Let there be Shinyness!

Whoa. Apple today decided to unleash a whole slew of new stuff. Foremost among them, an updated unibody white plastic MacBook (see above pic). Like the 13″ MacBook Pro, its now carved out of a single hunk of plastic, and is packing the new LED screen, glass multitouch trackpad, slimed down design, and updated specs, starting at 2.26 Intel Core 2 Duo processors, 2 gigs of RAM, 250 GB hard drive, at the same price of $1000. Not bad at all.

Next! New Mac Minis. The little Mac has  gotten yet another specs boost (it got one earlier this year as well. You can see our review on the early 2009 Mac Mini here), with now at $600 you get an upgraded 2.26 Core 2 Duo processor, 2 GB of RAM, and an 160 GB hard drive, and at $700 you get an even faster 2.53 GHZ C2D, 4 GB RAM, and 320 GB hard drive, making the Mac Mini, as it was, the cheapest way to go Mac. (kinda… provided you aren’t gonna spend money, on, you know, screens, mice and keyboards… if you need some of those, well then this next Mac is the way to go). Also announced was a Mini Server Edition, with no disk drive and instead a 1 TB (or 1000 GB) hard drive, meant for small business owners (any teenaged small business owners out there…?)

The new awesome iMac

But the big player, (and big is very much intended here) is the new updated iMacs, at 21.5 inch and a MONSTER 27 inch beast. Notable is the option for Intel’s new i7 chips in a quad core configuration which is awesome (basically you’ll be getting great speed and power for your Mac while not killing your electric bill. Apple uses the same Core i7 chips found in new laptops in the iMacs– helps keep the sleek design and low power usage– and you can check out our post on the HP Envy 15 and Pavilion dv8 laptops from IDF for full details on all the greatness that is Intel’s new Core i7). Also interesting, is that the screens on the new iMacs support video-in. So you can use your lovely, massive LED widescreen display on say, your new MacBook. Specs on these things are beastly – check ‘em out here.

The new “Magic Mouse”

Finally, peripherals. Apple’s got two new ones here – a new mouse, this time dubbed “The Magic Mouse”, which looks like it fell out of Star Trek, and eliminates the trackball for, you guessed it, multitouch gestures. Haven’t had a chance to try it yet, but it looks pretty cool. Also added was a new, sleek and aluminum Apple Remote, to match the current line of aluminum iMacs and MacBook Pros.

…Phew. That’s everything. Anyone out there buying new Mac stuff now? Sound off below readers!

Sending a video– now finally do-able on the iPhone 3G and 3GS

Well, today is September 25th, and if your an AT&T iPhone 3G or 3GS owner you know what that means– we finally get to send pictures, audio and videos from our iPhones (as commenter me pointed out– 3GS only can do video, 3G can only do audio and pix)!!! Yes, something a phone from like 5 years ago could do we can now do!!!

All right, that’s enough excitement. The update is live now and to get it you need to connect your iPhone 3G or 3GS to iTunes, click on “Check for Update” on the iTunes iPhone page, and then download the carrier update. After that, restart your phone (either by turning it on and off or holding down the home and power button for about 10 seconds which restarts it automatically) and then poof– your ready to MMS away. That’s it. Pretty simple, no?

So there you go– MMS on the iPhone is finally here. Sound off with how the update is going for you and how you like the “new” feature in the comments.

So, Apple’s annual iPod event was this week, and they, as usual announced the latest round of iPods for the Holiday season, as well as a new version of iTunes. So, lets go through it, shall we?

Genius Mix on the iPod Touch

First off was the 3.1 update for the iTouch and iPhone. Nothing too major here, but the highlights are Genius suggestions for the App Store, as well as a new Genius mode for Music, called Genius Mix (more on that later with iTunes 9). Also added was the announcement that Apple would be selling pre-made ringtones for the iPhone for $1.29. You can check it all out by plugging in your iPod Touch/iPhone and doing a software update (this update is free for iPhone users and anyone who purchased iPhone OS 3.0 for the iTouch, and if you have an iTouch and want to update it, Apple has dropped the price of that to $5).

The all new iTunes 9

Next is iTunes 9. A couple new things here, including a whole new look to the iTunes store, and some other cool features: Genius Mix, which is similar to a Genius playlist, but acts more like an endless radio station from your music based off specific bands – It’s pretty slick, and is also on the iTouch and iPhone. Syncing stuff has also been completely overhauled– now you can not only sync specific playlists, but also specific artists, genres, etc. A much needed improvement, and one that is appreciated. Photos also allow syncing of Events and Faces, and movies have some extra options as well, such as syncing only 3 most recent videos. But most importantly, and at long last, Apple has improved App syncing for the iTouch and iPhone. How, you ask? By allowing you to manage Applications in iTunes – yes: you can layout the apps however you please IN iTunes, using a mouse and keyboard, and then sync your Apps in that layout to your iDevice. This is a feature that should have been there the whole time, and is incredibly appreciated. Anyone who has ever tried sorting out their Apps on an iTouch/iPhone knows exactly how good this is. Also added to iTunes is another useful feature, called Home Sharing – this allows you to transfer your iTunes music, videos and even Apps across your computers in your house, allowing you to keep all your music in sync across up to 5 of your computers. Very cool and nice.

iTunes LP in the new iTunes 9

Finally, there’s the addition of iTunes LP’s and iTunes Extra’s– basically, the extra stuff you’d get on a CD purchase with the physical disk – lyrics, interviews, etc, and on a DVD as extra features– are now included in purchases of specific albums as iTunes LPs, and in certain movies with iTunes Extras.

Now – the new iPods:

iPod Touch– not a lot to report here actually. The rumored camera remains just that–  a rumor. the 8GB was dropped to $200, the $300 16 GB is now a $300 32 GB, and the $400 32 GB, a 64 GB. The 32 and 64 also have the new higher end graphics and processors found in the iPhone 3GS.

iPod Classic– staying at $250,but a bigger hard drive – 160 GB now.

iPod Shuffle– new colors of pink, green and blue, down to $60 for 2 GB, and $80 for 4 GB.

The new iPod Nano– now shooting video

Finally, there’s the iPod Nano – which DID get the rumored camera: keeping the same size as the old one, although with a bigger screen, the new Nano has a video camera in the bad, designed to compete with the likes of the Flip Mino and other such small video cameras. Also being added is a built in FM radio, and Nike+ support, along with a built in mic and speaker. Comes in the same colors as before, only with a new glossier paint job, in 8 GB for $150 and 16 GB for $180. All the new iPods as well as iTunes 9 are available now.

And that’s that roundup. So readers, what did you think of the news – are you picking up a new iPod now, or maybe gonna go with something like a Zune HD? Sound off in the comments.

iPhone 3GS– All the above, and now finally MMS

Summer may be coming to a close, but if you own an iPhone 3G or 3GS (sorry first gen iPhone owners, your out of luck here), then great promise lurks on the horizon: AT&T will be following through on their assurance during Apple’s WWDC in June that MMS would arrive to the iPhone at the summer’s end, which, based on what they announced today, appears to be September 25th. So yes, on that eventful day, you will finally be able to do on your iPhone what you could’ve done with a free phone for the last 5 or so years.

What is MMS? Basically, MMS (or Multimedia Messaging Service) is the tech that lets you send videos, audio and pix in a text, as oppossed to SMS– Short Messaging Service– which is just words in a text message. So yeah, it’s definitely something that should’ve been here years ago (I would’ve thought in the first iPhone, if not for sure in the 3G launch, but oh well, beggars can’t be choosers).

However, another highly popularized feature soon coming to the iPhone called ”tethering”, enabling you to connect your iPhone to your computer and share the internet connection, will make its opening appearance a bit later than expected, when specfically we’ll let you know when we do. But hey, 1 out of 2 in a day ain’t bad right?

Info from AT&T

Roar.

Well faithful readers, the next round of the OS wars have been. And in a surprising move yesterday, Apple announced that they’ll be releasing their opening shot, Mac OS 10.6, a month earlier then expected: available today (!), for $30. So, is the upgrade worth it? Read on.

What’s New:
Of the features, the most obvious is the redesigned QuickTime 10, which, as you’ll see in a minute, is pretty awesome. Expose, a tool used to help switch between open windows and applications had also been revised, along with minor updates to Stacks as well. Also added are much needed improvements in terms of speed across the board – Finder, graphics, Sleep, Wake Up, connecting to Networks, Time Machine – you get the idea. More integration with business features were also added, but that’s not really important from my perspective.

In my personal review, I firstly find the new QuickTime, shown in the above screen shot, to be your first stop. The whole floating video interface just looks incredible, and the added features to the standard version including allowing you to upload videos straight to iTunes, YouTube, or MobileMe, as well as Full Screen support and the ability to trim videos are all welcome things that definitely needed to be there a while ago.

Expose and Stacks also were nicely upgraded, with Expose in particular getting some new visuals which make it a bit easier to use, and is now integrated with Dock: just hold down an app’s icon, and it’ll go and spread out all open windows of it, even separating between those that have been minimized or not– a pretty useful feature making it more practical to use. Stacks now can be scrolled through, meaning no more “Stack with 900 things in it all the size of a peanut” issues. Also, you can go into a folder in a Stack without closing the Stack now, making it actually useful to get things in folders out.

Finally, Apple made Snow Leopard faster. Really fast. I’ve been using it for a few days now, and everything just seems to work faster – Waking my MacBook from sleep is almost instantaneous, and when it opens, I’m already connected to the internet – no delay or load times for WiFi. Apple rebuilt the Finder on the code side, so it works much faster. Searches go faster in Spotlight, and Widgets load faster in Dashboard (nice when you keep 20-odd Widgets up at once…). Also, due to Apple trimming down extra stuff from the OS, instead of taking up space to install Snow Leopard, you actually gain about 6 gigs back.

Overall, Snow Leopard is not a bad upgrade. However, most of the features, primarily Exchange support, (a business server integration thing) are more aimed towards the business user. But, for $30 – I’d say it’s worth the upgrade.

Official Rating: a magnificent 5/5:

So readers – are you upgrading to Snow Leopard? Already have – what’re your thought? Sound off in the comments.

Apple today announced that they’ll be holding an event on September 9th– and from the pic above, it looks to be music oriented. So don’t buy that new iPod just yet; waiting an extra week or so may turn out to be really smart. As in the past, Apple used the September event to show off new iPods, and with strong rumors floating around the web of new iPods– see our post here– we wouldn’t be surprised if they update the iPods again.

Just to briefly cover some of the other rumors of what Apple is expected to show off (remember– these are just rumors): new iPod Nano, Touch, and Classic with cameras (as we wrote about in that previous post– just now the rumors are that the Classic too will be getting a camera), iTunes 9 with some possible integration with sites like Facebook, Blu-Ray for Macs, among some other rumors. So while we wait to find out on September 9th what Apple really has planned, feel free to guess on what you think Apple will show off in the comments.

Oh, and don’t forget to check back on the 9th, as we’ll have everything covered here.

Pic from Engadget

Dropship. Retro made awesome.

Ok, so this is an older game on the iPhone platform that I’ve been meaning to review for a while now, and one of my favorite games all time – Dropship. So, why now? Well, because ngmoco, the dudes who make it, just made it free, so now’s the time for a review so you all can check it out.

Dropship is effectively a 2.5D (not quite 3D gameplay, but looks 3D, so you make the call) space shoot. There are 2 basic modes to it – Missions, and Free Play. The Missions mode basically has you flying through a maze, retrieving a glowing green box, and dragging via tractor beam out. This is complicated by the maze, and the hordes of turrets seeking to blow your glowing, retro-style ship to nothing. Blowing up these turrets results in a shower of particle effects, and they’re more then just for show – flying towards them allows you to absorb them for energy, which is essential, seeing as flying take energy as fuel, and  crashing into walls and being shot loses you energy. However, you aren’t unarmed. You have a gun. As it happens, initially a pretty lame one. However, by carefully rescuing humans scattered around a level, you get temporary (read: ammunition) upgrades – one human gets you rapid fire, another while you have rapid fire spread shot, then laser, then hyper laser. These are almost essential for winning. As  for free play mode, it’s similar, except less maze and the objective is instead to rescue x-amount of humans. It’s much more fast paced and progressively harder then the missions. Also, the game has an achievement system, giving you something to strive for.

Finally, though, are controls – the make it or break it factor for any iPhone game. Dropship takes the crown in this over any game I’ve ever played. Dropship has a two stick control system – left side movement, right side weapons. Standard stuff. Except in Dropship, the digital controls aren’t static – where ever you place your left thumb – thats the left control. Ditto for weapons. This is the crucial factor that makes Dropship not only playable, but fun.

Overall, Dropship is a great game – good graphics, great controls, and just fun to play. Best of all, as mentioned before, its free. So go grab a copy and give it a shot.

Download here. [iTunes Link]

Beejive IM – the multitasking majesty

Alright. For a long time now, there’s been one king of IM apps on my iTouch, and thats AIM. But now send out the heralds: the new king has arisen! Beejive IM! There are a few things that set aside Beejive from AIM, including Facebook’s built in chat, Google Talk’s Safari web app, and a host of others. The main difference is that Beejive not only boasts push notification, which keeps you logged onto an account (AIM also now does this), but it allows you to go and log into all your accounts from all your places at once (something AIM only let’s you do with only your screenname). And if you’re on an iPhone, this morphs into being socially connected anytime, anywhere, to everyone. Pretty sweet in other words, especially for us teens.

Speaking of different accounts, that’s where Beejive really delivers, supporting the incredible list below: AIM/Mobile Me, Google Talk, ICQ, Jabber, MSN/Windows Live, MySpace IM, Yahoo Messenger, and even Facebook Chat. And thats the main reason why it takes the IM spot on my iPod– the amount of compatibility makes it incredibly useful. Once you add your accounts to Beejive you can access them through a buddy list, like in AIM, as well as view open chats and set favorites. Also, the option to view individual buddy lists for each account is also there, which is useful if you only need to find some friends on AOL, but want to stay logged in on your other accounts.

However, there is a catch, likely to deter some readers. Beejive, unlike AIM– which is either free with ads or $2.99 for a no ad version– is a paid app costing $10. However, for those of you who always want to be in the loop on all your accounts, I feel that it’s a fair price to pay for it. Overall though, I really like Beejive, even despite the price tag, and rate it a 5/5.

Interested? Check it out here (warning: link opens iTunes)

The new iPod Nano? Check out the camera hole on the the lower left of the back of the case

So new pix are popping up online today of case mockups for upcoming iPod Nano’s and iPod Touches. These type of images seem to leak out around this time, as Apple usually updates their iPod line in September (like they did last year), right in time for the Back to School and the holiday shopping season. What’s really different about this year however, is that the pix seem to confirm some rumors that have been floating around the web for a while now– the iPod Nano and iPod Touch will be getting cameras.

Yes, your reading that right– digital cameras coming to the iPod Nano and iPod Touch. The pix (the iPod Nano one above and the iPod Touch below), are from Cult of Mac.com and come from numerous Chinese case manufacturers (which kinda would make sense as the manufacturers would need to get this type of info from Apple long ahead of time in order to make the cases ready for the inevitable launch. Also just another proof of this possibly being true– Apple recently placed an order for a whole boat load of camera parts which were said to be made for upcoming iPods).

Now how powerful these cameras are we don’t yet know (like how many megapixels they’ll have and if they will shoot video like the iPhone 3GS. If I had to guess, it’d be about 3 megapixels– like the 3GS–  for both with the iPod Touch definitely getting video recording, and the Nano doubtful to get it, but I wouldn’t rule it completely out yet). There also should be bigger storage for both devices (probably doubling the current storage on all the models like they’ve done in previous years), and the Nano is said to be getting a slightly bigger screen (nothing significantly noticeable from what we could tell right now), and the iPod Touch might also be getting a mic.

The new iPod Touch? Note the camera hole in the middle of the case

Remember, this for now is just a rumor, and Apple obviously hasn’t confirmed anything yet, so take this as you wish. We’ll of course keep you up to date on all of this as soon as we hear more.

Info and pix from Cult of Mac.com– you can see a whole lotta more pix at their site as well.

If you haven’t been paying attention to the giant banners in iTunes for the past week (like the one you see above), the Apple App Store for the iPod Touch and iPhone turned 1 yesterday, and Apple is taking the time to celebrate by promoting some it’s favorite apps– both free and paid. Apple’s got a lot to celebrate– 1 billion apps, tons of new iPhones and iPod Touches sold thanks to the App Store, and the envy of pretty much every other cell phone maker– think bout it,   because of the App Store, there is now a BlackBerry App World,  Palm’s App Catalog, Google’s Android Marketplace, a Windows Marketplace for Mobile (coming to Windows Mobile phones later this year in Windows Mobile 6.5) and countless other mobile app marketplaces trying to get in on the action.

But we’re not writing this post just to congratulate Apple, but seeing as the App Store is the most popular of the “App Stores”, we wanna know what’s your favorite apps– whether for iPhone or iPod Touch, free or paid.

Me? My favorite apps (right now at least) are ESPN ScoreCenter (free), MLB At Bat (paid version– about $10), AIM (free version), Tap Tap Revenge2 (free), iheartradio (free), and Facebook (free).

Sound off with your favorites in the comments.