Quicktime 7.6 update

Apple has released Quicktime 7.6 with video, audio, compatibility and security improvements.

From Apple's support page, the updates include:

Video:

Improves single-pass H.264 encoding quality

Increases the playback reliability of Motion JPEG media

Audio:

Improves AAC encoding fidelity

Audio tracks from MPEG video files now export consistently

Application Support:

Improves compatibility with iChat and Photo Booth

Security:

Addresses security issues from maliciously crafted media files

This update benefits both Mac OS X and Windows users.

Get the 7.6 update through Apple Software Update or get it from Apple's download section.

Apple updates white polycarbonate 13-inch MacBook

Without fanfare, Apple upgraded its most affordable Mac portable this week.

The $999 white MacBook has been given a processor and graphics chip upgrade which is now similar to its aluminium unibody sibling.

The entry-level MacBook is now equipped with 2.0 GHz Core 2 Duo processor and the NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics processor with 256MB of DDR2 SDRAM shared memory, just like the 13-inch unibody MacBook.

Another improvement comes as doubling of the RAM to 2 GBs as default. Bluetooth has also been upgraded to 2.1 from 2.0. The rest of the specifications remains the same.

[source: AppleInsider]

MWSF 09: iTunes Store songs sans DRM

Last January 6, 2009, Apple held its Macworld San Francisco keynote with Phil Schiller, Apple's senior VP of Worldwide Product Marketing, taking the stage.

During Apple's last Macworld keynote, the company introduced new versions of their multimedia suite, iLife, and office suite, iWork. Apple also released the new 17-inch MacBook Pro, which completes the lineup of Apple's portable into the unibody design. Last but not the least, Apple announced DRM-free songs at the iTunes store.

This post will discuss Apple's shedding of DRM from songs sold in the iTunes Store, as well as variable pricing and over-the-air downloads.

when the iTunes Music Store launched on April 28, 2003, it had 200,000 songs in its selection and all of the songs were wrapped in digital rights management or DRM. This prevented the songs downloaded from the iTunes Music Store to be played in no other digital music player except the iPod and just on authorized personal computers.

Almost 6 years later, the iTunes Music Store has sold 6 billion songs and has more than 10,000,000 songs. It also dropped 'music' from its name to become the iTunes Store, as it expanded its slections to TV shows, movies, music videos and iPod and iPhone apps.

Yet another milestone was set last January 6, 2009 as Apple announced that their songs will be sold DRM-free. This means that any song downloaded from the iTunes Store can now be played without restrictions on any number of digital media players that can play the AAC format as well as on any number of PCs.

Songs will also be at a higher bit rate: higher-quality 256 kbps instead of 128 kbps as when the iTunes Store first started out.

Also new is the loss of the fixed $0.99 pricing scheme. The new pricing scheme is $0.69 for back catalog tracks, $0.99 for standard songs, and $1.29 for new or popular releases.

Last but not the least, iPhone owners can now download songs over-the-air using 3G. Before it was restricted to downloading from a Wi-Fi network.

This news is not that relevant to most here in the Philippines. As of moment, the iTunes Store only sells apps for the iPhone and iPods through the apps store. We cannot yet purchase songs, music videos, TV shows or movies.

[source: AppleInsider]

MWSF 09: the new 17-inch unibody MacBook Pro

Last January 6, 2009, Apple held its Macworld San Francisco keynote with Phil Schiller, Apple's senior VP of Worldwide Product Marketing, taking the stage.

During Apple's last Macworld keynote, the company introduced new versions of their multimedia suite, iLife, and office suite, iWork. Apple also released the new 17-inch MacBook Pro, which completes the lineup of Apple's portable into the unibody design. Last but not the least, Apple announced DRM-free songs at the iTunes store.

This post will give a rundown on what's new with the 17-inch MacBook Pro.

Apple unveiled the new aluminium unibody design last October, giving the 13-inch MacBook and the 15-inch MacBook Pro a more durable enclosure. The unibody design not only made the portables sturdier but also made it more lighter, thinner and more resistant to flexing.

On January 6, 2009, Apple introduced the unibody 17-inch MacBook Pro, thus completing the transition of the entire MacBook family to the new design.

Apple also revealed that the 17-inch MacBook Pro has a built-in battery which last longer and has more charging cycles compared to conventional notebook batteries.

Through advanced chemistry, intelligent monitoring of the system and battery, and what Apple calls Adaptive Charging technology, the new MacBook Pro has up to 8 hours of battery life and 1,000 charging cycles, lasting three times longer than the conventional. All this without adding to the thickness, weight or the cost of portable.

Apple's most powerful notebook has a thickness of 0.98 inches and weighs in at 6.6 pounds. Base unit costs $2,799 with options to upgrade to a faster processor, a bigger hard drive or to a solid state drive, more RAM, and an anti-glare screen ($50).

The new 17-inch MacBook Pro will be available at the end of January.

[source: AppleInsider]

VisualHub is back. Sort of.

For those who are not familiar with VisualHub, it was a commercial Mac application that let you convert videos for the iPod, iPhone and Apple TV.

I said 'was'. That's because the developer, Techspansion, closed up shop last October and discontinued all of its products, including VisualHub.

When news of the the demise of VisualHub broke, some individuals were speculating that the media conversion software will be made open source.

Today, speculation has ended as it has been reported VisualHub will be resurrected as FilmRedux.

The initiative to bring back VisualHub, or something akin to VisualHub, is being lead by three individuals.

FilmRedux is still not yet ready for prime time though. Using the application at this point in time requires installing a bunch of other files or software.

Still, the three developers should be lauded for devoting their time and skills to bringing back one of the Macs community's favorite app.

[source: Macworld]

Apps Store: 500,000,000 served

On Friday, Apple advertised that iPhone and iPod touch users have downloaded a total of 500 million apps.



The half a billion mark comes 42 days after Apple announced its 300 millionth download on December 5.

That means users have been downloading apps at an average rate of around 4.7 million per day.

Apple also announced that there are now 15,000 applications available for download at the Apps Store.

[source: AppleInsider]

Apple Keynote MacWorld San Francisco 2009

2009 will be the day MacWorld San Francisco attendees and for Apple fans in general will always remember: this is the last year that Apple will have it's keynote address, as well as its last year of attending MacWorld.

On top of that, Apple's top honcho, Señor Steve Jobs, will not be the one to do the keynote. Instead, Paul Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of worldwide product marketing, will be the one to take the stage.

This of course prompted speculations about Steve Jobs' health.

Jobs released an open letter to tell everyone that he's fine and his weight loss was due to 'hormone imbalance'.

As usual, weeks before the Apple's last year at MacWorld speculations ran wild as to what Apple will pull out of their hat: new Mac mini, iPhone nano, new 17" MacBook Pro, iLife 09, Mac tablet, Mac netbook, and of course, the Beatles on iTunes.

Some were spot on. Some were dead wrong. Though I suspect those who got it right were just shooting fish in the barrel.

I am still watching Phil Schiller's Macworld San Francisco 200 Keynote Address which I downloaded from iTunes but I will blog about what Apple had in store for Apple fans for the start of 2009.