Leaked Info on Third-Generation Thunderbolt Points to 40Gbps Transfer Speeds

Intel’s third-generation Thunderbolt technology could see throughput increase to 40Gbps, double the current capacity of Thunderbolt 2, first introduced in Macs last fall, according to leaked information posted on a Chinese technology site [Google Translate].

The site says Intel’s new Thunderbolt controller, code-named Alpine Ridge, will see power consumption reduced by 50 percent, support for PCIe generation-3, and charging capacities of up to 100 watts. Backward compatibility will be maintained through the use of connector adapters, but the new Thunderbolt connector itself will be reduced in size.

Last April, Intel first announced Thunderbolt 2 in April before seeing it move to the Mac in October. There is no indication of when the third-generation of Thunderbolt could make its way to consumers.

Apple Retail Stores Logos Gain Green Leaves in Honor of Earth Day

In celebration of Earth Day, which takes place on April 22, Apple has started updating the logos of some of its retail stores with green leaf accents, a departure from the standard white logo.

For example, Apple’s massive Nanjing East retail store in Shanghai has been updated with the green Earth Day logo, as it is just after 8AM on April 22 in China.

Image courtesy of Instagram user znnina
As noted last week by 9to5Mac, Apple is planning to celebrate Earth Day at multiple retail locations around the world, changing its logo and encouraging employees to wear special green shirts. The company is also planning to hold a special event at its headquarters in Cupertino, California.

Earlier today, Apple launched its “Better” environmental campaign, highlighting its efforts to lower its carbon footprint. Included in the campaign was a video detailing the construction of Apple Campus 2, which will be powered by 100 percent renewable energy sources.

(Thanks, Nina!)

Apple Seeds OS X Mavericks 10.9.3 Build 13D45a to Developers [Mac Blog]

Apple today seeded build 13D45a of OS X 10.9.3 to developers, just under a week after releasing the seventh OS X beta, build 13D43, and over a month after the first 10.9.3 beta.

The beta is available through the Software Update mechanism in the Mac App Store as well as through the Mac Dev Center.

Apple continues to ask developers to focus on Graphics Drivers, Audio, Mail, Contacts and Calendar sync over USB in iTunes, and Safari. As was discovered with the first beta, 10.9.3 adds new support for 4K displays, offering “Retina” resolutions that improve readability along with support for 60Hz output from the Retina MacBook Pro.

Leonardo DiCaprio Could Star in Sony’s ‘Steve Jobs’ Biopic, Danny Boyle in Talks to Direct

Aaron Sorkin’s Steve Jobs biopic may be directed by Slumdog Millionaire director Danny Boyle, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The news comes a week after The Social Network director David Fincher failed to reach a deal with Sony, reportedly over fees.

Boyle is said to be in talks with Sony Pictures to direct the film, which uses material from Walter Isaacson’s Steve Jobs biography and will focus on three 30-minute scenes ahead of three product launches.

While Fincher was rumored to be interested in Christian Bale to play the role of Steve Jobs, Boyle reportedly has his eye on another big start – Leonardo DiCaprio. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Boyle has approached DiCaprio to star in the film.

Aside from Slumdog Millionaire Boyle has directed hits like 127 Hours, Trainspotting, and The Beach, which DiCaprio also starred in. DiCaprio has been in major films like Inception, The Wolf of Wall Street, and The Great Gatsby.

Aaron Sorkin completed the script for the biopic back in January, with Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak working as a consultant on the film. No potential release date has been announced.

Apple Continues Pursing Mobile Payment Solution, Seeking to Hire Industry Executives

Apple is continuing with its plans to introduce a mobile payments service and has began interviewing senior payments industry executives to take on roles within the company, reports Re/code.

Apple is looking to fill two new positions, focused on building an electronic payment service based on the company’s existing iTunes accounts. Millions of customers have personal accounts that already store credit card information, allowing them to make purchases within the Apple Store app, in retail stores, and through iTunes. Apple hopes to expand this to third-party avenues as well, both online and at retail locations.

The company has been meeting with potential applicants for two new positions at Apple focused exclusively on building a business around the hundreds of millions of credit cards it already has on file. Apple is seeking to fill head of product and head of business development positions, one of these people said.

“Their ambitions are very, very serious,” one of the sources said.

Apple’s interest in the mobile payment arena has been rumored for years but gained renewed attention in early 2014, when The Wall Street Journal announced the company was working on a new mobile payment service, hoping to allow people to use their iOS devices to make purchases for physical goods in apps and on the web as well as in retail stores using payment info stored in iTunes accounts.

Apple has also been in talks with Paypal about a possible partnership and reportedly mulled an acquisition of mobile payments company Square, though it appears an acquisition did not pan out.

The company’s mobile payment system will possibly be tied to Touch ID, the fingerprint scanning home button built into the iPhone 5s and reportedly slated for the upcoming iPhone 6 and future iPads. Apple CEO Tim Cook said in January that mobile payments were “one of the thoughts” behind Touch ID. He has also said that Apple is “intrigued” with mobile payments and noted there’s a “big opportunity on the platform.”

Apple has promised new hardware, software, and services across 2014, and it’s possible that a mobile payment solution could come later this year, though a set date is unclear as the company is clearly still in the hiring stages.

Apple Highlights Video Detailing Environmental Friendliness of Campus 2 Project

As part of the “Better” environmental campaign that was initially unveiled this morning, Apple has posted a video of its Apple Campus 2 project, displaying a series of renderings of the building along with some details on the site from campus designer Norman Foster.

Foster speaks on Jobs’ inspiration for the campus, noting his love of both Stanford and the area that he grew up in. “The idea is to bring California back to Cupertino,” said Apple’s senior arborist David Muffly, who is in charge of the flora that will be added to Apple’s campus.

Along with the video, Apple outlines its plans to make its second campus more environmentally friendly. The site will be “the most energy-efficient building of its kind,” powered by 100 percent renewable energy sources, including a massive solar energy installation.

The company also plans to have huge amounts of open space, which will be accompanied by both fruit and shade trees, and commute alternatives will see 15,000 Cupertino employees using biofuel buses, public transit, bikes, and more instead of cars.

The building itself is just part of the story. Just under 80 percent of the site will be open space, populated by more than 7000 trees — including more than 6000 newly planted shade and fruit trees. Drought-tolerant plants will be used throughout the landscape to minimize water use.

While the Apple Campus 2 video shared by Apple was initially unveiled in October during a session with the City of Cupertino, this is the first time Apple has released the video in high quality to the public. Apple is hoping to complete its second campus by 2016.

Apple Extends Trademark Protection to Include ‘Jewelry and Watches’

Last June, Apple began registering for trademarks on the “iWatch” name in a number of countries, but since that time the company has been bolstering its trademarks on the actual company name “Apple” to also cover jewelry and watches, MacRumors has discovered.

By international agreement, trademarks are broken down into 45 different classes to organize the types of goods and services being registered for protection. Watches and other jewelry are part of Class 14, which is focused on precious metals/stones and products made from those materials. While some of Apple’s trademarks on the “Apple” name have previously included some goods from Class 14, the company is now broadening and cleaning up its trademark applications in those areas. The moves come as the company is widely expected to introduce its “iWatch” smart watch as soon as later this year.

Among the recent expansions for Apple is Ecuador, where Apple filed a new trademark application in late December specifically to add protection in Class 14 for a long list of product types including jewelry and watches. Google translation of new category application for “Apple” trademark:

jewelry; watches; watches; goods in precious metals or coated therewith; cufflinks or cufflinks; keychains; timers; brooches in precious metals or coated therewith; ornaments in precious metals or coated therewith; tie pins in precious metals or coated therewith; tie clips or tie clips of precious metal or coated therewith; badges of precious metal or coated therewith; bracelets of precious metal or coated therewith; Necklaces in precious metals or coated therewith; medals in precious metals or coated therewith; short chains and ornaments in precious metals or coated therewith; buttons in precious metals or coated therewith; clip in precious metals or coated therewith; boxes of precious metal or coated therewith; decorations in precious metals or coated therewith; jewelry; sculptures and precious metals products.

Applications in other countries have followed in recent months, including a nearly identical filing in Mexico in early January that again solely focused on Class 14. Other expansions have come as part of larger filings, such as in Norway, where Apple in mid-February applied for increased protection in seven different classes including a significant list within Class 14. And just last month that effort extended to the United Kingdom, where Apple filed to broaden its protections in over a dozen classes, including Class 14 for the first time there.

While new applications to protect Apple’s use of its own name in jewelry and watches have appeared in a number of countries in recent months, the company has yet to make the move in all countries where it operates, most notably the United States where the “Apple” name is not currently covered under Class 14 at all.

Cannibalization of iPad Mini by iPhone 6 Unlikely to Negatively Affect Apple’s Overall Sales [iOS Blog]

Apple is expected to introduce a large-screened iPhone 6 with a 4.7-inch model arriving this fall and a 5.5-inch version debuting early next year. Though this large iPhone may cannibalize iPad mini sales, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster does not believe this shift in sales will have a net effect on Apple, reports CNET.

In a Monday note to investors, Munster argues that many iPhone owners will accelerate their upgrade to buy the iPhone 6 instead of the iPad mini, while other customers will purchase a bigger iPhone and pair it with an iPad Air. The net effect on Apple is an equal amount of sales even though the distribution among iPad and iPhone models may change with the debut of a larger iPhone.

We note that even at a 5″ screen size, the viewable area of an iPad Mini at 7.9″ would still be 150% larger than the iPhone 6. Net-net we believe any potential cannibalization would be roughly neutral overall to the model as we believe in some situations users might accelerate their phone update instead of buying an iPad Mini and keep an old phone, while in other cases we might see consumers that purchase an iPhone 6 decide to purchase an iPad Air instead of Mini to increase the utility difference between the devices.

Similar to other analysts, Munster believes Apple will report earnings at the higher end of its own guidance for the second quarter of 2014 with revenues of $44 billion, iPhone sales of 38.5 million units and iPad sales of 21 million units. Munster predicts the current quarter, which will end in June, will be slow for Apple with only 5 percent year over year growth.

“We continue to believe that June numbers are too high given our expectation that there will be no new products in the quarter. We note that given the company’s history with guidance, the high-end of Apple’s guide is all that matters and we expect the company’s high-end of guidance to imply no more than 5% y/y revenue growth. Most importantly, while iPhone will benefit from China Mobile in the first full quarter of iPhone availability, we believe that iPhone unit sales may remain in the low single digits in Jun-13 ahead of the iPhone 6 launch.”

Apple will announce its earnings for the second fiscal quarter (first calendar quarter) of 2014 on Wednesday, April 23. The earnings release usually is released around 4:30 PM ET following the close of regular stock trading. The conference call to discuss the earnings report is scheduled to follow at 5:00 PM Eastern / 2:00 PM Pacific.

A&E, History Channel, and Lifetime Channels Added to Apple TV

Apple today has added new channels from A&E Networks to its Apple TV, including A&E, The History Channel and Lifetime. Select Apple TV owners will be able to watch episodes from popular TV shows such as Duck Dynasty, Storage Wars, and Project Runway.

These new channels on the Apple TV offer a preview to all users, but full content is only available to cable television subscribers. Currently, the service is available to customers who subscribe to DirecTV, Verizon FiOS, and Cablevision Optimum, with support for additional providers coming in the near future.

The addition of these channels is part of a larger push by A&E Networks to expand their content beyond broadcast TV. Earlier this month, the network updated both its A&E [iTunes Link] and History Channel apps [iTunes Link], letting iOS owners stream live episodes of popular shows to their iPhone or iPad. Similar to the Apple TV, this iOS-based live streaming requires a valid cable subscription.