One week after the previous one, Apple has released a new beta version of Mac OS X 10.6.2 called 10C535 to developers. Apple has asked developers to focus their own attention and tests on the graphic drivers, the trackpad’s system preferences and virtual machine creation. Such as for the 10C531 build, there aren’t no known issues unsolved.

138 elements were modified in the different beta versions released up to date. Amongst those are AppleBacklight, the battery meny, Dictionary, Exposé, FileSync, Family Controls, Fonts, Front Row, HFS, Inkwell, iPhoto, MobileMe, OpenCL, Parental Controls, QuickTime, Screen Sharing, Spell Checker, Spotlight, Time Machine and USB.

The release of the Mac OS X 10.6.2 is probably going to happen next month.

The guys from iFixit have decided to verify the possibility of using the new iMac 27″ as an external monitor. During the test, they’ve found out that it’s only possible on computers that use the DisplayPort connection (even if it’s a miniDisplayPort). In all cases where the computer did not have that port but had to use an adapter, the external monitor didn’t work.

“The iMac will not act as a second (or primary) display using the Mini DisplayPort to DVI adapter that Apple sells”, said the guys from iFixit, “We tried it on a PS3 Slim, as well as a MacBook and MacBook Pro. It looks like we’ll have to wait for a special adapter from Apple or a third party.”

iThe DVI and HDMI have digital video which is electrically compatible and with serial video data formats that differ only on the physical connectors, while the DisplayPort has an entirely new format that uses a packet signaling format.

Apple has updated their list of so-called “vintage and obsolete products”, to which no further support is given by the company. Apple considers “vintage” those products that were discontinued more than five and less then seven years ago, and “obsolete” those that were discontinued more than seven years ago. Here’s the new entries on the list:

# Book G4 (Early 2004)
# iBook G4 (14″ Early 2004)
# eMac (USB 2.0)
# Apple Cinema Display ADC
# Apple Studio Display 15″ ADC
# Apple Studio Display 17″ LCD
# Apple Studio Display 17″ ADC
# Power Mac G4 (QuickSilver 2002)
# Macintosh Server G4 (QuickSilver 2002)
# PowerBook G4 (DVI)
# iBook (14.1 LCD 16 VRAM)
# iBook (16 VRAM)
# AirPort Base Station (Dual Ethernet)

The guys from MacBidouille have released some interesting rumors about the new generation of Mac Pros that should be launched in the beginning of 2010. According to the French site, Apple would already be at the later development stages of its top-series computers. In particular, the testing of the Intel Xeon Gulftown processors would be underway. The Intel CPUs should be launched in the second quarter of 2010, but apparently the Mac Pro will have it before the launch.

It’s still not clear if all the Mac Pro line will have the powerful new processor or if it’ll be reserved for the top of the line. In any case, the rumor confirms a new motherboard that will support 10 Gbits/s Ethernet ports and compatible with 8 and 16GB RAMs.

Not even a week from the last build release, Apple has released a new beta version of Mac OS X 10.6.2 (build 10C519f). There is a good number of changes in this new build and around 150 new interest areas in which the developers are asked to focus their attentions and tests, such as the Address Book, Photo Booth and QuickTime Player.

Among some of the objectives with tihs update, there’s the support to the mobile WWAN networks, the enhancement of the Exchange support, MobileDisk, iDisk and also the NTFS disk reading and the WebDav support. This latest beta also solves issues reguarding the switch of applications in the doct, the performance and stability issues connected to graphic drivers and OpenCL, and it also introduces a patch that will solve bugs regarding the Parental Control.

The full update has 456.8 MB.

According to the Digitimes website, the rumors of the Mac Tablet are true and the product should be launched on the first trimester of 2010. We’ll still treat that as a rumor, of course, but the website has been quite accurate in the past, so we’ll have to see.

The confirmation has apparently come from Foxconn Electronics, which will be one of Apple’s manufacturing partners on this new venture. Foxconn has also released two new details: the first is about the number of units produced on this first wave: around 300.000-400.000. The second is about the display: a 10.6″.

We’ll have to wait and see.

A few hours ago, Apple has delivered the new build of their Mac OS X 10.6.2, the 10C514f, to developers. The update corrects a few minor issues and enhances the reliability and speed of a good number of applications.

More specifically, the combo version of this Snow Leopard update has 445.4 MB and it brings many bug fixes and enhancements in many areas such as the Address book, Apple Script, ColorSync, Component Manager, Core Animation, Core Audio, Core Data, Core Graphics, Core Text, Font Management, graphic drivers, network, OpenCL, OpenGL, QuickTime and others.

The known problems on this build are related to the optical driver (not recognized or sometimes not working properly) and the DVD Player application. Considering the stage of this release, and taking into consideration that the Mac OS X 10.6.1 was released around twenty days ago, it’s likely to hink that it’ll take a few weeks until the final version of this update reaches the Mac users.

An interesting rumor released by Gizmodo reinforces the previous rumors for the tablet Apple: the possibility of becoming the newest information pad on the market. Apparently, Apple would have contacted the New York Times, Oberlin Press and McGraw Hill to reach an agreement, so far. Those agreements would be based on the possibility of releasing contents (information and books) through iTunes and a new hardware. Seems very much like the tablet to me.

This fact would switch the attention of developers to a new, innovative information management, perhaps with ad-hoc solutions. Then, maybe, the new tablet could become the new reading iPod.