Two interesting reports came out yesterday, the first from DigiTimes who, citing component manufacturers, claims “that Apple plans to launch at least four upgraded MacBook Pros” in the first half of 2011. These new MacBook Pro’s are also said to feature a slight modification to the chassis, and they will reportedly include the new Mac OS X 10.7 Lion operating system.

Now this rumor sounds pretty realistic, of course Apple is going to release new MacBook Pro’s next year right? My guess is the chassis change will be a general slimming of the case to accommodate for a lighter and more MacBook Air type of enclosure in the Pro lineup. Of course I could be wrong but based on Steve Jobs words, it sounds like the natural progression of the portable line. So that is interesting right? Well I think this next report might be more interesting, and also may end up relating to the MacBook Pro.

CNET is reporting that Intels new Sandy Bridge Quad-Core chips will be making their way into 15″ and 17″ laptops as early as January 2011 at the Consumer Electronic Show expo. See what could be going on here? Judging by the current MacBook Pro 15″ and 17″ models, I think there is a good chance that we’ll see these new Intel Sandy Bridge chips in the next revision of the MacBook Pro lineup. Also interesting to note is that dual-core versions of the Sandy Bridge CPU’s will be available a few months after the quad-core release, so maybe we’ll see the MacBook Pro 13″ finally abandon the Core 2 Duo and make a jump to the new Intel Sandy Bridge CPU as well.

Intel’s new Sandy Bridge processors are expected to bring significantly better performance as well as better power management. Assuming the architecture is adopted by Apple, this should mean more powerful portable Macs with even longer battery life. CNET also expects that NVidia GPU’s will be bundled alongside the Sandy Bridge CPU:

Nvidia’s graphics chips are expected to be used in a number of Sandy Bridge laptops. Most of those systems will use Nvidia’s Optimus technology, which switches between Intel’s integrated graphics and Nvidia’s processor, based on power-saving and performance requirements, respectively.

This would be similar to how MacBook Pro Core i5 and Core i7 models currently operate, switching between the onboard Intel and NVidia GPU’s when needed.

Until there’s anything concrete, treat all of this as rumor and speculation, but it looks like 2011 could be an exciting year for the MacBook Pro line.

The Sudden Motion Sensor is designed to protect your Macs hard drive in the event of a computer being dropped or an unusually strong vibration. Essentially what it does is park the hard drive head when movement is detected, which prevents it from potentially scooting across the disk surface and scratching or otherwise damaging the drive or drive head.

Generally speaking, you will want to always have the SMS sensor enabled, but Apple mentions that certain environments are susceptible to unnecessary drive head parking due to the SMS. Basically the SMS detects a strong vibration and then the hard drive parks which can cause video and music playback issues, amongst other annoyances. This is particularly true with concert halls with strong acoustics, recording studios, dance and night clubs, and even walking workstations (the ones with a treadmill under a standing desk). Also, some owners of SSD drives may want to disable the feature.

Disable Sudden Motion Sensor on a Mac Laptop

This works to disable the Sudden Motion Sensor on the MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, MacBook, PowerBook, and iBook running Mac OS X 10.6 and lower:

• Launch Terminal
• Type the following at the command line: sudo pmset -a sms 0
• Hit return and enter your password

The SMS sensor is now disabled, it’s just as easy to reenable again by changing the zero to a one when you need the protection back:
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Apple may have blown out their stock during the refurb iPad sale but Buy.com still has a few in stock with free shipping.

• Refurbished iPad 16 GB Wi-Fi for $459 with free shipping

I’ll maintain my past advice, getting a refurbished Apple product is a good bargain since Apple products are rarely discounted. That said, you should also buy the AppleCare Extended Warranty which adds an additional 2 years of warranty protection to the iPad. If something ever goes wrong, you’ll really appreciate the coverage.

Apple has released a minor update to iTunes that covers various bug fixes. Here are the release notes from Apple regarding the fixes:

What’s new in iTunes 10.1.1

This release provides a number of important bug fixes, including:

• Addresses an issue where some music videos may not play on Macs equipped with NVIDIA GeForce 9400 or 9600 graphics.

• Resolves an issue where iTunes may unexpectedly quit when deleting a playlist that has the iTunes Sidebar showing.

• Fixes a problem where iTunes may unexpectedly quit when connecting an iPod to a Mac equipped with a PowerPC processor.

• Addresses an issue where some music videos may not sync to an iPod, iPhone, or iPad.

Download iTunes 10.1.1 Update

You can grab the iTunes 10.1.1 update directly from Software Update under the Apple menu, or by going to Apple’s iTunes site.

One of the underused and certainly under appreciated features of Mac OS X are Smart Folders. If you aren’t familiar with Smart Folders, they essentially let you create a virtual folder that uses search operators from Spotlight to let that virtual folder contain any and all files that match the search requirements. Sound confusing? It’s really not, here’s a practical example:

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If you have an SSD on your Mac, listen up. You can replicate TRIM SSD functionality in Mac OS X by using this great tip from one of our readers, here’s Curt explaining: “I just got a MacBook Air and like many others I was surprised to learn Mac OS X doesn’t support TRIM. I found a workaround, here it is:”

Update 2: You can use a third party TRIM enabler tool for Mac OS X 10.6.7 or later, that actually enables TRIM rather than trying to replicate it.

Update / Warning: There have been reports that using this method slows down the SSD’s speed. Excessive writes to an SSD can also limit its lifespan. Until Mac OS X natively supports TRIM, your best bet may be to backup your files, reformat the drive, and then copy the files back to the drive (frustrating, I know). You may wish to read the comments below before trying this out on your own SSD drive. Proceed at your own risk and always have a complete file system backup handy!

• Launch Disk Utility, located in /Applications/Utilities/
• Select your SSD from the left side drive list
• Click on the “Erase” tab (don’t worry it won’t start formatting things)
• Look for and click on the “Erase Free Space” button near the bottom as seen in the screenshot

• Let the “Erase Free Space” function run
• Close Disk Utility when it’s finished

Curt describes how this work as follows: “What this does is write 0’s over previously deleted files, which makes it easier to later write to that block again, this is similar to the TRIM function. Here’s a simplification of how TRIM works for comparison; it clears deleted blocks on the SSD so that they are understood as empty when it’s time to write back to that block. I would recommend using this tip about once a month as a regular system maintenance plan, or after deleting a large amount of files from your SSD.”
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The original Apple logo featuring Isaac Newton and a poem was quite different than the minimalist Apple logo of today. The words around the border read “Newton – a mind forever voyaging through strange seas of thought…alone.” which is quoted from a William Wordsworth poem.

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AirPlay is one of the cooler features of iOS 4.2 that lets you stream video and music from your Mac or iOS hardware to an Apple TV or AirPlay speakers. But wouldn’t it be nice if you could stream AirPlay video from your iPhone or iPad to your Mac? Now you can, thanks to a really cool hack from Erica Sadun of TUAW.

Getting it to work is very easy, you simply download and launch AirPlayer onto the Mac you want to stream video to, and then when you go to AirPlay from your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad, you’ll find your Mac on the list of screens to export it to. It does this by setting up a Bonjour service on the Mac that pretends to be an AppleTV so that your iOS hardware can see it. This would be particularly fun to use on a Mac Mini media center if you have one.

No jailbreak is required but you will need iOS 4.2 and a Mac with Bonjour enabled, it’s free to download so if you want to try this out, you can download it from EricaSadun.com (current version 0.28).

Check out the video below to see AirPlayer in action with an iPhone streaming YouTube to a Mac:
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Amazon is on a roll lately with deals for Apple hardware, and the latest sale item is a $86 discount on the newest unibody Mac Mini for $612.52 with free shipping. Here are the specs: 2.4 GHz Core 2 Duo, 2GB RAM, 320GB hard drive, 8x SuperDrive, NVIDIA GeForce 320M Graphics. Again, this is the newest unibody Mac Mini, model MC270LL/A.

• Newest Mac Mini Unibody for $612 with free shipping from Amazon

This Mac Mini retails for $699 from Apple, Amazon’s discount is a full 12% off the price.

If you want more memory, the Crucial 8GB upgrade deal for $98 is still live and works with the new Mac Mini. Installing RAM on the Mac Mini unibody model is about as easy as it gets, you don’t even need to use a screw driver, the bottom twists off and gives access to the RAM directly.

Combining the 8GB upgrade and the discounted Mac Mini costs a total $717, the exact same setup from the Apple Store is $1199! This is definitely a killer deal.

It’s safe to assume that iPad 2 will have dual cameras, shed some weight, and likely even have a higher resolution screen, but that’s not enough for the rumor mill. The latest claim surrounding the popular tablet is that an unspecified smaller iPad will soon be offered alongside the regular 10″ version. This rumor comes from Reuters, who cites several hardware manufacturers in Asia as their source.

The idea of a 7-inch iPad isn’t particularly new, the rumor circulated earlier in the year and then was publicly shot down by Steve Jobs. This doesn’t mean much, as Reuters notes; “Jobs has a history of throwing Apple watchers off the scent of a good rumor — most famously when he derided the idea of iPods that play videos.”

The Reuters article also cites dual cameras coming to the iPad, which isn’t a surprise when recently leaked iPad 2 case designs clearly show a rear port for a camera.

Does a smaller iPad make sense? In many ways you could argue that the iPod touch is already a mini-iPad, and this feels even more true when you use the iPhone or iPod touch in landscape mode thanks to a jailbreak hack that realigns the iOS GUI to function horizontally. Will Apple create a device that fits between the two devices in screen dimensions? Why not just increase the screen size of the iPod touch and iPhone to 4″ instead? Several Android phones have proven it’s possible to maintain a slim design while achieving a 4″ screen, and just looking at an iPhone and iPod touch you can see where there is room to expand the display. Just a thought.

I generally trust Reuters as a reporting agency, and they certainly have better sources than your average rabbit-in-a-hat Apple rumor fabricator. Nonetheless I am skeptical of this claim, I think it is more likely that the 10″ iPad model will be reborn in a slimmer and lighter enclosure, rich with the features that everyone is now expecting, and some that we aren’t. With an expected early 2011 release for iPad 2, we’ll find out soon enough.

If you want to explore Android OS but you don’t have an Android phone, you can install Android OS directly into a virtual machine on your PC running either Mac OS X, Windows, or Linux. This process is pretty easy and it’s completely free, so if you’re interested in seeing what the biggest iPhone and iOS competitor is like, have a go.

Oh and before you ask, this tutorial is designed for Mac users but the process is identical in Windows and Linux too, so if you’re at work or you don’t have a Mac handy, you can follow along just the same. All of the download links are cross-platform compatible too.
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Amazon has knocked the price of the iPod touch 32 GB down $30 to $269.99, but that’s not all, they’re also throwing in a free $25 Amazon Gift Card with the purchase!

Here’s how to get the deal: Add the iPod touch and the $25 gift card to your Amazon cart, when you go to check out, the gift card will become free:

• iPod touch 32 GB (4th Generation) for $269.99 with free shipping – $30 off, retails for $299
• $25 Amazon.com Gift Card

Free shipping is included with the order, as usual on Amazon. This might just be the best deal on the newest model iPod Touch 32GB model available right now. This offer is only valid until 12/18, so hurry up!

Are you looking to upgrade a Mac’s RAM? You can get a Crucial 8GB RAM upgrade kit from Amazon.com for just $98.63 plus $6.98 in shipping and handling, bringing the total price to $105.61, this is by far the cheapest price I’ve seen for a Crucial 8GB upgrade.

• Crucial 8GB 204-PIN DDR3 (4GBx2) for $98.63 + $6.98 shipping and handling, total $105.61

This 8GB kit will install on any Mac that accepts a maximum of 8GB of 204-PIN 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM, including many MacBook Pro’s, newer MacBook, Mac Mini, and iMac. You’ll want to double-check that it’ll work with your specific Mac, but it should be compatible with most models bought within the last two years.

If you’d prefer Corsair brand RAM, you can get the same 8GB upgrade kit for just $110 including shipping:

• Corsair 8 GB PC3-8500 1066Mhz 204-pin SODIMM – $109.99 with free shipping

If you’re wondering how good of a deal this really is, just take a look at Apple’s RAM prices, they charge up to $500 for an 8GB RAM upgrade on a Mac Mini and $400 for a MacBook Pro:

You may recall from my review of upgrading a MacBook Pro to 8GB of RAM that I think it’s one of the most cost effective ways to get a performance boost out of a Mac, particularly for power users and those who perform memory intensive tasks.

If you aren’t sure whether you’d benefit or not, check out: does my Mac need more RAM?

So you’ve come across a .7z file and you’re on a Mac, what is it and how do you use it? First off, a .7z file is an archive format that stands for 7-zip, you can think of it like any other archive file. By default, Mac OS X does not know how to handle these files, but that’s not a big deal because there’s a freely available app that will open the .7z file for you, offering simple access to extract the 7zip archive and get to the contents.

We’ll walk you through how to open .7z archive files on any version of Mac OS, it’s quick and easy.

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Teenagers are notoriously hard to shop for. To make your holiday shopping a little less stressful this year, here’s a few things that I know teenagers love. Start off with the iPod touch, it is one the most wished for items on Amazon, so it’s a pretty safe bet for the teenager on your list.

• iPod touch 32 GB 4th gen comes with a free $25 Amazon gift card
• iTunes Gift Card
• iPod touch 8 GB
• Flip UltraHD Video Camera 8 GB
• Skullcandy Subwoofer Stereo Headphones
• iPod nano 16 GB

If you plan on giving a child an iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad as a gift, or even for them just to use for a little while, you may want to disable in-app purchases (IAP). This prevents accidental and unintentional purchases, and it can avoid receiving a shocking iTunes account bill down the road when a young one inadvertently taps a bunch of the IAP’s that are becoming more and more common in apps these days.

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You can zoom in and out into any image within Quick Look, the instant image viewer built into the OS X Finder, simply by holding down the “Option” key and then using either a scroll wheel on a mouse, or a two finger up or down swipe gesture on a multi-touch track pad. Scrolling up (or swiping up) while holding the Option key will zoom in to the picture, while scrolling down or swiping down while holding Option will zoom back out of the picture.
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If you’ve got the big gift buying out of the way but that stocking hanging on the mantel is looking a little empty, here are some low-cost techy gift ideas to fill it up.

• Soft Silicone Case for iPod Touch 4th gen
• 15-Item Accessory Bundle for iPod Touch 4th gen
• OtterBox Defender Case for iPhone 4
• splash Masque Screen Protector Film for iPhone 4
• Apple In-Ear Headphones
• iTunes Gift Card