Apple Rolls Out The New iPod Family

Most of the smart phones like iPhone, Android, and even Blackberry can play MP3 music. But if you're still all about having a dedicated MP3 device, Apple is still showing you love with the announcement of the new iPod Touch, iPod Nano, and shuffle.

The Shuffle has gone back to the buttons, but still caries voiceover features from the previous version. The Shuffle will also have a 15 hour battery life.

The iPod Nano has gotten the biggest physical change. Gone are the buttons, replaced with a multi-touch screen. It is 46% smaller and 42% lighter and still has FM radio, Nike+ support, and a pedometer. All this with 24 hours of battery life and it comes with a clip for the runners out there. Downside..... Gone is the video capability and with such a small screen, a touch screen seems a little silly.

The iPod Touch gets a face lift with the new retina display with the 326ppi resolution that the iPhone 4 has and is .33 inches thinner than the previous model. It comes with a HD camera that's able to shoot 720p video, and has a front facing camera for Facetime with other iPod Touch or iPhone 4 users. Apple also incorporated the A4 chip that's in the iPhone 4 along with the 3-axes gyroscope, all wrapped in iOS 4.1. Apple claims over 40 hours of audio along with 7 hours of video.

The new iPod family will hit the streets next week, along with the new iOS 4.1 download.

Apple representatives are standing by to take your order right now....... Hurry before they run out.

Yeah, right!

[Apple.com]

Netfilx App Comes To iPhone

Netflix has slowly and successfully sunk its teeth into me with a great business plan from day one. Not only have they backed the once king of the rentals Blockbuster into a corner, but has taken how we view content to a whole new level. From the rent as long as you like model, to streaming instantaneously to your TV, to now streaming directly to your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad anywhere you are.

With the release of the new iPhone app today, Netflix has continued to stay ahead of the curve when it comes to content distribution methods. So now if you have a long train commute, you can fire up those 'Dexter' shows that you've wanted to catch up on. The best part of all this is that you're not confined to only Wi-Fi with this app, and can stream directly over 3G (which now that I think about it may not be that great after all).

Oh well, I'm going to tax AT&T's weak network even more with this new toy!!!

[Gizmodo]

RedEye mini – iPhone/iPod Touch Universal Remote

Now I know in the past I’ve kind of frowned on the idea of universal remotes being done on an iPhone or iPod touch, but I may have decided to turn around and say that they might be a good idea.  This seems to be a great idea.  They also have a more full featured one, that seems like overkill, but I think it stands a chance.  Now, probably the reason that I’m kind of up on the idea now is that I have an iPhone 3G that is nearing the end of its life, and I’d like to use it for more than a glorified Walkman. 

Engadget has an article here about this product, plus more pictures. 

RedEye Turns Your iPhone/iPod Touch Into Universal Remote

If I hadn't made it clear about how I feel about my Logitech Harmony 670 Universal remote let me say now........ I hate it!!!

Not for the functionality of the remote, because that part is great. But for the buttons alone on this piece of crap, which at the very least is frustrating. Sometimes the buttons register........ sometimes not. But it is enough to make me go back to using the original remote that came with my AT&T Uverse..... That aint good!!!

So with me hearing about ThinkFlood's "RedEye" Universal remote that turns your iPhone into a remote, it certainly had my attention. It's an interesting idea that gives you a multi-touch remote that uses your Wi-Fi to control your home theater. There isn't any bluetooth support as of yet, but the best part of "RedEye" is that it has the ability to update like other apps which could bring that feature soon.

That alone makes it better than any other remote on the market.

The "RedEye" goes on sale today at a pricey $188, but with some of Logitech's remotes costing as much as $400, this might not be a bad price.

If the price does come down, this could be a must have!!!



[RedEye via Gizmodo]

iTunes 9 is out

 iTunes 9 is out now, and it has a feature that most iPhone and iPod touch users have wanted for a while.  A way to organize your apps.  Yes, you can finally set up which apps you sync, and also what page and position they will appear.  Its about damn time.

Another feature that is a longer time coming is sharing of iTunes libraries.  Yes, finally if you have more than one computer in the house, you can fully share all of their libraries on up to 5 computers. 

iPhone OS 3.0 out June 17th

Apple is launching iPhone OS version 3.0 next week, bringing with it a slew of new features, including cut and paste, undo, MMS support and more. But what about the gaming features?

We already knew that Apple would allow for in-application purchases, ushering in the era of microtransactions via add-on game packs and other downloadable types of content. iPhone OS 3.0 also adds new options for developers to tap into other new features, including new "push" notification technology, Google Maps availability in any application, peer-to-peer support for paid apps and much, much more.

Two iPhone game developers, Gameloft and ngmoco, showed off playable apps that take advantage of these new features.

Gameloft's Asphalt 5 takes advantage of peer-to-peer functionality by adding multiplayer over Bluetooth. It also lets players tap into their own music collections by accessing custom soundtracks directly from your iPod library.

ngmoco's Star Defense, just released today, will be one of the first games to take advantage of in-app purchases. iPhone owners can download new galaxies adding "hundreds of hours of gameplay."

[via Kotaku]

UPDATE:  Well, US iPhone users, guess what.  AT&T will not be supporting MMS for the iPhone.  I guess they need a way to charge me even more than for my data and text message plan.  I’d been pretty happy with my AT&T service for the past few years, but this may be the proverbial straw.

$ims 3 for the iPhone $creens

EA Mobile have released some new screens from the upcoming SIMS3 for iPhone. The game was shown in detail at the iPhone SDK/OS3.0 event. It looked pretty good, and included micro transaction features of the the new SDK.

If you didn’t see this coming, let’s do the math. iPhone / iPod Touch sales : 37 million and counting.  Sims franchise units sold : 100 million.  App store apps sold/downloaded : 1 billion.  If that is not a money printing press, I don’t know what is.

[via iPhone Games Network]

Mass Effect coming to iPhone & iPod Touch?

The immersive Mass Effect universe is coming to the iPhone and iPod Touch in the form of Mass Effect: Jacob’s Story. This prequel follows Jacob Taylor, a super-soldier trying to prevent galatic chaos. Read on for more info.

The game will feature an animated presentation and will utilize a  top-down point of view. If you plan on picking up Mass Effect 2, this game will also reveal some backstory of the characters featured in the upcoming game. The cost has been set a $2.99, but a release date is unclear.

Now that part of Bioware’s Mass Effect experience is portable, we can only hope it will help hold us off until the actual sequel is released. With a two hour runtime, this game should be long enough to help entertain you while waiting outside your local store and counting the seconds until Mass Effect 2 is released to the masses

Even though this is just a rumor so far, I anticipate my iPhone will be playing this very soon.

[via Kotaku]

SwitchEasy’s Tacky Mic For iPod Touch/Nano 4G

If you’re one that likes cuteness in your gadgets, then you might want to take a look at the thumb tack mic for the iPod Touch 2G/Nano 4G. This little mic by SwichEasy is said to be "the best quality micro-microphone in its category", and should work with most mic enabled third-party apps. And at the reasonable price of $13, this one should be a must have for the Touch users when the iPhone 3.0 firmware hits the streets.

[SwitchEasy via Engadget]

Hallelujah!!! Copy & Paste Comes Via iPhone 3.0

I have to just say that I absolutely love my iPhone if you didn’t know already. I don’t know just how I’ve managed to live my gadget loving life as long without it. But I have to say that it is not without flaws. Some of my biggest complaints about the iPhone are finally being addressed in the latest firmware release from Apple, dubbed iPhone 3.0.

Some of the no brainer stuff is built into this upgrade, such as Copy and Paste, MMS, and Landscape mode for email and texting. But here is the list of the new stuff:

In App Purchases
Peer to Peer connectivity
Accessories API
Maps API in Apps
Turn By Turn
Push Notifications
New APIs allowing access of various iPhone hardware/software
Bluetooth Connectivity
Cut, Copy and Paste
Landscape Mode
MMS
Voice Memos
Search for Apps like Mail, iPod, Calendar...
Spotlight
New Home Screen
Stereo Bluetooth
Tethering Support

Now all they need to do is bring Flash and video recording to the iPhone, and my journey to the darkside will be complete.

What else are you looking to be added to the iPhone?

[Apple]

My iPod Touch Review

So I couldn't take it anymore. With the release of the 1.1.3 upgrade that gave the iPod Touch (I still call it the iTouch) Mail, Maps, Weather, Stocks, and Notes, I gave into temptation. Or better, my wife finally gave in and let me get it.

I've had about a half dozen Palm-based PDA's from the Handspring Visor to the Tapwave Zodiac. I've enjoyed each one, and still have my Zod which lets me watch movies, keep pics, and play NES games. I also have an SD WiFi card, but surfing is dreadfully slow. I have a bunch of medical apps that I use as well, so it's not just a toy. So why pay $400 for something that has almost no medical apps and has only lame web-based games? Simple: It's Apple Elegant.

From the way you turn it on, to the way you move icons around the home screen, this thing just makes me smile. And surfing the internet is way better than I thought it would be. It's slower than surfing with a real computer, but I don't need to lug a laptop around to surf. And the way you surf is very well thought out. Entering text on a page is easy, once you get used to the keyboard. And drop-down menus zoom in, so it's easy to scroll through them to get where you want to go.

The Mail app is very cool. I have a google account and a .mac account, and it'll show me on the home page how many emails I have, adding both accounts. And like I said, even moving the icons around is cool. You hold your finger on one until they all start jiggling like they're floating on jello, then you move 'em or even slide 'em to a new page. Maps is cool, too. It uses Skyhook WiFi location software to tell you where you are. It doesn't work in my home, but when I'm at the hospital, it knows. This will improve as more WiFi spots are registered. It's no substitute for GPS, but I'll trade that for its very slim form factor.

So far, dislikes include not being able to use Mail in landscape mode. With this view, the buttons are bigger and easier to use with 2 thumbs. By the way, web-based chatting using beejive is awesome on this thing.
-I wish it had a speaker. Showing videos of your kid dancing with Charlie Brown isn't the same without sound. Video, built-in YouTube and zooming in on pictures are very cool, I just wish you could hear without headphones.
-There's no cut/paste, so I couldn't write this post and add a picture with the iTouch. That feature is supposedly coming soon.

Which brings up another thing I like. It's new, and it's growing. The SDK will be released next month, and I think many cool apps will be released so I can fill up to its 16G max.

One last feature: It's also an iPod. It didn't cost much more than our first monochrome HD-based model, but it does a bit more.

Jailbreak Released For iphone, ipod Touch

I just love this stuff!!!

As soon as Apple locks up the iphone and the ipod touch tighter than a chastity belt, the guys at the Dev team brakes it out. The Dev team have released the jail brake of firmware 1.1.3, but it's a Windows only for now. You have to download and install iBrickr first, and the process takes about 20-30 minutes to complete. The Mac version is said to be on the way, but one can only expect that Apple will just lock this back up on the next firmware release.

But you can be free for now iphone and ipod touch!

[Cre.ations.net via Crunchgear]

Concept iphone Ordering Screen For Starbucks

Apple has talked about how they will have a ordering and paying patent for iphone, and it looking like that might be coming to light. These concept designs were created by Phil Lu, and they look pretty real. Turns out that Apple didn't go with this design, choosing to go with a credit card payment system instead of Lu's Semacode to confirm payment. Lu's answer to this:

"This concept was designed before the Apple patent is widely publicized. Similar to ordering song through the web via iTune account, Semacode works like a digital "receipt," allowing the user to use their iTunes account for the transaction (which will bypass credit card transaction/identification, and speed up the pick-up process)."

Although these designs look so good, we'll have to wait until MacWorld to find out what it will truly look like.

[Genoco via Gizmodo]

ipod Video Gets ipod Touch UI Hack

Do you love the look of the new ipod touch, but you have a 5G (generation) ipod and can't justify buying another one (like myself)?

Well the guys at iPodHacking have done you a solid!!!

The ipod touch UI can be installed with just a few simple firmware fixes. Now I can get by just a little longer without having to drop another $300 for the cool looking UI. This is something that Apple should consider doing from time to time, and not always expecting us to buy another ipod every year.

Please Apple, steal that one good idea that Microsoft came up with for the Zune.

Firmware upgrades from time to time = Good!
Buying ipods every year = Bad!

[iPodHacking]

Apple Purchases U.K. Kid's ipod Touch Video

Now how cool is this!!!

Nick Haley took some clips from Apple's website and put it to some hot music, and the next thing you know, he's getting an email from Apple saying "we’ve seen what you have produced and we’d like a chat with you." Apple's ad agency took what Nick put together and cleaned it up "professionally" but didn't deviate from the original, save for some polished editing. Now you'll see this kid's video this Sunday during the NFL games and the World Series.

Not bad kid if you're trying to break into the business.

Student’s Ad Gets a Remake, and Makes the Big Time [New York Times via Crunchgear]

A ipod Touch Shipped Without OS X

This is pretty cool... You shell out your $400 for a brand new ipod 'touch', you get it home and crack it open only to find out that Apple forgot to load the OS on the thing. I'm thinking that I would be pissed, and that's just what happened to this guy.

But something interesting popped up during the whole thing, the icons that are activated and not activated in the unit are displayed. Cheerios for the serial number, very clever Apple. But the one that is the most interesting is the Bluetooth icon that is not active. This proves that they shipped the ipod with Bluetooth capability, and perhapses can be activated with a firmware upgrade. I'm sure there's a hacker or two out there that's more than up to the task.

If I was this guy I would have this on Ebay ASAP!!!

[Engadget]

iphone Screen Better Than ipod Touch?

When the new ipod 'Touch' was announced, it was assumed that it was like the iphone, but just without the phone part.

Well the guys at Gizmodo are discovering that this may not be the case. After doing some testing on their part, they discovered that the black areas on the ipod are washed gray and not as defined as the iphone. Take a look at the girls hair above as an example, the top image is the touch ipod.

There are more pictures to verify this after the jump, but this would be a little disappointing if it turns out to be the truth.

[Gizmodo]

ipod "Touch" Shipping Date

According to Crunchgear, September 28th will be the ship date for the latest ipod "Touch". Well, at least Apple isn't going to make you wait 3 months like they did with the iphone.

Thanks to Crunchgear for the info.