MacRumors

AppleInsider reports that Apple is planning to release an update to their Final Cut Studio professional video editing package in late April, around the time of the annual National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) conference in Las Vegas.

While Apple won't be attending NAB, those familiar with the company's plans say it holds ambitions of debuting a new version of Final Cut Studio, currently late in its development stage, at or around the same time the conference kicks off during the third week of April. Further details weren't provided.

Apple had been a regular participant at NAB, announcing a number of Final Cut Pro and Final Cut Studio releases there, put pulled out of the 2008 conference as part of their continuing shift away from trade shows and conferences.

Previous reports had pointed to a possible Final Cut Studio update at a rumored March 24th media event that had initially surfaced as a possibility for hardware releases. With the introduction of new iMacs, Mac minis and Mac Pros on March 3rd and yesterday's announcement of an iPhone OS 3.0 media event on March 17th, a March 24th event is looking increasingly unlikely.

News that Apple will be hosting a media event next week about iPhone 3.0 has generated a lot of speculation about what might be coming in the new release.

BoyGeniusReport claims to have heard two possible features that would certainly make many iPhone users happy. They believe that iPhone 3.0 will introduce MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service) and Tethering.

MMS would finally offer iPhone users the ability to send photos by way of SMS, and tethering would allow you to share your iPhone's internet connection with your laptop computer. An alleged Steve Jobs email even confirmed that Apple had been working on a thethering solution, so it certainly seems feasible. BoyGeniusReport's record, however, has been spotty, so we can't be entirely confident of the report.

A more interesting report comes from John Gruber about his "guesses" for iPhone 3.0 from back at Macworld:

First, a new home screen app (a.k.a. SpringBoard), designed from the ground up for a system where users have a few dozen or more extra apps installed. Managing dozens of apps on the iPhone today is simply a pain in the ass. Second, maybe an answer to the question of where the background notification API is you know, the one we were told at WWDC to expect a few months ago, but which we havent heard a word about since. And maybe pretty please, Mr. Forstall, with sugar on top copy and paste.

While Gruber labels this as his "wish list", we have good reason to believe that these features will indeed be found in the iPhone 3.0 firmware. That could mean a better app-managing SpringBoard (with categories?), a solution to "push" notifications (background tasks?), and, yes... even copy and paste.

Finally, there has been evidence in the latest version of Snow Leopard's CoreLocation framework (which is shared by the iPhone) that Apple is building in support for magnetometers, which could suggest the use of a digital compass in future devices, much like the Android G1.

Engadget is reporting that Apple will be hosting a media event on Tuesday, March 17th to demonstrate iPhone OS 3.0, the next major upgrade to the iPhone operating system. Apple will reportedly also provide details on a new iPhone Software Development Kit (SDK) to aid developers in creating applications for the new operating system.

Apple's calling this an "advance preview of what we're building," so we're not expecting anything ready to go as of the 17th, but hopefully this will allow developers to start building toward future functionality (hey, how about some push notifications?), and presumably users won't have too many months to wait after that for the real deal.

Apple previously hosted a media event in March 2008 to provide a "roadmap" for iPhone developers, and it appears that this upcoming event may follow a similar theme. The event is scheduled for 10 AM Pacific in the Town Hall auditorium on the company's campus in Cupertino, CA.

Several MacRumors readers have pointed out that the extension of the iTunes "Genius" feature to include movies and TV shows does not appear to be present in iTunes 8.1. The feature was advertised on Apple's site prior to the release of iTunes 8.1 and is still mentioned in the release notes that accompany the download.

References to the updated Genius feature have been removed from the "iTunes A to Z" features page, and Apple has revised their "What's New" page, replacing the Genius section with details on the extension of Autofill to all iPods.

The reason for the removal of the feature remains unknown, although it certainly appears that it was a last-minute decision.

As foreshadowed by Apple earlier today, iTunes 8.1 has been released and is now available from the iTunes download page.

The supporting documentation included with the download details the changes present in the update:

iTunes 8.1 is now faster and more responsive. You will enjoy noticeable improvements when working with large libraries, browsing the iTunes Store, preparing to sync with iPod or iPhone, and optimizing photos for syncing.

In addition, iTunes 8.1 provides many other improvements and bug fixes, including:

- Supports syncing with iPod shuffle (3rdgeneration)
- Allows friends to request songs for iTunes DJ
- Adds Genius sidebar for your Movies and TV Shows
- Improves performance when downloading iTunes Plus songs
- Provides AutoFill for manually managed iPods
- Allows CDs to be imported at the same sound quality as iTunes Plus
- Includes many accessibilityimprovements
- Allows iTunes U and the iTunes Store to be disabled separately using Parental Controls

Earlier today, Apple also released an update for their Remote application for the iPhone and iPod touch, adding compatibility with iTunes 8.1 and including assorted bug fixes.

Update: Apple has also released Front Row 2.1.7, which weighs in at 12.6 MB and adds iTunes 8.1 compatibility to Front Row.

Close on the heels of rumors from the Commercial Times on Monday and Dow Jones Newswires on Tuesday, Reuters reports on a source close to touchscreen manufacturer Wintek saying that the company has received orders from Apple for 10-inch touchscreens expected to be delivered in the third quarter of 2009.

Taiwan touchscreen specialist Wintek already makes small screens for Apple iPhones, and has received orders for the larger ones that are roughly the same size as those used in mini PCs, said the source close to the Taiwan firm. He asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to talk to the media.

He added that he did not know what the final product would be, or who would make it.

It is unclear whether this is one of the same sources quoted by the Commercial Times and/or Dow Jones Newswires, but Reuters' claim that the source provided the information "on Wednesday", after the previous reports had been issued, suggests that this is either a fresh repetition of the information by a previous source or a new source entirely.

As noted in its technical specifications, the new iPod shuffle released today requires iTunes 8.1, which is yet to be released. Apple's iTunes download page also includes a note about the upcoming release on the download button itself.

Apple's "What's New" page for iTunes highlights a few of the changes coming in the update, including speed boosts for library loading, iTunes Store browsing, and device syncing, expansion of the Genius feature to include movies and TV shows, and a change in the default audio import settings to 256-kbps AAC.

In addition to the highlighted features, Apple's "iTunes A to Z" features page suggests several additional changes, including updated Parental Controls that appear to add the ability to disable access to the entire iTunes Store while still allowing access to iTunes U content. The page also adds an entry for Autofill, which does not clearly specify what the changes are, although it appears possible that the feature implemented for the smallest-capacity iPods is being extended to all models.

Update: Based on new screenshots scattered throughout the iTunes pages, the iTunes "Party Shuffle" feature has apparently been renamed "iTunes DJ".

Apple released two new iPod Shuffles with an even smaller design today. The updates were predicted at the very last minute this morning.

The new 4GB devices are priced at $79 and can hold up to 1000 songs. These new iPod Shuffles adopt a more vertical shape than the previous model, but are smaller overall. The previous generation iPod shuffles remain available for purchase.

Apple also added a new "VoiceOver" feature that allows the iPod shuffle to speak your song titles, artists and playlist names. All of the controls are located on the earphone cord.

"Imagine your music player talking to you, telling you your song titles, artists and playlist names," said Greg Joswiak, Apple's vice president of iPod and iPhone Product Marketing. "The amazingly small new iPod shuffle takes a revolutionary approach to how you listen to your music by talking to you, also making it the first iPod shuffle with playlists."

Using the VoiceOver feature, the new Shuffle allows you to pick and choose between different playlists. More details are available on Apple's iPod Shuffle section of their website. They also provide a Guided Tour video (direct QuickTime link) that walks through the new features.

As many readers have noticed, Apple's online stores have gone down for updates. At this time of day, that typically means that Apple is adding new products to the store.

According to one source who previously relayed accurate information about the Mac mini, Mac Pro and iMac launch, Apple is about to release a new 4GB iPod Shuffle in Black, Silver and possibly other colors. The current iPod Shuffle maxes out at 2GB of storage for $69 and comes in 5 different colors.

Apple's online store typically returns online around 8:30 AM eastern for major product updates.

Dow Jones Newswire reports that Apple is indeed planning to launch a netbook computer with a touchscreen as soon as the 2nd half of this year. They cite "two people close to the situation" as sources.

The mini laptop computers will likely have monitor screens that are between 9.7-inches and 10-inches, one person, who declined to be named, said.

This adds credibility to yesterday's report that Apple had already placed orders for the screen with Taiwan-based Wintek.

Based on this new information, it appears that Apple is targeting a ~10" screen size for this Netbook. The addition of a multi-touch screen adds an interesting twist to the concept of a netbook which is traditionally a clamshell miniaturized laptop.

MacRumors forum user WonderSausage received his 2009 Nehalem Mac Pro yesterday. The system was configured as a Dual 2.93GHz Quad-Core system with 6GB of RAM and an ATI Radeon HD 4870 card. Additional high quality photos posted to Flickr with commentary in the discussion thread.

The early GeekBench benchmark for the Nehalem system gave a whopping total score of 17,665, placing it at the very top of the list of all GeekBench 2 scores. The previous #1 placeholder was a Sun Microsystems Sun Fire X4450. This also eclipses the results of the previous top-of-the-line 3.2GHz 8-core Mac Pro which delivers a score as high as 11,030 but with many results in the 9,000 range. As expected, the largest gains in the new systems revolved around multi-threaded functions and memory performance. To give some more perspective on this value, see GeekBench's cumulative table of all Mac performance benchmarks as of January 2009.

Meanwhile, another reader was able to benchmark his Nehalem 2.26GHz Mac Pro which resulted in a Geekbench score of 11226-13113. Again the Nehalem processors excelled at multi-threaded tasks but the raw clock speed of the 2.26GHz processor was slower than the 3.2GHz processor at single-threaded tasks.

This same observation was also seen in Cinebench benchmarks compiled by Tesselator and charted by PowerPaw:

In this example, the new 2.26GHz 8-core Nehalem performed comparably to previous 2.8GHz 8-core processor in multi-threaded tasks, but worse at single threaded tasks. Meanwhile, the multi-core performance of the new 2.93GHz processor significantly outpaced the previous generation machines.

As a result, depending on your work flow (multi-threaded vs single-threaded), it may make more sense to buy a faster Quad-Core than a slower Octo-Core. While some are hoping that Apple's push for multi-threaded support in Snow Leopard may change this equation, developer support and the eventual impact of Grand Central remain unknown.

iLounge points out a prototype iPhone recently listed on eBay.

Here is a quite rare and collectable example of iPhone prototypes, one even running a beta OS. Only one of the phones works however. Neither unit says "iPhone" on them anywhere, or list the storage capacity which is interesting. I did some research on the serial numbers, it appears they were both manufactured about 6 months before the release of the iPhone.

Obviously, it is difficult to determine the authenticity of these claims, but the prototype operating system depicted closely resembles the diagnostic screens found on the iPod Touch.

Two prototype iPhones are being sold. Neither have the word "iPhone" written on the back of them. Based on serial numbers, each unit was manufactured in China in late 2006. The iPhone wasn't officially announced until January 2007, and didn't start shipping until June 2007. The working unit runs iPhone OS 03.06.01_G vs the launch version which ran version 03.11.02_G.

Beta units of Apple products have been known to escape Apple's labs before. Recently a prototype MacBook Air was purchased on eBay by a MacRumors forum member.

Update: It seems these prototypes were owned by a MacRumors forum member at one point back in January. Original discussion thread.

Update 2: The eBay auction listing has been removed at the request of Apple.

When Apple introduced the new MacBooks, MacBook Airs, and MacBook Pros in October, they also introduced a new four-finger multi-touch trackpad gesture that allowed users to easily switch between applications (swipe left/right) or invoke Expos (swipe up/down). While it's long been known that the original MacBook Air and early 2008 MacBook Pros were also capable of detecting these 4-finger gestures, Apple has not yet announced or provided software support for the feature.

The latest Snow Leopard developer seeds, however, reveal that Apple will be adding support for these gestures to these "1st generation" multi-touch trackpad devices. Based on reports, this functionality has finally been added for the original MacBook Air (and presumably the early 2008 MacBook Pros).

The original MacBook Air was the first Apple laptop to incorporate a multi-touch trackpad when it was introduced in January 2008 and the MacBook Pros quickly followed with multi-touch support in February 2008.