iPhone trademark dispute that erupted soon after Apple announced the iPhone at Macworld San Francisco.

Under the agreement, both companies are free to use the iPhone trademark on their products throughout the world. Both companies acknowledge the trademark ownership rights that have been granted, and each side will dismiss any pending actions regarding the trademark. In addition, Cisco and Apple will explore opportunities for interoperability in the areas of security, and consumer and enterprise communications.

Other terms of the agreement remain confidential. Cisco launched their brand of "iPhone" VOIP handsets in December, and has held the US trademark for the "iPhone," whereas Apple has the mark in other countries.

ThinkSecret points to a new job description at Apple which is recruiting for a "Manager of Mobile Mac Architecture". The job description is as follows:

Manager of Mobile Mac Architecture is responsible for guaranteeing the engineering feasibility of the future Mobile Macintosh product line. This manager will work in tandem with Mobile Mac's Chief Technologist to understand market direction for mobile computers and apply that to the unique engineering and feature requirements of Apple's mobile computers.

The job description could easily relate to existing Mac laptop projects, such as the Macbook and Macbook Pro, however, ThinkSecret has been led to believe that this position is "with a team working on a new line of Macs."

There have been persistent rumors that Apple is actively pursuing a sub-notebook form factors and patent applications showing further attempts at miniaturization.

Finally, Apple's announcement of the iPhone with its "Touch OS X" has led many to speculate that this touch-enabled version of OS X could find its way into new mobile Mac solutions -- but this remains entirely speculative.

Betanews reports that a Merrill Lynch analyst has stated that Adobe will likely introduce their Creative Suite 3 near March 27th "with a ship date that would follow shortly afterwards".

Jay Vleeschhouwer, the analyst who wrote the report disclosing the release date, says he expects about six different CS3 product suites, and 14 individual products overall. Core CS3 products would include Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign.

ThinkSecret posted a similar article reporting that Adobe had ramped up the release of development builds and that a ship date could come "as early as the end of March."

Builds are now being released to testers on an almost weekly basis, each more polished than the previous with continual bug fixes and stability improvements.

Note: AppleInsider was the first to claim that Adobe would release CS3 before April 2007, making the claims as far back as October 2006.

A press release issued today announced that both Steve Jobs and Bill Gates will be participating in a joint appearance at The Wall Street Journal's "D: All Things Digital" conference which takes place between May 29-31 near San Diego, California.

The conference sessions are in interview-format with no prepared speeches.

Beyond the joint event, Steve Jobs will also be participating in his own segment "to discuss the latest developments at Apple, including new ventures such as the iPhone and Apple TV."

Steve Jobs has participated before at this conference, and provided some of his insights on Apple and the market.

Though unconfirmed, Financialwire.net claims that Apple's Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard will be shipping by the end of March "according to sources."

This date corresponds to an earlier report from ThinkSecret that Leopard development was "wrapping up faster than many at Apple even anticipated". Based on this earlier report, the new versions of iLife '07 and iWork '07 are expected alongside Leopard.

Even after many false rumors about potential Apple media events, buzz continues about the possibility of a future Apple release event.

Users anxious to get a glimpse of the Apple TV's startup movie can now get some still pictures courtesy of the Logan website [page removed] (who has also done other Apple work as well).

The Apple TV has been promised to ship by the end of this month, despite some rumored delays which have been rebuffed by Apple.

Note: MacRumors forum member elppa notes that the movie is very similar to the video that is played when you scroll over the Apple TV here (although differences exist).

Today, Adobe announced that they are now shipping Lightroom 1.0.

New Adobe Photoshop Lightroom software is the professional photographer's essential toolbox, providing one easy application for managing, adjusting, and presenting large volumes of digital photographs so you can spend less time in front of the computer and more time behind the lens.

Adobe first previewed Lightroom in beta for in Janaury of 2006 and was seen as a direct competitor to Apple's Aperture software.

Lightroom 1.0 is being offered for $199 until April 2007, and will then cost $299. Lightroom requires Mac OS X 10.4, 1GHz G4/G5 or Intel Core Duo processor, and 768MB of RAM.