Apple

Apple's taken some heat for setting the bar too high for admission to its iPhone App Store, as well as for making the App Store the exclusive source for downloadable software. The fact that Apple is judging quality and safety at all, instead of just providing an online catalog, is being swung as a marketing hook for mobile platforms that fancy themselves more open, but a cynic would wonder whether they're really tearing down the empire that they simply didn't think to build first.

APPLE Inc appears to have clearance from an industry group to block rival Palm Inc's Pre phone from connecting with the iTunes software.

The $US200 ($A229) Pre was launched in June as a direct competitor to the iPhone, and became the first non-Apple device that could directly connect to iTunes. It did that essentially by pretending to be an iPod.

Push Gmail support for the iPhone is finally here. And you have Microsoft to thank.

No, Push support has not finally been added to Apple’s Mail app for the iPhone, that would be too easy and make too much sense. Instead, it appears that Google is once again working around Apple to provide customers with some functionality, this time by way of its Google Sync product.

Apple has been avoiding questions recently about an alarming quirk with its new iPhone OS 3.1.
According to Apple's own bulletin board, users are claiming that the OS 3.1 software is "the buggiest update that Apple has yet released for the iPhone".

Memory protections in Snow Leopard are still too weak, though it shows other improvements

Apple has been bragging about the security of its new operating system, OS X 10.6 "Snow Leopard". Leaping from Leopard to Snow Leopard, Apple gives its users limited antivirus/anti-malware protection (the feature currently only detects two signatures out of a handful of known OS X malware signatures).

ARM today announced development of two Cortex A9 dual core processors that are capable of running at up to 2GHz.

The processors, which feature hard macro implimentation, are built using the TSMC 40nm-G process and draw less than 250mw per CPU under full load, making them ideal for embedded applications and portable devices where heat, size and battery drain are crucial issues.

A new report alleges that Apple intends to release new iMacs and MacBooks very soon -- in a matter of weeks -- to refresh its lineup before the holiday season.

Financial publication Barron's said a new report from Wedge Partners claims that Apple will introduce new hardware "in the next several weeks." The report said that the new iMacs will sport a thinner design with smooth edges. However, the MacBook refresh is said to be "limited."

iPhone and iPhone 3G users hit a roadblock last week trying to login to Exchange 2007 servers after upgrading to iPhone OS 3.1.

Because the problems began with the latest update, it may seem reasonable to assume that the update is to blame, but it's not. In fact, everything is working exactly how it's supposed to be, according to Apple.

As always, it has only taken the iPhone Dev Team a matter of days to release tools capable of jailbreaking and unlocking the latest iPhone OS 3.1. From the Dev Team Blog:

OWNERS OF OLDER IPHONES and Ipod Touches will be in for a nasty surprise if they decide to update to the latest OSX for Iphone 3.1.

The point release - which is supposed to improve security, reliability and fix bugs - also stops all devices older than the brand new Iphone 3GS from accessing some Microsoft Exchange 2007 servers, according to reports.