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In a patent application revealed yesterday (#20070054616), Apple reveals that it is working on making configuring wireless networks, especially ones with devices with limited input/output capability, more simple. The system describes using RFID tags in networking equipment that would communicate basic configuration settings when the devices got close to one another. The devices would then be...

Macworld.co.uk reports that supplies of several Apple products appear to be at extremely low levels, but will ship in quantity within a matter of weeks. While the pattern may simply reflect a stronger than normal demand, it is also a strong indication that product launches are on the way. Models facing shortages are reported to be all versions of the Mac mini and the iPod Nano as well as the...

Fortune magazine has ranked Apple as America's 7th most admired company in its survey of the Top 20 Most Admired Companies. The survey was conducted by asking 3,322 "executives, directors, and securities analysts to select the 10 companies they admire most." According to more detailed results, Apple ranked first in Innovation and sixth in Quality of products/services, and was the second-highes...

Following an examination of iTunes 7.1, some have found hidden gems in the software that indicate or otherwise confirm earlier suspicions about where Apple is heading. International Movies iLounge took an in-depth look at the release, and found support for ratings tags for Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom in addition to the United States for movies and TV shows...

Adobe has confirmed to Macworld.co.uk that it will launch Adobe Creative Suite 3 on March 27th at a special event in New York. The long-awaited suite of creative tools is expected to kick-start Mac Pro sales, and will be the first release of CS3 that is optimised to run natively on Intel-based Macs. Adobe calls the 27 March announcement "the largest software release in Adobe's 25-year history". ...

Details and screenshots are beginning to emerge regarding Leopard (build 9A377a), which was seeded to developers on Friday. According to the InsanelyMac Forum, the long list of known bugs plus bugs encountered during testing indicate that the build is a far cry from being ready for prime time. This casts doubt upon recent reports that Leopard will be ready for a late-March release. Bugs...

Users hoping for a refreshed widescreen iPod (without cellular capabilities as in the iPhone) will get their wish as early as the third calendar quarter of this year if a report from AppleInsider holds true. However, the site does note that the timing is dependent on the iPhone rollout and could be put off until early next year. Among the potential challenges believed to be facing Apple ahead of...

ThinkSecret, writing for PCMagazine, claims to have additional details about Final Cut Pro 6, Final Cut Extreme, and long-rumored display upgrades. Final Cut Extreme is said to enable the most demanding users to edit uncompressed 4K and 2540p video. Compatibility is said to include Red Digital Cinema's Red, Panavision Genesis, Dalsa Origin, Thompson Viper, Sony Cinealta, Phantom HD, and Arri...

MacWorld is reporting that Apple has announced a special event at NAB on Sunday, April 15. If recent information proves to be reliable, Apple will use the event to introduce Final Cut Pro 6 and a high-end counterpart dubbed Final Cut Extreme. A recent Page 2 rumor also claimed that Mac Pros would be updated to support a high-definition optical format at NAB. Previous Apple NAB events have...

According to Pacific Crest Securities (reported by AppleInsider), Mac sales grew over 100% year over year during the month of January. The firm based its numbers on recent NPD data which had implied that "year-over-year growth in Mac unit sales accelerated in January to 101 percent, up from 55 percent in December." More specifically, Mac notebook sales jumped 194% year over year in January. ...

According to a blog posting (translated from original French version) getting increasing interest around the Mac web, Apple's professional audio workstation product, Logic, is being redesigned. The new version, reportedly set to use a different name, is supposedly heavily dependent on Mac OS 10.5 "Leopard" features, and will require the new OS to run. Also mentioned is the possibility of Apple...

According to both ThinkSecret and AppleInsider, new builds of 10.4.9 have been released to developers. The build lists no known issues, similar to the last build earlier this month, and AppleInsider points out that the lone major change in this build has been a bug fix in ImageIO that had affected image import speeds. Previous builds of 10.4.9 already listed over 40 other bug fixes. Both...

A small Texas based company is suing Apple, Samsung, and Sandisk for infringement on patent 7,065,417, which describes "an MPEG portable sound reproducing system and a method for reproducing sound data compressed using the MPEG method." According to InfoWorld, the suit was filed February 16th in Marshall, Texas, which has a reputation of being friendly to plaintiffs. Apple, like many other...

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....

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...

MacScoop claims that Apple's complete line of Macs will be updated by the end of Q2 2007. While the claim is broad and lacking in specifics, it is not unreasonable given Apple's current product cycles, as noted in our MacRumors buyers guide. Also mentioned is a specific claim that a black version of the iMac may be introduced in 20 and 24" varieties. Of some relevance, there have been previou...

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 ...

LoopRumors believes that April's NAB will infuse the Mac Pro with a HD burner option. Today's information confirms a rumor we brought you in July and cites the ability to burn and play high-definition format discs, although the specific format was not mentioned in this latest tidbit, we are still assuming that since Apple has its hand in the Blu-Ray technology, this optical format will be the most ...

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...

A survey (reported by AppleiPhoneReview.com and Engadget) purportedly showed [information removed at the request of PineCone...