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Cupertino, Calif — Apple on Wednesday, Jan 30, announced that MacBook Air, the world’s thinnest notebook, is now shipping.

MacBook Air measures an unprecedented 0.16-inches at its thinnest point, while its maximum height of 0.76-inches is less than the thinnest point on competing notebooks.

MacBook Air has a stunning 13.3-inch LED-backlit widescreen display, a full-size and backlit keyboard, a built-in iSight video camera for video conferencing, and a spacious trackpad with multi-touch gesture support so users can pinch, rotate and swipe. MacBook Air is powered by a 1.6 GHz or 1.8 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 4MB L2 cache, and includes as standard features 2GB of memory, an 80GB 1.8-inch hard drive, and the latest 802.11n Wi-Fi technology and Bluetooth 2.1.

Pricing & Availability
The new MacBook Air is now shipping and will be available through the Apple Store, Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers for a suggested retail price of $1,799 (US), and includes:

* 13.3-inch LED-backlit glossy widescreen display with 1280×800 resolution;
* 1.6 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 4MB L2 cache;
* 800 MHz front-side bus;
* 2GB of 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM;
* 80GB hard disk drive with Sudden Motion Sensor;
* Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3100;
* Micro-DVI port (includes Micro-DVI to VGA and Micro-DVI to DVI Adapters);
* built-in iSight video camera;
* built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR;
* one USB 2.0 port;
* one headphone port;
* multi-touch TrackPad with support for advanced multi-touch gestures including tap, scroll, pinch, rotate and swipe; and
* 45 Watt MagSafe Power Adapter.

Build-to-order options and accessories for MacBook Air include the ability to upgrade to a 1.8 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor; 64GB solid state drive, MacBook Air SuperDrive, Apple USB Ethernet Adapter, Apple USB Modem, Apple MagSafe Airline Adapter, Apple Remote and the AppleCare Protection Plan. Additional build-to-order options also include pre-installed copies of iWork ‘08, Logic Express 8, Final Cut Express 4 and Aperture 1.5. More at Apple.

El Segundo, California - On Dec 31, Axiotron announced that its flagship product, the Modbook, the first fully functional Apple-authorized tablet Mac solution, is now shipping to consumers.

The only Mac-based tablet computer on the market, Axiotron’s Modbook seamlessly integrates a state-of-the-art Wacom digitized pen-sensitive LCD slate-style display with Apple MacBook’s legendary ease of use and design sensibility, giving artists and design-oriented professionals enhanced onscreen writing and drawing functionality when they need it most.

A perfect blend of style and functionality, each Modbook comes pre-installed with Mac OS X Leopard, the award winning OS X’s built-in Inkwell handwriting recognition, a 2.0 GHz or 2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, a built-in iSight camera and an integrated 24x DVD Combo drive or 8x DVD SuperDrive.

Also, every Modbook features a built-in Global Positioning System (GPS).

In addition to all of the features of the powerful Apple MacBook base system, the Axiotron Modbook’s largest-in-class wide angle 13.3″ widescreen display offers wider viewing angles and a higher contrast ratio, resulting in darker blacks and more vivid, saturated colors while maintaining the same resolution and aspect ratio of the original MacBook display.

Modbook is available today at Macsales for $2279 (Core 2 Duo 2.0 GHz, 80 GB), $2479 (Core 2 Duo 2.2 GHz, 120GB, DVD writer) . More at Axiotron.

Dec 07, ‘07 — Apple Leopard users say their systems have taken to randomly flashing the color green, InformationWeek reports.

InfoWeek further writes, “A poster to Apple’s support forum named “Matthew Hickey1″ recently reported that his Leopard-based PowerBook displays the green flashes whenever he tries to close applications.

Numerous follow-up posts indicate that the problem isn’t unique to Hickey’s machine. Other users of Leopard, officially known as Mac OS X 10.5, say they’ve experienced the weird green flashes. Apple support forum member “bob812″ likens them to “a strobing effect.”

So far, Apple does not appear to have a fix for the issue. “I was on the phone with support for three hours trying to resolve the problem but no luck,” wrote “DJS223.”"

Comments on Apple Discussions:

User “Matthew Hickey1″ Posts:
“Before anybody suggests it, no I haven’t been drinking or taking drugs….

I’m curious if anybody else has noticed a random green flash (like the flash that photobooth provides only green) from time to time when closing applications or performing other similar tasks. I can’t decide whether it’s some kooky “feature” or whether there are compatability problems with my ATI X800 graphics card, or whether my display has decided to give up.

Anyone? ”

User “Chrissli” writes:
“I also have a 30″ and get these green flashes, but these are not the only graphic errors I have. I also have problems when entering time maching (1 third of the screen seems to be slower) and i sometimes get small green flashes behind the dock.

Also my menu bar is not transparent.

When I switch my resolution to a lower one, the problem is gone.

I have a radeon 9650.”

User “Andrew Hoyt” writes:
“Yes! I have gotten green and purple flashes (at first I thought this was a feature) and my time machine appears exactly as in the picture you linked. I can still use it, it’s just crazy.

I have an ATI Radeon X800 XT for a graphics card, I am thinking that could be a problem. I did a clean install of Leopard on another disk and got absolutely no problems.

Tried archiving and installing on my main drive array- no such luck, still flashes.”

More at InformationWeek, Apple Discussions.

Apparently Apple has issued software updates for that annoying freezing bug on its latest iMacs. “The update provides important bug fixes and is recommended for 20-inch and 24-inch iMac models with 2.0, 2.4, or 2.8GHz processors.” Says Apple. The iMac software updates comes in two, Leopard and Tiger, versions.

This Slashdot post is reporting on people getting “Blue Screen of Death” while upgrading their Macs to Apple’s new Mac OS X. In their words:

“Some Mac users upgrading to Apple’s new Leopard operating system are encountering long delays on reboot — an experience they liken to the Windows ‘Blue Screen of Death.’ While some of those upgrading were able to access their computer after waiting for as long as several hours, others were forced to do a complete reinstall. Some suspect that a framework called ‘Application Enhancer’ by Unsanity LLC may be causing the problem, but there has been no official word from Apple at this point.”

Here are some of the reactions from the Apple-Support-Discssions forum:

User ‘nitramluap’ writes: “I’m on the phone to them and they can’t help!!”

User ‘Stm10′ writes: “Where are the Apple support people in this thread? Surely someone should be posting to let us know this massive issue is being looked into and that hopefully there will be a solution for us soon! I too have the blue screen and after waiting over one hour switched my MacBook off and now everytime it boots up again it still hangs at this blue screen!

Apple: GET SOME TO RESPOND IN THIS THREAD ABOUT THIS ISSUE ASAP”

User ‘Hiley’ writes: “Yep. I have exactly the same problem as everybody else. Been on the blue screen for about 2hrs. No space to archive and install. G4 PB 1ghz/1gb. Come on apple. With all these identical problems so quickly, it looks like you have an epidemic on your hands.

Interested to know how many others had success from just waiting out the blue screen???? mark”

More at Apple-Support-Discussions

October 26, ‘07 — Leopard, the latest update of the Apple Mac operating system OS X, goes on sale tonight. The release ends months of waiting for Mac fans, after Apple pushed back the launch to finish development on its much-hyped iPhone.Early reviews for Leopard have been positive and Apple is hoping to build on recent strong sales of its Mac computers. In the last three months, Apple sold 2.2 million Macs, up 400,000 on its previous best quarter.

The company is touting Leopard as a Vista-beater, pointing to new features not found in the new operating system (OS) from Microsoft that drives many PCs.

Apple says there are 300 new features in Leopard, but some of them are minor tweaks to the previous OS, called Tiger, rather than fully-fledged tools or enhancements. More at BBCNews

Apple Inc beat Wall Street targets with a 67 percent rise in quarterly profit on Monday, led by strong sales of its Macintosh computers and a big first full quarter from the iPhone, sending its shares up nearly 6 percent.

CUPERTINO, California—October 22, 2007—Apple® today announced financial results for its fiscal 2007 fourth quarter ended September 29, 2007. The Company posted revenue of $6.22 billion and net quarterly profit of $904 million, or $1.01 per diluted share. These results compare to revenue of $4.84 billion and net quarterly profit of $542 million, or $.62 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Gross margin was 33.6 percent, up from 29.2 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 40 percent of the quarter’s revenue.

Apple shipped 2,164,000 Macintosh® computers, representing 34 percent growth over the year-ago quarter and exceeding the previous quarterly record for Mac® shipments by 400,000. The Company sold 10,200,000 iPods during the quarter, representing 17 percent growth over the year-ago quarter. Quarterly iPhone™ sales were 1,119,000, bringing cumulative fiscal 2007 sales to 1,389,000.

“We are very pleased to have generated over $24 billion in revenue and $3.5 billion in net income in fiscal 2007,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “We’re looking forward to a strong December quarter as we enter the holiday season with Apple’s best products ever.”

“Apple ended the fiscal year with $15.4 billion in cash and no debt,” said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s CFO. “Looking ahead to the first quarter of fiscal 2008, we expect revenue of about $9.2 billion and earnings per diluted share of about $1.42.”

More at Apple

Mac OS X Leopard Up-to-Date Program: “Apple would like to give you the opportunity to upgrade to Mac OS X v10.5 Leopard. Customers who purchase a qualifying new Macintosh computer on or after October 1, 2007 that does have not Mac OS X v10.5 Leopard included can upgrade to Leopard. The program ends on December 29, 2007. Your order must be postmarked or faxed by January 4, 2008, so order your upgrade now.”

More at Apple

Add a new Mac to your Mac. Says Apple. Pre-Order your Mac OS X Leopard for $129 at Apple. Apple will start shipping new Leopard on October 26.