apple

A whole new iPod family

Today's Apple event in San Francisco offered plenty of iPod news to be excited about. In only the first few minutes, Steve Jobs announced that the whole iPod lineup--from the shuffle to the iPod--would get an upgrade. There had already been a ton of speculation about what Jobs would announce today, but as is usually the case, an Apple event almost always means a surprise.

First on the list of new hardware, the iPod Shuffle. Not much in the way of changes here, but the clip-on design comes in several new colors. It has 1GB of storage space and retails for $79.

There was a lot of speculation around the Mac rumor sites before this event about the new iPod Nano, with alleged leaked photos and feature lists. The real version is a bit different, having a 320?240 screen (204 ppi) and supports the same resolution as iPod videos. Coverflow is now offered for paging through your music and is controlled using the touch wheel on the bottom. A new graphical navigation system splits the screen down the middle with the familiar list navigation on the left side and a snippet of video, a picture, or song name and album art on the right side. It comes in both 4GB and 8GB models like the previous Nanos and sells for $149 and $199, respectively.… Read more

Apple cuts 8GB iPhone price, dumps 4GB model

In the midst of dropping all sorts of iPod news today, Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced a $200 price cut for the 8GB version of the iPhone. The formerly overpriced device will drop from $599 to a somewhat more reasonable $399. Oh, and that's not all: Because the $399 4GB iPhone has lagged behind the 8GB model in sales, Apple is dropping it from its lineup completely. And to clean out its house, the company offering the 4GB version for $299.

We've expected a price drop for the iPhone since the handset first went on sale back in … Read more

New iPod gets Wi-Fi iTunes Music Store, YouTube, Web browsing

This morning, Apple unveiled the iPod Touch, this year's latest must-have gadget that's the first bona fide iPod to have built-in Wi-fi, the Safari Web browser, and the YouTube app iPhone owners have come to love. That's not the most groundbreaking aspect, though--this thing's got a full version of the iTunes Music Store that you'll be able to use for shopping right on the device. You can preview and buy songs that will sync up to your iTunes library when you plug it in back at home. The idea is similar to the Music Gremlin, … Read more

First look: Apple's new iPods

Apple's newly announced iPods are sure to wreak havoc on holiday wish lists this year. Here's the lowdown straight from Job's mouth to our ears.

New iPod Nano

The new iPod Nano, which is just as slender as its predecessor but shorter and squatter, has a 2-inch display with an iPod video's 320x240 resolution. The new Nano--available beginning this weekend--supports Cover Flow and video games (three are included--Vortex, Sudoku, and a mystery game). Cover Flow on the Nano shows albums against a white background, differentiating itself from the iPhone's cover flow. The Now Playing screen … Read more

Live from Moscone Center with Apple

We're live blogging from CEO Steve Jobs' keynote speech at Apple's event Wednesday in San Francisco, which began at 10 a.m. and has just wrapped up.

11:26 a.m.: Jobs shows Tunstall offstage upon the conclusion of her second song. That will do it. No Beatles, but Apple's got a whole new category of iPods that, as rumored, could give the company a very interesting mobile computer if it decides to one day open it up to application development. That's going to be it from the Moscone Center. Thanks for reading, everyone.

11:21 … Read more

iTunes adds ringtones

At a special event in San Francisco today, Apple's Steve Jobs announced that a new version of iTunes (download for Windows or Mac; CNET review) will allow users to create their own ringtones from more than 500,000 songs in the iTunes store. The ringtones will cost 99 cents, in addition to the price of the songs themselves. The custom ringtones can last up to 30 seconds and can be created from any section of a song.

The new version of iTunes, expected later tonight, will eventually add a bell icon next to songs in the iTunes store that … Read more

Instant reactions to Apple announcements

I'm following the special "Beat Goes On" event being put on by Apple this morning in San Francisco's Moscone Center. Here are my first reactions....

Do-it-yourself ringtones for the iPhone. Great idea, but I want to be able to do it with any song in my iTunes library, not just songs I've purchased from iTunes. And only 500,000 songs are approved for this usage. And you have to pay an additional $0.99 per ringtone, in addition to buying the song. Kind of a snooze. I've seen people hack together custom ringtones from … Read more

A nice yawn while others wait for the Apple press conference

Am I the only person in the world who couldn't care less about tomorrow's Apple press conference?

As I was reading the news, one story dominated headlines: Apple's big press conference tomorrow. And while I understand people get excited for this kind of thing because of the promise for new Apple products, I can't help but scoff at this excitement.… Read more

Apple's lock on the media...

There's no other company quite like Apple. They have security that rivals defense contractors and there is a whole legion of websites dedicated to gathering inside information and publishing company "secrets." It's not muckraking either, most of these investigators are devout Apple fans with a thirst for any undisclosed information about their favorite company. The most perplexing aspect of Apple's cult-like position in our society is the way the company manages to consistently invoke the press' interest.

It's still unclear exactly what Apple will be introducing at their press event tomorrow, but the mainstream media is already talking. Usually when companies host a media event to launch a new product, the product is the news. For Apple, the event itself becomes news. In today's San Francisco Chronicle, the lead headline on the front page of the Business section reads, "What news awaits the apple faithful?" The article goes on to surface the various rumors that have been percolating on the various apple rumors sites. Even the headline itself, invokes the almost religious zeal that Mac aficionados hold close to their heart.

NBC says goodbye to Apple, hello to Amazon

NBC Universal didn't waste any time replacing Apple.

Episodes of The Office and Heroes will begin appearing at Amazon's Unbox starting next Monday, according to a statement released by the companies.

Amazon customers can download the pilot shows for new series, such as Bionic Woman, and Chuck, free of charge and in advance of their network premiers. Other shows will be available on Amazon Unbox the day after they air. Amazon and NBC Universal are offering a range of packages, including a 30 percent off deal when purchasing a complete season in advance.

NBC Universal and Apple engaged … Read more