Otaku Gadgets

Here we go, our weekly Apple roundup. We have spent an entire week without having to hear about the tablet, except in passing of course. You cannot avoid that. But that does not mean a dry week at all. Apple stuff has been pouring in as usual, rumors and news alike. So get to the other side, and enjoy your piece of the pie.

Mac Pros To Gain 128GB RAM, Hexacore Gulftown Processor In 2010

HardMac reports that the Mac Pros coming out next year might have a temporary exclusive on the Gulftown Hexacore CPUs from Intel. Plus they will have a custom motherboard that will enable them to support 8GB and 16GB sticks, taking the maximum total up to a whopping 128GB. This is still unconfirmed news though. [read]

New iMacs Coming Soon (Blu-ray Quad-Core)

This is basically so logical and so obvious that is no longer exciting to report. You have all been reading about the telltale signs, the leaks and the rumors. And now that Phil Schiller is hinting at a marketing coup during the Windows 7 launch, there is no doubt that Apple is going to go all out next week. Expect new iMacs, new white MacBook and maybe the new Mac Mini.[read]

FM Coming to Existing iPhone, iPod Touch

There was a little stir when an FM receiver was found inside the iPhones and the iPod Touches but then it was explained away saying that it was only for the Nike Plus feature and nothing else. Now there is a rumor that Apple will actually push an update that will awaken the sleeping FM fairy and allow you to bask in her radio magic. Sounds like a no brainer really. Go for it Apple! [read]

Schiller Says Windows 7 Will Help Apple Sell More Macs

BusinessWeek reports a talk with Phil Schiller where he responds to the effect on Apple’s business of the imminent Windows 7 release. He says that Apple will actually benefit from all the confusion and it will make the road a lot smoother for attracting switchers. The complications of upgrading from the eight-year old XP to the brand new Windows 7, apparently, will make people think that buying a Mac is relatively easier.

The large cost difference of course remains in place but with rumors of price cuts and the sub-1K MacBook, it looks like Apple might be planning wisely after all. We’ll know soon enough. [read]

iPhone OS 3.1.2 Jailbreak, Break-Proof Boot ROM Broken Easily

The iPhone Dev team has done it again. They have released version 3.1.4 for their Pwnage Tool app that jailbreaks the iPhone OS 3.1.2 and every other iPhone OS device except the iPod Touch 3G.

Apple had released a more secure boot ROM in order to stop all these jailbreaking shenanigans but it took the hackers a hilariously short amount of time to jailbreak them. There are a few hitches like not being able to boot without your PC but that will be taken care of pretty soon, if history is anything to go by. [read]

Motorola Runs Stupid Ad Campaign Against The iPhone

This deserves a special mention even though it is only indirectly related to Apple. Motorola is about to kick off a new campaign that is designed to play on the weaknesses of the iPhone and promote their new smartphone Droid.

But they have chosen a very schoolboyish approach by calling the iPhone the iDevice and having the catchphrases “If iDoesn’t, then what does?” and “Droid Does”. Mocking Apple by putting an ‘i’ in front of everything is not going to help you, Motorola. You should learn from the similar (and failed) Sandisk Sansa campaign.

CNET’s Snow Leopard Vs Windows 7 Face Off (OS X Won)

CNET tested out Snow Leopard and Windows 7 side by side on a MacBook and found out that Snow Leopard bests Windows 7 on an average but falls behind in 3D rendering and game tests. Nitpickers will say that Snow Leopard is well tuned for the MacBook but the Intel Core 2 Duo based system is nothing special. [read]

App Store Now Allows In-App Purchases In Free Apps

Apple has finally allowed in-app purchases for the free apps in the app store. So this means developers can finally give stuff away for free but keep an option for in-app premium content that has to be paid for.

Layar 2.0 Arrives For iPhone 3GS

The popular augmented reality app Layar that was only available for Android up until now has finally been ported to the iPhone 3GS and it is meant for the 3GS only. [read]

Apple’s iFrame Is Booed All Over

Apple’s iMovie now supports the iFrame format and already the blogworld is rife with complaints, rants and debates on why this was unnecessary. [read]

Apple Sales Have Continued To Grow in 2009 Q3

Apple will release its official reports on the 19^th of October. But researchers at the Gartner and IDF firms have released their own preliminary reports that demonstrate that Apple has held steady in their 4^th position in the US market, and that its sales have continued to grow. [read]

AT&T: Don’t Hold Your Breath, iPhone Tethering Is Not Coming Anytime Soon

AT&T continue to clamp down on customers’ expectations because they are still not ready to support iPhone tethering on their network. The reason is more or less obvious, especially when they allow other smartphones on their network like Blackberrys to be tethered. iPhone users constitute a huge portion of AT&T’s customer base and they are also notorious for sucking a lot of data. If they are all allowed to tether their phones, the resultant explosion of Data consumption will completely cripple the carrier’s network (and will give iPhone customers even more reason to hate them). So in short, this will take some time. [read]

Apple Products To Have Wi-Fi Direct In 2010

Wi-Fi Direct is a way for Wi-Fi enabled devices to connect to each other without needing a base-station or router in the vicinity. This is basically going to replace Bluetooth as the ad hoc networking standard. Looks like Apple is going to have Wi-Fi Certified Wi-Fi Direct devices by mid-2010 when the Wi-Fi Alliance plans to begin certifying devices for these specifications. This means a new way for your Macs to connect with each other. Apple is probably going to be one of the many manufacturers who form the first wave of adopters, because the need for this technology is so obvious that it feels like this should’ve happened instead of Bluetooth. Anyway, fare thee well Bluetooth. It’s been nice but I have someone else on my mind now.