Neither filing provides much detail about either device beyond model number, though the keyboard described in one does appear to be smaller than the current model. That said, AppleInsider speculates that the mouse Apple (AAPL) is evidently working on will be significantly mightier than the current Mighty Mouse, scrapping the device’s rollerball in favor of a touch-sensitive housing and perhaps even an aluminum finish.

[IImage Credits: Engadget and MacBlogz]

Well, no longer. Because Apple (AAPL) is planning to refresh its iMac desktop computer in the next few weeks, and when it does, it may well offer a Blue-ray drive option.

Sources tell AppleInsider that the new all-in-one, dual-core desktops, which are also said to feature a new, slimmer enclosure, were finalized earlier this month and are already rolling off the assembly lines of Apple’s manufacturing partners.

“The late 2009 iMac line should also debut several features previously unavailable to Mac buyers,” the publication notes. “People familiar with Apple’s thinking have suggested in recent months one of these moves could see the company finally embrace Blu-ray.”

One last point worth noting here: According to the MacRumors Buyer’s Guide, the iMac is due for a refresh. Apple has updated it every 220 days on average since it debuted the machine in 2003. As of today, it has been 204 days since the last update. MacRumors’s recommendation: “Buy only if you need it–Approaching the end of a cycle.”

Belkin has confirmed that it’s pulling its booth from the show floor as well. The company has opted instead to hold private meetings with its channel partners. It insists that this isn’t so much a financial decision, as a strategic one–”we’re reallocating show floor funds to hold private product meetings,” a spokesperson told me–but it’s hard not to view it that way, given the continued deterioration of the economy. Interesting to note, though, that sources tell AppleInsider that the company had already paid for its 2009 booth space.

Show organizer IDG must be offering Econalypse refunds….

UPDATE: Belkin won’t be exhibiting at the Consumer Electronics Show, either. “No booth at CES–and it’s for the same reasons why we’re not exhibiting at MacWorld,” a spokesperson tells me. “We learned that a smaller group of our channel partners will be attending CES, and those who are attending are focusing on driving incremental value in 2009. We believe that private meetings in hotel suites are more conducive for this type of discussion, as they are more intimate. So, we are redistributing our resources and funds to help support sell-thru for our retail partners and drive traffic into their stores. Examples: more holiday promotions and programs.”

As of this morning, no participants–potential or otherwise–have pulled out of Super Bowl XLIII, but the trend is looking grim for seasonal blockbusters. We’ll keep you posted.

UPDATE: New reports are emerging that claim Apple isn’t selling the iPhone at any of its retail stores outside the U.S come Friday. This would suggest that, while Apple may well be appalled by Rogers’ pricing, it isn’t protesting it by refusing to sell the iPhone 3G through its own retail stores in Canada.

……….

If you’re a Canadian who doesn’t like the price at which Canada’s exclusive iPhone carrier, Rogers (RCI), is selling the device don’t buy one, the Vancouver Sun advised in an editorial last Friday. Wise advice. And easier to follow, now that Apple (AAPL) is reportedly sanctioning Rogers out of disgust for its exorbitantly priced data rates (see chart below). Appalled by Rogers’ pricing, Cupertino is said to be refusing to sell the iPhone 3G through its own retail stores in Canada. So come Friday, Canadians looking for a new iPhone will have to head over to a Rogers Wireless outlet to buy one–assuming they can stomach a three-year contract that requires a minimum monthly payment of $60 for just 150 minutes, 75 text messages, and 400MB of data … Apple stores will have demo models only.

]]> http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/20080708/apple-to-rogers-take-off-eh-hoser/feed/ 6 http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/20080313/appltvo/ http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/20080313/appltvo/#comments Thu, 13 Mar 2008 22:59:05 +0000 John Paczkowski http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/20080313/appltvo/

Lest there be any doubt that DVR functionality was purposefully left out of Apple TV, consider this patent recently unearthed by AppleInsider. Filed in October of 2006, the patent describes not just a version of Apple TV capable of browsing and recording live TV programming, but a touch-based remote that could be preloaded with upcoming TV listings to facilitate it. From the patent:

For example, program data for upcoming programs, e.g., for the next month, can be downloaded and stored on the remote control device. Thereafter, a user of the remote control device can search programs that are to be broadcast and determine which programs to record. The recording settings can be programmed onto the remote control device, and then be provided to the video device when a data communication is established between the remote control device and the video device.”

Pretty slick, eh? Lots of additional possibilities here as well. One could easily imagine the iPod Touch and iPhone serving as the remote the patent describes. And if this next-generation Apple TV is capable of recording TV programming, why not make it the gateway through which such programming is delivered? How nice would it be to subscribe to HBO–and HBO alone–via iTunes? How nice would it be to subscribe to a season of “Weeds”? Or to a commercial-free season of “The Office” and skip everything else NBC has to offer? How nice would it be if the latest unwatched episode of “Weeds” on your Apple TV was automatically synced to your iPhone for later viewing? How nice would it be if new films opened on iTunes the same day they opened in theaters?

Pipe dream? Perhaps. Certainly, these scenarios would require Apple (AAPL) to ink some fantastical new licensing deals with Hollywood. And the two aren’t exactly seeing eye-to-eye all the time these days. Still, you never know. Stranger things have happened.

Silverthorne, part of Intel’s “Menlow” Mobile Internet Device platform, reportedly runs as fast as a second generation Pentium M processor, but consumes between half a watt and two watts of electrical power–about a tenth of the power consumed by a typical notebook processor. No wonder Apple’s said to be interested in the chip. It would appear to be perfect for a number of devices rumored to be secreted away in its product pipeline–the FlashBook, the multitouch Newton, the Mac tablet.

That said, we’ll likely not see it popping up in a 3G iPhone, though at first glance it would make sense there as well. “According to several iPhone teardowns, Apple is likely using the Samsung S3C6400, or some special equivalent built just for them, in the iPhone,” explains News.com’s Tom Krazit. “That chip is based on the ARM1176 core, which at 620MHz consumes just 279 milliwatts. That’s running all-out, whereas most of the time you’re actually going to be drawing much less power than that. Silverthorne, by contrast, will consume 500 milliwatts of power at minimum, and probably only when it’s doing nothing in idle mode. Those numbers just aren’t going to work in a phone, especially an Apple phone, if the company really is so concerned about power consumption that it has held off on releasing a 3G iPhone until the power consumption of that modem improves.”