Apple’s Stock of White MacBooks Dwindling in Supply at Authorized Apple Resellers

The white MacBook that Apple has seemingly forgotten about is due for an upgrade, and according to AppleInsider, that may happen sooner than later. The entry level MacBooks have been running out of supply at resellers such as Amazon, J&R, and MacConnection. MacMall still has “plenty of models in stock” according to a sales representative, but that could be anywhere from ten models to a few dozen. Neil Hughes writes that a European distributor has run out of MacBook supply, and aren’t expecting any future shipments.

Apple’s MacBook Air supply is also dwindling at Authorized Apple Resellers, and it’s rumored that the MacBook Air launch would coincide with the arrival of Lion. It’s likely that the new MacBook Airs would be updated with Sandy Bridge processors (perhaps Intel’s new Core-i5 and Core-i7 ULV chips) and Thunderbolt. DigiTimes reported that component production for the new MacBook Airs is ramping up, indicating that there will be a July launch.

Apple’s white MacBooks certainly have the looks and charm to attract new customers, but the price point is arguably steep for hardware that’s becoming quickly outdated. With the rest of the MacBook line being updated to newer processors and Thunderbolt technologies, the MacBook could see similar upgrades — slower, but still able processors compared to the MacBook Pro, and updated with Thunderbolt off the Mini DisplayPort. The current MacBook features a 2.4 GHz Core 2 Duo processor, and is upgradeable to 4 GB of RAM. The upgrades to the MacBook would be modest. I’m not expecting any significant changes, otherwise, under the hood.

Too, Apple could reduce the price of their current MacBook line and keep it as is. Hughes makes the point that Apple could strategically keep the MacBook current by shaving off a hundred dollars and making it more valuable to college students. Combined with the education discount, the new MacBook could be priced closer to Apple’s entry-level Mac Mini. With the 11” MacBook Air and 13” MacBook overlapping in price, and the 13” MacBook Pro only a couple hundred dollars more, I think it would benefit Apple to competitively price their white unibody to better differentiate their product line. Too, it would better target potential PC converts with an attractive price-point.

With my first and current Mac being an aging “BlackBook”, I would love to see Apple release an update to the Mac line I’ve grown up with. Apple hasn’t forgotten about their low-end MacBook, but simply places their emphasis on flagship products. If a MacBook refresh is imminent, it will be just enough to keep it current.

[via AppleInsider]

Samsung Lodges Complaint To The ITC, Asks For Import Ban On iPhone, iPad and iPod

Samsung yesterday filed a complaint to the International Trade Commission (ITC) asking for an import ban on a number of devices produced by Apple. The complaint asks for a ban on the following types of products, which translate into the iPhone, iPad and iPod:

Mobile Electronic Devices, Including Wireless Communication Devices, Portable Music and Data Processing Devices, and Tablet Computer

The actual complaint has been marked confidential at this stage, meaning actual details of what Samsung is alleging are not yet available. Nonetheless, this latest move by Samsung is likely another defensive measure they could use when bargaining with Apple. FOSS Patents explains that the ITC is quite likely to investigate Samsung’s complaint and would come to a decision in roughly 18 months.

This complaint from Samsung is the latest to come in the legal battle between Apple and Samsung that has seen complaints filed across the world and on a number of various issues. All of which has spawned from Apple’s initial decision to sue Samsung over the “Look and Feel” of their Galaxy line of devices - which Apple has since elaborated upon.

[Via FOSS Patents]

AirServer Now Available On iOS, Turns Devices Into AirPlay Receivers

AirServer is a great Mac utility we’ve covered a couple of times in the past months which, of all the unofficial AirPlay solutions we’ve tried, impressed us because of its stability, steady flow of updates and overall support from the developers. For those who missed it, AirServer installs on your OS X machine as a menubar utility with a System Preferences panel that will make your Mac appear as an AirPlay receiver on your local network. This means you’ll be able to send music, videos and photos from any iOS device (or another computer) to your Mac, wirelessly through AirPlay. The app already supports OS X Lion and iOS 5, letting you send content back and forth between an iPad 2 running the latest iOS beta and a Mac powered by a Lion Developer Preview.

AirServer has now made the leap to iOS, and it’s available in the Cydia Store at $4.99. The concept is the same of the Mac version, except it runs on jailbroken devices: an iPhone, iPod touch or iPad can become an AirPlay receiver capable of displaying photos, videos from apps and Safari or music thanks to the AirPlay technology. Several apps on the App Store have tried to do this before, but Apple started pulling them after a few weeks so it makes sense for AirServer to go the Cydia way with a paid utility.

If you’re a fan of AirServer on the desktop and you have a jailbroken device, you should download AirServer for iOS to complete the picture and have AirPlay always available on any computer, iPhone or iPad. Check out the promo video after the break.
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Apple Highlights Why Macs, iPads and iPhones Are For College

Apple has promoted the best features of the Mac, iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch for students in three new web pages on Apple.com. The three pages, found on the Student portal on Apple’s website all start with premise of “Why Mac for College” or “Why iPad for College” and proceed to list some of the features that will appeal to students such as the Mac’s compatibility with Windows and Office, or watching iTunes U videos on the iPad, or recording audio memos on the iPhone or iPod Touch. 

It’s interesting to note how Apple continues to put significant effort into marketing their products to students in College - despite their success in recent years in attracting more of the mainstream community. Whether it is the continued education discounts, Back to School promotions or this refresh of the student portal, Apple sure doesn’t want to let go of the student market.

If you want to have a look for yourself at how Apple is marketing their products to students, you can jump through to the student portal or go straight to the new pages for Mac, iPad and iPhone and iPod Touch.

[Via AppAdvice]

Postbox 2.5 Released: New UI, Faster, Lots Of New Features

Earlier today, we published an article detailing some of the interface changes set to be introduced in Postbox 2.5, a major update for the popular alternative email application for Mac and Windows that, among other things, was teased by the developers as one of the biggest rewrites of the app to date. With a series of blog posts, the Postbox team had in fact already announced that the client would get an overall improved interface, new toolbar icons on the Mac, a completely re-imagined message view, and a vertical pane view to take advantage of widescreen monitors – admittedly one of the glaring omissions from the previous versions of Postbox. Read more

Apple Responds To Final Cut Pro X Criticism With Another Q&A

Apple’s recent launch of Final Cut Pro X has brought a lot of criticism from Pro users who aren’t satisfied with the new direction that the Final Cut product has taken. The backlash has been fairly significant, the product was made fun of on Conan last week, a petition has been made and yesterday it was revealed that Apple is offering fairly widespread refunds for disappointed customers. Despite some comments made to David Pogue last week, Apple had remained silent on the backlash, until today.

Final Cut Pro X is a breakthrough in nonlinear video editing. The application has impressed many pro editors, and it has also generated a lot of discussion in the pro video community. We know people have questions about the new features in Final Cut Pro X and how it compares with previous versions of Final Cut Pro.

It has released an online Q&A page that provides the “Answers to your Final Cut Pro X questions” which covers four main topics of discussion. Some of the most common complaints of FCP X are answered by Apple including importing FCP 7 projects, multicam editing, XML exporting and volume licensing.

Many of the answers are what were communicated in the Pogue article, with Apple saying “not yet, but soon”, which applies to the questions of multicam editing, XML exporting and volume licensing. We have attached all the questions below the break (you can also access it here on Apple’s website), but here are the most common questions answered by Apple:

Can I import projects from Final Cut Pro 7 into Final Cut Pro X?

Final Cut Pro X includes an all-new project architecture structured around a trackless timeline and connected clips. In addition, Final Cut Pro X features new and redesigned audio effects, video effects, and color grading tools. Because of these changes, there is no way to “translate” or bring in old projects without changing or losing data. But if you’re already working with Final Cut Pro 7, you can continue to do so after installing Final Cut Pro X, and Final Cut Pro 7 will work with Mac OS X Lion. You can also import your media files from previous versions into Final Cut Pro X.

Does Final Cut Pro X support multicam editing?

Not yet, but it will. Multicam editing is an important and popular feature, and we will provide great multicam support in the next major release. Until then, Final Cut Pro X offers some basic support with automatic clip synchronization, which allows you to sync multiple video and audio clips using audio waveforms, creating a Compound Clip that can be used for simple multicam workflows.

Can I share projects with other editors?

Yes. You have several options for sharing projects. You can hand over just the project file, and the recipient can reconnect the project to his or her own copies of the Event. Or you can send the complete project and Event as a package to another editor. Final Cut Pro X includes options for duplicating, moving, and consolidating projects and associated media to streamline sharing between editors.

Can Final Cut Pro X export XML?

Not yet, but we know how important XML export is to our developers and our users, and we expect to add this functionality to Final Cut Pro X. We will release a set of APIs in the next few weeks so that third-party developers can access the next-generation XML in Final Cut Pro X.

Does Final Cut Pro X support OMF, AAF, and EDLs?

Not yet. When the APIs for XML export are available, third-party developers will be able to create tools to support OMF, AAF, EDL, and other exchange formats. We have already worked with Automatic Duck to allow you to export OMF and AAF from Final Cut Pro X using Automatic Duck Pro Export FCP 5.0. More information is available on the Automatic Duck website: http://automaticduck.com/products/pefcp/.

Can I purchase a volume license?

Final Cut Pro X, Motion 5, and Compressor 4 Commercial and Education Volume Licensing will be available soon via the Apple Online Store for quantities of 20 or more. After purchasing, customers will receive redemption codes they can use to download the applications from the Mac App Store.

[Via 9to5 Mac]

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Apple Announces Q3 2011 Conference Call For July 19

Apple has scheduled its Q3 2011 earnings call for July 19, 2011. The conference call will be streamed live on Apple’s website (audio-only) here.

Apple’s conference call webcast discussing Q3 - 2011 financial results will begin at 2:00pm PT/5:00pm ET on Tuesday, July 19, 2011.

Please note that comments made during this call may include forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties, and that actual results may differ materially from these forward-looking statements. For more information on the factors that could influence results, please refer to Apple’s SEC filings.

In Q2 2011, Apple posted revenue of $24.67 billion, with 4.69 million iPads, 18.65 million iPhones and 3.76 million Macs sold. The company also reported quarterly revenue growth of 83% and profit growth of 95% with international sales were 59% for the quarter. In the year-ago quarter, Apple posted record revenue of $15.7 billion with 3.47 million Macs, 8.4 million iPhones, 9.41 million iPods and 3.27 million iPads sold.

The third quarter is set to provide some insight into the sales of the long-awaited white iPhone 4, and whether or not the lack of a new iPhone release this summer has affected the overall sales of the iPhone 4, now a 12-month old device.

We will provide live updates from the call on our site’s homepage on July 19 starting at 2 PM PDT.

[Thanks, Shawn]

Apple Releases Java Updates for Mac OS X 10.6 and 10.5

A few minutes ago Apple released two separate updates for Java on Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard and 10.6 Snow Leopard. The updates are available now on Apple’s website and Software Update desktop app, and they’re both aimed at improving “compatibility, security and reliability” alongside other Java SE 6-related updates.

Java for Mac OS X 10.6 Update 5

Java for Mac OS X 10.6 Update 5 delivers improved compatibility, security, and reliability by updating Java SE 6 to 1.6.0_26.

Please quit any web browsers and Java applications before installing this update.

Java for Mac OS X 10.5 Update 10

Java for Mac OS X 10.5 Update 10 delivers improved compatibility, security, and reliability by updating J2SE 5.0 to 1.5.0_30, and updating Java SE 6 to 1.6.0_26 for 64-bit capable Intel-based Macs.

J2SE 1.4.2 is no longer being updated to fix bugs or security issues and remains disabled by default in this update.

Please quit any web browsers and Java applications before installing this update.

More information about the updates are available in Apple’s support documents here and here.