Month of October , 2006

Apple has made available an update for iTunes, bringing it to version 7.0.2. It weights 25.7MB and has the following description:

With iTunes 7 and the new iTunes Store, preview and purchase high-quality hit movies plus new and classic games designed exclusively for the Fifth Generation iPod. Flip through your collection by album cover with Cover Flow, protect your iTunes library by backing up to CDs or DVDs, and much more.

UPDATE: Apple confirms that the second generation iPod shuffle will be available on November the 3rd.

Boot Camp 1.1.2 beta:

Apple has updated Boot Camp beta to version 1.1.2, its software allowing Intel-based Mac users to dual boot with Microsoft Windows.

The update includes improvements for Apple's keyboard and mouse, adds support for the latest Intel Macs and fixes bugs. Boot Camp is announced as future built-in Leopard feature.

Apple's "RED" nano, which was introduced a little more than two weeks ago, is seeing incredible demand while overall iPod sales remain strong, Apple Store sources recently told MacScoop.

Hundreds of thousand orders

The "RED" nano is Apple's first product that fights against AIDS, as for each purchase, $10 go to an AIDS-fighting foundation (see Join RED). It sports the same technical specifications and form factor as the mid-range 4GB iPod nano, but it comes in red, a color that was not available in iPod's line-up yet. The price is also unchanged at $199.

Digitimes - citing Chinese-language newspaper Commercial Times, - reports that Apple is working on a 15 inch for its entry-level MacBook laptops. Shipments of this new form-factor, similar to the MacBook Pro's line-up are said to be in schedule for May 2007.

Vincent Chen, an analyst at Credit Lyonnais Securities Asia (CLSA), was quoted by a Chinese-language Commercial Times report last week as saying Foxconn will start volume shipments of one new MacBook model to Apple by year-end, while Asustek will see its notebook orders from Apple cut by one-third in 2007.

According to a SEC filing Apple has posted on October the 27th, the NASDAQ has informed Apple that it will give more time to the company so as to provide its delayed 10K SEC filings.

The SEC filing posted today says that Apple's shares will not be de-listed from the NASDAQ if the company releases its SEC filings before Decemer the 29th.

Apple has posted four new downloads to its support section or through the Software update utility.

The first is an utility that allows iPod shuffle users to reset the device if it stops working. The utility can format the iPod shuffle and load a factory firmware on it. The update comes in Mac and Windows installation packages.

While the development of Mac OS X Leopard progresses, a few details are being revealed by rumour sites and Apple's developers web site.

ThinkSecret has posted some screenshots showing the latest build of Leopard and confirms some rumoured features, while a page in ADC (Apple Developer Connection) web site, a Leopard technology preview page has been posted.

Apple has started progressively opening its worldwide online stores, revealing the release of the company's new high end laptops, sporting Core 2 Duo chips.

The MacBook Pro's product page on Apple's web site has already been updated to reflect the changes.

Here are the new MacBook Pro configurations available:

UPDATE: The U.S. store has also closed. Typical scenario before a product release.

UPDATEx2: MacBook Pro product page is revealing Core 2 Duo chips at 2.16 and 2.33Ghz.

UPDATEx3: Apple has released the MacBook Pro Core 2 Duo

UPDATE (24/10 - 03:28 GMT): Reliable sources informed us that Apple will be releasing at least one product on October 24.

A source close to Apple informed MacScoop that the company may be preparing to launch refreshed notebooks by the next ten days.

Though the source only mentioned a possible update of the MacBook, both the MacBook and MacBook Pro line-ups are rumoured to be updated with the latest Intel Core 2 Duo processors released in September. If the new MacBook includes this new processor, it is obvious that Apple will update its MacBook Pro line-up at the same day or a little earlier.

This is neither Apple news or rumours, it's just a quite funny thing that was aired on the French channel TF1 a few days ago during "La Méthode Cauet" TV show. Before reading further, we warn you that this news posting is as "useful" as Apple's Photo Booth software.

It's actually an interview of a French humorist and imitator Michel Leeb by Sébastien Cauet who is a quite famous TV and Radio shows presenter in France. Cauet uses Apple's Photo Booth software with what appears to be a MacBook laptop.

Tuaw.com has posted some screenshots from the latest Mac OS X Leopard beta build, labeled "9A283", which was recently seeded to developers.

The screenshots highlight new features such as Finder's live preview, allowing you to see the content of a file from its icon (when it's set big enough).

According to just released analyst studies, Apple's market share has significantly climbed in a year over year basis, with one of the studies claiming it has reached over 6.1% in the U.S. market. Yesterday, the company announced record Mac sales and steady iPod sales and posted $546 million of profit on revenue of $4.88 billion.

Apple has released its Q4 2006 financial releases today after the markets close. The company has reported a net profit of $546 or $0.62 per share on revenue of $4.84 billion.

This quarter was driven by strong Mac sales, as more than 1.6 million Macs and 8.7 million iPods were sold this quarter, beating estimates of approximatively 1.5 million Macs and 8 million iPods. Analysts had expected the company to earn $0.52 per share on $4.7 billion of revenue.

Apple Computer announced today that a small part (less than 1%) of its shipped video-enabled iPods contain a virus

The iPod itself is not affected by the namely RavMonE.exe virus but can infect Microsoft Windows compatible computers according to Apple.

"We are upset at Windows for not being more hardy against such viruses, and even more upset with ourselves for not catching it," said Apple in a statement.

Apple will be releasing its Q4-2006 financial results tomorrow after the markets close. The event will be webcasted (audio) through Apple's web site.

The company is expected to earn about $0.52 per share on revenue of around $4.7 billion. According to analyst reports, Apple has sold about 8 million iPods and close to 1.5 million Macs during its fourth financial quarter.

Silicon Color, the maker of Final Touch color correction software for video professionals, has announced today on its web site that it has been acquired by Apple Computer.

"We are pleased to announce that all Silicon Color technology and intellectual property, including FinalTouch color correction software, was recently sold to Apple. Maintenance agreements held by current Silicon Color customers will be honored by Apple until they expire."

Rumours on Apple's most anticipated forthcoming product, the iPhone, are revived this week with one new evidence and another analyst report.

AppleInsider reports that Apple has trademarked the "iPhone" brand in a U.S. Far Eastern trademark office. The brand "iPhone" is expected to be used for Apple's rumoured mobile phone. The company already owns iphone.org domain, which is redirecting to the company's web site.

Since we've launched MacScoop, a few weeks ago, we have gathered a lot of feedback from readers and though there's probably still some room for improvements, we tried to respond to most of your requests.

We've addressed some minor usability issues (text size, comment and submit story forms, author and timestamp in story view), and we tried to make the theme's colors less annoying for your eyes. You can expect a few more improvements on the theme in the coming days.

According to reports, Apple has seeded a new build of Mac OS X Leopard numbered "9A283".

This build brings improved parental controls preference pane, revamped iCal user interface, 3D audio cues on VoiceOver screen reader, live previews in print panel, basic editing in Preview, fixed audio volume via the headphone jack, updated input method frameworks, fixed AddressBook bug with Time Machine.

Apple is reportedly planning to release a red-flavored iPod nano tomorrow during Oprah show. The special edition iPod nano will be announced by U2 group member Bono.

For each iPod nano, $10 will be given to The Global Fund to help people affected by HIV in Africa.

Apple has been rumoured to be working on a red iPod since last year but the company had never confirmed the rumours.

Microsoft has posted an update for Office 2004 and Messenger, bringing them respectively to versions 11.3.0 and 6.0.1.

Office update mainly fixes security issues while Messenger fixes authentication bugs.

Microsoft has also updated Office X to version 10.1.8 so as to fix these same security issues. All these updates can be obtained either through the Microsoft AutoUpdate utility or through Microsoft's web site.

Apple has released on its web site three new TV ads for its "Get-A-Mac" campaign respectively named Counselor, Better Results and Self Pity.

Here's another wave of iPhone related rumours that emerged last week:

Does T-Mobile's vision include Apple?

Last Friday, T-Mobile's executives gave a sneak peak of the company's plans and surprsisingly, much of the comments made by the company's CEO, Robert Dotson were about Apple and more specifically he looked very excited about Mac OS X Leopard.

Musings from Mars blog is revealing three new features present in Safari, on the latest build of Mac OS X 10.5, Leopard.

The first feature is enhanced tabs. It allows you to organize your tabs with more flexibility by reordering them or dragging them on another window.

The second is "Lightbox Searching", which uses Spotlight effects in in-page search mode. Every word that matches the search words will be highlighted and a super highlight (orange background) will highlight them sequentially as you click on "next".

Apple has published a statement regarding the probe the company has started in June so as to find if there w

A user has found inside the iPhoto 6.0.5 application container some information that hints at a Google-Maps integration in iPhoto.

We can notice that in the Localizable.strings file refers to a key called "GPSMapUrl" that is set to the value "http://maps.google.com/maps?q=%f+%f".

Among other hints, one is in the InfoPanel.nib file. If we vizualize it with XCode's Nib file editor, we can notice three labels for GPS coordinates and a "Show" button.

Apple announced that Steve Jobs, the company's CEO will perform a keynote speech at MacWorld Expo 2007 which takes place in San Fransisco on January 8-12. The keynote is scheduled on January the 9th at 9am.

"Steve's keynote is always a great way to kick off the biggest Mac event of the year," said David Korse, CEO of IDG World Expo to MacWorld.co.uk.

According to the french Mac-centric site MacGeneration, Apple is on the way to open its first retail store in Paris in November 2006.

The store will reportedly be located on Boulevard Beaumarchais street, which is close to Republique and Bastille and crosses 3rd, 4rth and 11th Paris districts.

The site also claims Apple will organize a launch party for the opening of this first Paris location.