The biggest news is the Magic Mouse. Apple has always struggled when it comes to making a really useful mouse, but initial impressions of this one is that it could be the winner Mac users have been waiting for. It uses the patented multi-touch technology Apple has used to great success on the iPhone and last-generation MacBooks.

The device has a low-profile top shell that’s all one piece — no buttons or scroll wheels in sight. Instead, all of those functions and more are done using gestures on the touch-sensitive shell. Like old Mac mice, the entire Magic Mouse is one big button, though PC-style right-clicking is made easier now by simply clicking the top right corner of the shell. To scroll up, down, side to side, or even in circles, just brush your Magic Mouse in the direction you want to scroll. A two-finger swipe function allows you to easily browse iPhoto pics or go back or forward in your web browser.

The Magic Mouse comes standard on all new iMacs (see below) but can be added to any Bluetooth-friendly Mac desktop for $69.

Another big — but expected — announcement was the upgraded white plastic MacBook. Though the price hasn’t changed from the standard $999, Apple boasts that it’s been completely redesigned. The sleek “unibody” design that Apple has successfully used to minimize the thickness of the aluminum MacBook Air and MacBook Pro has finally made it to the plastic MacBook, as has the glass multitouch trackpad. Apple claims that the new MacBook runs more energy-efficient than its predecessor, lasting up to seven hours on a single charge. The laptop also has a brighter, more brilliant screen, thanks to its 13″ LED display. You can expect all of the usual upgrades in power and storage space as well, along with a greener, more environmentally friendly profile.

The iMac got a small overhaul, going up in display size to 21.5″ and 27″ LEDs. The 21.5″ has a 1920×1080 pixel resolution, but the 27″ displays at a mind-boggling 2560×1440 pixels, which is well beyond HD standards. Included standard are a wireless keyboard and the new Magic Mouse. Storage is now available up to 2 terabytes, memory goes up to 16GB, and for the first time ever, the iMac has an SD card slot nestled right beside the DVD-ROM drive. There are several other little aesthetic enhancements, but most of them are the kind of thing that improve the experience without drawing attention to themselves.

Not a bad showing, but the biggest takeaway here might be that neither the MacBook nor the iMac got two long-awaited features: Blu-ray drives and touchscreens.

Last but not least, the Mac Mini got a boost in power and environmental factors, jumping up 200% in memory over the last generation. You get a GeForce 9400M graphics processor, and built-in WiFi. And for the first time, your Mac Mini can function as a server, with Snow Leopard Server in the mix, and the option to expand the device’s memory up to a full terabyte.

Images: Apple Inc.

Post from: EveryJoe

Apple unveils Magic Mouse, new MacBooks

Apple’s Mighty Mouse first arrived in mid-2005 as a peripheral exclusively for use with Mac OS X. It was met with mixed reviews, which over time have turned decidedly negative. Users have been turned off by the non-useful side buttons, the on-again-off-again Bluetooth connection the wireless Mighty Mouse has with the iMac, and the problematic track ball on top.

Apple has been busy of late filing patents for a new kind of mouse that uses multitouch gestures, and it looks like the new device couldn’t come a minute too soon. A company called Man & Machine has been using the term “Mighty Mouse” to describe one of its products for five years — predating Apple’s clicker by a year — and sued Apple for the name in May of 2008. The Patent Office has ruled this week that Man & Machine is the sole owner of the trademark.

Image: Apple, Inc.

Post from: EveryJoe

The not-so-Mighty Mouse

Gizmodo is reporting insider information that the iPad will do a lot more than surf the web and run iPhone apps. Apple is looking to take on Amazon’s Kindle, too — and redefine what an ebook is. A big push of the iPad will be into the arena of college textbooks, where Apple believes it can present a more appealing opportunity to textbook publishers by cutting out bookstores, who re-sell the expensive tomes yearly without the publishers seeing a dime. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

The rumor is that Apple has been talking to major newspapers, magazines, and book publishers about creating a new format of ebook that upgrades the entire format to something more interactive. This could take the form of some kind of hybrid multimedia book, where audio, video, and imagery are used to make the typically static formats of traditional books into something truly next-gen.

Image: Robin Parrish.

Post from: EveryJoe

Apple Tablet Hopes to Redefine Print

Did you know the very first Apple Macintosh computer to ever roll off the assembly line was given to Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry? (I didn’t.) Profiles in History — the same folks auctioning Michael Jackson’s white glove and a whole slew of Lost memorabilia — are auctioning off the iconic PC, which bears the telltale serial number of F4200NUM0001.

The very first Macintosh Plus 1MB will come with a signed letter from Gene Roddenberry’s son Rod. Built at Apple Computer in Fresno, California, the computer was presented to Roddenberry as a gift by Apple in 1986. The Mac Plus is a very historical piece, having been the first mass produced computer to utilize a mouse. It supported the double-sided floppy disk and was the first Mac with a SCSI port.

The computer will be part of Profiles in History’s special auction of Hollywood memorabilia taking place October 8th – 9th.

Image: Profiles in History.

Post from: EveryJoe

First-ever Mac to be auctioned

In the “yes” column: iTunes 9.0. Full-length album download format. Facebook & Twitter integration in iTunes. Lower iPod prices. Whole new iPod Nano with built-in video camera, FM radio tuner, microphone, speaker, pedometer, available today.

And all this under the long-awaited return of Steve Jobs.

Let’s break it down.

iTunes

iTunes got a major upgrade today in the form of iTunes 9.0, which sports a clean, fully redesigned interface and tons of enhancements both big and small:

• The big news is iTunes LP (the project formerly code-named Cocktail), a snazzy new format for downloading entire albums. Purchase a full album that’s LP-enabled and in addition to all the songs, you get full lyrics, photography, liner notes, videos, and other “extras” similar to what you might get on a DVD.
• Similar to iTunes LP is iTunes Extras, additional interactive content and “DVD Extras”-style features for downloadable movies.
• Greatly hyped was the new ability to manage iPhone/iPod Touch Apps from inside iTunes. This is something users have been begging for, for years: the ability to reorganize how Apps are displayed on your home screen.
• Genius Mix is a new function that culls together music from your playlist in a never-ending stream of like-minded songs, like your own personal radio station.
• Home Sharing lets you copy any media from one version of iTunes in your house to any other version of iTunes in your house — on up to 5 computers.
• Twitter and Facebook have been integrated with iTunes at last, thanks to little arrows next to the “Buy” button on each song, that let you do more than just buy: you can add a song to a wishlist, gift a song to someone else, or microblog about a song on Facebook and Twitter.

iPod

There was less unveiled here than everyone seemed to be hoping for, with the biggest news being the new model iPod Nano. The Nano, which Apple says is the “most popular music player in the world,” now comes with a built-in video camera, a built-in FM radio tuner, a pedometer that can be synced to Nike’s popular workout software, a microphone, and even a speaker — a first for a non-Touch iPod. Two models are available: an 8GB version for $149, and a 16GB version for $179. They come in nine high-gloss colors.

The iPod Touch saw no major enhancements, but got a price drop down to $199 for the 8GB version, $299 for 32GB, and $399 for the new 64GB version.

The iPod Classic did not get discontinued, as some had speculated it might. Instead it also got a bump up in capacity, from 120GB up to 160GB, but the price remains the same: $249.

The iPod Shuffle was another device some thought might end up on the chopping block, but it ain’t so. The device itself got no major improvements but Apple announced that new and different kinds of headphones will soon become available for the Shuffle, all with the Shuffle’s controller built into their connector cord. Five new colors were introduced for the Shuffle, which sells for $59 (2GB) and $79 (4GB). A special edition brushed stainless steel version was also shown off.

iPhone

Not to be left out, the iPhone got a little love today as well, in the form of iPhone OS 3.1, which adds the Genius function to Apps, to recommend Apps you’d like based on ones you’ve already bought. Also included is the ability to buy and download Ringtones right from your iPhone for $1.29 a pop. Apple claims to have 30,000 Ringtones available from all four major record labels. OS 3.1 is a free download that’s available today.

Looks like that’s about it, kiddies. The fabled iPad tablet remains exactly that: a fable. The Beatles catalog won’t see the light of day for a while, if ever. But we have a whole new iTunes and some mild upgrades to the various iPod models.

So are you excited by what Apple showed off today? Or was it too much hype and not enough action?

Images: Apple Inc.

Post from: EveryJoe

Apple lowers iPod prices, unveils iTunes 9

Apple unloads the new iPod Shuffle with nary a clue. There was very little inkling that it would come out. So imagine my surprise when I saw the Apple announcement in my inbox.

Add to that there’s iPhone 3.0 which is scheduled to be previewed on March 17. I just hope I’ll be well enough to check that out as it happens.

As we can see, Apple seems to be doing fine in the absence of Steve. There’s just a little less fan fare but the slew of new products in recent weeks assure as that Apple continues ensuring it provides us with the products we’ve grown accustomed to.

It would still be better to see Steve back but as it is with everyone, including myself, life goes on even if we’re on sick leave.

Post from: EveryJoe

Sick As A Dog

Still what he writes is nothing short of amazing. He particularly loves the screen of the new MBP.

The integrated battery is also great but battery life is dependent on the usage. The author got about 6 hours of battery life out of it. Not bad for this monster.

Read the full review here.

Post from: EveryJoe

Computerworld Reviews The 17 inch MacBook Pro

[image courtesy of Apple Inc.]

Sporting Intel’s new “Nehalem” processors, Apple has updated it’s pro desktop. The Mac Pro. It’s still a beauty but also a fierce beast able to tear through the most demanding of applications. According to the press release.

The new Mac Pro includes Intel Xeon processors running at speeds up to 2.93 GHz, each with an integrated memory controller with three channels of 1066 MHz DDR3 ECC memory that delivers up to 2.4 times the memory bandwidth while cutting memory latency up to 40 percent.** Every Mac Pro comes standard with the NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 with 512MB of GDDR3 memory, a high-performance graphics card with nearly three times greater performance when compared to the previous generation system.*** An optional ATI Radeon HD 4870 is available for even more performance. With both a Mini DisplayPort and DVI port, the new Mac Pro provides out-of-the-box support for the 24-inch Apple LED Cinema Display, the 30-inch Apple Cinema HD Display, or other DVI based displays.

The Mac Pro has 2 standard models with BTO options also available to configure to your heart’s delight. The models are:

The new quad-core Mac Pro, with a suggested retail price of $2,499 (US), includes:

* one 2.66 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon 3500 series processor with 8MB of shared L3 cache;
* 3GB of 1066 MHz DDR3 ECC SDRAM memory, expandable up to 8GB;
* NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 graphics with 512MB of GDDR3 memory;
* 640GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s hard drive running at 7200 rpm;
* 18x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW);
* Mini DisplayPort and DVI (dual-link) for video output (adapters sold separately);
* four PCI Express 2.0 slots;
* five USB 2.0 ports and four FireWire® 800 ports;
* Bluetooth 2.1+EDR; and
* ships with Apple Keyboard with numerical keypad and Mighty Mouse.

The new 8-core Mac Pro, with a suggested retail price of $3,299 (US), includes:

* two 2.26 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon 5500 series processors with 8MB of shared L3 cache per processor;
* 6GB of 1066 MHz DDR3 ECC SDRAM memory, expandable up to 32GB;
* NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 graphics with 512MB of GDDR3 memory;
* 640GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s hard drive running at 7200 rpm;
* 18x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW);
* Mini DisplayPort and DVI (dual-link) for video output (adapters sold separately);
* four PCI Express 2.0 slots;
* five USB 2.0 ports and four FireWire 800 ports;
* Bluetooth 2.1+EDR; and
* ships with Apple Keyboard with numerical keypad and Mighty Mouse.

Read the complete press release here.

Post from: EveryJoe

Apple Updates The Mac Pro: Beauty and A Beast

[image courtesy of Apple Inc.]

Apple announced the update of the iMac, it’s all-in-one desktop. Apple is offering more iMac for less money. The 24″ model now starts at just $1499. According to the press release.

The elegant, full-featured iMac line starts with the 20-inch iMac for only $1,199 with a 2.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 2GB of 1066 MHz DDR3 memory, a 320GB Serial ATA hard drive and NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics. The 24-inch iMac features a beautiful 1920-by-1200 pixel widescreen display that offers 30 percent more screen real estate than the 20-inch model, and starts at just $1,499. The 24-inch iMac includes up to a 3.06 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 4GB of 1066 MHz DDR3 memory, a 640GB or 1TB Serial ATA hard drive, and a variety of graphics technology from NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics to the NVIDIA GeForce GT 130 or ATI Radeon HD 4850 discrete graphics for ultimate performance.

There are 4 standard models available for the iMac.

The new 20-inch 2.66 GHz iMac, for a suggested retail price of $1,199 (US), includes:

* 20-inch widescreen LCD display;
* 2.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 6MB shared L2 cache;
* 2GB 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM expandable to 8GB;
* NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics;
* 320GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 7200 rpm;
* a slot-load 8x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW);
* Mini DisplayPort for video output (adapters sold separately);
* built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking & Bluetooth 2.1+EDR;
* built-in iSight video camera;
* Gigabit Ethernet port;
* four USB 2.0 ports;
* one FireWire 800 port;
* built-in stereo speakers and microphone; and
* the Apple Keyboard, Mighty Mouse.

The new 24-inch 2.66 GHz iMac, for a suggested retail price of $1,499 (US), includes:

* 24-inch widescreen LCD display;
* 2.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 6MB shared L2 cache;
* 4GB 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM expandable to 8GB;
* NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics;
* 640GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 7200 rpm;
* a slot-load 8x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW);
* Mini DisplayPort for video output (adapters sold separately);
* built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking & Bluetooth 2.1+EDR;
* built-in iSight video camera;
* Gigabit Ethernet port;
* four USB 2.0 ports;
* one FireWire 800 port;
* built-in stereo speakers and microphone; and
* the Apple Keyboard, Mighty Mouse.

The new 24-inch 2.93 GHz iMac, for a suggested retail price of $1,799 (US), includes:

* 24-inch widescreen LCD display;
* 2.93 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 6MB shared L2 cache;
* 4GB 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM expandable to 8GB;
* NVIDIA GeForce GT 120; with 256MB GDDR3 SDRAM memory;
* 640GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 7200 rpm;
* a slot-load 8x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW);
* Mini DisplayPort for video output (adapters sold separately);
* built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking & Bluetooth 2.1+EDR;
* built-in iSight video camera;
* Gigabit Ethernet port;
* four USB 2.0 ports;
* one FireWire 800 port;
* built-in stereo speakers and microphone; and
* the Apple Keyboard, Mighty Mouse.

The new 24-inch 3.06 GHz iMac, for a suggested retail price of $2,199 (US), includes:

* 24-inch widescreen LCD display;
* 3.06 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 6MB shared L2 cache;
* 4GB 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM expandable to 8GB;
* NVIDIA GeForce GT 130; with 512MB GDDR3 memory;
* 1TB Serial ATA hard drive running at 7200 rpm;
* a slot-load 8x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW);
* Mini DisplayPort for video output (adapters sold separately);
* built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking & Bluetooth 2.1+EDR;
* built-in iSight video camera;
* Gigabit Ethernet port;
* four USB 2.0 ports;
* one FireWire 800 port;
* built-in stereo speakers and microphone; and
* the Apple Keyboard, Mighty Mouse.

Read the full press release here.

Post from: EveryJoe

Apple Updates the iMac: More for Less

[image courtesy of Apple Inc. ]

Apple updated today it’s entry level consumer desktop model, the Mac Mini. It’s touting it as a faster, greener machine than it’s predecessors. Quoting from the Apple PR release.

Starting at $599, the Mac mini is an innovative, tiny desktop measuring only 6.5 by 6.5 by 2-inches. Available in two models, Mac mini features a 2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, up to 4GB of DDR3 1066 MHz memory, up to 320GB Serial ATA hard drive, five USB 2.0 ports, FireWire 800 and a SuperDrive®. The Mac mini features NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics for up to five times better graphics performance than before* and now with dual display support can drive two Apple or third-party displays with Mini DisplayPort or DVI connections. Using less than 13 watts of power at idle, up to 10 times less power than a typical desktop PC, the new Mac mini is the most energy efficient desktop in the world.**

Apple is offering two standard models for the Mac Mini.

The new 2.0 GHz Mac mini, for a suggested retail price of $599 (US), includes:

* 2.0 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 3MB shared L2 cache;
* 1GB of 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM expandable up to 4GB;
* NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics;
* 120GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 5400 rpm;
* a slot-load 8x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW);
* Mini DisplayPort and mini-DVI for video output (adapters sold separately);
* built-in AirPort Extreme wireless networking & Bluetooth 2.1+EDR;
* Gigabit Ethernet (10/100/1000 BASE-T);
* five USB 2.0 ports;
* one FireWire 800 port; and
* one audio line in and one audio line out port, each supporting both optical digital and analog.

The new 2.0 GHz Mac mini, for a suggested retail price of $799 (US), includes:

* 2.0 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 3MB shared L2 cache;
* 2GB of 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM expandable up to 4GB;
* NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics;
* 320GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 5400 rpm;
* a slot-load 8x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW);
* Mini DisplayPort and mini-DVI for video output (adapters sold separately);
* built-in AirPort Extreme wireless networking & Bluetooth 2.1+EDR;
* Gigabit Ethernet (10/100/1000 BASE-T);
* five USB 2.0 ports;
* one FireWire 800 port; and
* one audio line in and one audio line out port, each supporting both optical digital and analog.

As with its other computers, BTO options are available.

Read the complete press release here.

Post from: EveryJoe

Apple Updates Mac Mini: Little Green Machine