Apple’s retail “experts” — a new position that will serve as a roaming counterpart to existing “geniuses” at brick-and-mortar locations — are expected to debut in stores in a matter of weeks, people familiar with the matter have told AppleInsider.

Interviewing for the expert position is said to start this week at the company’s retail outlets, and Apple plans to debut the new personnel in about two weeks. Originally, the “expert” title was only available to current Apple Store employees who sought a promotion within the company.

Apple has referred to the experts as “Family Room expertise out in the Red Zone.” The “Family Room” at an Apple Store is known to customers as the Genius Bar. The “Red Zone” equates to the sales floor.
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In a brief report [Google translation], French site Mac4Ever claims that Apple’s special media event now reportedly scheduled for January 27th will see both the introduction of the company’s much-rumored tablet device and the launch of beta versions of iPhone OS 4.0 and the associated Software Development Kit for developers.

According to the report, the SDK will include a “simulator” to assist developers in adapting their existing App Store applications to support the tablet’s screen resolution. The deployment of tools for supporting multiple screen resolutions could also pave the way for a higher-resolution iPhone in the future. Read more…

Whoa. A judge for the The U.S. Court of Appeals has just upheld an earlier verdict forbidding Microsoft from selling both Office and Word after January 11th, 2010. This suit, which was filed by i4i, a creator of a XML plugin for Microsoft Office, alleged that Microsoft’s Open XML format, which uses the DOCX and XLSX extensions that have been a part of Office on the Mac since Office 2008, violated i4i’s patented XML handling algorithms. The court ruled in favor of i4i back in May, and Microsoft today lost their appeal, with the judge telling them that they don’t have the right to sell the software as-is.
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EyeTV 3 users can now stream live television over a 3G connection to an iPhone. With Elgato’s new EyeTV Live3G web app, you can watch live TV and EyeTV recordings anywhere. The web app connects your iPhone to your Mac at home. It uses state-of-the-art HTTP Live Streaming technology to deliver high quality video streams without sacrificing battery life. The Live3G web app is available immediately at live3g.eyetv.com, and is part of EyeTV 3.3, a free update for EyeTV 3 users. The web app complements Elgato’s recently introduced EyeTV app for the iPhone, which delivers live TV to an iPhone over a Wi-Fi connection. Read more…

Apple has taken home top honors in six different categories of Adweek’s Best of the 2000s.

To wind up the 21st century’s first decade, we’ve spent the past month working on a list of the best and brightest in the branding, marketing, media and agency world in 33 categories over the past 10 years.

Marketer of the Decade (Steve Jobs):
When Steve Jobs returned to a struggling Apple in 1997, he brought back his original agency, TBWA\Chiat\Day, with specific instructions: Buy us some time. Jobs knew that the iMac could well save the company he’d founded in 1976 (he’d left a decade later, after a management shakeup)—but the new model was 12 months off. Meanwhile, to let the world know Apple was not going away, Jobs needed a rallying cry—something to remind the core following of Apple’s rebel spirit. The result: “Think different.”… Read more…

Kentucky-based The M.H.A. released their Mac-based security program Airlock on Tuesday. Airlock unlocks your Mac when you approach it, based on the proximity of the Bluetooth transceiver on youriPhone (or later-gen iPod touch). The Mac will lock when your device leaves the preset range, but Airlock also accepts your account password as backup, in case the device is unavailable or its battery dies: since you’ll be leaving Bluetooth turned on all the time, the battery will drain even faster than normal.
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Apple plans to release a new “Concierge” application for the iPhone and iPod touch that will allow customers to schedule appointments at retail stores, AppleInsider has been told.

According to a source that has proven reliable in the past, the App Store software will allow anyone to view memberships and make appointments for services at retail stores, like the Genius Bar or One to One. No release date or the alleged application was provided.

The information on the potential new iPhone application was corroborated Monday in a separate report from MacRumors.
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As the iPhone has proven itself to be a formidable competitor in the handheld gaming business, the president of Nintendo has said his company must differentiate itself to survive.

As Apple portrays the iPod touch and iPhone as the ultimate portable gaming machine, Nintendo, maker of the Nintendo DS, has seen its profits freefall last quarter, from 133 billion yen a year prior to 64 billion yen. Highlighting the newfound competition between Apple and Nintendo, The Wall Street Journal noted that Nintendo has fended off several potential portable challengers, but it hasn’t quite faced a competitor like the iPhone.

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Any lingering hopes of new last-minute holiday hardware from Apple have been cast in doubt, as the Mac maker has reportedly confirmed that its holiday 2009 lineup is “set.”

In a recent conversation with Gizmodo, Phil Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing, reportedly said that Apple will not introduce any more new products this year. The report was issued to quash recent rumors of even more hardware updates portrayed as potentially imminent.

After the story initially ran, Apple’s public relations contacted to clarify with an official statement: “The holiday lineup is set.” No further explanation was given. Read more…

Geohot has released RC2 of his Blackra1n jailbreak for the iPhone and iPod touch. This version provides a tethering jailbreak for the new iPhone 3GS with the updated Bootrom.

What’s New:
- Fixed 3G issues
- Tethered jailbreak for 3.1 OOTB ipt 8GB and new 3GSes
- Fixed Icy issues
- Both Windows and Mac
- If you used RC1 with success, no need to rerun

Via iclarified.com