Another day, another iPhone or iPad rumor. Hey, it’s fun to speculate, so why not? Today’s latest is a report over at This is My Next that a new iPad is coming later this year, around the same time as the reported launch of the iPhone 5.

The device will not be a replacement for the current iPd 2, however. Instead, it will reportedly be called the “iPad HD,” will feature a double resolution 2048 x 1536-pixel screen and be targeted to “Pro” users like photographers and videographers.

In addition, and this makes sense if you’ve checked out Final Cut X at all, the new iPad HD will reportedly ship with new mobile version of Apple’s Final Cut and Aperture applications.

As always, take any rumors of this sort with a large grain of salt. However, with the way things work these days it is often hard for companies to keep all their secrets, even Apple. Obvioysly, Apple will be coming out with new versions of both the iPhone and the iPad. It’s inevatible.

The real question always is what will those new version be like. If we apply a bit lof logical deduction, the idea of an iPad HD running Aperture and Final Cut isn’t so hard to believe. Whatever is coming, we’ll all find out in September.

Today, as was expected, Apple unveiled their new initiative aimed at Mac OSX software developers and those wishing to purchase applications for their Macs in a way similar to iTunes and iOS apps. Dubbed the Mac App Store, it is part of the latest software release of Apple’s Mac OS X operating system which, when applied, brings Mac computers to version 10.6.6.

Here’s what Apple has to say about the update:

The Mac OS X 10.6.6 Update is recommended for all users running Mac OS X Snow Leopard and includes general operating system fixes that enhance the stability, compatibility, and security of your Mac. It also includes the Mac App Store, the best way to discover and buy new apps for your Mac. The Mac App Store, a new application you’ll find in the Dock, includes the following features:

• Discover Mac apps: Browse featured apps, top charts, and categories, or search for something specific. Read detailed app descriptions and user reviews, and flip through screen shots.
• Buy and install: Easily purchase apps with your iTunes account. Apps install in one step and are quickly available from the Dock.
• App updates: The Mac App Store keeps track of all your purchased apps and notifies you when free updates are available.

Among the apps being sold in the Mac App Store as of this morning are some made by Apple, including parts of the iLife and iWork suites and Aperture 3. These apps are available individually with prices ranging from $15 for iLife apps to $20 for iWork apps and $79 for Aperture.

The update is now available via Software Update so if you’re interested in this, fire up your Mac and get to updating. If you do, let us know your experiences in the comments.

Yesterday, the good folks at Apple were kind enough to update their flagship image handling software Aperture to version 3.0.2 and today the updates keep on coming with the release of an update to iMovie, which brings the application to version 8.0.6. The update “improves reliability when working with videos from Aperture and requires Mac OS X 10.5.6 or later and iLife ’09.” It is 35.84 MB and available via Software Update.

Also updated, just not by Apple, was Flip4Mac‘s free Windows Media player, which brings it to version 2.3.2. In case you’re not familiar, Flip4Mac is a QuickTime plugin that lets you watch Windows Media files in a QuickTime Player. It’s a great tool that’s saved the day more than once when standard Quicktime won’t open a video file. The new update fixes problems playing back files and streams with MP3 content and corrects problems launching QuickTime Player if you’re using Snow Leopard.

In addition to Flip4Mac’s player, Perian was also updated to 1.2.1. Perian is a QuickTime plugin that allows you to play pretty much any kind of media through QuickTime Player. This particular update adds Indeo 5 decoding and fixes some pesky bugs that seem to crop up from time to time.

Have any trouble with these updates? Let us know in the comments.

Today, the Apple Store went down, as it often does, and amid speculation that new core i5 and i7 MacBook Pros would be announced, when the store came back Apple instead dropped a comprehensive update of Aperture, its flagship image editing software, on us. The latest version, cleverly dubbed Aperture 3, brings many of the features users love from iPhoto ’09 and adds them to Aperture’s new, improved software set and tools.

According to Apple, the latest version of Aperture includes over 200 new features such as:

• Organization using Faces and Places
• Brand new Brushes that let you paint effects on images,
• Full 64-bit support for Snow Leopard
• Improved image adjustments with more “fine tuning”
• Facebook and Flickr uploading

Apple has a free 30-day trial or you can buy the latest version for U.S. $199.00, and upgrades are available for any existing Aperture users for U.S. $99.00.