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Briefly: 10.4.5, office space, iPod accessories, 17-inch iMac

Two separate seeds of Mac OS X 10.4.5

It appears that Apple is now distributing to developers both Intel- and PowerPC-native versions of its upcoming Mac OS X 10.4.5 Update.

Last week it was reported around the Web that the company had released Mac OS X 10.4.5 build 8H5 to its Apple Developer Connection members and other developers. This week a new seeds of Mac OS X 10.4.5 surfaced, labeled Mac OS X 10.4.5 build 8G1443. It appears that builds in the 8Hx milestone are PowerPC-native and those in the 8Gx milestone are Intel-native.

The Intel-native version focuses on the same system components as the PowerPC version, with the addition of Spotlight, Mail, QuickTime, Dashboard and Keychain, tipsters have said. An emphasis is also being placed on the Rosetta emulation environment and application performance.

The most recent known builds of Mac OS X 10.4.5 are Mac OS X 10.4.5 build 8H12 (PowerPC) and Mac OS X build 8G1445 (Intel).

Apple continues to gobble up office space

Apple has signed a deal for an entire 116,830-square-foot building at 10400-10450 Ridgeview Court in Cupertino, Calif. Approximately 56,315 square feet were leased directly from the landlord, while the remaining 60,515 square feet are being subleased from IBM, according to CoStar National.

The $1B iPod accessory market

The New York Times today published a interesting write-up on the \"iPod Ecosystem.\" Of interest, the report points out that iPod accessories are now a $1B a year business. \"Consider this. Last year, Apple sold 32 million iPods, or one every second. But for every $3 spent on an iPod, at least $1 is spent on an accessory, estimates Steve Baker, an analyst for the NPD Group, a research firm. That works out to three or four additional purchases per iPod,\" The Times wrote.

Farewell 17-inch PowerPC iMac

As expected, Apple\'s online store as of Friday no longer lists the 17-inch 1.9GHz iMac G5 for sale.

Last week it was reported that Apple had officially discontinued the model in the United States and retained only limited inventory (which has since been exhausted). This week, the company also slashed the price of the 20-inch 2.1GHz iMac G5 by $200. Supplies of this model are also dwindling.

Shoppers looking for either model can still turn to Amazon.com, which is offering its customers $125 back on the 17-inch model ($1174.99) and $150 off the 20-inch ($1349.99)