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Future updates via Facebook

mark@markburr.com — 2010-02-01T21:45:22+00:00

All future news updates will now be performed via our Facebook fan page.

Orange & T-Mobile to sell iPhone 3G

mark@markburr.com — 2009-07-16T08:29:56+01:00

Looks like Orange and T-Mobile have been awarded a license to sell the iPhone 3G (Not the 3GS)

From September....

iPhone v3.0 today

mark@markburr.com — 2009-06-17T07:21:26+01:00

iPhone v3.0 software released at 6pm today. Don't forget, if you have an unlocked iPhone DO NOT RUN this update as it will get relocked !!

If you have an unlocked handset and want to upgrade to v3.0 then please get in touch :o)

iPhone v3.0 feature list

mark@markburr.com — 2009-06-11T09:00:16+01:00

Successfully installed the iPhone v3.0 software in my iPhone.

The complete feature list is here.

New Features in 3.0:

1. Cut/Paste
2. Copy/Paste
3. Shake to undo/redo typing
4. Text selection for easy mass deletion
5. MMS
6. Landscape keyboard in Notes
7. Landscape keyboard in Mail
8. Landscape keyboard in Messages
9. Forward texts or picture messages
10. Delete individual texts or picture messages
11. Sending progress bar in Messages app moved to title instead of over the keyboard area (allows typing new message while the first one is sending)
12. USB tethering
13. Bluetooth tethering
14. Stereo bluetooth (A2DP)
15. Spotlight search (searches all app titles, mail, media, contact details, and calendar appointments)
16. Search in Notes
17. Search in Mail
18. Search in iPod
19. In-App purchases
20. Option to have double clicking the home button go to the Spotlight Search
21. Option to have double clicking the home button go to the Camera
22. Preview icon in lower left hand corner for last shot taken in Camera app
23. Shake to shuffle in iPod
24. Scrolling of screenshots in App Store
25. Type of phone used under each call in Recents (i.e., mobile, home, work, etc.)
26. Call history log (including call duration)
27. Option to Share Contact in each contact listing
28. Hold link in Safari to Copy
29. Hold link in Safari to Open in New Page
30. Auto Fill contact information, usernames and passwords in Safari
31. Login to your YouTube account
32. See Comments in YouTube
33. Subscribe in YouTube
34. Rate in YouTube
35. Shake to undo what you have typed
36. Option to retry sending failed text messages, indicated by red exclamation point next to text
37. Turn-by-turn GPS capabilities
38. Maps can be run inside other applications
39. Access to dock port for accessories to communicate
40. Peer-to-peer connectivity using Bluetooth (no Wi-Fi required)
41. New Voice memo application
42. Extended Parental controls
43. Anti-phishing
44. Wi-Fi auto login
45. Note syncing in iTunes
46. Improved Stocks app
47. New calendar types (CalDAV)
48. Prompt to confirm deleting a note
49. Prompt to confirm deleting a photo
50. Option to select multiple photos to attach to an email
51. "Find My iPhone" option for MobileMe users
52. Unlimited size podcast downloads over 3G
53. Pushing home button on first home screen takes user to Spotlight
54. Pushing home button on Spotlight takes user to first home screen
55. Variable speed playback for audio books
56. App Store subscriptions
57. Push notifications
58. Audio/Video tags
59. New video streaming capabilities (HTML 5 video, h.264 and HTTP)
60. Calendar subscriptions
61. iTunes login
62. iTunes account creation
63. Encypted profiles
64. LDAP (directory services)
65. VPN on-demand
66. EAP SIM
67. Proxy support
68. OTA profiles
69. Revoke certificates
70. Exchange ActiveSync Policies
71. Media scrubber
72. More languages
73. Improved keyboards
74. Failed app updates now are shown in a duplicate icon and labeled "Paused"
75. When selecting multiple emails to forward/delete, any unread emails' blue dot are shown next to the red selector dot instead of being overridden by the red selector dot
76. Non-contact phone calls list their city and state of origin in Recents and Visual Voicemail under the number.
77. Ability to change ringtones straight from Favorites
78. Lap time display now displayed smaller and above time in Stopwatch
79. Polished Phone, Messages, and iPod icons
80. Swipe to delete notes in the Notes app
81. Advanced Bluetooth options for Handsfree devices
82. Option to close a single web page in Safari page view, which immediately opens a new blank page
83. Improved predictive dictionary
84. Blue dot now displayed in center of location circle in Maps (V1 only)
85. Listening to music while charging the battery now displays the album art instead of the battery
86. Smaller font for song title on lock screen
87. Option in Phone Settings to choose your phone number
88. Option to disable text message reminder alerts
89. Option to disable text message previews
90. Option to show subject field in text messages
91. Ability to integrate iPod music into apps
92. Clickable email links in App Store app descriptions
93. JavaScript 3x speed boost
94. 11 homescreens now allowed
95. Reboots to "slide to unlock" screen instead of homescreen
96. In Settings>General>Home>Search Results, users can choose what is searched on the phone and in what order.
97. Application count added in Settings>General>About
98. Option "Load Remote Images" added in Mail settings
99. Global address book option available if Exchange account is set up
100. Speed control in audiobooks
101. 30 second repeat option for audiobooks
102. Improved scrubbing speeds when holding white dot in song progress bar in iPod
103. When sending a text, your text box where you typed smoothly fades from white to green instead of instantly changing from white to green.
104. When moving an app across homescreens, holding the app on either the left or right side will slowly advance the app one through one homescreen at a time, without leaving empty spots in the bottom right corner or each homescreen it advances through.
105. Album name displayed on lockscreen iPod controls
106. Shake to shuffle on lockscreen iPod controls
107. Podcasts saved on iPhone now show Run Time, Time Left and Date Published
108. Screen goes from dimmed to full brightness after each song when playing the iPod while plugged in
109. WAVE file support in Mail
110. Attachment no longer automatically downloaded until user taps the attachment in Mail
111. When using a bluetooth headset with iPod, volume bar is removed and bluetooth headset name is displayed in its place.
112. A hard reset on your phone (holding sleep and home for 10 seconds) now turns it off instead of restarting it.
113. A space is no longer needed between two words for predictive texting to function.

Slew of new products !

mark@markburr.com — 2009-06-09T08:31:21+01:00

Apple have been busy once again.

At the WWDC in San Francisco yesterday they announced.

13” Macbook Pro. The Macbook has now been given the ‘pro’ name, leaving the White Macbook as the base model. Integrated non-removable battery now gives superior battery life whilst lasting for 5 years. Finally Apple brought back the Firewire port (800). Price reduction too.

15” Macbook Pro again as the integrated battery, faster processors and hard drive options. Price reduction too.

Macbook Air has been reduced in price.

The Macbook Pro 17” has been reduced in price and now has a faster processor and bigger hard disk.

Mac OS X SNOW Leopard was demoed once again and will be shipping in September.

iPhone v3.0, ready to download on the 17th June

New iPhone 3G S
Including Digital Compass, Video Recording, Voice Control, 3 megapixel camera with autofocus and faster internet speeds.

The stream can be watched here. Sit back and have a coffee, it’s around 2 hours long :)

http://events.apple.com.edgesuite.net/0906paowdnv/event/index.html?internal=ijalrmacu

Apple order 100 million 8gb chips

mark@markburr.com — 2009-04-09T19:09:19+01:00

Rumours that Apple have ordered 100 million 8Gb (8 gigabit, not gigabyte) NAND flash chips ready for the new version of the iPhone coming this summer.

All being well we will see 16GB & 32GB iPhones.

BE Broadband

mark@markburr.com — 2009-04-09T12:20:16+01:00

I’ve been talking to clients about the advantages of BE for sometime now.

In a nutshell, BE offer ADSL2+ in quite a number of exchanges. (www.bethere.co.uk)

What this means in simple terms is mega fast broadband (depending on distance and quality of line)

If you are very fortunate you can have download speeds of up to 24mb and upload speeds of up to 2.4mb.

I installed the BE router yesterday at a clients, and went to the Apple download site and downloaded one of their 300+ mb files (the best way to do a test and the most consistent)

Here is the result.

2.2MB per second !!!!!!!

That is pretty amazing.......

Give me a call if you want to discuss this.

Apple - 33 years ago

mark@markburr.com — 2009-04-01T06:58:37+01:00

Apple today celebrate their 33rd anniversary, as the company was founded on April 1st, 1976 by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak.

My new iPhone case is on its way

mark@markburr.com — 2009-02-11T12:09:40+00:00

Just ordered myself this new case for my 3G iPhone.

Should arrive in a weeks time :)

Happy 25th Birthday "The Macintosh"

mark@markburr.com — 2009-01-24T08:01:22+00:00

25 years ago today the ‘Macintosh’ was unveiled.

The rest they say is history !

Apple Reports Record $1.61 Billion Profit for Q1 2009

mark@markburr.com — 2009-01-22T07:55:35+00:00

Apple today announced financial results for the first quarter of fiscal 2009. Apple posted record revenue of $10.17 billion and net quarterly profit of $1.61 billion, or $1.78 per diluted share, compared to revenue of $9.6 billion and net quarterly profit of $1.58 billion, or $1.76 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 34.7 percent, equal to the year-ago quarter, and international sales accounted for 46 percent of the quarter's revenue. Apple also generated $3.6 billion in cash during the quarter. The results constitute the best quarterly revenue and earnings in Apple's history.

Using non-GAAP data, which eliminates subscription-based accounting for the iPhone and Apple TV, Apple would have had $11.8 billion revenue and $2.3 billion of net income.

Apple shipped 2,524,000 Macintosh computers during the quarter, representing 9 percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter. The company also sold 22,727,000 iPods during the quarter, representing 3 percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter and a company record. Quarterly iPhone unit sales reached 4,363,000 up 88 percent from the year-ago-quarter.

"Even in these economically challenging times, we are incredibly pleased to report our best quarterly revenue and earnings in Apple history - surpassing $10 billion in quarterly revenue for the first time ever," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO.

App Store hits 500 million downloads

mark@markburr.com — 2009-01-16T19:08:44+00:00

It’s only been open 6 months and the App Store has already had its 500 millionth download and now boasts 15,000+ apps.

Steve Jobs takes 6 months leave

mark@markburr.com — 2009-01-14T22:59:13+00:00

Steve Jobs sent the following email out to employees today:

Team,

I am sure all of you saw my letter last week sharing something very personal with the Apple community. Unfortunately, the curiosity over my personal health continues to be a distraction not only for me and my family, but everyone else at Apple as well. In addition, during the past week I have learned that my health-related issues are more complex than I originally thought.

In order to take myself out of the limelight and focus on my health, and to allow everyone at Apple to focus on delivering extraordinary products, I have decided to take a medical leave of absence until the end of June.

I have asked Tim Cook to be responsible for Apple's day to day operations, and I know he and the rest of the executive management team will do a great job. As CEO, I plan to remain involved in major strategic decisions while I am out. Our board of directors fully supports this plan.

I look forward to seeing all of you this summer.

Steve

Skype 2.8

mark@markburr.com — 2009-01-07T07:06:38+00:00

A new version of Skype is out. It is currently beta only (which means is might be a bit buggy) but now offers screen sharing just like ichat.

http://share.skype.com/sites/mac/2009/01/skype_28_beta_for_mac.html

Macworld Expo Keynote stream

mark@markburr.com — 2009-01-07T07:04:40+00:00

The Macworld Expo 2009 keynote is now available online.
Sit back and enjoy :o)

Watch me !

Steve Jobs issues a statement

mark@markburr.com — 2009-01-05T22:25:12+00:00

A lot of speculation over the last few months about Steve Jobs health.

Today Steve issued this statement

Dear Apple Community,
For the first time in a decade, I’m getting to spend the holiday season with my family, rather than intensely preparing for a Macworld keynote.
Unfortunately, my decision to have Phil deliver the Macworld keynote set off another flurry of rumors about my health, with some even publishing stories of me on my deathbed.
I’ve decided to share something very personal with the Apple community so that we can all relax and enjoy the show tomorrow.
As many of you know, I have been losing weight throughout 2008. The reason has been a mystery to me and my doctors. A few weeks ago, I decided that getting to the root cause of this and reversing it needed to become my #1 priority.
Fortunately, after further testing, my doctors think they have found the cause—a hormone imbalance that has been “robbing” me of the proteins my body needs to be healthy. Sophisticated blood tests have confirmed this diagnosis.
The remedy for this nutritional problem is relatively simple and straightforward, and I’ve already begun treatment. But, just like I didn’t lose this much weight and body mass in a week or a month, my doctors expect it will take me until late this Spring to regain it. I will continue as Apple’s CEO during my recovery.
I have given more than my all to Apple for the past 11 years now. I will be the first one to step up and tell our Board of Directors if I can no longer continue to fulfill my duties as Apple’s CEO. I hope the Apple community will support me in my recovery and know that I will always put what is best for Apple first.
So now I’ve said more than I wanted to say, and all that I am going to say, about this.
Steve

Happy New Year

mark@markburr.com — 2009-01-05T11:55:44+00:00

A Happy New Year to you all.

Updates have been very thin on the ground since September.

I will do my best to post more often on here. I’m also considering setting up a Facebook page too to mirror my site.

Well, 2009 brings the last ever Macworld Expo which kicks off tomorrow.

Apple have decided that trade shows are not needed anymore as they have their web and retail presence now.

Also, Steve Jobs will not be giving the last keynote speech. This will be left to Phil Schiller who is the senior vice president.

Certainly an end to an era for all those who used to attend this show. I went back in 1999 and it was the most amazing show you could ever attend. The blue and white G3 tower was launched then.

So, what will tomorrow bring ?

As usual, the rumour sites are abound with speculation.

New Mac Mini ? Hope so, this little machine is long overdue an update.

iMacs ? These should receive new processors etc.

Lots of talk about an iPhone nano.

Let's Rock event

mark@markburr.com — 2008-09-09T18:12:52+01:00

iTunes v8

mark@markburr.com — 2008-09-09T10:25:57+01:00

Tonight should see the release of iTunes v8 along with a slew of new iPod’s and hopefully price drops across the range.

Apple even have the iTunes 8 directory all set up.

http://appldnld.apple.com.edgesuite.net/content.info.apple.com/iTunes8/

Apple Media Event - Sept 9th

mark@markburr.com — 2008-09-02T21:55:56+01:00

Looks like the new iPods are coming next week !

Just for fun - remember this ?

mark@markburr.com — 2008-09-02T11:48:43+01:00

Just found one of these

Anyone remember what these were ?

iPhone 3G is coming soon to Pay & Go

mark@markburr.com — 2008-09-01T17:37:26+01:00

iPhone 3G is coming soon to Pay & Go

Pay & Go customers can now enjoy the iPhone 3G without a monthly contract. The new iPhone 3G 8GB for Pay & Go will be available for £349.99 and the 16GB version for £399.99.

This also includes unlimited browsing and Wi-Fi for the first 12 months after you activate your iPhone 3G*. At the end of the 12 months you can continue to receive unlimited browsing and Wi-Fi for just £10 per month. We'll notify you before the end of the 12 month period by text and you can easily unsubscribe if you choose to do so.

It will be available to buy from 16th September in O2 stores, The Carphone Warehouse and Apple stores.

Please note visual voicemail and call merging are not available with Pay & Go. You'll also need to change your data settings to use services such as Mobile Internet. Take a look at the activation tab on this page for more information.

I made the switch to O2

mark@markburr.com — 2008-08-27T19:18:26+01:00

I finally bit the bullet and switched to O2

Having been a Vodafone customer for 10 years I decided to look into the O2 iPhone tariff. I have a business tariff and O2 up until the 3G iPhone didn’t offer this package.

I took a trip to the O2 store (only O2 stores can do business tariffs) and got their SMB package for £36 per month + VAT. This gets me 700 minutes talk time, 450 texts, unlimited internet, access to the cloud and BT openzone wifi hotspots, all calls to O2 mobiles are free, and also 10 registered land line numbers can be called for free. What a package for that price !

Vodafone were nearly double that for much less of a package.

Only downside is that the O2 signal isn’t as strong as Vodafone (but I can put up with that and it can only get better) and their 3G coverage isn’t that good at the moment either.

12 million iPhones sold

mark@markburr.com — 2008-08-27T19:11:07+01:00

The v1 iPhone took one year to sell 6 million units.

The 3g iPhone has sold 6 million units in under 2 months !

Apples manufacturers are now building 150,000 iPhones per day to meet demand.

Wall•E

mark@markburr.com — 2008-08-23T13:18:26+01:00

Went to see Wall•E in the week.

Love the bit when he recharges his batteries and then plays the G5 startup sound :)

New iPod Nano ?

mark@markburr.com — 2008-08-23T13:14:11+01:00

Is this the new iPod Nano ?

Rumour has is that Apple will refresh the entire iPod line-up and also some significant price drops.

A new version of iTunes is also rumoured (v8)

This should happen in 2-3 weeks time.

Happy 10th Birthday to the iMac

mark@markburr.com — 2008-08-15T16:24:39+01:00

10 years ago today, Apple unveiled the iMac.

This is the product the turned the company around from almost going bust.

Here is the video of Steve Jobs announcing the iMac. ( LOL, Steve is wearing a suit !!)

Apple posts $1b profit; sells 2.5m Macs, 11m iPods

mark@markburr.com — 2008-07-21T22:24:41+01:00

Apple posts $1b profit; sells 2.5m Macs, 11m iPods

Apple today posted revenue of $7.46 billion and net quarterly profit of $1.07 billion, or $1.19 per diluted share for its fiscal 2008 third quarter ended June 28, 2008. In the best June quarter in its history, the company sold almost 2.5 million Macs, or a 41 percent increase from the year-ago quarter and over 11 million iPods. These results compare to revenue of $5.41 billion and net quarterly profit of $818 million, or $.92 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 34.8 percent, down from 36.9 percent in the year-ago quarter, while international sales accounted for 42 percent of the quarter's revenue.

Apple said it shipped 2,496,000 Macs during the quarter, representing 41 percent unit growth and 43 percent revenue growth over the year-ago quarter. The Company also said it sold 11,011,000 iPods during the quarter, representing 12 percent unit growth and seven percent revenue growth over the year-ago quarter. Quarterly iPhone units sold were 717,000 compared to 270,000 in the year-ago-quarter.

"We're proud to report the best June quarter for both revenue and earnings in Apple's history," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "We set a new record for Mac sales, we think we have a real winner with our new iPhone 3G, and we're busy finishing several more wonderful new products to launch in the coming months."

"We're extremely pleased with the growth of our business and the generation of almost $5.4 billion in cash in the first three quarters of fiscal 2008," said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple's CFO. "Looking ahead to the fourth quarter of fiscal 2008, we expect revenue of about $7.8 billion and earnings per diluted share of about $1.00."

3G iPhone, just the handset

mark@markburr.com — 2008-06-20T16:52:29+01:00

Looks like the new 3G iPhone will actually now be sold as a pre-paid option. O2 are quoting the price at £350. This will not require you to sign up to any contract with O2.

Now, whether the phone can 'hacked' to run any other carriers sim card remains to be seen.

If you want a contract with O2 then the 8gb iPhone will be FREE on their £45 & £75 p/m package.

Apple Introduces the New iPhone 3G

mark@markburr.com — 2008-06-15T13:36:19+01:00

Apple Introduces the New iPhone 3G

Twice as Fast at Half the Price

SAN FRANCISCO—June 9, 2008—Apple® today introduced the new iPhone™ 3G, combining all the revolutionary features of iPhone with 3G networking that is twice as fast* as the first generation iPhone, built-in GPS for expanded location based mobile services, and iPhone 2.0 software which includes support for Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync and runs the hundreds of third party applications already built with the recently released iPhone SDK. In the US the new iPhone 3G is priced at a stunning $199 for the 8GB model, and just $299 for the 16GB model.** iPhone 3G will be available in more than 70 countries later this year, beginning with customer availability in 22 countries—Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK and the US—on July 11.

“Just one year after launching the iPhone, we’re launching the new iPhone 3G that is twice as fast at half the price,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “ iPhone 3G supports Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync right out of the box, runs the incredible third party apps created with the iPhone SDK, and will be available in more than 70 countries around the world this year.”

iPhone 3G gives users ever faster access to the Internet and email over their cellular network with quad-band GSM and tri-band HSDPA for voice and data connectivity around the world. iPhone 3G supports Wi-Fi, 3G and EDGE networks and automatically switches between them to ensure the fastest possible download speeds. The new iPhone 3G also makes it easier to multi-task with simultaneous voice and data communications, so with iPhone 3G you can browse the web, get map directions, or check your email while you are on a call.

iPhone 3G includes the new iPhone 2.0 software with both the iPhone SDK and key enterprise features such as support for Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync to provide over-the-air push email, contact and calendar syncing as well as remote wipe and Cisco IPsec VPN for encrypted access to corporate networks. The iPhone SDK allows developers to create amazing applications that leverage the iPhone’s groundbreaking Multi-Touch™ user interface, animation technology, accelerometer and GPS technology on the world’s most advanced mobile platform.

iPhone 3G includes the new App Store, providing iPhone users with native applications in a variety of categories including games, business, news, sports, health, reference and travel. The App Store on iPhone works over cellular networks and Wi-Fi, which means it is accessible from just about anywhere, so you can purchase and download applications wirelessly and start using them instantly. Some applications are even free and the App Store notifies you when application updates are available. The App Store will be available in 62 countries at launch.

Additional features available with the iPhone 2.0 software include the ability to do real-time mapping and track your progress with GPS technology, mass move and delete multiple email messages, search for contacts, access a new scientific calculator, turn on parental control restrictions for specified content, save images directly from a web page or email them to your iPhone and easily transfer them back to your photo library on your Mac® or PC. iPhone 3G delivers an amazing 10 hours of talk time on 2G networks and 5 hours using 3G, with up to 5 to 6 hours of web browsing, up to 7 hours for video playback and up to 24 hours for audio playback.

iPhone 3G takes advantage of MobileMe™, a new Internet service that pushes email, contacts, and calendars from an online “cloud” to native applications on iPhone, iPod® touch, Macs and PCs. With MobileMe email, messages are pushed instantly to iPhone, removing the need to manually check email and wait for downloads, and push keeps contacts and calendars continuously up-to-date so changes made on one device are automatically updated on other devices. With iPhone, you can even snap a photo and post it directly to a MobileMe Gallery to share with friends and family.

Pricing & Availability
iPhone 3G will be available in the UK on July 11. Further details about pricing and rate plans will be announced at a later date.

*Based on 3G and EDGE testing. Actual speeds vary by site conditions.
**Based on iPhone 3G (8GB) and first generation iPhone (8GB) purchases. Requires new two year AT&T rate plan, sold separately.

Apple Previews Mac OS X Snow Leopard to Developers

mark@markburr.com — 2008-06-15T13:35:28+01:00

Apple Previews Mac OS X Snow Leopard to Developers

SAN FRANCISCO—June 9, 2008—Apple® today previewed Mac OS® X Snow Leopard, which builds on the incredible success of OS X Leopard and is the next major version of the world’s most advanced operating system. Rather than focusing primarily on new features, Snow Leopard will enhance the performance of OS X, set a new standard for quality and lay the foundation for future OS X innovation. Snow Leopard is optimised for multi-core processors, taps into the vast computing power of graphic processing units (GPUs), enables breakthrough amounts of RAM and features a new, modern media platform with QuickTime® X. Snow Leopard includes out-of-the-box support for Microsoft Exchange 2007 and is scheduled to ship in about a year.

“We have delivered more than a thousand new features to OS X in just seven years and Snow Leopard lays the foundation for thousands more,” said Bertrand Serlet, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering. “In our continued effort to deliver the best user experience, we hit the pause button on new features to focus on perfecting the world’s most advanced operating system.”

Snow Leopard delivers unrivalled support for multi-core processors with a new technology code-named “Grand Central,” making it easy for developers to create programmes that take full advantage of the power of multi-core Macs. Snow Leopard further extends support for modern hardware with Open Computing Language (OpenCL), which lets any application tap into the vast gigaflops of GPU computing power previously available only to graphics applications. OpenCL is based on the C programming language and has been proposed as an open standard. Furthering OS X’s lead in 64-bit technology, Snow Leopard raises the software limit on system memory up to a theoretical 16TB of RAM.

Using media technology pioneered in OS X iPhone™, Snow Leopard introduces QuickTime X, which optimises support for modern audio and video formats resulting in extremely efficient media playback. Snow Leopard also includes Safari® with the fastest implementation of JavaScript ever, increasing performance by 53 percent, making Web 2.0 applications feel more responsive.*

For the first time, OS X includes native support for Microsoft Exchange 2007 in OS X applications Mail, iCal® and Address Book, making it even easier to integrate Macs into organisations of any size.

*Performance will vary based on system configuration, network connection and other factors. Benchmark based on the SunSpider JavaScript Performance test on an iMac® 2.8 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo system running Mac OS X Snow Leopard, with 2GB of RAM.

Apple Introduces MobileMe Internet Service

mark@markburr.com — 2008-06-15T13:34:41+01:00

Apple Introduces MobileMe Internet Service

Push Email, Push Contacts and Push Calendar for iPhone, iPod touch, Macs and PCs

SAN FRANCISCO—June 9, 2008—Apple® today introduced MobileMe™, a new Internet service that delivers push email, push contacts and push calendars from the MobileMe service in the “cloud” to native applications on iPhone™, iPod® touch, Macs and PCs. MobileMe also provides a suite of elegant, ad-free web applications that deliver a desktop-like experience through any modern browser. MobileMe applications (www.me.com) include Mail, Contacts and Calendar, as well as Gallery for viewing and sharing photos and iDisk for storing and exchanging documents online.

“Think of MobileMe as ‘Exchange for the rest of us,’” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “Now users who are not part of an enterprise that runs Exchange can get the same push email, push calendars and push contacts that the big guys get.”

With a MobileMe email account, all folders, messages and status indicators look identical whether checking email on iPhone, iPod touch, a Mac® or a PC. New email messages are pushed instantly to iPhone over the cellular network or Wi-Fi, removing the need to manually check email and wait for downloads. Push also keeps contacts and calendars continuously up-to-date so changes made on one device are automatically pushed up to the cloud and down to other devices. Push works with the native applications on iPhone and iPod touch, Microsoft Outlook for the PC, and Mac OS® X applications, Mail, Address Book and iCal®, as well as the MobileMe web application suite.

MobileMe web applications are 100 percent ad-free and provide an incredible, desktop-like experience that allows users to drag and drop, click and drag and even use keyboard shortcuts. MobileMe provides anywhere access to Mail, Contacts and Calendar, with a unified interface that allows users to switch between applications with a single click, and Gallery makes it easy to share photos on the web in stunning quality. Gallery users can upload, rearrange, rotate and title photos from any browser; post photos directly from an iPhone; allow visitors to download print quality images; and contribute photos to an album. MobileMe iDisk lets users store and manage files online with drag and drop filing and makes it easy to share documents too large to email by automatically sending an email with a link for downloading the file. MobileMe includes 20GB of online storage that can be used for email, contacts, calendar, photos, movies and documents.

Pricing & Availability
MobileMe, available on July 11, is a subscription-based service with 20GB of storage for £59 per year for individuals and £89 for a Family Pack, which includes one master account with 20GB of storage and four Family Member accounts with 5GB of storage each. Users can sign up for a free, 60-day MobileMe trial at www.apple.com/mobileme and current .Mac members will be automatically upgraded to MobileMe accounts. MobileMe subscribers can purchase an additional 20GB of storage for £30 or 40GB of storage for £59 annually.

Using an iPhone or iPod touch with MobileMe requires iPhone 2.0 software and iTunes® 7.7 or later. For use with a Mac, MobileMe requires Mac OS X Tiger 10.4.11 or the latest version of Mac OS X Leopard. For a PC, MobileMe requires Windows Vista or Windows XP Home or Professional (SP2), and Microsoft Outlook 2003 or later is recommended. MobileMe is accessible on the web via Safari® 3, Internet Explorer 7, and Firefox 2 or later. Internet access requires a compatible ISP; fees may apply. Broadband Internet connection recommended. Some features require Mac OS X Leopard and iLife® ’08, available separately.

The new iPhone

mark@markburr.com — 2008-06-08T21:27:52+01:00

Tomorrow should see the announcement of the new iPhone.

3G is pretty much certain. GPS has been highly rumoured, along with video conferencing and a better quality camera.

iChat for Windows had also been rumoured.

This will all happen at the WWDC in San Francisco.

We should also get a glimpse at Mac OS X 10.6

Stay tuned....

3G iPhone

mark@markburr.com — 2008-05-21T07:25:43+01:00

It looks more and more likely that the new v2 iPhone will be announced on 9th June.

The main upgrade to the iPhone is going to be the inclusion of a 3G chip.

Rumours of an onboard GPS chip are also circulating around the web.

Apple have been out of stock of the current iPhone for over a week now, and O2/Carphone warehouse have been without stock for over 2 weeks.

The new iPhone should come with the new firmware (v2).

And the biggest question I'm being asked is 'can it run with any sim card ?'

Again, rumour has it that the new iPhone may be sold subsidised at a discounted rate (subject to taking out a specific tarriff) and also it may be sold unlocked to work on any network ? If not, the hacking community will be on the case very quickly with the relevant modifications to make it work on any network.

Watch this space...

iTunes is 5 years old

mark@markburr.com — 2008-04-28T14:16:43+01:00

Hard to believe the iTunes music store has only been around for 5 yrs.......

Apple Updates iMac, now with Faster Processors & Faster Graphics Option

mark@markburr.com — 2008-04-28T14:00:15+01:00

Apple Updates iMac

Now with Faster Processors & Faster Graphics Option

CUPERTINO, California—April 28, 2008—Apple® today updated its all-in-one iMac® line with the latest Intel Core 2 Duo processors and the most powerful graphics ever available in an iMac. With prices starting at just £799, iMac includes faster processors with 6MB L2 cache and a faster 1066 MHz front-side bus across the entire line, and 2GB of memory standard in most models. The 24-inch iMac now offers a 3.06 GHz Intel processor and the high-performance NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GS graphics as options, extending iMac’s lead as the ultimate all-in-one desktop computer for both consumers and professionals.

“The iMac’s gorgeous aluminium and glass all-in-one design has been an incredible hit with our customers and is just one of the reasons Mac sales are growing three and a half times faster than PC sales,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “With the latest Intel processors, a faster new graphics option and more memory, customers now have even more reasons to love the iMac.”

Packing dual-core performance into the convenience of a striking all-in-one design, the new iMac includes faster Intel Core 2 Duo processors across the line; a 1066 MHz front-side bus; up to 4GB of 800 MHz DDR2 SDRAM memory; and a widescreen flat-panel display supporting millions of colours. For the first time, the 24-inch iMac features an optional NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GS with 512MB of video memory, to deliver up to two times standard performance for graphic intensive applications*. Providing the latest in high-performance connectivity options to quickly and conveniently transfer digital photos, music and video, iMac includes built-in AirPort Extreme® 802.11n Wi-Fi networking for up to five times the performance of 802.11g**; Bluetooth 2.1+EDR; Gigabit Ethernet; built-in iSight® video camera; a total of five USB 2.0 ports (including two on the Apple Keyboard); and one FireWire® 400 and one FireWire 800 port.

The iMac furthers Apple’s commitment to environmental progress with highly recyclable and durable materials including scratch-resistant glass and professional grade aluminium. Every model in the iMac line is rated EPEAT Silver and the power-efficient iMac also meets the stringent Energy Star 4.0 requirements for power consumption. Customers who purchase any qualifying Apple computer can recycle their old PC or Mac® for free via the Apple Recycling Program.

Every Mac in the Apple lineup comes with iLife® ‘08, the most significant update ever to Apple’s award-winning suite of digital lifestyle applications, featuring a major new version of iPhoto® and a completely reinvented iMovie®, both seamlessly integrated with the new .Mac Web Gallery for online photo and video sharing. Every Mac also includes Leopard®, the sixth major release of the world’s most advanced operating system which features Time Machine™, an effortless way to automatically back up everything on a Mac***; a redesigned Finder™ that lets users quickly browse and share files between multiple Macs; Quick Look, a new way to instantly see files without opening an application; Spaces, an intuitive new feature used to create groups of applications and instantly switch between them; a brand new desktop with Stacks, a new way to easily access files from the Dock and major enhancements to Mail and iChat®. .Mac members can use the new Back to My Mac feature to browse and access files on their home computer from a Mac over the Internet while on the road****.

Pricing & Availability

The new 20-inch 2.4 GHz iMac, for a suggested retail price of £799, includes:
• 20-inch widescreen LCD display;
• 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with a 1066 MHz front-side bus;
• 1GB of 800 MHz DDR2 SDRAM expandable to 4GB;
• 250GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 7200 rpm;
• a slot-load 8x SuperDrive® with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW);
• ATI Radeon HD 2400 XT with 128MB GDDR3 memory;
• built-in iSight video camera;
• built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking & Bluetooth 2.1+EDR;
• mini-DVI out (adapters for DVI, VGA and Composite/S-Video sold separately);
• built-in stereo speakers and microphone; and
• the Apple Keyboard, Mighty Mouse and infrared Apple Remote.

The new 20-inch 2.66 GHz iMac, for a suggested retail price of £949, includes:
• 20-inch widescreen LCD display;
• 2.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with a 1066 MHz front-side bus;
• 2GB of 800 MHz DDR2 SDRAM expandable to 4GB;
• 320GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 7200 rpm;
• a slot-load 8x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW);
• ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO with 256MB GDDR3 memory;
• built-in iSight video camera;
• built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking & Bluetooth 2.1+EDR;
• mini-DVI out (adapters for DVI, VGA and Composite/S-Video sold separately);
• built-in stereo speakers and microphone; and
• the Apple Keyboard, Mighty Mouse and infrared Apple Remote.

The new 24-inch 2.8 GHz iMac, for a suggested retail price of £1,149, includes:
• 24-inch widescreen LCD display;
• 2.8 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with a 1066 MHz front-side bus;
• 2GB of 800 MHz DDR2 SDRAM expandable to 4GB;
• 320GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 7200 rpm;
• a slot-load 8x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW);
• ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO with 256MB GDDR3 memory;
• built-in iSight video camera;
• built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking & Bluetooth 2.1+EDR;
• mini-DVI out (adapters for DVI, VGA and Composite/S-Video sold separately);
• built-in stereo speakers and microphone; and
• the Apple Keyboard, Mighty Mouse and infrared Apple Remote.

Apple Reports Record Second Quarter Results

mark@markburr.com — 2008-04-24T07:23:57+01:00

CUPERTINO, California—April 23, 2008—Apple® today announced financial results for its fiscal 2008 second quarter ended March 29, 2008. The Company posted revenue of $7.51 billion and net quarterly profit of $1.05 billion, or $1.16 per diluted share. These results compare to revenue of $5.26 billion and net quarterly profit of $770 million, or $.87 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 32.9 percent, down from 35.1 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 44 percent of the quarter’s revenue.

Apple shipped 2,289,000 Macintosh® computers during the quarter, representing 51 percent unit growth and 54 percent revenue growth over the year-ago quarter. The Company sold 10,644,000 iPods during the quarter, representing one percent unit growth and eight percent revenue growth over the year-ago quarter. Quarterly iPhone™ sales were 1,703,000.

“We’re delighted to report 43 percent revenue growth and the strongest March quarter revenue and earnings in Apple’s history,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “With over $17 billion in revenue for the first half of our fiscal year, we have strong momentum to launch some terrific new products in the coming quarters.”

“We’re thrilled to have generated $4 billion in cash flow from operations in the first half of fiscal 2008, yielding an ending cash balance of $19.4 billion,” said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s CFO. “Looking ahead to the third quarter of fiscal 2008, we expect revenue of about $7.2 billion and earnings per diluted share of about $1.00.”

BE update

mark@markburr.com — 2008-04-19T18:41:21+01:00

It's been just over a week since I've been with BE Internet.

And I'm happy to report that everything migrated fine and the connection is superb.

My migration date was last Friday. In the morning I was still connected via BT Business. Before I went out, I disconnected the Netgear router and plugged in the new BE Router. On returning mid afternoon I was connected to BE as a very reasonable 12mb download and a 1.2mb upload.

Yesterday I sent a request to BE asking for the faster upload service to be activated an a few hours later I found myself with 1.8mb upload and a 13.5mb download.

Overall I am very impressed with the connection and the technical support is superb. They run their own forum which the tech guys look and post on. They are also willing to try new profiles on the line to adjust noise etc to get the most of your line, all of which can be reversed if your not happy with the tweaks.

One thing to note, BE don't provide email or web services unless you ask/pay for it. This means that if you don't have access to your own SMTP server you will not be able to send emails unless you opt for this service. It's only £2 per month anyway.

BE Internet

mark@markburr.com — 2008-04-03T20:00:08+01:00

Well after months of waiting my BT exchange finally got upgraded with BE.

BE (owned by O2) offer much faster broadband connections currently than anyone else.

With download speeds up to 24mb and upload speeds up to 2.5mb, it almost seems to good to be true.

I have spoken to a few people who are connected with BE, and on that basis I called BT today and asked them for a MAC migration code so I can jump ship and move to BE.

The pro package is for businesses and also offers a static ip address. All this for £22 inc VAT per month !!! BT are £29.99 + VAT

Transfer should go through in a couple of weeks time, and I'll report back with the speed tests and general impressions.

For all those interested the BE website is www.bethere.co.uk

Happy 32nd Birthday Apple

mark@markburr.com — 2008-04-01T08:57:24+01:00

Yes, on April Fools day 1976, Apple Computer was formed.

iPod shuffle Now Just £32 (inc VAT)

mark@markburr.com — 2008-02-19T15:09:31+00:00

iPod shuffle Now Just £32 (inc VAT)
New 2GB Model Priced at £45 (inc VAT)

CUPERTINO, California—February 19, 2008—Apple® today announced that its iPod® shuffle, the world’s most wearable music player, is now even more affordably priced at £32 (inc VAT) and that it is introducing a new 2GB model of the iPod shuffle for £45 (inc VAT). The popular iPod shuffle is just half a cubic inch in volume, weighs just half an ounce, features an aluminium design with a built-in clip and comes in five colours—silver, blue, green, purple and a (PRODUCT) RED special edition.

“At just £32 (inc VAT), the iPod shuffle is the most affordable iPod ever,” said Greg Joswiak, Apple’s vice president of Worldwide iPod Product Marketing. “The new 2GB model lets music lovers bring even more songs everywhere they go in the impossibly small iPod shuffle.”

The iPod is the world’s most popular family of digital music players with over 140 million sold. The lineup includes iPod shuffle, the world’s most wearable iPod; iPod classic holding up to 40,000 songs*; the incredible iPod nano with video playback and the breakthrough iPod touch with a revolutionary Multi-Touch™ user interface. iPod owners can choose from a vast ecosystem of accessories with over 4,000 products made specifically for the iPod including cases, fitness accessories, speaker systems and iPod connectivity in over 75 percent of US automobiles.

Pricing & Availability
The new 1GB iPod shuffle is available immediately for a suggested retail price of £32 (inc VAT) . The 2GB iPod shuffle will be available later this month for a suggested retail price of £49 (inc VAT). iPod shuffle requires a Mac® with a USB 2.0 port, Mac OS® X 10.4.8 or later and iTunes® 7.4; or a Windows PC with a USB 2.0 port and Windows Vista or Windows XP Home or Professional (Service Pack 2) or later and iTunes 7.4 or later.

*Music capacity is based on four minutes per song and 128-Kbps AAC encoding.

Going to buy an iPhone ? Don't buy it from Carphone Warehouse

mark@markburr.com — 2008-02-12T19:24:34+00:00

Interesting. Carphone Warehouse are making purchasers of iPhones sign a contract before leaving the store. (This contact has nothing to do with signing up with O2)

In the contract is states that you can't return the iPhone if you change your mind. However, if you buy it from Apple you have this 14 day period.

There are other various exclusions in this contract too.

So, if your after an iPhone, make sure you get it direct from the Apple Store.

The iPhone has been cracked

mark@markburr.com — 2008-02-08T20:10:03+00:00

Yep, hot off the press. The UK iPhone running firmware 1.1.2 and 1.1.3 can now be FULLY unlocked to work on any mobile provider.

Just done my own UK phone and it's running Vodafone just fine :)

Drop me a line if you want more info ! info@markburr.com

Apple Announce 16gb iPhone & 32gb iPod Touch

mark@markburr.com — 2008-02-05T14:04:39+00:00

Apple Adds New iPhone & iPod touch Models

CUPERTINO, California—February 5, 2008—Apple® today added new models of the iPhone™ and iPod® touch which have double the memory, doubling the amount of music, photos and videos that customers can carry with them wherever they go. The revolutionary iPhone now comes in a new 16GB model for £329 (inc VAT), joining the 8GB model for £269 (inc VAT). iPod touch now comes in a 32GB model for £329 (inc VAT), joining the 16GB model for £269 (inc VAT) and the 8GB model for £199 (inc VAT).

“For some users, there’s never enough memory,” said Greg Joswiak, Apple’s vice president of Worldwide iPod and iPhone Product Marketing. “Now people can enjoy even more of their music, photos and videos on the most revolutionary mobile phone and best Wi-Fi mobile device in the world.”

Both iPhone and iPod touch feature Apple’s revolutionary Multi-Touch™ user interface and pioneering software that allows users to find and enjoy all their music, videos, photos and more with just a touch of their finger. All iPhone and iPod touch models include the latest software enhancements announced last month including the ability to automatically find your location using the new Maps application*; create Web Clips for your favourite websites; customise your home screen and watch movies from the new iTunes® Movie Rentals. Both iPhone and iPod touch feature the world’s most advanced mobile web browser in the world with Safari™ and great mobile applications including Mail, Maps, Stocks, Weather and Notes.

Pricing & Availability
The new 16GB iPhone is available immediately for a suggested retail price of £329 (inc VAT) through the Apple Store® (www.apple.com/ukstore), Apple’s retail stores and O2 and Carphone Warehouse's retail and online stores. The 32GB iPod touch is available worldwide immediately for a suggested retail price of £329 (inc VAT) through the Apple Store (www.apple.com/ukstore), Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorised Resellers. iTunes Movie Rentals are available in the US only. iPhone and iPod touch require a Mac® with a USB 2.0 port, Mac OS® X 10.4.10 or later and iTunes 7.6; or a Windows PC with a USB 2.0 port and Windows Vista or Windows XP Home or Professional (Service Pack 2) or later and iTunes 7.6.

*Availability and precision of Maps positioning features will vary depending on actual location.

Good news from O2

mark@markburr.com — 2008-01-29T15:25:43+00:00

I've not been a fan of O2's iPhone tariffs since they announced them. They didn't offer enough minutes or texts and were priced much higher than O2's other tariffs.

Thankfully, that's all about to change on 1st February, as O2 has brought its iPhone tariffs in line with regular O2 deals. The cheapest £35-per-month package; the minutes get tripled to 600 and texts to 500 per month, and the £45-per-month package gets increased to 1200 minutes and 500 texts (previously costing £55). And they also have a whopping £75, 3,000 minute / 500 SMS package.

Now the O2 packages seem very attractive.....

Best Quarterly Revenue & Earnings in Apple History

mark@markburr.com — 2008-01-22T22:08:59+00:00

Apple Reports First Quarter Results

Best Quarterly Revenue & Earnings in Apple History

Mac, iPod & iPhone Sales Break Previous Records

CUPERTINO, California—January 22, 2008—Apple® today announced financial results for its fiscal 2008 first quarter ended December 29, 2007. The Company posted revenue of $9.6 billion and net quarterly profit of $1.58 billion, or $1.76 per diluted share. These results compare to revenue of $7.1 billion and net quarterly profit of $1 billion, or $1.14 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 34.7 percent, up from 31.2 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 45 percent of the quarter’s revenue.

Apple shipped 2,319,000 Macintosh® computers, representing 44 percent unit growth and 47 percent revenue growth over the year-ago quarter. The Company sold 22,121,000 iPods during the quarter, representing five percent unit growth and 17 percent revenue growth over the year-ago quarter. Quarterly iPhone™ sales were 2,315,000.

“We’re thrilled to report our best quarter ever, with the highest revenue and earnings in Apple’s history,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “We have an incredibly strong new product pipeline for 2008, starting with MacBook Air, Mac Pro and iTunes Movie Rentals in the first two weeks.”

“Apple’s revenue grew 35 percent year-over-year to $9.6 billion, an increase of almost $2.5 billion over the previous December quarter’s record-breaking results,” said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s CFO. “Our strong results produced cash flow from operations of over $2.7 billion during the quarter, yielding an ending cash balance of over $18.4 billion. Looking ahead to the second quarter of fiscal 2008, we expect revenue of about $6.8 billion and earnings per diluted share of about $.94.”

Apple Enhances Revolutionary iPhone with Software Update

mark@markburr.com — 2008-01-15T20:15:05+00:00

Apple Enhances Revolutionary iPhone with Software Update

MACWORLD SAN FRANCISCO—January 15, 2008—Apple® today announced a free software update for its revolutionary iPhone™ that allows users to automatically find their location using the redesigned Maps application*; text message multiple people in one message; create Web Clips for their favorite websites; customise their home screen; and watch movies rented from the new iTunes® Movie Rentals right on their iPhone. With its revolutionary multi-touch user interface and pioneering software, users can easily add significant new features to their iPhone through software updates whenever an update becomes available. New iPhone products shipping from the factory will include the software update and existing iPhone customers will automatically get the update for free when they sync their iPhone with iTunes (www.itunes.com/uk).

“iPhone doesn’t stand still—we’re making it better and better all the time,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “We’ve delighted millions of users with this revolutionary and magical product and it’s great to share these improvements with them.”

Maps, one of the most popular and helpful applications on iPhone, has a new interface that is simpler and easier to use and adds incredible new features such as the ability to find your location automatically. With just the tap of a button, iPhone can now triangulate your position using nearby Wi-Fi base stations or cellular towers. You can use this as a starting or ending point for directions or to find local points of interest. The new hybrid map view combines map view and satellite view so you can see major street names overlaid on satellite imagery.

Users can now create Web Clips—icons on the home screen that take you directly to your favorite websites, including to the exact spot you have zoomed into. Web Clips are a great way to easily track websites that you frequently check such as news, blogs, sports sites and movie listings. In addition, users can now customise their home screen by repositioning any of the icons, and even create up to nine different home screens that they can easily flick between.

iPhone’s new software update also adds the ability to send the same SMS text message to multiple people, and iPhone saves a history of your text messages, so with one tap you can send a new message to the same group.

With Apple's new iTunes Movie Rentals, movie fans can rent movies on their computer, easily and quickly transfer them to their iPhone, and watch them anywhere on iPhone's gorgeous 3.5 inch screen. Users can also now navigate forward or backward through their movies by chapters, select alternate language tracks and view subtitles, if available.

Pricing & Availability
The iPhone software update 1.1.3 is available immediately for free via iTunes 7.5 or later for all existing iPhone customers in the US, UK, Germany and France. New iPhone products shipping from the factory will include the software update and existing iPhone customers will automatically get the update for free when they sync their iPhone with iTunes (www.itunes.com/uk). iTunes Movie Rentals are available in the US only. Further information for iPhone can be found at www.apple.com/uk/iPhone.

*Availability and precision of Maps positioning features will vary depending on actual location.

20th Century Fox & Apple Introduce iTunes Digital Copy

mark@markburr.com — 2008-01-15T20:14:23+00:00

20th Century Fox & Apple Introduce iTunes Digital Copy

DVDs Include Free Copy of Movie for iTunes

MACWORLD SAN FRANCISCO—January 15, 2008—20th Century Fox and Apple® today announced iTunes® Digital Copy, which provides customers who purchase a DVD with a free iTunes Digital Copy of the movie. Just like movies purchased from the iTunes Store, an iTunes Digital Copy can effortlessly be transferred to iTunes and then viewed on a PC or Mac®, iPod® with video, iPhone™ or on Apple TV®. The first DVD to make its debut with iTunes Digital Copy is the DVD premiere of the Family Guy Star Wars spoof, “Blue Harvest,” which is being released in stores today. Fox and Apple are planning to deliver many more DVDs with iTunes Digital Copy this year.

“One of the most requested features DVD buyers have been asking for is the ability to get the movies they bought into their iTunes library,” said Jim Gianopulos, chairman and chief executive officer of Fox Filmed Entertainment. “We’re thrilled to offer such an incredibly simple way for our customers to get even more out of their DVD purchase, and we look forward to releasing many more DVDs this year with iTunes Digital Copy.”

“Now movie fans can easily transfer a free copy of the movie they purchase on DVD into iTunes,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “DVDs containing an iTunes Digital Copy allow movie fans to get a copy of their movie which can be viewed on a computer, iPod, iPhone or on Apple TV.”

The new iTunes Digital Copy provides a consumer friendly way to transfer a DVD purchase to a user’s iTunes library. Once a customer buys the DVD, they insert it into their computer, enter a unique code into iTunes and iTunes automatically copies the movie to their iTunes library within minutes. Customers own the iTunes Digital Copy of the movie and it has all of the same great viewing options as other iTunes Store video content, including the ability to be viewed on a computer, iPod with video, iPhone and Apple TV. Each DVD will only transfer its iTunes Digital Copy to one iTunes library.

One of the world’s largest producers and distributors of motion pictures, Fox Filmed Entertainment produces, acquires and distributes motion pictures throughout the world. These motion pictures are produced or acquired by the following units of FFE: Twentieth Century Fox, Fox 2000 Pictures, Fox Searchlight Pictures, Fox Atomic, and Twentieth Century Fox Animation. FFE also includes Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, the worldwide marketing, sales and distribution company for all Fox film and television programming on VHS, DVD and Blu-ray Disc (BD) as well as acquisitions and original productions.

Apple Announces Time Capsule

mark@markburr.com — 2008-01-15T20:13:33+00:00

Apple Announces Time Capsule

Wireless Backup for all Your Macs

MACWORLD SAN FRANCISCO—January 15, 2008—Apple® today introduced Time Capsule, a backup appliance that automatically and wirelessly backs up everything on one or more Macs running Leopard™, the latest release of Apple’s Mac OS® X operating system including the amazing Time Machine™ automatic backup software. Time Capsule combines an 802.11n base station with a server grade hard disk in one small package. Simply plug it in, then easily set up automatic wireless backup for every Mac® in your house to a single Time Capsule with just a few clicks. Time Capsule offers the benefits of a full-featured 802.11n Wi-Fi base station, and comes in two models: a 500 gigabyte model for just £199 (inc VAT) and a 1 terabyte model for just £329 (inc VAT).

“Bring Time Capsule home, plug it in, click a few buttons on your Macs and voila—all the Macs in your house are being backed up automatically, every hour of every day,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “With Time Capsule and Time Machine, all your irreplaceable photos, movies and documents are automatically protected and incredibly easy to retrieve if they are ever lost.”

Built to work seamlessly with Time Machine, Time Capsule lets users wirelessly back up all of the data on their Macs, find lost files and even restore all of their software. In the event a file is lost, users can wirelessly search back through time to find deleted files, applications, photos and other digital media and then instantly restore the file. If it’s ever necessary, Leopard can also easily restore an entire system from the Time Machine backup on Time Capsule.

In addition to being the best way to back up a Mac, Time Capsule is also a full-featured Wi-Fi base station with the latest 802.11n technology. Delivering up to five times the performance and twice the range of 802.11g, 802.11n* is built in to Apple’s iMac® desktop and the entire Mac notebook line up, including MacBook®, MacBook Pro and the new MacBook Air. Time Capsule features a sleek design with a built-in power supply and connections to print wirelessly to a USB printer. With Time Capsule, it’s very easy for users to create a secure, wireless network for up to 50 users and set security restrictions such as Internet access limits for children’s computers.

At £199 (inc VAT) for a 500GB model and £329 (inc VAT) for a 1TB model and a fully integrated 802.11n AirPort Extreme® Base Station, Time Capsule can serve as a backup solution for multiple computers as well as the backbone for a high-speed, 802.11n wireless network, making it effortless and affordable for everyone at home, school or work to protect their digital files.

Additional Time Capsule features include:
• dual-band antennas for 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz frequencies;
• three Gigabit LAN ports;
• one Gigabit Ethernet WAN port;
• one USB 2.0 port;
• Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA/WPA-2), 128-bit WEP encryption; and
• a built-in NAT firewall supporting NAT-PMP for features like Back to My Mac.

Pricing & Availability
Time Capsule will be available in February for a suggested retail price of £199 (inc VAT) for a 500GB hard drive and £329 (inc VAT) for a 1TB hard drive.

*Time Capsule is based on an IEEE 802.11n draft specification. Actual performance will vary based on range, connection rate, site conditions, size of network and other factors.

Apple Introduces MacBook Air—The World’s Thinnest Notebook

mark@markburr.com — 2008-01-15T20:12:41+00:00

Apple Introduces MacBook Air—The World’s Thinnest Notebook

MACWORLD SAN FRANCISCO—January 15, 2008—Apple® today unveiled MacBook® Air, the world’s thinnest notebook. MacBook Air measures an unprecedented 0.16-inches at its thinnest point, while its maximum height of 0.76-inches is less than the thinnest point on competing notebooks. MacBook Air has a stunning 13.3-inch LED-backlit widescreen display, a full-size and backlit keyboard, a built-in iSight® video camera for video conferencing, and a spacious trackpad with multi-touch gesture support so users can pinch, rotate and swipe. MacBook Air is powered by a 1.6 GHz or 1.8 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 4MB L2 cache, and includes as standard features 2GB of memory, an 80GB 1.8-inch hard drive, and the latest 802.11n Wi-Fi technology and Bluetooth 2.1.

“We’ve built the world’s thinnest notebook—without sacrificing a full-size keyboard or a full-size 13-inch display,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “When you first see MacBook Air, it’s hard to believe it’s a high-performance notebook with a full-size keyboard and display. But it is.”

MacBook Air has a vibrant 13.3-inch LED-backlit glossy widescreen display that is energy efficient, and its spacious trackpad offers multi-touch gesture support for pinch, rotate and swipe, making it more intuitive than ever to browse and rotate photos or zoom into web pages in Safari™. MacBook Air features a full-size keyboard design in a sleek and durable aluminum enclosure. The backlit keyboard makes it ideal for dimly lit environments such as airplanes, studios or conference halls, and a built-in ambient light sensor automatically adjusts the brightness of the keys as well as the display brightness for optimal visibility.

MacBook Air delivers up to five hours of battery life for wireless productivity and includes AirPort Extreme® 802.11n Wi-Fi networking, which delivers up to five times the performance and twice the range of 802.11g*. Apple’s Migration Assistant software now enables users to quickly transfer files, applications and preferences from your old Mac® to MacBook Air right over your wireless network.

MacBook Air users can buy the companion MacBook Air SuperDrive, a compact external drive designed for MacBook Air, for just £65 (inc VAT). The MacBook Air SuperDrive® is powered by MacBook Air’s USB port, eliminating the need to carry a separate power adapter. Many MacBook Air users will not find a need for an optical drive now that they can wirelessly backup files with Time Capsule and access the optical drives on remote PCs or Macs to wirelessly install software applications on MacBook Air.

MacBook Air is powered by Intel Core 2 Duo processors running at 1.6 GHz or 1.8 GHz, and includes as standard 2GB of memory and an 80GB 1.8-inch hard drive. An optional 64GB solid state drive contains no moving parts for added durability. Every MacBook Air includes a micro-DVI port so users can connect to Apple’s gorgeous 20-inch or 23-inch Cinema Displays to extend their desktop or connect to projectors and other displays via DVI, VGA, Composite and S-video adaptors. MacBook Air includes USB 2.0 for plugging in peripherals or charging an iPod® or iPhone™, a headphone jack and Apple’s acclaimed MagSafe® Power Adapter designed especially for mobile users.

Every MacBook Air comes with iLife® ‘08, the most significant update ever to Apple’s award-winning suite of digital lifestyle applications, featuring a major new version of iPhoto® and a completely reinvented iMovie®, both seamlessly integrated with the new .Mac Web Gallery for online photo and video sharing. The new MacBook Air also comes with Leopard™, the sixth major release of the world’s most advanced operating system. Leopard introduces Time Machine™, an effortless way to automatically back up everything on a Mac; a redesigned Finder that lets users quickly browse and share files between multiple Macs; Quick Look, a new way to instantly see files without opening an application; Spaces, an intuitive new feature used to create groups of applications and instantly switch between them; a brand new desktop with Stacks, a new way to easily access files from the Dock; and major enhancements to Mail and iChat®. .Mac members can use the new Back to My Mac feature to browse and access files on their home computer from a MacBook Air over the Internet while out on the road.

The new MacBook Air embodies Apple’s continuing environmental progress with its aluminum enclosure, a material highly desired by recyclers; Apple’s first mercury-free LCD display with arsenic-free glass; and brominated flame retardant-free material for the majority of circuit boards as well as PVC-free internal cables. In addition, MacBook Air consumes the least amount of power of any Mac, and its retail box, made primarily from 100 percent post-consumer recycled material, is 56 percent smaller by volume than the previously smallest MacBook packaging.

Pricing & Availability
The new MacBook Air will be shipping in two weeks for a suggested retail price of £1,199 (inc VAT), and includes:

• 13.3-inch LED-backlit glossy widescreen display with 1280x800 resolution;
• 1.6 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 4MB L2 cache;
• 800 MHz front-side bus;
• 2GB of 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM;
• 80GB hard disk drive with Sudden Motion Sensor;
• Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3100;
• Micro-DVI port (includes Micro-DVI to VGA and Micro-DVI to DVI Adapters);
• built-in iSight video camera;
• built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR;
• one USB 2.0 port;
• one headphone port;
• multi-touch TrackPad with support for advanced multi-touch gestures including tap, scroll, pinch, rotate and swipe; and
• 45 Watt MagSafe Power Adapter.

Build-to-order options and accessories include the ability to upgrade to a 1.8 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor; 64GB solid state drive, MacBook Air SuperDrive, Apple USB Ethernet Adaptor, Apple USB Modem, Apple MagSafe Airline Adaptor, Apple Remote and the AppleCare Protection Plan. Additional build-to-order options also include pre-installed copies of iWork ‘08, Logic® Express 8, Final Cut® Express 4 and Aperture™ 1.5.

*Battery life depends on configuration and use. See www.apple.com/uk/batteries for more information. AirPort Extreme is based on an IEEE 802.11n draft specification. Actual performance will vary based on range, connection rate, site conditions, size of network and other factors.

Apple Announces Major Software Upgrade for iPod touch

mark@markburr.com — 2008-01-15T20:12:11+00:00

Apple Announces Major Software Upgrade for iPod touch

MACWORLD SAN FRANCISCO—January 15, 2008—Apple® today announced a major software upgrade for the iPod® touch, making the best iPod into even more—the world’s best Wi-Fi mobile device. iPod touch customers already have the most advanced mobile web browser in the world with Safari™, and now Apple is adding five more great mobile applications—Mail, Maps, Stocks, Weather and Notes. The iPod touch software upgrade also includes new features such as Web Clips and a customisable home screen. New iPod touch products shipping from the factory will include the software upgrade and existing iPod touch customers can get the software upgrade for £12.99 (inc VAT) by purchasing and downloading it from iTunes (www.itunes.com/uk).

“These amazing new mobile applications make iPod touch not only the best iPod, but the best Wi-Fi mobile device in the world,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “With its revolutionary touch interface and software, plus its stunning 3.5 inch screen, iPod touch is evolving into the first mainstream Wi-Fi mobile platform of the 21st century.”

Mail on iPod touch is a rich HTML email client that fetches email in the background from most POP3 or IMAP mail services and displays photos and graphics along with the text of the email. Users can configure Mail for Google’s Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, .Mac Mail or most POP or IMAP based mail services with just a few clicks.

Maps on iPod touch features the ability to automatically find your current location using nearby Wi-Fi base stations*, and use it as a starting or ending point for directions or to find local points of interest. Users can get real-time traffic conditions, and view maps in map or satellite view, or a hybrid view which combines map and satellite views so you can see major street names overlaid on satellite imagery.

Stocks and Weather allow users to access live stock and weather reports at their fingertips, and Notes lets you jot down information on-the-go using the intelligent keyboard.

The iPod touch home screen can now be customised, allowing users to reorder and add new icons, with support for up to nine different home screens which they can easily flick between. With the new Web Clips feature, you can even create custom icons on your home screen for your favorite websites. Web Clips are a great way to easily track web sites that you frequently check such as news, blogs, sports sites, movie listings and more.

With Apple’s new iTunes Movie Rentals, movie fans can rent movies on their computer, easily and quickly transfer them to their iPod touch, and watch them anywhere on iPod touch’s gorgeous 3.5 inch screen. Users can also now navigate forward or backward through their movies by chapters, select alternate language tracks and view subtitles, if available.

Pricing & Availability
The software upgrade for iPod touch is available immediately. New iPod touch products shipping from the factory will include the software upgrade and existing iPod touch customers can get the software upgrade for £12.99 (inc VAT) by purchasing and downloading it from iTunes (www.itunes.com/uk). iTunes Movie Rentals are available in the US only. Further information for iPod touch can be found at www.apple.com/uk/iPod.

There's something in the air

mark@markburr.com — 2008-01-13T19:39:55+00:00

With the upcoming MacWorld Expo this Tuesday, Apple are already putting up teaser posters around the San Francisco area.

Cryptic as usual, guess we'll find out on Tuesday....

Apple Introduces New Mac Pro

mark@markburr.com — 2008-01-08T11:45:12+00:00

Apple Introduces New Mac Pro

Fastest Mac Ever—Eight Processor Cores Standard

CUPERTINO, California—January 8, 2008—Apple® today introduced the new Mac® Pro with eight processor cores and a new system architecture that delivers up to twice the performance of its predecessor*. The new Mac Pro combines two of Intel’s new 45 nanometer Quad-Core Xeon processors running up to 3.2 GHz, powerful new graphics and up to 4TB of internal storage to offer the ideal system for creative professionals, 3D digital content creators and scientists. The standard 8-core configuration starts at just £1,749 (inc VAT).

“The new Mac Pro is the fastest Mac we’ve ever made,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “With 3.2 GHz 8-core Xeon processing, a 1600 MHz front side bus and 800 MHz memory, the new Mac Pro uses the fastest Intel Xeon architecture on the market.”

The new Mac Pro features the latest Quad-Core Intel Xeon 5400 series processors based on state-of-the-art 45nm Intel Core microarchitecture running up to 3.2 GHz, each with 12MB of L2 cache per processor for breakthrough performance and power efficiency. With a new high-bandwidth hardware architecture, dual-independent 1600 MHz front side buses and up to 32GB of 800 MHz DDR2 ECC FB-DIMM memory, the new Mac Pro achieves a 61 percent increase in memory throughput**.

Every Mac Pro comes standard with the ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT graphics card with 256MB of video memory. The Mac Pro includes a new PCI Express 2.0 graphics slot that delivers up to double the bandwidth compared to the previous generation, and supports the latest generation of graphics cards from NVIDIA, such as the NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT with 512MB of video memory, or NVIDIA Quadro FX 5600 with 1.5GB of video memory and a 3-D stereo port for stereo-in-a-window applications. With support for up to four graphics cards, the new Mac Pro can drive up to eight 30-inch displays at once for advanced visualisation and large display walls.

The Mac Pro is the most expandable Mac ever, featuring four internal hard drive bays with direct-attach, cable-free installation of four 1TB Serial ATA hard drives, totaling 4TB of internal storage and support for two SuperDrives. With optional 15000 rpm SAS drives that can deliver up to 250MB/s of RAID 5 disk I/O performance, the Mac Pro is ideal for film and video editors. Combined with SATA or SAS drives, using an optional Mac Pro RAID card offers the ultimate data protection and disk I/O performance on the Mac Pro. The Mac Pro is easily and conveniently accessible in front and back so users can connect external devices with five USB 2.0, two FireWire® 400, two FireWire 800, optical and analogue audio in and out, dual Gigabit Ethernet ports and a headphone jack.

Every Mac Pro includes Leopard™, the sixth major release of the world’s most advanced operating system. Leopard is packed with more than 300 new features and introduces a brand new desktop with Stacks, a new way to easily access files from the Dock; a redesigned Finder that lets users quickly browse and share files between multiple Macs; Quick Look, a new way to instantly see files without opening an application; Spaces, an intuitive new feature used to create groups of applications and instantly switch between them; and Time Machine™, an effortless way to automatically back up everything on a Mac. Featuring an improved scheduler and other multi-core technology, Leopard is a perfect companion to the Mac Pro, making applications faster and helping application developers take advantage of multi-core systems.

The new ultra-thin aluminum Apple Keyboard now ships with every Mac Pro and built-in Bluetooth 2.0 makes it easy to reduce cable clutter with the optional Apple Wireless Keyboard and Apple Wireless Mouse.

Pricing & Availability
The new Mac Pro is shipping today and will be available through the Apple Store® (www.apple.com), Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorised Resellers.

The standard 8-core Mac Pro, with a suggested retail price of £1,749 (inc VAT), includes:
• two 2.8 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon processors with dual-independent 1600 MHz front side buses;
• 2GB of 800 MHz DDR2 ECC fully-buffered DIMM memory, expandable up to 32GB;
• ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT with 256MB of GDDR3 memory;
• 320GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s hard drive running at 7200 rpm;
• 16x SuperDrive™ with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW);
• two PCI Express 2.0 slots and two PCI Express slots;
• Bluetooth 2.0+EDR; and
• ships with Apple Keyboard and Mighty Mouse.

In addition to the standard configuration, the Mac Pro offers numerous build-to-order options including: one 2.8 GHz, two 3.0 GHz, or two 3.2 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon processors; up to 32GB of 800 MHz DDR2 fully-buffered ECC memory; up to four 1TB Serial ATA hard drives running at 7200 rpm or up to four 300GB SAS drives running at 15000 rpm; Mac Pro RAID card; up to two 16x SuperDrives with double-layer support; NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT or NVIDIA Quadro FX 5600 graphics cards; AirPort Extreme 802.11n; Apple USB Modem; Apple wireless Aluminium Keyboard; Apple wireless Mighty Mouse; and Mac OS X Server Leopard. Complete build-to-order options and pricing are available at http://www.apple.com/uk/macpro.

*Based on estimated results comparing a preproduction 2.8 GHz 8-core Mac Pro with a 2.66 GHz Quad-Core Mac Pro running professional applications like Maya, modo and Logic® Pro.

**Testing conducted by Apple in December 2007 using a preproduction 2.8 GHz 8-core Mac Pro with a 2.66 GHz quad-core Mac Pro. All systems were configured with 4GB of RAM. Results are based on the STREAM v. 5.6 benchmark (www.cs.virginia.edu/stream/ref.html) using OMP support for multiprocessor-compiled builds. All systems were configured with 8GB of RAM. Performance tests are conducted using specific computer systems and reflect the approximate performance of Mac Pro.

Happy New Year

mark@markburr.com — 2008-01-01T11:35:59+00:00

A Happy New Year to you all....

Not much to report apart from...

mark@markburr.com — 2007-12-04T15:17:44+00:00

iPhone update.

The UK iPhone is still proving to be quite a challenge to the hacking community. So far the iPhone can be activated and turned into an expensive iPod Touch, with all features working apart from being able to use your own SIM card.

They are making progress, but I don't think this will be ready for quite a few weeks yet. Sit tight, it will happen.

However, there is a method that does work and involves something called a TurboSim. This is a sim card tray with some clever circuitry on it and requires that you cut out all the gold strips on your SIM card and transplant them to the TurboSim, then it will work. However the TurboSim is around £80 and requires you butchering your SIM card.

Think I'll wait thank you :)

What's in store for the coming year ? Who knows ! Rumours of a new super slim Macbook without an internal optical drive and hard disk drive. Instead it will use flash memory, probably around 64gb worth. This will mean no moving parts at all in the machine, faster disk access times, faster bootup, and longer battery life.

Stay tuned for a rumoured January announcement.

iPhone

mark@markburr.com — 2007-11-10T09:42:01+00:00

Well its out ! The UK iPhone has been launched. And already I'm reading on the web that its been cracked.

So, today I might pop down to the Applestore and buy one to "play" with. Also I'll get the bluetooth headset to test and I need a case for my existing iPhone :)

UK iPhone come with new Firmware (v1.1.2) - Not crackable !

mark@markburr.com — 2007-11-04T16:50:12+00:00

News just in is that the new UK iPhone due to go on sale this coming Friday (9th) comes with v1.1.2 of the firmware. This version (at the moment) cannot be cracked to run with any sim card, nor third party applications.

So, if your planning on just buying the phone and then putting in your exisiting sim card then hold off for the moment !

Apple Surpass IBM & Intel in Market Cap

mark@markburr.com — 2007-10-24T10:12:39+01:00

Apple's marketcap surpasses IBM, Intel

Following Apple's better-than-expected financial results, Apple's market capitalization ($162b) has surpassed that of IBM and Intel and is nearing Microsoft's, which the largest of all companies. Following today's market close, Apple's rapidly growing marketcap is the fourth largest behind Cisco ($189b), Google ($208b) and Microsoft ($290b).

Not bad considering Apple were on the verge of going broke 10+ years ago.....

Apple reports $904m profit

mark@markburr.com — 2007-10-22T21:37:46+01:00

Apple today posted revenue of $6.22 billion and net quarterly profit of $904 million, or $1.01 per diluted share for its fiscal 2007 fourth quarter ended September 29, 2007. These results compare to revenue of $4.84 billion and net quarterly profit of $542 million, or $.62 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 33.6 percent, up from 29.2 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 40 percent of the quarter's revenue. Apple shipped 2,164,000 Macs, representing 34 percent growth over the year-ago quarter and exceeding the previous quarterly record for Mac shipments by 400,000. The Company sold 10,200,000 iPods during the quarter, representing 17 percent growth over the year-ago quarter. Quarterly iPhone sales were 1,119,000, bringing cumulative fiscal 2007 sales to 1,389,000.

"We are very pleased to have generated over $24 billion in revenue and $3.5 billion in net income in fiscal 2007," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "We're looking forward to a strong December quarter as we enter the holiday season with Apple's best products ever."

"Apple ended the fiscal year with $15.4 billion in cash and no debt," said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple's CFO. "Looking ahead to the first quarter of fiscal 2008, we expect revenue of about $9.2 billion and earnings per diluted share of about $1.42."

OS X 10.5

mark@markburr.com — 2007-10-10T23:05:38+01:00

When ?

Well Apple did say by the end of October 2007. They'd better up hurry up. As far as I am aware 10.5 still hasn't gone GM (Golden Master) and it takes time to press the discs and get them into the packaging.

Current rumours are indicating a 26th October release.

More news should come in the next few days about this.

How's the iPhone getting on ?

mark@markburr.com — 2007-10-10T23:02:21+01:00

Well I'm pleased to say the iPhone is still great !

Complete email on the move without having to use the laptop is superb. Full web page access has proven very useful.

Battery life doesn't seem to be an issue, it certainly lasts all day, and that's with me giving demos several times a day to people !

Bought a case on ebay for 1p (yes, 1p) from the states. Nothing special but at least it stops it getting scratched or damaged.

iPhone Firmware Update v1.1.1

mark@markburr.com — 2007-09-27T22:08:54+01:00

Well today Apple released their latest firmware for the iPhone. If you are using a 'hacked' iPhone then this update will restore the phone back to factory state and the 'hacks' will no longer work.

What does this mean ?

Right now, if the 'dev team' are unable to recrack the iPhone then when it ships in November you will only be able to use O2, and no other provider.

If you want to modify an iPhone then you'll need to import one in from the states pretty quickly.

But, I'm sure over the next few days and weeks the dev team will work out a way to crack this new update.

The iPhone has landed

mark@markburr.com — 2007-09-25T21:16:13+01:00

Finally, my iPhone arrived today. Fedex cocked up and delivered elsewhere !! Lucky to get it back.......

Anyhow, like a kid at Xmas, I had it out of the box and fired up in around 30 seconds :)

Wow, is it fast. The user interface is so smooth and quick.

First thing I did was link it to my wireless network and check out Safari. Web pages look really good and load up quickly.

Next step, insert my Vodafone SIM. The iPhone has already been unlocked :)

Turn it on and the Vodafone network comes straight up > top job !

Next ,plug it into my Macbook and iTunes launched and I'm ready to select what I want to sync to the iPhone.

Email/calendars/music/videos, click click click, its all downloading to the iPhone.

15 minutes later I'm ready to go.

Previous to the iPhone I have been using the Sony W880i which is a great handset and very small indeed. I'm surprised how small the iPhone is,(not as small as the W880i), especially as it has such a huge display.

Here are a few pics

(excuse the fingerprints !!)

Time to launch the iPod. The touch screen is amazing. Just flick your finger across the screen and the iPhone reacts super fast.

This is real eye-candy.

Keyboard. I'm sure it will take a little time to get used to (apparently the iPhone will learn your style of input), so far I've made a few mistakes whilst typing.....

So, just a short report, but so far I am more impressed than I thought I was going to be. This is a serious piece of technology and more than worth the price tag.

You are so going to want one.............

Mac Expo - Paris

mark@markburr.com — 2007-09-25T08:09:27+01:00

Starts today, but to be quite honest there has been very little written about this on the net. Apple have held off with official announcement of the iPhone for France, this will probably be today. (UK & Germany was last week)

Guess we will find out in a few hours time.

iPhone / O2 'unlimited data'

mark@markburr.com — 2007-09-21T20:21:24+01:00

Well it turns out that the unlimited data that is included in the O2 tariff is limited to 1400 web pages per day. So what does that equate to over a month in mb's ?

200mb, not exactly unlimited........

mmmm, what did I think of the iPhone launch ?

mark@markburr.com — 2007-09-18T21:45:29+01:00

Well, Apple today announced that O2 have the exclusive deal for the iPhone.

I for one wasn't happy about that. Vodafone is my current provider and are in my opinion the best airtime provider, but O2 were the only company willing to give Apple what they wanted which is 40% of the revenue.

The iPhone hasn't been upgraded to 3G due to excessive power consumption of the 3g chips (according to Apple) and the storage remains fixed at 8gb, not the expected 16gb as per the iPod Touch.

EDGE, this is the wireless data network that the iPhone can run on when not connected to a wifi network. However, O2 announced that by November 9th (the day the iPhone goes on sale) they will only have 30% coverage for the country > Not good.....

Next up, tariff.

My opinion is that the £35 p/m package just doesn't cut it. No one wants to pay £45 p/m for phone services nowadays. I'd like to see the £35 package scrapped and the £45 package reduced to £35

Now, what if you don't want to move to O2...... There are options.

The iPhone can be modified to accept your existing sim card (Vodafone/T-Mobile/Orange etc). What you want get is the visual voicemail feature nor the EDGE network, however I believe T-Mobile have EDGE for the UK.

Got any questions about the iPhone ? Give me a call or drop me an email :)

iPhone UK today ?

mark@markburr.com — 2007-09-18T07:47:27+01:00

Well the flagship Apple Store in Regent Street is shut for most of the day for a press event.

This can only be the announcement of the iPhone for the UK.

Will the UK iPhone support 3G, or will it use EDGE ? (O2 have been upgrading their EDGE network over the last few weeks)

How much will the iPhone cost ? WIll it have 8gb or 16gb of storage ?

And, what charges are the mobile provider going to be charging.....

All will be discovered this morning......

Oh, and will we finally see the launch of the Beatles collection on iTunes ?

Steve Jobs has been reported to be in London for this event.

iPod Nano arrives

mark@markburr.com — 2007-09-11T20:58:06+01:00

Just arrived this morning, the new iPod Nano.

Here are a couple of pictures and a short video of the interface and that fantastic screen.

(Excuse the finger prints on the iPod !!)

Apple Sells One Millionth iPhone

mark@markburr.com — 2007-09-10T15:23:06+01:00

Apple today announced it sold its one millionth iPhone yesterday, just 74 days after its introduction on June 29.

"One million iPhones in 74 days-it took almost two years to achieve this milestone with iPod," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "We can't wait to get this revolutionary product into the hands of even more customers this holiday season."

Apple slash price of the iPhone !!!!

mark@markburr.com — 2007-09-05T21:11:57+01:00

Yes, its only been out a few weeks and today Apple slashed the price of the 8gb (biggest seller) iPhone from $599 to $399 !!! $200 dollars off !!!

Apple also discontinued the 4gb iPhone.

So, what does this mean for the UK ?

Well, $399 works out at around £220. I wonder how much it will be by the time it hits the UK in the coming weeks ahead.

Shouldn't be that much more....

Apple launch iPod 'Touch'

mark@markburr.com — 2007-09-05T21:10:57+01:00

Apple today introduced the new iPod touch featuring Apple's multi-touch user interface that enables users to find and enjoy all of their music, videos and more on its widescreen display with just the touch of a finger. First introduced on iPhone, the multi-touch interface uses new software to present the perfect user interface for each application. The iPod touch also includes Wi-Fi wireless networking, the first on any iPod, and three applications that use it: Safari, Apple's advanced browser that lets users wirelessly view Web pages just as they look on their computer, and features Google Search or Yahoo! oneSearch; Apple's YouTube application lets users wirelessly watch over 10 million free videos from the Internet's most popular video Web site; and the new iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store lets users wirelessly browse, preview and buy songs and albums from the iTunes music store. The iPod touch is 8 mm thin and is scheduled to be available later this month.

Apple launch new iPod Nano

mark@markburr.com — 2007-09-05T21:09:44+01:00

Apple today introduced the new iPod nano, bringing video playback, an enhanced user interface featuring Cover Flow, and a new design to the popular music player. The new nano features a larger two-inch display with 204 pixels per inch, which lets users watch their favorite movies, TV shows and music videos in the same resolution they currently enjoy on the video iPod. iPod nano also includes three games, and additional games can be purchased from the online iTunes Store. iPod nano delivers up to 24 hours of audio playback or five hours of video playback on a single charge, and is encased in an new all-metal design made with anodized aluminum and polished stainless steel and comes in five new colors — silver, black, blue, green and a (PRODUCT) RED special edition.

Apple launch a slew of new iPod products

mark@markburr.com — 2007-09-05T19:34:52+01:00

Apple have done it again. A complete redesign of the iPod, and wow are they good !

An all new iPod Shuffle

An all new iPod Nano

And, the iPod touch !

Full specs to follow

Apple confirms Sept 5th special event

mark@markburr.com — 2007-08-29T11:25:40+01:00

The new iPod ? With coverflow ? With OS X ?

Find out on the 5th at 6pm UK time :)

Apple Release TV Shows on iTunes in the UK (AT LAST!)

mark@markburr.com — 2007-08-29T11:01:32+01:00

LONDON—August 29, 2007—Apple® today announced that hit television programming from ABC Studios, Disney Channel, MTV, Nickelodeon and Paramount Comedy is now available for £1.89 an episode from the iTunes® Store in the UK (http://www.apple.com/uk/itunes/). iTunes customers can choose from a wide range of popular primetime programming including the Emmy Award-winning series “Lost,” “Desperate Housewives,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Ugly Betty” and locally-produced UK series such as MTV’s “Barrio 19,” Nickelodeon’s “Genie in the House” and Paramount Comedy’s “Comedy Blue.” The iTunes Store in the UK currently offers 28 television programmes for purchase and download which can be viewed on a PC or Mac®, fifth generation iPod®, or on a widescreen TV with Apple TV™.

“We’re thrilled to bring TV programming to the iTunes Store in the UK,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s vice president of iTunes. “We’ve got 28 shows and expect to continue to add more great programming.”

The complete list of television programming on the iTunes Store in the UK includes:

• Disney’s ABC Studios’ dramas and comedy-dramas “Lost,” “Desperate Housewives,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Ugly Betty,” “Commander in Chief” and “Nightstalker;”
• Disney Channel’s renowned children’s programming including “Jake Long: American Dragon,” “Kim Possible,” “That’s So Raven,” “The Suite Life of Zack and Cody” and Playhouse Disney titles “Handy Manny,” “Little Einsteins” and “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse;”
• MTV’s reality favourites “Pimp My Ride,” “Barrio 19,” “Bam’s Unholy Union,” “Laguna Beach,” and “My Sweet Sixteen;”
• Nickelodeon children’s programming “Avatar: The Legend of Aang,” “Drake and Josh,” “Dora the Explorer,” “Genie in the House” and “SpongeBob SquarePants;” and
• Paramount Comedy hits “South Park,” “Comedy Blue,” “Jongleurs Unleashed: Part I,” “That 70’s Show” and “The World Stands Up.”

With Apple’s legendary ease of use, pioneering features such as Cover Flow, integrated podcasting support, iMix playlist sharing, seamless integration with iPod and iPhone™* and the ability to turn previously purchased songs into completed albums at reduced prices, the iTunes Store is the best way for PC and Mac users to legally discover, purchase and download music and video online.

Pricing & Availability
iTunes 7 for Mac and Windows includes the iTunes Store and is available as a free download from www.apple.com/uk/itunes/. Purchase and download of songs and videos from the iTunes Store requires a valid credit card from a financial institution in the country of purchase. Television shows are available in the US and UK only, and video availability varies by country. Television shows are £1.89 per episode in the UK. TV shows from the iTunes Store are downloaded in near-DVD quality at a resolution of 640x480 (up to 480, depending on the aspect ratio) and can be viewed on a computer, fifth generation iPod or widescreen TV with Apple TV.

September, the month of announcements

mark@markburr.com — 2007-08-27T22:08:14+01:00

Fingers crossed, next month we will see the official European launch of the iPhone. This will more than likely be at the MacWorld Expo in Paris on the 25th Sept.

Also, rumours of an Apple event on the 5th Sept are circulating, this time for the new iPod. Expect the new iPod to be running OS X (like the iPhone) and maybe up to a 160gb hard disk.

£20,000 iPod Shuffle !

mark@markburr.com — 2007-08-22T18:58:16+01:00

Yes indeed, a blinged out Shuffle, made in gold, platinum and diamonds.

iPhone Ringtone

mark@markburr.com — 2007-08-21T21:40:53+01:00

You either love it or hate it, but the iPhone ringtone is certainly distinctive.

Can't wait for the iPhone.

Download it here (mp3 format) iPhone

Flash to support H264

mark@markburr.com — 2007-08-21T18:34:43+01:00

Finally, Adobe are going to support the H264 codec inside Flash.

Named Moviestar, it supports the playback of video encoded using the H.264 standard, which allows for greater compression of video files than previous standards while maintaining quality. Adobe already supports H.264 encoding in products such as Premiere Pro and the After Effects video editing software. Moviestar also includes High-Efficiency AAC support, an improved audio compression technology.

Currently in beta format. The finished version will be ready by the end of the year.

Been a long time

mark@markburr.com — 2007-08-14T08:38:47+01:00

Yep, its been a long time since my last post. 3 months have flown past !

Its been a hectic quarter for Apple.

The iPhone launched in the states, selling in the region of 700,000 in the opening weekend. Speculation of who the UK provider is going to be is doing the rounds on the internet. Remember that until Apple do a press release, everything is just speculation. ( I do hope Vodafone get it ;) )

The Mac Pro tower range got speed bumped and now the flagship model has 8 cores. Now thats processing power !

Last week saw the release of the new iMac range. Super slim, glass scratch resistant gloss screens, speed increases. These machines are great !

And the new super sleek keyboard.

And there is more to come too.

The ultra thin laptop is rumored, as is a new iPod (maybe based on the iPhone design) an also an iPhone Nano ;)

Happy Birthday Apple

mark@markburr.com — 2007-04-01T08:05:11+01:00

Happy Birthday Apple.

31 years today :)

Happy Birthday Steve Jobs

mark@markburr.com — 2007-02-24T08:34:48+00:00

Happy Birthday Steve Jobs. 52 today.

Adobe Creative Suite v3

mark@markburr.com — 2007-02-22T08:41:25+00:00

Rumours have it that Adobe will announce CS3 on the 27th March, with it shipping very soon after that.

This Universal Binary suite will be very much welcomed and is long overdue. Finally the Intel Macs will be able to run at their full potential.

Whats next ?

mark@markburr.com — 2007-01-24T18:22:56+00:00

Well, whats next from Apple ?

Expect the Octo Core Mac Pro anytime soon. Intel have already released the chips, so its only a matter of weeks before Apple announce the machine.

A 12" Ultra Thin Macbook is also rumoured.

Apple Reports First Quarter Results: Record Profit of $1 Billion

mark@markburr.com — 2007-01-18T07:25:28+00:00

Apple Reports First Quarter Results

Revenue Exceeds $7 Billion; Record Profit of $1 Billion
CUPERTINO, California—January 17, 2007—Apple® today announced financial results for its fiscal 2007 first quarter ended December 30, 2006. The Company posted record revenue of $7.1 billion and record net quarterly profit of $1.0 billion, or $1.14 per diluted share. These results compare to revenue of $5.7 billion and net quarterly profit of $565 million, or $.65 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 31.2 percent, up from 27.2 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 42 percent of the quarter’s revenue.

Apple shipped 1,606,000 Macintosh® computers and 21,066,000 iPods during the quarter, representing 28 percent growth in Macs and 50 percent growth in iPods over the year-ago quarter.

“We are incredibly pleased to report record quarterly revenue of over $7 billion and record earnings of $1 billion,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “We’ve just kicked off what is going to be a very strong new product year for Apple by launching Apple TV and the revolutionary iPhone.”

“We generated over $1.75 billion in cash during the quarter to end with $11.9 billion,” said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s CFO. “Looking ahead to the second fiscal quarter of 2007, we expect revenue of $4.8 to $4.9 billion and earnings per diluted share of $.54 to $.56.”

Apple Reinvents the Phone with iPhone

mark@markburr.com — 2007-01-10T20:16:21+00:00

Apple Reinvents the Phone with iPhone

MACWORLD SAN FRANCISCO—January 9, 2007—Apple® today introduced iPhone, combining three products—a revolutionary mobile phone, a widescreen iPod® with touch controls, and a breakthrough Internet communications device with desktop-class email, web browsing, searching and maps—into one small and lightweight handheld device. iPhone introduces an entirely new user interface based on a large multi-touch display and pioneering new software, letting users control iPhone with just their fingers. iPhone also ushers in an era of software power and sophistication never before seen in a mobile device, which completely redefines what users can do on their mobile phones.

“iPhone is a revolutionary and magical product that is literally five years ahead of any other mobile phone,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “We are all born with the ultimate pointing device—our fingers—and iPhone uses them to create the most revolutionary user interface since the mouse.”

iPhone is a Revolutionary Mobile Phone
iPhone is a revolutionary new mobile phone that allows users to make calls by simply pointing at a name or number. iPhone syncs all of your contacts from your PC, Mac® or Internet service such as Yahoo!, so that you always have your full list of up-to-date contacts with you. In addition, you can easily construct a favourites list for your most frequently made calls, and easily merge calls together to create conference calls.

iPhone’s pioneering Visual Voicemail, an industry first, lets users look at a listing of their voicemails, decide which messages to listen to, then go directly to those messages without listening to the prior messages. Just like email, iPhone’s Visual Voicemail enables users to immediately randomly access those messages that interest them most.

iPhone includes an SMS application with a full QWERTY soft keyboard to easily send and receive SMS messages in multiple sessions. When users need to type, iPhone presents them with an elegant touch keyboard which is predictive to prevent and correct mistakes, making it much easier and more efficient to use than the small plastic keyboards on many smartphones. iPhone also includes a calendar application that allows calendars to be automatically synced with your PC or Mac.

iPhone features a 2 megapixel camera and a photo management application that is far beyond anything on a phone today. Users can browse their photo library, which can be easily synced from their PC or Mac, with just a flick of a finger and easily choose a photo for their wallpaper or to include in an email.

iPhone is a quad-band GSM phone which also features EDGE and Wi-Fi wireless technologies for data networking. Apple has chosen Cingular, the best and most popular carrier in the US with over 58 million subscribers, to be Apple’s exclusive carrier partner for iPhone in the US.

iPhone is a Widescreen iPod
iPhone is a widescreen iPod with touch controls that lets music lovers “touch” their music by easily scrolling through entire lists of songs, artists, albums and playlists with just a flick of a finger. Album artwork is stunningly presented on iPhone’s large and vibrant display.

iPhone also features Cover Flow, Apple’s amazing way to browse your music library by album cover artwork, for the first time on an iPod. When navigating your music library on iPhone, you are automatically switched into Cover Flow by simply rotating iPhone into its landscape position.

iPhone’s stunning 3.5-inch widescreen display offers the ultimate way to watch TV shows and movies on a pocketable device, with touch controls for play-pause, chapter forward-backward and volume. iPhone plays the same videos purchased from the online iTunes® Store that users enjoy watching on their computers and iPods, and will soon enjoy watching on their widescreen televisions using the new Apple TV™. The iTunes Store now offers over 350 television shows, over 250 feature films and over 5,000 music videos.

iPhone lets users enjoy all their iPod content, including music, audiobooks, audio podcasts, video podcasts, music videos, television shows and movies. iPhone syncs content from a user’s iTunes library on their PC or Mac, and can play any music or video content they have purchased from the online iTunes store.

iPhone is a Breakthrough Internet Communications Device
iPhone features a rich HTML email client which fetches your email in the background from most POP3 or IMAP mail services and displays photos and graphics right along with the text. iPhone is fully multi-tasking, so you can be reading a web page while downloading your email in the background.

Yahoo! Mail, the world’s largest email service with over 250 million users, is offering a new free “push” IMAP email service to all iPhone users that automatically pushes new email to a user’s iPhone, and can be set up by simply entering your Yahoo! name and password. iPhone will also work with most industry standard IMAP and POP based email services, such as Microsoft Exchange, Apple .Mac Mail, AOL Mail, Google Gmail and most ISP mail services.

iPhone also features the most advanced and fun-to-use web browser on a portable device with a version of its award-winning Safari™ web browser for iPhone. Users can see any web page the way it was designed to be seen, and then easily zoom in to expand any section by simply tapping on iPhone’s multi-touch display with their finger. Users can surf the web from just about anywhere over Wi-Fi or EDGE, and can automatically sync their bookmarks from their PC or Mac. iPhone’s Safari web browser also includes built-in Google Search and Yahoo! Search so users can instantly search for information on their iPhone just like they do on their computer.

iPhone also includes Google Maps, featuring Google’s groundbreaking maps service and iPhone’s amazing maps application, offering the best maps experience by far on any pocket device. Users can view maps, satellite images, traffic information and get directions, all from iPhone’s remarkable and easy-to-use touch interface.

iPhone’s Advanced Sensors
iPhone employs advanced built-in sensors—an accelerometer, a proximity sensor and an ambient light sensor—that automatically enhance the user experience and extend battery life. iPhone’s built-in accelerometer detects when the user has rotated the device from portrait to landscape, then automatically changes the contents of the display accordingly, with users immediately seeing the entire width of a web page, or a photo in its proper landscape aspect ratio.

iPhone’s built-in proximity sensor detects when you lift iPhone to your ear and immediately turns off the display to save power and prevent inadvertent touches until iPhone is moved away. iPhone’s built-in ambient light sensor automatically adjusts the display’s brightness to the appropriate level for the current ambient light, thereby enhancing the user experience and saving power at the same time.

Pricing & Availability
iPhone will be available in the US in June 2007, Europe in late 2007, and Asia in 2008, in a 4GB model for $499 (US) and an 8GB model for $599 (US), and will work with either a PC or Mac. iPhone will be sold in the US through Apple’s retail and online stores, and through Cingular’s retail and online stores. Several iPhone accessories will also be available in June, including Apple’s new remarkably compact Bluetooth headset.

iPhone includes support for quad-band GSM, EDGE, 802.11b/g Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.0 EDR wireless technologies.

iPhone requires a Mac with a USB 2.0 port, Mac OS® X v10.4.8 or later and iTunes 7; or a Windows PC with a USB 2.0 port and Windows 2000 (Service Pack 4), Windows XP Home or Professional (Service Pack 2). Internet access is required and a broadband connection is recommended. Apple and Cingular will announce service plans for iPhone before it begins shipping in June.

Apple TV Coming to Your Living Room

mark@markburr.com — 2007-01-10T20:13:30+00:00

Apple TV Coming to Your Living Room

Videos, Music & Photos on Your Big Screen TV

MACWORLD SAN FRANCISCO—January 9, 2007—Apple® today premiered Apple TV™, an easy to use and fun way to wirelessly play all your favourite iTunes® content from your Mac® or PC on your widescreen TV, including movies, TV shows, music, photos and podcasts. Using Apple TV’s stunning new interface, anyone can quickly browse and view their entire collection of digital media from across the room using the simple and intuitive Apple Remote. Apple TV easily connects to almost all modern widescreen televisions, and will be shipping in February for just £199 (inc. VAT).

“Apple TV is like a DVD player for the 21st century—you connect it to your entertainment system just like a DVD player, but it plays digital content you get from the Internet rather than DVDs you get from a physical store,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “Apple TV plays the same iTunes content that users enjoy on their computers and iPods, so now they can even watch part of a movie in their living room, and watch the rest later on their iPod.”

Apple TV has a 40GB hard drive to store up to 50 hours of video, 9,000 songs, 25,000 photos or a combination of each and is capable of delivering high-definition 720p output.* Apple TV is easy to connect to a broad range of widescreen TVs and home theatre systems and comes standard with HDMI, component video, analogue and optical audio ports. Using high-speed AirPort® 802.11** wireless networking, Apple TV can auto-sync content from one computer or stream content from up to five additional computers right to your TV without any wires.***

The seamless integration of Apple TV and iTunes lets users choose from four million songs, 5,000 music videos, 100,000 podcasts and 20,000 audiobooks. Users can enjoy their favourite music on a home entertainment system and view slideshows of their photo albums on a widescreen TV. Apple TV makes it easy for users to explore their entire media collection with an easy to use and intuitive new interface. With the Apple Remote, consumers can easily browse through their favourite videos, music and photos from up to 30 feet away.

Apple TV requires iTunes 7 or later running on a Mac with Mac OS® X version 10.3.9 or later, or a Windows PC with Windows XP Home/Professional (SP2). An 802.11b/g/n wireless network using AirPort, AirPort Extreme® or 10/100 Base-T Ethernet networking required. Internet access is required and a broadband connection is recommended. Apple TV requires an enhanced-definition or high-definition widescreen TV. iPod® games will not play on Apple TV. iTunes is available in the US and select countries. Television shows and feature films are available in the US only, and video availability varies by country.

*Video playback based on 640x480 iTunes video content. Music capacity based on four minutes per song and 128-Kbps AAC encoding. Photo capacity based on Apple TV viewable photos transferred from iTunes. Actual capacity varies by content.

**Compatible with 802.11b/g/n. Based on an IEEE 802.11n draft specification.

***Wireless video streaming requires an 802.11g/n network.

Apple Introduces New AirPort Extreme with 802.11n

mark@markburr.com — 2007-01-10T20:11:25+00:00

Apple Introduces New AirPort Extreme with 802.11n

Five Times the Performance & Twice the Range

MACWORLD SAN FRANCISCO—January 9, 2007—Apple® today introduced the new AirPort Extreme®, a simple and elegant wireless networking solution delivering up to five times the performance and twice the range of the previous AirPort Extreme. Based on 802.11n,* AirPort Extreme extends a wireless network to even more areas in a home or office and makes streaming digital content and transferring large files faster and easier. The new AirPort Extreme Base Station features a sleek, new design with connections for networked computers, printers and a USB hard drive to quickly and easily share files or back up valuable data and content.

“The new Airport Extreme is the most powerful and easy to use Wi-Fi base station that we have ever made,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “With five times the performance and twice the range, now you can transfer bigger files faster and get access to the Internet and your favorite digital media from many areas in your house you couldn’t reach before.”

Using MIMO (Multiple In Multiple Out) smart antennas and 802.11n technology, AirPort Extreme now delivers greater data throughput and extends the reach of wireless connectivity to more areas of the home, business or school. With the ability to operate in either the 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz wireless frequencies, AirPort Extreme also reduces the possibility of interference from appliances and cordless phones that operate in the 2.4 GHz frequency. AirPort Extreme is backward compatible with Macs and PCs using previous generation 802.11b/g wireless technologies.

The AirPort Extreme Base Station features a simple, new design that is just 6.5 inches square and 1.3 inches tall, and a built-in USB port allows users to print wirelessly to a USB printer or turn any external USB hard drive into a shared drive so they can share files or backup valuable data from multiple computers on a network. New AirPort Utility software included with every AirPort Extreme makes it very easy to set up a secure, wireless network for up to 50 simultaneous users within minutes. Users can also set security restrictions, including Internet access limits on their childrens’ computers.

The AirPort Extreme Base Station also includes:
• 802.11n Wi-Fi wireless networking;
• MIMO (Multiple In Multiple Out) smart antennas;
• dual-band antennas for 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz frequencies;
• three 10/100 Ethernet LAN ports;
• one 10/100 Ethernet WAN port;
• one USB port;
• Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA/WPA-2), 128-bit WEP encryption; and
• a built-in NAT firewall.

Apple's website teaser

mark@markburr.com — 2007-01-02T17:22:46+00:00

I see Apple have updated their website. Interesting.....

Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard

mark@markburr.com — 2006-12-31T15:58:35+00:00

Development is well under way, but don't expect 10.5 to be released at the Expo in January.

March is usually the time of year that Apple roll out their new operating systems.

Apple Expo 2007

mark@markburr.com — 2006-12-31T15:09:53+00:00

With the Apple expo only days away, speculation as to what Apple will release is again rife all over the web.

8 Core Mac Pro's are very high on the rumour scale. This would probably make way for the Quad core to be the base and mid end machine, and the 8 Core as the high end. I would imagine that the Dual Core will be phased out.

iTV - Apple's set top streaming box. Already demoed back in the summer, this device won't get realised until Apple can launch their new Airport extreme base station. This all revolves around the new 'N' draft of wireless being approved. Expect wireless speeds of 200mbits. Twice as fast as ethernet !

Cinema displays: I expect the 23" Cinema to be ramped up to a 24", to come in line with the 24" iMac. Expect to see built in iSight cameras on the entire range.

Been a bit quiet here !

mark@markburr.com — 2006-12-31T15:08:46+00:00

Apologies for the lack of recent posts.

Things have been pretty hectic :)

QuarkXPress 7.01 goes Universal

mark@markburr.com — 2006-08-07T22:33:12+01:00

QuarkXPress 7.01 goes Universal

Quark today announced a free Universal update to QuarkXPress 7 for Mac OS X 10.4 "Tiger. QuarkXPress 7.01, which is available at no additional cost, runs natively on both Intel- and PowerPC-based Macs. The company said that QuarkXPress is the first major design and publishing tool to be released as a Universal application and that its new graphics engine, XDraw, leverages the power of Quartz 2D "to achieve the highest-quality rendering of text and graphics." QuarkXPress 7, released earlier this year, is the latest version of the design and publishing software; it combines many new design features with job-driven production capabilities in a collaborative environment.

Apple Introduces Xserve with Quad 64-bit Xeon Processors

mark@markburr.com — 2006-08-07T20:56:12+01:00

Apple Introduces Xserve with Quad 64-bit Xeon Processors

New Xserve is Over Five Times Faster Than its Predecessor

WWDC 2006, SAN FRANCISCO—August 7, 2006—Apple® today announced the new Xserve®, a quad Xeon, 64-bit server featuring Mac OS® X Server Tiger on two Dual-Core Intel Xeon processors running up to 3.0 GHz, resulting in performance that is over five times that of its predecessor.* With an industry-leading high bandwidth server architecture that includes PCI Express, independent 1.33 GHz front side buses with 4MB of shared L2 cache, and fully-buffered DIMMs (FB-DIMMs), the new Xserve delivers up to four times the I/O bandwidth, up to three times the memory bandwidth and twice the storage bandwidth of the Xserve G5. The new Xserve is Apple’s most customisable server yet with dozens of options, including faster processors, larger hard drives and dual power supplies. With over one million possible build to order configurations, the Intel-based Xserve delivers unbeatable flexibility, manageability and price performance that make it ideal for everything from creative workgroups to scientific computing.

“Xserve has always been the perfect server for Mac workgroups and now it will run over five times faster for the same breakthrough price,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “With new Intel processors, a redesigned hardware architecture, and an unlimited Tiger Server client access license, no one can offer better price performance and manageability in a 1U server.”

Configurable with two Dual-Core Intel Xeon processors running either 2.0, 2.66 or 3.0 GHz, the new Xserve supports up to 32GB of 667 MHz DDR2 ECC FB-DIMM memory with twice the capacity and three times the bandwidth of the Xserve G5. Two eight-lane PCI Express expansion slots provide up to 2GB/s of throughput each to support the next generation of fibre channel, networking and graphics cards. Apple delivers industry-leading storage flexibility with support for up to three 3Gb/s SATA or SAS drives that can achieve an unrivalled 2.25TB of hot-plug storage in a 1U server while advanced thermal management capabilities take advantage of the low power of the Intel processors, running as low as 65W.

Apple has made the system even easier to manage with quick deployment rails for rack mounting, a new lights out management system that lets administrators control the hardware from a remote location and by including Apple’s Server Monitor software and Remote Desktop agent.

The new Xserve ships with internal graphics that can drive up to a 23 inch Cinema Display as well as industry standard VGA devices and offers an ATI Radeon X1300 256MB PCI Express graphics card for professional graphics and video applications as a build to order option.

The Intel-based Xserve will be the first system to ship with a preinstalled unlimited client edition of Tiger Server software that is optimised to run on Intel-based systems. Tiger Server integrates over 100 leading open source projects and standards-based software applications with easy-to-use management tools that make it easy to deploy for Mac®, Windows and Linux clients.

Apple Previews Mac OS X Leopard

mark@markburr.com — 2006-08-07T20:54:56+01:00

Apple Previews Mac OS X Leopard

Time Machine, Spaces, Plus Enhanced Mail & iChat Extend Apple’s Leadership in Software Innovation

WWDC 2006, SAN FRANCISCO—AUGUST 7, 2006—Apple® today previewed Mac OS® X version 10.5 Leopard, the sixth major version of Mac OS X, to its third party developers. Leopard, scheduled to ship in spring 2007, extends Apple’s leadership in software innovation with groundbreaking new features, including Time Machine, a revolutionary new way to automatically back up and restore everything on your Mac®, and Spaces, an entirely new way to instantly switch between groups of applications required for various tasks. Leopard also includes industry-first advancements in Mail and iChat, including Stationery, Notes and To Dos in Mail; and Photo Booth™-style effects, the ability to “place” yourself in any photo or video as the backdrop for your chat, and live presentations of iPhoto® slideshows, Keynote™ presentations and videos in iChat.

“Breakthrough features like Time Machine and Spaces are good examples of how Mac OS X leads the industry in operating system innovation,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “While Microsoft tries to copy the version of OS X we shipped a few years ago, we’re leaping ahead again with Leopard.”

With its unique ability to let users travel back in time to find deleted files, applications, photos or other digital media, Time Machine is a revolutionary way to protect a consumer’s digital life. Time Machine automatically backs up everything on the Mac to an external hard drive or Mac OS X Server. In the event a file is lost, users can search back through time using an intuitive time-based visual display to find and then instantly restore the file. With one click, Time Machine can restore anything from a single file or photo to everything on a Mac.

Spaces is an intuitive new way to group applications required for a given task into a “space,” then instantly switch between different spaces to bring up the specific applications required for that given task. Users can get a bird’s eye view of all their Spaces and choose where they want to go next with just one keystroke or click of a mouse.

With Leopard’s iChat, Apple takes communicating with friends, family and colleagues to an entirely new level. iChat now makes video chats more fun with the ability to use Photo Booth effects and put images and videos in the background. iChat Screen Sharing enables users to share their desktops with others to work together in real time on an activity, such as editing an iPhoto book, or helping a buddy get the most out of their Mac. With iChat Theater, users can share an iPhoto slide show, a QuickTime® movie or a Keynote presentation within an iChat window.

Leopard’s Mail includes breakthrough new features that have never been seen before in a Mail application. Mail Stationery includes more than 30 customisable stationery designs to create stunning emails enriched with beautiful photos and graphics. Templates include photo collections, invitations, birthday cards and other greetings that look great when received on either a Mac or a PC. With Mail Notes, users can quickly jot down thoughts and ideas, add graphics and attachments and use the familiar Mail application to manage them like an email message. In addition, To Dos can be created from any email message or note and viewed in iCal® or sent to friends and colleagues. RSS news feeds now appear in Mail, allowing users to receive news in their inboxes, receive notifications when new stories appear and use Smart Mailboxes to organize news about the same topic in one place.

Additional features in Leopard include:
• full native 64-bit support that allows applications to take complete advantage of 64-bit processing while maintaining full performance and compatibility for existing 32-bit Mac OS X applications and drivers;
• enhancements to Boot Camp, Apple’s innovative technology that was previewed as a public beta in April 2006, making it possible to run Windows natively on Intel-based Macs;
• Front Row™, now available with all new Macs to play back digital content, including video Podcasts using the simple Apple remote*;
• Photo Booth, Apple’s fun-to-use application that lets users take quick snapshots with an iSight™ video camera, add entertaining visual effects with the touch of a button, and share them via email;
• iCal 3 with group calendaring capabilities, event drop box, and standards-based CalDAV support;
• improved Spotlight™ searching that’s even faster, provides richer previews, and lets users search across network mounted folders on other machines;
• a new Movies Dashboard widget for movie times and Web Clip for clipping any part of a web page as a live widget;
• new parental controls including curfews, time limits and remote administration;
• Core Animation, a new graphics technology that makes it easy to create stunning visual effects and animations;
• major enhancements in Universal Access, including improvements in VoiceOver, Apple’s built-in screen reader;
• security enhancements including anti-phishing protection in Mail and Safari™, and an automatic firewall that limits network resources available to an application; and
• new development tools, including Xcode® 3 with full 64-bit support, DashCode™, an easy way to create new Dashboard widgets without writing a line of code, and Xray, for optimizing application performance.

*Apple Remote sold separately.

Apple Unveils New Mac Pro Featuring Quad 64-bit Xeon Processors

mark@markburr.com — 2006-08-07T20:53:53+01:00

Apple Unveils New Mac Pro Featuring Quad 64-bit Xeon Processors

New Mac Pro Completes Apple’s Intel Transition

WWDC 2006, SAN FRANCISCO—August 7, 2006—Apple® today unveiled the new Mac® Pro, a quad Xeon, 64-bit desktop workstation featuring two new Dual-Core Intel Xeon processors running up to 3.0 GHz and a new system architecture that delivers up to twice the performance of the Power Mac® G5 Quad*. With advanced performance, greater expansion, higher performance graphics options and unprecedented customisation, the newly designed Mac Pro is the ideal system for the most demanding user. The introduction of the Mac Pro marks the completion of a rapid and seamless transition for Apple, with the entire Mac family now using Intel’s latest processors.

“Apple has successfully completed the transition to using Intel processors in just seven months—210 days to be exact,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “And what better product to complete it with than the new Mac Pro, the workstation Mac users have been dreaming about.”

The new Mac Pro features the new Dual-Core Intel Xeon 5100 series processor based on the revolutionary Intel Core microarchitecture, delivering breakthrough performance and power efficiency. The new Mac Pro is up to twice as fast as the Power Mac G5 Quad running industry standard benchmarks and features two Dual-Core Intel Xeon processors running up to 3.0 GHz, each with 4MB of shared L2 cache and independent 1.33 GHz front-side buses. With 667 MHz DDR2 fully-buffered memory, the Mac Pro also boasts a 256-bit wide memory architecture for amazing bandwidth.

With more than 4.9 million possible configurations, the Mac Pro delivers unprecedented customisation to meet even the most demanding performance, expansion and storage needs. The newly redesigned Mac Pro features an all new, direct attach storage solution for cable free, snap in installation of up to four 500GB Serial ATA hard drives for a total of 2TB of internal storage—the most ever on a Mac—and support for two optical drives to simultaneously read and/or write to CDs and DVDs. Every Mac Pro includes three full-length PCI Express expansion slots and one double-wide PCI Express graphics slot to support high-powered, double-wide graphics cards without sacrificing multiple slots. Providing quick and convenient access to connect the most popular external devices, the front panel of the Mac Pro includes a FireWire® 800 port, a FireWire 400 port and two USB 2.0 ports with additional FireWire 800, FireWire 400 and three USB 2.0 ports on the back panel. Mac Pro also includes dual Gigabit Ethernet ports, optical digital input and output, analogue audio input and output, and optional built-in support for AirPort® Extreme and Bluetooth 2.0+EDR.

Every Mac Pro comes standard with the NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT with 256MB of video memory, providing built-in support for dual-displays and Apple’s 30-inch Cinema HD Display. The ATI Radeon X1900 XT and the NVIDIA Quadro FX 4500, both with 512MB of video memory, are available as build to order options and provide built-in support for up to two 30-inch Apple Cinema HD Displays. The Quadro FX 4500 also includes a stereo 3D port to connect goggles for stereo-in-a-window applications and is ideal for the most demanding animation, special effects and scientific visualisation applications. The Mac Pro supports up to four PCI Express graphics cards to drive up to eight displays at once for advanced visualisation and large display walls.

The latest release of the world’s most advanced operating system, Mac OS® X version 10.4.7 Tiger, comes with every new Mac Pro, including Safari™, Mail, iCal® and iChat AV, running natively. Tiger includes an innovative software translation technology called Rosetta® that lets customers run most Mac OS X PowerPC applications seamlessly.** Intel-based Mac customers have more than 3,000 Universal applications to choose from including all of Apple’s own consumer and professional applications. Universal Mac software includes versions of Xsan®, a high performance, enterprise class Storage Area Network (SAN) file system and Mac OS X Server, Apple’s award-winning server operating system. An updated list of Universal applications for Mac OS X is available at guide.apple.com/uk/universal and is growing each day with hundreds of developers announcing support for Mac OS X Intel-based applications.

Apple reports profit of $472 million

mark@markburr.com — 2006-07-20T08:25:12+01:00

Apple reports profit of $472 million
Apple today announced financial results for its fiscal 2006 third quarter ended July 1, 2006.

The Company posted revenue of US$4.37 billion and a net quarterly profit of $472 million, or $.54 per diluted share.

These results compare to revenue of $3.52 billion and a net profit of $320 million, or $.37 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter.

Gross margin was 30.3 percent, up from 29.7 percent in the year-ago quarter.

International sales accounted for 39 percent of the quarter's revenue.

Quark Xpress v7.0 Ships

mark@markburr.com — 2006-05-23T08:30:48+01:00

Quark Xpress v7 starts shipping today. One of the first major brand software titles to be written in universal binary (optimsed for the Intel Mac).

At the time of writing this, there are still small stocks of Quark 6.5.

Quark 7 is priced @ £750.00+vat.

8mb BT Business Broadband

mark@markburr.com — 2006-05-17T16:34:17+01:00

BT today opened their Business web page for regrades to 8mb broadband.

http://www.btbroadbandoffice.com/upgradedslmax

Existing BT Business customers can click on this link and select the regrade to 8mb (8mb depending on distance to the exchange)

Expect the site to be very slow for the first few days.

Apple Computer wins in Apple v. Apple case Apple Computer wins in Apple v. Apple case

mark@markburr.com — 2006-05-08T11:33:22+01:00

Apple Computer has prevailed in its case regarding logo use in iTunes against Apple Corps.

High court judge Edward Mann delivered his judgement at 10.30am this morning, ruling in favour of Apple Computer.

The Beatles' business affairs company, Apple Corps, had accused Apple Computer of breaking a 1991 agreement in its use of the Apple logo in association with what it regards as music-related products, the iPod and iTunes.

The British company, still owned by former Beatles Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, along with the widow of John Lennon and the estate of George Harrison, wanted to win an injunction to prevent Apple Computer using the apple logo in connection with its iPod and iTunes products.
The judge didn't agree. Mann this morning said that the association between the logo use and the download service is a "proper one", and that the logo was clearly used in relation to the service, not to the music.

"The primary reason there is no breach (of the 1991 deal) is because the use of the logo is still a permitted use as described in clause 4.3 of the 1991 agreement," the judge declared this morning.
Apple Computer had defended its use of the logo in association with its music products, as being simply data transmission, which is allowed under clause 4.3 of the 1991 agreement.

The judge agreed with the defence, and said that Apple Computer's use of the logo in association with its products "does not go beyond what is reasonable and fair".
Lawyers representing Apple Corps have asked the judge to grant them leave to appeal against his decision. Apple Computer meanwhile is demanding at least £1.5 million in fees from Apple Corps.

Apple vs Apple - Judgement

mark@markburr.com — 2006-04-06T12:27:20+01:00

The final judgement in the Apple Computer versus Apple Corps case is expected before the end of the month.

The Beatles holding company, Apple Corps, is hoping the case will be declared in its favour. It wants Apple Computer to cease using the Apple logo in connection with its iPod and iTunes products.

If Apple Computer fails in its defence that its service is simply data transmission, rather than the release of music, then Apple Corps will pursue the computer company for damages.

With the arguments for both sides now closed, Judge Edward Mann must now decide whether to grant an injunction barring Apple Computer from using the logo within iTunes.

Justice Mann says he will probably issue his ruling toward the end of the month, but not before Easter weekend.

Apple vs Apple - more....

mark@markburr.com — 2006-04-04T21:04:40+01:00

An Apple executive took the witness stand Monday to defend the company against a lawsuit filed by The Beatles’ record company for allegedly breaching a trademark agreement.

Eddy Cue, vice president of iTunes at Apple Computer, on Monday sought to deflect Apple Corps Ltd.’s charge that the computer company violated a 1991 agreement that it would stay out of the music business.
The iTunes Music Store is a feature within Apple Computer’s iTunes music jukebox software application. Since the feature debuted in April 2003, Apple Computer says it has sold more than one billion songs, pushing sales of its hard-disk and flash-memory music players, which firmly hold 70 percent of the market.

Apple Corps attorney Geoffrey Vos asked Cue to confirm that the Music Store had offered exclusive tracks from artists such as U2 and Bob Dylan.

“We have tracks that are temporarily exclusive to us in the Music Store, and so do most of the other services,” Cue said in the High Court in London.

James Hoffman, an Apple Corps witness, testified earlier that Apple Computer converts its music files to a proprietary format to restrict how the files are used. Hoffman is chief executive officer of Woodstock Systems LLC.

The similarity of the two Apples’ names and logos has prompted three lawsuits from the record company since the early 1980s. This round, lawyers are contesting a 1991 agreement that limited the services and business areas where the companies could use their trademarks.

But the agreement, which resulted from a US$25 million settlement paid by Apple Computer from the second lawsuit, hasn’t kept up with the Internet era.

Vos has argued that the agreement said Apple Computer can’t use its logo to sell downloaded music. Apple Computer counters that the agreement permits data transfers, and the content it sells is generally available elsewhere online.

The subjective answer lies in just a few lines of legalese from the agreement. The High Court’s official, Justice Edward Mann, has an iPod and said he has used iTunes, a familiarity that attorneys on both sides have warmly accepted.

Apple Corps is seeking an injunction that would bar Apple Computer from using the logo in connection with music sales. If granted, Apple Computer may have to remove the trademark from advertisements and software that use it in connection with the Music Store.

The record label could then pursue damages against Apple Computer, a potentially expensive thrust.

Apple Corps, founded in 1968 by The Beatles, administers the band’s continuing commercial interests with an acute legal scrutiny. The label is still owned by Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and the heirs of deceased members John Lennon and George Harrison.

As a group, The Beatles have shunned selling their music online. But in July 2005, concert renditions of “The Long and Winding Road” and “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Band” by Paul McCartney from a Live 8 performance in London were sold through the iTunes Music Store.

John Lennon’s solo work was licensed in November 2005 to several download services. Ironically, that deal excluded iTunes, despite Apple Computer co-founder Steve Jobs’ professed affection for the band.

Aple vs Apple - Day 4 in court

mark@markburr.com — 2006-04-03T12:01:16+01:00

Apple Computer's legal team continues to pick holes in the argument fielded by Apple Corps in the landmark trademark case in the UK High Court.

Apple Corps is demanding that Apple Computer cease using an apple logo in connection with iTunes and the iPod, claiming such use is in breach of a 1991 usage agreement between the two companies.

Apple Computer counters that the agreement instead allowed Apple Computer to employ the mark in a wide field of use, including data transfer and transmission.

As a result of the $26.5 million 1991 settlement, both parties had agreed terms of use of the apple logo: "Apple Corps' field of use is very narrow indeed, being confined to creative works whose complete content is music," said Apple Computer courtroom representative, Lord Grabiner, QC, according to the BBC.

He also lamented the fact that The Beatles have so far not licensed their music to any existing online service, saying the surviving members of the band have "missed out" in the fight against piracy as a result.

Apple Corps' claims Apple Computer's music distribution business to be "flatly contradictory to the provisions of the agreement."

An Associated Press report reveals an amusing moment in the case last week when iPod user Judge Mann cut short Apple Computers' explanation of what iLife '06 does.

"ILife is not a complete novelty to me. I've got it and I use it," the judge said. Apple Computer's QC said that should the case go to a higher court, the judge there may not be as clued-in to such technology.

Judge Mann replied: "The higher up one goes, the less likely it is that anyone will know what we're talking about."

The hearing is expected to close this week.

Happy 30th Birthday Apple

mark@markburr.com — 2006-04-01T08:33:28+01:00

Yes, 30 years ago Apple Computer was formed.....

My how times have changed..

Apple vs Apple - Day 2 in court

mark@markburr.com — 2006-03-30T18:37:48+01:00

Apple today argued that virually any "moron" could distinguish between its iTunes music distribution service and Apple Corps, the Beatles' record label.

Lawyers for Apple asserted the company's right to distribute music through its iTunes music store, rejecting claims by Apple Corps Ltd. that doing so violated a 1991 trademark agreement, according to The Associated Press.

Apple Computer's lawyer Anthony Grabiner said the "distribution of digital entertainment content" was permitted under the agreement, in which the two companies promised not to tread on the other's sphere of business, saying that "even a moron in a hurry" could distinguish between the computer company's online music business and a record label like Apple Corps.

"Data transmission is within our field of use. That's what [the agreement] says and it is inescapable," he said.

Yesterday, Apple Corps' lawyer Geoffrey Vos had said Apple Computer's music distribution business "was flatly contradictory to the provisions of the agreement."

Apple vs Apple - Court Case Begins

mark@markburr.com — 2006-03-30T08:31:47+01:00

In the opening day of a closely-watched court case in London on Wednesday, lawyers for The Beatles' record company accused Apple Computer of improperly using an apple logo to advertise its iTunes music store.
Apple Corps made opening arguments in its request for an injunction that would bar the computer manufacturer from using its logo - an apple with a bite taken out - to advertise the sale of music through iTunes.
The record company alleges that Apple Computer is violating a 1991 agreement that sets limits on how the companies can use their similar logos.

(Hardly similar in my opinion !)

There are a number of stories about how Apple founder Steve Jobs decided on the name and logo for his company which he co-founded in 1976, one is that he chose it out of admiration for The Beatles. The companies have sparred in two previous lawsuits over how their logos could be used. Apple Corps' logo is an uneaten green apple.
Apple Corps attorney Geoffrey Vos played an iTunes advertisement for the court, featuring exclusive tracks from the band Coldplay. The ad ends with the Apple Computer logo.
"That advertisement is as flagrant violation of this agreement as it is possible to imagine," Vos said.
Apple Computer's corporate communications director Alan Hely declined to comment on the case on Wednesday morning, but the company has provided the following statement to Macworld:
"Over a decade ago, Apple signed an agreement with Apple Corps, a business controlled by the Beatles and their heirs, which specified the rights each company would have to use the "Apple" trademark. Unfortunately, Apple and Apple Corps now have differing interpretations of this agreement and will need to ask a court to resolve this dispute."

Apple Unveils Mac mini with Intel Core Duo

mark@markburr.com — 2006-03-06T14:04:31+00:00

Apple Unveils Mac mini with Intel Core Duo

New Mac mini Delivers Performance Up to Four Times Faster

CUPERTINO, California—February 28, 2006—Apple® today unveiled the new Mac® mini with the Intel Core Duo processor, delivering performance up to four times faster than its predecessor and providing even greater expansion in the same innovative and incredibly compact design.* Starting at just £449 (inc. VAT), the Mac mini is the most affordable way to enjoy iLife® ’06, the next generation of Apple’s award-winning suite of digital lifestyle applications, and features the Apple Remote and Front Row so you can play your music, enjoy your photo slideshows, watch your DVDs, iMovies, music videos and television shows from across the room.

“With the new Mac mini, Apple has now moved 50 percent of its entire product line to Intel within 60 days—a record transition,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “The new Mac mini is now up to four times faster with the Intel Core Duo, includes even greater expansion in the same incredibly compact design, and is the most affordable way to enjoy Front Row and iLife ‘06.”

Featuring the next generation of Apple’s breakthrough Front Row media experience, the new Mac mini gives customers a simple way to enjoy their digital lifestyle content on the Mac mini including music, photos and videos from across the room using the Apple Remote. With the latest version of Front Row, customers can now effortlessly access shared iTunes® playlists, iPhoto® libraries and video throughout their home via Bonjour™, Apple’s zero configuration wireless networking built into Mac OS® X.

The new Mac mini offers a completely new system architecture for performance up to four times as fast as the previous Mac mini, including a 667 MHz front-side bus and 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM memory expandable to 2GB. With the latest high-performance connectivity options, every new Mac mini now includes built-in 10/100/1000 BASE-T Gigabit Ethernet for high-speed networking, built-in AirPort® Extreme 802.11g WiFi for fast 54 Mbps wireless networking**, built-in Bluetooth 2.0+EDR (Enhanced Data Rate) and a total of four USB 2.0 ports, twice as many as the previous generation. Mac mini includes a DVI interface and a VGA-out adapter to easily connect to a variety of displays, including many of today’s most popular flat panel televisions, and now features both analogue and digital audio outputs to easily connect to a home stereo.

The new Mac mini includes iLife ‘06, the next generation of Apple’s award-winning suite of digital lifestyle applications featuring major new versions of iPhoto, iMovie HD, iDVD®, GarageBand™ and introducing iWeb™, a new iLife application that makes it super-easy to create amazing websites with photos, blogs and Podcasts and publish them on .Mac for viewing by anyone on the Internet with just a single click. All the iLife ‘06 applications are Universal applications that run natively on the new Intel-based Mac mini for maximum performance.

Every new Mac mini comes with the latest release of the world’s most advanced operating system, Mac OS X version 10.4 “Tiger” including Safari™, Mail, iCal®, iChat AV and Front Row, running natively. Mac OS X Tiger includes an innovative software translation technology called Rosetta™ that lets customers run most Mac OS X PowerPC applications seamlessly.***

Pricing & Availability
The new Mac mini is shipping today and will be available through the Apple Store® (www.apple.com/ukstore), Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorised Resellers.

The new 1.5 GHz Mac mini, for a suggested retail price of £449 (inc. VAT), includes:
• 1.5 GHz Intel Core Solo processor;
• 512MB of 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM, expandable up to 2GB;
• a slot-load Combo (DVD-ROM/CD-RW) drive;
• 60GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 5400 rpm;
• Intel GMA950 graphics processor;
• built-in AirPort Extreme wireless networking & Bluetooth 2.0+EDR;
• Gigabit Ethernet (10/100/1000 BASE-T);
• four USB 2.0 ports;
• one audio line in and one audio line out port, each supporting both optical digital and analogue;
• DVI-out port for external display (VGA-out adapter included, Composite/S-Video out adapter sold separately); and
• the infrared Apple Remote.

The new 1.66 GHz Mac mini, for a suggested retail price of £599 (inc. VAT), includes:
• 1.66 GHz Intel Core Duo processor;
• 512MB of 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM expandable up to 2GB;
• a slot-load 8x SuperDrive™ with double-layer support (DVD+R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW);
• 80GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 5400 rpm;
• Intel GMA950 graphics processor;
• built-in AirPort Extreme wireless networking & Bluetooth 2.0+EDR;
• Gigabit Ethernet (10/100/1000 BASE-T);
• four USB 2.0 ports;
• one audio line in and one audio line out port, each supporting both optical digital and analogue;
• DVI-out port for external display (VGA-out adapter included, Composite/S-Video out adapter sold separately); and
• the infrared Apple Remote.

Fake or Real ? New Video iPod

mark@markburr.com — 2006-02-23T22:55:36+00:00

Is this the new Video iPod ?

I guess time will tell..........

Apple to launch 'fun' new products next week

mark@markburr.com — 2006-02-23T16:37:38+00:00

Apple Computer confirmed on Tuesday that it plans to introduce some "fun new products" next week, but declined to say more about what those products might be.
In an e-mail sent to journalists, the company merely said the invited scribes should come to Apple's Cupertino, Calif., headquarters next Tuesday to learn more.
"Come see some fun, new products from Apple," the company said in its invitation.
Unlike past invitations, which hinted at which product Apple was targeting, the current invitation includes just a picture of a calendar with only the date Feb. 28 on it.

Apple's iTunes hits 1 billion song mark

mark@markburr.com — 2006-02-23T16:33:23+00:00

Apple's iTunes today reached the 1 billion song mark, setting an industry milestone for sales of digital music from its popular online store. The industry-leading iTunes Music Store sold its billionth song at just after 12:30 a.m. on Thursday, February 22nd--less than three years after its launch in April of 2003. Although the company did not provide any details on the winner, it celebrated with a note on its homepage: "To every iTunes Music Store customer, thanks a billion. 1 billion songs have been downloaded from the iTunes Music Store." The company launched its billion song promo earlier this month and offered a 20-inch iMac, 10 60GB iPods, and a $10,000 iTunes Music Card as well as a full-ride scholarship in the winner's name to a world-renowned music school.

Apple Unveils New 1GB iPod nano at £109 (inc. VAT)

mark@markburr.com — 2006-02-07T16:44:37+00:00

iPod shuffle Now Starting at Just £49 (inc. VAT)

CUPERTINO, California—February 7, 2006—Apple® today unveiled a new 1GB iPod® nano for just £109 (inc. VAT), offering the same features as the 2GB and 4GB iPod nano models and holding up to 240 songs or 15,000 photos. The new 1GB iPod nano’s ultra-portable design is thinner than a #2 pencil and features Apple’s patent pending Click Wheel and the same gorgeous colour screen as the other iPod nano models. In addition, Apple announced that the iPod shuffle is now more affordable than ever with the 512MB and 1GB models priced at £49 and £69 (inc. VAT) respectively.

“Now everyone can afford an iPod nano, with our new 1GB model starting at just £109,” said Greg Joswiak, Apple’s vice president of Worldwide iPod Product Marketing. “The iPod is the world’s most popular digital music player with over 40 million sold, and now even more music lovers can experience the unrivalled combination of iPod and iTunes.”

iPod nano features an ultra-portable design and fits into even the smallest pocket, making it easy to take iPod nano anywhere you go. With its stunning, high-resolution colour screen, iPod nano allows users to display album art while playing music, view photo slideshows or play games in full colour. iPod nano also features the same 30-pin dock connector as the iPod and works effortlessly with a wide range of over 2,000 accessories developed for iPod.

Featuring seamless integration with the iTunes® Music Store and the iTunes digital music jukebox, iPod nano includes Apple’s patent pending Auto-Sync technology that automatically downloads a user’s digital music collection, photos or Podcasts onto iPod nano and keeps it up-to-date whenever iPod nano is plugged into a Mac® or Windows computer using USB 2.0.

UK software file-sharers face jail

mark@markburr.com — 2006-01-31T16:44:19+00:00

File-sharers who trade software are being hit with immediate legal action in the UK.

Ten ISPs (Internet Service Providers) have been ordered to hand over the details of 150 users accused of illegally sharing software. ISPs include BT, NTL, Telewest and Tiscali.

The Federation Against Software Theft (FAST) has obtained the High Court order after a 12-month covert investigation of software file-sharers. They are accused of uploading software and sharing it online.

The names and addresses of their suspects will be provided to the organisation in the next two weeks, according to the BBC.

FAST will take its cases to the police and the Crown Prosecution Service once it has personal details about its suspects.

"We plan to make an example of perpetrators," FAST said.

Maximum penalties include two years in jail and/or an unlimited fine. Further actions are expected.

Last Friday, the UK courts ordered two men to pay the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) between £1,500 and £5,000 for making songs available online. Legal costs are expected to cripple both men. The BPI has a slew of such actions outstanding as it uses uts legal muscle to end what it claims is the "scourge" of file-sharing.

Disney buys Pixar for $7.4 billion

mark@markburr.com — 2006-01-24T22:14:54+00:00

The Walt Disney Company has announced it is buying longtime partner Pixar Animation Studios Inc. for $7.4 billion in stock. According to the AP, the deal "could restore Disney’s clout in animation while vaulting Pixar CEO Steve Jobs into a powerful role at the media conglomerate. Under the agreement, 2.3 Disney shares will be issued for each Pixar share. Disney announced the deal after the close of trading on Tuesday. Pixar CEO Steve Jobs will join Disney's board of directors, while Pixar President Ed Catmull will serve as president of the combined Pixar and Disney animation studios and Pixar Executive Vice President John Lasseter will be chief creative officer of the animation studios. Jobs' role as a Board member of Disney, however, may bring conflicts with his CEO role at Apple, according to several reports.

Macintosh is 22 today

mark@markburr.com — 2006-01-24T18:00:43+00:00

It's 22 years since Apple first screened its 1984 ad for the original Macintosh at the Super Bowl.

"On January 24, Apple Computer will introduce Macintosh. And you'll see why 1984 won't be like 1984," the ad declared.

The $2,495 Mac introduced an all-new innovation: "Users tell Macintosh what to do simply by moving a "mouse" - a small pointing device - to select among functions listed in menus and represented by pictorial symbols on the screen," the company said.

IDC analyst Aaron Goldberg said at the time: "There's no doubt Apple has a winner with this product. The market has been waiting for this combination of technology, ease of operation and price."

The original Mac cost $78 million to develop. Apple introduced it to a packed house at the Flint Center at De Anza College on January 24, 1984.

Apple co-founder Steve Jobs strode on stage and recited a few verses from Bob Dylan's 'The Times They Are A-Changin''.

He focused on IBM as the obstacle to the change agent of computing innovation: "Apple is perceived to be the only hope to offer IBM a run for its money. Dealers, initially welcoming IBM with open arms, now fear an IBM-dominated and controlled future. They are increasingly turning back to Apple as the only force that can ensure their future freedom," he said.

"IBM wants it all and is aiming its guns on its last obstacle to industry control: Apple. Will Big Blue dominate the entire computer industry, the entire information age? Was George Orwell right?"

The crowd screamed "No", and a screen behind Jobs showed the commercial for the very first time.

"No! No! No!," the screen behind Jobs flickered to life with the groundbreaking 1984 commercial.

He then introduced the crowd to the new machine.

You can watch a video of the Flint Center announcement here.

APPLE INTRODUCES MACBOOK PRO

mark@markburr.com — 2006-01-20T16:24:38+00:00

MacBook Pro with Intel Core Duo Processor Up to Four Times Faster Than PowerBook G4

MACWORLD EXPO, SAN FRANCISCO—January 10, 2006—Apple® today unveiled its new MacBook™ Pro notebook computer featuring the new Intel® Core™ Duo processor which delivers up to four times the performance of the PowerBook® G4. The new MacBook Pro, the first Mac notebook based on an Intel processor, features a stunning aluminium enclosure just one inch thin, weighs only 5.6 pounds, includes a built-in iSight™ video camera for video conferencing on-the-go, and the Apple Remote and Front Row™ software for a simple, intuitive and powerful way for users to enjoy their content wherever they go. The new MacBook Pro, available in February, also features Apple’s new patent-pending MagSafe™ magnetic power connector, designed especially for mobile users.

“MacBook Pro delivers dual-processor desktop performance in a thin, sleek notebook,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “The new MacBook Pro, with its Intel Core Duo dual-core processor, delivers the performance of not just one, but two G5 processors in the world’s most stunning one inch thin design.”

MacBook Pro features the new Intel Core Duo processor which delivers dual-core performance in a breakthrough power-efficient design, making it ideal for use in MacBook Pro’s thin and lightweight design. MacBook Pro is up to four times faster than the product it replaces, the PowerBook G4, running industry standard benchmarks.*

Every new MacBook Pro comes with a built-in iSight video camera for video conferencing on-the-go using Apple’s award-winning iChat AV, or recording a video Podcast or iMovie® using iLife® ‘06. MacBook Pro also includes Photo Booth, Apple’s fun-to-use application that lets users take quick snapshots with the built-in iSight video camera, add entertaining visual effects and share their pictures with the touch of a button.

The new MacBook Pro is the first notebook to feature Apple’s breakthrough Front Row media experience and the Apple Remote, turning MacBook Pro into a portable theatre. Front Row gives customers a simple way to enjoy their content wherever they go— including songs from their iTunes® music library, photo slideshows from iPhoto, videos including Podcasts, iMovies and DVDs, and popular movie trailers streamed from apple.com—all from up to 30 feet away.

The new MacBook Pro also debuts Apple’s patent-pending MagSafe magnetic power connector, designed especially for mobile users. The MagSafe power connector makes charging the notebook’s battery easier than ever by magnetically coupling the power cord to the MacBook Pro. The MagSafe power connector safely disconnects from the notebook when there is strain on the power cord, helping to prevent the notebook from falling off its work surface when the power cord is inadvertently yanked.

The new MacBook Pro features a 67-percent brighter 15-inch display, which is now as bright as Apple’s Cinema Displays, and offers a completely new system architecture for faster performance, including a 667 MHz front-side bus that is four times as fast as the PowerBook G4 and 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM memory expandable to 2GB that is twice as fast as the PowerBook G4. Each MacBook Pro comes standard with ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 PCI Express graphics, with either 128MB or 256MB of dedicated GDDR3 graphics memory. Each MacBook Pro includes built-in Bluetooth 2.0+EDR (Enhanced Data Rate), integrated AirPort Extreme 54 Mbps 802.11g WiFi wireless networking,** a scrolling TrackPad and Apple’s Sudden Motion Sensor that is designed to protect the hard drive in case of a fall.

The new MacBook Pro includes iLife ‘06, the next generation of Apple’s award-winning suite of digital lifestyle applications featuring major new versions of iPhoto®, iMovie HD, iDVD®, GarageBand™ and introducing iWeb™, a new iLife application that makes it super-easy to create amazing websites with photos, blogs and Podcasts and publish them on .Mac for viewing by anyone on the Internet with just a single click. All the iLife ‘06 applications are Universal applications that run natively on the new Intel-based MacBook Pros for maximum performance.

Every new MacBook Pro comes with the latest release of the world’s most advanced operating system, Mac OS® X version 10.4.4 “Tiger” including Safari™, Mail, iCal®, iChat AV, Front Row and Photo Booth, running natively on Apple’s first Intel-based notebook. Mac OS X Tiger includes an innovative software translation technology called Rosetta that lets customers run most Mac OS X PowerPC applications seamlessly.***

Availability
The new 15-inch MacBook Pro will be available in February .

The 1.67 GHz, 15-inch MacBook Pro includes:
• 15.4-inch widescreen 1440 x 900 LCD display with 300 cd/m2 brightness;
• 1.67 GHz Intel Core Duo processor;
• 512MB of 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM, expandable to 2GB;
• 80GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 5400 rpm, with Sudden Motion Sensor;
• a slot-load SuperDrive™ (DVD±RW/CD-RW) optical drive;
• PCI Express-based ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 with 128MB GDDR3 memory;
• DVI-out port for external display (VGA-out adapter included, Composite/S-Video out adapter sold separately);
• built-in Dual Link support for driving Apple 30-inch Cinema HD Display;
• built-in iSight video camera;
• Gigabit Ethernet port;
• built-in AirPort® Extreme wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.0+EDR;
• ExpressCard/34 expansion card slot;
• two USB 2.0 ports and one FireWire® 400 port;
• one audio line in and one audio line out port, each supporting both optical digital and analogue;
• scrolling TrackPad and illuminated keyboard;
• the infrared Apple Remote;
• 60 Watt hour lithium polymer battery; and
• 85W AC power adapter with MagSafe magnetic power connector.

The 1.83 GHz, 15-inch MacBook Pro includes:
• 15.4-inch widescreen 1440 x 900 LCD display with 300 cd/m2 brightness;
• 1.83 GHz Intel Core Duo processor;
• 1GB of 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM, expandable to 2GB;
• 100GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 5400 rpm, with Sudden Motion Sensor;
• a slot-load SuperDrive (DVD±RW/CD-RW) optical drive;
• PCI Express-based ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 with 256MB GDDR3 memory;
• DVI-out port for external display (VGA-out adapter included, Composite/S-Video out adapter sold separately);
• built-in Dual Link support for driving Apple 30-inch Cinema HD Display;
• built-in iSight video camera;
• Gigabit Ethernet port;
• built-in Airport Extreme wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.0+EDR;
• ExpressCard/34 expansion card slot;
• two USB 2.0 ports and one FireWire 400 port;
• one audio line in and one audio line out port, each supporting both optical digital and analogue;
• scrolling TrackPad and illuminated keyboard;
• the infrared Apple Remote;
• 60 Watt hour lithium polymer battery; and
• 85W AC power adapter with MagSafe magnetic power connector.

APPLE ANNOUNCES THE IPOD RADIO REMOTE

mark@markburr.com — 2006-01-20T16:23:41+00:00

Combines Convenience of a Remote Control with FM Radio Capabilities

MACWORLD EXPO, SAN FRANCISCO—January 10, 2006—Apple® today announced the iPod® Radio Remote which combines the convenience of a wired remote control with new FM radio capabilities for the iPod nano and fifth generation iPod. The iPod Radio Remote is a convenient way for music lovers to skip tracks and adjust the volume of their iPod even when it’s in a pocket or backpack, and listen to FM radio stations while displaying station and song information on their iPod screen.

“The iPod Radio Remote combines two great features in one elegant product,” said Greg Joswiak, Apple’s vice president of Worldwide iPod Product Marketing. “The iPod Radio Remote is both the best remote control and the best FM radio listening experience for iPod.”

In addition to the iPod Radio Remote and the over 2,000 accessories designed for iPod are the iPod AV Connection Kit and the new iPod nano In-Ear Lanyard Headphones. The iPod AV Connection Kit includes everything needed to connect the iPod to a TV for watching photo slideshows and video, or a stereo system for listening to music, and charges the iPod. The new iPod nano In-Ear Lanyard Headphones combine the best of the iPod nano Lanyard Headphones and the Apple In-Ear Headphones, providing convenience and style with comfort and sound quality.

APPLE UNVEILS NEW IMAC WITH INTEL CORE DUO PROCESSOR

mark@markburr.com — 2006-01-20T16:22:24+00:00

New iMac is Twice as Fast as Predecessor

MACWORLD EXPO, SAN FRANCISCO—January 10, 2006—Apple® today unveiled the new iMac® featuring Mac OS® X running on the new Intel® Core™ Duo processor, delivering performance that is up to twice that of its predecessor.* The widely praised iMac design now features dual-core processors, a built-in iSight™ video camera for video conferencing out-of-the-box, and the breakthrough media experience of Front Row™ with the Apple Remote for a simple, intuitive and powerful way for consumers to enjoy their content from across the room. Starting at just £929 (inc. VAT), every new iMac comes with iLife® ’06, the next generation of Apple’s award-winning suite of digital lifestyle applications featuring major new versions of iPhoto®, iMovie® HD, iDVD®, GarageBand™ and introducing iWeb™, a new iLife application that makes it super-easy to create amazing websites with photos, blogs and Podcasts and publish them on .Mac for viewing by anyone on the Internet with just a single click. The new iMac is shipping today, and is the first of a new generation of Macs featuring Intel processors that Apple will roll out during 2006.

“The iMac has already been praised as ‘the gold standard of desktop PCs’, so we hope customers really love the new iMac, which is up to twice as fast,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “With Mac OS X plus Intel’s latest dual-core processor under the hood, the new iMac delivers performance that will knock our customers’ socks off.”

The new iMac features Apple’s breakthrough Front Row media experience and the Apple Remote, a simple way for customers to enjoy the content they have on their iMac—including songs from their iTunes® music library, photo slideshows from iPhoto, videos including Podcasts, iMovies and DVDs, and popular movie trailers streamed from apple.com—all from across the room.

Every new iMac comes with a built-in iSight video camera for out-of-the-box video conferencing using Apple’s award-winning iChat AV software, or recording a video Podcast or iMovie using iLife ‘06. The built-in iSight video camera takes advantage of the Intel Core Duo processor to deliver up to four times the resolution over the previous model. Each iMac also includes Photo Booth, Apple’s fun-to-use application that lets users take quick snapshots with the built-in iSight video camera, add entertaining visual effects and share their pictures with the touch of a button.

The new iMac comes standard with a SuperDrive™ for burning professional-quality DVDs, 512MB of 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM memory expandable to 2GB, hard drive storage capacity up to 500GB, and ATI Radeon X1600 PCI Express-based graphics with 128MB of GDDR3 memory for outstanding graphics performance and realistic game play. With the latest high-performance connectivity options, the new iMac includes built-in 10/100/1000 BASE-T Gigabit Ethernet for high-speed networking, built-in AirPort® Extreme for fast 54 Mbps wireless networking,** built-in Bluetooth 2.0+EDR (Enhanced Data Rate), a total of five USB ports (three USB 2.0) and two FireWire® 400 ports. The new iMac now includes mini-DVI video output to connect up to a 23-inch Apple Cinema HD Display. With mini-DVI and the new iMac’s extended desktop mode feature, users can more than double their available screen real estate.

The new iMac was designed to be the perfect computer for iLife ‘06, the next generation of Apple’s award-winning suite of digital lifestyle applications featuring major new versions of iPhoto, iMovie HD, iDVD, GarageBand and introducing iWeb, a new iLife application that makes it super-easy to create amazing websites with photos, blogs and Podcasts and publish them on .Mac for viewing by anyone on the Internet with just a single click. All the iLife ‘06 applications are Universal applications that run natively on the new Intel-based iMacs for maximum performance.

Every new iMac comes with the latest release of the world’s most advanced operating system, Mac OS X version 10.4.4 “Tiger” including Safari™, Mail, iCal®, iChat AV, Front Row and Photo Booth, running natively on Apple’s first Intel-based desktop. Mac OS X Tiger includes an innovative software translation technology called Rosetta that lets customers run most Mac OS X PowerPC applications seamlessly.***

The new 17-inch 1.83 GHz iMac includes:
• 17-inch widescreen LCD display;
• 1.83 GHz Intel Core Duo processor;
• 512MB of 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM expandable to 2GB;
• 8x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD+R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW);
• PCI Express-based ATI Radeon X1600 with 128MB GDDR3 memory;
• built-in iSight video camera;
• built-in AirPort Extreme wireless networking & Bluetooth 2.0+EDR;
• 160GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 7200 rpm;
• mini-DVI out (adapters for DVI, VGA and Composite/S-Video sold separately);
• built-in stereo speakers and microphone; and
• the infrared Apple Remote, Mighty Mouse and Apple Keyboard.

The new 20-inch 2.0 GHz iMac includes:
• 20-inch widescreen LCD display;
• 2.0 GHz Intel Core Duo processor;
• 512MB of 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM expandable to 2GB;
• 8x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD+R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW);
• PCI Express-based ATI Radeon X1600 with 128MB GDDR3 memory;
• built-in iSight video camera;
• built-in AirPort Extreme wireless networking & Bluetooth 2.0+EDR;
• 250GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 7200 rpm;
• mini-DVI out (adapters for DVI, VGA and Composite/S-Video sold separately);
• built-in stereo speakers and microphone; and
• the infrared Apple Remote, Mighty Mouse and Apple Keyboard.

Apple reports $565 million net profit

mark@markburr.com — 2006-01-20T17:05:40+00:00

Apple today announced financial results for its fiscal 2006 first quarter ended December 31, 2005, reporting the highest revenue and earnings in the Company's history. Apple posted revenue of $5.75 billion and a net quarterly profit of $565 million, or $.65 per diluted share, in the 14-week December quarter. These results compare to revenue of $3.49 billion and a net profit of $295 million, or $.35 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 27.2 percent, down from 28.5 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 40 percent of the quarter's revenue. Apple said it shipped 1,254,000 Macs and 14,043,000 iPods during the quarter, representing 20 percent growth in Macs and 207 percent growth in iPods over the year-ago quarter.
"We are thrilled to report the best quarter in Apple's history," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "Two highlights of an incredible quarter were selling 14 million iPods and getting ready to launch our new Macs with Intel processors five to six months ahead of expectations. We are working on more wonderful products for 2006, and I can't wait to see what our customers think of them." "We're very pleased to report year-over-year revenue growth of 65 percent and net income that was nearly twice the year-ago level," said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple's CFO. "Looking ahead to the second quarter of fiscal 2006, we expect revenue of about $4.3 billion. We expect GAAP earnings per diluted share of about $.38, including an estimated $.04 per share expense impact from non-cash stock-based compensation, translating to non-GAAP EPS of about $.42."

CLASSIC ON THE INTEL MAC'S

mark@markburr.com — 2006-01-20T16:58:36+00:00

Well, it looks like the Classic Environment is now dead. Initial reports indicate that 'Classic' AKA OS 9 doesn't work on the new iMac Intel Core Duo, or the Macbook Pro.

update* this has now been confirmed.

APPLE ANNOUNCES ILIFE ‘06

mark@markburr.com — 2006-01-20T16:57:01+00:00

Major Upgrade Features New Versions of iPhoto, iMovie HD, iDVD & GarageBand and Introduces iWeb

MACWORLD EXPO, SAN FRANCISCO—January 10, 2006—Apple® today announced iLife® ‘06, the most significant upgrade to Apple’s award-winning suite of digital lifestyle applications ever. iLife ‘06 features iPhoto® 6 with blazing performance, new printed books, calendars and cards, and Apple’s innovative new Photocasting™ for sharing photos over the Internet; iMovie® HD 6 with new motion themes for adding spectacular production value to your movies; iDVD® 6 for authoring custom DVDs for today’s widescreen TVs; and GarageBand™ 3, now the complete solution for creating professional-quality Podcasts. iLife ‘06 also introduces iWeb™, a new iLife application that makes it super-easy to create amazing websites with photos, blogs and Podcasts and publish them on .Mac for viewing by anyone on the Internet with just a single click.

“This is the most exciting iLife upgrade ever,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “Apple pioneered applications to serve our emerging digital lifestyle and then consolidated them into the iLife suite. With this major upgrade to iLife, we’re leaping even further ahead of anything available for the PC.”

iLife ‘06 introduces iWeb, the easiest way to create professional-looking web pages, online photo albums, blogs and Podcasts in minutes. Apple-designed templates help create stunning websites and the iLife media browser makes adding photos, movies, music or playlists as simple as drag and drop. Powerful editing tools make it easy to customise websites without having to know HTML. iWeb works seamlessly with other iLife ‘06 applications as a complete solution for creating photo albums, blogs and Podcasts that can be published to the Internet with one click using .Mac.

iPhoto 6 offers blazing performance, support for up to 250,000 photos and introduces Photocasting, an innovative new way to share photos directly from within iPhoto via .Mac to friends and family. Photocasting is like Podcasting for photos where anyone can subscribe to a published photo album and automatically receive full quality photos directly within iPhoto 6 or on a PC. Pictures automatically update when the owner adds, edits or deletes a photo within the published album. Photos can be viewed on Apple’s stunning displays with new full-screen edit and compare mode without menus or windows to distract from the image. Up to eight photos can be compared simultaneously and adjusted with a one-click image enhancements and effects panel. Professional-quality books, calendars and greeting cards are created easily by adding photos to Apple-designed themes.

iMovie HD 6 introduces revolutionary new Apple-designed motion themes that let users add Hollywood-style production value to their movies in minutes. Effects can be previewed without waiting with new real-time Core Video effects, while cinematic titling gives users flexibility to create incredible text effects. New audio enhancement tools and sound effects make movies sound as good as they look. Multiple projects can now be opened at once in iMovie HD 6 and clips can be moved among projects. iMovie HD is the easiest way to make a video Podcast which can be published with iWeb for the whole world to experience.

iDVD 6 allows users to take content shot with the latest HDV and widescreen DV cameras and author custom DVDs with widescreen menus, movies and high resolution slideshows that fill every inch of the newest widescreen TVs. iDVD 6 features 10 new Apple-designed menu themes in both widescreen (16:9) and standard (4:3) formats. iDVD 6 themes include new autofill drop zones to make customizing menus even easier. In addition, iDVD 6 can burn using compatible third-party DVD burners. iDVD 6 also includes new Magic iDVD, the easiest way ever to make a DVD. With just a few clicks, users select a theme and choose their movies and photos, Magic iDVD then automatically creates a complete DVD that’s ready to burn.

In addition to being the best way to make music on a computer, GarageBand 3 is now also a complete solution for creating professional quality Podcasts. Voices can easily be recorded using the built-in expertise of an audio engineer and Podcasts can be enhanced with radio-style sound effects and music jingles, chapter artwork and URL links. Talk show Podcasts are created easily by interviewing one or more guests simultaneously in iChat AV and recording directly into GarageBand 3. Podcasts can be posted for the world to enjoy on .Mac and submitted to iTunes® using iWeb. In addition, a new video track makes it easy to create music to score iMovie projects.