Tuesday August 26, 2008

- New iPod Nano on September 9th? - Lionel - 12:20:24

According to the last floating rumors on the web, Apple could organize a special Event in order to launch the new iPod Nano. Apple could also revise its music offer system by introducing a music rental service, while a totally new version of iTunes (aka v8.0) could be introduced.

In order to rationalize its mobile music players offer, including iPod touch and iPhone, as well as the AppStore, the new iPod nano might support some of the application available on the online store, especially games, gaming control could then be the click-wheel or based on an accelerometer.

If this turns true, then it would most likely be the end of the iPod classic, as beside a larger storage space, they will be lacking most of the new technology features. Will Apple take this opportunity to introduce an iPhone Nano, a mix between the current iPhone and iPod Nano?

[translation by Linathael]

- Radeon HD 4850 and 4870 for Mac Pro? - Lionel - 11:57:22

According to several sources (among them Mac4ever), if AMD/ATI does not currently plan to release a Mac Edition of its new flagships Radeon 4xxx X2, it should nevertheless offer in a near future the Radeon 4850 HD and 4870 HD for the Mac Pro.

As usual, one does not know how far is “near future”. Indeed, so far Mac users have always been at least one generation behind concerning graphic cards offer; without mentioning that we have to pay a premium price for a product which is not anymore available for PC… in addition, some cards are only available for the US market…

[translation by Linathael]

- iPhone: Orange Restricts 3G Data Speed to 384 Kb/s in France - Yoc - 11:49:40

Source : France Info

Following complains from iPhone owners and users, as well as pressure from consumer groups, Orange admitted to have intentionally reduced the data transfer speed of the 3G network for Smartphone to 384 Kbits/s. This is a theoretical max speed offered by 3G network, however, in France as in most EU countries or in Japan, Orange is using a 3G+ network which should allow transfer speed of 3.6 Mbits/s (up to 7.2 Mbits/s in large cities). This limitation was identified by users who connected to 3G network managed by other French carriers, and which were able to reach transfer speed 3 to 4 times higher than the one allowed by Orange.

To avoid any legal actions, Orange quickly recognized the current limits and already announced that starting September 15th, the new limit will be set at 1 Mbits/s. Orange is arguing that such limitation is necessary to allow its 3G network for not being saturated or overloaded by data transfer request originating from smartphone, and especially iPhone 3G from its launch.

[translation by Linathael]

- Two New MacBook Air Compatible Processors - Lionel - 11:03:26

Intel announced two new Core 2 Duo models for its small die processors line which are compatible with the MacBook Air. The SP9300 will be clocked at 2.2690 GHz, while the SP9400 will top at 2.4 GHz.
They could end up in the future revision of the MacBook air if Apple can manage their TDP of 25 W vs. 20 W for the current CPU installed in MacBook Air. Cupertino will have to play between improved cooling system and improved power management for not reducing too substantially battery lifetime.

[translation by Linathael]