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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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