According to a recent report from The Inquirer, Intel’s Sandy Bridge chips known as Xeon E5 are set to launch this week. The report notes that server chips are in the distribution network for several weeks now, which means that manufacturers who plan to utilize the chips, will be able to get them up and running. It is rumored that Apple is expected to use these chips in an updated version of the Mac Pro.

«Boston confirmed to The INQUIRER that Xeon E5 chips have been in the channel for a few weeks now and confirmed to us that it won’t be a paper launch. We have also been shown Xeon E5 systems from other large vendors that give credence to the notion that Intel’s Xeon E5 will arrive, for real, next week».

As of right now, the benchmarks still haven’t been released but the Xeon E5 chips are said to be a large improvement over the chips found in the current Mac pro, which hasn’t been updated since the middle of 2010. Competitors such as Dell have already begun announcing products based on the new chip, meaning that Apple could be ready with Mac Pro updates as well in the near future in the sake of keeping up with competition.

Apple is likely to take advantage of the 6-core and 8-coore E5 2600 series chips for its dual-processor Mac Pro configurations while focusing on the quad-core and 6-core E5-1600 chips for its lower-end single-processor models. Aside from the new processors, other upgrades for the Mac Pros also seem to be falling into place such as the switch back to NVIDIA graphics cards, moving away from the AMD based graphic cards found in the current models.

Reportedly, late last year the company was questioning the future of the line as sales of Mac Pros have declined due to increasing shift to notebooks and specifications that had gone stale awaiting for Intel to launch updated chips.The current specifications have become outdated as Apple and other tech companies have waited for Intel to release updated processors.

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[Source: The Inquirer]

Apple recently started offering $100/€75 gift cards for free for those people who buy a Mac. This is part of their annual Back To School promotion, which starts today in both US and European countries. A number of sites received tips yesterday indicating that this year’s promotion will offer the gift cards which can be used in the Mac App Store, iTunes Store, iOS App Store, and for purchasing ebooks from the iBook store. Apple made things official earlier today. Here is what they mentioned:

When you buy a new qualifying Mac with Apple education pricing* from June 16, 2011, through September 20, 2011, you’ll get a $100 Back to School Card to use on the Mac App Store, the App Store, the iTunes Store, and the iBookstore.

Previous promotions, offered a $199 iPod Touch instead of a gift card, so it is a little bit of a disappointment that the promotion has been dumbed down. Apple fans’ responses to the decision aren’t very positive either.

This decision can be justified though as the iPod Touch is a very popular product and Apple, keeping that in mind, decided to push out apps and other media (such as eBooks, movies, and music) instead of an already popular product. The $100 isn’t as bad at all because you can get dozens of apps from the iOS App Store or a handful from the Mac App Store an if apps aren’t your thing, you can always purchase about 100 songs or about ten or so books from the iBookstore. This year’s Back to School promotion is set to last from June 16thuntil September 20th, 2011.

As usual, stay tuned for more new and info by following us on Facebook, Twitter and/or by subscribing to our RSS Feed.

Just a day after releasing iTunes 10.3 to support some early iCloud features such as automatic downloads and access to previously purchased content, Apple has released iTunes 10.3.1, to fix critical issues in the application.

The documentation accompanying the release and Apple’s support page merely offer the same information as found with the original iTunes 10.3 release, providing no word on exactly what is addressed in what is presumably a minor bug fix update. It is believed to fix the “unknown error (-50)” some users would get while syncing iOS devices. No fixes were found as of this writing, but there’s no reason not to get this free update.

This update comes two days after the Cupertino company unveiled iTunes 10.3 at WWDC, which includes support for “iTunes in the Cloud”, new online technologies that allow users to have all purchases synced to up to 10 devices on the fly, as well as to individually download past purchases, including apps, songs and e-books. These features are part of iCloud, which will ship in the fall, including photo syncing, and the ability to stream changes to documents on the fly within iWork. Apple has also announced iTunes Match, a $25-a-year service that helps user convert their own songs into 256-Kbps iTunes Plus quality AAC files for free. Steve Jobs couldn’t have said it better:

Today it is a real hassle and very frustrating to keep all your information and content up-to-date across all your devices, [...] iCloud keeps your important information and content up to date across all your devices. All of this happens automatically and wirelessly, and because it’s integrated into our apps you don’t even need to think about it—it all just works.

Download iTunes 10.3.1:

• iTunes 10.3.1
• iTunes 10.3.1 for Windows (64 bit)

You can get iTunes 10.3.1 from Software Update, if you haven’t already, or iTunes download page. If you’re running iTunes 10.5, which you can obtain from Apple’s developer site, if you’re a registered member, please don’t install iTunes 10.3.1, or else your iOS 5 device will no longer work.

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There are a slew of new features available in the OS X Lion, 250 to be exact. Phill Schiller, at the Worldwide Developer Conference 2011 demonstrated 10 of the larger and upgrade worthy features.

• Better touch gesture – Almost everything in Lion will be controllable by touch. You can use a three-finger swipe to cycle through apps, double tap to zoom, or pinch to zoom. If you’re used to using iOS, this should come naturally.
• Full-screen apps – Here’s another feature that iPad and iPhone owners will love. Apple made it easy for developers to make their apps full screen. You can swipe through multiple full-screen apps using touch gestures. It looks good.
• Mission Control – Mission control is Exposé meets Spaces. You can control all your work spaces from one easy panel. You can also activate Mission Control swiping down with three fingers.
• Built in Mac App Store – The Mac App Store will ship with the Mac App Store. Mac apps will allow for push notifications, in-app purchases, and sandboxing.
• Store Apps With Launchpad – Lion’s Launchpad will organize your apps. Launchpad is an iOS-like hub for all the apps you download from the App Store. You can activate it by clicking the app’s icon or using a four-finger pinch gesture.
• Save Your Progress With The Resume Feature – If you close an app, it will open where you last left off. All you have to do is log in to Lion and you’re good to go.
• Autosave Documents – Lion will automatically save all your work. You can also revert to last opened or other versions of the same file.
• View Old Files With Versions – Versions gathers all your autosaved documents and lets you look at all the previous versions. It’s just like Time Machine but for individual documents.
• Share Files With Air Drop – Air Drop is a built-in peer-to-peer file-sharing service. All you have to do is connect to the same Wi-Fi network and drag and drop the file to the computer you want to share with. There’s no additional setup required, and all your data is encrypted.
• New Mail app – The new mail app looks a lot like the Mail app on the iPad. There’s a two-column view with your inbox on the left and message preview on the right. It also has a conversations view, which shows you e-mails in the order you received them.

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Steve Jobs recently unveiled a minor upgrade to iTunes at WWDC 2011; iTunes 10.3. The release, which is currently in beta form, will allow users to take advantage of iCloud, which will become available in the fall as well as “iTunes in the Cloud,” a feature that is available starting today. iTunes in the Cloud will allow users to have all their purchased content including songs, apps, books, and more synced across up to 10 devices of their own, including both Mac and Windows computers, and all iOS devices with firmware iOS 4.3.3 or higher. Users will also be able to download any of their previous purchases for free since all the download history is constantly synced as well.

As mentioned before, the music that hasn’t been purchased from iTunes can also be converted into higher quality via iTunes Match. For $24.99 a year (in the United States), users will be able to convert their songs into 256 kbps AAC DRM-free audio files at no extra cost.

iTunes in the Cloud is part of a broader offering named iCloud. The new internet service will be replacing MobileMe will allow real-time syncing of files between devices, as well as streaming pictures and even share changes to documents on the fly. At WWDC today, Steve Jobs pointed out the need for the technology to everyone by stating the following:

Today it is a real hassle and very frustrating to keep all your information and content up-to-date across all your devices, [...] iCloud keeps your important information and content up to date across all your devices. All of this happens automatically and wirelessly, and because it’s integrated into our apps you don’t even need to think about it—it all just works.

Aside from the additional cloud offerings, the new version of iTunes, version 10.3, is expected to be identical to the current version of iTunes, iTunes 10.2.2. There is no word on international pricing for iTunes Match just yet although the fees should be similar to that of the service in the US.

The Worldwide Developer Conference, Apple’s annual developer conference, kicked off just recently. In addition to iCloud, other long-rumored innovations were also unveiled, such as iOS 5 and Mac OS X Lion (Apple’s next generation operating system). The conference is set to continue for the remainder of the week, with sessions especially targeted at developers on how to take advantage of the new technologies.

Download iTunes 10.3 for Windows and Mac:

• Download iTunes 10.3

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The keynote even from the 2011 Worldwide Developers Conference, including the unveiling of iOS 5 and iCloud and a closer look at Mac OS X 10.7 ion, is now available online. The entire 118 minute presentation can be streamed from Apple’s site. The keynote kicked off with Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs and included a few other members of the company’s executive team including Senior Vice Preseident for Worldwide Product Marketing Phil Schiller, and Senior Vice President of iOS Software, Scott Forstall.

The company announced the new version of the Mac Operating system, Lion, being available on the next Mac App Store in July for $29.99. It also offered the first look at iOS 5, which will be coming to the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch this fall with a new Notification Center and wireless system updates. Apple also unveiled the curtain to iCloud, its free service that will automatically sync data, including photos and documents, between Macs, PCs, and iOS devices. Some components of iCloud, including re-downloading iTunes songs and a list of purchased App Store software are already available.

Steve Job’s also trademarked another thing at WWDC 2011, the iTunes Match service, which is said to launch this fall. For a price of $24.99 per year, it will scan a user’s library of songs, including those ripped from their own CDs and match them up to a library of 18 million + songs from the iTunes Store. Users can then re-download those songs on any device. The keynote kicks off this week’s conference which will be running through Friday, June 10. Apple will be hosting more than 100 technical sessions designed to help developers make applications for iOS 5 and Mac OS X Lion, including integration with new iCloud-specific features.

As usual, stay tuned for more news and info regarding WWDC 2011 by following us on Facebook, Twitter, and/or subscribing to our RSS feed.

Apple may be preparing to surprise customers with the launch of Mac OS X Lion on June 14th, according to 9to5Mac.

Sources have indicated to 9to5Mac that Apple may surprise customers with a Tuesday, June 14 launch of the next-generation Mac operating system. Our sources could not confirm with certainty that the launch will take place that day, but due to a mixture of chatter from several sources we believe the June 14th date is a strong possibility.

The source offers a few indicators that support this date:

• Apple is reportedly planning a new store front window and in-store signage changes for the 14th. These are different than the changes planned for June 7th.
• Apple is apparently minimizing software presence in their retail stores on that day. Perhaps meaning the removal of Snow Leopard from their shelves.
• Mr. X has told 9to5Mac that Apple’s supplies of Mac OS X Snow Leopard are dwindling.

Mac OS X Lion is expected to be available via the Mac App Store with an additional app purchase that will add server capabilities. More information on Mac OS X Lion will be available after the WWDC 2011 keynote tomorrow.

As usual, stay tuned for more news and info on the topic by following us on Facebook, Twitter, and/or subscribing to our RSS feed.

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The iPhone Dev Team has released updated versions of Redsn0w and PwnageTool.

The new Redsn0w 0.9.6rc16 and PwnageTool 4.3.3.1 fixes bugs found in the previous version of Redsn0w 0.9.6 rc15 and PwnageTool 4.3.3. The bugs are fixed by Stefan Esser and implemented by MuscleNerd behind their tools. Also note that these bugs are still there if you try it on iOS 4.3.1 and iOS 4.3.2. They have fixed it only for iOS 4.3.3 untethered jailbreak. Remember that you can run these tools over the previous ones.

The 4.3.3 untether works on all devices that actually support 4.3.3 except for the iPad2:

• iPhone3GS
• iPhone4 (GSM)
• iPod touch 3G
• iPod touch 4G
• iPad1
• AppleTV2G (v4.3 8F202)

For those of you who are interested in downloading the newest version of PwnageTool, you can do so via the official BitTorrent Release below:

Download PwnageTool 4.3.3.1:

• Download PwnageTool 4.3.3.1 for Mac OS [Direct Link]
• Download and install the latest version of iTunes (iTunes 10.2.2)

Download iOS 4.3.3 / 4.2.8 for iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch:

• Download iOS 4.3.3 iPhone 4 (GSM)
• Download iOS 4.3.3 iPhone 4, iOS 4.2.8 (Verizon)
• Download iOS 4.3.3 iPhone 3GS
• Download iOS 4.3.3 iPad 2 WiFi
• Download iOS 4.3.3 iPad 2 GSM
• Download iOS 4.3.3 iPad 2 CDMA
• Download iOS 4.3.3 iPad
• Download iOS 4.3.3 iPod touch 3G
• Download iOS 4.3.3 iPod touch 4G

We will provide more updates as they become available, so stay tuned by following us on Facebook, Twitter and/or by subscribing to our RSS Feed.

iPhone Dev Team has released Redsn0w 0.9.6 RC15 and PwnageTool 4.3.3 for untethered iOS 4.3.3 jailbreak. Earlier we have reported that Apple has not patched iOS 4.3.1 / 4.3.2 untethered jailbreak exploit developed by Stefan Esser. The hacker has now regenerated the binaries for the latest 4.3.3 firmware and given it to the iPhone Dev Team.

… three in a row!  Apple released iOS 4.3.3 on Wednesday, and once again the untethered jailbreak exploit that @i0n1c created for 4.3.1 still works.  That makes it an unprecedented three firmwares where the same userland exploit works.  We’re not exactly sure why Apple hasn’t fixed the hole yet, but we’re not complaining!

Today’s PwnageTool and redsn0w incorporate @i0n1c’s port to 4.3.3 (it’s ironic that such a long-lasting untether doesn’t even have an official name!).  It also of course uses geohot’s limera1n bootrom exploit to inject the jailbreak.

The 4.3.3 untether works on all devices that actually support 4.3.3 except for the iPad2:

• iPhone3GS
• iPhone4 (GSM)
• iPod touch 3G
• iPod touch 4G
• iPad1
• AppleTV2G (v4.3 8F202)

For those of you who are interested in downloading the newest version of PwnageTool, you can do so via the official BitTorrent Release below:

Download PwnageTool 4.3.3:

• Download PwnageTool 4.3.3 for Mac OS [Direct Link]
• Download and install the latest version of iTunes (iTunes 10.2.2)

Download iOS 4.3.3 / 4.2.8 for iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch:

• Download iOS 4.3.3 iPhone 4 (GSM)
• Download iOS 4.3.3 iPhone 4, iOS 4.2.8 (Verizon)
• Download iOS 4.3.3 iPhone 3GS
• Download iOS 4.3.3 iPad 2 WiFi
• Download iOS 4.3.3 iPad 2 GSM
• Download iOS 4.3.3 iPad 2 CDMA
• Download iOS 4.3.3 iPad
• Download iOS 4.3.3 iPod touch 3G
• Download iOS 4.3.3 iPod touch 4G

We will provide more updates as they become available, so stay tuned by following us on Facebook, Twitter and/or by subscribing to our RSS Feed.

Apple is playing around with a pretty cool new feature for Safari in Apple’s Mac OS X Lion. The attribute will change things up a bit for bookmarking functionality in the browser. The soon to be official “Reading List” function allows users to save particular pages for review at a later time. Here is how Apple describes the new tool: “Reading List lets you collect webpages and links for you to read later. To add the current page to your Reading List, click Add Page. You can also Shift-click a link to quickly add it to the list. To hide and show Reading List, click the Reading List icon (eyeglasses) in the bookmarks bar.”

For now, we have to wait to enjoy the “Reading List” feature as it remains dormant in the most recent Mac OS X Lion builds. Apple’s isn’t going to push or hype the new feature until the time for its debut comes. It will directly be competing with Instapaper and ReadItLater by way of it’s new advancement. As reported by Venture Beat, word of Apple’s looming “Reading List” comes just a matter of few days after Instapaper maker Marco Arment revealed that the free version of Instapaper (for both the iPhone and iPad) will be “retired.” Standing alone will be the $4.99 version in the App Store.  If “Reading list” becomes all that we think it can, sales of the competing services will all but certainly take a bump as a result.

Arment still isn’t running from the  potential challenge though. Instead he recently tweeted: “For many reasons, I believe Instapaper would still have a market even if Apple implemented Reading List synced to iOS devices.” He also noted that “Reading List” appears poised to “closely imitate” ReadItLater, which isn’t as robust in features as Instapaper is.

Would you love to see Apple’s version of the reading feature? Share your thoughts and opinions in the comments below!

As usual, stay tuned for more tech news and info by following us on Facebook, Twitter and/or subscribing to our RSS feed.

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