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.

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Multi-Touch™ is a trademark of Apple Inc.

It seems as though Apple has trade-marked the term Multi-Touch™. Which should be a pretty big deal seeing as how many other companies are using the term broadly in new devices. I am not quite sure if this will result in any lawsuits, but it will sure be interesting to watch. See it for yourself at the bottom of this page. via Mac Daily News

HUGE back-to-school promotion being planned by Apple.

Our neighboring site Apple Insider reports that its sources reveal Apple is planning the biggest back-to-school promotion “ever”. “Apple as early as Monday is expected to announce its 2008 back-to-school promotion, which will encourage students to purchase a new Mac through some of the biggest incentives in the company’s history,” AppleInsider is reporting.

Last year’s promotions included rebates up to $199 when purchasing any Mac other than a Mac Mini and either a video iPod or iPod nano during the same purchase. This promotion became known as “getting a free iPod,” which Apple loved.

3G iPhone commercial being shot at Apple’s Flagship Manhattan store?

5th Avenue Apple Store Closes

The Apple flagship store in Manhattan is closing for 24 hours. Rumors are flying around that Apple is shooting a commercial for the unreleased iPhone inside the store. The quote from the Apple website reads ““Please note we will be temporarily closed Thursday, May 29 at 3:00 p.m. and will reopen Friday, May 30 at 9:00 a.m. During this time, please visit one of our other two Manhattan locations.”

According to MacRumors sources, Apple is actually filming a commercial for the upcoming 3G-capable iPhone with filming to occur inside and around the 5th Avenue store.

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OS 10.5.3 upgrade

Today Apple has released the latest 10.5.3 update to Leopard, fixing 70 issues with the operating system and its components. Among the many changes made to the OS, several fixes address the compatibility issues for Time Machine backup application as well as issues with Apple’s workflow application for photographers Aperture 2.

Desktop application, Spaces, received a few minor updates concerning the issue of the reordering of windows when switching between desktops. Mail received 10 updates in 10.5.3 including a fix for stabilizing the dragging of large attachments to messages. iChat saw some improvement in reliability of screen-sharing sessions and controlled the issue of group chats not being indexed in spotlight.

The latest Leopard update should be available to you in your Mac OS X Software Update.

iPhone SDK 6 Beta released

In addition to the OS 10.5.3 update, Apple has also released the sixth beta version of the iPhone SDK (build 9M2192, beta 6). The update fixes several bugs as well as providing support for for the latest iPhone OS. The update is only compatible with the 10.5.3 update, so be sure to install this prior to the SDK. You can download the iPhone SDK here.

More 3G rumors surface

Griffin case moldings

MacNN relayed photos that had surfaced on Chinese website iDealsChina, that show rumored case moldings from Griffin Technologies that are said to be compatible with the upcoming 3G iPhone release. The images would appear to convey a thinner, more rounded back iPhone with a new position for the camera. MacNN sites iDeals estimate that implies that “Griffin has had the 3G iPhone for at least 14 to 19 days, and likely longer, as it would have to add its own custom touches regardless of the simplicity of a silicone case.”

Orange to offer cheap 3G upgrades

According to French site PC INpact, mobile carrier Orange, has allegedly (yet certainly not confirmed) reported that they are offering iPhone users a number of enticements to convince users to upgrade to new upcoming model. There are two options currently circulating that would ease current users shift to the upgraded model. The first of which being, the user can return there current iPhone and upgrade to the next-gen model for a mere 50 Euros. The other option would be for users to keep their current model and buy the 3G at a subsidized rate.

SDK 3g iPhone icon

It seems as though some readers from out neighboring MacRumors.com forums have dug around the new iPhone SDK and found an icon that looks eerily similar to pictures and recent rumors about the upcoming 3g iPhone. The new icon also looks rather different from other device (specifically iPhone and iPod Touch) icons included in the Apple SDK.

The image is scaled up a TON, so it can’t be taken too seriously. We download the SDK releases and the icon is definitely there. Either way, it definitely seems like all the information leading up to the 3g release is beginning to line up.

Intel delay confirms Macbook launch

Intel Corp. has confirmed that it will delay volume shipments of its upcoming “Montevina” Centrino 2 mobile platform by as much as two months, which will push a release of Apple’s redesigned MacBook notebooks to late summer at the earliest.via Apple Insider.

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