Technology Guides

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% [?]

My friend told me of a problem she had with her Apple iPod. It froze and she couldn’t reset it via her computer. Now this usually works for most iPod users but there are times when the basics don’t seem to fix anything. I researched and researched and the simplest thing came up. Recharge your iPod because that might be the reason it won’t hook up to your computer. You may have to leave it in the wall outlet for some time before you can start using it again. When you plug it in to your computer again, make sure you have the latest version of iTunes to speed up the process.

There are other methods which include actually opening up your Apple iPod but I won’t go there as I’m not fully aware of what you should do so I recommend reading this CrunchGear Article to learn more and let me say; if you have to resort to this, I am praying for you.

My suggestion though is if you the two options above don’t work (i.e. reseting your iPod on iTunes or charging it for a while) then you should really consider sending it to Apple or wherever you bought it so they can take care of it. Hopefully it won’t too long to get your baby back.

Popularity: 5% [?]

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% [?]

One day I was sitting down at my desk and turned on my laptop. I was looking for a file when I realized I had lost it and could not recover it. It tought me a valuable lesson and that was to never delete a file because it might be important later on. That lesson got thrown out the window when I realized that I had too many files piling up and slowing down my computer. So I decided to install a program to help me recover deleted files if I ever needed them again. Microsoft Windows Vista creates shadow copies of every files you have and Ultimate utilizes it to recover them if you need it. Other version of Microsoft Windows Vista cannot recover it, unless you download another 3rd party program like ShadowExplorer or a file recovery utility such as Recuva.

ShadowExplorer

ShadowExplorer as I mentioned before allows you to browse the shadow copies created by the Windows Vista Volume Shadow Copy Service. It needs time to get going so don’t start deleting files as soon as you download it. What this program does is creates a copy of your hard drive for one day and you’ll have to access the deleted file from this day.

ShadowExplorer

This program is a great free alternative to the more expensive programs because it organizes your files at that specific day much better than most. Other programs tend to just show all the deleted files that can include internet cache stuff which is useless.

Recuva

Strangely enough, Recuva, is pronounced “recover” but who cares in my opinion because it is free. The problem I find with this type of recovery utility is the fact that it has to scan your whole hard drive, and not all of the files it finds can be recovered. It also names them different so you have to sift through the different files very carefully.

It is better than ShadowExplorer because it helps bring back files that were lost through a virus, bug or crash which ShadowExplorer doesn’t do as well at. It takes up a small area of your hard drive and you won’t lose much CPU when you run it but that comes with its drawbacks. It’s much slower at finding files because it has to scan whereas ShadowExplorer can almost instantly show you your hard drive at a certain date. The interface is slightly more refined but still equally usable.

Conclusion

Both of these programs will get the job done but offer two different ways to do it. Personally my bet is on ShadowExplorer but it’s better to be safe then sorry sometimes, so why not download both.

Popularity: 9% [?]

On the same day Apple released an update for iTunes, Apple releases a new iPod Shuffle that has everyone talking, including the iPod Shuffle itself. The new Apple iPod Shuffle, scheduled to be released on April 3, 2009 has revolutionized the sub-$100 mp3 market, once again. Not only does it talk with its feature called VoiceOver, but it also is much smaller with a size of 1.8″ by 0.3″. This is about half the size of the previous generation, and that was small, but it is also smaller than a key! There are no controls on the actual device as they have been moved to earphone cord. The 4GB version, which can hold 1000 songs is available at a price of $79 USD or $99 CDN with two colours, black and silver. For some reason they’re phasing out the 2GB version, and keeping the 1GB. If anybody can explain this to me, be my guest. 

New Apple iPod Shuffle

The new iPod Shuffle has some things that might shake your head, but that might just be because your listening to your tunes with it. In any case, I’ve spotted some flaws with it. First off, the headphones with VoiceOver are great but what happens if you lose it or break it. Then you’ll have to shell out another $50 for the earphones themselves and that’s about half the cost of the mp3 player. It’s almost like buying a printer and paying for an ink cartridge. Another small thing is the lack of colour in the lineup. Only silver and black Apple? Come on now. To coincide better with the Nano lineup, I think it’d be better if they released the same colours so one sibling who is older can have a Nano and the younger sibling can have a Shuffle in the same colour. Last but not least, is the fact that the controls are on the headphones so you have zero flexibility in respect to changing headphones (as they fall out of my ear) and if you are using it while running or it’s cold, some people like to loop their headphones under their clothes and then you have a problem with changing tracks. 

With all it’s problems, comes benefits, definitely, in my opinion, outweighing the drawbacks. Previously you could not communicate with the Shuffle because the lack of a screen, but now it’s communicating with you, giving you an update when your battery needs charging or if you want the song/artist name, you can press a button and as the music volume dips, the iPod will tell you. On the new Shuffle, there is now the ability to have multiple playlists with the addition of VoiceOver. There are also 3 different modes of listening to your music, shuffle (if it didn’t have this feature, what would they call it?),  straight, and just regular.

Conclusion

This is without any doubt in my mind that this is the best Apple iPod Shuffle to date. Who knows what they’ll think of next. My hope would be a way to call someone. But that’s just a wish, first they’ll have to do it on the Nano. What’s your wish?

Popularity: 7% [?]

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% [?]