Another day, another blurry screen shot of Apple promotional material featuring a product that might or might not exist in the very, very near future. This one’s the Mac Fusion, apparently a no-frills tiny box aimed at developers. It has a form factor of a Mac Mini cut down to about half the height. While this certain looks like it could be real, Photoshoppers are getting good. Rumors persist of a new, smaller Mac Mini for the low-end, but the Fusion? Of course we’ve been trying to figure out what Steve’s “One more thing…” this year would be — if there is one — and something like this out of left field would make sense. Is it real? Is it fake? How will blogging at midnight from an airport hotel when I have to liveblog early in the morning affect my performance? Who the hell knows? It’s still fun to guess. For a full translation of the above text, hit the jump. → Read More
Right now our biggest stories are about the iPhone 2 and how it’s going to revolutionize mobile communications. Apple did it before with the original iPhone, setting the stage for a number of wannabes and imitators. This means the bar for the follow-up handset is high, though Apple is likely able to hit the mark. With its shortcomings, there’s plenty or room for improvement in the iPhone. That means that all eyes this week will be on the company Steve Jobs founded. But what about the other half of the iPhone equation, AT&T Wireless? Most people forget that a cell phone, as a piece of hardware, is pretty useless without the wireless network to make it work. Sure, you can unlock the iPhone and use it on any GSM network, but as it is most iPhone users stay with AT&T, and it’s not just contractual obligations. AT&T has quietly been transforming into a much maligned poorly rated carrier into the high-techest carrier in North America, and the iPhone has a lot to do with the transition. But is it all iPhone, or is AT&T just playing it smart? → Read More
The Bilderberg Group is meeting in Chantilly, VA right now, right outside of DC, and Bilderberg conspiracists are pretty excited, blaming Hilary’s decision to bow out on the machinations of the secret group. The Bilderberg Group is a meet-up of all the major figures in media, politics, and finance where all of the decisions that will effect us, the masses, are decided in airy ballrooms in world-class hotels. Sucks for us. My question is this: the event is over today. Could the Bilderberg Group be working with Steve Jobs to activate Mactard chips into every current iPhone, effectively forcing millions of people to buy an iPhone 2 when it is launched next week? Your thoughts? UPDATE – OMG! Joel at BBG just discovered the truth! Big coup for Apple in the shadowy world of international cabals: Infowars is running claims from a claimed Apple employee that the U.S. Department of Justice has “placed an order for 125 iPods with ‘Bilderberg 2008′ engraved on the back, shipping to Chantilly, VA.” via BB → Read More
Update: Post-WWDC Keynote, it’s obvious these are not pictures of the (slightly disappointing) 3G iPhone. What can we say? It seemed like a good idea at the time. And Matt was drunk. It wasn’t long ago that my inbox was full of screen caps from an image editing program of a new iPod, it was a fat yet small iPod that we now know as the 3rd gen Nano. We posted the photos and were later told by Apple’s legal team to take them down. A similar tipster tonight has very generously given us these pics of the iPhone 2, or iPhone 3G as some are calling it. Like the Fat Nano from last summer, the images come from Apple or AT&T promotional material that shows not just the new iPhone, but also gives away a couple secrets. It’s thinner than the current model, for sure, with a more MacBook Air-like bezeling. It’s got stereo speakers on the back and what appears to be the same screen as the current generation. But the real news here isn’t the Exchange support, but the front facing camera for iChat AV. Oh yes, it’s there. Not only is the new iPhone smaller and more capable, but it also comes in red as part of the Product (Red) campaign, like many iPods do. Buy a 3G, video-chatting iPhone and fight AIDS. We like it. Hit the jump for the rest of the pics. → Read More
Citi analysts Richard Gardner and Yeechang Lee are predicting that Jobs will announce the 3G iPhone during his keynote at WWDC in San Francisco. But that’s not all they’re predicting. They’re also predicting a refresh to the MacBook line, which we’ve been hearing about for a while now and it seems as though the iPods will also get a shakedown. Shawn Wu, an American Technology Research analyst, is claiming that the current crop of 2.5G iPhones will get a “minor casing change” and a drop in price somewhere between $299 and $349. Thanks, guys. We had no idea any of this was coming. → Read More
It’s official, June 9-13 is when Apple will be hosting the “best of the Apple development universe” — and us — in San Francisco. Better get started on those reservations. Apple WWDC 2008 [via Gizmodo] → Read More
