Apple has announced via a media alert that it will broadcast live video streaming of its Sept 1 media at apple.com. This is the first time since 2005 that Apple is streaming live its event.

Apple® will broadcast its September 1 event online using Apple’s industry-leading HTTP Live Streaming, which is based on open standards. Viewing requires either a Mac® running Safari® on Mac OS® X version 10.6 Snow Leopard®, an iPhone® or iPod touch® running iOS 3.0 or higher, or an iPad™. The live broadcast will begin at 10:00 a.m. PDT on September 1, 2010 at www.apple.com.

The event is on 10.00am PDT later today (Sept 1) at San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. Check out Apple homepage for the live streaming url when the event goes live.

Apple media alert

The Apple annual media event is tomorrow 10am PT. But we are guessing new iPod touch is not the only products coming in September:

• iPod touch – Apple will definitely announce new iPod touch model tomorrow. Likely specs include what you can expect in iPhone 4: Retina Display, same A4 processor and memory, FaceTime & compatible camera, gyroscope and long lasting battery. We are guessing Apple might add a FM tuner in, so that all iPod models will sport FM tuner build-in. And this one will not have any antenna issue. Will we see a 128G iPod touch this year?

• iPod nano – based on cases floating around the net, iPod nano is predicted to have a square dimension, lose the scroll wheel and sports a touch screen for the interface. This will make it look more like a mini iPod touch than an iPod.

• iPod shuffle – expects similar offering than last generation. Maybe more colors and boost of capacity of up to 8G?

• iPod Classic – we predict there will be no new model. Apple probably will announce an RIP date for the current model.

• iTunes 10 – time is ripe for Apple to release a major upgrade to flagship iTunes.

• Cloud based iTunes – many are eagerly awaiting a cloud based music streaming service from Apple. We predict it is not ready and will not happen during tomorrow’s event. We expect Apple will hold a special event in future just for this cloud base service as it is a game changing business model. But we should see some hints of it in the new iTunes.

• iOS 4.1 – as mentioned, this is predicted to release today, one day before the media event.

• iTV – will Apple release a $99 follow up to Apple TV? All signs and rumors point to a yes answer. This new model will be a diskless and cheaper model with an emphasis on streaming. Many expect it to run a new iOS and be able to run apps. This will probably not the device that will change how we watch TV.

• 99 cents TV rental & iBookstore – 99 cents TV rental is widely rumored by major media. It is interesting to see the scope and selection available for this service. Lets hope there is some announcement too for iBookstore to boost up the book selection.

• iLife ‘11 – some have predicted an announcement of iLife ‘11. We are guessing it is not happening in September. Instead iLife’11 will be announced after iPad get its iOS 4.x release. Apple is likely to unveil new iLife for the Mac together with new version for the iPad. And probably will release a version for iPhone and iPod touch. It is interesting to see if Apple will charge for the upgrade to Pages/Numbers/Keynote for iPad.

• One more thing – Apple probably will announce the availability of white iPhone 4. Many are waiting to buy one in September.

• Surprises – yes we hope there are surprises. Please bring us some Apple.

September comes early for many Apple fans. Apple has just sent out invites to media on a “special event” on September 1 at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater in San Francisco at 10am PT.

The invite image makes it clear that it is a music focus event. We can safely says its the annual September media event which typically sees Apple launching new iPod models.

Besides updates to iPod models, Apple might introduce the rumored iTV, the Apple TV refresh. Many also expect Apple to introduce 99-cent TV show rentals on iTunes. And the one-more-thing could be the eagerly anticipated cloud-based music service from Apple’s purchase of lala.com.

According to Bloomberg, Apple is in advanced talks with News Corp for TV shows rental at 99 cents. And this new service on iTunes will be launched together with new iTV and iPod models on Sept 7 in San Francisco. The said iTV will be a $99 version of Apple TV set-top box with small hard drive capacity with an emphasis on streaming.

Via Bloomberg

[Via electricpig.co.uk]

JailBreakMe is the first iPhone jailbreak that works using just the mobile Safari browser by visiting the website. Turns out that JailBreakMe website is using a PDF font parsing security hole in mobile Safari for the exploit. Apple has issued an statement “We’re aware of this reported issue, we have already developed a fix and it will be available to customers in an upcoming software update.”

We expect Apple to release this security fix with the upcoming iOS 4.1. Apple just released iOS 4.1 Beta 3 to its developers this Tuesday. The final release might appear as soon as next week.

Via CNet

Apple releases bumper crop of products this Tuesday, among them are the iMac and Mac Pro refreshes. Apple Cinema Display has a new 27-inches 16:9 ration model to accompany the new Mac Pro. But attention sure would go to the brand new Apple Magic Trackpad. Apple Magic Trackpad is essentially the multitouch trackpad as found in Apple’s notebook line, made standalone and larger for the desktop. Powered by AA batteries and communicate with the desktop using Bluetooth, Apple Magic Trackpad at $69 replaces the mouse for people who are accustomed to using trackpad. And interestingly, you can now purchase Apple branded AA NiMH battery charger. At $29, Apple Battery Charger comes with six AA NiMH batteries that can last for up to 10 years. Why not make some money and at the same time improve the overall company green effort indicator for industry watchers?

• Apple Magic Trackpad

• Apple Battery Charger

• iMac

• Mac Pro

• Apple Cinema Display

Apple announced that iPad will be available in 9 more countries this Friday, July 23. All iPad models will be available from Apple retail stores and authorized resellers. iPad will roll out to many more countries later this year.

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Apple’s iPhone 4 press conference is today later at 10am PT. Here’s our take on what Apple will announce in this special event:

• Apple starts the show with its stellar than expected iPhone 4 sales figure.

• Apple informs that iOS 4.0.1 released yesterday gives a better indication of signal strength, and drop calls are significantly reduced due to software fix.

• Apple repeats the admission that holding the current iPhone 4 in the wrong way results in reduce signal strength.

• Apple announces that newer batches of iPhone 4 will add a build-in insulator to protect the antenna from being shorted, thus solving the problem.

• As a result, shipment of iPhone 4 will be delayed. Apple announces that second wave of international launch will be postponed from end July to mid August.

• For existing iPhone 4 owners, they can bring their phone back to Apple to add in the insulator fix free of charge. Or they can simply use a bumper to solve the issue.

• Apple emphasizes that as always customer can return their iPhone within 30-days without re-stocking fee if they are not satisfied.

• There is no recall or free bumper.

Apple’s obsession with product secrecy is legendary, if you ignore the recent iPhone 4 leak by Gizmodo. We often rely on the great Apple rumor grapevine to hear about Apple products before the announcements. We are here to contribute with our own prediction and imagination of future Apple products. Please take the following with a grain of salt:

• New iPod touch in September. This is not so much a rumor for the release date as we all know Apple will release a new iPod touch every September. It is already rumored that we will see a 5MP camera, front-facing secondary camera and FaceTime with the new generation iPod touch. We expect the new iPod touch will sport similar hardware with the iPhone 4: A4 processor, bigger ram and battery, wireless-n, gyroscope, retina display, 5MP camera with 720p HD video, front-facing secondary camera.

• iWorks for iPhone. We have seen iBook making its way from iPad to smaller screen iPhone. And there is no reason why there shouldn’t be Pages, Numbers and Keynote for iPhone. If not pairing your bluetooth keyboard with iPhone will be dull.

• iBook on Mac OS X and Windows. iBook will most likely be the fourth Apple applications (after iTunes, QuickTime Player, Safari) that runs on both Mac OS X and Windows. We believe it is essential if Apple wants to compete better with Amazon Kindle.

• Cloud based iTunes. Lala.com is now gone and the whole world is waiting to see what Apple will reveal. We believe Apple will reveal something this year, as Google has mentioned about unveiling its own cloud base music service in late 2010.

• iTV. Google must have some insider info on the new Apple TV when it ventured into the same market with Google TV. It is rumored that the new Apple TV will be priced below $100 and sports a brand new interface. We believe Apple might overhaul this product category by renaming it iTV. It will not be an external box but will be Apple’s venture into home HDTV market, competing with Sony and Samsung. It will have an interface powered by iOS and will run the same Apple Store apps and games. And you can use your iPhone or iPad as touch screen controller for the HDTV as well as games. Essentially Apple hope you can stop buying the Wii and Xbox360,PS3 for non hardcore gamers. There must be reason why Apple build a gyroscope into iPhone 4.

• $1b investment. Apple is rumored to be making a $1b investment soon. Is Apple buying ARM the chip designer as everyone seems to think so? We believe Apple will invest instead in display technology to tie together with its plan for HDTV market as well as controlling the supply chain for its Retina Display in iOS devices. Retina Display is one key differentiating advantage iPhone has over Android phones.

• Mac OS X. Mac OS X is missing in this year’s WWDC. One of the reason is Apple wants developers’ attention on iOS 4. We believe the hidden reason is there is nothing much new in Max OS X as the next version of Mac OS X after Snow Leopard has major changes and is not ready. The next version of Mac OS X will be a code converge with iOS, sporting newer frameworks found in iOS 4, will see some user interface changes and might even be renamed. It will be unveiled in WWDC 2011, release end 2011 or in 2012. And will also be the code base for iOS 5 for iPhone/iPad in 2012. As a result, we expect iOS 5 on iPhone and iPad to have some user interface elements changes. Two area we see Apple focusing on with next Mac OS X is the touch interface frameworks as well as more pervasive integration with the cloud.

• Apps on Mac OS X. Some people might welcome the ability to run those App Store apps on their desktop. Technically it is not hard for Apple to develop an efficient emulator like they did with their SDK. Will this happen with next Mac OS X? We admit it is a wild dream.

• MobileMe.com. Apple is slowly improving their cloud offering and more changes are coming. We believe they are hard at work doing the integration work between MobileMe and iTunes accounts. A more seamless experience will happen once the hurdle is over. iBook currently shows a glimpse of the future with its cloud storage of your iBook bookmarks across multiple iOS devices. iBook is using the iTunes backend. We believe future MobileMe services will behave more like native Apple services.