Filed under: Desktops, Media PCs

While rumors were a swirlin’ in the days leading up to Apple’s “It’s Showtime” event, one thing we didn’t exactly forecast was a refresh in the Mac mini lineup. Nevertheless, Apple bumped its most minuscule Macs by tossing in Intel Core Duo processors, while leaving just about everything else (including price points) the same. In case you’ve been dreaming up a homegrown media center or recording studio, and need to know if the revamped mini would fit the bill, Macworld’s review crew has the scoop. Reviewers admired the inclusion of Core Duo chips in both high and low-end models, the built-in WiFi / Bluetooth, and the “admirable” Front Row performance. Aside from praising the small footprint (and the “impressive versatility” it allowed), they found the “10 to 15 percent” performance boost quite helpful in the typical media center related tasks, but (as expected) didn’t hesitate to slam the weak integrated Intel GMA 950 graphics set. Overall, the speedier new Mac earned a 4 out of 5 ranking, and was deemed an “excellent, fully-featured system” — so be sure and hit the read link for the complete critique on the this maxed-out mini.

 

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SPONSORED BY: BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time.

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

And in other news, it’s a chilly 32 degrees in Hell today, and we just saw a winged pig buzz by our window.

[Thanks, Mikami]

 

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SPONSORED BY: BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time.

Filed under: Desktops

If you’re still fence sitting on whether or not the 24-inch iMac would appropriately fill the gaping expanse on your desk, and the unboxing photos, impressive Core 2 Duo benchmarks, and promise of “upgradable graphics” haven’t convinced you just yet, maybe a full-fledged review will relieve the hemming and the hawing. PCMag has given Apple’s biggest all-in-one about as much praise as any glossy white device can handle, while finding little to harp negatively upon; reviewers were quick to espouse the machine’s prowess in nearly every aspect imaginable, calling it “a system that photo, video, music and even graphics enthusiasts could love.” More specifically, they admired the brightly lit LCD, “zippy” performance in OS X, better than expected gaming performance (in Windows XP, of course), and tight Front Row integration. The only notable digs were it’s sluggish 3D results in OS X (surprise, surprise) and the disappointing lack of a built-in flash card reader or TV tuner. Regardless, PCMag handed out a 4.5 out of 5 rating (along with an Editor’s Choice award), and proudly stated that returning their test unit would be tough — so if you still aren’t swayed, hit the read link for the full rundown.

 

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SPONSORED BY: BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time.

Filed under: Portable Audio

Remember how yesterday when we posted about the iPod nano dock fashioned from its own hollow husk, and we said what we really wanted to see was an iPod dock made from an old iPod? You can imagine our surprise when reader Andrew Monks did just that, and emailed in to give us photographic evidence of him tearing open his existing iPod dock, jamming it through the top end of his 2G iPod (which we really hope wasn’t still functional), pushing it through a slot he fashioned in the glass of his defunct screen, and properly securing it to make an iPod dock out of his old freaking iPod. We’re still a little dumbfounded, but we think this could be the start of a very wonderful, very cannibalistic trend in consumer electronics.

 

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SPONSORED BY: BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time.

Filed under: Laptops

The funny thing that happened when Apple decided to make the switch to Intel was they couldn’t any longer espouse the merits of their typically non-standard processor architectures as, um, apples and oranges with PCs. In other words, Apple had to start keeping up with the jonses in a very flat, discernible, and easily quantifiable way: PC speed benchmarks (which were made even easier with Boot Camp). So yeah, you could say we find it a little odd that since being announced in late July (i.e. two months in real-life time, or six years in Engadget time) and shipping in August, we’ve yet to see only one prominent manufacturer neglect to launch some Core 2 Duo laptops of their own. So it’s on shaky faith we tell you that the latest in an already irritatingly long line of C2D MacBook (Pro) rumors has Cupertino’s entire line of laptops done with the damned upgrades, and company just waiting on the marketing department to line ‘em up and knock ‘em out. Of course, it would be market-suicide if they didn’t launch these before the holiday season (unless they wanted to bundle them with Vista that is — we kid!), so don’t be surprised if you wake up to some new Apple laptops any day now.

[Thanks, Chris]

 

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SPONSORED BY: BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time.

Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment

It’s the stuff fanboy dreams are made of: Google and Apple, sittin’ in a tree. In fact, if you nearly passed out when Stevie J. walked onto the stage the other day sans mock turtleneck, or started into hysterics when Larry Page rode into CES on the back of that SUV, you might want to sit down for this one. Google and Apple are supposedly, maybe, possibly talking up video interoperability with Google Video and Apple’s forthcoming iTV device. All we’ve got to go on so far is a quote from Google’s consumer product chief, Marissa Mayer, who has confirmed the two companies are “engaged in talks.” What level of iTV integration this indicates, if any, is yet to be seen, and with the usual amount of tight-lipped action we normal get out of Apple and Google, we don’t expect to know much more until the feature is upon us, but the addition of Eric Schmidt to Apple’s board of directors is a good sign of things to come. Plus, we’re sure good, video-ey things can happen with these two companies putting their heads together, and a bit of internet video can’t hurt a device that so far doesn’t look to have much more than DRM interoperability to set it apart.

[Via BBC News]

 

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SPONSORED BY: BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time.

Filed under: Media PCs

Many have tried, but few have conquered the Mac mini when it comes to keeping slim and looking fit. Lucky for us — or at least our Japanese friends — DosPara seems to have managed both feats, and they even tossed in some Core 2 Duo action in there, just to show off. We couldn’t really ask for much better specs on this little 1.7-inch thick dynamo. Beyond the 1.66GHz T5500 C2D processor, the box runs a dual-layer DVD burner, gigabit Ethernet, 802.11a/b/g WiFi, a 4-in-1 card reader, DVI and S-Video outs, and a TV tuner on the WMCE version. The 512MB of ram and 80GB HDD aren’t quite as exciting, but we’ll live. Unfortunately, the price isn’t so hot, at 122,580 Yen ($1,043 US) for the base version and 139,980 Yen ($1,191 US) for the WMCE unit. Still, we like what we see, and we think we’ll have to wish Apple and AOpen better luck next time.

[Via Akihabara]

 

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SPONSORED BY: BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time.

Filed under: Laptops, Transportation

Hoo boy, the fun just doesn’t end with this little Sony/Dell/Apple battery fiasco, does it? Virgin Atlantic is now the third airline to take issue with Sony’s exploding batteries, and is playing it safe by requiring the removal of batteries from all Inspiron, Latitude, iBook, PowerBook, MacBook and MacBook Pro laptops. Of course, that includes a wide swath of laptops that aren’t affected at all by the recall, but them’s the breaks. Virgin was gracious enough to allow laptop use without a battery — if you’re lucky enough to sit close enough to an in-seat power supply — but otherwise users of two of the most popular brands in laptops had better bring a book or prepare to acquaint themselves well with a few in-flight magazines.

 

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SPONSORED BY: BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time.

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

Ok, you’ve seen the unboxing of the new black iPod Nano, and of its colorful brethren, but all of us really want to see the new ultra-sexy 80GB model. Of course, from where we’re sitting, this little black beast’s brightness is starting to rival that of a solar flare — iLounge‘s photos definitely show a brightness differential between the new and the old iPod video. We haven’t heard if this big ol’ iPod isn’t having the same set of issues that the nano has been having when connected to Windows machines, though that may emerge later on. This first round of photos also shows that the search function does indeed work as big Steve showed us on Tuesday. We do wonder though how we’re going to use those alphanumerics for our songs by, say, ? and the Mysterians, or !!! (“chick-chick-chick”) on that scrolling search tool. Click ahead for another shot lavish photograph of our new favorite full-size iPod.

[Thanks, ben]

 

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SPONSORED BY: BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time.

Filed under: Portable Audio

Gutted, splayed, dissected, nekkid — whatever you call it — the disassembly of gadget hotness is a tradition of incalculable weight and precedence. It’s also dang fun, and today we have the second generation iPod nano‘s internals all spread out for your viewing pleasure. iLounge did the honors here, so head on over for the full collection.

[Thanks, Ben]

 

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SPONSORED BY: BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time.

Filed under: Features, Portable Audio, Portable Video

Obviously we’re all a little underwhelmed that the 5.5G iPod isn’t the true video iPod we thought would be debuted with the movie store, but the screen is definitely brighter, those hard drives are definitely bigger, and you really just can’t argue with a $50 drop in price. Or games, which cost a small chunk of change. But at least it’s nice to know what you’re getting yourself into here, and that’s a 5G iPod with a 60% brighter screen.

Pac Man! Haww yeah.

Ok, so it was a little out of focus, but this is the new 30GB model. Unfortunately the 80GB wasn’t around for size comparison, but we doubt it’s any larger than yesterday’s 60GB device.

This one’s a personal favorite of our spammers.

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Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

Folks, we woke up this morning to find that the Apple iTunes Music Store is down. You know what that means, don’t you?

T-minus 3 hours 45 min.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

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Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Man, Steve really must have people in a tizzy, the rumor mill is still glowing bright even at two in the damn morning. Up today we have:

• Apple New Zealand supposedly leaks 50GB / 80GB iPod dock adapter kit for Universal Dock system. Oook.
• TUAW has what could be (but probably isn’t) Steve’s itinerary, which highlights a new nano, widescreen video iPod, and the TubePort, a streaming home theater movie device that connects your TV to your computer via USB and grabs movies hosted by Apple.
• Core 2 Duo MacBook Pros, of course. (We were really trying not to say natch that time.)
• Updated nanos with larger capacities, battery lives, differing colors, and aluminum posteriors.
• iTunes 7 and 10.4.8 will be released.
• Ok, that’s more or less it right now.

So that’s not a lot, but we weren’t going to write those up (even though they’re a little too good to leave alone). Stick close for more, it’s gonna be a busy day — and feel free to hit us up with your late breaking rumors in comments!

[Thanks, Graham & dawnraid]

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Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

Last time we saw a banner shown at an Apple event was, well, last month for the WWDC 2006 extravaganza. But this banner, supposedly taken at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater in San Francisco for the event intended this Tuesday the 12th, pretty clearly depicts what appears to be the touchscreen (true) video iPod — that is, if it’s real. Of course, we can confirm nor deny anything, but obviously the churning machine that is the Apple rumor mill right now should not be discounted, friends. Two days until we all find out!

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Filed under: Desktops, Displays

With Apple’s “Showtime” event just around the corner and new minis and iMacs already on the market, there has been a surprising dearth of rumors surrounding the world-changing products that will inevitably be announced on Tuesday, so we’re here to fill that void with a juicy and plausible — but entirely unlikely — bit of dirt. The story goes like this: a gentleman calling himself “Jeff Foster” just happened to be working on his brand new blog (red flag #1) when a friend of his who supposedly just got a job as an Apple rep decided to endanger his newly-acquired position by sending Jeff some blurry cameraphone shots from inside the storied halls of Cupertino headquarters (red flag #2). All three images that Jeff “received” depict a previously unmentioned desktop called the “MacTower” (positioned the exact same way in each photo — red flag #3), with one of the snaps (pictured above) blowing the lid off an all-new 24-inch Cinema Display complete with built-in iSight camera. This MacTower — which looks almost exactly like the PowerMac G5 of old (red flag #4) — is presented as a little brother to the recently-released Mac Pro, and reportedly sports a 2.0GHz Core 2 Duo CPU, up to 4GB of 667MHz DDR2 RAM, hard drive capacity maxing out at 1.5TB, a 16x SuperDrive, and of course, Bluetooth 2.0 and AirPort Extreme radios standard. Despite the many inconsistencies that make Jeff’s story sound dubious at best, we decided to pass the info along so you all can have a nice Sunday picking it apart and screaming “Photoshop!” in the comments; oh, and Jeff, you’re welcome in advance for sending a little traffic over to your blog’s “very first post” (red flag #5).

Update: Red flag #6 (perhaps the biggest of them all): Several astute readers have pointed out that a commenter calling himself Jeff Foster made the following remarks in another rumor post we ran on the first of this month: “I really just want them to release a smaller tower… you know, so they’ll have a mac mini, imac, something like a Mac Tower, and mac pro…” Coincidence? We think not. For shame, Jeff, for shame.

Update #2: Red flag #…oh what the heck, when the faker comes right out and openly admits to his scam, all flags get tossed to the wind. From “Jeff Foster,” in the comments section of this very post: “It’s something i threw together last night a little out of boredom and a little out of, well, no, i guess totally out of boredom. just having a little fun.” Upon much deliberation, we’ve decided not to unlink Jeff’s site; however, if you’re sick and tired of these frauds gumming up the rumor mill with this purposely deceptive crap, we encourage you to follow the Read link and let Jeff know exactly what you think of his little “boredom project.”

[Thanks, Mike C.]

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Filed under: Desktops

It’s been barely a few days since Apple released the new Core 2 Duo iMacs, but already the benchmarks are coming out. As usual, Macworld is among the first to spar with the new hardware. The lab concluded that compared to the previous iMac Core Duo models, the new models hit a 10 percent improvement over previous models in Macworld Lab’s comprehensive Speedmark Test over the previous models. As he explains, part of the advantage is also likely to come via the doubling of the iMacs’ L2 Cache to 4MB, which is, of course, contained within the new processor. We feel for the thousands of people who’ve already bought their Core Duo iMacs — only to have been surpassed by a 10 percent increase. Really.

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Filed under: Gaming, Portable Audio

Ok folks, let’s do a little role playing: imagine you’re some big manufacturing company in Taiwan. Just for argument’s sake, call yourself Foxconn Technology Group. Now imagine that your company produces one of the world’s most popular gadgets (call it the iPod) for a company in California (call them Apple Computer), and then two Chinese journalists also investigate and then your company later sues them for $3.77 million. Then, a British journalist investigates your factory and confirms that your workers are working in erm, questionable conditions — and even Apple starts looking into the matter. Upon further reflection of the absurdity of your lawsuit your company rescinds the lawsuit and reduces the damages to one yuan (12 cents). So, here’s the question: what is the next logical step in this crazy sequence of events? After studying every successful business guide that we could get our hands on and consulting with everyone from Bill Gates to Steve Jobs, we’ve discovered that the only possible, rational and meaningful subsequent business move would be to start selling Joan Mirò-inspired NVIDIA graphics cards. Yes, we knew they were coming as of a few months ago — but no, we don’t think that makes it a good idea now.

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Filed under: Desktops

One of the biggest bugbears that power users have had with the iMac range is the fact that the graphics card has always been impossible to upgrade, making each and every iMac tied to the graphics card that it comes with. Yeah, yeah, so what, it’s an all-in-one computer for general consumers, right? Maybe so, but until Apple releases a fully upgradable mid-range Mac, there will always be a community of not quite pro, not quite consumer Mac users that dream of buying an affordable and tweakable machine from their computer manufacturer of choice. That’s why the news that the 24-inch iMac’s graphics card is potentially upgradable is causing such a stir. Apparently Apple decided to opt for a Mobile PCI Express Module (MXM for short) as the connection method for the 24-inch iMac’s graphics card. This standard was originally designed by NVIDIA for use in high-end gaming laptops — indeed, the MXM’s official page exclusively mentions “upgradeable notebook graphics”. Unfortunately for the aforementioned mid-range Mac dreamers, this is far from a viable upgradeable graphics card solution. For a start, Apple has said that users won’t have access to the graphics card and even if hackers succeed in gaining access to the slot, there are currently no stand-alone MXM compatible graphics cards on the market: that makes this the modern day equivalent of the infamous mezzanine slot from the original, supposedly expansion slot-free CRT iMacs. So, if you’re a budget-minded Mac user comfortable with tinkering around in your machine, you better get back to praying for that Cube resurrection.

[Via TUAW]

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Filed under: Storage

Iomega must really like making hard drives aimed at Apple users, or either its MiniMax for the Mac mini and the new UltraMax 640GB drive are completely coincidental. Whatever the case, this new 640GB HDD rocks dual 320GB SATA drives in a RAID 0 or 1 array, and sports an enclosure that any Mac Pro (or PowerMac G5) owner can appreciate. It comes formatted for OS X use (HFS+), but can be reformatted for PC use, and Iomega apparently made cross-platform setup a breeze with the included “FAT32 format tools.” (What, no NTFS?) What differentiates this cheese grater drive from those lookalikes is its on-the-fly ability to turn RAID on and off, as well as offering a few more nifty options not typically found on external drives. Aside from the trifecta of USB 2.0, FireWire 400, and FireWire 800 connections, you get a manual RAID switch that allows you to turn off the RAID and use the drives as JBOD (i.e. where each HDD is treated with its own drive letter). If you’ve been hunting for flexible external storage options, and you’re a huge fan of brushed metal, the UltraMax 640GB can get paired up with your Mac (or PC) for $449.95 later this month.

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Filed under: Laptops

Oh, Apple, must you be so coy? For those of you who haven’t been keeping score at home, since their debut, some folks have reported that their MacBooks are turning off completely out of the blue, which is, erm, bad. Over at TUAW, they’ve been chronicling this problem for the last few weeks and have posted a possible explanation to this problem’s cause, and an unofficial test to see if your MacBook might be susceptible. Today, TUAW informs us of Apple’s first official comment on the issue: “If your MacBook is shutting down intermittently, please contact AppleCare for service.” Thanks, Apple — that’s about as helpful as telling us to remove our hand from an exploding PowerBook battery.

[Via TUAW]

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Filed under: Laptops

Somehow those good ol’ boys down in Texas got sneaky on us — while we were busy getting ready for Labor Day, Dell went and updated the Latitude, Inspiron, and XPS series with Core 2 Duo chips. Laptop took the new bumped Dell Latitude D820 for a spin and wasn’t dissappointed. This spiffy new laptop topped the charts on the magazine’s MobileMark 2005 test with an all-time high score of 308. Further tests showed that the Core 2 Duo scored high marks when processing more information at a time, such as running a virus scan while ripping a CD: the Core 2 Duo machine scanned 15,446 items and ripped the CD in 8 minutes 32 seconds while the Core Duo scanned 2,579 items and ripped the same CD in 6 minutes 36 seconds. We’re still waiting to see if Apple will follow Dell’s lead — maybe that’s what’s happening next week in San Francisco?

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Filed under: Desktops, Portable Audio, Portable Video

Yes, it appears that at least one part of the Apple rumor mill is true: there will be an Apple special event one week from today, on September 12, at 10:00AM Pacific (1:00PM Eastern, 5:00PM GMT) at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in downtown San Francisco — coinciding exactly with the opening day of the Apple Expo in Paris. Now for those of you keeping score at home, we may or may not see an updated nano, a new version of iTunes, a new Airport Express-type video streaming device, a new iMac, and/or possibly iTunes movie downloads. Or, his Steveness may pull another rabbit out of his hat entirely — either way, you’ll know where to find live, play-by-play coverage.

[Via MacUser, thanks to everyone who sent this in]

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Filed under: Home Entertainment

Ok, so in addition the new iMacs Steve is expected to announce on the event-that-may-or-may-not-happen on September 12th, and the updated Nano, the official announcement of movies on iTMS, we can also expect to see a standalone dedicated movie streaming device running an “updated version” of iTunes (not Front Row). Speculated to be a new movie-enhanced version of the Airport Express (or some like device). Kind of reminds us of the iHome rumor, or the Apple HDTVs rumor, but this one somehow seems a little more subtle and plausible. We’ve doubted their entrance into unexpected types of consumer electronics before (see: Hi-Fi), so who knows, maybe you’ll watch iTunes-downloaded movies on your video iPod (or iPod with video) as well as your TV, and without the need for a Mac mini cum media PC we’ve all been pining after, too.

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Filed under: Laptops, Portable Audio

In a move that will be seen as gracious by some, extortionist by others, Apple has offered to pay a New Jersey woman an undisclosed sum to rebrand a laptop bag she sells so that it no longer includes the word “pod” — but not before reminding her in a letter that she was in potential violation of the closely-guarded iPod trademark. Until recently, Medford Lakes resident Terry Wilson had been selling her protective case under the name “TightPod,” which as we all learned from the ugly little Profit Pod incident, is dangerously diluting the brand significance of Apple’s cash cow. Unlike the electronic Profit Pod, however — which Apple referred to as “a small, flat, round corned rectangular device with a display screen” — we can’t see all that many people confusing a furry computer case with the world’s most recognizable audio player. Still, you gotta do what you gotta do to proactively protect your brand, we suppose, so we’re just waiting by the mailbox to receive a big fat check that will allow us to begin the long, painful process of rebirthing the Engadget Podcast as the Engadget Zencast.

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Filed under: Portable Audio

Apple has settled a lawsuit filed by a Vermont-based company called Contois Music Technology, which alleged that the iTunes user interface violated a 1996 patent for a “Computer Control System and User Interface for Media Playing Devices.” Contois Music Technology claimed that Apple integrated elements from its patent into iTunes, and based its accusation on the fact that Apple employees were present at trade shows in the mid-90s where Contois Music Tech had demonstrated its software. Some of the functionality which the company claims was copied by Apple includes using a menu selection process to select music, the ability to search and sort music based on the genre, artist, and album, and transferring music from a library to a portable music player. As we reported last year when the lawsuit was filed, several other software packages capable of similar functionality existed around the same time as when Contois Music Technology was showing off its patented software (e.g. WinAmp), but as patent-infringement cases are notoriously expensive to fight, we’re not surprised that Apple decided to settle instead. As the exact terms of the settlement were not disclosed (read: how much Apple had to cough up), it’ll be hard to draw parallels between this and Apple’s recent $100 Million settlement with Creative over the menu system for the iPod: unfortunately, that also means we’ll have to wait until the next Apple lawsuit to hear more of that oh-so-subtle smack talk from Jobs.

[Via AppleInsider]

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