Along with the new line of Mac notebooks launched recently, Apple unveiled its new LED Cinema Display with its 24-inch LED-backlit widescreen display. It comes with a built-in iSight video camera, mic and speakers. The encasement is thin, an elegant aluminum and glass structure. It will be available in November.

The display is designed for the new MacBook family, and includes a MagSafe charger, three USB 2.0 ports and the new Mini DisplayPort, which makes it easier for MacBook users to connect and power their notebooks quickly, even while using their peripherals.

“The new LED Cinema Display is the most advanced display that Apple has ever made,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing, in the press release. “It is a perfect fit for our sleek new line of aluminum MacBooks with its 24-inch LED-backlit screen, aluminum and glass enclosure, integrated camera, mic and speakers, MagSafe charger, three USB ports and Mini DisplayPort.”

The new display has a 1920 x 1200 pixel resolution which uses LED-backlit technology in the 24-inch glossy widescreen. The aluminum stand provides an adjustable hinge, and the built-in iSight video camera mic and speakers make it perfect for video conferencing with iChat. Of course it also provides a perfect delivery for listening to music or watching a film.

Environmentalists will be happy to know that this new LED Cinema Display is the greenest display Apple has made to date. It is made with mercury-free LED technology, arsenic-free glass and highly recyclable materials. The LED Cinema Display also meets the stringent Energy Star 4.0 requirements, and achieves EPEAT Gold status. There are no brominated flame retardants, and all internal cables and components are PVC-free. Even its foam packaging has been reduced by 44%.

This new Mini DisplayPort is part of the next-generation DisplayPort industry standard, and delivers a pure digital signal which can drive up to a 30-inch widescreen display. The Mini DisplayPort is only 10% the size of a full DVI connector, which is perfect for the elegant, thinner design of the entire new Macbook line. There are available adapters for using the MacBook’s Mini DisplayPort with any older generation VGA, DVI/HDMI and Dual-Link DVI displays as well.

The LED Cinema Display requires a MacBook, MacBook Air or MacBook Pro with a new Mini Display Port.

The much anticipated redesigns were presented today at the “Spotlight Turns to Notebooks” event in Cupertino. All of the Mac notebooks have received attention. MacDaily News also reports that Apple has “dramatically” lowered the entry price “for advanced notebook features including all-metal enclosures and pro-performance notebook graphics by $700 to make them far more affordable.” That is a great thing, given the economic times we’re facing.

The new MacBook and the 15-inch MacBook Pro are both thinner, more durable and really quite beautifully designed. They have precision unibody enclosures crafted from a single block of aluminum.

“Apple has invented a whole new way of building notebooks from a single block of aluminum. And, just as important, they are the industry’s greenest notebooks,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “The new MacBooks offer incredible features our users will love - like their stunning all-metal design, great 3D graphics and LED backlit displays - at prices up to £350 less than before.”

Jonathan Ives, Apple’s award-winning senior vice president of Industrial Design, was also there. (Hurrah for Jonathan!) “Traditionally notebooks are made from multiple parts. With the new MacBook, we’ve replaced all of those parts with just one part - the unibody,” he said. “The MacBook’s unibody enclosure is made from a single block of aluminum, making the new MacBook fundamentally thinner, stronger and more robust with a fit and finish that we’ve never even dreamed of before.”

The predictions made about the NVIDIA graphics turned out to be accurate. The entire MacBook family will now include state of the art NVIDIA graphics. Specifically, they will feature the new NVIDIA GEForce 9400M, a 3D integrated graphics processor which features 16 parallel processing cores, and which can deliver up to five times the 3D graphics performance of any previous MacBook and MacBook Air. This was a collaboration between Apple and NVIDIA, so this chip is brand new, and makes its market debut in this new line of MacBooks.

Those new large glass Multi-Touch trackpads which were predicted are now a reality. This glass MultiTouch trackpad on the MacBook and 15-inch MacBook Pro offer nearly 40% more tracking area and support more Multi-Touch gestures. The ability to use more gestures more easily will allow users to activate Expose or switch from one application to another with the touch of a fingertip. The entire trackpad surface serves as a button as well.

The MacBook line will also have instant-on LED-backlit displays which use up to 30% less energy than the predessors. Jonny Evans of MacWorld UK writes, ” It also eliminated the mercury found in industry-standard fluorescent tube backlights…. Every display in the new MacBook line uses completely arsenic-free glass.”

Speaking of environmental issues, MacDaily News writes, “The entire new MacBook family meets stringent Energy Star 4.0, EPEAT Gold and RoHS environmental standards, and leads the industry in the elimination of toxic chemicals by containing no brominated flame retardants, using only PVC-free internal cables and components, and using energy efficient LED-backlit displays that are mercury-free and made with arsenic-free glass.”

Here are all the stats:

Pricing and availability The new MacBook, 15-inch MacBook Pro and 17-inch MacBook Pro are now shipping and the new MacBook Air will be available in early November. An updated 13-inch white MacBook featuring 2.1 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processors, a 120GB 5400 rpm hard drive and a slot-load 8X SuperDrive(R) is now available for £719.

The 2.0 GHz, 13-inch aluminum MacBook, for a suggested retail price of £949, includes:
- 13.3-inch widescreen LED-backlit 1280 x 800 glossy display;
- 2.0 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 3MB shared L2 cache;
- 1066 MHz front-side bus;
- 2GB 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM, expandable to 4GB;
- NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics;
- 160GB serial ATA hard drive running at 5400 rpm, with Sudden Motion Sensor;
- a slot-load 8X SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD+/-R DL/DVD+/-RW/CD-RW) optical drive;
- Mini DisplayPort for video output (adapters sold separately);
- built-in AirPort Extreme(R) 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR;
- Gigabit Ethernet port;
- built-in iSight video camera;
- two USB 2.0 ports;
- one audio line in and one audio line out port, each supporting both optical digital and analog;
- glass Multi-Touch trackpad;
- 60 Watt MagSafe Power Adapter.

The 2.4 GHz aluminum MacBook, for a suggested retail price of £1,149, includes:
-13.3-inch widescreen LED-backlit 1280 x 800 glossy display;
- 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 3MB shared L2 cache;
- 1066 MHz front-side bus;
- 2GB 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM, expandable to 4GB;
- NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics;
- 250GB serial ATA hard drive running at 5400 rpm, with Sudden Motion Sensor;
- a slot-load 8X SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD+/-R DL/DVD+/-RW/CD-RW) optical drive; - Mini DisplayPort for video output (adapters sold separately);
- built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR;
- Gigabit Ethernet port;
- built-in iSight video camera;
- two USB 2.0 ports;
- one audio line in and one audio line out port, each supporting both optical digital and analog;
- glass Multi-Touch trackpad and illuminated keyboard;
- 60 Watt MagSafe Power Adapter.

The 2.4 GHz, 15-inch aluminum MacBook Pro, for a suggested retail price of £1,399, includes:
- 15.4-inch widescreen LED-backlit 1440 x 900 glossy display;
- 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 3MB shared L2 cache;
- 1066 MHz front-side bus;
- 2GB 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM, expandable to 4GB;
- NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics;
- NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT discrete graphics with 256MB GDDR3 video memory;
- 250GB serial ATA hard drive running at 5400 rpm, with Sudden Motion Sensor;
- a slot-load 8X SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD+/-R DL/DVD+/-RW/CD-RW) optical drive;
- Mini DisplayPort for video output (adapters sold separately);
- built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR;
- Gigabit Ethernet port;
- built-in iSight video camera;
- two USB 2.0 ports;
- one FireWire 800 port;
- ExpressCard/34 expansion card slot;
- one audio line in and one audio line out port, each supporting both optical digital and analog;
- glass Multi-Touch trackpad and illuminated keyboard;
- 85 Watt MagSafe Power Adapter.

The 2.53 GHz aluminum MacBook Pro, for a suggested retail price of £1,749, includes:
- 15.4-inch widescreen LED-backlit 1440 x 900 glossy display;
- 2.53 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 6MB shared L2 cache;
- 1066 MHz front-side bus;
- 4GB 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM;
- NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics;
- NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT discrete graphics with 512MB GDDR3 video memory;
- 320GB serial ATA hard drive running at 5400 rpm, with Sudden Motion Sensor;
- a slot-load 8X SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD+/-R DL/DVD+/-RW/CD-RW) optical drive;
- Mini DisplayPort for video output (adapters sold separately);
- built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR;
- Gigabit Ethernet port;
- built-in iSight video camera;
- two USB 2.0 ports;
- one FireWire 800 port;
- ExpressCard/34 expansion card slot;
- one audio line in and one audio line out port, each supporting both optical digital and analog;
- glass Multi-Touch trackpad and illuminated keyboard;
- 85 Watt MagSafe Power Adapter.

The 2.5GHz 17-inch MacBook Pro, for a suggested retail price of £1,949, includes:
- 17-inch widescreen LED-backlit 1920 x 1200 glossy display
- 2.5 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 6MB shared L2 cache;
- 800 MHz front-side bus;
- 4GB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM;
- NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics with 512MB with GDDR3 video memory;
- 320GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 5400 rpm, with Sudden Motion Sensor;
- a slot-load 8X SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD+/-R DL/DVD+/-RW/CD-RW) optical drive;
- DVI output port for video output (VGA adapter included);
- built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR;
- Gigabit Ethernet port;
- built-in iSight video camera;
- three USB 2.0 ports;
- one FireWire 800 port and one FireWire 400 port;
- ExpressCard/34 expansion card slot;
- one audio line in and one audio line out port, each supporting both optical digital and analog;
- Multi-Touch trackpad and illuminated keyboard;
- 85 Watt MagSafe Power Adapter.

The 1.6 GHz MacBook Air, for a suggested retail price of £1,299, includes:
- 13.3-inch widescreen LED-backlit high resolution 1280 x 800 glossy display;
- 1.6GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 6MB shared L2 cache;
- 1066 MHz front-side bus;
- 2GB 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM;
- NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics;
- 120GB serial ATA hard drive running at 4200 rpm, with Sudden Motion Sensor;
- Mini DisplayPort for video output (adapters sold separately);
- built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR;
- built-in iSight video camera;
- one USB 2.0 port;
- one headphone port;
- Multi-Touch trackpad and illuminated keyboard;
- 45 Watt MagSafe Power Adapter.

The 1.86 GHz MacBook Air, for a suggested retail price of £1,799, includes:
- 13.3-inch widescreen LED-backlit 1280 x 800 glossy display;
- 1.86 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 6MB shared L2 cache;
- 1066 MHz front-side bus;
- 2GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM;
- NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics;
- 128GB solid state drive;
- Mini DisplayPort for video output (adapters sold separately);
- built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR;
- built-in iSight video camera;
- one USB 2.0 port;
- one headphone port;
- Multi-Touch trackpad and illuminated keyboard;
- 45 Watt MagSafe Power Adapter.

To take a look at these truly magnificent machines, see: http://www.apple.com/uk/ where it is the lead story.

Seth Weintraub of Apple Ink is beating his chest about the fact that his predictions were right. Apple DID finally send out invitations on Thursday of last week for an event to take place this Tuesday. And based on the invitation, which says “The spotlight turns to notebooks”, it would appear that all those predictions about the new portable Macs were right.

Predictions are still being made about the pricing of the new Macs. Pipe Jaffray predicts they will start lower, at $899 (U.S.). The Inquisitr goes lower, saying they’ll start at $799. Given these economic times, a lower priced notebook would certainly be welcome.

Another guess, and this one belongs to Weintraub, is that the motherboards will now be NVIDIA based, with the top of the line Intel Centrino 2 chips. Design changes have also been guessed at, with the most frequent guess being that Apple will shift to aluminum MacBooks, or a combined plastic/aluminum two-tone look. All the models will be thinner.

Weintraub states that no matter what the exact changes will be, one thing is for certain. That is that they will inherit the sexiness of the MacBook Air. We’ll all know by Tuesday, 10 a.m. Cupertino Time, and will be writing about the news here. So stay tuned!

Whether you are a student, a teacher, lecturer, or educational professional, you can buy a qualifying Mac before October 31, 2008 and get a £95 rebate on an iPod nano or iPod touch.

The new iPod nano-chromatic is available in nine brilliant colours. With its redesigned functions, the nano is great fun. Or, you can choose the redesigned iPod touch, and get the benefit of the internet in your back pocket.

How does the offer work? First, you shop for your Mac, which you can even do from the comfort of your home. Simply visit the Apple Online Store or call 0800 048 0408 (lines close at 10.00 pm). Then, once you decide which Mac to purchase, you can also purchase your iPod nano or touch, and qualify for a rebate of up to £95.

Next? You submit your rebate claim online by November 30, 2008, and your check will be sent to you.

Need a printer? Apple is offering a discount there, too. Select from among a wide range of printer models to use with your new Mac, and save up to £60 via rebate. Depending on which printer you decide upon, it could even be free after rebate.

And what about accessories? The Apple Store website offers cool Mac and iPod accessories which protect your computer and iPod as you travel across campus.

And don’t forget that Apple’s creative suite, iLife, comes loaded on your new computer. Pair that with Mobile Me, a wonderful service that allows you to build websites, use iPhoto to sort your photographs, upload them and share them with friends, create music, make films with iMovie, then sync it all to your iPod touch or iPhone. Finally, if you add iWork, Apple’s professional suite, you can expand your creativity through Pages word processing and Keynote for classroom presentations.

It all sounds pretty good. So be sure that you make your purchases before October 31 to take advantage of these offers.

As part of the 2009 Independent Games Festival Mobile event, the organizers have announced a $10K (U.S.) prize for iPhone game development. The IGF Mobile Event will be held in San Francisco from March 23 -27, 2009.

iPhone developers who are interested in taking part in the 2009 IGB Mobile event can submit entries in all categories, which include art, technical, audio, game design, a Best Game award, and other major prizes. There is no entry fee. The winners will get to showcase their games on the expo floor at the Games Developer Conference and will also have stage time during the IGF Mobile event. The deadline for iPhone developers to enter the IGF Mobile competition is fast approaching: November 17, 2008.

Gregg Keizer of Computerworld.com writes that Apple has now officially taken the lead in the consumer smart phone market in the U.S., a market which was in a Blackberry stranglehold before this summer. This is a trend which is echoed, of course, around the globe, with sales of the 3G continuing to climb everywhere.

Jason O’Grady of ZDnet wrote Monday that, through a joint project of AFB and Investor Village’s AAPL Sanity board, iPhone IMEI numbers have been collected on a Google spreadsheet. This is the same method that was used about a month ago by the London-based investor who calls himself “Tommo_UK”, who then reported that Apple had sold about 8 million iPhones. Using this method, it has now been determined that Apple has apparently surpassed all analysts estimates — no big surprise there — and has now built over 10 million iPhones.

O’Grady writes, “Don’t expect a press release from Apple yet though, these are iPhone manufacturing numbers, not sales numbers.”

Also writing about this for Bullish Cross on Monday, Andy Zaky and Turley Muller have made exciting predictions about what Apple might be telling investors and market watchers when its quarterly earnings are reported at the end of this month. They believe that Apple has sold a considerably higher number of iPhones last quarter than any of even the most bullish analysts anticipated.

They write, “even if a whopping 1.5 million iPhones of the total IMEI registered devices are unsold as of today, an unlikely assumption, it would still put 3G iPhone sales at 7.6 million units.”

So? Here’s why it matters. Coming into this fourth quarter, 2.42 million first generation iPhones had already sold. If last months IMEI data is factored in, and added to Zaky and Muller’s analysis, then Apple has reached the goal of selling 10 million iPhones in 2008, with a comfortable three months to spare.

Up until now, iPhones have been tied in the UK to the O2 network, which does not work in Jersey. But now, two companies — Jersey Telecom (JT) and Cable & Wireless (C&W) announced that they would sell the 3G iPhone. They will have a limited number of handsets which JT says will require registration prior to purchase. C&W will instead sell on a “first come, first served” basis.

The Copyright Royalty Board announced on Thursday last week that it would maintain the same royalty rate for CDs and downloadable songs, thus averting what could have been a protracted conflict over music royalties at iTunes and other online venues. Apple had gone so far as to announce that, if the royalties rate had been changed, they might be forced to shut down the music store portion of their site. Aidan Malley of Apple Insider reports, “A three-person panel of judges determining the changes for the Board said labels would still have to pay the same 9.1 cents per song as they do today, rejecting calls by the National Music Publishers Association and connected artists to pay as much as 15 cents per song.”

Although this decision is certainly not what National Music Publishers’ Association had hoped for, it brought a rapid end to the dispute between musicians and store operators. Although Apple is not stating that the musicians don’t deserve to be paid more for their work, they see it as the responsibility of the labels to absorb the increase. Malley writes, “Apple currently operates iTunes on minimal profit and claims it would take losses on each sale if it didn’t raise prices, a move which it also believes would be untenable in the current market.”

The conflict will most likely continue in other forms. But for now, iTunes remains unchanged. The iTunes Store continues on as before, to the relief of many music-lovers, and some would argue, to the benefit of musicians.

Is there anything the iPhone can do? Maybe not. In that long, and growing list of things that can be done on the iPhone, you can now add that it is an effective study guide. Jessica Dolcourt writes for CNET, that an application available at the Apple App Store, called Cram, “is a solid application that lets you create and import tests on any topic. You’ll be able to take scored multiple choice quizzes or go into study mode, in which Cram provides you with a series of digital flash cards. Cram will flash the question and you decide with a click when the answer appears.”

It is, she tells us, simple to use, but requires online registration before you get started. That doesn’t sound like much of a problem, since most students are online constantly anyway. Dolcourt offers an interesting suggestion, too. “If you’re planning to create your own test material in preparation of an exam, you should consider crafting that online as well. While you can technically–and fairly easily–compose questions and answers within Cram, typing a series of multiple choice entries is faster work with a standard keyboard. If you intend to reuse multiple choice answers to trip up yourself or others, your computer’s magical cutting and pasting abilities are indispensable.”

Any study aides are welcome, and since an increasing number of students count the iPhone among their most valuable aides, “Cram” might well be an invaluable asset.

To import a test, you log into Cram from the iPhone, then select the tests you want. It takes only seconds for them to transfer; you can even import public tests that others create. Of course, you want to be sure of their accuracy.

Dolcourt says, “Cram makes a good quizzing tool for students who respond well to flash cards, as well as teachers and study groups. You’ll also get ecological bonus points for ditching your paper flash cards and going digital.” It’s also had a price reduction recently, which always makes a product more attractive.