Apple today released iMac Graphic FW Update 2.0, a firmware update to addresses graphics issues on the company’s latest iMac models.

About iMac Graphic FW Update 2.0

This firmware update fixes an issue that in rare cases may cause an iMac to hang during startup or waking from sleep.

Do not shut off the power on your iMac during this update. Loss of power could result in your iMac failing to start up.

Apple has also posted a support document noting that the update addresses issues arising as a white screen during startup or vertical lines on the screen while in use.

In certain circumstances, your iMac (Mid 2011) may become unresponsive on startup, with a white or gray background on the display. You may also notice vertical lines on the display while using your iMac.

iMac Graphic FW Update 2.0 weighs in at 699 KB and requires Mac OS X 10.6.7.

From Mac Rumors, by Eric Slivka, iPad Studio Mac, iPad Software Suit Mac, iPod Studio, iPod Transfer.

Apple’s Mac App Store-only strategy for the release of OS X Lion has brought consternation to some, particularly those in rural areas without reliable high-speed Internet and folks in enterprise and educational IT departments. However, for a large group of Mac users — those outside the US and Canada — the Mac App Store is a boon for the wallet.

Apple made significant price cuts to Lion compared to what the company charged for Snow Leopard. Because the price didn’t change much in the US or Canada — it rose 3% from $29 to $29.99 — we can assume the main reason for the change in pricing is cost savings from digital delivery.

To get pricing for Lion and Snow Leopard, we examined each country’s Apple Online Store and Lion launch pages. Some countries we looked at, notably China, Hong Kong and South Korea, had no pricing announced for Lion so we skipped them.

Pricing was compared within individual countries so any VAT or taxation should be identical.

From Mac Rumors by Jordan Golson, iPad Studio Mac, iPad Software Suit Mac, iPod Studio, iPod Transfer.

It may not be a multi-million dollar venture-backed startup, but Lev Walkin has an elegant solution to a common feature of the social web, commenting. JS-Kit is an entirely free little javascript embed that allows you to add threaded comments to any web page in one line:

"<script src="http://js-kit.com/comments.js"></script>"

JS-Kit works by running Lev’s javascript code, which along with the website’s referral, fetches the appropriate comment data from his server. The comments are fully customizable by CSS and multiple comment instances can be displayed on the same referring URL by changing the “path” attribute of the comment. That way you could have a photo page with unique comment threads for each picture. However, while JS-Kit allows for a lot of customization, it still lacks some of the more advanced administrative features of fully integrated comments, such as those of our WordPress blog.

Lev Walkin is a Cisco Security Engineer out of Santa Clara, and originally came up with the idea as a way to help he wife, a web designer, easily add comments to her sites.

Feel free to test the script after the jump…

Note: JS-Kit will forward comments from your thread to your email if you provide it.

From Tech Crunch by Nick Gonzalez, iPhone Software, mediAvatar iPhone Ringtone Maker

Okay, I see many Jobs, but this one is the cutest. Continue reading…

The Financial Times would rather not have Apple take a 30 percent cut of in-app subscriptions for its iOS publications, and has launched a HTML5 Web app that enables readers to access content across tablets and smartphones.

As part of the Web app’s debut, FT will provide free access during launch week.

In a thinly veiled jab at Apple, Financial Times CEO John Ridding comments:

“The FT Web App offers our customers flexibility and freedom of choice with access to our global journalism anytime, anywhere, with a single login or subscription. In a world of increasingly digital complexity we want to keep our service simple, easy to use and efficient to offer our customers the best possible experience of FT journalism.”

The browser app enables readers to access content when offline by saving a shortcut to articles, receive automatic updates without the need to download new versions of the app and access content exclusively made for tablets.

An upcoming feature is ‘Clippings’, a service that will allow users to read articles later, either on their tablet or on their desktop PC. Sound familiar? (look for ‘reading list’)

FT acknowledges that the Web app has been initially optimized for the iPhone and the iPad, but says it will also be adapted for Android-based devices and the BlackBerry PlayBook.

Accessing FT content is free for up to ten articles per month, if you register.

In a few weeks, Apple will start charging publishers 30 percent of revenues while trying to enforce a rule that their content subscribers must sign up through the iTunes App Store rather than directly with them.

FT in a Q&A about the new app says there are benefits to a Web app, for one because developing multiple native apps for various products is “logistically and financially unmanageable” and because it allows users too see new changes and features immediately.

FT also points out that with a Web app, there is no extended release process through an app store and also offers technical advantages such as access to hardware APIs.

The publisher also notes the challenges with creating the HTML5 app:

The breadth of tools and documentation available for native apps and even desktop HTML5 development is just not there for mobile-based web app development. In addition the usual testing tools for both functional and performance testing do not exist, so we had to invent our own systems and processes to make sure the app worked effectively.

Related Reading: Financial Times Won’t Give Apple A Cut, Drops iOS for Web App

From Tech Crunch by Robin Wauters,  iPad Studio Mac, iPad Software Suit Mac, iPod Studio, iPod Transfer.

By MG Siegler from Tech Crunch, iPad Studio Mac, iPad Software Suit Mac

Our favorite singer, Jonathan Mann, is back. While the guy literally performs a new song every day, unsurprisingly, I have a preference for the songs about Apple. And he’s back today with a new one: WWDC 2011: The Musical.

Using the live notes Mac Rumors took during the event, Mann and company perform a brilliant song. If you don’t want to watch the entire 2-hour keynote on video, this is the perfect substitute (along with our follow-up notes).

Mann recently used Kickstarter to secure funds for an album — which we eagerly await. For now enjoy the latest song below.

In case you weren’t following our WWDC keynote coverage live earlier today, you missed — well, a lot. The event — which ran about two hours — was packed with information. Thousands of articles have already been written covering some of the bigger numbers and features. So I thought I’d highlight some of the smaller (or quickly mentioned) things you may have missed from the keynote.

Warning: if you’re all Apple’d out, you will absolutely hate this post. (So just skip to the comment section and talk gibberish about why Android is so great.) The rest, read on:

• There are now 54 million active Mac users.
• 73 percent of those Mac users are now using notebooks instead of desktops
• Photo Booth in OS X Lion has face tracking for targeted facial enhancements (like big eyes, or birds over your head)
• The Mac App Store is already now the number one channel for buying software (beating Best Buy)
• Starting with OS X Lion, Mac App Store apps can gain Push Notifications and In-App purchases
• Updates will also now be delta updates — meaning you’ll only have to download what’s new, not the entire app
• OS X Lion will only be available in the Mac App Store. Want a disc? Too bad, they’re extinct.
• OS X Lion will weigh in at a svelte 4 gigabytes (not much bigger than an HD movie)
• 25 million iPads have been sold in just 14 months
• 15 billion songs have been sold through iTunes now
• Apple has 18 million songs in their total iTunes Store library
• 130 million iBooks have been downloaded in a little over a year
• There are now over 425,000 apps in the App Store — 90,000 of them are built for the iPad
• 14 billion apps have been downloaded in less than 3 years. (Yes, that will very soon surpass total song downloads.)
• Apple has paid out $2.5 billion to third-party app developers — that’s up $1.5 billion from a year ago.
• There are 225 million iTunes accounts (with credit cards attached and ready to spend)
• 100 billion Push Notifications have been sent
• With Newsstand, magazine and newspaper apps can now download new content in the background when your device is inactive
• With the Twitter integration deal, it’s now a bit more clear why Scott Forstall has an account. He appeared to use it on stage during a demo, but he didn’t actually. Still 0 tweets and still only following Conan.
• The Twitter integration can update your contacts’ photos with their avatars in your Address Book.
• 2/3rds of all mobile web browsing is done through mobile Safari
• Apple brought the Reader feature from Safari in OS X to the iOS version
• iOS 5 Safari for iPad has tabbed browsing
• The new Reminders app allows you to set a geo fence to send a notification when you enter or leave a place
• The iPhone 4 is about to become the most camera overall on Flickr
• Double-clicking the Home button on the lock screen now brings up a camera icon to jump right to that app
• That feature even bypasses an iPhone lock code, but you’ll only be able to take and view new pictures that way
• The volume-up button has been reworked to act as a shutter button when in camera mode
• There is now a way to enhance photos on the phone with one tap
• You can now flag messages in the new email app (does that mean Gmail starring too?)
• When reading email on the iPad in portrait mode, you can now swipe from the left to bring up your list of messages (instead of the pop-over)
• The iBooks built-in dictionary now works system-wide
• The iPad keyboard can now “rip” into two so you can more easily type with your thumbs
• Software updates will now come over the air, and they too will be delta updates (much smaller)
• The iPhone iPod app has been broken into Music and Videos apps (just like the iPod touch)
• The iPad Music app has been entirely redone
• After just 9 months, there are 50 million Game Center users (Xbox Live has gotten 30 million in 8 years)
• Turn-based games (like Scrabble) are now fully supported in Game Center (previously developers had to do a lot of work to make these function)
• iMessages has an option for “read receipts” — you can see that a person has read your message and at what time (sort of creepy)
• iMessages work over WiFi and 3G (the carriers may be pissed off about that)
• iMessages was built on the Push Notification infrastructure.
• iOS Weather can now get hourly updates
• Stock updates now come in real time (and both of these are widgets in the Notification pull-down)
• The LED flash on the iPhone 4 can be set to visually show you when you have a message or call
• You can now wirelessly mirror the iPad 2 to your TV (previously you needed an HDMI adapter for this)
• WiFi sync is finally here for iTunes (this will backup your device as well)
• There is a new gesture in iOS 5 to flick between open apps
• Developers are also being granted access to the LED flash on the iPhone 4
• Developers are also now able to change the backlight setting (like iBooks — apps like Instapaper previously made their own solutions)
• With iCloud, there will be shared, collaborative calendars
• Email will feature “no ads” (a shot at you-know-who)
• You can wirelessly back up your devices to iCloud. This happens once a day automatically when you’re connected to WiFi
• Documents in the Cloud even remembers what slide you were last looking at when you open it elsewhere
• iCloud will have storage APIs that developers can use
• This will work for Mac and PC apps too for seamless integration
• Photo Stream is built into existing apps (Photos in iOS, iPhoto in OS X)
• Photo Stream is also coming to Apple TV
• Up to 10 devices can be used with iTunes in the Cloud
• Apple provides 5 gigabytes of storage in iCloud for free. This can be used for backups, documents, and email. Purchased music and Photo Stream do not count towards this limit.
• You will be able to purchase more storage if you need it. (Details aren’t yet set.)
• If iTunes Match can’t find your music on the iTunes server, they will upload it for you
• All songs found using iTunes Match will be automatically upgraded to 256 kbps quality AAC

iPad Studio Mac, iPad Software Suit Mac, iPod Studio, iPod Transfer, by MG Siegler, from Tech Crunch.

One of the surprising new iOS 5 features announced during the WWDC 2011 keynote was the introduction of Apple’s own messaging service called iMessage. The new service offers a number of advantages over current SMS/text messaging. Features include delivery receipts, see when someone’s typing, secure encryption and support for iPad and iPod Touch devices. iMessage also circumvents the costly text messaging plans required by carriers. According to Daring Fireball, Apple’s mobile carrier partners only learned about the new feature at the same time as the rest of us: during the keynote.

Cult of Mac has posted a nice walkthrough explaining how iMessages work alongside standard SMS messages.

Fortunately, for the end user, the transition will be relatively transparent. iMessage has been integrated into the existing “Messages” app. If you would like to text someone, iOS 5 automatically checks to see if they are eligible to receive iMessages rather than the more costly standard text message:

Once a contact is known to support iMessage, a special blue chat bubble appears by that contact’s name to indicate they support iMessage. If you don’t want to ever send any standard text messages, there is a preference for Messages to only try to send iMessages instead of SMSs. In summary:

Overall, iMessages are great. Being able to see when a message has been delivered and whether it’s been read or not really enhance the communication experience. The best part is that you don’t have to even think about them because if Apple is doing all of the work completely behind the scenes so that you wont even notice. Using iMessages on multiple devices with the new support of iCloud ensures that you’ll never miss a beat when you’re working on both your iPad and iPhone.

Apple previewed iOS 5 during the WWDC 2011 keynote on Monday. iOS 5 is presently available as a beta to registered developers but won’t be released to the public until this fall.

By Arnold Kim from Mac Rumors, iPhone Software, mediAvatar iPhone Ringtone Maker

The Financial Times, a major business newspaper, has decided to drop its iOS app in favor of an HTML5 based web app specifically designed for the iPhone and iPad. The move is in response to Apple’s new App Store Subscription requirements that state Apple must get a 30% cut of any subscription sold on iTunes and that publications must offer subscriptions through the App Store.

In a email to subscribers today, the FT didn’t mention the App Store at all, instead touting “valuable improvements” including claims that the web app will be faster and more up-to-date. The interesting part came when the email mentioned the existing app (emphasis added):

Although the old app may still be available for an interim period, we encourage you to switch to the new app as soon as possible. The new app is now the focus of our development efforts and we’ll be adding a series of new features, including special reports, over the coming months.

Actually, neither the Financial Times nor anyone else knows what is going to happen at the end of the month to subscription-based apps that don’t align with Apple’s App Store guidelines. The deadline for subscription based apps to roll out their offerings is June 30. Quoted in the New York Times, Rob Grimshaw, managing director of FT.com said:

We don’t quite know what will happen … we’d love to keep our app in iTunes, but it may be that they will block our app at the end of the month.

They might not know what’s going to happen if they don’t play ball, but it’s Apple’s sandbox and the FT isn’t sitting around idly. The new web app seems to be very similar to the current iOS App and thus may be able to provide a very similar experience without having to share revenue with Apple. The Financial Times‘ loyal readership is likely to follow the publication to its web app in significant numbers, meaning that the FT may not be missing out on much by bypassing iTunes.

As the first major publication to drop its iOS app over Apple’s subscription guidelines, theFT might just encourage other publications to make the same move. Ben Evans notes, however, that the grass isn’t always greener on the other side:

The challenge for other publishers in following the FT is that by doing so, they gain 30% but lose frictionless installs from the app store and frictionless payment from iTunes. For the FT, with a dedicated readership willing to pay, it may be worth giving those things up in exchange for the ability to offer a true cross-platform experience. But if you’re depending on impulse download, the tablet experience and the ease of payment to get people to pay for your product where they never paid before, paying Apple 30% of something may be better than keeping 100% of nothing.

By Jordan Golson from Mac Rumors, iPhone Software, mediAvatar iPhone Ringtone Maker

Alongside yesterday’s announcements related to OS X Lion, Apple pushed out a fourth developer preview version of the next-generation operation system set to make its public launch next month. Among the new features in this build of Lion is “Find My Mac”, a feature similar to the one already in use for iOS devices.

Evidence for Find My Mac functionality in Lion had been building, but the actual service is now finally showing its face. One user has provided screenshots of the system in action, showing first of all how Find My Mac can be enabled in System Preferences, revealing that feature allows users to lock the screen of a lost machine while allowing guest access only to Safari in order to help facilitate recovery of the machine.

The user also reveals how his MacBook Air could be located using the Find My iPhone app on his iPhone, offering the option to simply to play a sound or send a message to whoever may have found the machine or remotely lock or even wipe the machine.

And finally, the user shows what happens to a machine once remote lock has been initiated, displaying a gray screen with boxes to input the security code to unlock the machine.

OS X Lion is set to debut sometime next month as a Mac App Store exclusive priced at $29.99. The full suite of iCloud features is not set to debut until this fall alongside iOS 5, but some features such as purchased music/app/book histories are already rolling out and Find My Mac will presumably follow suit next month.

By Eric Slivka from Mac Rumors, iPad Studio Mac, iPad Software Suit Mac, iPod Studio, iPod Transfer.