World of Apple

Tesco the food retailer has opened a dedicated area in its Milton Keynes Store selling Apple products.

The display includes an interactive iPod point and on display are quite a few laptop and desktop models.

We heard a few weeks back about Apple concealing a text file in the depths of OS X by the name of “Don’t Steal Mac OS X.kext” but now Apple have evidently taken it one step further, astute hacker maxxuss has found a little poem with the OS.

Your karma check for today:
There once was a user that whined
his existing OS was so blind,
he’d do better to pirate
an OS that ran great
but found his hardware declined.
Please don’t steal Mac OS!
Really, that’s way uncool.
(C) Apple Computer, Inc.

Apple has expanded its warranties to allow a global service coverage, the update applies to Apple servers, iPods, portables, displays and desktops.

This is particularly useful for those travelling although we should note that portables have always been covered by a global warranty due to the fact they’re built for travelling with.

“Customers who seek service in a country other than the country in which the covered product was purchased will have regional-regulated parts replaced with an equivalent, regional-specific part,”

Apple has posted an update to Mac OS X Tiger,10.4.5 weighs in at a measly 6.4MB and is described as the following by Apple:

The 10.4.5 Update is recommended for all users and includes general operating system fixes, as well as specific fixes for the following applications and technologies:

- iChat video conferencing
- Safari rendering of web pages
- usability of Dashboard and widgets
- viewing of QuickTime streaming media behind a firewall
- printing to some Epson printer models
- iDisk and Portable Home Directory syncing
- time zone and daylight savings for 2006 and 2007
- VPN connections to Cisco servers when using NAT
- compatibility with third party applications and devices
- previous standalone security updates

Detailed info over the jump
(more…)

Earlier today the US Apple Store was down with the usual message when it returned it didn’t look like much had changed but it appears Apple has added the option to upgrade your MacBook Pro to 2.16GHz.

The option is yet to appear on the UK Store.

[Update 1]

Apple have given a press statement regarding the upgrades.

The $2,499 model now includes a 2.0 GHz Intel Core Duo processor, up from the previously announced 1.83 GHz, and will begin shipping this week. The $1,999 model now includes a 1.83 GHz Intel Core Duo processor, up from the previously announced 1.67 GHz, and will begin shipping next week. In addition, customers may now upgrade to a 2.16 GHz Intel Core Duo processor as a build-to-order option on the Apple Online Store.

Apple posted a job description on February 10th seeking an individual with interest and knowledge in handwriting recognition. Apple writes “Are you passionate about providing handwriting solutions to end customers? Do you strongly believe that using a stylus and a tablet is the way to interact with computers?”

Apple Handwriting Recognition team is seeking an engineer who will be responsible for advancing gesture and handwriting recognition on Mac OS X. The ideal candidate will be an expert in the area of pattern recognition, with an excellent understanding of handwriting recognition issues

Although Apple have filed gesture and handwriting related patents many years ago the recent flurry of patent filings and now this job opening shows considerable interest from Apple about these technologies.

Apple has released Backup 3.1 through its Software Update utility. The update is described accordingly by Apple:

“Backup 3.1 delivers added support for some backup destinations and addresses file restoration and other issues. Backup 3.1 is recommended for all users of Backup 3.0. Significant areas addressed are: improved support for iDisk, local hard drives, and some network destinations (Mac OS X Tiger only); new iWeb QuickPick and updated iLife plan; and addresses issues with restoring files.”

The CoStar realty group has posted information referring to the signing of a deal between Apple and IBM over a 116,830 square foot building.

The building is at 10400-10450 Ridgeview Court in Cupertino.

“Apple Computer signed a deal for the entire 116,830-square-foot building at 10400-10450 Ridgeview Court in Cupertino. About 56,315 square feet was a direct deal with the landlord and the remaining 60,515 square feet was a sublease from IBM,” Lindsay Austin reports for CoStar Realty.

The US, UK and German online Apple Stores are all showing no further availability of the 17″ iMac G5.

Previously the price of the 20″ imac was dropped obviously to encourage more sales.

Stocks of PowerBooks remain fairly healthy.

Apple has today quietly released its first Universal Binary pro application.

Logic Pro 7.2 is native too Intel systems and can be purchased for $49 (£35) by owners of Logic Pro 7. Version 7.2 also packs some new features including, Apogee Ensemble, Digidesign Pro Tools HD 7 DAE support, Serato Pitch ‘n Time support, Garageband 3 compatibility.

The full version of Logic Pro 7.2 is available for $999 (£699)