By Staff | Published: January 15, 2008

iPhone v1.1.3 “January Update” released to much fanfare at MWSF

One of the accurately predicted rumors, the “January Update” to the iPhone’s firmware, v1.1.3, has been released with all of the predicted features we’ve seen in various developer/beta releases of the firmware leading up to the Expo.

The most in-depth description of the new iPhone update’s features is here: http://www.apple.com/iphone/gettingstarted/guidedtourupdate2/

Highlights include the ability to customize the Home Screen, the “wiggling icons” indicator which shows you when you are in edit mode on the home screen(s), multiple home screens that can be switched between with a sideways “flick,” a major overhaul of both Maps and GMail functionality by Google with tons of new features including location triangulation, Drop Pin, Hybrid View mode (overlays street names and map info with satellite imagery) and much more; numerous enhancements to the iTunes Wifi Store including the ability to use gift codes and integration with the new Movie Rental system to let you know how much time you have left on a rental……and the ability to switch between chapters in iTunes downloaded content. Read more

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By Staff | Published: January 15, 2008

AppleTV software updated to “2.0;” hardware remains the same

In somewhat of a let-down — at least relative to rumors posted here and elsewhere about a major hardware revamp which we still strongly believe is coming…..we were simply to optimistic on the timing, it would seem — Steve Jobs has indeed announced “AppleTV 2.0” but it is not the Blu-ray equipped, totally overhauled device that we had predicted.

Instead of hardware changes, Apple has left the iDevice unchanged (right down to the 40 & 160GB HDD options) except for price and a substantially improved new operating system/onboard software suite. To take full advantage of the capabilities which have existed since it was first released a year ago but haven’t been properly utilized, Apple is overhauling the AppleTV components of the iTunes Store to offer High Definition (720P) movie rentals. Read more

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By Staff | Published: January 15, 2008

Steve Jobs announces “Time Capsule” wireless backup device

Time Capsule is part of Apple’s new “cable-free 2008” strategy, now referred to in some circles on the grapevine as “Air Steve/Air Jobs 2008” (a reference to Nike’s overpriced “Air Jordan” shoes) strategy, or just the “Air strategy/”Air initiative”…..regardless of how it will end up being most popularly referred to, it’s straightforward enough on the surface; eliminate cables, consolidate them or replace them with wireless alternatives.

But the implications for the entire iDevice and Macintosh families go way beyond that. And the Time Capsule is just the first of many new wireless devices Apple has planned for 2008. Many will be intended to provide solutions for things like the Macbook Air’s “missing” optical drive and other ports/features, as well as similar issues arising from future “Air strategy” elements such as a low-cost “Mac Air” with similarly minimalist enclosure & ports. Read more

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Posted in Apple Hardware | Tagged , | 10 Responses
By Staff | Published: January 15, 2008

Apple introduces MacBook Air

The all-new Macbook Air, which as Rumors has long predicted is a mid-range model between the entry-level Macbook and the Macbook Pro, sports Core 2 Duo (Merom) processors at 1.6 and 1.8GHz, respectively, with the standard 4MB of shared on-chip L2 cache on both.

Many of the other specs are fairly standard for a Core 2 Duo based laptop and are parallel with the other Macbooks: 800MHz front side bus, dual-channel DDR2-667 memory (2GB standard), 13.3-inch 16:10 widescreen display from the entry level Macbook with the same 1280×800 resolution, et cetera.

One of the main differences is of course the ultra-light, ultra-thin enclosure: the frame tapers from 0.16-0.76 inches thick (averaging less than 0.6 inches over the bulk of its horizontal depth/width) and weighs in at only 3 pounds(!). Read more

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By Staff | Published: January 15, 2008

Please pardon our dust….

You may notice that the all-new Rumors web site is now live….with several static pages still needing updates, and our layout/theme still needing some work — particularly in terms of color choices.

Rather than delay the roll-out of the new site beyond Macworld, we have elected to bring it online to allow our new editing, writing & reporting teams to work together more smoothly during the Expo.Please bear with us as we iron out the kinks and clean up the CSS which controls elements like color schemes and so forth. Of course, we will gladly accept suggestions/markup snippets from readers interested in specific changes being made….but it is likely that only minor tweaks will be made until next week when everyone is wound down from MWSF. Read more

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By Staff | Published: January 15, 2008

Apple website hints “Something in the Air”…..

Although we have been skeptical up to this point about certain leaks (the Wikipedia posting of what was claimed to be Steve Jobs’ notes for the address being only the most prominent of dozens) that hit the Web yesterday, it seems that the part about an emphasis on wireless innovation and a nearly cable-free Macbook were closer to the mark than many on the grapevine had initially thought.

“Macbook Air” may indeed be the name for the long-rumored “Macbook Thin/Mini/Nano”….but there are still a great many unanswered questions about how this new Mac will fit into the product lineup, and whether the “Air” marketing will be exclusive to that product or part of a more general campaign on Apple’s part to reduce cable clutter & increase wireless adoption…..Stay tuned to Rumors for more live coverage from the Keynote, the Expo floor, and “undisclosed locations” around Cupertino where our reporters will have their yearly meetings with sources while the executives are off in San Francisco otherwise occupied….it’s going to be a heck of a ride! Read more

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By Staff | Published: January 15, 2008

Rumors’ live coverage of Macworld San Francisco begins now!

Though the new team that has taken the helm of Rumors has been very busy with the new Web site and other behind-the-scenes projects, we are now focused like a laser beam on Macworld Expo coverage! We have more roving reporters and sources covering the Expo than any other newsgathering entity, and several other major Web sites have hired out our team to provide coverage for their publications as well.

We think it is going to be a very exciting day indeed as Steve Jobs takes the stage once again to give us a preview of what 2008 will look like for Apple, Inc. and its loyal fans…..but a lot of the pre-keynote buzz has been way off the mark. Read on for our predictions, and don’t forget — macosrumors.com is always your #1 source for up-to-the-nanosecond coverage of all Apple Events….stay tuned for our intense live updates from Steve’s keynote address and later from the show floor! Read more

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Posted in Apple Events | Tagged | 5 Responses
By Staff | Published: January 10, 2008

Week of January 7th

Rumors, under new management and re-focused around a new team of writers who are almost all former (or current!) insider sources, is nearly ready to roll out our all-new Web site!

Just in time for our reports on the new Mac Pro & Xserve, an in-depth Macworld San Francisco preview, and our best most intense Expo coverage in 13 years on the air!Though some other rumor-mongers are quitting the “cloak and dagger” game, and others are scaling back their dirt-dishing or posting a lot of off-topic/non-rumor “filler,” Rumors is dedicated more than ever to bringing you the hottest insider info first and best.

Rumors has broken almost every major Apple/Mac news story of the past decade-plus, and become famous — in no small part because of the tremendous print & online press coverage we’ve received over the years — for being the first to bring you the dirt that shapes Apple’s future. Read more

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By Staff | Published: January 8, 2008

New Mac Pro, Xserve

Today Apple announced a dramatic update to both of its professional Macs based on Intel’s high-end Xeon processors; bringing the Mac Pro and Xserve into the 45-nanometer era (all previous Intel Macs are based on 65nm technology; the PowerPC 970 “G5 was 90nm)” and offering up to twice the performance of previous models.

A lot has changed in the new Mac Pro…..but not everything the grapevine had been hoping for has arrived just yet.

Today’s update to the Mac Pro and Xserve is without a doubt one of the most anticipated of the past several months, and the numbers bear it out: 20% faster CPU-to-northbridge (Front Side Bus) bandwidth thanks to dual 1.6GHz FSBs, and memory bandwidth is now up to 1.6X faster as dual-channel DDR2-800 ECC FB-SDRAM (up from 667MHz) and an improved memory controller flex their muscles. Read more

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By Staff | Published: January 1, 2008

December 2007 highlights

It turns out your iPhone could be running almost twice as fast! One of our Xerces sister sites, The Black Hole general-interest discussion forum, recently tackled a topic that has come up numerous times on Mac OS Rumors: Is the latest mainstrean media news about “Mac Malware” for real, or just greedy security companies looking to make a buck?!

Rumors has confirmed that a new, larger AppleTV flagship model will be added to the lineup along with two enhanced versions of the existing AppleTV devices — all sporting larger hard drives. The new “AppleTV Unity” as it is sometimes referred to at Infinite Loop, will include a faster Intel CPU, enhanced media decoding DSP chipset, more RAM, an optical drive and numerous other improvements over the “standard” models. Read more

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Posted in Apple Hardware, Apple Software | Tagged , , | Comments closed
By Staff | Published: October 7, 2007

October Highlights

Apple has reported its best second-best quarterly financial results in the company’s history on very strong sales of Macs, iPhones and other iDevices.

If the AppleTV’s lack of an optical drive has been an issue for you, look no further than a soon to be announced update to the popular iDevice for that very issue to be addressed. Also, the entry-level model will be dropped to $249 with a 60GB or maybe even 80GB HDD (depending on market conditions about six or seven weeks from now), and two other models at $299 and $399 sporting 120-160 and 200-250GB drives respectively. The optical drive may not be available on all models, another vagary of our most recent source reports on the subject. Read more

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By Staff | Published: September 7, 2007

September Highlights

Apple is reportedly having a growing number of iPhones that experience partial failures of the touch-input system — often starting from the top and sometimes moving down the screen vertically in “rows” roughly equal to the height of the application icons on the “Home screen.” Many users contact Apple and get replacements before the problem worsens beyond the uppermost ‘row,’ but the problem does appear to be progressive in most cases if left uncorrected. More on this as reports come in.

As our contributors and writing staff have had the chance to use Apple’s new Keyboards in both Wired and Wireless forms, it’s remarkable how much they match the prototypes we’ve been talking about for months….but also striking how different they are from anything that has come from Apple or anyone else in the past. Read more

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Posted in Apple Hardware, Apple Software | Tagged , , | Comments closed
By Staff | Published: August 7, 2007

August Highlights

As predicted by Rumors, the new iMacs sport Core 2 desktop CPUs that are substantially faster at a given clock rate than the mobile Santa Rosa chips used in the latest Macbook Pros.

An entry-level model clocks in at 2GHz, while the other standard models offer 2.4GHz — with an optional upgrade to a 2.8GHz Core 2 Extreme CPU for a massive boost of muscle.

Early reports from trusted industry analysts suggest that in the configuration Apple is using, with a FW800-enabled chipset that delivers substantially improved memory, FSB and interconnect/northbridge bandwidth over previous generation iMacs…..the 2.4GHz Duo model could outperform the 2.4GHz Macbook Pro and previous 2.33GHz iMacs by upwards of 50% in average real-world tasks, up to 120% in certain CPU/bandwidth-intensive operations, and the ATi Radeon X2400 (128MB XT on the entry-level model, 256MB Pro on the 24-in) simply crushes previous generation GPUs with benchmark numbers that are two full generations ahead of the X1600 and GeForce 7600 GT used in Core 2 Mobile iMacs. Read more

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Posted in Apple Hardware, Apple Software | Tagged , , | Comments closed
By Staff | Published: July 11, 2007

Q3 Financials

Of greatest interest to most Mac fans will be the iPhone, though with iPhone released just before the close of their third quarter July 1st we will get but a small glimpse of potential sales and revenues from our favorite new iDevice.

With all the flurry of attention to details both large & small surrounding the iPhone, it would be easy to forget the upgraded MacBook Pro and Final Cut Studio both released last quarter. All three are worthy additions to the Apple family that should help Apple continue its steady growth in recent months.

With this year’s second quarter outdoing last year’s counterpart by an 88% growth rate, we can only hope the numbers are indicative of future growth. Last quarter Apple saw a gross of $5.25 billion, netting $770 million in profit. Read more

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Posted in Apple Inc. | Tagged | Comments closed
By Staff | Published: June 28, 2007

10.4.10 Update Released

Delta and Combo updates for Intel, PowerPC, Consumer & Server versions of Tiger range in size from 58MB for the Server-PPC Delta Update to 391MB for the Universal Server Combo Update. Consumer updates range in size from 72MB for the Intel Delta update, to 293MB for the Intel Combo version.

Generally, rather than applying the Delta Update via Software Update, we always recommend downloading the Combo Update from Apple’s web site….. the various versions, Server/Consumer and Intel/PPC/Universal, are each linked below.

And here are Apple’s release notes for 10.4.10:

What’s included?

The following improvements apply to both Intel- and PowerPC-based Macs unless otherwise noted:

Bluetooth
Addresses an issue in which a Bluetooth headset may show up as an available device for sound output in the Sound preference pane after it had been removed from Bluetooth preferences. Read more

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