Apple in the News for Wednesday March 29 17:05 PM

NEWS From digg.com

Apple adds noise limit to iPod firmware

Volume discount
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Apple Turns Down the Volume

In response to recent concerns over the potential for MP3 players to cause hearing damage, Apple has released iPod Software Update 1.1.1, which adds a feature that lets you set the iPod's maximum volume.
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Apple software chief stepping down

Avadis ``Avie'' Tevanian, Apple Computer's chief software technology officer, will step down at the end of the month, the company confirmed Tuesday.
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iPod gets volume limit

following the recent controversy regarding the hearing loss due to supposedly intolerable volume levels of iPods, the new firmware comes with a volume limiting functionality for your ipod.
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Apple vs Apple: High Court freaks out

The Royal Courts of Justice came alive to the beat of the 1978 disco classic Le Freak today as two giants of the music business clashed in a battle over internet downloads and a piece of forbidden fruit.
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Steve Jobs, Take Down This DRM Wall (AAPL)

While this sounds radical, Fairplay is no real protection for content today. Anyone who wants to create an unprotected digital copy of an iTunes track today need only write it to CD and then re-rip it into digital AIFF or MP3 form. Those who don't want to bother with the CD can download the PlayFair utility that simply removes the DRM.
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Technorati Tags:
Apple, Mac, iPod

Apple in the News for Wednesday March 29 00:02 AM

Geneva iPod Speaker Systems Now Shipping....pics included

Geneva Labs has announced that it is now shipping its first two Geneva Sound System models. Available in red, white or black, the Geneva Model L (100 watts) and Model XL (600 watts) feature a dedicated iPod dock, built-in CD player, FM radio, and audio inputs
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Apple IIe - End of an Era?

Mr. Carruth/Vance, a third grade teacher at Agnes Smith Elementary School in Huntington Beach, CA has been supporting over twenty Apple IIe systems for the past 15 years... Vance's third graders fight over the chance to get use of one of these puppies. Vance will be retiring and no one to support the computers...
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Technorati Tags:
Apple, Mac, iPod

Apple in the News for Wednesday March 29 00:02 AM

Geneva iPod Speaker Systems Now Shipping....pics included

Geneva Labs has announced that it is now shipping its first two Geneva Sound System models. Available in red, white or black, the Geneva Model L (100 watts) and Model XL (600 watts) feature a dedicated iPod dock, built-in CD player, FM radio, and audio inputs
Link

Apple IIe - End of an Era?

Mr. Carruth/Vance, a third grade teacher at Agnes Smith Elementary School in Huntington Beach, CA has been supporting over twenty Apple IIe systems for the past 15 years... Vance's third graders fight over the chance to get use of one of these puppies. Vance will be retiring and no one to support the computers...
Link

Technorati Tags:
Apple, Mac, iPod

Apple in the News for Tuesday March 28 23:41 PM

Amazing iPod tricks!!! Very cool and funny!!!

Great optical illusions that you can do with your iPod. You have to check this out!!
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South Park Season 10 Season Pass Just Added

$11.99 for all current and furture episodes of South Park, Season 10. Link for itunes
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Sumo Debuts Limited Edition World Cup iPod Cases

Sumo Cases has introduced a new collection of leather iPod cases designed for the 2006 World Cup soccer tournament. Made for fifth-generation iPods, the new striped cases feature the flag colors of eight countries, a soccer ball patch, and hexagon-shaped stitching.
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Giant iPod Seen From Space

Weird. Someone has a serious Apple fetish. This is a link to a Google Maps image of a gigantic iPod that is visible from space. Its not done, but once it is - I hope to God that it wont be playin' "Bananarama"
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Impressions of the Apple MacBook Pro

I still don't have a MacBook Pro (poor me..) but the first impressions are starting to arrive from people that received their laptops.

A blogger posts his experience with the new machine

I'm quite happy with it. Immediate impressions:

• Much faster than my old PowerBook
• Gorgeous screen
• Awesome power connector
• Runs hotter
• Better sound
• Nicer form factor (slightly thinner)

He also claims that some programs running under Rosetta in the new MacBook Pro are even faster than their native versions, what he attributes to poor optimization of the x86 code.

Anyway the MacBook Pro looks like an impressive machine.

Link via Other-eighty.

Technorati Tags: Apple, Mac, iPod

Apple wins a large contract to supply laptops

Apple has recently won a big contract with the state of Maine to supply laptops for education purposes.

According to the contract, Apple will be supplying 36 thousand laptops in the next few years to professors, students, and others involved in the educational project of the state of Maine.

This is the second big contract won by Apple this year. The other contract also involved laptops. Apple has winning these contracts against other big suppliers such as Dell. This show the acceptance that Apple is having among educational institutions.

Technorati Tags: Apple, Mac, News

Running windows on the Apple Mac

Running Windows is not what most mac fans like to do (otherwise, they would move to the PC world), but it seems that there is some people considering the Apple just as a glorified hardware platform for running windows software.

Among the hackers determined to run windows on Apple Macs, some have had good success. In the picture, Windows Media Center is shown in a brand new iMac Intel. It shows that the new Macs will conquer much more than the hard core mac users, but also a new generation that just wants a fancy machine to run the old Windows programs.

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Technorati Tags: Apple, Gadgets, Mac

Apple iPhone: more mockups

There are some products that, if they don't exist, they should. One example is the rumored Apple iPhone: a simple iPod extended with mobile phone capabilities is the dream of numerous people.

Some people get even to the length of design a new product, in the way they would like to see it. For example, the iPhone has a large amount of possible designs, as can be see in this page.

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If the iPhone, if launched, be as exciting as shown in some of these pictures, certainly it is gonna be a huge success.

Technorati Tags: Apple, Entertainment, Gadgets, iPod

A new competitor for Apple Mac Mini

The Gizmodo blog reports on the announcement of a new competitor for Apple's Mac Mini computer. The small computer is called the Tango Cocktail CK-5201 Mini PC.

What this computer has is a Intel Core Duo T20300 processor at the clock speed of 1.66 Gz. And, more important for the home user, it has a nice design, shown in the picture above.

For mac fans, however, the big problem with the Tango Cocktail is really that is doesn't run Apple's Mac OS X. In fact, this can only be good if you are satisfied with the uggly Microsoft Media Center. Another downside: the video card is not the best for heavy game playing.

Technorati Tags: Apple, Entertainment, Gadgets, Mac Mini

Fake iPod ad

Maybe Apple should start saving money with advertisement. Apple customers are not only "designing" new products, they are also creating great pieces of advertisement. The last mock up is of the imaginary "iPod AV", a new iPod that would supposedly have a screen as large as the device.

Despite being unofficial, the design is really nice. Apple should use some of these ideas...

Link

Technorati Tags: Advertisement, Apple, iPod

Apple Radio Remote Reviewed

The radio is one of the traditional way of getting access to music and entertainment. If may be a little old-fashioned, but it is still certainly useful. Therefore, even if you have a brand new iPod you may want to give a try to your "old" radio station.

This is exactly what the Apple radio remote let you do: listen to all your local radio stations, using a convenient interface that can be connected to the iPod.

Connected to the phone cable of the iPod, the innovative design of the iPod radio remote let you control the radio stations using a small "remote control". The radio station is shown in the screen of the iPod, so there is not mistake about what kind of station you are listening.

Moreover, compared to the solutions of other companies, it sell for only $49, which is cheap when it comes to Apple products.

Is Apple becomming the next SONY?

With the introduction of the iPod Hi-Fi on Tuesday, Apple has started to clearly follow a path that would not been thought possible for the company a few years ago: they are starting to introduce consumer electronic products that appeal to users more because of the "Apple" brand than anything else.

As a byproduct of the huge success of iPod in the market, Apple is nowadays viewed not only as a computer company, but as designer of beautiful and useful products (with a bend for musical technologies). This is clearly very different from the view held about the company during the 80s and 90s.

During the 80s, Apple was perceived just as one of the pioneers of personal computers. In fact, some Apple followers bought Macs because they liked the feeling of being using machines from the pioneers of the personal computing industry. Remember, for example, that was in the 80s that Apple released the first mass produced computer with a graphical interface.

For a good part of the 90s, on the other hand, Apple was viewed as a decadent company, living only of the small number of fanatic followers that bought their products. This was in some sense correct, because the company loose touch of the larger computer market, and instead continued to strive only for niches such as sound editing, graphical design, and related areas.

Now, after the iPod, Apple is viewed not only as a computer company, but also as a household brand for good engineered and designed products. And by doing this, Apple is repeating in USA what other companies from Asia, especially SONY, have been able to do: use the simple appearance of its logo to convey the idea of high technology and design.

The release of the iPod Wi-Fi, represents therefore the recognition that Apple can be much more than a computer company. They can leverage the brand to launch a high range of consumer electronic products, which, if successful, will attract the same crowds that bought iPods in the beginning of the 2000s. Let us see if this really proves the right way for the company to do during the next few years. My only desire on all this is that Apple be successful, but don't forget their origins as makers of good computers.

Technorati Tags: Apple, iPod

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