HP DeskJets are 20 years old today. My first non Commodore 64 printer was an HP DeskJet. That didn't feed papers properly or consistently. But I'm not bitter. And it has nothing to do with why I've used only Epson printers for the last 10 years.
Happy 10th Deathday Newton! 10 years ago today, Apple killed the Newton.
I once had a brush with Newton greatness. I attended the Newton Developer's Conference around 1994 to learn more about the platform. My employer at the time was considering it for a mobile reservations tool. We actually had a working prototype but it never got beyond that.
Anywhooo...
iTunes recently surpassed Best Buy to become the second largest music retailer in the United States. Only Wal*Mart sells more. Congrats, iTunes!
Apple quietly released Bubble Bash, a new game for iPod (the touchless versions). Combine bubbles of like colors to clear the board to earn points. I personally like this game as I've played in countless web-based versions.
Happy Tuesday! Apple rolled out long-awaited updates to the MacBook and MacBook Pro lines today.
MacBook Pro: Multi-touch trackpad, upgraded processors (Penryn), new video card w/512MB of memory.
MacBook: Upgraded processors (Penryn).
So if you were holding off, now is the time. Or wait another 260+ days for the next revision. :-)
Here's the process for downloading the new Community Games from Microsoft XBOX 360:
We just tried downloading RocketBall and the process is totally different than you'd expect. First you have to download the XNA Launcher, which is under New Arrivals in the Marketplace blade -- but you don't need a membership, so skip that, and the XNA ad that displays points you to the wrong thing, so ignore that as well. Then head over to the Games blade and select Games Library, but don't open the Launcher, cause it'll just kick you out. Instead, press Y to view the list of games and download one. So far the "YouTube of games" seems a bit convoluted -- hopefully the next Dashboard update makes this all a bit simpler.
I'm sure you were wondering why the sudden drop in price on the iPod Shuffle. Well, there's a 2GB iPod shuffle "coming soon" at the low-low price of $69. Not bad, Apple.
Get the 1GB iPod Shuffle for just $49! The price drop appears to be permanent.
I got an iPod Shuffle originally for working out (that didn't last) and now find it's great for doing yard work and such. Places you wouldn't want to take your iPhone or iPod but where you want to hear music. And at $49, I'll be slightly less upset if I break it.
Here's what your Mac is thinking when it's booting up:
Mike Kan created the video to visualize the Mac’s “boot-up sequence, initial program loader or phantom system, memory scans, hard drive signals and etc.” He used a custom designed board to create the visualization of what your Mac is thinking when booting, all in real-time.
via Macenstein
Google sees 50% more searches from iPhones than any other mobile handset. Not too surprising since the mobile web experience on any other phone sucks zebra testicles.
Yo, this Apple TV rocks! We're currently watching I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry (mmmmm...Jessica Biel). Super easy, fast, and awesome picture quality.
Wait, did I start this post with "Yo"? Jeez...
Radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh owns six Macs. He is having some problems with Leopard and needs your help.
While I do tend to lean more conservative, it's more middle-right. I'm not a fan of Rush. But he is a fellow Mac user and according to the code, we have to help him.
Verdict: Better than cable, not as good as Blu-Ray, but surprisingly good. This is news from iLounge who did a direct comparison.
I personally haven't tried renting a HD movie, but will soon. What's the point of a 50" plasma if you rent standard definition movies? :-)
Apple quietly released the Apple TV Take 2 update today. This update enables movie rentals without computer syncronization. The update takes about 5 minutes to download and about 20 minutes to update (for me anyway).
I've been surprisingly pleased with my Apple TV. The main reason I bought it was for movie rentals, but I've been using it to listen to my music collection, look at photos, and watch a few flicks I downloaded from iTunes.
I'll let you know how the movie rental thing comes out soon.
Finally! This one is a whopper with over 150 fixes. A few notable include increased Airport reliability, less translucent menus, option to turn off main menu transparency - oh hell, if you're really that interested, go to the information page on Apple's site.
To install, run Software Update.
The Apple intertubes are all abuzz about news that Apple has filed an extension to their trademark to handheld gaming devices, specifically:
Toys, games and playthings, namely, hand-held units for playing electronic games; hand-held units for playing video games; stand alone video game machines; electronic games other than those adapted for use with television receivers only; LCD game machines; electronic educational game machines; toys, namely battery-powered computer games.
Dell had a 1.5TB external hard drive listed on their site for $67. Knowing that in all likeliness it was a typo, I still went ahead and ordered it. I've been looking to update one of my external drives as it is nearly full with Time Machine backups.
So it was really no surprise to me that Dell "modified" my order - by canceling it. But here's what really pissing me off. Read the response they send me:
Dear Valued Customer,
Thank you for your recent order.
We regret that, because of a pricing error, we have cancelled this order as it relates to a SimpleTech 1.5 TB Hi-Speed USB/eSata-300 Duo Pro External Hard Drive.
As you may have noticed, Dell specifically indicates on our web pages, catalogs, advertising and order-confirmation that Dell cannot be responsible for pricing or other errors, and reserves the right to cancel orders arising from such errors.
We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. We truly value our relationship and reputation with our customers. Please be assured that we are working hard to avoid similar issues.
We invite you to visit www.dell.com or call 1-800-999-3355 if you wish to place an order for this product at its correct price.
Sincerely,
Dell
In addition to the new 16GB iPhone, Apple also launched a 32GB version of the iPod touch. It is priced at at $499.
Apple released a new version of the iPhone today sporting 16GB of storage. Priced at $499, the new version is identical feature-wise as the 8GB edition. This is not the 3G phone people are looking for. Perhaps later this year.
What? Apple IIc? This is awesome. A 1988 Apple IIc ceremonial unboxing - 20 years later. This guy bought a never-opened Apple IIc and took pictures of the unboxing - a popular blog post nowadays. Very cool.
In a move I thought only I would do, Mike Beauchamp left his beloved iPhone on the trunk of his car while overpaying for gas. And then drove away. With the iPhone on the trunk. By the time he realized what he did, he saw the iPhone get run over by a semi.
And the iPhone still works.
It appears Apple may be under a negative whisper campaign. David Morgenstern over at ZDNet has an interesting piece about how an acquaintance "heard" that Apple makes great looking product, but they're not all the reliable. Where the heck did that come from? Crazy. Apple ranks number 1 on most if not all reliability surveys.
So if you hear a whisper about this - pass along the reality. Apple is more reliable than all computers.
Garmin announced yesterday that they've entered the smartphone market with their Nuvi Phone. If you're not familiar with Garmin, they're one of the most popular GPS makers out there. The Nuvi is their top seller. As you can see by the photo, the design is definitely inspired. I might just be used to the iPhone design, but dare I say this looks better? It definitely has a high-end look to it. Looks thicker and heavier tho.
Some Jim Henson properties come to iTunes - The complete first seasons of Fraggle Rock (Doozers RULE!) and Farscape. The Fraggles are fun but I'll admit I've never seen the Farscape series which rahttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifn from 1998 to 2002.
More episodes will be available soon.
(via TUAW)
This Friday, AOL will officially kill off the web browser that started it all. Netscape will cease to be. Ah, memories. I remember 1995 and in those days Netscape was not a free download. But if you downloaded the betas, it was. Good times. Not surprisingly, AOL is recommending Firefox, the browser which Netscape actually launched.
So I was in Jersey City, NJ this week working with E*TRADE and had an opportunity and reason to try out the new iTunes Movie Rentals. I am impressed. I rented "Superbad", which is a frickin' hilarious movie. I rented it on iTunes and seamlessly moved it to my iPhone to enjoy on the flight back home. Awesome. It took all of 12 minutes to download the movie. It took all of 2 minutes to move it to my iPhone. Awesome.
I also just hooked up my new Apple TV. The new software update to bring computer-less movie rentals to the Apple TV has not yet been released, but I'm still impressed. It is syncing with my iTunes library right now, but so far I've enjoyed a few music videos and TV shows that I previously downloaded from iTunes. Awesome.
Did I say awesome? I'm extremely happy with both the rentals and the Apple TV.
Update I'm now listening to my music collection on my TV and watching my iPhotos stream across - AWESOME. This is cool. You need to get one. Now.
Apple posted revenue of $9.6 billion and net quarterly profit of $1.58 billion for the first quarter of 2008 (in Apple's financial reporting, that ended 29 December.). Compare this with revenue of $7.1 billion and net quarterly profit of $1 billion.
- 2,319,000 Macs shipped (44% unit growth and 47% revenue growth)
- 22,121,000 iPods shipped (5% unit growth and 17% revenue growth)
- 2,315,000 iPhone sales
And how does the stock market react? Apple stock plunges around 15%. Huh? I don't get it. This is on Apple's second quarter guidance that revenue and sales may slow a bit due to uncertainties with the economy. That I understand - but they said slowing, not decreasing. With the growth and profits Apple is seeing, they'll still have one heck of a quarter. And 45% of the quarter's sales were International. Other economies aren't going into the shitter like America's.
In the interest of full disclosure I am an extremely(!) minor Apple stock holder. And I'm not going to over react and sell them. Yet.
Those of a certain age will fondly remember the arcade classic Pole Position. Race your car around the track and enjoy the scenery. My personal favorite was the sit down version.
Well, relive your glory days on your iPod. Download it today!
(via TUAW)
Engadget has a piece that the iPod upgrade fee is possibly due to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.
Hooey. Hooey if it's due to some crap-ass accounting act (thank you very much Enron and Worldcom). This world's out of order. YOU'RE out of order (what movie?) Hooey. Just hooey.
Criticized by Way2Poppy immediately following the Keynote, other Apple fans are also feeling pissy about Time Capsule.
Be careful, Apple. Treat your best fans best. Unfortunately, this is becoming a trend.
Okay - I've been wanting Apple TV for a while, but it was one of those things that I didn't really NEED. But now that there are rentals available - I need it. I don't watch that many movies - but when I do it's spare of the moment. So Netflix and Blockbuster are out. Apple TV will give me what I want. It should be here in the next few days - I'll update my experience in the future.
For iPod Touch users, the keynote on Tuesday was bittersweet. On one hand, they can now get the same apps as the iPhone - Mail, Stocks, Weather, Maps, and Notes. On the other hand, it costs them $20.
This is pretty crappy in my opinion. I will say I am not an iPod Touch user, but I did get caught in the iPhone price reduction fiasco. I personally even didn't care too much about that even - the cost of early adoption, etc. But this is a disturbing trend. It would be one thing if the cost of the iPod Touch went up $20 to accommodate the new features, but that's not the case. So early adopters of the Touch now pay $20 more than what someone who buys a brand new iPod Touch.
I'm not saying that Apple isn't deserving of the $20. It costs money to develop software, host it, sync it, etc. But at least make it fair. Or logical even.
Very good. A couple quick thinkers mocked up a vinyl and fleece manila envelope as the perfect case for the Macbook Air. You had to see it coming, but this was fast! Only $29.95 (hey, it's not a real envelope - these are handmade!)
(via Engagdet)
Well, it's that time of year again. Time Capsule is cool if you don't already have a base station. But they need to just allow the same functionality if you have the "standard" Airport Extreme with an external drive. I want wireless backups, but I don't want to plunk down $500 for it. I've already got the Airport Extreme and a hard drive hooked up, they need to just let me use it that way.
The MacBook Air is awesome. Some interesting things left out of the Keynote is that the battery is iPod/iPhone-esque - not user removable. Personally not a big issue, but some will be frustrated with the inability to swap batteries. The Sony that he kept comparing things to may be thicker, but it also has a built-in optical drive, larger hard drive and the ability to have the solid state drive and hard drive at the same time. But the Air certainly has the sex appeal. It's not for everyone but it fits in nicely to the product line - MacBook for home, MacBook Air for highly mobile executives who really just need the basics - email, web browsing, office apps (esp. presentations) and MacBook Pro for those needing video and image editing, content creation, etc.
iTunes rentals is awesome. I want an Apple TV now. We use the cable on demand movie rentals all the time which is great, but the selection is very limited. NetFlix is great, but we're too spare-of-the-moment movie renters - Netflix/Blockbuster require too much planning and thought. Having 1000's of movies available at a touch is awesome. I will likely buy an Apple TV.
iPhone update is pretty slick. Makes me really excited about 3rd party apps for the phone. The "current location" functionality is pretty slick although here at home it locates me in the ballpark but not very close. But if you were trying to find something or you were lost, it will be close enough to work.
This is very funny and clever. Play a Pac Man-like game where you're Steve and you have to collect your stuff before the Keynote address. But don't run into anyone and reveal your secrets!
SteveNote Expo
Apple surprised everyone by announcing two updated products ahead of next week's Macworld today. The new Mac Pro sports 8 core processing, insane graphics capabilities (you can run 8! 30 inch cinema displays at once!), new system architecture and a whole lot more.
The XServe gets updated as well with 8 core processing, new system architecture, 3TB of internal storage and unlimited Leopard client licenses for under $3k. Not bad.
Can't wait to see what Apple has in store for us next week!
Famed Apple rumor site Think Secret is shutting down after a settlement between it and Apple. If you recall, Apple sued Think Secret over trade secrets and was watched by bloggers everywhere to see if they would be given the same immunity as journalists.
Make your gen 5 or 5.5 iPod Classic look a little more like the touch with this hack from iPodHacking.com. Follow the instructions carefully tho!
This is awesome. We have a Garmin GPS for the minivan - the wife can't find her way out of the garage without it. Anyway, one is coming for the iPhone- this would be awesome to have stashed in my briefcase or in the car for when it's needed.
Man, I can't believe it has been 25 years. My very first computer, the venerable Commodore 64, began my love of computers. I remember sitting in front of the C64 for countless hours playing games, dialing into BBS's with the 300 baud modem and waiting forever for programs to load on the 1541 5.25 floppy disc drive. (LOAD "*",8,1)
I also remember spending hours with my brother programming Mad Libs in basic.
Everything I learned about computers I learned from the C64.
On Monday 10 December 2007 the C64 will turn 25. There is a ceremony on the Computer History Museum in California. Even the reclusive former CEO and Commodore Founder Jack Tramiel will be there.
On The Edge - The Rise and Fall of Commodore - A fascinating and must-read for any Commodore fan.
Play Free C64 Games @ Gametap
C64.com
The C64 Orchestra
Update: As my brother pointed out in the comments, our first computer was really a Commodore Vic 20. But as far as I recall, all we ever did was play Gorf on it and never used it as a computer. But technically, I stand corrected.
Kuragari.com has a quick blurb about some aspects of how the original Stacks functionality was working in early Leopard betas. Apple, bring this back! I'm one of the seemingly few people that like the Stacks functionality. Does it need help? Yes. Would the way it worked make it better? Definitely.
What a crock. You're telling me the admitted yet way overblown debacle that was the iPhone price cut was more of a train wreck than Vista? I'm starting to believe in the Y! Apple-hating rumors.
MiShare connects two iPods together enabling easy file transfers. Neato.
via Boing Boing
Our hero, who art in Cupertino,
hallowed be thy name.
your vision come,
your influence be done,
on Macs which are like heaven.
Give us today our iPhone, iPods and Macs.
For give us innovations
as we forgive those who use Windows.
Save us from bland and unusable products
and deliver us from Microsoft.
For the electronics & media kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours
now and for ever. Amen.
CNET UK has listed Vista as one of the worst technology products. I will admit that I've only seen Vista from a distance. I use XP nearly everyday for the one application I need for work that won't run in Mac OS X. XP is a fine OS - it works fine, especially since I'm only running one program. XP on my old work's computer was pretty spotty, but I believe it was all the crap the IT guys crammed on it. Otherwise I'm 99.9% in Leopard and love it.
Anyway, Vista is in good company - Sony Rootkit CDs, Atari Jaguar, the Apple "Puck" Mouse (although we always referred to it as the breast implant mouse) and a few others.
Apple stores freshen up for the holidays. Personally, the scanner checkout is a brilliant glimpse of our retail future.
Apple Black Friday deals here. You're running outta daylight.
I'm an avid reader of Engadget and noticed a "ginormous" ad at the top and upper right. Seems Engadget themselves has even commented on it..
Regardless of how you feel about advertising, especially on the web, you have to admit it's pretty clever.
Check it out over at Engadget.com for the next day or so.
For the past 5 years or so, Apple has had a 5-10% sale on just about everything on Black Friday online and in-stores. This year is no exception. If you've been thinking about a new Mac, now is the time.
Microsoft is playing the supply-demand game to earn media coverage like this. "Cabbage Patch Doll" my ass.
AT&T just rolled out a new iPhone plan - phone only. No data. So if you only surf the web, get email and visual voicemail whilst connected to a wi-fi network, you can save $20 a month. Otherwise suck it up and keep payin'.
Okay, enough already with the damn cat puns. Geez. What am I going to do with you people?
Oh, Leopard 10.5.1 is now available. Just run Software Update.
According to Japan's Business Computer News, Mac OS X share has risen to over 60% while Microsoft's has collapsed from over 75% to less than 30%.
With the iPhone going on sale in the UK and Germany today, Apple has released 1.1.2 for the iPod Touch and iPhone. According to sources there is finally an "add to calendar" feature for the iPod Touch. The iPhone is noticeably more responsive but I haven't found any new features yet except for support for international keyboards and the like.
Last year it was GooTube, this year it's....you guess it - the iPhone.
...is a Mac. The MacBook Pro to be exact. Faster than all the others.
The New York Times reviews Leopard:So Apple’s mission in Leopard was to make us aware of needs we never knew we had — something Apple is usually good at.
Apple just sometimes doesn't seem to listen to their customers. Sure, they quietly acknowledge whatever it is someone's bitching about and fix it in the next version of the software or hardware. But on occasion the bitching is so loud that they have to do something fast. It's happened throughout Apple's history. Most recently with the iPhone pricing. But now Apple has heard the cries to open up the iPhone to third-party developers. Why they didn't do this from the start I don't really know. What could make a kick-ass phone like the iPhone even more desirable? Killer applications. Apple announced today that they'll deliver an iPhone SDK (software development kit) by February of next year. It will also enable developers to develop for the iPod touch as well. Sweet. About damn time too.
In case you forgot or need to catch up on what all the Leopard hubbub is all about, here's a top ten list for you. Or if you're having trouble sleeping, here's the top 300 list.
Mine is on order of course and due to arrive next Friday. I'll miss out on the free t-shirt that Apple is giving away that day, but thanks to my corporate discount and $100 iPhone credit, it's costing me a whopping $24.
Amazon has a great deal - Leopard for $109.00. If you purchase it along with Parallels you'll get another $20 off. Not a bad deal. Of course if you're purchasing Parallels that means you're running Winblows which sucks for you. Wait, I'm also running Parallels. Bastard! Always one step ahead.
Apple officially announced today that they're reducing the price of iTunes Plus to 99 cents from $1.29. Hmmm....I wonder why they did that?
Pre-order your copy today. Leopard has some kickass features - TimeMachine, Spaces and so much more. And unlike that other operating system, Mac OS X usually improves performance of older Macs instead of making them obsolete.
MSFT has unveiled the new Zune. Nothing too exciting: 4, 8, and 80gb models all similarly priced to the iPod line. A few things to note, though:
The iPhone met or exceeded the hype in most instances. After living with the godphone for a few months now, I have very few complaints. I wish it was louder with less distortion. That's about it.
I saw the iPod Touch today and admit it's a sexy device. It's half as thin as the iPhone and noticably lighter. The screen is the same beautiful 3.5 inch the iPhone sports.
So why didn't I buy one? One simple reason. Storage. At 8GB or 16GB I have no need for it. My iPhone covers that space. What I really really wanted was an 80GB iPod touch. For that I would have sold my current 5th Generation 60GB iPod. While the iPod classic is nice - it's lighter, thinner and has more storage - it doesn't really offer much above and beyond what I already have. Sure, battery life is much better, but I don't really need that.
I think Apple really missed the boat on the iPod Touch. Sure, they'll sell a crapload of them, but I think they'd sell a couple craploads if they offered a high-capacity version which is thicker, but has the storage people want.
Wow. I checked out the nano today at one of my local Apple stores. Wow. Gives a whole new meaning to impossibly small. I was surprised at how much better it looks in person, including color. Images just don't do this wonder justice. The scroll wheel is small, but completely fine even for my fat sausage fingers.
Did I mention this thing is small? Incredible engineering. This thing really has it all - might even be the perfect storm. Decent screen size for movies, insanely small, ridiculous battery life, cover flow, games and more.
If the look was putting you off, seriously give this thing a chance by seeing it in person. I think you'll be surprised.
Not sure of the quality of “Transcend” brand memory, but one of the comments says it’s really Micron which I’ve at least heard of.
2GB DDR2 667 (PC2-5300) Notebook Memory - $88.99 each after $5 instant rebate and another $5 with promo code EMC918SYME03
Josh's iTunes Album Art Grabber goes straight to the source - iTunes itself for album art. What's great is that the album art is up to 1425x1425 pixels - sweet! The downside is that it's one artist & album at a time, and you need both the album and the artist. Sometimes the picture returned will give you a 404 error. If you change the ".jpg" to ".tif" it sometimes will work.
On a side note, I finally checked out the iPod stub nano at the Apple store today and I have to admit, the pictures and ads do not do it justice. This is a neat little device. For some reason, it feels more out of science fiction or some retro-futurism idea than any other incarnation of the iPod, probably because it's so damned tiny and packs quite a wallop. I still have no need for said device, but get your hands on it and I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.
Apple turned on ringtones in the iTunes store yesterday. I finally had a chance to try it and for the most part, it's pretty cool. As always, Apple has done an exceptional job of making it easy. The hardest part was selecting which part of the songs I wanted to use as the ringtone.
As covered elsewhere, you can only make ringtones of songs you purchased from the iTunes Store. That goes for songs purchased prior to yesterday too.
You cannot make ringtones of songs you already own but did not purchase through iTunes. It's all in the licensing and you have the RIAA to blame for this one. Believe it or not, ringtones are not considered derivative works and record companies can do as they please with them.
My beefs:
1. Your $0.99 purchase price only gets you the portion of the song you select. If you decide later you want a different part of the song, it's another $0.99.
2. One song, Happier by Guster, was indicated in the store as a ringtonable song, but once purchased it was not. Outcome of this pending with iTunes Customer Support. UPDATE: The helpful folks at iTunes support suggested ignoring the missing bell and right-clicking and selecting "Create Ringtone". Duh. That worked. The bell icon should still be showing tho.
3. The little bell icon needs to be added to your view. Go to view options and then select ringtone. Seems Apple would have turned this on by default for iPhone users. Nit-picky I know, but deal with it.
Okay - let's dismiss the fact that it's Starbucks. Their coffee truly sucks. If you like it, you really don't like coffee. Bitter and ewww, just yuck. What's truly significant about this.
Let's disect it. You have an iPod touch. You walk into a Starbucks and you're working and listening to the music playing over the loudspeakers. I'd be lieing if I said I never wondered what a song was while I was working at my local Caribou.
Think about it. You're in the coffee shop, and on your iPod it shows you what's playing. Think about the technology to make that happen. Regardless of the fact that it's Starbucks (with coffee that sucks). Think about the integration and the customer ease-of-use. Incredible. This will be popular over the long haul.
We can certainly debate what it means. Is it that Apple is not selling them as they hoped or as some have suggested that Apple wants in the mobile phone business in a big way and are willing to do the unthinkable (for Apple) and discount their product.
I actually don't care (too much). I love my iPhone and knew while standing in line for 6 hours that I was taking a risk. The same is true with any technology that you buy early.
There are three things that make this particularly frustrating for us reasonable early Apple adopters:
1. Apple doesn't discount. Ever. Well, okay, once a year the day after Thanksgiving, but never like this. A 5%-10% discount maybe, but 30%?
2. Timing. We Apple fans know that within 6-10 months Apple will release new hardware with more features at the same price. In this instance, the same exact product is getting a price reduction instead of the same price for an upgraded product. And this is happening after 2 months? If Apple had released a new 16GB iPhone at $599 and discounted the 8GB to $399 this wouldn't sting so bad. And get ready, there will be a 16GB iPhone in the very near future.
3. Visibilty. When Sony lowers the price on some Blu-Ray player or other electronic item, it's not plastered across the front page of every newspaper. So the people who bought the player earlier don't even know the pain of the lower price. Apple can't do anything nowadays without a bazillion people watching.
Regardless, it's the risk you take with technology. Would I like to see Apple offer something for us loyal early adopters? Sure - who wouldn't. Will I be all pissy and whiny like many out there and threaten to stop buying Apple products? Hell no.
If you purchased your iPhone within the last 14 days from Apple or 30 days from AT&T, you can return it to the store for a credit. If you waited in line for 6 hours and are now pissed that it's cheaper, suck it up and get a life.
Yep, that's gone too. No loss. It had great sound, but was a bit bulky especially for Apple.
Well, if you compare with what other carriers are charging for a 30 second or shorter clip of a song, Apple's $2 is either right on par or even slightly lower. I know with Cingular (which AT&T has already screwed up, but that's for another post) musical ring tones were almost $3 and you had no control on what part of the song the ring tone used.
With the new ringtone service from Apple, you get to choose what part of the song is the ringtone.
If you were willing to cough up $3 for a ringtone before, you'll surely cough up $2 and have full control. Damn kids.
But if you're going to be stubborn about it, TUAW has a few ways to get ringtones on the cheap (or less).
UPDATE: TUAW also has a review of the actual iTunes functionality.
Apple unceremoniously killed the 4GB iPhone today due to lack of consumer demand. Can't say I blame them. If you're spending $500 on a phone, you might as well go a step up ($100) and get the most storage you can so it obsolescence comes a tad bit slower.
But if storage isn't an issue and you want a great deal, Apple is selling the remaining stock of 4GB iPhones for $299.
A little-noticed item in today's announcements was the death of the white iPod. There are now no iPods in the iconic white. The new iPod Classic comes in Silver or Black. The iPod nano comes in every (might I add "unique") color except white.
While I personally carry a black iPod, there will always be a place in my heart for my first iPod - 5GB of storage, solid state wheel that actually turned, big clunky buttons around the wheel. Ah, memories.
Gizmodo has a fitting tribute to the white iPod.
