By Graham K. Rogers

Opening Gambit:

Apple Stuff

There is no information about what Apple thinks of this although part of the support for the rumour is that Apple retail in the US are planning an all night work session on 24 July the same day that the Q3 earnings report is to be announced. Odd, then, that the new OS X is not going to be sold in the stores and will only be available via the Mac App Store. The original source for this was Seth Weintraub on 9to5 Mac.

A bit of an oddity appeared on Macworld on Tuesday from Mark Hattersely when he write about the long-rumoured Apple TV which we have assumed (if it exists) is one screen. Probably a big one too. Think again suggests Mark, as using information from online sources, he suggests that the device could actually be several smaller screens working together, perhaps like lots of iPads, working all together or separately. Then I looked at the size: 6 - 8" which would fit perhaps with the rumours about the mini iPad. The next version of iOS 6 is a little more than a rumour and this week we are told by Mike Schramm on TUAW that the third beta has been released. With the release there is to be a change in email addressing, Mike Schramm also reports. New iCloud users will have an @icloud address, while those with @me.com will begin the transition soon, although the shorter address can be kept for now. I also see that versions of the beta are being shown onlne in Thailand.

Around the time of the last quarterly results from Apple a lot of experts embarrassed themselves by muddying the waters and talking Apple stock down before record figures were announced, and hence setting themselves up for record stock profits when the shares they bought cheaply began to rise. This time, Neil Hughes reports on AppleInsider, the experts are advising investors to buy, buy, buy as the figures they are expecting to see would suggest, surprise, surprise, another record set of sales figures, with an expected 28 million (or more) iPhones sold and 16 million iPads.

Some analysts differ, but the outlook is positive. However, when it comes to Macs, things are not so rosy with an expected fall in sales by some 10% AppleInsider. reports. The article quotes Gene Munster like the one on iPhone and iPad figures above. Much of this is speculation and we will not know the true figures until Peter Oppenheimer makes his pitch next week.

Last weekend (and on Monday) I looked at reports of the Russian developer, Alexey V. Borodin, who had managed to find a way round Apple restrictions for in-app purchases and was helping people help themselves. Apple blocked the IP addresses, but he went round that by rerouting to a fake server, Don Reisinger reports and also tells us that 30,000 thefts, or as he puts it, "in-app "purchases" had been made through his service." This is still ongoing (as of Tuesday evening) and Apple is still having a look. I would expect some changes soon.

Another question mark last weekend was the way that not only did Apple suddenly reverse its decision about withdrawing from EPEAT, but the return was triumphantly marked by the award of a gold star to the Retina display MacBook Pro which had been thought to have been the reason for the withdrawal. Some are crying foul, while others are scratching their heads wondering what went on. Steven Sande at TUAW has a reprise of some explanations and objections. Also making some interesting comments on Apple and EPEAT is Matthew Panzarino on TNW who looks at Apple's involvement here and the way other companies may not have products that comply with the requirements.

A new Apple store will open in Barcelona soon and to fit the architectural adventurism of the city, with its beautiful designs, particularly from Gaudi, a special logo has been designed for the wall surrounding the store, AppleInsider reports. There is more on this Federico Viticci reports on MacStories as not only is there this special Apple logo, but walls have designs made from broken iOS icons in the same way. The article has a photo of the wall and links to other images which make the genesis of the designs more clear.

This same sort of care concerning design is also revealed in the reopened Soho store where the staircase has a massive one-piece side of glass some 30 feet or more in length, Harrison Weber reports.

With the iPhone 5 expected later in the year, we are aware that the EU telecomms authorities accepted Apple's input and the device will use a new nano-SIM card, which is 12.3mm wide by 8.8mm high, and 0.67mm thick (MacRumors) As part of the preparation for its arrival, and perhaps for other phones which will also use the smaller card, Electronista reports that carriers in Europe are beginning to stockpile them. There are no reports of carriers in Asia actually being aware that there is a new standard.

Several sites reported problems with Apple's Thunderbolt displays which are producing noise from the speakers. Topher Kessler writes that "This issue does not happen for all people, or at least does not happen in the same time frame. While in some cases the problem starts immediately, in others it takes a while to develop, and yet in others it does not appear to happen at all." He suggests that this is something that Apple -- who are aware of the problem -- will address, perhaps with a software update.

On Monday afternoon the replacement hard disk for my iMac arrived and it is now in the shop again. I also managed to borrow a 13" MacBook Pro on Tuesday evening and once again attempted to update Disk Warrior. As the original disk is not being read properly on my machine or the borrowed Mac, I must presume we have a case of defective media. And as the disk has been fine on a number of occasions already, it has become defective while under my care (I use the word, "care" loosely). I have written to Alsoft to ask about buying a replacement disk.

Half and Half

Other Matters

There was some interesting speculation from Mark Goulston M. D. on Huffington Post this week about Bill Gates in an open letter to the former Redmond boss. The second coming of Steve Jobs is examined in the light of what some people see as a rather necessary second coming of Bill Gates. Or at least, as the article suggests, if not Bill Gates, someone else as "it is clear that it is time to thank Mr. Ballmer and show him the exit door." There is an interesting approach here and the droop of Microsoft is obvious to many more than just those who follow tech things.

Having spend months waiting for my Raspberry Pi order to be accepted then delivered, we now hear from Tony Smith on The Register that the limits are being lifted and rather than the one that I was allowed to buy, new orders will be as many as you want, although when they would be delivered is still up in the air.

While British courts tend to roll over and accept what the US tells them without any real protection for its citizens when it comes to extradition things are a touch different in New Zealand where recently an entrepreneur (shall we call him) was arrested because the US alleged he was a mastermind behind criminal uploading. Not so fast . . . The extradition was disallowed and the US critised there in part because of the strong arm methods, but also the judge does not agree with the way the US is trying to widen copyright law as part of a trade agreement: Greg Sandoval reports that the judge called the US, "the enemy".

It has a new CEO in Marissa Mayer (also reported to be pregnant as she takes over at age 37) and Yahoo! also has some relatively good news on the financial front too with reported earnings of $1.22 billion (down 1% from a year ago) with net income at $327 million. Ingrid Lundgren on Tech Crunch adds, "Non-GAAP earnings per share were $0.27, up 47 percent compared to $0.18 a year ago, and easily beating analysts expectations, with net earnings per diluted share at $0.18." The Yahoo! press release is also available online.

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Late News

Graham K. Rogers teaches at the Faculty of Engineering, Mahidol University in Thailand. He wrote in the Bangkok Post, Database supplement on IT subjects. For the last seven years of Database he wrote a column on Apple and Macs.