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  • Ed
    A lifestyle technology website in Australia allegedly has sources in Japan claiming that Apple's first foray into television sets will begin at the end of 2012, with three sizes to choose from ranging between 32" and 55".
     
    The new Apple TVs have long been rumored now, and have almost been confirmed with the release of Steve Jobs' official biography making reference to them, quoting the late Jobs as saying, "I'd like to create an integrated television set that is completely easy to use... It would be seamlessly synced with all of your devices and with iCloud... It will have the simplest user interface you could imagine. I finally cracked it."
     
    It's anticipated that the integrated television set would likely have OLED technology and compete with existing Smart TVs from the likes of Samsung and LG who currently lead the market with their affordable, cutting-edge, Internet-enabled TVs.
     
    Likely to be powered by an A6 processor (expected to be utilised in the next version of the iPad), the Apple TV would run a version of iOS that would accept voice commands thanks to Siri, which was introduced in October with the iPhone 4S.
     
    Apple's expected to announce the new Apple TV sets next year, although reports currently contradict, with some expecting them in mid-2012 and others saying the last quarter of 2012. Either way, it looks like 2012 may be the year of the Apple TV, and I for one certainly can't wait.
  • Ed
    The latest beta of Mac OS X 10.7.3 is reported to feature support for the next generation of AMD's graphics cards, named "Tahiti" and forming part of the new wave of 28nm GPU chips codenamed "Southern Island".
     
    Scheduled to arrive in time for Intel's Sandy Bridge Xeon, which is expected to arrive in the first quarter of 2012, AMD's high-end Tahiti graphics cards use 28nm chips and replace the existing HD 6970 and HD 6950.
     
    The cards are expected to be used in a forthcoming update to Apple's professional-level Mac Pro, which hasn't seen a proper product update for over year. Indeed, the mid-2010 Mac Pro 5,1 still ships with the ATI Radeon HD 5770, so an update is long overdue.
     
    It has, however, been rumoured for a while that the Mac Pro may be due to be axed as Apple's bottomline continues to be buoyed by strong notebook, tablet and iPhone sales, and becomes less of a desktop computer manufacturer and more of a mobile Internet device company. With the advent of thunderbolt, which provides as much data bandwidth as PCI cards, it would seem logical that the Mac Pro eventually gets phased out, especially with iMacs being adopted by professionals instead of costly Mac Pro's.
     
    Of course, if you're still desperate for a powerful and cutting-edge Mac you could always hack your custom built PC ;o)
  • Ed

    New InsanelyMac website!

    By Ed, in OSx86,

    It's been a long time coming but we finally managed to deliver the all-new InsanelyMac website over the weekend, with a majorly upgraded forum, which I hope everyone will benefit from and should deliver better stability during peak traffic times.
     
    If you spot anything that's not quite right or have any queries, please direct your questions here and we'll do our best to help you out!
     
    Enjoy the new forum guys
  • TH3L4UGH1NGM4N
    So where does Apple stand on the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA)? A report from TNW gives the impression Apple is in support of the bill via their association with the Business Software Alliance, who made their stance clear by commending the introduction of the bill in a recent bulletin. However, while Apple�s stance isn�t official, they do support SOPA by proxy, and haven�t made an effort to distance themselves from it with an official statement. The BSA is also associated with Microsoft, Adobe, Dell, and 20+ other large tech companies.
     
    According to Apple�s website, �Apple works closely with the Business Software Alliance (BSA) and the Software Information Industry Association (SIIA) to combat software piracy worldwide.� They also provide links to report piracy through the BSA and provide the following statement on copyright law and piracy on their Piracy Prevention page:
     
     
     
     

     
    The illegal copying of software programs is a crime! In the United States and many other countries, copyright law provides for severe civil and criminal penalties for the unauthorized reproduction or distribution of copyrighted material. Copyrighted material includes, but is not limited to, computer programs and accompanying sounds, images and text. Under U.S. law, infringement may result in civil damages of up to $150,000 and/or criminal penalties of up to five years imprisonment and/or a $250,000 fine� It is important to manage software well, just as you would any other valuable company asset, in order to avoid serious problems. Apple aggressively enforces our company�s proprietary rights under the U.S. copyright laws, but we know that poor software asset management often keeps people from complying with the law.
     
     
     
     

     
    If you�re unfamiliar with SOPA, legislation that aims to tackle foreign �rogue� websites that host copyrighted content illegally, you might be interested in knowing Google, Facebook, AOL, Mozilla, Twitter, Yahoo, eBay, LinkedIn, and Zynga issued a letter on Wednesday to congress expressing their opposition to the bill. In the letter (via BoingBoing), they wrote: ��the bill as drafted would expose law-abiding U.S. Internet and technology companies to new and uncertain liabilities, private rights of action, and technology mandates that would require monitoring of websites. We are concerned that these measures pose a serious risk to our industry�s continued track record of innovation and job creation, as well as to our nation�s cybersecurity.� The Electronic Frontier Foundation, Mozilla, Creative Commons and a group of other tech companies are banding together at AmericanCensorship.org to voice their frustrations with the bill and organize protests and petitions. They also created this infographic to explain their view of the legislation. Many are hoping Apple takes similar action to make their position clear. We�ve reached out to Apple for their official stance on SOPA and will update this post if we hear back.
     
     
     
    Source:
     
     
    9to5mac
  • Ed
    Google Music launched to rival iTunes originally appeared on LyricStatus.com
     
    Google's highly anticipated challenge to iTunes finally launched in the US today, going by the name of Google Music.
     

     
    Apple launched its revolutionary iTunes Music Store in 2003, and over time it's become one of the most popular ways to download music legally, especially if you own one of Apple's iPods or iPhones.
     
    Google is aiming to break the monopoly that Apple's been enjoying by launching its own music store, which is tightly integrated with its Android OS, the market leading mobile operating system for smartphones made by major manufacturers including Samsung, Motorola and HTC. As of Q3 2011 Android has captured over 50% of the smartphone market, whereas surprisingly Apple's iOS is trailing at 15%, meaning a music store offering from Google could pose a serious threat to Apple's music business.
     
    So, how do the two compare in the real world?
     
    iTunes has 18-million songs, Google Music has 13-million, crucially missing out major label Warner Music. This means no Prince, Led Zeppelin, Yes, and other big music artists. I have no doubt this will change over time, but as a new comer versus a veteran that's been collecting music over 8 years, this is to be expected.
     
    Advanced features such as storage and sync'ing in the cloud are free on Google, $25/year on iTunes. So if you fancy the idea of having up to 20,000 of your songs stored in the cloud (25,000 on iTunes) and made available across all your devices (computer, phone, tablet), then Google Music will do this as part of the service. Apple will charge you for the pleasure of this advanced feature, albeit at a modest $25/year, but still, it's not as good as free. The advantage of storing your music in the cloud is that it reduces the need to have huge amounts of storage on your mobile devices and means you'll never be without any of your music providing you're connected to the 'net. It also lets playlists sync across all your devices, so if you change your playlist while you're on the go it'll be exactly the same on your computer and other devices.
     
    Google Music shares what you're listening to with your friends over the Google+ social network, iTunes instead uses its own Ping. The problem with both is that neither of them are Facebook, and now that cloud-based streaming music provider Spotify is in bed with the mighty FB, it seems unlikely that either iTunes or Google Music will be coming to the biggest social network anytime soon. That said, I would argue that Google's again got the edge here as Google+ may still mature as it's early days for the fledgling Facebook rival.
     
    Overall, Google Music looks set to be a very worthy competitor to iTunes and it'll be interesting to see if Google are able to obtain a strong foothold thanks to its huge installed user-base of millions of Android devices out there.
  • Ed
    Apple has subtly updated the MacBook Pro lineup ahead of the release of Intel's next-generation Ivy Bridge processors expected in Spring 2012.
     
    Keeping the MacBook Pro's competitive with their PC counterparts, Apple has upgraded processors to Intel Core i7 across the board, bar the base-spec 13-inch model, which features a still-respectable Intel Core i5 processor.
     
    All models still sport 4GB RAM but hard drive capacities have increased to either 500GB or 750GB, both @ 5,400 RPM (optional 750GB 7,200 RPM, and of course still SSD options if you can stomach the cost!).
     
    The 15" and 17" also benefit from upgraded graphics cards, namely the AMD Radeon HD 6750M and 6770M with 512MB and 1GB of GDDR5 memory respectively.
     
    You can check out the specs and order the new MacBook Pro's right now and they're in stock already!
  • Ed
    Apple broke a company record last Friday when it took one million pre-orders for its new iPhone 4S.
     
    Demand for the company's latest smartphone has once again outstripped supply, with lead times being pushed back to "1-2 weeks". This is great news for Apple, who have been receiving a lot of criticism across the net for the lack of changes to the new phone, which largely remains unchanged since the iPhone 4's debut last summer.
     
    On top of the pre-orders, there'll also be the surge of customers purchasing from retail stores, be it the Apple retail store or from carrier stores like AT&T, O2, etc. The iPhone 4S officially launches for sale this Friday, 14th of October.
     
    Further good news for Apple came in the form of speed results for the iPhone 4S compared to last years iPhone 4 and current competing Android models.
     
    Head on over to AnAndTech for the full lowdown on the speed tests on the iPhone 4S, but overall it's looking very promising for what appeared to be a bit of a stumbling launch for Apple.
  • Ed

    Steve Jobs, 1955-2011

    By Ed, in OSx86,

    I'm very sad to be writing up a blog post about Steve Jobs' passing away yesterday, and it seems a bit odd that it's upsetting when it's a guy I didn't know personally, who was simply an entrepreneur producing products to sell to us.
     
    But it's a lot more than that. I think Mac fans have a connection with Steve because he wasn't just another guy who started a company and sold products. Steve Jobs started a company that brought us the Mac, subsequently got thrown out of his own company, and then got brought back in years later, and went on to produce a string of hit products, turning Apple around from being on the brink of bankruptcy to now being the largest tech company in the world (by market cap).
     
    He re-invented products and even whole industries. The original Mac with the mouse and GUI, and the multi-coloured iMac. The iTunes Music Store, which changed the way we consume music, and the iPod that changed the way we listen to music. And the iPhone, which re-defined the smartphone, combined with the App Store and its development platform.
     

     
    For those of us that were using Macs back in the 90's when Apple was going through regular CEO changes, Steve Jobs' death is particularly saddening. I remember a time when Apple had about a dozen different product lines, from the PowerBook 3400, to the Performa 5400, to the PowerMac 8600 and 9600's... hugely expensive, very little choice of games, and if anything was available it wouldn't be cheap (I remember buying SIM City 2000 for �30 from MacGold!). Yet the Mac OS, even at version 7, was still far slicker and easier to use than Windows, and that's what kept Apple's customers loyal. It was a technical operating system that was friendly and easy to use for non-techies: you could guess how to do something and 99% of the time your guess would be right.
     
    Upon being appointed Interim CEO (or iCEO) in 1997 after Apple bought his company NeXT, Steve immediately started work on refining Apple's product line and making products that customers really wanted, starting with the iMac, which brought British designer Jonathan Ive to prominence.
     
    The iMac was almost as big a revolution as when the original Macintosh launched in 1984, with its striking, colourful plastic casing, all-in-one design like the first Mac, and relatively aggressive price-point of $1,299 (�999 here in the UK). It was designed to be a machine that would bring the Internet to the masses, the "i" in iMac standing for "Internet". It featured a G3 processor, which was previously only available in very expensive, professional-line PowerMacs, and dropped legacy technologies like the floppy drive, ADB and SCSI in favour of USB; a very controversial move.
     
    However, the iMac was an instant hit and lived on to see many revisions and improvements, most notably the fruit-coloured variants, which eventually led to my Mum getting a pink iMac, bless. And so began the coloured plastic revolution, with Apple releasing other products in its range with same distinctive look, from the blue & white PowerMac G3, to the cult-classic but commercial-failure that is the G4 Cube, and the original iBook.
     
    It was at this time that Apple's following grew stronger, with thousands of us tuning in to Steve Jobs' keynotes to see what Apple would launch next, which would happen like clockwork in January and July at the Macworld events. Steve's charisma on stage and the way he could build up tension and then passionately announce something that would wow the crowd was unmatched by any other CEO. His trademark "one more thing" was his key phrase that he'd deliberately leave til the end of his keynotes to announce the most major product - playful, yet now legendary. I really wish I'd tuned into more of his keynotes now!
     
    Even when Steve was announcing things that were a bit duff, or when he had to backtrack like when he promised 3GHz G5s by a certain timeframe but then couldn't deliver the goods, he had this way about him of talking around it and making things seem not so bad; often referred to as Steve's RDF, or "Reality Distortion Field".
     
    The iPod, which he first announced and launched in 2001, eventually went on to be the product that would catapult Apple firmly back into the playing field, with its third revision seeing it gain mainstream traction, and eventually led to Apple launching the iTunes Music Store; the largest online music store in the world. It took Steve's charm and negotiation skills to win over all the major music companies to get on board, a feat that no other company had previously been successful with.
     
    And this brings us to today, where Apple is now sitting firmly at the top with the iPhone and iPad under its belt, products which have made the company a fortune and propelled Steve Jobs from obscurity to international fame and recognition. It's a hell of a story, and incredible to think what Steve Jobs has achieved in just 14 years after his return to Apple. And that's without touching on the fact he bought Pixar before it was even Pixar and turned it into a billion dollar company too, but that's another story!
     
    Steve Jobs will be sorely missed, and although I don't doubt that Apple will continue to go from strength to strength, I have a feeling it won't be quite the same without Steve at the helm.
     
    RIP Steve Jobs.
     
    What are your thoughts and feelings around Steve Jobs? Any fond memories of Apple during Steve's tenure as CEO? Let us know in the comments below.
  • Ed

    iPhone 4S announced, no iPhone 5

    By Ed, in OSx86,

    Possibly the most hotly anticipated iPhone announcement ever, 16 months since the announcement of the iPhone 4 in 2010, Apple has finally announced its successor: the iPhone 4S.
     
    To the surprise of many, no re-designed or visually improved iPhone 5 materialised, and instead the iPhone 4 has been updated and improved with:
    A5 processor (same as in the iPad 2)
    8 megapixel camera
    GSM & CDMA in one unit
    Voice recognition through Siri

     
     
    Arguably Apple is now trailing it's Android counterparts, and potentially won't be releasing another phone for a year now, giving Apple's competitors plenty of time to steal some ground from the market leader. Features currently enjoyed by Android users include:
    Larger screens
    NFC (for contactless payments)
    Thinner handsets
    microSD expansion
    Dolby Mobile virtual surround sound

     
     
    The iPhone 4S will be available to pre-order from this Friday, October 7th, and will be available in black or white and at capacities of 16GB, 32GB and 64GB. The iPhone 4 will remain in the line-up but at an 8GB capacity. The iPhone 3GS will also be available as a budget option, offered free with a contract.
     
    What do you think of Apple's iPhone 4S? Will you be upgrading or migrating to Android?
  • Ed
    Ahead of tomorrow's media event where Apple's invited us to talk iPhone for what is inevitably going to be a new iPhone announcement alongside iOS 5, it's now come to light that Apple's iTunes beta released on Friday contains references to an "iPhone 4S".
     
    The screenshot below courtesy of AppleInsider shows references to the iPhone 4S from the iTunes beta's info.plist file.
     
    Furthermore, Vodafone in Germany has leaked details on their website of the different configurations of the iPhone 4S, including capacities up to 64GB!
     
    While it's been speculated that Apple may release an all-new iPhone 5 alongside an updated but entry-level iPhone 4S based on the current iPhone 4, the rumormill is now concerned that with a reference to an iPhone 4S only, and no reference to an iPhone 5, could there be nothing more to come from Apple?
     
    Further reports are coming in that Apple intends to keep the iPhone 3GS in the line-up, which would further support that there may be no "iPhone 5", as it's unlikely Apple will have 3+ different models of iPhone at one time, especially with their philosophy of having minimal product lines.
     
    This hasn't stopped the rumormill continue buzzing about the possibility of an iPhone 5, and even musician T-Pain is getting in on the hype by having a futuristic translucent iPhone-like phone in his music video!
     
    There's now less than 24 hours before we find out for sure!
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