MacRumors

Online retailer MacMall has kicked off their 60 hour Black Friday sale just now. The sale runs until midnight on Friday. Traditionally, 3rd party retailers have offered better discounts than Apple once sales tax is taken into account. MacRumors is an affiliate partner of MacMall.

Their full sale list covers both new and previous generation products. We've pulled out the current-generation products of interest and their respective discounts:

Discounts on the MacBook Airs are notable for a percentage of their total price, while the 15" Retina MacBook Pros have the largest dollar amount in savings.

When looking for the cheapest price, it's good to know which retailers charge sales tax automatically. MacMall charges sales tax in California, Illinois, New York, Tennessee, Minnesota, Georgia, North Carolina and Wisconsin.

We expect to see additional Black Friday sales at Apple's online store though that doesn't kick in until Black Friday itself. We will also cover other sales and discounts. Please send in any notable Apple-related sales.

According to a post on the MacRumors Forums, Apple is asking record labels to submit pictures and galleries of their artists to iTunes for use in iTunes 11's new Music Store layout.

This email was sent to artists by German music distribution service Feiyr. iTunes 11 was delayed at the end of last month and is supposed to ship by the end of November.

AppleInsider reports that Apple has nearly caught up with demand for the iPhone 5. This is based on data gathered by Piper Jaffray in nightly checks of 100 retail Apple Stores.

"As we get closer to the holiday, we believe consumers will likely have the ability to walk into an Apple Store and walk out with an iPhone 5 within the next two weeks," Munster said.

Available stock of the iPhone 5 has varied by carrier. Sprint models have been more readily available, while Verizon more scarce. But recently, all models are becoming more available:

Meanwhile, there's also been evidence of improved supply on Apple's own online store with shipping estimates for new iPhone 5 models dropping to 2 weeks for the first time. Previously, iPhone 5 ship dates were out as far as 3-4 weeks, improving to 2-3 weeks last week, and now at 2 weeks.

AT&T appears to be quietly extending FaceTime-Over-Cellular capabilities to all their iPhone customers. Earlier this month, AT&T announced that they would allow any customer "with an LTE device" on a "tiered data plan" to use iOS 6's FaceTime over Cellular feature.

This, however, excluded a number of customers, including those with grandfathered unlimited data plans as well as those with the iPhones 4S. (Note, iOS 6, itself, can only supports FaceTime-over-Cellular on the 4S, 5 and iPad 3rd Gen or higher)

Tonight, Forum user kre62 noticed that both his iPhone 4S and iPhone 5 with unlimited AT&T data plans now support FaceTime over cellular.

In a recent thread we were discussing AT&T members getting facetime with LTE devices and tiered plans. However I noticed today that I have facetime over cellular and I have an unlimited plan on my 5.

I just turned off my other phone, a 4S and turned it back on, only to find the switch flipped to ON for facetime over cellular. Both phones work perfectly over cellular.

I also checked a few coworkers phones, all now have FT over cellular.

This finding has been confirmed by a number of users in this discussion thread -- though some users have been unable to activate it so it may still be rolling out to some areas. AT&T had said the original rollout for tiered plans could take 8-10 weeks. Most of the positive responses have been those with the iPhone 5 and grandfathered unlimited data, but the original poster also had luck with an iPhone 4S.

Some users have had to completely restart their phones for the service to go into effect. There still remains a possibility that this is an oversight on AT&T's part. We are reaching out to AT&T for clarification on their policy.

Apple just posted two new iPhone 5 television ads. The ads are entitled 'Orchestra' and 'Turkey'. Orchestra focuses on the microphones that Apple uses to reduce background noise during calls. Turkey shows off the Shared Photo Stream feature of iOS 6.

Excuse me, maestro? Bring it down please!
Better.
That's what happens to background noise when you're making a call on this.
This microphone here picks up the sounds around you and helps turn them down.
So when the world gets noisy, calls sound better.

Well, it's that time of year again.
You know, picture taking season?
And, with Photo Stream, you can share all the photos you want.
With just the people you want.
It's as easy as pie. Mmmm… pie.

Last December, an apparent bug appeared in Apple's iMessage service that caused iMessages to continue to be linked to a stolen iPhone. The customer's messages would continue to arrive and be sent from the stolen phone even after changing passwords, a remote wipe, and a SIM card deactivation. Apple initially denied it was a bug, but did later compensate at least one affected user for her trouble.

TheNextWeb now reports that that iOS 6 resolves this issue by forcing all devices to re-enter credentials if your Apple ID settings change.

According to a source with knowledge of Apple’s steps to correct the matter, the issue has been fixed in iOS 6 through a variety of checks placed on iMessage. The most important of these is that Apple now uses its push systems to force a user to re-enter a password to use iMessage once your Apple ID credentials have been changed.

Now, if your iPhone is stolen, simply changing the password of your Apple ID will force the stolen device to prompt for a password in order to continue receiving and sending iMessages from your account. In addition, wiping your iPhone remotely using Find My iPhone will now disable the stolen device from receiving iMessages.

According to a survey done by Nielsen, U.S. consumers aged 6-12 are significantly more interested in purchasing Apple's iOS products over the next 6 months. The new Nintendo Wii U took the #2 spot, but lagged well behind the iPad. Meanwhile, the iPod Touch, iPad Mini and the iPhone rounded out the rest of the top 5 most wanted products for this age group.

Approximately half the children surveyed expressed interest in the full-sized iPad (up from 44% last year), and 36 percent in the new iPad Mini. The iPod Touch and iPhone are also coveted devices among these young consumers (36% and 33%, respectively). Kids are also likely to ask for dedicated gaming hardware this holiday, with 39 percent excited to own Nintendo’s just-released console offering, Wii U, and 29 percent indicating they want a device from that company’s portable DS family. Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and Sony’s PlayStation 3 also proved appealing, with approximately one-quarter of kids 6-12 saying they want these high definition consoles.

Nielsen also surveyed persons aged 13+ and found the iPad also topped that list. The remainder of the 13+ year old list was less dramatically in favor of Apple than the 6-12 year old group.

In a separate survey of (presumably) adults, Reuters found that one third of U.S. consumers were thinking of buying a tablet this holiday season. Amongst those who wanted a tablet, the iPad was again the most popular with 25% of respondents planning to purchase one. Second and third place went to the Kindle (15%) and Samsung (15%) tablets. Finally, Apple's new iPad mini came in at 8% amongst respondents.

Apple is looking for interns fluent in a number of different languages to work on Siri internationalization, according to a job listing first spotted by Belgian site Apple Nieuws Vlaanderen (via 9to5Mac).

The job listing, for Cloud Services Engineering Interns, asks for interns native or fluent in Arabic, Chinese, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, Korean, Norwegian, and Swedish to work on "delivering Siri in different parts of the world." Languages where Siri is currently unavailable on that list include Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Norwegian, and Swedish.

Siri is currently available in English (US, UK, Australia, Canada), Spanish (US, Spain, Mexico), Chinese (China-Mandarin, Hong Kong-Cantonese, Taiwan-Mandarin), French (France, Canada, Switzerland), German (Germany, Switzerland), Japanese (Japan), Italian (Italy, Switzerland), and Korean (Korea).

BusinessInsider relays a report from analyst Gene Munster. Munster has been one of the most vocal proponents of an Apple television set with multiple claims that Apple is indeed working on such a device.

In the latest report, Munster pushes back his own predictions for the delivery of an Apple television set to November 2013. This comes shortly after flip flopping claims that the Apple television is not launching imminently.

Business Insider outlines Munster's other predictions for Apple releases in 2013.

- March 2013: iPad Mini with Retina display, update the little Apple TV box, allowing to do accept apps from developers, and some sort of iTunes radio product.
- June 2013: WWDC brings us previews of iOS 7, and OSX, as well as MacBook Airs with Retina displays. Look for Jony Ive's influence over iOS to start showing up here.
- September 2013: iPhone 5S, a "modest upgrade" from the iPhone 5. The iPad Mini gets a specs bump, and we get a new iPad, which is totally redesigned to look more like the iPhone 5 and iPad Mini.
- November 2013: An Apple TV comes out. It should cost $1,500-$2,000 and come in sizes from 42-inches to 55-inches

We see these predictions as simply educated guessing on Munster's part, and don't place much faith into the specifics, but it does serve as an interesting discussion for what Apple might offer in 2013.

Last week, Nokia announced that they would be launching extending its mapping service to iOS with a new free app. Nokia's new HERE Maps app for iOS launched last night, promising offline mode, transit and walking directions:

HERE Maps helps you feel like a local anywhere you go. See where you are, search and discover nearby places, and get a feel for the place. Collect places to remember or for later discovery. Explore new destinations and know instantly how to get there on foot, by car or on public transport. HERE Maps is based on the world-class NAVTEQ mapping data used in 90% of in-car navigation systems in the world.

Features include:

• Map views – Pick the map you need from map view, live traffic view, public transport line view or satellite view
• Save map areas & wander without data coverage
• Maps, search and place coverage for nearly 200 countries
• Step-by-Step voice-guided walk navigation
• Walk navigation through pedestrian routes, parks, alleyways, and more
• Public transportation and driving directions

The Verge spent some time with the new app, and came away with mixed impressions.

Obviously this is Nokia's first stab at an iOS client for its new mapping service, and in many ways it's more functional than Apple's native Maps client, but for now, many of the additional features don't work as well as they ought to.

Nokia's iOS map launch is significant due to the issues many users have had with Apple's Map application that ships with iOS 6. Apple's solution has drawn considerable criticism due to incomplete data and poor coverage in many areas.

Nokai's HERE Maps is available as a free download from the App Store [iTunes link].

GigaOM reports that Google wants to take on Apple with an open AirPlay alternative.

YouTube recently launched AirPlay-like video beaming for Google TV and Android devices, but Google plans to take the technology much further. The company is working on an alternative to AirPlay, which it wants to bring to third-party devices and services – a clear shot at Apple.

Google's new protocol would also supplant the existing DLNA standard which offers similar functionality.

AirPlay from Apple allows Mac and iOS devices to easily stream audio, video and screen content to your Apple TV.

Google's system would reportedly be similar, and also allow data to flow in both directions, allowing full "second-screen experiences" that could relay information back to your phone or tablet. Google recently launched the first version of the service aimed at Android devices, Google TV and YouTube. Their plans are to expand their technology to other apps.