You have to give Apple credit, they do release updates to their OS X and iOS operating systems pretty frequently. And when they do, the updates usually fix quite a few issues.

Case in point this week is the company’s most recent update to Mac OS X, the other operating system that doesn’t run the iPhone or iPad. This latest update brings the software to version 10.7.3 and sports a slew of enhancements and bug fixes.

Here’s a list of the major ones:

• Add Catalan, Croatian, Greek, Hebrew, Romanian, Slovak, Thai, and Ukrainian language support
• Address issues when using smart cards to log into OS X
• Address compatibility issues with Microsoft Windows file sharing
• Address an issue printing Microsoft Word documents that use markup
• Address a graphics performance issue after sleep on some earlier iMacs that use ATI graphics
• Resolve a Wi-Fi connection issue when waking from sleep
• Address an issue that may prevent Safari from opening before joining a wireless network
• Fix a potential issue authenticating to an SMB DFS share
• Include RAW image compatibility for additional digital cameras

OS X 10.7.3 is available now via Software Update. However, we recommend downloading the larger, but usually far more stable, Combo Updater and using that. It usually works out better.

I find it funny that even with everything happening at CES in Las Vegas this week one announcement from Apple about an event next week and the entire tech news world shifts forces to them. Sorry CES, nobody seems to care all that much about you.

To what event am I referring? Well, as I mentioned last week, Apple was rumored to be planning an education-related event for sometime in January. As you can see from the pic above, they’ve now sent out invitations to said event and it’s definitely scheduled for the 19th of this month.

Now that we know the event is education-related does that mean Apple is announcing a new textbook initiative with major publishers to bring school books to the iPad? I think it might. I also think we might see a bit more during this event such as new publishers added to the magazines available in the Newsstand app as well as some new publishers added to iBooks.

Sadly, I would doubt Apple will also announces a new iPad next week. I think they will wait on that one for another month or two. Of course, whatever happens we will find it all out come January 19. Should be interesting.

Yes, E3 has a lot of games to demonstrate and attract the attention of gaming enthusiasts. It also has a lot of hardware to dazzle the eye and entice your wallet open.

One such piece of hardware is the Batarang Controller from Power A for the XBox 360 and PS3. Yes, you read that right: It’s a controller made in the shape of the famed Batarang made famous by none other than Batman himself.

Here’s more info from the official release from Power A:

Developed by Rocksteady Studios and based on DC Comics’ core Batman property, Batman: Arkham City, batman fans will revel in the authenticity of the design of the Batarang, while gamers will appreciate the comfort and performance that POWER A brings to these one-of-a-kind controllers.

The Batarang controller for PS 3 is wireless with reverse analog sticks and a Batman-themed USB RF receiver. The Batarang controller for Xbox 360® is a wired controller with a 10-foot / 3m inline release cable.

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As expected, today Apple updated its lineup of all-in-on iMac desktops with faster processors and improved graphics cards. In addition, the new iMacs now feature the Thunderbolt I/O port first introduced in the most recent MacBook Pro updates as well as the new Sandy Bridge chipset.

The new, improved, iMac comes in two 21.5-inch and three 27-inch models. Here’s the specs:

iMac 21.5″

• CPU: 2.5 GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 or 2.7 GHz quad-core Intel Core i5
• RAM: 4GB (2 x 2 GB)
• HDD: 500 GB or 1 TB hard drive
• GPU: AMD Radeon HD 6750M or AMD Radeon HD 6770M
• Other: Single Thunderbolt port, FaceTime HD camera, aluminum and glass design, IPS LED-backlit high resolution display, Mini DisplayPort, One FireWire 800 port, Four USB 2.0 ports, SDXC card slot, Slot-loading 8x • SuperDrive, Audio in/out, Gigabit Ethernet, IR receiver, 802.11 a/b/g n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR and an Apple wireless keyboard with a Magic Mouse or Magic Trackpad.
• Price: Starting at $1,199

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If you’ve been waiting for a replacement for your aging PS3 or XBox 360, your wait may be a bit longer than you think. According to Kotaku, neither Microsoft nor Sony will launch new gaming consoles before 2014.

“Both [Microsoft] and Sony are telegraphing to each other that they’re delaying, to milk the current [generation] and fill in previous craters better,” one source told Kotaku. In contrast, Nintendo’s next generation gaming console is expected to land sometime next year.

But wait, all is not lost. Microsoft and Sony may decide to build onto their current systems. For example, Microsoft may release a “Kinect-upgraded” Xbox 360 in 2013. “Sony definitely isn’t launching a successor before 2014 and could stand to benefit by having Microsoft launch first as PS3 builds in North America and builds a strong position in Europe,” said Billy Pidgeon, an analyst with M2 Research cited in the article.

Microsoft has stated it will offer support for the Xbox 360 through 2015. So, it stands to reason we should see a replacement for it sometime before that. So, the 2014 date makes some sense.

Although, if I were Microsoft I might worry a bit more about how to sustgain consumer interest in a console that’s already over six years old. In the tech and gaming world, that’s almost an eternity.

With all the ways in which consumers can get video content to their televisions, its sometimes difficult to figure out what way is the best. From Netflix to Google TV to Amazon, Apple TV and more the number of choices has grown a great deal over the last few years.

Now, another player in the race for your living room is upping its game. Roku, which has only been available online, has announced that its media streaming box, the Roku XD model, will be available nationwide at all Best Buy locations. This is a big move fore the company and one that they obviously hope will lead to increased sales.

The Roku box has been doing pretty well as an online-only option (selling over 1 Million units) so getting into stores and in front of more potential buyers has got to help sales. However, as with any device of this type, content will be king. The convenience of being able to stream Netflix, Amazon, Pandora, Hulu and more using one box may appeal to many. Plus, the price of $79.99 is also pretty good.

However, for those who already have other hardware options to stream content (an XBox 360 or PS3 for example) this device may be a non-issue. Plus, there’s no way to get anything on this device from iTunes so that may also eliminate some potential users who prefer to stick with Apple’s offerings.

Still, competition is a good thing and the more players in this space, the better. Good luck Roku.

Check out the full press release from Roku after the jump.

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As was expected, today Apple updated its lineup of portable Macs with all-new MacBook Pro computers of various sizes and specifications. Although the updates are more evolutionary than revolutionary, that doesn’t mean they aren’t significant.

Some of the new updates include i5 or i7 “Sandy Bridge” processors across the lineup, AMD Radeon HD Graphics, Thunderbolt connector and all of the version have a larger trackpad, have dropped in weight and feature a new “Facetime HD” camera instead of the former iSight camera.

Here’s the full rundown:

13″ MacBook Pro

• 2.3 GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor with a 3 MB shared L3 cache or 2.7 GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i7 processor with 4MB shared L3 cache
• 13.3-inch LED-Backlit with 1280×800 resolution; Glossy only
• 4 GB DDR3 SDRAM clocked at 1333 MHz (2×2 GB), supports up to 8 GB
• 320 or 500 GB, 5400 RPM Serial ATA hard drive; optional 128GB, 256GB, or 512GB solid-state drive
• Intel HD Graphics 3000 with 384 MB DDR3 SDRAM shared memory
• FaceTime HD camera, 8X slot-loading SuperDrive, Thunderbolt High-Speed E/A and Mini-DisplayPort, 802.11N WiFi, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, SDXC, FireWire 800, USB 2.0.
• Starting at $1199

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Yesterday during the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas Verizon unveiled a bunch of upcoming devices built for its 4G LTE network. Some of the devices include smartphones, tablets, laptop computers and mobile hotspots. Here’s a quick rundown of each 4G device covered during the announcement, compiled by the folks at BGR:

• HTC ThunderBolt – HTC Sense 2.0, 1GHz Snapdragon processor, 4.3-inch WVGA display, 8-megapixel camera with HD video recording, DLNA capability, video chat support

• LG Revolution – 4.3-inch touchscreen, Android 2.2, video chat, mobile hotspot support (up to eight devices)

• DROID Bionic 4G – Android, video chat, rear-facing 8-megapixel camera, 4.3-inch display, HDMI connectivity, dual-core 1GHz processor, 512 DDR2 RAM

• Unnamed Samsung Smartphone – Android 2.2, 4.3-inch Super-AMOLED Plus display, 1GHz processor, rear-facing 8-megapixel camera with LED flash, video chat

• Motorola XOOM tablet – 10.1-inch display, Android 3.0 Honeycomb OS, 1080p HD video, front-facing 2-megapixel camera for video chat, 5-megapixel camera with video capture, mobile hotspot capability (up to five devices)

• 4G LTE-enabled Samsung Galaxy Tab – 7-inch TFT display, Android 2.2, 1.2GHz Cortex A8 Hummingbird processor, rear-facing 5-megapixel camera, front-facing 1.3-megapixel camera

• Novatel MiFi® 4510L Intelligent Mobile Hotspot – 3G and 4G LTE compatibility

• Samsung 4G LTE Mobile Hotspot – 3G and 4G LTE compatibility

• Compaq CQ10-688nr – 10.1-inch display, Intel Atom N455 processor, up to 8.5 hours of battery life, multi-format digital media card reader, webcam and multiple connectivity options

• HP Pavilion dm1-3010nr – 11.6-inches, HP CoolSense Technology, up to 10.75 hours of battery life, 320 GB of storage, multi-format digital media card reader, HDMI port, Dolby Advanced Audio and GPS for mapping and navigation

Click through to check out the full press release from Verizon. But take note, its pretty massive.

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With all the iPhone/Verizon rumors it’s nice to see rumors concerning another Apple product pop up sometimes. This time around it’s the iPad 2 which, according to Japanese Mac blog MacOtakara, will have a flatter back and smaller bezel compared to the original iPad.

The site also indicates the device will feature larger “wide-ranged speaker” located behind a mesh speaker grille. These will, presumably, offer much better sound quality than current generation device.

In addition, the next iPad will be three millimeters smaller than the original, but the display will stay the same size. That means the bezel surrounding the iPad’s display will probably shrink substantially, improving the devices overall appearance — at least to us. The rear case has been flattened to be more like an iPod touch, which should make it easier to lay on a flat surface. Yeah, that “bump” in the middle has always been a bit of a pain.

No word on if the new iPad will feature a camera, or cameras, but as often is the case, we’ll get more rumors and information as the device gets closer to release. Speaking of that, Apple’s next-generation iPad is expected to begin shipping from manufacturers in January or February, with a release likely soon after.

Unless you’re pretty knowledgeable, when you think of powerful server hardware for your business or other enterprise level needs the first manufacturer that pops into your mind probably isn’t Apple. It’s more likely Dell, HP or even IBM that comes to mind.

To most consumers, Apple is the company that makes the iPhone, iPad and the Mac and not a line of server hardware designed for businesses. It seems Apple sees themselves that way too as the company has announced it will discontinue sales of their Xserver server hardware as of January 31, 2011.

The company made the announcement via a post on its Xserve splash page. Apple does indicate it will continue to support the Xserve but you just won’t be able to buy a new one after that date. Apple has also made a PDF “transition guide” for Xserve users (Or potential users) which explains the alternatives to Xserve for users wishing to deploy Apple hardware and OSX Server software.

With this announcement it begs the question what Apple has planned for its server software. For the moment, the Mac Pro and Mac Mini server support OSX Server and based on the “transition guide” it sems they will continue to do so, at least for now. Perhaps this means Apple is going to license its server software for use on other Intel based platforms?

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As I may have indicated previously, I’m having a hard time getting very excited for Microsoft’s Kinect. Regardless, I’m sure it will probably sell very well. In fact, we will find out how well today as this is officially Kinect launch day around the world.

The new motion-based video game controller for Xbox 360 is, according to most industry analysts, expected to be one of the best-selling accessories this holiday season. Microsoft recently raised its holiday sales projections from 3 million to 5 million units. That’s a lot of units.

You have a couple options to get Kinect. If you currently have an XBox 360 (Or a few of them) you need to buy Kinect. If you don’t have an XBox 360 you can buy one that includes a Kinect. However, as I said before, this is probably going to be a hot seller so if you do want Kinect, I suggest buying one now.

As in right now.

We know, we know, Apple announced all this new cool stuff yesterday. Sadly, we were having some technical problems here at the site yesterday and we didn’t get a chance to bring you the news about what the company announced. So, in the interest of thoroughness, here’s what Apple had to say. Get your credit cards ready.

First up is the new version of Apple’s Mac OS X operating system. This version, known as OS X 10.7 or Lion, sports the following new features and enhancements:

• Multitouch gesture support
• App Store: Mac apps available in a centralized location with a payment system, 1-click purchasing, customer reviews, screenshots, etc
• Launchpad – app home screens for OS X
• Full-screen apps
• Auto-save and auto-resume within apps
• Mission Control: unification of full-screen apps, Expose, Spaces and Dashboard

Lion will launch this coming Summer, though no specific release date was provided. The Mac App Store will be available within 90 days, however, as an addition to Snow Leopard.

Next, let’s turn to Apple’s suite of applications called iLife. As expected, the suite was updated to give us the new iLife ’11.

Here’s the specs:

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