9to5 Staff

Zoikes!  Macworld labs just got done testing the new white MacBook and apparently it is a real screamer.  So much, in fact, that it blew right past the $300 more costly Unibody MacBook.  That’s right, the $999 $925 MacBook is faster than the $1299 MacBook.   Results are below (more at Macworld).

The good news for you fans of the aluminum is that Apple will most likely not let this aggression stand. We’re hoping to see more incremental updates at WWDC..maybe even with a little 3G/GPS juice.

Engadget does a great review of the Pre and didn’t seem to have the same keyboard gripes as BGR. In fact, they thought it was pretty revolutionary.

There’s no question that Palm has built this phone on the foundations laid by numerous devices before it — most obviously the iPhone — but the Pre clearly carves out its own path as well. Some of the ideas and concepts at play in webOS are truly revolutionary for the mobile space, breaking down lots of the walls that separate the experience of using a dedicated PC versus using a handheld device. One feeling that we were constantly stuck by while testing the phone was a kind of revelatory, ‘Hey, this actually feels how a computer feels.’ It was an experience not completely unlike our first encounter with the iPhone — that little light that goes on that tells you that things can really be different than how they’ve been before. We also felt that same thing the first time we picked up a Treo, so it’s fitting that the Pre should inspire a similar response.

Where the Pre really shined was processor intensive tasks like video, browser rendering and doing background apps. The Pre has a significantly faster ARM Cortex Processor than the current iPhone’s ARM 11 based system.

http://www.viddler.com/simple/8d7d4979/

It looks like this might just be the best phone on the market…at least for 2 days.

Apple dropping $1 Billion over 10 years on the Tar Heel State…

The rumors have been swirling for weeks, but as per the Governor’s words, it is official.  Gov. Beverly Perdue signed the incentives bill targeting Apple into law today.

"North Carolina continues to be a prime location for growing and expanding global technology companies," Perdue said in a news release. "We welcome Apple to North Carolina and look forward to working with the company as it begins providing a significant economic boost to local communities and the state."

The data center will only employ 50+ people full-time as the billion-dollar investment is made over nine years and includes mostly non-wage costs.

The tax break could be worth about $46 million in the next decade, according to a memo by legislative fiscal staffers. Apple could, however, save more than $300 million on its corporate taxes if the server farm is in place for 30 years, based on the memo.

Google Inc. opened a similar data center last year near Lenoir in the western North Carolina foothills. In 2007, state and local governments offered Google an incentives package worth up to $260 million over 30 years, one of the largest in state history, to land the $600 million data complex.

Sony yesterday released its answer to the iPod touch, the much-anticipated PSP Go.  It differs from the original PSP because it has a slide out controller and instead of needing cartridges, you can now download content and games over the Internet. While the "content+games over the Internet" isn’t such a new thing, they do have some impressive titles and it looks like the video hardware has been amped up a bit. We’ll likely see the future of the iPod/iPhone platform next week. It appears that Apple is focusing on apps for this years WWDC.

http://www.cnet.com/av/video/flv/universalPlayer/universalSmall.swf

You know the drill: Blurry, shady, doubtful.  (closeups below) via Gizmodo.

It’s no secret that Apple is morphing AppleTV into something bigger...with games. If and when Apple enters home gaming market, that product’s competition will come from Microsoft’s XBox. Microsoft wowed the audience at today’s E3 with their idea of the XBox of the future.  Keep in mind, this is only a concept at this point, much like Microsoft’s Surface was two years ago (and where are we now?).

Natal is particularly impressive given Microsoft’s recent past in home entertainment.

Notice that laptop is a Mac? That sticker leaves the Apple leaf uncovered.

If you’ve ever wondered how Apple went from two guys in a garage to a multi-billion dollar company, the first steps are now on display at the Computer History Museum. The IPO was donated by Mike Markkula, Apple’s first investor, who at one time was president of the company (and owned 1/3 of Apple).  The 30-page business plan was donated by Dan Kottke, Apple’s first employee.  He  built and tested the Apple I computer that Wozniak and Jobs had conceived in Jobs garage in 1976. 

You can see a snippet below.

Read More at CultofMac

Apple has concluded its large-scale push notification developer testing. In a final notification sent to testers (below), Apple let AP News users know that they’d no longer be receiving notifications…until 3.0 was official at least.

Forbes doesn’t think we’ll see an Apple-branded processor in the upcoming iPhone.  It is just "too soon" according to a variety of analysts they spoke with on the matter.

..turning that design into a custom design typically takes hundreds of millions of dollars and two years worth of work, says Forward Concepts President Will Strauss. Other analysts figure it could take another five to nine months for any product developed by Apple’s team to be ready.

What’s Apple’s next move?  We’re in full agreement with…

Instead, mobile industry analysts say Apple will most likely turn to a faster version of the application processor it now buys from Samsung if it opts for a speedier processor for the iPhone.

Such a shift could speed up the thousands of third-party applications already distributed for the iPhone via Apple’s App Store, some of which tax the iPhone’s current processor. It would also better position the iPhone to compete against the Palm Pre, which will go on sale June 6 and boasts Texas Instrument’s OMAP3430 mobile processor.

We’ve detailed, on a number of occasions, the ARM Cortex A8-based Samsung S5PC100 which is Samsung’s answer to the TI OMAP3430 Processor, the brains of the Palm Pre.  This would enable the iPhone to leapfrog the Pre’s computing power.

From the Toys section:

Amazon.com offers the Pure Digital Flip Video Ultra F230w Camcorder in White for $49.99. With free shipping, that’s $10 under our last mention and the lowest total price we’ve seen. (Our last mention included a free $20 Shutterfly reward card.) This VGA-quality camcorder holds up to 30 minutes of video on its 1GB of onboard memory. It offers USB connectivity and direct uploading to YouTube and AOL via the included software.

T-Bone, wherever you are...we want to believe.  We really would love to see a prosumer lense on an iPhone…even though we wouldn’t even consider betting on it.  Another big-lensed iPhone below.  Another one we’d snap up in a heartbeat.

We’ve known about iTunes 8.2 (actually if you had the 8.2 pre-release, you aren’t even prompted for an update) for some time.  Quicktime 7.6.2 rounds out the update. yada..

From the Toys Section:

The iTunes App Store offers Lonely Planet’s San Francisco City Guide for free. Particularly handy if you’re going to be attending the upcoming WWDC, this app is $16 off and the best deal we’ve seen for a guide to San Francisco.

Who’s got your back?

As reported around the web today, Best Buy is quickly running out of iPhones.  This is the time of year when you really don’t want to break/lose your iPhone.  From now until iPhone 2009’s release, you could be SOL.  At the moment AT&T and Apple still have them in stock…but for how long?

This one might have passed a lot of you by.  Mobile Safari in iPhone 3.0 will allow GPS calls directly in the browser.  Browser geolocation is a relatively new, but very exciting technology.   That’s how apps like Google Latitude will work as WebApps.  For developers, (or Firefox 3.5 users) you can check this out now by going here.  Full story at Computerworld.

http://vms.slashgear.tv/sgtv/sgtv_player.swf

The iPhone Blog (via MacRumors) alerts us to a pretty disconcerting new item about the mobile App Store.  Apparently Apple is going to start recharging users for re-downloading their apps?  iPhone developers who are using the iPhone 3 OS are getting messages similar to the one you see on your right-> 

Strangely, it isn’t all apps.    Today, we re-downloaded 30 MB Golf GL ($5) on the iPhone 3 OS without having to repay for it. 

Here’s what we’re hearing:

• Apps aren’t being recharged if they ‘re downloaded on a computer and synched over iTunes
• There seems to be a certain size limitation to the charging currently.  Somewhere between 5-10MB seems to be the cutoff.  But, we were able to re-download a 30mb app so…
• There are theories that it might have to do with thwarting counterfeiters or people who use one account for many devices.
• UPDATE: commenters are saying that it might be due to the capability in iPhone 3.0 to have multiple sign ins.  Therefore someone could just sign into your iPhone and install all of their apps.  Speaking of which, anyone with a SlingApp in the NYC area?
• This new feature will be universally disliked by all but the most hard core Apple fanboy.

Have an idea? Take the poll!

Two more pieces of the iPhone 3 puzzle hit the web today. Some dudes in Hong Kong got their hands on a prototype iPhone 3 and took it for a 3 AM spin. First, the often-rumored digital compass will have its own pretty application. It isn’t going to change the universe, but it is a nice touch.

Next, the camera looks to have a focus that you can control with your finger. As you are ready to take a shot, the little square can be moved to the part of the screen where you want the camera to focus. Pretty sweet.  We’re not aware of any cameras that operate in this manner.

more picts and some new stuff  below… (Btw, $5 to anyone who can read that CPU screenshot)

? ??????3:00?, ???????! ?????????????????, ???????????, ?????????H1N1, ?????????????iPhone ????, ???????, ??????iPhone????, ????????, ??????, ??????, ??????????????, ???! It is now 3:00 am, and I could not sleep! Because just with the United States to Hong Kong after the return home of friends, the friends I brought from the United States, of course, is not a terrible H1N1, but will be is one of the world’s third-generation iPhone that caught the attention of the engineering machine, he is a mysterious person, and even this third-generation iPhone is also very mysterious, he said that the impact can only be vague, non-high-definition video, because it can not open, so when we see The following fuzzy photos, please forgive me!

??, ????????, ????????????, ??????????????, ????????????iPhone ?????! In addition, because this is a project machine, body and appearance can not be disclosed, and some for sale and is there a difference between formal, so photos will not have any form of comparison of old and new iPhone!

??, ????????????????OS 3.0 ????iPhone?! Well, I believe we must be very anxious to see this with OS 3.0 the third generation of iPhone now!

???, ?iPhone?????????????, ???????? Rumors, the new iPhone’s camera lens is the autofocus, true ?????

??: Check it out:

??????iPhone ?????????????????, ?photo?movie . The above shows the lower-right corner of the new iPhone can select shooting or shoot video with film, that is, photo and movie.
??, ????iPhone?, ?????????????, ??????????! At this time, when you mobile iPhone, the screen will appear in a blue box, it is the function of AF!

????????????????, ?????????????????, ??????! If a finger on the screen by clicking on different places, then the focus will move the box under the finger-point the location to re-focus!

??, ???????????iPhone???????2G iPhone????iPhone?????: At this time, I can not help but get a friend came up to me brand new iPhone inside the 2G iPhone to iPhone and third-generation of photographic competition:


????????: (??????????; ??????2G iPhone?????) The following are test results: (the above is the effect of AF; Department the following is my 2G iPhone photographic effects)
???????????????, ??2G ??????:L The fact that AF is so clear, the Department of 2G is more than I do this: L

??, ?iPhone ?????????(compass)??, ????[????], ????????! In addition, the new iPhone more than the built-in compass (compass) software, a glance by the [truck], very useful for hiking trails!

????????????, ??????????, ?????????????! Of course, many also have the recording software, so the meeting minutes of the meeting most convenient to buy a gift when the Secretary of Miss ah!

??????, ????18000?, ??????! When the recent stock market Mong Kok, Hong Kong stocks back on 18,000 points, to be congratulated!
??iPhone ?OS 3.0 ??????????????, ????????! The new iPhone’s OS 3.0 show that in addition to a detailed price information can also be cross-screen display it!

??, ????????????MMS?, ?????2.2.1 ?????MMS???! Finally, of course, to try to send MMS and Internet access, because the current version 2.2.1 is no MMS function!
??????3.5G USB ?????????HSDPA SIM????! I immediately from my 3.5G USB finger only goes out unlimited HSDPA SIM card for testing!
?????????UMPCFEVER.COM ?DIGITAL.XY.HK Of course, very smooth and UMPCFEVER.COM can browse DIGITAL.XY.HK

??????????????, ????????, ????"SAVE IMAGE"????"COPY"??????????. Want to see on the page to download the picture, hold down the light so long as the picture, you can choose "SAVE IMAGE" to save or choose "COPY" to other programs for post-processing.

?SEND MMS ??????????, ?????????, ????! SEND MMS and is also very easy thing, and can also cross-screen typing, which is very convenient!

??, ??, ?????????????????iPhone????, ???settings??????CPU Activity ???, ????????????, ?????????! Finally, Finally, it is worth mentioning that this machine works with the iPhone will be sold a little bit different, that is, in many settings with a feature called the CPU Activity should be addressed to the engineering staff in the tests, as some information of Analysis!

??, ???????………………oh ! ????????…….???????????????……?????????iPhone?????????????! Well, late at night now ……………… oh! Should be the dawn soon with this ……. I have to cheer received a pen …… hope to launch next month a new version of iPhone really crazy and then let the global investment!

http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/cne_flash/production/media_player/proteus/one/proteus2.swf

It is nice to see that the iPhone will have some solid competition in the smartphone space.  Boy Genius loved just about everything about the Pre except the keyboard.  Strange, because that is one of the main differentiators between the Pre and the iPhone.  You’d think Palm would go out of its way to knock that one out of the park. 

Overall, they were impressed:  "The OS is great. There’s no ifs ands or buts; it’s really refreshing to see something that’s brand new with a UI unlike anything else out there."  Jon Rubinstein & Co should be congratulated for building a platform from scratch.

Honestly, we might not go out and buy one, but we’re itching to get our hands on one just to check out the OS.