Schiller to Demo Snow Leopard at Macworld?

The Guardian claims that Apple and its partners have been privately dropping hints to developers that Mac OS X Snow Leopard will ship earlier than expected and suggests that Phil Schiller will show it off at Macworld.

The article also recaps the advantages of both Grand Central and OpenCL which will be introduced with the new operating system:

The first technology, Grand Central, is designed to make better use of the Intel processors that sit inside the current range of Macs. The other, OpenCL, could have a more dramatic effect on performance for some programs as it will tap into the power of graphics processors (GPUs) that now goes to waste.

Despite the early showing, actual delivery of the software is not expected for at least a couple of months later. This timeframe would still bring it into the 1st Quarter 2009 timeframe that was previously suggested by Apple's Director of Engineering of Unix Technologies.
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Apple Broadens App Store Acceptance, Approves 'Pull My Finger'

One of the major criticisms of the App Store has been a seemingly arbitrary rejection policy on the part of Apple. Air-o-Matic was one of the developers rejected by Apple for the reason of "limited utility" for his humor app "Pull My Finger". Sam of Air-o-Matic contacted us to let us know that Apple has now accepted "Pull My Finger" into the App Store [link, $0.99].

Sam apparently got a call from Apple about his app:

[Apple] told me that they are going to start approving a whole new "genre" of apps, and that Pull My Finger will be the first to be accepted in this genre. As of now Pull My Finger is available in the app store.

The very kind Apple Team Member told me that they didn't want to reject it originally, but that they were sorting out how this "genre" of apps were going to be handled. She told me they'd be lifting the restriction on them, and more apps will follow that may have been previously not allowed.

The App now appears in the App Store but without any special designation. Coincidentally, Apple also recently allowed in a game called Amateur Surgeon which was rated for ages 17+.
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Apple Offering Free Licensing of Mini DisplayPort Spec

Arstechnica points to Apple's mini Display Port license which is available as a "no fee" license to interested parties. Apple introduced the Mini Display port with its new notebooks and 24" LED Cinema Display in October.

This licensing news adds some clarity to the debate about whether or not the Mini DisplayPort was a proprietary solution from Apple alone. The no fee license should allow 3rd party manufacturers to integrate the port into their own products and also to develop additional useful adapters. For example, Apple currently doesn't offer the appropriate adapter to allow customers to connect older Macs to their new 24" Apple LED Cinema Display.

Apple has said that they will be integrating the Mini Display port into all future products.

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Apple Releases Safari 3.2 with Improved Security, Anti-Phishing

Apple has released a new version of Safari 3.2 through the Mac OS X Software Update. The latest version of Safari provides improved security as well as protection from phishing websites:

This update is recommended for all Safari users and features protection from fraudulent phishing websites and better identification of online businesses. This update also includes the latest security updates.

For detailed information on the security content of this update, please visit this site: support.apple.com.

Individual versions can also be downloaded for Windows, Tiger and Leopard.
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Apple iPhone #1 Amongst U.S. Consumers in Q3 2008

The NPD Group issued a press release today revealing that the Apple iPhone is now ranked #1 in consumer phone sales for the 3rd quarter of 2008. The iPhone surpassed Motorola's RAZR phone which had been ranked #1 for the previous 12 quarters.

"The displacement of the RAZR by the iPhone 3G represents a watershed shift in handset design from fashion to fashionable functionality," said Ross Rubin, director of industry analysis for NPD. "Four of the five best-selling handsets in the third quarter were optimized for messaging and other advanced Internet features."

NPD bases their data on online surveys each month that are projected to represent the entire population of U.S. consumers age 18 and over.

The iPhone and RAZR were followed by the RIM Blackberry Curve, LG Rumor and LG enV2 in the top 5 ranking.
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AT&T Finally Offering Free Wifi for iPhone Users (Includes Starbucks Locations)

AT&T provided a number of early hints that the service would be coming. AT&T has also sent out an SMS message to iPhone users announcing the plan.

Customers can locate Wi-Fi spots through AT&T's online tool or can locate a Starbucks using this tool. In order to access AT&T Wi-Fi from your iPhone, you must follow these steps:

- Activate Wi-Fi from the settings icon on your iPhone
- Select "attwifi" from the list of available networks
- Enter your 10-digit mobile number and check the box to agree to the Acceptable Use Policy. Tap 'continue'
- You will receive a text message from AT&T with a secure link to the AT&T Wi-Fi hotspot. You will not be charged for the text message.
- The SMS link will only be valid for 24 hours at the location it was requested. Another request must be submitted when using another hotspot location.
- Open the text message and tap on the link for 24-hour access to the AT&T Wi-Fi hotspot.

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Unannounced Apple Product Found in Web Logs?

A NYTimes blog article by John Markoff (via AppleInsider) claims that Apple may already be testing a netbook-sized device. Markoff recaps Jobs' statements from yesterday's financial conference but adds this tidbit in an update to the article:

That would seem to confirm findings that a search engine company shared with me on condition that I not reveal its name: The company spotted Web visits from an unannounced Apple product with a display somewhere between an iPhone and a MacBook. Is it the iPhone 3.0 or the NetMac 1.0?

We're not sure what to make of this information. Had it was presented by someone other than the New York Times' John Markoff, we may have simply dismissed it.

Web user-agent identifications are easy to falsify. In fact, in many browsers users can enter whatever identifying string they would like. Similarly, display resolution is a self reported Javascript statistic from the user's browser.

No specific information is provided by Markoff and a quick perusal of our own web logs have not revealed anything noteworthy. Still, it would not be surprising that unannounced Apple products would be tested on live websites, though it's unclear how much identifying information Apple would include in such a device.

All credits and information was found by macrumors.