Apple

Updated 8:05 AM PDT with additional details on how the plug-ins work.

Apple has added image-editing plug-ins for its Aperture photo editing software as part of a new release of the product.

Aperture 2.1 is a free download for those already running Aperture 2.0, which was released in February. The addition of support for third-party plug-ins gives Aperture users a way to use specialized editing tools not supported by Apple inside the application.

The new release is basically a software development kit for Aperture developers, and has been expected since the release of Aperture 2.0. It … Read more

Apple has released an updated version of the iPhone software development kit, adding support for a popular tool.

The new SDK is available for downloading on Apple's site, and now comes with Interface Builder. That tool allows you to design user interfaces in line with Apple's human interface guidelines, which is a requirement for iPhone applications.

This is a helpful reminder that the SDK is a beta product until June, when it's scheduled for a formal release. After an initial bottleneck, Apple has started accepting developers into its program to begin developing and testing their applications for … Read more

A team of security researchers has won $10,000 for hacking a MacBook Air in two minutes using an undisclosed Safari vulnerability.

IDG News Service is camped out at CanSecWest in lovely Vancouver, Canada, and has chronicled the exploits (gotta love security puns) of Charlie Miller, Jake Honoroff, and Mark Daniel of Independent Security Evaluators during the Pwn to Own contest sponsored by TippingPoint. The team was able to gain control of a MacBook Air on the second day of the hacking competition, which pitted the Air against Windows Vista and Ubuntu machines.

No one was able to execute code … Read more

AMD could finally be getting ready to explain how it intends to build chips in the future, almost a year after dropping hints that it would revamp its manufacturing strategy.

Hans Mosesmann, an analyst with Raymond James, believes AMD is about to reveal a new manufacturing strategy that will attempt to take some of the formidable costs out of making chips. Mosesmann thinks that AMD is considering spinning out its manufacturing operations as part of a joint venture with another company, making greater use of partners such as IBM and Chartered Semiconductor, or some such combination.

An AMD representative declined … Read more

Expect to see new iPods arrive around the usual time later this year, say around September or so.

Wolfson, a high-end audio chipmaker, notified shareholders Thursday that it "has not been selected by a major Tier 1 customer for inclusion in the next generation of its portable media players, expected to be launched during the third quarter of 2008." Sources told Reuters that "major Tier 1 customer" was Apple, and that the snub came from new versions of the iPod Nano and iPod Touch.

Apple has held a third-quarter iPod event for the last three years, … Read more

The latest round in everyone's favorite ongoing legal saga, Rambus versus the world, has tipped in Rambus' favor.

A jury ruled Wednesday in San Francisco that Rambus did not obtain patents for memory technology through fraud or anti-competitive means, in a blow to memory makers Hynix, Micron, and Nanya. Rambus has spent years trying to enforce its patents on memory used in just about every PC and server in the world, while fighting off claims that it obtained those patents through shady means.

At one point in the mid-1990s, Rambus and the memory industry sat down to work on … Read more

The assistant to Motorola's former chief marketing officer has accused former CEO Ed Zander of working his boss to death--literally--and declared that current CEO Greg Brown is "actively killing the company."

Engadget obtained a letter written by Numair Faraz, who was a personal adviser to former Motorola Chief Marketing Officer Geoffrey Frost, sent to Motorola's top executives earlier this year.

In the letter, released the same day Motorola announced plans to separate into two companies, Faraz outlines Motorola's downfall from the heights it reached during the success of the Razr.

"I've always considered … Read more

The heated debate over whether Apple is tricking you into believing you can see millions of colors on your Mac has come to a quiet conclusion.

The Chicago Tribune noted last week (spotted by AppleInsider) that Apple has settled a lawsuit brought by two professional photographers claiming that the company falsely advertised the capabilities of their MacBook Pros as being able to display "millions of colors."

The plaintiffs claimed that Apple could achieve those heights only through "dithering."

There's an option in the Displays screen, under System Preferences in Mac OS X, in which you … Read more

Microsoft is getting ready to take the wraps off the latest version of Windows Mobile, according to a report out Tuesday.

Pocket Lint is claiming that Microsoft will release Windows Mobile 6.1 next Tuesday, which happens to be the day that Microsoft's Robbie Bach, head of the Windows Mobile team, is planning to give a keynote address at the CTIA Wireless conference in Las Vegas. Purely a coincidence, I'm sure, although it will be April Fool's Day.

Windows Mobile 6.1 will be the first major update to ship since version 6.0 made its debut … Read more