[Daily Recap] More of “Me”; Thinner, Better 3G & Back-to-school Glee!
Posted by Aviv on June 2, 2008 at 6:19 pm PST
More of “Me”
As of late there has been heavy speculation and rumored talk of a complete overhaul of Apple’s .mac service. While many agree, including myself, that .mac is in dire need of a face-lift, an extensive rebranding may be in store. CodingRobots has revealed that references to .mac have been replaced with a variable in the recent Mac OS X 10.5.3 update. This variable is essentially a voided space, that has the possibility of being replaced by future software updates, i.e. a complete overhaul.
Recent findings have hinted toward a .mac update planned in conjunction with an iPhone 2.0 release. This may be indicative of TUAW’s claim made in early May, that .Mac would receive a complete revamp planned around the time of the WWDC. Some updates could include over-the-air syncing similar to Exchange and .mac syncing with Windows. MacRumors has sited evidence that .mac will be offering “push” functionality for Mail, as well as Contacts and Calendar items for the next-gen iPhone, which would lend itself nicely to a WWDC unveiling.
In addition to our recent findings of .me extension domains that Apple may be buying up to serve as the new face of .mac, new allegations of a Me.com purchase have been circulating. John Gruber of DaringFireball.net has suggested that while it is primarily speculative, Me.com may soon under the Apple tree, as the domain is registered under MarkMonitor’s domain service, a domain management company that Apple uses. One other interesting note about the findings leads to a NetCraft page that lists Kenneth Eddings (eddingsk@apple.com) as the DNS administrator for Me.com. Eddings is also the official contact for several of Apple’s domains. Curious, no?
Thinner, Better 3G iPhone
Contrary to previous rumors about the upcoming 3G iPhone being thicker than its predecessor, Wired editor Leander Khaney claims he “… received a hot tip from a programmer at a major software publisher who claims to have seen the specs for the iPhone 2.This is unconfirmed, but according to the tipster, the iPhone 2 will be announced by Steve Jobs at Apple’s WWDC on June 9, and will much offer more for much less — and be thinner to boot.” Leander continues to say “The tipster says Apple will subsidize the iPhone’s price to better compete with RIM’s Blackberry.” as well as list some supposed specs about the upcoming 3G iPhone:
- 3G
- GPS
- 2x memory (16GB and 32GB)
- 22 percent thinner
- Better battery life
Through mounting speculation it is imperative to stay grounded. We think that the confusing reports about better battery life completely contradict the addition of power-hungry features such as 3G and GPS into the device. Those two factors are known battery and power consumers. The source (Leander Khaney) is definitely a trusted name and respected author. (I just finished his book “Inside Steve’s Brain” and it was magnificent.) Though he may be a credible source, he claims his tips are unconfirmed. Apple has been known to seed false information, and even joke about it. Check this out.
Back to School Glee.
AppleInsider has reported that “Apple on Tuesday (June 3rd) will formally announce details of its 2008 Back-to-School promotion, which will offer a free 8GB iPod touch to students who purchase a qualifying Mac.” This marks Apple’s annual back-to-school promotion, which offered up a free iPod Nano last year ( a $199 value).
This year’s promotion will qualify students purchasing a Mac (MacBook, MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, iMac, Mac Pro) to receive the $299 iPod Touch free of charge. Aggressive promotions like this, in addition to a 3G iPhone release will give developers an ever expanding audience for the iTunes Apps and Games store.
