News from category ‘Official’

Along with new Macbook Pros yesterday Apple also released FaceTime for Mac.

Its latest beta-version became available back in October and allowed users who entered their Apple ID to chat with other users of Macs, iPhone 4 or iPod 4G.

The new version of application now supports 720p video, which can be made with the FaceTime HD camera in fresh MacBook Pros. The standard-definition camera on most other Apple devices can offer VGA-quality for Mac-to-Mac video calls.

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15-inch MacBook Pro: this model comes with Quad-core Intel Core i7 processor, 4GB RAM and Intel HD Graphics 3000 + AMD Radeon HD 6000M graphics. The graphics switching will work exactly like the previous models - it automatically switches between the GPU and IGP depending on what you're doing.

The cheapest $1,799 model has a 2.0GHz quad-core Core i7 processor, Intel HD Graphics 3000 + AMD Radeon HD6490M graphics with 256MB of GDDR5 memory and a 500GB hard drive. The $2,199 model has faster 2.2GHz Core i7 chip, AMD Radeon 6750M graphics with 1GB of GDDR5 memory and 750GB hard drive.

The display resolution is 1440x900, upgradeable to 1680x1050 high-resolution glossy or antiglare.

17-inch MacBook Pro: This is a powerful 17-inch macbook pro. It has the same specs as high-end 15-inch MacBook Pro. For just $2,499 you get that 2.2GHz Core i7 processor, AMD Radeon 6750M graphics and a 750GB hard drive. Resolution is 1920x1200 with antiglare option.

17-inch MacBook Pro has 3 USB ports and ExpressCard/34 slot compared to 2 USB and SDXC card slot in 15-inch version.

Bor both 15 and 17 inch models you can customize it with 128GB, 256GB and 512GB SSD and increase RAM to 8GB. Different HDD options are also available - 500Gb (5400 or 7200 rpm), 750Gb (5400rpm). You can also upgrade to 2.3GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 with 8MB shared L3 cache. Both come this Built-in FaceTime HD camera.

More photos:

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As we reported earlier, today Apple unveiled new 13", 15" and 17" MacBook Pros. 13-inch notebook will be offered in two configurations: one with an Intel Dual-Core 2.7 GHz i7 processor and 500GB HDD for $1,499 and another with an Intel Dual-Core 2.3 GHz i5 processor and 320GB HDD with price of $1,199. In other hardware specifications, which are listed below, they are the same:

• 13.3-inch LED-backlit glossy widescreen display with native resolution of 1280x800.
• Intel HD Graphics 3000 that sports 384MB of DDR3 SDRAM shared with main memory;
• 4GB of DDR3 RAM @ 1333 MHz with two other SO-DIMM slots to support up to 8GB;
• Built-in 63.5-watt-hour Li-Pol battery that allows to surf the web wirelessly for up to 7 hours;
• 8x slot-loading SuperDrive;
• FaceTime HD camera;
• Thunderbolt port, Gigabit Ethernet port (RJ-45), FireWire 800 port, 2 USB 2.0 ports, Audio in/out, Kensington lock slot, SDXC card slot;
• 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, 10/100/1000BASE-T Gigabit Ethernet support;
• 2,04 kg weight.

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Today Apple showed off its new lineup of MacBook Pros and unveiled new technology called Thunderbolt. When Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing Philip Schiller was explaining what's new in upgraded devices, he also mentioned Thunderbolt:

“The new MacBook Pro brings next generation dual and quad Core processors, high performance graphics, Thunderbolt technology and FaceTime HD to the great design loved by our pro customers. Thunderbolt is a revolutionary new I/O technology that delivers an amazing 10 gigabits per second and can support every important I/O standard which is ideal for the new MacBook Pro.”

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Yesterday Apple had sent out official invitations to visit a media event, which will take place on March 2 in San Francisco, to presumably show off its new-generation iPad.

Loop reports that the event will be held at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, which confirms previous rumors from All Things D.

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A new Apple’s patent tells us that the company at this point works on the gesture-based commands determined with audio transducers on the corners of a given surface. That means that if you press or tap on a surface, the audio receivers would determine where and how you touched it. The application describes a microprocessor that can "interpret electrical signals generated by the one or more acoustic transducers as input." The idea is that these transducers detect a finger making contact with the chassis and register those vibrations as gestures. Now the company found five different ways how it could be done.

The United Kingdom wireless carriers have begun lowering their prices on the first-generation iPad in anticipation of the launch of the iPad 2 in April. Both T-Mobile and Orange are now selling the original iPad for £99 with a 24-month data contract. This £100 is a strongly indication that carriers know that their current iPad stocks will soon be in less demand. Though, there is no information on official launch of the iPad 2. But on April 3rd will be a year since the original iPad was released, the history of iOS product launches strongly suggests a late March or early April debut of the iPad 2.

Apple recently filed a new patent application that describes a new feature, “Safe Deposit Box”, which will appear in a new Mac OS X Lion. “Safe Deposit Box” will allow users to secure important files. Users will be able to drag a particular file to a safe deposit icon - files could be automatically encrypted and hidden from access - that then secure the file and also upload the secured file to the cloud for backup that means that important files would be stored beyond the home computer. Users could then access secured files through a safe deposit box window by selecting the safe deposit box icon and verifying his or her identity. It seems that this feature would be included into Lion’s Time Machine but, as usual, there is no guarantee.

Apple today released a fifth beta of Mac OS X 10.6.7 to developers for testing. This time Safary was added to the list of focus area to concentrate on, joining Mac App Store, AirPort, Bonjour, SMB, and Graphics Drivers that had been included in previous builds. No known issues are listed in the documentation again. Fourth beta of Mac OS X 10.6.7 was released on February 11. An estimated target date for public release of Mac OS X 10.6.7 is still unclear.

According to ABC News, today in the evening Steve Jobs is going to meet President Obama.

Google's current CEO Eric Schimdt, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt will also attend a business leaders' event, said people familiar with the meeting. The goal of the meeting was explained by White House official.

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Developer Steve Troughton-Smith has tweeted that customers of Three in Ireland and the UK and China Unicom in China woke up today and found that that Cydia on their devices was blocked by the carrier. So, now the jailbroken devices don’t have access to certain content from Cydia when on the Three and China Unicom networks. Though, only main page is unavailable. Moreover, Cydia is blocked over 3G networks that means that the popular store still available via Wi-Fi.

As you may remember, this week Bloomberg reported about the fact that Apple is working on a new iPhone with a 2.3" screen. Today this information was also confirmed by the Wall Street Journal.

"One of the people, who saw a prototype of the phone late last year, said the device is intended for sale alongside Apple's existing line. The new device would be about half the size of the iPhone 4, which is the current model. The new phone would be available to carriers at about half the price of the main iPhone repertoire. "

The latter allows to suggest that this summer we'll see iPhone 5 at usual price of $199/$299, discounted iPhone 4 at $99, and iPhone Nano at $49.

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Last week Apple launched the first Mac App Store section: Personal Projects, in which it displays apps for a specific creative audience. There are apps for musicians, designers, photographers and video editors to organize their projects and ideas at home. Now there are only five apps featured in each of four categories (covering things from design to music and photography). It looks like Apple had trouble finding enough quality apps to fill the space.

This Wednesday HP announced its three new webOS-based devices - the TouchPad tablet and two smartphones named Pre 3 and Veer. Before they were unveiled general manager and senior vice president for the Palm Global Business Unit at HP Jon Rubistein told that the company is at the beginning of new epoch.

"Today we're embarking on a new era of webOS with the goal of linking a wide family of HP products through the best mobile experience available. The flexibility of the webOS platform makes it ideal for creating a range of innovative devices that work together to keep you better connected to your world."

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Apple recently added a small but useful tweak to the Mac App Store. Now when you are going to purchase any application, there will appear a window asking you to confirm your decision. Helpful thing for those who might already spend some money accidentally purchased an app. Now the Mac App Store doesn’t allow you to toggle the purchase confirmation off, as in the iOS App Store.