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(Credit: Apple)

The new iMacs seem to be getting more than their fair share of problems. After reports of the graphics card freezing up the system, there now may be a condensation problem in the computer's hardware.

According to the Apple support forum, more than a few users have experienced condensation behind the LCD. For now, there is no mention of any damage resulting from this, but as we all know, combining water and computers is never a good idea (unless you're talking about water-cooled systems).

We have contacted Apple regarding this issue and are awaiting a response.

(Source: Crave Asia)

AppleInsider has reported that more than a few owners of the new shiny iMacs are experiencing freezing problems.

(Credit: Apple)

When the problem occurs, the system will look and behave as if it's running but is totally unresponsive to any touching of the controls, according to the report. Some suspect foul play by the new ATI Radeon HD graphics card, as most instances occur when playing games or running any video-intensive tasks.

So far Apple is aware of the problem but has yet to release a permanent fix for it. Desperate users have tried to re-install older Mac drivers with mixed results. For now, the best you can hope for is to reset the system when this occurs. If this becomes a trend, then we should all wait for a Service Pack for the upcoming Mac OS X Leopard before making the upgrade.

(Source: Crave Asia)

All of the major Windows PC vendors have improved their desktop designs lately, but after today's iMac redesign announcement, Apple has distanced itself even further from its competition. The trimmer, sleeker iMac, and especially its new keyboard, cut a cleaner profile than any of this year's new PCs from Dell, Gateway, HP, or Sony.

Apple's new iMac takes the lead in desktop design.

(Credit: Apple)

Looks matter of course, but so does value. And with this update, Apple appears to have shed its reputation for going beyond its competition in terms of price. If you compare component for component, you'll find that Dell and Gateway, in particular, offer competitive configs to Apple's new lineup. You lose an aesthetic step or two with those traditional Windows desktops, but worse, you also miss out on the iMac's strong iLife '08 software suite, which eliminates the PCs' price advantage.

Thanks to the various virtualization apps and Apple's own Boot Camp, you also can't really argue that by going with a Mac you're locked into the Apple ecosystem. The new iMacs and their all-in-one design don't solve the lack of upgradability, but we're willing to bet that doesn't effect that many mainstream computer buyers. Our bigger concern is the upgrade path to Leopard, Apple's OS X update later this Fall. Apple has not said whether it will charge new or existing Mac owners to upgrade to the new operating system. That would make us extracautious about purchasing a new Mac now, knowing that we might save $129 or so on an OS upgrade if we wait a few months.

Editor's note: This is a blog that was posted live from Tuesday's Apple event. For a complete article with more information about the products announced today, click here.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs introduced two new iMacs at the start of an event held Tuesday at Apple's headquarters in Cupertino, Calif.

The 20-inch and 24-inch iMacs are the latest editions of Apple's all-in-one iMac design. They are made from aluminum and glass, and come with a new keyboard. Both the new keyboard and the iMac itself are thinner than the previous edition.

Three new iMacs will be available immediately--two 20-inch models and one 24-inch model. The base 20-inch version will cost $1,199, and a more powerful 20-inch model will cost $1,499. The 24-inch model will cost $1,799, $200 less than the current 24-inch iMac.

Side view of Apple's new iMac and its accompanying metallic keyboard.

(Credit: Apple)

But there's more to come. Stay tuned; Jobs is just getting warmed up and he's starting to talk about applications.

Update at 10:35 a.m.: Apple's second announcement involved iLife, the company's suite of multimedia applications. Apple is skipping right over iLife '07 to release iLife '08, Jobs said, calling the latest version "the biggest jump in iLife since we introduced it."

Jobs first walked attendees through iPhoto, the picture management application. The primary enhancement to iPhoto '08 is a new feature that sorts by events--it automatically sorts photos by date and can preview the photos in an event without opening the folder. Events can be "merged" or "split" as needed.

The new iPhoto '08 is designed to work alongside some new .Mac services also unveiled Tuesday. The .Mac Web Gallery can take photos directly from iPhoto and publish them to a Web page. It also syncs up with the iPhone so iPhone users can share their galleries or individual photos.

The Web gallery also incorporates the skimming feature from iPhoto '08, letting users preview photos in a given event or album without having to open the entire gallery.

Update at 10:53 a.m.: Apple will be releasing a completely new version of the iMovie application with the new iLife suite. Jobs said the new software came out of an Apple engineer's realization that he couldn't make a short 5-minute movie in less than half an hour using either iMovie or Final Cut Pro, Apple's high-end video editing application.

The new iMovie allows you to drag and drop movie clips from your library of videos into a new movie template. You can pick how long each individual clip will run, set transitions between scenes and upload those videos to your iTunes, the new .Mac Video Gallery or YouTube right from the menu selections.

These nine ports--audio, USB, FireWire, Ethernet and video--are on the back of the iMac's monitor (on the lower right corner if you're facing the screen).

(Credit: Apple)

Jobs created a very short movie in just a few minutes--of course, he probably practiced first--in a demonstration for attendees. The application can process high-definition video from multiple sources.

Update at 11:13 a.m.: Jobs unveiled new editions of iWeb, iDVD and GarageBand, the remainder of the iLife suite. The iWeb and iDVD applications received minor updates, but one interesting one involved allowing iWeb users to sign up for Google's AdSense program in the Web site creation process.

Jobs also demonstrated a new feature in GarageBand called Magic GarageBand, which essentially lets you create a backing band for your own performance. There are several different themes, such as rock, blues, jazz and latin.

But Jobs then plunged into the new version of iWork, Apple's productivity suite. Keynote, the presentation application, comes with several new themes and better support for manipulating photos to serve as background for a slide. Pages, the word processing application, also received updated templates.

But the big part of the new iWork suite is a spreadsheet application called Numbers. Numbers is designed to work with Keynote and Pages, allowing people to drop in pictures, graphs and photos alongside spreadsheet tables. You can also import and export with Microsoft's Excel spreadsheet.

iWork '08 costs $79 and is available today.

Update at 2:47 p.m. PDT:The headline on this story was changed from "Apple's .Mac service unavailable during Tuesday's event.")

Apple is expected to unveil new iMacs during an event Tuesday, but it could also have some improvements to its .Mac service up its sleeve.

Apple could be ready to update its .Mac service during Tuesday's Mac event.

(Credit: Apple)

Mac Rumors noted that Apple's .Mac service, which allows subscribers access to e-mail, data storage and Web publishing tools for $99 a year, will be down for undergoing maintenance Tuesday from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. PDT, which happens to be the exact same time that Apple is hosting a "product presentation" at its Cupertino, Calif., headquarters. (Update at 2:47 p.m. PDT: The service won't be down the whole time.) Apple has said Tuesday's event will focus on the Mac, but that doesn't mean the company won't take the opportunity to launch a .Mac upgrade as well.

With everything else Apple's been doing over the past couple of years, including the Intel transition and the iPhone, the .Mac service has languished. CEO Steve Jobs acknowledged the dust growing on .Mac twice this year, during the company's annual meeting of shareholders as well as during an interview with The Wall Street Journal's Walt Mossberg at the D: All Things Digital conference.

Apple usually takes its online store down when it's about to launch new products, such as the new iMacs that are expected to make their debut Tuesday in Cupertino. But shutting down the .Mac service seems a little more unusual. (Update at 2:47 p.m. PDT: The service won't be down the whole time.) It's possible the maintenance on the .Mac service might be required to introduce new features or capabilities.

Apple is going to hold a "product presentation" next Tuesday for members of the media that will focus on the Mac, according to an Apple representative.

The event will take place at Apple's headquarters in Cupertino, Calif., at 10 a.m. PDT and "Apple executives" will be present, the representative said, declining to say whether CEO Steve Jobs will show up. Presumably, he'll be in the building.

Next week's Mac event at Apple headquarters could involve a new iMac.

(Credit: Apple)

The most recent Mac-related chatter has concerned a long-awaited redesign of the iMac, and other outlets, namely ThinkSecret, have already reported that Apple plans to introduce the new iMacs on August 7. The rest of the Mac lineup has been updated more recently than the iMac, which hasn't really been changed since Apple made the transition to Intel's chips.

Another report surfaced about a possible new iPod Nano to come out next week, but the Apple representative emphasized this would be a Mac-related event, and it's somewhat unlikely that Apple would have two new products from different departments in a week that doesn't fall during Macworld. Mac shipments soared during Apple's third quarter, and if the iMac rumors are true, the company could have new all-in-one systems on its shelves prior to the start of the back-to-school shopping season.

Looks like a new iMac could be arriving very soon.

(Credit: Apple)

The back-to-school season is always one of Apple's most important quarters of the year. Buzz is building that the company won't let the season pass by without a new iMac.

The latest report, courtesy of Think Secret, claims that Apple has nailed down August 7 as the release date for new iMacs. It's probably about time; Apple hasn't released a new iMac in quite some time, and Intel released new chipsets in June.

AppleInsider has also pointed to late July/early August as the time frame for a new iMac launch, which would give Apple time to get those systems out in its stores so that a new crop of college students can update their Facebook profiles. The new iMacs are said to come in 20-inch and 24-inch varieties, with a new keyboard and the brushed aluminum exterior found on the Macbook Pro.

Think Secret is also claiming that an updated version of Apple's iLife suite of multimedia software could arrive around the same time. Apple hasn't released an update to the suite--which includes iPhoto, iDVD, and Garage Band--this year, but that could be blamed in part on the delayed release of Leopard.

Now that the iPhone launch is out of the way, many Apple watchers expect the company to turn its attention to its stagnant iMac designs with newer models later this year.

Apple could soon be ready to unveil new iMac designs, according to Apple bloggers.

(Credit: Apple)

AppleInsider is reporting that along with new redesigned iMacs, Apple will introduce a keyboard design already in place on its Macbooks to customers that prefer the all-in-one design. The site expects the new iMacs to arrive in a month or so in 20-inch and 24-inch models, which would allow Apple to have fresh systems amid the August back-to-school shopping season, one of the more important buying periods of the year for PC companies.

The iMac has had the same basic design since the G5 days, making it ripe for an overhaul. Apple added Intel's Core 2 Duo processors and a 24-inch model last September, but many Apple bloggers are expecting a more thorough overhaul this year, perhaps incorporating the "brushed aluminum" look of the Macbook Pro, ThinkSecret said.

A horde of decaying zombies invaded San Francisco's downtown Apple store on Friday evening, hunting for brains, terrifying the customers, and gnawing on iMacs.

Zombie gnaws on iMac but prefers human brains

(Credit: Declan McCullagh)

I've placed some photos here. I'm pleased to report that the zombies ultimately decided human brains were tastier than plastic iMacs, although it wasn't for lack of effort in trying to vary what must be a monotonous diet.

It was difficult to judge the exact number of zombies that shuffled through the city's shopping district, losing limbs, blood, and unmentionable body parts along the way, but probably at least 150 converged on Union Square. Then they decided to visit nearby businesses, including the Apple store, Nordstrom, the Disney store, and the Westfield Mall.

The event was titled "SF Zombie Mob 2007," and it was organized by the gruesome-minded folks at eatbrains.com. It's akin to a flash mob, though because the participants trek around the city after gathering, the Zombie Mob was closer in concept to the Critical Mass bicycle ride, which coincidentally was happening at the same time along the same street. In truth, it was a pretty polite affair: only passers-by who volunteered to become zombie-fied were, and no arrests took place.

It may be worth noting that the Westfield Mall and Disney security tried to bar the zombies from entering, but Apple store security did not. In fact, salespeople were jostling one another for a position where they could take the best photo of the zombies (or themselves with the zombies, or their brains being eaten by the zombies).