Apple's WWDC 2009
Apple is holding it’s 14th Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) on June 8th to 12th 2009. The event brings together apple engineers and developers as well as fans and enthusiasts interested in the latest developments in Apple. Apple also releases news on upcoming products as well as uses the event to launch new products. Here’s a summary of the announcements made during the June 8th keynote.
New MacBook Pro Lineup
Apple® updated the aluminum unibody MacBook® Pro line to include 13-inch, 15-inch and 17-inch models featuring Apple’s innovative built-in battery for up to 40 percent longer battery life. Each MacBook Pro includes an LED-backlit display, the innovative glass Multi-Touch™ trackpad, an illuminated keyboard, an SD card or ExpressCard slot, a FireWire® 800 port and state of the art NVIDIA graphics.
The interesting thing about this update is that Apple managed to bump the specs of the notebooks, and in the case of the MacBook Pro 13-inch, the new price was lower than the MacBook it replaced. Another noteworthy tidbit is that on the 13-inch Macbook Pro, there is only one audio jack, which is user selectable for either line in or line out with one exception – it supports the Apple Headset with Microphone – The same one which comes with the iPhone!
Snow Leopard’s September Release
Apple® also unveiled Mac OS® X Snow Leopard™, an even more powerful and refined version of Apple’s Leopard operating system. Snow Leopard builds on OSX innovation and success with hundreds of refinements, new core technologies, out of the box support for Microsoft Exchange and new accessibility features. Snow Leopard will ship as an upgrade for Mac OS X Leopard users in September 2009 for USD$29.
There’s way too many features in Snow Leopard to go into detail here, but here’s 2 groundbreaking features.
64 Bit System - The OS has a 64 bit core, with nearly all system applications rewritten in 64 bits. This enchances the performance as well as future proofs the OS for “whatever computing enhancements might arrive in the future“
Grand Central Dispatch – This built-in technology allows full use of every core in multi core systems to be used by applications. This offloads thread management from the application to the OS, resulting in more responsive apps as well as full utilisation of modern CPUs.
iPhone 3G S
Last but not least, Apple® introduced the new iPhone™ 3G S, their fastest, most powerful iPhone yet, with improved speed and performance, longer battery life,a 3 megapixel autofocus camera, video recording and hands free voice control.
There is no news on Singtel’s apple-inspired site as of today on any informatioon regarding the new iPhone, possibly hitting the region in July. It would be interesting to see if current iPhone users get any upgrade options, and most importantly, at what price.
Images Courtesy of Apple. For more details, do check out the Apple® Website or you can catch the WWDC Keynote posted online as well.
World Environment Day June 5th 2009
June 5th is World Environment Day. Many groups around the world are spreading the message, not only for this day but the whole week; to do something small for the envronment, it need not be planting a tree, just small things. An old malay saying goes like this ‘sikit sikit, jadi bukit’ – meaning many small things add up to become a mountain.
Microsoft's Project Natal Awesomeness!
Looks like Microsoft pulled the proverbial rabbit out of the hat at E3; introducing Project Natal - the code name for Microsoft’s new controller-free gaming and entertainment experience from Xbox 360.
Here’s some of the major features of the (still in development) project.
• Controller-free gaming and entertainment. No controller required. with body movement detection, face and voice recognition
• Full-body play. “Project Natal” utilizes full-body tracking to capture every move, from head to toe, to give players a full-body gaming experience.
• Personalized play. “Project Natal” provides an in-game experience in which the player’s face and voice are recognized.
Instead of explaining all the dry details, here’s a video of Project Natal in action.
GadgetDotRed on your phone!
GadgetDotRed – Now looking even better on your iPhone, iPod Touch and Android phones :) With the new mobile theme, our site looks even better, and is easier to navigate. Many thanks to WPTouch. Give us a whirl on your iPhone, iPod Touch or Android Phone today at the same web address – www.GadgetDotRed.com
PC Show 2009
It’s been 19 years already? Wow! Anyway the PC Show is back! (Terminator pun unintended), with the usual buzz 
Even the recession doesn’t seem to affect it, with last year’s show boasting 1.12 million visitors! So expect a crowd, again.
Event Details
Date : 11 (Thu) – 14 (Sun) June 09
Time : 12pm – 9pm
Location : Suntec Exhibition Halls 1, 3, 4 & 6
[mappress]
Goodbye iShop by Club 21
In solemn grey lettering on the iShop’s Website, – “Sadly it’s time for us to go”, iShop announced it’s planned closure on 30th June 2009, leaving Mac users with less retail choices. Dubbed as the largest Apple reseller in Asia, with 10,000 sq feet of retail space, it will be missed by the local Mac community as well as fans of it’s style, brand and service quality.
Edit : MacRyu.com has an insightful article on the closure of iShop linked here.
Licence2Play + Darkmoon Faire Singapore
The local Gaming scene is about to get warmer with Licence2Play – a local gaming event supported by Singapore’s MDA. The highlights of the event include $10 Workshops and gaming competitions (Dawn of War 2, Battle Stations, Sudden Attack, WOW – With our very own Dark Moon Faire, Audition, Super Smash Bros Brawl and of course MapleStory). The workshops seem to be glorified talks but no details are available other than the summary on the website. In any case, it’s always a good thing to have gaming publicized and supported locally.
Event Details:
Event Name – Licence2Play
Location – Suntec City Convention Hall 6
Dates – 22-24 May 2009
Admission is Free except for the $10 ‘Workshops’
MSN Messenger 2009 – just another pretty (vista) face?
Microsoft’s MSN Messenger 2009 has been available for some time, and now includes an install of it’s attempt at an iLife suite it’s software bundle. As you can see below, the bundle includes Mail, Photo Gallery, ANOTHER Toolbar, Writer, and a bunch of other bloatware which some users might actually find useful…
All these options are enabled by default...
BUT WAIT!! There’s MORE!
Users who are installing this latest and greatest version will be presented with the opourtunity to change their browser settings according to Microsoft’s recommendation, perhaps for the full MS Experience?
The great and complete MS Experience
Unfortunately, perhaps it was due to the new update and the rush to Live the new experience (pun intended), We keep having connection issues. Well look on the bright side, at least it’s a pretty face – Just like Vista!
Software POWERUP!
The Internets are buzzing with updates from Apple and Microsoft.
Apple – Safari 4 Beta is out – Argumentatively the current fastest browser available mainstream.
Some of the reported 150 new features include Full-Page Zoom, a improved JavaScript engine (part of the webkit), pin-top sites, web page cover flow and full featured RSS reading capability.
Microsoft – Internet Explorer 8 RC1 is also out for Microsoft fans and includes features such as a Web Slices (with subscription options), improved JavaScript and Ajax processing, automatic Crash Recovery and Private browsing.
Apple – iPhone OS 3.0‘s features are finally out of the bag, due to for a Summer 09 relase and will have long awaited features such as Cut, Copy & Paste, A2DP Bluetooth, P2P Connectivity over Bluetooth, Landscape Typing in all the core apps, MMS, Spotlight Search and Phishing protection.
G1 Phone available from Singtel
Back in September, we reported that the G1 had launched. Well, the G1 has finally hit our shores and is now available via Singtel
Looks like Singtel managed to score a hat-trick, fielding both the G1(Singtel has rebranded it as the Singtel Dream; ugh!) and the iPhone, giving it the leg-up againast the local mobile competition.