9to5 Staff

So, one of our readers, Dave – who happens to be an expert at PCB design, has spent some time looking at the Mac Mini image posted today and he believes it is a fake.  There have been many posts around the web on why.  We’ve put it all together for your consideration.

Firstly, the dispersion of artifacts isn’t consistant with an unedited image:

Also, within a given area that is unedited and consistent, a single macroblock type will be used.
If the macroblock type changes, it indicates editing of the image.  Like so:

But the most damning evidence comes from Dave himself, who noticed that the Mini DisplayPort and Mini DVI aren’t lined up with where the motherboard is.  While Apple could have lifted the ports, that kind of setup weakens the joints.  Would Apple risk this type of behavior on the back of a consumer level machine – on the monitor port, the one which will likely incur the biggest load?

Probably not.  They stick with the most conservative, reliable hardware designs following strict rules, which is most of what Unibody is about.  Fewer parts, more rigidity.

So, unless Apple has decided to use a mini-DVI and DisplayPort socket that break a steadfast rule of reliability in design, it’s a fake.

…Plus it is on a IKEA faux wood vinyl laminate floor.

Woz is definitely the man.

He’s really got this retirement thing down.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pe8AZcl_FLw&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&feature=player_embedded&fs=1]

Mac Rumors forum member Monthy posted what is likely to be the next Mini.  Or a very solid Photoshop. 

He/she gave the following specs:

Intel Core 2 Duo 2GHz 3MB L2 cache
2GB RAM DDR III, 1066MHz
Super Drive is SATA

Do you need 5 USB ports?  Thoughts?

Shrink the device but keep the screen the same size and what do you get?  Slightly bigger than a credit card.  We’ll take 10!

from Falco Walde in Germany

Apple today EOL’d the 20 inch cinema display.  Whether that means a new 20-inch ultra-shiny Mini DisplayPort LED w/camera version is on the way or not is anyone’s guess.  The new 24-inch has had its fans (quality+camera+MacBook power adapter) and critics (price+shine), but it certainly seem like it is the direction Apple is headed.  It also means a desktop product refresh in the coming month is more likely.  Update: Also, Apple has lowered its prices on refurbished iMacs.

It is a bit difficult to justify the high cost of Apple Displays currently.  For instance a similar Dell (With DVI not DisplayPort and TN vs. LED) including camera and superior resolution costs $279.  It actually looks pretty good and gets great reviews.  While we can pay a premium for Apple quality, the new displays cost MORE THAN THREE times the cost of a this Dell.  That is the kind of pricing difference that gives Apple a bad name.

…in fact, Trip Chowdhry thinks we won’t see an update until 2010.  Sure, Apple’s desktops haven’t been updated in over a year (10 months for the iMac) and are way overdue if you look at past upgrade cycles.  His argument is that "nobody is buying anything right now" which is categorically untrue if you look at yesterday’s Changewave research reports. 

Chowderly isn’t the only one who sees Apple’s desktops sales falling.  "iMac sales went to hell in December," said Charlie Wolf, a Needham & Company analyst.

Here’s the thing: Every single person we know who wwould be in the market for a desktop has been waiting for Apple to release a new product to hit the "buy button".  Look what happened to MacBook sales after their latest release.  There is absurd amounts of pent up demand.  Anyone else out there waiting for a refresh to buy?

Update: Apple is also selling current model refurbished iMacs at an all time low of $950

So, with that said, we really like the chances of a mid to late March desktop refresh. 

via MDN

For those of you looking for turn by turn GPS on the iPhone, you are already late to  the party.  MacRumors discovered that XRoad Co.’s G-Map U.S. West and G-Map U.S. East (iTunes App Store Links) apps were released into the App Store back in October and January respectively.  Originally, they didn’t have turn by turn and were apparently not rated so well.  But a few updates later and you have some turn by turn action and some much happier customers…

The application is almost a 1GB download so make sure you have a little bit of space left on your iPhone.  It also apparently "works" on the GPS-less iPod Touch.  Oh, a Europe version is on the way too. You can get the app from the following links for $19.99

G-Map U.S. West and G-Map U.S. East

More screenshots and video below:

Boxee got a little letter in the mail this week from ol’ Hulu requesting that they no longer incorperate Hulu in their little system.  Rather than go up against a consortium of the world’s biggest media companies, the team of programmers has complied and Hulu content will no longer be available on Boxee.  Remember, there is always Understudy or, even better, Plex for you Mac-equipped Hulu addicts.  AppleTV?  Notsomuch.

The official bad news from Boxee below:

Friends,

boxee press kit: http://drop.io/iloveboxee
boxee blog: http://blog.boxee.tv

It’s not a pretty picture around the technology sector.  But there are some bright spots in Changewave’s latest survey.  Although Apple’s desktops are down significantly (we just heard our first tip of a desktop hardware update – more on that), MacBook sales remain strong.

Within the shrinking overall PC spending environment, Apple (AAPL) planned laptop purchases (30%) for the next 90 days have improved 3-pts since our previous survey in January. But at the same time, planned desktop purchases (26%) have dipped 2-pts.

…and Apple’s customer satisfaction remains way out in front of the pack.  Not a big shock there really…

…the rest is all carnage.(PDF link)

I’ve made my case for a $149 iPod touch over at Computerworld.  Thanks for your input ;)

…Many Apple customers (myself included) really wish Apple would build a Netbook.  I want an Apple Netbook not necessarily for the cheapness, but more for the smallness (though the cheapness wouldn’t hurt) and of course to be able to run OSX natively.  Apple has said, again and again, that they can’t make a Netbook that would compete in price with the ASUS, Acer and HP‘s of the world and they’d be proud to produce.  They simply can’t get their margins, design and production costs down to the levels that the PC makers can.  Or they choose not to. 

But, when questioned on this, Apple execs always end up pointing to the iPod Touch and iPhone platforms as Apple’s answer to the Netbook.  And they really have a great point.  The Touch platform has most of the same capabilities as a Netbook but is cheaper and smaller.

Maybe it is time to step it up in this area.  The 8GB iPod Touch is already a great deal for $200.  But really, the purchase is just the beginning of the customer’s relationship with Apple.  Then, there is the iTunes and App store.  While they’d need to sell around $150-$300 of music and apps to break even on a $50-100 price drop, the price point might open Apple up to a whole new level of customer…

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that offline web apps are on the way to iPhone and Android platforms in the form of Google Offline.  The trick is that newer browser technology allows the storage of cached information in database form.  In Firefox and Safari, you currently need Google Gears to do this.  Soon it will be built in (like in Chrome). 

Also, new betas of Firefox allow geolocation in the browser but as you can see from the video below, so do new versions of Webkit.  This should be standard in all browsers within a year.  The video from MWC 2009:

And also a Palm Pre running Google Maps as a web app, below

OK, we used up all of our good jokes in the title…and it wasn’t even that good.  But if you want to know what the inside of your MacBook 17 inch looks like, have a gander at iFixit’s take apart.

It really doesn’t look like rocket science to pull out the battery – it even has a nice lil’tab to help those with meat hooks.  For all of the griping about a non-removable battery, it doesn’t seem like it is that "non".

They also show you how to add a $99, 500GB hard drive.

From the Toys section, get an 8GB (refurb) iPhone for $99.  Damn the analysts!  This is the lowest price you’ve been able to get an iPhone for since right after Christmas when AT&T briefly had them at this price. 

More details

With activation of new voice and data plans, AT&T Wireless has several refurbished models of the iPhone 3G on sale, with prices starting at $99. With free shipping via 2-day delivery, that’s $50 off our mention from last week and tied with our December mention as the lowest total price we’ve seen. Sales tax is added where applicable. It features compatibility with AT&T’s 3G network, built-in GPS navigation with Google Maps, enhanced enterprise support, a 3.5" touch screen, at least 5 hours of talk time, and more. Note that a $36 activation fee applies. The deals:

We can’t decide if we really like this look as much as the hi-gloss 17 inch unibody…It almost seems like a last minute concession.  And is that even glass?

Whatever, we’ll take it!  More picts below:

Thanks

Here’s a comparison between the old 17 and the new Hi-shine version:

A new Google Code project dubbed understudy promises to deliver Hulu and Netflix right into your FrontRow interface.  We haven’t tried this yet (damn you work!) but will the second we get home.  Any takers out there?

Update: Hulu is working fantastically for us!  We have confirmation that Netflix works well, but you must be logged into your account in Safari (not Firefox).  Head to the comments for more details.

Description Understudy allows access to streaming video through the Front Row interface of Mac OS X. The user can subscribe to multiple feeds, and select a video to watch from them. Understudy currently supports Hulu and Netflix.

Understudy is stable, but is also a work in progress. Please feel free to report any problems on the issue tracker. If you would like to know about future releasees, please subscribe to the "Downloads" feed.

Understudy is not affiliated with any of the streaming video sites the plugin supports, and will only work in cases where those site would (typically this means you must live in the United States).

Too easy…

You’ve probably seen some of these before.  A few of these show some interesting thinking.  What is your favorite?

From Toxel.com

Microsoft is having a busy morning.  They introduced Windows Mobile 6.5 (which looks a bit like another phone OS weve seen)  and Windows Marketplace/Myphone, a unified storefront for the over 20,000 Windows Mobile applications.  Those copy machines never quite stop. 

http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=3240086&server=vimeo.com&show_title=0&show_byline=0&show_portrait=0&color=00ADEF&fullscreen=1
Windows Mobile 6.5 Running on HTC from Jesus Diaz on Vimeo.

They also announced, this weekend, a $250,000 bounty on the people involved in creating the Conflicker worm that has brought down millions of Windows Machines.  Nice work.

NVIDIA today introduced a new platform based on the NVIDIA Tegra 600 Series ARM based computer-on-a-chip that enables a $99, always-on, always-connected HD mobile internet device (MID) that can go days between battery charges.  NVIDIA says that this platform will enable OEMs to quickly build and bring to market devices that carriers can offer for as low as $99 (so subsidized real price being closer to $299) —bringing broadband connectivity and all of the Web’s HD content to the masses.  Could Apple be interested in something like this?  Sure.  But where would PA Semi fit into the whole thing?

The NVIDIA Tegra MID delivers:
* 720p and 1080p video playback
* Days of use between charges
* Full Wi-Fi and 3G connectivity
* Optimized hardware support for Web 2.0 applications for a true desktop-class internet experience
* A complete software solution including Microsoft Windows Embedded CE OS (bleh!), application viewers, full Internet browser, UI framework, board support package (BSP), software development kit (SDK), Web mail client, and more

You have to admit these specs look pretty tempting!