File Ai Shares Large Files Instantly

from Lifehacker by Adam Pash

Web site file ai supports instantaneous file sharing for large files, allowing the file recipient to begin downloading the file as soon as you begin uploading it.

Similar to previously mentioned EatLime, that means you don't have to wait an hour for a large file to upload to the site's servers before your friend or co-worker can start downloading it. Unlike EatLime, file ai has no limit on file size—presumably because the file never actually goes through the site's servers.

Instead, file ai uses a BitTorrent-style transfer protocol that goes directly from you to your peer. Like BitTorrent, if you're sharing the file with more than one person, file ai will create a swarm, speeding up the download. The downside is that if you do have plenty time to upload the file to a site's server, your recipient won't get the benefit of the fat download pipe that other file sharing servers boast. file ai is free to use, works in any Java-supported web browser.

file ai [via Download Squad]

Sync iCal and Google Calendar with Ease

Mac OS X only: Google announced CalDAV support in Google Calendar this summer, which meant that with a little know-how, you could sync iCal with Google Calendar. Now the Google Mac Blog has officially announced CalDAV support for iCal, and to go along with the announcement they've released a new iCal sync application called Calaboration. With Calaboration, you can quickly and easily set up bi-directional syncing between iCal and Google Calendar with just a few clicks of your mouse. It's quick, it's easy, and it works like a charm; just run it once to set up your calendar syncing and you shouldn't need to run it again until you need to add a different calendar. Calaboration is a free download, Mac OS X only. If you're not on a Mac, check out how you can sync Google Calendar to any desktop calendar you've got.

Calaboration [Google Code via Official Google Mac Blog]

Toucan Syncs and Backs Up Your Files

Windows only: Portable application Toucan backs up and syncs your data between two locations (like your hard drive and your USB drive). It's like Time Machine for Windows! Only a mere 4.10MB once in installed, Toucan offers several advanced backup and syncing settings, like incremental backup with compression (supporting 7-Zip format), portable drive variables, scripts and advanced rulesets. Similar to SyncBackSE but smaller and portable, Toucan is a nice option for making sure you've got everything on your thumb drive. Toucan is a free download for Windows only.

Toucan [PortableApps.com]

Windows Live Photos Overhauled [Windows Live]

from Lifehacker by Gina Trapani

One way you can use your 25GB of free Skydrive space courtesy of Microsoft Windows Live is share your photos online Flickr-style at the newly-revamped Windows Live Photos site. Create albums (folders) in Windows Live Photos, set permissions on who can see your photos, comment on others' photos, and play your photos back slideshow-style. While Windows Live Photos slideshow is inferior to Flickr's full-screen option, the webapp does set itself apart from Flickr a few ways. Overall it's more customizable, with your choice of themes for your photo pages, and while it doesn't offer free-form photo tags like Flickr, you can identify particular people within a given photo (like Facebook). You'll need a Windows Live ID to sign in and try out Live Photos.

Our new Photos web service is LIVE! [Windows Live Photo & Video Blog via CNET]

Google Reader Simplifies Look, Adds Features

from Lifehacker by Adam Pash

The Official Google Reader Blog announces a handful of changes to Google Reader today, most notably in the form of a visual refresh designed to bring a more streamlined look and feel to Google's popular newsreader. That means less visual clutter, more space, and a softer, less saturated skin. Beyond that, the new Reader update adds collapsible navigation to each section of the sidebar, improved options for sharing items with friends, and the option to hide unread counts for any section of reader—like your friends' shared items. As a final (and probably least exciting) addition, Google has created more feed bundles for subscribing to a topic en masse (e.g., music blogs, Nascar, etc.). Keep reading for more detailed screenshots of the new features.

Collapsible Navigation

Hide Unread Counts

New Feed Bundles

We're not seeing the update on our accounts yet, so if you're in the same boat you're likely to see it on yours within the next few days. Still not happy with the simplified Google Reader? Try recently mentioned Helvetireader for another minimalist Reader skin.

Square is the new round. [Official Google Reader Blog]

Hi Ho Silverlight? Microsoft Windows Mobile Gets PDF and Flash Friendly

	from Gizmodo by Wilson Rothman Microsoft just signed a deal to license Adobe's Flash Lite and Reader PDF formats for Windows Mobile. There's no word yet on when this will appear in the operating system itself, but it's a nice show of openness. It also means two things: 1) Microsoft's Flash competitor, Silverlight, may not be cutting the mustard, and this is no way to spur developers. 2) Steve Jobs' allegation that Flash Lite isn't good enough for the iPhone might hold less water, though few would disagree that iPhone quality standards are higher than Windows Mobile's. [InfoWorld]

MacOS 10.5.1 Out Soon, Taking 10.5 GM Out of Beta

from UNEASYsilence by Dan

Its always my policy to wait 48 hours before installing any update, but I always sit on the bench a little longer for OS upgrades.

Seems to think that Apple agrees the Leopard is a little buggy and are working on quickly releasing 10.5.1 to plug some of the gaping holes.

Among the fixes already baked into the first test build are corrections to Leopard’s application Firewall, Spotlight indexing, iCal syncing, Keychain login and text drawing corruption. […] In total, build 9B13 includes well over two dozen fixes and code corrections, those familiar with the software say, and addresses an issue present when moving files across partitions — possibly one and the same with the widely publicized Finder data-loss bug.

If you haven’t installed Leopard yet, I say wait it out until 10.5.1 is out - because the data loss issue is awfully scary.

Leopard Review: First Apple OS X Leopard Reviews by The Mainstream (Verdict: It's Good)

from Gizmodo by Jason Chen

Three reviews are in from USA Today, WSJ and NYT and they're all positive (though some more positive than others). That's Mossberg's video, above, but the rest of the reviews are summarized below.

USA Today Review: Ed Baig says it "hits all the right spots"—a obvious pun, but it gets right to the heart of his review. He continues to say that OS X is superior to Windows (especially with the latest iteration), but points out the Boot Camp feature for people who need both. Upgrading for him was super easy, as was using Time Machine for backing up or migrating files, the iChat video chat/theater, the upgraded Mail.app, and the improved desktop, Finder (file browser), and .Mac features. It reads like a shortened Leopard feature checklist with the praise preceding or following each item, which shows how much of a thumbs up Baig is giving the new OS. [USAToday]

Mossberg WSJ Review: After his headline ("Leopard: Faster, Easier Than Vista") and on a short history tour of Apple as a company, Mossberg moves on to say that while Leopard is good, it's evolutionary, and not revolutionary—but still manages to keep Apple's "advantage over Windows". He does have some gripes. He says the menubar is translucent (it's actually not, in the final version), the icons are "dull and flat and less atractive than Vista's" (we disagree), Time Machine, although described as "sexy", has limited backup locations. And that none of Apple's 300 new features are a major breakthrough. However, Leopard doesn't have any of the upgrade problems (when upgrading from Tiger) that Vista had from XP. Mossberg then goes into feature list mode, but ends by saying that Leopard isn't a must-have, it just adds a lot of value on an existing machine. [WSJ]

Pogue's NYT Review: After spending half the first page (and 1/4 of the whole piece) talking about how Time Machine works, Pogue moves on to Spaces, parental controls, Boot Camp, screen sharing, and iChat upgrades. Although backup features and virtual desktops have been around for a while, Pogue says the point of Leopard is that Apple takes all those apps, improves on them, and integrates them well into the OS. But he too has complaints.

Stacks are a bit awkward and inconsistent, see through menus are hard to see (he may be using an old version because the final version looks fine), as well as occasional glitches in Spaces and program switching. Final thoughts: it's polished and offers few disappointments. Looks like a buy from Pogue. [NYTimes]

Mobile Google Docs

from Google News by Ionut Alex Chitu

The mobile version of Google Docs, available at http://docs.google.com/m, displays the list of documents and almost lets you view them. The interface is somewhere between the iGoogle gadget and the desktop interface. It's pretty easy to find documents by using search, going to a folder or looking in the list of recent documents. But once you find the file, you won't be able to do too much. For most phones, you can read documents and view spreadsheets a column at a time. If you have an iPhone, your experience will be better: spreadsheets can be fully displayed and presentations can be opened.

"At this point, we support both the iPhone and Blackberry mobile devices. Note, however, that presentations are only supported on the iPhone. Google Docs documents and spreadsheets should also work on phones that offer rich-browser support. While we haven't tested it across all mobile devices, a good rule of thumb is that the more advanced your phone's browsing capabilities, the more seamlessly Google Docs will work," mentions a note from the help center.

Maybe Google should release a mobile application that actually lets you edit the documents.

Google Docs Mobile homepage

A Google document

The painful way to view a spreadsheet
(one column, 20 rows at a time)

{ via Google Blogoscoped }

Unlocked??: The French iPhone Comes Unlocked

We told you yesterday that Orange would be the exclusive iPhone provider in France, but that's only half the story. The other half is that since French law prohibits the exclusive sale of phones locked to a provider, Orange will be selling both a locked and an unlocked version of the iPhone as a compromise. The unlocked version doesn't have a finalized price at this time, but we do know it will be more expensive than the €399 bundled version.

With all of the efforts all over the world to unlock iPhones, it's almost a slap in the face (or just a step in the right direction?) that Apple/Orange will be offering an unlocked version to France. Guess it's time to import if you don't like AT&T. [iht] from Gizmodo by Mark Wilson

More Great Features in Leopard

Yes folks, Leopard will be available on October 26, complete with its shiny new interface, Finder, QuickLook, Spaces, iChat with presentation sharing, Boot Camp, and—our all-time favorite—Time Machine without flux capacitor. Beyond that, the new Leopard comes with 316 new features, some of them really interesting (the below were highlighted by Jesus Diaz on Gizmodo) :

• Mail's Post-It-style notes synchronize automatically with the iPhone.
• Address Book now synchronizes with Yahoo.
• For programmers, AppleScript has now a bridge with Objective C. Looks like it has been one of the winners.
• Automator has a cool looking UI recorder and playback, along with an improved interface.
• Boot Camp is now official, complete with Microsoft WHCL-Certified Windows Drivers.
• Another expected feature is Web Clip in Dashboard. No sign of iPhone integration, however.
• The new-look dock is now spring-loaded. This means that you can drag an image over iPhoto, press the space bar and, once iPhoto is opened, you'll keep dragging the image to the desired folder.
• You can now have the dock synched in many Macs (this requires a .Mac account.)
• A welcome addition to early-morning Giz editors: a Japanese-English dictionary (not a translator, but in the Dictionary application.) Too bad they haven't included Spanish, French, Swedish or any other language but those two.
• DVD Player now comes with auto zoom, to box your movies correctly.
• Apple says that DVD Player has now higher quality video thanks to "Adaptive Video Analyzation technology that applies deinterlacing and inverse 3:2 pulldown on demand."
• Apart from all its well-known interface improvements, the Finder now includes precise grid control for icons and a one-click way to make all folder views look the same.
• I like the printable font book pages now, but just because I'm a font addict.
• Front Row will stream iTunes content from any Mac around the house.
• iCal has received a lot of new features, like inline editing of events, sharing of meeting materials in an event dropbox, and CalDAV group scheduling.
• Beyond the iChat Theater and all the screen sharing capabilities, iChat has also received a lot of small improvements, including a very-welcomed File Transfer Manager and persistent chat windows (at last.)
• Image applications will be able now to import photos from 802.11- and Bluetooth-enabled cameras.
• Self-Tuning TCP promises "optimum application performance, especially in high-bandwidth/high-latency environments."
• Photo Booth comes now with a burst mode, so you can record four-photo successive shots as GIFs. The objective: to annoy everyone in iChat with your moving buddy image.

Anybody who purchased a Mac on or after October ...

By the good grace of God a.k.a. Steve Jobs, anybody who purchased a Mac on or after October 1 will get a free Leopard upgrade. [Mac OS X Leopard Up-to-Date Program]

Apple: Apple Confirms October 26th Leopard Ship Date, Preorder Start Now

from Gizmodo by Wilson Rothman

The horse has spoken: The eagerly anticipated, occasionally delayed Mac OS 10.5 Leopard is finally shipping. It will be available in 10 days, on Friday, October 26th, at 6pm in Apple Stores and at authorized resellers. Leopard may be the most ambitious MacOS update since the switch to OS X, with new features such as Time Machine, Spaces and Quick Look, plus updated iChat and Mail and a snazzy new Dock with Stacks. The upgrade will cost $129 for a single-user license, and $199 for five-user "family pack." Meanwhile, students'll pay $116, up from the previous academic price of $79. Today's announcement does not appear to contain any previously unknown surprise features, but we'll have an interview where we can dig for more. (Oh, and preorders start today at Apple's website.)

Apple also confirmed the simultaneous shipping of the Leopard Server software, and unveiled a new utility, Podcast Producer, "the ideal way to automatically publish podcasts to iTunes or the web."

Apple to Ship Mac OS X Leopard on October 26

CUPERTINO, Calif., Oct. 16 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Apple(R) today announced that Mac OS(R) X Leopard will go on sale Friday, October 26 at 6:00 p.m. at Apple's retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers, and that Apple's online store is now accepting pre-orders. Leopard is packed with more
than 300 new features and introduces a brand new desktop with Stacks, a new way to easily access files from the Dock; a redesigned Finder that lets users quickly browse and share files between multiple Macs; Quick Look, a new way to instantly see files without opening an application; Spaces, an intuitive new feature used to create groups of applications and instantly switch between them; and Time Machine, an effortless way to automatically back up everything on a Mac(R).

"Leopard, the sixth major release of Mac OS X, is the best upgrade we've ever released," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "And everyone gets the 'Ultimate' version, packed with all the new innovative features, for just $129."

Leopard's new desktop includes the redesigned 3D Dock with Stacks, a new way to organize files for quick and easy access with just one click. Leopard automatically places web, email and other downloads in a Downloads stack to maintain a clutter-free desktop, and users can instantly fan the contents of this and other Stacks into an elegant arc right from the Dock. Users can also create their own Stacks for quick access to folders, documents or applications. Leopard's gorgeous new look extends to all applications, with every window on the desktop offering a consistent design theme and active windows outlined by deeper shadows that make them stand out.

The updated Finder includes Cover Flow(R) and a new sidebar with a dramatically simplified way to search for, browse and copy content from any PC or Mac on a local network. Content on any computer on a local network can now be searched using Spotlight(TM), browsed using Cover Flow or copied across the network with a simple drag and drop. .Mac members can use the new Back to My Mac feature to browse and access files on their remote Macs over the Internet.

Quick Look is the fastest and easiest way for users to look inside files without launching them or even having the application that created them. With Quick Look, users can instantly view full-screen, high-resolution files of virtually anything, even media files, from any view in the Finder.

Spaces gives users a powerful new way to organize their work by creating customized desktops which can contain only those applications or documents needed for each project, with the ability to quickly switch between Spaces with the mouse or keyboard.

Time Machine lets users easily back up all of the data on their Mac, find lost files and even restore all of the software on their Mac. With just a one-click setup, Time Machine automatically keeps an up-to-date copy of everything on the Mac.* In the event a file is lost, users can search back through time to find deleted files, applications, photos and other digital media and then instantly restore the file. If it's ever necessary, Leopard can also easily restore an entire system from the Time Machine data on an external drive.

Mail has been updated in Leopard and features more than 30 stationery designs and layouts that look great on a Windows PC or Mac so users can easily send stylish, personalized emails with beautiful graphics and photos. Notes and To Dos help users stay organized by acting just like emails that can be easily created, saved as drafts, synced across multiple Macs and stored in Smart Mailboxes. Data detectors automatically sense phone numbers, addresses and events so they can be added to Address Book or iCal(R) with just a few clicks, and users can keep up-to-date by getting the latest news and blog feeds delivered directly to the their mailboxes with a built-in RSS reader.

iChat(R), the easiest-to-use video conferencing application on any personal computer, offers even richer video chats in Leopard with iChat Theater, which makes it easy to show photos, presentations, videos or files in a video conference; screen sharing which lets users remotely view and operate another Mac; and Photo Booth(R) effects for fun distortions and video backdrops that can instantly make users appear to be anywhere they choose.

Other new features in Leopard include:

-- improved Parental Controls, aiding parents in managing their kids' online activities with automatic identification of unsuitable content before allowing website access, plus time limits and activity logs that can be accessed from any Mac on a home network;
-- the complete Boot Camp(R) release, previously available only as a beta, making it possible to run Windows natively on Intel-based Macs;**
-- Web Clip, bringing anything that a user wants from a web page to Dashboard as a live widget;
-- new Photo Booth features, helping users create animated iChat buddy icons or fun effects and backdrops with still or video images;
-- an enhanced Dictionary with Wikipedia built in, allowing users to access up to date information on virtually any subject in a snap;
-- a newly updated iCal with multi-user calendaring based on the new CalDAV standard; and
-- an updated version of Front Row, making it even easier to play music or watch movies, TV shows and photos on a Mac using the ultra-simple Apple Remote.

Pricing & Availability

Mac OS X version 10.5 Leopard will be available on October 26 at Apple's retail stores and through Apple Authorized Resellers for a suggested retail price of $129 (US) for a single user license, and online pre-orders can be made through Apple's online store (http://www.apple.com) starting today. The Mac OS X Leopard Family Pack is a single-household, five-user license that will be available for a suggested retail price of $199 (US). Volume and maintenance pricing is available from Apple. The standard Mac OS Up-To-Date upgrade package is available to all customers who purchased a qualifying new Mac system from Apple or an Apple Authorized Reseller on or after October 1, 2007 for a shipping and handling fee of $9.95 (US). Leopard requires a minimum of 512MB of RAM and is designed to run on any Macintosh(R) computer with an Intel, PowerPC G5 or G4 (867 Mhz or faster) processor. Full system requirements can be found at http://www.apple.com/macosx/techspecs.

Apple Announces Mac OS X Server Leopard

CUPERTINO, Calif., Oct. 16 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Apple(R) today announced that Mac OS(R) X Server version 10.5 Leopard will go on sale on Friday, October 26, at the same time as Mac OS X Leopard. Leopard Server extends Apple's legendary ease of use, making it even easier to take advantage of the benefits of a server, and introduces Podcast Producer, the ideal way to automatically publish podcasts to iTunes(R) or the web. Leopard Server packs more than 250 new features including Wiki Server, allowing people to collaboratively create and modify their shared web sites with just a few
clicks; and iCal(R) Server, the world's first commercial CalDAV standard-based calendar server.

"Leopard Server is the best release of Mac OS X Server yet, bringing more great innovations, like Podcast Producer, Wiki Server and iCal Server," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing.

"With new setup features that have a server up and running within minutes and no client access licenses, Leopard Server is the ideal alternative to complicated and expensive server offerings for small and large businesses."

Leopard Server presents new features for effortless setup, management and monitoring of systems on the network. Server Assistant configures server applications, network settings such as IP addresses and DNS configurations and user accounts with just a few clicks. Server Preferences simplifies management of users, groups and key server applications, and a Server Status Dashboard widget remotely monitors activity and usage. Leopard Server also eliminates the need to manually set up Leopard clients by automatically configuring client applications, including file sharing, Mail, iChat(R), iCal, Address Book and VPN from user information stored on the server.

Podcast Producer is the easiest way for anyone to record content, automatically upload it to the server and convert it into a podcast optimized for playback on almost any device, including a High Definition TV, iPod(R), Apple TV(TM) or multimedia-enabled cell phone.

With Wiki Server, anyone can easily create and edit collaborative web pages, called wikis, with a few clicks of a mouse. Wiki Server has 20 Apple-designed web page themes and provides a complete revision history to make it easy to restore previous entries and merge or compare different versions. Wiki Server can automatically notify users whenever a change is made, keeping them up-to-date on the latest information, and users can tag keywords to find content quickly.

It's easy to share calendars, schedule meetings and coordinate events within a workgroup, school, small business or large corporation using iCal Server. iCal Server is the first open, standards-based calendar server that works with popular calendar programs which support the new CalDAV standard and does not require client access licenses, so businesses can add users freely as they expand at no additional cost.

Leopard Server is fully UNIX compliant and its core services, including Apache 2, MySQL 5, Postfix, Podcast Producer and QuickTime(R) Streaming Server, are 64-bit, allowing users to work with larger data sets and take full advantage of the performance and processing power of their 64-bit hardware. Since Leopard Server is fully 32-bit compatible, users can run 32-bit and 64-bit applications natively side-by-side.

Pricing & Availability

Mac OS X Server version 10.5 Leopard will be available on October 26 at Apple's retail stores and through Apple Authorized Resellers for a suggested retail price of $499 (US) for a 10-client edition and $999 (US) for an unlimited-client edition. An unlimited client license of Leopard Server is included with Apple's powerful Xserve(R) rack-mount server hardware at no extra charge. Online pre-orders can be made through the Apple Store(R) (http://www.apple.com) starting today and current subscribers to the Apple Maintenance Program will receive Leopard Server as part of their service agreement. Volume and maintenance pricing is available from Apple. The standard Mac OS Up-To-Date upgrade package is available to all customers who purchased a qualifying new Xserve system from Apple or an Apple Authorized Reseller on or after October 1, 2007 for a shipping and handling fee of $9.95 (US). Leopard Server can run on any Macintosh(R) computer with an Intel, PowerPC G5, or G4 (867 Mhz or faster) processor, a minimum 1GB of RAM and at least 20GB of available disk space.

[Apple]

Apple: iPhone in France Will Be an Apples and Oranges Deal

from Gizmodo by Charlie White

Apple officially announced that French wireless carrier Orange will be the exclusive provider of the iPhone in France. Set to roll out on November 29, Apple CEO Steve Jobs crowed about how excited he was to partner with Orange, just in time for the holidays. So now French Apple fanboys won't have to hack that iPhone any more, and they can actually buy one legit for €399, a whopping $565.98 in good ol' US dollars. Click through for the Orange/Apple press propaganda.

PARIS, Oct. 16 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Apple(R) and Orange today announced that Orange, the leading wireless carrier in France, will be the exclusive French carrier partner for the revolutionary iPhone(TM) when it makes its debut in France on Thursday, November 29. iPhone combines three devices into one -- a mobile phone, a widescreen iPod(R), and the best mobile Internet device ever -- all based on Apple's revolutionary multi-touch interface and pioneering software that allows users to control iPhone with just a tap, flick or pinch of their fingers. Apple sold its one millionth iPhone just 74 days after it went on sale in the US on June 29. "We are excited to partner with Orange and bring iPhone to France in time for the holidays," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "iPhone is an amazing product and we hope mobile users in France will love it as much as we do."

"The iPhone is a marvelous product and will change how people think about mobile. I'm delighted that it is launching in France through Orange, and I'm sure that our customers share my excitement. Our partnership with Apple is a natural fit because we are two global brands who share the same values of simplicity and innovation. It's going to be a very merry Christmas for Orange customers all over the country!" said Didier Lombard, CEO, France Telecom. In addition to all the revolutionary features that made iPhone so popular in the US, iPhone users in France will have access to Apple's latest music offerings on iPhone including the iTunes(R) Wi-Fi Music Store. The iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store offers customers the ability to browse, search, preview, purchase and download songs and albums from iTunes over the built-in Wi-Fi on their iPhone. Music fans can start enjoying their music purchases immediately on their iPhone with no computer required. Once they connect their iPhone back to their PC or Mac(R), downloaded music will automatically sync back into their iTunes library.

Pricing & Availability
iPhone is scheduled to go on sale on November 29 and will be sold in France through Orange's online and direct retail stores. iPhone will be available in an 8GB model for euro 399 including V.A.T. for any subscription to one of the dedicated rate plans and will work with either a PC or Mac. iPhone activation will require an Internet connection; an iTunes Store account; the latest version of iTunes available at http://www.itunes.fr and a PC or Mac with a USB 2.0 port and one of the following operating systems: Mac OS(R) X v10.4.10 or later; Windows XP Home or Professional with Service Pack 2 or later; or Windows Vista Home Premium, Business, Enterprise or Ultimate Edition.

iPhone Coming to Europe

From Gizmodo:

Germay:

Reuters has confirmed with an insider that Apple and Deutsche Telekom have reached an agreement to sell the iPhone in Germany. The price will (supposedly) be 399 euros ($554), which is slightly more than the $399 Apple's selling the phone here in the US. Whether this price premium is because the phone will be a 3G version to appeal to Europe's 3G-ness, or whether they're charging early adopters more money first before lowering the price for the mass market is unknown. [Reuters via Apple Insider]

UK:

We have received confirmation from two 100% proven sources that next Tuesday's UK-only Apple event will herald the iPhone's arrival to the United Kingdom. The first European iPhone will most probably arrive in mid- to late-October, not on November 1, as some media outlets have previously reported. Our sources are the same ones from when we broke the news of the secret meeting between Steve Jobs and Telefonica/O2's President Cesar Alierta and said Bollocks! to all the earlier rumors. Unofficially confirmed, but we stand by this one.

Touch iPods Have Arrived!

Multi-touch interface.

The revolutionary technology that made iPhone a hit is now on one amazing iPod. Learn more

Gorgeous 3.5-inch widescreen display.

Touch your music in Cover Flow and watch video on a stunning, widescreen display. Learn more

Wi-Fi web browsing.

Browse the web with Safari and watch YouTube videos on the first-ever Wi-Fi iPod. Learn more

Music downloads from iTunes.

Search, preview, and buy songs from the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store on iPod touch. Learn more

What the Google is going on?

August 2007 Recap from Google Operating System blog

This month Google didn't release its presentation tool, didn't launch any new version for Google Talk and JotSpot is still outside Google Apps. But what did Google do in August?

Mapping
Google launched a new version of Google Earth that lets you explore the sky and also includes a "hidden" flight simulator. Google Maps made it easier to embed maps into your site without knowing JavaScript. Four new cities from the US were added to Google Street View.

Communication
Gmail added the option to pay for more storage and started to share this additional storage with Picasa Web Albums. Gmail is now the top webmail service with the least amount of free storage. orkut suffered a small redesign and it's not ugly anymore.

Search
Google News had a lot of updates this month: the addition of comments from persons involved in a story, videos hosted by YouTube and articles from news agencies like AP that will be hosted by Google. Google indexes web pages faster than ever and gives more options to find fresh web pages.

Video
Google Video closes the video store and concentrates on advertising-supported solutions. YouTube experiments with overlay video ads for premium content.

This month we also found out that the internationalization of Google search has interesting side-effects, Google Browser is already here, Google Docs has a lot of interesting uses and organizing data is a difficult task.

What’s new in iLife ’08 iPhoto

iPhoto
• Events: A new way to view the thousands of photos in your library, organized by the events in your life
• One-click photo sharing via your Web Gallery on .Mac
• Selective importing from your camera
• Ability to hide photos without deleting them
• More powerful editing tools
• Improved desktop printing with themes

iMovie
• Brand-new, completely redesigned
• A single library for all your video
• Ability to instantly watch any clip in your library
• Moviemaking as easy as creating a slideshow
• Quick movie sharing directly to .Mac and YouTube
• Support for more camcorders and formats, including AVCHD

iWeb
• Ability to incorporate web widgets from other websites onto your webpage
• Integrated Google Maps and AdSense
• New photo albums, and photo and video index pages
• More powerful page design and customization tools
• New Apple-designed themes and one-click theme switching
• Personal domain name support on .Mac

GarageBand
• Magic GarageBand—a virtual band that you conduct
• Multi-take recording that helps capture your best performance
• Ability to arrange and move entire sections of your song, including intro, verse, chorus, and so on
• 24-bit recordings for even higher quality
• Powerful new effects and mixing tools
• Simple music notation printing

iDVD
• New Apple-designed DVD themes
• Faster response during editing and preview
• Pro-level encoding for better-quality DVDs
• More control over the design of DVD menus

iLife ’08 requirements

Hardware
Mac computer with an Intel, PowerPC G5, or PowerPC G4 processor
• iMovie requires a Mac computer with an Intel processor, a Power Mac G5 (dual 2.0GHz or faster), or an iMac G5 (1.9GHz or faster)
• iDVD requires 733MHz or faster processor

512MB of RAM; 1GB recommended; high-definition video requires at least 1GB of RAM

Software
Mac OS X v10.4.9 or later
QuickTime 7.2 or later

3 GB of available disk space
DVD drive required for installation

Other configurations may be supported. AVCHD video and 24-bit recording have additional requirements. Visit www.apple.com/ilife/systemrequirements.html for details.

Apple News - Major Updates

I'm back from my two week Eurotrip vacation and ready to fill you all in (a little late, sorry) on all the great things that happened while I was gone...in Mac. Apple has released a series of updates and upgrades to their existing hardware and software. Both the iMac and Mac Mini has experiences upgrades. The long rumored iLife 2008 was finally released along with a 2008 version of iWork, which features a whole new program called "Numbers". Apple's .Mac service has also seen some handsome upgrades.



The new iMac packs all its components — from processor to video camera — into an astoundingly thin, anodized aluminum frame. It's glossy wide screen display will bring you photos, movies, and games to life. The new iMac also sports a fabulous new keyboard that is also available as a wireless model. Here are the specs for this beautiful beast:

2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo 1GB memory 250GB hard drive1 8x double-layer SuperDrive ATI Radeon HD 2400 XT with 128MB memory Ships: 3-5 business days Free Shipping $1,199.00 or as low as $29 a month

2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo 1GB memory 320GB hard drive1 8x double-layer SuperDrive ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO with 256MB memory Ships: 3-5 business days Free Shipping $1,499.00 or as low as $36 a month

2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo 1GB memory 320GB hard drive1 8x double-layer SuperDrive ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO with 256MB memory Ships: 5-7 business days Free Shipping $1,799.00 or as low as $43 a month

2.8GHz Intel Core 2 Extreme 2GB memory 500GB hard drive1 8x double-layer SuperDrive ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO with 256MB memory Ships: 5-7 business days Free Shipping $2,299.00 or as low as $55 a month

The Mac Mini has finally joined the Intel Core 2 Duo club, taking it's place amongst the iMac, Macbook, and Macbook Pros. Just 6.5 inches square and 2 inches small, Mac mini lets you have more fun with your music, photos, and movies, more quickly and more easily. Delivering unprecedented power in such a small package, the Mac mini runs up to 39% faster than previously. Here's the little Tiger's new specs:

• 1.83GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
• 1GB memory
• 80GB hard drive¹

Ships: Within 24 hours

Free Shipping

$599.00

or as low as $15 a month

• 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
• 1GB memory
• 120GB hard drive¹

Ships: Within 24 hours

Free Shipping

$799.00

or as low as $19 a month

iWork 08'

Pages ’08

Writing comes naturally when you’re using Pages ’08, the streamlined word processor for the Mac.

Keynote ’08

Create absolutely stunning, cinema-quality presentations more easily than ever before.

Numbers ’08

Introducing Numbers, the familiar yet revolutionary new spreadsheet application.

iLife

iPhoto

Now iPhoto automatically organizes your library by Events. Learn more

iPhoto.
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iMovie

Completely redesigned to help you make movies in minutes. Learn more

iMovie.
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.Mac Web Gallery

iLife and .Mac let you share photos and movies online with a click. Learn more

.Mac Web Gallery.
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GarageBand

Make music, audition instruments, even create your own virtual band. Learn more

GarageBand.
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iWeb

Create websites that are more custom, more complete, more you. Learn more

iWeb.
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iDVD

Create Hollywood-style DVDs featuring your movies and slideshows. Learn more

.Mac

On August 7th, Apple announced significant enhancements to its .Mac online service, highlighted by the debut of .Mac Web Gallery, a new feature for sharing photos and movies on the Internet. .Mac Web Gallery lets members easily share photos and movies directly from iLife® ’08 with anyone on a Mac, PC or iPhone™ in stunning quality. In addition, .Mac Web Gallery visitors can download high quality images for printing and even contribute photos using a standard web browser or email. Other new .Mac features include a tenfold increase in .Mac storage to 10GB, support for personal domains for iWeb™ websites and enhancements to .Mac Mail.

“.Mac Web Gallery is an awesome way to share photos and movies on the Internet with friends and family,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “You can share your favorite photos and movies with anyone on a Mac, PC or iPhone, and they can turn them into high-quality prints as well as contribute photos to your site using a web browser or email.”

With iPhoto ’08, .Mac members can easily create a .Mac Web Gallery with just a few clicks and choose whether they want to make their albums available to everyone or limit access to specific people, allow visitors to download high-quality images suitable for making up to 16x20-inch prints, and even allow friends and family to contribute photos. .Mac Web Gallery offers an amazing online photo experience that feels more like a desktop application than a web page. Visitors will have the same rich viewing experience whether they are using a Mac or PC and can experience .Mac Web Gallery photo albums in their choice of views, including mosaic, grid, slideshow or carousel. Users can skim through albums just like they do in iPhoto by simply moving their mouse over an album on the web page to see the photos inside. Friends and family can easily contribute to a .Mac Web Gallery by clicking the upload button from their browser or sending an email. iPhoto ’08 automatically stays in sync and downloads contributed photos directly to the .Mac member’s iPhoto library. .Mac Web Gallery is also designed to work great with iPhone, enabling users to view albums or simply snap a picture, choose an album and post it to their .Mac Web Gallery.

With iMovie ’08, .Mac members can easily encode and upload their movies to their .Mac Web Gallery for viewing in several sizes, with the largest size offering higher-than-DVD resolution. Visitors can view .Mac Web Gallery movies on a Mac, PC or iPhone. .Mac members can also choose to make their movies available for download, so that friends and family can play them back on their computer, iPod, iPhone or Apple TV™.

.Mac members now have 10 times more online storage space for photo and movie sharing, email, website hosting, exchanging files and backing up important documents, increasing from 1GB to 10GB for individual members and from 2GB to 20GB for Family Pack customers. Members can choose to purchase an additional 10GB of storage. .Mac members can send and receive larger email attachments up to a maximum size of 20MB and manage unwanted mail better with improved webmail spam filtering. Using iWeb ’08, .Mac members can embed dynamic web widgets like Google Maps, Google AdSense, .Mac Web Gallery albums or HTML snippets in their .Mac website and host their websites at their own personal domain.

Pricing & Availability

.Mac is available as a subscription-based service for $99.95 (US) per year for individuals and $179.95 (US) for a Family Pack which includes one master account and four sub accounts. Customers save $30 (US) on either the individual subscription or the Family Pack when purchased with a new Macintosh® and anyone can sign up for a free, 60-day .Mac trial at www.mac.com.* Individuals can optionally purchase an additional 10GB of storage for $49.95 (US) annually.

.Mac requires a Macintosh computer with Mac OS® X v10.3.9 or v10.4.3 or later and 256MB of RAM. Internet access requires a compatible ISP; fees may apply. Broadband Internet connection recommended. Some features require Mac OS X v10.4 Tiger and iLife ’08, available separately.

*The .Mac service is available to persons aged 13 and older. Annual membership fee and Internet access required. Terms and conditions apply.

New iMacs On the Way

Today, Gizmodo reported that "Apple and Best Buy stores are no longer going to receive old Apple keyboards shipments." It has yet to be confirmed, but if this is indeed true than the many rumors of the release of a new iMac could hold true. The new iMacs are rumored to be released on August 7th. Let's cross our fingers, people. Apple's flagship may just be due for a makeover.