A look at Apple through 2010

This blog has come a long way, and so has Apple! Throughout this year we saw many new products, some which were revolutionary. We also saw many surprised and suspenseful events, while also looking at some of the flaws Apple had hit this year. It's been a great year overall for Apple, and I for one am impressed! Today's blog post will cover all of Apple in 2010! The good, the bads, etc.

In 2010 Apple's year had started off positively with a good record shown in their fourth quarter of 2009, sure we saw some decreasing sales in the iPod lineup but that didn't stop Apple from working harder to create better products. In terms of the 4 quarters we saw in 2010, Apple's earnings just seemed to rise and is a sign showing their products are just getting better and better.

Lets start by looking at all the products Apple had released in 2010, starting first up in January 2010 we had the announcement of a brand new tablet! That was probably one of the most exciting events of the year, because prior to this year, Apple had no actual tablet device. The iPad was a truly a revolutionary product even though many critics complained about it being "A bigger iPod Touch" there were many rumors about there being the perfect iPad killer, but from the looks of it, the current iPad will be coming to it's end of life, so did we actually see an iPad killer? Not really, which just proves that Apple yet again made such a product no competition could match. It still continues to perform in a stellar fashion with over millions sold.

Then came a product which isn't really new, just more of a performance upgrade and that was the introduction of the Intel Core i5 and Core i7 into the 15" and 17" Macbook Pro's. Still a good update overall and it was meant to happen as many PC's were starting to switch to the same CPU. The design still remains the same, but the performance boost can only be better for consumers. Later on there was also a small performance upgrade for the Macbook's which feature a 2.4ghz Intel Core 2 Duo processor and the new 320m graphics chip.

Then there was the flawed release of the iPhone 4. Probably one of the most anticipated devices of the year, but was dumbed down because of the incident with the iPhone 4 being leaked, earlier than release. It brought in a whole new look to the iPhone lineup, not as much curved anymore but rather more of a squarish shape with the introduction of retina display. Many critics had claimed that there was a reception issue due to the 3g bands being on the outside, but after the free bumpers were given out, not much has been heard on that. Which goes to show that the iPhone 4 is still a great device to purchase.

With the addition of all these devices in June we also saw a quiet update on the Apple site, one which was not really a performance upgrade, but more of a cosmetic and that was for the Mac mini, the big thing being it now features a full aluminum shell. with easy to access RAM. The newer more slimmer Mac mini also featured an HDMI port and at that time many expected the older Apple TV would be toast. But as always Apple come back with something.

Later on in July the new iMac's saw the Core i3, Core i5, and Core i7 chips being built in and that completely eliminated the Core 2 Duo line from the iMac's. While with that release we also saw a brand new mouse! This one being more like a trackpad and that was the Magic Trackpad, a newer way to browse the web with a desktop, and it had the exact same feel of the trackpads on the Macbook Pro line.

Then in September we experienced a thrilling live streaming event, of Apple's annual Music event, and we saw a newer iPod Shuffle, much smaller in size, as well as a Nano, which is now fully a touchscreen and the big addition came to the iPod Touch, which featured dual cameras and a much thinner design.
In terms of the poor sales of the first generation Apple TV, Apple also released a newer much smaller, cloud based Apple TV. With a sticker price of $99, why wouldn't it be a success?

Apple had also quietly released a new 27" Apple Cinema Display, with a $999 price tag and a new 12 core Mac Pro!

As if that many products weren't enough we also saw a brand new Macbook Air! After what was a long time, we saw a 11.6" Macbook Air with a much affordable sticker price and a 13.3" both with flash storage. This was surely able to bump up the sales of the Macbook Air.

After looking at all these products released Apple unfortunately had to say goodbye to one of them and that had to be the XServe.. This was due to the fact it accumulated poor sales and was no match, as the Mac mini server was doing much better.

Despite one draw back, I say in terms of devices Apple have had a good year!

If you also take a look at their Q4 Earnings, Apple had reached a record amount of 20.34 billion in revenue! That could mainly be due to the fact we had seen so many new products this year!

Looking at all the software released this year, we saw a dramatic new update for all iPod/iPhone and iPad users, and that was with the introduction of multi-tasking, folders, Airplay, Airtunes and many more features. Much more than just a casual security update.
During the "Back to the Mac" event we also experienced a brand new operating system "OSX Lion" and that will be coming in 2011.

Recapping all that we saw in 2010, I say this was a great year for Apple, I think the pace they are going at is quite fast and there are a number of products being released every year! With the introduction of some new lineups we see that the revenue is jumping up quite high! Apple has a bright future if they continue to strive they way they did in 2010.

I am sure Steve Jobs will be proud of the company and so should everyone else be, that pretty much sums up this blog post! Have a happy new year all!

Also I just realized this was the 200th post on the blog! Thanks for your support everyone!! This wouldn't have been possible without all you guys!!

Apple Sued Due to App Privacy on iOS Platform

A man in California has just filed a lawsuit after he found out that Apple has a device built within the app store that can track the activity of a person, when browsing. It was said according to PC Magazine that some apps sold private information including where a person lived, age, gender etc. (UDID) Also known as Unique Device Identifer, is something built into the iPads and iPhones and this cannot be removed by the user. The lawsuit claims that Apple is in violation of privacy laws. But then some might wonder, how could these apps still be on the app store after this violation? I just noticed that some of these apps as cited still appear to be on the app store, these are said to be Pandora, Dictionary.com, and more.

Apple sells 1 millionth Apple TV

Apple were expecting the 1 millionth Apple TV to be sold end of last week, it was a bit of a delay but today Apple has confirmed they have sold the 1 millionth Apple TV. So this marks that in nearly 4 months the Apple TV has hit the 1 millionth mark. Apple should be very impressed about this as the older generation Apple TV, took quite longer and competition with the Google TV is absolutely no match.

On the other hand some speculation have noticed that the Roku sales have doubled, this is most likely because the CEO was saying that Apple has laid down the platform for set top boxes and then more people came to realize about Roku. Either way, Apple is going strong in terms of Apple TV sales, and the jump to cloud technology is certainly working.

Introducing Mactechtoday.com!

Well after nearly a year since I have started this blog, I have got a ton of support from all you guys! And I thought that this would be the perfect time to buy a domain for this blog. Unfortunately 1-mac.com was not available :( So I went with a newer and (in my opinion better name) and that is Mactechtoday.com! I believe that after buying a domain, the site sounds much easier and typing doesn't require the .blogspot.com part. But for those also wondering 1-mac.blogspot.com will still bring you here. But if you did bookmark this site, it will be great if you can update them and change the name! :) I hope you like the new name as much as I do. And from now on, I believe I will always be on a .com domain name! :) I hope you all enjoyed this year I have been posting on this site and I wanted to wish you all a very Merry Christmas!

Mac OSX 10.6.6 expected to release soon

Rumors have it that the Mac OSX update 10.6.6 might be coming within the next week or so, and it will integrate the feature of having the Mac App store. But keep note that when the Mac App store will first launch it still might be in beta stage and might not offer everything that the iPhone/iPod Touch stores offer, but within due time we should see everything set. The Mac App store is set to be release on January 6th 2011. So we might see 10.6.6 near that time.

I am sure everyone is excited, as I am for sure! This is sure to change the Macintosh experience. Stay tuned for more news!

Apple to sell 1 million Apple TV units

Remember when the Apple TV came out back in September? Everyone was surprised by the price of $99, but if you take a closer look at the specs, you still find that $99 still maybe over priced because you get no internal storage and the only way to watch content is to rent tv shows, and Netflix. On the other hand competition, such as Google TV, is not doing as well, as they would expect. I also thought considering it's Google, the Google TV, would sell like hot cakes. On the other hand, Roku is actually doing well, even after the release of the Apple TV. 


So in about a 3 months span, the Apple TV is nearing 1 million units sold. Apple expect the 1 millionth unit to be sold, by the end of this week. So the $99 Apple TV, is doing much better than it's predecessor, will Apple continue to dominate, or will Google come up with something better?  Stay tuned. 

Best buy offers iPad with Mifi bundled

The iPad was first introduced in two different versions, one being just Wifi and the other being 3G. But did you know that even with the only Wifi model, it was possible to buy a device also known as Mifi and hook it up with the iPad to offer 3g, services. With the carrier of your choice. This was done by many people when the first iPad had come out, because the 3g version was delayed for a few weeks.

Now Best Buy USA is offering iPad Wifi versions bundled with a Mifi device which will make it capable of 3G. There are charging nothing on the hardware of the Mifi, but you must purchase a 2 year contract on the carrier of their choice. The prices are $499 for 16gb iPad, 32gb for $599 and 64GB for $699.

From the looks of the prices, this seems that it will hurt the sales of the iPad 3G models. Because you have to pay $130 more for the built in antenna, and that makes it more expensive.

Will this cause more sales of the Wifi iPad? I guess we will have to wait and find out.

Apple Mac App store to be opened January 6th 2011

Apple just recently announced that the Mac App store will becoming on January 6th 2011 and it's sure to cause a lot of hype. Especially after it's introduction at the keynote. Now Mac users, will be able to enjoy playing apps right from the comfort of their computer, and Apple expects update for apps to be right in the Mac App store. The Mac App store is available through a software update on Snow Leopard. Also there is now a way for developers to join, you can now join the Mac App store dev team for just $99 a year. And just like the iPod/ iPhone app developers, you receive 70% of the revenue, and the price you would like to set is up to you.

After January 6, could we see more sales of the Macintosh, now that you can actually play many games on it? I hope we do some more sales and to me this looks like another step in the right direction for Apple.

Apple addresses update for Apple TV

Apple just recently released an update to the Apple TV Generation 2 (Version 4.1.1) and this update doesn't really bring along any new features but rather some usual bug fixes, and there not just your little security fixes but rather this fixes the ability for tv's to properly display 480p videos, as I had seen people on forums complain about the picture not display properly and also the update brings along a fix software wise, where sometimes content was being re-downloaded. Hopefully this will make the Apple TV much more stable. It is recommended that you do upgrade your Apple TV.

For more information, check out: Apple TV Update

Apple releases firmware update for Macbook Air's

The issue which I had spoken about in a previous blog post, outlined a video showing that some users were having issues with the Macbook Air, showing a black screen when awaking from sleep, or becoming unresponsive, seems like those issues were true. Because just yesterday, Apple released a software update for all Macbook Air's who seem to have this issue. Even if you don't happen to find this issue, it should be safe to still update.

Make sure when you are updating, that you have the power cord plugged in and charging. This way when the Macbook Air boots up, the EFI will start to update.

For download and more information, please check out: Apple Macbook Air EFI Update

Apple releases "special" pricing on refurbished iPads

Remember how in yesterday's post, I had talked about the rumors of an upcoming iPad? Well just today I was surfing the Apple refurbished store online, and noticed that Apple cut down the prices of the refurbished iPad's from $50 to $70 on the 16gb wifi model, and $100 off both the 32gb and 64gb wifi iPad's! This is another sign that we may be seeing a new iPad coming! I am really excited and for people who are not on the lookout for an iPad, and are willing to purchase an iPad which is practically new, just with a different box, should definitely consider a refurbished iPad. The price of the 64gb Wifi iPad being just $599 is definitely really good! You are saving a whopping $100 and that savings can come in handy for accessories, but these "Special" prices are there only for a limited time and this could be the perfect Christmas gift!

iPad Rumored to be released in February 2011

First and foremost, I would like to apologize for the lack of posts this past week, I have been very busy this week and now that I am back, hopefully I can get back on routine.

Rumors are suggesting that we may see an iPad 2 coming in February, if this is true then we could be looking at possibly dual cameras, newer or possibly a retina display and more! Foxconn the manufacturer is believed to start at around 400,000 units and production could start in January. Many companies which provide service for 3G tablets such as Verizon, AT&T and in Canada: Rogers, Bell etc. Believe that 2011 will be the year of the tablet, they noticed the number of tablet sales is growing by a large amount. Essentially I also believe that the iPad 2 will be released early next year, because it will put up great competition with the upcoming Blackberry Playbook. If not for the iPad 2 coming up, then the Blackberry Playbook, will most likely take over Apple's sales. This also depends on the pricing of the Playbook, which has not been determined.

All in all, I hope to see an iPad coming soon and if it does so happen to receive dual cameras and much more upgrades we might be looking at many more buyers!

That's it for today's post.

Apple iPad taking over Kindle market

The Kindle which has been selling through Amazon for quite some time now, was at the #1 peak for most popular product, that was until the release of the iPad. Now that the iPad is here, it has taken sales of Kindle from 62% down to 47% whereas the iPad has now gone from 16% to 32%. This isn't looking too good for Amazon's Kindle, and we can kind of expect that for paying around $300 more than a Kindle you get much more for your dollar, such as surfing the web, apps, and full colour screen which is much bigger than a Kindle.

The Kindle has also taken a hit in the customer satisfaction department, where the Kindle shows 54% of users are satisfied, whereas the iPad shows 75%. It's no surprise as Apple had taken the top spot in reliability compared to other companies back when had written a post about it, and from the charts it looks like the sales of the Kindle will just continue to drop.

ChangeWave 1

Apple Black Friday sale

Black Friday occurs every year, in the U.S. and is one of the most popular days of the year, where many international travellers go to get items at great savings. Apple has known to offer some great sales of Macintoshes and this year we will also look at lowered prices on the iPad, iPod Touch and even other accessories. Just right now I was browsing through the site and found a page which showed the slashed down prices which we will see on Friday!


The sales include: $101 off iMac's which is now at $1098, along with $101 off Macbook Pro's which now start at $1098 as well! The 13.3 inch Macbook Air starting at $1299 is now slashed down to $1198! 

Among the iOS Devices we are looking at the new iPod nano receive a minimal $11 slash down of price, to $138. With the iPad you save $41, and now it goes for $458! Which is nearly $50 off and that is pretty good, nearly the same price for a refurbished. The iPod Touch also received a slash down by $21 to $208.

This sale carries the Macintosh tradition of slashing down prices by $101 and I think the iPad will sell a lot considering it received a pretty decent slash down on pricing. Many people might consider this, while the iPod Touch and Nano have hardly any sale to offer I am pretty sure those will sell as well. But more than ever I believe the Macbook Pro's will sell, because at a price of $1098 they are simply hard to resist. 

One thing I was surprised about was the fact the Unibody white Macbook received no decrease on pricing. There are also many accessories which have marked down prices. Tomorrow seems like quite an exciting day and we hope you guys will also pick some new gadgets up! :) 


Thoughts on iOS 4.2

iOS 4.2 was released just a couple of days ago and I am sure many people have updated and have tried it by now. Users with an Apple TV, must be very excited as this update contains Airplay and Airtunes. The ability to wirelessly stream music and videos from your iOS device onto your Apple TV. So far after many people giving it a try, I noticed that Airplay isn't bang on yet... What I mean by this is, when streaming through photos, there seems to be a noticeable amount of lag and that can't be a good thing... The movie streaming from the ones downloaded on your device works, just fine. Although many people tried streaming Netflix, and that did not work so great... Apparently only audio goes through to the Apple TV and not the video... Were not sure if this bug goes towards everyone or a few users. We hope Apple will fix this issue. Other than that I say Airplay is pretty decent. 


Looking at iPad users, the most important update had to be this one because it brought through muli-tasking along with folders and basically all the features previous iPod Touch and iPhone users had. The update also brings along the feature to find you lost iPhone which is now free. One downside to some might be the lock screen switch is now turned into a mute switch. This in my opinion isn't so great. I would rather prefer to have the lock switch physical because you can still mute the device physically by holding on the "down" volume control and that isn't all that hard. But the lock screen button being on the outside makes it more seamless. That is just my thought and that's what many other believe as well. 

In fact it is said Gizmodo has launched a petition in order to bring back the lock screen switch. 

All in all the update was a positive one with a bit of quirks, hopefully those will be fixed though, and some sources which might not be reliable, believe that iOS 4.3 will be out in December... hopefully to fix these quirks and maybe bring along changes? We aren't sure yet and I highly doubt that it will be coming in December. But nonetheless stay tuned! 

iOS 4.2 released

Many iPad users will be excited because of the fact, they will finally receive multitasking, along with the other slew of features which the other iPod lineup have already received. The 4.2 gold release for developers was released around mid November and now it is officially released for the iPod touch, iPhone and iPad. The 4.2 release features Airprint, which is a new feature that allows for wireless printing directly from your iOS device, but for this to be possible, your printer must also be wireless. On the other hand Airplay was also released and this allows for streaming music, movies, videos directly from your iOS device onto your Apple TV. Now making the Apple TV much more functional and usable. The previous feature that was available to mobile me users, known as Find my lost device. Is now available for free, for all iPhone 4's, iPad's, and the 4th generation iPod Touch. This will be enabled after the update. There are also small bits of new features as well. Such as the fact, notes application has the ability to change fonts, the ability to rent movies from the iTunes store and replying to events on your calendar.


Source: Apple.com

Beatles finally hit iTunes

It's been a decade since iTunes was launched and known for carrying every song and artist album, the only band which they did not keep music of was The Beatles. Now how can they keep everyone else apart of iTunes but not The Beatles for so long? This was due to the fact there were many court issues over the name "Apple" and copyright issues with EMI. It took them 10 years to reach to a final conclusion, and I am sure it's one where consumers and even Apple would like. The Beatles were probably one of the only bands where their music was not downloadable digitally, through stores. With this change will we see any change in sales of music at iTunes? Well it's definitely what most people were waiting for. Some might be disappointed because they were expecting a streaming music service to come, but that will have to wait. So things are getting better for Apple and it's great to see The Beatles apart of iTunes.

iTunes announcement coming tomorrow

I am not sure if many of you had saw this, but Apple had posted something on their site today, that we might be in for something special tomorrow. They didn't say that it will be a keynote, but they said to check back on the site tomorrow for a special iTunes announcement. There were many rumors released regarding this announcement, some already know that iOS 4.2 will be coming tomorrow, but others believe we might see a big change in iTunes? Or perhaps maybe a music subscription service? Could iTunes bring in such a change that it might affect the iPod lineup? This is something the music industry is probably interested in as well! Stay tuned for more news!

Mac OSX 10.6.5 is out

Most people were awaiting this, even the people at Macrumors, expected that this update would release today. The much anticipated Mac OSX 10.6.5 update was said to bring in Airprint to the the iPad, but when downloading it today, underneath the description it wrote of no such thing. I was kind of surprised, cause I thought Apple were going to release it along with this update. This update is available for everyone using Mac OSX 10.6 and it features the following: 

  • Improve the reliability between Microsoft Exchange servers
  • Improve performance of some image-processing operations in iPhoto and Aperture
  • address stability and performance of graphics applications and games
  • resolve the delay between printing jobs
  • address a printing issue for some HP printers connected to an AirPort Extreme
  • resolve an issue when dragging contacts from Address Book to iCal
  • address an issue where dragging an item from a stack causes the Dock to not automatically hide
  • resolve an issue with Wikipedia information not displaying correctly in Dictionary
  • improve performance of MainStage on certain Mac systems
  • resolve spacing issues with OpenType fonts
  • improve reliability with some Bluetooth braille displays
  • resolve a VoiceOver issue when browsing some web sites with Safari 5

These were the bugs which 10.6.5 is set to fix and it display's nothing about, iPad and printing features. So we might have to wait for that, but other than that I was taking a look at the size of the file and was amazed when I saw it read: 517.3mb! That is indeed one of the biggest updates, I have seen, and for all Mac OSX users, to update remember to go to the left hand corner and click "Software Update" and then it will find updates and everything should be straightforward from there on. But keep yourself some time, because it seems this update will take quite a while to download... 


Skype 5.0 Beta for Mac OSX

The people at Skype most likely know that the increasing amount of popularity of the Macintosh calls for a crucial update on Skype. Many users today make use of Skype and with it's growing amount of popularity, people will want more to be offered. Before Skype had only offered chat service, along with calls with more than one person. But now with this Beta 5.0 Skype offers a whole much clean looking user interface and with the ability to integrate your address book with all your contacts, makes it seamless to talk to others and finding them is a snap. Also the main feature which people were awaiting for was, video calling! Now you are able to make a video call with multiple users at the same time, this is a feature which many people wanted and hopefully talking is seamless with no hassles in video quality. *Keeping fingers crossed* And also with the introduction of a new mini control bar, it is open on any documents you run or any webpages, that can be quiet convenient. You can video call anyone on a PC, or Mac but they must run the Beta 5.0 as well.

The members at Skype have also released a video showing the new features, check it out:


Also check out their site: Skype 5.0 Beta for Mac.

Apple discontinues Xserve

I don't know if many were expecting this but our beloved Apple Xserve has discontinued, I also was looking at the last time it would get a referesh according to Macrumors buyer guide and it was way past the average date of refresh. Well MacGeneration just noted that when searching internally in Apple's site, they found a PDF that says Xserve transition guide. Apparently a guide of how far the Xserve has come. But at the end they found that the Xserve is to be discontinued. The current Xserve will be on sale till January 31, 2011. I never really saw the Xserve sky rocket in terms of sales, judging by the huge price. Also with the release of the Mac mini server, all it did was hurt the sales of Xserve even more. But what Apple is going to offer is a Mac Pro option with Snow Leopard server, which will replace the Xserve and that will give you two options of servers now, either the Mac mini server for small businesses, or the Mac Pro server for bigger enterprises. The first Xserve was released in 2002 and the last refresh being in April 2009, shows that indeed with such a huge time frame a refresh wasn't looking likely. So for all people that would like a final Xserve, your best bet is to pick one up before January 31, 2011.

Very sad news in the Apple world, first with the Macbook Air issues, and now this.

Apple acknowledges Macbook Air issues

Remember the post yesterday where we had talked about how Apple Macbook Air's were facing an issue with the screen display showing weird colours? Well apparently it isn't a graphics card issue but rather when opening it up from sleep mode, it hasn't cycled fully therefore in the midst of it's sleep cycle waking it up will cause these issues. Well it seemed like Apple knew that this issue was going to occur because another source had found a picture of instructions internally on an Apple Store screen and noted that in order to solve this problem, put the Macbook Air into sleep again, wait 10 seconds, this way it will cycle through it's sleep mode, and wake it up again by opening the lid. Which should fix the problem. Sounds about right, but I still wonder what could be the cause of this problem? and is it likely to come back in the future? Cause from the sound of it, this way only sounds like a temporary fix. 

Source: Apple confirms Macbook Air bugs internally  (BGR)

New Macbook Air's showing issues

This was just recently released on Macrumors, and it was a video by someone showing how there was a defect in the graphics on the new Macbook Air, apparently this issue happens after waking your Macbook Air up from sleep. Causing it to show fuzzy colours, I noticed this was on Apple's forums for some of the earlier 2009 Mac mini's with the 9400m, but this Macbook Air features the 320m. Well a temproary fix seems to be rebooting the machine, but it's most likely the problem isn't gone for good. So it's best to take it into Applecare to get it checked. This issue seems to be only with a few number of defective Macbook Air's but the amount of complaints is growing, according to the article on Macrumors. This will deeply affect Apple's reputation on reliability. Other than that there also seems to be an issue with the logic board, some people have noted that their 13.3 inch Macbook Air's would randomly shut down or be stuck on the grey screen. Apple says this could be due to a faulty logic board, or something software related. Apple have said they will have a software update soon, so that might fix it hopefully. But I always had a feeling there was something going to be wrong with the logic board on the new Air, first of all looking at how crammed it is inside it's case with the flash storage right on top, and the fact they did that was to open up space for batteries.

Hopefully the issues with the Macbook Air's get taken care of as soon as possible, and looking at it so far, the issue with the graphics card only seems to loom on the 11.6 inch models, but judging by the fact both 13.3 inch and 11.6 inch use the same graphics chip, it wouldn't be surprising if we were to see that issue on the 13.3 inch as well.

Apple extending song previews on iTunes store to 90 seconds

Just when you look at the amount of illegal music being downloaded these days, you sometimes might wonder, how is iTunes still running today along with some of the other music industries? I would have to give credit to Apple because of the fact, thanks to their great commercializing of iPod's and iPad's it has brought many people to buying music from iTunes, so as far as I believe, if Apple continues to make iOS devices, then the iTunes store will always be in business. This is what I believe, but it could change. Just recently Apple have made plans to extend song previews to 90 seconds, this could be cause of the fact, more people would end up purchasing music, or because of the fact, the amount of music being sold is going down. It's no surprise earlier this year, the iPod's had also declined in sales... This might be something for Apple to think about, as time goes on is business at iTunes weakening?

We will have to wait and see what kind of an effect 90 second previews will have on the buyer, hopefully it might increase sales. Apple says this 90 second preview will only work on songs which are over two and a half minutes. I am also sure they had to work it out with all the music industries, when deciding to make this change. Only time will tell if the 90 second previews will make sales go up.

Sophos announces Anti- Virus Mac Edition

Many Mac users might believe that Mac OSX does not contain viruses, that is not entirely true, to be honest there isn't a single OS without one virus. Though it is true OSX hardly contains any viruses compared to Windows. But one thing is for sure is that not many people have anti-virus software for their Macintosh's because just like many other users they believe that the chances of them getting a virus is really low. The number of viruses grows all the time, so Sophos an anti-virus software company brought out a free Mac anti-virus software just for the Mac. This is actually a full featured program, which eliminates viruses and also has protection of the same level as many businesses. If you haven't already I recommend you guys check this piece of software

Here is the link for more information: Sophos- Macintosh Anti-Virus

Update on the iPad

The iPad had just recently received iOS making it one of the last devices in the lineup to achieve multitasking. But Apple had also said that the iPad will receive the iOS 4.2 update. The difference being software wise, most likely some glitch fixes and bugs etc. But one thing to note is that the button on the iPad which used to be the one when you can lock screen rotation will now turn into a mute button. To be honest I am not sure if everyone will upgrade because I like having the screen lock button rather than a mute button because you can still mute the volume by holding down the button which lowers the volume. But in the near future there could be a jailbreak which might bring that mechanism back. After all this change has to do software wise.

Another thing which was announced recently was the fact that you know that you can engrave your iPod Touch at the back with any phrase or sentence of your choice, you can now also do that with an iPad purchase. The engraving at the back is free of charge when you purchase your iPad on the online store.

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - MAY 28: A man inspects the iPad at the Apple store on George Street on May 28, 2010 in Sydney, Australia. Apple's new tablet media device went on sale in nine countries around the world today following its launch in the United States in April this year. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

New Macbook Air's/ iLife 11 and Macbook Pro update

Sorry for the delay in today's post guys, but recently Apple had the "Back to the Mac" event and with the update in mind, I made a video showing the brand new products and giving you guys an overview. Another thing was that there was a slight update in the Macbook Pro line, in that you can now order up to a 2.8ghz Intel Core i7 as opposed to 2.66ghz which used to be the max online, but it will run you $200. Personally I say stick with the 2.66ghz and save the extra money for RAM, Hard drive or extra accessories or software. So without further a do, here is the video:

Apple Back to the Mac event!

Well, as we had talked about before today was the big day for many releases by Apple! Today Apple had introduced a brand new Macbook Air, and that is what we were all expecting, and for those who were speculating that Apple would discontinue it, weren't quite on the dot. Now Apple has released two models of the Macbook Air! One measuring at 11.6 inches, while the other one is the standard 13.3 inch. The new Macbook Air features a Magsafe power adaptor, SD Card slot (only for 13.3 inch Macbook Air) and 2 usb ports! Along with an audio jack and a mini display port! So looking at the ports, I think Apple have done a good job to make the computer better functional and more usable! The Macbook Air along with the other line of Macbook and Macbook Pro's features a multi-touch trackpad and the screen resolution being 1366x768 for the 11.6 inch model and for the 13.3 inch model it's 1440x900. The graphics chip is an Nvidia 320m. Battery life is stellar at 5-7 hours and it also features a SSD! Meaning the boot up process will be much faster! Though the down side is Apple has still stuck with the Core 2 Duo chips... The Macbook Air also features a camera which is Facetime capable! Meaning you can talk with your friends that own an iPhone 4 or the new iPod Touch! I have to say Apple has remarkable engineering in that, they have managed to keep the Macbook Air 0.19 inches thin! And it weighs a mere 2.9 pounds.

Pricing is $999 for 11.6 inch with 64gb SSD and a 1.4ghz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, and for $1199 you can get a 128gb SSD. The 13.3 inch Model starts at $1299 and features a 1.86ghz Intel Core 2 Duo along with 128gb SSD and for $1599 you can get 256gb SSD. Though the standard memory in the systems is 2GB.

Along with that Apple also introduced a new operating system called OSX Lion! It was meant to be obvious by the invitation Apple had given and it will be releasing in Summer 2011. The new OSX Lion will have the capability to feature multi touch gesture and they have also brought along a design identical  to an iPad, meaning there will be an app store and also you can be able to use those apps on your Mac.  Along with that Apple has released iLife '11 it was quite mysterious how there was no iLife '10 but with iLife ' 11 you get a new iPhoto which has Facebook enhancements. You will be allowed to e-mail photos and a new full screen mode for photos is here and also there is the ability to bring your photos from Flickr. With iMovie comes a way to change audio in certain clips and also now you have the ability to apply sound effects to a clip. Also there is an ability to fill out a trailer form and make your own trailer on iMovie, and now there is also the ability to change FPS! That is just a bit of all the goodness of iLife '11 it will be available starting today and is free with every new Mac, and costs $49 to upgrade.

So looking at today's event, I must say it was packed with goodness, but I only hoped they would bring a change to the Macbook line.. Considering the Macbook lineup is quite plaid right now and hopefully we can see a change soon. But overall an exciting and suspenseful event nonetheless!

Apple reports Q4 Financial Results

Today Apple had posted their Q4 earnings of this year, and Apple had managed to reach the record mark of $20.34 billion in revenue! A lot of discussion was going on as to whether Apple would pass the $20 billion mark and indeed they have, they have also made a $4.31 billion of net quarterly profit. This is a huge difference compared to last years Q4 earnings of $2.53 billion.

During this time Apple had sold 3.89 million Macintosh's and that accounts for a 27% increase compared to last year, along with 14.1 billion iPhone's and that was a huge 91% increase over last year! Apple also sold 9.05 million iPod's and thus there was a decline of 11% compared to last year iPod sales, this could be mainly cause of the fact the iPad accounted for 4.19 million! Which means the iPad has sold more than all the Macintosh's and can be the main reason why Apple saw a decline in iPod sales by 11%. With these results it's no surprise Apple must be really thrilled! But the declining sales of the iPod can be a bit of concern. So looking at this quarter it looks like the iPad and iPhone clearly took the spotlight!

Overall I have to say a great quarter for Apple and overall doing a better job than last year, and with the "Back to the Mac" event coming this Wednesday, hopefully things can only get better!

Apple passes milestone in Apps on iOS platform

It's not surprising that it wasn't too long ago when we had talked about Apple celebrating 100,000 apps on the iOS platform and 2 months ago they were at 250,000, now we are looking at over 300,000 apps! Think back when the App store had first been revealed when the first iPhone was released and the first iPod touch. It was back in 2008 and looking at 2 years later I think Apple have gone through a huge milestone! Much of all these apps on the app store are thanks to the popularity of the iPhone and iPod Touch and that is mainly thanks to Apple's great marketing skills.RIM had also just recently only passed the 10,000 mark but have a long way to go in order to compare to the iOS platform. The massive amount of apps cover mostly books, and games then comes entertainment. So this goes to show the iPhone and iPod Touch along with the iPad make a great gaming device more over than any BlackBerry. The results show that just more than 1/4 of all apps were free apps. so that makes just around 75,000 apps, which is quite a lot. So yet another milestone for Apple and many more hopefully to come.

A customer looks at an iPhone 4 at the Apple Store 5th Avenue in New York, in this June 24, 2010 file photo. Apple Inc came clean on July 2, 2010 about an embarrassing software glitch that overstates network signal strength in its hot-selling iPhone, as complaints mounted about the phone's wraparound antenna. Apple admitted its signal strength miscalculation dates back to its original 2007 iPhone. It promised to fix the glitch in a few weeks, but did not directly address concerns that its antenna design causes reception problems for iPhone 4, its newest phone.  REUTERS/Eric Thayer/Files (UNITED STATES - Tags: BUSINESS SCI TECH)

No availability on the white iPhone 4 yet...

Since day 1 when the iPhone 4 was released everyone was anxiously waiting for the white iPhone 4, Apple said it would be released later throughout the year and so far no news yet. Though ComputerWorld, and MacRumors noted that a New York man was discovered with a white iPhone 4, after talking to him it was found that there are numerous numbers of White iPhone's in Cupertino headquarters but the only problem being with a manufacturing color issue. Unfortunately it seems that what is delaying the release is that the home button color does not match the whole of the front iPhone 4. Therefore Apple is working on that to replace it so the iPhone 4 will look set and ready for Apple's quality control standards. We have no idea as to when Apple will have all this fixed through, but by watching many YouTube videos people have ordered white iPhone cases to cover up the black and some also got white coated on it through the help of third party sellers internationally. Stay tuned for more news.

SAN FRANCISCO - JUNE 07: The new iPhone 4 is displayed at the 2010 Apple World Wide Developers conference June 7, 2010 in San Francisco, California. Apple CEO Steve Jobs kicked off their annual WWDC with the announcement of the new iPhone 4. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Back to the Mac event

Sorry about the delay in posts everyone was very busy this week and I am actually lucky I have an opportunity to write this today :)

Just recently Apple had given out invitations to many people because of the fact they are holding an event, the annual "Back to the Mac" event and if many of you saw the actual invitation it had a picture of an Apple along with a little bit of a lion showing at the back! This could mean possibly a new version of OSX will appear! It might as well be 10.7 Lion but we aren't sure yet. Judging from the picture that's what many will probably think. We might also see some new Apple laptop's/ desktops hopefully, a new design perhaps? The event is scheduled for October 20th 2010. I hope the 13" Macbook Pro models will get rid of the old Core 2 Duo technology and hopefully ship with Core i3 along with a good graphics chip. Some people also believe the Macbook and Macbook Pro line will receive retina displays! Which will be astounding but will also make the price higher. Given the fact also we have seen the Apple TV and Mac mini receive HDMI we hope other lineup of Mac's will receive that as well.

This was also rumored before and that was the fact we might see a cheaper and much smaller version of the Macbook Air, possibly around 11 inches. This might bump up the poor sales of the Macbook Air and hopefully make it truly part of the Macintosh lineup. Everyone is extremely excited for the event, as for me I think this event will be much more exciting than all the other ones we have seen throughout this year!

Picture courtesy of Cnet 

Verizon iPhone rumors could be true

This topic has been brought up many times in the news, and we have talked about it here as well. Rumors claimed to say that Apple were going forward to release the iPhone on Verizon's network early 2011. Well just around last week it was found that Verizon had ordered more band technology which they will input into the iPhone possibly and the fact that  they are enhancing their network capabilities cause they know when the iPhone is released on their network there will be a huge number of users. All these factors lead into the rumor being true and if so that will be very good and could be an interesting move which will make Apple towards gaining more profit. I wonder what the pricing will be like on Verizon's network. Someone also pointed out that Verizon being one of the best network companies in the US, does not carry many great phones, and we wonder why. But once the iPhone does hopefully hit Verizon then we might also see a change in the lineup of other phones. Also other thing this is I wonder if Verizon networks will be able to handle the massive amount of people that do purchase an iPhone considering the fact, the phones which they currently sell now aren't too popular and don't use up too much of their data. We will just have to wait and see. And just around this time we also wonder will Apple release a newer iPhone 5 or will they stick with the iPhone 4 just with minor changes?

AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND - JULY 30: A demonstration model of the iPhone 4 is displayed at the Vodafone Newmarket store on July 30, 2010 in Auckland, New Zealand. (Photo by Hannah Johnston/Getty Images)

Apple sued by Motorola for patient infringement

Just when Apple had been in trouble with another patient infringement case, Motorola files another case and has decided to sue Apple because of the fact Apple has misused over 15 patients owned by Motorola. This goes towards Apple 3G connectivity, wifi design and more. Motorola had tried to reach an agreement with Apple to license their technology, but they did not reach a final decision. Apple was sued for the fact they denied to pay for each license. Motorola has also decided to take the step and stop from more Apple products being sold which are involved in this patient infringement. Also promotion of these products might also be halted because of the fact Motorola is very serious with this issue and this could include the iPad, iPhone and possibly iPod Touch. Well the list of all these issues for Apple just might keep getting longer and it isn't looking good at the moment. Who knows what Apple will plan to do next, they (Apple) have also sued HTC in the past and these issues between cell phone companies may continue for a while, who knows.

Apple found guilty in patent infringement case

Just recently Apple was found guilty because of the fact they had infringed on three patents. A company in Texas had filed a case and the jury had deemed Apple guilty. Apple is now required to pay a sum of $200 million per patent. This patent relates to Apple's cover flow technology found on their iPod's when displaying album art work and also on OSX when documents are displayed. At the moment Apple is fighting against this case and the company involved is owned by a professor in Yale Univeristy: David Gelernter. No doubt this huge sum will result in stocks going down for Apple and also their revenue.

SAN FRANCISCO - SEPTEMBER 09:  The new iPod Nano is displayed during an Apple special event September 9, 2008 in San Francisco, California. Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced a new version of the popular iTunes software new versions of the iPod Nano and Touch.  (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

My thoughts on the Apple TV

So many people had rumored the Apple TV would be releasing late because of the fact on the site it had stated 2-3 week shipping, it still remains the same online, but the Apple TV is now here in stores and many people have already gotten their hands on one. I wanted to share with you my thoughts on the newly released Apple TV.

First of all looking at design, I have to say that it looks like a huge step up from the previous Apple TV. I personally found the older one too large in length and the color scheme on the older one didn't really pursue me into buying one. But looking at the newer design, everything has been cleared up and it looks very simple and best of all small. The black color scheme it has looks very nice on it and it is somewhat made of plastic which you can see through the inside components. A prominent little indicator light shows up once the machine is on, and through that "see-through" plastic you can make out an IR port which allows for handling the remote. The nice black matte finish on the top with a somewhat rubberized bottom makes it look nice and won't move around too much. But one design flaw that I find would be the fact that it is so light and small that twisted wires plugged in, will often move the Apple TV to an awkward angle and that can be a pain. It feature an HDMI port, Mini USB, Optical Audio, Ethernet and power. The overall look is very "Apple like" and you know what to expect: sleek with curved sides and very nice to look at.

Now looking at the software side: It has a very clean user interface, in which it is very easy to understand, and scroll through different show titles. The library of tv shows is a bit disappointing and the fact that the Apple TV is only limited to renting isn't that amusing. It also offers Netflix streaming and the ability to watch YouTube videos. Though you can also connect it to your iTunes library, to stream shows you like. One feature which we will have to wait till November would be the AirPlay feature, meaning you can run apps directly from your handheld iOS device onto your Apple TV. We will have to wait and see what that will be like. Videos are limited to 720p but that will be fine for most people.

Pricing wise at $99 we are looking at a very good priced Apple TV, this will sell well, I just hope that there is a more variety of shows offered and thus making it worthwhile.

The packaging for the Apple TV, is always pleasing with any Apple product, the box is extremely small and features the Apple TV, power cable, remote and instructions manual. I wasn't too happy with the fact that Apple does not include an HDMI cable, so unfortunately it isn't ready out of the box, you will require an HDMI cable.

So overall looking at the up's and down's I think overall the Apple TV is a good update, just hopefully we can see a better, more selection of tv shows and movies. Also I hope that Apple includes more accessories along with the Apple TV, as it saves the hassle of having to buy a separate HDMI cable.

SAN FRANCISCO - SEPTEMBER 01: Apple CEO Steve Jobs holds the new, smaller Apple TV device as speaks during an Apple Special Event at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts September 1, 2010 in San Francisco, California. Jobs announced upgraded versions of the entire iPod line, including an iPod Touch that includes a camera. He also showed the new iTunes version 10 and the release of the second generation of Apple TV. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Rumors of iPad 2

As most of you had probably seen yesterday RIM had just released the much anticipated "Blackberry Playbook" and looking at the specs it has a lot of advantage over the current iPad, it features dual cameras, 1080p video playable and 7 inch display. Now at this point Apple must be wondering that since the competition has gotten a lot of advantage over them, it might be the perfect time to work on iPad 2. Apple Insider had reported that the idea of 7 inch iPad is not confirmed yet so we might be seeing an improved version of the 9.7 inch model we have right now. Rumors report that it will possibly be even thinner and feature a camera alongside a mini usb port. Many might be wondering "even more thinner?!" Well yes, because of the fact it currently weighs just 1.5 pounds, it might be hard to hold in a hand when watching long movies and can be tiring. So a thinner or to say a lighter iPad is nice. We do wish it had more connectivity and we hope to see that in the 2nd revision of the iPad. The iPad 2 is said to most likely release in early to mid 2011, but remember this is just a rumor at the moment.

Apple's iPad is announced in France on May 28, 2010. Illustration done in Paris, France on May 11, showing various abilities of the new iPad. Photo by Balkis Press/ABACAPRESS.COM Photo via Newscom

Apple ahead of competitors in terms of media headlines

While recapping all that has happened throughout 2009 and 2010, it seems obvious that Apple would take the number 1 spot, in terms of popularity in the media. There has been many products that have been introduced throughout this time and this has made Apple very popular among the media. It started with the Snow Leopard operating system releasing last year, then the introduction of the iPad along side new iPod's and a new iPhone. Apple is at the 15 percent mark when it comes to the total amount of technology news offered in the media, and they are quite a bit ahead when compared to their competitors Microsoft which stand at 3 percent. It is no wonder, because of Apple creating products which people actually like and the fact that they don't update their products that often, could be the reason why Apple is such a hype in the market.

iTunes update brings along Ping Update

iTunes 10.0.1 was released this week and brings along some nice changes to the Ping platform. Ping as you all probably know now is Apple's entry into the social media group and this means you can share songs which you have gotten through iTunes with other people. Some key changes Apple has made is adding a spam filter which does a good job at deleting spam, because the first few days when Ping was out, it was cluttered with spam everywhere. Now with this update you can also see what other people are listening to by posting what you are listening to from your library and others will have the chance to check whether they like what your listening to or not. This adds on to making Ping more intuitive. Many people now feel that Ping is going somewhere and that Apple is making some good adjustments, but others would still like it to be linked to Twitter and Facebook, this way it will be good for people who use it and can gain more popularity for Ping. Considering Twitter and Facebook are large social networks. This update hasn't really brought any changes to the user interface of iTunes, the design is still the same which is disappointing.

Apple TV releasing later than expected

It's not the first time this has happened to an Apple product, it had also happened to the iPad when it was about to be released. Not only that but the iPad was also delayed internationally. The Apple TV which was expected to come around the end of September, early October has now been delayed till mid October. Shipping time according to Apple's site is around 3 weeks. Meaning around mid October. There were many people who had also pre-ordered an Apple TV, but Apple is planning to offer refunds, to those who did because of the delay. Could this be because of the fact more people ordered than the amount they had manufactured, or is it because of deals Apple is trying to work out with tv networks? We aren't sure yet, but I believe it won't be as big as all the other iOS devices.

SAN FRANCISCO - SEPTEMBER 01: The new smaller version of Apple TV is displayed at an Apple Special Event at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts September 1, 2010 in San Francisco, California. Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced upgraded versions of the entire iPod line, including an iPod Touch that includes a camera and smaller version of Apple TV. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Netflix now available in Canada

Many people had awaited this in Canada and it was the launch of Netflix, ever since the new Apple TV launched, it had the capability of streaming Netflix, but due to the fact Netflix was not available in Canada at the time, made the use of the Apple TV very limited. Now that Netflix has come into Canada it still seems that the Apple TV in Canada doesn't have an option of streaming Netflix, hopefully an update will fix this. Netflix is also available through Xbox 360 and PS3. It costs $8 a month for this service, which is quite cheap and many people who tried out Netflix in Canada said, the library at the moment, is much limited to that compared of U.S. users. Also the service of delivering a Netflix disc, is only available in the U.S. but now that this is here, Netflix is looking to replace renting movies from iTunes. You can also stream Netflix from your iPod/ iPhone and iPad, if you are a subscriber to Netflix.

If the Apple TV allows for Netflix watching in Canada, then this might raise sales of the Apple TV and will be a good cause for Apple.

Netflix Chief Executive Officer Reed Hastings speaks during the launch of streaming internet subscription service for movies and TV shows to TVs and computers in Canada at a news conference in Toronto September 22, 2010. The Canadian introduction marks the first availability of the Netflix service outside of the United States.  REUTERS/ Mike Cassese  (CANADA - Tags: MEDIA BUSINESS)

Apple might offer magazines, newspapers through iTunes Store

The Wall Street Journal, was reporting the other day that Apple is trying to get publishers to post magazines, and newspapers through iTunes. This will be perfect for iPad users who love to read their favourite paper on the go. Many magazines have released issues on the iPad such as Time. But the problem was they were limited to single issue sales. The issues were selling at around $4 to $5 which is quite expensive. "What's taking so long to get these publishers to release their magazines on the iTunes store? you ask. This could be because of the fact Apple will take 30% off whatever money the publisher's make and that is quite a chunk, also the fact that Apple doesn't offer much of any user data to publishers, as to who is subscribing to their issues, is kind of a trade off. But looking at the bright side the amount of sales on iTunes is huge at around 150 million + so that is also one reason which may want publishers to post their issues of magazines on the iTunes store. If Apple does manage to get these magazines on their iTunes store then this might be a step up for Apple and could also raise sells of publishers who are in the midst of declining sales at the moment. Will this ever happen? We aren't sure yet. Stay tuned for more news in the future.

Apple Acquires "Polar Rose" Facial Recognition Company

If you know Apple, you know that they generally buy small companies as time goes on, this helps them add new features to their future coming products. Whether it be software or hardware. This time Apple bought out a Sweden company known as "Polar Rose." Polar Rose used to offer free face tagging services on their website, and that brought a lot of interest into bigger companies. Therefore they closed down the service to move on towards bigger companies. Polar Rose has invented various software which allows for facial recognition technologies. Now looking at the fact Apple also has a few programs themselves which allow for this technology, in the future this would be a nice feature to have in their iOS devices. If this technology does hit the iPhone/ iPod Touch this might be a step in the right direction for Apple, could this technology maybe incorporated in a soon coming iPad with a camera? We aren't sure yet. Stay tuned for more news.

Wifi model iPad's finally hit Refurbished store!

It has been a while and we always wondered "when will the iPad hit the Refurbished store?" It was a while since Apple had released them, and today if you take a look on the U.S. Appler refurb site, you will notice three wifi models. A 16gb starting at $449 and 32gb $549 and 64gb $649. Which means you are saving $50 compared to a newer model! Now given the fact refurb products from Apple look practically brand new. I'd say these iPad's are at a very good price, and I am sure they won't last long. This might also mean new iPad's might be coming, but we aren't sure yet. Shipping is said to take 1-3 business days and these models are only available on the U.S. refurb store site. Get them while they last! :D

 Wifi Model iPad's have finally hit the refurb store!

New Apple Cinema Display hits Apple Store Online

We had talked about how Apple were planning to release the new, 27 inch Cinema display in September. Well today if you take a look at the Apple store online, you will finally find it there. This cinema display is a perfect companion to any of your other Macintosh products, whether it be the Mac mini, Mac Pro or even the Macbook's/ Macbook Pro's. It features a contrast ratio of 1000:1, along with a built in webcam, three usb ports, and speakers. The resolution is 2560x1440 and at a starting price of $999. This might sell better compared to the the 30" model (now discontinued). Shipping according to the site is 1-2 weeks. Now that this display has replaced both the 30" and 24" we might see those in the clearance section, or the refurbished section as well, if your looking for discounts on those models keep your eyes hooked there. This should also hit Apple Store's if not today, sometime this week.

Apple offers Newspaper Publisher's, stats through apps

We all, at one point have seen newspaper apps on the app store, whether it be on your iPod, iPhone or iPad. Well many newspaper's are reporting that they have seen an increase in their app downloads after the release of the iPad. The only problem is along with all this, the newspaper companies don't receive any info regarding where there app is most download, and how much is downloaded monthly etc. Well now Apple is planning to offer that to newspaper companies, who have their apps on the app store. This is a nice feature but people like me and you, who download the apps, may have to give up some information and data. For the most part I am sure not all info will be given, but the choice still remains up to you, well that was for the New York Times app at least. Your info for the most part won't be given, and it will be an option for you to enable through the app. By default it does not share your info, so that is nice. Hopefully this will be more satisfying for newspaper publishers.


SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - MAY 28: A man inspects the iPad at the Apple store on George Street on May 28, 2010 in Sydney, Australia. Apple's new tablet media device went on sale in nine countries around the world today following its launch in the United States in April this year. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

My thoughts on iTunes 10

Today's post will focus on iTunes 10. But before I begin I wanted to tell you guys that I am extremely sorry for the delay in posts as I was really busy caught up in business, these past few days. I thank you all for sticking around and I am sure to keep this site updated to the best of my ability. :) 


Ok, so iTunes 10 was released just a few weeks ago and I managed to download it and I wanted to give you a glimpse of what I think of it. So far looking at it from start, I really like the new logo, doing away with the CD at the back was a nice idea, that said, not everyone likes the new logo and that is perfectly understandable. I find the newer one a little bit more simple than the last one, but for me simple is good. The new blue background on the logo with a black music scale is a nice touch. Looking at the user interface itself, that's where I sort of wasn't too happy. Firstly the design of the top buttons, which you use to minimize and exit are vertical! Apple talk about awkward?! Not too happy with the way those buttons look. Secondly and this is what really ticked me off, was the fact all the colour was gone from the icons! I generally like software which is colourful and to me it looks more fun to use and easy on the eyes. But now with all the icons grey, the whole of iTunes looks quite dull. The scroller which is required to minimize and maximize volume of what is playing looks different, it will take some time for me to get used to it. Sorry for being picky here, but what I also didn't like was how the check mark boxes look so terrible graphics wise compared to iTunes 9. When you check mark a certain song it used to be a nice blue colour, but now it's a dull grey. 

I also took a look at Ping and thought that it was great, at least for a start. There were a few artists I could follow, but one fact I don't like is how whenever you want to see if your favourite artist updated his/her profile, you have to manually go there, seems to me there is no way to get that on your profile, so it will be much easier. Ping is great for a start and Apple have seemed to grasp the basics of social networking, but the actual topic is kind of plaid, all you can basically talk about is iTunes and music. Spam is also a factor on social networks but Apple has found a way around that by providing an icon to click, which then you can report a certain user for spam. While I was surfing I didn't find any spam at all, so great job Apple! 

I found iTunes 10 to be slightly faster at loading my library than iTunes 9, but other than that user interface was a bit of a disappointment, and Ping... well, it will take some time to be come really intuitive, as Apple should add more features to it. But the fact it has more than 1 million members is astounding. 

Leave your thoughts on iTunes 10 in the comments. More news to come soon. 

iTunes 10 interface

Google TV vs Apple TV

The Apple TV wasn't released long ago, but the response after the release came from Google. Google is planning to launch TV services, later this year in the U.S. and around early 2011 to many other countries. The Google TV platform is set to be built in to Sony TV's coming later this year, as many TV companies, have teamed up with Google to provide this service. The Google TV does not come in it's own design form factor, instead you will need to purchase a set top box. Such as one which was by Logitech. The Google TV platform is completely software based and you would require your own piece of hardware to run it. 


The Apple TV on the other hand, features a form factor, and a pretty decent user interface. With it being cloud based, it is much cheaper and is less prone to having content pirated. Though the idea of having to only rent movies is not so great, and it isn't possible to hook up an external drive. 

The Google TV will probably aim to be cheaper than the Apple TV while running on a set top box, it might also have the capability to hook up an external drive, to download content. I am not sure as to how the user interface will be on this, but from the looks of videos, it seems quite nice and easy to use. 

The Google TV will most likely come out later this year, we will have to see what the rivalry will be like between the Apple TV and Google TV.

iTunes Ping reaches 1 million members

Not long ago, Apple had launched their music social network for all talk about iTunes and Music. They managed to grasp the basics and there are a few artists on the network who you can follow. Many members can join and leave comments as to what they think of the artist's video, music etc. There has been an issue with the layout of iTunes 10 and that all the icons are now monochromatic, and the three circle exit buttons are now vertical, iTunes 10 in my opinion looks very plain, compared to the previous iTunes and as some highlighted out, when you sync your iPod and you want to sync a few apps, you will now have to scroll through all of them to find which one you want, instead before iTunes had featured a search bar which made finding apps much easier.

The amount of members in Ping is amazing as to say because it hasn't even been out for a week. Though one problem which Apple faces through Ping is Spam. Now this is a big problem on websites all around, and it's no surprise Ping had been filled with Spam, though Apple have included a button to report members that spam.

Ping is a decent start to the social networking platform, but I hope they enhance it with more features throughout the future.

Apple Event

Well the wait for the Apple Event is over and Steve Jobs had unveiled various new products! First off an update is here for iOS users which is iOS 4.1 and that has support for Game Center, along with bug fixes with iPhone 3G performance. A new revamped iTunes 10 was unveiled with now a new logo and Apple has launched a new music social network called "Ping" it is used to connect with various artists and follow them and get updates as to new albums coming, sort of like Twitter. You can comment on other artist's page. Ping can be found within iTunes after you update to iTunes 10. With many songs downloaded and the amount of music on iTunes, it truly is a breakthrough in music on the internet, with iTunes becoming huge.

Now onto the products, firstly with the iPod Shuffle, we know how much people complained about not having buttons on the iPod Shuffle and how controlling the music through the headphones button was a pain. Apple has updated the iPod Shuffle to have the buttons on the device, now it looks much like the 2nd generation shuffle, this time just more smaller! It features the same features such as Voiceover and genius etc. The price is $49 for 2gb. It comes in five different colours. Apple iPod Shuffle

The iPod Nano was probably the iPod with the biggest design change, Apple has decided to get rid of the click wheel on the iPod Nano and make it even smaller. So now what you can expect is a much smaller iPod Nano, nearly identical to the iPod Shuffle! It features a full touchscreen display and the user interface is much the same compared to the iPod Touch. It works very seamlessly and the design is much more squarish. Pricing is $149.99 for 8gb and $179.99 for 16gb it comes in seven different colours, including a "Product RED" version.  Apple iPod Nano

The new iPod Touch now includes two cameras! A front facing camera for FaceTime through Wifi and a back facing camera for HD Video recording! I didn't expect two cameras but it is really nice to have. Design wise the iPod Touch is even thinner than the last model! The screen now has a Retina Display! This is the same compared to the iPhone 4, so you are going to experience superb screen quality, with no pixels visible. The iPod Touch now features an A4 processor chip, same one found in the iPad, so you are looking at a very good little performer. Starting price is $229 for 8gb, $299 for 32gb and $399 for 64gb. Apple iPod Touch

The Apple TV has received a very new refresh, it is much smaller now! Almost a quarter of the previous size! Starting price is only $99 a dramatic drop from $229 because this time it is cloud based and that it has no internal hard drive, this way it is much smaller. It comes in a black colour. It offers HD TV rentals starting at $0.99 and offers NetFlix and YouTube streaming. A newer remote made of aluminum rather than the older plastic white remote and this model also features 802.11n wifi. The Apple TV features an HDMI port, Gigabit Ethernet, Mini USB and Optical Audio port. The Apple TV also features the newer enhanced A4 processor. Apple TV

The only iPod which hadn't recieved a refresh was the iPod Classic, I for a second thought that Apple will kill off the iPod Classic, because they hadn't talked about it in the keynote, but after the site was updated, the iPod Classic still remained there. Pricing is the same.

The iPod's should be available next week and are available for pre-order starting today, The Apple TV will be available in 4 weeks.

It was a great event, with many new products being unveiled, that's it for now, stay tuned for more info in the future.

Apple to offer live streaming of music event tomorrow!

It's not always that Apple offers live streaming of their events, usually people go onto other sites for updates and analysis. But Steve Jobs offered to provide a live stream of the event through Quicktime tomorrow, the event will start at 10am PT and 1pm EST, though this live stream won't work for everyone, only users with Mac OSX Snow Leopard and Safari will be able to view the stream and users with an iOS Device with 3.0 or higher. Not sure why Apple is doing this, maybe to show an advantage of having a Mac. The Live stream will take place on Apple's site. It should be fairly easy to find out where the live stream is located on the site. For users who don't have an iOS Device with 3.0 or higher, and don't have a Macintosh with Snow Leopard, you can still head over to the various tech sites, such as: Engadget, MacWorld, Gizmodo for updates on the event! Very exciting stuff await tomorrow, we will keep you updated!

Apple Event 2 days away and rumors of touchscreen iMac

The Apple event is only two days away and rumors have it we will see a revamped iPod Touch with a camera and reports also suggest a touchscreen much smaller iPod Nano, which measures a tiny 3 inches, rumors have it that Apple might remove the click wheel on the Nano's with a touch screen display instead. Interesting to see what will happen on September 1st. Will there be a price drop, we have no clue at the moment, but that would be nice.

Also other news states that a patent was discovered for using the iMac as a touch screen. Rumors show that the iMac will be able to move into tablet style mode, using the hinge at the back and the iMac will feature an iOS interface which will make it look like an even bigger iPod Touch. I am sure you will be able to switch between iOS and OSX though which would be marvellous. At the moment, all of this is just a rumor, stay tuned for more content.

Here is a video of the AppleByte by Cnet's: Brian Tong:

Apple to hold Event on September 1st

There has been a lot of talk about how Apple might be releasing many new products soon, I had also written about how the next iPod Touch might feature a facetime camera and also the iPhone will be going Verizon soon. It's not far from today, but Apple are planning to hold an event on September 1st, most likely to unveil the new iPod Touch line. I think rumors might be true about the fact it might feature a camera, I doubt we will see any difference in the design. But the question remains what about the other iPod's? Some might be wondering if Apple will continue to sell the iPod Classic, considering it is one of the least popular iPod's being sold. Also the Shuffle isn't doing that great either, as a matter of fact many people aren't really fond of the current design, and would like to have the control buttons on the actual device. The iPod Classic is the only iPod to store all your files in a hard disk drive, whereas all the other models, use flash memory. This could mean increased risks of you losing your data, if your iPod Classic faces bumps or any sort of drop. But this could also mean lots of storage for people with a huge library of songs. The Nano might also get a refresh, because of the fact it has looked mainly the same since the last generation. This time having a camera and a slightly larger screen. To be honest I wonder if Apple will release an iPod Nano relevant to the third generation Nano, which had a squarish design. I actually really liked the look of that!

The rumors about the iTV are also going around and many say there might be $0.99 iTunes movie rentals. Apple is trying their best to get the market going for iTunes. This might also be unveiled on September 1st, at least I believe it might. This event might hold a lot of surprises! Stay tuned as we keep you updated with more news.

Apple iTV coming next month?

The rumor about the iTV has been going around for a while now and rumors suggest, this might be the time the Apple TV had a refresh. Last time being in 2009. This time around the current Apple TV supports YouTube playback, iTunes downloads and Streaming radio. What concerns many people is that the packaging of the current Apple TV is minimalist, with a power cord, AppleTV and a remote. No cables are bundled together, such as an HDMI cable. I wonder whether Apple will provide that with the upcoming iTV. The iTV is said to be launched in September for $99. The iTV will run on iOS platform and might come with a built in app store, much like the iPod's. The device is cloud based and the design might be much smaller than the current Apple TV. No confirmed news of this yet, but with many rumors coming around you just might think, this is true.

New Mac mini's hit Apple Refurbished store

Apple's new line of Mac mini's were released on June 15th and finally, they have hit the Apple Refurbished store. The base model of the Mac mini, which is $699 USD is $599 on the refurb store, so you are saving $100. The base model features 2gb RAM and 320gb Hard drive. Alongside a 2.4ghz Intel Core 2 Duo Processor.


To enlarge image, click on it. 

Also a Server model is available on the refurb store at $849 USD. The server model features a 2.66ghz Intel Core 2 Duo Processor, 4GB Ram, 1TB Hard Drive. Along with an Nvidia 320m GPU and Snow Leopard Server OS. 


To enlarge image, click on it. 

Apple worker charged for kickbacks

Apple as you know is a very secretive company, especially when it comes to new products coming, they try their best to keep their mouth shut, to unveil everyone new products, and also to keep competitors concerned, about what might be coming. But that didn't go so well with the iPhone 4. This time Apple worker "Paul Shin Devine" was charged for kickbacks. He was paid by other manufacturers to provide information, which Apple had kept private. Paul's plan was to set Apple back and give other suppliers in China the advantage. The information was leaked to companies in China, Korea and Singapore.  I guess for the money he was getting paid, he couldn't resist. No one knows for sure what he had leaked, but one thing is for sure, that it was definitely something confidential, it has been said Divine was sued by Apple in the end. With a company so huge, you would expect such a crime to be found earlier, according to many people. I believe they are absolutely right, Apple has to work on their company policy and if it were to be more stricter this time around, this incident might have been taken care of before it was too late.