Hasta La Gadget!

Given its success with the iPhone / iPod touch’s App Store, we can’t say an OS X version is entirely crazy — and neither can Apple, who just announced such an App Store for its 10.7 release, Lion. Here’s what we know so far: multi-touch gestures, app home screens, full screen apps. “Every app on the iPad is a full screen app,” says Steve. Auto save, apps resume when launched. Don’t expect on-screen multitouch, as Jobs is very much against vertical touching. “Touch surfaces want to be horizontal” — you can all but kiss those touchscreen iMac rumors goodbye. Just like iPad, there’s automatic installation, auto-updates, a 70 / 30 revenue split for developers, one-click downloads, and the license works for all personal Macs.

The App Store itself is a standalone app that looks a lot like iTunes. Apps are automatically dropped into the dock after download. Expect it to hit OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard users “within 90 days” from today. And developers? Apple’s accepting app submissions starting in November.

Update: Apple’s main site and developer site have been updated with App Store information pages, although there isn’t much new to see beyond what was announced at the event.

Update 2: From the looks of that image above, individual iLife and iWork apps will be unbundled in the future for separate purchase. We’re also wondering if this is the end of Apple Family Packs — volume licensing that lets you install one copy of Apple software on up to five Apple-labeled computers — after hearing Steve say that Mac App Store apps are “licensed for use on all your personal Macs?”

Check out our liveblog of Apple’s Back to the Mac event right here.

Mac App Store for OS X 10.6 and 10.7 unveiled, coming ‘within 90 days’ originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 20 Oct 2010 12:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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What will happen tomorrow? A new version of OS X? Tiny MacBook Airs? Verizon iPhone announcements? Tomorrow never knows… but Steve Jobs probably does. Even if we can’t predict the future, we can at least follow along with the present, right? That’s exactly what we’ll be doing tomorrow at Engadget, as we bring you the best liveblog in the business! Tune in at the URL and times below for the full scoop on just what Apple is getting up to. You won’t want to miss this!

Here’s the liveblog post you’ll want to plant yourself at, and here are the start times around the globe:

07:00AM – Hawaii
10:00AM – Pacific
11:00AM – Mountain
12:00PM – Central
01:00PM – Eastern
06:00PM – London
07:00PM – Paris
09:00PM – Moscow
02:00AM – Tokyo (October 21st)

Apple’s ‘Back to the Mac’ event is tomorrow at 1PM ET / 10AM PT — we’ll be there live! originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 19 Oct 2010 23:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Digg It’s been well over three years since we saw OS X hacked onto Sony’s VAIO UX, meaning that it’s just about time for yet another of yesteryear’s best tablets to receive the OS that Apple refuses to place on its own tablet. Thanks to dedicated code junkies over at xda developers, HTC’s ill-fated Shift is getting a new lease on life by proving its ability to run OS X 10.5.6. Sadly, it looks as if an upgrade to Snow Leopard is out of the question due to some file changes between 10.5 and 10.6, but the biggest killer is the current build’s inability to provide WiFi and Bluetooth support. The instructions to follow suit are right there in the source link, but good luck making good use of this without cordless access to the world wide web.

Mac OS X Leopard installed on HTC Shift, just a WiFi shy of awesomeness originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 26 Sep 2010 10:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple’s newest Mac mini is a distinct and welcome departure from the comparatively bulky white Mac mini of yesteryear, and while we appreciate the unibody construction, inbuilt SD card reader and HDMI port, asking $700 and up for a headless PC without tons of oomph is still asking a lot. We’re curious to know if your new Mac mini has been treating you well (as an HTPC or otherwise), and moreover, we want to know how you’d change things even further if given the key to Cupertino’s design labs. Would you have added a Blu-ray option? Maybe an OTA TV tuner? Thrown any other ports on the rear? Beefed up the GPU a little? Trimmed things down for a cheaper entry-level model? Go on and vent in comments below — hugs are free and limitless.

How would you change Apple’s HDMI-equipped Mac mini? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 13 Aug 2010 23:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s not as if we haven’t heard the rumors building over the last few months, but Apple’s long-standing iMac line is seeing its first real update since the Fall of last year on this fine morning. As predicted, the refreshed family now contains Core i3, Core i5 and Core i7 processor options, not to mention discrete ATI Radeon HD GPU options, IPS panels, an SD slot that understands the complexities of SDXC and an SSD option on the 27-inch machine. For whatever reason, Apple’s not throwing in its new Magic Trackpad with any iMac; instead, it’ll be a $69 accessory. One swank addition to this line, however, is the ability to order your new all-in-one with both an HDD and an SSD on the 27-inch model. Of course, it’ll cost you dearly (a 1TB HDD plus a 256GB SSD is a $750 CTO option, while the 2TB HDD in that combo makes it a $900 option), but at least there’s room inside for DIY adds. Here’s a look at the available configurations, with last Fall’s lineup saved here for reference:

• The low-end $1,199 unit boasts a 21.5-inch display (1,920 x 1,080), a 3.06GHz Core i3 CPU, 4GB of DDR3 RAM, ATI’s Radeon HD 4670 GPU (256MB) and a 500GB hard drive. There’s also an 8x slot-loading SuperDrive with dual-layer support, Mini DisplayPort, AirPort Extreme 802.11n, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, iSight webcam, gigabit Ethernet, a foursome of USB 2.0 sockets, a single FireWire 800 port and a bundled wireless Apple Keyboard and Magic Mouse.
• There’s a new $1,499 21.5-inch model that includes a 3.20GHz Core i3, ATI Radeon HD 5670 GPU (512MB), a 1TB hard drive and 4GB of DDR3 memory (along with the usual suspects mentioned above).
• The $1,699 model is a 27-incher with a 2,560 x 1,440 LED-backlit display, 3.20GHz Core i3 CPU, 4GB of DDR3 RAM, ATI’s Radeon HD 5670 (512MB), a 1TB hard drive and available CTO options that include a 3.6GHz Core i5, 2TB HDD, 256GB SSD and up to 16GB of RAM.
• The flagship $1,999 flavor (27-inch) packs a 2.8GHz quad-core Core i5 with 8MB of shared L3 cache, 4GB of DDR3 memory, ATI’s Radeon HD 5750 GPU (1GB), a 1TB hard drive and available CTO options that include a 2.93GHz Core i7 CPU, 2TB hard drive, 256GB SSD and up to 16GB of memory.

Continue reading Apple iMac line gets speedbumped, low-end gets a Core i3

Apple iMac line gets speedbumped, low-end gets a Core i3 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 27 Jul 2010 08:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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