Online site Gizmodo recently scored an interview with an Apple representative who gave insights about the updated line of MacBook Pro that comes with LED-backlit displays. Take note that only the 15-inch models will come with the said display while the 17-inch one comes with 1900-1200 high resolution display.

When asked why the LED displays are not available for both versions, the representative refused to comment. Intriguingly, it has been speculated by some sources before that Blu-ray might be coming to Apple's newest baby. Another concern is that whether the fonts for the Intel Centrino Pro-equipped MacBook Pro will be too small.

The representative commented that "the Custom to Order option for the higher-res screen is geared toward the pro users who need it in the field." Despite these, Apple clarified that the brightness and color range for the new displays will be similar to the previous generation.

Other important details include:

• Battery Life save by the LED Backlighting: 30 minutes to an hour vs. the older models (Including savings from Santa Rosa, so there's no way to distinguish the improvements individually)
• Full brightness warmup: instantly at full brightness, unlike traditional LCDs
• Glossy and Matte finish in all screen sizes and variants
• Hard Drive configs: TK on the perpendicular configs. 200GB at 4200 RPM for the 15-inch, and 250GB at 4200RPM at the 17-inch [I'd rather have the faster drives that are slightly smaller, regardless of impact on battery and storage
• Speakers on the 17-inch have been improved low frequency response

We get to see a candid Steve Job in this ten-minute video interview with the Apple head honcho taken at All Things Digital 2007. It's a rare glimpse of the man who invented the iPod and what he thinks is in store for the company that dared to go up against fellow giant Microsoft.

Steve began the interview by explaining how Apple is trying to become four different things at once, and being pretty good at it: a computer business, a music business, a phone business, and a hobby. He also reported of the recent growth spurt the company's having, quantified as five times the growth of the PC industry.

When asked about the iPhone, it was then that Steve clammed up, playfully avoiding questions about its features and functions. He did let slip a juicy tidbit of information -  the release of the highly-anticipated iPod-slash-cellphone is still slated for late June  which is definitely good news for us who can't wait to get their hands on one.

Still on the subject of what he touts as "the best iPod ever made", Steve promised that owners will receive the Internet as they know it with the iPhone and not the mobile Internet we're made to make do with on our handhelds. He meant the actual, honest-to-goodness Internet we receive every time we log into our computers.

Certainly a tall order, and Steve's confident he'll make good on it. A lot more info in the video itself, so enjoy!

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer was recently interviewed and among the topics discussed was the business in comparison with smaller rival Apple. Ballmer held nothing back when he talked about Apple's prospects.

"There's no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share. No chance," says Ballmer as he talked about the much-anticipated mobile phone entry of Apple.

"It's a $500 subsidized item. They may make a lot of money. But if you actually take a look at the 1.3 billion phones that get sold, I'd prefer to have our software in 60% or 70% or 80% of them, than I would to have 2% or 3%, which is what Apple might get," adds Ballmer.

Mac Daily News pointed out that the outspoken CEO seemed to veer away from the subject of the iPod and the devotion that fans have shown it. "Would I trade 96% of the market for 4% of the market? (Laughter.) I want to have products that appeal to everybody," comments Ballmer.

The Apple iPhone is due out in the second half of this year.

 

Last February, we reported that Wilkes University in Pennsylvania dumped the PC in exchange for Macs. The project, at that time, was expected to cost US$ 1.4 million. Now, Wilkes is speaking out about the switch. Over at Wired, Wilkes' Scott Byers, vice president for finance and general counsel, explained the switch, and what reaction it elicited from students and staff.

Apparently, the staff and students didn't resist the switch to the Mac. He further explained that this generation of students has a great affinity for the Apple brand. The institution has a lot of reasons to switch to the Mac aside from saving money. Byers mentioned that the switch brought about these advantages:

• Allowed the user to choose the desired operating system
• Offered the potential to enhance teaching and learning using AppleÂ?s iLife software
• Created a standard base that our IT department could work with consistently rather than Dells, Gateways, HP and Apples
• Reduced the number of units necessary for campus and the number of units requiring potential service and replacement.

They are also anticipating more campus community support to provide training on the educational benefits of the Apple software. He also expects that a lot of universities and schools would be switching to the Mac since "the switcher approach allows campuses to access both platforms from one unit. Again, I would pose the question why wouldnÂ?t a campus make the switch?"

Sony was the darling of the music world when it came out with the Walkman during the '80s and the 90's, until the iPod came along and Apple dethroned the Japanese multinational corporation. Now, Sony declares that it's learned its lesson and vows not to have the Sony Ericsson lose to the iPhone.

Sony's CEO Sir Howard Stringer admitted in a rare candid interview that he feels rueful about Sony's loss to the iPod. When he took helm in 2005, the company already had a stubborn design philosophy. All divisions were in their "own little worlds", sheltered from one another and interested only in how one of its products trumped another.

Stringer admitted that Sony's been working with IBM on electronic music distribution as early as 1997, and could have came out with a digital music player five years earlier than the iPod. But the music giant couldn't get its people to understand software. As a result, Apple took hold of the industry with its digital media player, the iPod.

However, Sony's CEO believes that the Sony Ericsson versus iPhone battle would be different. The Japanese-Swedish partnership has warmed up to newer ideas, including the concept of music on phones. But they'll never bet against Steve Jobs. In this new phone battle, thinking that your enemy is weak is a weakness itself.

Last week, Namco Networks announced the launch of Ms. Pac-Man for the Apple iPod. Today, we're bringing you a Gaming Bits interview with Scott Rubin, VP of Namco Networks, that gives us all a little peek at what the company has in store for iPod and mobile gamers. Read on for a few snippets.

On iPhone games. According to Rubin, Namco is "without a question one of the handful of game publishers that Apple has chosen to work with." He also noted that the company is also a top partner of Cingular, who will be distributing the iPhone.

"We're one of the few publishers that directly publishes games on almost every wireless platform," said Rubin. "Not just Java phones, but iPods, Sidekicks, Palm, Windows Mobile. If the opportunity is there, we will put our games on the iPhone. It's our mission."

Another big name in the videogames industry that is currently planning to release games for the Apple iPhone is Electronic Arts.

On original IP. "We're Namco," said Rubin. "We've been doing video games for years and we have a library that we're fortunate enough to be able to chose from like Dig Dug and Galaga." That doesn't mean that arcade ports are the only things that Namco will be bringing to the mobile gaming market, though. Rubin points towards two Namco titles, Scene It? Movies for Mobile and Pool Pro Online II, as examples of their original IP offerings.

Rubin also revealed that Namco will be doing "some original games tied to licenses like Snoopy and The Red Baron and a Dilbert title as well."

For the full interview, click on the "read" link below.

At first glance, iDVD is nothing but a massive memory hogger on Mac. But a thorough and complete understanding of the product will prove otherwise. Aside from being a simple DVD creation software application, iDVD is being geared to help broaden the videogame market.

According to industry veteran and Bright Things CEO Dominic Wheatley, he can't help but be reminded of the 80s market whenever he looks at iDVD. His company recently released Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Action Adventure on the said format. The 80s reference can actually be connected to the industry boom and competition influx that happened back then. He explained:

Publisher have told us they're interested in iDVD games because they are non-threatening and accessible and players can win easily. Through this they can get hooked on a character like Lara Croft, and maybe upgrade to a console or PC version. iDVD games could be a great ambassador to the videogame industry by getting game IP into the hands of people who don't usually buy videogames.

Wheatley then compared his company's approach to what Nintendo is doing with the Wii. It is no secret to everyone that the giant videogame company has always been big on revolutionizing the industry through its Wiimote. To this, the CEO reflected:

Nintendo is making a huge amount of noise about widening the market and bringing games to a new audience. The approach of a very easy control method is to dismantle the complexity attached to videogames, and we're part of that movement but in a different direction. What we're trying to do is pioneering and the response so far has been very positive.

Currently, there are only a total of 200 unique iDVD games on shelves. While this is a small number compared to the library of games any handheld or console has, it is still remarkable as there are only 30 iDVd games in total available last year.

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak may not be as visible as Steve Jobs, but when the "other Steve" talks, he sure gets our attention.

The Times Online got Wozniak talking about money, taxes, and why he carries US$ 20,000 cash in his pocket (no typo there, the zeroes are in the right places). While that's one brow-raising statement, we can't blame him for carrying so much moolah because he needs to get his gadget fix. Yes, folks, the 56-year old multi-millionaire is still gadget-crazy, with a certain fixation to Segway scooters, environment-friendly hybrid cars, and plasma televisions. With such high-end toy addiction, it becomes understandable why Woz carries around that much money. That's on top of the credit cards that he use "quite a lot now". It's not hard to tell that Woz is a huge spender, eh?

The Times tried to dig up some financial info from Woz, but unfortunately, he's not quite certain about the status of his investments or how much he earns. He leaves it up to his accountant and broker. But he did say, "IÂ?m an engineer, not a money person, but I do remember using some of the proceeds from selling my Apple stock to buy a house in Scots Valley, California."

It's quite interesting to know that a person of his stature really doesn't keep track of his investments. Perhaps that makes his proposed change in US tax system seem a little bit strange and would make economists cringe: "I would like to see all assets taxed instead, although I think it would save everyone a lot of time and energy if the government just deflated the economy by 1 per cent a year by printing more money. That will never happen, though."

But it's easy to lose track of investments and all "unimportant" tax and government issues when you're just happy with your life, right? That seems to be the case for Woz.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs has been interviewed on CNBC following the September 12 media event in San Francisco concerning the company's latest announcements. Jobs told CNBC that Apple is very happy with its iPod sales and has good expectations for the forthcoming quarters. As far as overall sales are concerned, the Apple CEO said Â?WeÂ?ve never sold this many of anything before, and so weÂ?re learning as we go, but so far weÂ?re pretty happy.Â?

Jobs also commented on the stock-options irregularities on AppleÂ?s finances, and he admitted that Apple did discover some discrepancies but is not facing an SEC probe. Apple are conducting an internal investigation into the finance books, but Jobs added that the internal investigation will be completed within Â? a not terribly distant futureÂ?. Watch the video to see the interview!

The field of available text editors for the Mac has exploded in the past couple of years.  At one time, BBEdit was the only player in town, but those days have faded away.  While it still holds a large and devoted following, the many smaller text editors have chipped away little by little.  Among the larger players threatening BBEdit, are the collaborative SubEthaEdit, and more notedly, TextMate.

TextMate is developed by a single coder named Allan Odgaard who releases many small enhancements on a wonderfully regular basis.  His editor has a simple and elegant interface with muscles to spare under the hood.  You can use it as simply or robustly as you desire, and trust me when I tell you, there'll always be some other feature you haven't yet leveraged or discovered yet.

MacDevCenter has posted a lengthy interview with Allan.  Discussed are his development strategies, drive to keep things on the cutting edge, and more.  If you haven't tried TextMate yet, I'm sure hearing directly from the developer will help push you to give it a shot.