Apple Reveals New iPod Nanos and Shuffles

 

At the Apple Music Keynote today in San Francisco, Steve Jobs took the stage to announced the holiday line up of iPods. So any way lets get into it.

The iPod Shuffle was first to receive an update. The iPod shuffle has been a strange device. Many say it is pointless because of the lack of a screen, while others say (mainly people who exercise) say it is an essential part of the iPod line up. This year it got back the buttons but also has the same voice features of last years buttonless model. Not much else to say except it has a clip so you can clip it on clothes, it comes in 5 colours and it has 2GB of storage, all for $49. 

Next, iPod Nano. Earlier this year, we saw a very small touchscreen leaked out into the world with apparently Apple branding all over it. Well it seems like this one has come true. The new nano has ditched the click wheel for a touch screen, a very small touch screen at that, but it is still a touch screen and seems to have some sort of version of iOS running on it. All the usual stuff is on there in the form of icons on different screens and yes you can make it do the jiggly dance so you can move the icons around. Reports from places like Engadget are saying that the touchscreen is very responsive and great to look at. Also, seeing as it has a clock app, if you strap it to a wrist strap, you can turn it into an iWatch! And that is the only reason I'm getting one.

HTC Fights Back to Apple's Claims

 

At Apple's press conference on Friday, Steve Jobs showed 3 phones that had the same antenna problems as the iPhone 4. This made Nokia and RIM retaliate to what Steve Jobs said about their phones. (Read here) But the third phone showed was the Droid Eris, and this had the most drastic drop of signal. It went straight from 4 bars all the way down to 0 bars.

HTC have not acted like Nokia and RIM to Apple's claims, but they have given a percentage of the people calling technical suport about the Droid Eris's antenna problem. Apple claimed that 0.55% of customers called AppleCare about the antenna issue but HTC is claiming that the Droid Eris technical support line received only 0.016% of people calling about the antenna issue. About thirty-four times lower than Apple's claim.

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Source Pocket-Lint

Apple Offers Free Cases!

 

Today, at Apple's press conference about the iPhone 4 antenna problem, Steve Jobs explained everything that was wrong with the iPhone 4.

Steve began the keynote by saying that their phones aren't perfect. But then continued saying that the iPhone 4 was the biggest phone launch ever and that the iPhone 4 has the highest customer satisfaction rating of any any smartphone.

 

Then Steve went on to show some pictures of other smartphones dropping bars and saying that the problem occurs in all phones.

 

Then there stats about the complaints. Apparently, 0.55% of customers have complained about the antenna problem and that in the same time period, the iPhone 4 had has a 1/3 less returns than what the 3GS had in the same amount of time. Also, the iPhone 4 drops less than one additional call per 100 than the 3GS and that "the problem of affects a small percentage of our users."

 

So what is apple going to do about it? Well firstly they are going to offer free bumpers to all iPhone 4 customers and a refund if you already bought a bumper. They also said, as they can't make enough bumpers, they will also offer free third-party cases. This will run until the September 30th. Next, they are going to give a full refund to all unsatisfactory customers and a contract refund as well. All you need to do is return an undamaged iPhone 4 within 30 days of purchase.

 

In other Apple news, the white iPhone 4 will be available at the end of July, along with Canada and 16 other countries getting the iPhone 4 (See them here). Also that the proximity sensor problem will be fixed by a software update.

Source Engadget

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iPhone 4 And It's Issues (Parody)

We all know by now that the iPhone 4 does indeed suffer from reception issues and such, but this parody should sum it all up for you whilst getting a good laugh. *NSFW - contains strong language.

Source Hoggworks Studios

Apple Responds to iTunes Hack

 

Over the weekend, we reported that iTunes was hacked (read here) by a rogue iPhone developer had managed to make his apps 42 of the top 50 places in the Books category in the App Store.  So we've finally gotten a press release from Apple about the subject and it says that "the developer in question, called Thuat Nguyen has been kicked out of the app store. However, the do not say clearly that fraud had happened, but if you are concrerned at all about this matter, they say to contact your bank and stop your card if any of your info was stolen... which implies that something did actually happen.

The developer Thuat Nguyen and his apps were removed from the App Store for violating the developer Program License Agreement, including fraudulent purchase patterns. 

Developers do not receive any iTunes confidential customer data when an app is downloaded. 

If your credit card or iTunes password is stolen and used on iTunes we recommend that you contact your financial institution and inquire about canceling the card and issuing a chargeback for any unauthorized transactions. We also recommend that you change your iTunes account password immediately. For more information on best practices for password security visit http://www.apple.com/support/itunes.

So, Steve's walled garden has a hole in it, but it seems like only a very small amount of people have been affected by the problem. Long live iTunes!

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Source Engadget

WWDC Predictions

Tomorrow, Steve Jobs will get up on stage at the keynote of WWDC and announce all the new products from Apple. Even though this year's WWDC has been sort of spoiled by the Gizmodo iPhone leak, it should be interesting to see what he will announce.

1) iPhone 4G/HD: If this doesn't get announced I'll eat my hat! This is almost certain to be announced. With the Gizmodo and vietnam leak this is going to be a sure bet that it will look like this. The main features supposed to be on the new iPhone is a front-facing camera, a higher resolution display, longer battery life, 1Ghz A4 processor, thinner profile and bigger storage.

2) Apple TV: This has goon a while with out an update so WWDC is a prime time for it. This also has had some leaks but this time from engadget. According to their source "think of an iPhone but without a screen." Also their source says that it will have the same internals as a the new iPhone, i.e the 1GHz processor, but only 16Gb of flash storage. However, it supposed to have cloud storage and streaming capabilities. Other features include 1080p output and an impressive price tag of only $99!

3) Mac Pro: Similar to the Apple TV, the Mac Pro has gone almost a year without an update. However this could be because Apple was waiting for the new 6-Core intel processors to put in the flagship model. This would mean that the Mac Pro could have up to 12-Cores! 

 4) Mac Mini: Alike the Apple TV and Mac Pro, the Mac mini has gone a while without an update. Not much to expect, except faster intel core 2 duo chips, more RAM, bigger hard drive and might be a little cheaper.

5) iTunes Music Streaming: Ever since Apple bought the music streaming service, Lala, there has been much speculation about a music streaming service from Apple. And with Apple shutting down the Lala servers on May 31st, WWDC would be the place it would be announced.

Even though there isn't a live video stream of the event, there are many places where you can get live text feeds. Here are some places you can find them.

Engadget.com

Geeksugar.com

Macobserver.com

Macrumours.com

Theappleblog.com

Steve Jobs On Stage At D8 Conference

 

Steve Jobs will be on the 8th All Things Digital conference today, also known as D8. Engadget will be covering live Steve Job's interview with Walt Mossberg. You never know what might happen so make sure you check out the live coverage starting at 6PM PT or 9PM ET. Engadget's live coverage.