MacRumors

AppleInsider expects that Apple will update its complete laptop line (13" MacBook and 15/17" MacBook Pros) to Core 2 Duo "Merom" before the holiday shopping season starts in late November. According to the site, development has been completed and the launch is simply awaiting Apple's marketing team to "pull the trigger."

MacShrine and MacOSXRumors expect the MacBook Pro to be updated at Apple's September 25th event preceding Photokina. AppleInsider is unsure whether the updated MacBook will be unveiled at that event or be held off to ensure adequate supply of Intel's Core 2 Duo Merom chip.

Many users have pointed to extended ship dates and delays for MacBooks as evidence of an impending update. While possible, the shipping delays may simply be due to a demand backlog which was noted in Apple's Q3 2006 conference call in July. At the time Apple stated they expected to reach a supply/demand balance by the end of September (the end of Apple's current fiscal quarter).

ValleyWag claims that Apple is recruiting for an ad sales director in an effort to bring advertising into the iTunes store.

In a deal that should bring in several hundred million dollars off the bat, the company will run ads, most notably on its iTunes store.

The article has few details but suggests that Google's ad system would be used.

This is not the first time that there have been rumors of Apple incorporating ads into iTunes. An AdAge article from April 2006 indicated that Apple was looking into publishing ads while users listen to podcasts:

Apple's [April 2006] plans call for the ads to appear only in the lower-left corner of the iTunes library while users listen to podcasts from their computers rather than from portable devices.

As previously reported, Adobe's Vice Presdent offered a "quick look" at Photoshop CS3 running on an Intel Mac at the Photoshop World keynote last week.

Few details of the demo are available, but Appleinsider reports that the upcoming Universal-Binary revision of Adobe's Photoshop (code-named "Red Pill") is expected in the spring of 2007. While no new features were revealed, it did show that Adobe had successfully ported Photoshop to the Intel Mac.

In February, Adobe stated that the Intel-transition for Photoshop would be delayed until the next major revisions of their software.

Newsweek reports that Apple and Google are in talks about supplying videos to Apple's iTV product when it ships next year.

Is it possible that when iTV ships next year, you may also be able to choose a menu item called Google Video, and then zip through the best of the thousands of user-submitted videos on the search giant's service? Google's consumer product chief, Marissa Mayer, tells me that indeed, the two companies are engaged in talks.

Apple's iTV was previewed last week at Apple's Media Event. The $299 set-top-box is positioned as a "DVD player that happens to play Internet videos [instead of DVDs]" according to Steve Jobs. The box is wi-fi enabled and allows users to play music and videos from their iTunes library on their television. One additional feature, however, is that it can also connect to the internet. In Steve Jobs' demo last week, he showed that it could stream movie trailers from Apple's Movie Trailers page. It would not take much to also allow it to pull videos from Google Video.

The partnership is interesting in that Google is a competitor to Apple's iTunes and also offers CBS television shows for $1.99/each.

APC Magazine claims to have some details about Microsoft's upcoming Office 2007 for the Mac.

As expected, Microsoft is coding the next version of Mac Office as a Universal Binary application, allowing Intel-Macs to run the application natively.

Being able to sidestep the Rosetta translation layer which enables Power PC applications to run under the Intel architecture should in itself deliver a significant speed boost to Office [2007]

At this stage, Microsoft Mac Business Unit has only just finished the transition to Apple's X-Code development environment which is required to deploy a Universal Binary application. The next milestone is expected to be a refresh of the user interface, which remains in development.

According to the article, the new version isn't expected until the third quarter of 2007.

ThinkSecret claims that Apple will finally be releasing the long awaited Apple Phone in early 2007.

The rumor site claims that after scrapping a ground-up design, they've decided to go with "several off-the-shelf parts for what will be the first of at least two or three different phones" in the first part of 2007.

The phones are said to include high-end features such as a 3-megapixel camera, 2.2-inch display and complete iTunes/iPod integration. As well, the phone will not be limited to 100 songs as current iTunes phones are.

Earlier this week, we posted an artist rendition of one of Apple's phone prototypes.

MacShrine believes that Apple will update the MacBook Pro to use Core 2 Duo "Merom" processors at Photokina (in addition to the anticipated Aperture 1.2 update). According to the site, Apple will employ the 2.33 and 2.16 GHz variants of the chip, however there is no mention of any other updates (enclosure, etc). The MacBook Pro was last updated in April 2006 with the introduction of the 17" model.

At this time, MacBook updates are not expected despite consistent worldwide shortages, which was anticipated in Apple's most recent financial conference call.

Apple will be hosting a special event on September 25th (just before the beginning of photokina, which begins on the 26th).

A previous Page 2 story claimed MacBook speed-bump updates on September 25th.

MacOSXRumors also claims that the Merom MacBook Pro will be announced at the event.

Macworld has received an invitation to an Apple special event on September 25th, right before Photokina. Indications from the invitation are an Aperture-related announcement. An Aperture update had previously been rumored on page 2. Of note, Apple had previously been sending out invitations to UK press to a September 25th event at Photokina. At this time, it would appear as though the events are separate.[Update] Macworld originally reported the event date as September 24. With MacWorld's reporting error fixed, it does appear as though the events are one-in-the-same. Sorry for the confusion.

Rumors of an Apple Phone have been ongoing for years with Apple laying claim to the domain iPhone.org since 1999 and the trademark for iPhone in 2002. Meanwhile, a number of Phone related patents have also surfaced showing that Apple has been researching this option.

Recently, analysts have claimed that the Apple phone is essentially ready with a brief description:

The design will be an iPod nano-like candy bar form factor and come in three colors

Meanwhile, Steve Jobs has been said to be talking up the upcoming phone, despite being traditionally secretive about unannounced products.

One reliable MacRumors.com source has provided a more detailed description of one of the prototypes for the upcoming Apple Phone. The description has yielded this artist's rendition of the phone. (Click image for larger view). The phone offers a familiar look to iPod owners, with the preservation of the iPod click-wheel.

The click-wheel is closer to the bottom of the device with the screen taking a vertical orientation. The click-wheel portion of the device reportedly slides down to reveal a traditional numeric dial-pad underneath. The front is black, while the back is chrome like the current iPod.

As an artist rendition, details such as the exact proportions of the screen are not necessarily accurate.

The preservation of the click-wheel navigator could add credence to evidence that iTunes has the ability to transfer the new iPod games to certain mobile phones. Jobs had stated that the games had been designed for click-wheel playability.

Update: Many users are still noticing a confirmed mock-up/fake iPhone, which was seen on RegHardware.co.uk. The original portrayal can be found here.

Note that while bearing some similar features, the fake mock-up in the french paper is unrelated to MacRumor's information regarding the iPhone, and is simply addressed here due to the similar nature of the story.

MacShrine reports that some resource files in iTunes 7 are descriptive of features that are currently unavailable in other iTunes compatible mobile phones.

"Some of the games in your iTunes library were not copied to the mobile phone [name] because you are not authorized to play them on this computer" and "iTunes cannot sync photos to the mobile phone [name] because your iPhoto Library needs updating. Open iPhoto to update your iPhoto Library".

A similar situation occured when the June 28th iPod Updater was found to contain phone related strings.

AnandTech took a Mac Pro, which comes with two Dual-Core Xeon (Woodcrest) processors and replaced them with samples of two Quad-Core Xeon (Clovertown) processors.

We grabbed a pair of 2.4GHz Clovertown samples and tossed them in the system, and to our pleasure, they worked just fine. Our samples used a 1066MHz FSB, although we're expecting the final chip to use a 1333MHz FSB, but the most important part of the test is that all 8 cores were detected and functional.

The Mac Pro appeared to run fine with the Quad-Core processors, effectively giving them a 8-Core machine. While they are unable to give performance numbers due to non-disclosure agreements, the machine was reportedly stable. It also gives hope for current Mac Pro owners that they will be able to later upgrade the processors on their machine in the future. Clovertown Quad-core processors are expected to be available in late 2006.

As we begin to soak in today's announcements, a few tidbits of note:

- In reference to 'iTV', Steve only said that "802.11" would be used for wireless communication. Currently, Apple employs 802.11g "Airport Extreme" in its products, but the lack of specificity may hint at an adoption of the upcoming 802.11n standard.

- Many users have noted the iTunes 7 standalone installer includes a greyed-out custom option for "iTunes Phone Driver". It is not clear whether this driver is for the rumored iPhone or for already iTunes compatible phones from Motorola.

- To the delight of many existing 5G owners, iPod Software 1.2 (included with iTunes 7) will provide capability to playback the increased resolution of new iTunes TV Shows, Music Videos, and Movies. The technical specifications of the 5G had originally stated the maximum resolution for h264 playback as 320x240 px.

- iTunes 7 will confirm if you wish to re-download content, and has a backup utility for backing up your library. Also introduced is a feature called "skip count" which tells you how often you have skipped a song.

In a rare move, Apple provided a sneak peek of the long rumored Apple media center. Currently without a final product name, it has been codenamed iTV and has the apperance of a flattened Mac mini.

Providing various audio and video outputs, it is intended to be connected to a TV, communicating wirelessly with your Mac or PC and displaying a Front Row like interface for the content on your computer.

Key features:

Built-in power supply (no power brick)
USB, Ethernet and 802.11 wireless connectivity
HDMI, optical audio, component video and RCA (phono) audio outputs
Works with the Apple Remote

The 'iTV' is to be available in Q1 2007, priced at $299.

Update: Photos of the prototype unit.