Macsimum News will be closed today in honor of Memorial Day in the US. Originally called Decoration Day, is a day to remember those who have died in our nation's service. Remember our soldiers, past and present, and have a safe and wonderful holiday.

Australians bought an estimated 30,000 iPads Friday as the product went on sale nationwide, according to the "Daily Telegraph." A further 20,000 of the tablet computers are expected to be sold this weekend, the newspaper adds.

In Sydney, the first iPads were sold to the more than 300 customers who camped out overnight in the cold outside the flagship George St store. By comparison, Apple sold more than 500,000 iPads in the first week of release in the US and a million after 28 days.

Seeking information on possible price fixing in the digital music marketplace, the U.S. Department of Justice contacted the legal departments of the major record labels as part of an initial inquiry into Apple, sources have told "Billboard" (http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100529/media_nm/us_apple), a music industry trade publication. The DOJ also spoke with a number of digital music services, the article adds.

Earlier this month, the DOJ reportedly reached out to the major music lablels to learn whether Apple was affecting pricing in the market. Since the featured album in Amazon's Daily Deal usually sells for the low prices of $3.99-$5.99, as opposed to the almost standard $9.99 for digital albums, any attempt to discourage labels from participating in the Amazon promotion might be construed as price fixing. And some sources said Apple had pushed...

In a note to clients Kaufman Bros. analyst Shaw Wu is expecting some big announcements beyond iPhone OS 4 and a likely new iPhone at June's Apple Worldwide Developer Conference. Among them is a new Mac Pro.

"AppleInsider" (http://www.appleinsider.com) concurs, expecting a pro Mac desktop that adds a total of 12-cores from Intel's latest Westmere architecture to the high-end desktop. (Apple is also expected to release a second LED-backlit Cinema Display, measuring 27-inches diagonally and resembling its existing 24-inch model," says "AppleInsider"). And Wu also thinks we'll see a revved MacBook Air and a web-based version of iTunes.

“Sources tell me that in the past few weeks, Apple has started signaling to the labels that it’s interested in a web-based version of iTunes, its dominant music retail platform,” Wu has told clients. “But those conversations are preliminary at best. So if you’re...

Apple has bumped up its iPhone production plans, which include a Verizon iPhone that will be available for the holidays, according to a report at "TheStreet" (http://www.thestreet.com/story/10769660/1/apple-verizon-iphone-set-for-h...).

Rodman Renshaw analyst Ashok Kumar, who has been monitoring the production plans in Asia, says Apple has asked its supply and manufacturing partners to prepare for a production rate of four million iPhones a month by September, a 25% increase. The company has also told its manufacturing partner Asustek to plan on starting full-scale production of a CDMA version of the iPhone to be available at Verizon as early as November, the analyst adds.

Most pundits think that a Verizon iPhone is inevitable and just a matter of time...

Jumsoft has announced Money 3.6 (http://www.jumsoft.com/money/), an update to their personal and small-business accounting application for Mac OS X. The upgrade adds a Reconciling feature, which allows keeping Money accounts in balance with users' bank accounts.

Other highlights of Money 3.4 include improved backup reversion, localizations, and interface. Moreover, minor bugs were fixed, such as in setting the default currency. The new version will also contain expanded documentation, making the application even easier to use, says Algirdas Unguvaitis, general manager of Jumsoft.

Money allows tracking transactions to and from a user's wallet, bank accounts, or share trading accounts, budget planning and monitoring the actual outcome, managing bills and invoices, and generating income/expense reports. Users will be able to download the new Money for iPhone from the...

iSobre has introduced a new line of sleeves for the iPad and iPhone. The sleeves are 100% leather with a soft deerskin layer outside and a cushiony suede inside.


The sleeves come in two different models iSobre Blue Baboon (sand color outside with an iceberg blue interior) and iSobre Bumble Bee (black in the outside and pure yellow color inside). To check out the different models and pricing go to http://www.isobre.com/store.php ; once there, you can participate in a contest for a free iPad.

The Enterprise Desktop Alliance (http://enterprisedesktopalliance.com/) -- an organization to help IT departments integrate Macs into the corporate environment -- has opened a new survey to query IT administrators about whether they have non-Windows systems in their organizations, and if so, how many.

The results of the survey will provide a refinement to the Enterprise Desktop Alliance's developing portrait of the distribution and management of personal computing devices in the enterprise. IT administrators are encouraged to contribute to the survey which will be online until June 21.

To participate, click here: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/DFXRTWM?c=PR1 . Participants who complete the survey will qualify to win a US$50 Amazon Gift Certificate that will be...

Catalina Island’s brand new Pavilion Hotel (which opened May 14) is offering guests complimentary use of iPads to access the Internet and their morning newspaper during their stay.

Guests will have at their fingertips free, instant access to the weather, their favorite newspapers, personal email, restaurant menus, information on Island tours and attractions, and live web cams all while relaxing in the new outdoor lounge or the indoor “library."

The Pavilion Hotel is a 71-room, two-story; upscale hotel just 14 steps away from the beach. The design combines mid-century style with modern luxury and features a private outdoor living area for most of the ground level rooms, lush garden courtyard. Catalina Island is just 22 miles from Los Angeles.

AT&T’s Ron Spears, CEO of the telecom company’s Business Solutions unit, says four out of 10 iPhone sales are to enterprises, reports "ZDNet" (http://www.zdnet.com/blog/btl/at-t-exec-4-out-of-10-of-our-iphone-sales-...). The exec made the comment t the Barclays Capital Communications, Media and Technology conference on Thursday.

"ZDNet" says that Spears said that the iPhone is basically a computing device to enterprises and some of them are forgoing laptop purchases if an employee can get buy with Apple’s flagship phone. “If they’ve got a field service force that needs one or two applications on a daily basis; do they need to go out and spend $1,000 or $1,200 for a laptop and then worry about sort of the lifecycle costs of keeping up with the laptop?” he said.

Spiderweb Software has announced the upcoming release of Avadon: The Black Fortress (http://www.spiderwebsoftware.com/avadon/index.html), an all-new, indie fantasy role-playing game for Mac and Windows systems. It's due in early 2011.

Here's how the game is described: "Avadon is in epic adventure in a strange and dangerous world. You are a spy and warrior who must fight the enemies of your homeland. As a servant of the Black Fortress, your word is law. Gain power and influence, experience an exciting adventure, and battle a conspiracy to destroy your people.

"You are an agent of Avadon. The Black Fortress. Outside your lands, there are limitless threats. Barbarians. Fading, jealous empires. Titans and unspeakable horrors. The warriors and spies of Avadon are charged to keep them at bay, weak and divided. Your resources are unlimited, and all must...

Here are the latest iPhone/iPod touch/iPod/iPad apps announced. You can find 'em at the Apple App Store (http://www.itunes.com/appstore/).

Barnes & Noble, the world's largest bookseller, has announced its free BN eReader app for the iPad, offering personalized eReading experience for the Apple tablet. BN eReader for iPad users can customize the way they read with professionally designed or completely personalized themes, shop more than one million eBooks, newspapers and magazines in the Barnes & Noble eBookstore, and access their personal Barnes & Noble digital library, including most periodicals. BN eReader for iPad is the only eReading app that offers eBook sharing with friends.

Namco Networks has released Issac Newton's Gravity HD for the iPad. In the game, players must arrange the various objects to hit the trigger and win. If a player is stumped on one of the 105...