Tag: Apple

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Apple Updated iTunes To Version 7.6.1

iTune

Apple introduced iTunes 7.6 at Macworld Expo, introducing numerous new features including US film rental services.

The update improves the software’s compatibility with Apple TV 2 and provides several bug fixes, the company reports in notes provided with the 44.1MB patch, which is presently available through Software Update.

It’s possible the update addresses problems reported by some Apple TV users in which synching content using to the updated set-top box takes an age, but this hasn’t been tested here at this point.

source:pcworld 

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Apples iPod Shuffle Now Only $49

Ipod
Apple has announced that its iPod shuffle is now priced at $49 and that it is introducing a new 2GB model of the iPod shuffle for $69.

The iPod shuffle is half a cubic inch in volume, weighs half an ounce, features an aluminum design with a built-in clip and comes in five colors – silver, blue, green, purple and a RED special edition.

“At just $49, the iPod shuffle is the most affordable iPod ever,” said Greg Joswiak, Apple’s vice president of Worldwide iPod Product Marketing. “The new 2GB model lets music lovers bring even more songs everywhere they go in the impossibly small iPod shuffle.”

The $49 1GB iPod shuffle is available immediately through the Apple Store, Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers while the 2GB iPod shuffle will be available later this month for a suggested price of $69.

source:tech2 

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Yahtzee Game came to iPod

Yahtzee

Hasbro’s classic dice game Yahtzee is now available for third-generation iPod nanos, iPod classics and fifth-generation iPods.

Yahtzee is a Poker-themed game in which you have to score the most points by rolling five dice to make combinations in thirteen rounds. It’s been a popular family game since it was first introduced in the mid-1950s.

The iPod version, developed by Electronic Arts and licensed from Hasbro, includes multiple game modes and rule sets, help menus and hints, the ability to play against a friend or against a computer component with multiple skill levels, automatic score keeping, an auto-save function and custom sound effects and music.

The new game can be purchased from the iTunes Store for US$4.99.

source:pcworld

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Portable Speakers for iPhone

dol

Compact yet powerful, the DLO Portable Speakers for iPhone let you enjoy your music and videos in stereo sound without any threat of TDMA interference. Featuring an extra-wide sound stage and bass vents for delivering powerful sound, these small speakers pack a powerful punch.

Small enough for home, office or dormitory desktops, the speakers also feature a unique compact design that makes them ideal for travel. Each speaker snaps neatly into the base to create a “ball” approximately 6 inches in diameter. The base features a recessed area for keeping cords securely wrapped and out of the way when not in use. Powered by either AAA batteries or the included AC adapter, the DLO Portable Speakers for iPhone are versatile enough to be used at home or on the go. Although our Portable Speakers were created with the iPhone in mind, they will also work with any audio device that has a 3.5mm headphone jack.

The removable, rotating stand holds the iPhone upright or horizontally for the ideal portable movie-viewing experience. Plus, you don’t have to disconnect your iPhone if a call comes in – the Portable Speakers simply turn into your iPhone into a speaker phone! So while iPhone is connected, you can take and place calls as usual, without any disruption.

source:dlo 

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MacBook Air Poor Battery Life

 Macair

The PC World Test Center has seen some problems with respect to battery life. Unfortunately, you’ll still be making major compromises with the Apple MacBook Air. In The PC World Tests, the Air produced respectable system performance, but mediocre battery life.

The Performance Numbers By PC-World

When the PC World Test Center ran its tests using Apple’s Boot Camp utility–which enables a Mac system to run Windows, too–the Air’s WorldBench 6 score was 57. That score is just below the average WorldBench score of 59 for the field of 17 ultraportable notebooks we’ve tested recently for our Top 10 Ultraportables chart.

The MacBook Air’s performance is more impressive, however, when you consider it against the nine ultraportable models we’ve tested with a minimum weight of four pounds or less (I selected this subset of data for comparison as these are the most likely competitive choices of someone considering a MacBook Air against its PC competition): There, the average WorldBench score is just 50.

The Sony VAIO VGN-TZ510N/B, the slimline PC notebook Steve Jobs compared MacBook Air to in his keynote, scored just 38 on WorldBench 6 tests.

Only two models, the Asus W5Fe-2P025E and the Lenovo ThinkPad X61 bested the MacBook Air’s final, post-Boot Camp WorldBench 6 score of 57. And, both the Asus and the Lenovo were running a faster processor than the MacBook Air: a 2-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7200. f

The MacBook Air runs a 1.6-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor (a 1.8-GHz processor is an option), and includes 2GB of memory, an 80GB 4200rpm hard drive, and a 13.3-inch display.

The only other model in tested with a 1.6-GHz Core 2 Duo processor and 2GB of memory is the 4.5-pound Lenovo ThinkPad X61t; this model received a 64 on our WorldBench 6 tests compared with the Air’s 61.

The Lenovo X61t has other specs that may have helped its performance,  the MacBook Air: the X61t’s 100GB hard drive spins at 5400rpm and its comparatively smaller display measures 12.1-inches on the diagonal.

Subpar Battery Life(Pc-World)

The Air’s battery life averaged 2 hours, 31 minutes, which isn’t even enough juice to cover the flight time from San Francisco to Dallas, let alone get a road warrior clear across the continent with a powered laptop.

The battery life performance of the Air also is quite dismal when we compared to the other nine laptops  in the four-pounds-and-under category. The MacBook Air’s battery life was the third worst among those nine models. The average battery life score among these models was 4 hours, 37 minutes, and five models exceeded five hours in battery life.

source:pcworld 

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iPhone Wins Bronze

Iphone

Where Apple’s Latest News about Apple iPhone is concerned, “me too” appears to be the operative philosophy among the company’s competitors in the mobile phone marketplace.

“We need to stop thinking of the iPhone as a phone,” said Phil Leigh, senior analyst with Inside Digital Media. “Voice is merely one application of many that it will use on the wireless Internet.”

Rivals already are thinking along the same lines as they contemplate the impact the iPhone has had on a white-hot smartphone marketplace, Leigh noted.

The iPhone, which has attracted a whirlwind of media attention since it launched in the U.S. last June, captured a 28 percent share of the U.S.’ converged device market — the category includes smartphones and wireless handhelds — during the fourth quarter, market research firm Canalys reported. Mobile units with Microsoft Webroot AntiSpyware 30-Day Free Trial. Click here. Latest News about Microsoft technology had a 21 percent share.

The iPhone was not launched in Europe, the Middle East and Africa until the after the fourth quarter had begun. There, Apple trailed Nokia, RIM, HTC and Motorola.

The limits on the iPhone’s potential outside the U.S. market are crucial to the product’s bottom line, Llamas noted.

“I can’t think of an upstart company in the mobile phone industry that was able to reach those numbers,” he said.

Competitors are noting the success of the iPhone — and borrowing from its technology, Llamas added. “Look for a lot of me-too devices out there.”

Leigh agreed. “They look at it with fear and loathing because they recognize that it is a paradigm shift that has left them in the dust,” he told MacNewsWorld.

That’s because copycat products already are out on the market, Leigh said. “But none have gained more than a minute share of the market.”

source:technewsworld 

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Apple unveils higher capacity iPod, iPhone models

Ipod-iphone

aid on Tuesday it has introduced models of its popular iPod touch handheld computer and iPhone with double the memory available in previous versions.

Apple, which previously said it had sold more than 4 million iPhones since its introduction last June, says the iPhone will now also sell with 16 gigabytes of memory.

Apple has doubled the capacity of both its iPhone and iPod Touch allowing new customers to spend $100 more and get twice the storage for music, movies, pictures, and podcasts than available with previous models. Introduced today, the 32GB iPod Touch sells for $499 and the 16GB iPhone goes for $499.

Pricing on existing iPod and iPhone models stays the same. But if you’re in the market for a new iPhone or iPod Touch, spending $100 more to double your capacity is a pretty good deal.

Of course the larger capacities may rile some existing iPhone and iPod Touch users as was the case when Apple dropped the price of the iPhone.

Could this be seen as another stab at the early adopters? Of course that was not Apple’s intentions, but that is an obvious consequence of an upgrade of this magnitude less than a year after the initial release. But it’s okay, early adopters, pull that knife out of your back and listen to what Apple has to say is the reason for the upgrade.

Greg Joswiak, Apple’s vice president of iPod and iPhone product marketing said in the release, “For some users, there’s never enough memory.” This is definitely true, especially with music collections shifting completely digital, but Greg, it still stings for those of us picked up a 16GB iPod Touch merely months ago to have a new bigger and better model become available.

It’s kind of funny to think about it, but who would have thought the world would get so upset over a product improvement? Isn’t that what companies are supposed to be doing?

source:pcworld

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New 8x DVD-R Fits to MacBook Air

macbook

MCE Technologies on Friday announced the release of a new slot-loading DVD-R “SuperDrive” designed to work as a replacement for the optical drives found in 15-inch MacBook Pros and MacBook laptops.

The new drive supports DVD+R DL (Double Layer) and DVD-R (Dual Layer) media, so it can burn up to 8.5GB per disc (on supported media). It replaces the 4x and 6x drives found in these machines, matching the same form factor. It costs US$199.

The drive is 9.5mm high, compared to 12.5mm tall for some other mechanisms. It writes standard DVD-R and DVD+R media at up to 8x speed, and DVD-RW and DVD+RW at up to 4x speed (dual-layer and double-layer disks are written to at up to 4x speed). It can also write to CD-R media at up to 2x speed.

The drive is natively compatible with Mac OS X v10.4 and 10.5, and works with iTunes, iDVD, Finder burning, iPhoto and DVD player. It’s bootable, as well.

source:pcworld