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OS X Lion rumors: Do we want to believe 'em or not?
I don't know if you've noticed a trend, but at TUAW we've been trying to downplay a lot of the Mac OS X 10.7 Lion / MacBook Air refresh rumors that have been flooding a lot of other sites lately. The occasional one squeaks in, but for the most part we're trying to stay away from the daily "IT'S COMING TOMORROW!!!!" posts that have been so common over the last few weeks on some other Apple sites. Why? Frankly, it's because we're bored to death by the same rumors that have been coming out day after day after day. Not to say that we're not wondering ourselves about Lion and those new MacBook Airs, but let's face it: is it really necessary to post rumors every day? That being said, there are some indications that Wednesday may finally be the day that Cupertino blesses us with new hardware and operating system software. We received an anonymous email from an Apple Store employee who told us about new marketing materials (see photo above) that were sent to the store last week in a "Visual Merchandising" container, filled with materials used to market a new notebook computer. MacBook Air? MacBook? Who knows. There are also persistent rumors of Mac mini and Mac Pro updates, which our source didn't see in the marketing bin. The same source noted that his/her Apple Store was down to "less than two dozen MacBook Airs, with no shipments on the horizon." Yes, we believe that there are new MacBook Airs coming out. As for the exact day? We have no clue. Until or unless a helpful (possibly disgruntled) Apple Store employee sends us a photo of the specs from a new MBA, we're as much in the dark as the rest of the world. Our compatriots at MacRumors and AppleInsider are venturing that all of the new hardware and OS X Lion are going to arrive at 8:30 AM EDT on Wednesday, July 20. Will it happen? I guess we'll have to wait until Wednesday morning to be sure. MacRumors has reported that Apple Retail Stores are receiving copies of Lion on hard disks that have been sent to the stores for distribution onto the Macs in each store. Fortunately, the wise Arnold Kim at MacRumors is hedging his bets by stating that "This, of course, doesn't guarantee a specific launch date, but brings Apple one step closer to launch." The TUAW response to all of this? We're preparing for launch, and we'll push the button when we actually see something new. Are we playing it safe? Yes. But we're also trying to avoid the repetition of "It's coming out TOMORROW!!!" rumors that have been bouncing around for the last three weeks. When Lion and refreshed Macs get here, then we'll let you know. Cheers!
MacBook in short supply, stirs rumors of imminent refresh, rebirth of white plastic?
We've already seen the MacBook Pro sporting new specs, and heard rumblings of a MacBook Air refresh coming soon, and now reports of dwindling supplies of Apple's great white hope have the internets abuzz over a possible MacBook upgrade. AppleInsider did a little digging earlier today, and found that major online retailers, including Amazon, and at least one brick and mortar store were either running low or completely out of the last of the MacBooks. A similar fate has befallen stock of the Mac mini, inviting speculation that both machines will likely pop up post-Lion. We suppose there's also a possibility that Apple's ready to send the old workhorse to the glue factory, but we'd prefer a happy ending.
Rumor: New Mac Pros and Mac minis in August, CNet says
CNet's Brian Tong announced via Twitter that Apple is preparing to debut new Mac Pros and Mac minis in August. Tong added that both models are expected to have Thunderbolt and Sandy Bridge processors, urging people to wait before buying new machines. As MacRumors points out, Tong was spot on when he said new iMacs would arrive around the first week of May. Considering he is drawing upon the same sources, and current stocks of Mac Pros and Mac minis are being depleted, we're willing to place our bets in his corner as well. A Mac Pro and Mac mini refresh, along with expected updates to the MacBook Air and AirPort/Time Capsule product lines, would make a very nice back-to-school press event in August.
Low Mac Pro, Mac mini server supplies suggest pending refresh
Supplies of Apple's Mac Pro and Mac mini server lines are reportedly constrained, indicating a refresh is likely in the near future. According to 9to5 Mac, a source indicates these two product lines should see updates within the next month or so. 9to5 Mac doesn't give any info on the current supply status of the non-server versions of these two Mac models, but it's a safe bet that the standard and server lines will see updates at around the same time. We already expect to see a refresh of the MacBook Air line relatively soon, and the Mac Pro and Mac mini are due as well, having last been refreshed nearly a year ago. It's a given that all of the forthcoming Mac model refreshes will include Apple's new Thunderbolt I/O port, and the Mac Pro and Mac mini are also likely to have their CPUs updated to Intel's Sandy Bridge architecture. 9to5 Mac also notes that Apple's AirPort equipment supplies are still constrained, which may indicate that those products are still due for the refresh that many (including us at TUAW) expected to see at WWDC. With Mac OS X Lion due for release next month and a bevy of product refreshes expected soon, it's shaping up to be a busy couple of months for the Mac.
Ask TUAW: AirPlay and the Apple TV, Exchange 2003, enterprise iOS management and MobileMe calendar publishing
Welcome to Ask TUAW, your favorite weekly question-and-answer column. Do you know what my favorite thing in the entire world is? No, besides grilled cheese sandwiches. That's right! Questions! We can never have too many questions! You can't have a Q&A column without the Q, so please go to the comments of this post and ask away. To get fabulous answers, we need your fabulous questions. You can also email your questions directly to ask [at] tuaw.com, or ping us on Twitter. Now, queries! Dan writes: The place I work refuses to upgrade their version of Exchange to anything newer than 2003. They also won't enable IMAP for email. On my iPhone and iPad, I have no problem using Exchange 2003, but on the Mac it's a different story. Apple Mail will only see newer versions of Exchange, and even Microsoft's Outlook 2008 can't use this version of Exchange Server. I know you could use the God-awful Entourage software or run a Windows program in emulation, but isn't there anything else? I would have thought that with the plethora of new Mac-based mail apps, there would be at least one that could do mail as well as the iPhone. Help me!
Parallels pairs Server app with Mac mini
Here's something worthwhile for small businesses to consider. Parallels is offering a Mac mini edition of its Server for Mac 4.0. It might be just the thing for a business or end user that wants to consolidate a few servers on one low cost piece of hardware. The software allows a user to run Mac, Windows or Linux applications on a Mac mini, or run up to two virtual machines on one mini. The software comes with what Parallels calls 'one-click' tools to optimize Windows and Linux virtual machines, and the server software can be updated automatically. You can get a PDF data sheet here. The software is available as an electronic download for US$299, and a back-up install disc is available for an additional $14.95. That might seem pricey, but when you consider all of the software that Parallels Server lets you run and play with on just a Mac mini, it's actually rather comparatively cheap.
Ask TUAW: Where is the new Mac mini?, turning off iPhone noises and more
Welcome to Ask TUAW, your favorite weekly question-and-answer column. Now, we can never have too many questions, so please, go to the comments of this post and ask away. To get fabulous answers, we need your fabulous questions. You can also email your questions directly to ask [at] tuaw.com, or ping us on Twitter. Now, off to the questions! Muhammad asks: Is there any way to set up a mode in my iPhone that's exactly like airplane mode but still allow phone calls to be received? When I sleep, I want everything like texts, email, push notifications, etc. to be off, but I still need to be available in case of an emergency.
Mac mini-powered car stereo hates phone books
There are many interesting, creative things you can do with a Mac mini, the over performing, underpraised hero of the Mac lineup. You can build it into your Millennium Falcon, good for shaving a parsec or two off the Kessel run; you can install Snow Leopard Server edition and use it to run your Facebook-beating social networking website; or, if you're really, really creative, you can install it in your 2001 Chevy Tahoe and use it to shred phone books. Of course, using it for phone book destruction requires that you use only certain values of the terms 'interesting' and 'creative,' values nearer the shallower end of the gene pool than when using it to control your Millennium Falcon. But still. I'm sure a Windows-based ICE system wouldn't have shredded that phone book nearly as well. Watch the video (sorry about the music) and let us know if you can think of an even better use for a Mac mini in the comments below.
Mac mini mounting madness
If you have a new Mac mini that you'd like to mount somewhere, like under a desk or entertainment center, there are two new solutions you can look at. The first, which we received in the last week from NewerTech, is the NuShelf. This mount comes in two versions. One has a single shelf for holding one Mac mini or a Time Capsule. The NuShelf Dual Mount (see photo above) is slightly deeper for holding two Mac minis, two Time Capsules or one of each. The NuShelf is made of clear PETG thermoplastic, with a circular hole in the bottom to hold the newer Mac mini "memory door." There are also two cutouts in the back to make it easy to reach the SD card slot and power button. The single shelf version is US$39.95, while the Dual Mount is slightly more expensive at $44.95. The NuShelf is predrilled for mounting and includes four screws to finish the job. Unlike some of the metal shelves that are available, NewerTech notes that the plastic NuShelf is transparent to Wi-Fi and Bluetooth signals.
Ask TUAW Video Edition - iPhoto Sharing
This week, Kim asks about sharing multiple iPhoto installations to a home theater Mac mini. We were glad to help her out. You'll find our answer in the video after the break. Software shown this week: iPhoto Library - retails for US$19.95 dollars Remember, you can leave us questions in the comments! The video is on the next page.
Elgato and OWC hawk upgraded Mac Mini HTPC bundles: Blu-ray burner, 12TB, TV tuner
Simmer down, son -- neither Elgato nor Other World Computing are actually shoving 12TB of hard drive space within a 2010 Mac Mini, but if you order one of their new bundles, you'll definitely end up with as much. OWC is now selling pre-pimped Mac Mini machines, complete with bolstered storage options, an internal Blu-ray burner, Elgato's EyeTV Hybrid tuner (or HD DVR), more RAM than usual and an Apple Remote. The company plans to offer both the 2.4GHz and 2.66GHz Core 2 Duo systems, and it swears up and down that the machine will arrive preconfigured and ready to rock your home theater. The addition of a Mercury Elite-AL Pro Qx2 4-bay storage solution enables you to keep even a vast library of digital content nearby, but there's no telling how much the outfit will charge for such a luxury. Hit the source link if you're scrounging for details, but don't expect pricing or an order button just yet. Update: So, it seems that OWC isn't actually selling new Mac Minis itself, but will upgrade your own if you send it in. We'd like to take this opportunity to now recommend that OWC actually sell upgraded Mac Minis itself.
Engadget's Holiday Gift Guide: Desktops
Welcome to the Engadget Holiday Gift Guide! The team here is well aware of the heartbreaking difficulties of the seasonal shopping experience, and we want to help you sort through the trash and come up with the treasures this year. Below is today's bevy of hand curated picks, and you can head back to the Gift Guide hub to see the rest of the product guides as they're added throughout the holiday season. Desktops don't get much love these days, what with newfangled "laptops" hogging all the spotlight, but it's still an incredibly vibrant category, full of cutthroat competition, insanely powerful computers, and superfluous LED lighting. The result is tons of hot deals, particularly if you don't mind bringing your own monitor, wrangling wires behind an entertainment center, or being chained to a desk. In return you'll get performance that simply isn't possible on a laptop, expandability should you choose take advantage of it, and so many hot deals. Follow along after the break as we show you some of our favorites.
Ask TUAW: Outlook 2011 attachment problems, Apple TV alternatives, deleting apps and more
Welcome back to another edition of Ask TUAW. Each week this column will feature questions from readers and answers by the TUAW team. If you have questions for the following week's column, drop them in the comments, and I will do my best to get to them. When asking a question, please include which machine you're using and what version of Mac OS X is installed on it (we'll assume you're running Snow Leopard on an Intel Mac if you don't specify). If you're asking an iPhone, iPod touch or iPad question, be sure to note which model and version of iOS you have. For this week we've got a new batch of questions about Microsoft Outlook attachments, Apple TV alternatives, keeping an iPad, getting an iPod touch, deleting applications and more. Lee asks: I'm using Outlook 2011 on my iMac and many times when I receive attachments in emails the attachments are Winmail.dat files and I can't open them. How can I fix this? Unfortunately, those 'winmail.dat' files are created when the sender's Exchange server or Outlook for Windows client encodes the file attachment; if they've got your contact flagged in Outlook as someone who can receive 'Rich Text' messages, you'll get the Outlook PC-only winmail file. Fortunately, there is the free TNEF's Enough utility; this tool will quickly and easily decode your inbound attachments. (For those who are using Mail.app, there's also the US$29.95 LetterOpener for Mail.app, which integrates winmail.dat handling and several other Outlook-savvy tools into a Mail plugin. There's a free iPhone/iPad app, too.) You can also contact those people sending you the attachments and ask them to change the format they use when sending email to you.
Ed Bott's side-by-side Mac and PC experiment
ZDNet's Microsoft reporter Ed Bott is switching to a Mac. It's not forever and not in the way that you may be thinking, but for the time being he has decided to get serious about a side-by-side Mac and PC comparison he started over a year ago. Using a Mac mini and an HP Pavilion Elite desktop connected to dueling 24-inch monitors and sharing a single keyboard and mouse, he's not so much switching (wonder if he has watched the Apple "Find Out How" videos yet) but rather working towards his goal of being "comfortable enough to move between machines and use the best tools on each one with as little friction as possible." Using Synergy, open-source software that allows the use of one keyboard and mouse with both machines at once, Bott can move between them at will throughout the day. While this first installment in his "switch" is mostly about getting everything set up correctly, future discussion will include any hassles of platform switching and a comparison of the latest Office versions on each. Sure sounds like a much more complicated way of switching than the method I used with my Mom, which was to ask her to please just listen to me and buy a Mac. She's been thankful ever since.
Mac has Blu-ray envy in Microsoft ad
Are Macs envious of Windows 7's ability to play Blu-ray discs? Microsoft seems to think so, as seen in this stop-motion web video highlighting a Windows 7 laptop computer and a jealous MacBook. The MacBook is blown away by the PC's ability to play a Blu-ray disc of Avatar, saying "it feels like we're really in it," and thoroughly enjoying the experience of such a life-like movie. After watching the video, one might think that Apple users cannot watch high-definition movies on their computers, but this is not exactly true. Apple has avoided supporting Blu-ray so far. Apple instead offers 720p movie downloads as it tries to move us away from using any physical media. I can understand wanting Blu-ray for a home theater set-up -- I have a separate Blu-ray player hooked up to my 47" TV myself -- but I don't really see the need for it when flying on an airplane. A small laptop screen isn't really the format that Blu-ray movies are made for. Would I like to see Apple support Blu-ray? Absolutely. A friend who uses a Mac mini as his entire home entertainment system says, "It's perfect, except for the fact that I cannot rent or watch Blu-ray discs". Until the day physical media no longer exists, there will definitely be a market for Blu-ray players, especially for use at home -- even if Microsoft has recently joined Apple in downplaying the future of Blu-ray. Click "Read More" to check out the video.
Mac Pro server config added to product lineup
Shortly after announcing the end of the Xserve, Apple has added Mac Pro server configuration in its place. The new machine features a single 2.8GHz quad-core Intel Xeon 'Nehalem' processor, 8GB (4 x 2GB) of DDR3 ECC SDRAM, a pair of 1TB (7200RPM) hard drives, one 18x SuperDrive and ATI's Radeon HD 5770 with 1GB of GDDR5 video memory. The whole kit-and-kaboodle is served up with an unlimited-client license of Mac OS X Server. Pricing starts at US$2,999 and ships in a few weeks. Despite EOL'ing the Xserve, Apple still has two server machines available; the new Mac Pro and the mini server. Check your wallet and make your choice. Just remember, changing hard drives in the Mac Pro is a heck of a lot easier, if you've got the room to stash it. [via Engadget]
Mac mini prices drop outside the US
Reghardware is reporting that Apple has dropped the international price on Mac mini from £649 to £599 for the base model. In fact, Apple implemented a £50 price reduction across the board in the UK. Those paying in Euros also benefit, as that same model (2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo) dropped from 809 € to 709 €. Additionally, the 2.66GHz Snow Leopard Server mini also dropped 150 € in price to 999 € (from 1149 €). Mini prices remained unchanged in Canada, the U.S. and and Australia. GigaOM suggests the drop could be a response to the Mac's recent loss of worldwide market share. That's certainly possible. In any case, the diminutive mini just became more attractive for a number of shoppers. If you've been eying one, now is the time to buy. [Via GigaOM]
Apple quietly cuts Mac mini prices in non-US markets
If your answer to the question "how would you change Apple's Mac mini" was to give it a lower price, rejoice, for Apple has listened to your sage advice. Unamerican markets around the world are waking up to the news that the mini desktop computer has shrunken in price -- by €100 in Europe and by £50 in the UK -- but the same can't be said about Apple's home turf, with the US starting price remaining stagnant at $699. This is probably in response to the dollar's continuing decline relative to other currencies, and the quiet nature of this pricing alteration leads us to suspect that it won't, sadly, be jumping to the good old USA any time soon. C'est la vie. [Thanks, Andre]
Hang with the 2010 Mac mini racks from Macessity
The new Mac minis are sleek and lovely, but there are times when you simply want to get them out of the way. For example, if you're running a mini server farm, you'd like to get many minis into a small space. How do you do that? A rack mount. What if you'd like to mount a mini under a desk, but still want to have easy access to the ports on the back? Macessity has announced the answer to these storage questions with a new line of products for the 2010 Mac minis. The MX4-V2 is a rack tray (above) that holds up to four Mac minis so you can "rack 'em and stack 'em" in any standard equipment rack. The $79.99 tray has special holes for cable management and comes with the necessary mounting screws (don't laugh -- you can never find mounting hardware when you need it). For those who just want to hide a mini under a desk, there are two Macessity solutions: the $49.99 Mi360, which tucks your mini away in a protective compartment that rotates a full 360 degrees. It also has a theft deterrence locking tab so you can keep your mini from disappearing. If you want a four-port USB hub with your mini mount, you can get the $54.99 MiClassic (below) and add a $19.99 swivel bracket for convenience. Macessity also makes racks and mounts for the original Mac minis as well, as well as desktop mounts for minis old and new that let you put your mini under a monitor.
Brabus iBusiness luxury sedan puts an iPad at every seat, a Magic Mouse at every hide-covered armrest
When it comes to being ushered along to your destination at a high rate of speed within a cocoon of luxury, it's hard to go wrong with the Mercedes S Class. However, if this $90,000 (and way, way up) sedan isn't special enough for you, teutonic tuner Brabus is happy to make some... improvements. The company bumps the power up to 750hp, good for a top speed of 211mph whilst also providing a wealth of iDevices to those being coddled inside. There's an iPad (with keyboard) at each of the rear seats, an entertainment system built into the back of both headrests powered by a 64GB iPod Touch, and a 15.2-inch display that swivels down from the ceiling to expose the output from a tunk-mounted Mac Mini. Even for the most ardent of Mac lovers it's a bit too much, but if it weren't it wouldn't be a Brabus. The cost? Nobody's saying, but don't expect this very special kind of excess to come cheap.
