Author Archives: Staff

Impressive new details of next-gen Mac Pro emerge

As we reported previously, the forthcoming 2009 Mac Pro lineup will be based around powerful new technology from Intel code-named Nehalem; better known through great public anticipation in the lead-up to its release as “Core i7.”

We reported on a mid-stream prototype, placed inside an existing-generation “cheesegrater” tower enclosure, in that article which was built on early desktop Nehalem reference board chips including a pair of quad-core, 2.93GHz Core i7 desktop CPUs.

Since then, we’ve had the opportunity to look under the hood of far more recent prototypes and a much clearer picture of the final Mac Pro has begun to emerge.

One of the first questions readers asked after the initial article was posted was whether the Nehalem Mac Pro will employ those standard desktop CPUs which currently tap out just below 3GHz and have been on the market for a few weeks now….or if it will sport Xeon-class i7 chips that offer higher clock rates, more cores, and numerous other advantages over their standard desktop cousins. Read more

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Posted in Apple Hardware | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 9 Responses

iStat for iPhone review

App Store link

To start off, we would like to thank Bjango for making such a nice application and for allowing us to take it for a test drive. We think they have a real winner here that could be of use to many people for different purposes. Those who manage servers day to day will be glad to have a nicely presented and easy to use view of their servers statistics on the device they already carry around every day (you DO carry an iPhone everywhere you go just like us, right?). While the server daemon is OS X only right now, Bjango tells us that a Windows and Linux server daemon are a definite possibility for the future, and we think their success with this app will skyrocket once a Linux daemon is available since many IT admins use Linux on the back end. Read more

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Posted in 3rd Party Software, App Store, Articles | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Apple releases nVIDIA Graphics Update 2009

Late this afternoon, Apple released a much anticipated set of updates to drivers and related system elements for nVIDIA graphics hardware. Originally targeted only at current-model Macbook, Macbook Air & Macbook Pros which have experienced significant bugs with cursors, crashes and rendering errors, the final version of the update also includes drivers for older nVIDIA GPUs in desktop Macs.

From http://support.apple.com/downloads/NVIDIA_Graphics_Update_2009:

About NVIDIA Graphics Update 2009

This update improves cursor movement when using the Apple Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI adapter with the Mini DisplayPort enabled MacBook Air, MacBook and MacBook Pro.

It also improves playback of HD video running on systems with NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT or GeForce 9600M graphics.

According to early reader reports via email (rumors@macosrumors.com), IM (AIM: MacOSRumors) and Twitter (@MacOSRumors), the performance benefits on all of the GPUs/Macs listed above — and interestingly enough, also some others — are significant. Read more

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Posted in Apple Software | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Responses

The Mac’s 25th Anniversary — Founder’s Column, Part 1

25 years ago this past weekend, an upstart development team within Apple Computer brought to market a cheaper, faster, better alternative to Steve Jobs’ pet project the “Lisa” (named after his daughter).

Though Jobs’ own feelings about the Macintosh were mixed, he undertook a famous event to introduce it to the world with a unique, historic advertisement (“1984”) and a demonstration that blew away the crowd: the very first Mac 128K seen in public spoke to the crowd that day, using a first-of-its-kind speech synthesizer technology developed specifically for that first Mac — a technology that has been a unique strength of the Mac platform ever since.

This weekend, even as the moment of the announcement event’s anniversary passed us by, the Rumors team was watching an amazing film called Welcome to Mac. Read more

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Posted in Apple Hardware, Apple Inc., Apple Software | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Responses

Follow Mac OS Rumors on Twitter!

Despite being long-time “Web 2.0” hold-outs, the team here at Xerces Media has embraced the best of social networking and other third-party services at last; you can follow our updates and get exclusive dirt as well as an inside look behind the scenes here at Rumors by following @MacOSRumors.

You can also find updates from our site founder Ryan C. Meader and other Xerces-related tweets in his feed under his online handle @dalaixerces. Many of these are more personal, but others include lots of Apple/Mac/iDevice specific content and Ryan has posted many tweets relevant to Mac OS Rumors.

We will be expanding into other social networks and Web 2.0-type services in the near future, and are always happy to take suggestions by email, web comments, tweets or any other means that may suit you! Read more

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Quicktime 7.6 released; major update includes big changes

This week, Apple released Quicktime 7.6 in a major update which includes not only numerous security and bug fixes as well as considerable performance improvements. Other changes & new features follow below.

From Apple’s release notes, some of the new features include….

Video: Improves single-pass H.264 encoding quality / Increases the playback reliability of Motion JPEG media

Audio: Improves AAC encoding fidelity / Audio tracks from MPEG video files now export consistently

Application Support: Improves compatibility with iChat and Photo Booth

In our tests, framerates of Photo Booth videos are considerably improved, particularly under heavy CPU loads….and similar advances have been made with hardware-saturation scenarios for h.264 transcoding as well as many other resource-intensive functions.

All in all, we’re very impressed with QT 7.6 and can’t wait to spend more time hands-on with it; if you have experiences, bugs, or other feedback about Quicktime to share, please post to the comments, email us: rumors@macosrumors.com or contact us on the social networks — we’ve just opened a new Twitter account at http://twitter.com/macosrumors ! Read more

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Google Chrome (TestShell) for Mac nightly builds coming along nicely

Recently, the Chrome core engine has been wrapped in a basic user interface, minus nearly all normal user-level functinality and lacks any plug-ins but nonetheless allows adventurous users to enjoy the incredible speed of the V8 Javascript engine.

The latest TestShell builds can be found here: http://securityandthe.net/wp-content/uploads/chromium_mac/.

The most up to date build at the time of this posting was 17-Jan-09, available by clicking here.

Although due to the huge dearth of functionality to which nearly every user of finished Web browsers are accustomed to, TestShell is absolutely not a replacement for such production browsers.

However, it does deliver absolutely incredible levels of speed and is even surprisingly stable….though given its very early state of beta testing and highly developmental nature, some crashes are to be expected and quite simply come with the territory. Read more

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Posted in 3rd Party Software | Tagged , , , , , | 5 Responses

Apple Web store(s) offline; rumblings of announcements build

As of Sunday morning Eastern time, reader and source reports have been coming in at a blistering pace as the online Apple Store reportedly went offline for most of the night. It came back later Sunday morning, and remained online throughout the remainder of the weekend.

Although the timing suggests it could be routine, the sheer volume of source reports and other reasons to suspect new hardware product announcements — almost certainly one or more new Macs — combined with the similarity between current speculation and long-standing rumors about new Mac Minis, price cuts, and/or a new Mac Pro….give us reason to suspect that such announcements could be imminent; if not in the next couple of days, then quite possibly before the week is out. Read more

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Posted in Apple Events, Apple Hardware, Apple Inc., Apple Software | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Response

Community reeling from news of Steve Jobs’ “medical leave of absence”

As many of you already know, recently the community has been consumed by fears, doubts, debate and concern over the state of Apple CEO Steve Jobs’ health. This culminated in a series of announcements from Jobs, the most recent of which made intense waves on the Mac Web with the news that he will be stepping down from his position until at least June for a “medical leave of absence.”

The following message was sent from Jobs to Apple employees on Wednesday:

Team,

I am sure all of you saw my letter last week sharing something very personal with the Apple community. Unfortunately, the curiosity over my personal health continues to be a distraction not only for me and my family, but everyone else at Apple as well. Read more

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Posted in Apple Inc. | Tagged , | 2 Responses

Australian Apple store briefly shows newer cheaper Mini and iMac

Readers may have to judge this one for themselves, but according to this screenshot sent in by a Mac OS Rumors reader:

New mini and updated iMac?

Click for larger version

Apple briefly lowered the price of both models and set the “new” badge on both items in the store, then reverted them back to their current status and price. The price of the Mini in the picture is $649 Australian dollars, which in a rough estimate is comparable to $430 U.S dollars. If this is an unintentional mistake on Apples part but reflects future plans, it would be significantly cheaper than the current Mini which starts at $599 U.S dollars. The iMac similarly has a much lower price of $1,199 Australian dollars, comparable to around $800 U.S dollars. Read more

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Posted in Apple Hardware | Tagged , , , | 6 Responses

Latest WebKit nightly build includes built-in update functionality

As of the current nightly build (39852), WebKit — the developmental version of Safari, available for public testing — has added the capability to update to the latest build within Webkit.app itself, obviating the need for third party software like NightShift.

The Rumors team has been a very active part of WebKit development/testing since its very first day — just as we are known throughout the industry for being prolific beta testers of both hardware & software.

(If you are a hardware and/or software developer with a developmental, beta, or pre-release product you’d like us to help test — and with your explicit permission, review for our readers who are very interested in such technology — please contact us as soon as possible: rumors@macosrumors.com to make arrangements!)

We do of course use other browsers, notably Mozilla Firefox, for various purposes….but have always been passionate supporters of Safari/Webkit and its underlying technology. Read more

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Posted in Apple Software | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Responses

Conflicted over the lack of an Apple netbook while Sony announces one?

As we watch with a certain degree of envy the announcement at CES 2009 that Sony is introducing a new 8-inch display based “netbook” Vaio ‘lifestyle PC,’ many in the community are experiencing a duality of appreciation and frustration at Apple’s apparent disinterest in this space. But it may be with good reason.

Already, the iPhone and the Macbook Air nicely bracket the netbook product space.

Between the two, one really doesn’t have much need for such a device…..but nonetheless, when one looks over the specs of the new Vaio Lifestyle PC and its elegant little industrial design, it’s hard not to feel a little bit envious that Apple didn’t do it first.

Specs like these: 1.33GHz x86 processor, 1600×768 (!!!) pixel 8-inch 16:9 widescreen display, built-in micro webcam, two USB 2.0 ports, combined display/network breakout port, audio I/O ports, SD and Memory Stick slots, and a built-in 60GB hard drive or 128GB SSD drive. Read more

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Posted in Apple Hardware | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Responses

Next for Apple: Mac Pros and Xserves based on Intel Core i7

For quite a while now, the eyes of the Mac community’s high-end segment have been on Intel’s latest processor technology called Core i7.

Previously code-named Nehalem, a project which we have followed since its infancy and in fact back before Apple even confirmed the long-standing rumor of the Intel transition, Core i7 integrates key advantages of leading processor designs across the industry and solidifies gains made by Intel since the original “Core” chips (“Yonah”) first shipped, marking a firm break from previous x86 processors out of Intel that didn’t keep up with competitor AMD, nor leading third-party RISC platforms such as PowerPC, ARM, MIPS and SPARC.

Learning from its mistakes and the successes of those platforms, Nehalem is a triumph of the multi-core engineering era. Read more

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Posted in Apple Hardware | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 17 Responses

Microsoft seeks to steal Apple’s thunder, Windows 7 Beta @ CES

Xerces affiliated bloggers & tech-TV anchors attending CES 2009 are streaming the news back to Rumors HQ that Microsoft has made a strong, headline-grabbing announcement at the opening of CES with Steve Ballmer’s announcement of a Windows 7 Beta to be made available for download tomorrow (Friday, January 9th).

LAS VEGAS, NV (Xerces Media)
Xerces-affiliated reporters and long-time source/contributor “Tron” are in attendance at CES, and though many have called this year’s Consumer Electronics Show a ‘hollowed-out shell of its former self,’ this news promises a rather more headline-grabbing show than many pundits seem to have expected.

Tron, only minutes out of the Ballmer speech and battling spotty connectivity due to the crush of wireless-access density in the area of the CES show floor, will be sending us updates throughout the week & week-end from CES as the bulk of Xerces’ remaining reporting teams are on their way home from Macworld. Read more

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Posted in 3rd Party Software | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Responses

Apples Home Server

What would a theoretical multi-drive Apple home server look like? Perhaps like a taller Mac Mini? Or a Time Capsule with drive bays like a Windows Home server or Drobo? Or a smaller more limited Xserve format? That would be cool, but not something Apple is likely to do. If they did make a multi-drive device, it would probably use built-in drives and not actual removable drive bays like other devices, if for no other reason than because it complicates things, and problems could arise when home users go to add drives to the thing. If anything they would build a device with multiple drives pre-installed and not easily removable but serviceable by Apple stores or by your friendly local geek. Read more

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