Apple : Retina MacBook Pro 13-inch pictures leaked

Retina MacBook Pro 13-inch pictures leaked
New iPad 3 refresh tipped again for iPad Mini launch event
Apple removes Java software from browsers in Mac OS X update
Opinion: Why iCloud is so crucial to Apple's future
Report: 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display price revealed

Retina MacBook Pro 13-inch pictures leaked

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The ongoing saga surrounding the rumoured 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro got a little more interesting this weekend with the arrival of some leaked photos.

Speculation have been rife, these past few weeks, that Apple will bestow the ultra-high resolution display upon the smaller MacBook Pro model, following the launch of the 15-inch notebook earlier this year.

Now purported photos have appeared on the WeiPhones.com forums showing a smaller body and a screen resolution of 2566 x 1600, evidenced by a screenshot, which is the same as the 15-inch model.

New body

The body differs from the 15-inch model, as there are no speakers either side of the keyboard and the side ports are aligned differently with the keys.

The new pictures also show the presence of a HDMI port (unlike the current 13-inch MBP models) and two Thunderbolt ports.

While these photos do seem to all-but-confirm the existence of the 13-inch super hi-res model, the question now is whether it'll be presented at the iPad mini launch on Tuesday?

Reports have suggested a base price of $1,600 (£1,000).

New iPad 3 refresh tipped again for iPad Mini launch event

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Further reports have claimed that Apple will give the full-size iPad model a slight tweak at the iPad mini launch event on Tuesday.

9to5Mac's sources have said that the 9.7-inch device will be fitted with the new Lightning connector and will feature improved innards, backing up previous reports from the Guardian last week.

UK users are, according to the report, likely to benefit from global LTE support on the Everything Everywhere network, as they soon will be on the iPhone 5.

The revamp, which won't be considered an iPad 4 according to the report, could also benefit from an improved processor and better battery life, but 9to5Mac said it does not have specifics.

Main event

The main event, of course, is highly likely to be the iPad mini itself.

It is rumoured to be a 7.8-inch iteration of the tablet, priced to compete with affordable Android tablets like the Google Nexus 7 and Amazon Kindle Fire HD.

Reportedly on deck are new iMacs and Mac mini computers.

TechRadar will covering the event live, as it happens, on Tuesday 23 October. Tune in from 1PM EST, (6PM UK time) for full coverage.

Apple removes Java software from browsers in Mac OS X update

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Apple has released an update to its Mac OS X software, which removes the Java software from all web browsers.

After users install the update, which was released on Wednesday, Mac users will receive a 'missing plug-in' message when they encounter web content that requires Java.

Users can click the message to download the software themselves, but it is no longer installed as standard.

A second update, issued later in the week, disables Java on computers where it hasn't been used in a while.

Security fears

Apple, which announced the changes on its support pages, has not given an official reason for dropping the Oracle-made software, but it is likely down to continued security fears associated with the product.

Earlier this year, the Java software was exploited by the Flashback trojan, which infected at least 600,000 Macs worldwide, compromising personal information in the process.

Apple will hope, that by marginalising Java, the chances of another infection will be dramatically reduced.

The updates are for Mac OS X 10.7 and upwards.

Opinion: Why iCloud is so crucial to Apple's future

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Hidden behind the curtains at this year's Apple Worldwide Developer Conference, iCloud was really pulling all the levers. It reminds me of Woody Allen's eponymous character in the film Zelig, who appears in the background of virtually every important event in the 20th Century.

Like Zelig, iCloud is always there, always in the background of everything that Apple is doing now. (Although, unlike Zelig, iCloud doesn't actually change its appearance and identity depending on the situation. Even Apple hasn't mastered that particular technology yet.)

The aim is simple, and Apple is overt about it: iCloud is going to be the default place that apps store files, and they're going to be accessible from iOS and OS X. The idea of stuff stored locally is gradually going to go away. You see this throughout the iPhone 5 and iOS 6.

At present with iTunes In The Cloud, for example, if you tap on a song that's not available locally, it will be downloaded as you listen and kept on your device. With iOS 6, iTunes In The Cloud songs can stream to your iOS 6 devices without being downloaded. The cloud is the storage - all that happens locally is that it's cached, behind the scenes.

But there's more to iCloud now than saving you space by storing your documents and music elsewhere. The idea is to give developers the tools to let you use your apps on any device and pick up where you left off, no matter what platform you're using.

Syncing between your devices

Start a game on your iPhone on the tube, and pick it up on your iPad when you get home, from exactly the same spot in the game. Listen to a podcast on your iPad, put that down, and pick up from the same point in the show on your iPhone. iCloud is intended to be the invisible magic that glues your iPhone, iPad and Mac (if you use one) together.

Of course, when you have clouds, you also have turbulence, and sometimes a little rain, too. So far, developers have been relatively slow to pick up on iCloud, because some of the core features have lacked the kind of responsiveness and flexibility they need to create great experiences. Apple's done some work to address this in iOS 6, but there's a lot still to be done.

On the user side, iCloud still feels a little hit-or-miss in places: sometimes, for example, Pages documents end up in the cloud instantly. At other times, they don't. And when you're relying on the cloud for storage, it needs to be totally reliable.

There are also the issues that Apple can't control, such as the need for a speedy and reliable net connection available constantly - still not exactly the norm in many countries.

But make no mistake: iCloud is the most important thing that's happening on iOS at the moment. It's the heart of what Apple thinks is the future of virtually every product it does. You're going to be hearing a whole lot more about it over the next year, as Apple pushes its own products further and developers adopt its features more widely.

Report: 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display price revealed

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Even though Apple hasn't said a word about a 13-inch MacBook Pro revamp to include a Retina screen, that hasn't stopped speculation about the rumored device from continuing to sprout up.

Reports of the new laptop first surfaced this summer, though no such device was released alongside the 15-inch Retina MacBook Pro when that product launched last June.

More whispers of a 13-inch model continued to arise, with the latest indication pointing to Apple gearing up for production earlier this month.

Adding more fuel to the fire are reports Friday of actual pricing for the smaller MacBook Pro, indicating Apple may be ready to formally introduce the new laptop.

Base model to start at $1,699?

Sources speaking with 9to5Mac are reporting the price for the 13-inch Retina MacBook will start at $1,699 (UK£1,061, AU$1,645).

That would make the new model some $500 (UK£312, AU$483) more expensive than the standard 13-inch version, but would also start it out at the same amount less than the 15-inch Retina MacBook Pro.

Those same sources also indicated the higher-end model of the 13-inch laptop will come in at $200-$300 (UK£124-£187, AU$193-$290) more, which would still keep it under the base price of the 15-inch version.

Many believe the 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro will debut along with other smaller devices like the iPad Mini and possibly a new Mac mini at an Apple event Oct. 23.

Any new laptop announcements would certainly take a bite out of Microsoft's own Oct. 26 Windows 8 release.

With a few short days to go until Apple's event, we won't have much longer to wait to find out what Cupertino has in store.

Yahuui Blog

Sunday, October 21, 2012