This is from a report from Electricpig. It’s rumored by a Mac accessory manufacturer that Apple will soon launch a 15-inch MacBook Air next month, say April.

And what is coming? If you take our source’s word for it, a 15-inch MacBook Air with ports on both sides, no optical drive and no ethernet cable.

While our source wasn’t certain that this would completely destroy the Pro (he also stated that Apple might hold on to the 17-inch model, which would make sense for the sizeable audience of professional editors out there), he was fairly sure that the shakeup will happen in April. To that end, our source’s company’s got its manufacturers on standby to be able to make and ship a new product lineup inside of 90 days.

The source is reportedly involved in “MacBook docking solutions”, and while Apple almost certainly hasn’t shared any specific information with the source, he does obviously have a strong interest in acquiring such information and may even have access to sources who could provide estimates of Apple’s plans. That said, the source may simply be reiterating a previous rumor that had claimed new 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Pro models with thinner MacBook Air-like form factors would be launching in April.

One other question still remaining is chip availability from Intel. With delays in the launch of the chip manufacturer’s new Ivy Bridge platform and uncertainty about whether these thinner MacBook Pro or larger MacBook Air products would run traditional mobile chips as found in the current MacBook Pro or ultra low voltage chips as found in the MacBook Air, it is not entirely clear when chips for the new machines will become available.

(original: Macrumors)

After a long wait, the new generation of iPad – New iPad shocks us this Wednesday with its Retina display (finally iPad get this), A5X system-on-chip with quad-core graphics, the support of 4G LTE and more.

Here are the detailed advancements of the new iPad:

• System: iOS 5.1
• Size and Weight: 241.2 *185.7*9.4(mm), 1.44 pounds (652 g). Compared with iPad 2, the new iPad add 0.6mm in Depth, 51g in weight.
• Display: 9.7-inch Retina display, 264ppi，IPS+LED, 2048*1536 resolution
• Chip: Dual-core Apple A5X custom-designed, high-performance, low-power system-on-a-chip with quad-core graphics.
• Storage: 16GB/32GB/64GB
• Camera: 5-megapixel iSight camera which can recorder HD video (1080p) up to 30 frames per second with audio, using the tech of video stabilization (this is amazing!). FaceTime camera with VGA-quality photos and video at up to 30 frames per second
• Others: VoiceOver screen reader, Bluetooth 4.0 and more

Pricing remains as before at $499/$599/$699 for Wi-Fi models and $629/$729/$829 for 4G LTE models, with capacities coming in at 16 GB, 32 GB, and 64 GB. The new iPad launches on March 16 in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Switzerland, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Australia.

Apple will also continue to offer the 16 GB iPad 2 in both Wi-Fi ($399) and Wi-Fi + 3G ($529) models.

(What’s your opinion about the new iPad? Share it with other fans here : iSkysoft facebook)

And here is an infographic about the new iPad:

Next Wednesday, we will see the long-awaited iOS tablet – iPad 3 at 10:00 am, San Francisco. And well, as usual, Apple didn’t unveil any details about the new generation iPad but only promised that there is “something you really have to see. And touch”.

So what’s the most expected points for this iPad event? Here are some rumors and speculation from those tech presses:

Will the new iPad 3 have a Retina display?

This actually has been in the wanted-list of iPad for a long time till iPhone 4’s release. According to the invitation for this event, Apple said “We have something you really have to see.” Does this mean that there will be some improvement in the iPad 3’s display? At least a new screen with double the resolution of the iPad 2, at 2048 pixels by 1536 pixels?

Will the new iPad 3 miss the Home button?

Well, this also has been rumored for a long time. Before the release of iPhone 4S, there were a plenty of rumor and speculation about this. And it was said that iPhone 4S might be released without the Home button, but well, you have seen that, iPhone 4S does have the button. So it’s still in doubt whether there is an iPad without home button or not. But also from the image of the invitation, you can clearly see there is no Home button on the iPad’s bezel. So what’s the truth? Let’s see.

Will the new iPad 3 support Siri?

Siri must be the most expected feature for iPad 3. Though last week, a report from a Chinese blog suggested that there is Siri in the new iPad 3, Apple said nothing about this.

Now you can get iPad 2 with lower price

Since the invitation for the iPad 3 event were send to the press, the price of iPad 2 soon dropped on Best Buy by $50. Do you still remember the iPad 2’s release last year? After the launch of iPad 2, Apple slashed the price of the first generation iPad by $100. And how about this year?

A new Apple TV or iPod?

On the invitation for the Apple event next week, you will see “And touch”. It’s not clear that it means a new display for iPad 3 or a new iPod touch. But some believes that there may be a new iPod model, even a new model of Apple TV. Earlier this month, Apple TV has been sold out on Best Buy and Wal-Mart, so it’s rumored that there’ll be a new Apple TV with 1080p video support.

Have noticed or not? iPad 3 is approaching closer and closer!

This Tuesday, Apple delivered an announcement about the release date of iPad 3. It said that the new generation of iPad will be available next week. And the invitation, shown above, may indicate something about the event: the event will take place at 10:00 am on Wednesday, March 7, 2012 at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco.

Days ago, we have published some hot rumors about iPad 3, and till now, there is still no exact information about the new iOS tablet, though the most expect improvements for many are much faster processor, improved graphics processor and a Retina Display. Well, according the invitation, we can conclude that there must been something new about the display – We have something you really have to see. And touch. So I’m afraid those people who are fond of a improved graphics processor and a Retina Display may get satisfied this time.

Whatever, let’s see.

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The new Mac operating system will be available in July this year 2012. Can’t wait for the Mountain Lion update any more? Wait a minute, not all Macs can have the Mountain Lion upgrade.

“Your Mac is too old. You’re stuck with your current OS. Forever.” For Mac OS X Leopard in 2007, anyone who owned a Mac with a processor slower than 867 MHz was stuck with Tiger. In 2009, Snow Leopard made the biggest (and most controversial) shift yet and dropped support for all PowerPC Macs. In 2011, Lion dropped support for Macs that didn’t have 64-bit Intel Core 2 Duo processors, which included most of the first-generation Intel Macs. (source: www.tuaw.com)

To upgrade to Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, there are some minimum requirements for your Mac according to some sources. The bad news is that it is dropping some support for some older Macs. Mountain Lion will only run on the following Macs:

• iMac (mid 2007 or later)
• MacBook (13-inch Aluminum, 2008), (13-inch, Early 2009 or later)
• MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid-2009 or later), (15-inch, 2.4/2.2 GHz), (17-inch, Late 2007 or later)
• MacBook Air (Late 2008 or later)
• Mac Mini (Early 2009 or later)
• Mac Pro (Early 2008 or later)
• Xserve (Early 2009)

That’s to say, if you have a Mac involved in the list below, you may be excluded in the Mountain Lion upgrade plan, even if your Mac runs Mac OS X 10.7 Lion (model identifiers in parentheses):

• Late 2006 iMacs (iMac5,1, iMac5,2, iMac6,1)
• All plastic MacBooks that pre-date the aluminum unibody redesign (MacBook2,1, MacBook3,1, MacBook4,1)
• MacBook Pros released prior to June 2007 (MacBookPro2,1, MacBookPro2,2)
• The original MacBook Air (MacBookAir1,1)
• The Mid-2007 Mac mini (Macmini2,1)
• The original Mac Pro and its 8-core 2007 refresh (MacPro1,1, MacPro2,1)
• Late 2006 and Early 2008 Xserves (Xserve1,1, Xserve2,1)

But don’t be too disappointed if you have a Mac mentioned in the second list above, it is not the formal announcement from Apple yet, so maybe there will be some differences. We’ll see.

When Apple launched Mac OS X Lion last July, it brought the Macintosh operating system ever closer to the experience folks had gotten accustomed to on the iPad and iPhone. Now, just seven months later, Apple today unveils OS X Mountain Lion, an early preview version for developers.

This 9^th major release of OS X goes even further in bringing features common to the iPad and iPhone to the Mac. And when Mountain Lion hits, likely this summer, Apple plans to commit to a roughly 12 month release cycle for new versions of OS X.

This is a heady time for Apple’s traditional computers. The Mac has outpaced PC industry growth for 23 straight quarters. And during the last quarter of 2011, Mac sales grew 26% year over year compared to the overall PC industry, which was flat.

Apple isn’t providing pricing at this point (Lion cost $29.99) or a specific date when Mountain Lion will be un-caged for consumers. The operating system isn’t even in its prerelease beta state yet. But as with its predecessor, Mountain Lion will be available as a digital download through the Mac App Store (and presumably preloaded on new Mac models available at the time).

I’ve had a chance to check out the early Mountain Lion build on a loaner MacBook Air. Highlights of what’s coming:

•iCloud. Apple’s cloud-based service, launched last fall, now has 100 million accounts. You’ll be able to tap into the clouds to set up a new Mac with your Apple ID account credentials. A Documents feature will let you view, create and edit the same documents on your Mac as on your iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch. In a cloud-based Document Library, you can organize documents into folders by dragging one on top of the other similar to the way in which you can create folders containing the apps you have on iOS devices. Apple is opening the technology to Mac developers so that various Mac apps can work with Documents in the cloud. But the feature was not built into the developer preview that I had access to.

•Messages. Apple’s iChat instant messenger and chat service is being replaced by iMessage, the Mac version of a feature that arrived with iOS 5. The result: You can send messages to or from a Mac to anyone who has an iOS device. Conversations in iMessage are kept up to date across all your computers and devices. And you can send pictures, high definition video and other attachments up to 100MB in size. You can also send group messages and receive a “read receipt” that lets you know when a person has seen your missive. Through a typing indicator, you will know when the recipient is readying a response. There’s also a FaceTime button within the Messages app that lets you launch a video call. And Messages works with the same instant-messaging services that iChat supported, including AIM, Yahoo, Google Talk and Jabber.

•Reminders and Notes. Other iOS 5 features come to the Mac. Reminders are a handy way to track your to-do lists. A built-in Share button inside Notes lets you share your note via email or message.

•Notification Center. As on the iPhone or iPad, Notification Center is a central repository for calendar reminders, incoming emails, new messages,and more . On those iOS devices, you can pull down notifications by dragging your finger from the top of the screen downward. On the MacBook Air, I was able to make the Notification Center come and go with a new gesture—moving two fingers left across the trackpad after starting the gesture off the trackpad.. If your Mac doesn’t have a trackpad, there’s a tiny icon in the upper right of the screen to click.

•Twitter. Twitter is now integrated through Mountain Lion. So in the Safari browser, Preview, Photo Booth and Quick Look, you can select Twitter to tweet from within the app. If you choose, you can add location to your tweet.

•Game Center. Apple’s social gaming venue in iOS — there are more than 20,000 Game Center-enabled games in the App Store — is coming to the Mac.

•AirPlay Mirroring. If you have an Apple TV box on the same network as your Mac, you’ll be able to exploit this way to wirelessly stream whatever is on your Mac screen to a high-definition television connected to Apple TV.

•Gatekeeper. Through the years, Macs have famously avoided the scourge of viruses and malware that have plagued Windows PCs. But Apple is keeping up its guard with new security technology.

Apple promises a lot more, including much easier ways to share pictures, videos, links, documents and content within apps. And I’m sure you can expect a few surprises before the formal launch, Siri on the Mac, perhaps? For all of that, stay tuned.

(source:usatoday.com)