• Well. I tried out the 3.0 software on my iPhone 3G. While many people found the battery time even worse, especially on 3Gs, I have to say I haven’t noticed. Did not use spotlight yet as no need to, but overall it runs smoother. Copy/paste function was used quite frequently indeed.
• Rumors has it that Facebook is about to release a new version for 3.0 software version.
• Now iPhone 3GS users can also jailbreak by using Purplera1n. The iPhone devteam choose not to release their version of jailbreak for various reasons that can be found here.
• Next up. Porn was available in Appstore the other day. Did anyone notice (use) before they censored it?
• Talking about censorship, did you know that Apple computers are currently free from censorship in China?

On April 17, 2008, Apple’s application for a patent became public. It regards Enhancing Online Shopping Atmosphere . You might ask yourself what that means, unless you are familiar with the term “Second life.”

I will hereby attempt to summon my view of Apple’s concept, but be aware that a complete readthrough of the patent should be made in order to get the full picture of the idea.

Today, customers that are buying (Apple) products online will see a website where they can navigate, view pictures and descriptions of products, optimally also in a package of beautiful design and a well developed interface.

Why is this not enough?

Admitted, flexibility to shop at any time of the day without leaving the house, just a few mouse clicks away, brings several advantages. But on the other hand it also lacks physical experience; touching, feeling and getting that personal service. The consequence of that reveals in many people today choosing to do their shopping in real life instead.

Needless to say, the environment in online shopping differs a great deal from shopping in physical stores.

With the revolving concept of developing a virtual world out of an online store, containing staff and customers in the shape of avatars, Apple will hopefully take online shopping to a different level.

How? Possibly it will endevaour an, at least visibly, more alive experience for the customer. The questions are will this idea work without fuss and whether customers, including laymen, will prefer it to the alternatives available or not. They might as well get fraught by the unfamiliar newness. To win people over, including those comfortable customers, good advertising and marketing is crucial. (I suspect by previous experience, this is something already recognized by Apple.)

Keeping it simple but still creative, they have succeeded before and I think if sticking to that concept, they will again.
What differs this from Eworld is yet to be discovered though.
That will also most likely determine whether this will be a success or not.

In wrote last week that “Apple TV is a product for the future.” It now seems that this future is closer than we thought. CrunchGear writes that an update will come later this month that will bring back Apple TV from “the teetering edge of extinction”. It sounded like just another Apple rumor to me. That is, until they told us that Apple is stocking up on quite a few Apple TVs for this coming update.

As I wrote in the above mentioned post, the update will bring support for movie rentals and high-definition video formats. Think it’s too soon? The thought has crossed my mind but considering the speed at which Apple is moving right now, almost nothing is impossible. We already know that the Apple TV will support these things sooner or later, and it looks like Apple will go with sooner.

Blackfriars’ Marketing is talking about a bittorrent like distribution system built into the upcoming Mac OS X Leopard that would open the door to HD movie distribution. As you know, Leopard is scheduled to be released later this month and the unofficial date is the 26th. It would be nice to see an Apple TV update during the same announcement, or at least near it.

But then we have to ask ourselves; does it make sense? I mean, wouldn’t Apple first want to give users some time to get their hands on, and adapt to, this new operating system? The distribution system probably wouldn’t be of much use if the majority of users are still running Mac OS 10.4. But then again, what do I know. Maybe everyone will camp out at their nearest Apple Store to buy Leopard as soon as it’s announced.

Unlike Microsoft, Apple will probably ship a very stable release of their new OS. Sure, there will be bugs that thousands of beta testers may not have noticed but millions of end-users will. But bugs and performance issues won’t be the reason keeping Apple TV locked up in the development basement. If anything, a restricted distribution channel will be the problem.

I’m very curious to hear more about this new bittorrent like solution, if it even exists. How will it be designed into the Leopard and Apple TV? Will people really use their internet connection to distribute high-definition movies? I mean, if you’re paying for a movie, you don’t want to to waste upstream bandwidth on it. How about firewalls, wouldn’t most of them block this feature by default?

The questions are many but if this system really exists, we’ll have our answers. Soon, if you want to believe CrunchGear. Oh, and about the rumors of a Mac nano for $249; no way. The “Mac nano” part sounds okay but unfortunately, the “$249″ takes wishful thinking to the extreme.

They said October and it looks like they’re going to make it. All mighty AppleInsider reports that sources say Apple will release their new version of Mac OS X later this month. More specifically, the date is October 26th and by judging from the way they write about it, it looks like AppleInsider has got some solid sources.

The date is also in align with the Apple tradition of releasing operating systems on the last Friday of the month, they say. Seems logical to me; if they said October, they sure want to have until the end of the month to do some tweaking and final bug fixing.

I’m personally going to be a very happy man when I get my hands on the final and stable version of Leopard. I’m most of all looking forward to the new dock and Spaces. And of course, time machine seems cool but I seriously hope I won’t be using it as much as the other two.

I guess I should feel somewhat ashamed as I’ve never heard about this rumors before. People are talking about a thin aluminum MacBook that’s about to be released. Now, I can’t really find a place for them in the current computer lineup but let’s first look at some information provided my 9to5mac:

• Black aluminum and silver aluminum (like MacBook Pros) have been seen
• They are considerably slimmer than current MacBook and even a bit more than MacBook Pros
• The screen reaches much closer to the edges than current MacBooks but is the same size as current MacBooks – indicating a somewhat smaller footprint
• The keyboards resemble Apple’s new Bluetooth Keyboard
• There is something strange about the touchpad (more on this to come)
• They are set to be priced extremely aggressively
• While they are dense, overall they are lighter than the current MacBooks

Sure, I can imagine this product. A very thin and sleek laptop with a keyboard that looks like the new wireless aluminum one – the design sounds very Apple-ish. But when I think about it for a while, I can’t really place it anywhere. I mean, the MacBook is designed for the average Joe in terms of color and material. The MacBook Pro, on the other hand, has a sleek aluminum look and feel that appeals most of all to professionals. That’s how it has been for quite some time; would Apple give this up and convert their entire product line to aluminum?

When looking at where Apple are going with their other product lines, it seems like they’re about to ditch the whole white thing and go with a sleeker and more modern look. So I guess it’s not too far-fetched after all. The iPhone has a new look and so does the iPods. The keyboard went from white to aluminum. Maybe the MacBook really is facing the same change in appearance.

However, I seriously doubt we’ll see another product added to Apple’s line of computers. It’s just not their style. The like keeping things simple and having three laptop alternatives would be too much. They would probably also cannibalize on each others sales. Nah, if this rumor is true, then the MacBook will definitely go.

If this particular rumor is true or not remains to be seen but there seems to be something going on with the laptop line. A guy over at Ars has a friend at Apple that reportedly is very excited about the next update. They say the MacBook is about to cycle somewhere around November and it looks like we’ll see a neat update. And by the way, there’s something strange about the touch-pad, they say. Whatever that means.

MacSlice just recently reported that the MacBook Pro’s will also be updated in the upcoming cycle; not at all unexpected. Some of the rumored updates are backlit keyboard, better battery life, lighter weight, black and silver aluminum and of course some overall performance updates. Oh, I almost forgot, they’re also talking about a SuperDrive with the option of BlueRay support. Very nice.

But I’m personally wondering, how will the Mighty Mouse of the future look like?

Some of you are undoubtedly insanely tired of the European iPhone talk by now, but this is one of the last posts about the subject for a while. I hope so, because I’m kind of sick of it myself. I know most of my readers are from the US, but let me abuse my control as an author this one time, just for all the Scandinavians out there. After all, the Apple fan community is global.

Now let’s get to the point, shall we? Nordic telecommunications companies TeliaSonera and Telenor are currently chatting with Apple about Scandinavian deals. Both say, of course, that they are very much interested in being the phones exclusive carrier. But who will it be and when will it happen?

They say they’re not likely to offer the iPhone this year so I assume it’ll happen early next year. As for who, I’m very unsure. TeliaSonera is a real giant here in Sweden, with huge portions of the market for cell phone and DSL plans. I guarantee you they’ll fight hard for this offer. On the other hand, I’ve heard a lot of talk about Telenor lately and, well, it sounds like they might just win.

TeliaSonera is a great company that offers stable services throughout my own country and I personally have more trust for them than Telenor. But for me, it’s really a 50/50 probability even though I’m hoping for Telia. I’ll keep my eyes open but I think time will have to tell.

I admit it though, Telenor has a nicer logo.