MacRumors

The International Solid State Circuits Conference takes places this week, and reveals Intel's plans for a dual-core Xeon server processor due in the "second half of the year".

The upcoming chip is called "Tulsa" and has an emphasis on performance. The dual-core chip is expected to come in at 3.4GHz with a 16MB unified cache. The performance is expected to boosted by up to 10% with this change. Also featured in the chip is Intel's virtualization technology allowing the chip to run multiple operating systems as well as energy conservation technology.

Apple announced at MacWorld San Francisco that they would be transitioning their entire line over to the Intel processor in 2006, suggesting that the Tulsa processor could find its way into future Xserves.

Meanwhile, IBM continues work on their Power6 processor also designed for servers. We had previously been interested in the Power6 as a basis for future PowerPC chips.

Apple added to the expanding list of television network content with cable network Showtime.

Now available for purchase by episode are Sleeper Cell, Weeds and Fat Actress. Shows are available in the same formats as other iTMS television downloads, either by season or by episode. Episodes remain US $1.99 each.

iTunes now offers content from ABC, ABC Family, Comedy Central, Disney Channel, ESPN/ABC Sports, MTV, NBC, Nickelodeon, Sci Fi, Showtime, SOAPnet, The N & USA networks.

As in past milestones for the iTunes Music Store, Apple has announced a contest for the leadup to the 1 billionth download.

There will be prizes awarded for every 100,000 song milestone starting at 950,100,000 including a black 4GB iPod nano & a $100 iTunes Music Card.

The grand prize winner who downloads the 1 billionth song will receive 1 20-inch iMac, 10 60GB iPods (5 white, 5 black) and a $10,000 iTunes Music Card.

According to a post at BetaNews.com, CBS programming will be coming soon to iTunes. "CBS Digital Media president Larry Kramer confirmed the news in an interview with financial site MarketWatch. The plans to offer shows on iTunes is part of a larger initiative aimed at attracting new viewers by providing access to the network's programming in a variety of formats."

For now, CBS is looking to sell episodes of "Survivor" on its own for $1.99 per show, and only on a rental type of system where downloaded material would expire 24 hours after ordering. This is different from Apple's pay once-watch forever download model.

ThinkSecret reports that the first Intel-based iBooks are now slated to appear in March.

The rumor site claims that the current 12" and 14" iBooks are to be End-of-Life'd at the end of March, making way for widescreen 13.3" iBooks. ThinkSecret notes that the Core Solo processor is due at near the same time, suggesting that it may power Apple's consumer notebook. Previous reports pointed to "Spring" or 2nd Quarter 2006 for the Intel iBook. A 13" widescreen form factor, however, has been a consistent theme for the iBook revision.

The new iBook is reported to use a significantly different enclosure. One earlier rumor claimed "light-weight stylish" designs for 2006.

Meanwhile, they echo reports from UBS analysts that Apple may replace the iPod shuffle with a new nano, and also expectations of an Apple media center and possibly an Apple Phone.

NYTimes reports on the $1 billion dollar iPod accessory business:

Rarely does one product foster such a sizable industry around it. Many of the iPod accessory makers, like Belkin, Kensington or Logitech, cut their teeth making accessories for personal computers. But no one product, not even the Macintosh, created the kind of accessory mania that the iPod has.

Apple is increasing its participation in this market and also exerting more control with its "Made for iPod" logo licensing. Meanwhile, Apple remains tight lipped about the direction they are heading with the iPod. As a result, accessory makers pay close attention to the rumor sites to find out what's in the pipeline.

Belkin's director of Product Manangement was said to be listening to all the rumors leading up to Macworld San Francisco for any insight into which direction Apple may be heading.

Initially reported yesterday, the 17" G5 iMac had started disappearing from international Apple Stores. Today, the U.S. Apple Store also reflects no further availability of the 17" G5 iMac.

Apple had previously discounted the 20" iMac G5 to move the final inventory. Initially, Apple had been selling both the Intel iMacs and older G5 iMacs side-by-side. Now the transition appears to be completing.

With stock of PowerBook G4's also dwindling, Apple had stated that PowerBook G4's would be sold while supplies last. The 15" MacBook Pro is expected to ship later in February, but unless Apple releases other form factors soon, there could be a hole in their laptop lineup in the 12" and 17" configurations.

With little fanfare, the first of Apple's Pro applications that has been converted to a Universal Binary has been released by Apple.

Logic Pro 7.2 offers native Intel performance and can be purchased for $49.00 by owners of Logic Pro 7. 7.2 also offers a number of other new features including support for Apogee Ensemble, Digidesign Pro Tools HD 7 DAE support, Serato Pitch 'n Time support, Garageband 3 compatibility, and more. CreateDigitalMusic.com offers more details.

The full version is available for $999. The intel-native version of Logic was previously demoed by Apple at NAMM on a MacBook Pro. According to the demonstrator, "None of these sessions would even run on a PowerBook."

A full list of Pro App Crossgrades are provided by Apple. Logic 7.2 is the first shipping version and is available this month. The remainder of the Pro apps will be shipping in March, but will be sold together in the Final Cut Studio Bundle.

A search at the US Patent and Trademark Office reveals a number of new Apple patent applications that relate to the long-rumored Apple Tablet based computer. The most recent patents appeared today (February 2nd, 2006), with a filing date as recent as January 31st, 2005.

Gestures for touch sensitive input devices - Methods and systems for processing touch inputs are disclosed. The invention in one respect includes reading data from a multipoint sensing device such as a multipoint touch screen where the data pertains to touch input with respect to the multipoint sensing device, and identifying at least one multipoint gesture based on the data from the multipoint sensing device.

Mode-based graphical user interfaces for touch sensitive input devices - A user interface method is disclosed. The method includes detecting a touch and then determining a user interface mode when a touch is detected. The method further includes activating one or more GUI elements based on the user interface mode and in response to the detected touch.

Touch-sensitive electronic apparatus for media applications, and methods therefor - The electronic mixing apparatus or the electronic keyboard apparatus is provided on a touch screen that provides user input and display capabilities.

Visual expander - A computer implemented method for a touchscreen display is disclosed. The method includes presenting graphical information on the touchscreen display. The method further includes detecting a touch over the touchscreen display. The method also includes expanding an area of the touch screen display proximate the location of the touch.

Hrmph.com posts photos from the gesture patent depicting a user using gestures on a tablet user interface.

Adobe posted a PDF covering the topic of Adobe support for Intel-based Macs.

According to the FAQ, Adobe will be comitted to transitioning its line of Macintosh products to the new Intel-based Macs. The upgrades, however, will have to wait until the next versions of its creative applications.

Adobe does not plan on rereleasing current products as Universal Applications. Instead, the next version of these products will be the ones first available as Universal Binaries. While Adobe won't comment on the exact time frame, they report that they typically release significant upgrades to their creative professional applications ever 18-24 months.

Cingular began offering the Motorol SLVR S7 phone today. The Motorola SLVR attempts to address some of the issues which had marred Motorola's first attempt at an iTunes-compatible phone -- the ROKR.

"It kind of came out of the chute with some real flaws in it," said Neil Strother, wireless analyst at research firm In-Stat. "I wouldn't say it was a complete disaster but they clearly had some real problems."

The SLVR, however, still retains the 100-song limitation and still uses USB for the transfer technology. Many of the improvements appear cosmetic in nature. The phone is available from Cingular for $199 with a two year commitment. More information available from Motorola.
- VGA digital camera and digital video
- Bluetooth
- iTunes Support
- 11.5mm thickness

Apple met with resellers today and dropped prices on the remaining 20" G5 iMacs. Apple's own store now sells the 20" at $1499, down from $1699. According to reseller reports, there is little stock left remaining of the 17" and 20" iMacs so prices are "While Supplies Last".

Meanwhile, stocks of the remaining G4 PowerBooks are also reportedly limited, though their prices have remained the same at this time.

Another tidbits revealed to resellers, AppleWorks no longer comes with the iMac with no plans of a universal version.

Anandtech posts a review and comparison of the new Intel iMac compared to the G5 iMac.

Xlr8yourmac provides a reader report on a recent article in MacFan magazine (Japanese). According to the report, the Intel iMac Core Duo CPU is mounted in the standard Intel socket, making it replaceable. As a test, a 1.83GHz iMac's CPU was swapped out for a 2GHz one:

However, the author is not sure that it will run completely normally with an upgraded CPU. The author purchased a 2GHz T2500 from a PC shop and installed it in the socket of a 17" iMac and it booted OK. There seemed to be no problems and the About this Mac pane reported a 2GHz duo chip.

The cost of such a minor upgrade ($480 for a 2GHz chip) doesn't make sense at this time but does offer more of a upgrade path than previously available on the iMac.