9to5 Staff

You know one reason the PC platform doesn’t match the Mac for gaming (tongue in cheek) is its slavish devotion to DirectX 11, but perhaps this will change now Open GL has been updated to become a much better spec.

The Khronos Group today shipped an updated version of Open GL (v.4.1), which can do everything DirectX 11 can do, and adds a few other lovely features, too. Not least seamless enhanced integration with OpenCL for “seamless visual computing”.

(Sure am looking forward to the 3D computing age, just you wait. Apple’s working on it, promise).

OpenGL 4.1 is the sixth update to OpenGL specification in two years, continuing the rapid evolution of this royalty-free specification. This new version continues to maintain full backwards compatibility.

New functionality in the core OpenGL 4.1 specification includes:

• Full compatibility with OpenGL ES 2.0 APIs for easier porting between mobile and desktop platforms;
• The ability to query and load a binary for shader program objects to save re-compilation time;
• The capability to bind programs individually to programmable stages for programming flexibility;
• 64-bit floating-point component vertex shader inputs for higher geometric precision;
• Multiple viewports for a rendering surface for increased rendering flexibility.

Khronos has simultaneously released a set of ARB extensions to enable as much OpenGL 4.1 core functionality as possible on previous generation GPU hardware; providing maximum flexibility and platform coverage for application developers.

Here’s some breaking news from the AP:

Owners of the iPhone will be able to break electronic locks on their devices in order to download applications that have not been approved by Apple. The government is making that legal under new rules announced Monday….Another exemption will allow owners of used cell phones to break access controls on their phones in order to switch wireless carriers.

Apple has previously argued that Jailbreaking is illegal under the DMCA. Interesting news, the whole ruling is here. We’re following (here?) to see how this shakes out for Apple and the industry.

Also, some new stuff for those who like to make backupDVDs of purchased Video/Music:

(1) Motion pictures on DVDs that are lawfully made and acquired and that are protected by the Content Scrambling System when circumvention is accomplished solely in order to accomplish the incorporation of short portions of motion pictures into new works for the purpose of criticism or comment, and where the person engaging in circumvention believes and has reasonable grounds for believing that circumvention is necessary to fulfill the purpose of the use in the following instances:

(i)  Educational uses by college and university professors and by college and university film and media studies students;
(ii) Documentary filmmaking;
(iii) Noncommercial videos.

It really is time to wake up and smell the coffee. The iPad is eating up the netbook market, Mac sales are rising inexorably and the iPhone is not just a phone but the world’s most popular hand-held computer. Add it all up (properly) and Apple is facing off against HP for the bragging rights to being the world’s biggest (number one) PC maker. Wake up to an Apple planet, PC world!

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Just in case residents of:

…Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand, Singapore, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland….

…had forgotten about it, Apple today told us once again that the iPhone 4 arrives in 17 more countries this Friday in a press release cunningly entitled, ‘iPhone 4 Arrives in 17 More Countries This Friday’.

(We’d like to observe that what this means is that people in 17 more countries can hope to get one of the few available units in sales channels as demand continues to exceed supply).

Here’s what the folks from Apple is saying:

iPhone 4 Arrives in 17 More Countries This Friday

CUPERTINO, California

The next edition of iLife is expected, this morning we learn that the software is scheduled to ship “on August 7”.

French Mac website, Mac4Ever.com has announced the date, saying iLife 10 (or, perhaps, 11) will be 64-bit compatible and will ship with a mysterious new application.

That mysterious app could perhaps be support for the creation of iTunes LP and iTunes Extras packages, giving consumers a way to share detailed digital albums featuring all manner of multimedia assets. This software was briefly discussed in December last year.

This would perhaps replace iDVD, which hasn’t seen any significant recent updates.

This will allow artists to create their own iTunes LPs and submit these directly to Apple from the application, which will form part of iLife 2010. (We reckon it will also let consumers create mixed-media assets a la iTunes Extras, and suspect we

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIdq_cFgSaE&w=700&h=415]

Like music? Like Gorillaz? Has iPad or iPhone? Then three cheers you, becuse Gorillaz: Escape to Plastic Beach the game hit the iTunes Store today!

In the game your job is to get the album of the same name recorded. To achieve this you are band leader, Murdoc, and your job is to fly around on the ‘Doom Glider’ shooting things and avoiding stuff. You get all the music from the album and rather spiffing Jamie Hewlett graphics.

Go get it.

Via: Recombu

Microsoft is doing its best to tempt users to Office 2011 for Mac, despatching invitations to join the Mac 2011 beta testing cycle to some users.

The software is apparently currently at Build 100709. Invitations are being despatched at this time. There’s several new features to the new productivity suite, as detailed here.

As you may expect, restrictions apply. Sign up to the beta if you can promise and agree as follows:

“The Office for Mac 2011 beta is closed to the public, which means ALL Office 2011 tools and features are confidential and proprietary to Microsoft. By participating in the beta, you consent to a non-disclosure agreement which includes all forms of communication including print, broadcast, electronic, internet publications, social media networking sites, blogs, and verbal disclosure. The NDA will not lift until the product is public later this year. We will update on timing closer to the date.

It is time to face it: With iPads selling in their millions and only today introduced in the busy Asia-Pacific markets, Apple has already stolen the tablet/netbook industry. This success breeds tablet component shortages, add the huge iPad mind share and all those promised ‘iPad killers’ are dead before they have even begun.

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OK, so we know that Microsoft has guaranteed the first 90,000 Windows 7 phone sales (by buying them for its own people), now the Redmond copycat has hitched up its skirts to make a deal with ARM [Ed: Insert Better Analogy Here], and has plans to take the world’s richest corporation back to the garage by encouraging its own staff to, erm, make Win 7 Phone apps.

Nice.

So, if you work for Microsoft you’re going to be asked to develop for the future phone (wonder if this means Micorosft will spew some stat touting just how quickly it managed to build a developer ecosystem?)

As part of the free phone deal, employees are being asked to evangelize the device to their friends and family.

They also get access to “Develop! A new employee developer programme which makes it much easier for you to develop apps for Marketplace in your spare time.”

Ah, but AAPL’s decision to make its own A4 processor sure will prove a long-sighted on. After all, it wasn’t so long ago that forward momentum on its computing platform was held back by slow processor development on part of IBM and Motorola. The company won’t repeat that one twice. Not in the new and oh-so-important mobile field.

Microsoft’s new deal with ARM confirms that company as a follower. But it also underscores the depth with which Apple management analysts potential threats and the evolution of threats as they laid down their plans for the A4 and other future mobile processors.

Which is to say they saw it coming, and have put together a route to market for proprietary sillicon to give their devices a competitive edge.

(Also consider this: because Apple owns the OS and has control over the processor design used in the mobile devices it makes, it can ensure efficiencies, such as power or graphics management and so on, which cannot possibly be replicated by any competitor — such as Android or Windows 7 Phone — that is attempting to deliver an OS for use on a variety of differently-specced devices. This will serve as a huge advantage in the mobile space, much more so than on the desktop).

The ARM/MSFT deal, then:

“ARM and Microsoft Corp. today announced that they have signed a new licensing agreement for the ARM architecture. The agreement extends the collaborative relationship between the two companies. Since 1997 Microsoft and ARM have worked together on software and devices across the embedded, consumer and mobile spaces, enabling many companies to deliver user experiences on a broad portfolio of ARM-based products.

Apple really has had a terrible time with the launch of its most succesful product ever, the iPhone 4  — this morning the company has been forced to admit that white models of the iPhone 4 won’t ship until later this year, citing manufacturing problems.

Statement follows:

White models of Apple