While Apple’s 27-inch iMac has been having some notable problems recently, causing long delays and a possible halt in shipments, it seems that things might be back on track for the fruity company. Folks who have been waiting expectantly for their iMacs to arrive have started to receive notifications that the units will be shipping out soon. An online user who ordered his 27-inch iMac on January 29th has received his shipping email, with the unit set to leave the depot on February 9th, and delivery should take a week. Hopefully this means that Apple has sorted out the various issues that it has been experiencing, such as yellow displays or cracked screens.

Considering that the future is going to rely heavily on virtual goods and services, Apple seems to have gotten a rather nice patent under its belt, specifically a patent for improving the user experience in a 3D virtual Apple Store. While virtual shopping might be fun, it can also lack a certain feel that users experience in traditional stores. Apple goes into quite a bit of detail of things such as natural outdoor lighting that reflects the time of day, seasonal outdoor schemes, and anything that might make the cold digital shopping experience more fun. It’ll be interesting to see what kind of experience shopping at a virtual Apple store would be like. After all, most online stores nowadays are just point-and-click sites, we’ll see if Apple can make it fun.

The latest iPhone 3.1.3 firmware is not the panacea to fix all of your iPhone's ills, as some folks have already voiced out their concern on Apple's support forums. One of the most critical and nagging issue would be its battery life that ends up pretty wonky for no reason whatsoever, jumping randomly from its current level to on that is extremely low, before returning to what it was before. In worst-case scenarios, one might see their iPhone lose hours of power despite being fully charged just moments ago, or even running at a higher temperature level than normal. Ironically, the 3.1.3 firmware was supposed to fix the battery meter problem on the iPhone 3GS. Are you one of the unfortunate few to be affected by the latest firmware update, and how are you dealing with it?

Considering the amount of secrecy Apple always has around its unannounced products, it’s hard to imagine that parts for the upcoming iPhone 4G being leaked. Despite that, the folks over at iResQ have posted pictures of what they claim is the new faceplate for Apple’s upcoming iPhone 4G. Based on the pictures, there seems to be a new reflective surface directly above the speaker, which is claimed to be the location of the proximity sensor. If these images are true, the iPhone 4G will be even bigger than the current iPhone, though if you squint you’ll probably guess that the screen size looks the same. Would Apple come up with a physically larger iPhone without a larger screen? It’s hard to imagine that, so the smart money would probably be on this being a fake. What’s your take?

Tiny birds might be cute to some, and certainly helpful if you're Snow White who needs extra help in drying her laundry in the middle of the woords. If you're a big fan of small birds chirping in harmony, then the BirdBox ought to be your cup of tea. What's the BirdBox, anyways? This $12.75 bedside bird home comes with a matching free application which will be able to transform your iPhone or iPod touch into an instant cuckoo alarm clock. Time for a little bird to encourage you to get the worm!

ZoomMediaPlus has announced its now zoomIt application-enabled accessory for the iPhone and iPod touch. If you’re a shutterbug, this is probably going to be one rather useful accessory for you. When used in conjunction with the free zoomIt app, you’ll be able to connect your SD card to your iPhone (via the accessory, of course), and access all the iPhone OS 3.0 file types (Powerpoint, Excel, Word, PDF, music, videos etc) contained in the card. With that, you’ll be able to copy photos and videos from the SD card to your iPhone, or vice versa. You’ll also be able to share files via email, Facebook and Flickr. ZoomMediaPlus is also planning future updates which could support protected content types, which would enable it to stream licensed music and videos. zoomIt will start shipping in April, and will set you back $59.95. Folks who pre-order now will get a $10 discount, and if you’re amongst the first 250 orders, you’ll get a free 4GB Kingston SD card.

If you’re the type of person who likes a bargain, and are thinking of picking up Apple’s iPad, you might want to take note of this. According to Credit Suisse analyst Bill Shope, Apple executives have said that the pricing will be “nimble”, hinting that the pricing could change if needed. Of course, that’s not an official confirmation that there will be a price drop, but considering that Apple has lowered the asking price of the iPhone by $200 in the past after just a few months, it’s certainly a possibility. It’s worth taking note that the $499 price point of the entry-level iPad is already quite competitive, so if Apple does further lower the price, it’ll certainly have competitors worried. If you’re a fence-sitter on the whole iPad issue, would a lower price be enough to entice you to get one?

With the recent Core i7 MacBook Pro Geekbench scores being leaked, it certainly seems like we’ll be getting an update to Apple’s line of MacBook Pros. Now reports are going around that Best Buy’s inventory system is showing current MacBook Pros in its system as “deleted”, so does it mean that stock is unavailable for the moment, or are they just gearing up for a new version of the MacBook Pro? Hopefully an update is just around the corner, after all, who wouldn’t want to a laptop powered by Intel’s Core i7 processor, right? Have you thought about what new features you’d want in an updated MacBook Pro?

The latest iPhone OS 3.1.3 update doesn’t really give you any significant benefit, unless you need the improved accuracy of the reported battery level. Of course, if you did install the update, and still want to jailbreak your iPhone, you’ll be happy to know that the Dev-Team has already come up with a new version of the PwnageTool (v3.1.5 for Mac), which is compatible with the latest iPhone OS. It gets better, as the tool even preserves your iPhone’s ultrasn0w unlock and jailbroken state. As with any Jailbreak news, we’d strongly suggest you to backup you data in case things go awry, and read all the juicy details from the Dev-Team before you attempt this.

If you’re living in Austria and are thinking of picking up Apple’s iPad when it’s released, you might be in for a little treat. The cellular carrier 3 has apparently claimed that it will be subsidizing the iPad, and subscribers who buy an iPad will get a 333 Euro ($456) credit if they’re willing to commit to a 29 Euro per month ($41) 2-year data plan. The carrier is planning to sell the iPad with a Huawei i-Mo router, which is dubbed the smallest mobile hotspot in the world, giving iPad owners a 7.2Mbps peak HSPA link, which can be shared over Wi-Fi. Would such a deal be attractive to you, or would you rather just buy the iPad outright and not worry about the cost of accepting a 2-year contract?

If you were planning on popping a lot of location-based ads into your upcoming killer iPhone app, you might want take a peek at the latest update from Apple for developers. A rather stern note on the site reads: “If your app uses location-based information primarily to enable mobile advertisers to deliver targeted ads based on a user’s location, your app will be returned to you by the App Store Review Team for modification before it can be posted to the App Store.” Is Apple doing this to prevent abuse from advertisers, so that users won’t end up with advertisements from stores all around them? There isn’t any real explanation as to why this isn’t allowed, but it’s certainly worth taking note if you’re building an app with the intention of putting advertisements in. After all, you wouldn’t want to spend your precious time building an app only to find out that it will be rejected by Apple, right?

The iPhone’s GPS functionality is certainly useful, especially if you have a friend looking for you. Currently you’re able to use the “Share location” feature on the iPhone to either email or MMS your friend with your current location details. Unfortunately, that process isn’t all that smooth, and it might be troublesome, especially if you’re in the midst of making a phone call. In a recent patent filed by Apple, the process of sharing your current location with a friend might become a lot easier, as Apple might be adding buttons to request location information, or release location information in the midst of making phone calls. So if your friend were to suddenly ask you where you were while chatting with each other on the phone, he could (in theory) just request for your location, and you could release that information to him. Sounds a lot simpler than going through all the funky clicks on the Maps application before you can email or MMS your current location to your friend, right?

Are you thinking that Apple’s MacBook Pro line of notebooks is in desperate need of a refresh? Well, a Geekbench scoring has surfaced and it seems that it was created using a Core i7 M620 MacBook Pro, running an unreleased version of Mac OS 10.6.2. According to the benchmark results, the Geekbench results of this MacBook Pro 6,1 provide a nice little boost compared to the current line of MacBook Pros. If you need a comparison, the current range of MacBook Pros usually clock in about 3700-4000 points, but this time the score is listed as 5260 points, which is really a significant result. The version number of 6,1 hints that there is most likely going to be a significant change, as the first unibody MacBook Pro was listed as 5,1. With that in mind, you might want to hold off buying a new MacBook Pro for the moment, and wait to see what new version of the MacBook Pro Apple comes up with next.

Apple devices are always loved for their design, so even if you’re not using your iBook G4 anymore, it would still make a lovely clock, wouldn’t it? It certainly looks sleek and clean, not to mention the use of the Apple mouse for the clock pendulum is eye-catching. It features a quartz clock movement, pendulum movement and runs on 2 AA batteries. Of course, if you have $75 to spare, you won’t have to sacrifice your trusty iBook G4, since you can just pick it up online. Will this be the new clock that’s hanging on your living room wall?