Apple CEO Steve Jobs has confirmed that Apple will be releasing LED-backlit Macs by the end of this year. “We plan to introduce our first Macs with LED backlight technology in 2007,” he wrote. “Our ability to completely eliminate fluorescent lamps in all of our displays depends on how fast the LCD industry can transition to LED backlighting for larger displays.”

The confirmation comes in the form of an open letter to shareholders and customers about Apple phasing out mercury lit screens in an attempt to boost environmentally safe technology. — Andrew Dobrow

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Rumors are flooding through the Mac grapevine. AppleInsider is reporting that industry insiders are confirming the production of LED backlit MacBook Pros, marking Macs transition away from CCFLs (cold cathode fluorescent backlights).

As of now, plans for LED integration are only for the 15-inch series. The 13 and 17in series’ are still under consideration, but seem like an inevitable addition once the 15-inch is fully tested and gauged.

The new LED’s should also prove to conserve battery-time, while also producing a longer lit life then the original CCFLs. The explosion of personal laptops of the last few years has put the MacBook in the position to get the royal treatment over the iMac.

In these modern days of “the smaller and lighter, the better” while still demanding good quality, the LED MacBook will not disappoint. Apple has proved itself as a monster in the personal technology field. Something tells us this Frankenstein monster a la Steve Jobs, isn’t getting shackled anytime soon. — Andrew Dobrow

Next-gen MacBook Pro to shine brighter [AppleInsider]

   

Apple has done a gorgeous job integrating the iPod to be compatible with both PCs and Macs. But one feature that would be cool to have that PC users might find difficult, is directly transferring photos from a SD card directly to your iPod’s drive. There are ways to do it, whether it be through syncing (which is unreasonably annoying when you only want a few pictures uploaded), or just shoving a SD card into the charger port on the iPod until it breaks (which while is much less annoying, never seems to work), but never a true way to add only the pictures you want, directly to your iPod.

Sakar International’s iAlbum is a little accessory that allows you to transfer photos from an SD card directly into your iPod. One cool benefit of having something like this that comes to mind, is that sharing pictures with friends can be a hell of a lot easier now. If you are out with a friend who is snapping pictures left and right, pictures in which you want but know your friend isn’t reliable enough to e-mail to you, just whip out the iAlbum and transfer away. We could think of more useful tools for the iPod, but for the active hipster always on the go, iAlbum could be a god send. — Andrew Dobrow

iAlbum to allow iPod photo transfers from SD, Memory Stick [iLounge]