The latest announcement from Apple: the iMac. This baudeBoi is poised to be the best yet, with the implementation of the Intel Core i3, Core i5 and Core i7 processors as well as more powerful new graphics. Check the specs from the Press Release:

CUPERTINO, Calif., July 27 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Apple® today updated its all-in-one iMac® line, widely praised as the world’s best desktop computers, with the latest Intel Core i3, Core i5 and Core i7 processors and powerful new graphics. Starting at $1,199, the new iMac line is the fastest ever with dual-core processor speeds up to 3.6 GHz, quad-core speeds up to 2.93 GHz and discrete graphics including the powerful ATI Radeon HD 5750. The new Magic Trackpad, with a smooth glass and aluminum design, gives iMac users the same intuitive Multi-Touch™ gestures that Mac® notebook customers have come to love and is available separately for $69.

“We took the world’s best all-in-one and made it even better,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “With the latest processors, high-performance graphics and signature aluminum and glass design, customers are going to love the latest iMac.”

Dual-core Intel Core i3 and Core i5, and quad-core Core i5 and Core i7 processors set a new benchmark for iMac performance. The processors feature an integrated memory controller to access the system memory directly, allowing the new iMac to take full advantage of its faster 1333 MHz memory. New discrete ATI Radeon HD processors deliver incredibly smooth, crisp graphics for the most demanding 3D games, creative software and technical applications. iMac displays feature IPS technology to deliver a brilliant image across a wide 178 degree viewing angle. The SD card slot on the iMac now supports the SDXC format to handle the latest high-capacity storage cards. Customers of the 27-inch iMac have the option to order a 256GB solid state drive (SSD) as a primary or secondary drive. The iMac SSD supports up to 215 MB/s data transfer rates for faster startup and application launch times.

Every iMac comes with Apple’s innovative Magic Mouse and customers can also order the new Magic Trackpad as an option. The Magic Trackpad brings the intuitive Multi-Touch gestures of Mac notebook trackpads to the desktop. With its glass surface, the wireless Magic Trackpad enables users to scroll smoothly up and down a page with inertial scrolling, pinch to zoom in and out, rotate an image with their fingertips and swipe three fingers to flip through a collection of web pages or photos. The Magic Trackpad can be configured to support single button or two button commands and supports tap-to-click as well as a physical click.

Continuing Apple’s commitment to the environment, Apple’s desktop lineup is a leader in green design. The iMac meets stringent Energy Star 5.0 requirements and achieves EPEAT Gold status.* iMac features LED-backlit displays that are mercury-free and made with arsenic-free glass. iMac uses PVC-free components and cables, contains no brominated flame retardants, uses highly recyclable materials and features material-efficient system and packaging designs. A new Apple Battery Charger provides a convenient and environmentally friendly way to always have a fresh set of batteries for your Magic Trackpad, Magic Mouse and Wireless Keyboard. The Apple Battery Charger is available for $29 and comes with six long shelf life rechargeable batteries.

Every Mac also comes with Mac OS® X Snow Leopard®, the world’s most advanced operating system, and iLife®, Apple’s innovative suite of applications for managing photos, making movies and creating and learning to play music. Snow Leopard builds on a decade of OS X innovation and success with hundreds of refinements, core technologies and out of the box support for Microsoft Exchange. iLife features iPhoto®, with breakthrough ways to organize and manage your photos by who appears in them and where they were taken; iMovie® with powerful easy-to-use features such as Precision Editor, video stabilization and advanced drag and drop; and GarageBand® which offers a whole new way to help you learn to play piano and guitar.

Pricing & Availability

The new iMac line is shipping now and available through the Apple Store® (www.apple.com), Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers.

The new 21.5-inch 3.06 GHz Intel Core i3 iMac, for a suggested retail price of $1,199 (US), includes:

21.5-inch 1920 x 1080 LED-backlit display;
3.06 GHz Intel Core i3 processor with 4MB shared L3 cache;
4GB 1333 MHz DDR3 SDRAM expandable to 16GB;
ATI Radeon HD 4670 discrete graphics with 256MB GDDR3 SDRAM;
500GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 7200 rpm;
slot-load 8x SuperDrive® with double-layer support (DVD+/-R DL/DVD+/-RW/CD-RW);
Mini DisplayPort for audio and video output (adapters sold separately);
AirPort Extreme® 802.11n wireless networking & Bluetooth 2.1+EDR;
iSight® video camera;
Gigabit Ethernet;
four USB 2.0 ports;
one SDXC SD card slot;
one FireWire® 800 port;
built-in stereo speakers and microphone; and
Wireless Apple Keyboard, Magic Mouse.

Configure-to-order options include up to 8GB of RAM.

The new 21.5-inch 3.2 GHz Intel Core i3 iMac, for a suggested retail price of $1,499 (US), includes:

21.5-inch 1920 x 1080 LED-backlit display;
3.20 GHz Intel Core i3 processor with 4MB shared L3 cache;
4GB 1333 MHz DDR3 SDRAM expandable to 16GB;
ATI Radeon HD 5670 discrete graphics with 512MB GDDR3;
1TB Serial ATA hard drive running at 7200 rpm;
slot-load 8x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD+/-R DL/DVD+/-RW/CD-RW);
Mini DisplayPort for audio and video output (adapters sold separately);
AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking & Bluetooth 2.1+EDR;
iSight video camera;
Gigabit Ethernet;
four USB 2.0 ports;
one FireWire 800 port;
one SDXC SD card slot;
built-in stereo speakers and microphone; and
Wireless Apple Keyboard, Magic Mouse.

Configure-to-order options include a faster 3.6 GHz Core i5 processor, 2TB hard drive and up to 8GB of RAM.

The new 27-inch 3.2 GHz Intel Core i3 iMac, for a suggested retail price of $1,699 (US), includes:

27-inch 2560 x 1440 LED-backlit display;
3.20 GHz Intel Core i3 processor with 4MB shared L3 cache;
4GB 1333 MHz DDR3 SDRAM expandable to 16GB;
ATI Radeon HD 5670 discrete graphics with 512MB GDDR3;
1TB Serial ATA hard drive running at 7200 rpm;
slot-load 8x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD+/-R DL/DVD+/-RW/CD-RW);
Mini DisplayPort for audio and video input and output (adapters sold separately);
AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking & Bluetooth 2.1+EDR;
iSight video camera;
Gigabit Ethernet;
four USB 2.0 ports;
one FireWire 800 port;
one SDXC SD card slot;
built-in stereo speakers and microphone; and
Wireless Apple Keyboard, Magic Mouse.

Configure-to-order options include a 3.6 GHz Core i5 processor, 2TB hard drive, 256GB solid state drive (SSD) and up to 16GB of RAM.

The new 27-inch 2.8 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i5 iMac, for a suggested retail price of $1,999 (US), includes:

27-inch 2560 x 1440 LED-backlit display;
2.8 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i5 processor with 8MB shared L3 cache;
4GB 1333 MHz DDR3 SDRAM expandable to 16GB;
ATI Radeon HD 5750 discrete graphics with 1GB GDDR5;
1TB Serial ATA hard drive running at 7200 rpm;
slot-load 8x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD+/-R DL/DVD+/-RW/CD-RW);
Mini DisplayPort for audio and video input and output (adapters sold separately);
AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking & Bluetooth 2.1+EDR;
iSight video camera;
Gigabit Ethernet;
four USB 2.0 ports;
one FireWire 800 port;
one SDXC SD card slot;
built-in stereo speakers and microphone; and
Wireless Apple Keyboard, Magic Mouse.

Configure-to-order options include a 2.93 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7 processor, a 2TB hard drive, 256GB solid state drive (SSD) and up to 16GB of RAM.

Additional accessories include: Magic Trackpad, Apple Battery Charger, wired Apple Mouse, wired Apple Keyboard, wired Apple Keyboard with numeric keypad, Mini DisplayPort to DVI Adapter, Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI Adapter (for 30-inch DVI display), Mini DisplayPort to VGA Adapter, Apple Remote, the AppleCare® Protection Plan; and pre-installed copies of iWork®, Logic® Express 9, Final Cut® Express 4 and Aperture® 3.

*EPEAT is an independent organization that helps customers compare the environmental performance of notebooks and desktops. Products meeting all of the 23 required criteria and at least 75 percent of the optional criteria are recognized as EPEAT Gold products. The EPEAT program was conceived by the US EPA and is based on IEEE 1680 standard for Environmental Assessment of Personal Computer Products. For more information visit www.epeat.net.

Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork, and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple is reinventing the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and has recently introduced its magical iPad which is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices.

© 2010 Apple Inc. All rights reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, Mac, Mac OS, Macintosh, iMac, Multi-Touch, Snow Leopard, iLife, iPhoto, iMovie, GarageBand, Apple Store, SuperDrive, AirPort Extreme, iSight, FireWire, AppleCare, iWork, Logic, Final Cut and Aperture are trademarks of Apple. Other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

My iPhone 4 dreams on Launch Day

Initially, I wanted to tell you all about my big #iPhone4 Upgrade FAIL story and how I was ready to tell Apple and AT&T to go screw themselves, but after a little bit of digging and finding out why I was unable to get my iPhone right then and there on launch day – I realized something. I realized that the Journey is (truly) the reward. With the journey being an attempt to gain an iPhone, and the reward was learning all the business information surrounding an iPhone purchase/upgrade. Or, maybe it was something more. Now, is any of this information important to you? Who knows?! But according to the AT&T rep that I spoke to, “…hundreds of thousands of customers are affected” with the same issue I had attempting to upgrade to the iPhone 4. So it must be important to someone out there. Thus, the need to write-up about my experience.

However, before we get into my whole tirade, may I ask just one question: “Why do incidents like this always happen to me?” I know I’ve been called “Special Ed” for a reason. But still! Can’t I just go through a regular purchase/upgrade without the hassle/burden/amusement of having a story behind it? Just once is all I ask. Please? Granted I’m a pretty laid-back dude if you ever met me in IRL, but on iPhone Launch Day? Ya, the blood was starting to boil. Just a little bit. But I digress…

Unlike most Apple fans who faithfully camped out/waited in line a night before launch, I opted to wait after work to show up and pick up my iPhone 4. Seeing as how I had already made an iPhone 4 reservation via the Apple Store App on Pre-Order Day without a hitch (unlike many others), I felt confident enough knowing that when I did show up at the Apple Store, there would be an iPhone 4 waiting for me.

So I get of work around 4:30pm , hopped onto the 101 South, and was within the Palo Alto enclave on University by about 5pm. Even found curbside parking right next to the Apple Store thinking to myself, “Dude, this is pretty sweet!” Walking to the beginning of the line, I checked in and was told that the wait would be an hour. Again, I thought to myself “Dude, this is pretty sweet! I’ve waited in lines longer for rides at Great America!”

So after a very quick hour of entertaining conversations with fellow Apple-tons, complementing Sal Castaneda on his media prowess, and freebies given away by Apple Employees – I was in the Apple Store ready to go! So excited! Time: just before 6pm.

I was greeted by a chippery, but visibly fatigued, young fellow. Heck, if I was here since 3:45am, I’d probably be tired too. Nevertheless, this guy was still tick-tock’n. We mosey on over to wherever there is an available space to complete our transaction and I asked him if I could use one of their docks to charge my phone. To which he willingly obliged.

He pulled out the iPhone and placed it in my hands. Again, I was like “Dude, this is pretty sweet!” as we continued our transaction. I was so excited about having the phone in my hands that I could only just barely hear him say, “…see your ID, last 4 of your SSN, billing zip code, and phone number…“. [Processing Transaction] [Timeout] Dude, let me tell you, the iPhone4 really is pretty sweet![TimeIn] Then, a notice on his handheld iPhone “pseudo-Register” pops up notifying him and me that I have a business account. Oh, really? Since when? “I’m sorry. You can’t upgrade to the iPhone 4 with an AT&T Business Account.” But like I said before, I DON’T HAVE A BUSINESS ACCOUNT! After a few rounds of verbal takedowns, I was asked to PHYSICALLY make my way to an AT&T store to get the situation remedied, even though in the back of my mind, I thought a phone call to AT&T should suffice. “It’s for security reasons. To make sure you are who you say you are.” Oh, is that right? *pshh. Whatever. (*sidenote: Is it me? Or, is EVERYONE in Palo Alto, or maybe just the Apple Store, this way??!) So reluctantly, I journeyed over to AT&T.

At this point, I was starting to get pissed. Why in the hell did I have to wait in line for, if I only have to end up jumping through so many daumn hoops?

At AT&T, I was greeted by an amazing staff who were ready and willing to help. After a short while of sitting and waiting, watching the NBA Draft on the telly, I was approached by a kind fellow and told him about my situation. I was told that my account did indeed say that it was a PERSONAL ACCOUNT. I’ve always had one! Great! So what was the BFD?! Making my way back to the Apple Store, I was now armed with the knowledge I needed to hop any hurdles that might prevent me from picking up my *precious. I mean, after all that trouble, it would be nice to bring home something right? Nope. No dice. I got the same Business Error and the same sorry reply. All that trouble. For nothing. Feeling defeated, I headed home cursing to the heavens. Daumnit! Time: quarter past 8pm.

I came home broken, defeated, and worst of all, empty-handed. Fortunately, I was greeted by HK in the best way possible. J/K! In comparison, HK is pretty tame when it comes to the latest anything. She doesn’t really worry about obtaining the latest and greatest right this instant. She’s already pretty content with what she already has (3G), and is willing to wait out any bugs to get worked out if she really does decide to upgrade. And, don’t lie to yourselves, some kinks still need to be worked out. At any rate, she saw my defeat and swore up and down and agreed on how my situation was so stupid. She also recommended that I call AT&T directly to get to the bottom of my “Business Account” situation. And I did. Apparently, being a customer of AT&T for as long as I’ve been, leaves some nasty business residue behind. This is what I discovered:

From my AT&T Representative

So sorry for the inconvenience. The reason why your account says its a Business Account is due to a Back-End issue we’ve had with Cingular. [Timeout] I’ve been with *AT&T since 1998. Actually beginning with Pacbell -> Cingular -> and now AT&T [TimeIn] And you’re not the only one. There are hundreds of thousands of customers that are affected. You see, what Cingular had done for some of their customers was, for some odd reason, input a pseudo-TIN (Tax Identification Number). The agreement that 3rd Party Businesses (such as Best Buy, Walmart, AND Apple) made with AT&T is that 3rd Party Businesses CANNOT sell products or services to AT&T business accounts. That would serve as a conflict of interest. Since, in our records, although we know your account isnt a Business, 3rd Party Businesses DON’T know that. And that was why you were rejected. I really apologize for the inconvenience. What we can do for you is send in a ticket request to remove the “Business” label and pseudo-TIN that was given to you by Cingular. That should resolve the issue…

And as of 06.25.2010 at 10:21AM PST, I recieved a text message from AT&T telling me, hopefully, that my “Business Account” issue has resolved. With a $25 Credit for my AT&T account to boot. For all my troubles of course. Which leaves me with one question: Will I run on over to the Apple Store to get my iPhone 4 now that all of my problems have seemingly been resolved? *meh Probably not right away. Don’t get me wrong, I still would prefer to upgrade my phone, but after all this trouble, I need a fauk’n break from Apple, AT&T. I need to de-stress. Maybe some Parkour, bicycling, swimming, or hell, even some running would do me good.

In the end, I realized that the so-called “Journey” wasn’t about waiting in line to get a phone (seriously, it’s just a phone), nor was the running around Silicon Valley trying to get my “Business Account” issue fixed. In reality, and this may be a little too deep for some of you to comprehend but, what I ended up realizing was how ridiculous it was for me to buy into this whole iPhone 4 hype. Driving around town, trying to get my questions answered – all for a zero reward. Was it worth it? Let me tell you something, if knowing now that I don’t really need to have the latest anything right this second is any sort of reward – I’d gladly take it.

How do you like them – Apple’s?

/rant

[img via and viavia]

P.S. Apple and AT&T need to communicate better with one another.

Amidst the sea of chaos that only an iPhone 4 can bring, comes a little ripple entering the Apple pond – the Mac Mini. Although I have yet to delve fully into the Mac-World, there is just something about this Mac Mini that really appeals to me. Could it be? Are my PC days numbered?

Maybe it’s time for me to officially become a Mac.

Apple Mac Mini ($699) Specs:

Processor
2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
3MB shared L2 cache
Option: 2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo

Memory
2GB (two 1GB SO-DIMMs) of 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM
Option: Up to 8GB

Hard drive
320GB Serial ATA, 5400 rpm
Option: 500GB

Optical drive
8x double-layer SuperDrive (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)

Graphics
NVIDIA GeForce 320M with 256MB of shared DDR3 SDRAM

Ports
Four USB 2.0 ports
One FireWire 800 port
One SD card slot

Audio
Built-in speaker
Combined optical digital audio output/headphone out
Combined optical digital audio input/audio line in

Video
HDMI port with HDMI to DVI adapter; Mini DisplayPort with support for DVI, dual-link DVI, and VGA video via adapters.
Connects to up to two external displays with digital resolution up to 2560 by 1600 pixels via Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI Adapter or 1920 by 1200 pixels via Mini DisplayPort, HDMI to DVI Adapter, or Mini DisplayPort to DVI Adapter. Analog resolution (VGA) up to 2048 by 1536 pixels using Mini DisplayPort to VGA Adapter or Mini-DVI to VGA Adapter.

Ethernet
10/100/1000BASE-T (Gigabit) with support for jumbo frames
Wireless AirPort Extreme Wi-Fi (802.11n)
Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR (Enhanced Data Rate)

Included accessories
HDMI to DVI Adapter

Size (H x W x D)
1.4 x 7.7 x 7.7 inches
3.6 x 19.7 x 19.7 cm

Weight
3.0 pounds
1.37 kg

Ok. I may be a little late to the party on this (Hey. Cut me some slack. I was on vacation, ok ), but apparently Apple is coming out with a new iPhone. And judging from teh video I just watched (shown above) from Jason Chen, I’ve come to the conclusion that – I WANT IT! Summer is about to Haute up, and what better way to kick it off with some HauteNew Tech?!? Hoping this comes out soon!

On another note, Jason Chen and the good folkz at Gizmodo got some juevos for being able to get their hands on this prototype. Let alone provide the WHOLE WORLD with the scoop. Thanks guys. But please, tell me something: How’d you guys get this phone again? Something about a guy walking into a bar…

[via]

Back in the day, when I was young (I’m not a kid anymore, but somedays I sit and wish I was a kid again…) I used to DJ. Two MLK 1200′s, some records and a mixer?! Ooh wee! True Audio Therapy, my tomos.

On the flipside, though, talk about hustling yoAziOff! I remember hauling around milk crate upon milk crate of records just so we’d have enough music to play at the gig we’d lined that week…the Middle School dance. Yup. Back in the days… But OLD iPods and NEW Mixer technology may have me coming back to my audio therapy. Enter iPod DJ’ing.

In my pre-iPhone days, like many others I’ve accumulated a lot of iPods. From the intial release generation up until the iTouch, the tendency for my iPods – a slow phase out. Old tech collecting dust on a shelf. Somewhere.

Fortunately for us, companies like Numark are allowing you to bring back those iPods and changing the face of music and the mobile DJ.

Numark explains iDJ2:

iDJ2 is the first mixing station that enables you to play two tracks simultaneously from the same iPod. iDJ2 is a powerful DJ performance device with a dual-deck layout, a professional Numark DJ mixer, Numark’s exclusive Crate music-management system on a color LCD and a dock for iPod. You can perform with nothing more than iDJ2 and an iPod!

WoW! Next generation DJ’ing just got easy-er! Remember how heavy I said it was?! No more.

Obviously, these types of mixers are not going to replace the Old Skool feel of needle against vinyl, but for noobs wanting to delve into 1/4 Elements of Hip Hop culture – repurpose those iPods and delve into Audio Therapy.

Now only to find my iPods…
[images via Numark]

One of the reasons that Macworld continues to thrive still today, is its Community. Despite Apple’s noticeable absence from Macworld 2010, one truth remains the same – those loyal and true to the Community will always keep coming back. That’s the Mac Community.

Admittedly, this is my first time at ANY Macworld and I can honestly say that I’m not a true Mac fanBoy. However, with that being said, any time I make my way to a tradeshow/convention/eXPO of any sort, one trait I tend to notice at each and every show I attend is that the community is ALWAYS there. Always. Glad to have participated in your (Mac)World. If only for a day.

View all of our fotos from Macworld on Flickr!

What’s teh greatest part about attending tradeshows, eXPOs, or conventions? All the swag you have access to! From first dibs on the latest HauteMerch, to special “show” pricing on goods, the reason why so many people flock to the big events is – the swag, of course! Let’s see what I was able to pick up at Macworld 2010.

“Don’t just think differently, be different!” That’s the Bone Collection approach to products. I picked up a “couple” of cute 2GB USB memory sticks. Guess which ones I picked up? Hint: they wear tuxedos.

Do you ever have issues with annoying, tangled headphone cords? Well, I do. So when I stumbled upon the Bud Sock solution at Macworld, I was pretty stoked. Tangled cords are a thing of the past once you put on your Bud Sock! If you’re interested in grabbing your own, head on over to Bud Sock for more info and pricing.

Looking to set yourself apart from the many Apple clone owners? Then consider the Artistic expression of GelaSkins for your Macbook/iPhone/iTouch. From tokidoki to HauteArt, making yourself unique is as simple as slapping on some Skin. GelaSkin that is.

I’m a pretty heavy iPhone user. So when I needed to find a solution to extend the battery life on my iPhone, Rob_Base recommended the RichardSolo battery pack. This pack is great! One full charge of the battery pack can fully re-charge your iPhone up to 5x’s! That’s enough to cover a tradeshow for the entire day! Hello Macworld if your as heavy an iPhone user as I am, then I highly recommend RichardSolo!

Overall, the Swag at Macworld was mos def worth the price of admission. Great consumer products at very reasonable prices. Why can’t they do this every year?! Oh wait. They do! See ya next year!

View all of our photos from Macworld 2010 via Flickr

View all of our photos from Macworld 2010 via Flickr