MacNewsBlog

Yep, you read that right! Stevie J and Billy B... together in a podcast! Actually it's just a replay of the D5: All Things Digital conference in podcast format. As a bonus, Apple added a video podcast as well. The podcast comes in at a little under a hour and a half! Go check it out in iTunes, under podcasts.

With WWDC just days away, rumors are flying left and right and we're trying to pick ones we think "just might be possible". New York Times writer John Markoff, says Apple is set to open the iPhone to developers at WWDC on June 15th.

"A person briefed on Apple’s plans said that at its software developer conference this month, Apple intends to announce that it will make it possible for developers of small programs written for the Macintosh to easily convert them to run on the iPhone."

If this is rumor turns out to be reality, prepare to have one of the best phones on the planet. A developer community for the iPhone is just what the iPhone needs to launch it into the stratospher. This thing is going to sell out for months at a time! We're thinking dashboard widgets and/or cocoa apps to start.

WWDC is a few days away. Let's see what happens.

Apple (AAPL) updated the MacBook Pro today with the latest Intel Core 2 Duo processors, 4 GB of memory and high-speed graphics. This version of the MacBook Pro also features the industries first mercury-free, power-efficient LED-backlit display. Hows that for lots of hyphens?

The 17-inch model also has an optional high-resolution display of 1920 x 1200 compared to the standard 1680 x 1050 which is standard. Thats 30 percent more screen real estate!

Both MacBook Pro models feature AirPort Extreme 802.11n Wi-fi and Nvidia GeForce 8600mGT graphics cards.

For the full lowdown on these MacBook Pro upgrades, check out the specs and photos on Apples MacBook Pro page.

With all this upgrade goodness, there are still some who are disappointed that there wasn't anything "exciting" such as a new enclosure or an ultra portable. But hey, the iPhone is coming as well as WWDC and we don't think Apple will want to distract from those events TOO much.

Sun Microsystems CEO Jonathan Schwartz publicly stated that Apple Inc.'s (AAPL) upcoming operating system, Mac OS X Leopard, will be using ZFS.

So whats the big deal anyway? Well for one thing, ZFS, which was developed by Sun, is a 128-bit file system. That's 16 billion times the capacity of a 32 or 64-bit system. ZFS offers increased performance and also eliminated the need for various administration / maintenance routines. Those of you who are Mac techs in labs or larger companies can rejoice because ZFS will no longer need you to use fsck to clean the file system.

While there has been a running speculation for over a year about Apple using ZFS as Leopards file system, it's now been confirmed.

Expect to hear the announcement at WWDC next week as well.

We're giddy like kids around a Christmas tree just waiting for Monday to come! Steve Jobs is set to give his WWDC keynote on Monday, 10am PST. We're curious what he'll pull out of his bag of tricks.

It's already the middle of the year and so far, nothing too spectacular from Apple. Speculation suggests that the reason Apple released those new MacBook Pro's early is because there's tons more things that will be announced at WWDC tomorrow. So much so that the MacBook Pro's are probably very minor in the grander scheme of things.

We did this before and we're hoping you'll play along: John Siracusa has WWDC 2007 Keynot Bingo here. Play along during the keynote and see if you win!

Steve's talking about Leopard:
- brand new desktop and finder
- No more brushed metal interface
- folders n the dock expand to show contents
- active window looks more distinctive/prominent
- stacks!
- "Back to My Mac" allows you to search other macs even if not on local network.
- .mac will serve as a hub to find other computers
- Cover flow allows scrolling through documents just like iTunes does for album covers
- "Quick Look" allows live file previews of text, images and pdfs.
- Quickl Look does full screen previews as well
- Leopard is 64 bit!!!
- Will run 32 bit and 64 bit apps. Leopard is the first mainstream OS to go 64 bit.
- Core Video/Animation is here!
- Boot Camp is built in. Use as a compliment to Parallels and VMWare. No CD buring to install drivers.
- Spaces. Allows multiple desktops and the ability to drag and drop between spaces.
- Dashboard - new widgets: Movie Times - search for movies and buy tickets via Fandango.
- iChat updated. Better audio quality, tabbed chats, photo booth effects.
- iChat theater allows Keynotes
- Time Machine - one click setup. Backup up everything automatically to local hard drive, server. Can do this wirelessly as well.
- Time Machine - simple so people can use it.
- Leopard ships in October. Basic version $129, Premium version: $129 etc. LOL

One More thing....
- Safari has 4.9% marketshare. So now they want to dream big: Safari on Windows.
- Safari on Leopard will run on xp/vista
- ibench html performance of ie: 4.6 seconds, firefox 3.7 seconds, safari 2.2 seconds
- fastest browser on windows. Twice as fast as IE. 1.5 x's Firefox
- Steve demos Safari in Windows on a Mac
- tabs: drag them to their own windows. drag around to rearrange.
- available today on Apple.com/safari as a beta!

One Last Thing...
- iPhone Ships June 29th - 6pm
- Sweet Solution for Developers - They can create secure web apps using AJAX + web 2.0. Integrate w/ iPhone services, make calls, send e-mails with instant distribution and no sdk needed.
- All apps run in Safari! Applications can have the look and feel of iphone apps.
-

Safar 3 beta for Mac + Windows: Available now! Go get it!

http://www.apple.com/safari/

After Steve Job's keynote today, the Apple Store was refreshed and it now has a wider look. Seems like the overseas stores haven't been updated yet. We like it!

Apple has just updated their webpage with a fresh new Web 2.0 look!

The new page features easier navigation and an entirely new look. Brushed metal has been banished so it seems... Looks awesome! There are some slick javascript effects as well. They're using prototype and scriptaculous as well as apple_core.js.

Apple just updated OS X 10.4 with 10.4.10!

What’s New in this Version
The 10.4.10 Update is recommended for PowerPC and Intel-based Mac computers currently running Mac OS X Tiger. This update includes general operating system fixes, as well as specific fixes or compatibility updates for the following applications and technologies:

- RAW camera support
- Mounting and unmounting external USB devices
- Support for 3rd party software applications
- Security updates

Click here for more info.

To read more about what's new in this update go here.

Apple released a lot of updates tonight!

FinalCut Pro 6.0.1http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/finalcutpro601.html
Final Cut Pro 6.0.1 contains several updates, including:
- Improved stability
- Support for the AVCHD format through the Log and Transfer interface
- FXPlug improvements with Motion and third-party applications
- Improved master template support
- Resolution of issues with long filenames (greater than 32 characters, up to 255 characters) on non-HFS file systems (network or Xsan volumes, FAT32 volumes, and so on)

This software update is recommended for all users of Final Cut Pro 6.0.

Motion 3.0.1
Motion 3.0.1 improves stability and resolves performance issues that may be encountered when using Motion 3.0 on both PowerPC-based and Intel-based Macintosh computers. This software update is recommended for all users of Motion 3.0.

This update Includes specific fixes for:
- 32-bit float projects
- Rendering of intersecting 3D groups
- Final Cut Pro integration

Color 1.0.1
Color 1.0.1 contains several updates, providing the following fixes:
- Improved stability
- Improved metadata support from Final Cut Pro
- Improved single-display mode
- Floating-point processing on computers with NVIDIA graphics cards
- Dissolves of 2K files during rendering

This software update is recommended for all users of Color 1.0.

Compressor 3.0.1
Compressor 3.0.1 contains several updates, including:
- Improved performance
- Improved stability
- Provides compatibility updates for Apple Devices

This update is recommended for all Compressor 3.0 users.

Soundtrack Pro 2.0.1
Soundtrack Pro 2.0.1 contains several updates, including:
- Improved stability
- Improved performance
- Delay Designer surround effect plug-in

This software is recommended for all users of Soundtrack Pro 2.0.

Pro Applications Update 2007-1
Pro Application Update 2007-01 includes fixes to underlying frameworks and shared components for the updated Final Cut Studio 2 applications.

SuperDrive Firmware Update 2.1
The SuperDrive Update improves readability of certain CD media. The updater application will be installed in the /Applications/Utilities folder. Please follow the instructions in the updater application to complete the update process.