A couple of weeks ago Steve Jobs took to the stage to unveil the new iPods, as well as a brand new version of iTunes, version 8. Now that I have finished watching the keynote presentation for myself, here’s my thoughts on the new iPods and iTunes 8.

The new iPod Nano is sure to make a hit this Christmas among music lovers. While I personally don’t want one (or any iPod for that matter, I’m saving my money for a 32GB iPhone when that day arrives), the iPod Nano is truly better than ever, boasting more colors, an easier-to-view display, a sleeker design, and features such as the accelerometer, shake to shuffle, and Genius playlists simply make it an impressive portable media device. And the new in-ear buds signals in what I believe will be Apple’s next transition, finally dumping the earbuds they’ve been shipping for years. 

The iPod Touch also got some delightful updates, such as a brand new stainless steel backing, the integration of the Nike+iPod sensor, new volume controls, integrated speaker, and, of course, Genius. I truly believe some of these hardware additions to the iPod Nano and iPod Touch will make it in the next round of iPhones as well (as well as the 32GB model). 

And I also believe the iPod Classic’s life is coming to a close. With only one capacity level in the device, I think it’s safe to say that the iPod Nano will be replacing the iPod Classic entirely in the near future. 

But the iPod’s weren’t the only things that were updated at the keynote. Two other updates also happened, iTunes 8 & iPhone 2.1. iTunes 8 now delivers some enhanced viewing modes such as Grid view and skimming, as well as better universal access support. Also added to iTunes 8 was Genius, the ability to automatically make playlists of songs that go great together. In addition, new visualizers, HDTV shows, the return of NBC to the iTunes store, and a few performance enhancements top off iTunes 8. Is it revolutionary? Not really. Is it worth the update? Definitely. And I think it’s also safe to say that the next version of iLife and OS X Snow Leopard will include features such as Genius in some form or fashion. How about Genius photo albums? Genius movie events? Or Genius folders on your Mac? I definitely believe Apple will find creative ways to use the enhancements in iTunes 8 in other areas on the Mac.

iPhone users should also rejoice from the keynote with the new iPhone 2.1 update. The update fixes issues with dropped cell phone calls on the AT&T network (interesting, what happened to the “network with the fewest dropped calls”? Exactly.), better battery life, reduced backup time to iTunes, improved email reliability, faster app installation, fixed some application bugs, improved text messaging performance, improved contact loading performance, improved 3G signal strength display, added a repeat alert option for text messages, added the option to wipe the phone clean after ten passcode attempts, as well as added Genius to the iPhone. This free update should keep iPhone users happy until Apple adds Cut/Copy/Paste and voice dialing in another iPhone update (whenever that will be). 

Speaking of the iPhone, let me bring to your attention three other happenings in the iPhone world. First of all, for developers, the NDA policy put out by Apple, (what I generally refer to as the “Cone of Silence”), is officially dead. Apple dropped the NDA policy and ditched the Cone of Silence October 1st. So if you’ve been having slower iPhone development due to the fact that you could not share your ideas with other iPhone developers, you are now free from the bonds of NDA. This is especially good news for my company, since we are a company based on partnerships, the only way we can become an effective iPhone developer is to partner with other iPhone developer companies to deliver you the finest applications. Now Apple just needs to document better iPhone Application development policies, on which I am working on submitting my feedback to Apple on this matter.

In addition, the iPhone has just become easier to purchase. You can now visit Apple’s Website to choose your iPhone and AT&T Rate Plan, then just visit your nearest Apple Store to pick up your phone and begin enjoying it. While this new service does make the iPhone purchasing process faster, I wish they’d extend the service to AT&T Stores so the service would truly be convenient for everyone.

Also, do you have one of Apple’s new Ultra Compact USB Power Adapters? If so, yours may be one of the ones Apple has recently recalled due to the fact that under certain conditions the prongs can break off when plugged in, causing electric shock. Apple is offering a free exchange program for those with affected adapters. More details are available at Apple’s website.

Well folks I’m getting all ready for my trip. I’ll be leaving soon so I won’t be doing too much posting until I get back unless I discover some great new tech news that I just have to post. During this time I’ll be doing most of my posting on the WeatherBug Backyard Blog since this is a WeatherBug Road Trip. Who knows? I might be able to stop in and say hi though & tell you how I’m enjoying the beautiful North Georgia Mountains. When I return I’ll resume all my regular blogging here as well as try to setup a new “Nathan’s Tech Tip” column where I’ll make screencasts of how to make the most out of your computing experience!

That’s it for now! Take care everyone!

Nathan Parker

Sorry I haven’t posted in a while, but we’ve been quite busy due to Ike making landfall here. We didn’t get too much damage at my place, but others around Arkansas saw quite a bit of damage with many out of power until just the other day. So that’s what’s been keeping me busy. I hope to resume more regular blogging soon! Hop on over to the WeatherBug Blog to view my weather report on Ike.

In a few weeks I’m also going a vacation to the North Georgia Mountains. During that time I’ll be doing most of my blogging for WeatherBug since I’m going on a weather reporting trip, and you’ll want to check in with the WeatherBug Blog periodically to see how my trip is going. However, I will be visiting the Apple store and a few other technology stores, so if I pick up any good technology news I’ll post it here during my trip!

Well, have to run. Hope to have some more tech tips for you next time!

If you haven’t already heard , Google has recently launched the Beta of it’s flashy new web browser, Google Chrome which is, I quote:

a browser that combines a minimal design with sophisticated technology to make the web faster, safer, and easier.

It boasts a simple design, with only the most crucial of functions on the toolbar (Back, Forward, Refresh, Address Bar, ‘Control’ and ‘Options’) and has tabs available. But, typing this I notice much to my horror that I can’t use the correct spelling suggestions for the spell-checker (!) - hopefully this will be fixed in the final version!

Otherwise, it certainly is easy to use, you can import bookmarks from Firefox (and Internet Explorer too presumably) which appear under the address bar. There’s not much more to say otherwise, until I’ve used it some more, but first impressions are good

Hello everyone!

This is a message to inform everyone that I have recently joined the Tech Time blog! I am happy to be here as one of the bloggers, and I hope that you enjoy the technological information I give you. For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Nathan Parker (not to be confused with the famous actor in the UK). I’m currently the President/CEO of Mallard Computer, Inc., an information technology corporation whose goal is to provide breakthrough tomorrow’s technology for ministries (as well as the general public). I’m also the WeatherBug Backyard Sr. Anchor for Hot Springs, Arkansas, and weather report often at the WeatherBug Backyard Blog. I also blog at my corporate site, and before founding Mallard I was a blogger for StillTruth.com. I have cross-platform experience, as well as some Linux experience. I also have much networking and web design experience. My expertise lies in providing ministries with the proper technology they need, and I am an expert in just about every Bible software program on the market (although my favorite is Logos).

In addition to the credentials above, I’m also a registered Apple developer for the Mac platform, and I will be becoming a registered iPhone developer by next year. I’m also a developer for the Windows platform as well. In addition, I’m a registered member of the NWS CWOP program, a Wunderground.com member, and a 10 year national member of the NFSM piano playing auditions. I’m currently a high school senior and will be attending Luther Rice Seminary to pursue a doctorate in ministry upon graduation from A Beka Academy’s DVD homeschool program.

Thank you again for having me aboard, and I look forward to providing you with my knowledge of technology.

Prayerfully yours,

Nathan Parker

Tech Time Blog Editor

President/CEO

Mallard Computer, Inc.

Some of you may have just got a dual-core notebook and realised what all the hype was about. But I am sorry to burst your bubble. There has been a few lucky (and insane) people who have managed to get their hands on a Intel-Quad-Core (yes, thats 4, four) cores.

Apple, however are looking into having said quad-cores (just smaller, less power-hungry versions) in their range of notebooks, by the end of next month!

Below are some of the other enhancements, detailed by PC World (not the idiots in the Computer stores over here in the UK):

With between two and eight cores, the speed of Nehalem chips will be enhanced with QuickPath Interconnect (QPI) technology, which integrates a memory controller and provides a faster pipe for chips and system components to communicate. Nehalem will support DDR3 memory and include shared 8M bytes of shared L3 cache for local cores to better execute threads. Each core will be able to execute two software threads simultaneously, so a server with eight processor cores could potentially run 16 threads simultaneously.

Source: macrumors.com

As you can see, this isn’t ye olde K2 (The wordpress theme we where using before this one).

What do you think of it? I think I like it!

OK, We know that TechTime doesnt REALLY look that unique right now. It’s using the great, but.. Pretty common K2 theme. I’m currently looking at some other themes, which could me modified to make this look more… interesting. I may end up modifying K2, I might modify a different theme or could even try and make my own (Allthought that would proberbly tak eup more time than I have…).

Whichever way it goes - Dont let the theme put you off - It’s being worked upon

Now back to Coursework…

Oh dear. This is another story of Lithion-Ion overheating/exploding. This has got the be at least the 2nd time it has happened to apple. First, In their Macbook’s (with sony batterys….), and now i’n certain models of the iPod Nano.

It was first reported in Tokyo - Some one had their Nano on a piece of paper, and it burnt it. That’s got to be pretty damn hot - I wouldnt want that in my pocket.

If you have a MA004J/A, MA005J/A, MA099J/A or MA107J/A model Nano, I’d contact apple for further advice, before you start resting your beloved on your Eye, in your mouth or in any other sensitive area’s…. Some people like apple far too much

[Source]

Many of us try our hardest to get up and do exercise, but the chair in front of the pc is so hard to resist. But for some of out there, who own the iPod Touch or iPhone could soon be in for a treat.

You all remember the Nike+ for iPod Nano (the gadget that measures how far you have run and plots graphs and other snazzy shizz) well, there have been some screen-shots leaked, and this could mean its comming to the Touch range of products.

If this is true, I may have to try it out… in the interests of researching new products of course :D…

Source: MacRumors.com

This is quite an impressive statistic… But I think I know why.

A majority of Computer Manufacturers give the choice of Vista, Vista or Vista. A LOT of people will buy a lower-end computer, which will not run vista properly well.  Because of this, they get “VISTA IS EVIL” embedded in their mind, and downgrade back to good old XP. This causes one big-ass loop, which will mean that Microsoft get bad press for releasing a “rubbish operating system”, which is only rubbish because people are buying cheap computers.

I’m not a microsoft fanboy by any means - It’s partly their fault too. They should proberbly have made it more compatible with older/lower end hardware. That being said, vista isnt AWFUL on a machine with a P4 and 1GB ram - It’s just not as responsive as XP is, with a Celeron and 512MB ram.

Let’s hope Windows 7 will be better

Thanks to RegHardware for the statistics