Hot on the heels, Apple today also refreshed its iMac line. The long-awaited update of the iMac includes a 20-inch model for only $1,199 and three 24-inch iMac variants with a mere start price of $1,499. That's the same price as previous generation 20-inch iMac with one difference, the new 24-inch iMac models deliver a 30 percent larger display, twice the memory and twice the storage. All configurations run a single Intel Core 2 Duo processor, support up to 8 GB of 1066 MHz SO-DIMM DDR3 memory, up to 1 TB of storage, and several options for graphics processors.

Apple today updated its Mac mini as well. Starting at $599, the new Mac mini is an innovative, tiny desktop that measures just 6.5 by 6.5 by 2 inches. Now it features a 2.0 GHz or 2.26 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, NVIDIA's GeForce 9400M all-in-one platform with up to 256 MB shared for the video unit, up to 4 GB of DDR3 SO-DIMM memory (2x slots), and up to 320 GB of storage using 5400 rpm SATA hard drive. Drawing less than 13 watts of power in idle, the new Mac mini is also the world's most energy efficient desktop. You can find it in stores now.

Apple just introduced the new Mac Pro featuring Intel "Nehalem" Xeon processors. Thanks to the new 8-core Intel architecture running at speeds up to 2.93 GHz, the new Mac Pro delivers up to twice the performance of the previous generation Mac Pro. It also features the latest graphics from both NVIDIA and ATI - the system can be purchased with either GeForce GT 120 with 512 MB of GDDR3 memory or Radeon HD 4870 with 512 MB of GDDR5 memory. The new Mac Pro also supports up to 32 GB of DDR3 ECC SDRAM and up to 4 TB of internal storage in four hard drive bays. Additionally the 45nm Mac Pro comes with revised interior that makes expansion even easier than before. Available next week, the new Mac Pro starts at $2,499. Visit Mac Pro web page, for more information.

There is a valid reason behind why Safari is growing in browser market-share, apart from the fact that iPhone carries it: it is arguably the fastest browser there is. The fourth beta version that surfaced earlier this week went a few notches ahead of Firefox (Minefield) 3.2a1 and Google Chrome in a review conducted by CNet, to take the top-sport for the fastest web-browser. Internet Explorer (IE) versions 7 and 8, Opera 9.6, Firefox 3, Chrome, Firefox(Minefield) 3.1 Alpha 1 and Safari 4 were put through JavaScript tests using the SunSpider suite. The PC was equipped with a Core 2 Duo processor running at 2.10 GHz. Safari 4 beta gave IE 7 a sound thrashing at the test, emerging 42 times faster. The performance difference between the two were so vast that the reviewers had to prepare a seperate graph without IE 7 so there could be more resolution in the charts showing the differences between the rest of the contendors. Then again, one must take into account the fact that Chrome and Firefox (Minefield) 3.2 weren't all that behind Safari 4 beta, only a few notches. The scores are denoted by render time in terms of milliseconds. Lesser the better. The scores stand at:

• Safari 4 (Total time: 910 ms)
• Mozilla Minefield 3.2a1 (1,136 ms)
• Google Chrome (1,177 ms)
• Firefox 3 (3,250 ms)
• Opera 9.6 (4,076 ms)
• Internet Explorer 8 (5,839 ms)
• Internet Explorer 7 (39,026 ms)

Apple on Thursday discontinued its 20-inch Cinema Display, reducing its external display offerings to just two options: the brand new 24-inch Apple LED Cinema model and the old 30-inch Apple Cinema HD display. The 20-inch has already been removed from Apple's online store. AppleInsider also suggests that the 30-inch Apple displays are next to go away.

With immediate effect, the following products are 'End of Life' (EOL); Apple 20" Cinema Display,

All backlog will be cancelled and there is no automatic order conversion.

Apple wrote in a worldwide bulletin to its sales and service channels.

Apple released today a highly recommended security update 2009-001 for all versions of MacOS X. This updated improves the security of Mac OS X and fixes various operating system flaws. The security update is available for MacOS X Leopard, Leopard Server, Tiger for Intel Macs, Tiger for PowerPC-based Macs, Tiger Server for PowerPC-based Macs and Server Universal. In addition Apple has released two Java security updates that improve the security and compatibility of Java on MacOS X. All updates can be located and installed via Software Update or directly from Apple Downloads here. More information about the updates can be found here.

A few days ago, we covered the release of an NVIDIA graphics update from Apple, which was intended to address issues when using the Apple Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI adapter on MacBook Air, MacBook and MacBook Pro and improve cursor movement and playback of HD videos running on systems with NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT or GeForce 9600M graphics. Within just two days of the update being posted, the page and downloads were removed from Apple's site, for initially unknown reasons. It seems that not long after the update was released, the Apple discussion forums started filling up with people having either the same, or in some cases, worse problems following the graphics update. According to CNET, "This issue only affects those with the MacBooks, MacBook Airs or MacBook Pros redesigned in October, and it seems to only be a problem when running the integrated graphics on those machines."

Apple on Monday released a software update that addresses issues when using the Apple Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI adapter on MacBook Air, MacBook and MacBook Pro. More concrete, this update improves cursor movement and playback of HD videos running on systems with NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT or GeForce 9600M graphics. Mac OS X 10.5.6 or later is required to apply the update.

DOWNLOAD: Apple NVIDIA Graphics Update 2009

LG Display has reached a long-term deal with Apple to supply flat panels to the iMac creator. The contract is for five years and as part of the agreement terms LG will receive payment of $500 million in advance from Apple sometime this month.

Although LG Display already had a relationship with Apple, the deal's duration and the size of the advance show that the two companies are involved in a long-term, strategic alliance,

company spokesman Son Young-jun says. Currently, LG Display supplies about 70% of the displays used in all Apple products. LG Display declined to provide further details, and say if this number will grow in the future.

Apple today unveiled iLife '09, which includes major upgrades to iPhoto, iMovie, and GarageBand and an updated version of iWeb. iPhoto '09 introduces Faces and Places, breakthrough ways to easily organize and manage photos based on who appears in them and where they were taken. In iMovie '09, you'll find powerful, yet easy-to-use new features that let you create a movie quickly or add refinements and special effects if you have more time. And GarageBand '09 now offers a fun new way to learn to play piano and guitar with Basic Lessons, which teach fundamentals, and Artist Lessons (sold separately), in which original artists teach you how to play the songs they made famous. At last, iWeb '09 lets you design a website to share your photos, movies, and music just by dragging and dropping. Add new dynamic widgets and publish and share with a single click. Find out more about iLife '09 here.

Not long after the start of Macworld 2009, Apple officially unveiled the new MacBook Pro, that was confirmed by AppleInsider on Monday. During the demonstration Apple uncovered that the 17-inch display of the unibody MacBook Pro will feature LED backlight, 1920x1200 fullHD resolution, 700:1 contrast ratio and will come with gloss or mate surface (the mate option will cost additional $50). The remaining specs pretty much match the specs of the older 15-inch MacBook Pro model. Apple also said that the addition of non-removable battery will lead to bigger battery installed and longer battery life, which is now claimed to be up to 8 hours.

Broadening its storage solutions for Mac, WD today introduced two new external hard drives - the My Passport for Mac portable drive and the My Book Mac Edition external hard drive. Pre-formatted for Mac and offering a simple USB interface, these drives offer the ever-growing Mac community reliable, easy-to-use storage. WD's latest Mac-ready drives work seamlessly with Apple Time Machine or other popular Mac backup software to provide protection for consumers' valuable digital photos and media.

G-Technology, a Fabrik company and manufacturer of premium storage solutions for the Apple Mac community, today announced a new family of external drives based on 2.5" solid state drive (SSD) technology - the G-DRIVE mini SSD (120GB and 250GB) and the RAID 0/1 G-RAID mini SSD (250GB and 500GB).

Known for delivering performance, style and reliability, G-Technology has married its premium design with state-of-the-art solid state drives, making the new G-DRIVE mini SSD and G-RAID mini SSD the most rugged and durable external drives in the market. As high-performance, plug-and-play storage devices, they are ideal for extreme users who capture, offload and edit digital content in challenging remote environments. Because the drives have no moving parts, each drive can withstand extreme shock up to 1500Gs and can endure higher altitudes, vibration and temperatures when compared to traditional hard drive-based solutions. Leveraging inherent benefits of SSDs, the new G-DRIVE mini SSD and G-RAID mini SSD also provide higher data transfer rates, lower seek times and use less power, all while delivering a cooler, quieter operation.

AppleInsider has allegedly confirmed previous rumours that a 17-inch unibody MacBook Pro is on its way to hit the stores very soon. Claiming own sources, AppleInsider has been able to confirm that tomorrow Apple will introduce a 17-inch MacBook Pro with a fixed internal battery and a new version of the Mac mini. Before going into detail, let me remind you that Macworld 2009 Conference & Expo starts today, so if true the two new Apples will make first appearance there. The new unibody 17-inch MacBook Pro will not share the same panel-covered battery layout as the 13- and 15-inch models. Instead, the notebook's battery will be fixed in place and not removable, similar to the MacBook Air notebooks. As for Mac mini, the new version will add a FireWire 800 port and a fifth USB port, in addition to the already presented Mini DisplayPort and Mini DVI connectors.

Apple announced that this year is the last year the company will exhibit at Macworld Expo. Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing, will deliver the opening keynote for this year's Macworld Conference & Expo, and it will be Apple's last keynote at the show. The keynote address will be held at Moscone West on Tuesday, January 6, 2009 at 9:00 a.m. Macworld will be held at San Francisco's Moscone Center January 5-9, 2009.

Apple is reaching more people in more ways than ever before, so like many companies, trade shows have become a very minor part of how Apple reaches its customers. The increasing popularity of Apple's Retail Stores, which more than 3.5 million people visit every week, and the Apple.com website enable Apple to directly reach more than a hundred million customers around the world in innovative new ways.

In the month of November, the market share of Microsoft Windows fell below the 90% mark, to 89.6%. This is a 15 year low in market share for the OS, according to market share data by Net Applications, sourced by TG Daily. The market share fell from its position same time, last year, at 92.4%.

One of the prime movers of this figure is the growth in market share of Apple's Mac OS X at 8.87%, slightly over 2% growth from its market share last year. According to the same data, Linux is still below the 1% mark.

NVIDIA seems to be striking gold with its newest platform core logic, the MCP7A, MCP79 chipsets, with the mobile version of MCP79 especially taking the limelight. This is the chipset that Apple uses in its updates to the Macbook Pro. Several PC industry majors such as Acer, ASUS, HP, and Dell, are planning to launch several notebook models based on the MCP79. Some players even project the chipset to grab a 20% share among Intel CPU-based notebook platforms.

ASUS is planning to launch the F50GX notebook using the said chipset with a 16-inch 16:9 aspect ratio panel, and GeForce 9600M discrete graphics card, targeting the gamer market. The company is also planning to launch more MCP79-based notebooks by the end of this year or beginning of next year, according to Tony Chen, general manager of notebook business in ASUS. The general manager of GeForce products at NVIDIA, Ujesh Desai, pointed out that over 10 models of notebooks from global first-tier notebook vendors, will be launched by the end of the year.

Also introduced today were two Apple laptops, the new MacBook and 15-inch MacBook Pro. Both new laptops are housed in an all-metal enclosures and feature a stylish new glass surface trackpad that has no buttons, but relays on tapping only. We already knew about the new multi-touch trackpad from previous news so it comes as no big surprise to everyone.

After a long period of stagnation, Apple today unveiled a brand new 24-inch LCD monitor for all Apple lovers. The new LED Cinema Display features a stunning 24-inch LED-backlit widescreen display with built-in iSight video camera, mic, and speakers in an elegant, thin aluminum and glass enclosure. Other specs include a native resolution of 1920x1200, a 3-port USB hub and a new Mini DisplayPort. Expect the 24-inch LED Cinema Display to become available in November for $899. We'll also have more technical information (panel type, response time, contrast, brightness etc.) as the release date approaches.

Apple's switch to x86 and Intel was seen as a change for the better. The company seems to have gone on a visual-computing drive, with closer associations with NVIDIA, and increased inclusion of NVIDIA's technologies into its products. Word is, that the next update to the Macbook Pro, could have NVIDIA's core-logic (chipset), with the likely candidate being MCP79. There's also widespread speculation in the industry, that some models of the Macbook Pro could come with two GPUs.

It is certainly possible, that the MCP79 could provide Hybrid SLI support. The chipset embeds a GeForce 9300 class integrated graphics processor (IGP), and provides additional PCI-Express connections to an external GPU. In this case, Apple could use a powerful GeForce board that handles graphics. The IGP could work in tandem with the GeForce board, or handle graphics all by itself, to save power. Pictures of the new Macbook model had surfaced yesterday, revealing the slick new Macbook Pro chassis. The range could start for as low as US $899.

Back in July 2008, NVIDIA publicly acknowledged that it had a higher than normal failure rate for some of their graphics processors due to a packaging defect. After the announcement NVIDIA agreed to pay up to $200 million to cover the whole case and repair, return or replace the faulty chips. At the time NVIDIA admited the high failure rate, it also assured Apple that Mac computers with these graphics processors were not affected. However, after an Apple-led investigation, today Apple has determined that some MacBook Pro computers with the NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics processor may be affected after all. If the NVIDIA graphics processor in your MacBook Pro has failed, or fails within two years of the original date of purchase, a repair will be done free of charge, even if your MacBook Pro is out of warranty. Here's what to look for in your Mac, if you receive a distorted or scrambled video on the computer screen or in the worst scenarion if you have no video signal on the computer screen (or external display) even though the computer is on, you should immediately go to an Apple Retail Store or an Apple Authorized Service Provider (AASP) for evaluation, or you should call your local Apple Contact Center for help. Among the models affected are those that were manufactured between approximately May 2007 and September 2008. They include the following models: MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2.4/2.2GHz), MacBook Pro (17-inch, 2.4GHz), and MacBook Pro (Early 2008).

The 'newly-wed' Activision-Blizzard is reportedly planning a music store and content delivery service to directly compete with Apple's iTunes service. For now nothing is even close to concrete, Activision-Blizzard is considering launching its own download store on its Guitar Hero game platform for now. Says CEO Robert Kotick: "When you think about the potential for what we will be able to do together, there have not been many viable alternatives to iTunes." in an interview to Reuters. He adds: "If you're downloading a song to play on your 'Guitar Hero,' there's no reason why you can't download the performance also. So there's all kinds of things you can think about."

Vivindi currently owns the World's largest music publication company, Universal Music. This could serve as a content source for this delivery platform.

If you have watched the TNT Original movie Pirates of the Silicon Valley or read the book Fire in the Valley, you would know Steve Ballmer to be quite a character although both the book and the movie are unauthorised documentaries. Under the leadership of Ballmer, Microsoft plans to start a US $300 million-worth campaign aimed to demystify Windows Vista and encourage users to adopt the new operating system.

These are good times for Apple. The lack of success for Windows Vista means growth in the sales of Apple Mac for first-time buyers. And it is true- numerous reports and surveys point out to the fact that Apple Mac is seeing a growth in sales of late. Add to that, Apple won't spare any chance to take pot-shots at the software giant, its 'bloated' operating system (as if Apple OS X isn't) in its series of TV and web-cast commercials around the 'cool Mac guy and uncool PC guy'.

A new survey by Net Applications shows a steady increase in the market share (not to be confused with browser usage) of Mozilla Firefox and more importantly, a surge in the usage of the Apple Safari web browser. The two web browser software have been chipping away share from Microsoft's Internet Explorer (MSIE) and it appears that Microsoft could use a convincing new browser rather sooner than later.

According to the survey, Internet Explorer (all versions together) still holds a 73.01 per cent market share, which is down by 1 per cent from 73.75 per cent in May and 74.83 per cent in April. While this growth of web-browser software against MSIE cannot be regarded as an upsurge just as yet, the growth of Apple Safari against other MSIE-alternatives is close to being called so. The Apple browser with a current share of 6.31%, up from 5.81% in April, has long overtaken Opera which was once considered the best alternative to MSIE and since early days believed in platform-diversity to gain market share.With inputs from TG Daily

Apple posted today the 10.5.4 update recommended for its Mac OS X 10.5, 10.5.1, 10.5.2, and 10.5.3 Leopard operating systems. The 10.5.4 update includes general operating system improvements that enhance the stability, compatibility, and security of your Mac. You can download the 561MB update code directly from Apple, or by using the Software Update feature in Mac OS X Leopard.