iLife 09, iPhone Update, Touch Patent

The big news this week was the release of iLife 09, now selling in Apple stores. Every component of iLife has been updated, with new features like facial recognition and GPS location tags in iPhoto, precision editing and video effects in iMovie, and music lessons in GarageBand. A single copy costs $79 and a family pack costs $99.
The iPhone version of OS X got a minor update this week to 2.2.1 with bug fixes to make Safari more stable and some issues between Mail and the Camera Roll. Some rumors are flying around this week that Apple has already started testing the next generation of iPhone hardware. Other rumors point to 3G wireless connectivity in the next generation of MacBooks as well.
Apple was awarded a touch screen phone patent this week, essentially covering the basic features of the iPhone. This patent will strengthen Apple’s position in the mobile market and make it harder for other major mobile phone makers to compete by simply copying the functionality of the iPhone.
A smaller news item, but one very important to many, is the controversy over the new expensive Dual-Link DVI cable that Apple started selling. It is the only way to connect a new MacBook to a 30-inch monitor, which is a common setup for MacBook Pro users who have been able to do it directly from the MacBook Pro to the monitor in previous versions of the MacBook Pro. The $99 cable was delayed several months, and not it appears to have flaws that make it unusable for many. Apple released a video driver update that may fix the problem, but they also now claim that the connector is only for Apple 30-inch displays and not others, changing the product description that was originally in place.