The media has been abuzz lately about a new version of the Apple iPod Touch. Now in all honesty it’s nothing we haven’t seen before but what Apple is doing is trying to revolutionize the mp3 market by adding cellphone specs to a mp3 player such as a built-in camera and microphone. Obviously those two features aren’t something new and it will probably be the highlight of the new features packaged with the new Apple iPod Touch but what it will do is allow Apple iPod Touch users to download apps only useful to iPhone users such as Shazam. Granted, users will need to be in a WiFi zone but what’s stopping people from subscribing to personal hotspots offered by companies like Rogers and Verizon that will allow them to be always on the grid.

TruPhone

Now what might even further revolutionize the mp3 industry is the fact of the availability of some applications such as Truphone and Fring which allow Apple iPod Touch users to call other users with the same application for free once they are in a WiFi zone and with the built-in microphone you’ve now got a working phone that makes VoIP calls.

Now all of you must be asking when will this new Apple iPod Touch be coming out? Sources say the timeframe would be around the next two to three months which matches up with the new releases of other Apple products. This is all just around the time when school starts and students, who are usually the trend setters, go back to school and want to have the newest gadgets. Look for this mp3 player to change a small part of the world.

Update: Not only will the Apple iPod Touch have a camera but the Apple iPod Nano will have one too. “My company had got full information and dimension,” wrote a Chinese distributor in an email to a U.S. reseller. “Enclosed some image and instruction for your reference. Most of the sample available now. If you need some sample check quality please freely let me know.”

The cameras on the Apple iPod Nano will be placed in the bottom left corner whereas the Apple iPod Touch’s camera will be surprisingly in the center of the device at the top (not dead centre which I first thought when I read it). Going with what Apple traditionaly does, it will be a safe bet to say that both these devices will get double the storage at the same price.

• iPod Nano (fifth generation): 16GB for $150; 32GB for $200
• iPod Touch (third generation): 16GB for $230; 32GB for $300; 64GB for $400

Apple iPod Nano 5th Generation

Now although the Apple iPod Nano looks the same there are small changes it will have. There will be a slightly wider screen with a 1.5:1 aspect ratio up from 1.33:1 (I know, a small jump) and a smaller click wheel that will move down the device.

On top of that, I just found out that the Apple iPod Touch will most likely be able to take video whereas the Apple iPod Nano will not. Even so, with the Apple iPod Touch being such a huge success, it will deal a blow to the compact video recorders like The Flip (My review on The Flip) but it’s not like they were that great to begin with.

Popularity: 20% [?]

When I first heard about this update through my friend, I questioned it because why would Apple jump from firmware 2.2.1 all the way to 3.0? Well in fact, when I looked it up, it was dead true. Now I’m here to tell you about it. Apple is planning a major revamp of its OS which includes many cool things that might just blow your mind when you put it all together. There are loads of features, 100 last time I counted but these are the ones that I decided to highlight.

iPhone 3.0 Software

Push Technology

Apple was late to the push technology game and so when it released it, it basically killed the battery life. Now, it’s reconfigured its system so that it eliminates background processes and thus improves battery life. This makes the iPhone more business friendly because it automatically updates you if you receive new mail for instance even when the application isn’t running.

Push Notification on Apple iPhone

Cut, Copy & Paste

This to me is one of the biggest improvements for the iPhone after preserving the battery. How many times have you had a URL or some sentence that you wanted to copy and paste but couldn’t? I know I have many times. Now you’ll be able to use it with text messaging and even in Web pages and photos from the camera album. With this feature, you’ll be able to move the copy points and shake to undo. Now why did it take so long to do something so simple? My take is that Apple as we know them likes to control as much as possible which is why they delete apps with no warning. There excuse is that they wanted to deal with the security issue and make it work well with the touch screen.

Undo Paste on Apple iPhone

Real GPS Capabilities

Now you’ll be able to get applications that will have turn-by-turn directions making it a fully capable GPS with the free upgrade for iPhone users. The bad thing is because of licensing issues, the Google Maps app will not be used in conjuction with the GPS so developers will need to get their own maps which leads to the fact that these applications will probably cost users money.

Peer to Peer Connectivity

This is big as well for me at least because I remember I could play Worms on my Sony Ericsson phone with my friend who used to have a Sony Ericsson phone and it’d be great. We’d be sitting like 5m apart and be playing against each other. I was totally surprised to find that the iPod or iPhone could not do this. I’m an iPod Touch user and I was delighted to hear that the Apple iPod Touch does in fact have Bluetooth but Apple kept it locked. Now with this update, both the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch will have Bluetooth so you’ll be able to use this feature. Apple will build upon the original framework of the iPhone Bluetooth system and unlock the iPod Touch system. On top of that, Apple will have add onto the peer to peer system by putting in “in-game voice communication”.

Spotlight

This isn’t huge but it’s still nice. Before you could only search one area of your iPod/iPhone, but now Apple has designed this nice feature that will allow you to search everything at once including mail, iPod library, notes, contacts and calendar. What Apple has done is unique in my mind because it’s very easy to access this feature. Go the home screen (which you can do by clicking the home button anytime) and swipe left and then search away.

Landscape Keyboard

You may ask, we already have this? Well you are technically right but what about when you’re in an app such as Mail? In that situation you can only use the portrait keyboard which can get tiring. The landscape keyboard will now be accessible in any app which to me is long overdue. If you don’t know already, the landscape keyboard has larger buttons, more buttons and the buttons are more spaced out.

Landscape Keyboard

Multimedia Messaging

This is such a basic feature yet it was not apparent to Apple to include it on the iPhone. Many of the basic cell phones have it yet one of the most sophisticated phones doesn’t (most sophisticated can be argued). If you bought the basic Apple iPhone, then you’ll be out of luck since it does not carry the required radio to run MMS on it.

Upgraded Bluetooth

If you own the newer version of the Apple iPhone you’ll now have the opportunity to buy wireless headphones/earphones to use with the upgraded bluetooth. Listening to music with Apple’s version of bluetooth headphones may be closer than you think.

Conclusion

The strange thing about this software is that for the people that would want it the most, it costs $0, or free, whichever way you flip it. For the people who might not need it and has less benefit, the Apple iPod Touch users, it costs $9.95 which makes me wonder who the sales and marketing department are.

Popularity: 10% [?]

I just got my hands on a new portable video camcorder called the Flip Video Ultra Series, made by Pure Digital. First off, I’ve got to say that it’s got some slick packaging—even in the interior; it definitely hyped up my enthusiasm for this product. One thing that struck me as a huge plus to this camcorder was its compact design compared to the heavy, chunky one we have that lasts only 30 minutes with the LCD screen out. This one could fit in your back pocket and be thrown around, though I would not recommend the latter.

Design

Without a doubt, this compact camcorder is not up to Sony standards—not even close. Everything is basically plastic and even the buttons look cheap. The buttons are easy to press and are placed where it makes sense. It’s simple enough, though, and the colour scheme is ultra modern. It has a nice curved shape that fits the palm of your hands well. The exterior case is easily worn down and I can already see marks within the first week and I’ve barely touched it.

Package Contents

This compact camcorder is unique because you can always attach it to a computer with the included USB stick that is neatly attached to its side. It also does not require any software as the software is built-in to the camcorder. The one thing that wasn’t up to standards was the mechanism that released the USB stick. On my first try I was able to easily release it, but the problem came about when I tried to put it back in. Seems that I didn’t pull the latch down far enough so it just snapped back making it impossible to flip the USB back in. After further trial and error, I finally figured that I had to pull the latch down to the bottom where it would sit there until the USB stick was pushed and the latch would close shut. 

USB Stick

Another thing that struck me as interesting, was the  “Lock/Unlock” switch located at the bottom of the camcorder. At first I thought it would apply to all the buttons, which seemed logical. I tested it, and it turns out that it only applies to the battery case. Now this is another cool thing about the Flip Video Ultra Series, the battery case placement. It took me a good five minutes to figure out where the battery case was and I had to resort to looking at the instructions to figure out where it was. This is a perfect discrete place to put it and makes the design even better. 

Battery Case

Last, but definitely not least is the power button. With all the stupid things I’ve done with this camcorder, I feel even more stupid writing this, but hey, I’m an honest guy, so what the heck. To me, I think it would be common sense to put a symbol beside the power button to tell users that it is in-fact the power button. When I first pulled down on it, I figured it would do something else, but to my surprise, it turned it on. The great thing is that it takes no less than two seconds to turn on. 

Video Quality

This is where the good times stop in my mind. In all fairness, I would be totally surprised if this machine was built for quality videos. It comes nowhere near that even at close range. If you are more than 5 metres away from the point of interest, forget about shooting the video. This camcorder is made for close ups like birthday parties or stuff like that. Please, do not expect to get good family vacation videos out of this while you are visiting some gorgeous landmark in Europe. The screen is small, but it does its job: fair enough. It displays only the needed information such as the amount of time left and the status of the camcorder. At my company meeting for Junior Achievement, we put together some videos of us packaging our product, from  Xpress’d so if you’d like to take a look at the actual quality then be my guest. If you’d like to buy a customized white t-shirt then just leave a comment or head to the website above.

Find more videos like this on Xpress’d

Don’t expect to get great zoom either because it only has a 2x digital zoom, which is the worst of the two (digital and optical). Optical is by far the best, and even I can notice the difference when I switch from optical to digital zoom on my digital camera. 

The Flip Video Ultra Series provides you with up to 60 minutes of video on its built-in flash memory depending on which size you get. The 1GB holds 30 minutes while the 2GB holds 60 minutes. Both versions of the Flip Video Ultra Series store the video on MPEG-4 at 30 frames per second—perfect for easy transers to your iPod. Some camcorders have the option to switch to a lower quality but I’m glad this doesn’t because the quality is poor to begin with. At least Pure Digital has improved on its last models as the memory has doubled, but the amount of video recording time has stayed the same meaning they’ve actually made the video quality better. 

Overall

Without a doubt, I can say that this product is great for spur of the moment videos that you might not have the chance to capture because you left your true, hardcore camcorder at home. The video quality is not that great but it gets the job done. It’s keeping up with trends by allowing you to upload your videos directly to AOL Video, MySpace, and of course YouTube. They even provide you with a TV connector to watch your videos instantly on your TV (although I don’t see a reason). For $149 USD, it’s a little pricey, yet not expensive enough to make it undesirable. If you feel you have anything to share and any critisicm to this post, please feel free to comment and share your thoughts. 

Package

Popularity: 14% [?]

I’m sure you’ve heard many times that the Apple iPod Touch is basically the same as the Apple iPhone except for a few notable differences. The Apple iPhone has a camera and can make calls. Well not anymore. With a free application from the App Store, now the only difference between these two devices is the fact that the iPhone has a camera.

Download Fring or TruPhone from the App Store. I prefer Fring as it offers not only free calling, but it offers Skype, MSN, Twitter, Google Talk and much more. Once you’ve done that, register for all the services that you apart of and now you are one step closer to start calling. You are allowed to dial straight from the Cellular tab within Fring. A small drawback for the application, Fring, is that when you search for your buddies it will only look at the beginning of the personal name. For example. Your buddy Bob has an email called bob@cool.com and has a personal name called (L) Bob (L). If you search bob, nothing will up. If you search (L), Bob will come up. This search feature is horrible for people who have friends that constantly change their name.

Next, what you’ll need is a set of headphones much like the Apple iPhone ones that offer a pair of headphones and microphone. Xpress Canada offers very cheap in-ear headphones that offer the required mic.

If you’re looking for a more true calling application then TruPhone is the better option. It allows you to make free Wi-Fi calls with VoIP with other Touch users and Google Talk users. They have plans to add the ability to place calls to landlines. They also plan to offer services such as MSN, Twitter, Skype and Facebook.

Do you have a different method for turning your iPod Touch into a phone? If so, share it here.

Update: The new Apple iPod Touch that will be released sometime in September will have a built-in mic so you won’t have to buy headphones with a microphone. Read about the new Apple iPod Touch.

Popularity: 33% [?]

The Apple iPod Touch is a unique device that has many options that are available to its users. Alot of people have no clue what the iPod Touch is capable of. It reminds me of my brothers BMW 3 Series where there are tons of small features that make the car more luxurious such as automatic side view mirrors that reflect down when you reverse so you can better see the parking lines or curbs. The Apple iPod Touch has tons of these such small features.

1. Take a Screenshot

Like your computer, the Apple iPod Touch can take a screenshot. Now there isn’t a print screen function but if you click and hold the Home button (round button at the bottom) and then tap the sleep button at the top left, it will take one for you. You’ll know its worked when the screen flashes. The screenshot will be saved in your Saved Photos section of your Apple iPod Touch. This unique feature is how I got many of my pictures for this post.

2. Save an Image

You can directly save a photo onto your Apple iPod Touch with the touch of your finger. All you have to do is hold down on the image with one of your many fingers and a screen will come up that allows you to save the image directly to your saved photos folder.

How to Save an Image

3. Magnifying Glass

I discovered this tool by accident and some of the best things have been discovered by accident. This is no exception. This tool will let you pick the exact place you want to put your cursor. By holding the text and moving your finger you’ll be able to exactly place your cursor. Sweet!

Magnifying Glass Tool

4. In-Screen Music Player

Hate it when you have to click the Home button to change your music or put it on pause while you are in an application? We’ll Apple has the solution for you. Click the Home button twice and an in-screen music player will pop up giving you control of your music. 

In-Screen Music Player

5. Move Your Apps Around

I discovered this tool by accident as well and it provides another bonus. You can delete your apps with this method. Hold an app for about 2-3 seconds and they will start moving around. They will also have an “X” on the top left so you can delete any of them except the standard ones which come with your Apple iPod Touch. You can also move your apps anywhere you’d like by clicking, holding, and dragging them to there desired place.

6. See the link before you click it

A computer will tell you where a link is pointed to if you hover over it. Likewise with the Apple iPod Touch, if you click and hold any link, it will tell you where it’s pointed to.

With these little tips and tricks, you’ll be utilizing your Apple iPod Touch to its full potential.

Popularity: 13% [?]

For Christmas this year I got an Apple iPod Touch. This device, I have recently realized, is much more capable and versitile than I originally thought. It boggles me my people don’t pay the extra money to upgrade from a Nano to an iTouch. Since it is a 2G Apple iPod Touch, you cannot jailbreak it…yet. So with that, I am forced to download from the App Store and choose from the assortment of free Apps since I don’t usually like paying for things I don’t have to.

Update: After further examination of the applications available at the App Store I’ve decided to add more to the list.

1. MMPG – There are numerous possibilites if you want a Massive MultiPlayer Game such as iMob, iMafai (and its affiliates…New York & Los Angeles), Race Wars and its affiliate San Fransisco, Mafia Wars, iVampire, iNinja and iKnights. These games basically focus on Missions for the mob to get money. That money is used to buy properties which by the way pays rent, and the money is used for weapons so you can fight other users.

2. 2009 Awesome Facts – This application is so amazing. I was lucky to get the Pro version for free for a limited time but what you get there is a bunch of categories with random facts such as “Milton Bradley originally wanted to name the game Twister, Pretzel; but he could not since the name was copyrighted.”

3. IM+ Lite - This application is essential for people that want to be connected to MSN, GMail, Yahoo or anything like that. It organizes by categories if your in MSN and is really fast. It organizes your conversations all in one place so you can go back and forth. All you need to do is swipe left or right.

4. Howcast – This is a nice little application that focuses on How to videos by users that are big like VideoJug. It differs from Youtube because of the niche it hits, The How-to market. The application is very easy to use, much like YouTube and it has a wide variety of videos to choose from with its massive directory.

Sudoku

I’m a big fan of Sudoku and I hate erasing my notes and it really gets messy. So with this App, you can play Sudoku with “Smart Notes” which automatically get erased when you can no longer put that number there.

It also gives you the option of putting numbers in red when they are wrong. This is the best Sudoku App you can get and it’s free. It’s gotten me interested in Sudoku once again and you usually can’t keep me off of this.

Big Oven

What to cook is always a big question but with over 160 000 recipes located on this database you’ll never go hungry again. Shake your Touch or iPhone and it will give you a random recipe or enter some keywords into the search engine and you will get a bunch of different recipes. Having a huge recipe book in the palm of your hands is great.

Topple

This is one of the largest downloaded games on the AppStore because it is fun, challenging, and has a creative twist on Tetris. I personally haven’t gotten past the 5th level but it still is fun to try. There are challenges and regular levels for you to play and it definitely doesn’t seem like a free app to me.

TapDefense

This game is absolutely amazing. You can play without going online and it is just like the games developed on online sites like Flash Element TD and Canyon Defense on Miniclip. This game is much more challenging than these two and it will provide hours of entertainment. I do believe though it drains a bit more battery than normal but it’s well worth it.

AroundMe/Where

These two apps are very closely related and I just can’t seem to decide which one is better. They both basically as they seem, are apps that tell you what is around you such as gas stations, restaurants, and other things. It can be fully taken advantage of with the iPhone but it definitely has its uses. I find the Where app has more unique things whereas AroundMe is more traditional.

Honourable Mention: OntheGo

This app tells you the gas prices for the places in your area. It uses the database of gasbuddy.com to populate the numbers for gas price. This tool is definitely handy when you are just about to go out. Again, it’s even better with a data plan for the iPhone so you can access it all the time and “on the go”.

Do you have a favourite free iPod Touch application that isn’t on this list? I certainly do as there are just too many applications to list.

Update: I’ve made a new post for the top apps for 2009 located at Top Free iPod/iPhone Apps for 2009

Popularity: 100% [?]

I recently purchased an iPod Touch 2G and I noticed that my battery was draining a little faster than I’d like it to. So I did some tests and tried to figure out the best ways to preserve the battery life and basically, they are pretty common sense. 

1. First things, first, turn off your Wi-Fi when not in use. When I’m at school, I can’t access my Wi-Fi so there is no point, or if I’m at my house most of the time, I have easy access to my laptop. 

2. On a related note, you should also turn off the “Ask to Join Networks” setting. Turning off the push data is also recommended.

3. Having anything customized like wallpaper will be a drag on your battery life. Keep the black screen as it really is traditional and cool.

4. Only every 30 charges or so should you let the battery go down to almost zero and then recharge. Usually you should charge in short bursts. I found this part on the internet and it seemed to work although it goes against my logic of constantly recharging drains the battery.

5. Keep the iPod Touch Auto-Lock feature to less than 3 minutes. It comes pre-set at 1 minute which I currently have. 

6. Keep your brightness setting to a minimum. Personally, I still like to splurge and always have it on automatic but if you want to save more battery, let it sit around 50%.

7. Your iPod Touch should be up to date at all times. In the first generation, an updated firmware provided better battery life so it’s always good to keep your options open.

From using these tips and tricks, I know have noticed a considerable difference in my battery life and can do more on a tank of power. 

iPod Touch Charging

If you any other ideas that worked for you to increase your battery life for your iPod Touch or iPhone then please don’t hesitate to share. I just might add it to this post.

Popularity: 77% [?]