As part of today's Apple online store downtime , the company appears to have rolled out an enhancement of its sales chat support services for those looking to purchase an Apple product. While sales chat has been available for quite some time through individual product pages, the changes include a revamped chat window with a more modern appearance. As has long been the case, sales chat support is available only during certain times of the day and dependent on availability of chat agents

Last week, we noted that shortages of the Apple TV at third-party retailers had begun spreading to Apple itself, with a number of the company's own retail stores reporting that the set-top box was unavailable for immediate in-store pickup. With a part number for a product with the code name of "J33" and known to be the next-generation Apple TV also surfacing last week, it certainly appears that an update is imminent. With Apple's iPad 3 media event now roughly 36 hours away and Apple also expected to unveil an updated Apple TV at the event, we've been watching as more and more Apple retail stores are running dry of the current model

Slowly, but surely, Apple's plans to build a retail store in the Swiss city of Basel are beginning to shape up. As reported by ifoAppleStore, the site for the store was first spotted by Swiss bloggers almost two years ago. The bloggers at MacPrime.ch have now dug up blueprints confirming that Apple's architect has been busy revising plans to meet with city regulations.