It’s official we just switched hosts and our new name is Techiejunk.com! Please update your bookmarks. A little dude called Peter came along and wants to help out writing and bought us a nice domain!

So please visit us from there now on, and it’ll take a little while while we get all the content moved over, if we do? thoughts?

Thanks!

-Daniel

With the 2008 Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) beginning next week, MacRumors provides this Rumor Roundup as a summary of major rumors circulating around the Mac Web before the big event(previous roundups: 2007, 2006).

The 3G iPhone

The 3G iPhone will be announced at WWDC 2008. There really can be no doubt. It’s certainly been no secret that the iPhone will eventually adopt 3G technology. When Steve Jobs first introduced the iPhone in January 2007, he specifically said (video clip) that Apple plans on making “3G phones and all sorts of amazing things in the future”. Fast forward to the today (aka “the future”) and there’s been a growing mountain of evidence that we will see the 3G iPhone on Monday. In fact, as early as March we felt there was enough evidence to recommend people wait to buy an iPhone because of the likely June release. 

Since March, we’ve heard “confirmation” from multiple sites (Gizmodo, GeekSugar) that June 9th is launch day. Add to that the fact that the Apple Store has been out of iPhones for a month as additional evidence that the iPhone revision is on its way. Apple has also been adding 3G preferences to their latest iPhone 2.0 beta software.

Meanwhile, AT&T has been kind enough to complete their 3G rollout by June and prohibit their staff from taking vacation between June 15th and July 12th in preparation for an “exciting Summer Promotional Launch”. 

Apple has also lined up carriers from around the globe, including Japan, Spain, Hong Kong, Australia and many more — with some of the countries only having 3G networking support.

GPS, Video Conferencing, Price, and Case

The remainder of the specifications of the next generation iPhone are, of course, harder to pin down. In fact, we dedicated an entire story to sorting out the conflicting rumors about the 3G iPhone. In the end, the presence of two or more distinct models of iPhone would help resolve all the apparent contradictions between the rumor sets. 

The most consistent rumor regarding the 3G iPhone, however, has been of the inclusion of GPS. First word of this rumor actually came from a Kevin Rose tweet in late March. Engadget’sRyan Block added more credibility to the rumor by citing a “trusted source” describing a 3G capable iPhone that incorporates GPS and is “only slightly thicker”. Since that time there have been other sources (Fortune/Mortiz, Cult of Mac/Kahney) also describing the inclusion of GPS. In fact, the only dissenting opinion about the inclusion of GPS comes from MacScoop who specifically claimed this week that the 3G iPhone would not have GPS capabilities… unless “there is a second super-secret higher-end model,” again invoking the multiple iPhone theory.

The feature with the least evidence to support it is the one of Video Conferencing. Curiously, Kevin Rose was again the first source of this rumor, with a mention on Diggnation (Youtube Clip) that the iPhone would come with a front-mounted video camera specifically for video chat. A French newspaper later also listed “video conferencing” along with GPS and Mobile TV functionality in the upcoming phone, but the accuracy of their sources is unknown. Adding the most fuel to this rumor was iLounge’s leaked case specs reportedly provided to 3rd party iPhone case manufacturers for the fabrication of 3G iPhone cases. The description of a 3rd sensor beyond the current ambient light and proximity sensor was enough to keep the dream alive. Tonight, however, Engadget’s Ryan Block claims that his source with first-hand knowledge of the 3G iPhone explicity said “no front-facing videoconferencing camera”. 

Photo from iPodObserver

Regarding the rumored price of the iPhone, this time Kevin Rose was only the second person to claim there would be a $200 iPhone. He was preceded byFortune/Mortiz and followed by Cult of Mac/Kahney. There has been ongoing speculation that Apple and their carrier partners may start offering subsidies for the iPhone. There have been few other reports that have addressed price specifically, except a Page 2 rumor pointing to much higher pricing ($499, $699). 

Finally, on case design. Case design rumors have been remarkably consistent over time, though this could be a self fulfilling phenomenon. iPodObserver posted an early black-backed plastic case which generated a lengthy debate. As it turns out, the case closely resembled a 3rd party case cover casting doubts on its authenticity. The basic design, however, was revisited when Engadget also claimed the 3G iPhone would indeed sport a glossy black back. This was later corroborated by iLounge in their claimed case design specifications. Naturally, the case design descriptions spawned a number of potential 3G iPhone case designs that were “leaked” on the internet. Random leaks of case designs on the internet (1, 2, 3), however, are rarely authentic, and typically represent fan-inspired designs. Though, during this round, there did appear to be a couple of possible case designs (XSKN, Griffin) that were remarkably consistent with leaked specs. 

iPhone, iPod Touch Firmware 2.0

Apple first announced the upcoming 2.0 firmware at their iPhone Software Roadmap event in March. iPhone 2.0 Firmware and the iTunes App Store are expected to be the focal points of the keynote presentation at this developer’s conference. Immediate availability of the software and the launch of 3rd party applications has been rumored despite Apple’s promise for delivery by the end of the month.

Leaked and rumored features include geo tagging photos, over the air iTunes downloads, Japanese keyboards, Chinese handwriting recognition, sideways calculator, and push .Mac email.

.Mac, Me, Mobile Me

Lately there have been strong hints of a .Mac revamp to be announced at WWDC, perhaps inclusive of a name change. TUAW was first to claim that Apple’s .Mac service would see a “complete revamp” with over the air syncing enhancements, .Mac syncing with Windows and the addition of “push email”. Apple themselves revealed that they were planning on changing the name of .Mac in strings hidden within their operating system. References to “MobileMe” found in the iPhone SDK and some internet investigation revealed that Apple has likely purchased Me.com as the new name of their .Mac service.

Mac OS X 10.6 ‘Snow Leopard’

TUAW first reported that Mac OS 10.6 would be introduced at WWDC with a focus on security, stability, and performance. Arstechnica later revealed that 10.6 is code-named “Snow Leopard” and also expects the software to be Intel-only and released in January 2009. Despite some early doubts about the validity of this rumor, it appears that multiple sources have confirmed these rumors. The timeframe also falls in line with comments by Steve Jobs regarding their plan to continue Mac OS X updates every 12-18 months.

Other Possibilities

Despite persistent rumors about a tablet device from Apple, there have been few credible rumors that have pinpointed an Apple tablet release at WWDC. Rumors of the mini-tablet wererevived by Appleinsider in September of 2007 and the most recent rumors from Jason O’Grady point to a fall release.

Coverage

The WWDC 2008 keynote begins at 10am Pacific on Monday, June 9th, 2008.

MacRumors will be providing live keynote coverage at MacRumorsLive.com as well as SMS, Twitter and iPhone updates. We also offer a Spoiler Free option for those who wish to wait until the video is posted to watch the keynote themselves.

So word on the street (literally) is that a large number of people are queuing in line outside of Apple’s flagship store on 5th Avenue in New York City (see above) — keep in mind the Cube is open 24 hours a day. Our intrepid girl-on-the-scene reports that the group is more than 60-deep, though most people seem confused about what they’re waiting for, while some believe they’re actually camping out for a 3G iPhone. Meanwhile, Apple reps tell us they’re crowd-controlling iPhone buyers because otherwise they would be “screaming” at employees and clogging up the store. See what happens when you get short on stock? More pics after the break. (From Engadget)

We all suspected it, but now it is confirmed: someone very, very close to the 3G iPhone launch has told me that Apple will announce their new model at the WWDC Keynote on June 9th. The second-generation iPhone will be available worldwide right after the launch, and not at year’s end, as previously thought. The new model will also herald new sales policies in some countries.

In Spain, for example, the 3G iPhone will be available for sale at the June 18th grand opening of Telefonica’s megastore—an Apple Store-like shop located in the company’s historical building in Madrid’s Gran Vía— with nationwide availability the next day or after a few hours. The other European countries with iPhone availability will have similar launch schedules.

According to another source involved in the launch, the 3G iPhone will no longer be available at a fixed price point—at least in some countries, and its launch will also bring new sales policies, although these have not been completely specified yet.

The move is a logical step, since the iPhone has clearly solidified its positionas the cellphone to beat during the last 12 months, and companies in the cutthroat European cellphone market need to use it as an incentive to capture clients aggressively.

This most probably means the new 3G iPhone will be integrated in the usual marketing systems of carriers, with point-based trade-ups, discounts for carrier switchers and other service-based subvention packages.

Macs may be more expensive, and Mac users more elitist (ahem), but blind Apple loyalty aside, there are a number of neat features bundled into your Mac that make it super useful and fun. We’ve covered dozens of Mac tips over the years in these pages, but today we’re highlighting 10 lesser-known Mac tricks that come baked into Leopard. From pure eye candy to outright productivity-boosters, read on to get reminded of some of the more obscure things you can do with your Mac, fresh out of the box.

10. Say anything.

Turn on your speakers, launch Terminal and type:

Yes, your Mac speaks. If you’ve got a text file you want your Mac to read to you, try:

9. Show off Stacks and Expose in slow motion.

Pretend you’re Steve Jobs showing off Leopard’s incredible graphics capability on the big stage with a press of the Shift key. Hold down Shift and click on one of your Dock’s Stacks, or hit F12 to invoke Dashboard—and watch the action happen in slow motion.

8. Activate screen corners.

Assign actions to each corner of your desktop by activating screen corners. In System Preferences, Expose & Spaces, set actions for each corner of your desktop. Then, perform those actions with a swipe of the mouse. (original post)

7. Display custom hard drive icons.

ID your digital camera card, USB drive, and external FireWire drive at a glance in Finder. Assign custom icons to each one of your drives to pretty up your desktop and make them easy to see.

6. Look up words in the dictionary with a keystroke.

Highlight any word in a native Cocoa app and press Apple+Ctrl+D to look it up in the built-in OS X dictionary and thesaurus.

5. Launch applications from Spotlight.

If Quicksilver ain’t your cup of tea—or you just use it to start applications—Spotlight can do that for you without running another application. Simply set Spotlight to include Applications in its search results, invoke it with the (default) keyboard shortcut, Cmd+Space, type your app name and hit Enter to launch it.

4. Tab between all controls.

By default your Mac’s Tab key doesn’t move between controls on a page or form other than text boxes and lists. Click the “All Controls” radio button at the bottom of the Keyboard & Mouse pane in System Preferences to right this wrong.

3. Zoom WAY in on a page.

Examine small text up close or just zoom in on a huge image by using the two-finger trackpad trick. Hold down the Control key, then drag TWO fingers up your Mac’s trackpad to give it a try. Here’s how to set up two-finger zoom. For more “holy crap look at that” tomfoolery, press Ctrl+Cmd+Opt+8.

2. Show the date on the menubar.

If you need more than just the current time in your Mac’s menubar, you can add the date as well. Here’s how to edit your date and time format to keep yourself from having to click the time whenever you want to see what day of the month it is.

1. Double as an external drive.

Want to move huge files onto one Mac from another? Using the Mac’s “Target Disk Mode,” a press of the T key during startup transforms your Mac into an external FireWire drive. Plug it into another Mac with a FireWire cable and copy files to and fro, no networking required.
For more Mac fun, don’t miss our twenty useful Leopard downloads, and Leopard power tweaks.

Despite the fact that most of you prefer XP to Vista and would rather Microsoft extended XP’s shelf-life, several new and improved features available in Vista would be great to have in XP. This new functionality may not be enough to get you to switch to Vista, but that doesn’t mean you’re out of luck. Let’s take a look at a few ways you can incorporate Windows Vista’s best features into your current XP PC for free.

We’re going to focus on Vista’s small and large features that are missing from XP, separated into three categories: applications, functional, and aesthetic (e.g., transparency is aesthetic, the new start menu search is functional). This list is not exhaustive, but it does cover the features readers feel make Vista worth it.

Bring Vista’s Best New and Improved Apps to XP

First, aside from some of the small operating system improvements we’ll go into below, Vista also bundles up a few new and improved applications worth mentioning.

A Better Explorer: Windows Explorer is one of the most improved applications in Vista, thanks to added features like breadcrumb navigation, better file previews, and more. There are a few add-ons that add some of these better functional adjustments to Explorer, but in general XP users might want to consider replacing XP’s Explorer altogether with something like Xplorer2 (original post) or significantly beefing it up with a tool like QT TabBar (original post). You can also get that saucy breadcrumb navigation alone with Explorer Breadcrumbs (original post).

Encrypt Your Hard Drive: Some versions of Vista—toward the Ultimate end of the scale—come with a new drive encryption software called BitLocker built in. If you’re keen on security and encryption but you want to stick with XP, check out the free, open source TrueCrypt (original post). If you need a little help getting started, check out our guide to encrypting data with TrueCrypt.

Take Quick and Easy Screenshots: PrtScrn has been around forever, but it’s never been the most user-friendly way to get a screenshot. In Vista, Microsoft threw in a screenshot utility called the Snipping Tool. Fact is, if better screenshots are important to you, there are gobs of excellent free screenshot apps available for XP like Screenshot Captor (original post), Clip2Net (original post), and Jing (original post), among many others.

Bring Vista’s Best Functional Features to XP

Task-Switching à la Flip 3D: Vista’s Flip 3D is like Alt-Tab on steroids, displaying full previews of each window as you move through it. To a large extent it’s eye candy, but it can also be really useful in finding the right window when you’re switching from your keyboard. Freeware applications like Shock Aero 3D (original post) and WinFlip bring the same 3D shuffling (and then some, in the case of WinFlip) to to your XP desktop.

Integrated Start Menu Search and Launch: Dubbed Instant Search by Microsoft, this new feature adds a search box to the Windows Start menu for quick searching and launching of documents and applications. If you want to port this same functionality to XP, you can do so with apps like ViStart (original post) or Vista Start Menu (original post)—an extraordinarily beefed up version of the Windows Start menu. Then again, if you’re not stuck on the notion of a search-and-launch box built directly into the Start menu, you can’t go wrong with Launchy or Google Desktop Search.

Replace the Windows Sidebar: Third-party tools similar to Windows Sidebar and Gadgets pre-dated Vista, so you can trade in desktop real estate for the same functionality with SideSlide (original post) or the Google Desktop Sidebar.

Live Thumbnail Previews of Files: Vista does a nice job of providing thumbnail previews to most image files and even text files, and while XP does have similar functionality, it’s not as advanced as Vista’s. Freeware application Xentient Thumbnails (original post) creates live thumbnails for virtually all images, and if you want a more intimate look at the innards of text and other files without opening them, check out InfoTag Magic (original post).

Speed Up Your System with a Thumb Drive: Windows ReadyBoost speeds up your performance by using a USB thumb drive as system memory, and while nothing beats an actual RAM upgrade, XP users can check out eBoostr (original post) to bring the same functionality to XP.

Streamline Your File Renaming: Microsoft got smart in Vista and changed the behavior when you hit F2 to rename a file, selecting only the name of the file and leaving the extension alone. For a very simple integration of this feature into XP, check out the Better Rename utility. Alternately, if you feel like adding this feature and beefing up Windows Explorer on top of that, you can get the same renaming behavior in Xplorer2 (original post) or QT TabBar (original post).

Taskbar Window Previews: If you like how Vista offers handy little thumbnail previews of windows when you hover over their taskbar item, freeware application Visual Tooltip (original post) brings the same goods to XP.

Give XP that Vista Look

Ultimately, despite all the little feature improvements Vista can throw your way, a new operating system’s biggest selling point is often the eye candy—in Vista’s case, Aero. There are a lot of tools available that can help you theme XP to look more like Vista, though often users of such applications see mixed results, so proceed at your own risk.

Probably the most comprehensive XP-to-Vista tweaker is the Vista Transformation Pack, which transforms everything from the Start menu and Control Panel to icons.

For a less full-on approach, you could try out skinning utility Uxtheme Patcher with one of several themes from art web site deviantART (like this one or this one) to make XP look and feel more like Vista.

If Microsoft follows the same schedule it did last year, the Spring system update for the Xbox 360 should be right around the corner. Today, an alleged and wholly unconfirmed list of changes included in the “Q2 2008″ update was sent to us, supposedly forwarded from an internal source. The full list—which is after the jump—features about 80 new feature additions, tweaks and changes but was purported to be incomplete and subject to change.

Some are simply interesting as curiosities, such as an option to purchase Xbox Live memberships for charities and the addition of a Media section for audio delivered through feeds, such as podcasts. Others sound more feature robust, such as Windows Live Mail integration and an expanded “Inside Xbox” with news, weather, entertainment, help and community features.

Perhaps the most interesting additions are “Calibration options for motion sensor devices” for the Dashboard and “Support for titles to store installation data on Storage Device for faster loading” for Games. If true, the former would lend further credibility to frequent rumors that Microsoft is planning to introduce a motion controller for the Xbox 360. The ability to store installation data on a hard drive—as is done with some PlayStation 3 games—would certainly be a welcome option, if that’s how the wording should be interpreted. Continue on for the full list of rumored updates.

Xbox LIVE
1. Option to delay sign-in to Xbox LIVE upon booting console (to allow user to set Online Status).
2. Option to promote Child Account from Family Settings.
3. Disallow Child Accounts (over 1 to override Family Settings by launching Privacy Settings through a title.
4. Option in Family Settings for Child Accounts to enable child-oriented/non-mature advertisements.
5. Introduce a group chat (4) for Private Chat and conferences through Video Chat.
6. Support to indicate media being watched to gamercard status (video content from Marketplace only).
7. Extend height for Bio field in Personal Profile, easier navigation through text.
8. More fields present in Personal Profile - recent achievements, interests, games, movies, links, custom section.
9. Compact Personal Profile for new fields (navigating to field will open it up).
10. Mandatory option to delete duplicate titles from gamercard (excludes Games for Windows - LIVE). User disconnected from Xbox LIVE when booting any title until action complete.
11. Option to remove payment information from gamertag.
12. New payment methods for international users.
13. Download History on Account Management better organized - games, genre, type, download date, miscellaneous.
14. Long descriptions of items on Marketplace can be scrolled using right stick.
15. Better organization of free content on Marketplace.
16. Option to ‘ping’ when testing connection.
17. Allow re-connection to Xbox LIVE if Ethernet cable is re-inserted whilst powered on.
18. New strip colors available to developers, staff gamercards.
19. New corner icon available to ambassadors.
20. Re-introduce Messages button for Inside Xbox updates only.
21. Option to store up to 10 messages permanently on server (excludes invites, status messages).
22. Increase character limit for text messages between friends only.
23. Option to disable invites from non-friends or all players.
24. Option to disable invites from titles not on gamercard (excludes demos).
25. Option to have smaller items moved up in Active Downloads.
26. Automatically re-connect to Xbox LIVE if disconnected unexpectedly (set intervals).
27. Option to download gamer picture (if available) from a gamercard being viewed.
28. Display random tips to replace static text on Xbox LIVE and Games blades.
29. New button on Marketplace for optional dashboard features - uses Storage Device memory.
30. Option to donate Microsoft Points to anybody with a Windows Live ID.
31. Option to purchase Membership for charities (includes benefits).
32. Integrate file-sharing for selected titles on Xbox LIVE and Games for Windows - LIVE.
33. Disable notifications to friends of user repeatedly signing into service (set period).
34. Option to see ’snippet’ of text message in notification.
35. Windows Live Mail integration - includes support for Xbox LIVE Vision.
36. Web feeds integration - text, images, audio. Includes support for specific item codes on Marketplace.
37. Option to display gamer picture or standard picture as display picture in Windows Live Messenger.
38. Support for headset, Xbox LIVE Vision in Windows Live Messenger.
39. Support for limited ‘winks’ that display on dashboard interface. Option to disable ‘winks’ and ‘nudges’ added.
40. Notifications separate from Windows Live Messenger to Xbox 360 notifications.
41. Disable multiple languages from being used in any Xbox LIVE editable fields.

Games
1. Option to delete titles from gamercard with 0 gamerscore and 0 achievements (excludes some titles that will be re-added to launch another title).
2. Organize My Games at the Games Library section better (includes disc-based titles) - sort by genre, platform (Games for Windows - LIVE), percentage completion.
3. Support to display friends leaderboards for disc-based titles.
4. Show dates of an achievement unlocked when comparing.
5. Preload Games Library upon dashboard bootup for faster access.
6. Game updates now shown as items in Memory, increased amount of updates on Storage Device.
7. Option to delete game updates, removed ‘cheat code’ as no longer needed.
8. Support for more titles to display banner when accessing guide in-game.
9. Option to re-introduce awarded gamer pictures from titles that do not have their own re-introduce feature (requires saved game).
10. Disable gamer pictures from being awarded from trials.
11. Support for titles to store installation data on Storage Device for faster loading.
12. Synchronization to achievements offline/online that were deleted and then re-added from developers.

Media
1. Option to hold LT and RT for rewinding/fast-forwarding video content.
2. Option to delete individual music tracks from storage device.
3. Option to rip music CD at different quality.
4. Copy non-protected files (pictures, music, videos) from USB storage devices, CDs and computers to proprietary storage devices.
5. Support for menu, top-menu features on video content downloaded from Marketplace.
6. Section added for audio delivered through feeds (podcasts). Option to stream, download to Storage Device.
7. Support added for video titles/description to gamercard status.

Dashboard/Miscellaneous
1. Option to navigate quickly out of several menus back to respective blade home (applies to Games, Media, System).
2. New blade trim styles added.
3. Introduce expanded Inside Xbox as a portal to news, weather, entertainment, help and community features.
4. New sounds for various functions (notifications, blades, navigation).
5. Calibration options for display/sound.
6. Calibration options for motion sensor devices.
7. New effects for Xbox LIVE Vision and dashboard background.
8. Disable changing of Theme when on Memory to prevent ‘hanging’.
9. Preload recent, limited items upon dashboard bootup on Memory.
10. Faster loading of Themes section on guide.
11. Option to see what items will not work offline due to DRM license changing from Memory.
12. Option to automatically associate new DRM to items downloaded for free.
13. Indicate ‘charging’ status on guide when Play & Charge kit is connected.
14. Option to change text colors on guide to better contrast some backgrounds.
16. Language improvements.
18. Word censor updated for fields.
19. Privacy Settings/Family Settings updated for new features.
20. Voice, picture messages can be read at Xbox.com (Gold accounts).

When we contacted Microsoft to verify the authenticity of the list, we were told “We don’t comment on rumors or speculation, but what we can tell you is we’ve never seen this list before.” Obviously, consider this rumor and/or speculation for now, especially in light of the official statement and the clearly unofficial sourcing of this information.

If we hear anything more concrete, anything straight from the source, we’ll let you know.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBV1pqzAEuI

In his defense, he was on drugs.

Wow. Anyone here play soccer besides me? What pos.?