Okay, the Time Machine / AirPort Extreme situation is now officially ridiculous. TidBITS's Glenn Fleishmann says Apple's confirmed to him that the Extreme is unsupported for use with Time Machine, even though the latest batch of updates enable AirPort Disks to show up in the Time Machine disk-selection box. Fleishmann thinks a it's leftover developer testing glitch, but either way, Apple's will-they-won't-they routine means lots of people now have an unsupported backup solution that works "erratically." Seriously, if you thought AirPort Extreme owners were pissed off about Time Capsule, just wait until backups start failing. Not a lot of options left, Apple -- better get this feature up and running ASAP.

Who knows why it took so long, but the latest AirPort Extreme firmware update (7.3.1, out today) finally brings Time Machine compatibility to AirDisk. In typical Apple fashion, there's no mention of it on the release notes, but the crew over at TUAW says it's working, and commenters are confirming. We're still holding out for Time Machine to work with any NAS we want, but for now, it looks like all you Airport Extreme owners who felt like you were getting played by the release of Time Capsule are finally in the game -- get those USB drives ready for some hot backup nights.

Considering that Apple has been known to release products without all the features, um, enabled out of the box, it seemed fair to question the (now previous) AirPort Extreme's inability to handle gigabit speeds. Apparently unable to shun curiosity, the investigatory folks over at ComputerWiz decided to break open both the gigabit and non-gigabit editions of the AirPort Extreme, and unfortunately for those hoping that their older iteration could be upgraded with a simple firmware patch, that doesn't look to be the case. After closer inspection, the non-gigabit model packed a Broadcom BCM5325 chip, which only contains "five full-duplex 10BASE-T/100BASE-TX Fast Ethernet transceivers," while the newest AE possesses a Broadcom BCM5395, which of course understands gigabit requirements just fine. Ah well, at least you can stop wishin', eh?

While the majority of you are likely scoping out Apple's more noticeable introductions, the firm did manage to provide a subtle, albeit entirely welcome upgrade to the 802.11n AirPort Extreme Base Station. Still priced at $179, the revamped device doesn't change much, as you can still look forward to the slimmed-down design, USB port, and security slot, but those utilizing a wired network will greatly appreciate the four gigabit Ethernet ports. Interestingly, there are still a number of locations in which Apple has yet to update the technical information of the new AirPort, but the tried and true checkout page holds the newly implemented details.

[Thanks, iData]

Our review unit came a little later than we might have liked, but for anyone in the audience still down with an exhaustive hands-on and setup photo gallery with Apple's purdy new AirPort Extreme 802.11n Base Station, we've got you covered. Click on for our impressions, or check out our photo gallery.

We've already seen Apple's 802.11n-enhanced Airport Extreme base station unboxed, but that'll hardly satisfy those more curious about the router's inner working than its shiny exterior. Thankfully, the folks at iFixit ripped theirs apart so you don't have to, also taking the time to run the base station through some benchmarks to see how it performs. On that point, they found that the base station definitely delivered the goods, providing a 10x performance boost and 3x range increase over the non-802.11n base station. In transfer rates, that translates to a speedy 9MB/s in short range tests, and a still-impressive 500KB/s when put to a long-range test, with some 300 feet (and a building) separating their MacBook Pro and the base station. As for that peek under the hood, you can check out another pic after the break, then click through to iFixit for a look at the complete operation.

[Via Digg]

Earlier this week Apple made good on its promise to ship its 802.11n Airport Extreme Base Station sometime in "February," and now that it has, the units are starting to appear in local Apple Stores. AppleInsider and Jennifer J on Flickr popped down to their local Store to pick up two of the first Base Stations to go on sale, and for our convenience have posted a bunch of their photos online. Hopefully reports will be forthcoming regarding the real world performance and range of the new Base Station. As for the physical unboxing, it's the standard Apple affair: a sparse box design with an equally minimalist little router sitting inside. For absolute perfection in box design, we still think that Apple should include a little square of bubble wrap: y'know, for the sake of popping them for fun aesthetics.

Read - AppleInsider
Read - Airport Extreme photoset on Flickr

Looks like those new shuffles weren't the only thing to pop up on Apple's store this morning, Apple has also finally released that AirPort Extreme 802.11n Enabler we've heard so much about. We figure there's been enough drama at this point, so just suffice it to say that if you have a MacBook C2D, MacBook Pro C2D, Mac Pro with AirPort Extreme or a C2D iMac that isn't the 17-inch 1.83GHz model, you can fork over your two bucks and update right now to glorious draft-n wonderment.

[Via AppleInsider]

Update: Apple let us know that you can't identify systems with the Network Utility; the 802.11n capability only shows up if you've used the software update, so know your mac and get the update if you need it. Also, the $1.99 update is considered by Apple to be a site license, so you can upgrade all the machines in your home with the single $2 purchase (if you didn't alright sign up for the router). Not bad!

Update 2: It wasn't entirely clear before, but the launch of the Enabler coincides with the launch of the AirPort Extreme today, too. Don't let the "Estimated Ship: February" on their site fool you, Apple is definitely shipping now.

Ok Apple, you hassle us with those incessant advertisements, you exude smug hipsterocity, and this iPhone hype has really gotten out of hand, but we're going to let you pass on this 802.11n thing. Sounds like you're really trying to do the right thing here, but you just didn't want to get busted on some sort of accounting snafu -- it's alright, we understand. Next time you might try not being so sneaksy with those hidden features and stuff, but we're still kind of glad to have the functionality all the same. That's why we're going to skip over that episode of "Johnny and the Sprites" we were hoping to download from that iTunes Store of yours, snap up this little download for its $2 "distribution fee" (last time we heard it was $5, but Apple is saying $2, so all the better) when you make it available, and only complain about it six or seven times to our close friends and / or mom. We care that much.

Your friends,
Engadget

[Thanks, Matt]

It was odd enough for Apple to slip 802.11n chips into its recent Core 2 Duo systems without really letting on about it, but now they've gone full-out loony by charging $4.99 to download the 802.11n enabler patch on your system. If you purchase one of those new 802.11n AirPort Extreme Base Stations with your hard-earned $179, Apple will throw in the enabler software for free, but if you happen to already own an 802.11n base station or just wanted to feel like a big kid with an 802.11n wireless card of your very own without buying the Airport Extreme Base Station, you'll have to fork over the annoying 5 buck fee. The folks at iLounge dug into the story a bit, and it appears Apple is blaming accounting for the odd fee: "the company believes that if it sells a product, then later adds a feature to that product, it can be held liable for improper accounting if it recognizes revenue from the product at the time of sale, given that it hasn't finished delivering the product at that point." Yeah, crazy. We know. Until we get a better explanation than that bookkeeping hogwash, we're going to go with our first impression of the situation: this is just that tried and true "wear them down with micropayments" part of Steve Jobs' inevitable path to world dominion.

Read - AppleInsider
Read - iLounge

It may not bring the thunder like an Apple iPhone but the Airport Extreme does bring draft-N of the 802.11 WiFi standard. That means up to 5x the speed and 2x the performance of traditional WiFi networks which should deliver a bit of a rumble to the living room or office. It also support legacy 802.11a/b/g giving it full 2.4GHz and 5GHz coverage. It also features AirPort Disk, a USB host port around back allowing you to share an external USB hard drive over your wireless or wired network. Or just attach a USB printer and share that, your choice. Best of all, it should work with the unannounced, but apparently real, 802.11n draft hardware in your recently purchased Mac -- look for a software update to roll soon. By February anyway, when the Airport Extreme ships for $180.

Alright, deep breaths, we might have us some actual pre-Macworld Apple news here, and we don't want anybody passing out on us. It looks like Apple is indeed hopping on board the 802.11n bandwagon, with its own draft-N devices going by the name of Airport Extreme X2 and X4. We're not positive what's the difference between the two versions (though we're sure X4 will be bringing twice the Xtreem of its counterpart) but it could have something to do with that DualBand 802.11n technology which showed up in Linksys' new WRT600N, with 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequency support to bust up on interference -- just a guess though. This news comes to us courtesy of a loose-lipped Macworld Expo "Advanced Wireless" session description, so it could very well be one of strongest rumors we've heard yet of an actual Macworld product launch from Apple -- let's just hope there's at least one more thing.

[Via Digg]