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Remember that ‘special iPhone SDK event‘ Apple is having next week? It’s sounding like the news might not be as positive as everyone had hoped.

BGR is reporting today that it may not be all it has been hyped up to be. According to several sources, Apple is planning to lock down the SDK… and hand-picking which apps will make it onto the iPhone.

There is also rumor that Apple will be presenting an SDK in the very early stages of development when they hold their meeting next week.

I have to admit, this is the first I’ve heard of all this… and it is all just rumor at this point.

Has anyone else out there heard similar grumblings?

For all you iPhoto lovers out there, today Apple released an update (iPhoto 7.1.3). To access and run the update, simply go to Apple > Software Update… on your system. It should appear in the list. The update is 16.9MB and ‘addresses issues with wire-bound books and cards.’

I suppose if you’re not working on any wire-bound books or card projects that you’d be ok to skip this update for a little while… But if you want to stay on top with the latest, go ahead and install 7.1.3 anyway

Yesterday, PayPal issued a warning of sorts in a MacWorld interview. According to Michael Barrett (PayPal’s chief security officer), Safari does not make PayPal’s list of recommended browsers because it is missing 2 important anti-phishing security features.

Barrett noted:

‘Apple, unfortunately, is lagging behind what they need to do, to protect their customers… Our recommendation at this point, to our customers, is use Internet Explorer 7 or 8 when it comes out, or Firefox 2 or Firefox 3, or indeed Opera.’

Points taken Mr. Barrett. However, on other sites around the web I’m hearing different. Lets take this snippet from Jeremiah Lee’s blog:

‘Michael Barrett, PayPal’s chief information security officer, said, “Safari has got nothing in terms of security support, only SSL (Secure Sockets Layer encryption), that’s it.” Indeed, Safari lacks anti-phishing blacklisting and support for extended validation (EV) certificates. Unfortunately for Mr Barrett, SSL is the only method mentioned for securing online transactions. Blacklists and EV certificates provide information to the visitor that the site is more likely to be what it claims. They don’t actually make the browser connection to the web server any more secure.’

Jermiah then goes on to say:

‘Phishing sites impersonate real sites in order to trick visitors into giving legitimate information. Attackers can then use this information to defraud the visitor. Phishing attacks are attacks on visitors, not technology. The solutions aren’t likely technical.’

I think I can sum this whole argument up by simply saying… It’s time for all of us to take responsibility for our actions on the net. It’s true, unfortunately there are a lot of criminals out there ‘phishing’ for your paypal/bank logins out there… Gleaning private login info and stealing hoards of $$$ from the innocent. That’s awful and it sucks… But if we can step-up our own accountability and responsibility on this issue… There will be fewer victims and we’ll all be in a better place.

A surprising statement indeed but those are the words that came out of the mouth of Apple COO Tim Cook. He said:

‘Apple is not married to the single, exclusive-carrier model.’

This is a pretty bold statement considering Apple and AT&T are supposedly locked into an exclusive long-term deal. Perhaps the deal is much shorter than everyone suspected? We can only speculate.

Cook was quick to point out that his comments did not imply an impending or immediate change of carriers, business models or anything else for that matter. Cook also noted:

‘We’re not married to any business model. What we’re married to is shipping the best phones in the world’.

Here, here Mr. Cook. Stay focused on delivering the best product(s) you can. Without them… there is no Apple.

[via informationweek]

Today Apple has sent out invites to select media to attend a special event next Thursday, March 6 at 10AM… in Cupertino (of course).

All we know so far is that the iPhone software roadmap is on the agenda, including the iPhone SDK. Apple also notes ’some exciting new enterprise features’ will be unveiled as well. Very interesting.

Details are sketchy at the moment… that’s all we have to go on for now. Look for more news to leak out on this one before the event next Thursday.

[via MacWorld]

PublicSpace has announced the availability of ‘The Big Mean Folder Machine 1.4′, the easy to use file/folder management utility. Awhile ago we touched on version 1.3 here.

This new release adds in support for splitting music collections based on id3 tags.

You can purchase TBMFM 1.4 for €14.95 (roughly $22USD) from their store. Or, click here to read more on the specs and details of TBMFM 1.4. Small business, family, business and enterprise licenses are also available.

You couldn’t make this up! Apple seem to be toying with us now.

The new Firmware is out - you can upgrade to 1.1.4. And you’ll get… wait for it… some bug fixes!

Early reports are that they are pretty much unnoticable. No Flash. No SDK related gubbins. No nothing.

In fact, it sounds so dull that I can barely be bothered to upgrade!

Possibly the most interesting thing is that the text order has been fixed.

I am tempted to go back to making up wild stories about the impending SDK. Apparently a USB key with the new SDK has been found at Roswell…

Oh my God! Seriously! The iPhone SDK - it’s coming out tomorrow! No, right, seriously. I was on the train earlier and the bloke that checked my ticket, he told me that he had been speaking to someone in the buffet car who was trying to get a bacon roll (except that they had run out and so he had to have a cheeseburger but he didn’t want one of those, so he had a Twix instead), well, he was speaking to him when he got a call on his mobile and he overheard him speaking to a bloke who was obviously from Apple, and he said that he was speaking to someone else and they said that the SDK was going to be launched tomorrow. Seriously!

Right, I suspect - but I don’t know - that this will become a fact within a couple of hours. The internet will be buzzing with the ‘SDK on Tuesday Buffet Car’ rumour. Yes, I was on that train… but the rest of it didn’t happen.

Now, I read that Apple users are more discerning than the average bear. We are cleverer and more good looking. All of these things are, in my experience, true. But, man alive, are we willing to swallow any old drivel when we’re waiting for a new product or update!

So, could we all just calm down a bit. It is entirely possible that the relevant bit of the SDK is already in the latest iTunes update, awaiting an activation code from the mothership. It is equally possible that it is not. It is possible that it is not yet ready. It is equally possible that it is not. There are very few things that we know as a fact.

In the meantime, by all means draw up the wish lists (after all, they will help the developers work out what they need to develop) but take deep breaths. It will come. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow. But when it does, at least we know it will be ready and it will work.

In their usual Tuesday store update, Apple has added new MacBooks and MacBook Pros to the Apple store.

The new models have the latest Intel Core 2 Duo processors, larger hard drives and 2GB of memory standard on most models.

The MacBook Pro also includes the latest NVIDIA graphics processors, up to 512MB of video memory, and a multi-touch trackpad.

If you just purchased a MacBook or MacBook Pro, now might be a good time to pick up the phone and call Apple (if you missed these lower prices/updates). We just picked up a new MacBook here at Mactropolis last week, and Apple generously rebated $200 to our credit card (We added roughly $150 of updates to the MacBook that are now included in the base price… plus, the same MacBook is now $50 cheaper in the store).

Good on Apple for doing this (as they should). Would be very interested to hear if anyone else out there has had a similar experience!

Many consumers are surprised that the iPhone still has no internet-video player. Adobe has a tight grip on this technology on mobile devices and it’s unbelievable that Apple and Adobe still haven’t reached an agreement. “Why?” is a reasonable question to ask. Unfortunately, it appears that the only man with an answer to that question is Steve Jobs himself. When asked, no other spokesperson or employee of Apple could answer the question.

Luckily, with the release of the SDK prone to come by the end of February, many sources believe that Adobe will be able to develop the flash player at that time. But the question still stands, why has Steve Job’s been delaying the process? Is there some underlying issue here? Unfortunately, with no official statements being made, us bloggers are left to be the ones to speculate. With so little sources, even the author of the article quotes Andru Edwards over at the Gear Live blog.

My opinion? Apple has something in the works, most probably a video player of their own creation. This would be quite the feat because almost all videos online are flash-based. This would also be a surprising move because Apple and Adobe have a history of a strong relationship, caused by both of their products driving the sales of the other so solidly. Really, all we can do is speculate and wait to see what happens.

[Source: The Wall Street Journal 02/21/08 P. B3]