MacRumors

Apple today updated the front page of its website to announce that it will be offering a live video stream of next Monday's keynote address at the company's Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco. The keynote kicks off at 10:00 AM Pacific Time.

Users will need Safari on Mac/iOS or QuickTime 7 on Windows in order to watch the stream, and Apple will also be making the stream available through a channel on Apple TV.

A number of announcements are expected at the WWDC keynote, with OS X 10.10 and iOS 8 expected to be the major focus of the event. OS X 10.10 in particular will reportedly be receiving the most attention as it will be receiving a facelift somewhat similar to that seen with iOS 7 last year. iOS 8 is said to be a more modest update, although there will undoubtedly be plenty of changes and additions relevant to users and developers alike.

Hardware announcements are a bit less certain, with two highly anticipated and long-rumored products in the iWatch and a revamped Apple TV unlikely to make their appearances at the event. Apple's rumored Retina MacBook Air may also not be ready, but the company could slip in some other announcements such as updates to the MacBook Pro or outdated Mac mini, or perhaps a low-priced iMac.

Ahead of WWDC 2014, shipping estimates for Apple's iMac models have slipped to 3 to 5 business days, fueling speculation of a possible announcement of new iMac hardware next week. As noted by AppleInsider, dwindling inventory is also evident at authorized Apple resellers, with some retailers selling the latest iMac models with steep discounts.

As we have seen with Apple may be clearing out inventory Amazon is completely sold out of the base-line 21.5-inch and 27-inch models, relying on third-party resellers who only have a handful of units left in stock. MacMall is also down to its last units on the 2.9-gigahertz 21.5-inch model, and the 3.4-gigahertz 27-inch model.

While movement in product shipping estimates is historically a hit-or-miss indicator of imminent updates, the slip to 3-5 days over the weekend is not the only factor contributing to speculation of iMac updates. KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has been predicting for some time that Apple will launch a "low-priced" version of the iMac, and his extensive product roadmap published last month showed the new iMac debuting at the end of the second quarter, which would be next month. Kuo argues that this new iMac with cost-efficient hardware to keep the base price low would offer Apple a way to increase its market share in Asia and other critical foreign markets.

Mac updates have generally been somewhat in flux as Intel has experienced delays with its next-generation Broadwell chips. While the company has been releasing interim "Haswell refresh" chips in recent months, these chips offer minimal improvements over their predecessors. Just last month, Apple released a minor MacBook Air update using one of these new chips, but more importantly reduced pricing by $100. The company could make a similar move with the iMac in the coming weeks.

Exact timing for iMac updates remains uncertain, as it is still a bit early for a launch based on historical update cycles. The iMac has also not played a role in recent WWDC product launches, perhaps due to its consumer focus compared to the professional/developer emphasis for the conference. Consequently, an iMac price drop with minor spec bumps could come in the weeks after WWDC, similar to the quiet MacBook Air update last month.

Apple last refreshed the iMac in September 2013, following a major redesign in 2012. The current iMac model features Intel Haswell processors, faster PCI Express-based flash storage and 802.11ac Wi-Fi connectivity. Prices start at $1299 for the entry-level 21.5-inch iMac and climb to $1799 for the base 27-inch model.

According to a new report from Digitimes, Foxconn will again be the primary manufacturer for the iPhone 6, supplying 70 percent of the expected shipments of the 4.7-inch iPhone 6 model in 2015. Shipments could begin as soon as July for the 4.7-inch model, with the 5.5-inch following shortly afterwards.

The 4- and 4.7-inch iPhones will be the main sales force of Apple for 2014. Foxconn's plants in Zhengzhou, China are expected to start supplying the 4.7-inch model in July and start manufacturing the 5.5-inch one in August.

Besides Foxconn, Apple also may be turning to Pegatron and Wistron to supply iPhone handsets for its next product cycle. Pegatron is believed to be a secondary supplier for the 4.7-inch iPhone 6, while Wistron may step in to supply Apple with the existing 4-inch iPhone model. Wistron is a new production partner that Apple added last year to help produce the iPhone 5c.

Rumors on the larger 5.5-inch iPhone 6 model have suggested that it may arrive as a premium model in lower quantities with perhaps exclusive features such as a sapphire crystal display. A new report from Nomura Securities shared by G 4 Games suggests that the larger model is likely to carry a $100 price premium over the 4.7-inch model. Apple had previously been reported to be negotiating with carriers for a $100 price increase on the iPhone 6, but it would make more sense for that increase to arrive in the form of a higher-end model such as the rumored 5.5-inch iPhone.

Digitimes has a fairly spotty track record with regard to Apple rumors, but it does occasionally offer accurate insight when sourcing information from within Apple's supply chain. Digitimes' latest report is one of several recent communications that unsurprisingly suggest mass production of the 4.7-inch iPhone 6 will begin this summer in advance of a fall launch. Apple is expected to follow the 4.7-inch model with a larger 5.5-inch version that will debut in late 2014 or early 2015. Both models may ship with Apple's A8 processor, an improved camera, and iOS 8.

A new research note from KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo indicates that Apple will include Touch ID across all new iOS devices in 2014, boosting shipments and bringing the fingerprint sensor to the iPhone 6, iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3. The report reiterates previous claims made by Kuo last month, which noted that Apple's next-generation iPads will feature Touch ID upon their releases this fall.

Apple’s Touch ID module should see shipments soar 233% in 2014. We believe every new iOS device launched this year will be equipped with Touch ID, including 4.7” and 5.5” new iPhone 6, iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 2 with Retina display. Considering shipments of new products and iPhone 5S sales last longer than in 2013, we forecast unit sales of the fingerprint sensor module to grow 233% to 120mn for 2014.

Kuo also notes that Apple will change its Touch ID module design to utilize tin over previously used chemicals to enhance durability. Apple is also expected to stick with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) and its subsidary XinTec to produce the fingerprint sensors.

Last month, it was noted that TSMC provided the first batch of fingerprint sensors for the iPhone 6, iPad Air 2 and iPad Mini 3. A report in January noted that TSMC would begin production on the sensors sometime in the second quarter of this year with a new 12-inch fab processing method, however a report in February stated that TSMC would be using the same 8-inch fingerprint sensor processing method used for the iPhone 5s.

Improved shipments of Touch ID will also likely help launch supplies of all three devices, as low yield rates of the component was said to be a key factor contributing to the limited supplies of the iPhone 5s at its launch last September.

Apple will launch a new software platform that will let the iPhone directly control lights, security systems and other household gadgets at WWDC next week, according to a report from The Financial Times.

The piece claims Apple will make a "big play" in smart home technology by working with device makers give them official approval, like the "Made for iPhone" program does for some accessories like headphones and speaker docks, and software support in iOS 8.

The scheme will be similar to Apple’s existing “Made for iPhone” label, given to compatible headphones, speakers and other accessories, but with a new brand and logo. Apple may also provide additional checks and assurances that certified products are not vulnerable to hackers.

The Cupertino-based company was likely to emphasise the privacy protections built into its smart home system, one person familiar with Apple’s plans told the FT, given heightened sensitivity about technology companies’ access to personal information amid revelations about US intelligence agencies’ online surveillance programmes.

The piece notes that plans can always change, but that Apple has launched a number of initiatives over the past year or two, including CarPlay and iBeacon, to expand the reach of the iPhone and have it interact more with the real world and other electronic devices in it.

Apple's retail stores sell a number of different components of the so-called "Internet of Things", including the Google-owned Nest Thermostat (pictured above), Philips Hue lightbulbs and Belkin WeMo Wi-Fi enabled light switches.

French site MacBidouille revives rumors that Apple is actively developing ARM processor based Macs. According to a source that they describe as reliable, Apple has prototypes of several ARM-based machines, including an iMac, Mac mini, and 13" Notebook with 4-8 64-bit ARM Quad-core processors.

These machines are reportedly far along in development, and come with a new keyboard that incorporates a large-format Magic Trackpad. Apple might even be ready for an announcement but is reportedly hesitant to make the move.

MacBidouille isn't a frequent source of rumors, so its hard to gauge its source's credibility, but rumors of ARM-based Macs have been circulating for years. It seems likely that Apple has prototyped such devices, but many have doubted the feasibility of moving forward with such a plan.

The first inklings of such a plan might have come when Apple threatened to abandon Intel's chips if they didn't work to slash power consumption. While AMD might have been one way to go for Apple, the first rumors of an Apple migration from Intel to ARM processors appeared earlier that year. Later, a report claimed that Apple already had an ARM (A5) powered MacBook Air in their labs back in 2011.

An analysis in 2012 suggested that Apple shifting from Intel to ARM wasn't implausible but it faced several hurdles. The most significant one was Apple's own ARM chips being able to keep a pace with Intel's future roadmap.

Apple, however, has been making great strides in performance in their ARM processors. The A7 is described as desktop class even in an independent analysis. In fact, the A7 chip is currently being underutilized in Apple's iPhone and iPad devices, leaving some of its power untapped.

Apple has debuted two new video ads for its "Your Verse" iPad Air campaign that showcases the tablet being used in a variety of situations. The pair of ads profile Esa-Pekka Salonen, a Finnish conductor who composes music with the iPad Air, and travel blogger Chérie King, who uses various apps to map her journeys and translate foreign languages on the fly.

Salonen's Your Verse ad displays the musician taking a simple musical concept and developing it into a full composition, using apps such as Touch Press' The Orchestra and Notion to sound out various instruments. The composer is also seen using Pianist Pro, which is shown being used before a whole orchestra plays a musical piece.

Meanwhile, King's one-minute spot shows the writer traveling to various places including Morocco and Vietnam while using the iPad Air in a number of ways. Apps such as Wordpress, Facebook, and Twitter are shown being used to record the journey, while Triposo and iTranslate are used to find popular destinations and translate foreign languages in real time, respectively.

As with the other Your Verse ads, both videos have corresponding sections on Apple's website which go into details about the stories of both individuals and how the iPad Air has helped.

Apple debuted its initial Your Verse iPad ad in January alongside a corresponding website that shares a number of experiences. Other stories have noted the iPad's use in mountaineering, sports, choreography, oceanography, and more.

Several readers have noted a strange error message appearing when trying to perform software updates from the Mac App Store.

An Error has occurred

The certificate for this server is invalid. You might be connecting to a server that is pretending to be "swscan.apple.com" which could put you confidential information at risk.

Swscan.apple.com is one of several servers that Software Update uses to communicate with Apple. The apparent problem is that the security certificate for the server appears to have expired. The certificate was originally valid from May 22, 2012 to May 24, 2014.

This is a problem that Apple will need to fix on their side. In the meanwhile, users can manually download updates from Apple's support site.

Update: This may also be the cause of NSURLErrorDomain error -1012, which appears to have started in the same time.

Update 2: Apple appears to have fixed the certificate.

Last week, reports indicated that Apple's acquisition of Beats would not be finalized until this week. With the week ending and no deal having been announced, a new Billboard report offers insight into what could be holding up the deal.

Billboard's sources indicate the deal "is complicated", as it would be Apple's largest acquisition. In addition, the news apparently leaked "too early", with Apple nowhere near ready for news to break despite publications like Re/code and The Financial Times reporting that the deal is close to completion.

A video that was uploaded to YouTube of actor/musician Tyrese alongside Beats co-founder Dr. Dre is another possible reason for the delay, with Dre claiming that he was the first billionaire in hip hop after the deal. The video apparently "freaked Apple out" and had the Cupertino company outraged.

Apparently, the Apple family near imploded with outrage when that video went up on Facebook of an ‘excited’ Dr. Dre with R&B singer/former Coca Cola pin-up Tyrese. In the video they share, in language perhaps unsuitable for a family blog, how Dre will be hip-hop’s first billionaire and other nice things about Compton.

Fourth, Apple allegedly isn't sure whether to give Beats co-founders Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre roles as permanent consultants or whether to give them full-time executive roles. Apple is also apparently unsure whether the two of them would fit into the company's corporate climate, despite reports that Iovine and Dre are the "big prizes" of the acquisition.

Finally, another rumored sticking point is Apple's valuation of Beats Music, which has around 200,000 subscribers and has been speculated as one of the main reasons behind the acquisition. Apple is apparently planning to keep Beats Music separate entity from iTunes in order to avoid cannibalization of iTunes music sales.

Apple pundit John Gruber of Daring Fireball offered another scenario, discrediting the Billboard report and speculating that Beats may have leaked to the deal, angering Apple and scuttling the acquisition before it could be completed.

While there have been a multitude of iPhone 6 mockups and case leaks, actual parts said to be from the iPhone 6 have thus far been in short supply. We've seen what might be the front panel of the device along with possible batteries and a manufacturing mold used for creating the phone's chassis.

What is said to be a backlight panel for the 4.7-inch iPhone 6 has now appeared on Chinese Twitter-like site Weibo (via Nowhereelse.fr) [Google Translation]. There is no way to verify the legitimacy of the images, but the backlight design does appear similar to the backlight panel of the iPhone 5s and the 5c, with a few small differences -- the connector has been relocated and the pins themselves have a different design.

Little new information about the iPhone 6 can be gleaned from the images, legitimate or not, but previous rumors have suggested that Apple will take advantage of advancements in LED backlighting technology to shift to thinner components for the iPhone 6, shrinking the thickness of the device considerably. Current rumors and design schematics have suggested the iPhone 6 might be between 6 and 7mm thick, considerably thinner than the existing 7.6mm iPhone 5s.

While today's part appears to be for the 4.7-inch iPhone, Apple is expected to release the iPhone in two sizes: the aforementioned 4.7-inch version and a larger 5.5-inch version. While the 4.7-inch iPhone is expected to launch in the fall, possibly as early as September, the 5.5-inch version has reportedly experienced production issues that may push its launch back several months.

Along with new backlighting technology that may result in a thinner design, the iPhone 6 is also expected to feature an A8 processor, camera improvements, and 802.11ac WiFi.

Apple is leading the way in the adoption of sapphire, with the company producing the material in limited quantities in its new Arizona plant. A portion of this material is expected to land in the iPhone 6 and possibly the iWatch as a scratch-resistant display material. According to Korean media reports (via GforGames), both Samsung and LG are showing renewed interest in sapphire following Apple's early success in manufacturing the material.

LG and Samsung allegedly explored the feasibility of using sapphire in their phones last year, but rejected the material due to the high cost of production. Now that Apple is moving forward with the material, Samsung and LG are reevaluating their earlier decisions, reaching out to sapphire glass manufacturers and requesting product samples for examination.

This year however, the aforementioned Korean tech giants might be forced by the industry to reconsider their decision. With numerous other gadget manufacturers putting a lot of thought into making sapphire glass feasible, and with Apple already operating the sapphire glass processing plant in US, Arizona, LG and Samsung are supposedly going to jump on the sapphire display bandwagon sooner rather than later.

Sapphire may be a critical component of Apple's rumored iWatch, providing an outer scratch-resistant layer to the wrist-worn device. Recent rumors also suggest Apple may incorporate a sapphire crystal display into its upcoming iPhone 6. A recent research note from KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo suggests the initial supply of sapphire displays could be limited, forcing Apple to use the material only in select high-end models of the upcoming handset.

Transcend has introduced new JetDrive Lite expansion cards designed to increase the storage capacity of the MacBook Air and the MacBook Pro with Retina display. The cards provide up to 128 GB of additional storage for less than $100.

The new JetDrive Lite expansion cards are tailor-made with a flush design that matches the case form factor of both the MacBook Air and Retina MacBook Pro models. This on-the-go storage solution offers read and write speeds of 95MB/s and 60MB/s, respectively.

With their substantial amount of storage space, Transcend's JetDrive Lite expansion cards provide plenty of space to backup, store, and carry personal documents, photos, movies, and music.

[...]

When inserted into the card slot of a compatible MacBook Pro with Retina display or MacBook Air, the low-profile JetDrive Lite will not stick out like an SD card and can be left in place for on-the-go storage.

The company offers separate products for the different MacBook models due to design differences between the machines. While the 13-inch MacBook Air and the 15-inch Retina MacBook Pro can be upgraded to 64 GB and 128 GB capacities, the 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro is limited to 64 GB.

The JetDrive Lite Series of expansion cards are available now with prices starting at $49 for the 64 GB version and $99 for the 128 GB capacity card.

Bringing "culturally aware" managers to Apple is a big part of why Apple is interested in acquiring Beats, according to a new report from TechCrunch.

The piece claims that Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre are the big prizes at the company, and that it fits with Tim Cook's recent hiring of high-fashion managers like Angela Ahrendts from Burberry, wearable expert Ben Shaffer from Nike, and Paul Deneve from Yves St. Laurent.

Dre and Iovine have design and marketing savvy from Beats that could be significant for the company, which has struggled somewhat with its marketing efforts since Steve Jobs has passed away.

A well-placed source has confirmed rumors that Apple’s acquisition of Beats “is happening” but was close to falling apart multiple times. The source said with “70% certainty” that Apple’s planned multi-billion acquisition of headphone maker Beats will go through. But Apple isn’t buying Beats for the technology, they’re buying the talent.

“They want Jimmy and they want Dre,” said the source. “He’s got fashion and culture completely locked up.”

In a separate TechCrunch piece, a different reporter says Apple is looking to operate Beats as an external streaming music service to avoid cannibalizing its iTunes download business.

Reportedly, it's not that Apple is worried about losing its 30% cut of song downloads, but Apple launching a streaming music service could decimate the more than $1 billion that iTunes generates for record industry revenues.

Because it’s deeply conscious that pumps a lot of blood into the music industry. My source says iTunes execs started deeply considering streaming at least two years ago. They realized a sudden move for iTunes from downloads to streaming could lead to dark days for the record business, reducing musical inventory – and revenue – accordingly.

The piece argues that Apple may be looking to grow its streaming business on the side as iTunes music downloads drop, and that the company is looking to "bridge the download and cloud eras gracefully."

It says Apple executives are looking to strike a deal with record labels that would allow the company to sell a subscription music service for $5 per month, half of what Spotify charges, but with a higher cut of revenues.

Supposedly the acquisition will be announced soon, perhaps during Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference keynote on June 2.