Posts in news

Report: Apple Considering USB 3.0 For Macs

According to VR-Zone Apple has been investigating third party USB 3.0 host controller chips and may be considering to add support for the latest USB standard in upcoming Macs. Many had presumed that with Thunderbolt Apple may not opt to support USB 3.0, but given that USB 3.0 chips have negligible cost (below $3) it may be seen that Apple embraces the standard as a complement to their Thunderbolt ports.

Intel has yet to add support for USB 3.0 on their chipsets and support is not expected until next Spring, which may explain why Apple is reportedly talking to other manufacturers. Compared to USB 3.0, Thunderbolt controllers are much more expensive at $10 to $15 per chip with corresponding chips on the device also required. This cost associated with Thunderbolt is an inherent limitation in the technology that could be compensated by supporting USB 3.0. As Electronista explains “USB 3.0 would, as a result, still be useful as a catch-all for faster devices that don’t need Thunderbolt in addition to the USB 2.0 devices it would inherently recognize.”

Apple may be aware of Thunderbolt’s current obstacles, the sources added. Apple is supposedly talking directly with some of its hardware partners, most likely early Thunderbolt supporters, to have them develop external drives more suited to the home or to small companies. [Electronista]

[VR-Zone via Electronista]

Apple Revamps ‘Student Jobs’ Page, Highlights Range Of Opportunities At Apple

Apple yesterday revamped their Student Jobs website that gives information about internships, retail positions and other career options at Apple that are open to current students and recent graduates. Current students have the opportunity to be an Apple Campus Representative, get an Internship or work in an Apple Retail Store. Whilst recent graduates similarly have the opportunity to work in an Apple Retail Store but could also participate in the Apple Leader Program or get a job in the Corporate section of Apple.

On the website Apple describes the Internships by saying:

At Apple, interns are an important part of the team. Whether you sign on for a summer internship or a co-op during the academic year, you’ll be working on critical projects. Better yet, you’ll be that much closer to landing a full-time job at Apple after graduation.

You might help engineer the next iPad, develop the next generation of Mac OS X, create the marketing materials for a top-secret product launch, manufacture the next new product, or travel internationally to help open a new store. We rely on interns in various corporate locations outside the United States too.

You can have a look for potential job opportunities yourself at Apple by visiting the new Student Jobs page here.

[Via The Next Web]

Final Cut Studio Back On Sale at $999

Following the controversial launch of Final Cut Pro X in June, Apple has put the former version of its video editing suite, Final Cut Studio, back on sale at $999 and $899 for educational customers, MacRumors reports. Final Cut Pro X is a complete rewrite of the application, rebuilt from the ground-up to take advantage of 64-bit architectures, featuring new video editing functionalities such as Magnetic Timeline, trackless canvas, and Content Auto-Analysis.

The app was first unveiled at the Supermeet during NAB Show in Las Vegas back in April, capturing the attention of video professionals thanks to its redesigned interface, dynamic editing UI, and improved rendering engine. However, when FCP X came out in June at $299, the lack of several features omitted from the first release caused a stir in the pro video community, forcing Apple to post a FAQ outlining the reasons behind the changes in Final Cut Pro X. Apple said they were committed to making Final Cut Pro X ”a breakthrough in nonlinear video editing”, although many suggested the company should put the old version back on sale to ease the transition process from FCP 7 to FCP X.

According to MacRumors:

We confirmed with an Apple telesales representative at 800-MY-APPLE that Final Cut Studio, part number MB642Z/A, is again available for $999 and $899 for educational customers. The product is only available through the 800-number and is not available in Apple Retail Stores or on the Apple Online Store.

Final Cut Studio includes Final Cut Pro 7, Motion 4, Soundtrack Pro 3, DVD Studio Pro 4, Color 1.5 and Compressor 3.5. The suite was discontinued with the launch of Final Cut Pro X, with Apple preferring a single-app model as Motion 5 and Compressor 4 also went on sale on June 21 on the Mac App Store.

“Enhanced for OS X Lion” Gets A Mac App Store Section

On August 16, we reported Apple had started promoting certain applications updated to take advantage of the new features introduced in OS X Lion with the “Enhanced for OS X Lion” tagline. Back then, the list included apps like Fantastical, Screenflow, and Touchgrind, but Apple wasn’t featuring those applications in a specific Mac App Store section, as they usually do with apps pertaining to a category or “theme”. We suspected Apple would introduce a standalone section as more customers upgraded to Lion and developers pushed Lion-specific app updates, and as reported by CNET that’s exactly what happened earlier today in the weekly App Store homepage refresh.

Apps Enhanced for OS X Lion is available here, and it showcases apps that have been recently updated to include features like multi-touch gestures, full-screen mode, Resume and Versions, or, in the case of Twitterrific, improved scrolling for Lion. The section aggregates more than 45 apps from a variety of categories, such as Social Networking, Productivity, Photography, and Music. As usual with Apple’s dedicated App Store sections, the company is likely to add more apps over time, and keep the section – admittedly one of the most “relevant” in the Mac App Store right now – featured on the Store’s homepage for several weeks.

Check out “Apps Enhanced for OS X Lion” on the Mac App Store.

Apple Promotes Eddy Cue To Senior Vice President Of Internet Software And Services

Eddy Cue, who had been Apple’s iTunes chief, has today been promoted to the role of Senior Vice President of Internet Software and Services. Tim Cook revealed the promotion to Apple employees this morning, writing that “Apple is a company and culture unlike any other in the world and leaders like Eddy get that”. In his email, Cook also took time to make note of Cue’s role in the succesful launches of products and services including the Apple online store, the iTunes Store, App Store and iBookstore.

Cue now undertakes the role of overseeing all these online stores and services, including iCloud which is set to launch sometime in the next few weeks. iAds, which had previously been run by Andy Miller (who reported directly to Steve Jobs) will also now fall within Cue’s area of management. With this promotion Cue becomes a member on the Apple Executive Management team and will report directly to Tim Cook, Apple’s recently appointed CEO.

Apple has now updated the Apple Bio’s page to include Eddy Cue. Tim Cook’s email to Apple employees is included below, obtained by 9to5 Mac:

Dear team,

It is my pleasure to announce the promotion of Eddy Cue to Senior Vice President of Internet Software and Services. Eddy will report to me and will serve on Apple’s executive management team. Eddy oversees Apple’s industry-leading content stores including the iTunes Store, the revolutionary App Store and the iBookstore, as well as iAd and Apple’s innovative iCloud services. He is a 22-year Apple veteran and leads a large organization of amazing people. He played a major role in creating the Apple online store in 1998, the iTunes Music Store in 2003 and the App Store in 2008.

Apple is a company and culture unlike any other in the world and leaders like Eddy get that. Apple is in their blood. Eddy and the entire executive management team are dedicated to making the best products in the world that delight our customers and make our employees incredibly proud of what they do. Please join me in congratulating Eddy on this significant and well-deserved promotion. I have worked with Eddy for many years and look forward to working with him even closer in the future.

Tim

[Via 9to5 Mac, SplatF]

Mac Utility Cocktail Gets Updated To Support Lion

A few days ago the popular Mac utility, Cocktail, received an update to add Lion compatibility. The new version 5 of Cocktail also adds new Automator actions, fixes bugs and sees improved documentation. If you are unfamiliar with Cocktail, it’s a utility that gives users the tools to clean, optimise and repair their Macs. There is a mix of maintenance tools, tweaks and power user options for everything from adjusting disk options to clearing various caches to customizing the look of OS X.

Jump the break for some screenshots of the new Lion version of Cocktail. You can also download a free demo of Cocktail (limited to using it 10 times) with lifetime licenses start from $19 for a single-user.

Read more

Parallels Desktop 7 For Mac Available This Week, Updated Parallels App For iOS

Earlier today Parallels Desktop 7 for Mac was unveiled, bringing more features and substantial speed improvements to the popular desktop virtualisation software. Headline features of the new version include greater Lion support such as Full Screen Mode and Mission Control, iSight/FaceTime Camera support and those speed improvements which include up to 60% faster resuming and 45% faster 3D graphics.

Mac Developers will now be able to emulate a copy of Lion in Parallels whilst on a Lion installation as per the new Lion license agreement. Installing Windows has also been simplified with a “Windows on Demand” service offering users the ability to instantly purchase and download Windows - particularly helpful for those with new Macs that no longer include DVD drives. Walt Mossberg reviewed the new Parallels on his Late-2010 MacBook Air and said it “ran Windows quickly and smoothly, and integrated well with some of Lion’s new features”.

Windows, and Windows programs, can be displayed in Lion’s new Launchpad feature, which mimics the main screen of an iPad. They also show up and behave like Mac programs in Lion’s new Mission Control feature, which shows all the programs running on the Mac in miniature. Windows programs can also run in Lion’s new full-screen mode.

Also revealed today was that the Parallels Mobile App is receiving a substantial update so that it can completely control a users Mac rather than just the virtualised environment as had been the case prior to this update. The app, available for the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch, is on sale at a special introductory offer of $4.99 but the update is free to existing users.

Parallels Desktop 7 for Mac is available from today for those upgrading from Parallels 5 or 6 at a cost of $49.99 whilst it will be available generally on September 6th for $79.99. There is also a Student edition available for $39.99, a ‘Switch to Mac’ edition available for $99.99 (which comes with a number of Mac video tutorials) and there are also Enterprise volume licences available.

Jump the break for some promo videos of the new Parallels products.

[Via AllThingsD]

Read more

Apple Posts New iPad 2 Advert: “Learn”

Apple has today uploaded a new iPad advert to their YouTube Channel. Like previous iPad adverts, it has a central theme - in this case it is “Learn”, which is also the title of the advert. The entire advert is dedicated to showcasing some standout apps that help people learn. As usual there is nothing related to price or specification, just clips of people experiencing the iPad and the apps that make it great.  Some of those apps shown include the TED talks app, Chinagram, iBooks and GarageBand, but in total there are 10 that are shown.

Are you curious about new ideas, do you want to learn a new language, or just a new word? Maybe you want to know more about anatomy, or astronomy. You could master something new, or uncover a hidden talent. There’s never been a better time to learn.

Jump the break to see the advert for yourself and jump over to the Apple YouTube Channel to see more of the iPad adverts.
Read more

Apple Releases iOS 5 Beta 7

Apple has just pushed iOS 5 beta 7 to developers, releasing the new build through Software Update on iOS devices. At the moment of writing this, the iOS Dev Center still reports beta 6 as the latest version available. iOS 5 beta 6 was seeded on August 19, bringing several bug fixes and performances improvements to the next major version of iOS that’s expected to become publicly available this Fall.

iOS 5 comes with new features such as direct Twitter integration, PC-Free setup, iCloud support, and a new notification system. We will update this post with more information on the latest beta as it becomes available.

Update: iOS 5 beta 7 is now available on the Dev Center alongside a new Xcode Developer Preview, iTunes 10.5 beta, and Apple TV Software.