Dell puts Adamo XPS back online, claims sales "strong"
Dell today restored the Adamo XPS to its direct lineup. The company has now reversed its prior statements that the ultra-thin notebook was really a limited edition model and has said the previous limitation to Best Buy was a deliberate move to control demand. Sales have been "strong" both at stores and online, and pulling online sales helped prevent excessive ship times, Anne from Dell said....
published yesterday, 23 hours 1 minute ago, macintosh-news-network
Intel facing shortage of Core i3, i5, i7 notebook chips?
Intel may be facing a chronic shortage of its primary mobile processors, some in the notebook business said this morning. Acer is said to have been enthusiastic enough about expected demand that it has ordered large batches of Intel's Core i3, i5 and i7 chips, creating problems for others that want the same parts. The orders are such that DigiTimes has heard Intel is prioritizing "major clients" and leaving many mid-size or smaller PC builders with significant wait times to get their own orders....
published yesterday, 23 hours 31 minutes ago, macintosh-news-network
Amazon releases free beta of Kindle for Mac eBook reading software
With Apple's eBook-capable iPad looming ominously in the face Amazon's fledgeling electronic book business, the online bookseller on Thursday released a new application for Mac users as part of its ongoing bid to promote its proprietary Kindle platform and prevent defection of its existing user base to a emerging array of alternatives.
published yesterday, 1 day 41 minutes ago, appleinsider
iMacs expected to boost desktop market growth in 2010
Mobile computing has taken over as the main driver of growth in PC sales for the past year, with notebooks overtaking desktops in late 2008 and sales of desktops declining for the last two years. However, Caris & Company analyst Robert Cihra is expecting desktops to show a small positive growth this year, due in large part to brisk sales of Apple's iMac. Cihra still expects notebooks and netbooks to account for 90 percent of overall growth in the market for the current year. But the increased demand driven by emerging markets, a slight increase in corporate IT spending, and "power gamers" should result in a 3 percent uptick in desktop sales over last year. "[B]elieve it or not," Cihra wrote in a note to investors, "we estimate Apple's iMac accounting for a full one quarter of ALL desktop market growth in calendar year 2010." The number isn't so surprising when you consider that the iMac pushed an impressive 70 percent year-over-year growth in desktop Mac sales for 2009. Contrast that with a 12 percent drop in overall sales of desktops for the same time frame. Apple's second fiscal quarter sales are already looking healthy, with sales up 36 and 43 percent year over year for January and February respectively. Those figures led Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster to peg Mac sales at about 2.9 million for the quarter. That's less than the recent record quarters of late, but would still mark a 31 percent year-over-year growth compared to the second quarter last year. Sales of iMacs resumed in earnest recently after manufacturing problems with the large 27" LCD panels caused some delays. Cihra also praised Apple in his note for its ability to drive growth without sacrificing average selling prices or margins. ASPs for desktop and portable Macs have decreased slightly over the last year, while ASPs for HP and Dell have dropped more dramatically. Meanwhile, Apple's tight control on costs have driven increased operating margins that exceed even the gross margins of HP, Dell, and Acer. It's worth noting that while Acer has seen explosive sales growth over the last year—in particular due to low-cost netbooks—the company's operating margins hover around 3 percent while Apple's are just over 25 percent. Read the comments on this post
published on Wednesday, the 17. March 2010, ars-technica
iWork.com improves public URLs, adds iPad compatibility
Apple's iWork.com document sharing and collaboration service still carries the beta tag that it has worn since it was introduced with iWork '09 last January. (Perhaps it's just another hobby, like Apple TV?) Still, with the iPad ready to launch in a few weeks, Apple has added a few improvements to iWork.com. One improvement is an update to the way documents can be shared publicly. A simple toggle turns public sharing on or off as needed, and a "Show URL" button rolls down a drop-down sheet with the URL selected for easy cutting and pasting. The new public URLs don't show comments or notes, according to Apple. The company also noted that it makes sharing documents via social networks easy, though adding buttons to "Tweet this!" or "Post to Facebook" would more likely get users to post documents to such sites. The other improvement is that Apple has created interfaces that are optimized for iPads, iPhones, and iPod touches. Functionality on Apple's mobile devices is quite limited, but you can access documents that you have shared via iWork.com and view them within Safai. On the iPad, documents can be edited using the new iPad versions of Pages, Numbers, or Keynote if they are installed. Both new views have interfaces optimized for touch input, but the iPad's screen makes viewing documents much more pleasurable. Read the comments on this post
published on Wednesday, the 17. March 2010, ars-technica
Australian Apple ads hint at new pro Macs [U]
(Update with possible explanation) A series of ads on the pages of Australian tech site PC Authority have possibly signaled an upcoming update to Apple's pro desktops and notebooks. Ads for the MacBook Air, MacBook Pro and Mac Pro show all three systems starting at higher prices than they do today. The MacBook Pro would cost A$1,899, the smallest hike but a jump from A$1,599; the MacBook Air would increase from A$1,999 to A$2,399; the Mac Pro would see the largest leap by moving from A$3,599 to A$4,499....
published on Wednesday, the 17. March 2010, macintosh-news-network
Australian Apple ads hint at new pro Macs
A series of ads on the pages of Australian tech site PC Authority have possibly signaled an upcoming update to Apple's pro desktops and notebooks. Ads for the MacBook Air, MacBook Pro and Mac Pro show all three systems starting at higher prices than they do today. The MacBook Pro would cost A$1,899, the smallest hike but a jump from A$1,599; the MacBook Air would increase from A$1,999 to A$2,399; the Mac Pro would see the largest leap by moving from A$3,599 to A$4,499....
published on Wednesday, the 17. March 2010, macintosh-news-network
Microsoft delivers webcams with 720p, dynamic color
Microsoft at mid-day launched a trio of webcams that all bring the company into the HD era. The HD-5000 and HD-5001 for desktops, as well as the HD-6000 for notebooks, all capture a real 720p widescreen (1280x720) image and tout a new color correction engine dubbed TrueColor. The process uses a mix of hardware and software to adjust color tones, exposure and other factors to properly represent the output in less-than-ideal conditions....
published on Tuesday, the 16. March 2010, macintosh-news-network