Mac Season

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A few days ago, FreeMacBlog substantiated a rumor that the new MacBook line would start at $800. Since the rumor, there have yet been even more rumors to counter the initial rumor (rumors can be exhausting).

According to a new “October the 14th” blog, the pricing of $800 is off. It’s actually going to be $899, if you’re to believe the image that they provide.

Real or fake? You be the judge.

Kevin Rose is famous/infamous among the Apple community. He seems to get information before anyone, and is a pretty big thorn in Steve Jobs’ side. He now has new information released about the new up and coming iPod Nano.

Here is a video of his leaked information:

It was released by Apple, that iTune was the #2 music retailer in the US. Any sports fan knows that #2’s are never remembered, as people can barely remember the loser of the Superbowl the year prior. While iTunes may have been beaten out by Wal-Mart in 2007, analysts are predicting a different outcome in 2008.

iTunes as of now has over 50 million customers, and has sold over four billion songs. As the dispersal of music is changing, from physical CDs to downloads it’s only looking like clear blue skies for Apple in the coming year. The president of NPD’s music division has made the prediction that iTunes will easily surpass Wal-Mart this year. Russ Crupnick comments on the state of music media, “Digital sales were up close to 50 percent and CD sales were down 20 percent last year”.

These days it seems as if we’re never safe from anything. We have to not only lock our doors at night, but set the $200+ security system to feel secure in our homes. For PC users it seems to take atleast 3 or more pieces of anti-virus, anti-spyware, and anit-malware software to feel secure. In one report by Liam Tung, Mac users can rest safely knowing that their computers are safe, for now atleast.

5.5 million is a number you generally want to see floating somewhere in your bank account . Unfortunately for PC users it’s the number of malicious content (viruses, spyware etc..) reported to be haunting PC’s across the nation. Now take 5.5. million and divide it by 275 million and you’ll get the number of malicious content plaguing Mac users. For anyone not so good at math, that number is 2. The 2 forms of content actually turned out to be program downloads custom fitted with a trojan inside. This number might leave Mac users with a warm and snuggly feeling, but Tung reports that the number might rise in the next year.

According to Arabian Business, i-mate (traditionally Windows based) will reveal the most advanced mobile phone ever in September in Dubai.

“The Ultimate phone range will be vastly superior to anything the Middle East has ever seen,” Morrison told Arabian Business from Seattle, USA.“No other phone device will be able to drive a 42-inch plasma TV, project high definition videos from the phone onto a TV, play and download iTunes - you can’t download iTunes onto another phone.”

(more…)

Adobe re-confirmed today that they will be showcasing the Creative Suite 3 on March 27th in New York. Check out the teaser website.

BUT - the “box” will not be available until later this spring according to Macworld UK (perhaps a tie-in with Leopard and hardware upgrades?)

According to AppleInsider Google chief executive Eric Schmidt said Monday that Google and Apple are continuing to collaborate on many new initiatives.

Schmidt, in addition to his role atop Google’s executive hierarchy, is also a member of Apple’s board of directors.

Can’t wait to see more integration and new ideas developed between the two companies - some thoughts (pure speculation):

• AppleTV to include Youtube and Google Video?
• .Mac integration with Gmail and iDisk for more/free space via Google?
• iCal and Google Calendar integration?
• iWorks to integrate with Google Office (if nothing else Safari support please)
• Gtalk on iPhone?
• Google Search technology to power Spotlight?
• Time Machine to upload backup to Google servers?
• IP TV solution with live TV content

So many opportunities - exciting times for Apple and Google lovers for sure…

As some might remember Apple produced a special 20th Anniversary edition (TAM) desktop machine which was way ahead of its time (and very expensive) back in 1997. The slim unit (under 4″ deep) used the same kind of LCD screen often found in laptops back then. A specially produced Bose stereo speaker system surrounded the TAM, along with a large external subwoofer for really solid bass - and it all looked like a piece of art.

Apple built 12,000 TAMs in total - the first devices which were introduced in May 2007 were priced around $7,500 - but then it also included installation of a uniformed concierge.

Specifications of the TAM

• CPU: 250 MHz PPC 603e, bus: 50 MHz
• RAM: 32 MB (expandable to 128 MB)
• VRAM: 2 MB VRAM
• Video: 12.1″ 800 x 600 at 8- or 16-bits, ATI 3D RAGE II chip set
• L2 cache: 256 KB, expandable to 1 MB
• Hard drive: 2 GB (IDE drive)
• CD-ROM: 4x
• PCI slots: 1
• 1 Comm Slot II, filled with 33.6kbps GeoPort modem
• ADB ports: 1
• DIN-8 GeoPorts: 2
• DB-25 SCSI connector
• dimensions (H x W x D): 17.25″ x 16.5″ x 10.0″ (43.8 x 41.9 x 25.4 cm)
• weight: 14.9 lbs. (6.8 kg)
• OS: Mac OS 7.6.1 through 9.1

So the question is: Will we see a TAM2 this May?