Appletell

Now that we’re pretty certain something is in the pipes for a September Apple event, let’s start sifting through rumors. One notable rumor has to do with possible changes to the inner workings of certain Macintosh Laptops and Desktops. For a long time, Apple has been regarded as the company to go to if your computing needs fall in a more creative range than what is offered with a PC. At the top of that list for creative computing needs is movie making. With Apple’s many applications just for this (iMovie, iDVD, Final Cut, Shake), Apple has taken out (most of) the guesswork when it comes to putting your clips into a polished home movie. Now, should these rumors prove to be true, Apple may hope to go the extra mile when it comes to ease of use for their movie editing software.

Find out how after the break.

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Mac Pro users will be able to upgrade to ATI’s Radeon HD 3870 in June, one of their flagship graphics cards ideal for gaming and high-definition video editing. The card will be optimised for use with a Mac Pro, featuring 256-bit 512MB GDDR4 memory, and 320 stream processors, which bring maximum performance for graphics-intensive software such as 3D design, games and animation. The card also features a dual-link DVI port, which allows you to connect two displays—up to a resolution of 2650x1600 on each screen (that’s two 30-inch Apple Cinema Displays).

The forthcoming card also features ATI’s Unified Shader Architecture with PCI Express 2.0 support. Both of these will extend the gaming capabilities of a Mac Pro, enabling higher resolutions and more textures to be rendered in less time. ATI claims the card is outstandingly efficient, with “twice the processing performance-per-watt compared to previous generations of high-end AMD graphics processors.” It will cost $219 in the US, and ships worldwide in late June.

Via [Macworld UK]

This coming Monday, Apple is expected to announce their 2008 Back-To-School Promotion, and, according to Apple’s senior Vice President Ron Johnson, it is the biggest promotion of its kind “ever”.  Specifics on the promo have yet to surface, but the iPod Touch and MacBook Air are probably going to be added to the slew of products to get rebates.  If past trends continue into this year’s promo, rebates could be as much as $219 for any qualifying Mac or iPod, with rebates coming in last year and the year before at $199 and $179 respectively.  MacNN reports the following:

The expectations are based upon yearly increasing incentives, with last year’s $199 discount covering the cost of a 4GB Nano. In 2006 and 2005, the promotion ran for a $179 rebate, which earned students a 2GB iPod nano and Mini, respective to the years.

The iPhone, iPod Shuffle, Apple TV and Mac Mini are expected to again be excluded from the deals, but all other Mac and iPod models are most likely to be covered by the rebates. 

Via [MacNN]

A Gizmodo Reader has reported that they have received their Open Computer from Psystar and they included a video clearly showing the boot of the machine. My conclusion? Money wasted. Psystar is making money off of the OSx86 project, and this is something you could do yourself in a day.

The boot sequence shows a few ugly black screens, typical of a Windows PC boot, followed by the Mac white startup screen. There are absolutely no benefits to buying an Open Computer right now. Eventually after they have proven themselves, it might be a good opportunity for non-computer savvy people to get their hands on a pseudo-Mac, but to me that seems to be quite a small niche.

This would be a phenomenal product if it were genuinely a Mac, but as it stands, this is simply a neatly packaged Hackintosh. It CANNOT be updated, an enormous caveat, it isn’t a Mac through and through, as evidenced by the ugly boot screens, and overall is something that can be accomplished with a cheap PC and a day on the OSx86 project (not that we endorse that...)

One last thing to note: Purchasing it with Leopard is a waste of $129. They will send you a shrink-wrapped retail version of Leopard, probably just purchased from their local Apple Store. It cannot be used to reinstall Leopard onto your Open Computer, begging the question, why sell it?

More [Gizmodo]

How can you really show your mom that you love her this Mother’s Day?  With an Apple product, of course!  So if you’re wondering what you can get for the rapidly approaching May 11th, look no more, you can find it all here!

1) Mom’s love photos and memories, so get her an Apple photo book! You know how the saying goes, “A picture is worth 1,000 words.” Gather up all those old memories from this year and put them together in a nice, high quality book that your mother can cherish forever.  Plus, Apple is making it even easier with 20% of photo books just by using the promo code “LoveMom.” Just make sure you order in time so the books makes it for Mother’s Day.

2) Introduce them to the tech world with an iPod Shuffle! Only $49 and coming in five separate colors, an iPod Shuffle is the perfect way to show your mom you love her.  You can load it with all of her favorites songs before you give it to her and really make her smile, too!  Not only that, but they are extremely portable, light weight, and make for good fashion statements.

3) Keep in touch with a new Mac!:  If money isn’t a factor, go ahead and get her a new computer.  With the iSight camera and Leopard, it is easier than ever to have a great time video chatting.  She will thinks it’s awesome and you’ll have fun doing it, what more could you ask for on Mother’s Day?

4) If home made is more your style, use iLife! All Macs come with great pre-installed editing software.  If you want to give your mom something truly from the heart, make her a movie or slideshow with her favorites pictures and clips.  They love to see that you took the time to create something wonderful for them.

5) If your mom already has all the above, give her the gift of Apple with a gift card!:  Whether it be for iTunes or the store, everyone loves have the freedom to spend their money one what they want.  Get your mother a gift card and allow her to choose something for herself.  You can always find something at the Apple Store to spend some money on.

Symwave, a semiconductor maker, has announced the FirePHY-1600, which doubles the speed of FireWire to 1.6 Gbps. Current FireWire 800 only manages 800 Mbps.

FirePHY-1600 is fully backwards compatible with Firewire 400 and FireWire 800, and the speed increases are dramatic. According to Macworld, Symwave says that in under 5 seconds, you can transfer 1,000 4 megapixel photos. Of course, this is possible at 1.6 Gbps, which is the maximum throughput. Actual throughput will be less on average.

Given that FireWire is an Apple-introduced standard, it would be nice to see Apple first on the bandwagon for Firewire 1600, at least in their Mac Pros.

A recent firmware update released by Apple has apparently solved the reboot-on-wake issue that has plagued the 2008 edition of the Mac Pro since it was introduced just prior to the Macworld 2008 Apple event in January.

However, Apple does not mention the fix in its explanation of the update’s benefits. Instead, only a vague update statement is given: “This update fixes several issues to improve the stability of Mac Pro (Early 2008) computers.”

Owners of the affected Mac Pros can obtain the update by running Software Update in Mac OS X. The update should show up as “Mac Pro EFI Firmware Update 1.3.”

On the main thread of Apple’s support web site where this issue has thoroughly been discussed, everyone who applied the update reported success in eliminating the reboot-on-wake problem. Apple released the update on March 27, and so far everything has worked out well for those who applied it.

The question is, if Apple has really fixed this problem, why not mention it in the update’s documentation? This question remains unanswered, and Mac Pro owners are looking to Apple for some clarifications.

A possibility is that Apple may be worrying that owning up to its product flaws will damage its reputation for quality, and although it possibly could, it couldn’t possibly be worse than the damage their denials are doing to the relationship with its customers. Honesty would build trust between the Apple and its customers, as it has been for quite some time now. Customers are usually much more satisfied when a trusted manufacturer recognizes issues and flaws, and does their best to resolve them quickly and efficiently.

Although many people are thrilled that Apple has fixed the issue with their Mac Pros, no one understands why Apple does not admit to fixing the problem.

Via [baltimoresun]

Mac Pro owners received an EFI firmware update to 1.3 yesterday. The latest update is available right now through Software Update, or from the downloads section of Apple.com. The update “fixes several issues to improve the stability of Mac Pro (Early 2008) computers.”

Once you’ve downloaded the update, the updater should launch automatically. Alternatively, you should follow the instructions in the updater app, which is located in /Applications/Utilities/ Mac Pro EFI Firmware Update.app). This update is only available to Mac Pro owners, and therefore doesn’t affect any other Mac. Apple releases EFI firmware updates periodically to improve performance and stability of the system.

Via [TUAW]

In perhaps the best Mac mod I’ve ever seen, Hideo Takano took the Mac Mini and made it into a mini Mac Pro. Perhaps this is the midrange tower we’ve been waiting for?

Takano took a 2.33 GHz Mac Mini with 2 GB of RAM, outfitted it with a 500 GB Hard Drive, and managed to cram it all into a case that looks a lot like the Mac Pro. He even added an extra USB port and a power button to the front.

Unlike most mods, the back of the Mac Mini sits flush with the back of the case, lending a fit and finish that is unseen in any other mod. All the ports are still easily accessible, and it looks so much better than the Mac Mini’s boring case. Check out his website (non- English) here.

Via [Unplgged]

As always, early adopters will find issues that Apple needs to fix - especially with new hardware. The 2008 Mac Pros were an unexpected release, as they came before the Macworld keynote. The new Mac Pros didn’t have a new casing - in fact, they look exactly the same as 2007 Mac Pros from the outside. The difference is on the inside: All the models are 8-core, and new upgrades were introduced. Everyone was pleased to see higher-end video cards like the NVIDIA GeForce 8800GT. This was a necessary move by Apple, and is the only way they are going to be able to push gaming on their platform.

The entry level card of the new Mac Pro is the ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT, the same card that higher model iMacs use. A MacUser reader states: ”I called Apple and they claimed to have no reports on this, even though people already have had their machines replaced over this. This is also affecting me with a brand new 2.8 model. Users are also widely reporting problems with waking from sleep mode.” On the Apple support forums, people are complaining about this issue too. Hopefully Apple will come out with a fix for this soon. Let us know if you have a 2008 Mac Pro and are experiencing these problems by commenting.

Via [MacUser]