5 Things We Love, 5 Things We Hate About the New iPod Lineup

It's easy to say what we love about the new iPods—like Gizmodo commenters, they are each special in their own unique way. But there are some gnawing issues that we would like to bring up. First, five things we love:
• iPhone price drop - $200 discounts come to those who wait, and who in their right mind would buy a 4GB iPhone anyway?
• iPod touch's iPhone interface - Now everybody wants to be a hand model.
• Wi-Fi Music Store - I think I heard Steve Jobs say, "In yer face, Bill."
• 160GB iPod classic - There's a server in my pocket, but yes, I am happy to see you.
• Video nano - Hell, if Sony could do it...
Now, the stuff that doesn't sit so well:

• iPod touch's 16GB of flash - Solid-state can't deliver enough storage capacity yet—shoulda risked the bulkier, more fragile HDD, Steve!
• 99-cent ringtone surcharge - All for using your own damn songs on your own damn iPhone.
• The slightly hobbit-esque look of the nano - A little plump around the edges, no? I half-expected hairy toes.
• No free browsing in Starbucks - Give us a little taste for free, eh? How very crack-dealer of you.
• No e-mail app for the touch - The software is written, the platform is there—please don't make me check Gmail on Safari!!

There's actually one thing we're torn on, and that is being torn. We love so large a bounty of worthy toys, but I am sad that there are now three very different products from which I will have to choose. This may sound blasphemous, but I'll say it: there is no One True jPod.

Apple pulls a Coke with iPod Classic

Apple didn't just unleash their hot new iPod Touch today. Oh no, they also dropped an updated version of the iPod Nano. Just like the rumor mill predicted, it's a fat little guy, shorter and squatter than the last version. It's been beefed up to play video now, with a 2-inch, 320 x 240-pixel screen that'll play your vids just as well as the last-generation iPod videos.

It's got an updated interface, too, which includes Cover Flow, the same scrolling menus included on the iPhone. The new Nano will be available in a variety of colors, including a (red) one for that charity doohickey they've got going. The super-thin little guys will come in both 4-GB and 8-GB varieties, setting you back $150 and $200, respectively

Other Apple news you might have missed today

Didn't you hear? Apple unleashed an entirely new lineup of iPods today. But that's not all! Here's a rundown of some of the smaller news items you might have missed in the product explosion:
Ringtones on the iPhone: for an additional 99 cents, you can edit your own ringtones (between 3 and 30 seconds) out of any number of songs (500,000 iTunes songs are available at the moment) and slap them on your iPhone. That's pretty steep for songs you already own, don't you think?
iPhone Price Cut: the 4-GB iPhone has gone the way of the dodo, and the 8-GB model has dropped in price by $200 to a much nicer $399.
Wi-Fi Music Store: you can now buy any song from iTunes directly to your iPhone or iPod Touch using Wi-Fi.
Starbucks Deal: when you go to a Starbucks with either an iPhone or an iPod touch, it'll hook you up to the Wi-Fi and tell you what songs are playing and have recently played. You'll have free access to the Wi-Fi Music Store to buy them. Sadly, you don't get free Wi-Fi in Starbucks other than to use the store.

Docomo answers iPhone challenge in Japan

Although Japanese Mac fans have been patiently biding their time until the iPhone comes to Asia in 2008, one of the country's top cell-phone makers isn't waiting to get it's head taken off by Steve Jobs. Docomo has unveiled what looks to be the Japanese answer to the iPhone with its new FOMA HT1100 cell phone. As you can see in the video after the jump (click "Continue Reading" below), the phone uses the now familiar touchscreen interface, and even resembles the iPhone, sporting a minimalist one-button interface.

Where Docomo possibly outshines Apple is in its decision to include a pull-out keyboard, allowing users accustomed to years of dialing via tactile memory to avoid having to make a quantum leap just because some designer decided touchscreen tapping looks cool. In terms of software, the phone uses Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.0 and offers Internet Explorer for Web browsing and Outlook Mobile for e-mail. Docomo also claims that YouTube videos can be viewed on the device. The final Docomo masterstroke is that the device offers fingerprint authentication, an obvious feature for a touch-phone that Apple apparently overlooked.

The only thing missing from this iPhone killer, set to hit stores in the beginning of 2008, is a promise from Docomo that we'll be able to sync the phone with a Mac and a catchy geek-lust nickname

Top 10 Most Commonly Used Passwords

When my not-so-computer-savvy ex-girlfriend setup her new email address, it took me just a couple tries to figure it out. My first guess was my first name. Sadly, it wasn’t to be. My second guess was her first name. Bingo, I had access and I still do :)

The upcoming May 8 PC magazine will be featuring the top ten commonly used passwords. Here’s the list:

1. password
2. 123456
3. qwerty
4. abc123
5. letmein
6. monkey
7. myspace1
8. password1
9. blink182
10. (your first name)

Xplore Launches Digital Imaging Festival

Xplore flagged off its 24-day Digital Imaging Festival today at its store at Lamington Road today. The festival offers hands-on experience of products in a non-selling environment. The festival will also make purchasing easy by educating visitors on the USPs of the products displayed.

Explaining the need of such events, Chirag Vora, business development manager says, "This will be a good platform for people to actually understand and know the essentials of photography. Many a times people know photography but do not know what exactly will suit their needs and that is where digital imaging festival comes into picture. Here the users can get to learn and understand the entire digital imaging solution right from Capture-Store-Edit-Print."

"In this festival, visitors can get the feel of the product with live demonstrations. Customers can also consider the option of assembling their computers as top brands are all available under one roof," says a representative of Epson.

The Digital Imaging Festival which started today will go on till 29th September. There will be complete demonstrations of the printers, scanners, copiers, cameras, camcorders and imaging software technical experts. Digtial imaging companies such as Apple, Brother, Canon, Epson, Hewlett Packard, Intel, LaCie, LaserSoft, Sony and Umax are showcasing their products during the festival.

Competitions and workshops will be held during the festival and the highlight is the workshops that will be conducted by ace photographer Rohinton Mehta in three separate sessions covering topics such as the essentials of photography; selecting the right digital cameras; and digital imaging solution and photoshop basics.

The event will be open on all working days from 1 pm to 7 pm. Entry is free.

Canon India Drops EOS 350D Price

Canon India has announced a special price on EOS 350 D DSLR for its customers.

The EOS 350D D-SLR is now offered at a price of Rs. 28,995. The model known for its DIGIC II imaging processor offers different shooting modes for versatility and advanced functions for serious photographers.

Parveen Sahni, Assistant Director, Imaging Communication Products, Canon India said “It brings us great pleasure to see satisfied customers. The D-SLR range is not only for serious photographers but also for aspiring professionals and amateur photographers. Canon is offering the special price on EOS 350D as we are encouraging the customers to enhance their photography skills with this exciting camera.” He further added “Canon keeps on announcing such initiatives from time to time so that customers from any segment can experience and enjoy Canon’s products.”

The Canon EOS camera customer can now get these products at a 0% finance scheme and will get nine other gifts such as – a free return ticket, a 1 GB card, 1 year extended warranty, a Canon EOS Pro kit (jacket, cap and camera bag), digital photography training coupons, lens and accessories discount coupon, complimentary sensor and lens cleaning coupon, a digital photography course discount and a free digital photography handbook.

Facebook Lets Users Choose to go Public

Facebook Inc, the social-network site that has enjoyed explosive growth in new members over the past three months, said it plans to let users tell the rest of the world how to find them on the site.

Starting later on Wednesday, Facebook will begin notifying members they have a choice over whether to keep their listings private or to allow Facebook to make their name and profile picture available when outsiders search the site.

The Palo Alto, California-based site has grown to 39 million members, up 62.5 percent from 24 million in late May.

By publicizing member profiles, Facebook could attract a new wave of users. Unlike most sites on the Web, Facebook has previously denied access by search services to information on the site.

But after notifying users over the next 30 days of its plans to open up basic profile listings of its members, Facebook plans to begin allowing sites like Google , Yahoo or others to "crawl," or index, its public member profiles.

Early next month, non-members of Facebook will be able to type the names of friends or acquaintances into a search box on Facebook's home page at http://www.facebook.com to see if they have public profiles on Facebook in order to contact them.

But the move could still prove controversial among some members who prize the privacy protections Facebook offers relative to more open sites. Many members have criticized Facebook policy changes.

A year ago, Facebook weathered a privacy storm among students disturbed by changes that exposed users' postings to their friends. More recent changes that drew in more adults have also provoked concern among the site's core student base that parents and authority figures can monitor their activity.

Apple's Launches iPod Touch

While, till yesterday afternoon, Technology blogs were buzzing with speculations regarding the wide-screen iPod, Apple head honcho Steve Jobs, in Moscone West today unveiled a series of new iPods. If you have been keeping your ears strained for any news of these rumored iPods, you will be glad to know that in the new products revealed, there is also a model with an iPhone-style touch screen — iPod Touch. And yes, it's equipped with wireless Internet connectivity and comes bundled with Safari and YouTube. To top it, the new iPod will also have cover flow.

At the same time, Steve jobs unleashed the sixth generation iPod classic, along with the next generation iPod nano. While, the new nano will sport a 2-inch QVGA screen, and will also come bundled with three games, the iPod classic will now come in 80GB and 160GB capacities.

The 8GB iPod Touch will cost $299 and $399 for 16GB. The new nanos will cost $149 for 4GB and $199 for 8GB. The new iPod Classic will retail for $249 for 80GB and $349 for 160GB.

Samsung Launches Blu Ray HT system

After Samsung’s BD-P1000 (the world’s first Blu-ray player) and the second-generation BD-P1200, Samsung Electronics expands its lineup of high-definition optical disc players, with the launch of the BD-P1400, BD-P2400 and BD-UP5000, as well as the first Blu-ray Home Theater system.

The HT-BD2 7.1 channel HD receiver speaker system provides richer and powerful sound with its Dolby TrueHD and dts-HD Master Audio format support. A fully powered subwoofer, accentuated by four towers, a center channel, and two satellite rear speakers, gives the HT-BD2 1,100 Watts of total output power to keep movie and audio fans satisfied - all from a single component system that makes operating any function easy.

For a truly cinematic home theater viewing experience, the HT-BD2’s Blu-ray player offers full compatibility with 24 movie frames per second playback. As most movies are filmed at 24 frames per second, the HT-BD2 will be able to playback movies in their native format, significantly reducing unwanted artifacts. Setting the player’s Movie Frame (24Fs) feature to ON allows the consumer to adjust the HDMI 1.3 output to 24 frames per second for a crisp, theater-like experience. The HT-BD2 also supports 60Fs for enhanced compatibility with many of today’s HDTVs

iPhone Outsells Smartphones in July

Apple's iPhone outsold all smartphones in the United States in July, its first full month on sale, accounting for 1.8 percent of all U.S. mobile handset sales, research group iSuppli said on Tuesday.

ISuppli reiterated its forecast that Apple would sell 4.5 million iPhones this year, rising to more than 30 million in 2011.

The two models of the iPhone on the market sold more than Research in Motion's Blackberry series, the entire Palm portfolio and any individual smartphone model from Motorola, Nokia or Samsung.

Sales equalled those of LG Electronics' Chocolate, the most popular feature phone on the U.S. market, iSuppli said.

ISuppli classifies the iPhone as a crossover phone that competes with both smartphones, which have personal computer-like functions such as e-mail, and feature phones, which have extras such as cameras and music players.

"While iSuppli has not collected historical information on this topic, it's likely that the speed of the iPhone's rise to competitive dominance in its segment is unprecedented in the history of the mobile-handset market," iSuppli said.

"Apple achieved this in the face of numerous, well-entrenched competitors."

Most buyers of iPhones in the United States in July were male, under 35 and had a college degree, iSuppli said.

A quarter of those who bought an iPhone switched to operator AT&T, which has an exclusive service agreement for the iPhone in the United States.

The iPhone will go on sale in Europe later this year.

ISuppli gathered its data through a consumer survey of 2 million participants in the United States that it carries out online once a month.

NBC to Sell New TV Shows on Amazon Unbox

NBC Universal said Tuesday it will sell episodes of its new fall television shows using Amazon's Unbox digital download service, after the network failed to reach an agreement with Apple Inc. last week to offer the shows on iTunes.

Amazon.com Inc. and NBC Universal said that episodes of programs such as ''The Office'' and ''Heroes'' are currently available for $1.99 on Unbox, and that new episodes will be added to the site they day after they air. Customers will be able to buy an entire season of a show at once.

Free pilot episodes of NBC's new fall shows, such as ''Bionic Woman'' and ''Chuck,'' will appear starting Sept. 10.

The NBC content can be played, without commercials, on the computer screen, or on a TV through a Web-enabled TiVo set-top box.

On Friday, Apple said it will not sell any of NBC's programs for this fall season on iTunes. NBC and Apple have a contract that expires at the end of the year; Apple said NBC wanted to raise the prices for its content, a claim NBC has denied.

NBC Universal, which is majority owned by General Electric Co., has said it wants to package programming in different ways at different prices, something Amazon is willing to consider, according to Jean-Briac Perrette, president of NBC Universal's digital distribution division.

In an interview, Perrette said NBC Universal might like to sell single episodes of two different shows together, for example, or let customers who have already purchased several episodes buy a full season at a prorated price.

Rest In Peace Palm Foleo

Remember the Palm Foleo? It was Palm’s accompaniment to their mobile phones. If you haven’t heard of it, chances are you might not as Palm CEO Ed Colligan has decided it’s going to be canceled. He posted a message on the company’s official blog stating the same. Palm is one of the widest used platforms in the mobile industry and the Foleo was an add on to their existing platform.

“It has become clear that the right path for Palm is to offer a single, consistent user experience around this new platform design and a single focus for our platform development efforts. To that end, and after careful deliberation, I have decided to cancel the Foleo mobile companion product in its current configuration and focus all of our energies on delivering our next generation platform.” is what CEO Ed Colligan states in his blog entry.

So Palm has decided to go back to the drawing board and do what they do best – come up with another winner for their large user base. This decision is based on their idea to stick to developing their next generation of mobile phone platform and a Foleo II will be developed based on that platform.

New iPods to Help Apple Counter Rivals

Apple Inc is expected to unveil new iPods this week, injecting fresh excitement into the product line at a time when defections by partners have shown cracks in its digital music dominance.

Apple has not revealed what Chief Executive Steve Jobs will announce at a Wednesday event in San Francisco, but analysts are betting on an iPod with a large touchscreen and a new form for the smaller iPod Nano.

There is also speculation that Jobs could pull a surprise out of his sleeve and show off iPods with the ability to buy and download music wirelessly, or finally announce the addition of the Beatles' music catalog to the iTunes online store.

It may be more important than ever for Apple to keep its market-leading grip on music players as it finds its iTunes store increasingly under fire from content partners like NBC who are unhappy with how content is priced.

iPod sales accounted for 29 percent of Apple's $5.4 billion in revenue last quarter, and the new models would hit store shelves in time for the key holiday shopping season.

"Competitors seem to always be chasing the last generation of Apple products. It makes it very difficult for competitors to make a dent against Apple in this space," said Michael Gartenberg, an analyst with market research firm Gartner.

In typical fashion, Apple's stock has been on a tear since the event was announced, rising 13.5 percent over the past week. On Tuesday, the shares jumped $5.68, or 4.1 percent, to close at $144.16 on Nasdaq.

Apple was also buoyed by a pair of reports, one from market research firm iSuppli saying the iPhone was the best-selling smartphone in the United States in July, and one from Piper Jaffray saying that sales of iPhones and Macintosh computers were on track to be slightly better than expected.

Updated models are also crucial to maintaining the market dominance of the iPods, which make up seven of 10 digital media players sold in the United States.

Last week, NBC Universal, the top supplier of video content to iTunes, said it would not renew its contract to sell shows on the service because it wanted more flexibility in the way it priced and packaged videos.

"That's the stab in Apple's back. If NBC walks, somebody else may walk. It needed somebody to step away because Apple's got all the pricing power," said Darren Aftahi, an analyst with ThinkEquity Partners.

Earlier this year, Universal's music business said it would not renew a long-term contract to sell songs on iTunes, leaving open the possibility of striking an exclusive deal with another service.

iTunes is also facing more competition from the likes of Wal-Mart Inc, which last month began selling downloadable songs without any copy protection, and Amazon.com Inc, which is expected to launch its music download store this month, and MTV Networks and RealNetworks, which are combining their online music efforts.

"Why can't everyone go digital? NBC can go to Wal-Mart and say, 'Give us a better pricing plan and we'll do an exclusive with you.' I'm not convinced iTunes is going to be the digital media powerhouse everyone expects it to be," Aftahi said.

Sony Corp, the Japanese electronics giant that once owned the personal portable audio market with its Walkman cassette players, is also trying to mount a comeback with new digital video players and is reported to be looking into a music and video download service.

iTunes is a relatively small part of Apple's business, doing about $600 million in sales in the most recent quarter. But all those iPod fans have turned Apple into the third-largest music retailer in the United States, according to market research firm NPD.

"At this point the music stores and the services are driven by the music players, not the other way around. You don't start shopping at the iTunes music store and go out and buy an iPod, it's the other way around," Gartenberg said.

Zune Phone Not Unreasonable: Microsoft

Microsoft Corp. said on Tuesday that it is "not unreasonable" for the company to introduce a mobile phone combined with features of its Zune digital music player to compete with Apple Inc.'s iPhone.

The Zune phone, a topic of speculation for months since Microsoft introduced its first digital music player last year, could be driven by consumer demand for one multimedia device to make phone calls, play music and take pictures.

To date, the focus of Microsoft's mobile phone business has been providing its Windows Mobile software to handset manufacturers, but the company said an integrated business model of making both device and software could make sense.

"It wouldn't be unreasonable to think at some point there might some integrated thing," Mindy Mount, chief financial officer of Microsoft's entertainment and devices division, told investors at Citigroup's global technology conference.

Microsoft has sent mixed signals about the Zune phone. At the time it introduced the Zune last year, the company said a Zune phone was definitely part of its future plans.

Earlier this year, Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said at a CEO forum that the Zune phone is not a concept that Microsoft would ever pursue. But he then said it could easily add music or gaming functionality to its Windows Mobile platform.

Windows Mobile is one of Microsoft's fastest growing businesses with license sales expected to nearly double this fiscal year to more than 20 million copies.

It remains a product largely targeted at office workers, but Mount expects that to change as consumers push to combine work and personal needs onto one handset. She said she was not making any specific announcements about its future products.

Mount declined to comment on rumors that Microsoft may buy BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion Ltd., but said the company is happy with its future in mobile right now.

"What I would ask people is what (RIM) really gets you. A lot of their money is coming from the hardware business and they are going after a very particular segment," said Mount, whose division also oversees the Xbox game console and Zune music player business.

Mount also said the mobile strategy of the two companies is quite different.

Microsoft has been focused on building scale by rolling out Windows Mobile to as many different devices and operators as possible while RIM, according to Mount, has been focused on being profitable with its limited number of handsets.

Orkut Now Available in 5 Indian Languages

Orkut's taking keen interest in what we Indians want (We're sure it doesn't have anything to do with winning the Pepsi and MTV Youth Icon Award).

The insanely popular social networking site will now be available in 5 new languages - Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Tamil, and Telugu.

"Indians have always been a vibrant part of the Orkut community, and we continue to see more Indians joining Orkut every day. It's our goal to make Orkut the ultimate tool for self-expression and communication, and we know that if we're not translated into your native language, this becomes harder. So we worked closely with Googlers in our Indian offices to help develop the initial release of these languages", said a post by Patrick Barry, Software Engineer, on the Orkut blog.

Orkut is asking users for feedback to help them improve the translation or tell them what language they'd like to see Orkut in by visting the community Indian Language Translations .

These five languages were initially chosen because together they cover 80% of India. To view the Orkut site in Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Tamil or Telugu, users have to click the settings button under their profile photo (or click the blue settings link at the top of any page); on the general tab, choose their preferred display language from the drop-down menu at the top of the page and finally save the changes.

If users encounter trouble reading languages on the "Settings" page, maybe the browser scripts have not been updated. For Internet Explorer, go to "Tools" and then "Windows Update"and accept the Windows XP Service Pack 2 update.

All languages are included in this update.