Category: Apple

Apple iPhone: Sales Restricted Until 2008?

Apple iPhone: Sales Restricted Until 2008?Slavering Mac fanboys anxiously counting the minutes until they can caress, fondle, drool and dribble all over their very own iPhone may be in for a very long wait.

Industry analysts are predicting that Apple won’t be able to keep up with demand and so will restrict sales of their shiny new iPhones until 2008.

A recent Merrill Lynch report sets the scene for much i-wailing and i-sobbing amongst the Apple cognoscenti with just 4 million iPhones rolling off the production line this year, with only a comparatively modest 12 million units coming out in 2008.
Continue reading Apple iPhone: Sales Restricted Until 2008?

Legal Action Against Apple Over MacBook Displays

Legal Action Against Apple over MacBook DisplaysJust after the back-patting of the release of the upgraded Apple MacBooks last week, there news that Apple is the target of a class-action in the US.

The case for false advertising and misrepresentation centers on the claims by Apple that the MacBook and MacBook Pro notebooks display supports “millions of colors” and offer views “simply unavailable on other portables.” The plaintiffs say this isn’t the case and that they are only capable of displaying the “illusion of millions of colors through the use of a software technique referred to as ‘dithering.”

To get all medieval on your arse with the numbers – the monitors is only capable of 6 bits per channel (18-bit colour), rather than 8 bits per channel. This enables the displaying of only 262,144 colours without dithering, as opposed to the 16 million colours that 8-bit could do.

More when we hear it.

(via Appleinsider, where you can find a PDF copy of the complaint)

New Apple MacBooks Released

New Apple MacBooks ReleasedThe adage “Everything comes to those who wait” will ring true for punters who have been umming and ahhing about getting a new MacBook.

Apple have announced the rumoured update for the MacBook range, giving them faster Intel Core 2 Duo processors, 1GB of memory and larger hard drives in every model.

Those of us still languishing with iBooks, will have even more reason to finally get around to upgrading to the 1 inch high beauties, especially as the new range now covers the sleek white 2.0 GHz and 2.16 GHz MacBook models, and a mysterious black 2.16 GHz MacBook model. All of them have a 13-inch glossy widescreen display that Apple non-modestly describe as “gorgeous.”

New Apple MacBooks ReleasedThe breakdown on the UK prices are 2.0 GHz (80Gb H/D and slot-load Combo (DVD-ROM/CD-RW) optical drive – £699; 2.16 GHz White (120GB H/D and slot-load 8x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD+R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW) optical drive) – £829; 2.16 GHz Black (160GB H/D and same SuperDrive) – £949.

All come with iLife ’06 (until the new version comes out, we guess) and are available NNNNNNNNOOOOOOOWWWWWWW!

Apple

Joost: Reese’s (non)Review

Digital-Lifestyles recently offered me (Reese) an invite to beta-test the new Joost application. As part of the deal, I promised to write this short response about my experience with the application and content.

No Joost on pre-Intel Macs
First off I have to confess that I haven’t been able to access the content offered by Joost because of my aged computer. I, like many others out there, use a pre-intel Mac, and Joost has yet to make their application compatible to our platform. That being the case, I have no response to the usability of their application, simply because I haven’t been able to access it.
Continue reading Joost: Reese’s (non)Review

Apple Final Cut Server Launched

Apple has also announced the summer release of Final Cut Server, a cross-platform (Mac+PC) piece of software designed to serve the Final Cut’s 800,000+ users, alongside its announcement of Final Cut Studio 2.

Apple Final Cut Server LaunchedWe think that given the Mac OS is based on a form of Unix, and Apples dislike for Microsoft, it’s surprising that Apple hasn’t released a Linux-based server.

The software automatically catalogues large collections of assets and lets editors collaborate and share videos with each other, supported by keyword searching of video clips, access controls and workflow templates.

This is an aggressive move by Apple into the area that has until now been dominated by highly specialised video editing packages.

Final Cut Server will cost $999 (£649) for a 10-user license or $1999 (£1,299) for one server and unlimited concurrent users.

It is expected to be released in Summer 2007.

Apple Final Cut Server

Apple Final Cut Studio 2 Announced

Apple has released a significant upgrade to its Final Cut Studio package, a high-end bundle of video editing applications for pros and rich enthusiasts alike and Final Cut Server.

Apple Final Cut Studio 2 AnnouncedThe Final Cut Studio 2 package includes Final Cut Pro 6, Motion 3, Soundtrack Pro 2, Compressor 3, DVD Studio Pro 4.2 and a new app called Color, described as a, “professional colour grading and finishing application.”

Also new is ProRes 422, a new full raster, 10-bit 4:2:2 post production format that produces stunning HD quality at “SD file sizes,” with Apple claiming that industry heavyweights like Panasonic, Sony and RED are also feeling the love for the format.

Motion 3 now offers a 3D environment, paint and new drag-and-drop camera behaviours, vector based paint tools, and a match moving tool for mapping images or effect to the path of any other object.

Apple Final Cut Studio 2 AnnouncedThe Soundtrack Pro 2 audio editor adds tools for multitrack editing and surround mixing with a new Conform tool which makes it easier to precisely align effects and dialogue with footage.

Apple’s encoding tool, Compressor 3 offers a more streamlined interface with a simplified workflow, and extends support for codecs such as MPEG-2 and H.264 with presets for television, Web, iPod, Apple TV, DVD and mobile phone delivery.

Apple Final Cut Studio 2 AnnouncedFinishing off the package is DVD Studio Pro 4.2 which takes care of SD and HD DVD authoring.

In line with its professional status, Final Cut Studio costs a ruddy packet, retailing for a whistle-inducing £849 (current version users can upgrade for £329, otherwise it’s £449 for all other Final Cut Studio users).

Apple Final Cut Studio 2

iPod Hits 100 Million. Celebs Fawn All Over The Place

iPod Hits 100 Million. Celebs Fawn All Over The PlaceYesterday, Apple announced that it had shifted its 100 millionth iPod, making it the fastest selling music player in the history of the known universe and quite possibly beyond.

The iconic iPod first appeared in November 2001, with Apple going on to introduce a host of different models, including five generations of the original iPod, two generations of the iPod mini, two generations of iPod nano and two generations of iPod shuffle.

With the Apple PR backslap machine set to ‘turbo,’ Steve Jobs issued a statement personally thanking, “music lovers everywhere for making iPod such an incredible success.” And he means that most sincerely, folks.

iPod Hits 100 Million. Celebs Fawn All Over The PlaceNever one to knowingly underhype his own products, Jobs continued; “iPod has helped millions of people around the world rekindle their passion for music, and we’re thrilled to be a part of that.”

As ever, celebs were lining up for a piece of the profile-boosting action, with Mary J. Blige apparently suffering some sort of strange pre-iPod amnesia, claiming that she found it “hard to remember” what she did “before the iPod,” before going on to claim that the player was, an, err, “extension of her personality.”

John Mayer, another GRAMMY award winner (and quite possibly the owner of a degree in corporate fawning) was also ready and willing to crank up the gush-o-meter, announcing that the “iPod experience has kept the spirit of what it means to be a music lover alive.”

We’ve no idea what on earth that means. But we know it’s poppycock.

Apple And Record Companies Charged In EU iTunes Row

The European Commission has dished out formal charges to Apple and ‘unnamed major record companies’, accusing them of restricting music sales in Europe.

Apple And Record Companies Charged In iTunes RowThe EU alleges that agreements between Apple and the record companies are guilty of breaking European Union rules that prohibit restrictive business practices. It’s far from the first time that the EU and other Northern European Countries has got wound up about Apple and iTunes.

“Consumers can only buy music from the iTunes online stores in their country of residence and are therefore restricted in their choice of where to buy music, and consequently what music is available and at what price,” said Jonathan Todd, European Commission spokesman.

Apple And Record Companies Charged In iTunes Row“The statement of objections alleges that distribution agreements between Apple and major record companies contain territorial sales restrictions,” he added.

Promptly shifting the blame on to the record companies, Apple insisted that they’d tried to operate a single pan-European iTunes store accessible to peeps from any member state but were foiled by music labels and publishers imposing legal limits on the download rights.

The Commission first got involved back in 2005 after the UK consumer group Which? pointed out that iTunes purchasers in France and Germany were paying far less than us poor chumps in the UK (67 pence against 79 pence).

Apple And Record Companies Charged In iTunes RowApple and the record companies now have two months to defend themselves in writing or take part in an oral hearing which usually happens around a month after a written reply has been received.

This latest development is unrelated to yesterday’s deal between Apple and EMI.

Source

Apple And EMI Cut High Quality DRM-Free Music Deal

Apple And EMI Cut High Quality DRM-Free Music DealIt wasn’t the bonanza of Beatles songs that some had hoped for, but Apple has just announced that all of EMI Music’s vast catalogue of digital music will be available for purchase without digital rights management from the iTunes Store from next month.

The DRM-free tracks from EMI will be encoded at a high quality 256 kbps AAC encoding – making them “virtually indistinguishable” in audio quality from the original – but at a higher price of $1.29 per song (compared to 99c for 128bps downloads).

Users wanting to ‘upgrade’ their library of previously purchased EMI content to the higher quality DRM-free versions can do so if they’re prepared to fork out 30 cents a song.

Apple And EMI Cut High Quality DRM-Free Music Deal“We are going to give iTunes customers a choice — the current versions of our songs for the same 99 cent price, or new DRM-free versions of the same songs with even higher audio quality and the security of interoperability for just 30 cents more,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO.

“We think our customers are going to love this, and we expect to offer more than half of the songs on iTunes in DRM-free versions by the end of this year,” he added.

Apple And EMI Cut High Quality DRM-Free Music DealKeen not to miss out on the quote-fest, Eric Nicoli, CEO of EMI Group, piped up: “EMI and iTunes are once again teaming up to move the digital music industry forward by giving music fans higher quality audio that is virtually indistinguishable from the original recordings, with no usage restrictions on the music they love from their favourite artists.”

Using the new DRM-free EMI downloads, users can enjoy the tracks without any usage restrictions that limit the types of devices or number of computers that purchased songs can be played on – something that was celebrated by a guy called Eric Chiu posting on the Engadget site who gleefully commented, “My BitTorrent Engine is ready to fire on full cylinder… Demonoid and Piratebay, be ready for the new era of EMI Music.”

Apple
EMI Music