MacRumors

The flood of part leaks claimed to be for the next-generation iPhone continues with a new report from Nowhereelse.fr [Google translation] pointing to a fresh set of high-quality photos and a video of an assembled front panel similar to the one that appeared earlier this week. The new photos and video come from Chinese parts distributor SINOCET.

While the part isn't a new leak, the photos are of good quality and one shot in particular shows a front-on view of the assembled front panel next to the same part from an iPhone 4S, making clear how Apple has been able to minimize the overall increase in device height by shrinking the top and bottom margins somewhat to compensate for the impact of the taller screen. The height comparisons have been seen in previous leaks, but this new photo seems to shows the most straightforward comparison yet.

The video in the report also focuses on comparing the next-generation iPhone front panel assembly to the corresponding part from the iPhone 4S.

While a significant number of parts claimed to be for the next-generation iPhone have appeared over the past few months, the component of perhaps the most interest has yet to be seen: the main processor package. Speculation has covered a number of different possibilities including a die-shrunk A5 similar to that introduced in the revised iPad 2 earlier this year, an A5X such as found in the third-generation iPad, or an all-new A6 system-on-a-chip.

Several photos of the device's logic board have leaked in recent weeks but the low quality of the photos or the presence of shielding on the part have left the identities of the chips on the part unknown.

Sonny Dickson, who has been digging up photos of a number of components leaking out of Apple's supply chain, has now posted a partial photo of what certainly appears to be the same logic board part seen in previous photos. In this new photo, an "A6" designation can be seen on the main chip, suggesting that Apple may indeed be rolling out a brand-new chip family with the next-generation iPhone.

It is difficult to assess the validity of the photo, as the photo could rather easily have been faked and the image's small size and low quality make it impossible to determine the details of smaller text on the chip, but it does offer the first specific photo claim of the chip to be included in the next iPhone.

Update: 9to5Mac has posted the uncropped version of the photo showing the part with and without shielding.

Concerns do remain, however, over the legitimacy of the image.

Parallels announced the availability of Parallels 8 upgrades for the Mac for existing Parallels Desktop customers. Parallels 8 is the latest version of their virtualization software that allows Mac users to run other operating systems, such as Windows, alongside OS X.

“People don’t need to make an either/or choice between Mac and Windows because Macs running Parallels Desktop 8 empower people to simultaneously use applications that best suit their needs – regardless of whether it’s an app for OS X, Windows, Google Chrome OS, Ubuntu, or even Android,” said Parallels CEO Birger Steen.

New features in Parallels 8 includes OS X Mountain Lion integration as well as Retina support and performance boosts:

- Speak, don’t type – Use the new Mountain Lion Dictation tool across both Windows and Mac environments
- Open in Internet Explorer – When a website doesn’t render well within Safari, launch it in Internet Explorer with a click of a button
- Parallels Wizard – Download and automatically install Windows or other operating systems (OSes) including Google Chrome OS, Ubuntu and Android on your Mac.
- Windows apps on OS X Launchpad – Add Windows applications to the Mountain Lion or Lion Launchpad to quickly launch Mac and Windows applications used most
- Consolidated notifications – Integration of Windows notifications into the Mac OS X Notification Center makes it easy to stay updated on Windows virtual machine operations
- Mountain Lion gestures for Windows apps – Enjoy seamless integration of Mountain Lion gestures with Windows apps such as pinch to zoom, Mission Control, three-finger drag, swipe between full-screen apps, two-finger scroll, Launchpad and rotate
- Retina display support – Enjoy stunning Retina display resolution in Windows OS and Windows applications to see crisper fonts, vivid photos, images and animations
- Improved Parallels Desktop 8 performance - up to 30 percent faster for input/output (I/O) operations, 30 percent faster for games and up to 25 percent faster for virtual machine operations such as boot, suspend, shutdown and resume, when compared to Parallels Desktop 7 for Mac

Parallels 8 will be available starting today as an upgrade for existing Parallels Desktop users. (Parallels' website not showing version 8 at time of publication) Upgrades are priced at $49.99.

The full version will become available for $79.99 both online and in retail stores starting on September 4th. C ustomers who purchased Parallels Desktop 7 for Mac on or after July 25, 2012, are eligible for a free upgrade.

Back in June, we noted the sale of one of only about 50 Apple 1 computers still in existence. That unit, which sold at auction for approximately $375,000, was reported to be one of just a handful of functioning Apple 1's in existence.

The Daily Mail now reports that another Apple 1 is headed to the auction block in early October, but with this unit being non-functional it has been estimated to fetch a lower but still substantial £80,000, or roughly $125,000.

The iconic original is on offer at a Christie’s auction in central London on October 9 and comes from the estate of Joe Copson, a former Apple employee.

The rare opportunity to buy an original is expected to attract worldwide interest from museums and private technology collectors.

Rare machines such as the Apple 1 appear on the market infrequently, although there has been an uptick in listings as owners have seen last year's passing of Steve Jobs and Apple's popularity as good reasons to sell. In addition to the functional Apple 1 sold earlier this year, Apple's founding documents were also sold at auction for nearly $1.6 million late last year.

The Apple 1 was originally priced at $666.66 at its release in 1976, with only about 200 of the units having been produced. Roughly 30 to 50 of them are believed to still be intact.

Pocket-lint notes that Apple's online store downtime earlier today saw the expansion of chat support services for iPad and iPhone customers in the UK, Germany, Spain, and Brazil. The updated chat options include the ability to participate in a traditional text chat with a Specialist, a guided tour in which the customer can share the Specialist's screen to be walked through product information, and scheduling of online sessions to help set up new devices.

Now there’s a whole new way to get help from the Apple Online Store. When shopping for a new iPad or iPhone, you can get answers to all your questions through a personalised, online guided tour. We can even help set up your new product after you get it.

The features are not completely new, as Apple rolled out revamped text chat windows and began testing the screen sharing option in Brazil back in April. At the time, the screen sharing feature was limited to customers shopping for the iPad 2.

The advanced chat screen sharing and device setup options are not yet available in the United States or other countries, and even in countries where the options have launched availability may be limited.

Bloomberg reports that Apple and Qualcomm each put forth investment bids topping $1 billion in attempting to secure exclusive access to chip supplies from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), but the bids were declined as TSMC has sought to retain flexibility for its production. While Apple's effort has so far been unsuccessful, it does appear to be part of the company's continuing strategy to lessen its dependence on Samsung for components in its mobile devices.

The two companies are trying to satisfy booming demand for smartphones, a market estimated by to be worth $219.1 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg Industries. Any deal would give Apple an alternate supplier to Samsung Electronics Co., which builds the main chip used in the iPhone and iPad and is also its biggest rival in smartphones. Qualcomm needs to boost supply, since shortages are starting to limit earnings.

TSMC has, however, indicated in recent weeks that it would be open to dedicating one or two of its factories to a single customer, but it is unclear if Apple is pursuing that alternative in the absence of a deal for complete exclusivity.

Rumors dating back to March 2011 had pegged Apple as working with TSMC on production of the Ax-series chips that power Apple's iOS devices, but production issues were cited as a primary reason for those plans falling through and Apple remaining with Samsung for the time being.

Samsung has been working hard to compartmentalize its patent and design dispute with Apple in an effort to prevent the fallout from that situation from affecting component supply contracts. But a number of rumors in recent years have pointed to Apple seeking out alternate suppliers for some portion of its component needs as part of a strategic effort to diversify its supply chain away from Samsung and its increasingly competitive position in the mobile device marketplace.

iLounge reports on images from an anonymous tipster showing off the first photos of accessories for the new Apple Dock connector.

The products appear to come from Scosche and incorporate both a micro USB plug, as well as an adapter for the new iPhone dock connector.

The charger will presumably charge devices that use either the micro USB plug or Apple's new dock connector. The new smaller dock connector has been rumored to be replacing the current 30-pin connector. Photos of the new dock cable have already been leaked. 3rd party accessory makers appear to already be working on compatible devices to be able to provide accessories at or near launch.

Old dock connector pictured on top, and new smaller dock connector pictured below.

Apple is planning an improvement to its AirPlay audio and video streaming technology, according to a report from The Telegraph.

The new AirPlay system would allow streaming devices like the iPhone or iPad to directly send content to a set of speakers or other receiver without a Wi-Fi network. The Telegraph expects 'AirPlay Direct' to be announced on September 12, together with the next-generation iPhone.

Sources familiar with the iPhone-maker’s plans said that Apple wants to improve the AirPlay wireless music streaming technology, which currently requires Airplay speakers and a WiFi network. The new version will require just speakers or a hifi and an iDevice; the iPhone, iPod or iPad would form its own network to allow a direct connection and music playback.

The Telegraph expects Apple to promote AirPlay Direct as a replacement to the hardware connection on many iPhone/iPod docks, and allow playback of music wirelessly from device to receiver.

Just two weeks after Oracle officially took over responsibility for Java on OS X with the launch of Java SE 7 Update 6, a new Java vulnerability has been discovered to pose a significant threat to systems running the software. Krebs on Security highlighted the issue yesterday, noting that it affects all versions of Java 7 on most browsers.

News of the vulnerability (CVE-2012-4681) surfaced late last week in a somewhat sparse blog post by FireEye, which said the exploit seemed to work against the latest version of Java 7, which is version 1.7, Update 6. This morning, researchers Andre’ M. DiMino & Mila Parkour published additional details on the targeted attacks seen so far, confirming that the zero-day affects Java 7 Update 0 through 6, but does not appear to impact Java 6 and below.

Initial reports indicated that the exploit code worked against all versions of Internet Explorer, Firefox and Opera, but did not work against Google Chrome. But according to Rapid 7, there is a Metasploit module in development that successfully deploys this exploit against Chrome (on at least Windows XP).

The report notes that Oracle is moving to a quarterly update cycle for Java, meaning that the next regularly-scheduled update to Java SE 7 is not planned until October, but it is unclear how quickly the company will move to address the issue. In the interim, some security experts are developing an unofficial patch while users are advised to simply disable Java if they do not need it active on their systems.

Computerworld reports that the issue does indeed affect fully-updated Macs running Java 7 on top of OS X Mountain Lion.

David Maynor, CTO of Errata Security, confirmed that the Metasploit exploit -- which was published less than 24 hours after the bug was found -- is effective against Java 7 installed on OS X Mountain Lion.

"This exploit works on OS X if you are running the 1.7 JRE [Java Runtime Environment]," said Maynor in an update to an earlier blog post.

JRE 1.7 includes the most-current version of Java 7, dubbed "Update 6," that was released earlier this month.

Both Safari 6 and Firefox 14 have been found to be vulnerable to the issue on OS X systems.

Apple has of course had its own issues with Java vulnerabilities, most recently with the Flashback malware that was able to infect over 600,000 Macs by taking advantage of an exploit in Java 6 that had already been patched by Oracle for most platforms but not by Apple for OS X. It is due to smaller, previous incidents similar to Flashback that Apple had already been moving to shift responsibility for Java updates to Oracle, a move that is taking place with Java 7. But while Mac users will now receive Java updates simultaneously with users on other platforms, Java remains one of the highest-profile targets for attackers seeking to compromise systems on a broad basis.

Update: CNET noted earlier today that most Mac users are not currently susceptible to the issue, as Java 7 is not installed by default on Macs. The current version of Java installed on Mac remains Java 6 for the time being, so users would have to have manually updated to Java 7 in order for their systems to be vulnerable.

With the landmark Apple vs. Samsung patent and design lawsuit resulting a $1 billion verdict for Apple late last week, considerable discussion about the jury's decision-making process has been making the rounds. Several members of the jury, including foreman Velvin Hogan, gave interviews after the trial, but a new video interview of Hogan by Bloomberg Television's Emily Chang provides some additional insight into the jury's thinking. The nearly 17-minute segment covers a number of topics including the jury dynamics, calculation of damages, and how Hogan's own experience with patents and financial statements helped guide the discussion and evaluation.

Hogan notes that he initially thought the case might swing Samsung's way as the jury initially had some difficulty assessing how the validity of the patents should be decided and applied to the case.

We were at a stalemate, but some of the jurors were not sure of the patent prosecution process. Some were not sure of how prior art could either render a patent acceptable or whether it could invalidate it. What we did is we started talking about one and when the day was over and I was at home, thinking about that patent claim by claim, limit by limit, I had what we would call an a-ha moment and I suddenly decided I could defend this if it was my patent…And with that, I took that story back to the jury and laid it out for them. They understood the points I was talking about and then we meticulously went patent by patent and claim by claim against the test that the judge had given us, because each patent had a different legal premise to judge on. We got those all sorted out and decided which ones were valid and which ones were not.

Hogan also reiterates the jury's view that comments by Google demanding that Samsung tweak its product designs to look less similar to the iPhone and iPad were particularly damning, indicating that Samsung's infringement was willful as it took in Google's advice and opted not to follow it.

Overall, the jury found that the evidence in the case "spoke overwhelmingly" to Samsung's infringement, with the jury having put "each side to the test" equally in weighing both validity and infringement claims, working through each of the involved devices and claimed infringements to reach the $1 billion verdict. Hogan also walks through how that dollar amount was reached, using their own calculations of how much Apple lost in profits from sales of the infringing Samsung devices and then adding in royalty amounts to achieve a final number.

Gizmodo reports that it has obtained a complete copy of Apple's training manual for new retail store Genius hires. The manual includes an overview of the two-week training new Geniuses go through, along with detailed information on how to handle customer service issues across a broad variety of scenarios.

The manual could easily serve as the Humanity 101 textbook for a robot university, but at Apple, it's an exhaustive manual to understanding customers and making them happy. Sales, it turns out, take a backseat to good vibes—almost the entire volume is dedicated to empathizing, consoling, cheering up, and correcting various Genius Bar confrontations. The assumption, it'd seem, is that a happy customer is a customer who will buy things. And no matter how much the Apple Store comes off as some kind of smiling likeminded computer commune, it's still a store above all—just one that puts an enormous amount of effort behind getting inside your head.

The report highlights several topics from the manual, including training on how to empathize with customers to build a relationship, recognizing body language and other cues to help understand each customer's emotions and guide the interaction to a resolution, and Apple's "banned words" along with the preferred terms that should be used to describe certain issues.

Apple's retail stores have long been highly regarded for their customer service, with staff providing significant levels of free support through the Genius Bar while sales associates training in helping customers find solutions to their problems assist with purchases. A number of Apple's customer service interaction technique have even been adopted from the Ritz-Carlton luxury hotel chain, itself famous for attention to customer service.

But as the chain has continued to grow there have been signs of strain on this outlook for retail, with staff reportedly being asked to do more with less amid claims that operational efficiency has risen in significance at the price of reduced customer and employee satisfaction.

Apple has introduced a new perk for Apple employees, giving them a free 50GB upgrade to their iCloud storage -- a $100/year value. This is similar to the free MobileMe subscription that employees received until last year when iCloud replaced that service. The standard iCloud account includes 5GB of storage.

Earlier this year Apple employees were granted a new discount on Apple hardware, offering employees $500 off a Mac (excluding the Mac mini) or $250 off an iPad -- and that discount was recently extended to the Retina MacBook Pro as well.

With Apple having announced its new Passbook digital wallet for iOS 6, speculation regarding the potential for the incorporation of near field communications (NFC) in the next-generation iPhone has ramped up. The technology would allow for contactless payments that could be closely incorporated into the Passbook functionality. Rumors of NFC capabilities for the next-generation iPhone received another boost of speculation after photos of an assembled front panel surfaced showing an unknown square feature that Japanese blog Mac Otakara said was part of the NFC system for the device.

As part of an extensive analysis of likely features for the next iPhone, AnandTech laid out the case for why NFC is unlikely to appear in the device.

Given the primarily metal backside of the new iPhone, it's highly unlikely that NFC is in the cards for this generation. In fact, given the very little space at top and bottom dedicated to those glass RF windows, you can almost entirely rule it out.

The well-connected Jim Dalrymple has now added his perspective on the matter, sharing a simple "Yep" confirming that AnandTech was correct in its conclusion: There will be no NFC capabilities in the forthcoming iPhone.

TmoNews reports (via Engadget) that it has received a pair of photos from T-Mobile USA's internal news system announcing that the carrier will be rolling out new training programs focused on "selling against the iPhone". The new training modules are being deployed on September 21, the rumored launch day for the next-generation iPhone in the United States.

Perhaps it’s coincidental that the information for employees to utilize against the iPhone will drop on September 21st, a date being tossed around as a possible release date for the next-generation iPhone. Perhaps it’s just coincidence but we can’t envision a scenario in which T-Mobile would prepare their employees to sell against a product they are about to receive.

T-Mobile is the only one of the four major U.S. carriers to not officially offer the iPhone, hampered by its use of 3G spectrum bands that are not supported by iPhone models released to date. That has not stopped customers from bringing their GSM iPhones to the carrier for use on its 2G network, and T-Mobile has been working to increase support for the over one million iPhones in use on its network even as it seeks to downplay the impact of its official absence to potential customers.

Following its failed merger with AT&T, T-Mobile USA announced earlier this year that its work on refarming spectrum would make the carrier's 4G HSPA+ network compatible with a broader range of devices, including the iPhone, by the end of 2012. Today's report from TmoNews reveals that T-Mobile is also rolling out new Monthly4G SIM kits that are compatible with the iPhone 4S and 4 later this month, perhaps signaling an increased effort to attract iPhone customers as its iPhone-compatible HSPA+ network reaches critical mass.

Earlier this month, we reported on several changes at Apple retail stores that were reportedly seeing some employees being laid off or seeing recent promotions being retracted, while other part-time employees were seeing their hours reduced significantly, in some cases to zero. Our report was followed several days later by an acknowledgement from Apple that the company had "messed up" in adjusting its staffing formulas for its retail stores.

ifoAppleStore now takes a close look at the situation, tying changes in the philosophy of Apple's retail experience to the passing of Steve Jobs and the operational focus of Apple CEO Tim Cook and new retail chief John Browett. At the most basic level, Jobs served as the champion for former retail chief Ron Johnson's vision of Apple stores focused on consumer satisfaction, and without Jobs to protect that vision Apple has slipped into a numbers-focused perspective for its retail operations.

Johnson was champion of customer satisfaction, designing and staffing the stores to provide a superior experience for visitors and buyers alike. He was able to win over Steve Jobs with the concept that revenue and profit should be a secondary goal of Apple’s retail stores.

But in 2009, Jobs took six months of medical leave and put Tim Cook in charge of the company, including the retail stores. Cook is primarily an “operations guy,” sources explain, and his natural focus is revenues and profits, not customers. While Jobs was away, Cook and chief financial officer Peter Oppenheimer began to confront Johnson on his customer-centric retail philosophy—both felt the stores didn’t generate enough revenues to justify operating expenses.

The report claims that Cook hired Browett to replace Johnson, who departed Apple to lead department store chain JC Penney last year, specifically because of his focus on "traditional concepts of retailing" that prioritize revenues and profits as the key performance metrics.

Even with Apple reportedly having reversed a number of the staffing changes that brought the company such significant publicity earlier this month, stores are reportedly still subject to directives reducing workshop offerings for customers and specifying policies on staff evaluation and compensation that prioritize profits over the customer experience and employee satisfaction.

Back in May, Apple announced that its annual iTunes Festival in London would be moving to September for 2012, with the event once again offering 30 days of free concerts at The Roundhouse. While tickets to the shows have been awarded on a lottery basis, Apple this year is offering access to the concerts with a number of live streaming options including through the iTunes Festival website, through a dedicated universal iOS app, and through Apple TV.

For those interested in watching the shows on Apple TV, the company has just pushed out an automatic update adding the iTunes Festival app to users' set-top boxes, making it easy for users to access the shows from the main menu of the device.

This is not the first time Apple has experimented with delivering live content directly to the Apple TV, as the company earlier this year offered a live stream of a Paul McCartney concert through both iTunes and the Apple TV.

The 2012 iTunes Festival kicks off on September 1 with Usher and runs daily throughout the month until closing with Muse on September 30.