Apple has released an update to iTunes to version 8.0.2. The update is available in your Mac OS X software update.iTunes 8.0.2 improves stability and performance and provides a number of important bug fixes, including:
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Germans documenting an exploit that forces an iPhone to dial an unwanted number have also potentially tipped users off to the imminent release of Apple's widely anticipated 2.2 firmware upgrade.

MacWorld Sweden caught the attention of iPhone users when they reported that Swedish carrier Telia is planning on bringing Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) to their iPhone users. MMS is a feature that has been long requested by iPhone users and wo...

TechRadar.com reports on some preliminary benchmarks on Intel's upcoming Nehalem EP chips which they say will be sold as the Xeon X5560 CPUs in the 1st quarter of 2009. Apple has traditionally used the Xeon processors for the Mac Pro line.
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German publication Spiegel.de reports an newly announced iPhone vulnerability that can force a (potentially expensive) phone call to be made simply by visiting a webpage in Safari. The vulnerability was to be announced in ComputerBild on Monday bu...

Earlier this week, IBM announced its plans to buy Transitive, a small cross-platform virtualization company.
MacRumors readers will remember the company for providing the technology behind Rosetta, Apple's PowerPC emulator for Mac OS...

While Research in Motion continues to dominate the corporate smartphone market, new data shows Apple to be chipping awake at the BlackBerry maker's lead after having recently bludgeoned Palm to become the second leading supplier of advanced handsets to businesses.

On Friday, Research in Motion and Verizon will answer to the iPhone with the BlackBerry Storm -- a touchscreen-based handset that will sell for $250 with a two-year contract, though a $50 mail-in rebate will bring the cost inline with Apple's entry-level offering.

I don't know what to say. I am livid. Not only has Apple charged me $100 to use my 30 inch screen with my Unibody MacBook, the adapter is huge and takes a USB port for power. Oh, and there was a one month wait for these part initially. Also, the way this technology works, I can't use a regular DVI adapter on a 30 inch monitor. If I try, I get the same resolution as on my MacBooks built in display. WTF.
OK, whatever. I am over it. It should come any day now right? Wrong! In a letter that could have been worded by the Grinch, Apple wrote to tell me and probably many and probably many others (below) that my Dual Link DVI Adapter wouldn't be shipping until Dec 23. That is over two months past when the MacBooks were shipped! Great news, we'll all be on Christmas vacation by then.
Unacceptable Apple. UNACCEPTABLE!!!

Swedish iPhone owners will soon have something they can hold over the heads of most other users of the touchscreen handset: an Apple-sanctioned way of sending and receiving picture and video messages.

Apple has conceptualized a means of displaying icon-like status indicators on the iPhone's displays even when the handset is locked and the backlight turned off, a new company filing shows.

According to a court filing in the Psystar v. Apple lawsuit, Apple, Inc. has no corporate-wide policy on electronic document retention -- something one e-document expert told The Industry Standard was "negligent."
Employees could have emails from 5 years ago that become "potentially relevant", but because there was no policy in place regarding e-documents, those records could easily become destroyed -- making it potentially impossible for a plaintiff to make a case from internal documents.
One lawyer told me "that kind of crap could really get them in trouble."
Get the rest of the story from The Standard.

Apple has released a new update for the Apple TV tonight. Apple TV owners can download the new updates by accessing the "Update Software" menu option in their Apple TV's settings.
Apple has not released any documents about the change...

Apple has reportedly set an industry record by moving its OpenCL parallel computing standard from its beginnings to imminent approval in half a year, paving the way for its inclusion in Mac OS X Snow Leopard.

CNet confirms some earlier rumors that Apple is in ongoing negotiations with the major music studios to offer more DRM (copy protection) free music in iTunes. Earlier rumors had suggested that Sony BMG had already agreed but CNet was unable to confi...

Computerworld's Gregg Kaiser, exposes some of the behind the scenes emails going on around the Vista marketing campaign at Microsoft. Microsoft was already preoccupied with the Mac's reputation and how, in particular, Walt Mossberg had been singing its praises:
"You won't have to worry about Vista if you buy one of Apple Computer's Macintosh computers, which don't run Windows," Mossberg had written. "Every mainstream consumer doing typical tasks should consider the Mac. Its operating system, called Tiger [at that time, the most-current Mac OS X -- Ed.], is better and more secure than Windows XP, and already contains most of the key features promised for Vista."
Warrier added his own comment. "A premium experience as defined by Walt = Apple. This is why we need to address [the column]."
That got an almost-immediate rise out of Russell, who acknowledged that Microsoft had not done its job in promoting Windows Vista. "My takeaway from Walt's article is that we have failed to communicate Vista's value," Russell said in an e-mail reply sent just 20 minutes after Warrier fired off his.
Russell went on to defend Vista, specifically its ability to "run on a very wide-ranging set of systems from the minimally capable to the incredibly capable," he said. "Apple doesn't do that."
All of this is part of the larger "Vista-capable" Microsoft case that is set to go to court next year. The plaintiffs contend that Microsoft lowered the computers specs on what "running Vista" could include artificially so much that consumers were misled into buying machines that really couldn't run Vista properly.

Apple is in talks with three of the "big four" record labels about offering music tracks through iTunes that would be made available in MP3 format without copy protection measures, a move that could further distance the digital download service from its rivals.

Microsoft officials were concerned about the performance of Windows Vista and the way it would be compared to Mac OS X long before Apple zeroed in on the problematic software with its humorous "I'm a Mac, I'm a PC" advertising campaign, internal emails show.

Macworld reports from the SuperComputing 08 conference which is taking place in Austin, Texas this week. The Khronos group was present to celebrate the launch of the upcoming OpenCL specification which Apple is planning to implement in Mac OS X 10....

Mega-discount chain Wal-Mart, along with subsidiary Sams Clubs, will join Best Buy in offering Apple's iPhone 3G to their customers just days after Christmas, according to new reports.

DigiTimes reports that Apple is amongst the vendors who are awaiting the release of three new low-power desktop CPUs due in January from Intel.Intel will launch the Core 2 Quad Q8200s (2.33GHz/4MB L2), Core 2 Quad Q9400s (2.66GHz/6MB...

It looks like Snow Leopard might be coming a bit earlier than expected if slides from Apple's Director of Engineering of Unix Technologies, Jordan Hubbard are to be believed. The presentation was given at LISA '08 last week in San Diego. Originally planned for "about a year" from WWDC 2008 (July), the change of schedule would be a significant bump in expections from people outside of Apple. While Q1 extends to the end of March, this could also indicate that we'll see new Snow Leopard introductions at Macworld 2009 in January. Perhaps even new devices using the new, optimized code.
We should caution that this is only one person's presentation slide and could be factually incorrect, though he is certainly a person who would be in the know.
Via MacRumors

Apple is among a handful of PC manufacturers who're waiting on a new family of quad-core chips from Intel that are designed for small form-factor PCs like the Mac mini and all-in-one systems like the iMac.

An Apple director has inadvertently broken word that his company may be planning to release Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard three months earlier than expected.

So, yeah we should be over this one by now but something that really bothered us when we reported on MacBook Air sightings in September of 2007 was that our source had seen black versions of the MacBook Air. We were really excited about this possibility and were let down when the Airs were released in only silver at Macworld 2008.
Turns out there were some black MacBook Airs "floating" around Cupertino. But for whatever reason, they never made it to the assembly line.
A MacRumors forum member reports on a prototype that made it out to the real world a few years after it, or one of its brethren, were spotted by our spy. It is good to know that there was some more truth to that one, even over a year later.
Oh yeah...the screen to the edges?...disregard that part :P

Apple's Director of Engineering of Unix Technologies Jordan Hubbard spoke at LISA '08 last week. LISA (or Large Installation System Administration Conference) is a technical conference targeted at engineers and system administrators. This year's c...

A California computer repair shop is likely to receive a call from Apple asking it to explain where it obtained an internal MacBook Air prototype that it later turned around and sold on eBay for $730.

A California judge has dismissed a counterclaim from Psystar which asserted that Apple was violating federal and state anti-trust laws in limiting the sale and use of Mac OS X on Apple branded computers.. But in a 19-page order pass...

News is trickling in that the new DisplayPort has a little surprise for unibody MacBook users: High Definition Content Protection (HDCP). Apparently the Apple TV also includes this feature. Technically it works across DisplayPort, Digital Visual Interface (DVI), High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI), Gigabit Video Interface (GVIF), or Unified Display Interface (UDI) connections so any machines can be governed by this technology.
The technology is meant to block playing on unauthorized displays but it is hard to see how this is supposed to prevent piracy. This is undoubtedly motivated by the studios trying to keep a hold of their content, not by Apple.
The problem is that VGA isn't one of the technologies that this supports and an Ars reader was projecting using this far from dead technology. The result? He can't play a movie he has purchased that is covered by FairPlay.

So all of you with VGA displays are assed out on iTunes content? We'll see how Apple responds to this.

A California judge on Tuesday granted Apple's motion to dismiss counterclaims on the part of unauthorized Mac clone maker Psystar, who charged the Mac maker with violating antitrust laws through its vigorous attempts to block third parties from selling rival Mac OS X-based computers.

MacRumors forum member Brett33 bought an "as is" MacBook Air on eBay for a selling price of $730. As it turns out, it appears the machine is actually a prototype model of Apple's MacBook Air.
After receiving the unit, Brett33 noticed ...

Apple's new MacBook lines include a form of digital copy protection that will prevent protected media, such as DRM-infused iTunes movies, from playing back on devices that aren't complaint with the new priority protection measures.

Apple's new unibody notebooks appear to incorporate a version of copy protection known as HDCP. HDCP is most well known for preventing unauthorized copying across HDMI but is also used for the DisplayPort which is found in Apple's new MacBoo...

A slowing global economy had little impact on Apple's computer business last month, as consumers willingly plunked down their cash for the company's new MacBook offerings, helping to drive Mac sales up more than 25 percent year-over-year.

Apple is now taking orders for their new 24" LED Cinema Display that was announced in October. While early versions of the new Cinema Display have been shown at Apple retail stores, orders had not been accepted until now.
Apple rece...