Thursday, October 21, 2010

Mac App Store Very Promising But With Restrictions

The most surprising news coming out of today's media event was the revelation that Apple would be launching a Mac App Store for Mac OS X. From the short preview that was given, the Mac App Store appears to be structured similarly to the popular iOS App Store. App sales and upgrades are all managed through the App Store, itself. Like the iOS App Store, Apple splits revenues with the developers in the same 70/30 ratio.

Given the massive success of the iOS App Store, Mac developers are understandably interested, but may run into hurdles with Apple's approval process. Andrew Welch of AmbrosiaSW told Informationweek that many of his company's existing apps would not be allowed in:

"Ambrosia is certainly interested in the idea of a centralized Mac application store," he said in an e-mail. "However the restrictions imposed by Apple on the applications may make it impossible for a number of our applications to be submitted."

Presumably, these apps would include their system utilities such as WireTap, Snapz Pro X and Soundboard.

We've heard that Mac App Store Apps are restricted from installing kernel extensions (kexts) that are frequently used to provide system level functions in these utilities. Apps, as well, must be self contained and avoid use of undocumented APIs.

Developers, of course, aren't required to distribute Mac apps through Apple's App Store. Developers can still distribute their software on their own, but the centralized access and publicity of the App Store model has been well proven on iOS. The Mac App Store also raises additional questions whether or not the so-called "race to the bottom" in prices will be duplicated on the Mac software side as well, and whether or not it will encourage simpler, more casual apps.

Mac App Store to Offer Unbundled iLife and iWork Applications?

Several MacRumors readers have pointed out that Apple's promotional materials for its forthcoming Mac App Store show that the company may be planning to offer applications from its iLife and iWork suites on an individual basis. Supporting that notion is the demo offered by Apple's Craig Federighi during yesterday's media event in which he showed how a user could purchase and install Pages from the Mac App Store.

Based on Mac App Store screenshots posted on Apple's pages, it appears that the company is planning to offer portions of its iLife suite (iPhoto, GarageBand, and iMovie) for $14.99 each. It is unclear whether it will also offer iWeb and iDVD, the other two components of the suite that now retails for $49, as standalone purchases.

Apple similarly lists individual components of iWork (Pages, Keynote, and Numbers) for $19.99 each. Interestingly, this would result in a total price of $59.97 for the three applications purchased individually, below Apple's $79 price for the entire suite.

In addition, Steve Jobs noted during the media event that applications purchased through the Mac App Store would be licensed for use on all of a purchaser's personal Macs. This would appear to represent a middle ground between Apple's current single-user software packages, which allow for installation on only one machine at a time, and family packs, which permit installation on up to five computers but for multiple persons in a single household.

Apple already offers its iPad versions of Pages, Keynote and Numbers as standalone purchases on the iOS App Store, priced at $9.99 each with no bundled suite even available. The same may be true for the Mac App Store, as Apple's promotional screenshots offer no indication that iLife and iWork suites will be available for download in bundled form. Presumably Apple will continue to offer the bundled suites on physical media, but it is unclear how long this distribution method will continue to be supported by Apple once the Mac App Store begins to take hold.

Apple Announces New 13.3-Inch and 11.6-Inch MacBook Air Models with Flash Storage

At the close of Apple's Back to the Mac event today, Steve Jobs announced two new MacBook Air models feature 13.3-inch and 11.6-inch displays.

As rumored, the new MacBook Air models do not have traditional hard drives, featuring only flash storage. Both models have Core 2 Duo processors, 2 GB of RAM, and NVIDIA GeForce 320M graphics cards. The new MacBook Air models have unibody chassis like the latest MacBook Pro models, full keyboards, stereo speakers, FaceTime cameras and glass multi-touch trackpads. Both models can have their RAM upgraded to 4GB from Apple's online store.

Battery life is claimed to be 7 hours for wireless web browsing on the 13.3-inch model and 5 hours on the 11.6-inch model, with a standby time of 30 days for both sizes

Both new MacBook Air models have high-resolution LED-backlit displays, with the 13.3 inch-model offering 1440 x 900 pixels and the 11.6-inch model carrying 1366 x 768 pixels.

Pricing begins at $999 for the 11.6-inch MacBook Air with 64 GB of storage and goes up to $1,599 for the 13.3-inch model with 256 GB of storage. Both MacBook Air models are available starting today.

MacBook Air Software Reinstall Drive
With the new MacBook Air lacking an internal optical drive, Apple has included a"Software Reinstall Drive" USB stick carrying a unique Apple design to be used to restore Mac OS X and iLife. iWork is also included on the drive if the machine has been custom-configured to include the software. As it did with the original MacBook Air, Apple is continuing to offer an external MacBook Air Superdrive, now priced at $79. The MacBook Air can also wirelessly take advantage of the optical drive on a nearby Mac or PC for software installation purposes.

Mac OS X Lion Set for Summer 2011 Debut, Mac App Store to Launch Within 90 Days

As expected, the next version of Mac OS X was previewed at today's Back to the Mac event, showing new features inspired by iOS on the iPad, such as multi-touch gestures, the App Store, app home screens, full-screen apps, auto-saving capabilities, and how apps resume when launched.

Noting that over 7 billion apps have already been downloaded from the App Store, Jobs announced that the Mac will also have its own Mac App Store. It will feature one-click downloads, free and paid apps, and the same 70/30 revenue split currently applied to apps in the iOS App Store. Apps sold will be licensed for use on all the personal Macs a user owns. The new Launchpad in Lion will be a home screen for all applications.

"Lion brings many of the best ideas from iPad back to the Mac, plus some fresh new ones like Mission Control that Mac users will really like," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "Lion has a ton of new features, and we hope the few we had time to preview today will give users a good idea of where we are headed."

The Mac App Store will look similar to the App Store on the iPad, featuring app descriptions, screen shots, and user reviews. The Launch Pad will display all applications on virtual pages, much like the home screen pages on iOS devices, including the ability to organize applications into folders.

In Lion, applications can be viewed in full-screen mode and navigated using multi-touch gestures to switch between open applications. The Dashboard feature will be accessible on a virtual page to the left of the current screen in the same way the search screen is accessible in iOS. A new Expose feature called Mission Control will show all windows for all open apps.

Lion will be released in Summer 2011. The Mac App Store will open in 90 days and developers can submit apps for inclusion beginning in November.

Monday, September 13, 2010

Apple to Launch Wi-Fi iPad in China on September 17th

Apple today announced that it will begin selling Wi-Fi iPad models in China as of this Friday, September 17th.

Apple today announced that the Wi-Fi models of its magical iPad will be available to customers in China from Apple Retail Stores, and select Apple Authorized Resellers, on Friday, September 17 starting at 10:00 a.m.

Pricing comes in at CNY3988 ($590) for the 16 GB model, CNY4788 ($708) for the 32 GB model and CNY5588 ($827) for the 64 GB model.

There is no word on 3G-capable iPad models, with the delay presumably due to regulatory issues. Current iPhone carrier China Unicom had previously announced that it would offer the iPad, with the assumption being that it was referring to 3G models planned to run on its network.

Supply constraints for the iPad have begun to ease in recent weeks as Apple's efforts to boost production have allowed the company to drop shipping estimates to "within 24 hours" in its current markets for the device. Similar signs of the easing supply crunch can be read in the apparent expansion of retail store sales to include Target early next month. Wal-Mart has also announced that it plans to carry the iPad "later this year", and so it too may be set to come onboard alongside Target.

Update: According to Apple's Latin American site for the iPad, the device will also be launching this Friday in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru.

Apple's Free iPhone 4 Case Program to End September 30th

Apple today announced on its iPhone 4 Case Program page (via The Loop) that it will be discontinuing the program as of the previously-stated September 30th end date. The company is also ending its no-restocking-fee, 30-day return policy for the iPhone 4, returning to its standard return policy that requires a 10% restocking fee on opened merchandise and returns within 14 days of purchase.

Apple is, however, leaving open the possibility of providing cases to customers who demonstrate a distinct problem with antenna issues on their devices. At the company's July press conference to address the issue, Steve Jobs had stated that Apple would re-evaluate the program as the September 30th deadline approached.

We now know that the iPhone 4 antenna attenuation issue is even smaller than we originally thought. A small percentage of iPhone 4 users need a case, and we want to continue providing them a Bumper case for free. For everyone else, we are discontinuing the free case program on all iPhone 4s sold after September 30, 2010. We are also returning to our normal returns policy for all iPhone 4s sold after September 30. Users experiencing antenna issues should call AppleCare to request a free Bumper case.

An executive with Mexican iPhone carrier Telcel late last month claimed that Apple would be introducing revised iPhone 4 hardware by the end of September to address the antenna issue, but Apple has made no announcements regarding changes to its hardware or manufacturing process.

MacUpdate Fall Bundle: 12 Mac Apps for $49.99

A few times a year, MacRumors partners with MacUpdate to promote their Mac application bundle deal. Their latest bundle delivers at least 12 Mac applications for $49.99 (a $443 value if all purchased separately) including:

Toast 10 Titanium ($99.99) - popular disc burning utility and media to iOS-friendly conversion
Live Interior 3D Standard ($49.95) - powerful interior design app
My Living Desktop ($34.95) - add a video desktop and screensaver to your Mac
Espionage 2 ($34.95) - encrypt and password protect individual folders, and interact with them straight from the Finder
ShareTool 2 ($25) - ShareTool enables Macs on different networks connect with each other as if they were on the same network, even if they're on different continents.
Get Backup Pro ($39.95) - backup and disk cloning utility with a file/folder synchronization capability
Cashculator ($29.95) - personal finance application that focuses on future by forecasting your financial situation.
MindNode Pro ($24.95) - a mind-mapping application that helps to visually collect, classify and structure ideas
Concentrate ($29.00) - eliminate distractions by launching the apps you need to accomplish a task, quit the ones you don't, block you from visiting distracting sites like YouTube or social networking
Voila 3 ($29.95) - a professional/creativity tool that lets you record or capture your screen, then annotate, organize and share those videos and images.

As an early adopter incentive, MacUpdate is offering two additional applications (Compartments, Vitamin-R) for the first 20,000 bundle purchases.

MacRumors is a promotional partner with MacUpdate. Bundle sales through these links benefit MacRumors financially, and provide a way for readers to directly support this site.

Monday, August 30, 2010

Autodesk to Release AutoCAD for Mac, iPad and iPhone

Autodesk is expected to announce the release of AutoCAD for the Mac, iPad and iPhone platforms on Tuesday. This represents the return of AutoCAD to the Mac platform after nearly a two decade hiatus.

The return of AutoCAD to the Mac could help Apple sustain its momentum in the competitive market for personal computers, especially with business customers, where Apple has made significant inroads recently. Autodesk estimates that 10 million people use the AutoCAD software around the world, and the company said that its customers had been asking for a Mac version with growing frequency.

We first revealed screenshots of the beta version of AutoCAD back in May which had undergone early testing.

Meanwhile a mobile version called AutoCAD WS will be available free on Apple's App Store for the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch. The free version is said to allow users to view AutoCAD designs and make minor changes.

The Mac OS X version of AutoCAD should be released by the end of October.

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Apple Opens Door to Free iPad Content for Print Magazine Subscribers

Fortune reports that Apple and Time Inc. have come to an agreement to allow the publisher to offer subscribers to its print magazines free access to content through their corresponding iPad applications. The agreement, which is marked by the debut of PEOPLE Magazine under the new structure, sees subscribers to the print edition receiving free access while non-subscribers can purchase individual issues for $3.99 each.

Until now, the iPad versions of People, Time, Sports Illustrated and Fortune have cost the same as the newsstand price -- $3.99 for each issue of People, $4.99 to $5.99 each for the rest -- even if you were are already paying to get the paper edition in the mail.

That changed with this week's People iPad app, which is, for the first time, free to People subscribers. Fortune and the rest of Time Inc.'s (TWX) flagship magazines are expected to adopt the same pricing structure within the next 30 days.

Additional details on the PEOPLE Magazine application and pricing policies are available through the magazine's site.

Late last month, we noted that Apple and magazine publishers had been at an impasse over subscription pricing, and while some progress certainly remains to be made in the area of offering true multi-issue subscriptions for digital content, allowing print subscribers to receive free digital editions marks an important first step.

iPad Supply Constraints Begin to Ease, iPhone 4 Expected to Follow

Fortune noted yesterday that supply constraints for the iPad appear to be easing slightly, with shipping estimates for orders placed through Apple's U.S. online store now coming in at 3-5 business days, down from 7-10 business days. The change was noted in a research brief from analyst Jeff Fidacaro of Susquehanna Financial.

"iPad demand remains strong with production ramping above expectations," writes Fidacaro. He has revised his iPad build forecast for Apple's (AAPL) fourth fiscal quarter to 7 million units, up from 6 million units. And his 4Q iPad shipment estimate now stands at 4.75 million units, a 45% increase from Q3.

The Fortune report also shares results of a weekly survey of in-store iPad and iPod availability at Best Buy locations conducted by Barcalys' Ben Reitzes showing significant improvement this week for all iPad models.

Meanwhile, GigaOM reports on a research note from Rodman Renshaw analyst Ashok Kumar claiming that production of both the iPad and iPhone 4 is beginning to approach demand, with iPhone shortages expected to ease by the end of next month.

The wait for a new Apple iPhone 4 order should be shorter by the end of September, which would help Apple sell 14 million new handsets in the third quarter and another 15 million in the final three months of 2010 according to an industry analyst. With the expectation that LG is ramping up production of 9.7-inch display panels, iPad orders should flow faster as well, with Apple having the capability to sell 5 to 6 million tablets this quarter.

Shipping estimates for iPhone 4 orders placed through Apple's U.S. online store remain at three weeks, however, suggesting that a considerable backlog still remains.

Apple Tweaks Online Store With 'Compare Macs' Feature, Collapsible Configuration Sections

During a period of overnight downtime last night, Apple appears to have made several tweaks to the functionality of its online store.

The Loop points out a new "Compare Macs" feature offering users the ability to compare specs among up to three selected Mac models. The new option is available through either a direct link or as an option in the Mac product line menu bar after selecting a model.

Apple has also added collapsible sections to its configuration pages for various Mac models. The change allows users to open and close sections dedicated to topics such as hardware options, software options, service and support add-ons, and accessories.

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Apple Releases New 'iPad is Delicious' Commercial

Apple yesterday released a new iPad commercial, airing it on primetime television and posting it to the company's iPad site andYouTube page.

The ad features a series of quick shots showing off various capabilities of the device paired with related adjectives shown in text to go along with the "iPad is..." theme: delicious, current, learning, playful, literary, artful, friendly, productive, scientific, and (of course) magical.

In May, Apple debuted an iPad ad that harkened back to a nearly 20-year-old campaign for the company's Newton personal digital assistant device. We wondered whether Apple would continue with the Newton-styled iPad ads, the company has moved away from that theme with its new ad.

Microsoft Highlights Compatibility, Graphing and Photo Editing in Office for Mac 2011

Microsoft has posted a new video clip highlighting some of the features of its Office for Mac 2011 suite due for release in late October. Among the features touched upon by Microsoft's Senior Evangelist for the Macintosh Business Unit Kurt Schmucker:

- Compatibility: Microsoft has focused on making Office for Mac 2011 more compatible with the Windows version than ever before, ensuring that users and documents can move seamlessly between platforms.

We'll take a document and print it out with Word for Windows and with Word for Macintosh. Take the two sheets of paper, overlay them...hold them up to the light. If we see any difference, we consider that a bug that we have to fix.

-Graphing: Office for Mac 2011 brings a number of new tools to help users display data in graphical formats, including theSparklines feature that debuted in Office for Windows 2010. Sparklines allows users to display simple data in small graphs that fit right into the cells of Excel spreadsheets to provide a significant amount of information at just a quick glance.

- Photo Editing: Available throughout the suite, photo editing tools will allow users to perform a number of tasks such as filter application, background removal, and color correction without having to leave the document on which they are working.

The video is part of a continuing series of behind-the-scenes previews of Office for Mac 2011. The first video posted in late July discussed template galleries, Outlook features such as Conversation View, and the ribbon toolbar.

HTML5 Continuing to Gain Ground With Yahoo! Mail for iPad, Vimeo Embedding

HTML5, the Web standard promoted by Apple in favor of Flash as the future of media delivery on the Internet, is continuing to gain support among popular Web sites and services. In particular, announcements from Yahoo! and Vimeo yesterday demonstrate the increasing adoption of the standard.

Yahoo! yesterday announced the launch of an HTML5-based Web mail interface newly customized for the iPad, bringing a number of enhancements.

If you've used our recently launched HTML5 mobile Web mail for iPhone you'll feel right at home. We've kept all the things users love about our new mobile Web mail experience, while also optimizing for the gorgeous large screen of the iPad.

Among the new features are local caching for offline access, improvements to searching and organization, enhanced attachment handling, and a dual pane view similar to that employed by the native iPad email application. Google launched a similar HTML5-based interface for Gmail on the iPad in April.

Video sharing site Vimeo also announced yesterday the launch of a new "Universal Player" to allow users of Apple's iOS devices to view embedded video content from Vimeo.

Since we rolled out the HTML5 player in January people have been clamoring for an embeddable version, especially for iPhones and iPads. Today we're taking a big leap forward for compatibility and updating our embed code. We call it the Universal Player.

The Universal Player is as easy to use as the old embed code, just a lot more compatible. Instead of being a direct link to a Flash player the new Universal Player can automatically detect what kind of device is viewing the video and choose the optimum player based on the device's capabilities. For example, it will serve mobile video to iPhones and Androids and HD to iPads and Desktops.

Vimeo launched support for HTML5-based video on its own site earlier this year, but the extension of HTML5 compatibility to embedded videos will significantly broaden users' ability to experience the site's content across the Internet.

Google to Launch Chrome OS Tablet in Late November?

Download Squad claims that Google is preparing to launch a Chrome OS-powered tablet on November 26th, the day after Thanksgiving in the U.S. known as Black Friday for its widespread discounts to kick off the holiday shopping season. According to the report, the Chrome OS tablet will be manufactured by HTC and Google will partner with Verizon for data service plans on the device.

So what will the Google tablet pack for hardware? It'll likely be based on NVidia's Tegra 2 platform and sport a 1280x720 multitouch display, 2GB of RAM, minimum 32GB SSD, WiFi/Bluetooth/3G connectivity, GPS, webcam, and possibly expandable storage via a multi-card reader. Expect it to be every bit as geek-tastic as the Nexus One -- Google won't want to disappoint its early adopters.

Pricing for the device and data service is unknown, although speculation suggests that data plan contracts could allow for subsidies to greatly reduce the cost of the actual device.

Google previewed Chrome OS in November of last year, stating that the browser-based operating system would debut on netbooks in late 2010. The company also noted its explorations of how Chrome OS might work on other form factors, includingtablets, to illustrate the potential of the platform. With the success of Apple's iPad launched earlier this year, tablets have become an increasingly visible alternative to netbook and low-end notebooks, and Google is unsurprisingly apparently preparing to make its move into the space to go head-to-head with Apple once again.

Apple Seeds First Developer Build of Mac OS X 10.6.5

Apple today seeded the first developer build of Mac OS X 10.6.5, the fifth maintenance release to the company's Mac OS X Snow Leopard operating system. According to those familiar with the release, which is termed Build 10H525, developers are being asked to focus their testing on iCal, Mail, Printing, 3D Graphics, QuickTime and X11.

The build reportedly contains two documented known issues related to activating user interface elements in Web Views such as in the iTunes Store and errors with connecting to Exchange servers. Apple also notes that Mac OS X 10.6.5 developer builds contain the latest graphics drivers being tested in parallel in the Snow Leopard Graphics Update.

We noted late last month that Apple appeared to be gearing up to begin seeding builds of Mac OS X 10.6.5, but it seems to have taken a bit longer than expected for Apple to push out the first of an unknown number of builds. Apple's seeding programs can be highly variable in length due to the uncertain nature of the testing and tweaking process, and thus we do not yet have an estimate of when Mac OS X 10.6.5 might be released to the public.

Mac OS X 10.6.4 was released in mid-June, shortly after the close of Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference.

China Unicom to Sell iPhone 4 and iPad

As noted by AppleInsider, Caixin Online reports that China Unicom will launch the iPhone 4 in September and has secured the rights to sell the iPad in China. The iPhone 4 will be made available in early September while no release date has been specified for the iPad.

It was reported last month that a China Unicom executive had flown to the United States to meet with Apple executives to finalize a distribution deal for the iPad and iPhone 4.

The Wall Street Journal recently reported that China Unicom would begin selling iPhone 3GS models with Wi-Fi enabled just earlier this month, after months of selling the device without Wi-Fi enabled in order to adhere to government regulations.

7-Inch iPad to Launch By Christmas?

IDG News translates a new Economic Daily News report that claims a 7" iPad will indeed be launched by Christmas of this year.

The Economic Daily reports that Taiwanese companies have won a number of component contracts for the iPad 2. Chimei Innolux will supply 7-inch LCD screens, which use the same IPS (in-plane switching) technology found in the original iPad, which improves viewing angles and color on LCD screens. Touchscreen technology for the screens will come from Cando Corporation, the report says.

While talk of a 7" iPad has been circulating for some time, it has recently regained the spotlight with a report from iLoungeearlier this month. iLounge offered the above mock-up and suggested the 7" iPad would launch later this year or early next. Meanwhile, Digitimes also reported on the likelihood a 7" iPad just last week.

The currently shipping 9.7" iPad has been seen as a huge success selling 3.27 million units during the first quarter of sales.

Sunday, August 1, 2010

Apple to Begin Taking Orders for New Mac Pro on August 9th

Thursday July 29, 2010 10:06 PM EST; Category: Mac Pro

Written by Eric Slivka

Several readers have informed us and we have confirmed that Apple Store representatives are telling potential buyers of the company's new Mac Proannounced earlier this week that the updated models are set to become available for ordering on August 9th. Company sales representatives on both chat and telephone support systems have cited that date for the launch.

While Apple will begin taking orders on August 9th, it is not yet confirmed that machines will actually begin shipping on that date. Representatives have claimed, however, that the August 9th date will be for actual orders and not for a pre-order program, suggesting that orders should begin shipping fairly soon after that date.

Apple's press release from earlier this week and the Mac Pro pages on its website simply state "August" as the availability date for the new Mac Pros, so it has been unclear at what point in the month customers could expect to begin placing their orders.

Apple Removes Competitor Antenna Performance Comparisons From Site

Sunday August 01, 2010 09:44 AM EST; Category: iPhone

Written by Eric Slivka

Apple has revamped the antenna performance page on its website, removing references to and videos of the performance of competitors' smartphones in comparison to the iPhone 4. Apple launched the page after its iPhone 4 press conference to demonstrate how a number of other handsets, including ones from Research in Motion, HTC, and Samsung, as well as the iPhone 3GS, see signal attenuation when gripped tightly in the hand.

Apple's continued interest in drawing its competitors into the antenna performance discussion was furthered by several updates to the site to add the Nokia N97 miniand the Motorola Droid X. Just a week after the most recent update, however, all of the comparisons have been removed, leaving only general claims that the attenuation issue affects most models of smartphones.

The opposite of amplification, attenuation happens whenever a signal is obstructed. All antennas - including television, radio, GPS and mobile antennas - can experience attenuation. And with most antennas, the density and composition of the human hand can cause attenuation to a greater degree than some other materials. On a mobile phone, signal loss typically occurs when your hand attenuates the most sensitive part of the antenna. Which, on iPhone 4, is the black strip of the lower left corner of the antenna band.

The reason for the removal is unknown, with speculation running from Apple receiving complaints from other handset makers to the company simply wishing to reduce the amount of attention drawn to the issue now that its free case programis underway and Apple bumpers are making their way into the hands of consumers. Interestingly, the videos remain available on the company's YouTube site and on many, but not all, international versions of its antenna performance page.

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Japanese Government Pressing Apple Over First-Generation iPod Nano Fire Risk

Thursday July 29, 2010 10:11 AM EST; Category: iPod
Written by Eric Slivka

The Wall Street Journal reports that the Japanese government is continuing to pursue its long-standing concern over reports of first-generation iPod nanos overheating, following up on awarning to consumers issued by the government nearly two years ago.

The ministry is requesting Apple Japan to explain the cause of overheating, whether similar incidents have been reported domestically and abroad and what prevention and cautionary measures have been taken to counter such incidents, according to Seiji Shimagami, a ministry official who works in consumer product safety.

The order came following an incident in Tokyo that took place on July 13, when sparks flew from a user's device while it was recharging, according to Masahiro Yamazaki, the head of the consumer product safety unit at METI.

According to the report, the Japanese government agency responsible for overseeing trade issues has documented 27 instances of first-generation iPod nanos overheating while recharging, classifying those incidents as "fire-related". Six of those incidents have occurred since the 2008 warning was issued.

"iPods are incredibly well designed and safety is the highest priority for Apple. We are taking METI's letter in regard to the first generation iPod nano very seriously and are working closely with them to answer their concerns," Apple said in a statement.

Similar concerns over the first-generation iPod nano have been expressed in South Korea, where some July 2009 reports claimed that Apple had issued a recall of the device, a fact that Apple denied, although it does continue to acknowledge the possibility of overheating in a support document and encourages concerned customers to contact the company.

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Wednesday, July 28, 2010

White iPhone 4 Delays Due to Light Leakage?

Wednesday July 28, 2010 11:08 AM EST; Category: iPhone

Written by Eric Slivka

The latest theory on the reason behind Apple's white iPhone 4 delay comes from Scott Moritz of TheStreet, who reports that the issue stems from backlight leakage around the edges of the device's glass and even through its white back.

Apparently, the back light from the iPhone display screen is leaking out around the edges of the glass and seeping through the back of the white phone, according to a person familiar with the manufacturing process.

According to the report's source, the lower opacity of the white back compared to the black one is responsible for the issue, and the glass construction makes it considerably more difficult to simply fill in the gaps where the light is leaking through than it would for devices with plastic or metal cases.

The report also notes that this issue is not unique to Apple's iPhone 4, as the HTC EVO has also received some publicity for minor light leakage through seams in its casing.

Previous reports had suggested that the delay was due to paint thickness and color consistency issues with the screen printing process for the white iPhone parts, although the various reports could theoretically be differing descriptions of the same issues coming from parties with only partial knowledge of the situation.

Moritz has had a number of inaccurate claims over the years, although he did correctly predict that Apple would introduce $200 subsidies on the iPhone 3G to bring the entry-level price down to $199 back in 2008.

Apple Updates Safari 5 to Officially Activate Extensions

Wednesday July 28, 2010 09:13 AM EST

Written by Eric Slivka

Apple today announced that it has released Safari 5.0.1, officially launching the "extensions" feature that it partially activatedlast month with the initial release of Safari 5 to permit developers to begin work on their plug-ins. Extensions from third-party developers allow users to extend browser functionality far beyond that offered in the basic application.

Apple today released Safari® 5.0.1, turning on Safari Extensions and introducing the Safari Extensions Gallery. Apple introduced extensions support in Safari 5 in June so developers could begin creating extensions with HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript web standards. With Safari Extensions Gallery, users can quickly find extensions that add powerful new features to Safari, from toolbars that display live web feeds to sophisticated programs that filter web content. Safari 5.0.1 allows users to download and install extensions either from the Safari Extensions Gallery or directly from a developer's site.

"Safari 5 has been a big hit, and user response to the innovative new Safari Reader has been fantastic," said Brian Croll, Apple's vice president of OS X Product Marketing. "We're thrilled to see so many leading developers creating great extensions and think our users are going to love being able to customize Safari."

Apple has also launched its Safari Extensions Gallery, allowing easy access from the "Safari" menu for users to browse and install featured extensions. The gallery already features extensions from such companies as Twitter, The New York Times, The Weather Channel, Amazon, and eBay, as well as a host of smaller developers.

Apple has been inviting developers to submit their extensions for consideration for inclusion in the Safari Extensions Gallery and has thus been able to hit the ground running with a significant library of plug-ins. Users are not limited to extensions featured in the Safari Extensions Gallery, however, as extensions are hosted by the developers themselves and users are free to install them from anywhere.

Safari 5.0.1 and a companion release of Safari 4.1.1 for Tiger that does not support extensions also bring a number of other enhancements and fixes as detailed on Apple's download pages.

Apple Officially Discontinues 30-Inch and 24-Inch Cinema Displays

Tuesday July 27, 2010 09:48 PM EST

Written by arn

Although we already noted this fact as a footnote in today's 27" LED Cinema Display announcement article, we felt it important to point out -- Apple has officially discontinued the 24" and 30" Apple Cinema Displays. Going forward, today's 27" LED Cinema Display will be the only display offered by Apple. According to Macworld:

At the same time, this marks the end of the road for the 24-inch and 30-inch Apple displays. According to Apple vice president of hardware marketing David Moody, those products will continue to be sold until supplies run out, at which point the new 27-inch display will be Apple's only standalone offering.

The new monitor offers the same horizontal resolution as the now discontinued 30" display at 2560 across, though fewer pixels vertically (1440 vs 1600). The 30" has been the topic of much speculation as Apple has left the large screen display relatively stagnant over the years. Apple's focus on portable products is apparent as the 27" LED Display appears to be primarily targeted at laptop owners.

Apple will continue to sell the 24" and 30" LCDs until stock runs out.