AP: PC Makers recall 100,000 Sony battery packs

SEATTLE – Computer makers are recalling 100,000 laptop battery packs made by Sony Corp. after 40 reports of overheating, according to a U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission notice Thursday.

The recall applies to certain Sony 2.15Ah lithium-ion cell batteries made in Japan and sold around the world in laptops made by Hewlett-Packard Co., Dell Inc. and Toshiba Corp.

Some incidents involved smoke or flames, according to Sony. Twenty-one of the reports claimed minor property damage, and small burns were reported in four cases.

Sony blamed two factors for the defects: adjustments on its manufacturing line from October 2004 to June 2005, which may have affected the quality of cells in certain production lots, and a possible flaw in the metal foil for electrodes.

The company said no reports have been filed for batteries made after 2006, and noted that the recalled units are a small fraction of the more than 260 million it has shipped over six years.

This also pales in comparison to the recall of more than 10 million of a different model of Sony batteries in 2006 and 2007, which affected almost every major PC manufacturer, including Dell Inc. and Apple Inc.

In this batch of problematic laptops, the bulk of the 35,000 affected computers in the U.S. were sold by HP between December 2004 and June 2006, according to the safety commission, including HP Pavilion, HP Compaq and Compaq Presario models.

Some Dell Latitude and Inspiron models shipped between November 2004 and November 2005 are also covered by the recall, as well as some Toshiba Satellite and Tecra laptops sold from April 2005 to October 2005.

An additional 65,000 of the flawed batteries were sold outside the U.S. The PCs and separate batteries were sold directly by the computer manufacturers, electronics stores and online retailers, not Sony.

Sony said its own Vaio laptops don’t use the battery in question. Last month, however, the company recalled 440,000 Vaio notebooks worldwide because of a wiring flaw that can cause overheating.

The safety commission said PC users should remove laptop batteries immediately and contact the manufacturer to request a replacement. Details, including laptop model numbers, are due to be posted on the commission’s Web site, http://www.cpsc.gov.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Microsoft puts “I’m a PC” booth outside Apple Store

An AppleInsider.com reader forwarded the above photo to them showing that Microsoft has expanded its “I’m a PC” ad campaign to new lows, by putting an “I’m a PC” booth right outside of an Apple Store.

To read the entire article, click here.

Web Browser Opera denied for the Apple iPhone

For those who are waiting to use the Opera web browser on the iPhone may have to wait for a long time.  Reports are coming in that Apple has denied an iPhone version to their app store, as web site MacNN reports.

iPhone owners should not expect to see the Opera web browser on the device anytime soon, says Jon Stephenson von Tetzchner, CEO of the company. Von Tetzschner notes that while engineers have developed a version of Opera Mini for iPhones, Apple is blocking release through the App Store, due its competition with the built-in Safari browser. Opera Mini is used frequently on other smartphones, and speeds up mobile browsing by delivering stripped-down versions of websites.
Apple has received sharp criticism for blocking anything from the App Store which may be perceived as threatening dominance. Earlier this year the company denied MailWrangler, an app supporting simultaneous Gmail accounts, and Podcaster, software for receiving podcasts while mobile. While iPhones were unable to run mobile podcast downloads at the time, Apple is rumored to be incorporating the technology for its v2.2 firmware update. Podcasts would be accessed through the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store option.

Apple quietly updates Mobie Me web apps

Though not stated in the service’s blog, AppleInsider.com is reporting that Apple has updated its Mobile Me web apps that improves overall services, including updates for its Mail Attachment feature and the online address book.

The “late-September 2008 MobileMe update” support article is listed as being last modified October 29, but it’s not clear when it was originally published.

The article says “Apple is always working to improve MobileMe. Since MobileMe is primarily a server-side, or ‘cloud’-based, service, the MobileMe team can make improvements and push updates to MobileMe without any action being required of MobileMe customers. Since server-side updates are a bit more innocuous than a standard software update to Mac OS X or Microsoft Windows, it’s easy not to notice that updates are occurring. Usually the only hint of these updates is that things just ‘work better.’”

That suggests Apple would have brought the update to the attention of its users. Improvements cited in the report include improved localization for all of its web apps and better “membername suggestions when attempting to sign up for a membername that is already taken.”

In the accounts section, the MobileMe update addresses accuracy of data transfer details, fixes an inaccuracy in reporting used storage on Group iDisks, improves the storage allocation menu on family pack sub accounts, and corrects account logout so that it properly logs the user out of the entire MobileMe session.

Under Mail, the update fixes a problem with performing a ‘reply all,’ fixes some keyboard shortcuts that weren’t working properly within the browser, improves performance when using Internet Explorer 7, improves the performance of junk mail filtering and on initial login, fixes a problem with adding contacts within Mail, and it now displays a loading graphic as an email loads rather than just presenting a blank page.

Calendar has been updated for better performance with recurring events and with large numbers of To Do items, improved handling of international time zones, better performance on Firefox 3, fixes an event editor problem on certain browsers, and speeds up the initial loading of the Calendar.

Contacts now allows vCard export, improves IE7 performance, and fixes reliability when first loading Contacts.

Gallery has improved the ability to view Galleries on the iPhone and iPod touch, resolves a problem with buttons not displaying correction on Firefox 3, and fixes the updating of photo information between the MobileMe website and published photos on the gallery.me.com site.

Additional updates to MobileMe are expected, including the advertised but still not yet delivered feature of uploading files from Mail to the service for download rather than as email attachments.

AT&T offers free wi-fi access (yes, this is for real now!)

According to InformationWeek’s Eric Zeman, AT&T has finally announced the availability of free Wi-Fi access for AT&T subscribers, at an approved location.

Today I received a text message from AT&T (NYSE: T). It was an official announcement that I can now begin using AT&T Wi-Fi hot spots for free in locations such as participating Starbucks. Nice of AT&T to get on the ball six months after news of the service first leaked out.

The SMS message I received reads:

“AT&T Free Msg: Your Apple iPhone now has free AT&T Wi-Fi access at thousands of hot spots nationwide, including Starbucks*. For info visit www.att.com/attwifi“

You’ll have to excuse me, AT&T, if I am a little doubtful as to your intentions. Several times in the last six months, AT&T has offered and then yanked free Wi-Fi service for the iPhone. I am hoping that this time around the service will last more than a few hours before the plug is pulled yet again.
Too bad for me that the Wi-Fi on my iPhone doesn’t work.

{Correction} : Apple seeking more users input on customer reviews?

Web site ‘iPhone Hellas‘ has published the above photo claiming that the next version of the iPhone firmware will show a window that will appears just before someone deletes an iPhone application.  Speculation is, that Apple is seeking more comments from users about an application to help in rating an app or is seeking more participation from consumers in this area.

Google releases “Google Earth” for iPhone

Google Earth for the iPhone and iPod touch is a native application (Free, App Store), that lets “you to fly to the far reaches of the world from the palm of your hand.”

The software is based on the same 3D immersive world of Google Earth for Macs and Windows PCs that has seen over 400 million unique downloads since its launch back in 2005.

“Not only is having Google Earth on your iPhone convenient, but the touch interface is a very natural way to interact with the Earth,” Peter Birch, product manager for Google Earth, wrote on the company’s mobile blog. “Just swipe your finger across the screen and you fly to the other side of the globe; tilt your phone and your view tilts as well.”

The app also includes a built-in search and supports pinch to zoom in or out, and double tap with one finger to zoom in and two fingers to zoom out. It also integrates a “My Location” feature, which “can fly to where you are in the real world on your phone.” In addition, Google says it’s included over eight million Panoramio photos, which are geo-located photos of places that you can view from your iPhone.

Source: AppleInsider.com

Apple seeds iPhone firmware 2.2 (Beta 2) to developers

Along with seeding Snow Leopard, Apple has also seeded its latest firmware version for its iPhone product.

Firmware 2.2 – Beta 2 includes APIs for Google Maps Street View, which will enable users to obtain street views of available locations via the iPhone.

FIRST ON AS: Mac OS X 10.6 Testing Expands

Late Friday evening, we obtained an e-mail from the Apple Developer’s Connection asking more registered developers to download and test the latest version of Mac OS X 10.6, Snow Leopard.  The e-mail includes links to obtain the latest build (10a190) and related documentation.  After independent verification, we can say that this is the real beta for the current build.

Apple asks testers to test various areas including the new Finder which has been re-written in the Cocoa programming language.

More information as Apple gets closer to an official launch date for Snow Leopard.

Apple opens new iPhone Developer’s Forum

Apple on Friday launched a new fourm for iPhone developers to help one another with questions and problems relating to the device.

Persons must be a registered iPhone developer to access these forums.

To go there go to http://devforums.apple.com

AppleInsider.com: Mac Mini NOT dead yet!

In an exclusive report, web site AppleInsider.com spoke with Apple Insiders that say that reports of its Mac Mini computer are wrong, and that it may be around for a while.

In a report published in May of 2007, AppleInsider wrote off the mini, noting that development of the systems had screeched to a halt inside Apple, with little engineering effort having gone into the systems since an update to Intel’s Core 2 Duo architecture a year earlier.

The mini was essentially shelved, lingering in a state of indefinite limbo; its development team reportedly dissolved. With little effort, Apple bumped the mini’s processor, memory, and hard drive specs in August of 2007. The systems haven’t  seen a public update since.

Earlier this year, however — and shortly after NVIDIA pitched its new integrated graphics chipsets to Apple — AppleInsider reported a pulse in the Mac mini department. The tiny systems were reportedly coming out of their coma, with a dedicated team of engineers performing the first top-to-bottom reconstruction since the product’s inception three year’s earlier.

In a report published this week titled the “The State of the Mac mini,” Las Vegas-based Macminicolo, the largest Mac mini colocation firm, reaches the same conclusions. The company, which operates a server farm of 400 Mac minis, notes that “it’s just about as familiar with the Mac mini as anyone” and claims it “is certain there is another mini on the way.”

The report both attempts to dispel some common misconceptions about the mini’s sales volume, as well as outline a few features that are said to be “100% confirmed” for the impending update. Specifically, it notes that the mini sells to businesses over consumers at roughly a 2 to 1 ratio.

“For instance, here in Las Vegas, I know there are at least 10,000 Mac minis running in the different hotels and casinos on the strip,” said Brian Stucki, who owns and operates the Mac mini colocation service. “Many are used for video security points. Certain casino companies use Mac minis in each of the slot islands on a casino floor to manage the backend. I know of one nationwide salon franchise that uses two Mac minis for each one of their stores.”

He tells AppleInsider that small businesses comprise the majority of his clientele, primarily due to cost savings. Not only does a mini fetch about one fourth the cost of an Xserve, but hosting fees for the smaller systems are similarly a quarter of that of the Apple rack-mount servers.

“When I read online of people stating ‘poor mini sales,’ I’m surprised,” Stucki wrote in the this week’s report. “The Mac mini is consistently in the top five of Amazon’s Bestselling Desktop Computers. (It’s currently number one.) If you watch Apple’s Refurb site, anytime some Mac minis are posted they sell out in under an hour. Even the three year old G4 Mac minis on ebay go for a price close to the brand new Intel machines sticker price. The market speaks even if Apple doesn’t.”

Looking ahead, he claims to have confirmed two of the following with “100%” certainty, while another is a highly probable guess based on recent changes to Apple’s product lines:
The Mac mini will adopt the new Mini DisplayPort that was recently showcased on the Macbook line. This will save considerable port real estate on the back of the Mac mini.

The Mac mini will join all other Macs in being able to address 4GB of RAM. Currently, they are officially sold with up to 2GB of RAM, but can also support 3GB of RAM. (Though the latter configuration loses the minor dual channel benefits.)

Like the new Macbook, the Mac mini optical drive will be changed to a SATA connection. (It is currently a standard ATA/IDE cable.) This will increase performance. But even more, it will benefit those who use the Mac mini as a server. In ordering a Mac mini from Apple, there will be an option to have two SATA HDDs and eliminating the optical all together. With the new Remote Disc introduced with the Macbook Air, this option will be tempting for many.

Stucki says his customers commonly employ Mac minis as web, mail, video and file servers. They’re also sometimes used to handle financial transaction or act as remote watchdogs for larger, more intricate servers. However, the advent of the App Store has reportedly sparked an alternative interest in the little desktops.

Some developers who intend to write applications that take advantage of the iPhone’s planned push notification features are considering minis as a backend for their apps. Others, whose applications facilitate user logins like MobileChat, have recently chosen minis for rapid scalability.

In August, Apple began informing some small European resellers that they should no longer expect shipments of the current Mac mini models. More recently, however, the company issued a broader announcement to European resellers –  first reported by Gizmodo and later corroborated by MacBidouille — that the existing Mac mini was going EOL, or being discontinued.

Speculation is that Apple may be running low on its supply of the mini’s nearly two year-old Core 2 Duos and may have started to trim back availability as a result.

Google’s Android phone vs. Apple’s iPhone

On Wednesday, T-Mobile launched G1 which runs Google’s new Android operating system.  Melissa Perenson of PC World compares it with the iPhone.  While the iPhone still comes out on top, maybe Apple should be keeping an eye on this after all.

Rumor: Mac Mini to be discontinued?

Well, here we go again.  Web site Gizmodo.com believes that Apple has already axed its Mac Mini product line.  The web site cites two major Europe retailers unable to order any more of the product.

 

The Mac mini may be pronounced dead as soon as today’s Apple earnings conference call, as two major retailers in Europe have confirmed to me that they can’t order any more of the little computers. While this could signal an updated model coming in, they have been told by Apple to expect no more of it. Their impression is that—once again—the Mac Mini may be dead dead DEAD for real, even while you can still order it at the Apple Store.

It would be weird to see it go in this time of crisis, but being their worst-selling computer, I’m not surprised.

The Mac mini was first introduced in January 2005 at the Macworld Conference & Expo. Labeled by Steve Jobs as the “most affordable Mac ever” it was well received by the critic and public. Apple positioned it as a cheap alternative to the Mac Pro for every PC user who wanted to switch to the Mac without having to buy new peripherals.

However, the son of the Apple Cube failed to grab traction, just like its predecesor. As the iMac and MacBooks kept being the number one sellers for the Cupertino company, the Mac mini kept receding into the background, even while receiving six hardware updates since its introduction. The last one was in November 2007, and it’s quite outdated compared to the current hardware: Unlike the rest of the Mac hardware, it lacks 802.11n support, uses the older 667 MHz front side bus and 945GM chipset, which is two generations behind everything else.

If the termination of the Mac mini is finally confirmed, it will be sad to see it go. Hopefully, this may mean that a new update is in the works or that it will get replaced by something else, but seeing how most people don’t seem to give a damn about the Apple Tax, judging from the MacBooks selling like hot cakes at the Apple Store on Fifth Avenue, I won’t count on it.

Rumor: Snow Leopard to offer Firewire over Ethernet?

There may be hope for us who use Firewire with our Macs.  ZDNet’s Jason D. O’Grady blogs about a possible solution for those who depend on their Firewire applications.

Since Apple announced the new MacBook last week sans FireWire, there’s been a backlash from the Apple community about the omission.

Users love the high-speed data protocol for things like Target Disk Mode (TDM), transferring clips from digital video cameras and for connecting to external hard drives. Mac techs love FireWire because TDM is one of the best ways to diagnose a damaged hard drive (without having to physically remove it from the computer). In fact, over 60 percent of respondents to my recent poll said that they can’t live without FireWire.

Firewire 400 came out in 1995 and has a higher sustained transfer rate than USB 2 which came out in 2000. FireWire (IEEE 1394x) is faster than USB 2 in many repsects because it has a dedicated controller and a Direct Memory Access (DMA) channel. FireWire supplies more power than USB 2 making it better for time-sensitive transfer applications. USB 2, on the other hand, is controllerless and requires CPU overhead to move data and has much higher latency compared to FireWire.

Apple, in its infinite wisdom, decided that MacBooks don’t need FireWire, and Steve Jobs claims that most camcorders are all USB, anyway. The problem is that it isn’t true. So why did Apple drop FireWire from the MacBook? Most believe that Apple doesn’t want to pay the FireWire licensing fees (believed to be around 25 cents a port) but others (like me) believe that it’s just another way to upsell you to the more expensive (US$2,000) MacBook Pro.

In a piece written before the new MacBooks were announced some were speculating that Apple could support FireWire over Ethernet if the FireWire port was indeed dropped from the new MacBook. Unfortunately it has come to light that it’s currently impossible to run FireWire over Ethernet.

While it has been possible to run IP over Firewire since Mac OS 10.3, FireWire over Ethernet is another matter altogether. FireWire is more like SATA or SCSI than Ethernet, it’s just a dumb point-to-point connection.

There is hope though.

IEEE 1394c is an extension to the FireWire standard (IEEE 1394/a/b) that would provide the ability for FireWire to run at 800Mbps over category 5 unshielded twisted pair cables. It’s still in development and just passed the first ballot. More on 1394c is available on TechRepublic.

Once the 1394c standard passes, Apple would have to implement it either onboard or via an adapter. It’s conceivable that if there’s enough backlash and demand for the US$700 port Apple could implement FireWire over Ethernet by the time Snow Leopard (Mac OS 10.6) is released.

Those carrying pitchforks and torches on their way to Cupertino need to remember that Apple is still selling the white MacBook which still has a native FireWire 400 port.

Apple responds to Microsoft ad Campaign

During primetime on Sunday, Apple began running the above ad (“Bean Counter” and “V Word”) in response to Microsoft’s $300 Million ad campaign for its Windows operating system.

Apple has posted these TV ads on there web site.  To see them, click below.

Beware of bogus security software for the Mac

Web site “The Mac Security Blog” warns its readers about bogus security software saying it will protect your Mac from unwanted security threats and viruses.

There’s a new trend out there designed to scam computer users: web sites that sell bogus software. Not only does the software not do what it claims to do, but the companies that sell this “software” get a hold of your credit card and can do even more damage to your bank account.

Intego has spotted one such company, claiming to sell Macintosh antivirus software. MacGuard claims the following:

“Macguard’s high-tech system scanner will search your hard drive for malicious objects such as Adware, Spyware and Trojans, cleaning your files, eliminating the threats, and securing your privacy in just a matter of minutes. Its Real Time smart protection will also ensure new threats will not even reach your desktop.”

But what’s interesting is that Winiguard claims exactly the same thing. Not only is that claim the same, but every word on the two websites is identical.

One way you can spot a fake is that when you click what is supposedly the product’s download link, nothing downloads. So you can see that there’s no software behind the web site. (On the Winiguard site, something does indeed download.) If you are gullible enough to purchase this software from a company you have never heard of, who has no references, and whose web site is vague and imprecise, it is likely that you will find additional charges on your credit card. ArsTechnica reports that more than 30 million people have been scammed by such software.

We all know that security is a serious risk when using a computer, and especially the Internet, but one should not blindly trust a web site just because it claims that its software will do something. Look for trustworthy, reliable software, such as Intego VirusBarrier, which, over the years, has proven itself. Trust the gatekeepers – the computer magazines and websites that test such software; Macworld said that “VirusBarrier X5 is the gold standard.”

As the saying goes, let the buyer beware. That goes for anything you purchase online, but even more for so-called security software that does nothing more than take your money and run.

Snow Leopard to get Cocoa Finder, ImageBoot, and more

People familiar with the development of Apple’s next operating system (Mac OS X 10.6 – Snow Leopard) say that the new operating system may have a new version of the familiar Finder application which will be written in Cocoa.  Currently, the Finder is written in a computer language called Carbon which Apple seems to be slowly going away from, as AppleInsider.com reports.

Cocoa-based Finder

People familiar with matter say the Finder, which currently stands as one of the oldest Carbon-based applications in the Mac OS portfolio, has been completely re-written in the company’s native object-oriented application program environment called Cocoa.

Apple has reportedly tapped select members of its developer community to begin testing the updated graphical file system manager as part of a new pre-release copy of Snow Leopard belonging to the build train 10Axxx. In addition, many of the Apple-authored applications accompany the new build are also said to have been wrapped completely in Cocoa.

Microsoft Exchange Support

Other advances are also present in the new test software, such as broader support for Microsoft Exchange 2007 in Snow Leopard’s versions of iCal, Address Book and Mail. The implementation of Exchange support remains a work in progress, according to those familiar with the matter. As such, Apple has reportedly asked that developers focus their testing efforts on a subset of Exchange capabilities, such as scheduling events in iCal, adding contacts to Address Book 5.0, and automated account configuration in Mail.

ImageBoot

When it makes its debut, likely at WWDC 2009, Snow Leopard will also introduce a new, third option for disc image-based installation called ImageBoot. Based on Apple’s existing NetBoot technology, which allows Macs to boot from a remote disk over the network, ImageBoot will allow users to set up any number of disk images on a secondary partition or external drive, and then selectively boot their system from any one of those disk images at startup.

This new feature will allow users to set up a series of test environments or uniquely configured Mac OS X systems, store the bootable systems as discrete disk images, and subsequently store multiple boot targets on the same disk or partition. Currently, only one bootable Mac OS X installation can be stored on a given disk partition.

With ImageBoot, multiple NetBoot sets can be maintained locally on the same storage partition, and the user can select any one of the disk images available to boot from without having to restore or mount the disk image first. The result is a system that works similar to virtualization software such as Parallels, which can create disk images for different PC operating systems and selectively boot from any of them. The difference is that Mac OS X isn’t booting up in a virtual environment; it actually boots a fully native Mac OS X system.

Broader Availability Expected

A little over two weeks ago, AppleInsider noted that Apple was preparing to broaden evaluation of Snow Leopard through software seeds to a limited number of developers. It’s now expected that the company’s vast developer community, or members of the Apple Developer Connection network, could be added to the mix as early as this weekend.

In June, ArsTechnica’s Jacqui Cheng cited sources who suggested that Apple might “eventually wrap everything in Cocoa” with the release of Snow Leopard.

Steve Billmer: “Windows 7 is Vista just a lot better”

ComputerWorld’s Gregg Keizer attended a meeting with Microsoft’s CEO Steve Billmer where he faced questions about the next release of Windows, currently dubbed as “Windows 7″.

Windows 7 will be like Windows Vista, but more so, Microsoft Corp. CEO Steve Ballmer said today as he defended the first two years of Vista and claimed that its successor will be a major release.

“[Windows 7], it’s Windows Vista, a lot better,” said Ballmer during a 45-minute question-and-answer session hosted by a pair of Gartner Inc. analysts at the research firm’s annual Symposium ITxpo in Orlando today. The interview was later posted as a webcast on the Gartner site.

Ballmer was responding to a question from Gartner’s Neil MacDonald, who asked how Microsoft would walk the line between doing too much with Windows 7 — thus risking the kind of compatibility problems that plagued Vista early in its career — and too little, which might give customers an excuse to pass on the upgrade.

“Windows Vista is good; Windows 7 is Windows Vista with cleanup in user interface [and] improvements in performance,” Ballmer said. “Look, I’m not encouraging anybody to wait, I’d go ahead and deploy it right away. We didn’t have to go in an incompatible direction to make big strides forward.”

Ballmer also took exception to the idea that Windows 7 will be a minor release or a spit polish on Vista. “It’s a real release,” he said, “because it’s a lot more work than a minor release. It turns out you can [do] more than just a minor release in what is essentially a two-and-a-half-year period of time. There’s no reason to do just ‘a minor release’ in two and a half years.”

The major/minor release question has plagued Microsoft since shortly after Vista was released, when company executives seemed to say that it planned to update its operating system on an alternating basis, with the major updates — what Vista was to XP, for example — every four years, with minor updates in between. By that map, Windows 7 would be a “minor” update, since Vista was “major.”

Microsoft itself has given mixed messages about the follow-up to Vista. Many observers have interpreted the fact that Microsoft has been adamant about application and device-driver compatibility between Vista and Windows 7 as proof that the latter will be a minor upgrade. But top company officials have increasingly been pressing the “major” button; Ballmer is only the most recent to do so.

On Tuesday, for instance, when Mike Nash, vice president of Windows product management, said “Windows 7″ was the product’s official name, he called the operating system “evolutionary” but still a “significant” advancement. “It is in every way a major effort in design, engineering and innovation,” Nash said then.

But even as Ballmer defended Vista’s first two years in the market, claiming that it has 180 million users, he seemed to understand that companies might decide to skip the operating system and move straight from Windows XP to Windows 7. “If people want to wait, they certainly can,” he said, answering MacDonald’s question about why users simply shouldn’t wait for the new and improved Vista, a.k.a. Windows 7.

“Look, no Windows release has to have people want to use it right away,” Ballmer continued. “At least in this audience, everybody’s going to test it. But the fact of the matter is, no one really ever waits.” Instead, he argued, most companies constantly refresh a portion of their computer inventory each year, bringing in the newest operating system with that turnover.

Windows 7, which Microsoft has said would be out in the latter part of 2009 or early 2010, will debut as an alpha in less than two weeks, when the company hands it to attendees at its Professional Developers Conference (PDC), which opens Oct. 27 in Los Angeles.

It will be the first in what will apparently be a long line of operating systems built on the Vista code base. Today, Ballmer rejected the idea that Microsoft would need to do a “reset” of the client code in the near future. “We can do a lot of innovation for a lot of years on the same code base,” he said before acknowledging that how the operating system takes advantage of multicore processors is still an open question.

“We have a lot of enhancements we can do [to the code base],” he said.

Apple: New MacBook Airs to ship 1st week of November

For those of you who ordered the new MBA, Apple announced that the new computer will start shipping during the first week in November.  This can also be verified by some tips received by AppleScoop.com.

Steve Jobs prepairing to leave Apple?

Web site Gizmodo.com heard some grumblings after the last Apple presentation about Steve Jobs prepairing to leave Apple – for good.

Steve Jobs is leaving Apple. Not tomorrow, but probably very soon. That’s why he started to say good bye today, doing something more important than just presenting new MacBooks, MacBook Pros, and an updated MacBook Air. Today’s event was a play in which he clearly told everyone that the company is more than himself. Since the very first minute, when he immediately sat down to let Tim Cook talk, he was saying: “Hey, look, Apple is more than Steve. These are The Guys, the Goodfellas, the A-Team. They share the same vision I have. And they are going to push the company forward when I change my office chair for a hammock and caipirinhas on my private beach in Hawaii”.

In the past, Steve Jobs was always the Star of the Show. Like his dear Johnny Cash, this man in black would come out on stage with an orchestra behind him, enthusing his audience with his voice and inflections, make his magic moves and leave everyone hypnotized until he left the building. He wasn’t the best singer or the best guitar player, but he had it. Like Johnny, he also shared the limelight with others from time to time, but it was only for a song or two. The concerts were always “Hello, I’m Johnny Cash”. The keynotes were always “Hello, I’m Steve Jobs.”

It was Steve’s Show from beginning to “one more thing,” and there was no doubt about it.

Today it was the confirmation that those days may be over forever. It seems like Steve has decided it’s time not to appear like Johnny Cash anymore, but time to become Mick Jagger. And with him, he brought Keith Richards, Charlie Watts, and Ronnie Wood. Today Steve’s band played all the tunes in harmony, showing to the world that there’s more to Apple than just the frontman, even while his DNA is deep inside every single aspect of the company’s culture.

Instead of kicking off with a market analysis to prepare the ground, this time it was Tim Cook who took the stage wearing Steve’s color scheme: Blue jeans and black top. Psychologically, this puts them at the same level, easing the future potential power transition. Seems stupid, but you can bet it wasn’t coincidental, even while Cook has zero appeal when compared to the rockstar CEO. Then came “Jony” Ive to talk about the design and aluminum laser making, and it wasn’t until minute 18 that Steve took over to present the actual toys. 27 minutes later, for a man that has taken on two-hour presentations without even blinking, the MacBook 2008 video kicked off only to be followed by a short Q&A—with Cook and Phil Schiller as wingmen—after which he had time to crack a quick joke about his own health.

Obviously, that’s what lies at the heart of this transition. He joked about his blood pressure, taking a dig at this obsession with watching him decline, with the World’s Press looking for the Biggest News Ever in Tech History this side of Steve Ballmer announcing his sex change and a new name (probably Dorita Estevez). But while, like I said before, it’s not your business or mine to get into his private life, the man clearly understands that his baby, the company he created with the Woz from scratch, deserves a plan and a bright future.

It’s part of him. He created it, he was pushed off it, and then he rescued it back from the pits of hell to the top of the world. Along that path he made plenty of mistakes, but getting together the team that have been directing the company with him during the last few years is not one of those mistakes. It may prove to be his biggest lasting achievement.

I’m sure we still have a lot more shows like this, and that Steve Jobs will always stay at Apple like Bill Gates will always stay at Microsoft, even after his retirement. But the play we saw today was the prologue of the new Apple Without Steve but With Steve Era, Jobs signaling that he’s not alone at the helm, and that if he moves on, nobody should panic. Not explicitly, but the message was there in big neon letters for everyone to see.

iTunes sells 200 million TV shows, adds more HDTV programs

Early Thursday, Apple announced that all four of the major TV networks are now selling primetime programs in high definition on the iTunes store, which has become the most popular online service for such content.

“We’ve got an incredible Fall 2008 TV lineup with over 70 primetime comedies and dramas, including many of the most popular shows on TV in stunning HD,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s vice president of Internet Services. “With over 200 million episodes sold, iTunes customers have proven they love watching television on their computer, iPod, iPhone and TV with Apple TV.”

The online store offers the world’s largest catalog of various types of programming including content from networks such as Bravo, Comedy Central, The Disney Channel, SciFi, and others.

Each show is offers in standard and high definition and range in price from $0.99 to $2.99.

The iTunes Store digital media catalog now spans over eight million songs, over 30,000 TV episodes and over 2,500 films including 600 in high definition.

[Updated]: Apple posts new iPhone Video – “Game Changer”

Late Wednesday, Apple posted a new iPhone TV Commercial video called “Game Changer.”

MacBook – Lost in Translation

Mac German Website MacGeneration.com found an OOPS on Apple’s store web site.

It appears that an employee made a mistake when making the web page by putting “Parfaitement Con”, which any translation engine can tell you means “perfectly bloody stupid”.

Boy, I wonder if that person still has a job???

Apple has posted Quicktime Video of 10-14-08 presentation

Apple has posted a Quicktime stream of yesterday’s event.

To see it,click HERE.

New Macbook/MacBook Pros starting to arrive at Apple stores

A forum user over at MacRumors.com was nice enough to take a walk over to his local Apple store and snap the above photo.

There are more photos over in the forum.  Click here to see them.

‘Spotlight turns to notebooks’ Overview

Apple, Inc. on Tuesday announced new products for its laptop computers and monitors.  Below is an overview.

“Meet The Next Generation of Notebooks”
The new 13-inch MacBook:
- New Design
- New Features
- New Technologies

Precision aluminum unibody enclosure.
From one solid piece of aluminum comes a MacBook that’s thin and light, beautifully streamlined, and durable.

Ultrathin 13.3-inch LED-backlit display.
Seamless glass and instant full screen brightness make everything you see flat-out spectacular. Including the display itself.

Up to 5x faster NVIDIA graphics performance.
Advanced NVIDIA integrated graphics provide more responsive gameplay and more realistic 3D environments.

All-new, smooth glass Multi-Touch trackpad.
It’s redesigned with even more room for even more gestures. Now the entire glass trackpad is also the button, so it’s clickable everywhere.

The new MacBook has something for everyone. Less than an inch thin and 4.5 pounds, it fits your backpack (and your mobile lifestyle). It offers great integrated graphics performance for playing 3D games or creating photo books in iPhoto and making movies in iMovie. And it has all the MacBook features you want at a price you’ll adore.

At-a-glance specs:
13.3-inch LED-backlit display
2.0GHz or 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor
4.5 pounds; 0.95 inch thin
NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics

Price starting at: $1,299.00

More Information: http://www.apple.com/macbook

15-inch MacBook Pro:

t’s all about performance. If you want desktop-class graphics and a bigger display, you want the all-new MacBook Pro. With a double graphics punch — both integrated and discrete NVIDIA graphics processors — the 15-inch MacBook Pro is fast enough to run the most graphics-intensive games and professional applications, but portable enough to come along for the ride. Starting at $1,999.

At-a-glance specs:
15.4-inch LED-backlit display
2.4GHz, 2.53GHz, or 2.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor
5.5 pounds; 0.95 inch thin
NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT discrete graphics
NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics
FireWire 800 port
ExpressCard/34 slot

MacBook Air:

MacBook Air travels light. At just 3 pounds, it sets a new standard for mobile computing — without scrimping on the keyboard or display. With a faster architecture, advanced NVIDIA integrated graphics, more storage, a 13.3-inch display, a full-size keyboard, and breakthrough wireless innovations, MacBook Air is engineered to take on the wireless world. Starting at $1,799.

At-a-glance specs:
13.3-inch LED-backlit display
1.6GHz or 1.86GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor
3.0 pounds; 0.16–0.76 inch thin
NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics

LED Cinema Display:

Introducing the 24-inch LED Cinema Display. It doesn’t just expand the screen of your new MacBook, MacBook Pro, or MacBook Air. With a built-in iSight camera, mic, and speakers, it expands your whole experience.

For more information, go to http://store.apple.com

New photos of MacBook

The below photo has been obtained by AppleInsider.com and can confirm that it is NOT a fake.

On another note, some other blogs have heard that Apple will also be introducing new displays today, as well as a few other “surprises.”

Web sites AppleInsider.com, Engadget.com, and MacRumors.com will be providing either live or nearly live coverage of today’s event starting around 10am Pacific (1pm Eastern).

New MacBook pricing unwrapped by Best Buy?

Gizmodo.com is claiming it has obtained the above image from a Best Buy showing new pricing for Apple’s new MacBook and MacBook Pros that will be announced tomorrow.

We just got these printouts that supposedly show the fresh SKUs in Best Buy’s inventory for the MacBooks that’ll be unveiled tomorrow (which we’ll be bringing to you live). Besides using colors for codenames, much of the info, like dimensions and stock dates are placeholders, according to the tipster. The real point of interest is the model/pricing breakdown—it’s exactly the same as the current lineup, so if true, it means there won’t be any price drops at all, much less an $800 dollar MacBook running around. Update: Turns out we were right to be skeptical of how solid it is.

Here’s the color/price/model list, according to the tipster:

GREEN = $1,999.99 – 15″ MacBook Pro base model
PURPLE = $2,799.99 – 17″ MacBook Pro base model
YELLOW = $1,499.99 – 13″ MacBook top end model
BLUE = $2,499.99 – 15″ MacBook Pro mid model
ORANGE = $1,299.99 – 13″ MacBook mid Model
RED = $1,099.99 – 13″ MacBook base model

What the MacBook means to Apple’s bottom line

CNN/Money’s Philip Elmer-DeWitt asks that question, and tells why the MacBook product line IS important to Apple, Inc.

Steve Jobs likes to talk about Apple’s business model as a stool that rests on three legs: the Mac, the iPod and the iPhone. But the iPhone leg is still pretty short, thanks in part to deferred revenues. And while the iPod’s sales are still growing, its share of the company’s business has been shrinking lately.

Which is why the announcement of new MacBooks scheduled for Tuesday at 1 p.m. ET (10 a.m. PT) is so important. Apple’s notebook computers have been its main source of revenue for some time now, and if Apple plays its cards right, they are likely to remain so for the foreseeable future.

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CNBC: Apple to go ‘nuclear’ with $899.00 MacBook Model

CNBC’s Jim Goldman is asking if Apple is getting ready to announce a “Sub 1K Laptop” tomorrow?

Apple ends every press release with the boiler plate line that the company “ignited” the personal computer revolution. And with Tuesday’s new family of laptops, the company may pull the nuclear option: a sub-$1,000 laptop.

I’m expecting an $899 MacBook model, based on the sources I’m talking to.

Why nuclear? Because it stands to have an explosive impact on the PC market. A device not too expensive that it alienates an ever more skittish consumer; not too cheap, ala sub-$500, that it soils the aspirational brand that Apple has become; but a high-end, slick device with the Apple bloodline priced just right that a big chunk of the market goes for it whether its mildly uncomfortable doing so or not. The Goldilocks price point.

I’ve spoken to several people inside and outside Apple about what to expect, and while no one is ready to go on the record about any of this, they’re all telling me the same thing: Apple is ready to play in sub-$1k. That’s a big deal and about time.

There had been some wild, recent speculation that Apple would dip below $500 with a new laptop, or some high-end, whiz-bang mobile computing device that would blow away the market with its slickness, capabilities and design. Umm, Apple already has that device, last I checked, at $199. It’s called the iPhone. I’d be stunned if Apple released a laptop anywhere near iPhone’s price-point.

However, a sub-$1k Apple laptop makes perfect sense. Falling microprocessor and flash memory prices can let Apple release such a device without torpedoing profit margins in the process. Mac fanatics will still pay top dollar for the latest, most powerful machines Apple has to offer–because that’s what they do–while the sub-$1k opens the Apple brand, cache and capabilities to a whole new sector of the marketplace. Who then stand a good chance of becoming the next generation of Mac fanatics who turn around and pay top–or at least higher –dollar for their next laptop when the time comes to trade up.

What Are Investors Missing? How About Everything!
Still, Apple has a tough balancing act to play. The $899 MacBook runs the risk of cannibalizing much more expensive offerings, especially if it looks much like those pricier models. Apple runs the risk of dramatically lowering its average selling prices, those pesky ASP’s analysts are always talking about. That’s the negative. The positive is what such a price-point might do for Apple’s broader business, dramatically increasing sales volume, and again, seeding a new generation of Mac fanatic.

Apple shares jumped big time on Friday because of their paltry valuation. Today they’re jumping because of the whiff of fundamentals creeping its way back through Wall Street. Business continues in Cupertino despite the Wall Street Tsunami. Innovation continues in Cupertino as well. Back to back rallies don’t mean Apple share are finally back, or that traders have somehow found religion when it comes to Apple shares.

The company reports earnings a week from Tuesday as well. This is a key news cycle for Apple, and things seem to be lining up nicely.