MacShrine

Apple today announced the iPod Hi-Fi. Pull black grille off of white box to reveal three speaker drivers. Integrated power supply - no brick. Power it off of six D-size batteries if you want - “Several hours outside.” Two 80mm mid-range drivers in sealed acoustic suspension. In center is 130mm dual voice coil woofer, ported bass reflex design. Great bass, doesn’t distort when cranked up. Universal Dock connector and integrated handles. It’s a sealed resin enclosure, and doesn’t vibrate. iPod integration: there’s a software update for iPods that puts a speaker menu item in the main menu. Tone control, backlight always on or off, large album art on or off. Screen can go black and just show album art. Controlled with the Apple Remote. It costs $349 and goes on sale today. Let’s all go buy something worth nearly as much as our iPod! Is Apple trying to extort us all today?

Continuing with todays “fun” product announcements… Apple is to offer black leather iPod cases for $99 each starting mid-March. There will be 2 models, one for the 5G and the other for the iPod nano. No screen or control access (erm - doesn’t that make the case rather useless?) If your dying for a leather iPod case we recommend getting a superb Vaja case. Oh well Apple!

Just a few minutes ago Apple announced a new Intel Mac mini. There are 2 models, an Intel Core Solo (1.5GHz) and Intel Core Duo (4.8x-5.5x faster than PowerPC). Exact same form factor so no built-in iPod dock. The redesigned Mac mini features gigabit Ethernet, a total of four USB 2.0 ports, analog and SPDIF audio outputs and more. You can hook the thing up to your TV! The Mac mini also comes with Front Row software and 6-button remote (the IR sensor is to the right of the disc slot). Front Row has a new feature using Bonjour that allows you to access remote iTunes libraries and remote iPhoto libraries. They’re both available now for $599 and $799 respectively. Go grab ‘em!

Macworld reports that Apple is showing an updated version of its professional photography workflow application, Aperture at the Photography Marketing Association (PMA) show in Orlando, Florida. In addition to being Intel-native, Aperture 1.1 also boasts significant speed increases on both the G5 and the Intel processors,” Jim Dalrymple reports for Macworld. “Kirk Paulsen, Apple’s senior director, market development professional applications, told Macworld on Sunday that Aperture is being shown on the new MacBook Pro and iMac. While Aperture includes a significant number of improvements, the performance of the application on existing PowerPC and Intel-based machines is impressive… Aperture 1.1 is scheduled as a free update in March.

Apple has acquired an impressively equipped but never-used data center in Newark for an estimated $45 million to $50 million. The 107,000-square-foot facility, originally conceived for communications company MCI WorldCom before getting mothballed after its 2001 completion, is along Eureka Drive on Newark’s western fringe. Data centers generally house computing, data-storage and networking equipment assisting in Web-based services and transactions. The most elaborate ‘Tier IV’ centers such as the Newark facility have the highest levels of redundancy and security, and can cost upwards of $1,200 per square foot to erect and equip. Apple is thought to have paid in the vicinity of $450 per foot. Could this be for .Mac improvements or to improve the iTunes store infrastructure?

Now we got hold of this image comparing shots of the video showing the making of the iPod video and the original picture. Honestly, we give up on the whole thing, make your own minds up!

Update: Alec has posted a comment mentioning how in the video the “7″ isn’t displayed on the sticker tag. This is getting more interesting by the minute. Post any further differences you see.

Update 2: Seems that the movie really was real after all. Oh well, one day we’ll get an iPod like this!

Again not a massive change this week. Ashlee Simpson drops out to 20 whilst a new entry by Cascada goes in at 6.

United States Top 10 Songs:

1. You’re Beautiful - James Blunt
2. Temperature - Sean Paul
3. Unwritten - Natasha Beddingfield
4. I’m N Luv (Wit A Stripper) - T-Pac
5. Shake That - Eminem
6. Everytime We Touch - Cascada
7. Check On It - Beyonce
8. Stupid Girls - P!nk
9. Grillz - Nelly
10. Dirty Little Secret - All American Rejects

We’ve been posting so many images these past days that we thought why not another three? One image shows the actual MacTablet whilst the other two show interface shots from within Mac OS X and the virtual keyboard and numberpad. Clicky below for larger versions.

  

Sorry about the late birthday wish Steve, some of us were busy watching Idol *cough*. Today marks the 51st birthday of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. Happy Birthday!

Following on from yesterdays leaked image. Here’s the same iPod but in clearer conditions. We promise not to go offline this time

Update: This image has been confirmed as a fake. But we do believe yesterdays image is the real deal.

AppleInsider has reported that Apple have sent out Mac OS X 10.4.6 to developers. There is of course a PowerPC and Intel version. The builds, which weigh in at approximately 131MB and 166MB in Combo Updater form, already include over four dozen enhancements and bug fixes over Mac OS X 10.4.5, which Apple released just last week.

The update currently delivers about 50 documented improvements, including several OpenGL-related fixes, improvements to CoreImage and CoreGraphics, and other bug corrections for iSync, AppleScript, and other components. Known issues with the update include certain AppleScripts not running correctly and Safari hanging in some situations.

Certain milestones of Mac OS X 10.4.6 Update are believed by sources to provide software support for Apple’s upcoming consumer Macintosh offerings such as the Intel iBook and Mac mini.

Apple’s 1 billion song iTunes contest has finished! Apple haven’t yet released the details of the winners, but it wasn’t us so that’s 9 staff members down. Let us know if you won anything.

1 billion songs have been legally downloaded from the iTunes Music Store. Music lovers like you in 21 countries around the globe have purchased one billion songs from the iTunes Music Store. And for helping us reach this massive milestone in digital music history, we’d like to thank you.

Update: The billionth song “Speed of Sound” was purchased as part of Coldplay’s X&Y album by Alex Ostrovsky from West Bloomfield, Michigan.

This image was just sent to us. It follows the description provided by several rumor sites and also appears to be from the same factory where the iPod pictures last November were taken. Come on 28th!

Update: The serial number appears to read “MB719Z/A” and the Chinese characters read “This Side”.

Well, its out. Mac OS X is no longer malware-proof. The two recent issues found in Apple’s latest operating system - the trojan found last week and the Safari exploit found today have come as quite a shock to the Mac community.

Of course, the forums and countless blogs around the world are alight with the ‘I told you so’ crowd taking their cheap-shot at the Mac fanatics who had been preaching of their Nirvana-like virus-free operating system. This will bring them down a peg or two, granted, but the real question that will come to light when the dust settles and the slur campaigns have run their course is whether or not Mac OS X is actually any more secure than Windows. Continue reading »

We’ve recieved some unconfirmed reports that one of the products to launch at next weeks special event is an iPod boombox, previously rumored for release at Macworld. According to the report, the device will feature a large color display, use a 3.5″ (desktop) HD and feature 2 high-powered speakers as well as bass. It is not known how the boombox is controlled, but if you take a look at old touch-sensitive gestures rumors could be applied to the boomboxes display. The iPod boombox was supposed to launch at Macworld but Apple apparently had too much to squeeze in, so left some “cool” products out.

Apple has sent out an invitation to select media to a special event that will be held at Apple headquarters in Cupertino, California on February 28th. The invitation, which only features the iCal-like calendar image shown left, reads: “Come see some fun new products from Apple.” We’ve no idea what will be released, hopefully something brand new *hint* the MacBook (Intel iBook)! The special event begins at 9:00 AM at Apple Town Hall, Building 4. This probably has something to do with Apple’s 30th birthday on 1st April. What do you think will be announced?

NBC is offering the pilot episode of its new legal drama “Conviction” for free on the iTunes Music Store nearly two weeks before the show makes its network series premiere. NBC is also offering a music video by The Gabe Dixon Band and a behind-the-scenes look at the show. The hour-long show, currently being heavily promoted on air, will debut on the network on Friday 3rd March. Conviction is from the writers of Law & Order. The free download is only available on the US iTunes.

The NewTechSpy reports that Apple is to launch a new “function” touchpad. In what could be the biggest innovation since the computer mouse… Apple is planning a giant leap forward with the introduction of the simple yet revolutionary idea of user programmable “Mini-touch finger LCD’s”. In one bold move Apple will redefine the notion of function keys from their now dubious state of uniform confusion, to a visual interactive user experience. The new touch finger LCD’s will appear first on the MacBook Pro along both sides of the scrolling touchpad, as an addition to the manual numeric function keys, but will eventually replace them all together. User input will be the driving force to what happens next, as a generation of people will have to slowly adjust to the new system. Continue reading »

MacTel-Linux has announced the achievement of a major milestone in their quest to port the open-source OS to Mactel hardware. Linux now boots on the new Intel 17″ iMac. Here’s what they had to say:

Using elilo and a modified Linux kernel, we can boot from a USB hard disk on the 17″ iMac. We are using the hacked vesafb driver to inherit the bootloader’s framebuffer, keyboard and a USB network card work. Gentoo runs and can compile the Linux kernel.

I suppose this deserves a “Congrats!”. I’d give it till the end of the year before we see full Linux compatibility on the whole MacTel line.

It’s technically allowed to post the chart a day early because it is Sunday in Japan… The only change in this weeks iTunes Chart from last week was Natasha Beddingfield and P!nk swapping positions.

United States Top 10 Songs:

1. You’re Beautiful - James Blunt
2. I’m N Luv (Wit A Stripper) - T-Pac
3. Temperature - Sean Paul
4. Check On It - Beyonce
5. Shake That - Eminem
6. Unwritten - Natasha Beddingfield
7. Stupid Girls - P!nk
8. Grillz - Nelly
9. Dirty Little Secret - All American Rejects
10. L.O.V.E - Ashlee Simpson

It’s been a slow news day today… A user on Flickr has posted shots of the MacBook Pro packaging (how exciting!) so just take a look and be in awe, your Apple purchase money go towards designing product boxes, not just hard and software. Apple really seems to be taking its environmental safety policy seriously. First cutting the box sizes on the iPod, then iLife and iWork and now the MacBook Pro. Oh well, save the world!

Apple has sold 30 million songs through iTunes in ten days and is closing in on selling its first billion. iTunes launched its billion song countdown on February 7. Its song sales ticker now shows it has sold 981,301,852 tunes. On February 7 Macworld reported the company to have sold 951,060,444 songs. At three million song sales each day, Apple seems set to reach its billion song target within the week. I sooo want that $10,000 iTunes voucher, and of course the 10 iPods and 20″ iMac