Link: sevenload.com

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If
You're Thinkin' About My Baby
It Don't Matter If You're Black Or White

I Said If
You're Thinkin' Of
Being My Baby
It Don't Matter If You're Black Or White

I Said If
You're Thinkin' Of
Being My Brother
It Don't Matter If You're
Black Or White

No, no , alright

Ooh, Ooh
Alright
Yeah, Yeah, Yeah Now
Alright , alright
Ooh, Ooh
Shomon
Yeah, Yeah, Yeah Now
Alright
Ooh, Ooh

Ed. Note: I actually like the white one! – JC

MobileMe, Apple's replacement for .Mac, was announced at WWDC and something struck me (and some others) as a little odd: its logo is remarkable similar to a notorious software disaster from nearly a decade ago, Windows ME. Would a company so famous for the creation of household brand names really release MobileMe, and make it look like this? Yes. Yes they would. [WWDC08 @ Giz]

The event
• Our complete event liveblog
• Steve on video, doing his thing
• iPhone 3G advertising

The iPhone 3G
• Our iPhone 3G Hands On
• iPhone availability

Pricing and availability
• Pricing and activation in the US
• International availability
• AT&T memo regarding iPhone sales policies
• Upgrading policy

Software and applications
• iPhone 2.0 Operating System for iPhone and iPod touch
• The iPhone Applications Store and featured apps
• GPS, traffic and photo geotagging
• iPhone 3G and Mobile Me services

Giz Explains
•What You Didn't Know About the iPhone's 3G Powers
•Everything You Wanted to Know About the iPhone 3G's GPS

Opinion
• Apple Says White Is Cool Again... But Is It?
• What the iPhone is missing

Other
• iPhone Sim Ejector Tool makes it instant must-buy
• "iPhone 3G" FCC Application Hints at Potential Apple "Smartphone"
• Rumor check

• iPhone 3G Videoconferencing Kit

Participation
• Are you going to get the iPhone 3G?

1.

The way the processor industry is going is to add more and more cores, but nobody knows how to program those things. I mean, two, yeah; four, not really; eight, forget it.

Jobs claims that Apple's made a "breakthrough" in parallel-programming called Grand Central, which he alluded to in his keynote yesterday. He didn't, however, go into details about how it works and why it's going to revolutionize dividing up tasks into multiple processors in ways that other operating systems haven't yet.

What's also interesting is the ability to bring the GPU (your graphics card) into the processing role to help out your CPU. Apple's calling this newly proposed standard OpenCL (Open Compute Library).

2.

Basically it lets you use graphics processors to do computation. It’s way beyond what Nvidia or anyone else has, and it’s really simple.

It's vaguely similar to the way that Photoshop CS 4 will use your graphics card to help process image manipulation and help out in rendering 3D models as well.

Will there be more features like Time Machine? Not according to Jobs.
3.

“We’ve added over a thousand features to Mac OS X in the last five years,” he said Monday in an interview after his presentation. “We’re going to hit the pause button on new features.”

Seems to us that Snow Leopard won't be heavy on the features, but it will increase processing speeds for people who are heavy on the processing in their daily computing and have more than just a few cores—a place we're all heading to in the next few years. [NYT]

• iPhone 2 to be 22% thinner. We called this one unlikely, since you'd have to ditch some of the cool stuff inside to do it. And guess what? With even more cool stuff inside, the iPhone 3G is actually a tiny .02-inches thicker, though you'd hardly notice.

• Better battery, more RAM. Darnit. We called more RAM as likely, but Apple pulled a techno magic rabbit out of the hat and made the battery last longer despite the added tech.

• GPS function on board. We said this could indeed be true, and Apple obliged by giving us built-in GPS and even demonstrating some location-based apps. Hoorah, now somebody please give me turn-by-turn navigation.

• Squarer shape. We said "why mess with a winning design" and largely Apple didn't. In fact, the 3G is a little curvier.

• Front-facing camera, mobile TV. Calling the front-facing cam "reasonably likely" was off target, since the Jesusphone 3G doesn't have one. Does that disappoint you, video-chat callers? As we guessed, mobile TV was a no too.

• US low-end iPhone to cost $200. Kevin Rose turned out to be bang on target! Bless him.

• Spain to get €100 iPhone 2, UK to get £100 version. Our contacts said that the €100 figure wasn't right at the time, and final pricing schemes weren't going to be announced yet. But some lucky O2 customers in the UK will be able to get one free. Free! Good grief.

• iPhone to ship first week of July. We said this was possible, but our sources suggested sooner. Well, the 11th is not technically the first week of July, is it?

• Quanta using FedEx to move huge numbers of iPhones. We said "anything's possible," and it is... whatever FedEx was moving about may have been iPhone 3Gs, but they haven't surfaced yet.

• iPhone 2 games to cost upwards of $27. "Understandable" we said, though we noted that developers are free to set their own prices on games. And yesterday that price seemed to be $9.95. Maybe we'll see some premium stuff cost more, if it takes more effort to develop.

Things we missed? The white version was a pleasant surprise, and the addition of contact search and bulk email delete was way overdue.

There you have it. The truth is out there now, and it seems that we were reasonably accurate in our judgments. You can count on Giz. [Gizmodo's iPhone 3G Coverage]

Asked about what that meant, Mr. Munster further clarified his statement as "a whole lot. You know, like, zing!" It is still unclear when this new Mac device will appear in the marketplace, but Mr. Munster is confident that it will be soon: "Timing of this is difficult to determine, but we would expect it sometime in 2008. Day up, day down, you know, but around there."

The documents discovered today indicate that Apple may use a radio transmitter that complies with a standard called HSDPA or "High-Speed Downlink Packet Access." According to Gizmodo's Editor-in-Chief Brian Lam "HSDPA could really give us high data transfers, potentially around 7.2mbps. Yeah, 7.2. That's a lot of zing!" Mr. Lam also indicated that he suspected the new Apple device may have other advanced features like email, a travel system designed to guide you to different destinations, and "possibly an alarm clock."

Apple didn't return calls for comment.

[FCC via Into Mobile]

As you already know, Apple has laid out plans to take over the planet, and put all those barbarians out there under the New World Order. The list of countries and carriers is:

• México: América Móvil
• United States: AT&T
• India: Bharti Airtel
• Philippines: Globe Telecom
• Hong Kong: Hutchison Telecom
• UK & Ireland: O2
• Portugal: Orange and Vodafone
• Austria: Orange and T-Mobile
• France: Orange
• Switzerland: Orange and Swisscom
• Canada: Rogers (wheeeeeee) and Fido (le wheeeeee)
• Singapore: SingTel
• Japan: Softbank
• Italy: Telecom Italia and Vodafone
• Spain: Telefónica
• Denmark: TeliaSonera
• Finland: TeliaSonera
• Norway: TeliaSonera
• Sweden: TeliaSonera
• Germany: T-Mobile
• Netherlands: T-Mobile
• Australia: Vodafone and Optus
• New Zealand: Vodafone

Of course, it may just be that those countries have special market conditions that require two carriers. In any case, it's good to see that Apple has no problems implementing both models, specially since the iPhone requires special services in the provider's side, like Visual Voicemail.

In an otherwise surprise-free keynote today, one without booms or "one more thing"s, one bit of news stood out: White made a quiet return to the iPod family in the premium 16GB iPhone 3G. Sure, it never fully left Apple—remaining the default color for earbuds, plugs, power bricks, AirPort products and the cheapest MacBooks—but we were finally getting used to a world without white iPods. Does this mean after nine short months put out to the pastures, white is already retro-cool again?

This time around, white won't be for everybody. Once the staple color of the iPod revolution, white will be a statement for those bold enough to sport a phone that bright. It's incredible; when Jobs dropped a little black on the masses, we thought that was radical, but eventually accepted it as the norm. When most Apple products went brushed-aluminum, we were again stunned, but now we think nothing of it. Today white, the color that we accepted from the beginning, is back, this time on an iPhone, and it looks like the most far-out Apple product yet.

Will the return of white in the iPhone set a pattern for the iPod touch, classic, and others? Will white be the new, well, white, taking back the reins as the most popular color? Will the color make its way back to Apple's high-style MacBook Air? Can Jobs, Jonathan Ive and the Cupertino crew keep us on our toes forever by recycling the same three finishes? Most importantly, are you a person that's bold enough to rock this flamboyant new phone? I, for one, am not. [Apple]

Yep, you heard right: Apple showed off the OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, due out in a year, to the attendees at WWDC, and let some details slip to the public, including:
• Optimization for multi-core processors
• GPU friendly (actually GPU utilization of highly parallel tasks generally done on a CPU)
• Supports "breakthrough" amounts of RAM—16TB to be precise
• New "modern" QuickTime X platform
• Safari with 53% faster JavaScript implementation
Yes, as we've heard, this is a lot less about cool user features and more about boots-on-the-ground stability—or in Apple SVP for Software Engineering's words, "perfecting the world's most advanced OS." There's no mention of continuing PowerPC support, but then again, there's no word about discontinuing it, either. Here's more from the horse's, I mean, predatory feline's mouth. Update: The official Snow Leopard site is live.

Apple Previews Mac OS X Snow Leopard to Developers

SAN FRANCISCO, June 9 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Apple(R) today previewed Mac OS(R) X Snow Leopard, which builds on the incredible success of OS X Leopard and is the next major version of the world's most advanced operating system. Rather than focusing primarily on new features, Snow Leopard will enhance the performance of OS X, set a new standard for quality and lay the foundation for future OS X innovation. Snow Leopard is optimized for multi-core processors, taps into the vast computing power of graphic processing units (GPUs), enables breakthrough amounts of RAM and features a new, modern media platform with QuickTime(R) X. Snow Leopard includes
out-of-the-box support for Microsoft Exchange 2007 and is scheduled to ship in about a year.

"We have delivered more than a thousand new features to OS X in just seven years and Snow Leopard lays the foundation for thousands more," said Bertrand Serlet, Apple's senior vice president of Software Engineering. "In our continued effort to deliver the best user experience, we hit the pause button on new features to focus on perfecting the world's most advanced operating system."

Snow Leopard delivers unrivaled support for multi-core processors with a new technology code-named "Grand Central," making it easy for developers to create programs that take full advantage of the power of multi-core Macs. Snow Leopard further extends support for modern hardware with Open Computing Language (OpenCL), which lets any application tap into the vast gigaflops of GPU computing power previously available only to graphics applications. OpenCL is based on the C programming language and has been proposed as an open standard. Furthering OS X's lead in 64-bit technology, Snow Leopard raises the software limit on system memory up to a theoretical 16TB of RAM.

Using media technology pioneered in OS X iPhone(TM), Snow Leopard introduces QuickTime X, which optimizes support for modern audio and video formats resulting in extremely efficient media playback. Snow Leopard also includes Safari(R) with the fastest implementation of JavaScript ever, increasing performance by 53 percent, making Web 2.0 applications feel more responsive.*

For the first time, OS X includes native support for Microsoft Exchange 2007 in OS X applications Mail, iCal(R) and Address Book, making it even easier to integrate Macs into organizations of any size.

*Performance will vary based on system configuration, network connection and other factors. Benchmark based on the SunSpider JavaScript Performance test on an iMac(R) 2.8 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo system running Mac OS X Snow Leopard, with 2GB of RAM.

Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh. Today, Apple continues to lead the industry in innovation with its
award-winning computers, OS X operating system and iLife and professional applications. Apple is also spearheading the digital media revolution with its iPod portable music and video players and iTunes online store, and has entered the mobile phone market with its revolutionary iPhone.

The reception increase is partly to do with the new plastic back. There are 10 radio bands in here, counting 3 GSM bands, 4 3G bands, and Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. (And one more I don't know?) I don't know how scratch resistant I believe it will be, but Apple says it will be more durable. It looks EXACTLY like the leaked images from awhile ago that were chalked up as iPhone 1 cases.

Apple wouldn't say why 3G life was so good, but I picked up a hint that it was both software and newer 3G chips up to the task.

3G data on the maps and browser were only slightly slower than Wi-Fi.

The locator tech wasn't working for me, on Maps. It spun and spun, probably because I'd turned the Wi-Fi off.
I noticed that the iPhone asked me for permission to give both the maps program and the camera app permission to use my location. It reminded me a bit of a Vista security prompt. It's my phone, of course it can use my location. The camera app was actually using it to do geotagging!

(The camera itself was not noticeably improved.)

The black is very very nice. The white? It's ok, but very feminine, so maybe it's good for Jason or Jesús.

I felt the screen wasn't as smooth as the previous, but that could be the fact that there was zero grease on it, unlike my personal phone. The screen's glass and LCD are identical to the previous iPhone's.

There still isn't any cut and paste, and Bluetooth software hasn't been updated to do A2DP, but the very smooth (and impossible to derail from Apple Messaging) Greg Joswiak didn't say the hardware wasn't improved. I asked if audio streaming was coming, and he looked hesitant to answer. (I'll take that as a yes.) Before he could answer, I spoke for him. "We don't comment on future product announcements." They also denied me a chance to take a photo.

There was a dock, very thin and rounded, with the phone sticking out of the face (there was no border from the dock obscuring the view. I also saw a 2 prong USB power plug much smaller than the old adapter.

Lastly, the metal buttons were chromed, and I frankly liked the black ones better. But these feel more precise, and indeed, the lock button is slightly more recessed than on the first generation phone. The buttons were not made metal for durability reasons, either; this was a pure design decision.

I also played Super Monkey Ball during my 15 minutes with the iPhone. I didn't like how to control the game, I had to set the screen to viewing angles that would compromise my view of the screen. But I did catch on how to play within a few seconds.

Audio? It was definitely clearer than the single mono speaker in the first iPhone. (Even if this one is not stereo either.)

Nothing much has been left unimproved. If you're going to stick with ATT for awhile, $200 seems like a good deal for such improved hardware. What's cool is that since the App store and a lot of the functionality in software will be coming to the first gen iPhone, current users don't really have to feel the pressure to upgrade. Me? I'm certainly going to.

YES! [Apple]

Supposedly the network will be ready, even if the supply won't be. I asked him four different ways if it was ready for the onslaught of millions of 3G data phones and he said "absolutely" each time, and that they've planned for it. What's unclear is how many units they've planned for the first day. He said they expected "high" demand but nobody knows what the "full demand" will be, in response to my question about meeting demand.

For people who care about the business end of things, the other way that the iPhone 3G isn't special in regards to AT&T anymore is that AT&T subsidizing it like any other phone means that the old revenue-sharing program is out. Basically, other than letting Apple sell and activate the iPhone 3G at Apple Stores, the model is the same they have with everyone else, like RIM or Sammy. More details on everything will be coming from AT&T in the next week or so.

Update: Interesting point from Apple Gazette about ending Apple ending revenue-sharing with AT&T—it means we might have to pay for future feature updates to the iPhone 3G since Apple won't be getting those monthly checks, thanks to those "accounting purposes." Obviously we don't know for sure yet. Besides, SDK might make it a moot point.

Update 2: David alerts us to this bit from Dow Jones' report: "AT&T and Apple are working on a form of penalty for users who don't activate their iPhone within 30 days of purchase." Whoa. Guess that'll cut down on unlockers, eh?

Update 3: Looks like AT&T's dropping the GoPhone plan for the iPhone 3G too. Also, it's been pointed out Apple is still counting its revenue for the phone over the course of two years despite dumping revenue-sharing with AT&T, so iPhoners can probably continue to lord free updates over iPod touchers. [AT&T]

Yeah, the headphone jack is now flush. Otherwise, here's a list of stuff that's people were expecting, or at least hoping for, but didn't get in the new model:

• A 32GB model
• A better camera
• More RAM
• MMS
• A2DP Bluetooth for stereo streaming
• A camera on the front for videoconferencing
• Video capabilities
• Turn-by-turn navigation (will come with a 3rd party app, I'm sure)
• The ability to copy and paste

None of these are really dealbreakers, except maybe the lack of space for data hoarders, but it's disappointing that some of the more basic things didn't get a bump. I mean, we are talking about the second generation of the phone here. They couldn't improve the camera at all? Or give us some of the very basic things, like MMS and copy/paste that people have been clamoring for since day one? And I personally would be happy to pay the current iPhone's price for a 32GB iPhone 3G so the transition from my 60GB iPod wouldn't be such a kick in the pants.

Overall, we got what we were expecting, 3G and GPS, and essentially nothing else. And really, at the end of the day, those are the big features that really matter. 3G (along with the price drop) will sell phones, MMS won't. I know I'm being nitpicky, and really, I'm not all that disappointed. I'll still be buying one. But it just seems strange that nothing else besides those and a minor facelift were added to Apple's flagship handheld.

What do you guys think, were you expecting more upgrades here or are you happy with 3G and GPS alone?

Here are the additional key details, plus the official press release from Apple:

Key Features:
Charcoal Back
Solid Metal Buttons
Same 3.5" Display
Camera
Flush Headphone Jack
Dramatically Improved Audio

3G Advantage
Showing a EDGE vs 3G comparison loading a webpage, 3G took 21 seconds. EDGE...waiting...waiting...uhh...59 seconds! Same phone, same location. 2.8X faster - and they claim loads webpages faster than Nokia N95 (33 seconds) or Treo 750 (34 seconds).

Battery Life
10 hours 2G talk time
5 hours 3G talk time
5-6 hours of high-speed browsing
24 hours of audio playback

And GPS!

And it's coming to 70 countries over the "next several months."

More Affordable
$199 for 8GB

$299 for 16GB (which also comes in white)

Coming July 11th

Apple Introduces the New iPhone 3G

Twice as Fast at Half the Price

SAN FRANCISCO, June 9 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Apple(R) today introduced the new iPhone(TM) 3G, combining all the revolutionary features of iPhone with 3G networking that is twice as fast* as the first generation iPhone, built-in GPS for expanded location based mobile services, and iPhone 2.0 software which includes support for Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync and runs the hundreds of third party applications already built with the recently released iPhone SDK. In the US the new iPhone 3G is priced at a stunning $199 for the 8GB model, and just $299 for the 16GB model.** iPhone 3G will be available in more than 70 countries later this year, beginning with customer availability in 22 countries — Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK and the US — on July 11.

"Just one year after launching the iPhone, we're launching the new iPhone 3G that is twice as fast at half the price," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "iPhone 3G supports Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync right out of the box, runs the incredible third party apps created with the iPhone SDK, and will be available in more than 70 countries around the world this year."

iPhone 3G gives users ever faster access to the Internet and email over their cellular network with quad-band GSM and tri-band HSDPA for voice and data connectivity around the world. iPhone 3G supports Wi-Fi, 3G and EDGE
networks and automatically switches between them to ensure the fastest possible download speeds. The new iPhone 3G also makes it easier to multi-task with simultaneous voice and data communications, so with iPhone 3G you can browse the web, get map directions, or check your email while you are on a call.

iPhone 3G includes the new iPhone 2.0 software with both the iPhone SDK and key enterprise features such as support for Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync to provide over-the-air push email, contact and calendar syncing as well as remote wipe and Cisco IPsec VPN for encrypted access to corporate networks. The iPhone SDK allows developers to create amazing applications that leverage the iPhone's groundbreaking Multi-Touch(TM) user interface, animation technology, accelerometer and GPS technology on the world's most advanced mobile platform.

iPhone 3G includes the new App Store, providing iPhone users with native applications in a variety of categories including games, business, news, sports, health, reference and travel. The App Store on iPhone works over cellular networks and Wi-Fi, which means it is accessible from just about anywhere, so you can purchase and download applications wirelessly and start using them instantly. Some applications are even free and the App Store notifies you when application updates are available. The App Store will be available in 62 countries at launch.

Additional features available with the iPhone 2.0 software include the ability to do real-time mapping and track your progress with GPS technology, mass move and delete multiple email messages, search for contacts, access a new scientific calculator, turn on parental control restrictions for specified content, save images directly from a web page or email them to your iPhone and easily transfer them back to your photo library on your Mac(R) or PC. iPhone 3G delivers an amazing 10 hours of talk time on 2G networks and 5 hours using 3G, with up to 5 to 6 hours of web browsing, up to 7 hours for video playback and up to 24 hours for audio playback.

iPhone 3G takes advantage of MobileMe(TM), a new Internet service that pushes email, contacts, and calendars from an online "cloud" to native applications on iPhone, iPod(R) touch, Macs and PCs. With MobileMe email, messages are pushed instantly to iPhone, removing the need to manually check email and wait for downloads, and push keeps contacts and calendars continuously up-to-date so changes made on one device are automatically updated on other devices. With iPhone, you can even snap a photo and post it directly to a MobileMe Gallery to share with friends and family.

iPhone 3G will be available in the US on July 11 for a suggested retail price of $199 (US) for the 8GB model and $299 (US) for the 16GB model in both Apple and AT&T's retail stores and requires a new two year contract with AT&T for qualifying customers. iPhone 2.0 software will be available on July 11 as a free software update via iTunes(R) 7.7 or later for all iPhone customers. For further information about iPhone 3G pricing and availability in the US and internationally, visit http://www.apple.com/iphone.

* Based on 3G and EDGE testing. Actual speeds vary by site conditions.

** Based on iPhone 3G (8GB) and first generation iPhone (8GB) purchases. Requires new two year AT&T rate plan, sold separately.

Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh.
Today, Apple continues to lead the industry in innovation with its
award-winning computers, OS X operating system and iLife and professional applications. Apple is also spearheading the digital media revolution with its iPod portable music and video players and iTunes online store, and has entered the mobile phone market with its revolutionary iPhone.

NOTE TO EDITORS: For additional information visit Apple's PR website (http://www.apple.com/pr/), or call Apple's Media Helpline at (408) 974-2042.

(C) 2008 Apple Inc. All rights reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, Mac, Mac OS, Macintosh, iPhone, Multi-Touch, MobileMe, iPod and iTunes are trademarks of Apple. Other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

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[Apple]