Yesterday several rumors floated about that iPad 2 will be released on March 2 and today invites went out to select members of the press to cover an Apple event scheduled for March 2 at San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center for the Arts at 10:00 am. The invite, sent to Jim “The Beard” Darymple, shows the page of a calendar being torn away from an iPad, leaving little to guess as to what the events intention is.

Now we’re just left to wonder what the iPad 2 specs will be. Most recent reports suggest the iPad 2 will be thinner and lighter with a more powerful CPU and GPU, but maintain the existing iPad screen resolution.

Update: The MacBook Pro 2011 refresh is out, check out specs and prices, all Pro models have been updated.

The MacBook Pro 13″ 2011 refresh hardware specs have been leaked. Most notable is the addition of Core i5 processors to the 13″ lineup, and the new Thunderbolt (Light peak) high speed I/O port that doubles as the Mini-Displayport. Despite the rumors, there is no case redesign.

MacBook Pro 13″ 2011 Refresh Specs

These specs are transcribed from the above image:

• 2.3GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 Processor with 3MB shared level 3 cache
• 4GB of 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM
• 320GB 5400-rpm hard drive
• 13.3″ LED-backlit glossy display at 1280×800 pixels
• Intel HD Graphics 3000 processor with 384MB of shared SDRAM
• FaceTime camera
• Thunderbolt (Lightpeak) port doubles as high speed I/O and Mini-Displayport
• SDXC card slot, Firewire 800 port, two USB 2.0 ports
• Optical audio shared in/out port
• 10/100/1000BASE-T ethernet
• 802.11n WiFi and Bluetooth 2.1
• Backlit keyboard and ambient light sensor
• Size & Weight: 12.78×8.94×0.95 inches, 4.5lbs
• Aluminum unibody enclosure

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A friend called me last night frantic that suddenly Safari had become the default web browser on her Mac again, presumably the change was caused by a software update but nonetheless they were very annoyed since they prefer Chrome and couldn’t figure out how to set it back. If you find yourself in this situation, here’s how to switch back to use Chrome as your full time web browser:

Set Chrome to be the Default Web Browser

• From the Chrome menu, select Preferences
• Click on the “Basics” tab
• At the bottom of the Basics preferences, click on “Make Google Chrome my default browser”

That’s all there is to it, now all links will open in Chrome again.

You can usually set the default browser to whatever you want via the apps preferences, but if all else fails, you can always just set the default web browser in Mac OS X through Safari (yes, you use Safari to set the default even if you choose not to use Safari as the default).

The official version of Minecraft is coming to the iPhone and iOS platform later this year according to developers Mojang. Previously, an unofficial version of the popular game appeared on the app store before being pulled.

If you’ve never heard of Minecraft, it’s a sandbox construction game where what you can build is limited only by your imagination. You create things with boxes that represent different materials and elements in a three dimensional grid, and there’s two gameplay variations, one with monsters that are out to destroy your creation, and the other just a classic build mode. The game has become a runaway hit and is considered by many to be one of the best indie game releases of all time.
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Update: iPad 2 has been announced! The ship date is March 11 for USA, and March 25 for some international customers.

Not only is a MacBook Pro refresh due out in the very near future, but the iPad 2 is scheduled to be released next week as well, according to a report from AllThingsDigital. Citing “several sources close to the situation,” AllThingsD claims event invites will be sent out soon and that the date is “confirmed” (by who remains unclear).

The report suggests the event will be held at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, the centers calendar reveals that no events are scheduled for Wednesday March 2:

“There are no programs on Wed, March 2, 2011. The next day with upcoming programs is Thu, March 3, 2011.”

Several other nearby dates have no scheduled events listed either, so this doesn’t really provide much proof of anything.

It seems a little strange for Apple to have two major product releases within just a few days of each other, since the iPad 2 would clearly take the limelight off a significant MacBook Pro update. Maybe this means the MacBook Pro update won’t be as significant as many had hoped?

Update: New York Times and Reuters have chimed in with their own sources saying March 2 is the release date of iPad 2.

Update 2: This is all but confirmed, as event invites have been sent out for an iPad event on March 2.

You can quickly add dates to your iPhone calendar by just tapping on any date in the iPhone Mail client. Tap on the date, tap on “Create Event” and you’ll be taken to Calendar app where you can set the specifics.

I’ve used this feature for a while, but one of our readers sent this tip in with a suggestion: email yourself dates for quickly adding them to your calendar. Not a bad idea at all!

As most modern OS’s go, Mac OS X is generally pretty intelligent with how it prioritizes processes. That said, if you want to give any running task an extra kick in the pants, you can use a free tool called Process Renicer. Launching the app gives you a task manager of sorts where you can double-click on any running process and then adjust it’s “nice” value to increase it’s CPU priority. The app is basically just a GUI frontend to the command line tool ‘renice’ which is generally for advanced users.

Giving any task a lower nice value will up it’s priority, and giving it a higher nice value will lower it’s CPU priority. This sounds paradoxical, but that’s just the way it works.

Most users won’t need an app like this, but if you want to push along a video conversion for your iPhone or something similar, you can do so. Remember that if you adjust the nice process downward dramatically, your CPU load is going to go through the roof and ignite your fans.

ProcessRenicer is a free download from developer EOSGarden.com

Rumors of a MacBook Pro 2011 refresh are absolutely on fire at this point, and now Apple’s very own online store is showing a shipping delay of 3-5 days for any MacBook Pro order online. This is the strongest indicator yet of an imminent product update, since Apple rarely has a shipping delay on existing products.

Release Dates of MacBook Pro 2011 Refresh: Thursday February 24 or Tuesday March 1?
There are two likely dates of the MacBook Pro refresh, one is this Thursday, February 24, which also happens to be Steve Jobs birthday, and the other is Tuesday, March 1. Apple traditionally releases new products on Tuesdays, but a 3-5 day shipping delay more closely matches with a release this Thursday. Of course, being rumors, it’s possible both days will pass without any product update.

Timeline of the MacBook Pro 2011 Refresh Rumors
It all started with reports from several EU resellers that their existing MacBook Pro inventory had dried up, and then an Intel ad appeared that sparked a slew of speculation and mockups suggesting the next MacBook Pro would have a significant chasis redesign. This was followed up with BestBuy’s internal inventory showing new model numbers and prices. Finally, this weekend, BestBuy.com slipped up and posted SKU’s and prices for five new MacBook Pro models before removing them from their public website.

Adding all of this together and the evidence certainly looks overwhelmingly in favor of an impending MacBook Pro refresh. The question now is whether or not the updated models will feature the same aluminum unibody enclosure that existing models have, or if a significant chasis redesign is in order, taking cues from the MacBook Air, and perhaps even resembling the Mac-like laptop appearing in the recent Intel ad.

You can instantly change file permissions in Mac OS X without getting your hands dirty in the command line. All you need to do is access the “Get Info” panel for the file in question:

• Select the file or app in the Finder you want to edit permissions for
• Hit Command+i to “Get Info” about the selected file (or go to File > Get Info)
• At the bottom of the Get Info window, you’ll see “Sharing & Permissions”, select the arrow to drop down the options
• Adjust permissions per user: read and write, read only, or no access

When you’re finished setting permissions and privileges, close the Get Info window and the changes take effect immediately.

One of our readers pointed out that you can use Get Info to adjust file permissions on remote files using the Mac OS X built-in FTP client, which is pretty convenient if you’re without a separate FTP app.

Generally speaking, if you’re not sure what to set, you shouldn’t mess around with file permissions since it can change the way a file or application responds.

If you need to rename a folder in iOS, all you need to do is tap and hold on the folder you wish to change until you see the screen above. Once the white text box appears at the top of the folder, just type in the new name and then hit your iPhone‘s home button to lock in the name change.

Pretty simple tip right? For those of us who have been using iOS for a while, this is common knowledge, but a friend of mine just got the Verizon iPhone 4 (Android switcher!) and this was one of the first questions they had for me.

Whether you are new or old to the iPhone, we have plenty more iPhone tips, so check them out!