Apple has posted a streaming video of today's October 2008 event featuring a keynote by Steve Jobs and the introduction of new MacBook notebooks. The company has also posted a MacBook video that highlights the re-engineering that went into design the "uni-body" MacBook.
Apple held a media event today focused on their notebook line, and made quite a few announcements about product updates and a new cinema display. Unfortunately for iPhone fans, there was no iPhone news to speak of at this event.
The MacBooks get the biggest overhaul with new aluminum enclosures, an LED-backlit screen, a backlit keyboard, and better graphics. The MacBook Pros also get better graphics in the form of a new Nvidia GPU, new enclosures, and an LED-backlit display. Both lines get and the new Mini Display Port and a new glass trackpad that can recognize additional finger gestures and that is a button in itself. These new models will be available in stores tomorrow.
The Apple Store has gone down in preparation for what most expect will be announcements of new notebooks. Images have been leaking througout the Interwebs, most notable have been major changes design to the MacBook Pro.
Rumors abound regarding the new "brick" process and the announcement of new notebooks from Apple. Those rumors proved true as Apple has sent invites to attend a Town Hall event in Cupertino next Tuesday. Still no word on whether these will be MacBooks, MacBook Pros or perhaps a new low-cost $800 notebook. We do know it's next Tuesday at 10AM PST, so stay tuned.
Posted by: Marianne Schultz in steve jobs, special event, Kevin Rose, iTunes, ipodtouch, iPhone software update 2.1, iphone software, iphone accessories, iphone 3g, games, firmware, EA, apple event, app store on
Sep 8, 2008
First and foremost, iPhone 2.1 firmware will be out on Friday, September 12. Steve said it's a big update that includes many bug fixes, addressing dropping calls, crashing apps, long-backups, and battery life. And it's free to all owners! I am quite excited for this update, and have my fingers crossed that it will work as promised and that the issues many users, including me, have been experiencing are addressed.
Kevin Rose was spot on with iTunes 8, including the new grid-like view and Genius functionality. HD TV shows has also come to the iTunes store, though they are only viewable on your computer or through your Apple TV - there goes putting HD shows on my iPhone to output to our home entertainment center! Shoot!
iPods continue to kick ass in marketshare with 73.4%, with "Other" players a distant second at 15.4%. The iPod Classic is now offered in one size only - 120GB at the same price as the previous 80GB model, $249. The new iPod Nano is indeed like the leaked pictures that have been circulating on the internet - tall and skinny with a curved front and back. It features a new UI and has an accelerometer like the iPod Touch and iPhone, allowing you to turn it sideways to switch automatically to cover mode view. And the new Genius functionality works right on the Nano without needing to be connected to iTunes, and shaking the Nano puts it in Shuffle mode.
A nice accessory upgrade is a pair of headphones that have functionality similar to that of the iPhone's - a control button that allows you to double-click to get to the next song, and a microphone that will work with the built-in voice recording function. And it has volume controls! I sure hope those will work on the iPhone too.
When Kevin Rose
first described what he believed would be released by Apple in September, he listed the 2.1 firmware for the iPod Touch with the version for the iPhone to follow shortly after. Now, others are chiming in to say that we might see the iPhone 2.1 firmware tomorrow as well, not later. I am personally all for that since I've experienced many of the problems with apps not opening, text entry lag, and GPS/triangulation not working, and I want all of that fixed NOW, thank you very much.
Ars Technica has
gone on to say that we might even see new features in iPhone firmware 2.1, such as background push notification and more GPS capability. The background push notification sounds a little questionable, since this was removed from the last SDK beta, but I could definitely picture Apple intentionally hiding this feature so they could do something surprising with it before developers get to see it. Of course, this means that whatever that surprising thing is, it will not have been tested very much outside of Apple, and that doesn't inspire the most confidence in its stability and operability these days.
I normally love new stuff from Apple, but I think that this is the first time in my history as an Apple fan that I don't want new stuff for my iPhone.
The time for Best Buy to begin selling iPhone 3G's in their stores is drawing near - you now have only a couple of days to wait before you can saunter into your local Best Buy to be misinformed by salespeople who rarely know much about Apple products. Be sure to do your research ahead of time - both Apple's and AT&T's sites have lots of good information on how to get ready for your iPhone 3G purchase. Beware of one thing at Best Buy -
Gizmodo talks about some extra services offered by the Geek Squad when you purchase some accessory packages. These extra services include setting up your new iPhone 3G and getting your email up and running. I wouldn't recommend you take advantage of these services either - doing both is incredibly easy and already well-documented by Apple
here and
here .
Yesterday, I mentioned that TUAW had the scoop on Spore for the iPhone, but EA has officially confirmed that they are working on 9 more games in addition to Spore for the iPhone.
According to Macworld , those other 9 games are Yahtzee Adventures, EA Mini Golf, Lemonade Tycoon, Mahjong, Monopoly: Here & Now The World Edition, SimCity, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09, Need for Speed Undercover and The Sims 3. That's a lot heading our way - start saving your pennies now to indulge in some game purchases from the App Store!
Kevin Rose, founder of Digg.com, has been the source for most of the Apple product rumors surrounding the September 9 event. He's elaborated a bit more on the rumored iTunes enhancements
in his blog . While we don't see a reference to faster iPhone syncing to cure those back-ups that can take up to several hours for some users, it does sound like more HD content will be coming and available to all of us without an Apple TV at home. I often use my iPhone as a media source to watch movies rented from iTunes through our home entertainment system and I'd love to watch them in full HD glory. I hope Kevin's right on this one (and that the iPhone will be capable of putting out that HD video)! [Via
TUAW ]
Apple has scheduled a special event for Tuesday, September 9th. It's expected the company will debut new iPods. There has been speculation that a new iPod Nano and possibly a major revision to iTunes. Let's rock!
via Engadget
