In an interview with Spotify’s CEO Daniel Ek, Parker quickly answered a question that made Ek hesitant. He said there was “some indication” (emails from other people in the industry) that Apple tried to block Spotify from entering the United States, and he noted “Apple was threatened by what [Spotify] was doing.” In October 2010, we heard similar rumblings that Apple attempted to sway execs in the U.S. music industry from signing with Spotify.

Apple this month is reported to have begun production of the first prototypes of its much-anticipated connected television sets at one of its overseas manufacturing facilities ahead of a general production ramp expected to begin late in the 2012 calendar year.

The news, which was attributed to "informed sources" speaking to the China Business News, was picked up and translated by the WantChinaTimes earlier on Monday.

In particular, the publication cited its sources as saying that this initial build plan is taking place in one of Foxconn's Shenzhen plants as a trial production run, which typically produces a small number of assembly-line-quality prototypes for Apple to put through its design test verification stages. No further details were reported.

Processori capaci, consumi bassi e bassi costi di realizzazione: sarà questa l'arma decisiva per la conquista del mercato da parte di Google e degli altri produttori di tablet Android?

Jonathan Geller of BGR published a report, quoting “a reliable source,” that claims Microsoft Office for iOS will launch in November. He also said that it will be available on both iPhone and iPad, rather than iPad-centric like once believed. The report does not provide any more information, but here is how The Daily originally described the app a few months ago:

The app’s user interface is similar to the current OneNote app, but it has hints of Metro, the new design language that can be seen in Windows Phone and in the as-yet-released Windows 8 desktop operating system. Word, Excel and PowerPoint files can be created and edited locally and online.
Consequently, Microsoft Office Live could also get a new complete overhaul to match its recent design changes.

On a more practical note, Drexler also seemed to confirm during his talk the endless rumors of a new Apple TV. "You know, Apple has 10 products," he said. "The living room they're dealing with at some point in the near future."
Lastly, Drexler, with his trademark humor, offered up some advice for aspiring CEOs and expressed sympathy for current Apple head-honcho Tim Cook's unfortunate position.
"The best job to have: Take over a company that's doing poorly," Drexler said. "Never take over a company that's doing great. You know, I love Tim Cook, but I wouldn't want his job!"

The launch of Chrome for iOS on the App Store could be as soon as this quarter, according to Macquarie Equities Research (via GigaOm). Its debut is seen as igniting a modern browser war on mobile devices, similar to the "Browser Wars" of the late 1990s between Internet Explorer and Netscape.

All third-party browsers for iOS must be based on WebKit, Apple's open source browser engine. The existing versions of Google Chrome, available for Mac, Windows and Android, are already based on the WebKit layout engine.

Macquarie analyst Ben Schachter said Chrome for PCs has been a "home run" for Google, as it has "significantly" reduced desktop traffic acquisition costs for the search giant.

He expects that Google will launch a major marketing campaign to hype the debut of Chrome for iOS.

According to trusted sources, Apple has an incredible headline feature in development for iOS 6: a completely in-house maps application. Apple will drop the Google Maps program running on iOS since 2007 in favor for a new Maps app with an Apple backend. The application design is said to be fairly similar to the current Google Maps program on the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch, but it is described as a much cleaner, faster, and more reliable experience.

Anyway, long story short, it never happened. It was totally made up with the hope that neither company would call it out.

Unfortunately/fortunately, Valve did call the report out as a total fabrication.

Video game website Kotaku had a preview of the podcast from Seven Day Cooldown that included this quote:

We actually, we all sent mail to each other, going, “Who’s Tim Cook meeting with? Is he meeting with you? I’m not meeting with Tim Cook.” So we’re… it’s one of those rumors that was stated so factually that we were actually confused.  No one here was meeting with Tim Cook or with anybody at Apple that day. I wish we were! We have a long list of things we’d love to see Apple do to support games and gaming better. But no, we didn’t meet with Tim Cook. He seems like a smart guy, but I’ve never actually met him.

Apple on Friday quickly quashed rumors that it is working on a "revolutionary" new project with acclaimed French designer Phillippe Starck.

A spokeswoman for Apple said in a statement to All Things D that the company is not working on any new products with Starck. They also declined to speculate what Starck may have been speaking about in a radio interview that gained attention earlier on Friday.

Gilles Dounes, editor in chief of French Mac site Macplus.net, suggested to AppleInsider that Starck was not speaking about a project with Apple, but rather a partnership with Apple co-founder Steve Jobs himself. Starck is said to have designed the yacht that Jobs was having built before he passed away last October.

Dounes said he saw a sketch of a yacht with a glass roof on Starck's website a few months ago. However, the image has since been removed.

Details on the yacht were revealed in Walter Isaacson's biography of Jobs released last year. Jobs himself began designing the boat, which features 40-foot-long glass walls, in 2009, though it was not completed before his death.

Dounes also explained that Starck is known in France as someone who likes to create "buzz" for his projects and generate publicity. He was described as "quite the opposite" of Apple's more secretive design chief, Jony Ive.

[...] the iPhone prototypes that we’re talking about have a variation of the A5X’s S5L8945X architecture. Like the A5X-powered iPad, these new iPhone prototypes are packing 1GB of RAM. This prototype is labeled N96 internally, but we’re not sure if this internal codename will carry over to the actual next-generation iPhone. Again, this iPhone that we are describing is an internal-only unit built for testing the performance of a new chip in an iPhone, not an actual phone that Apple will produce.

On to the iPod touch…




The iPod touch was an interesting product for Apple last year as it was the only iOS device to not receive internal nor cosmetic changes (save for a new white model). However, it looks like Apple is still interested in the iPod touch and wants a future for it. According to a file inside of an internal iOS 5.1 build, Apple is working on a fifth-generation iPod touch that is labeled iPod 5,1 internally. We haven’t heard any specifics regarding the new iPod touch hardware, but the jump from 4,1 (the current internal iPod touch label) to 5,1 indicates major internal changes, at the very least.

Are employees at Apple already using the so-called iPad 3—possibly running iOS 6—to surf the Web ahead of its expected announcement on March 7? We're not sure, but the Ars magic 8-ball says "signs point to yes."

While digging through our logs in preparation for our monthly browser stat report, we found 346 (update: actually 365) visits from a device with a screen resolution of 2048x1536—the exact resolution rumored for the "retina" display in the next-generation iPad. Although a screen resolution by itself isn't much to go on, a quick search around the Web indicates that there are very few devices in current use that have this same resolution. (There is a $5,000 NEC display for medical use with that resolution.)

In addition to improving streaming of music, the new audio file would also offer "high-definition" quality to users who have more bandwidth and storage available on their iPhone, iPad or iPod, according to The Guardian. The new file type is reportedly expected to upgrade the $24.99-per-year iTunes Match service as well, which allows users to access music they obtained from sources outside of iTunes over the iCloud service.

"A source with inside knowledge of the process says Apple has asked a London studio to prepare audio files for a new streaming format that will adapt to bandwidth or hardware capabilities," the report said. It quoted an unnamed person who said users' libraries would "improve in an instant," and nothing would need to be done to upgrade files from the current AAC format to high definition.

With the new method, users will reportedly be able to obtain high quality audio when they are over a faster connection, like Wi-Fi. But when on the go using 3G, bandwidth could be conserved by automatically accessing a lower quality file.

The U.K. publication said the timing of the rumor "suggests it will showcase the new streaming technology alongside the announcement of the third generation of its iPad tablet." Apple is expected to hold a media event on March 7 to unveil its next iPad.

Brian Caulfield reports for Forbes that new "fusion" processors from AMD had a shot at upstaging Intel by making their way into Apple's popular MacBook Air notebook for last year's refresh. People familiar with the matter indicated that Apple had given the "Llano" processor, which combined the CPU and GPU into one part, serious consideration for use in its thin-and-light portable.
However, a former employee indicated that AMD was unable to get early working samples of the chip to Apple on time, though tipsters disagreed on exactly how close the company was to delivering the chip, with one claiming that AMD "had it." According to the report, too many of the parts ended up being faulty and AMD lost the deal.
Sources also said AMD had proposed a low-power processor named "Brazos" for a revamp of the Apple TV box, but Apple declined to go with the option. "Brazos" went on to make inroads in the netbook industry and reportedly kept the company afloat.
"If Brazos had been killed, AMD wouldn’t be in business," one former employee said.
A separate report from late last year also claimed that Apple had considered the AMD "Llano" option "plan A" for its MacBook Air, but AMD was said to have "dropped the ball" at the last minute.

A new version of Microsoft Office designed for the iPad is rumored to arrive on the App Store soon, as hands-on impressions with the suite have been shared online, though Microsoft has called the information "inaccurate" [updated].

Apple’s Chief Information Officer Niall O’Connor visited Bangalore in January, according to The Economic Times, and the senior officials at technology firms Infosys and Wipro made sure he received the full-treatment upon landing in India.

Apple is supposedly looking to “quadruple the amount it spends in India, making it all the more covetous for Infosys and Wipro.” The CIO will decide which Indian companies get software outsourcing orders and maintenance work worth about $100 million USD (490 crore), which is roughly 20 percent of the Cupertino, Calif.-based Company’s total global outsourcing spending.

Apple has issued a notification to iOS developers today, informing the that they need to begin submitting screenshots that are Retina resolution or above, that is 960×480 pixel images. These high-res shots will be required for any application updates or new apps.

When you create or update your apps in iTunes Connect, you must upload screenshots that are high-resolution. We require your screenshots as high-resolution images so that your app is optimized for the Retina display.

The requirements for high-resolution images are 960 x 640, 960 x 600, 640 x 960, or 640 x 920 pixels. Images must be at least 72 dpi, in the RGB color space, and the file must be .jpeg, .jpg, .tif, .tiff, or .png. You can update your screenshot files at any time in iTunes Connect.

The requirement could definitely just be Apple cleaning house on screenshots, as the lower resolution versions that have frequently been submitted for apps in the iPhone 3G-3GS era do not display well on Retina devices like the iPhone 4S. However, there is a definite possibility that it wants to make sure the store is ready for the time when it moves to delete the iPhone 3GS from its inventory of devices for sale.

John Gruber of Daring Fireball on Monday pointed to a series of Twitter posts (1, 2) outing UI resources that scale to larger sizes in the latest release of Mac OS X Lion, which arrived last week.
The new elements include the pointing-finger cursor in Safari, the "grabby hand" in Mail, and the camera cursor for taking screenshots and a few others. One straightforward reason for the change could be that Apple wanted to improve the look of the Universal Access zoom feature. But, reports from some Mac Mini users outputting to HDTVs over HDMI that upgrading to 10.7.3 caused their system to reboot into HiDPI mode have added to the mounting evidence that Apple is planning for high-definition Mac displays.
Apple added HiDPI modes to Mac OS X Lion last year, but they were previously only accessible by installing Xcode. HiDPI is modeled after the UI resolution doubling that takes place on Retina Display iPhones.

a new report in Hebrew by Israeli daily business newspaper Calcalist says Apple is looking to open a research center in Haifa by the end of February.  This follows its acquisition of NAND flash technology provider Anobit for a reported $390 million. The facility is said to be located at the Matam technology district south of the Haifa city, right in the neighborhood of Intel, Microsoft and Philips who also run R&D centers there.

The company reportedly received “several hundred resumes” for various engineering positions. Specifically, Apple is seeking hardware engineers in chip development with strong emphasis on electrical circuits, analogue and hardware testing and verification. The publication learned that Apple’s new research center in Israel is not related to the Anobit acquisition. In fact, Anobit employees are not expected to participate in the activities of the Haifa research center.

Apple's penchant for secrecy sometimes sees new engineers tasked with working on decoy products for a lengthy period of time while management vets their trustworthiness.
The revelation was widely disclosed in Adam Lashinsky's new book "Inside Apple" and further corroborated by a former Apple engineer during the author's appearance at LinkedIn last week.
"A friend of mine who's a senior engineer, he works on -- or did work on -- fake products I'm sure for the first part of his career, and interviewed for 9 months," the employee said. "It's intense."

According to a report from Brazilian newspaper Folha (via MacRumors), Foxconn will begin producing iPads in its Brazilian factory after being officially granted a batch of tax incentives from the Brazilian government.
(Credit: Cult of Mac)
As Tim Cook noted in his quarterly earnings call Tuesday, Brazil is one of the top four countries Apple is looking to break in to and is seen as the gateway to the rest of South America. With over 200 million people in a relatively stable economy that is growing its buying power, it is easy to see why Apple would be interested.
Brazil's Interministerial Ordinance No. 34 provides benefits for a reduction in, or elimination of, taxes relating to production of touch-screen devices that do not have a physical keyboard and weigh less than 750 grams.
In other words, I.O. No. 34 is the "build an iPad here" incentive.
Foxconn's factory in Brazil can now start production of the new iPad, which many believe will debut in early Spring. The Brazilian government had previously been tough with Foxconn's and Apple's tax incentive requirements, a sticking point that has clearly been negotiated through.
The ordinance also provides a provision for producing accessories for tablet devices, which could help draw other manufacturing operations to the country as Brazil looks to entice high-tech industry production to South America.

We received word from a reliable source at Foxconn in China that the iPhone 5, as it is currently being called, is now gearing for production.  The source said various sample devices are also floating around (they vary slightly from one another), so it is impossible to tell which one will be the final.  Some things in common with all of them, however, are:

4+ inch display (made by LG on at least one of them).
No teardrop-shaped devices, as rumored in the lead up to the iPhone 4S. Samples so far have been symmetrical in thickness (also longer/wider).
Neither of the sample devices have the iPhone 4/4S form factor.
Neither of the devices are the final versions.
We also heard the non-teardrop and 4-inch display information previously in a report from iLounge, but what is important to note here is that iPhone 4S production did not gear up until late spring of last year.  If we follow patterns and give a five month-ish lead time, it would appear that Apple is back on its new iPhone launch for summer/WWDC pattern that it maintained until last year.

Enterprise mobile services vendor Good Technology reported that iPad accounted for 96 percent of tablets and iPhone 53 percent of smartphones activated by the more than 2,000 companies using its services in the fourth quarter, giving iOS a 71 percent share of all mobile devices.

Good provides push messaging, device management and security products for corporate mobile users, serving as an alternative to RIM's BlackBerry Enterprise Server. As such, Good supports mobile platforms outside of RIM's own, including Microsoft's Windows Mobile, Symbian, iOS and Android.

Good reported that of the top ten devices it saw activated in the last quarter, Apple's five iOS models accounted for the top five slots. The new iPhone 4S took the lead, quickly jumping to 31 percent of all activations in the quarter.

iPhone 4 was next, followed by iPad 2, the original iPad, and iPhone 3GS. The top Android device was Samsung's Galaxy S II, which placed sixth. Windows Mobile/Windows Phone 7 and Symbian were pushed out of Good's top ten devices a year ago by iOS or Android, just one year after Good added support for the new mobile platforms.

Good said Android activations had initially gained some ground in October but "trailed off as activations of the iPhone 4S rapidly ramped up." Overall, iOS took 71 percent share of all mobile activations in the winter quarter, up from a 65 percent share in the year ago quarter.




Good's customer base of enterprise users includes half of the Fortune 100. The company said just over a third of all mobile device activations are made by the financial services industry.

Shipments of 15.4 million iPads in the fourth quarter of calendar 2011 gave Apple a commanding 58 percent of the market, while Amazon's Kindle Fire helped heat up Android tablet shipments to a record 39 percent, according to one analysis.

Strategy Analytics released on Thursday the results of its latest research for the tablet market in the December quarter. The data showed global shipments jumped up to an all-time high of 27 million units during the period, up 150 percent from 10.7 million in the year ago quarter.

"Demand for tablets among consumer, business and education users remains strong," said Peter King, Director at the market research firm, adding that "Apple shrugged off the much-hyped threat from entry-level Android models this quarter.”

Though nascent and unproven, Apple’s new textbook initiative appears to be gaining lots of momentum — and quickly, too. Within days of its debut, Apple’s iBooks textbook store had already racked up a significant number of downloads. Same thing with the company’s textbook authoring tool.
According to Global Equities Research, which monitors Apple’s iBook sales via a proprietary tracking system it doesn’t much care to discuss, more than 350,000 textbooks were downloaded from the company’s iBooks Store within the first three days of availability (caveat: a number of these may well have been free copies of E.O. Wilson’s Life on Earth downloaded for free by folks interested in seeing an iPad textbook in action)
And there were some 90,000 downloads of iBooks Author, Apple’s free textbook-creation tool, during the same time.

Matas, a former designer at Apple, reportedly used a variety of patented technologies developed at Apple to deliver his plans for Push Pop Press. His company intended to give publishers a way to develop smoothly interactive titles that blurred the line between book and app.
A key element of the patent conflicts surrounded the "physics engine" Matas was credited with designing for the new company; Matas is listed as a contributor to a number of patents that are assigned to Apple. In many states, work created while employed by a company belongs to that company and can't be used without permission after the employee leaves.
Over the course of 2011, while Push Pop Press developed its publishing tools and worked with Apple board member Al Gore to deliver his "Our Choice" book as a flagship example of what the new publishing platform could deliver (shown below), Apple itself was busy working on developing its textbook strategy. [...]
Jobs reportedly delivered an ultimatum to Matas that resulted in the company selling itself to Facebook as a talent-based acquisition that abandoned its allegedly tainted ebook apps business model.

Apple on Thursday will unveil a new digital textbook project internally code-named "Bliss" that was inspired by Al Gore's "Our Choice" iOS e-book, AppleInsider has learned. [...] The person who contacted AppleInsider indicated that Apple's Internet software chief, Eddy Cue, is responsible for the distribution side of the new e-textbook initiative. But Rosner is said to be in charge of development of the editor used to create digital textbooks, as well as the reading software that will allow students and teachers to view the files.

The person said the internal code-name for the project is "Bliss," and said the software will allow publishers to make textbooks more interactive.

One of the primary sources of inspiration for the project was said to be an e-book released by former U.S. vice president and Apple board member Al Gore. Last year, he and Push Pop Press released "Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis" on the iOS App Store, and the interactive title was met with a great deal of praise.

The Cupertino, Calif., company will instead likely provide content production tools, similar to its own Logic or Final Cut Pro software, the report noted.

"Publishing something to ePub is very similar to publishing web content. Remember iWeb? That iWeb code didn't just get flushed down the toilet—I think you'll see some of [that code] repurposed," MacInnis said.

Late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs had intimated to biographer Walter Isaacson that he wanted to revolutionize textbooks ArsTechnica's sources said Jobs had worked on the project for years. The plans were reportedly set to be announced last October, but they were postponed at the last minute because of Jobs' failing health.

The Wall Street Journal corroborated on Tuesday some of ArsTechnica's claims, but it didn't go into specifics.

"The company is expected to unveil textbooks optimized for the iPad and that feature ways to interact with the content, as well as partnerships with publishers," the report read.

A person familiar with the matter told the Journal that Apple had been working with publisher McGraw-Hill on the announcement since June. Cengage Learning, a textbook publisher that has partnered with Apple before, will also be in attendance on Thursday, but the company declined to reveal what part it will play in the event.

Apple's voice assistant, or at least its dictation feature, appears destined to end up on another iOS device besides the iPhone.
Amid the tweaks found in the third build of iOS 5.1, which was doled out to developers yesterday, there's mention of dictation--the feature that lets users talk to their device and have their words transcribed into text.
As spotted by 9to5Mac, the mention arrived as part of the settings menu called "About Privacy and Dictation," which did not appear in previous betas bound for iPads and latest-generation iPod Touch devices.
The outlet notes that there's no actual dictation button on keyboards of devices with the build, which registered iOS developers must sign a nondisclosure agreement to use.

Apple is switching up its outsourcing strategy, according to upstream supply chain sources cited by Digitimes. Under the new arrangement, Pegatron is expected to concentrate mainly on iPad production with the iPhone serving as an "auxiliary" in 2013. On the flipside of the coin, Foxconn will reportedly focus on the iPhone, with the iPad serving as secondary output.
Apple representatives have allegedly visited Pegatron's Chinese plants "several times recently." If Apple is pursuing a new, overlapping manufacturing strategy, it may provide better redundancy not only in cases of disruption but in terms of meeting intense demand. It may also force Foxconn and Pegatron to compete directly for Apple business, potentially lowering Apple's bottom line at the expense of its suppliers.

According to Digitimes, Apple has found the means of putting in the iPad 3 a battery of 14000 mA.h in next the iPad more than doubling its capacity compared to the iPad 2 which cannot store "only" 6500 mA.h.
It would be interesting to know if this new battery will be larger or if the subcontractors of Apple succeeded in producing a new battery of much higher density.
With such a battery and provided that consumption does not strongly increase, iPad will have an autonomy record. Attention however, a processor with 4 cores, a Retina screen, with more powerful retro-lighting, it will consume more and we will not see its autonomy double.

Intel will release 17 desktop CPUs and 8 notebook Ivy Bridge processors in early April, DigiTimes reported on Wednesday. The initial chips are said to include models 3820QM and 3720QM, priced at $568 and $378, respectively, which could be candidates for Apple's MacBook Pro lineup.
The notebook Ivy Bridge processors will feature the new Intel HD Graphics 4000 architecture. Intel's M-Series lineup is expected to have nominal thermal design power of between 35 watts and 55 watts. [...]
Recent reports have pegged a MacBook Pro update from Apple to arrive in the second quarter of calendar 2012, a timeframe that would fit with the April debut of Intel's next-generation Ivy Bridge processors. The new MacBook Pros are rumored to feature a redesigned look with new high-resolution 2,880-by-1,800 Retina Display screens. Retina Display MacBook Pros would be possible with Ivy Bridge because the next-generation architecture will bring support for 4K resolution. That gives Apple and other PC makers the option to build a display that is 4,096 pixels across.

In recent weeks, Apple executives have discussed their vision for the future of TV with media executives at several large companies, according to people familiar with the matter.
Apple is also working on its own television that relies on wireless streaming technology to access shows, movies and other content, according to people briefed on the project.
In the recent meetings with media companies, the Apple executives, including Senior Vice President Eddy Cue, have outlined new ways Apple's technology could recognize users across phones, tablets and TVs, people familiar with the talks said.
In at least one meeting, Apple described future television technology that would respond to users' voices and movements, one of the people said. Such technology, which Apple indicated may take longer than some of its other ideas, might allow users to use their voices to search for a show or change channels.
Apple is still saying little about what specific software and devices it is working on. The people familiar with the meetings said the Cupertino, Calif., company was "vague" and that Apple hasn't made proposals to license shows for any new product offering.
Still, the talks—some of which were made at the request of media companies seeking an update on Apple's plans—suggest that Apple's TV strategy is advancing. The technology company often keeps its products and ideas, close to the vest until as late as possible.

New details on Apple’s plans to establish a new development center in Israel revealed: Calcalist has learned that the technology giant named Aharon Aharon, former head of Zoran Corporation’s R&D center, as head of its new center in Israel.
Calcalist has also learned that a delegation headed by Apple VP Ed Frank is currently visiting Israel to meet with several high-tech companies. Frank took a tour of Haifa and visited Intel’s headquarters in the city’s Scientific Industries Center (MATAM).
He is examining the north park of the center as a possible location for Apple’s center, Calcalist learned.
Although the search for a location is still preliminary, Apple is showing interest in that specific location due to its proximity to the Technion – Israel's Institute of Technology, thereby joining a slew of global technology leviathans which opened centers in the area such as Intel, Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and Qualcomm.
Calcalist has learned that at the same time, Apple is in advanced stages of talks for the acquisition of Israeli startup Anobit, the developer of a data signal processing (DSP) technology which enhances flash memories.
Aharon Aharon is a veteran hardware professional who served for 14 years in numerous executive positions in the Haifa science industry center. He founded Zoran and later went on went on to manage Camero – a tactical military imaging solution developer.
In the past year, Aharon has headed Disctretix which develops embedded security solutions for cellular devices. Aharon was unavailable for comment.

Reuters reports that Apple's South Korean component supplier reached full production at its 1.6 million square-foot factory earlier this month. Though Samsung reportedly began producing A5 processors at the plant earlier in the year, the company only recently reached full capacity.

"Nearly all of the output of the non-memory chip production from the factory…is dedicated to producing Apple chips," a source told the publication.

Samsung already produced NAND Flash memory chips at the facility. The report claims the new production line cost $3.6 billion to build, while the company's total investment in Texas amounts to roughly $9 billion. Samsung's only other non-memory logic chip factory is located in South Korea.

A Samsung spokeswoman told Reuters that 1,100 jobs had been added for the new production line, which can generate up to 40,000 silicon wafers a month.

With [...] iOS 5.1 beta 2, Apple has now taken steps to obscure that information, planting numerous fake references within configuration files typically examined for such evidence. One file in particular, USBDeviceConfiguration.plist, had formerly listed about two dozen different device variants. As discovered by 9to5Mac's Mark Gurman, that list has now ballooned to well over 100 such entries as Apple has seeded it with dozens of new fake references to such future products as "iPad10,1", "iPhone11,3", "iPod11,1", and "AppleTV8,3". [...]

Apple is seen expanding its tablet lineup significantly in 2012, offering a third-generation iPad with a high-resolution screen alongside a faster "iPad 2S" with the same resolution as its predecessors, as well as a discounted iPad 2.
Analyst Ben A. Reitzes with Barclays Capital said in a note to investors on Tuesday that he believes it's possible that Apple will keep the iPad 2 alive in two ways, even after a true "iPad 3" is launched in early 2012. He sees Apple continuing to sell the current 16GB version of the iPad 2 at a lower price, as a new entry-level model much like the company currently does with the iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4.
In addition, Reitzes said it's possible Apple could also introduce a faster iPad 2, which he dubbed an "iPad 2S," akin to the iPhone 4S. A so-called iPad 2S could include a faster processor and Siri integration, just like Apple's latest iPhone.
Finally, Reitzes said he believes Apple still plans to launch a full-fledged iPad 3 in the March timeframe. That product would differentiate itself from the hypothetical iPad 2S by featuring a high-definition Retina Display in addition to Siri integration and a faster processor.

iOS release history tells us that as a product in development moves even closer to release, it is assigned a proper codename. Not only an identifier like “3,1″ but a codename such as N94 (iPhone 4S) or K48 (original iPad). The next-generation Apple TV has reached that stage. Thanks to today’s beta release of iOS 5.1, we have on our hands the codename for this new Apple TV (3,1).
[...] the new Apple TV is rocking a the J33 codename, the second JXX product we’ve seen from Apple. The first was the J2 – a new iPad – that we discovered just last week. Apple’s iPad 2 almost reached the peak of Apple’s KXX options with the CDMA version dubbed as K95, so Apple’s move to JXX nomenclature is something that would have to happen sooner or later. With Apple recently beefing up their flagship tablets and phones with dual-core A5 chips, we think this new Apple TV represents an A5 dual-core model that packs in 1080P playback abilities. As to whether this thing has a display on it, it is too early for us to tell.

Digitimes recently reported that their supplier-based contacts say that Apple is currently prototyping two versions of the third-generation iPad. The site says the iPad 3?s are codenamed J1 and J2 and Apple has not yet decided which model to launch. Based on code strings I have seen (shown in screenshot above), the J2 iPad mentioned in the Digitimes report is definitely an Apple device. Based on Digitimes accurately predicting the iPad 3?s codename, it seems at least somewhat plausible that the site’s attached rumors of a Retina Display and a dual LED-bar system to power this ultra-high-resolution display are accurate (or at least planned possibilities).
[...]
The report said Apple is yet to choose between the J1 and J2 model, but it seems like the J2 is actually just the 3G model (the J2 reference was found alongside other CDMA iOS devices) and it is possible that there is a J1, but that has not been found in the iOS 5 code. The J2 iPad 3 being found in iOS 5 code means the device is actually in testing right now against an iOS 5 software release. In fact, the J2 codename has been floating around since the initial betas of iOS 5.0. In addition – as you can see in the screenshot above – there is an unknown T39 device also in testing. I’m not sure what the T39 is but it likely is a device that can connect to cellular networks.

The next-generation iPad will be slightly thicker than its predecessor, whereas the iPhone 5 will be longer than the iPhone 4S to accomodate a larger screen, according to a report.
iLounge claims that its "most reliable source" has confirmed that Apple is planning slight changes to the build of three of its key product lines: the iPad, the iPhone and the MacBook Pro.

The next-generation iPad, iLounge's source says, will be around 0.7mm thicker in order to accomodate dual-light bars needed for a higher resolution display. The iPad 3 could be shown off in January and is on course for a March 2012 launch.

The iPhone 5, meanwhile, will get longer by about 8mm in order to accomodate a 4in screen and will have a metal casing, probably aluminium. It won't have the rumoured 'teardrop' shape, the source said, and is still in the engineering phase with a summer 2012 launch date expected. There is a possibility that an LTE chip will be included.

SemiAccurate claims that the current iteration of Apple's thin-and-light MacBook Air is actually the company's "plan B," while the original "plan A" was a notebook running AMD's low-power Llano chip. According to report author Charlie Demerjian, the machine would have lost some CPU power in exchange for "many times the GPU power."

The mid-2011 MacBook Air sports Intel's current-generation Sandy Bridge i5 and i7 processors with integrated graphics. The notebooks also feature a backlit keyboard and Intel's new Thunderbolt I/O.

Demerjian went on to suggest that AMD had "dropped the ball" on its end, even after Apple had a notebook "on the verge of production." Apple ultimately went with Intel because AMD was having trouble producing enough of the "premium" parts to meet demand for a refreshed MacBook Air, though multiple sources reportedly told the publication that supply was "only one of the reasons" that Apple decided not to release move forward with the machine.

However, Apple is said to still be very interested in working with AMD. "Sources indicate that ARM CPUs are still on tap as soon as the 64-bit chips show up," Demerjian wrote.




AppleInsider exclusively reported last year that Apple's top executives had been meeting with AMD representatives to discuss adopting its chips into Apple's Macs. The talks arose out of Apple's discontent with Intel's limited availability of new processors and the chipmaker's efforts to promote its own limited integrated graphics chips.

As revealed by the folks at Jailbreaknation, Apple is still considering releasing Siri on the iPhone 4 and even went as far as installing a special build of iOS 5, that includes Siri, on a number of Apple employee’s iPhone 4 handsets recently to test it out for a few days. The news, comes from a Jailbreaknation source close to Apple, which they were kind enough to let us verify, and it does appear to be legitimate. [...] Yet, Apple has now finished the test drive and removed the feature from the employees’ iPhones to minimize the chances of it getting out. [...]
A second source also confirmed to us that the test went really well as far as performance is concerned. Unfortunately, the microphone of the iPod touch 4G is not as good as the one on the iPhone; this could hold Siri back from that device if it can’t be overcome with software.

Bloomberg reports that three insiders with "knowledge of the project" have confirmed that Jeff Robbin, the software engineer who built iTunes, is guiding development of the Apple television.
Apple has never officially confirmed that it is working on a television set but such a project has been rumoured for a long time. Revelations from Steve Jobs' biography suggest that Jobs told author Walter Isaacson that such a project did exist.
Jobs apparently said that he'd "like to create an integrated television set that is completely easy to use" and that it "would be seamlessly synced with all of your devices and with iCloud". It'd also "have the simplest user interface you could imagine", Jobs told Isaacson.
Jobs apparently considered Robbins - who had been brought in to the company when Apple bought SoundJam, creators of the digital music player of the same name - so valuable that he wouldn't let Robbins meet a Time magazine reporter without the reporter agreeing not to print Robbin's last name, in case he was poached by a rival. Robbin was also said to be a key influence in persuading Jobs that iTunes should be compatible with Windows operating systems.

On the client side, it’s a given that a future version of the iPad will be based on the A15, either alone or in a big.LITTLE configuration with the A7 (my money’s on the latter). It will also be the first ARM part that’s truly a fit for the laptop space, a fact that’s important not only for the likes of the Chromebook and possible Android laptops, but also potentially for Apple. There have been persistent rumors that Apple will move the Macbook Air to ARM, rumors that I imagine find their origin in the fact that Apple certainly has an up-to-date internal ARM port of OS X running test hardware. In this regard, there are a few important things to keep in mind.
Years ago, I heard the back-story on Apple’s switch to Intel first-hand from some folks on the IBM side of things, and what I learned was that Steve Jobs agonized over this decision and waited until the morning of the keynote before pulling the trigger on this move. He actually went into that day with two keynote presentations prepared: one for a PowerPC-based product line, and one for The Switch. When he pulled out The Switch presentation, the IBM team was absolutely as stunned as the rest of the world, as was the P.A. Semi team who had been separately assured by Jobs that their dual-core PowerPC part would find its way into Apple portables.
This little anecdote confirms three things about Jobs and Apple that long-time Apple CPU watchers know very well:
1) As he said many times, Steve Jobs liked to have options. From the very beginning of OS X, Apple kept an internal, top-secret x86 port of the entire OS up-to-date, just in case Jobs might one day decide to make the change that he eventually in fact did make.
2) For whatever reasons of ego and romance, Steve Jobs also liked to have his very own, non-commodity CPU hardware. This attachment to proprietary hardware is why Apple was one of the original ARM partners at the latter’s launch, it’s why Apple stuck with PowerPC through the lean years, and it’s why Jobs agonized over the decision to finally give up on the dream and go with Intel.
3) Jobs was notoriously capricious and mercurial when it came to making big hardware decisions, much to the chagrin of Apple’s processor partners. The story of Mac CPUs is a story of surprise and heartbreak—not so much heartbreak on the consumer’s part, though there was that, but heartbreak on the part of Motorola, IBM, and P.A. Semi.
Number 1 above is my reason for saying that it’s obvious that Apple has a working, internal prototype of an ARM-based Macbook Air running an ARM port of Lion. Numbers 2 and 3 are why I would guess that if Steve Jobs were still with us, we’d eventually see an A15-based Macbook Air. But the fact that he’s gone makes this significantly less likely, though not necessarily impossible.
Intel’s Ivy Bridge mobile parts will be unbelievably competitive from a performance/watt standpoint, and anyone sane is going to want to prefer them in the Macbook Air over the A15. Staying with Intel through at least 2013 makes the most technical and business sense to any rational observer. But when Jobs was alive, there was always the chance that he would make the jump to A15 out of a combination of his lifelong obsession with the idea of having his very own, boutique CPU hardware and his notorious mercurialness. Now that he’s gone, however, Apple will be free to do the sensible thing and unplug the ARM-based Macbook Air prototype, so that they can spend their personnel resources on something productive. Whether they’ll actually do that is anyone’s guess, but I think they should.

A developer who goes by the name of @Jackoplane on Twitter has recently made some publicity on his work porting Siri to the iPhone 4. While we mentioned numerous times that developer Steven Troughton-Smith managed to get Siri semi-functioning on the iPhone 4, it looks like Jack has managed to get Siri fully functioning on the iPhone 4.

The news comes from @Gojohnnyboi (John Heaton ) who tweeted today that the Jailbreaking Community (meaning the developers of the Jailbreaking Community) have Siri fully functioning on the iPhone 4.

If you head over to Apple’s online store and search for “MacBook Pro,” you’ll be greeted by a list of Apple’s MacBook Pro-related products, including two entries for a “Macbook Pro Memory Model,” which are set to ship in November. [...]
While we don’t think these are the new MacBook Pros themselves, it looks like they could be components, such as RAM upgrades. What’s interesting is that the first URL mentions “2_33” and the second “2_4,” which is believed to be the processor speed of the next-generation Core i7 MacBook Pros. The current models are 2.0GHz to 2.3GHz. If these are components, they traditionally ship a week or two after a new product launch, which suggests the new MacBook Pros are now right around the corner.

In spite of its ongoing litigation with Apple, Samsung is allegedly ramping up production of the Apple-designed quad-core A6 chips in its manufacturing plant in Austin, Texas, which opened in 2007. The claims is attributed to industry sources privy to the both companies’ plans, who told Korea Times Monday:

Apple has been in talks with Samsung over shipment of its A6 quad-core mobile processor (AP) chips to be used in the next iPhone. It appears that Apple clearly has concluded that Samsung remains a critical business partner. [...] Samsung Electronics will apply its advanced 28-nanometer processing technology to produce qualified A6 mobile APs. TSMC will provide customized chips with designs from Apple, however, the volume will be very small.

This comes on the heels of the latest news that Samsung was “counter-attacking Apple again” and seeking to stop iPhone 4S sales in Australia and Japan following Apple’s victory of a ban on the sale of Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia last week. Apple’s business with Samsung is said to be worth an estimated $8 billion in parts this year alone, roughly five percent of Samsung’s entire revenue. This makes Apple Samsung’s biggest overseas client. TSMC hasn’t yet stabilized the manufacturing process and “Apple isn’t taking risks”, the source noted. EETimes first reported back in March that Apple had shifted production of the then unreleased A5 chip for iPad 2 from Samsung to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), which failed to materialize at the time. The report asserted the two companies had entered into a foundry relationship (here and here). Reuters followed up in July, writing TSMC began a test production run of A6 chips on its newest 28-nanometer process and 3D stacking technologies, corroborated by the Taiwan Economic Times.

On October 19th Apple will be holding an on campus ceremony to remember Apple co-founder and former CEO Steve Jobs. Now, we’re hearing that Apple Stores will be closing for one hour (1-2 EST, 10-11 PST) on that Wednesday in memory of Steve Jobs. Apple Store employees will use that one hour to view a live webcast of the Cupertino-based celebration.

Come vedete dall’immagine, Tim venderà l’iPhone 4S da 16GB al prezzo di 659€, il modello da 32Gb al prezzo di 779€ e il modello da 64GB al prezzo di 899€. Tali prezzi sono più alti rispetto a quelli francesi e tedeschi, che ricordiamo essere:
iPhone 4S 16GB €629.00
iPhone 4S 32GB €739.00
iPhone 4S 64GB €849.00
Nel listino compare anche il prezzo dell’iPhone 4 da 8GB, che costerà 549€.

“Apple Inc. is preparing to put movies in the cloud, entering a market in which it may be both competitor and ally to a similar offering backed by most Hollywood studios,” Ben Fritz reports for The Los Angeles Times.
“Representatives of the iPhone and iPad maker have been meeting with studios to finalize deals that would allow consumers to buy movies through iTunes and access them on any Apple device, according to knowledgeable people who requested anonymity because the discussions are private,” Fritz reports. “The service is expected to launch in late 2011 or early 2012.”
Fritz reports, “Though studios have spent years building Ultraviolet, people familiar with the thinking of several studio executives say they’d be happy to see Apple join as well, since it accounts for 66% of online movie sales and rentals… Under the plan Apple is proposing, users could stream movies they buy via iTunes on any device the company makes, such as the Apple TV, iPhones and iPads, as well as on PCs.”

Deep inside the iOS 5 file system is a reference to a Apple TV 3,1. This would be an upgrade from the current Apple TV’s 2,1 marking. The number changing from 2 to 3 represents major changes, and with the Apple TV recently gaining a fully re-designed case, we expect this upgrade to mainly consist of internal changes.
In all likelihood, this new Apple TV will gain some of internal power from the iPhone 4S and iPad 2: the dual-core A5 chip and maybe a boost in the RAM department. The Apple TV 3,1 reference comes from a file that Apple uses to activate unreleased devices that are in testing; furthermore this Apple 3,1 is already in testing stages. A dual-core Apple TV will likely mean 1080P video playback, a current restriction due to the current model’s A4 processor. We will also likely see some 1080P iTunes content to come along with this next-generation model’s new abilities.
Although this model has turned up in the iOS 5 file system, we must warn that devices that never have come to fruition have also shown up in the iOS file system; namely an iPhone 3,2 and an iPod touch 4,2. These devices have been characterized as internal development units, but with previous rumors pointing to an A5, 1080P capable Apple TV, we’d say this Apple TV 3,1 becoming a reality is very likely.

Despite knowing he was dying, Steve Jobs worked for more than a year on the products that he believed would safeguard the company's future.
It was also revealed today that Jobs fought hard to get plans approved for a spaceship-style company headquarters in California.[...]
He has also been overseeing the development of the delayed iCloud project, which will allow Apple users to store their music, photos and other documents remotely and masterminding updated versions of the iPod, iPad, iPhone and MacBooks, ensuring at least four years’ worth of products are in the pipeline, according to Apple sources.

[...] there's a Foxconn factory in Brazil, and Pedro & co got one of their men inside.
Inside, they found a new-SKU iPhone that looks just like the old iPhone 4.
Most of these photos don't look like anything special—just snapshots of a familiar face. But when you get to the last one, a picture of a Foxconn Brazil quality control form, you'll notice something strange: a different model number, N90A. This has already been rumored to represent a cheaper version of the iPhone4.
These particular phones won't be hitting any shelves anytime soon though—they didn't meet Apple's manufacturing standards. Gizmodo Brazil editor-in-chief Pedro Burgos tells us that, though the note scribbled in the "reprovado" ("disqualified") section is hard to read, he's pretty sure it says "lenses stained."

The combination of Apple code numbers and natural use of the term "iPhone 5" has led to a lot of confusion about what to expect.
Here's a breakdown of all the current rumors about what could possibly be coming out on October 4th.

iPhone 4 (N90A)
- The iPhone 4 but with reduced storage capacity (8GB)
- Otherwise identical to iPhone 4
- Will replace the iPhone 3GS which presently sells for $49 with contract.

iPhone 4S (N94)
- iPhone 4 case design (3.5" Screen), but improved internals
- CDMA and GSM in one phone, "World Phone"
- HSPA+ (at least 14.4mbps)
- 1GB RAM
- A5 Processor
- SGX 543MP2 GPU (Same as iPad 2)
- Assistant Voice Recognition

iPhone 5 (N??)
- Tapered case design (mockup)
- ~4" Screen
- Presumably same specs as iPhone 4S (see above)

The source of much of the confusion is the natural use of the term "iPhone 5" to simply refer to the next-generation iPhone that Apple will be launching on October 4th.

Apple plans to integrate iMessage into iChat, combining iOS 5 and OS X features, as the company competes against Facebook Chat and BlackBerry Messenger.Top NewsNUTS: IPhone 5 Expected Mid-October, Google Preps for Patent WarThe Score: LightSquared Hints at Secret Weapon, Carriers Push PrepaidApple Fights Counterfeits in New YorkNigeria Says Answering Calls Won't Kill YouSprint Changes Return Policy, Axes Premier ProgramMore News > Strings of code found in iChat for OS X Lion show the potential for "time delivered" and "time read" stamps to appear next to messages, functionalities previously only associated with iMessage. The uncovered code suggests iMessage will be compatible with iChat when it launches later this year.

Apple will soon begin shipping a new version of its AirPort Express portable 802.11n base station, capping a recent series of refreshes to the company's line of WiFi routers ahead of this fall's iCloud launch.
Although Apple's online store still reflects availability of "AirPort Express Base Station with 802.11n and AirTunes," authorized resellers like DataVision report that the same model (MB321LL/A) is discontinued, while Amazon estimates it will have new stock sometime in the next "2 to 5 weeks."
Additionally, a person familiar with the matter says Apple is wrapping up the release of AirPort Utility 5.6, makes reference to a second-generation 802.11n AirPort Express in its developer notes:"Adds support for the AirPort Express 802.11n (2nd Generation) base station"

Last week, we were reporting on the current rumor indicating that Apple was looking at solutions to add USB3.0 support to Mac models while Intel is not ready to release its USB3.0-compatible Ivy-Bridge. Via might have released the gem that Apple was looking for.
This chips can offer up to 4 USB3.0 ports. However, the most interesting feature is probably the support of the "Battery Charging" specification defined by the USB Forum, allowing to boost he standard 500 mA power to reach 1.5 A max. This is a feature already used by Apple on the recent models, allowing to charge batteries of an iPad in a reasonable time range. 

Apple is reportedly finishing an update to Logic Pro 9, its professional digital audio and music sequencing program, taking care not to rile existing users with significant changes.The new update is reportedly called Logic Pro X to maintain the same branding as Apple's recent Final Cut X. However, according to a report by Japanese blog Macotakara, Apple's Logic team is making great efforts to stress that it will not shift toward a GarageBand interface, heading off fears that Logic Pro might lose its professional edge.

As discovered by PocketNow, this photo of a plate of sushi was supposedly shot by an Apple engineer on his lunch break. What's interesting is that the EXIF data for the photo makes it look like it was taken by an iPhone 4. Closer inspection, however, contradicts that assumption.Though the photo posted to Flickr has pixel dimensions of 2235x2291, which clocks it in as a 5.12 megapixel image, the image has been cropped from its original dimension of 3264x2448, or nearly 8 megapixels. Also, the lens aperture of the camera used to take the photo is 4.3mm f/2.4 -- that's almost point-and-shoot quality -- instead of the iPhone 4's 3.85mm f/2.8.
What's even more telling is that the image has now been pulled from the Apple engineer's Flickr page.

Sarah Rotman at Forrester, speaking about the expected tablet from Amazon, said that if Jeff Bezos's company manages to set the price below $300 (£185) and launch it by October, "we see Amazon selling 3m to 5m tablets" by the end of the year and that it will "completely disrupt the status quo". However she sees Apple continuing to dominate the sector, where it has roughly three-quarters of the market. In the Christmas quarter of 2010, Apple sold 7.3m iPads.Rotman said that "even though Amazon taking on Apple is a bit like David taking on Goliath – compare the market capitalisation, profits and cash position of the two companies – Amazon's willingness to sell hardware at a loss, combined with the strength of its brand ... makes it the only credible iPad competitor in the market".
Apple has sold more than 28m iPads since it was launched [...]. Though Amazon does not release data about sales of the Kindle, the analysts IDC believe [...] around 6m Kindles were sold in 2010.

"we have heard that Enyo apps were tested on the iPad, although we were also specifically told that webOS was tested natively in some fashion on the iPad. It’s unclear which of these tests the speed estimate was based on."

The revelation was shared by Greg Welch, director of Intel's Ultrabook group, with The Wall Street Journal. He said that Apple gave Intel a "real wake-up call" when the Mac maker threatened to end their business relationship.
Apple officials told Intel that the chipmaker needed to "drastically slash its power consumption," or else Apple would turn elsewhere for chips. The threats were said to have helped spur Intel's interest in creating its new Ultrabook specification.

Apple will soon fully launch its long in-the-works "iTunes Replay" service that will allow users to re-download and potentially stream purchased content, including Hollywood movies, a new rumor claims. The Apple TV set-top box and the iTunes Store were updated on Monday to allow users to re-download TV shows they have already purchased. According to AppAdvice, Apple is expected to add that functionality for movies in the near future.The report claims users will be able to see which content can be re-downloaded with an arrow indicating that content is "iTunes Replay eligible." In order for content to qualify, Apple must have secured the appropriate licenses.
Apple is also expected to add streaming of content to its so-called "iTunes Replay" service. The company is said to be testing the service internally, and it will launch publicly in a matter of weeks. Sources also reportedly indicated that some content will only be available to download a maximum of five times.

[...] a page from an internal AppleCare manual detailing OS X Lion’s brand new recovery system, invoked by holding down Command-R during startup. Upon entering the new recovery mode, you can restore your system to any point in time from a Time Machine backup and run Disk Utility to check, repair, erase or partition volumes. In addition – and this is obviously your key takeaway – users can“reinstall Lion over the Internet from Apple’s servers”. The ability to reinstall the operating system directly from the recovery partition without having to boot into Lion and run the Mac App Store is a neat addition whichever way you look at it.

Earlier this week, part numbers for upcoming Apple hardware updates surfaced, with claims that the parts represented new MacBook Air and Mac Pro models. [...] the claim regarding the "Mac Pro" part numbers was later revised to state that they referred to new Mac mini and MacBook models [and then it was discovered that] the part number ascribed to a new MacBook is in fact for a new Thunderbolt-enabled LED Cinema Display.  Apple has even confirmed that information by prematurely posting a new image on its site depicting the display and identifying it in the URL as the "MC914" part that had been previously thought to be a new MacBook. The display appears essentially identical to the existing LED Cinema Display from the front, although Apple's new promotional image displays a Lion desktop background rather than the Snow Leopard one found on the images for the current model. The rear of the display will obviously include a Thunderbolt port in place of the current mini DisplayPort

It seems that some the part numbers leaked earlier this week are not for the new Mac Pros, but instead for new Mac minis and White MacBooks. At least, according to 9to5Mac who originally reported the part numbers, and who has now issued a correction. 
The revised part descriptions and groupings are as follows:MC914LL/A – J59, BEST – USA - White MacBook MC936LL/A – J40, ULTIMATE – USA – Mac mini Server MC815LL/A – J40I, BETTER – USA – Mac mini standard configuration MC816LL/A – J40, BEST – USA Faster Mac miniThe original report had pegged these as "Mac Pro" part numbers instead. Meanwhile, the associated MacBook Air part numbers in the original report are said to still be considered accurate and are believed to be launching imminently. 

Richard "Chip" Lutton Jr. is set to leave Apple, Reuters reported on Tuesday, citing an anonymous source. B.J. Watrous, former deputy general counsel at Hewlett Packard, has already filled the role as chief intellectual property counsel, as indicated on his LinkedIn account. [...]It also revealed that Apple has been on a "hiring spree" of late to bolster its intellectual property team. Litigation specialist Noreen Krall, formerly of Sun Microsystems, has reportedly joined Apple.As chief patent counsel, Lutton has played an important role in Apple's many recent legal spats. Just last month, he wrote in one filing in the company's ongoing battle with Samsung that Apple is "one of the most secretive companies in the world" and that its announcements are "major events in the technology industry," drawing a distinction between Samsung's products and Apple's.

As you can see from the Apple-internal part numbers above, Apple will be releasing four new MacBook Air models. This includes two 11 inch models and two 13 inch models; both screen sizes will come in entry level and upgraded configurations. Built-to-order options (BTO) will be available as well. We expect some RAM and processor upgrades. Our sources who handled the new MacBook Air told us earlier this month to not expect any noticeable exterior changes. Speedy Sandy Bridge processors and Thunderbolt I/O are this model’s main upgrades. Surprisingly, it also looks like new Mac Pros are coming as early as this week [which] may feature a re-designed enclosure that is both narrower and rack-mountable. A faster, 16 core model is also a possibility and Thunderbolt is an obvious addition. As expected, a new Mac Pro Server model will also debut. 

Per Apple il nuovo sistema operativo per Macintosh è pronto all’uso. Verrà distribuito nei prossimi giorni: ma quando?

Apple will launch Mac OS X 10.7 Lion next week, with 14 July looking the most likely release day, according to reports.Apple Insider reports that Apple has begun briefing its retail partners about the launch, with advice being issued that RAM upgrades to display models should be completed by 10 July in preparation for Mac OS X Lion to be installed.
The company has also reportedly advised staff in Apple Stores that overnight shifts will be required in order to update signs, prepare displays and update systems before the launch. There is a suggestion that new MacBook Air models sporting Mac OS X Lion will launch next week too.  

Apple filed a request to keep all proprietary details confidential. However, the results show that tests were done in both 2.4 Ghz and 5Ghz bands, and the speculation is that there could be support for the new three-stream standard for 450Mbps. [...] Rumors of updates to the AirPort and also to TimeCapsule models have been swirling since Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference, but no releases have been announced. The last big refreshes for either came in 2009, with the first dual-band AirPort Extreme.This FCC release would appear to confirm that release of at least the Airport Extreme update is imminent. In the past, products have been officially released within hours of this kind of FCC posting.9to5 Mac also claims to have received part numbers for not only the new AirPort Extreme, but also for new Time Capsules in 2 TB and 3 TB models. Rumor also has it that we should expect a price drop and improved signal strength in a new AirPort Extreme.

MIC Gadget reported Monday that the forthcoming refresh for the Mac Pro will "look different in appearance" and include a mountable server model meant to replace the discontinued Xserve line. According to the report, the new desktop will add the Thunderbolt I/O and make the transition to the Sandy bridge architecture with a "unique CPU" developed for Mac and "not seen in PC."
The updated Mac Pro is said to be "significantly faster with the updated processor" and "good for enterprise," though further details about the custom CPU were unavailable. While it remains unclear what exactly Apple's plans for a custom Mac Pro CPU would entail, MacNN speculates that Apple may receive early access to the Xeon E5 processor. The report reiterated a July or August timeline for the refresh.

Apple may appeal to its high-end video production customers next week with the release of Final Cut Pro X on the Mac App Store, as well as the announcement of new third-party products that will take advantage of the high-speed Thunderbolt port found on new Macs, according to a new rumor.
The details came on Tuesday from Macotakara, which was told by sources that Apple will begin to sell Final Cut Pro X on the Mac App Store next week. That would come as no surprise, as Apple said earlier this year that the $299, 64-bit software will arrive in June.
What would be new, though, are products that take advantage of the high-speed Thunderbolt port. Sources also reportedly said that new Thunderbolt products from third-party partners will be announced when Final Cut Pro X goes on sale.

In addition to the newly discovered ability to render 1080p videos on A4-powered devices by scaling down high-definition content on-the-fly, a tipster pointed out that the iOS 5 software development kit ups the maximum resolution for video exports from 720p all the way up to 1080p. The iOS 5 media framework now rocks a new video export option: A 1920-by-1080 full HD preset. Previously, programmers calling system APIs were only able to export video content up to the 720p resolution. The change has been spotted in the export preset strings of AVAsset, an abstract class of AV Foundation framework which has been around since iOS 4.

Motion is part of the Final Cut Studio suite and while Apple previewed Final Cut Pro X in April, it has not shown off any of the other apps from the suite -- even though Apple has said the next Final Cut Studio suite will be available for US$299 in the Mac App Store by the end of June. As for those other apps, all Apple said was "stay tuned."
Judging from the screenshots, Motion 5 will offer a "rigging" feature. In addition to Motion 5, BWilks2001 said the next Final Cut Studio suite will "supposedly" feature a new version of Color, Apple's color-timing software.

TUAW sources inspecting the USB device files in yet-unreleased iOS 5 firmware have discovered suggestions of two future iPad 3 models as well as a pair of iPhone 5 models. What's most surprising is a big omission: no mention of an iPod touch 5.
Specifically, there are declarations buried in the iOS system files that reference "iPad3,1" and "iPad3,2." Likewise, "iPhone4,1" and "iPhone4,2." The iPhone 5 will be a 4th generation unit because the iPhone 3G was technically 1st generation.

The New York Post is reporting that three separate sources have told them Apple is paying the big four music labels between $100-150 million for the rights to distribute their music through the new iCloud service, which is set to debut on Monday. Their sources say that each label will get between $25-50 million depending on the number of tracks iTunes users are storing. [...] Apple has been aggressively working on deals with the major music labels for a while now, first getting Warner, then EMI and Sony to get on board. The last holdout, Universal, is rumored to have signed with Apple late last week. 

Hints at an upcoming Automatic Download feature for iOS apps have emerged in iTunes, according to a new report.MacRumors notes that Apple's iTunes has leaked a new Automatic Download option that would automatically download app updates to iOS devices without needing to perform a wired sync.
After explaining a syncing option for installing updated apps, iTunes describes a previously unannounced feature. "If your device has Automatic Download enabled for apps, your updates will download to your device without having to sync," the My App Updates screen now reads.

Now, look no further than the Creative Commons library accessible through YouTube Video Editor to make this happen. Creative Commons provides a simple way to grant and use copyright permissions to creative works. You can now access an ever-expanding library of Creative Commons videos to edit and incorporate into your own projects. To find a video, just search in the YouTube search bar or from within the YouTube Video Editor. We're working with organizations like C-SPAN, PublicResource.org, Voice of America, Al Jazeera and others, so that over 10,000 Creative Commons videos are available for your creative use.To get started, visit youtube.com/editor and select the CC tab: