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Filed under: Laptops

The Apple rumor mill has really cooked up a doozy this time. According to 9to5mac — a site with a fairly good track record — Apple’s next big thing isn’t just a laptop or an iPod… it’s an entirely new manufacturing process. If you believe the site’s sources, an as-yet-unannounced event on October 14th will herald in a new iteration of the MacBook dubbed the “Brick,” but the big news won’t actually be about the laptop. Apparently, Apple has created a brand-new process to sculpt casings for products out of aircraft-grade aluminum, using a system that carves the pieces out of a single block of metal using “3D lasers” and water-jet cutting. The new technique will supposedly allow for seamless components which require no bending or folding, won’t use screws to join together, are ultra-light but also “super strong,” and will enable the company to rapidly prototype and produce new designs. Of course, not a single word of this is confirmed or even acknowledged by Apple, though we have been hearing whispers of the “Brick” for a few weeks now. Ultimately, everyone should approach this news with extreme skepticism, but if these rumors get magically transmuted into reality, there’s no telling what kind of new gear Apple might have up its sleeve.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

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Source: Joshua Topolsky

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Filed under: Gaming

We received an interesting tip that we thought we’d share with the group. Windows expert and all-around bon vivant Paul Thurrott recently previewed Microsoft’s new Arc mouse on his personal blog, detailing the device with a handful of photos. In the final shot of the series, what appear to be two Xboxes side-by-side can be seen in the lower right-hand corner… but one of those consoles looks thinner than the other. The appearance of what might be a slimmer Xbox 360 has (needless to say) sparked a debate amongst our editors here. Some say it’s nothing — a matter of angle — while others argue that this could be just the scenario in which you’d see a leak of a new form factor. Either way, you can’t simply brush off the differences here, and a little Photoshop matching on our end proved that these edges are decidedly different in angle. So we put it to the Engadget reader: is this a sign of things to come, or just our imaginations running wild?

Update: And we have our answer! Paul Thurrott has gone to the trouble of detailing just exactly what’s going on here, and it is an angle issue. Needless to say, we’ve got a lot of deflated dreams and lightened pockets in the office today.

[Thanks, Brian]

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Source: Joshua Topolsky

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Filed under: Home Entertainment, Transportation

While the world waits to see the first Android cellphone revealed in New York later today, others are hard at work extending the reach of the open-source OS beyond just handsets. John Bruggeman, chief marketing officer at Wind River Systems says, “We’re starting to see Android get designed in on devices that extend way beyond the phone–things that might go in the automobile or things that might go in the home.” Bruggeman then collects his wits and adds, “I don’t want to pre-announce any design wins, I think you’ll see them in 2009. I would be shocked if you didn’t.” Indeed. After all, Intel and Wind River (both Android Open Handset Alliance members) have been working on an open, Linux-based car-computing platform since at least May of this year — so a switch to Android would be an over-simplified snap. It certainly makes sense for the hardware independent — thanks to Java-based Dalvik virtual machine — OS, middleware, and apps to spread throughout a consumer electronics industry lacking a common development platform. Whether this occurs by Google’s design or just a happy by-product of Android’s momentum remains to be seen.

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Source: Thomas Ricker

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Filed under: Laptops, Portable Audio, Portable Video

According to a report from AppleInsider, the Cupertino giant is issuing “advisement bulletins” to some of its channel partners suggesting they get their hands on iPods and MacBooks / MacBook Pros while the gettin’s good. It seems that Apple is telling resellers to place orders for a four-week block’s worth of top-selling iPods, saying that within the next seven days supplies will become extremely limited, while recommending a three-week supply of MacBooks and MacBook Pros. The article claims that this practice is familiar to third-party sellers, and indicates Apple is ramping up for its holiday season (and new iPods and MacBooks / Pros, presumably). Of course, right now this is just whispers in high school hallways, but we can promise you this: Apple will be selling something this holiday season. You have our word.

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Source: Joshua Topolsky

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Filed under: Displays, Laptops

Word on the street — and by “street” we mean “the internet” — is that Apple will begin exclusive use of LED BLUs for displays in all of its MacBooks come 2009. According to the Chinese-language paper Economic Daily News, the computer-maker’s Taiwanese supplier of LED backlight units, Kenmos, will increase shipments in the coming year of the brighter, longer-lasting, better dressed components. Of course, the paper could be making this all up to toy with our emotions and break our little hearts… but why would they do that?

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Source: Joshua Topolsky

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Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

We’ve gotten a tip that there could be a new iPod nano color on the way — purple to be exact — due to a Circuit City circular ad distributed in Minneapolis this weekend. As far as exciting or even remotely interesting rumors go, this one falls about one space after dead last, and is most likely some kind of funkdafied CMYK mishap, or worse yet — the most boring Photoshop job in the world. Still, for all you serious iPod aficionados who simply must have the latest shade, perhaps your player will soon be awash in Grimace-colored tones that only the Hamburgler and Prince could truly love.

[Thanks, Tony T.]

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Source: Joshua Topolsky

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Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

We’ve gotten a tip that there could be a new iPod nano color on the way — purple to be exact — due to a Circuit City circular ad distributed in Minneapolis this weekend. As far as exciting or even remotely interesting rumors go, this one falls about one space after dead last, and is most likely some kind of funkdafied CMYK mishap, or worse yet — the most boring Photoshop job in the world. Still, for all you serious iPod aficionados who simply must have the latest shade, perhaps your player will soon be awash in Grimace-colored tones that only the Hamburgler and Prince could truly love.

Update: Well you can rule out printing errors, thanks to tipsters Jack and Joe [but not necessarily photoshops, thanks to Eliav]. Check it out after the break — you can make the call for yourself, For now we’re placing this one back on the table.

[Thanks, Tony T.]Continue reading iPod nano coming in purple? Probably not.

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Source: Joshua Topolsky

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Filed under: Cellphones

It was only a matter of time till the serious iPhone SDK rumors started flying, and with Apple’s Town Hall event next Thursday, it’s possible some of what we’re hearing is right on. If that’s the case, prepare to be letdown in a major way. According to iLounge, Apple will be severely restricting access on software for the iPhone and iPod touch, only allowing apps to be downloaded through iTunes, hand-picking which applications will make it to the store, and cutting off developer’s access to accessories which interface with the dock connector. Additionally, the report claims that the SDK we see next week will be an incomplete beta, with the full version rolling out in June to coincide with the WWDC. Thinking of any good reasons to keep jailbreaking your phone? Yeah, us too.

[Thanks, Omega]

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Source: Joshua Topolsky

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