Apple

Apple's tablet is all the rage these days. Companies are lining up to pledge support for the tablet even though Apple hasn't acknowledged its existence.

The latest publishing company to throw its hat into the tablet ring is Time Inc. With a concept version in hand, the publisher showed AllThingsD a version of the tablet-size edition of Sports Illustrated.

Time says with some confidence that its digital magazine format will run on "whatever tablet Apple or [anyone] else has up their sleeves." As you might expect, Time is planning to make all of its titles available on the new format.

Time isn't the only company getting ready for the Apple tablet. Conde Nast said in late November that it is preparing a version of Wired for the elusive tablet computer.

New York Times Executive Editor Bill Keller is also looking to the tablet. He told staff in October that the tablet is one platform the company needs to be prepared to take advantage of in the future.

It's been widely reported by sites like Gizmodo that Apple has met with newspaper and magazine publishers to discuss content for the tablet, but Apple has remained quiet on the issue.

It's no secret that newspapers in the U.S. are having their share of difficulties during this economic downturn, but New York Times Executive Editor Bill Keller is looking to the future and that future includes an Apple tablet.

Keller's remarks came during a presentation earlier this month to the digital staff at The New York Times. Video of the "off-the-record" meeting was obtained by the Nieman Journalism Lab and posted on its site. At the meeting, Keller addressed some of the things the newspaper needs to do to succeed, including preparing for platforms of the future.

"We need to figure out the right journalistic product to deliver to mobile platforms and devices," said Keller. "I'm hoping we can get the newsroom more actively involved in the challenge of delivering our best journalism in the form of Times Reader, iPhone apps, WAP, or the impending Apple slate, or whatever comes after that."

It's not clear whether Keller has inside knowledge of an Apple tablet or if he was just assuming the existence of the device based on the rumors and speculation that have been around for months.

However, Keller could know more than the average person. Apple has reportedly been talking to several high-profile media companies, negotiating to get its content ready for a new device the company is preparing to launch, according to Gizmodo.

Attracting companies like The New York Times could be a win-win for both companies--Apple would have reputable content for its device and companies like The New York Times would have a new revenue source for its business.

(Credit: Apple)

For those of you looking for more capacity in Apple's combo 802.11n router/NAS drive, the company has boosted its top-end Time Capsule to 2TB and slapped a $499 price tag on it.

More significantly, Apple also dropped the price of the 1TB model--which just Wednesday cost $499--to $299. Aside from the higher capacity, nothing else appears to have changed.

Previously, Apple also offered a 500GB Time Capsule, but that model has been discontinued and can only be found in the refurbished aisle, where it's going for $199.

All I can say is that if Apple was able to shave off $200 on the 1TB model, it must have had one hell of a nice margin.

Comments?

(Via: Engadget)

Concept art for an Apple touch-screen Netbook.

(Credit: Gizmodo)

We get a lot of e-mails from folks asking us when to expect a Netbook from Apple. Let's make something absolutely clear: despite all the previous rumors, we have no idea if, or when, such a product will exist. But we will let report to you when a new (or recycled) rumor pops in the blogsphere.

The latest: the Mandarin-language publication Chinese Times is reporting that Apple will release a Netbook in October. We tend to put a question mark on our rumor headlines, but there doesn't seem to be any question mark in the reporting here--at least according to a translation of the article that appeared within MacRumors.com's forum.

Naturally, this all comes from a "reliable source." Here's the key quote in the article (again, we are going by the translation that appeared on MacRumors):

Taiwan's high-tech supply chain companies said Apple will debut its first Netbook in October; Apple will pose itself to tackle the Christmas shopping season. Three (Taiwanese) corporations--Foxconn, Wintek, Dynapack--have received direct orders from Apple. (Wintek will be producing touch screens and providing relevant technologies for Apple.) In addition, some supply chain companies have privately confirmed deals related to Netbooks."

The report also goes on to add that "Apple will not follow the current market trend (by producing Netbooks with screens about 10.2 or 10.1 inches in diagonal length). Instead, Apple will produce (touch) screens with about 9.7 inches in diagonal length." As to cost, word is that it will come in around $800, which is about what we'd expect an Apple Netbook to cost (if the company decides to make one).

There are also some interesting updates tacked on to the MacRumors post as additional stories have come out. One update says there are "unconfirmed rumors" that British reporters pried Apple Netbook info out of several Foxconn Electronics employees and that although Foxconn refused to publicly comment on the rumors, the reporters may have gotten some sort of private confirmation on the rumors' validity from the company itself.

Again, these are all rumors, and with Apple, you never know what kind of bizarre smoke screen it might put out there. But in the past, the company has had some issues with leaks coming out of its suppliers in Taiwan, so we're thinking there might be some truth to this one--especially since the same rumor hit back in March. Either way, we do expect Apple to release new iPods this fall (as it has the last few years). Whether one of them will be a giant iPod Touch remains to be seen.

Comments? Do you think Apple really will do a Netbook this year?

Source: Gizmodo via MacRumors via China Times (original article in Mandarin)

Correction: QuickTime 10 is likely to be released with Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard in the fall, and won't be updated Monday.

At WWDC Monday morning, Apple's Bertrand Serlet came out with guns blazing, not just in support of Snow Leopard, but of Safari and QuickTime, too. Announcing that Safari 4 would leave beta later Monday and that QuickTime would receive a massive overhaul, Serlet introduced new features while taking swipes at both Microsoft and Mozilla.

Safari 4 can be downloaded from CNET Download.com for Windows and Mac.

Safari 4 shipping today.

(Credit: (Credit: James Martin/CNET))

The senior vice president of OS X software said that QuickTime 10 is now "super efficient" and will support HTTP streaming based on h.264 and AAC, a feature that many competing programs have long offered. The new QuickTime will automatically adjust the playback bit rate, and it will be able to stream through firewalls.

In addition to receiving a major version jump from v7 to v10, the interface has also received a complete refresh. Onscreen controls will disappear when playing back video. The QuickTime "Q" logo will also see a slight redo, changing from its familiar blue to a silver and purple.

Safari 4's Nitro will be the fastest JavaScript engine of any browser on the market, Serlet said. Without describing what kind of benchmarks he was using, he showed a chart indicating that Chrome 2 is 5.3 times faster than Internet Explorer 8, but that Safari 4 is 7.8 times faster. Safari 4 also loads JavaScript three times faster than Safari on the iPhone, Serlet said. HTML 5 audio and video tags will be support in Safari 4, too.

Microsoft was not the only target for Serlet. "The number one cause of crashes," he said, "is browser plug-ins." Mozilla Firefox is the best-known extensible browser, and one new feature in Safari 4 is designed to address the instability that some plug-ins can bring to browsers. Crashes in Safari 4 that are caused by a plug-in will cause only the plug-in to fail. Refresh the page, Serlet said, and the plug-in will reload. "All you need to do is reload that page and that's it. You haven't missed a beat."

I'll be running hands-on tests on Safari and QuickTime later today when they're made available to the public. The update to QuickTime in particular is somewhat surprising, given that Apple had been resistant for years to make any dramatic overhauls to its movie player. If the company can improve its performance, then we may be looking at a heated battle in the video playback market in addition to Web browsers.

(Credit: CNET)

Apple Insider has unearthed proof that YouTube uploading will be built into the upcoming version of QuickTime that ships with OS X 10.6.

According to beta testers, several video-sharing options will be baked into the latest release of Apple's QuickTime media playback and editing software, including the capability to directly upload to YouTube. With the new QuickTime, you will be able to convert and upload any supported video file type to the online video service and all you will need is to be a registered YouTube user. You also will be able to seamlessly upload supported video to the MobileMe Gallery.

In addition to these new sharing options, iTunes also will offer ways to convert and export your video files to work on your iPod, iPhone, or Apple TV. All of these options will be available to you from the same convenient location and will automatically be imported to iTunes before being synced to your supported devices.

With this latest discovery, Apple will effectively offer built-in support for YouTube across all of its main products. Both the iPhone and Apple TV already offer YouTube support, along with some of Apple's other software including recent releases of iMovie. With the addition of direct uploads through QuickTime, Apple is providing support for desktop and laptop Macs.

Concept art for an Apple touch-screen Netbook.

(Credit: Gizmodo)

Updated at 4:09 a.m. PDT March 10 with new information from Dow Jones Newswire. This story was originally posted at 9:44 a.m. PDT March 9.

Take this for what you will, but the Apple rumor mill is churning with word that the company has a touch-screen Netbook in the works that will hit the market in time for back-to-school sales later this year.

Citing an article by the Chinese-language Commercial Times, DigiTimes reported Monday that "Taiwan-based Wintek will supply touch panels for Apple's new Netbook, and shipments will start in the third quarter this year." DigiTimes also claimed that Quanta Computer will manufacture the new device.

Now Dow Jones Newswire has posted an updated story that expands on the DigiTimes report. "The mini laptop computers will likely have monitor screens that are between 9.7-inches and 10-inches," an unnamed source told Dow Jones. Another person added, "Other specifications and functions are still under evaluation." The report also claimed Wintek would make the touch-screen displays and Quanta would assemble the new computers.

Chiming in on the rumor, Engadget posted a mock-up of an Apple Netbook that has a keyboard. Meanwhile, Silicon Alley Reporter stuck with its earlier speculation that Apple will simply do a larger version of the iPod Touch (it's calling the device the iPod Touch HD).

Personally, I'd rather see Apple go with a more straightforward Netbook approach that simply adds some Apple design flair to 10-inch Netbooks already on the market, with three models ranging in price from $599-$799.

Of course, Apple could just bring the price down on the MacBook Air and indeed bulk up the iPod Touch to differentiate its "Netbook" from other Netbooks already flooding the market.

Thoughts?

Apple has issued a critical security update for QuickTime media player, aimed at resolving vulnerabilities that could potentially allow a malicious attacker to take control of a person's computer, according to an Apple advisory released this week.

People running QuickTime 7 for Windows and for Mac OS X, are affected, as well as those who are using Mac OS X 10.4 or Mac OS X 10.5, according to Apple.

Apple is advising people to update to QuickTime 7.6 for Windows, QuickTime 7.6 for Leopard, or QuickTime 7.6 for Tiger.

The update seeks to address QuickTime security flaws that could potentially allow a malicious attacker to launch a buffer overflow and execute arbitrary code on a user's system.

The attack could potentially occur via a maliciously crafted movie file, AVI movie file, QTVR movie file, or an RTSP URL, according to Apple.

Security researcher Secunia, in an advisory released Thursday, noted the vulnerabilities are considered "highly critical."

Apple rolled out a QuickTime update Tuesday night that should alleviate some of the concern over the addition of some copy-protection technology to the new MacBooks.

Apple customers who bought one of the company's new MacBooks or MacBook Pros introduced in October were annoyed to discover that the Mini DisplayPort on those systems uses a copy-protection technology called HDCP. That technology is supposed to prevent those owners from playing HD movies purchased from the iTunes store on external projectors that don't also support HDCP technology. But several owners reported that standard-definition movies were also declared off-limits by their new systems.

The QuickTime update should allow standard-definition movies obtained from Apple to play on those older projectors, but HD movies will still need an HDCP-compliant projector to be shown anywhere but the laptop screen. The update hasn't shown up on Apple's site yet, but it should be popping up in Software Update if you own one of the new systems, according to AppleInsider.