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Along with announcing Thunderbolt, Apple has also officially outed the new MacBook Pros

Apple has just update their official website with an overview of Thunderbolt, which they all-but-confirm is Light Peak and designed in collaboration with Intel Labs (who has their own press conference scheduled for later this morning).

Thunderbolt is up to 20 times faster than USB 2.0 and twice as fast as USB 3.0. It’s a single cable that consolidates almost all existing ports, from FireWire to USB to miniDisplay to eSATA. This is one cable to rule them all.

And even though the new MacBook Pros come with only one Thunderbolt port, it shouldn’t matter for end users: two 10Gbps channels on the same connector mean you can daisy chain multiple high-speed, data-intensive devices and multiple displays to the same port without using a hub… and without reducing performance.

Forget everything else about the new MacBook Pros: this is the most important Apple announcement of the week. Apple and Intel’s reticence to adopt USB 3 now makes sense: they were out to kill it and every other connector out there once and for all.

Preparation is underway at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, with workers busy slinging up a massive Apple banner heralding next week’s iPad 2 event.

Apple’s invite made no bones about the fact that the March 2nd event was all about the iPad 2, but the murals fronting the Yueba Buena conference center tend to foreshadow the content of the event pretty accurately. For example, the September 1st iPod event featured a guitar with an Apple logo.

So here’s the question: what do all of those colored dots foreshadow, given that this is an iPad 2 event? They could be touchpoints, but that would only seem to foreshadow the iPad 2 upping the previous generation’s display’s capacity for ten simultaneous touch points, which seems unlikely unless Apple envisions a rise in polydactylysm.

So what is it? The March 2nd invite does prominently feature an iPad, but says “Come see what 2011 will be the year of.” That means this is going to be about a lot more than the iPad 2 (which we know will be a modest update anyway). This is about what 2011 will hold for iOS.

Here’s my best guess: the dots represent nodes in the cloud, and on March 2nd, Apple’s finally going to unveil some of their cloud aspirations, starting with a radical overhaul of MobileMe.

What do you guys think? It’s a lot to take from a bunch of little dots, I know, but Apple never does anything without a reason. Those dots mean something. Leave us a comment with your best guess.

Although buyers of new MacBook Pros should have it come preinstalled on their machines, if you want FaceTime on your existing Mac, it’s going to cost you some bread, or beans, or shekels, or whatever your preferred pecuniary vernacular.

It won’t cost you much, though. Coming out of public beta, FaceTime for Mac has just hit the Mac App Store for just $0.99.

Changes over the beta aren’t significant… but explicit mention is made that 720p video calling is supported. Considering the fact that today’s MacBook Pros ship with “FaceTime HD” cameras, it looks like Apple has finally embraced the full capabilities of their 1280×1024 FaceTime nee iSight webcams.

iLounge is posting a pair of rumors, one which is a pretty obvious extrapolation of what we know about the 2011 MacBook Pros, but the other one a gossipy little number about the iPad 2.

In regards to the MacBook Pros, iLounge says that the 2011 MacBook Pros will be a modest upgrade, and won’t boast a new redesign. I think that’s less a rumor than fact at this point, as we’ve seen glimpses of promotional materials that indicate the new Pros’ only real difference physically from the previous models is a larger trackpad.

So when iLounge goes on to say that 2012’s MacBook Pros will be a new “milestone” and boast a radical chassis redesign, I say “ho-hum.” Of course it will. If they didn’t do it this year, they have to do it next year, since it’ll be three years at that point since they first rolled-out the unibody aluminum design. More MacBook Air like Pros should be par for the course in 2011.

More interesting, though, iLounge claims that the iPad 2 will be a more modest update than we were expecting, thanks to the production bottlenecks we heard tell about on Tuesday. Considering the fact that few expected a radical reinvention of the iPad this generation, that’s a pretty bold statement, and it implies that Apple might pull a last-minute switcheroo on case makers, as they did with the third-generation iPod Touch (which was heavily tipped as having a camera before launch). Or it could simply mean that while Apple will announce the iPad 2 next week, it won’t ship for quite some time.

I don’t see the latter being likely: Apple’s not going to pull the same boner as the mob of Android tablet makers, revealing products months ahead of time. The iPad 2 will be available within a month of announcement, even if it means Apple has to downgrade functionality behind the scenes.

The question is, though, if the iPad 2 is more modest an update than expected, how? All we’re really expecting from the iPad 2 is a routine processor and RAM bump, the addition of FaceTime, a new speaker and possibly dual GSM/CDMA functionality. With the exception of the latter feature, that’s hardly mountain shaking. What would Apple possibly ditch to get over the hump?

In an otherwise routine disgorgement of recently awarded design patents for extant Apple products, one notable little slip: an E-Wallet icon tattooed in at the bottom of a pen-and-ink lithograph representing the familiar iOS home screen of every new iPhone.

That E-Wallet icon could betray Apple’s ambitions for near-field communications with a future NFC-capable iPhone 5. Near-field communications would not only allow future iPhones to be used for mobile credit card payments just by waving the device with Obi-Wan-style nonchalance in front of a teller or kiosk, but also are rumored to enable Apple’s ambitious remote computing strategy by allowing Mac users to effectively carry their most critical Mac files and settings around with them.

Presumably, E-Wallet would be the iOS app giving user access to NFC data. Not that it will necessarily be called that: as Patently Apple points out, E-Wallet is trademarked to someone else, and trademark trolls are already sitting on three seaerate iWallet trademarks, hoping to get Cupertino to write them a check.

The Apple Store is down, and new MacBook Pros are on their way. We saw the 13-inch yesterday: now we’ve got the details on one of the 15-inchers and 17-inchers, respectively.

Here’s what we’re looking at for the 15-inch and 17-inch:

• An Intel Core 2.0 GHz i7 quad-core processor with a 6MB cache (15-inch)
• An Intel Core 2.2 GHz i7 quad-core processor with a 6MB cache (17-inch)
• 4GB of DDR RAM at 1333 MHz (both)
• 500GB hard drive (15-inch)
• 750GB hard drive (17-inch)
• 15.4-inch LED backlit screen with 1440×900 resolution (15-inch)
• a 17-inch LED backlit display with a 1920 x 1200 resolution (17-inch)
• Intel HD Graphics 3000
• AMD Radeon HD 6490M GPU with 256MB of memory (15-inch)
• AMD Radeon HD 6750M with 1GB GDDR5 memory (17-inch)
• FaceTime HD camera
• 8x SuperDrive
• Thunderbolt and Mini DisplayPort
• SDXC slot, FireWire 800 port and two USB 2.0 ports
• Audio and Ethernet ports
• Wi-Fi and Bluetooth

Like the 13-inch we saw yesterday, these are more modest updates to the MacBook Pro line than we anticipated, boasting no LiquidMetal design or ubiquitous SSDs. The only notable update is the adoption of Light Peak, branded by Apple as Thunderbolt.

There’s still two new MacBook Pros (a 15-incher and 17-incher) to be revealed, but expect them to be variations of these two. We’ll let you know price when the Apple Store comes back up.

Many people have seen the 1984 SuperBowl commercial introducing the Macintosh to the masses. In the fall of 1983, Jobs gave a preview of this spot to an enthusiastic crowd of Apple shareholders and insiders. With full Reality Distortion Field in place, a young, passionate Steve Jobs describes the history of computing, IBM’s missed opportunities, and their current threats to Apple and the computing industry.

Happy Birthday, Steve – you haven’t lost your touch! Apple SuperNerds will notice a few soundtrack differences between this preview and the commercial that actually aired – can you spot them?

All Things D: Apple Shareholders Reject Proposal to Disclose Succession Plan

It’s official: The iPad 2 launch will be March 2.

Apple is issuing press invites to a special media event on March 2 at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, according to Loopinsight.com.

“Come see what 2011 will be all about,” says the invite. Looks like Apple is pretty confident about the iPad 2.

The event starts at 10:00 am. It’s the same venue Apple traditionally uses to introduce products.

Given how wildly popular the Photo Booth software that ships on every new Mac is amongst trout-lipped, mall-loitering teenagers from sea to shining sea, it’s amazing to me that Apple’s gone four years without bringing Photo Booth to iOS. Recent plist references in iOS 4.3 beta firmware suggest, however, that Apple is soon to remedy that omission as soon as the iPad 2 drops… implying that Apple’s simply been waiting for the whole family of iOS devices to have a front-facing webcam. In addition to Photo Booth, iPhone users can also take advantage of various iPhone photo edit settings formula to enhance their selfies and images. Learn more about editing selfies like TikTok on iPhone.

Now a new patent has been found by Jack Purcher over at Patently Apple, not only confirming that Cupertino’s engineers have been working on bringing Photo Booth to iPhones, but also suggesting that it might be a more radical revision than first expected, taking advantage of the gamut of iOS hardware, including mic, GPS and accelerometer.

Panic, the makers of popular Mac FTP client Transmit, quip about Dell’s outright theft of their official logo: “If only Dell charged the Apple Tax, they could afford to draw their own truck.”

But at least the Dell Tax was enough to cover Photoshopping in one of their monitors!

Although the public is used to seeing Steve Jobs as the face of Apple, a growing number of consumers are comfortable purchasing products from the Cupertino, Calif. company even if the iconic iPod salesman is not at the helm. That’s the finding of a recent survey comparing consumer reactions to questions surrounding Jobs’ health.

Some 93 percent of people questioned in a RBC Capital Markets and ChangeWave survey said a change of Apple leadership would either have no impact or would not alter their buying choices. This compares to a June 2008 survey finding 18 percent of people would be less likely to purchase Apple products if Jobs left the CEO position.

Beloved teen detective Nancy Drew is racing her blue roadster into the digital age with a new interactive iPad game.

Called “Nancy Drew Mobile Mysteries: Shadow Ranch,” it’s a game/story hybrid. Aimed at girls age 9-14, the interactive gamebook app lets players decide how the story unfolds as they play games and solve mysteries, both big and small.

Despite Apple’s recent 6.8 percent drop in share prices, the Cupertino, Calif. iPhone and iPad maker has a bright future, one bullish analyst told investors Wednesday. “We believe a sustainable 25-30 percent growth rate in earnings could be achievable through 2015,” writes Piper Jaffray’s Gene Munster.

Why? He believes the iPhone will grow at 35 percent a year, selling 200 million handsets in 2015 – with the iPad expanding at an even faster pace. Backing up his claim, the analyst offers the iPhone’s dramatic audience increase since bursting onto the smartphone scene in 2007.

You won’t find a Mac sitting on the desk of 30 percent of Americans, or an iPhone in the pockets of 30 percent of movie-goers, but in the world of Hollywoodland, Apple products rule the roost, appearing in almost thirty percent of all top movies at the YU.S. box office in 2010.

Apple products popped up in a surprising number of movies last year, including Iron Man 2,Toy Story 3, The Other Guys and the utterly execrable Kick Ass. All together, Apple soundly managed to beat out Chevrolet, Ford and Nike on the list of top product-placing companies.

Heralded as a revolution in the way companies advertised their products in-app, iAds has instead ended up being a bit of a dud, with Apple struggling to fill advertising spaces even as developers clamor to embrace the service.

To rectify the situation, Apple’s just rolled out an uncharacteristic drop in asking price: they’ve cut the minimum required spending for iAds from a heady $1 million to a more reasonable $500,000.

The move is meant to attract smaller business to iAds who couldn’t otherwise afford it. It should be a good thing, although once Apple starts allowing business to spend smaller, I wonder if iAd’s perfect 100% ad renewal rate will hold up.

What does this mean to you as an end user? Not a thing, except maybe you’ll be seeing an influx of new iAds to replace the tired old ones you’ve already seen to death.

“Stay tuned and buckled up.” According to sources speaking to Techcrunch, Apple has far from abandoned their premier Final Cut Pro software after more than a year without updates. It’s coming, and is supposedly slated to be the “biggest overhaul to Final Cut Pro since the original version was created over 10 years ago.” Yowza.

Although details are scant on what will be new, one of Techcrunch’s sources say that Final Cut Pro has been built back up from its marrow, with the changes encompassing everything from low-level architecture to a complete redesign of the user interface (a resdesign which will hopefully go over better than Apple’s redesign of iMovie’s interface a few years back).

The changes are reportedly “dramatic and ambitious,” and will answer all concerns that Apple’s abandoned the pros in their grab for consumers. If Techcrunch is right, Final Cut Pro will be hitting in Spring 2011, possibly to coincide with the National Association of Broadcasters conference on April 9th through 14th.

Fscklog has just posted a photo of what they believe are the specs to the new 13-inch MacBook Pro, which should be due out any day now.

Here are the specs, translated from German

• 2.3Ghz Sandy Bridge Dual-Core Intel Core i5 Processor with a 3MB L3 Cache

• 4GB of DDR3 RAM clocked at 1333MHz

• A 320GB hard drive

• a 13.3-inch diagonal LED backlit display with a 1280×800 pixel resolution.

• Intel HD Graphics 3000 with 384MB of DDR3 RAM.

• An integrated FaceTime-HD camera

• An 8x Superdrive

• Two USB 2 ports, an SD card reader, FireWire 800, a MiniDisplay Port, Ethernet and, most interestingly, Thunderbolt port (this is very possibly the Apple-branded implementation of Light Peak we’ve been hearing about).

Overall? It seems the 13-inch model is not the radical re-imagining we’ve been hearing about for the last few days. It’s not made of Liquid Metal, there’s no SSD and the new MBP has an identical chassis design to the old model. Short of the new Thunderbolt port and the leap to Sandy Bridge, these aren’t markedly different than the last generation of 13-inch MBPs. That said, the 13-incher is the entry-level MBP model. Perhaps Apple has something more radical afoot for the 15- and 17-inch models.

After the jump, a look at the new MacBook Pro’s marketing materials and a close-up view of the Thunderbolt port.

We all know that Steve Jobs is obsessed with crafting top-notch customer experiences. Of course, he’s famous for being dismissive of focus groups, but did you know he spies on customers at his local Apple Store?

If you’re wondering were all the comments went, they’re currently being imposted into Disqus. We’ve switched to Disqus, a commenting platform with all kinds of great features, including great social integration, notifications and multimedia.

When it’s up and running, it promises to be a great system. However, importing the old comments can sometimes take a while: maybe even two or three days.

That’s for existing comments. New comments should post immediately. Fingers crossed it’s up and running quickly. In the meantime, please leave any questions, comments or complaints in — you guessed it — the new comments system.

And thanks for your patience — Leander.

FireCore LLC has announced the release of an update to the Mac OS X version of Seas0nPass. The new release allows you to perform an untethered jailbreak on Apple’s latest AppleTV running 4.1.1 (the equivalent of iOS 4.2.1). The Windows version of the untethered jailbreak isn’t currently available, but will be at a later date.

According to FireCore, the new version of Seas0nPass is based on the jailbreak created by the Chronic Dev Team and the latest Beta3 version of aTV Flash (black) is compatible with Seas0nPass, GreenPois0n and Pwnage Tool jailbreaks.

You can read more about this on FireCore’s blog and you can download Seas0nPass now for free.

Raoul-Gabriel Urma writes:

We are computing students from Imperial College London and created a website dedicated to Steve Jobs allowing members of the public to leave their birthday comments and this way to support him while he is currently dealing with serious health issues.

Our aim is to allow as many people to wish him a happy birthday this way letting him know he has a back-up of so many.

Leave your best wishes here: Happy Birthday Steve Jobs.

That secret Apple Store retail meeting on Sunday we reported this morning? It looks like our instinct was right, as Kara Swisher at All Things D is now reporting that Apple will be holding a special media event on March 2nd to unveil the second-generation iPad.

Citing multiple sources, All Things D says that the date is firm, and that it will take place in San Francisco… likely at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. If true, that means we should see invitations sent out to the press today or tomorrow.

The iPad 2 is likely to ship in late March or early April, and will feature a thinner design, better sound, and FaceTime capabilities, as well as a faster dual-core A5 CPU and double ram. It’s also rumored to run on both Verizon and AT&T.

Just as Wintek has scored the contract to make touchscreens for the white iPhone 5, Chinese workers at the Taiwanese company’s Suzhou plant have urged Apple to look into the slate of chemical poisonings at the plant which they said could still hurt their health.

The issue is hexyl hydride, a chemical used by Wintek between May 2008 and August 2009 instead of alcohol to speed up production of Apple touchscreens. In an open letter published in a local Chinese newspaper, workers referred to hexyl hydride as “a killer that strikes invisibly.”

Symptoms of hexyl hydride poisoning include sudden numbness in hands, swelling and pain in the feet, tiredness and faintness. Long-term exposure can lead to permanent nerve and eye damage. 137 Wintek workers had been hospitalized because of the poisonings.