Some Mac Pro users initiated a petition on facebook to try to get some details and information on the release date for the next generation of Mac Pro, if ever Apple plan to make a new version:

Hello Apple. Remember me? I'm one of your loyal users. I'm one of the guys who has owned 2 MacPros, a G5, a G4, 4 laptops, one iMac, 4 iPods, one MacMini, 4 iPhones and a bevy of other peripherals and software packages over the last 10 years. 

I'm looking for a little clarity.

Can you please let me and the other people on in this group know what is going on with the MacPro? Its been neglected for far too long. We realize all the success of the iPad and iPhone and we're really happy with our new toys. But unfortunately many of us need to make decisions on hardware for professional uses that allow us to make a living.

Read more :http://www.facebook.com/MacProsPlease

IT is maybe time that Apple opens its eyes on the Mac Pro users community that is now dealing with a 2 years-old hardware design. As indicated in this petition, Hackintosh might become an alternative, as most users do not wish to drop the OS X environment and their software licenses. Apple, your products are not all about iPad and iPhone... you have been and are still making great computers, so let's show other computers company how to design and make a great workstation for those who need it for daily work and those who need power for their passions.

According to BGR, Microsoft will launch a Office Suite for iOS and Android in November 2012.It remains unclear to what extend such Tablet-version of Office will be as extended as the desktop version (features, extension, etc.), and its price still remains unknown. We can predict that it should be a rather successful application on the iPad, as it will bring a productivity tool lacking for many corporates thinking of dropping notebooks for a tablet-only environment, at least for some functions. The Office version for iOS might also boost sales of iPad as well as those of external peripherals such as docking stations, keyboard and trackpad. 

Steve Ballmer has always been a demonstrative speaker. During a conference in Seoul, Microsoft CEO, kept talking about Windows 8 as the re-birth of Windows. According to his words, this version version have the most impact in the world... Microsoft projects that next year 400 to 500 millions copies (legal and/or illegal?) of Windows 8 will have been sold. To reach such figures, he has been adding all Windows 8 version: PC, tablets, mobile phones, etc. Today, 350 million licenses of Windows 7 has been shipped.
Of course, Balmmer is known to be over-optimistic, and he seems certain of the success of Windows 8, on Pc, but also on mobile phone as a way for Microsoft to try to catch up with iOS and Android. A serous challenge for Microsoft.

We can also say that we would be please to hear Tim Cook speaking about re-birth of Mac OS X, aka "Renaissance". IT is rather true that Snow Leopard, Lion and the forthcoming Mountain Lion are evolution of a system that was fully developed with 10.5. Teh last evolution have been adding some features, and/or gadgets to make it looking like iOS, without really improving the user experience.

Samsung announced that the conciliation discussion with Apple organized by the californian legal authorities ended without any agreement. After two days of meeting, both companies came out with having changed their initial positions and have the same claims. Samsung wants Apple to pay royalties on wireless patent, and Apple wants Samsung to stop copying the iPhone design.
Nobody is really surprised by such end, as both companies were not really eager to find a median solution and a compromise. They are both rather looking for a legal KO. Only clear winners are lawyers...

Seagate and LaCie have entered into exclusive negotiation. The deal would be the acquisition of LaCie by Seagate for a price currently evaluated to 146 million Euro. It will allow Seagate to strengthen its capacity and offer for external storage solutions where margins are bigger than on HD itself. The deal should be finalized for Q3 2012, but it remains unclear if the brand LaCie will survive.

Yesterday, a rumor appeared on the net, indicating that the last NVidia Fermi GK104 powering the GeForce GTX 680 would have a defect degrading performance level after a longtime usage under full loading mode. People reporting such problems indicated that it was unclear if the card was automatically decreasing its clock speed, or if part of the cores are temporarily deactivated, but at teh end the performance drops.
NVidia immediately reacted and published a statement denying any problem or issues on the GPU GK104, so there is no reason according to the company to talk about a defect that would require a general recall for a product that passed all extensive tests after productions.

Let's hope this is only an artifact faced by some users who are trying to push their new graphic cards beyond the limits, and that Nvidia is not going to face another GeForce 8600-like desaster.

Macrumors published a photo supposed to be the front cover of the forthcoming iPod touch.

As we would expect it, the design will be very similar to the one of the forthcoming iPhone. It should offer a 4.1" display, and should probably boost sales of this iPod.

Below are the front and back camera of the next generation iPhone:

Researchers from HIS Supply have been trying to model the storage capacity of plate-based HD for the coming 4 years.

They forecast that the storage capacity should double by 2016, but also plateau as it would be the maximum performance offered by the current perpendicular recording technology. Beyond, it will probably involve new technologies that still need to be validated. In 2016, we could expect 8 TB 3.5" HD while 2.5" units should offer around 2 TB. BEyond that date, new technologies based on surface heating, might allow plate-based HD to further increase storage density, however, it remains unclear how this would impact power consumption of such storage units.

An on-going rumor indicates that Apple might be testing a bigger display for its forthcoming iPhone, however, the width should not change and only its length will be increase to offer a 640 x 1136 pixels resolution vs. 640 x 960 pixels today. So we could get a 3.95" display. I would offer a format very close to the 16:9 setting found in TV set, while we are currently having a 3:2 format. Developers would have to adapt their application to adapt to such change.

The rumor related to a smaller dock connector seems to be supported by many sources (but maybe with a single origin). It will create a huge earthquake among third-parties that have developed peripherals around the iPhone and iPod ecosystem. It is very likely that Apple will adopt such smaller connector for all its forthcoming iDevices.

NPD published a study on sales and usage of 3D TV set in USA. If sales increased during the first quarter 2012: +11% Q1 2012 vs. Q1 2011, and even +22% if we would consider TV set >40", the way it is used and expectations for the forthcoming months do not look that good. Only 14% of customers think that 3D is a key feature when considering the purchase of a new TV set., whereas 64% think that 3D is a feature that can be useful in the future.
The main reason slowing down 3D adoption today is the need to wear glasses, then the lack of 3D contains. If for the latter the catalog will increase with time, for glasses, technologies that would allow 3D without such devices on large TV set and several spectators at once are not ready yet.

On May, 8th 2012, Netherland adopted a law related to net neutrality. This is the first country in Europe to take such decision, following Chili. In summary this law define the following points:

• internet providers cannot interfere with the traffic of their users
• internet providers will be very restricted in their use of invasive wiretapping technologies, such as deep packet inspection (DPI)
• internet providers can only disconnect their customers in a very limited set of circumstances: such as fraud or when the user does not pay his bills

Bits of Freedom, the Dutch digital rights movement which supported and campaign such law, is of course enthusiastic and is now asking other countries of the EU to adopt similar laws. This is of course a good news for a free and unlocked internet. This is particularly important when in some countries, the access to internet and censoring is established as q regulation to control what people can browse (Iran, China, etc.). So, maybe it is time for other European countries to follow this example, especially for France, where a law was identified in the past year as interfering with Net neutrality.

On October 11th and 12th, an apple Expo was planned to take place in London. But following a message from Apple Legal, about Apple being a trademark, the show has been renamed Appule Expo. So you will find their everything about products and peripherals related to Apple products, but as Apple is not an official sponsor nor supporting officially this expo, the company’s name could not be associated with the show...
So, the Apple Expo 2008 in Paris was the last "Expo" to take place with Apple as an 'official" sponsor, even though Apple tried to push the organizer, Reed, to change the name of the expo at the last minute...

Microsoft has already booked a booth at the Appule Expo, and is the show is a success, despite Apple not being present and officially against such exposition, it is very likely that such "wild" Apple-related expo will flower in the coming months over the world. This is probably much more efficient to have people meeting and sharing in such expo than in an Apple Store...

Google Inc. can be proud of its web browser. In less than 4 years, it is on track to capture the krone of the most used web browser, while Internet Explorer is still leading, we can expect Chrome to take the pole position in the coming month. Firefox remains stable despite a tendency to lose some ground. Safari is also stable with a tendency to increase, most likely directly linked to the increase of Mac hardware users. Source: StatCounter Global Stats - Browser Market Share

Starting today, and planned to last two days, a conciliation meeting with executives from Apple and Samsung is organized by the Californian legal authorities. The judge behind such discussion is expecting both parties to settle down on several on-going crossed legal actions. However, there is almost no chance that both companies can find an agreement, even though they have to sit and take the opportunity to engage and discuss these issues.

Apple did not try to cool down its position, nor come with a peaceful mind at the meeting. Indeed, the company launched on Friday a new lawsuit aiming to prevent the sale of the Samsung Galaxy 10.1 tablet in USA. So, there is quite some chance that the judge is going to meet and discuss with both parties, not really ready to find an agreement.

The wireless industry is currently pushing to finalize the new WiFi 802.11 ac format, potentially able to deliver up to 1.3 GBits/s. Some manufacturers, such as Buffalo and Netgear already offer products supporting this non-finalized format, based on the draft version.
However, it does not seem as easy as for the 802.11n format. Indeed, at that time, there was only on new format to be finalized, and several computers and WiFi routers and stations have been released with the draft version of the 802.11n format. A simple firmware update was then applied when the 802.11n final version was released couple of months later. Today, manufacturers are pushing to bring something new on the market, and actively supporting the 802.11ac format, however, the IEEE would rather like to promote another version, 802.11ae. While the latter is similar to the 802.11ac, it can make use of three bandwidths. In addition to 2.4 and 5 GHz common to both format, the 802.11ae can access the 3.7 GHz frequency, offering a good compromise between the high-range of 2.4 GHz and the high data speed transfer in low range of the 5 GHz.
so, this time it will not be possible to turn a 802.11ac wireless station into a 802.11ae station with only a firmware update. The difference is based on hardware, and if the IEEE 802.11ae is finally approved at teh end of the year as expected, products based on 802.11ac might have a very short lifetime. so, this is going to be a fight between the manufacturers on one side and the IEEE and customers on the other side, willing to have a simple and standardized format.

According to the last rumors, Apple certified 7.85" display (1024x768) from different manufacturers, such panels will be used in the forthcoming iPad mini. The production should start in a near future as the launch is expected probably just before or after summer time. With such resolution, the iPad mini will be fully compatible with the iPad 2 native applications. 

According to 

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