On Wednesday, September 1, 2010 Apple held a press conference. During this they announced new iPods, a new iTunes, and a new Apple TV. First I will go over the new iPods.
The first iPod that was released was the new Shuffle. This is the smallest iPod that
Apple sells and is really for the people who don't care what song is listening they just want to hear their music. That is because there is no screen on it and the big feature for the device like it's name is shuffle. Just by switching a little button you put all your music on shuffle. There were some great additions in both this version and the version before it. One of them was the ability to make playlists. That way you can listen to one type of music and not just any song that is on the whole device like in earlier models. Another one of the new features is voice- over. This lets you have the iPod tell you the information about what song you are listening to or what playlist you are in. This is great if you have ever been like what is that song I really like it but couldn't because there was no screen. There are other new things in the latest model like buttons and new colors. You may be thinking well there were buttons on other shuffles and the answer to that is yes but in model before this they took the buttons away in trying to make it a smaller unit. The lack of buttons for some people was a big draw back so it is a good thing that they got added back in my eyes. For battery life Apple is saying that you will be able to listen to your music for 15 hours. They also say that it will take 3 hours to fully charge it. The music capacity of the shuffle is 2GB. That is ruffly 500 songs. This little iPod sells for only $49 and is available this week. For more information go to http://www.apple.com/ipodshuffle/.
The next iPod that got an update was the iPod Nano. This one got a real big change in looks. The previous models of the nano were all candy bar style with both a pretty good sized screen and a scroll wheel and in the model before this one a video camera. There was also the ability to watch video on the nano from the third generation on. But that all changed with this new nano. This little guy got a complete make over. It now has a 1.54- inch screen That screen is multi touch enabled. The screen resolution is 240 by 240. There are four different screens that you can swipe through to get to the different options. The screens are easily changed by holding down on an icon and then dragging it to the place of your choosing. Since the screen does have multi touch you can use two fingers and rotate it so no matter which way you are holding it or have it clipped to your clothing you see the screen the correct way. The entire device takes a lot from the looks of the shuffle. If you were to take the shuffle's buttons off and replace them with a screen you would make the nano. On the top of the device you have your sleep/ wake buttons and you volume controls. On the bottom you have your dock connector and headphone port. There is now more video camera of the option to watch video on the device. There is also an FM radio tuner built in so you can listen to your favorite radio stations. There is also VoiceOver. This is the same technology that is found in the shuffle. It will read out to you what song you are listening and any other information about it that is available. For battery life Apple is saying that with a full battery you can listen to your music for 24 hours. To charge the device completely it will take 3 hours. The is an accelerometer built in although at this point I am not sure what it is used for. There are two different different size models available a 8GB and a 16GB. There are also 7 colors available including a product red one. The starting price for the nano is $149. For more information on the nano go to http://www.apple.com/ipodnano/.
The next iPod that got an update was the iPod Nano. This one got a real big change in looks. The previous models of the nano were all candy bar style with both a pretty good sized screen and a scroll wheel and in the model before this one a video camera. There was also the ability to watch video on the nano from the third generation on. But that all changed with this new nano. This little guy got a complete make over. It now has a 1.54- inch screen That screen is multi touch enabled. The screen resolution is 240 by 240. There are four different screens that you can swipe through to get to the different options. The screens are easily changed by holding down on an icon and then dragging it to the place of your choosing. Since the screen does have multi touch you can use two fingers and rotate it so no matter which way you are holding it or have it clipped to your clothing you see the screen the correct way. The entire device takes a lot from the looks of the shuffle. If you were to take the shuffle's buttons off and replace them with a screen you would make the nano. On the top of the device you have your sleep/ wake buttons and you volume controls. On the bottom you have your dock connector and headphone port. There is now more video camera of the option to watch video on the device. There is also an FM radio tuner built in so you can listen to your favorite radio stations. There is also VoiceOver. This is the same technology that is found in the shuffle. It will read out to you what song you are listening and any other information about it that is available. For battery life Apple is saying that with a full battery you can listen to your music for 24 hours. To charge the device completely it will take 3 hours. The is an accelerometer built in although at this point I am not sure what it is used for. There are two different different size models available a 8GB and a 16GB. There are also 7 colors available including a product red one. The starting price for the nano is $149. For more information on the nano go to http://www.apple.com/ipodnano/.
Now the last iPod to get an update was the iPod Touch. There were a few changes made to the design of the iPod and a few changes to the OS. Lets start with the OS. They announced that this week IOS 4.1 will be available. There aren't many new things in the OS just lots of little bug fixes like the proximity sensor. That tells the phone where it is during a phone call and makes it so your cheek won't hang up the phone. That was a big problem that people were having. It also fixes a few other bugs. There are three big new features in IOS 4.1. One of them is the ability to rent TV shows for 99 cents commercial free. Another new feature in the OS is game center. This is where you can play with other people around the world, socialize about your favorite games, or check out the leader boards and other records. This was announced back when iPhone 4 was but hasn't been available. The last big feature announced was ping. Ping is Apple's music social media service. It is in both the IOS devices and built right into iTunes. This lets you share with either your friends or the whole world what type of music you like and what songs and albums you have been downloading. You can follow your friends of big artists. You can make comments of other peoples posts and tell them what you think. In my eyes it is very much like the FaceBook for music. Those are the new features in the OS. Now for the hardware changes. There has been multiple changes to the look. One of them is that it has been slimmed down. The entire device is only 7.2 millimeters. There is also the addition of the retina screen. This is the screen that can be found on the iPhone 4. It is one of the best screens on the world. It is crisp, clear, and bright. The resolution of the screen is 960 by 640. It is also LED backlit. There is also the minor change of the volume rockers which are now separated where on previous models they were connected. There is also now a visible speaker grill on the bottom of the iPod. There is also an A4 chip inside the unit. This is the same chip that can be found in the iPhone 4. This chip is faster than the snapdragon 1GHz chip which can be found in most high end smart phones. It is whole fast chip. Everything just happens like that. There is also a three axis gyro which can be also found in the iPhone 4. This makes endless ways to control games and makes you feel like your in the game more. There is also still an accelerometer. Now for the biggest change. The brand new two cameras. One on the back and one front facing camera. The rear camera takes fantastic 720p HD video. Even though there is no flash because of it's backside illuminator it still takes great video in low light situations. There is also a built in mic to record audio while recording video. You could also download the iMovie app and edit the video you take right there on your iPod. There is also the front facing camera. This can be used for FaceTime calls or taking self portraits of yourself. Both cameras take great video and can make your iPod oh so much more fun. The front facing video camera takes VGA quality stuff. For battery life Apple is saying that you can get 7 hours out of watching video and 40 of just listening to your music. There is both 802.11n wireless and 2.1 bluetooth. For more information on the new iPod Touch or cost go to http://www.apple.com/ipodtouch/.
Now after the iPods that were announced Steve Jobs announced iTunes 10. This is the latest release of the world known iTunes software. There are a few changes to it. First the color scheme has been changed and it is now very gray and white. The colors are very simple. There is also another way to view your music collection. This is a mix of two older viewing styles. The list and cover art. This new viewing style makes it so if you have 5 or more songs from one album it will then show you the cover art because it takes up no extra space. There is also the ability to rent TV shows for 99 cents like found on the iPod Touch. These again are in full HD and commercial free. There is also full integration with ping. This lets you post and share you iTunes music with all your friends or the whole world. Apple is also saying that there is improved syncing between your devices. There is now a real time status bar to tell you how full you iPod is. There is also a better way to manage both your music and apps and arrange them the way you want to. There is also a new thing called AirPlay. This enables you to share your music with a sound system easier or another Apple device. This lets you stream your music or videos to another device to be played. Apple is saying that you will find this technology in more speakers and AV receivers soon. That is a run down of the iTunes 10. It is available today for download. For more information on iTunes 10 go to http://www.apple.com/itunes/.
Now for the one more hobby. A few years ago Apple released the Apple TV. During the release instead of calling it the one more thing like they usually do they called it the one more hobby. This is though of a way for Apple saying we know it is not the best but this is a starting point for us and eventually we will make the best one that we can. When the originally released the Apple TV it didn't sell of the shelf's or become a very big product. The new Apple TV has several new features going for it. Lets start off with the new looks. First it is now a quarter of the size of the original model. It is also now all black instead of the original white design. There is also now a built in power brick so the power cord can be smaller and easier to move. There is also no built in fan which keeps the device extremely quiet. The device also stays very cool. When you are not using it to stream movies or your TV shows the device uses less power than a night light. Other bonus' of the new device are that there is now hard drive built in so you don't have to worry about running out of space or organizing your data. This means that all your TV shows, movies, podcasts, music, and photos are streamed over the internet. Due to the fact that now all TV show rentals and movie rentals are in HD on the Apple TV they have equipped it with an A4 chip. This makes doing all those tasks extremely simple. You can control the content just like you would with a movie by pausing, fast forwarding, and rewinding all you want. To hook the device up is pretty simple. All you have to do is plug it in to the wall with the included power cable and then connect it to your TV using a HDMI cable. The HDMI cable is sold separate from the unit itself. There isn't any other cables to be hooked up because of he fact that it is all streamed via the internet there is no need for any other cables. For movie rentals you don't have to wait for blockbuster to have it or netflix to send it out to you because most major films are available for rent the same day that they are on DVD. There are several ways to look at the movies, you can see reviews, and even the rotten tomatoes. After finding a movie to watch just press play and in second you will be at the opening credits. There is 5.1 surround sound in most movies but not all. If you want you can rent a SD movie for as low at $2.99 and a HD movie starting as low as $3.99. Like in the desktop version of iTunes you have 30 days to start the movie and once you start it you have 24 hours to watch it as many times as you would like. For TV shows it is again a rental only system. For most shows you can rent the show the day after it aired on TV. The shows are all in HD and commercial free for only 99 cents. Like with the movies once you rent an episode you have 30 days to press start. Once you have pressed start you have 48 to watch the TV show as many times as you want. It will also now record the TV shows that you download most and make a list of them for quick access and if you download a lot of shows a bunch you can reorganize them and put your favorites on the tom of the list. There are also a few other ways to watch media on your Apple TV. One way to consume media other than just through iTunes is through Netflix. With a netflix account you can stream movies in their catalog for free. They have both SD and HD movies. It is now easier than ever to get netflix on your HDTV. There is now no need to buy an adapter so you can connect your computer to your TV. You can also access YouTube, online radio, flickr, and your MobileMe account. This makes it so you can see all your favorite content right on your big screen with no extra hassle of connecting your computer up. With the ability to stream content right from your iTunes library you can play any song you want right through your stereo. You can also start a slideshow right from iPhoto and leave it up for everyone to see. You can also watch the movies and TV shows that you have bought on your computer by streaming it over. You can also use a new software called AirPlay. This lets you stream what you are watching on your iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad to your Apple TV. This is great if you start a movie on your IOS device and then want to continue it on your Apple TV. There are also a few different ways to control your Apple TV. One of them is by using the Apple Remote that comes with the device and is pretty straight forward on how it works. You can also use your iPhone or iPod Touch to control it through a downloadable app. This makes moving through the Apple Tv menu a breeze. You can use multi touch gestures like swiping and scrolling. You can also open up the keyboard for easy search in both Netflix and the iTunes store. This remote works just like the apple remote but is all done with touch. That is the new Apple TV. For more details or information go to http://www.apple.com/appletv/. 
That is what went down during the September 1st Apple keynote. All this information and more can be found at apple.com.
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