MacNewsBlog

The word on the net is that Leopard is barely beta but other reports like this one are saying that Leopard is still on target to ship in Spring of this year. Whether or not Leopard ships on time remains to be seen. The big question on our minds lately is where is iLife 07 and how does it fit into this picture?

We're pretty sure that those "secret" Leopard innovations that Mr. Steveness talked about at the keynote he gave last year will be key to some of the features in iLife 07. Just what they actually are and what they will do is a big mystery. Some speculate that it will be multi-touch for MacOS and that touch screens are coming to a desktop near you. We're on the sidelines as far as that ones concerned. However, whatever it is, we're sure we'll be amazed.

AppleInsider has the scoops on the eagerly anticipated Ultra Portable MacBook which they claim will come later in 07 - early 08.

Here's what AppleInsider claims to be fact so far:

• 13-inch ultra-thin, LED-back lit display


• No optical disc drive


• On-board NAND flash for faster application launching and boot times


• Built-in iSight webcam


• Thinner and lighter than existing MacBook offerings


• AirPort Extreme 802.11n enabled


• MagSafe power adapter


• Target launch late '07, early '08

More commentary and rumor at their site!

With WWDC just days away, rumors are flying left and right and we're trying to pick ones we think "just might be possible". New York Times writer John Markoff, says Apple is set to open the iPhone to developers at WWDC on June 15th.

"A person briefed on Apple’s plans said that at its software developer conference this month, Apple intends to announce that it will make it possible for developers of small programs written for the Macintosh to easily convert them to run on the iPhone."

If this is rumor turns out to be reality, prepare to have one of the best phones on the planet. A developer community for the iPhone is just what the iPhone needs to launch it into the stratospher. This thing is going to sell out for months at a time! We're thinking dashboard widgets and/or cocoa apps to start.

WWDC is a few days away. Let's see what happens.

We just got word that Universal Music Group is not renewing its contract with iTunes. This doesn't mean that they will be pulling their content from iTunes though. Universal Music Group, the worlds largest music publisher will probably instead opt for a short-term sales agreement. This would make it easier for UMG to deal with iTunes competitors as well as Apple.

UPDATE: Wall Street Journal has info posted here.

Are these the photos of the new Apple (AAPL) iMac slime line keyboard?
They look pretty authentic... but with todays Photoshop hacks, who knows...
Purportedly, this new slimline keyboard will match the new iMac in brushed aluminum. Also notice the Apple is missing on the keyboard and the new F-keys as well. The chicklet style keyboard is very much like the Apple MacBook keyboard.

An Apple Special Event is scheduled for September 6 and may feature new iPod's based on Mac OS X that may sport Wi-FI Music.

MacDailyNews and 9to5Mac both had reports that suggest new iPods may be introduced that could download music and other content over the airwaves.

So far, rumor about a Fat-iPod nano is just that, a rumor. Photos of said Fat nano were claimed as fake or a mock up on John Gruber's The Talk Show, Episode 7 which can be found here.

Paul McCartney is scheduled to perform at the event. McCartney was scheduled to perform at the iPhone event but cancelled due to scheduling conflicts with his young daughter's school.

What other goodies might Apple have for us? We'll have to wait and See.

Happy labor day!

The title of this article says it all really. The rumors are flying in the far-east and DigitTimes is reporting about it.

The article claims that the "The new iPod video will also come with a wide-screen panel, high storage capacity and Wi-Fi connectivity, the sources indicated. In addition, the new iPod video is expected to be powered by NAND flash, instead of a hard disk drive (HDD)."

There will also be a new iPod nano and iPod Shuffle. The widescreen iPod is being built by Inventec Appliances. The previous iPod was manufactured by Quanta. We wonder what the deal is with the change but it could just be supply and demand taking effect here.

The iPod nano is built by Foxconn and the iPod shuffle by Asustek.

Just how much NAND flash will the new iPod have remains to be seen. Can Apple actually put 60 gigs of NAND flash into an iPod, add in a large screen and wi-fi AND keep it affordable? Maybe. Luckily for us, Wednesday is around the corner!

Are colored, slimmer Apple notebooks coming soon? That's what rumor sites want us to believe, and we're taking it all in!

9to5mac.com has the scoops from an "industry insider" who tells them all. They aren't sure if it's a MacBook or a MacBook Pro but they did have this info:

• Black aluminum and silver aluminum (like MacBook Pros) have been seen


• They are considerably slimmer than current MacBook and even a bit more than MacBook Pros


• The screen reaches much closer to the edges than current MacBooks but is the same size as current MacBooks - indicating a somewhat smaller footprint


• The keyboards resemble Apple's new Bluetooth Keyboard


• There is something strange about the touchpad (more on this to come)


• They are set to be priced extremely aggressively


• While they are dense, overall they are lighter than the current MacBooks

Seeing as how Apple is slowly getting rid of the white plastic look and moving to the more slick and rigid aluminum enclosures, we wouldn't doubt for a moment that they may introduce a slimed down, aluminum enclosure for the MacBook. When these are released, it will probably catch some by surprise and bum people out, especially if they just bought a MacBook 14 days prior...

For a while now, developers have been told that Apple's upcoming update to Mac OS X called Leopard, would run on Intel processors or a PowerPC G4 (800 MHz or faster) or a G5 processor. While Apple hasn't officially announced it's hardware requirements, it seems that engineers have started to find that Leopard runs "too slow" on 800 MHz PowerPC G4 systems.

In the recent beta "seed" of Leopard to developers, when attempting to install on a 800 MHz G4 system, Leopards installer now claims that it "cannot be installed".

According to the report, Leopard will require an "Intel processor or a PowerPC G4 (867 MHz or faster) or G5 processor. But there were also a few additional requirements: a built in DVD drive, FireWire and at least 512MB or RAM (additional RAM is recommended) and at least 9GB of drive space.

This small change in MHz speed will exclude a slew of Macs, which is sure to disappoint many people.
"I guess it's time to upgrade to something new." said the anonymous writer who sent us the link to the report. "I've gotten by with my 800MHz Powerbook G4 Titanium for a while now... but it's time to upgrade..."

[report via AppleInsider]

If what we're hearing is true, Apple's next version of the OS X operating system will be available on October 26, which is a Friday. Others have speculated that it will be released at 6pm just like the iPhone was. We're excited about Leopard and all of the newest features it will bring.

We expect to see Apple update OS X 10.4 to .11 sometime this week or next. Hopefully it will fix a lot of bugs, especially the horrible Airport connectivity issue affecting MacBook Pro users.

Will you be standing in line to get Leopard the day it arrives?

MacDailyNews is reporting about a reader who did a little digging through some WHOIS domain name info:

They looked into the domain name macbookair.com and found....

Admin Street1: 303 Second Street
Admin Street2: Suite 800N
Admin City: San Francisco
Admin State/Province: CA

Interestingly, doing a bit more digging, they found macbookair.us, macbookair.biz, and macbookair.info show the same address and this tiny tid bit:

Billing Street1: 1 Infinite Loop
Billing Street2: Mail Stop 3-TM
Billing City: Cupertino
Billing State/Province: CA
Domain Registration Date: Fri Jan 11 22:49:59 GMT 2008

Does it mean anything? Who knows! Maybe tomorrow during the Steve Jobs keynote at Macworld we'll all find out what it means. Of course, it could be nothing.

Been hearing the rumors this week about NBC and Apple sitting in the tree again. Looks like both companies are realizing that they are both hurting without each other, but neither are anxious to sign any paperwork just yet.

Read more about this on and off relationship via AppleInsider.

Rumors are flying that a special event thats going to take place at the end of February will host Linkin Park. No one knows for sure if there will be a special Apple event scheduled, but we're hedging our bets that we will indeed see one next week sometime.

AppleInsider is reporting that Linkin Park will be the featured guests at this event, since Mike Shinoda, one of the groups members wrote on their website:

"Looking forward to our first show at Madison Square Garden this week (sold out)!," he wrote. "Also, look forward to a special show that we're doing in NYC in conjunction with Apple...shh...it's a secret..."

What do we think we'll see at this event? Apple iPhone SDK for sure, and who knows what Steve has up his sleeve?

All's quiet on the Apple front as the world awaits Apple's next version of its MacBook and MacBook Pro if rumors are right. Endgaget yesterday posted spy photos of what is reported to be the next MacBook Pro. Sources who have seen it say that it only comes with a glossy screen and a black bezel. The jury is still out as to if the unit has a metal or plastic casing. Well, stay tuned and if you'd like to watch the live coverage, here's the link to the Engadget live coverage.

Oh yes, and here's the gratuitous spy shot: