Forums: iMac rumors, AMD, AppleTV

Forums roundup: Members are discussing recent rumors concerning an upcoming iMac redesign, which is reported to occur within the upcoming months.... Other users are discussing the hopes of one user for Apple to switch away from Intel and integrated graphics, instead using cheaper AMD processors and non-GMA graphics.... One user is wondering how to remove OS 9 from their computer, after deciding to stick with OS X.... Other members are offering advice as to the best solution for replacing a failed hard drive in a PowerBook G4.... Meanwhile, other members are taking part in a long-running thread covering the shipping delays of AppleTV and the device release.

Google downplays mobile phone rumors...

Despite wide-spread rumors to the contrary, Google today down-played rumors that it is developing and manufacturing a mobile phone, clearing the air of speculation that the world's largest company would battle Apple and its forthcoming iPhone in the intensely competitive mobile handheld market. Instead of producing handsets, to which several previous reports had alluded, the Mountain View-based company said it would be more logical to form partnerships with existing handset makers. Recent reports speculated that Google was shopping around an existing phone design to original device manufacturers in Asia.

Star wars: Empire at War demo released

Aspyr Media today released Star Wars: Empire at War demo 1.0, a single-player demonstration version of an epic struggle to control the galaxy. Players can start by playing the optional interactive tutorial to learn important game concepts that serve as a guide to victory or skip the tutorial and begin playing immediately. "As the commander of the Rebel forces on Hoth, you'll battle for control of the Outer Rim in the Vergesso Asteroids and attempt to liberate Tatooine from the grip of the Empire. Han Solo and Chewbacca, with the Millennium Falcon, are ready to lead your space fleet and invasion forces as you go up against Tie Fighters, Star Destroyers and their arch rival Boba Fett. May the force be with you!" The Star Wars: Empire at War demo 1.0 is available for free, and requires Mac OS X 10.4.8 or later with at least a 1.8GHz Intel-based Mac and 512MB of memory.

Nation Elements: Americas for Keynote

Keynote Theme Park has released Nation Elements: Americas for Apple's Keynote presentation software. The first in a new series includes 39 Nation Plates from North and South America containing several elements that help in the layout of slides that need to represent national content. Resources produce seamless continuity throughout a presentation with the new theme, according to Keynote Theme Park, rather than requiring users to create slides that look disjointed due to collecting material from desperate locations. Each nation includes high-resolution "Aqua" Orbs, Border Keynote Shapes, Location Maps, Accent Fills with Reflective Covers, and National Symbols. Each item is scalable and remains high quality, with 23 demo slides and explanations included. Nation Elements: Americas is priced at $20, and requires Mac OS X with Keynote 3.0 or later.

Apps: BrowseBack, Photomatix, Blank Ink

• BrowseBack 1.3.1 ($30) updates the Web history visualization tool for Mac OS X, offering improved interaction with system sleep and logout functionality as well as reduced resource use while loading Web pages. The application stores a PDF document of every website visited, making the pages accessible through a unique interface with thumbnails of recently visited pages. [Download - 4.2MB]


• A Better Finder Attributes 4.4.5 ($15) enables users to change Finder attributes that are normally off-limits, such as creation and modification dates. The update adds the ability to batch adjust the Exchangeable Image File (EXIF) time and date that JPEG pictures were shot to compensate for timezone errors or incorrectly set camera clocks. A Better Finder Attributes 4.4.5 also fixes a problem that affected international users. [Download - 2.2MB]


• Advanced Web Ranking 5.1 ($60) serves as a tool that helps check website positioning on all major search engines. The latest release features redesigned HTML reports that comply with the W3C HTML 4.1 Strict standard, and adds the ability to customize the HTML reports using CSS style sheets. The update also enables users to show or hide charts in HTML printable reports, and adds the ability to choose the chart size. [Download - 16.2MB]


• A WorkLife FrameWork 1.1 ($150, $100 for academic) is a set of enabling and creative tools that enable users to take greater advantage of what the Mathematica FrontEnd has to offer. A WorkLife FrameWork 1.1 generates a confirmation dialog when the DateTag button is clicked, and changes the $MaxDiaryResourcesDirectoryBackups parameter from 50 to 30. The update also adds the EmailFindDialog function and places a corresponding button on the Email Palette to open the new dialog. [Download - [license agreement]]


• Photomatix Pro 2.4 ($100) is a utility designed to increase the dynamic range of photographs, offering exposure blending as well as tone mapping. The update adds an option for reducing ghosting artifacts in generated HDR image, as well as a slider to adjust Gamma when tone mapping with the details enhancer. The latest release also offers undo and redo functionality of the last settings applied in the tone mapping window. [Download - 7.2MB]


• Black Ink 1.0 ($25) is an application designed to ease the process of downloading and solving puzzles from the internet. The software's interface and advanced puzzle solving tools includes an on-screen editor, and supports printing out puzzles to solve on-the-go. Blank Ink requires Mac OS X 10.4 or later. [Download - 3MB]

Motorola may buy Palm to take on Apple...

Motorola is the prime candidate for buying Palm, an anonymous investor in the Treo manufacturer said on Wednesday. The source claimed that Motorola was now leading the pack of four companies that had been previously been competing to buy Palm, and confirmed that the former could be ready to announce a $2 billion deal as soon as Thursday.

Although Nokia had reportedly been leading the bids in recent days, the shareholder said, both Motorola and Palm have realized that they both stand to gain from a merger by fending off major competitors, singling out Apple as Palm's greatest fear.

Swift Publisher 2.0 adds 20 new designs

BeLight Software today released Swift Publisher 2.0, an update to its page layout application for designing and printing flyers, newsletters, brochures, booklets, and more. The latest release brings 20 new designs, adds a master pages option, and improves working with images. Swift Publisher 2.0 also supports tables, changes the user interface, and adds Art Text integration. The Master pages option allows users to create a common background for several pages, and a new imposition option prints dialogs to arrange brochure pages automatically. A Text to Curve feature transforms documents into vector images, and tables are supported alongside an added panel to preview and manage pages. Swift Publisher 2.0 is priced at $55, and requires Mac OS X 10.3 or later.

Briefly: iLuv Battery; 3Dconnexion SDK...

In brief: MacNN reviews iLuv's iPod battery, 3Dconnexion prepares a Mac SDK for its controllers, prices drop for OWC's Quad Interface systems, and NewerTech batteries become RoHS-compliant. MacNN contributor Lee Meredith has reviewed the i603 by iLuv, a battery booster for the 30GB iPod video. Owners can increase music playback to as much as 42 hours, and video playback upwards of six. It comes in black or white, and uses a silicone case to protect its chrome shell from damage. A bundled AC adapter can be used to charge an iPod away from a computer. iLuv is selling the product from its website for $65.

Refurbished Intel-based Mac minis for $479...

Apple is offering refurbished Intel-based Mac minis for as low as $479, as well as reconditioned second-generation iPod shuffles for $49. The Cupertino-based company has updated its refurbished offerings to include the Mac mini 1.5GHz Intel Core Solo for $479 with 512MB of memory, a 60GB hard drive, a Combo (DVD-ROM/CD-RW) drive, and built-in AirPort Extreme with Bluetooth 2.0 capability. Apple is also selling reconditioned 1.66GHz Intel Core Duo Mac minis for $519 with 512MB of memory, a 60GB hard drive, a slot-loading Combo drive, and built-in AirPort Extreme with Bluetooth 2.0 capability; as well as its 1.83GHz Intel Core Duo Mac mini for $699 with 512MB of memory, an 80GB hard drive, a slot-loading SuperDrive with double-layer support, and built-in AirPort Extreme with Bluetooth 2.0 capability. Refurbished current-generation iPod shuffles are currently limited to the 1GB silver model for $49, which stores up to 12 hours of music and includes Apple Earphones with a dock.

Monster targets Apple TV with new cables

AV specialist Monster has launched a series of cables specifically targeted at the newly-shipped Apple TV. While not functionally different from most cables, the iTV series does use a gray-on-white motif, and supports all the ports an Apple TV dock can use, which includes component and HDMI 1.3 video, as well as analog and fiber-optic sound outputs. Each product also has a Duraflex protective jacket, and in the case of the fiber-optic cable, an inner jacket said to reduce disruptive internal reflections. The other cables use contacts plated with 24-karat gold. The HDMI cable is the most expensive at $60; the component cable is $40, while the audio cables are priced at $30 for fiber-optics and $25 for analog.

Apple joins W3 HTML Working Group

The W3 Consortium recently announced a renewed HTML Working Group effort, and Apple has joined the group while extending an invitation to WebKit community members. "The HTML Working Group has an unusually open process, meaning that anyone can join," an Apple blogger wrote. "If you are part of the WebKit community and interested in helping to define the next generation of HTML, Ian Hickson has instructions for how to join." Apple is also ramping up its participation in other W3C working groups as well as other standards bodies related to Web technology, according to the company. "If you are interested in helping with any of this work, get in touch and we might be able to get people invited to these other groups."

Eight-core Mac Pros, Leopard at NAB?

Apple is planning far more than just the introduction of new creative software at its NAB event, according to T3. The publication cites a well-placed source who claims that the Mac creator will introduce not only an expected upgrade to Final Cut Studio but also the hardware and operating system that will take advantage of its technology. Both Mac OS X Leopard and an eight-core Mac Pro will make their official debut at the April 15th presentation, the informant says.

Although unverified, the information correlates with earlier revelations. Apple's UK branch recently leaked Mac Pro details on its website, and PiperJaffray analyst Gene Munster recently estimated Leopard's release during the same mid-April window. No mention was made of whether Final Cut Studio would see a benefit from the new OS X update.

Briefly: Elton John on iTunes; Apple at NAB...

In brief: Sir Elton John has revealed plans to make his entire music catalog available exclusively via Apple's iTunes Store starting next week, Apple has begun inviting video production professionals as well as members of the media to a special event at next month's National Association of Broadcasters Conference (NAB) in Las Vegas, Mozilla has released Firefox 2.0.0.3, and OWC has lowered pricing on its OWC Mercury Elite-AL Pro FireWire 800/400+USB2 RAID line of external storage solutions. Sir Elton John has agreed to offer his entire catalog of 400 tracks through Apple's iTunes Store starting March 26th, where it will remain exclusively available until April 30th before the tracks are made available through other services. Elton John had already offered some albums on iTunes, but is adding more than 30 albums to the online store to coincide with the global release in physical and digital formats of a new 18-track compilation from the artist titled "Rocket Man The Definitive Hits."

'Significant speed gains' for CS3 on Leopard

Adobe has announced that its new CS3 pro software -- which is due to launch next week in New York City -- offers "significant performance gains" when running under Apple's Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard -- which at least one industry analyst expects to ship in mid-April. Adobe's forthcoming release of Creative Suite 3 is expected to bolster Intel-based Mac sales due to pent up demand from professional users waiting to purchase new Apple hardware until a native version of Photoshop surfaces. CRN noted in early March that Adobe and Apple had finally fixed a "Tiger Pause" issue that would cause the professional imaging software to freeze for up to several seconds every half a minute, and today cited "significant performance gains" as claimed by Adobe for CS3 on Intel-based Macs. Adobe has said its latest professional software will run smoothly on both Mac OS X Tiger and the as yet unreleased Mac OS X Leopard.

Crooked Arm ships Gladys FileMaker monitor

Crooked Arm today began shipping Gladys 1.0, a utility for FileMaker Server administrators that automatically monitors FileMaker servers and generates custom notifications. Gladys can monitor FileMaker server availability on both Mac and Windows systems, as well as specific file availability and account status. Administrators can configure Gladys to provide information notifications directly on screen, via email, or as a text message. The software can also run AppleScripts, and offers full support for password protected FileMaker Servers. Gladys is priced at $200 for a single-server license with five agents or $500 for a pro license with an unlimited number of agents. Site licenses are available for $1,000, and the software requires Mac OS X 10.4 or later.

PlayFirst ships Mystery of Shark Island...

PlayFirst today announced Mystery of Shark Island, a new hunt-and-seek adventure set amidst an alluring beachcomber backdrop. In the game, players transport themselves onto the sands of Shark Island described as "an arcane archipelago yielding the mysterious relics of an unknown civilization. To solve the riddle players must scour each sandbar or tide pool and collect sea shells, rocks, gems and artifacts hidden in the sand. Picking up the right treasures will start to unravel the island's mysterious past, but all progress could be lost with the next incoming tide." It offers two gameplay modes: story and arcade as well as 50 levels taking place across 10 islands and five types of beaches. It requires Mac OS X 10.3.9 or later and is available for $20 or as a 60-minute trial.

Apple officially announces AppleTV shipments...

Apple today officially announced that it is now shipping Apple TV, just days after the company began sending customers shipment confirmations. The wireless set-top device, expected to first reach consumers on Friday, can play iTunes content from a PC or Mac on a widescreen TV, including movies, TV shows, music, photos and podcasts. The "simple and elegant" solution allows users to quickly browse and view their entire collection of digital media from across the room using the included Apple Remote. The device, analysts say, will lead Apple's digital revolution, but may see slow adoption until consumers more fully realize the potential of the device.

NEC rolls out 24-inch pivoting LCD with HDCP

NEC has quietly introduced its LCD2470WNX display for performance and pro users. The 24-inch screen is one of NEC's first to handle HDCP encryption for protected videos and has passed certification for Vista. The display maker also touts an extremely flexible stand that both pivots the display for portrait mode and adjusts for angle and height. A thin bezel also helps the 2470WNX fit into multi-display setups.

The screen itself is said to have strong performance, with a 1,000:1 contrast ratio and a 6ms response time. A special dynamic video mode automatically adjusts color for different programs to help artists and video editors. NEC further equips the 2740WNX with DVI/VGA inputs and a USB hub, and lists the display as available now for $820 in black or silver.

WSJ reviews AppleTV: "simple and elegant"...

The Wall Street Journal has the first review of Apple TV, the company's wireless set-top box that began shipping earlier this week, concluding that "Apple TV performed perfectly in Walt's house over a standard Wi-Fi wireless network with a Pioneer plasma TV and six different computers -- three Windows machines from Hewlett-Packard and Dell, and three Apple Macs." The device, which connects wirelessly to up to six home computers and then with a cable to a widescreen TV, runs a modified version of Mac OS X, with a "carefully limited set of functions" and has the most notable limitation of not being able to download content directly from the internet, according to the review. It also notes that users cannot adjust volume from Apple's simple remote and that it only supports televisions with Component or HDMI inputs. [subscription required]