Apple’s next-generation iMac will reportedly feature a new high-resolution Retina display according to a recent report. Earlier this week, reports emerged claiming that Apple is readying a next-generation MacBook Pro with a redesigned ultra-thin case and a 15-inch Retina display. Production of the new MacBook Pro laptops has already begun according to earlier rumors. At the same time, Apple may take the wraps off an updated iMac model that also includes a high-resolution Retina display. ABC News reports that multiple sources have tipped the site off to the imminent launch of a Retina display-equipped iMac alongside a new MacBook Pro with a similar display, though no launch timing was discussed. Many expect Apple to unveil its next-generation iMac and MacBook Pro computers during its keynote at the annual Worldwide Developer Conference on June 11th.

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NPD Group on Thursday released the results of its Apple Ecosystem Study, which suggests that almost 25% of U.S. iPad owners are first-time Apple buyers. The firm’s data, as reported by AppleInsider, indicated that 33% of U.S. households own Apple products, with a majority owning an iPod. That number is growing beyond the 37 million American households the Cupertino-based company’s products are already found in, thanks to Apple’s flagship tablet. “iPad sales are growing much faster than any other Apple product has this soon after launch,” said Ben Arnold, director of industry analysis at NPD. “In fact, one-in-five Apple owner households has one — nearly equivalent to the number that own an Apple computer. This demonstrates the appeal of both the new form factor and Apple’s app ecosystem.” The study found that six out of ten homes with a Mac also own a Windows PC, and nearly 30% of so-called “Apple enthusiasts” own a smartphone other than the iPhone. The data comes from a survey NPD conducted in February of more than 3,000 consumers.

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Security firm Intego on Monday announced that it had discovered a new variant of the Flashback malware called Flashback.S that continues to use a Java vulnerability Apple has already patched. This variant requires no password to install, and it places its files into the user’s home folder in “~/Library/LaunchAgents/com. java.update.plist” and “~/.jupdate.” Once Fashback.S is installed, it will then delete all files and folders in “~/Library/Caches/Java/cache” in order to delete the applet from the infected Mac, and avoid detection. The virus is actively being distributed, although it will not install if it finds Intego VirusBarrier X6, Xcode or Little Snitch installed on the Mac it tries to attack.

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Security firm Sophos on Tuesday indicated that a surprisingly high level of malware has been found on Mac computers — the firm’s research revealed that one in every five Mac computers is harboring some kind of Windows malware. Of the 100,000 customers sampled through Sophos’s antivirus offerings, 20% of users were found to be carrying one or more instances of Windows malware. The firm highlighted that Windows malware on a Mac won’t cause any harm, however, unless the computer also runs a Windows partition in addition to OS X. The company’s research found that just 2.7% of Macs that installed the company’s free anti-virus software were infected by OS X malware. Nearly all of the OS X malware discovered was an iteration of the “Flashback” trojan called “Flshplyr.” Sophos said that cybercriminals may find Macs to be targets because OS X users are less likely to be running an anti-virus software, however Macs can get viruses and the right software can keep a user’s computer safe. A second pie chart follows below.

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Apple responded fairly quickly to news that more than 600,000 Mac computers were infected with a trojan virus called “Flashback.” One week after the massive botnet was discovered, Apple issued an update fixing the Java vulnerability that allowed Flashback to infect the machines, as well as a removal tool for affected machines. Despite the company’s efforts, Symantec stated on Tuesday evening that approximately 140,000 OS X PCs were still infected with the virus at that time. “The statistics from our sinkhole are showing declining numbers on a daily basis,” the company wrote on its blog. “However, we had originally believed that we would have seen a greater decline in infections at this point in time, but this has proven not to be the case. Currently, it appears that the number of infected computers has tapered off, but remains around the 140,000 mark.” Symantec offers its own Flashback removal tool separate from the one Apple made available in a system update on April 12th.

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Intel is expected to move up the announcement of its next-generation Ivy Bridge processors from the original date of April 29th to April 23rd, Digitimes reported on Thursday. ASUS, Acer, Lenovo and Hewlett-Packard are all preparing to release their second generation of ultrabooks in May, with average prices expected to “rapidly” drop from $999 to $699. To promote ultrabooks, Intel has also reportedly set up a $300 million fund to assist its partners in ultrabook design as well as research and development. Earlier rumors have suggested that Apple is planning to refresh its iMac family of computers with Intel’s 22nm-based Core i5 and Core i7 Ivy Bridge processors in June or July. The Cupertino-based company is also said to be ramping up production in preparation for thinner 13- and 15-inch MacBook Pro models.

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The idea that Macs don’t get viruses is now officially a thing of the past. Of course Mac malware has been around for years, but now a massive botnet has been discovered that takes this relatively small issue and makes it a widespread problem. While hackers indeed target Windows PCs far more frequently, a trojan horse virus discovered earlier this year has reportedly now been found to affect more that half a million Mac computers worldwide. Russian anti-virus vendor Dr. Web has discovered that malware called “BackDoor.Flashback.39″ is currently present on at least 600,000 Macs. The trojan has the capability to use a java vulnerability to intercept passwords and other private data, and then transmit the information back to the person or group that deployed it. Apple has since patched the vulnerability, but security experts at F-Secure have published a simple guide to help Mac users determine whether or not they are infected, and then remove any malicious files from their computers that are tied to the Flashback trojan. A link to F-Secure’s guide can be found below.

[Via Ars Technica]

Read [Dr. Web] Read [Removal guide]

Apple is reportedly planning to refresh its iMac family of computers with Intel’s 22nm-based Core i5 and Core i7 Ivy Bridge processors in June or July, How To Arena reported on Wednesday, citing a “reliable tipster” in Apple’s supply chain. The Cupertino-based company is also reportedly ramping up production in preparation for thinner 13- and 15-inch MacBook Pro models, which will use the same Ivy Bridge processors. Previous rumors have suggested that Apple’s redesigned iMac would feature an anti-reflective glass display, and it should be slimmer and lighter than the current units. Apple’s iMac lineup was last updated in May 2011 with Intel’s Sandy Bridge processors, a high-speed Thunderbolt port and a high-definition FaceTime camera.

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Apple’s stock recently crossed the $600 mark and there are no signs that the world’s most valuable company is slowing down. According to a poll from CNBC, half of all U.S. households own at least one Apple product and residents of one-in-10 homes that lack Apple products plan to buy their first Apple device over the next year. If accurate, the survey indicates that more than 55 million homes have at least one iPhone, iPad, iPod or Mac computer. Overall, the average household has 1.6 Apple devices and almost one-quarter are planning to buy at least one more in the next year. The survey also showed that the majority of Apple buyers tend to be male, college-educated and younger. Not surprisingly, the more money someone earns, the more Apple products he or she is likely to own according to the survey. Interestingly enough, 61% of households with children own an Apple device, compared with 48% of homes without kids. CNBC conducted the survey with 836 Americans alongside Hart Research between March 19th and March 22nd.

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Apple just did something the company hasn’t done very often in recent years — it completely surprised nearly every single person with the announcement of OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, the next OS for the Mac. Inching a step closer to bridging the gap between iOS and OS X, Mountain Lion brings practically all of iOS’s featured apps to desktop and laptop computers. From Messages, which I’ve been waiting for ever since iMessage was announced, to built-in iCloud support, Notification Center, Game Center, Reminders, Notes, a much-improved Safari browser, AirPlay and more, the two OSes are practically the same now in terms of system apps. This is the first developer preview of OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, and the OS will only improve before it is released in the summer. If you’re itching for my thoughts, though, you’ll find them after the break.

Messages

Out with iChat, in with Messages. Finally.

I’ve been talking about Apple’s messaging strategy for a while, and it is now coming together as I predicted — iMessage, FaceTime and iChat all had to merge eventually. While you can still use iChat much like you’d use the app before, the real star of the show is the new Messages interface which combines all your open conversations together in one unified window.

The ease of use here is just off the charts — by using your Apple ID, all of your messages will instantly and effortlessly flow from your iPhone to iPad to iPod touch to computers, keeping on-going conversations in sync no matter what device you have with you. This is a huge game-changer for instant communication in my book. Apple has said that over 26 billion iMessages were sent since its introduction in iOS 5. Add in delivery and read receipts, photo and file sending, and the over 100mm people who use iMessage, and you have a major network for instant sharing that just works.

One thing that I’d like Apple to solve on the computer with Messages, though, is checking to see what people in my contacts have an Apple ID or phone number and not showing me the rest of their contact information. Since you can only chat with an iPhone user or Apple ID in iMessage, it doesn’t make much sense to show me a contact’s secondary numbers or email addresses.

FaceTime is integrated into the main Messages window for whomever you’re in a conversation with, which is a clean way to bridge these two services into one. If you’re on OS X 10.7 Lion, you won’t even have to wait until the summer to start using Messages, as Apple has released it as a public beta that’s available for download now.

iCloud

Apple has integrated iCloud into the foundation of OS X 10.8. When you first power on the computer, you’re greeted with a sign-in window for your Apple ID. After you sign in, iCloud downloads your settings and sets up most of your computer for you, automatically. This includes your mail, contacts, calendar, reminders, notes, messages, bookmarks and more.

Opening the iCloud preferences shows you just how much syncing and data Apple is handling so you don’t have to worry about it — Back to my Mac, Find my Mac, Photo Stream and of course, the aforementioned as well. I still don’t see a way to integrate iCloud with Apple’s iWork suite, but this is obviously coming very soon.

Notification Center

This makes me so, so happy. I’ve hated Growl since its inception, mainly because it wasn’t ever executed properly. Notification Center is a wonderful place to see all of your notifications and alerts, including the addition of banner alerts that appear on the right side of your display. You can fine tune these just like you can on iOS by going into the Notifications panel in your settings and choosing whether to badge apps, what kind of alert you want, how many alerts for a specific app to show and more granular controls.

Introduced with Notification Center is a new two-finger gesture to bring up your notifications, and it’s a two-finger swipe from the edge of the trackpad from right to left. This is a bit cumbersome on a Magic Trackpad because you have to start exactly where the surface starts, unlike on a MacBook Air or Pro where there’s a surface next to the trackpad area.

Apple has an API for Mac Apps that want to appear in Notification Center, so expect almost every one of your favorite app to be compatible. For now, Mail, Messages, Contacts, Calendar, Reminders, Mac App Store and Safari will appear in Notification Center.

Game Center

Game Center is something else that feels big to me. The Mac was once a platform that was terrible for gamers. With the introduction, capability, and popularity of iOS, however, Apple’s devices have been the number one place for console-quality games in the past few years. It’s now translating to the Mac. Not only can you use Game Center how you would on iOS — yes, your friends are here, game recommendations are here, and your achievements are here — but you can also play multiplayer and turn-based games from your Mac with someone else on an iPhone or iPad. That’s big.

Contacts / Calendar / Notes / Reminders

Address Book and iCal are gone, replaced with Contacts and Calendar just like on iOS. These apps are mostly identical to the apps they replace aside from their new names, but there is a level of iCloud integration that was missing before. Whatever is on your iOS device will be on your Mac now in Reminders and Notes, and the Notes app also features some awesome capabilities like in-line photos, bulleted lists, hyperlinked URLs, customizable fonts and other enhancements. Reminders also syncs with your iOS devices, though Reminders with locations don’t seem to display properly on the Mac at this point.

AirPlay

 Another huge addition to the Mac is AirPlay. This allows you to send your video and audio content directly from your computer to a TV or projector. Imagine just showing up to a conference room with your MacBook Air and instantly beaming your Keynote presentation wirelessly to a display, or grabbing your laptop while you’re on your sofa and showing off a new home video to friends on your TV. You can push your content from your Mac to a TV, and you can also use AirPlay Mirroring just as you can on your iPad 2 or iPhone 4S, turning the TV into your monitor on your Mac — wirelessly.

Mountain Lion

There’s a lot more to OS X 10.8 then what I covered above. For example, there’s now system-level sharing going on, called Share Sheet. It’s contextual based on the app you are in, and this is most likely a sign of what’s to come in iOS 6 if I had to bet — a system-integrated way of sharing from one app to other services in iOS.

Safari has improved to the point where I’m going to try to make it my default browser. It’s buttery smooth, the ability to type a URL and search from one unified bar is a needed improvement, and I love how it grays out all of the URL noise, just leaving the base URL whole. Reader has moved to a permanent place on the right side of the browser bar, and using Safari just makes browsing the Internet feel like a different experience than just pulling up Web pages. It feels very iOS-like, especially with the Magic Trackpad — something Apple was obviously aiming for.

Another addition in OS X 10.8 is the fact that the Mac App Store now handles all of your system updates. These updates will even appear in Notification Center now. I was able to update three different parts of the system using just the App Store.

Apple has also introduced a way to try and prevent any bad apps from running on the Mac with GateKeeper. This setting lets you choose whether to accept apps downloaded only from the App Store (Apple has to approve every app before it’s available here), apps from the App Store and verified developers (developers will be able to sign apps with a unique identifier, and Apple would be able to revoke this in case of any nefarious happenings), or apps from anywhere and everywhere. This would also be a much-welcome and much-awaited feature for iOS, if that’s ever an option down the road.

All in all, playing with OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion feels more like an experience you have come to expect from Apple — a window into whatever you want, pushing every distraction out of the way so you can work better and play better. Check out high resolution images of OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion in our gallery.

The U.S. Patent & Trademark Office published a patent application from Apple on Thursday that reveals a 3D eye-tracking-based interface that could be used for gaming, digital photography and videography in future iOS and iMac devices, reports PatentlyApple. The new features could work in conjunction with Apple’s current 3D head tracking and ambient light technologies. The solution would utilize a variety of sensors such as an accelerometer and compass in combination with eye-tracking technology to alter the perspective of 3D graphics displayed on an iPhone. The result would be a 3D experience that constantly adjusts to the user’s position and a device’s position, creating a unique experience far more advanced and precise than current solutions. The patent application was originally filed in the third quarter of 2010 and it is unclear if Apple is currently experimenting with the technology.

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In 2009, Tristan Schaap received the chance of a lifetime when he was offered an internship by Apple’s Platform Technologies Group. During his time interning with the company, Schaap was part of a team that was secretly attempting to port Mac OS X to the ARM architect, according to his Bachelor thesis published by Delft University of Technology. ARM-based chipsets are currently used in in Apple’s mobile devices while its computers use Intel processors. The thesis was originally embargoed due to the sensitive content, however the embargo has since been lifted and the paper was published in September last year. After completing his 12-week internship and graduating with a B.S. in Computer Science, Schaap was hired by Apple as a CoreOS engineer. It has long been rumored that Apple is considering a move to support ARM in its desktop and laptop computers.

[Via iMore]

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Apple certainly helped shape the mobile space by popularizing multitouch screens on smartphones and tablets, but can it do the same for desktop computing, too? The United States Patent and Trademark Office on Thursday published an Apple patent application that describes a desktop computer — likely the iMac — with a touchscreen display. Dell, HP and plenty of other firms have introduced all-in-one PCs with touchscreens, of course, but Apple’s invention may make some applications more intuitive. Read on for more.

According to Patently Apple, Apple’s patent describes a series of hybrid knob and slider controls that could be used, for example, in a music application for controlling input levels. “The visual augmentation could include displaying an outline and/or fill region (e.g. a color or pattern fill) around the knob element, displaying text labels for minimum and maximum range limit values and displaying a slider element with the knob element,” Patently Apple explained. “The slider element could include a fill bar to indicate the current value of the knob control.”

A touchscreen iMac could definitely be a valuable tool for artists, musicians, engineers and architects who might be able to interact with their creations using touch instead of a mouse and pointer, but need more power or a larger display than the iPad.

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Apple may be looking to incorporate support for 802.11ac Wi-Fi specification into the company’s products this year, according to a report from AppleInsider. The new standard offers three times the speed of the 802.11n standard, capable of achieving speeds of over 1 Gigabit per second. The Cupertino-based company is expected to “rapidly deploy support” of the new standard into AirPort base stations, Time Capsules, the Apple TV, notebooks and possibly mobile devices, according to the report. Even though the official standard has yet to be finalized, multiple suppliers have already announced chipsets supporting it — one of those is key Apple component maker Broadcom, which announced chips supporting the standard earlier this month at the Consumer Electronics Show. In addition to faster speeds, 802.11ac promises better networking range, improved reliability and more power efficient chips due to advances in reducing chip size and enhanced power management.

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When counting tablets as personal computers, Apple will soon overtake Hewlett-Packard as the world’s top PC vendor. Based on a Fortune poll of 42 analysts, iPad sales could hit the 14 million mark in the fourth quarter, a big bump over the 11.12 million sold in the third quarter. Apple previously sold 4.89 million Macs, with holiday sales estimated to exceed 5 million units. When combined, both iPad and Mac sales are expected to be over 20 million units during the holiday quarter, which would be enough to push Apple past HP. The estimated sales would give the Cupertino-based company a 17.6% market share versus HP’s 13%. Asymco’s Horace Dediu noted that Apple has never held the top spot; the company’s market share peaked at 15.8% thanks to the Apple II in 1984. Last quarter, Apple surprised Wall Street when the company announced lower-than-expected earnings, however Apple is expected to crush estimates when it announces its December-quarter earnings on January 24th.

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