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Steve’s keynote is still going on but the title news are just these…
😉
Looking forward to try Leopard (and Safari 3.0).

As rumors predicted a new lineup of MacBook Pros has been announced today by Apple.

Not exactly an update of the previous models: some brand new features have been introduced:

Despite what some web sites write about Apple TV’s not-so-bright future, Apple has some programs and (good) news for Apple TV.
Starting from June, Youtube contents will be browsable from Apple TV just like any other iTunes content.

How nice will be to watch that zillion videos from the Apple TV device?

Some business news among all techies:

Apple will be bigger than IBM by market capitalization within two years, an analyst notes

What does this mean?

“Apple will be a bigger company than IBM in terms of market capitalization. As of this writing Apple is just about to hit $100 billion in market cap while IBM is at $158 billion,” writes Georges Yared of Yared Investment Research in an article published on the Blogging Stocks website.

The analyst notes the different business cycles and strategies of the two firms, remarking “Apple is growing aggressively…but is just beginning.”

Welcome to the big blue apple? 😉

Full story here.

Just like matter and anti-matter meeting, an unthinkable event: MS and Apple guys meeting and talking about tech stuff, future and … what we love & hate (and wait for) – their products & ideas.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs will face Microsoft’s Bill Gates in public conversation next week at the annual Wall Street Journal-hosted ‘D: All Things Digital’ event.

The two men will jointly discuss the history and future of the digital revolution in an unrehearsed, unscripted, onstage conversation on 30 May with D co-producers Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher.

“These two guys have always had different approaches – like night and day,” said Rob Enderle, principal analyst with Enderle Group.

Check full story here and DowJones press release here.

The changes were made to all three consumer MacBook models, Cupertino, California-based Apple said in a statement today. Prices for the 1-inch-thick machines start at $1,099.

Some had speculated that the computers would run off flash-based memory or have brighter, energy-efficient screens, but the new machines have only minor adjustments: the lowest-end one will now come standard with 1 GB of RAM and an 80-GB hard drive, instead of 60 GB. It will run at 2.0 GHz instead if 1.88. The higher-end MacBooks receive similarly small bumps: from 2.0 GHz to 2.16, and each of their hard drives jumps up 40 gigs, to 120 (white) and 160 GB (black). Their Super Drives will also become a little bit faster, from 6x to 8x with dual-layer support.

Sales of the consumer MacBook and higher-powered MacBook Pro notebooks accounted for 60 percent of Apple’s computer revenue last quarter.

The European Connection

Italians who received news of the spring 2007 MacBook update directly from Apple may have also been tipped off as to a change in the 13.3-inch displays used for the systems.

In its announcement, Apple Italy listed a 250cd/m2 brightness figure for the top 2.16GHz black model. The company has previously refrained from mentioning the display’s specifications in the past, suggesting that the brightness was a selling point for at least the top system.

Europe as a whole also saw the price of the systems drop despite the change, with each system dipping 70 Euros to 1,049, 1,249, and 1,449 Euros respectively.

Final Cut Studio 2 shipping delayed

Apple has given signs that its Final Cut Studio 2 video editing tools will slip past their intended May release window.

Visitors to Apple’s online Apple Store who place new orders are told that both the full version and its two upgrades will ship within 2-3 weeks, putting deliveries into early June. And despite showing an intended release date of May 15th, Amazon as of this writing is currently listing a 1-3 week shipping timeframe for new buyers.

A loud fix as well…

Apple vows to fix speaker issue

“Not all Apple users enjoy being blown away by their systems nor are they from the generation that believes “loud” is the norm,” said one report. “There has been no explanation as to why Apple took the direction it did in regards to this issue.”

The security update affects various parts of the operating system, including some third-party components such as the Kerberos authentication technology. The most serious of the vulnerabilities could allow an attacker to gain complete control over an unpatched Mac, Apple said in a security advisory.

The update deals with another trio of zero-day bugs that were disclosed as part of the Month of Apple Bugs in January. Apple has quashed many bugs detailed during the Month of Apple Bugs and Month of Kernel Bugs projects in previous patch releases.

While several of the vulnerabilities repaired by Apple’s updates were previously known, it doesn’t appear that any attacks exploiting the flaws actually occurred.

Apple’s patch release comes just as hackers at the CanSecWest security conference in Vancouver, B.C., are being challenged to break into two MacBooks. A successful hack wins the hacker the MacBook and a $10,000 bounty, according to show organizers. The contest and conference ends on Friday.

Leopard time may not come in June as previously reported.
Apple’s new operating system will not appear until October, as Apple PR says and SourceCrowd.com reports.

Some more time for Vista to gain momentum – or just more bugs and Service Packs?

Today Apple has refreshed its high-end Mac Pro line of desktop computers adding an ultra powerful 8-Core model. The top of the range now sports two “Clovertown” 3.0GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon 5300 series processors, with 8MB of L2 cache per processor (16MB total), while maintaining all the other specifications (which can be found here) of the Quad-Core models. The 8-Core Mac Pro comes as a build-to-order option from the Apple Store and is available now.

www.sourcecrowd.com reports on this.

Aperture support for more dSLRs, improved Spot & Patch results, Viewer issue, Raw file compatibility addressed. iPhoto Exif data compatibility and Photocasting enhanced.

Apple yesterday released Mac OS X 10.4.9 Update which includes a handful of enhancements to Aperture, its image editing software.

According to an Apple support page:

The Mac OS X 10.4.9 Update includes many benefits for Aperture:

• Adds support for the Raw image formats of these third-party cameras: Leaf Aptus 17, Leaf Aptus 22, Leaf Aptus 65, Leaf Aptus 75, Leaf Valeo 11, Leaf Valeo 17, Leaf Valeo 22, Leica Digilux 3, Nikon D40, Pentax K10D, Pentax K110D, Pentax K100D, Panasonic Lumix DMC-L1, Samsung GX-1L.

• Improved Spot & Patch results: The update contains changes to Core Image that improve the visual correctness of images using Spot & Patch adjustment.

• Reduces issues of temporary “black” Viewer: Mac OS X 10.4.9 addresses several issues that could cause the Viewer to temporarily turn black when displaying adjusted images.

• GPS metadata is preserved when image versions are exported.

• Incorporates all Raw file format compatibility and other imaging issues originally addressed in Digital Camera Raw Support Update 1.0.1. This update improved Raw file format compatibility for the Canon Digital Rebel XTi / 400D / Kiss x Digital, Nikon D80 and Pentax *ist-DS. It also addressed the following issues: Handling of large Canon Raw files (.CRW); DNG compatibility on Intel-based Macs; Lines sometimes appearing in images exported from Aperture. For more information, see this page or this page.

IPHOTO

At the same time, the company released an update to iPhoto to address “issues associated with Exif data compatibility and Photocasting.”

Both updates are available through Software Update in System Preferences.

Not too much to say.
It’s just a bunch of around 160 MBytes with plenty of updates/patches.

Wow, it’s the last before Leopard!

A really useful freeware from nClass Software.

Corripio is the premier tool for gathering album artwork. By searching four sources: the iTunes Store, Coveralia, Best Buy, and Walmart; Corripio enables the user to get the exact artwork they want.

In continuing to improve usability, Corripio has a new contextual menu, thus making the user experience that much more enjoyable. In addition, the user has more control of lyrics because of the added Lyrics window.

Go here for a snappy download!