MacRumors' Mac Blog: Mac Apps, News and Rumors

Of somewhat uncertain significance, IBM announced that they were merging their Semiconductor (PowerPC) and Server groups together with "hopes that by working closer together the two will help each other improve their product...

Curiously, Apple's web server hosts this image -- which claims 16GB of ECC RAM in the new G5 Xserve... while the "official" image and specs list only 8GB...

The Register.co.uk points to this Team XBox post as possible information about the upcoming Xbox PowerPC Processor... but the information appears to be questionable. Meanwhile Mercury News does report on some minor details of the upcoming...

Since this is getting submitted every day... I thought I'd point out that yes... Apple did have a 20th Anniversary Mac... 7 years ago. The 20th Anniversary Mac was released on Apple's (not the Mac's) 20th anniversary and retailed for...

MacBidouille claims that IBM is charging Intel more for SOI (Silicon on Insulator) technology licensing than other companies Intel, just as AMD and Nvidia did, would have asked for an SOI license. Whereas the two others pay close to nothing, IBM would have asked Intel to pay US$ 500 Millions plus US$ 45 per manufactured processor....

According to the same source of the Feb 3rd PowerBook revision rumors, the 15" and 17" PowerBooks should also see $300 price drops on the same date as the updates. The update date has wavered between Feb 2nd and 3rd. Regardless, this information remains uncertain due to the absence of a history of reliable reports from this particular source. Should this prove to be true, further...

Appleinsider posts that according to some documents, the upcoming PowerPC revision (90nm?) is indeed called the 970FX as previously claimed. The "Momentum Computer Maple Evaluation System and board" document notes that it utilizes PowerPC 970FX processors that can operate at up to 2.4GHz. Any further details are unclear...

This AVSForum post claims that Apple will be entering the high-end projector market. Apple will be announcing a new FP. He said the launch is part of their 20th anniversary and they are launching a new product line and will get aggressive entering the market. He saw a demonstration of this projector and said it was one of the best hes seen, he was really blown away. He would not go into detail on ...

According to some reports... Apple may be releasing display updates tomorrow. No details available, but previous rumors have included a 30" display....

A few uncertain rumors floating around indicate that PowerBooks will see minor speed bumps to up to 1.42 GHz in the 17" High End come Feb 2nd. 15" PowerBooks are also reported to be increasing to 1.25 and 1.33GHz, while the 12" remain...

Sources familiar with Apple Retail's Graphics and Visuals plans have indicated that January 19 or 20 will bring an updated look to at least some of the graphics in the U.S. retail stores and the possibility of new products to go along with these visual changes. (Readers are reminded that some items are posted to Page 2, not due to questions of reliability, but due to lack of...

Appleinsider reports that Apple will be announcing a new version of Logic Platinum at NAMM -- which kicks off...

Appleinsider reports on some vague rumors of future iPod pricing and iPod distribution deals. According to the rumor site, Apple is planning on reducing the pricing of the iPod Mini by $50 "as soon as humanly possible". The iPod Mini is currently priced at $249, which is in-line with in line with Rio's recently announced Nitrus 4GB player which retails at the same price. Appleinsider also...

A Slashdot comment offers up an interesting rumor floating around Blacksburg, VA. The rumor here on campus [Virginia Tech] is that Apple is going to let them trade the G5 towers for G5 XServes, 1:1. So if you are wondering where the first 1100 XServes are going, look no further than Blacksburg. Now, Slashdot comment postings do not make for reliable sources, but we've since received further word...

According to a few reports, Soundtrack 1.2 should be released shortly. No word on new features. Soundtrack 1.1 as only recently released in December. Possible hints that pricing of the application could drop to $199... but...

Slashdot notes that a Mr. Paul Thurrott writes "The company [HP] will be working with Apple to add support for Microsoft's superior Windows Media Audio (WMA) format to the iPod by mid-year." Readers should note that Paul Thurrott has historically had an anti-Mac bias with the dubious distinction of being unable to correctly draw a graph. In November, when asked about supporting WMA, Steve...

Appleinsider posted a brief blurb at the end of their MW Summary hinting at PowerMac updates "on or after January 20th". We've heard at least unconfirmed hint of a similar timeframe for an unspecified product...

Several readers have submitted claims that the original 1984 ad has been further edited with a change of the date on the screen of "big brother" from 1/26/84 to 1/26/04. The new ad however is simply a different quality and the text can be read as "84" in certain shots, while it is ambiguous in...