Create Digital Music (via MacRumors) points out that the iPad camera connection kit might be able to allow USB-audio out, which would support some professional audio equipment.  Nice, if true.

More importantly to us, however, is whether the USB camera kit can power a Mifi over USB.  Mifis normally have about 4-6 hours of battery life and the iPad has 10 (and often more).  We’d love to be able to power our Mifis via the iPad for a few extra hours.  

(Update: it looks like the iPad will do 100mA out Which could operate the Mifi but not charge it.)

Figure if the iPad can add another four hours to the Mifi while only sapping 2 hours of iPad juice, we’re mobile for 8 hours total.  A full work day.  What say you, Camera connection kit? Can we have USB power?

Apple today continues with the updates.  Everyone (Leopard+Snow Leopard) got Security Update 2010-003 while Mac Server administrators get numerous improvements to their Admin Tools.  

Meanwhile, 27-inch iMac owners got a Firmware update that resolves CPU Audio handling and power-on backlight issues.  Hit Software Update for the details.

It isn’t just iPad demand that Apple is falling behind on.  Apple’s other 10-hour battery device, the 13-inch MacBook Pro is also falling behind being pushed back 1-3 days where the rest of the MacBook Pro line are shipping within 24 hours.

Amazon is also carrying the MacBook Pros with the same 13-inch model delayed.  Amazon will ship the MacBooks at a 4% discount and often without sales tax.  Amazon doesn’t have shipping charges or rebate hassles either.

Here is Amazon’s Price Matrix:

13-inch MC374LL/A – $1,159.99 ($40 off)
13-inch MC375LL/A – $1,449.99 ($50 off)
15-inch MC371LL/A – $1,739.99 ($60 off)
15-inch MC372LL/A – $1,929.99 ($70 off) 
15-inch MC373LL/A – $2099.99 ($100 off)
17-inch MC024LL/A – $2199.99 ($100 off)

Apple told Ars that those new MacBook Pros that you’ve been lusting after are even better than you thought. The new machines will also port audio over Mini DisplayPort allowing users to only use a regular HDMI adapter rather than a HDMI-with-sound-from-USB adapters.  They start at $8 at Amazon.

No word yet on if current Macs’ Mini DisplayPorts can be updated with firmware…

Apple updated its MacBook Pro lineup today with the long anticipated Arrandale processors.  The 13-inch MacBook Pros keep the Core 2 Duos (with modest speed increases and 10 hours (!!) of battery life) while the  15-inch and 17-inch models step up to Intel Core i5 and i7 processors.  Apple now also offers a 512GB SSD as a $1300 build-to-order option as well.

Entry level prices for the 15-inch MacBook Pros have increased $100 (but got discrete graphics) though Apple has also brought its higher level configurations down in price.

Apple went with the NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M graphics cards for the 15 and 17-inch models which appear to yield some pretty impressive results:

Apple’s Press release follows…

Apple Updates MacBook Pro Line

Faster Processors, Next-Generation Graphics & Up to 10 Hours of Battery Life

CUPERTINO, California

Google has just posted here (iTunes link).  Screenies below.

Apple.com page spells out that iPhone OS 4.0 won’t support original iPhone or iPod touch

One of the bigger stories today was that some guy who didn’t read Apple’s iPhone 4.0 preview page (or 9to5mac) asked Steve Jobs a week later if Apple would support the original iPhone.  Jobs, as per usual, was short and sweet. 

“Sorry, no”. 

Of course, the blogbots all lined up and posted the news as if it were new information. (OK we’ve posted plenty of the Jobs emails but we like to think some of them reveal new information when we do.)

But why doesn’t Apple support the original iPhone (and iPod touch)? 

We know that the differences between the iPhone and the iPhone 3G aren’t really significant to to the OS update.  The 3G has a different Bluetooth chip, GPS and obviously 3G.  The processor, storage and memory are the same, with the exception of the 4GB original model.  

So why wouldn’t it be able to handle iPhone OS 4?  I’m not saying Apple should support original iPhones as in AppleCare, I just wonder what is preventing the OS from being installed on the original iPhone.

…and the iPod touch, which has an slightly faster processor clocking in gen 2 — that could be equalized with a firmware update — is also left out of iPhone OS4.  (From Wikipedia)

The second generation iProducts won’t do multi-tasking in OS 4 but it can be updated.  Generation 1 devices won’t update.  Why?

Pink is now ‘Kin’.  Microsoft’s phones are now appearing in Verizon’s phone database according to phoneArena.  The line will be called ‘Kin’, shedding the project codename Pink.   From the image, it looks like one model will be the ‘Kin One’ and the other will be ‘Kin Two’.   Microsoft had so far used “Turtle” and “Pure” to denote the Pink project phones.

Adobe has officially announced CS5 and is now taking pre-orders for the different suites and individual products.  Adobe has also updated each separate application’s page: Photoshop CS5, Flash Professional CS5, Illustrator CS5, InDesign CS5, Premier Pro CS5 and Dreamweaver CS5.

Adobe will have a live streaming webcast at 11am ET.

Here are two demos of new Photoshop features: [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nAklIkMy4g&w=700&h=500] [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NH0aEp1oDOI&w=700&h=500]

http://s.wsj.net/media/swf/main.swf

(Sorry about the Flash Video – the WSJ was supposed to update to HTML5, weren’t they?)

Kara Swisher interviews Adobe CTO Kevin Lynch.  I’m wondering at what point Adobe says feckit and builds Flash for Jailbroken iPhones.  That’s about the only way their apps are going to get on Apple’s mobile devices.  By the way, here’s an interesting take on the situation called “Sorry Adobe, you screwed yourself.” 

According to a Reddit User, Microcenter has a few new Mac systems.  Yeah, them MacBook Pros again.  We’ll see on Tuesday…full screenshot below.  Here’s how they might break down:

15″ Base MC371LL – $1799 (up $100?)
15″ middle of the roadMC372LL – $1999
15″ High endMC373LL – $2199
17″ MC024LL – $2299
All Discrete graphics (obviously with Core i7)

The breakdown seems similar to that Kiwi post we had a few months ago.

Apple has started to reject apps with the word “Pad” in their title that do not explicitly use wording such as, “runs on,” “for,” “for use with,” and/or “compatible with.”  Jesse Waites, maker of ContactPad (iTunes link) sent us a shot of an email he received from Apple yesterday regarding an update to his app.

It should be noted that Apple has a similar policy with regards to the use of “iPod” in app titles.  It appears developers will have to refrain from using such naming strategies for the iPad as well.

Check out the email from Apple below:

more below…

Multiple notes accounts:

Maps already has GPS status bar icon.  Wouldn’t it be cool if that icon was a compass too?

SMS now has a counter for characters:

more coming here soon…

Tomorrow’s sneak peak at the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad v4.0 (Can we just call these devices, as a group, iPX?  Novell won’t mind!) has a lot of expectations hanging on it.  No doubt Apple will surprise us with some technology we hadn’t even considered, but there are a few expectations out there.  Here’s a list of things I can think of:

1. Multi-tasking.  Of course the iPhone already multi-tasks with some of its own apps (music, email, phone, etc.) but developers are looking for Apple to allow some of their third party apps.  The most obvious are music apps like Pandora and Spotify as well as instant messaging/VoIP apps like AIM and Skype.

2. Printing.  Seems Apple has future plans, now would be as good a time as any.

3. iAds for developers.  It sounds like developers are going to have access to Apple’s Quattro service, perhaps directly from the SDK.  That will make developing free apps even easier.  Tomorrow?  Why not?

4. Video Chat.  We found the icons in the OS before Apple deleted them.  We know they are coming.  Apple might not mention this because no iPx hardware supports it yet, but there is a good chance we’ll see it in the next OS.

5. Some iPad 3.2 features like Bluetooth keyboard and the ability to save documents and sync them to your Mac might find their way to iPhones.  Also maybe watching Youtube HTML5 video embedded in websites?

6. Tethering.  Maybe, just maybe. Maybe Apple makes a way for AT&T to slow down tethering enough not to destroy its network.

7. Mapping in iPhoneOS is sorely lacking and one of the few areas Apple has fallen behind Android.  I’d like to see some more layering, voice search for car, turn by turn and anything else they can come up with from the folks at PlaceBase.

8. With more services like Brightcove and Vimeo offering HTML5 versions of their videos, Apple may have a solution similar to what they offer to embedded Youtubes. 

9. iWork is on the iPad, perhaps we’ll see some of iLife’s photo and video editing apps get touch versions.

10. It is probably too early but we could see new iPhone hardware, especially if it is needed to explain some of the iPhone 4’s new software (like video conferencing).

Some other stuff I just thought of/remembered:

– FM Radio Tx/Rx App

– A dashboard/homescreen 

– More Facebook integration (lots have said the invite looks ‘Facebooky’)

– unified inbox in Mail.app

– wireless syncing to the MobileMe cloud, which in turn syncs back to Mac

Justin Long (Mac) told the Onion’s AV section that Apple’s iconic ‘Get a Mac’ ads might be done.  In fact, he’s heard from John Hodgman (PC) that Apple was “moving on”.

AVC: what