Apple’s new lineup has been announced: A new iPod touch with a Retina display and dual cameras, a bite-sized touchscreen Nano, a sandwich-sized stream-only Apple TV, and updates to both iTunes and iOS, improving their social and gaming capabilities.
We’ve got the news in about 20 separate posts, sure, but we have yet to apply our keen blogging sense to the announcements, rooting through the specs and pricing like trained truffle-hogs, and emerging gorged with opinion. Only then, our blog-thirst sated with Coldplay and turtlenecks, can we resume normal coverage of non-Apple news → Read More
Apple unveiled the new iPod touch today at their special event, along with several other music- and media-related devices. Of course, we’ve been hearing murmurs and leaks about it for some time now, and the new device pretty much tallies with our expectations. → Read More
One of the big announcements at Apple’s event today was Ping, the music social network that Apple has baked into iTunes. But it’s not just on iTunes for the computer, it’s also a part of iTunes on the iPhone and iPod touch. This will be a part of the new iOS 4.1 release which is going out to developers right now, and should be out for consumers next week.
In the demo area after the event, Apple had a bunch of iPod touches loaded with iOS 4.1, so we got to play around with it. It’s a pretty slick experience on the device because it’s so simple. Below find some pictures of how it works. → Read More
Apple has an event on the books for this coming Wednesday and it’s widely expected that Steve-O will announce new iDevices, specifically an iOS-version of the Apple TV and new iPods. Most of the pre-iTV news is purely speculative as we really don’t know much about it, although it should hit at a lower price point and a new cloud-based iTunes should debut alongside the device. Forget about the cable TV assault for a quick minute though. Let’s talk about these new iPods. If things go down as the leaks seem to say, you might actually want a dedicated PMP device again. The iPod is set to have a second coming. → Read More
We’ve just received an invite to an Apple event taking place on Wednesday, September 1. Yes, next week. The event will be at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater in San Francisco at 10 AM PT.
While Apple will only say that this is a “special event,” the image above makes it clear that just as with their events every September, this one will be mainly about music — or at least the iTunes ecosystem. At this event, Apple is widely expected to unveil (or at least talk about) their new iTV device — the next-generation Apple TV. And they may have a thing or two to say about an iTunes television show rental service. → Read More
Look, we get it: some folks been able to source iPod Touch 4G screens from creepshow contacts in Asia. We’re well aware that there will probably be a front-facing camera, the screen will probably be better, and it will probably be available on September 7, just in time for Apple’s back-to-school event. In all honesty, I’m kind of over it. → Read More
It’s almost that time of the year. Are you excited? It’s almost new iPod time! Of course there will be a new iPod touch, but the big question is whether it will have dual cameras and retina display. If these parts from China have anything to say, it’s that there will be at least a front-facing camera, perfect for Facetime. Apparently this part is a prototype and leaked out of a random factory. It’s even available for purchase — only $650 Chinese yuan ($95 USD). Legit? Possible, but we’ve heard this story a time or two before so don’t get that excited. → Read More
The flood gates are open! The tPhone is the third iPod touch 3G jacket we’ve seen in as many weeks. Just like the Apple Peel 520 and the Sprint-bound Peel, this device adds a 3G modem to a jailbroken iPod touch, which then allows for phone calls and SMS. This model, however, seems to follow the same design cues as the Sprint Peel and is more of a docking jacket than a wrap-around silicon case like the Apple Peek 520. Along with adding the 3G modem to the iPod touch, the case also brings a non-removable 1200mAh battery and mini-USB port to the docked touch. Who knows if this model will ever hit the US borders, but even if this one doesn’t, others will now that jail breaking is a perfectly legal action in the states. [Sina via micgadgets] → Read More
And why not? The iPod touch has always been positioned as a non-phone version of the current iPhone, though the hardware hasn’t always been completely in parallel. The original iPod touch got a hardware boost that put it past the original iPhone, but was leapfrogged by the 3GS and now, almost a year after the iPod touch 3rd generation announcement, it seems pretty natural that they should align its key features with the iPhone 4.
Apple wonk John Gruber has casually suggested on Daring Fireball that a few weeks will bring us a Retina display-toting and dual camera-equipped iPod touch. He’s been right with this sort of prediction before, and this particular one doesn’t even take any inside information. The timing and positioning are perfect for Apple to debut the iPod touch 4. → Read More
Apple fanboys, ebay just crashed your party as the auction site pulled the iPod touch camera listing. Why? Here’s part of Ebay’s statement. Most items listed on eBay are legitimate, and there are many things we do to protect our members from buying items that aren’t. One thing we do is remove items reported to us as allegedly infringing through the eBay VeRO program. In this case, we removed the listing because the copyright or trademark owner of this product reported that they believe the item may not be authentic. Fun times. → Read More
Apple rumors are fly left and right these days. That must mean something is happening real soon. MacMagazine just got word from one of their reliable sources that an Apple event is on the books for sometime between August 14-16, making Monday the 16th a shoe-in. They say the event is centered around both the new FaceTime-equipped iPod touch and the iPad’s iOS4 update. But as with most Apple press confernences, the event’s details won’t really be known until Jobs advances the keynote to the next point. Update: MacRumors just noticed in the latest iOS 4.1 build that Facetime no longer needs a phone number to connect. Email address work also, which is perfect for, say, the iPod touch. Apple is about to own your face. → Read More
While the whole world waits for the official iPod touch camera edition, one random dude is selling a camera-equipped 3rd generation model right now on ebay. It’s not going to be cheap (current bid is over $120 as of writing) but the winner will have a bonafide piece of Apple history. → Read More
The iPod touch has always been looked upon like a phone-less iPhone, but users will soon be able to change that as suddenly, there’s a few different 3G jackets popping up. The seemingly Sprint-bound Peel hit the FCC a few days back and now a similar product was reviewed in China. The Apple Peel 520 (probably not officially endorsed by Apple) seems slightly different than the Sprint Peel as it’s more of a case than a backpack, but its goal of adding a 3G modem to the iPod touch is the same. Spoiler? It works. → Read More
Disclosure: The photo above isn’t supposed to be the next iPod touch. It’s a photo mock up that one case manufacturer apparently made to match the specs provided by Apple. As you can clearly see, though, there’s a rear-facing camera with flash. Does this mean Apple is finally ready to put a camera in the Touch? → Read More
Sure it looks horrible and the video is awful, but believe us when we tell you that the same guys who created the Spirit jailbreak have ported Flash to the iPhone. The video, apparently taken through the pinhole camera truck the Bloodhound Gang built back in the 1980s to see where they were being taken after a kidnapping, shows a Strongbad clip. This is obviously a proof of concept in its purest sense – it’s basically a bit of Flash ported to the iPod Touch using some unknown method – but it proves that it’s possible. You can keep your eye on the project by following Comex on Twitter. → Read More
What’s going on in Vietnam? Unannounced Apple products seem to be falling from the sky. The same group that released the second round of iPhone 4G pics got their hands on an iPod touch with a 2MP rear-facing camera. The DVT-1 stamp clearly states that it’s not a production model, but rather a pre-production or prototype model, suggesting that this boy might not ever get a release. → Read More
Earlier today, testers of the new mobile payment service, Square, got a scare.
Emails were sent out suggesting that users had changed their bank account information, and Square was emailing to let them know that the new account was verified. The only problem? These users didn’t actually change a thing. Obviously, this caused some concern, as did the note at the bottom of the email, “If you have not requested this change, please contact support@squareup.com.” After Square started receiving emails wondering what was going on, they sent out a second email letting users know that nothing was wrong, they were just tweaking the backend of the system, and forgot to turn off email notifications for current testers. “Your bank account has not been affected. Square, and your data, have not be compromised in any way,” the email read.
I spoke to co-founder Jack Dorsey tonight about the mix-up, and he assures me that this was in no way a breach of security. Obviously, people are on high-alert for these types of things given the news last week that some credit card information ended up on Google compliments of the startup Blippy. But today’s Square incident was just a poorly-timed email, nothing more. → Read More
Steve Jobs doesn’t blog often, but when he does, it’s always entertaining. Today, Apple’s CEO has taken the time to write a 1,700 word post about why Apple (or perhaps more precisely, he) doesn’t like Adobe Flash. And why Apple doesn’t support it in new products. And more importantly, why Apple won’t support it in new products.
The post is full of great quotes (whether you agree with them or not). Jobs both directly or indirectly rips Adobe at least two dozen times. It’s hard to imagine anyone at a company, let alone the CEO, doing that. Sure, Adobe has a few times over the past several months, but that’s only because they’ve had the rug swept out from under them. And those public responses are probably the exact reason we’re seeing this response from Jobs. Here are some of the choice quotes from Jobs’ piece and a rough translation of what Jobs likely really means (just in case it’s not clear enough). → Read More
Before Twitter bought Atebits, Loren Brichter was busy. Not only was he hard at work on a follow up to Tweetie for Mac and a version for the iPad, but he had a secret side project that no one knew about. Until now. Meet Textie.
Textie is a dead-simple application with one purpose: free and beautiful texting for the iPhone and iPod touch. Given what a complete and utter rip-off traditional text messaging is, it’s a little surprising that there hasn’t been any backlash against the format. Instead, it’s exploding in usage. But as apps such as TextPlus have proven, there’s clearly a market for people who want to send messages without the fees. While TextPlus focuses mainly on group texting, Textie’s angle is to keep things clean and simple. The key ingredient is the interaction between the app and email. → Read More
