Originally announced on August 7, 2006 at the World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC) the Mac Pro had taken the reigns from its predecessor, the Power Mac G5, becoming Apple’s high end workhorse machine known for its outward appearance and capacity for expansion. On January 8, 2008 Apple introduced the 3.2 GHz, dual quad-core Intel Xeon (Harpertown 45nm), becoming Apple’s most powerful machine to date, yet retained its familiar facade. Over a year has passed since the last Mac Pro update, leading many to believe that an overhaul will be unveiled in the near future.

Set as the Intel-based replacement for Apple’s Power Mac G5, the much anticipated Mac Pro gave users a viable high end option. Rumors and speculation of the Mac Pro’s appearance became wildly popular as even the machine’s namesake became clear due to the company’s dropping of the term “power” for “pro” on their higher end notebook. The Mac Pro has been generally well received since its launch, and users have primarily responded well to the updates that it has seen over the past couple of years. Its performance, expandability and sleek design makes the Mac Pro an industry standard high performance piece of machinery that is often the mark by which others are compared. The Mac Pro’s price points can seem rather steep, as an uber supped model can easily fetch in excess of $20,000, yet the performance speaks for itself.

As of late there has been minimal speculation or rumors regarding a Mac Pro update. Over the past couple of weeks, we have caught word of a few minor aesthetic enhancements including the loss of its cheese grater-esque front and back exterior for a more refined laser cut micro-perforated face. Additionally, conceptual slot loading front end drives will allow the Mac Pro shed its outdated mug and eliminate the risk of breakage. It’s important to remember that Apple most likely won’t completely redesign its high-end professional line of machines. Instead, subtle and elegant refinements throughout the machine making for a much sleeker and sexier look is what we expect to see. Apple will most likely make use of its new aluminum manufacturing methods as well.

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As far as ports are concerned, we believe that a new Mac Pro could sport additional USB 2.0 inputs, a single FireWire 400 and multiple FireWire 800 ports, dual eSATA and HDMI inputs and also be able to support the new 24″ LED Cinema Displays with dual Mini DisplayPorts and MagSafe power. Two Dual-link DVI ports would remain on the machine for users of the older Apple Cinema Displays.

Recent evidence has also pointed to the adoption of the new eight-core Intel Nehalem class processors that are set to be announced at next month’s International Solid-State Circuits Conference. The ISSCC notes that Intel will show off an “eight-core, 16-thread Xeon processor manufactured with a 45-nanometer process,” that would certainly lend itself nicely to a Mac Pro update. The Mac Pro has not been given any sort of love in over a year, making way for an update that may include new processors which would boost the machine’s overall speed and performance.

Slap on a shiny black trimmed Apple logo to match the new notebook line and you’ve got yourself one hot machine. Without even so much of a whisper about the Mac Pro at this past Macworld ‘09, we expect to see it receive some attention over the next couple of months.

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From UK based Autocar:

Knut Simonsson, the Saab’s director of Global Brand and Sales, told a Dutch auto magazine that the Saab DNA underpinning future models will be represented by “innovation, aircraft history and Scandinavia”. This can be summed up by the idea of “independent thinking” he said.

Saab could ape Apple by having a small market share but appearing to be much bigger, said Simonsson. It would be a “special brand for entrepreneurs, dentists, doctors and agency people”. Saab was “absolutely not” about being the same as other car makers. “We don’t want to be another Audi,” he said.

Simonsson says Saab started thinking this way “three or four years ago” with the Saab Aero-X concept:

In the longer term, he said, Saab doesn’t have to be a very big company to be viable, claiming Saab can be profitable with production of 150,000 cars per year. Simonsson also claimed the company was “profitable in Europe for the last two or three years”, suggesting it is in the US sales market that the company loses money.

Hopefully the interior looks something like this. Either way, we wish them luck.

[Autocar via Jalopnik]

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Gizmodo has put together some concept art for a product they call the iPhone Pro. They expanded on an original idea labeled the iPhone Elite by Mat Brady. Both designs shed some interesting light on the possible future of Apple’s iPhone lineup.

A bigger screen, physical keyboard, more storage and a directional pad could intensely change the way people view the iPhone. As a gaming device, it could genuinely compete with things like the Sony PSP and Nintendo DS. With the addition of a physical keyboard, users on the fence due to the virtual keyboard would feel a needed sense of comfort.

Rumors about an iPhone nano have been pouring in during the weeks leading up to Macworld. We have our own opinions about the alleged “iPhone nano,” and needless to say, we’d like to see the iPhone family grow in the direction of this concept, not backwards. By introducing new models with more features, increased storage and more powerful processors, current models would be made cheaper. With a firm belief on giving consumers as much as possible, we believe this is how Apple should be diversifying the iPhone family.

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The patent application gives credit to Wanye Westerman, who along with his partner John Elias were brought onto Apple’s touch technology team after founding Fingerworks. While it may not be widely known, Fingerworks has been largely responsible for developing a lot of Apple’s current touch technology. Apple has financially supported Elias and Westerman’s furthering of the touch tech, and we all know how far they’ve taken it so far.

One possible scenario in which the new swipe gestures would be used, is “on top” of the iPhone’s virtual keyboard. In essence, these new gestures would give users access to certain input elements like “delete” and “enter” via more natural progressions.

For example, erasing and basic punctuation insertion, directional swipes (also referred to herein as “swipe gestures”) over the alphabetic keys can be used as an alternative to striking certain keys. Because the Space and Backspace keys are quite frequently used, they are logical candidates for the rightward and leftward swipes, respectively. Leftward and rightward swipes intuitively match the cursor travel caused by these symbols. Following this cursor movement analogy, the Enter/Return may be invoked by a downward swipe, and a Shift/Caps may be invoked by an upward swipe. Alternatively, as the Enter and Shift functions may be less frequently invoked, these may be substituted for other functions as well. One alternative mapping for the upward swipe, for example, could be to activate an alternative numeric and punctuation keypad or a particular punctuation symbol like an apostrophe or period.

Surely many will take this patent with a bit more of a “conceptual” vibe than usual. As MacRumors notes, this particular patent application is pretty ambitious. Apple’s touch technology is believed to be carried over into future touch interface products, including a Mac tablet or netbook. However, the technology still needs to mature before it can be adopted by the masses for expected and efficient productivity. After all, there’s still no copy-and-paste.

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The Mighty Mouse made its public debut on August 2, 2005 becoming Apple’s first multi-button mouse ever. Its wireless counterpart was released the following year and aside from a minor aesthetic change in 2007, the device has remained practically untouched since its inception. While indeed, the Mighty Mouse brought a well received touch-sensitive top shell, a 360 degree clickable scroll ball, and pressure sensitive side “squeeze” buttons, Apple’s current touch technology and manufacturing methods leave the little old Mighty Mouse in the dust. Time for a change? Perhaps the design below can offer up what may be in store.

The Mighty Mouse is currently made of white plastic, a material that is becoming rare amongst Apple products (iPhone 3G aside). We have seen the white plastic iMac morph into an aluminum gem, and more recently have witnessed the older MacBooks lose their plastic case in favor of an aluminum unibody design. Simple logic would agree that a shift from the current white plastic shell to an aluminum casing would not be out of the question. Anyone who owns or has used a Mighty Mouse for any extended period of time is not only familiar with the gunk that accumulates along the edges but have probably had a problem with dirt building on the scroll ball rendering it useless until thoroughly cleaned. What would would be more amazing than gripping an aluminum Mighty Mouse that utilizes touch action scrolling?

Apple’s touch technology has grown leaps and bounds since the debut of the Mighty Mouse. A 2007 patent application details an “arbitrary shaped grippable member” (don’t get any filthy ideas here) that incorporates positioning and multitouch detection to determine a users action. In essence, it would act as one seamless area from which a user could scroll and pan by dragging a finger over the device’s surface. The mouse would also have the ability to process various movements and gestures assigned to different functions on the computer. “For example, gestures can be created to detect and effect a user command to resize a window, scroll a display, rotate an object, zoom in or out of a displayed view, delete or insert text or other objects, etc.” The patent goes on to detail that “gestures can also be used to invoke and manipulate virtual control interfaces, such as volume knobs, switches, sliders, handles, knobs, doors, and other widgets that may be created to facilitate human interaction with the computing system.”

As the design indicates, an updated aluminum Mighty Mouse could boast sleeker dimensions that are better contoured to the hand. A lower profile body would make touch usability more versatile for complex gestures while still retaining enough height to fit the necessary batteries to power it. Outfitted with a glass front end surface to capture finger movements, this could be the end all be all Mighty Mouse of the future.

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Architosh amusingly lists off three products they’d like to see released. First is an all aluminum updated version of the original Macintosh — “would be a “limited edition” run modern Mac redone that had a full blown emulator of all the classic software available on the original Mac,” then a Mac Pro Ultra — “It would be the fastest computer in the world and hold that title for more than a year,” and new Mac touch — “The Mac touch would be Apple’s answer to the rapid rise in the popularity of Netbooks.”

The three ideas are kind of nifty, although I’m not sure what “It would be the fastest computer in the world and hold that title for more than a year,” means. It’s important to remember that a 25th anniversary product wouldn’t necessarily be a widely sold product. It would most likely be a limited edition, or short run product. The 20th anniversary Macintosh, which actually celebrated Apple Computer’s 20th anniversary, not the Macintosh itself, sold for nearly $7,500 and shipped in March 1997. Far too expensive for most to even consider, let alone purchase. Especially with the economy tanking.

So what could Apple do to commemorate the Macintosh’s 25th anniversary? Here are a few ideas:

• Special Run Macbook Air — The Macbook Air is pretty expensive nowadays. So, those purchasing the special edition Air would not be affected by sticker shock. Apple could release an anodized black aluminum Macbook Air with some out of this world specs. Seeing as how the final price wouldn’t necessarily be a hindrance for Apple, they could go nuts with this thing.

• Promotional Sale — Apple’s not known for its blowout sales, so this is definitely a stretch. The 25th anniversary of the Macintosh is a pretty big deal, so dropping some prices could help those potential customers that may be on the fence. Shareholders would welcome the promotion, and all of the marketing would be free. Apple could simply change their website’s homepage and let the internet find out on its own.

• Special Run Mac Pro — Expanding on the Mac Pro Ultra idea, Apple could release a commemorative Mac Pro. This could again be priced as high as they like, it wouldn’t be released with the intention of moving mass units. Apple could incorporate some new aluminum manufacturing methods, maybe make it lighter, and thinner. Maybe the Apple logo on the side could be see through, or glow. Throw in some Blu-ray, HDMI, e-SATA, SSD hard drives and give us top of the line graphics cards as well. For those interested in this machine, price would most likely not be a concern.

• iMac: 25th Anniversary Edition — Apple could draw on inspiration from the original Twentieth Anniversary Mac (video), and unveil a limited edition all-in-one. They partnered with Bose for the speakers on the 20th anniversary mac, so maybe they could do that again (only this time minus the buzz issues). Again, price wouldn’t be an issue, so throw in Blu-ray, HDMI, and all the good stuff.

Apple might not do anything at all come January 24th. Perhaps all we’ll get is a new graphic on Apple.com’s homepage. Either way, it’s a special day, not just for Apple users, but for the industry as a whole.

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As the website itself states, “CrunchBase is the free database of technology companies, people, and investors that anyone can edit.” The website proves extremely handy for many publications everyday as they rely on CrunchBase to quickly find information about companies, individuals and certain services they can’t find elsewhere. A quick search for nearly any digital startup, web service, or tech related product returns a few different companies, often times individuals associated with those companies, their products, and funding partners (if any). This is all important information that ultimately helps organize and categorize our industry.

Michael Arrington, Founder and Co-Editor of TechCrunch, is entirely setup to deliver a much needed service to Apple, the Apple community, iPhone developers, and the industry in general. Not only would this new addition to CrunchBase be aiding in the organization of the iPhone development platform, it would of course launch CrunchBase into a daily “go-to” for many iPhone developers around the world. They would constantly be checking back to see what is happening in the iPhone development community, which applications are being launched, the number of times they’ve been downloaded, and all of the pertinent information that CrunchBase currently serves up for the digital world.

Unlike most “free” databases that are open to the public, Arrington’s CrunchBase is highly visible and in the spotlight. New companies, individuals and services are being added every day. And above all else, TechCrunch is an authoritative, credible publication.

The Proposed Solution

In a nuthsell: Rollout an entirely new section relying on the same technical framework as CrunchBase, only focus it entirely on Apple’s iPhone and iPod touch development platform. A spinoff section, on either a subdomian like http://app.crunchbase.com, or an entirely different domain like www.crunchapps.com. I registered crunchapps.com and I’d happily transfer it over to Arrington. The benefits for both CrunchBase and CrunchApps, and the Apple community in general could be immense.

For CrunchApps: Beat Apple to their own game. Show them that they’re not needed all the time. They’ve done their job in developing the iPhone, providing the industry with tools to create wonderful applications, and maintaining the integrity of the iPhone’s performance. When it comes to the development community, and managing the App Store, Apple clearly doesn’t care. In all fairness, their efforts with reorganizing and categorizing the app store have been futile.

What the iPhone development community needs is a “go-to” resource for credible information. As we’ve been able to tell, it’s currently a mess. While this space may seem niche, there’s no denying the iPhone’s rank as the top handset, with the best platform in the world. For this reason alone, Arrington should feel compelled to help drive the community, if not influence its potential.

CrunchApps could allow the same embeddable widgets for iPhone development teams, iPhone app specific companies, and of course the applications themselves. Bloggers both large and small in reach could rely on CrunchApps for quick reference when it comes to comparing apps and researching information.

For the Apple Community: Besides the immediate benefits of having all of that information in one place, sharing, collaborating and managing the integrity of the development platform can be done hands on, by the community itself.

Without a doubt, every iPhone app developer wants as much visibility as possible. There’s absolutely no
reason to believe that iPhone developers won’t submit or claim their products on CrunchApps. The public wiki formula has been proven successful with CrunchBase, and on the largest scale with Wikipedia. This would ultimately be a scaled down version of both. Just as on CrunchBase’s homepage, there would be a constantly updated feed showcasing the latest submissions, recent edits, funding information, download count information, ratings. If there’s no way to integrate into the App Store’s statistics information and get the actual App Store ratings, then start from scratch. Within the first few days CrunchApps would be populated with mountains of information.

The iPhone development platform in its current stage is extremely fragile. As we’ve seen since its launch, every rejection, every questionable approval, and every time there’s a lack of communication, it gets scrutinized by the community, and by the developers themselves.

Apple is usually good about listening to its customer base, and in some occasions they will adopt what the masses are asking for. In this case however, little has been done by Apple to help alleviate serious concerns being shared in the dev community. With CrunchApps, Michael Arrington could utilize his existing setup, replicate the minimal infrastructure needed, and deploy an organized, well managed and well maintained staple in the industry.

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Macrumors reports that one in the series of these patents, dubbed Multidimensional Desktop, contains diagrams that reveal how the desktop may look and function. The figure below, shows the multidimensional environment, which as you can see depicts what appears to be 3 dimensional depth. Along the sides of the desktop lie “function” icons that could prompt commands on each surface. These icons are also believed to be able to receive 3D manipulation, allowing them to “fall” if displaced.

The image below displays how a window can be dragged across the multiple 3 dimensional surfaces, which can trigger icons or windows to display different information. “For example, on the bottom surface, icons and other system object representations can be displayed according to a large scale; on the side surface, icons and system object representations can be displayed according to small scale; on the back surface, icons and other system object representations can be displayed in a list format.”

An additional example shows a 3D Finder that lacks a traditional surface, instead utilizing a stack item to access menu items, typically found at the top of the desktop. When a menu item is selected it could place menu items on a variety of surfaces.

Macrumors maintains that it is still unclear when or if Apple will ever apply these concepts to future versions of Mac OS X, as 10.6, due to arrive in Q1 of 2009 has focused primarily on “under the hood” performance.

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According to one iPhone Atlas reader’s experience with the already-on-the-market zboost, “It’s a pricey solution at around $250 US, but it does work. It requires that I position an antenna in my kitchen window, where I receive a strong signal, then run a coax cable from the kitchen to my office, where it connects to a remote unit with another antenna. I get all five bars as a result.”

Back in early November, we explained a few interesting pieces of information regarding AT&T’s future plans with the iPhone, and how they were testing multiple technologies in their labs. Femtocell research is a high priority for AT&T. It is a unified technology that may have the ability to cohesively sync many of their services.

AT&T is reportedly planning to make their own version of the zboost available in a trial market sometime next year, hoping to improve 3G performance in addition to enhancing its voice signals. There is no indication yet on how AT&T’s cell phone booster will be configured, or how much it will sell for. But if it is anything like that of zboost’s “simple” solution, we won’t be surprised if it requires standing on our roof holding a long metal probe with tin foil on the end.

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The patent is primarily focused around conserving power and allowing users to easily check the status of services such as Email, phone calls, low battery warning, SMS messages and so forth. A variety of backlit status indicators would be in place so an iPhone user could quickly glance at the device, perhaps while it’s sitting on a table or across the room, and quickly see any new notifications. Keeping the primary LCD off is a core element of this system which should in turn allow for even more battery life.

Seeing as how Apple is trying to avoid having to turn the LCD screen on, the backlit status indicators could not be powered by the primary LCD’s backlight. For this reason, Apple wants to introduce a secondary dual backlight system. As AppleInsider explains, this secondary backlight would be placed behind the primary LCD’s backlight in order to power the light status indicators, which need to be on when the LCD is not.

“The primary backlight system may block light from the secondary backlight system except for those one or more regions,” the filing explains. “Thus, the size and shape of the status indicator may be set by sizing and shaping the transparent or semitransparent regions of the primary backlight system. In addition to setting the size and shape of the icon, the color of the icon may also be set by adjusting the color of the light provided by the secondary backlight system.”

“For example, each indicator may have a particular color, blinking speed, or light intensity. These properties may be programmed into the electronic device by the user, or may be hard-coded or hard-wired into the system,” Apple said. “Thus, when the secondary backlight is turned on, the properties of the light provided by the secondary backlight system may depend on the status of the device. Also, if the status of the electronic device changes while the secondary backlight is on, the properties of the light provided by the secondary backlight system may change to reflect the new status.”

The 24-page filing revealed for the first time this week is credited to Apple engineer Michael Rosenblatt.

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