News Archives for 2002

Apple to Slash Prices on New iBooks

Apple will be revamping its portable line of computers sometime this week. The forthcoming announcement will give way to new versions of the company's PowerBook G4 line, as well as speed-bumped consumer iBooks.

Mac OS X 10.2.2 Near Finalized with 6F19 Seeding

Since our previous report on Merlot, otherwise known as Mac OS X 10.2.2, Apple's Mac OS X Update team has spun-out four builds of the OS upgrade. The last, Mac OS X 10.2.2 6F19, was seeded to developers last Friday evening.

Apple to Revamp Portable Line in November

Sources indicate that a revision to Apple\'s portable lines is on the horizon and will likely arrive during the next two weeks — possibly on November 5. Details are sparse at this point, but the updates are said to be relatively minor, consisting of speed bumps and a possible increase in hard drive capacity. Talk of Bluetooth being added on-board to the PowerBook G4 has also been heard.

Apple Seeds Build 6F15 of Mac OS X 10.2.2

Last Thursday, Apple seeded developers with the 4th external build of Mac OS X v10.2.2. The update is code-named \"Merlot\" and provides stability improvements and updates to Mac OS X\'s Address Book, Launch Services, AppleEvents, File Manager, and Mail services. Core Audio and Graphics advancements have also been implemented in the release, along with updates to the Mac OS X kernel, FireWire and QuickDraw.

SlapTech Acquires AppleInsider

SlapTech has acquired the rights to use the appleinsider.com domain from MacNN.com. We'll be posting new content even before the DNS transfer is complete (should be a few weeks), but will continue to use their servers until we can find a stable host provider to host our own domain (and handle the traffic for a reasonable price). We have already taken down their ads from the forums area and will be completing an upgrade to vBulletin (php-based forums) in the next few weeks. We're glad to be back and have the new domain. Please feel free to pass the dirt. Kasper Jade, former Editor in Chief of AppleInsider.com, has agreed to join SlapTech.com team in forming the new AppleInsider.com publication. He will once again assume the position of AppleInsider's head honcho. Readers and sources may send news tips and insider info to [email protected] until a revised contact page is established. Your host, Slash Senior Editor, AppleInsider (Formally of SlapTech.com)

Apple to Stream Macworld Keynote in MPEG4

If you plan to watch Apple's broadcast of the Macworld Expo opening keynote tomorrow, grab yourself a copy of QuickTime 6.0 before Apple's server-load increases. Apple's release of QuickTime 6.0 two days prior to MacWorld expo was literally a "slip-up," sources said. "It all happened suddenly," says one source, "while Worldwide Sales and Operations front man, Timothy Cook, was heading back to his office from a visit to the john." While apparently flailing his arms and bickering loudly about the back-splatter effect caused by the company's new industrial sized urinal cakes, "he failed to notice the remains of a honey-glazed donut resting on the floor of walkway just adjacent to the water fountain." Cook "stepped right in it," sources said, and it sent him hurtling towards the webmaster cubicles, through the paneling and into webmaster Sol Rosenburg, who then accidentally hit the "Return" key and published the software to Apple's website. Of course not... According to extremely reliable sources, Apple will stream the Macworld keynote in MPEG4 format tomorrow, and hence the early release of the MPEG4 enhanced QuickTime 6 software. This will be Steve Jobs' opportunity to boast about the company's new streaming media software without saying anything at all, but we all know he will anyway. QuickTime 5 and prior users be cautioned, rumor has it that Apple has no plans to offer a non-MPEG4 stream. Grab your copy of QuickTime 6.0 now.

Jaguar Build 6C98 Released From Cupertino Today

For the past two weeks, Apple\'s Jaguar development team has been pumping builds of the new operating system out of Cupertino faster than sources could download and report on them individually. Today marked the release of build 6C98, which includes a virtually nonexistent list of known issues. This is the build expected to be demonstrated at tomorrow\'s keynote presentation by Apple CEO Steve Jobs. On the other hand, the build that has been pre-loaded on many of the company\'s exhibit machines is rumored to be build 6C92, the first to include the MPEG4 enhanced iTunes 3.0 software as part of Apple\'s seeding process. Screenshots:About; Airport SW Base Station; Sherlock; System Prefs Jaguar is now ahead of Apple\'s previously announced release schedule, but contrary to a CNET report published two weeks ago, builds of Jaguar have not slowed from 2 seedings a week, they have actually increased drastically. A new build of Jaguar has appeared daily for the last two weeks. Above are some screenshots of build 6C82, containing images of Jaguar\'s AirPort Software base-station, Sherlock 3, and more.

iMac Due Tomorrow, Power Mac G4 Line Will Remain Untouched

According to sources, the buzz over Apple\'s rumored 17" iMac is true, but this is not the case for the company\'s Power Mac G4 line. Tomorrow, Apple is expected to add a steeply priced 17" model to their iMac offerings, but the Power Mac G4 line is said to go literally unmentioned in terms of upgrades. The big news on Power Mac revisions will come during a press event on August 13th sources said, but it is pointless to talk about that right now. Look for news on Power Macs sometime next week when all the dust and controversy over the upcoming expo has settled and been swept away.

Microsoft to Announce Mac Version of Remote Desktop Client

Microsoft will make a splash at this year\'s MacWorld expo, according to sources, but unfortunately they won\'t drown. The software giant will make announcements pertaining to new 802.11b wireless networking products, a media version of Windows XP, and the fact that they\'ve caused the general public more frustration than the Nazis, Al-Queda, and Roseanne Barr, combined. Yet un-noted, however, is that the company plans to release a Macintosh version of their Remote Desktop Client. Personally, we don\'t feel like saying much about it. Propaganda pertaining to the announcements will be spammed across all our favorite news outlets before we know it anyway.