In a ruling filed in the Northern District Court of California on Friday, Judge William Alsup “ruled that Psystar had violated Apple’s rights to reproduce OS X, distribute it, and to create derivative works.”. In addition, the judge also ruled in favor of Apple in the areas of contributory infringement, copyright misuse, and violation of the DMCA. Yes, as expected, Psystar got hammered in the court system.

However according to Groklaw, there are still issues that have not been resolved including “Apple’s allegations of breach of contract; induced breach of contract, trademark infringement; trademark dilution; trade dress infringement; and state unfair competition under California Business and Professions Code § 17200; and common law unfair competition”

Going forward, a hearing has been set for December 14th to determine what kind of “relief” Apple can request – aka – what damages Apple will suck out of Psystar.

Yeah.. see ya Psystar – it was nice knowing ya.

You can read the PDF version of the order here.

[Check it out via PC Magazine]

Technorati Tags: Apple, Psystar

Those of you annoyed with the last user interface update of Apple TV will be happy to hear a new UI is out. Apple released version 3.0 of their Apple TV software today featuring a completely redesigned user interface and adding new features such as iTunes Extras, iTunes LP, Genius Mixes, and Internet Radio support.

The new main menu gives you instant access to your favorite content and according to the Apple press release: “Recently rented or purchased movies, as well as other content including TV shows, music, podcasts, photos and YouTube, are accessible directly from the new main menu.”

Introduced back in September, iTunes Extras and iTunes LP make their appearance in this living-room oriented Apple TV appliance. iTunes Extras provides additional content associated to movies while iTunes LP providing additional information about select albums.

If you’re like me and have a large music collection, you’ll be thrilled to hear that the Apple Genius Mix is now available with this software update. Create up to 12 endless mixes of songs that “go great together”, all of which are automatically created from your own music library. Should you be sick of your music collection – never fear because Apple TV now has support for Internet radio streaming. Nice.

On the photo front, Apple adds iPhoto Events and iPhoto Faces to Apple TV – making it easier to locate the photo you’re searching for.

Apple TV 3.0 is a free software upgrade for current owners of Apple TV. The current 160GB Apple TV model is available now for $229.

Check out PC Magazine’s hands-on (with pictures) of the new Apple TV 3.0 software.

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: Apple TV, Apple TV 3.0 software

In a private speech delivered to the New York Times digital staff around October 15/16th, New York Times executive editor, Bill Keller, states the following:

“We need to figure out the right journalistic product to deliver to mobile platforms and devices… I’m hoping we can get the newsroom more actively involved in the challenge of delivering our best journalism in the form of Times Reader, iPhone apps, WAP, or the impending Apple slate, or whatever comes after that.“

Yup.. that’s right.. the “impending Apple slate”.

So the real question is – did Keller make a boo-boo with the reference to the Apple slate/tablet device? In addition, if this indeed was a confirmation for a table device, did Keller spill the beans on the name of the device? Are we talking about the Apple “slate” or the Apple “Slate”?

Keep in mind that the term “slate” isn’t new to the Tablet PC world. Tablet devices that consist of only the touch-screen display and nothing else are typically referred to as “slates” while Tablet PCs that convert from a notebook form factor to a “slate” form factor are known as “convertible notebooks”.

Yeah I know.. this is probably a whole lot of nothing right now but hey – it keeps your interest in the matter right?

You can check out a video of the speech over at the Harvard Nieman Journalism Lab website.

[Check it out via PC World]

Technorati Tags: Apple Tablet Rumor, New York Times

We’ll start things off with the new iMac which features enhancements such as edge-to-edge glass, LED-backlit 21.5 inch and 27 inch widescreen displays, an all-aluminum enclosure, the new wireless Apple Magic Mouse, and updated CPUs such as faster Core 2 Duo processors as well as Core i5 or Core i7 quad-core processors.

The 21.5 inch iMac has a display resolution of 1920 x 1080 while the 27 inch iMac has a display resolution of 2560 x 1440 (60 % more than the 24 inch model from the previous generation). Both new models comes with IPS technology which delivers consistent colors across the 178 degree viewing angle.

The new iMacs also come with a wireless keyboard and the new Apple Magic Mouse as standard components. The Magic Mouse dumps mechanical buttons, and scroll wheels, in favor of a Multi-Touch surface which resides on the entire top of the mouse. Users use intuitive gestures to perform actions such as scrolling long documents, panning large images, or navigating pictures and webpages. The Magic Mouse can be configured as a single button mouse or a two button mouse.

Other system level features of the new iMacs include:

• Choice of NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics or ATI Radeon HD 4670 graphics in the 21.5 inch model
• Choice of ATI Radeon HD 4670 discrete graphics or ATI Radeon HD 4850 discrete graphics in the 27-inch model.
• 4GB of RAM with support for up to 16GB RAM
• Built-in iSight video camera
• Built-in microphone and stereo speakers integrated into the thin aluminum and glass design
• Built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11m Wi-Fi
• Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR
• Gigabit Ethernet
• Up to 4 USB 2.0 ports
• One FireWire 800 port
• Built-in SD slot

The complete specs to the two new iMacs are as follows:

The new 21.5-inch 3.06 GHz iMac, for a suggested retail price of $1,199 (US), includes:

• 21.5-inch 1920 x 1080 LED-backlit display;
• 3.06 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 3MB shared L2 cache;
• 4GB 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM expandable to 16GB;
• NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics;
• 500GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 7200 rpm;
• a slot-load 8x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW);
• Mini DisplayPort for video output (adapters sold separately);
• built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR;
• built-in iSight video camera;
• Gigabit Ethernet port;
• four USB 2.0 ports;
• one FireWire 800 port;
• SD card slot;
• built-in stereo speakers and microphone; and
• Wireless Apple Keyboard, Magic Mouse.

The new 21.5-inch 3.06 GHz iMac, for a suggested retail price of $1,499 (US), includes:

• 21.5-inch 1920 x 1080 LED-backlit display;
• 3.06 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 3MB shared L2 cache;
• 4GB 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM expandable to 16GB;
• ATI Radeon HD 4670 discrete graphics; with 256MB GDDR3;
• 1TB Serial ATA hard drive running at 7200 rpm;
• a slot-load 8x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW);
• Mini DisplayPort for video output (adapters sold separately);
• built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR;
• built-in iSight video camera;
• Gigabit Ethernet port;
• four USB 2.0 ports;
• one FireWire 800 port;
• SD card slot;
• built-in stereo speakers and microphone; and
• Wireless Apple Keyboard, Magic Mouse.

The new 27-inch 3.06 GHz iMac, for a suggested retail price of $1,699 (US), includes:

• 27-inch 2560 x 1440 LED-backlit display;
• 3.06 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 3MB shared L2 cache;
• 4GB 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM expandable to 16GB;
• ATI Radeon HD 4670 discrete graphics; with 256MB GDDR3;
• 1TB Serial ATA hard drive running at 7200 rpm;
• a slot-load 8x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW);
• Mini DisplayPort for video input and output (adapters sold separately);
• built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR;
• built-in iSight video camera;
• Gigabit Ethernet port;
• four USB 2.0 ports;
• one FireWire 800 port;
• SD card slot;
• built-in stereo speakers and microphone; and
• Wireless Apple Keyboard, Magic Mouse.

The new 27-inch 2.66 GHz Core i5 iMac, for a suggested retail price of $1,999 (US), includes:

• 27-inch 2560 x 1440 LED-backlit display;
• 2.66 GHz Intel Core i5 quad-core processor with 8MB shared L3 cache;
• 4GB 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM expandable to 16GB;
• ATI Radeon HD 4850 discrete graphics; with 512MB GDDR3;
• 1TB Serial ATA hard drive running at 7200 rpm;
• a slot-load 8x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW);
• Mini DisplayPort for video input and output (adapters sold separately);
• built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR;
• built-in iSight video camera;
• Gigabit Ethernet port;
• four USB 2.0 ports;
• one FireWire 800 port;
• SD card slot;
• built-in stereo speakers and microphone; and
• Wireless Apple Keyboard, Magic Mouse.

The new 3.06GHz Intel Core 2 Duo iMac is now shipping while the Core i5 and Core i7 quad-core iMacs are available for order and will begin shipping in November.

On the low-end of the desktop spectrum, Apple finally updates the classic Mac mini desktop PC with faster processors, more standard memory, larger hard drives, and a new server-oriented model which drops the slot-drive in favor of a secondary 500 GB hard drive for a total of 1TB of disk space.

The $599 entry level Mac mini now comes with a 2.26GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 2GB of DDR3 1066MHz RAM, 160GB HDD, five USB 2.0 ports, FireWire 800 port, NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics, and a SuperDrive.

The $799 Mac mini has a faster 2.53 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 4GB of RAM, and a larger 320GB HDD.

Finally, in an interesting move by Apple, the company announced a new high-priced Mac mini model ideally suited for server duties. The $999 Mac mini dumps the built-in slot-load SuperDrive in favor of a second hard drive which means you’ll have 1TB of disk space on this Mac mini (2×500GB HDD) as well as Mac OS X Snow Leopard Server. Add in the low-power consumption and small form factor of the Mac mini and you have the makings of a pretty sweet server box – for both the home and office.

Technorati Tags: Apple iMac, Apple MacBook, Apple Magic Mouse

It was certainly a big day for Apple today as the company announced several new hardware updates including a revamped iMac product line, an updated MacBook notebook (which we’ll talk about here), an updated Mac Mini lineup (FINALLY), and a new mouse called the “Magic Mouse”.

Let’s start things off with the new updated MacBook notebook. The $999 notebook now includes features such as a durable polycarbonate unibody design, a glass Multi-Touch trackpad, and Apple’s built-in seven hour battery. 

The complete set of specs for the $999 MacBook include:

• 13.3-inch widescreen LED-backlit 1280 x 800 glossy display;
• 2.26 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 3MB shared L2 cache;
• 1066 MHz front-side bus;
• 2GB 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM, expandable to 4GB;
• NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics;
• 250 GB serial ATA hard drive running at 5400 rpm, with Sudden Motion Sensor;
• a slot-load 8X SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW);
• Mini DisplayPort for video output (adapters sold separately);
• built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR;
• Gigabit Ethernet port;
• built-in iSight® video camera;
• two USB 2.0 ports;
• one audio line in/out port, supporting optical digital out and analog in/out;
• glass Multi-Touch trackpad;
• built-in, 60WHr lithium polymer battery; and
• 60 Watt MagSafe Power Adapter.

Some of the build-to-order options for the MacBook include:

• Upgrade to 4GB of RAM
• Upgrade to 320GB or 500GB 5400RPM hard drve
• Mini DisplayPort to DVI adapter
• Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI adapter
• Mini DisplayPort to VGA adapter
• Apple MagSafe Airline Adapter

The new MacBook is available now through the Apple Store, Apple retail stores, and authorized resellers.

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: Apple MacBook

In an interesting change of heart that was no doubt spurred on by a recent FCC inquiry, AT&T announced today it has “taken the steps necessary so that Apple can enable VoIP applications on iPhone to run on AT&T’s 3G wireless network.” VoIP applications (such as Skype) were previously allowed to run only over a Wi-Fi network and not over AT&T’s 3G wireless network. With today’s announcement, VoIP applications can now run on both the Wi-Fi network as well as AT&T’s wireless data network.

According to Ralph de la Vega, President and CEO of AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets, “Today’s decision was made after evaluating our customers’ expectations and use of the device compared to dozens of others we offer.”

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: AT&T Wireless, Apple iPhone, VoIP

DualFit for the Cure:

• Adjustable dual-fit system allows for best fit on any arm; maximizes sizing
• Clear screen protector allows for easy navigation
• Key pocket for convenient storage while at the gym or outdoors
• Reflective material for use during nighttime
• Hand-washable
• MSRP of $29.99

Grip for the Cure:

• Textured exterior provides better grip
• Form-fitting construction allows charging while in sleeve and minimizes bulk
• MSRP of $29.99

Both cases will be available in the middle of October and are compatible with iPod touch 2nd generation models.

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: Belkin, Belkin DualFit for the Cure, Belkin Grip for the Cure, iPod touch cases

Yes, Steve Jobs took the stage and had this to say: “”As you may know I had a liver transplant. I have the liver of a mid-20s person who died in a car crash. Without that, I wouldn’t be here without that person’s generosity.”. He encourages everyone to consider being an organ donor. Kudos to that thought!

iPhone OS 3.1 is available as of today. It will be free for iPhone and iPod touch users who have the OS 3. 3.1 will include bug fixes, some new features such as Genius playlist which will now work with apps from the App Store.

Next up, we have iTunes 9 with new features such as iTunes LP, Home Sharing, and Genius Mixes. The app also features a redesigned store and improved syncing. Here’s a rundown of the features of iTunes 9:

• iTunes LP is a new way for artists to share their creativity with fans by allowing them to be “immersed in an entire album with art, lyrics, liner notes, photos, and videos.”
• Debuts today with albums including Bob Dylan’s “Highway 61 Revisited,” Norah Jones’ “Come Away With Me,” The Grateful Dead’s “American Beauty” and Dave Matthews Band’s “Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King: iTunes Pass.”

• iTunes Extra is similar to iTunes LP except its for movies. You’ll be able to experience documentaries, deleted scenes, interviews, and interactive galleries. Select movies available with iTunes Extras include “Twilight,” “Batman Begins,” “WALL-E,” “Iron Man” and “The Da Vinci Code.”
• Home Sharing allows you to easily transfer music, movies, and TV shows with up to five authorized computers in your home. Family members will be able to view up to five iTunes libraries on their home network; see only the portion of the libraries that don’t already have; import their favorite content directly to their own libraries; and automatically add new purchases from other computers into their own library
• Genius Mixes is a new feature which is the end result of over 27 million music libraries with over 54 billion songs that have been submitted and analyzed by Genius.It’s like having a “Genius” DJ that automatically mixes up to 12 endless mixes of songs from your iTunes library
• Improved syncing in iTunes 9 allows you to organize your iPhone Apps in iTunes and have them appear the same way on your iPhone.
• iTunes Store on iPhone now features precut ringtone downloads with over 20,000 ringtones priced at $1.29 a ringtone.

OK.. so let’s talk about music players shall we? First up, Apple announces major price changes to the iPod touch product lineup. The 8GB iPod touch will now be available for $199. The 32GB model will be available for $299, and the 64GB model available for $399. No doubt some of these price changes were spurred on by the upcoming release of the new Microsoft Zune HD which will feature a 32GB model for $289. At $299, the 32GB iPod touch becomes a much more appealing player for the masses – especially with its support for the 75,000 app-large App Store.

It should be noted that the 32GB and 64GB models will offer up to 50 % faster performance and support Open GL ES 2.0 – basically bringing the specs in line with the latest iPhone 3GS. The 8GB iPod touch will remain the same as the previous specs.

Next up – price and model changes to the iPod shuffle. Apple will now offer a new 2GB iPod shuffle model for a starting price of $59 dollars. The 4GB iPod shuffle will go for $79 dollars with both models available in five colors – silver, black, pink, blue and green.

There will also be a 4GB special edition polished stainless steel model available for $99 dollars through the Apple Store and Apple retail stores.

Have a need for much more storage? The iPod classic gets a bump up in storage – with a new 160GB model available for a $249.

And finally, Apple introduced a whole new iPod nano player today with features such as a 2.2 inch color display, a built in video camera, built-in microphone, built-in speakers, a polished aluminum and glass enclosure, built-in FM radio with live pause, iTunes Tagging support, and a built-in pedometer.

The built-in video camera is perhaps the most interesting new feature of the nano. You’ll be able to capture H.264 VGA video (640 x 480) at up to 30 fps along with AAC audio. The new nano comes with 15 real-time special effects including Sepia, Black and White, X-Ray, Film Grain, Thermal, Security Cam, Cyborg, Bulge, Kaleido, Motion Blur, Mirror, Light Tunnel, Dent, Stretch, and Twirl. The built-in video camera on the nano puts other companies that sell portable video camcorders on notice – who needs to buy a Flip Video if they’ve got a video recorder in their iPod nano? About the only thing missing now is HD video capture and video capture on higher end iPods including the iPod classic and the iPod touch. It’s only a matter of time folks.

The other notable feature is the built-in FM radio (about time Apple) with Live Pause – allowing you to pause live FM radio and then resuming it later on.

Oh yes – wonder how far you walk in a given day? The new nano comes with a pedometer which uses the built-in accelerometer to keep track of the steps that you take. You can also couple the nano with Nike+ shoes, and the Nike + iPod Sport Kit (which is sold separately) for a complete training experience.

The 8GB iPod nano will be available for $149 while the 16GB iPod nano will be available for $179. Both nanos will be available in nine colors including silver, black, purple, blue, green, orange, pink, yellow, and (PRODUCT) RED.

Is this a groundbreaking day in the Apple music business? In truth.. no. Apple made small incremental changes to the entire iPod product lineup – just enough to keep the lineup fresh and ahead of the competition. To me – the most important change came with the nano’s new video camera which makes the nano a very appealing device to take with you wherever you go. If only the iPod touch had a camera built into the device…

Technorati Tags: Apple, iPod nano, iPod touch, iPod shuffle, iPod classic, iTunes 9

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: Apple, Music Event, Steve Jobs

iPhone owners who are also fans of TomTom GPS navigation products will be thrilled to hear that the TomTom App for the iPhone is now available for purchase via the Apple App Store for $99.99 (though you might not be thrilled with the price point). The TomTom App for the iPhone provides the same easy to use, intuitive user interface found on today’s TomTom Personal GPS devices – except they’re now available on the iPhone instead.

The TomTom app is available for both the iPhone 3G and 3GS and includes a map of the US and Canada via Tele Atlas. Features of the app include:

• IQ Routes technology which bases route calculations on actual experiences of millions of TomTom drivers to calculate the fastest route
• Fast route planning and clear voice instructions
• Automatic re-routing if a turn is missed
• Route demo or map of route when trip planning
• Alternative route options if avoiding roadblocks, toll ways or looking for high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes along route
• 6 million POI
• Optimized for iPhone
• Multiple display options including portrait and landscape mode
• Night and day color mode
• Support for 18 languages
• 3D or 3D map display
• Support for multi-touch gestures
• Navigation to contacts in the address book
• POI search and call capabilities from iPhone

TomTom claims to expect compatibility with the iPod touch and other iPhone models (I assume the 1st gen iPhone??) to come soon.

Below is the WWDC presentation of the TomTom App

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: TomTom, TomTom App for iPhone

OK.. so we have utterly no idea of these pictures are real or not.. but we’ll let all of you decide. The folks at the “Covino and Rich Show” blog have posted up pictures of what they claim are prototypes to the 3rd generation iPod touch. The site owner claims:

“I acquired this from a guy that I buy parts phones and iPods from. I believe he’s a recycler in ***********, so what most likely happened is that Apple threw this away and he some how got it and sold it for parts.”

Now keep in mind – we’re only talking about the iPod touch here. It’s not like we’re looking at the fourth generation iPod or something. Whether you should believe these images is entirely up to you. Quite honestly, we’re more excited with the Zune HD than with these pictures thus far…

[Check it out via Boy Genius Report]

Technorati Tags: Apple iPod touch 3rd generation

Apple announced today that Google Chief Executive, Eric E Schmidt, was stepping down from its board because of “potential conflicts of interest”. Well gee.. you think?

Once long time allies, Google and Apple have been competing more directly as Google ventures past its core competency in search and into areas such as operating systems and mobile devices.

Some of the areas where the two companies directly compete include mobile operating systems (Google Android vs Apple’s OS X), computer OS’s (Google’s just announced Chrome OS vs Apple’s OS X), web browsers (Google Chrome browser vs Apple Safari), and of course, the Internet application suite (Google Apps vs Apple Mobile Me).

With so many overlapping services and products, Mr. Schmidt’s role within Apple would have been severely diminished anyhow as he would need to recuse himself from many meetings involving competing services.

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: Apple, Eric Schmidt, Google

With Apple coming to CES, the real question now is – will Steve Jobs headline CES with a keynote speech? No one knows as Jobs isn’t returning phone calls to Gary Shapiro, the chief executive of the Consumer Electronics Association which runs CES.

However, you can probably be sure that if Jobs does make a keynote appearance at CES, the first few days will surely be buzzing.

It’s the end of July and we’re all looking forward to next year’s CES. Amazing!

[Check it out via News.com]

Technorati Tags: Apple, CES 2010

Not so fast folks. According to TechCrunch sources, Apple has placed an order for a “massive number of camera modules” and based on the size of the order, it can really mean only one thing. A camera is coming to the iPod touch.

Imagine for a second – a camera found on every single new iPod touch sold around the world – each capable of taking respectable stills and video clips. Yes.. who would need a Flip Video or Kodak Pocket Camcorder after an iPod touch is in your pocket? It’s a small subtle enhancement but one that could easily spell trouble to the low-end camcorder industry.

Evil.. (and delicious at the same time).

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: Apple, ipod touch, camera

“Low- or high-temperature conditions might temporarily shorten battery life or cause the device to temporarily stop working properly”

So what might trigger this message?  Here’s a couple of scenarios:

• Operating the iPhone under high heat conditions where temps can exceed 113 degrees F. (yeah..so don’t leave that iPhone inside a parked card under the windshield ok?)
• Using CPU intensive app while in direct sunlight could also cause temps to rise quickly
• And on the other extreme, try not to keep the iPhone in cold conditions. Don’t store it in a location at –4 degrees F or use it under 0 degrees F.. (so wait.. we can’t use our phones in the cold winter when we’re stuck in the middle of a snow storm? crap).

So what happens if the iPhone exceeds these temps?

• iPhone may stop charging
• Display might get dim
• May experience weak cellular signal
• and of course.. that temperature warning message will pop up

Of course, there’s no mention of white iPhones changing color because of overheating..

[Check it out via PC Magazine]

Technorati Tags: Apple iPhone temperature warning message

Are you an iPhone 3G user who’s peeved at AT&T because you’re not eligible for the upgrade pricing of the iPhone 3G S? Well AT&T has responded today.

In a general letter on their website, AT&T announced that for a limited time, any iPhone 3G customer who is upgrade eligible in July, August, or September 2009 will now get their best upgrade pricing starting on Thursday June 18th. It’s important to note that AT&T’s upgrade eligibility tools will be upgraded tomorrow (Thursday) so don’t go check on your eligibility today.

Guess I’ll check in tomorrow to see if I’m upgrade eligible after all..

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: AT&T, Apple iPhone 3G S upgrade price

We’ll save the first spot for Mr. Apple fanboy himself, David Pogue. He’s got this to say about the new 3G S:

“All of these changes make it much harder to resist the iPhone on intellectual, feature-county grounds. The new iPhone doesn’t just catch up to its rivals — it vaults a year ahead of them. At this point, the usual list of 10 rational objections to the iPhone have been whittled down to about three: no physical keyboard, no way to swap the battery yourself and no way to avoid using AT&T as your cell company.”

Next up, Engadget’s Joshua Topolsky has his review of the 3G S here. Here’s what he has to say about the handset:

“So while it’s tough to argue with the package Apple has put together (a stellar device with just enough new to make it nearly perfect), we couldn’t help feeling a bit let down by the 3G S.”

We’ll head over now to the other major gadget blog out there – that would be of course the folks at Gizmodo which had this to say about the new 3G S:

“Like I said in the Palm Pre review, I’m a bit bored of the iPhone look and feel. If you’re looking for something new, something different and something you’re not quite familiar with, there’s the Pre or the MyTouch 3G. But as a whole, the iPhone 3GS is the best all-around smartphone available. If you’re looking for a refined, augmented version of what you already know, a phone that, not for nothing, runs all the tens of thousands of apps on the App Store, choose the iPhone 3GS.”

Here’s a review of the new iPhone 3.0 OS update from the folks at Macworld (it’s not a review of the new 3G S phone):

“Overall, iPhone 3.0 offers useful new features and refinements of existing features. It doesn’t necessarily tick every checkbox on our iPhone feature wishlist, but it’s a solid step in the right direction. And, after all, Apple has to leave something for iPhone 4.0.”

Finally, CNET has their look at the new iPhone 3G S handset here and says the following:

“The iPhone 3G S doesn’t make the same grand leap that the iPhone 3G made from the first-generation model, but the latest Apple handset is still a compelling upgrade for some users. The iPhone 3G S is faster and we appreciate the new features and extended battery life, but call quality and 3G reception still need improvement.”

Looks like the consensus is about the same across the board. Apple fixed what it needed to fix (for the most part) with the iPhone 3G S (and the 3.0 OS update) yet.. the iPhone 3G S isn’t the compelling upgrade that the 3G was. Yup.. you can be sure I’ll be holding out till the fourth generation iPhone now. No need for me to pick up the 3G S at the early iPhone upgrade fee of $399.

Technorati Tags: Apple, iPhone 3G S Reviews

Of course you can count me OUT for June 19th as I’m not eligible for the standard upgrade price of the iPhone. Instead, I must pay the $200 dollar “early iPhone upgrade” premium which means the iPhone 3G S will cost me $399/$499 if I really want it now. No thanks.

[Check it out]

Technorati Tags: AT&T, Apple, iPhone 3G S

You’re an owner of the iPhone 3G handset and now you’re all excited about the new iPhone 3G S and you’re ready to plop down $199 or $299 starting on June 19th.. but wait.. chances are you won’t be able to pay that price on that day. You see.. if you upgraded to the iPhone 3G last June (or later) when it first came out, you won’t be eligible for the iPhone 3G S upgrade pricing. Plus depending upon how long you’ve had the iPhone 3G, you MIGHT be eligible for the “early iPhone upgrade” fee which is still a premium over the current upgrade pricing – though just slightly cheaper than the full price.

Update:

AT&T actually has a three tiered pricing system.

• If you’re a new or existing AT&T customer eligible for the upgrade – you can get the new iPhone 3G S at the $199/$299 price points.
• If you’re not eligible for the upgrade price BUT you’ve purchased the iPhone 3G for at least one year, then you’re eligible for the “early iPhone upgrade” price which is basically $200 dollars more – $399/$499 respectively.
• The third tier is – pay the phones outright at their non-subsidized cost of $599/$699

Here’s how my situation unfolded over the last two years. I got the original 4GB iPhone back in 2007 at the original sale price for the phone (which was originally outrageous). Then the iPhone 3G was announced and to my surprise, I was eligible for the upgrade price of $199 (for the 8GB model) on June 18th 2008. (thx to Rob for noting that i was eligible for the upgrade price back then simply because I paid the full price for the 1st gen iPhone).

This unfortunately gave me the false hope that I would eligible for the upgrade price for the new iPhone 3G S, I went to the Apple website to see if I could pre-order the new iPhone 3G S. After checking with my account, Apple came back to me and showed me this page.

Yes.. that does indeed say $599/$699 on my account.  (UPDATE: I was apparently dinged by AT&T for being late this month with my mobile phone payment. Because I was LATE, I was not eligible for the early iPhone upgrade pricing. Once I paid up, I became eligible – read more at the end of the article). No. I AM NOT PAYING $599 for the 16GB iPhone 3G S (or $699 for the 32GB model). According to AT&T, I would not be eligible for the iPhone 3G S until December 13th.. 

Here’s the new updated page once I paid my bill:

So this got me thinking. If I’m not eligible for the iPhone 3G S upgrade price on opening day (June 19th), then who is?

The iPhone 3G didn’t launch until June 18th, 2008 and I bought the handset the day after.. so based on this information, it’s safe to assume that anyone who upgraded to the iPhone 3G is NOT eligible for the iPhone 3G S upgrade pricing. (please correct me if I’m wrong here). Does this apply to regular mobile phone upgrades made in the last year too? Not sure. What is clear is that first movers like me are being penalized by AT&T. We faithfully bought the 1st gen iPhone and then the 2nd gen iPhone 3G and now.. well now we’re going to have to wait (let the whining start).

OK.. so instead of paying $599/$699, I would have to pay $399/$499. That’s still a nice premium over the upgrade price!

Ah but wait.. if you’re still using the 1st gen iPhone then you’re probably OK. Also.. if you haven’t upgraded your AT&T account in more than a year.. then chances are you’re OK there too. Thus here’s what we’re gathering:

• AT&T is sick of eating the subsidized bill for customers who keep moving to the latest version of the iPhone (tho they’re willing to eat SOME of the costs if you’ve been around for at least a year).
• AT&T is using the new pricing to attract customers who haven’t upgraded in some time as well as new customers to the company.

I do have to give AT&T some props here. They’ve made my decision making process regarding the iPhone 3G S that much easier. I was originally on the fence about the new hardware and with this upgrade pricing (or lame upgrade pricing for me) in place, I absolutely won’t be upgrading anytime soon.

So there you have it folks. Early adopters like myself are going to have to pay a premium for the iPhone 3G S. This will of course continue next year when the fourth generation iPhone comes out and we’re forced to pay another “early iPhone upgrade” fee. OR, we can completely forgo the iPhone 3G S and simply wait till next June/July and then be eligible for the upgrade price (woo).

But wait.. if I were to get the iPhone 3G S in December or even early next year would this effectively nix me from their 4th generation iPhone (which probably will come out next year at this time?) Hmm.,. if so.. then FORGET the iPhone 3G S altogether!

AT&T.. you’re sucking in my books..

UPDATE (4:22pm):

Just wanted to remind all of you again that because of a late bill payment on my part, AT&T dinged me for the upgrade price of the iPhone 3G S. Once I paid my balance, I became eligible for their early iPhone upgrade fee of $399/$499. That’s still $200 dollars too much in my opinion.. but something to remember in case you too are not eligible for some reason. Check to make sure you paid your bills!

Technorati Tags: AT&T, Apple, Apple iPhone 3G S upgrade price

Apple starts things off with new updates to their portable line. The company introduces a new version of their 15 inch MacBook Pro. The unit features a new battery, up to 7 hour battery life, now as an SD card slot amd 60% more color gamut than before. You can order the 15 inch MacBook Pro with up to a whopping 3.06 GHz Core 2 Duo processor, up to 8GB of RAM, and up to 500GB 7200RPM HDD or 256GB SSD. Prices range from $1699 to $2299.

The 17 inch MacBook Pro gets an update also – you’ll get up to a 2.8GHz processor, 500GB HDD, and the ExpressCard slot.

Oh but wait.. the low end gets an update too.. in fact, the 13 inch MacBook is now called the 13 inch MacBook Pro also! Why? Well.. there really was no difference between the low end and the high end these days.

The new updated 13 inch also gets the updated display, the SD card slot, the nicer battery, backlit keyboard, and of course FireWire 800. Prices range from $1199 to $1499.

All of these models are available as of today.

On the super low end, there is of course the white plastic MacBook still available.

Finally, remember the light Air? Well the unit gets a mild upgrade today with Apple announcing a new 2.13 GHz processor with prices ranging from $1499 to $1799.

OK.. looks like they’re done with the portable notebook front. Now onto the software and Snow Leopard. Here are the important details:

• Optimized/refined over 90 percent of the core OS
• Rewrote the Finder in Cocoa
• Expose in the dock.
• 45 percent faster install
• Recover 6GB of disk space after upgrading to Snow Leopard
• Preview is up to 2x faster
• Better text selection in PDF
• Mail is now up to 2.3x faster
• Final version of Safari now available for all platforms
• Safari is 7.8x faster at Javascript than IE8. Completely passes the Acid3 test
• Faster Quicktime (now known as Quicktime X)– hardware accelerated, new streaming technologies
• Quicktime player has a new interface

Apple now demoing the new features of Snow Leopard. Looks like Apple went back and really optimized the hell out of OS X. Hey. wait.. that’s exactly what Windows 7 was all about too for Microsoft. Ha.. I just had to throw that in there.

Apple introduces “Grand Central Dispatch” to take advantage of the new hardware technologies that have sprung up over the years – 64 bit processors, access to loads of ran, multi-core processor, etc.

On the graphics front, there’s now OpenCL – where the C stands for Computing. Basically, it’s a new language that will help leverage the power of the GPU – extending the GPU to things other than graphics related applications.

Apple Mail, iCal, and Address Book now have support for Microsoft Exchange.

Snow Leopard will be available for all Intel-based Macs. Price will be $129 (or $29 dollars for existing Leopard users). Family pack will be available for $49 dollars. Snow Leopard will be due out in September. New final developer preview will be available today.

Now onto the iPhone:

Apple is introducing over 100 new features in iPhone 3.0. Some of the features include:

• Cut, copy, and paste
• Undo support
• MMS support (though AT&T will not support this till later this summer)
• Landscape mode in Mail, Notes, Messages
• Spotlight – Search across multiple apps including mail, calendar, media, notes etc
• Rent and purchase content directly from your iPhone (movies, TV shows, music etc)

Apple brings tethering to the iPhone. However, it appears there’s a gotcha – it requires carrier support and GUESS WHAT FOLKS – AT&T was NOT on the list of supported carriers at launch time (although 22 other nice carriers were). Go figure.. Another reason to hate AT&T.

Safari enhancements on iPhone include better performance, HTTP streaming audio and video, Auti-fill, and support for HTML 5.

Apple announces additional language support for the iPhone (support includes Hebrew, Arabic, Greek, Korean, and Thai).

Apple announces a new “Find My iPhone” feature for MobileMe customers. Login into MobileMe from any browser and see where your phone is located via Google Maps. You can send the phone a message which will result in a special alert sound – regardless if the phone is mute or not. More importantly, if the phone is lost or stolen, you can send it a remote wipe command to delete all the data.

Other cool developer features:

• 100+ new API calls
• Peer to peer connectivity over Bluetooth
• H/W accessories can now talk to the software
• Accessories can work via the Dock Connector or via Bluetooth
• Google Maps can be embedded easily into their applications along with turn by turn support
• Push notifications can include popup alerts, sounds, icon badges

iPhone OS 3.0 will be available free to all iPhone users, $9.99 for iPod touch users. It will be available worldwide starting on June 17th. The GM seed is available today for all paid developers.

Additional iPhone marketing fluff…

• iPhone makes up 65% of all mobile web usage today
• 50,000 apps for the iPhone (compared to 4900 for Android, 1088 for Nokia, 1030 for BlackBerry, 18 for Palm

And now.. the next generation iPhone – the iPhone 3GS. The S stands for Speed. The outside looks the same but the insides are all new. Here’s what you need to know about the new 3GS:

• 2.1x faster to launch Messages
• 2.4x faster to load SimCity
• 3.6x faster to load an Excel spreadsheet
• 2.9x faster to load large websites
• Supports OpenGL/ES 2.0 which is ideal for games
• Supports 7.2 Mbps HSPDA networking
• New 3 megapixel auto-focus camera
• Tap-to-focus feature for camera – basically tap on the desired object and the camera will automatically focus on the object
• Video recording finally
• New switch to swap between still photo and video mode.
• Shoot at VGA resolution at 30 fps. Supports auto-focus, auto white balance, auto exposure
• Edit videos on the iPhone and share it from iPhone directly to YouTube, MobileMe, MMS, and email
• New video API too
• Voice activated dialing (it’s actually a part of a new collection of voice-controlled functionality called VoiceOver) finally comes to iPhone 3GS. Hold down the home button for a second and a new voice controlled UI comes up. Say things like “Call blah” and it will call blah. You can also say “Play artist” to play some songs.
• Built-in digital compass shows your current orientation. Integrate directly with Google Maps.
• VoiceOver control for content and controls
• Encrypted iTunes backup
• Support for Nike+
• Improved battery life. Here are the numbers: 9 hours of Internet surfing. 10 hours of video. 30 hours of audio. 12 hours of 2G talk time . 5 hours of 3G talk time.
• AND yes.. it’s a green phone. Arsenic-free glass. BRF-free, mercury-free LCD display
• The 16GB model does come down to the former 8GB pricing. 16GB is now available for $199 while the 32GB is available for $299.
• AND here is where it gets interesting. 8GB iPhone 3G will still be available for $99 dollars!

As for when? The new iPhone 3GS will be available starting on June 19th. Countries getting into then will be the U.S., Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, UK with 6 more countries getting it a week later.

Technorati Tags: Apple, Worldwide Developers Conference, WWDC 2009