Pro Computer Geek

Apple today announced an all-new Apple TV to replace the previous hard drive-based models, with a cloud-centric approach to consuming video and music.

No more sync’ing: the new Apple TV now streams all content from either a Mac or PC with an iTunes library, an iOS device such as an iPad or iPhone (running the yet-to-be-released iOS 4.2), or from the Internet via YouTube or (if in the US or Canada) Netflix.

The Apple TV also has other neat touches such as the ability to be controlled from an iOS device via Apple’s Remote app. The unit itself has shed some weight, clocking it just a quarter the size of the outgoing Apple TV model, and featuring a built-in power supply, and just the bare minimum output ports: HDMI, optical digital audio out, and 10/100BASE-T Ethernet. It does of course also feature 802.11n Wi-Fi for wireless streaming, and also the current aluminium Apple Remote, all for just $99.

Apple’s rumored successor to its Apple TV, the Apple iTV, has been causing a stir thanks to the recent comments from Digg founder, Kevin Rose, on his blog seemingly speculating about the yet-to-be-released Apple product’s features.

Rose predicts that the new device from Apple will be priced at just $99 and will run iOS (as on the iPad and iPhone/iPod Touch). Through iOS users will be able  to browse the App store and load games, TV apps, video sharing/streaming/recording apps, etc. This seems like a logical evolution of the Apple TV, and brings it inline with the established iOS platform.

Controversially, it’s expected that content producers will be able to use iAds to directly monetize their content, potentially cutting out cable and satellite companies as the content will be distributed over an Internet connection.

Also predicted is the use of the iPad as a remote control, which is not far from the reality of today with existing Apps able to turn the iPad into a home cinema remote. Again, this would seem to be a logical decision for Apple to make, and we’d hope it’d extend remote functionality to the iPhone/iPod Touch too.

The anticipated launch for the iTV is this September, which is also when new iPod Touch models are expected to be announced.

As has been rumoured for some time, Apple has today announced a slew of product updates and entirely new products.

Updated iMacs featuring new Intel Core i3, i5 & i7 processors

The iMacs received an update, with overall cosmetics remaining unchanged, but under the hood are a new range of Intel processors from the entry-level Core i3 right up to a newer Core i7 with Hyper Threading. New graphics processors are also present in the form of the ATI Radeon HD 4670 (21.5″ only) and 5670 (21.5″ & 27″) with 256MB GDDR3 and 512MB GDDR5 memory respectively. The top-end quad-core specification 27″ iMac is configured with an ATI Radeon HD 5750 with 1GB GDDR5. Like the Mac Pro, SSD drives are now also available as a CTO option.

12-core Mac Pro with 2TB SSD drives CTO option

Apple’s Mac Pro powerhouse computers had been starved of an update, but finally got a healthy refresh with new processor configurations including the new “Westmere” Intel Xeon processors, running at up to 2.93GHz in a dual processor configuration with 6 cores each, deliver up to 12 cores.

Hard drive options now include, for the first in an Apple desktop, SSD drives, with configuration options allowing up to four 512GB SSD drives. Apple has posted test results showing SSD’s outperforming 7200RPM HDD’s by up to twice the speed, although it hasn’t posted any comparable results against 15,400RPM SAS HDD’s.

27″ LED-backlit Cinema Display

Based on the same IPS panel as used in the current generation iMac, a new 27″ Cinema Display has been announced for a September shipping date, and features the same style housing as the existing 24″ LED Cinema Display. With a 2560×1600 resolution which almost matches the 30″ Cinema Display, the new 27″ Cinema Display is Apple’s first standalone monitor to feature a 16:9 aspect ratio, compared to the previous 16:10 offerings.

Like the 24″ Cinema Display, the new 27″ monitor also features built-in iSight camera, microphone, speakers including subwoofer, and utilises the industry-standard Mini DisplayPort. The connections also include a MagSafe adaptor for charging Macbook models via the monitor’s power source.

Magic Trackpad

Another entirely new product, the Magic Trackpad is Apple’s offering to desktop users of a trackpad, just like the ones found on Macbook models, so that desktop warriors can take advantage of multi-touch gestures too, like their mobile-using counterparts.

The new Magic Trackpad is 80% larger than standard trackpads found on Macbooks, and the whole pad area acts as a mouse button click too. The design is based on the same structure as the Apple Bluetooth keyboard.

Combined with useful 3rd party tools such as BetterTouchTool (based on the MultiClutch project), the Magic Trackpad could add a nice new ‘touch’ to desktop Macs… pun intended. Sorry.

Skype has released version 2.1 of its iPhone application and has taken full advantage of iOS4’s multitasking capabilities with the ability to run in the background, meaning users can now pick up calls and messages whilst in other applications.

The update is free, and multitasking is supported in iOS 4 on the iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS.

FileMaker, an Apple subsidiary, has launched a mobile version of its software for the iPad and iPhone for interacting with it popular database format.

The FileMaker Go client allows users of iPads and iPhones to browse, search and update FileMaker databases that have been created on Mac or Windows. Although databases can’t be created on the iPhone or iPad, files can be copied to the mobile device for updating on the go, or they can connect to a FileMaker server via Wi-Fi or 3G.

FileMaker Go is available on the App Store now for $39.99 for iPad, and $19.99 for iPhone.

BMW has announced that it is to utilise the new iPod Out feature of the recently released iOS4 in its new cars, starting next year.

BMW were one of the first manufacturers to announce iPod integration with their vehicles, and now they look set to be one of the first manufacturers to take iPhone/iPod integration to the next level in 2011. The iPod Out integration provides an Apple-designed interface on the BMW’s built-in screen, and is a very iPod/Front Row style navigation system complete with album cover artwork and Genius Mixes.

They have produced a video (below) giving details and a sneak peak into how the iPod Out interface would look within BMW’s existing iDrive system. Very cool!

The relationship between Apple and Microsoft has been an interesting one, from battling it out over the desktop OS supremacy, to the investment (bailout!) in the nineties that Microsoft made in Apple during its dark days.

The Huffington Post has a great collection of Apple CEO Steve Jobs’ remarks towards Microsoft and it’s founder, Bill Gates, over the past few decades.

With Apple now on a much stronger footing and widely accepted as one of the computing giants alongside Google and Microsoft, Steve seems to have chilled out a bit these days.

Viral video sensation Kim Yeo-hee, also known as “applegirl002″ on YouTube, has landed a record deal as a result of her wildly successful home-made videos of her performing Beyoncé’s “Irreplaceable” and Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face” using an array of iPhones with music apps. Here’s the first video which started it all:

Later followed up by the Lady Gaga cover below. The music apps in question appear to be Beatmaker, miniSynth and I am T-Pain.

More details over at WSJ.

AppleInsider has an interesting post on rumours surrounding a possible push into the TV market by the cash-rich giant. Apple TV and Front Row appear to have been left dormant as sideline projects for Apple as the Cupertino giant continues to focus on its activities in the mobile sector, but this may change in the future as more and more technology companies turn their attention to the TV-space.

Apple has reported a staggering 1.7 million sales of its latest iPhone in just the first 3 days of release, from Thursday 24th June through to Saturday 26th June.

This is the most iPhones Apple has ever sold in such a short space of time for any new iPhone release.

The first iPhone sold its first million units after 74 days. Unsurprising given that no App Store was around at this time, the product was being sold at a premium, and the iPhone hadn’t been established.

The iPhone 3G sold 1 million units in 3 days.

With Apple planning to launch in a further 18 countries by the end of July, sales are expected to stay strong.