Apple Reporter

Google is, at this moment (9:41 AM PST at time of post), announcing their new OS, “Android”. The rumors of a new gPhone are false, but Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google says,

“Imagine not just one Gphone, but a thousand Gphones as a result of the partnerships… the many other people who will be joining the open initiative. We forgot to tell you that it’s available next week, and the terms are the broadest in the industry.”

More info is being released by the minute, but we know as of now that the “Android” OS is a Linux-based, but is instead:

… the first truly integrated mobile operating system. … What’s particularly notable is that it’s available under a mobile open source license…

Yes, there is now Linux on your phone. Apparently you will easily be able to write apps and completely customize the OS for yourself. No word on all the supporters of the OS yet, but a list has gone out of the speculated ones:

MEMBERS OF GOOGLE’S ALLIANCE

Aplix, Ascender Corp., Audience, Broadcom Corp., China Mobile, eBay Inc., Esmertec, HTC Corp., Intel Corp., KDDI, Living Image, LG, Marvell Technology, Motorola Inc., NMS Communications, Noser, NTT DoCoMo, Nuance Communications Inc., Nvidia Corp., PacketVideo, Qualcomm Inc., Samsung Electronics, SiRF, SkyPop, SONiVOX, Sprint Nextel, Synaptics, TAT - The Astonishing Tribe, Telecom Italia, Telefónica SA, Texas Instruments, T-Mobile and Wind River Systems Inc.

9:58 AM PST: Eric Schmidt in response to “What’s it mean to the average consumer?”, “This is fundamentally a developer platform announcement… the quick way of saying it, as a result of this platform you can do amazing things with mobile devices…” Interesting. Will there be a Android dev team like the iPhone dev team for people to easily customize their OS?

10:01 AM PST: Conference call finishes, Schmidt in response to “Is there any coincidence of the timing with OpenSocial and this?”, “Google announces products when they’re ready; OpenSocial apps will run well on Android…” Thanks to Engadget for the liveblogging so the rest of us know what is going on. A general overview of this announcement will be up soon.

This video found on Youtube takes place in 1984, at an annual Apple shareholder meeting. An ecstatic and almost tearful Steve Jobs and his new creation, the Macintosh computer (known now as the Macintosh 128k) are met with standing ovations and wild cheering. It’s a good reminder of how far Apple has come, from a group of 3 guys assembling Apple I’s per order to a multi-billion dollar corporation. Enjoy.

Link if embed isn’t working.

Apple quietly updated their line of Macbook laptops, which have been due for an update for a while, to Santa Rosa chipsets.

Specifically, the new update changes the processors to either a Core 2 Duo 2.0 or 2.2 GHz, and offers the GMA X3100, the integrated video card replacing the GMA 950. Prices still remain the same as before the update, so if you’re looking for a quality low-end Mac laptop, the Macbook has never looked better.

Update - It would seem now that the Macbook Pro line has been updated as well, offering a new 2.6 GHz Core 2 Duo processor, and new 5400 RPM hard drives.

This is what happens when software is updated beyond release “10″, it begins to boil, as many MacBook Pros did after the release of 10.4.10.  Many users, myself included, were experiencing popping sounds coming out of the speakers during email receipt, application open and close, and in some cases, for no reason at all.

Apple has released an update to 10.4.10 to rectify the problem.  Will we see 10.4.11 prior to Leopard?

Who has the industry clout to bring Steve Jobs and Bill Gates together for an appearance on stage in what is an industry first? The Wall Street Journal, apparently. Their columnist, Walt Mossberg, has achieved the impossible: bringing Jobs and Gates together on stage at the Wall Street Journal’s D5: All Things Digital conference. What I would give to be in attendance there!

This is an historic moment in the technoverse. Two industry titans, normally at odds, playing nice for a day? Unheard of.

The tech titans from Apple Inc. and Microsoft Corp. didn’t even appear together when they announced a partnership that helped Jobs save Apple at Macworld in Boston 10 years ago. (Gates teleconferenced in remotely, appearing on a screen looming over Jobs.) It could be the first time they’ve been together in such a setting since Jobs famously interviewed Gates as a possible suitor for Apple’s new computer in an onstage version of the “Macintosh Dating Game” back in 1984.

So when is the big day? Wednesday at D5 is when computer junkies everywhere will get this rare treat. And what will be the big topic for the day? That is a hotly contested secret. Chic geeks everywhere are hoping for a true dialog on operating systems, the future of computing, the possibilty of bridging the Microsoft / Apple gap, future plans for each company, and so much more. Whether or not they delve that deeply into their 20+ year rivalry and look that closely at their respective futures remains to be seen.

I’ll update this post with links to transcripts and video of the historic meeting when they start appearing online after Wednesday’s momentous occasion.

Source Slashdot | Gates and Jobs to Share A Stage

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If you don’t know what Slingbox is, you’ve been missing out. Think television that works with your computer, DVR, internet connection and more and travels with you wherever you go that has a computer connection. It’s a pretty slick set up, especially for the determined office slacker with high speed internet.

Get your Slingbox connection here.

This means that, after buying and installing the Slingbox, Mac users can ’sling’ their home cable and satellite signals to themselves at the airport, or in a café hotspot, or over their office computers.

At the shareholder meeting this week, Steve Jobs took the time to address shareholders’ questions on recent Apple news like the Greenpeace ranking, iPhone release, Mac OS X Leopard and more. Read more about it here from someone who was there. (more…)

Apple has become known for its shopping experience in its Apple Stores. They offer a sleek look, plenty of knowledgeable staff, enhanced product demonstrations, classes on using your new Mac products, Genius Bars and an all around complete shopping experience. The next Apple innovation is personal shopping for its customers.

How it works: You can book a reservation up to two weeks in advance at your nearest Apple Store for the new free service. This will get you one on one shopping time, face to face with a knowledgeable Apple employee of your very own. The employee will come armed with information based on your initial appointment set up question answers. They will walk you through test drives on any product, geared to your needs. It’s a chance for Apple to really shine by increasing their already high level of service at the buying level.

You can find out more about the personal shopping experience available at your nearest Apple Store here.

Apple started a test program in recent months that made their systems available at Best Buy brick and mortar stores. It worked so well in the handful of Best Buys that carried their products that they have reached an agreement to expand. Now you can get your daily recommended dose of fruit at 200 more Best Buy stores.

The program has been tried a few other times with limited success, notably in 1998 and in 2004. Recent successes have been credited to an increase in store employees trained in Apple product usage and sales (it isn’t just their operating system and look that is different than the Microsoft world). The first stores to add Apple to their product lineup are the stores that have experienced a slow down in sales of Windows products.

In addition to adding Apple computers to the line up at hundreds of select Best Buy stores, other products will make an appearance as well. iPods and Apple TVs will be sold in every Best Buy store when the program starts. The iPhone is rumored to be making an appearance as well, if Best Buy offers Cingular/AT&T sign up along with it, as it is still under contract as a Cingular exclusive.

I think apple making their products more available to more consumers is a smart move. They have been in limited Circuit City stores and nearly all CompUSA stores for some time now, and show significant improvement in sales from it.

It is possible that a release date of June 11 has been confirmed for the much anticipated iPhone. On CNET today a blog was posted that Cingular has confirmed the release date to CNET. If you contact Cingular directly, they do in fact, confirm the date of release, although they don’t have any further information. The date makes sense - it’s the opening day of Apple’s World Wide Developer’s Conference, so it fits.

Update: Or Not. According to suppliers of the components, the iPhone will not be ready in time for a June 11 release.