MacRumors

In a recent interview with Wired, Greg Canessa, the ex-General Manager of XBox Live Arcade, and now Vice President of video game platforms at PopCap games indicates that his role at PopCap will be to help proliferate their games onto multiple platforms, including the Apple TV.

Its a broad in scope role. It encompasses everything from vision and strategy to execution and marketing. It will all be part of my group and charter. Business development will be part of that as well. It will be about taking the stable of franchises and games out of PopCap's studio and adapting, customizing it for different platforms -- adding multiplayer, new play modes, HD, customizing the user interface and display for Zune, ipod, Apple TV, Nintendo DS, PSP.

Currently, Apple specifically states that games designed for the iPod will not play on the Apple TV. However, the apparent slip-up is reminiscent of previous claims by analyst Jesse Tortora that Apple will begin to compete in the video game console market to counter pressure from Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo to dominate the living room.

Since Apple released Steve Jobs' article entitled "Thoughts On Music" in which he calls on record companies to allow Apple to sell DRM free content on the iTunes Store, various parties have voiced their reactions.

In an Associated Press article published by Forbes, Mitch Bainwol, chairman and chief executive of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) suggested that Apple rather license FairPlay to other companies to allow interoperability.

"We have no doubt that a technology company as sophisticated and smart as Apple could work with the music community to make that happen," Bainwol said in a prepared statement.

Mr. Jobs addressed such a possibility in his article, however stated that "Apple has concluded that if it licenses FairPlay to others, it can no longer guarantee to protect the music it licenses from the big four music companies."

However, Jon Lech Johansen, who has successfully reverse-engineered FairPlay in the past and has since formed DoubleTwist ventures in an attempt to sell FairPlay compatible DRM to content providers, points out in a blog post that Microsoft's decision to license Microsofts Windows Media DRM 10 (PlaysForSure) to multiple companies has not had any more security breaches than FairPlay.

European consumer groups appear to be coming out with a mixed reaction. Norway's Consumer Counsel appears to not be satisfied with Jobs' comments, however one French consumer group fully agrees with Jobs, and has refocused their efforts on pressuring the music labels.

Reaction to Jobs' article remains extremely positive in MacRumors forums. Also of note, Britain's EMI Music has been experimenting with DRM-free music digital music distribution via MP3, reportedly gaining extremely positive feedback from customers.

As reported by Appleinsider, Prudential analyst Jesse Tortora claims that Apple may be moving to an all Flash based iPod line.

"We believe that the video iPod transition from 1.8-inch hard disk drives to NAND flash memory may occur as soon as late 2007," Tortora wrote. "Our checks indicate that Apple is considering canceling its next generation HDD-based iPod design, with the form factor refresh involving a move to NAND flash memory."

Despite the larger cost per GB for Flash memory, Tortora believes that the transition could be feasible with sizes as large as 32GB sizes of Flash memory.

One big advantage of the transition from Hard Drive to Flash would be increased battery life. The current 30GB Hard Drive based iPod only offers 3.5hrs of video playback, while a theoretical 30GB Flash iPod would allow for 5.5 hours of video playback.

Of note, MacRumors has been keeping track of previous predictions and claims made by Jesse Tortora regarding upcoming Apple products, and his analyst reports have generally been inaccurate.

That being said, another analyst (Daniel Amir) had previously predicted a 16GB Flash Video iPod back in December of 2006. This new report may add a bit of credence to that original prediction.

Appleinsider reports that Apple will be increasing their direct marketing against Microsoft's Vista operating system with Apple Store materials:

The campaign, set to get underway this Saturday, will include new store displays and employee t-shirts gently mocking Vista as little more than a washed-up attempt at a modern operating system, those familiar with the matter say.

The training materials specifically focus on the cost and confusion of upgrading to Vista, alongside direct comparisons with Apple's Mac OS X.

Apple's recent television ad campaign has also been directly targeted at Microsoft's Vista operating system.

Following the news that Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference will take place June 11-15th this year, Apple has sent out WWDC "Save the Date" invitations to developers with a Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard theme:

This June, the center of the Mac universe will be in downtown San Francisco, as developers and IT pros from around the globe come together for the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference. Don't miss this opportunity to get unparalleled access to Apple engineers, a firsthand look at the latest technology, and the kind of inspiration you won't find anywhere else.

The invitation is a representation of Time Machine - a feature to be introduced in Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard.

Apple provided a Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard preview at last year's WWDC and has promised a Spring 2007 release.

This afternoon, Steve Jobs posted an article entitled "Thoughts on Music" on Apple.com.

In the article, he addresses recent calls for Apple and iTunes to "open" the digital rights management system on iTunes to allow other digital devices to play iTunes music and to allow other music store media to play on the iPod.

He reminds readers that the iPod can play unprotected content, and gives background on the reason for digital rights management.

He then explores three different alternatives for the future:

1) Stay the course "with each manufacturer competing freely with their own 'top to bottom' proprietary systems for selling, playing and protecting music. "

2) License FairPlay to other companies. "The most serious problem is that licensing a DRM involves disclosing some of its secrets to many people in many companies, and history tells us that inevitably these secrets will leak. .... Apple has concluded that if it licenses FairPlay to others, it can no longer guarantee to protect the music it licenses from the big four music companies"

3) Abolish DRMs entirely. "If the big four music companies would license Apple their music without the requirement that it be protected with a DRM, we would switch to selling only DRM-free music on our iTunes store. Every iPod ever made will play this DRM-free music."

Jobs argues that DRM doesn't work effectively and believes that Digital Rights Management should not be required by music companies.

"Convincing them to license their music to Apple and others DRM-free will create a truly interoperable music marketplace. Apple will embrace this wholeheartedly."

Apple has come under increasing pressure from some European consumer groups regarding FairPlay, perhaps prompting the article.

Apple has announced some preliminary details about this years Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC).

WWDC 2007 will take place from June 11-15th, 2007 in San Francisco, CA:

This June, the center of the Mac universe will be in downtown San Francisco, as developers and IT professionals from around the globe come together for the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference. Don't miss this opportunity to connect with Apple engineers, get a firsthand look at the latest technology, and spend a week getting the kind of inspiration you won't find anywhere else.

Earlier rumors had pegged the date of the conference for this time. Last year's WWDC conference was delayed to August to coincide with Intel Mac Pros and the Leopard Preview.

WWDC is Apple's developer conference and focuses on developer topics. However, in recent years, with the demise of the summer Macworld expo, WWDC's keynote address has become a venue for significant Apple announcements.

Wal-Mart launched a beta version of their movie download store today.

The new service is available at http://www.walmart.com/videodownloads and is offering around 3,000 movies and television episodes from all the major movie studios and some TV networks.

The nation's largest retailer is using its buying power to beat the prices charged by other download services in many cases, offering films from $12.88 to $19.88 and individual TV episodes for $1.96 4 cents less than Apple Inc.'s iTunes store.

Wal-Mart's entry into this market is significant for a number of reasons. Early reports claimed that Wal-Mart felt their DVD sales would be hurt by online-download movie sales. As a result, Wal-Mart was said to be threatening movie studios against signing on with Apple's iTunes service.

Apple's iTunes initially launched with only Disney movies and later added Paramount films in January. The article suggests that Wal-Mart's entry "now frees studios to cut deals with other online services".

Wal-Mart's movie service is only available in Windows Media, so the movies are not playable on the Mac or iPod.

Apple has posted a new Get a Mac TV advertisement called "Security" which pokes fun at Vista's security prompts. The new ad premiered last night on U.S. television.

The ad is a followup to recently released ads called "Tech Support" and "Surgery" in which the PC undergoes an upgrade to Windows Vista.

In a recent interview, Bill Gates has commented on the Get a Mac ad campaign, specifically about the security and upgrade criticisms.

Are you bugged by the Apple commercial where John Hodgman is the PC, and he has to undergo surgery to get Vista?

I've never seen it. I don't think the over 90 percent of the [population] who use Windows PCs think of themselves as dullards, or the kind of klutzes that somebody is trying to say they are.

Later in the interview, he claims that "security guys break the Mac every single day." This comment has drawn a lot of criticism on the Mac web.

In Apple's quarterly 10Q filing, filed last Friday, Apple acknowledged the ongoing SEC investigations into the company's past stock options backdating practices as a considerable risk, and adds that the potential exists for further delay of SEC filings and possible delistment from a prestigious NASDAQ market.

The internal review, the independent investigation, and related activities have required the Company to incur substantial expenses for legal, accounting, tax and other professional services, have diverted managements attention from the Companys business, and could in the future harm its business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

While the Company believes it has made appropriate judgments in determining the correct measurement dates for its stock option grants, the SEC may disagree with the manner in which the Company has accounted for and reported, or not reported, the financial impact. Accordingly, there is a risk the Company may have to further restate its prior financial statements, amend prior filings with the SEC, or take other actions not currently contemplated. Additionally, if the SEC disagrees with the manner in which the Company has accounted for and reported, or not reported, the financial impact of past stock option grants, there could be delays in filing subsequent SEC reports that could subject the Companys common stock to potential delisting from the NASDAQ Global Select Market.

The report also addresses many other risks facing the company that often go un-noticed (i.e. economic conditions, war, terrorism, etc), however the acknowledgment nevertheless comes as a reminder that the SEC's investigation of Apple's accounting practices remains ongoing.

Note that delistment from the NASDAQ Global Select Market does not necessarily mean delistment from the general NASDAQ market. The NASDAQ Global Select Market, created in July 2006, is for companies that satisfy the "highest initial financial and liquidity qualifications."

Raw Data: Apple's Quarterly 10Q (pdf)

Apple Inc and Apple Corps said in a joint statement today that they have entered into a new trademark agreement that effectively replaces their prior 1991 agreement over the use of the corporate name "Apple".

Under this new agreement, Apple Inc. will own all of the trademarks related to Apple and will license certain of those trademarks back to Apple Corps for their continued use. In addition, the ongoing trademark lawsuit between the companies will end, with each party bearing its own legal costs, and Apple Inc. will continue using its name and logos on iTunes. The terms of settlement are confidential.

Commenting on the settlement, Steve Jobs, Apples CEO said, We love the Beatles, and it has been painful being at odds with them over these trademarks. It feels great to resolve this in a positive manner, and in a way that should remove the potential of further disagreements in the future.

Apple Inc has been victorious under a recent lawsuit from Apple Corps (the Beatles' record label) regarding the use of the Apple logo on the iTunes Store. Recent rumors fueled by Steve Jobs playing Beatles music on his iPhone at MacWorld SF have pegged the Beatles coming to the iTunes store perhaps this month (Valentines Day?).

Many sites picked up on the buzz that Apple might have a special ad lined up for this year's Super Bowl -- the championship football game of the National Football League in the United States.

However, the only source of this news is a single TorontoSun report which claimed that Apple would have a "special" announcement during a Super Bowl commercial. The report was tied to claims that the Beatles would begin digital distribution of their music through iTunes.

Super Bowl advertisements, at $2.5 million for a 30 second spot, frequently generate as much hype as the game itself. Apple holds a notorious place in Super Bowl advertising history with their 1984 commercial which announced the original Macintosh. The 1984 ad is generally credited with triggering this "event" advertising that has become commonly associated with the Super Bowl.

The Super Bowl begins at 6pm EST, February 4th (Sunday).
Update: No Apple ad in this year's Super Bowl.
Several of this year's Super Bowl ads are available online at cbs.sportsline.com

According to published reports on the internet, Apple is very close to releasing the Mac OS X 10.4.9 (Tiger) update based on the latest seeds to both their developer and their customer seeding programs.

This broad seeding generally indicates that Apple believes that their update is ready for the masses. The final seed lists no known issues remaining to be fixed and details fixes to OpenGL, GraphicsDrivers Common Code, Core Image, Sync Services, ImageIO, CoreData and iSync.

This is the fourth consecutive week of seeding a new 10.4.9 build from Apple.

Apple has published a guide for installing iTunes on a Windows Vista system. While Apple encourages users to wait "a few weeks" until the next version of iTunes becomes available which will be fully Vista compliant, the guide will help those who wish to install iTunes 7.0.2 until the new version is available.

A list of known issues includes:
* iTunes Store purchases may not play when upgrading to Windows Vista from Windows 2000 or XP. (Ed Note: Workaround exists. See permissions repair tool)
* iPod models with the "Enable Disk Use" option turned off may be unable to update or restore iPod software, and make changes to iPod settings.
* iPod models configured to Auto Sync and have the "Enable Disk Use" option turned off may require being ejected and reconnected to resync.
* Ejecting an iPod from the Windows System Tray using the "Safely Remove Hardware" feature may corrupt your iPod. To always safely eject an iPod, choose Eject iPod from the Controls menu within iTunes.
* Cover Flow animation may be slower than expected.
* Contacts and calendars will not sync with iPod.

The next version of iTunes which is expected to bring not only Vista compatibility but AppleTV compatibility is expected to be branded iTunes 7.1 as per the original AppleTV specifications page when the product launched (now simply states "iTunes 7").

iTunes was last updated to version 7.0.2 in late October 2006, providing performance and stability improvements as well as compatibility with Apple's second generation iPod shuffle.

ThinkSecret reiterates recent rumors that Apple will be incorporating LED-powered displays in upcoming laptops.

The rumor site believes that Apple already has systems in development and the new laptops are expected sometime in the 2nd quarter of this year, possibly alongside an expected Core 2 Duo processor bump (2.4GHz T7700) from Intel.

Meanwhile, Samsung has conveniently just introduced 15.4-inch LED-backlit monitors at the International Conference and Exhibition on Display LEDs.

The Samsung LED display offers the same 15.4" size and 1440x900 resolution as current 15.4" MacBook Pros.