Apple today announced that its iPod shuffle, the world's most wearable music player, is now even more affordably priced at $49 and that it is introducing a new 2GB model of the iPod shuffle for $69. The popular iPod shuffle is just half a cubic inch in volume, weighs just half an ounce, features an aluminum design with a built-in clip and comes in five colors-silver, blue, green, purple and a (PRODUCT) RED special edition.

Apple today introduced Aperture 2, the next major release of its groundbreaking photo editing and management software with over 100 new features that make it faster, easier to use and more powerful. With a streamlined user interface and entirely new image processing engine, Aperture 2 also introduces new imaging tools for highlight recovery, color vibrancy, local contrast definition, soft-edged retouching, vignetting and RAW fine-tuning, and lets users directly post their portfolios on the .Mac Web Gallery for viewing on the web, iPhone, iPod touch and Apple TV. At a new low price of $199, anyone can easily organize, edit and publish photos like a pro.

Apple today released the Mac OS X 10.5.2 update for all users running Mac OS X 10.5 or 10.5.1 Leopard. This update includes general operating system improvements that enhance the stability, compatibility, and security of your Mac. For detailed information about security updates, please visit this website. To update to Mac OS X 10.5.2, use Software Update or the standalone installer here.

On February 5, 2008, Apple Inc. has filed an application with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, extending the Apple trademark to cover:

toys, games and playthings, namely, handheld units for playing electronic games; handheld units for playing videogames; stand alone videogame machines; electronic games other than those adapted for use with televisions receivers only; LCD games machines, electronic educational game machines; toys, namely battery-powered computer games.

Analyst predictions and rumors point out that the extended Apple trademark may lead to the introduction of another fancy iPhone like gaming device, but none of the sources available can confirm what's the next step in Apple's camp. The original story, as well as the trademark application form can be found here.

Apple has released a security fix for its QuickTime media player software, fixing a critical bug that had been worrying security experts for nearly a month. The update, released Wednesday, fixes a vulnerability in the Real Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP) used by QuickTime to handle streaming media. It also fixes a previously reported incompatibility between QuickTime 7.4 and Adobe Premiere and After Effects, according to an Apple spokesman. In January, researcher Luigi Auriemma disclosed the flaw by posting proof-of-concept attack code that could be used to run unauthorised software on a victim's computer. For the attack to work, the criminal would have to first trick the user into viewing a maliciously encoded QuickTime media file. Wednesday's QuickTime 7.4.1 update is for both the Mac OS X and Windows operating systems.

While some people felt that the iPhone would crash and burn, it has in fact done quite the opposite. Of those in America that own mobile phones, 28% own an iPhone. While most people would wonder how a very expensive product isolated to a single network could possibly sell so well, market analysts see this rather large market share as a wakeup call to mobile phone manufacturers. Hopefully, we'll see less generic phones in the future, and more phones that will seem to be works of art more than tools of necessity (for some more than others, obviously).

Customers who'd like to carry more music, photos, and videos with them now have new models of iPhone and iPod touch with double the memory from which to choose. The revolutionary iPhone now comes in a new 16GB model for $499. It joins the 8GB model for $399. And the iPod touch now comes in a new 32GB model for $499. It joins the 16GB and 8GB models for $399 and $299, respectively.

Apple today announced that it is adding a gorgeous new pink iPod nano to the lineup of the world's most popular music player. The much-requested pink iPod nano is available immediately in an 8GB model for $199. iPod nano features a two-inch display which lets users watch the brand new iTunes Movie Rentals, or TV shows and music videos purchased from the iTunes Store. iPod nano delivers up to 24 hours of audio playback or five hours of video playback on a single charge and is encased in a beautiful all-metal design made with anodized aluminum and polished stainless steel, which is also available in silver, black, blue, green and a (PRODUCT) RED special edition.

Whilst HP may be the top global computer brand, Dell has retained its crown in the US market, accounting for 29.6% of sales. Dell managed to ship 5.5 million units, which represented a 15.2% year-on-year increase, with HP in second place selling 4.5 million units, a figure which gives it a 24.3% market share. Acer took third spot following its acquisitions of Packard Bell and Gateway last year, with sales of 1.5 million units - up 294.2%. Apple was fourth in the US with 1.06 million units, ahead of Toshiba in fifth. Global sales saw HP commanding a market share of 23.3%, with Dell on 14.6%. Acer, Lenovo and Toshiba came in third, fourth and fifth respectively.

There's been a barrage of Apple stories today, but here's one that people won't be quite so pleased to hear: the battery in Apple's new MacBook Air will not be user replaceable, much like the iPod and iPhone. Apple has clarified the issue, saying that the price of a replacement will be $129, just like the MacBook Pro battery, and installation will be free. This shouldn't be too much of a problem for most users given that the battery will probably be fairly durable and the notebook does boast five hours of battery life, but would cause a slight inconvenience of having to send the machine off to Apple if it does need replacing, and would prevent people from using a backup battery.

iPhone Software Update 1.1.3, a free software update available today via iTunes 7.5 or later, brings significant new features to iPhone. After installing the update, iPhone customers will be able to automatically find their location using the redesigned Maps application; text message multiple people in one message; create Web Clips for their favorite websites; customize their home screen; and watch movies rented from the new iTunes Movie Rentals right on their iPhone.

Available as a free automatic download later this month, the new software announced today lets movie fans rent movies on the iTunes Store directly from their widescreen TV. With iTunes Movie Rentals and Apple TV - and with no computer required-customers can effortlessly rent movies just by clicking a button on their remote. By the end of February, they'll be able to choose from a catalog of more than 1,000 titles, including over 100 titles in high definition video with 5.1 Dolby Digital surround sound. DVD-quality iTunes Movie Rentals cost just $2.99 for library titles and $3.99 for new releases. High-definition versions are just one dollar more with library titles at $3.99 and new releases at $4.99.

Twentieth Century Fox and Apple today announced iTunes Digital Copy for iTunes, which provides customers who purchase a DVD of a Fox movie title with an additional Digital Copy of the movie. The iTunes Digital Copy can be transferred effortlessly to iTunes and then viewed on a PC or Mac, iPod with video, iPhone or on Apple TV-just like a movie purchased and downloaded from the iTunes Store. In fact, the first DVD to debut with iTunes Digital Copy is being released in stores today. It's the Special Edition DVD premiere of the Family Guy "Star Wars" parody, "Family Guy Presents: Blue Harvest," and the first of many more to come.

Apple just unveiled their new ultraportable notebook, called the Macbook Air. It features a 1.6 GHz Core 2 Duo, which can be upped to 1.8 GHz at a price. There is no optical drive, but a 80GB 4200 RPM hard drive or an optional 64GB SSD drive. The battery should last around 5 hours. The front is just a mere 0.16 inches high, while the back tops out at 0.76 inches. The keyboard is full size and features the same layout as on the new Mac Pro keyboard. It is backlit and has a black finish. The optional USB 2.0 Superdrive is available for $99 USD.

The Macbook Air will sell for 1,799 US Dollars or 1,699€s.

2008 Macworld Conference & Expo kicks off today and will continue during the whole week until January 18th. Macworld Conference & Expo is the world's most comprehensive event for the Mac operating system. During the show dozens of vendors will launch their Mac-related products and show the latest innovations for the Apple Mac, iPod, and iPhone.

An Italian security researcher has posted a proof-of-concept exploit for a zero-day vulnerability in the most current version of Apple's QuickTime media software (7.3.1) which affects both Windows and Mac OS X. According to Luigi Auriemma the bug is a buffer-overflow which happens during the handling of the HTTP error message and its visualization in the LCD-like screen which contains info about the status of the connection. Buffer overflows can often be exploited by attackers to compromise the affected system. In this scenario, that's exactly what this bug can do. It can allow the attacker to take control the affected system. The vulnerability Auriemma has identified has no fix at the moment, so keep it in mind if you use the latest QuickTime on your system. Find out more about the exploit here.

On Monday, Symantec found a Trojan software identified as iPhone firmware 1.1.3 prep. "This Trojan claims to be a tool used to prepare the device for an upgrade to firmware version 1.1.3," the US-CERT advisory said. "When a user installs the Trojan, other application components are altered. If the Trojan is uninstalled, the affected applications may also be removed." The Trojan appears to be timed to exploit rumors that began in early December about new features in an upcoming iPhone firmware upgrade. Various online news sites and blogs cited a report published by CNET France that claimed an imminent iPhone update would feature a disk mode, for using the iPhone as a portable flash drive, and a voice recording mode. In a blog post here, Symantec security researcher Orla Cox said that "this is technically the first Trojan horse seen for the iPhone, however it does appear to be more of a prank than an actual threat,"

Apple today announced that within six months it will lower the prices it charges for music on its UK iTunes Store to match the already standardized pricing on iTunes across Europe in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Finland, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland and Spain. Apple currently must pay some record labels more to distribute their music in the UK than it pays them to distribute the same music elsewhere in Europe. Apple will reconsider its continuing relationship in the UK with any record label that does not lower its wholesale prices in the UK to the pan-European level within six months.

"This is an important step towards a pan-European marketplace for music," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "We hope every major record label will take a pan-European view of pricing."

Apple has put Intel Xeon steroids inside the latest iteration of its Xserve, promising the server to be up to twice as fast as the previous model. Shipping now, the new breed Xserve includes up to two Quad-core 3.0GHz Intel Xeon processors offering 8-core performance. These new systems also boast a new server architecture, faster front side buses, faster memory, two PCI Express 2.0 expansion slots and up to 3TB of storage. As ever, this new version of Apple's 1U server includes an unlimited client licence for Mac OS X Server Leopard, with Xserve prices starting at £1,999 (US$4,000), including VAT. "With the latest Intel processors and no client access licenses, Xserve offers unbeatable server performance and value for under $3,000," said Phil Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of worldwide product marketing. "Xserve's power, storage and Leopard Server make it ideal for supporting Mac clients and mixed platform workgroups."

Apple today introduced the new Mac Pro with eight processor cores and a new system architecture that delivers up to twice the performance of its predecessor. The new Mac Pro combines two of Intel's new 45 nanometer Quad-Core Xeon processors running up to 3.2 GHz, powerful new graphics and up to 4TB of internal storage to offer the ideal system for creative professionals, 3D digital content creators and scientists. The standard 8-core configuration starts at just $2,799.

The United States Army is quietly integrating Macintosh computers into its systems to make them harder to attack. In an interview with Forbes Magazine, U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel C.J. Wallington explains that fewer hack attacks have been designed to infiltrate Macs and adding more Macs to the mix makes it harder to destabilize their system. Jonathan Broskey, who once worked for Apple, argues that the Unix core at the center of Mac operating system makes it easier to lockdown. While the number of malicious software programs targeting Macs has been small in the past, it is beginning to grow. Charlie Miller, a software researcher with Security Evaluators, worries that the Army's diversification plan will not stop a determined intruder. He also explains that Apple's security is a myth and has been proven more vulnerable than Windows.

A few years ago, one of the biggest weapons in a Mac user's arsenal for any Windows vs OS X debate was that Apple's operating system was more secure than Microsoft's. However, the statistics compiled by ZDNet (which are shown in the table below) tell a very different story for this year. Combined, Windows XP and Vista saw a total of 44 flaws, whilst Max OS X experienced 243 - over five times more. Overall, Macs had 234 highly critical vulnerabilities compared to just 23 for Windows, although admittedly Mac OS X had no extremely critical flaws, whilst Windows had four. This would seem to suggest that the tables have turned a little, which could well be linked to the fact that Macs have become more popular over the last couple of years and as a result there is a greater incentive to hack them.

Apple has shipped a major Security Update 2007-009 (10.4.11 Universal), recommended for all Mac OS X v10.4.11 and Mac OS X v10.5.1 users. This update corrects multiple critical flaws and improves the security of many Mac OS apps. Those wanting to know more about the updates may click here.

The first phone posted on our front page, is about to get 3G support sometime next year. Because we're a hardware and gaming site, phone news are not allowed, but since it's an Apple creation and not exactly a phone (it's an iPhone) we can make an exception once. At a meeting of the Churchill Club on Wednesday, AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson said: "You'll have it next year," when asked when a 3G iPhone would appear. AT&T is the exclusive mobile carrier for the iPhone in the US. Current iPhones connect to EDGE-based networks for intensive data-transmission chores such as browsing and email. EDGE advertises in-the-field download speeds in the 70Kbit/s to 135Kbit/s range, although its technical top end is 384Kbit/s. 3G networks use HSDPA/UMTS technology and boast download speeds between 600Kbit/s and 1.4Mbit/s. The iPhone's reliance on the much slower EDGE technology was roundly criticised before the smartphone was launched in June, and the issue has come up again as Apple released the iPhone in Europe, where 3G-based cellular networks are much more widespread than in the US. But in September, Apple CEO Steve Jobs made it plain that the iPhone would stick with EDGE for now because of power and battery issues.

That's right folks, for the low low price of €749, you can go to France and get your very own non-contract-binding iPhone from Orange. The iPhone is normally around €399, with a binding two-year contract. The fees add up as such: You buy a no-contract iPhone for €649, and if you want the iPhone unlocked, it'll cost you €100 more. The fee only applies for the first six months of iPhone ownership, however, so if you wait a while the unlocked iPhone will "only" cost €649. Anyone from the U.K. hoping to pick up a somewhat cheaper unlocked iPhone can expect to spend around £536 for the whole kit and caboodle. The iPhone goes on sale in France tonight.