Yesterday, Apple had taken the Apple Store offline for a few hours. Generally that’s the procedure Apple takes when introducing new models for their products, or new products in general. So many (including us) were hoping that the downtime would be for the introduction of the new MacBook Pros.

But apparently not. At least not yet. Nothing seems to have changed on the Apple Store, except for the launch of Aperture 3, the new version of Apple’s picture editing and manager.

The online Apple Stores have been offline for a few hours now. It makes us think that perhaps it’s time for the new MacBook Pro line to be launched. At least we hope.

It’s been rumored that the new MacBook Pros will have the new Intel processors, more specifically the i7 M620 2.66Ghz for the 17″ models. We’ll have to stay tuned and see.

So Apple’s event held yesterday was indeed to present the iPad, the official name for the famous Apple tablet. Steve Jobs introduced it as the best device for data sharing: music, video, mail, pictures, games. It has iTunes with completely different graphics, thought out specifically for the new format. Also integrated is Youtube with their new HD format.

The device unlocks like the iPhone and integrates Safari in a more evolved version than the one present on the iPhone, although it does not feature Flash. All the known softwares have been enhanced in order to offer the best experience in a device this size. Mail is similar to the Mac OS X version, with a left column for details and the main mail window on the right.

The photo application interface is really interesting. Besides synchronizing automaticalyl with iPhoto, it’s completely multi-touch with many gestures that were studied in order to optimize the interaction. The iTunes interface is now expandable and it introduces a new mode called Pop Over, which allows users to view the information about the song being played.

Also the calendar application has been enhanced: new appointment viewing modes that are similar to the iCal from Mac OS X. The iPad also has an integrated Maps application (and although it does seem to be based on Google’s services, Steve Jobs didn’t mention it).

The device also allows users to buy movies, TV series, music videos and songs, and apparently it will also be possible to buy e-books directly from the e-book application. The device measures 5″ and its screen is a 9.7″ multi-touch display, like the iPhone, with 10 hours of battery duration. The processor was specifically designed for it, it’s called Apple A4 and it has 1GHz. It’ll be available in 16Gb, 32Gb and 64Gb versions, all of those with Wi-Fi 802.11n and Bluetooth. No mention to a GPS antenna just yet.

All the iPhone applications are completely compatible with the iPad without the need of adaptation. When the user buys an iPhone application, it is directly brought to the iPad as well. The developers will have a good piece of work if they want to, in order to adapt their application for such a large screen.

Here are some pictures and the official presentation video, found on the official iPad website. Enjoy!

Click on the thumbnail to view the full image

This post is just a reminder that in a few hours, we’ll get to know more about the Apple Event - “Come See Our Latest Creation”. The hype about the catch phrase is already at its max, and soon we’ll finally find out what this latest creation is. The Tablet Mac, or iPad, iSlate, and the many names that it was known as until now? A new version of the iPhone OS? A new MacBook line? We’ll have to wait and see.

Stay tuned and we’ll bring you more news as soon as we get them.

AppleInsider has published an article which states that Apple has released a new version of their Mac OS X 10.6.3. The build is called 10D538 and it’s been released to developers. The update should solve many problems in several areas, including QuickTime X and Logic Studio. According to AppleInsider:

“More specifically, people familiar with Friday’s beta say it includes an update to QuickTime X that, when finalized, will improve security and compatibility while simultaneously enhancing overall reliability. The release will also include tweaks that aim to enhance the performance of Apple’s 64-bit Logic pro audio suite. Other planned improvements include better compatibility with third-party printers and OpenGL-grounded applications, those same people say”

Only one big bug remains on the current build, the one that comes with the photo view in Front Row. The Mac OS X 10.6.3 will bring OpenGL 3.0 support, which should result in a significant enhancement in video performance. For now, the launch date for the update is still unknown.

Apple has officially confirmed the event that rumors had claimed would take place on January 27th. The date is correct, indeed, and it will be held at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater in San Francisco at 10am local time.

The invitation cover says “Come see our latest creation”, a sentence that brings curiosity and interest. Will it be the now highly awaited Apple tablet? We’ll see it in 9 days, of course.

According to Kevin Soh from Reuters, the Apple Tablet, now rumored to be called iSlate, could not only be launched by the second quarter of this year, but one of its versions could feature an aluminium case, following the classic Apple style. According to the Reuters sources, two Taiwanese companies, TPK Solutions and AVY Precision Technology Inc would be engaged in manufacturing components to Apple’s new tablet. The first would be working on the touchscreen panels, while the latter would be starting the manufacturing of aluminium cases for the new Apple device from next month.

Even though the assembling takes little time, always according to Reuters, the launch dates for the tablet would likely be around the second trimester of 2010. Considering what was said by the Wall Street Journal, it’s plausible to think that the new product by Apple will be launched around March/June this year.

According to the latest twitter from Mike Pinkerton, the Mac Team responsible from Google, there are only 8 bugs to be corrected before Google Chrome can have its first Mac beta released. We could be only a few weeks, if not a few days from the release if we consider that only a month ago, there were around 20 bugs.

Google’s browser is currently at a moderately advanced stage, with a very solid and fast rendering engine and a better extension support. Still to be implemented are the Bookmark manager and the full screen mode.

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)

With the recent update to the 3.1 firmware version of the iPhone OS, an issue that was already common with the device - the battery duration, has become even worse, but Apple seems to have been working in the past few days to find a solution to the problem.

The company has contacted many of the users that complained about the abnormal short battery duration in the American official forums, sending them a profile to be installed on their iPhone so the company can trace the usage of the device, together with this following questionnaire:

1. Do you have Mail auto-fetch enabled?
* If yes, what’s the frequency of checking?
* How many email accounts do you have set up?
2. Are you using Yahoo Push mail? Exchange ActiveSync? MobileMe Push? Google Calendar? CalDAV calendars? Subscribed calendars?
3. How many e-mails do you get pushed to your phone on an average day?
4. What would you say the total size of attachments is in that time period?
5. Do you have WiFi and/or Bluetooth enabled?  About what percentage of the time are you connected to them?
6. When did this start happening?  Any correlations to activity that you’ve noticed?
7. Does your Visual Voicemail work properly / is it set up?
8. Any alarms set?
9. What 3rd party apps do you have installed/use?
10. When you notice a power drop, does it seem to be a legitimate power drop, or rather an issue with the battery icon indicator?
11. What’s the device model?

The questions are centered in many fields: used applications, push notifications, phone usage and so on. From the questionnaire, two things come to mind: one is the good interaction with users in order to try to solve an issue that has been bothering many of them. On the other hand, the questions also leave room to think that perhaps they’re still not even sure from where to start in order to actually solve the issue.

We’ll have to wait and see.