Apple displays and redesigns for the Intel Mac Pro are just a couple of the hot Apple-related rumors on the Arpanet, uh, I mean internet today. Let's take a look at the Mac Pros first.

LoopRumors reports that the Cupertino-based company is planning to redesign the Intel Mac Pro - which suffered a slowdown since Adobe's Creative Suite 3 is not available as a universal binary - both internally and externally.

The new machine is said to be "smaller, and 'significantly faster' than the current offerings" and will feature a cooling system that will "direct hot air through vents at the top of the machine, much like Apple's Cube of yesteryear."

A lot of Apple fans have scoffed at this last feature though. If you may recall, a lot of people messed up their Cubes by putting stuff on top of them, causing the Cubes to overheat.

New Apple displays, which have been talked about for quite some time now, are also reportedly being prepped for production. Says LoopRumors, the new displays are expected to in sizes of up to 50 inches (!!!). The new displays are said be even thinner, with a "lighter design" and "more mobility." No idea how Apple's going to squeeze mobility out of a 50-incher, but we're very interested to see what happens.

From the same guys who brought you Ubuntu right on your OS X desktop, a new guide tackles installing the PC newest flagship OS, Vista Ultimate, into your very own Mac box - more appropriately, your MacBook Pro.

Now the capability of Apple's newer systems to run Windows isn't new news: Apple's move to Intel has made that possibility a lot easier to imagine.

But installing Windows instead of OS X is a lot different from installing Windows on OS X. Simplehelp presents a step-by-step guide for installing an OS over another OS, using a nifty little Virtual Machine (VM) software, called Parallels Desktop for OS X.

It was done before, yes, but this time it's the monster pack Ultimate that gets touchy-feely with its Apple side. Of course, there are problems that will ensue from installing Vista Ultimate on Mac (including hardware requirements).

So run over to the "Read" link and see how to do it. Remember, you will need Parallels Desktop and any Mac similar to a MacBook Pro, so the procedures will pretty much stay the same.

When Apple and Intel joined forces to revolutionize computing, lots of consumers and Mac aficionados couldn't help but feel good about it. And it seems that former, longtime Intel honcho, Leslie Vadasz, is just one of those people who's beaming about that partnership. Why is that, you may ask?

Going over Digg, we found an interesting tidbit about Intel's Les and MacBooks. Apparently, when he was asked by someone if "he finally got to buy the computer youÂ?ve always dreamed of having, now that thereÂ?s Intel inside?", Les replied with a direct "you're god damn right!". Feel free to take a look at our image.

Now that's a convincing endorsement.

Gaming on a Mac? Why, yes. According to TransGaming and nVidia, that's exactly what they're planning to do. In a recent press release, TransGaming announced that they will be teaming up with nVidia to bring top-tier video games to the Intel-based Macintosh platform using the former's Cider portability engine in conjunction with the latter's CgFX graphics system.

If you're a gamer who just happens to have a Mac, this is kind of like a match made in heaven. TransGaming's Cider technology effectively eliminates the time and expense of porting Windows games to the Mac. Today's video games deliver immersive graphics and gameplay using high-level shader language (HLSL) technologies pioneered by nVidia.

Through this collaboration, Cider can now run high-level shaders created for Microsoft's Direct3D platform using the nVdia CgFX framework. To accomplish this, both companies have worked together to improve Cg in several areas, ranging from Effect (.fx) file compatibility through to performance, resulting in the ability to release more high-end games on the Mac with Cider.

No word yet on what games could possibly make their way to the Mac, but we're expecting some pretty big names to start joining the bandwagon.

   

So what would happen if you installed Vista on a Mac Pro and ran OS X alongside it? This is possible with the use of a hardware emulator, Parallels Desktop.

After discovering that Vista runs faster than OS X on an Intel Mac Pro, the guys at Gizmodo got curious about how the two operating systems would do when running side by side. They installed Vista on their MacBook Pro and waited to see what happens. It worked, but with assorted problems.

They encountered problems with Vista support in Parallels - describing it as "still quite developmental" - and Aero graphics which was explained by Parallels' inadequate graphics card support. Networking problems (the complete non existence of it) were also encountered. They tried getting a Windows Experience Index score but their plan to compare scores were botched by an error pop up window.

Parallels isn't perfect - atleast not yet. We'll see how it goes in the near future when Parallels updates their Beta. Stay tuned.

Good news!!! Previously a rumor, AppleInsider confirms that the Wi-Fi card in your Apple Intel-based Core 2 Duo iMac IS 802.11n ready! This means your stylish, spankin' Apple desktop can enjoy all the benefits of next-generation Wi-Fi connection! The catch? You owe Apple five bucks (or US$ 4.99, to be exact). Either that or get the new AirPort Extreme Base Station, itself 802.11n-enabled. Do that however, and you'll owe Steve Jobs ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY NINE BUCKS for the AirPort and the 802.11n. Take your pick.

Yes, Virginia. Apple has been quietly shipping your iMacs to you with such advanced capabilities, without telling you about it. To enable it, though, will require a patch that will begin shipping next month when the new AirPort comes out. But why the nominal five dollar fee? (But the cheapskate in this writer replies: Nominal my butt!)

AppleInsider offers an explanation from iLounge editor Jeremy Horwitz, based on talks with Apple reps. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act prohibits companies from selling products without advertising their features, and there are financial/accounting penalties for doing so. 802.11n was unadvertised, but as AppleInsider confirmed, it's there, in the box, and all ready but for one measly patch.

The five dollars (or five dollars from the US$ 179 of Uncle Sam's notes) might be part of that accounting penalty - to balance the books, so to speak. If it didn't collect the additional fee for the unadvertised next-gen Wi-Fi feature, Apple could be held liable for improper accounting, Horwitz says.

Hey, no one wants an Enron - even over five dollars a patch.

MicrosoftÂ?s Macintosh Business Unit unveiled details about Office 2008 productivity tools for Mac, which will ship in the second half of 2007. Office 2008 for Mac, which runs natively on both PowerPC- and Intel-based machines, shares some technologies with Office 2007 for Windows. The productivity suite provides compatibility between different versions and will use the Office Open XML Formats for saving and opening files in either platform.

Other Office 2008 for Mac features include:

• Publishing Layout View for creating layout-rich documents in Word
• Ledger Sheets that enables Excel to handle financial management tasks including budgets, invoices, and registers without making complex formulas
• My Day for tracking daily priorities and tasks regardless if application without launching OfficeÂ?s Entourage personal information manager

Price of Office 2008 for Mac will be revealed by Microsoft later.

Wanna start rocking out on your Mac? Maybe you're looking to melt your housemates' faces with a few solos? Thanks to Frets on Fire, you can do exactly that.

Frets on Fire is an Open Source cross-platform clone of the hit PS2 game Guitar Hero. It includes support for OS X, and while the program was originally designed to be played with a keyboard, you can use the actual Guitar Hero controller (along with a PS2 to USB adapter that you can probably grab at any Radio Shack outlet) to play Frets on Fire on your Mac.

Frets on Fire runs fine on Intel-based Macs.

Many moons ago, VMware was rumored to be cooking a virtualization solution for OS X. Now we know the rumor is true because the company just released its Fusion Beta version.

Fusion allows Intel-based Macs to run x86 operating systems (Windows, Linux, NetWare, and Solaris) in virtual machines at the same time as Mac OS X. Simply put, the app allows traditional PC applications to run on Mac.

Fusion Beta version includes the following features:

• Create and run a wide variety of 32- and 64-bit x86 operating systems on OS X without rebooting
• Simultaneously run PC applications next to OS X applications
• On any Mac with dual-core processors, multiple CPUs can be assigned to virtual machine to gain additional performance for CPU-intensive workloads.
• Access physical devices from the virtual machine: read and burn CDs and DVDs, and use USB 2.0 devices like video cameras, iPods, printers, and disks at full speed
• Devices that do not have drivers for OS X will work in a virtual machine
• Drag and drop files and folders between OS X and virtual machines to easily share data between the two environments

To test drive Fusion Beta version, you need to fill up a registration at the VMware website. You can click the link below to go to the company's site.

Whoever came up with the idea for iPod and the Mac-Window hybrid ought to get a Christmas bonus the size of Rhode Island! Gene Munster, an analyst at Minneapolis-based Piper Jaffray says Apple's Mac sales could reach 9 million in 2007. Okay, that's still a distant third to PC pushers HP and Dell. But ain't no chump change, either.

Munster credits the iPod for converting more consumers into Apple People "halo effect". If this halo effect keeps going on, the iPod may soon be canonized by the Vatican. The other thing going for Apple is its new line of Intel-powered Macs. Munster says Apple's Boot Camp software - the killer app that run Microsoft's Windows on the Mac - isn't hurting sales of its notebooks and desktops.

If the 9 million units (which is admittedly only guesswork based on market trends) fails to impress you, let us show you some very cold, very hard facts. Apple's fourth-quarter sales for its Mac line is already at 1.61 million. That's 1.61 million Macs sold within three months. If you're the stocks-betting type, we say put your money where Munster's mouth is - it's almost as sure as a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.