MacRumors

12d61Apple today seeded build 12D65 of OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.3 to developers, marking the ninth beta iteration of the newest version of Mountain Lion. 10.8.3 was first seeded to developers in November 2012.

Build 12D65 comes exactly one week after build 12D61. As with build 12D61, build 12D65 continues to ask developers to focus on AirPlay, AirPort, Game Center, Graphics Drivers, and Safari.

Registered developers can download the update on Apple's Developer Page.

Update: According to 9to5Mac, the new build fixes the file bug that recently made headlines.

This post originally referred to Build 12D65 as the tenth developer seed of OS X 10.8.3 when it was actually the ninth seed.

A little over a week after the public release of iOS 6.1, Apple today seeded the first beta version of iOS 6.1.1 to developers. The beta arrives as build 10B311.

ios_6_1_1_beta_1
The new version also arrives just two days after the Evasi0n jailbreak for iOS 6.x devices went live, although it is so far unknown if iOS 6.1.1 patches any of the bugs exploited by the software.

Update: 9toMac has release notes listing major improvements to Maps for Japanese users.

iOS 6.1.1 beta 1 includes the following improvements to Maps for Japan:

- Improved pronunciation of roads during turn-by-turn navigation
- Optimized directions to more strongly prefer highways over narrower roads
- Now indicates upcoming toll roads during turn-by-turn navigation
- Added labels for junctions, interchanges, on-ramps, off-ramps, and intersections
- Added indicators for transit station buildings, subway lines, and traffic lights
- Updated freeway color to green
- Updated icons for some location categories including fire stations, hospitals, and post offices Added 3D buildings including Tokyo Station, Japan Imperial Palace, and Tokyo Tower

Belkin has announced a new Bluetooth keyboard case for the iPad mini, competing with a similar offering announced yesterday by Logitech.

Fastfitcase
The Next Web:

Coming in at just 7mm, the FastFit keyboard case is thinner than the iPad mini. That doesn’t stop the company from outfitting it with its TruType keyboard, which offers tactile feedback when keys are pressed. It’s also very light, which is not surprising given it’s made from anodized aircraft-grade aluminium.

The keyboard connects to the iPad mini via Bluetooth 3.0 and is able to offer 155 hours of “active use” with its 200mAh battery. Like Apple’s Smart Cover, it also utilises a magnetic clasp so it can automatically look and wake your iPad mini when it is opened or closed.

The case will cost $79.99, the same as Logitech's model, with preorders opening soon.

Apple today announced that the iTunes Store has reached a new milestone, passing 25 billion songs downloaded. Interestingly, Apple also announced that it has awarded a €10,000 iTunes Gift Card to the user who downloaded the milestone song even though the company did not run a high-profile promotion for the contest as it has for past music and app milestones.

The 25 billionth song, “Monkey Drums” (Goksel Vancin Remix) by Chase Buch, was purchased by Phillip Lüpke from Germany. As the downloader of the 25 billionth song, Phillip will receive a €10,000 iTunes® Gift Card.

“We are grateful to our users whose passion for music over the past 10 years has made iTunes the number one music retailer in the world,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services. “Averaging over 15,000 songs downloaded per minute, the iTunes Store connects music fans with their favorite artists, including global sensations like Adele and Coldplay and new artists like The Lumineers, on a scale we never imagined possible.”

itunes_store_killers
Apple notes that the iTunes Store now offers over 26 million songs and is available in 119 countries after December's expansion to 56 new countries.

French Apple Reseller France Systems sent out a newsletter to its customers on the news that Apple will be halting sales of the Mac Pro on March 1st, 2013 due to new EU regulatory requirements.

macpro
As noted by both Mac4Ever and MacGeneration, the reseller also reports in that newsletter that they have heard from Apple that a new Mac Pro will be arriving in Spring of 2013. Translation:

However, we believe that the judgment of the Mac Pro is temporary, Apple informs us that new Mac Pro will be released in spring 2013.

While Apple typically doesn't leak such information, even to resellers, they have been strangely candid about a 2013 Mac Pro revision. In June, after a disappointing revision to the Mac Pro, an Apple spokesperson confirmed that Apple was working on a new Mac Pro for release in 2013.

Update: Apple declined to comment to Ars Technica about the reseller's claims, merely pointing back to earlier comments by Tim Cook about a new Mac Pro coming "later" in 2013.

Related Roundup: Mac Pro
Buyer's Guide: Mac Pro (Neutral)
Related Forum: Mac Pro

Production company and Final Cut Pro X plug-in creator Pixel Film Studios has released a new app today that allows you to control Final Cut Pro X with your iPad.

The app is a virtual representation of high-end film editing consoles that some professional editors use for big budget Hollywood movies, which allow them to quickly and easily edit lots of footage without working with a mouse and keyboard, but is streamlined and optimized for both Final Cut Pro X and iPad.

ipad-shot-3

PROCUTX breaks free from the menus and tabs to streamline editor tasks. This application gives users control over all the FCPX editing tools in one clean interface, eliminating the need for clicking and searching through the Final Cut Pro X menus. From import to export, PROCUTX can control every step of the FCPX editing process.

Features Include:

• Precision Timeline Scrubbing
• Quick Retiming
• Auto-Correct Color
• Color Grading
• Compound Clip Editing
• Import, Export, and Rendering shortcuts
• Quick Keywording
• Fast access to Tools
• System Volume Control
• Timeline Zooming
• Audio Enhancements
• Record Voiceovers

ProCutX is available in the App Store for iPad for $24.99. [Direct Link]

The reviews for Microsoft's fully featured Windows 8 tablet/laptop combo are out. The Surface Pro firmly slots in between tablets like Apple's iPad and ultra-portable laptops like the MacBook Air, and some have wanted a similar Mac/tablet hybrid.

The overall consensus is that while the Surface Pro does have some good features, it's ultimately brought down by trying to be both a tablet and laptop at the same time.


Here is a collection of some of the early reviews:

The Verge

- "There's something really weird about running Windows on a tablet, though. I never think about getting a virus on my iPad, or making sure to comply with constant system updates."
- The Surface Pro comes with a Wacom-made pressure-sensitive and capacitive stylus that attaches to the device and is a "useful companion to the device."
- "It's too big, too fat, and too reliant on its power cable to be a competitive tablet, and it's too immutable to do everything a laptop needs to do."

AllThingsD

- In battery tests, it lasted under four hours - less than half the stamina of the iPad and three hours less than Surface RT.
- "Of the 64 GB of solid-state storage on the entry-level $899 model, only 30 GB of that is free for the user, according to Microsoft. On the $999 model, 90 GB of the 128 GB total is available for the user."
- "As with the original Surface, the Pro is solidly built, with the same innovative metal kickstand that keeps it upright on a desk or table."

Gizmodo

- "Its Ivy Bridge i5 processor, the same you'll find in most ultrabooks, launches apps almost instantly (another big upgrade from Surface RT)."
- "Its screen is too good. Which is to say, its 1080p resolution is so dense on the 10.6-inch screen that desktop programs seem too small, too cramped."

TechCrunch

- "As a laptop it is excellent. I was able to do nearly everything I needed to do including the editing of large documents, photo management, blogging, some minor gaming, and plenty of email and web browsing."
- The physical $129 Type Cover and the capacitive $119 Touch Cover are "essential to the Surface Pro experience."
- "There are obviously trade-offs, but the simplicity of form, the excellent design, and the promising OS make the Surface Pro a real treat – and threat to other manufacturers."

Engadget

- "That keyboard slowed us down and its trackpad continued to frustrate."
- "Photos [from two 720p cameras] are incredibly full of noise and the sensor seems to be completely unable to manage contrast, resulting in images that are either totally washed out or far too dark."
-  "If you're the type who likes to quickly pop on your tablet to check for new email or Facebook messages every few minutes, you may find yourself forced out of that habit here."

The Microsoft Surface Pro releases on February 9 and comes in a 64GB version for $899 and a 128GB version for $999, with the Type Cover an additional $129 and a Touch Cover an additional $119.

MacRumors has been seeing builds of OS X 10.9 in site logs since November, which is also when hints of Siri integration for Macs began appearing.

A recent Apple job posting (via TechCrunch / AppleInsider) reinforces the rumor that Siri might be bundled with the next version of OS X. In its listing for a Siri UI Engineer, Apple specifies that candidates should possess "Familiarity with Unix, especially Mac OS X" and a "Passion for the Macintosh platform and writing simple, elegant software that is easy and fun to use."

siriengineer
The listing, which does not include a specification for experience with iOS aside from knowledge of Apple's development APIs, states that the engineer will be in charge of implementing the content that appears within Siri's conversational view. The position will also require collaboration with other Siri teams.

This is a broad-ranging task - we take every application that Siri interacts with, distill it down to fundamentals, and implement that application's UI in a theme fitting with Siri. Consider it an entire miniature OS within the OS, and you get a good idea of the scope!

Of course, each of these little "snippets" corresponds to an individual application, so you will have extensive cross-functional work with many other teams. You'll need to work with them to enable access to their data and behaviors, and wire them up to your implementations. As a result, strong API design is needed to keep communications ideal.

As of mid-January, OS X 10.9 activity has increased considerably on MacRumors, suggesting the new operating system, with Siri included, may be imminent.

Job postings for Apple’s iLife/iWork team also surfaced this week. iWork's last major update was in 2009, while iLife was last updated in 2010. An overhaul of the apps could potentially include Siri integration, allowing for voice commands for simple tasks such as photo and music editing.

macrumors_10_9_oct_jan_activity

Hits from systems running OS X 10.9 on MacRumors.com

Apple has been upgrading OS X on a yearly basis. 10.8 Mountain Lion was released in July of 2012, a year after 10.7 Lion was released in July of 2011. The first developer preview of OS X 10.8 appeared in February, and OS X 10.9 could follow a similar timeline.

Atlanta's first Vintage Computer Festival Southeast will feature an array of vintage Apple products in a 6,000 square foot display space that's being called the "Apple Pop-up Museum."

lisacomputer
The space will be organized into several different rooms, each focusing on a different era of Apple computers:

-Pre-Apple Room
-Apple I Room
-Apple II Room
-Turmoil Years Room
-No Founders Left Room
-Jobs' Come Back Room
-Ive's Colors Room
-iPod / iPhone / iPad Room
-The Timeline Lounge
-Apple's Present to the Future Room

The Pop-Up Museum's website offers some photos of the products that will be on display at the event, which will include several hard to find Apple computers.

The exhibit displays an exclusive collection of game-changing Apple personal computers and consumer electronics products while presenting the history of the company since its founding in 1976 to the present. An Apple I, the first disk II and controller card, an original Apple II, an original Lisa and a Xerox Alto are among the rare artifacts to be displayed.

appleii
The Apple Pop-Up Museum will be open on Saturday, April 20 and Sunday, April 21 2013. Attendees will need to pay a $10 admission fee.

152516 apple logoFor years, Apple Public Relations has issued press releases for major product announcements, handed out exclusives and loaner units to a few select reporters and columnists, and occasionally signed off on an interview with one of the senior executives when it suited their marketing message. That strategy gave the company millions of dollars in free marketing with news outlets writing about every bit of information they can find.

These days, according to the Wall Street Journal, Apple's public relations department is a little more proactive. Last week, Apple issued a press release to announce iOS 6.1, a comparatively minor software release.

At the same time, Apple communications staff have recently sent reporters more favorable third-party reports about the company, including a study predicting that by 2014, Apple will be as accepted in the enterprise as Microsoft is today. Apple, and indeed virtually all its competitors, send reporters favorable studies from time to time. But the five reports Apple has sent since the start of the year, mostly related to mobile market share, represent more than recent months.

The Journal says the PR efforts "represent a recognition that competition is heating up", according to a WSJ source, with a caveat that it wasn't a big shift in protocol.

Of course, even when Apple PR is more forthcoming, it can still rely on the press to cover every move it makes.

In a discussion with Forbes, Cydia appstore administrator Jay Freeman revealed that the evasi0n jailbreak had been installed 800,000 times within six hours of its Monday release.

By Tuesday, Cydia had been installed 1.7 million times, and according to a chart tweeted by Freeman, Cydia was receiving 14,000 hits per minute at peak download times.

cydia6hits
The demand for the jailbreak resulted in site wide traffic problems, causing Freeman's server to go offline several times. To put it in perspective, that's approximately 1,200 Cydia downloads per minute.

Evasi0n is the first significant jailbreak since the widely used Redsn0w iOS 5.1.1 untethered jailbreak. Hacking Apple devices is a detailed process, which is why jailbreaks are few and far between.

According to David Wang, one of the evad3rs' four developers, the program takes advantage of at least five distinct, new bugs in iOS's code. (For reference, that's one more than Stuxnet, the malware built by the NSA to destroy centrifuges in Iran's nuclear enrichment facilities.)

The evasi0n jailbreak is the first untethered jailbreak for the iPhone 5 and for devices running iOS 6.x. Evasi0n is available for OS X, Windows, and Linux on the evasi0n website.

Brazilian electronics maker IGB Electronica SA, which owns the trademark to 'IPHONE' in Brazil, has said it is willing to discuss selling the trademark to Apple following the launch of a line of Android phones bearing the 'IPHONE' mark in that country.

NewImage
Bloomberg reports:

The owner of the iPhone trademark in Brazil, IGB Eletronica SA, said it would consider selling the naming rights to Apple Inc.

“We’re open to a dialogue for anything, anytime,” said Eugenio Emilio Staub, chairman of IGB, in an interview in Sao Paulo. “We’re not radicals.”

Brazil's Institute for Industrial Property confirmed this week that IGB has exclusive rights to the 'iphone' mark as it relates to mobile phones. Apple had requested exclusive use of the word in 2006, but the request was not granted because IGB's trademark dated back to 2000.

Apple has sold the iPhone in Brazil for several years, but with this ruling it appears Apple will need to negotiate with IGB for the right to use the 'iPhone' mark. A similar situation occurred in China last year. Proview Technology owned the Chinese trademark to "iPad" and eventually sold the mark to Apple for $60 million.

Apple today introduced a new section of the iBookstore, featuring books that have been independently author-published to the iBookstore. Entitled "Breakout Books," the curated collection highlights titles that have earned four and five star reviews.

Find the next reading sensation with this hand-picked collection of books from emerging talents. All are independently published directly to the iBookstore and have earned high ratings from customers like you. Check back regularly – new titles are added as they begin taking off.

Apple's content rival Amazon has long promoted books that are published via its Kindle Direct Publishing platform. Apple has carried and highlighted popular self-published books for quite some time, but the new section serves to put the indie titles further into the limelight.

breakoutbooks

The featured books are organized into four categories: Romance, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Mysteries & Thrillers, and More to Explore. There are 70 books in the section.

According to The New York Times, price is a major incentive for the promotion, as most of the books in the featured section retail for far below the cost of a traditional publishing house book. The majority of the titles are priced at $6.99 or less, making them more affordable than the average book.

eBook self-publishing and distribution platform Smashwords is where many of the featured titles originated. The site uploads submitted content to Apple, and founder Mark Coker says the relationship has been mutually beneficial, with many titles hitting Apple's best seller lists in a short period of time.

Although the iBookstore has always carried and supported self-published ebooks, today's launch signifies an escalated commitment on the part of Apple, whose iBookstore currently sells books in 50 countries. The iBookstore first piloted the Breakout Books feature in their Australian store and has since implemented similar features in Canada and the U.K.

In the process, Apple is helping to shape a brighter, more democratized future for book publishing. More writers will have the freedom to publish and more readers will have the freedom to discover and enjoy a greater diversity of high-quality books than ever before.

Apple's "Breakout Books" section will remain featured at the top of the iTunes store for two weeks or more, after which it will be removed to a less prominent spot in the iBookstore.

Rumors that Apple plans to open an online store in Russia have been given additional credence by a report on TechCrunch noting that the company has begun recruiting staff for the operation.

russia-job
The ad is for a Russian Chat Team Manager responsible for managing between 12 and 15 advisors. Although aimed at the Russian market, the role is actually based in Cork, Ireland. Apple is also advertising other roles in the region, including a Market Manager for Russia, CIS and Turkey.

Apple does not currently sell direct to consumers in Russia, selling via third-party resellers, though it did introduce the iTunes Music Store there in December.

Mophie has announced the iPhone 5 version of its popular Juice Pack line of battery cases. The $79.95 Juice Pack Helium comes with a 1500mAh battery that can give the iPhone 5 80% more battery life, good for an estimated additional 6 hours of LTE use.

Helium

Engineered with edge-to-edge protection and outfitted with 80% more battery life to keep your iPhone 5 safe and charged, the juice pack helium allows you to truly Do more™. Its elegant, thin design makes it the perfect accessory, easily fitting into any pocket or handbag. The enhanced forward-ported acoustics redirects the iPhone audio towards you, optimizing playback and maximizing your experience.


The dark metallic color ships on February 14th, while the silver units will ship in early March. They are available through Mophie's online store.

9to5Mac reports finding files for radio buttons in the iPad Music app in iOS 6.1 that could lend weight to last year's rumors that Apple plans to launch a Pandora-style service, providing streaming access to music which could then be purchased if desired.

ipad-radio
The files, first found by iAust1n, include a series of eight "radio" buttons, several of which have the word 'buy' in the filenames, suggesting plans to allow the purchase of music tracks from within the app. Interestingly, the piece notes that the files are found only on the iPad, not the iPhone.

The files are called some variation of “radio button” with an icon that looks similar to the radio icon that used to be in iTunes for Mac (it was traded for a more prominent top location in iTunes 11 without the antena tower). The iPad music app currently doesn’t have any radio functionality so our first thought was that Apple would be adding an iTunes-like ‘traditional’ streaming radio to the iPad.

More interestingly, the name of these button files and are labelled with ‘buy’ in the filename which could imply exciting new functionality.

Bloomberg had suggested a Q1 2013 launch date for the service, although follow-up reports had indicated that negotiations with record labels were moving slowly. With files perhaps related to such a service now apparently in place in iOS 6.1, Apple may be laying the groundwork for a launch once it is able to strike content deals.

Engadget notes that there appears to be a somewhat extreme example of Apple product placement in an episode of the new made-for-Netflix show House of Cards.

apple-product-placement-lead2
The site points out that the shot shown above, occurring 31 minutes and 42 seconds into episode six, appears to show nine Apple devices between just two people.

Just taking the devices that are angled towards Underwood, I count three iPads and three iPhones. The aide sitting across the desk adds two more iPhones and another iPad. I could potentially be wrong about a couple of those handsets, since they're in cases, but I've watched the scene in slow-mo they all look like iPhones to me. That makes nine Apple devices for two people, with each device powered on and burning its battery simultaneously.

The piece goes on to note that the main character, played by Kevin Spacey, uses an iMac as his main computer, while his wife also uses an iPhone.

According to an update on the original article, sources involved in the shooting of the scene shared that Apple provided a significant amount of free equipment for the show and that those devices were what happened to be available for a scene in which characters were monitoring multiple police radio feeds.

Apple's products have long been featured in movies and television shows, despite Apple's claims that the company does not pay for such placements. The company does, however, provide free devices for product placement, and Apple's popularity and design aesthetic have led many films and shows to take advantage of such offers.

House of Cards is the first program to be commissioned by the streaming movie and TV show service for exclusive broadcast on Netflix.

dell_logoDell today announced that it is officially going private in a $24.4 billion deal that will see the company owned by founder Michael Dell and investment firm Silver Lake Partners. The deal also involves a $2 billion loan from Microsoft.

"Michael Dell is a true visionary and one of the preeminent leaders of the global technology industry," said Egon Durban, a Silver Lake Managing Partner. "Silver Lake is looking forward to partnering with him, the talented management team at Dell and the investor group to innovate, invest in long-term growth initiatives and accelerate the company's transformation strategy to become an integrated and diversified global IT solutions provider."

Following completion of the transaction, Mr. Dell, who owns approximately 14 percent of Dell’s common shares, will continue to lead the company as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer and will maintain a significant equity investment in Dell by contributing his shares of Dell to the new company, as well as making a substantial additional cash investment.

Apple fans have been particularly interested in the fate of Dell since Michael Dell recommended in October 1997 that Apple be shut down.

"What would I do? I'd shut [Apple] down and give the money back to the shareholders," Michael Dell said before a crowd of several thousand IT executives.

At the time, Dell was surging to become the world's top-selling PC manufacturer, but it has since faltered and now stands as the third-largest manufacturer as HP and Lenovo now battle for the top spot.

Today's move is of course far from a shutdown for Dell, but Apple fans may take a certain pleasure in seeing the company turn private and return funds to shareholders as it continues its efforts to revitalize the Dell brand in a stagnant PC market.