• New MacBook Pro 15″ – improved display, improved battery life, processor speed increases, SD Card reader now included, entry level price dropped to $1,699.
• Enhancements to MacBook Pro 17″ – entry level product now has 2.8 GHz processor and 500GB Hard drive, entry level price dropped to $2,499.
• MacBook 13″ Aluminum is now MacBook Pro 13″ – tops out at 8GB RAM and 500GB Hard drive just like 15″ big brother, entry level price drops to $1,199.
• MacBook Air – entry level price drops to $1,499, processor clock speeds bumped up to 1.6 GHz, 1.8 GHz, and 2.13 GHz.
• Safari 4 is out of beta. (It is super fast BTW).
• Snow Leopard to ship in September – $29 upgrade for existing Leopard users, $49 family pack available too.
• iPhone 3G S – launches on June 19, 2009 in North America and parts of Europe, the S stands for Speed, will ship with iPhone OS 3.0 (which is available on June 17, 2009), includes Video Recording/Edtiting, Voice Control, 3 megapixel camera with auto-focus. Available in 16GB or 32 GB option at $199 and $299 respectively. iPhone 3G 8GB option continues to be available and price is reduced to $99.
• iPhone OS 3.0 – available on June 17, 2009, free to iPhone owners, $9.99 for iPod touch owners, over 100 new features including cut, copy, paste, and spotlight search.

“Apple has spent some time outlining technology that would add a new level of interaction between iPhone users, such as the ability to share and control playback of digital media files like music tracks and video during a telephone call,” Slash Lane reports for AppleInsider.

“The concept is outlined in a 19-page patent filing discovered by AppleInsider this week titled ‘Methods and systems for mixing media with communications’ and credited to Apple software engineer Jeffrey Terlizzi. It begins by noting that while media items are becoming increasingly portable for mobile users these days, they’re still not as easily shared with others located remotely in real time,” Lane reports.

via MacDailyNews.

This certainly opens the door for some interesting possibilities. Audio conferencing and sharing a Pages, Numbers or Keynote document (or an Office document) with the person to whom your talking? Maybe? They wouldn’t be able to get away with allowing purchased music to be shared, would they?

Just one day after North Carolina lawmakers approved changes to the state’s corporate tax laws designed to lure Apple and a $1 billion server farm project to one of their rural communities, the state’s Governor signed Senate Bill 575 into law and announced that the iPhone maker is coming to town.

via AppleInsider | North Carolina greets Apple and $1 billion server farm project.

Let the speculation begin. Why would Apple need a server farm on the east coast? Is the fact that it’s on the east coast even important? The fact that they are building a server farm at all indicates an expectation on their part to increase web services over the next few years. iTunes Music, Movies, Apps and Games Store growth? Maybe. Improved with more features and more reliability MobileMe service? Maybe. Whatever it is, I’m sure it will be good.

“iPhone is not only a great creative tool — it’s a great way for any business to stay organized,” says Jeff Turlik, Associate Creative Director and Music Director for Blue Man Group. “It’s easy to share information and connect with each other, from scheduling meetings to sharing audio and video files or even spreadsheets.”

via Apple – iPhone – Profiles – Blue Man Group.

Apple profiles Blue Man Group and their use of the iPhone in their business. While they use it on-stage for creative purposes, there are several applications for which it is used that might surprise you. There’s a profile video as well that’s worth a look.

A new paradigm for using the Internet is about to begin: Virtual Assistants (VA’s) are coming to a mobile device near you.

This week, a stealth startup will demonstrate the first public version of their mobile virtual assistant, Siri. This may mark the beginning of the era of consumer-grade virtual assistants on the Web.

via Siri: A Powerful Virtual Assistant For The iPhone .

When the iPhone was announced, and subsequently released, there were lots of folks that didn’t get it. They didn’t get past the fact that it was a phone. They didn’t get past the fact that it was an iPod. They didn’t understand the significance of making the internet always accessible. There still are folks that don’t seem to get it. However, there also were lots of folks that did get it and are really getting just how big a deal this device is and how much has changed and will change because of it. (Think handheld communicator/tri-corder devices in Star Trek.)

In a few short years, there will be a clear delineation of the techno-timeline, pre-iPhone and post-iPhone. Siri is the type of application that truly begins to harness the power of a device that knows who you are, where you are, what you like, etc. and can actually assist you in such ways as to make life a little easier. Still not sure how this might work. Read through the next section which is a quote from the article over at TechCrunch.

Siri also takes advantage of information from your mobile device about your GPS location and time information about the your present context. These enable Siri to localize information.

For example, while you are out and about you can use Siri to discover a great place to eat, get tickets to a show, plan your weekend, or get help finding your way around town. Simply ask Siri, what movies are showing, and it will show you movies that are near your location and that you can still get to. Or ask it about restaurants and it will suggest restaurants you might like near your present location.

Beyond simply suggesting things to do, Siri can also do the legwork of making reservations, and orchestrating your plans, across multiple different services.

For example, suppose you want to book dinner and a movie – Siri can do it for you, as a single transaction, making sure that dinner is near enough to the movie that you can reasonably accomplish both without rushing or being late.

Siri knows about events in your area, things to do, what’s happening. It also knows about your personal context (your location, your current time of day), your preferences, and your personal information that you share with it.

By combining knowledge of your local situation and your personal profile, Siri is able to help you complete tasks – like finding a cool thing to do on a Sunday afternoon – in ways that are uniquely targeted to your particular interests and personality.

Doesn’t that sound pretty cool? Pretty amazing?!? It does to me. The thought of being able to pose a question to my virtual assistant and then have answers that are already filtered and tailored for who I am, my likes/dislikes, etc. could be a big time saver. Saving time means getting more done, hopefully. It also means more time to spend with family and friends enjoying life. Don’t get lost in cool technology. I sometimes find myself really stoked over the latest and greatest. But, at the end of the day, the excitement isn’t about the technology in and of itself, is it? For me, it’s about how that technology can help me be more productive. Be more focused. Be a better husband, father, friend and business owner. What about you?

A new computer almost always feels faster than the one it replaces. In the old days, though, every few years you’d get a computer with not just a faster processor but a next-generation processor, and the resulting performance increase was dramatic. For the Mac, those were bumps like the first 68030s and 68040s, or the first batch of PowerPCs. For the PC, the 386, 486, and Pentium.

Based on information from informed sources, I believe the processor in the next-generation iPhone is going to be that kind of upgrade.

via Daring Fireball: The Next iPhone.

I’ve been following John Gruber’s blog, Daring Fireball, for a few years now. Mostly I read for his tech-related insights. I’m specifically interested in his knowledge of all things Apple and the information he shares, from commentary to summary to rumors…he provides great perspective and interesting insight. This article is no different. I’m excited about the next iPhone. Are you?

• System-wide copy/paste
• Support for the integrated camera to capture video in addition to the still photos
• Support for running multiple 3rd party apps

One thing is for sure. Apple will no doubt throw a few surprises in there as well. Stay tuned here for our thoughts and reactions to the announcement.

Daylite Touch Submitted to the AppStore

March 7, 2009 on 1:14 pm | In Apple, Business, Daylite, General

Exactly one year after Apple released the iPhone SDK and exactly one year after we began development, we submitted Daylite Touch to the AppStore yesterday.

Daylite Touch is major milestone for us as a company. Not only is it our first mobile app, it is also a milestone for small businesses. You’ll get functionality that even large scale enterprise systems don’t have, such as scheduling meetings with colleagues right from the phone you can also view their calendars. You’ll get power features such as open projects with linked tasks, appointments and notes from all users. You’ll get really useful “on the go” features such as the home screen with everything you have to do today and tomorrow. And more…

via Marketcircle Blog.

Get the most out of your iPhone with Ted Landaus in-depth advice

Join troubleshooting guru Ted Landau as he takes you to the next level of iPhone mastery in this 183-page ebook. You’ll find a compendium of useful information, with a particular focus on helping you work more effectively, avoid problems, and fix any existing problems.

via Get help with an iPhone or iPod touch: Take Control of Your iPhone, Second Edition .

Take a few moments and visit Mophie’s page on this. The product itself looks very nice, well designed, and best of all, it appears to have a very small form factor. So, it shouldn’t bulk up your iPhone too much.

Some quick specs…

• Up to 270 additional hours of Standby Time
• Up to 4.5 hours of additional Talk Time (3G)
• Up to 4.5 hours of additional Internet Use (3G)
• Up to 5.4 hours of additional Internet Use (Wi-Fi)

Mophie says that the product will be available by Spring of 2009.

Electronista | New, matte iPhone revision leaked?

On Friday, November 21, 2008, Apple released iPhone 2.2 and iPod touch 2.2 software updates. One of the features that came to iPhone and iPod touch users via this update is the ability to download podcasts directly. While this is a nice new feature, I'd say there is a more important aspect to this that has yet to be mentioned.

My business partner, Kevin Gilbert, pointed out to me that you can also stream most podcasts to your iPhone or iPod touch while accessing them in the iTunes directory. This is really a big deal for the podcast. Many have said that the podcast is dead. While I'm not totally buying into the death of the podcast, I must agree that we are entering a season where the podcast is losing dominance in the realm of delivering audio and video content to subscribers.

Why is this the case? Because for content creators and subscribers alike, it's less expensive and simpler to let companies like YouTube and Vimeo host their content. Couple that with the fact that nearly every phone manufactured today is web enabled and the argument becomes even stronger. Essentially, anyone can set up a free blog account, a free YouTube account, and deliver audio or video content to all of their subscribers. No investment in storage space is required.

So how does this help the podcast? Simple. Because iTunes is the largest podcast directory in the world, it's where people go to find out if there is a podcast about "fill in the blank". Bottom line, I think this brings some favor back to the podcast, at least with the podcast consumer. Access to the world's largest podcast directory and now, the ability to consume those podcasts directly on an iPhone or iPod touch without having to actually download them. This will be a big hit with a lot of folks.

What do you think?