Apple

Why run a family pictures website, DNS or any other low CPU-use server on power-hungry Intel-based hardware when an AppleTV2 does the trick?  The folks at MacMinivault.com have set up a webpage on a AppleTV 2 (go ahead, try to take it down) jailbroken with httpd as an example of what can be served off of the little 6 watt, A4-powered dynamo.  Put 10 of these together and you’ll be using the same power as a single 60 Watt light bulb.

The Apple TV is running iOS 4.2.2 (obviously jailbroken) with lighttpd for a web server. You can see the webpage we set up by visiting atv.macminivault.com. We’ll keep an eye on the CPU load and watch the analytics to record how much traffic the Apple TV receives.

They say this won’t be a cost effective solution for their customers (8 GB of storage won’t cut it) but is a ‘fun experiment.’

What’s interesting is that Apple likely has an dual core A5-platform AppleTV coming out shortly which may push a little more into the Intel server space.  Perhaps more interesting is that the A5 chips could also make nifty little ChromeOS-busting terminals or even cheaper laptops.

If you want to create your own little AppleTV 2 server, they recommend the following:
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Skype dropped a new Mac Client on us today, a day ahead of the Super “Awesome” Facebook announcement that is rumored to include Skype.  New features for the unpaid version include “super awesome” background video chatting control bar.  Pony up a few bucks and get yourself up to Windows level (they got a head start on Microsoft tactics!) with Group video conferencing that looks and acts nothing like Apple’s built in iChat group teleconferencing (this was in 5.1Beta as well).  Also, screen and document sharing.

The Windows version – just to make sure it is one step ahead of the Mac version – got Facebook integration with the 5.5 update.

If you aren’t still at the standard 2.8 like us, have a look at the tips and tricks to see if you’re a good update candidate (we’re staying put).

We were pretty stoked two weeks ago to see the iPad version demoed only to have Skype go silent on the product last week.  We’re thinking it might be happening at the Facebook introduction on Wednesday….about the same time as the Google Plus App hits.  Via TechCrunch
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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufdXy_NZjXc]

Apple packages an elegant little USB key with its MacBook Airs that allows you to restore Snow Leopard if your machine goes south.  But with many people upgrading to Lion, few will want to go through the process of downgrading to Snow Leopard and again to Lion if the machine goes bad.

Here is a way to upgrade your USB Key to Lion as well as your MacBook Air.

MacBenTosh has posted (thanks, Danny!) a video guide showing how to format the restore key into a drive that works like a normal 8GB rewritable Flash drive. To follow along with the instructions in the video you’ll need an instance of Windows running in a virtual machine, Boot Camp or a separate PC.  After restoring, the key will be shown as a 8GB drive.

From that point, Egg Freckles has posted a guide on how to create a Lion disc. Of course Lion will only be available from the App Store (or Dev site), but it’s nice to have a local, external installer.

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Have you ever wanted to get your hands on an iPhone that Apple engineers have used for testing? If you’ve got 5 figures to blow on a non working phone, now’s your chance because an iPhone 4 prototype has shown up on Ebay. The listing comes from a user by the name of jtmaxo, who lists the device as ‘Apple iPhone 4 black APPLE GENUINE PROTOTYPE, GENUINE’. In the description the users states the device as a GSM iPhone labeled with the model number XXXXX FCC ID: BCGAXXXXX IC ID: 579C-AXXXXX.

Just like Gizmodo’s iPhone 4 prototype, the volume buttons are missing ‘+’ and ‘-‘ labels and storage information (XXGB) on the back of the device. Also, the seller says the device won’t activate through an AT&T SIM card plugged in through iTunes. Lastly, on the front of the device a ‘DF1692’ label is shown, which is thought of as a tracking code used by Apple. When the seller searched the serial number on Apple.com, it returned no results. So, where did the seller get this device?

(update: the prices keep fluctuating.  It was over $100,000 last night but somehow is down to $7K this morning.  Apple will likely pull this auction anyway.)

via This is my next

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Update: October 26th: Seagate just released a firmware update

The Post PC age is upon us and we’ve now got new iOS devices in all shapes and sizes in our homes.  But getting and sharing media to all of these many devices starts to become a chore, especially when on the go.  One solution is moving media into an Internet-connected NAS or the (i)Cloud.

Unfortunately, pulling that data down to your iDevice when you are on the go, especially high quality video, can be an expensive burden on your wireless data plan.  Just a few movies can put you over your monthly data limit.  And that’s where you have a speedy Internet connection that can handle a full screen movie.  And what do you do when there is no signal (camping?) at all?

Seagate thinks they have a solution to this problem with their new $200 Goflex Satellite 500GB hard drive.  Read on for the full review:

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In April, Apple originally filed a lawsuit against Samsung saying Samsung’s Galaxy Tab copied the iPhone and iPad. Soon after, Samsung filed a counter-patent suit against Apple and asked to see the iPhone 5 and iPad 3. Seeing the unreleased devices was denied by a judge earlier this year. This week Samsung has dropped their counter-patent suit.

The suit was dropped on June 30th, but Samsung will continue to fight patents with an earlier counter-patent suit.  While Samsung dropped the suit in the U.S., it won’t affect other patent suits they have. Besides the U.S., Samsung has lawsuits against Apple in South Korea, Japan, Germany, and the U.K.

Samsung’s spokesperson Nam Ki Yung told Bloomberg the counter-suit was dropped “to streamline the legal proceedings”. Nam also told Bloomberg, “Samsung will continue to actively defend and protect our intellectual property”.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAYLSfeE0wI]

SupermanofSteel reports that as part of their new refresh of their lineups called “52”, DC will do “Day and Date digital” which means the same day that comics are available in the store, they will be on the iPad.  Double good news for digital comics fans.
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As one might expect, the GM Seed of Lion looks like it is making the rounds in the Torrent sites.  This is interesting this time around because Apple is distributing the install via the App Store (for a very reasonable $30) which has tracking codes embedded in the download.  That means whoever leaked this is probably going to get in some trouble.  We’re assuming most people who choose to download this version will be doing so for the two week head start rather than trying to save $30.

Might be better to just plunk $99 down for a developer account?

Related articles

• Help: How to make a Lion Client into a Lion Server (9to5mac.com)
• Apple to ship OS X Lion on July 14th (9to5mac.com)
• Apple may surprise with June 14 launch of Mac OS X Lion (9to5mac.com)
• OS X Lion Golden Master seeded to developers ahead of July launch (9to5mac.com)
• Find my Mac likely launching with Mac OS X Lion (9to5mac.com)

A consortium including Apple Inc, Microsoft, EMC Corp, Sony, Ericsson, and BlackBerry maker Research In Motion bought bankrupt telecommunications gear maker Nortel Networks Corp’s remaining portfolio of 6000 patents for $4.5 billion, in an auction that began early this week.

RIM reportedly paid $770 million, Ericsson paid $340 million.  It wasn’t immediately clear how much Apple paid.

Google had originally opened bidding with a $900 million bid.  The consortium of strange bedfellows will split up the portfolio based on the split of the purchase price.

The sale is subject to Canadian and U.S. court approvals which will be sought at a joint hearing expected to be held on July 11.  Full press release follows:

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We’ve been hearing reports of minor – not severe – white MacBook constraints as early as last week. The white MacBooks are not even close to as constrained as the MacBook Air and the Mac mini – which is in fact constrained as well – but the process leading up to a product refresh is booting up. Now, we’ve discovered that Best Buy is marking the $999 white MacBooks as “backordered” in their systems.

This is the same system that currently marks the constrained Mac minis as “backordered,” as we reported two weeks ago. Looking deeper into BestBuy’s online store, the major Apple reseller is quoted new white MacBook shipments between July 15th and July 27th. We’re not saying that this backordered status means a refresh for the MacBook, as this can just be indicative of Apple loading OS X Lion – rumored to be launching in mid-July – on to the consumer notebooks. More after the break:

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At this point, it seems pretty obvious that Google means business with the Google Plus platform. Besides all of the other areas Plus has engulfed, it looks like Google is heading into the gaming realm.  The above snippet was found in the Plus web page code

“have sent you invites and more from Google+ Games”

So now Google is taking on Microsoft’s Xbox and Apple’s Gamecenter? Perhaps Google might want to lower the barrier to entry.
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As with just about any new Apple product release, iFixit has torn apart the Thunderbolt cable. Why a boring cable?  iFixit has revealed that the new Thunderbolt cable actually has active chips inside, making transfers  faster.

We found two Gennum GN2033 chips in the connector, one on each side. They were flanked by other, much smaller chips that surely added to the cable’s cost: two chips labeled S6A 1JG on one side, and chips labeled 1102F SS8370 and 131 3S on the other. Of course, there were tons of little resistors (providing impedance as needed) all around the larger chips.

Thunderbolt’s release on MacBook Pros and iMacs should be followed by new Macs coming soon. Inside the cable chip housing below
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New MacBook Airs are right around the corner and just about everyone is expecting to see a Thunderbolt port, FaceTimeHD and Sandy Bridge processors.  Apple could even update storage and RAM pricing.

But what else could these new Airs have under the hood?  Put your answers below and any additional items in the comments.

Apple’s new MacBook Air line has been expected for weeks now, with evidence supporting a refresh coming by way of constraints at global retailers and most recently at major Apple reseller BestBuy.com. Although this refresh has been expected, a well-sourced and specific launch time frame is yet to emerge. Now, we’ve been told that Apple is gearing up to launch their upgraded line of ultra thin notebooks in mid-July.

The rumors regarding what the new laptops will feature have been conservative, and according to a person who has seen the new MacBook Air, exterior changes (if any) were so minute that they were not noticed. In other words, don’t expect to be able to tell this mid-2011 MacBook Air apart from the late-2010 model. That is, except for the Thunderbolt logo that sits in place of the Mini Display port logo.

Also, as expected, these new models will pack Intel’s Sandy Bridge processors and are likely the models that Intel recently made available for thinner notebook lines:

• Core i7-2677M: 2 cores, 1.8GHz (turbos to 2.9GHz), 4MB cache, 17 watts, $317
• Core i7-2637M: 2 cores, 1.7GHz (turbos to 2.8GHz), 4MB cache, 17 watts, $289
• Core i5-2557M: 2 cores, 1.7GHz (turbos to 2.7GHz), 3MB cache, 17 watts, $250

In addition, the new notebooks, launching in mid-July, come with OS X Lion pre-installed. Apple shipping out their next-generation operating system with these new Macs would also mean a mid-July launch for 10.7 Lion. An exact release date for both products is yet to be pinpointed, but we’ve been hearing rumblings about July 14th, which is a Thursday.

Also, Apple is holding their financial results conference call on Tuesday, July 19th. Apple typically releases products during the days leading up to the financial results announcement (so they have something interesting to talk about). iPhones and iPads often are released the Friday before earnings, which would be the 15th.

Of course, Apple’s traditional product launch day is Tuesday, which would be the 12th or the 19th. In any case, we’re looking at Lion and new MacBook Airs in about 2-3 weeks. We are also looking, according to recent reports, at new Mac minis and Mac Pros soon after these upgraded MacBook Airs.

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Following the Thunderbolt firmware update for Macs, Apple has published three new support documents pertaining to the new $49 Thunderbolt-to-Thunderbolt cable released Monday, using Thunderbolt with Boot Camp and Windows 7 and some tricks to get the best performance from Thunderbolt. Here’s what you need to know…

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwnJ5Bl4kLI]

You have to be intrigued by Google’s ambitious attack on Facebook here, in much the same way they are competing with Apple in mobile devices, Microsoft in DesktopOS and Office and Oracle/Microsoft in Enterprise Apps.  It feels like if there is a big market in technology, Google is there.

More coverage at 9to5Google.com
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Standouts from 9to5toys.com  (Twitter, Feed) today:

1.  InCase 900mAh iPhone 4 battery case (pictured) $29.95 plus FREE SHIPPING using this promo code – “dealnewssnapbatt05”
2. Ringke Case for 4th-Gen iPod touch for $10 + free shipping
3. rooCASE TPU Skin Wave Case for AT&T iPhone 4, more for $4 + free shipping
4. Maxell FireWire / USB Universal iPod Charging Dock for $7 + $5 s&h
5. Leather Case w/ Bluetooth Keyboard for Apple iPad 2, $2 credit for $40 + $6 s&h
6. Lenovo P950 Headset w/ Noise Canceling Mic for $10 + free shipping
7. Executive Capacitive Stylus / Ballpoint Pen for $9 + $3 s&h, more
8. Kensington BlackBelt Protective Band for iPad for $11 + free shipping
9. SquareTrade 2-Year iPad 2 Warranty for $70, more
10. Perhaps the best:  $2 of free music using this link and code CLOUDMP3 at Amazon

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgXUh1HrYOw]

TheNextWeb reports that Apple has begun returning the $299 purchase price of Final Cut Pro X to customers who are unsatisfied with the product’s features and capabilities.  Cupertino has begun issuing refunds to those who have filed an official request using Apple’s Mac App Store Customer Service form.

Some customers have received sympathetic email responses from Apple support staff, including:

“Moving forward, I understand that you are not satisfied with the app “Final Cut Pro”. I can certainly appreciate you would like a refund, and I would be more than happy to help you out with this today. In five to seven business days, a credit of £179.99 should be posted to the credit card that appears on the receipt for that purchase.

Please note that this is a one time exception because the iTunes Terms and Conditions state that all sales are final.”

This is an interesting gray area because Mac Apps purchased through the Mac App Store aren’t usually up for return so long after they are purchased (unless you re in Taiwan).  Whereas boxed software, especially Pro level stuff, usually has a longer guarantee even if there are restocking fees.
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There has been a big stink (several actually) about Final Cut Pro X’s lack of ‘Pro’ features.  One such glaring omission has been the lack of Final Cut Pro 7 XML imports.  MacMagazine.br did some digging and found that the code for doing Final Cut Pro 7 imports is actually inside Final Cut Pro X and for some reason hadn’t been enabled for shipping.

As per usual, Apple will likely enable that functionality (and many others that are missing) in updates to Final Cut Pro X.  If you are daring, MacMagazine offers a workaround that might be able to import now (they haven’t yet tested).

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As we broke last night, Apple is now carrying Thunderbolt parts. The Pegasus RAID units just showed up but we noticed something a little odd:

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Interesting combo.  Currently the Mac Pro doesn’t have a Thunderbolt port.

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So yeah, Apple art team either jumped the gun, used the wrong equipment, or pre-announced the new Mac Pros.  We were hoping for a slight redesign which doesn’t look to be the case (see what I did there?)…
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Apple is set to release their own accessory for data transfers and display connections between Thunderbolt Macs. The accessory is coming in the form of a cable with both ends featuring connectors for the Thunderbolt I/O port. As we already know, this port is the same size as the Mini Display ports on current and past generation Macs.

These Thunderbolt cables are perfect for data migration between Thunderbolt Macs (currently the iMac and MacBook Pro) as well as for display connections. Although Apple’s LED Display supports Thunderbolt Macs, this new cable might be a hint at a new Apple LED Display with a Thunderbolt port. Perhaps today’s Thunderbolt update has something to do with the new cord.

Additionally, this new cable comes ahead of new MacBook Airs, Mac minis, and Mac Pro with Thunderbolt I/O in the coming weeks.

Thanks, Mr. X!

Update: Apple has officially released the new cable. It’s $55 AU, £3,9.00 in the UK, and… $49 in the U.S.

Thunderbolt technology supports blazing-fast data transfer with two independent channels of 10Gbit/s each. Use the Apple Thunderbolt cable to connect your Thunderbolt-equipped peripherals to your new iMac or new MacBook Pro.

Apple Thunderbolt cable can also be used for Target Disk Mode between two Macs that support Thunderbolt, or to use a new iMac as a display for a MacBook Pro equipped with Thunderbolt.

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