Rushit Shah - just blogging

Quick Training - Recruiting Edge Lesson 1

2008-05-27T01:04:00.000-07:00

I welcome you all to the lessons of Internet Recruiting Edge, as i said earlier i will be starting with recruiting tips for freshers and experts in recruiting and hiring. Though my knowledge is just from sources and from my gurus like Shally and Jim.

First lesson would be Finding Candidates before anyone else.

Finding people from Job boards, advertising or job oriented websites are fast and easy but you cannot get fresh candidates in the market as all the leads are rusted by each and every recruitment corporate companies. Also there is no benefit of selling candidates from job portals as even your clients would have seen them. So the solution to this is,come along with Linkedin.com.

Linkedin is booming totally, and all the recruiters and sales came in and started taking advantage of the site with the help of cheat sheets(will tell you more about cheat sheet on my later posts). So candidates started using other networking sites like xing, marzar, plaxo and many more. Gradually every professional networking site came to an end, but people at lower recruitments are still having fruits, but what about people like us, who sell most unique and most saleable candidates in the market to make our brand name look bigger. Then comes Facebook. Facebook has the second highest online database of people around the globe. People started targeting social network sites to get fresh candidates. It was difficult but was possible to get people sharing there social life online.

Facebook with over millions of users, users slowly got frustrated with people bugging them on there social life so stopped entertaining people on social networking sites. So when all resources were getting rusted blogging came into action.

Blog is a short form of Web Blog which means live journal. People started Blogging and started sharing there thoughts, there ideas and there profile which was very important. It is now easy to search blog with the help of google search engine. You can easily find candidates and their profile on google blog search, but as millions and millions of people are blogging, it was kind of hectic to find a profile on the blog.

Finally every resources were crunched and some were rusted and some were so large that it was impossible to search candidates, to this also then came a solution called "Name generation" OR "Name development".

95% of the world’s active employees in today’s workforce cannot be identified using traditional or internet sourcing methods. Instead of the usual “you find us” method used by the majority of recruiters “name generation or name sourcing” identifies an untapped pool of candidates using the “we’ll find you” method.

If you want to Lean more about Name Generation email me at Rushit_shah@gmail.com OR you can call me +91 9371076634. You can find my online profile on linkedin.

So friends you have got yourself on the path of learning to search candidates.

Few of the methods are:

1) Name Generation
2) Blogs
3) Social networking sites
4) Professional Networking sites
5) Job Portals
5) Job Oriented Sites.

I would be interested to learn more of the path if you can share on here for my visitors. If you people are lazy and don't want to type my website address but still want my Training post then subscribe me to get the post in your email account.

Who is BIGGER? Linkedin OR facebook

2008-05-19T02:21:00.000-07:00

When ever i read about Linkedin OR facebook i always think even being both the different functionality sites why are this sites always compared. Linkedin is an Professional Networking site and Facebook is Social networking site.

Linkedin Vs Facebook

Most hot gossip in town is about the Huge sites like Linkedin and facebook. Both the huge sites are open on search engines and any one find any one on this sites without logging on. I am not sure why does it matter here but thought sharing little information. I can also find on Google some cheat sheets to use this sites and make most of it. Linkedin is smaller in size in regards to users but Linkedin is surely bigger in regards to usefulness. Facebook has great network and has great application to work with. Actually Facebook also have one application called Linkedin where you can manage your contacts directly. Facebook Tries to cover everything even though the functionality of Linkedin is so perfect that it can never be compared to any other site. There many professional networking site in world wide web, but no one could stand along Linkedin. Same as Facebook, no social networking site can be stand along.

Linkedin and Facebook and too different functionality and can never compared, If we say fame wise i think Facebook is more famous, but in corporate world Linkedin is used most. why would CXO or Executive people would like to show off on facebook when don't have time to breath socially. Linkedin makes useful for sales and Recruitment and they consider as one of the application used to promote business.

However, according to Fortune blog The Browser, LinkedIn CEO Dan Nye says that’s just fine. In a world where people like to keep their professional and social lives separate, there’s room both social networking sites, he argues.

Stealing some of his material from LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman on the matter, Nye said people will build one profile for their personal life and another for their professional life. The argument, self serving as it is, makes a certain amount of sense. Not good to have a prospective employer stumble on to those photos of you freshman year in Delta Kappa Epsilon.

After the inevitable social net shakeout, Nye says, Facebook and MySpace will remain standing and will compete to supply an outlet for personal self-expression and community. Meanwhile, in the Nye/Hoffman scenario, LinkedIn will dominate the business of business networking — serving as a “productivity tool,” used for professional reference checking, recruiting, and to get expert advice.

It's assumed that Facebook's main rival is Myspace. Facebook, with 23m unique visitors in the US in April, according to Comscore, is the only social network that comes within spitting distance of Myspace's 67m. And both gigantic sites took off when adopted by young audiences, Myspace by music fans, and Facebook by college students. But Facebook's immediate challenge is not to Myspace, but to another social network, which might surprise you: Linked In.

On the surface, the two couldn't be any more different: Mark Zuckerberg's social network has only recently expanded beyond college students; and Linked In is a tool for recruiters, job seekers, sales execs and other corporate drones. But Facebook's interface is sufficiently clean, and efficient, that it's attracting a new class of user, the professional.

So try to be on both the Worlds and try to enjoy them. you think there is any other sites who can match Facebook or Linkedin.

Hell Yeah its Addictive

2008-05-06T04:10:00.001-07:00

One fine weekend me and my girl friend went for shopping, i was out of good pair of jeans and i had to buy few news ones. We went to a shopping mall called Lifestyle, its pretty new and got nice stuff to wear. The weekend was going pretty good, till i bought that thing.

I forget to tell you something about me, i am a board game lover and i like strategic games. Games like chess, sudoku , life, monopoly, battleship and many more. So that Sunday i was looking for some Jeans and i got my eye a board game kept on display for people to play, kind of game promotion. I went there and started playing, the game seems to be interesting so tried to finish the whole level 1. There are more 100 level on the board to play. So i was trying to finish that game and till i was finish with level 1 the store was about to close so i was not able to buy any Jeans instead i end up buying this board game called "The Kaleidoscope Classic". I had to buy as i had to finish other 100 levels of the game. So my gf was already pissed on me as i wasted her 4 hours and end having nothing but this addictive game. Before me abusing more about this game see below the picture of the board game.

Now you can see different kind of cubes with different colors, looking it the game it looks like a some kiddish game but this game is not for kinds instead it is even difficult for geniuses to solve this 101 puzzles. If you are really genius and if you are able to solve 101 puzzles of "The Kaleidoscope Classic" you get a certificate from them. The game is invented by Dr Woods he is a born genius and proved him self by making this game. I should warn you this game is very very addictive and can destroy your work your relationship with your spouse. If you think i am just reviewing this game, then no i am asking people to stay away from the game once you start playing you won't stop till you finish all the levels. This game is frustrating you can also get blurry looking to same colors continuously.

My gf has also started playing this game and now she don't have time for me, i hate this game now. Look below for example of the puzzle.

Now you have to place all the color cubes on the board and should look like this. It is very very difficult. I bet if some one can solve all hundred puzzle he is my Hero.

So if you take my challenge buy one of this compete me. I have completed 36 puzzles in 4 days, let me know if you can bet me on this.

St. warning: Stay away from game it is really addictive.

About Rushit Shah - Mind behind the Rushitshah.com

2008-04-30T02:07:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Rushit Shah Dot com I am the author of this blog names Rushit Shah and you can call me Rushit.

My profession is Executive Search Recruitment and i have been into the field from many years now. I love writing about things i have learned in past and also like to discover things every now and then. Main purpose of my blog is to share things i know and will also help people who are looking to Make Money from Internet OR looking to Make Money from Blogging. I have given and will giving hundreds of ways to earn money from internet. All you have to do is to subscribe my Posts and i will email you all the details in your Mail box.

I love Playing chess a lot, though i never share my secret moves. So don't expect any chess posts from me, but if my audience request me for the post i can surely revel some tips i know which very few people playing chess know about.

You can find my professional Profile on Linkedin

Thanks for dropping by and do subscribe to my blog feed for free daily updates.

You might also want to add me as a friend on your favorite social media websites:

1. Digg

2. StumbleUpon

3. Twitter

4. Sphinn

5. Tumblr

6. Pownce

7. Linkedin

8. Rushit Shah

Advertise

2008-04-30T02:05:00.000-07:00

If you want me to Review your Website/Product/BLOG just Email me on rushit_shah@rushitshah.com with the subject line Review Me. Your review would be written within 7 days of Request Received. The Pricing would be negotiable and the mode of payment would be PAYPAL. Would also appreciate if you can fill the detail of your product in the questionnaire below.

Website: xyz.com
Review Type: no preference/ beneficial/critique
Budget: Min-MAX
Length: number of words you desire me to write

Requirements
Any of things you want me to remember before and while writing your post on my blog.

FOR EXAMPLE

1) Put an Video with an image.(Every sponsored review would have an image on my blog)
2) Put the title of the post xyz and nothing else

Link Requirements

The required link(s) within the review. (There would be min of 3 links on every sponsored review)

FOR EXAMPLE

1)Link:http://www.xya.com
Link Text: article

2)Link:http://www.xya.com/product
Link Text: product on xyz

3)Link:http://www.xya.com/price
Link Text:pricing

Description

Anything which you want me to know about site/product.

Once again please mail me on rushit_shah@rushitshah.com with the subject line Review ME.

Looking forward to work with you.
Regards

Rushit Shah

Yahoo Mashing Facebook

2008-04-23T01:56:00.000-07:00

Yahoo! Mash is a social network service launched by Yahoo! during the early part of September 2007, to compete with other social networking sites by offering "mashups" of existing web services on a single-user interface. The service is currently in 'beta' testing form on an invitation-only basis.

Yahoo! Mash has the unusual feature of allowing a user to edit other users' pages, except in cases where the other users have switched the feature off.

It is thought that the Yahoo! Mash social network was created after plans for a merger of Yahoo! and Facebook failed.

A little more than two months after we first reported rumors about Yahoo’s new social network Mosh, the company has given us a preview of a social network with a slightly different name: Mash

Mash appears to be Yahoo!’s way of saying adieu to its existing social network, Yahoo! 360, but no word yet on whether the company will actually be shutting down 360.

Mash’s blog can be found here

Basically, Yahoo! Mash is similar to MySpace and Facebook where you make a profile page for yourself, but a little different where you can actually edit the pages of your friends (but you can change the settings on whether you want to do this or not.) You can also install "modules," where people can make little applications and you can install them directly on your page. It's similar to applications on Facebook, not so much on MySpace. It's a little buggy right now, but I can't hate on that, since the first week Yahoo! 360 was live was a trainwreck and a half.

The big difference lies in the applications. True, this is a “beta” (as is everything else new on the web now), but you definitely feel like you’ve been spoiled by the never-ending stream of apps on Facebook. Yahoo Mash starts you off with a couple like a questionnaire, page styler, and the slightly creepy “Mash Pet”; there are currently only 10 more for you to add. True, there are some nice ones, such as the blog RSS module so you can feed your blog to your page if you desire, but things like Asteroids and horoscopes just feel a bit tacked-on to increase the quantity of apps.

Lets how Yahoo Mash Hits Facebook. Keep ur self updated by subscribing your self my Feeds.

Increase Your Rankings and Traffic

2008-04-17T02:16:00.000-07:00

Submit your Blog - Free blog submission sites, most don't require registration!

Are you looking to increase the traffic to your blog? Building links from directories will increase your link popularity, direct traffic, and search engine rankings.

There are several lists of “Blog Directories” around the Internet, but most of them feature only a hand full of directories, and they lack a ranking factor to make it easier for the reader to scan through the list.

Below you will find a very extensive list of Blog Directories, ordered according to their Alexa rank. We have also inserted the Pagerank of each directory on the list to make it more detailed. Enjoy!

PingMyBlog.com - submits to multiple blog directories with one click - no registration - OUR STAFF PICK
ablogin - blog submission
add-blogs - blog submission
all-blog-directory - blog submission
Blogarama - blog submission
Blog Digger - rss feed submission
BlogStreet - blog submissions

BlogSearchEngine - rss feed submission
BlogHop - rss feed submission
Blo.gs - blog submissions
BlogCensus - rss feed submission
BlogStreet - blog submission (India based only)
BritBlog - blog submission
BlogLines - blog submission
BoingBoing - blog submission (reviewed)
BlogoSphere EcoSystems - blog submission
Blogz - blog submission
BlogPulse - automated trend discovery system for blogs
BlogCatalog - Very large Blog Directory & community to help you promote your blog and build your network
biggerblogger - blog submission
blogara - blog submission
blogarama - blog submission
blogblurp - blog submission
blog-collector - blog submission
blogdirectory - blog submission
blogdirs - blog submission
blogdirectorycentral - blog submission
blogflux - blog submission
bloggersdir - blog submission
bloggersites - blog submission
bloggingsmostwanted - blog submission
bloghints - blog submission
blogification - blog submission
blogio - blog submission
bloglisting - blog submission
blogmyway - blog submission
blogsallovertheworld - blog submission
blogsforsmallbusiness - blog submission
blogsitesonline - blog submission
blogsready - blog submission
blogsroot - blog submission
blogtrap - blog submission
blogz - blog submission
blog5000 - blog submission
blogged - blog submission
boingboing - blog submission
b4blogs - blog submission
dailyseoblog - blog submission
desiblogs - blog submission
dofollowblogs - blog submission
EatonWeb - rss feed submission
emarketingblogs - blog submission
freshlinkmedia - blog submission
Globe of Blogs - blog submission
Kmax Blog Links - blog submission
myblogdirectory - blog submission
myblog2u - blog submission
photarium - blog submission
poweredbywp - blog submission
RSS Network - rss feed submission
The SEOtree - blog submission
superblogdirectory - blog submission
shoutyoursite - blog submission
theblogresource - blog submission
thevital - blog submission
topblogdirectory - blog submission
verybestblogs - blog submission
weblog-index - blog submission
wordrepot - blog submission

Enjoy Making money by increasing your rankings . Subscribe my full stories

Make Money

2008-04-14T00:55:00.000-07:00

The following is a list of all the ad networks and affiliate programs I use to make money online. They were chosen from this exhaustive list of 100 ad networks. I have used all the following networks at one time or another and can highly recommend them. They have proven to provide good service/support and most importantly, on time payments.

Google AdSense

If you don’t know what Google AdSense is then you’ve been living under a rock. This is pretty much a must have if you want to make money from a blog. Google display simple text and image ads on your blog that are targeted to what you’re writing about. Google has been a consistent money maker for this blog.

Sign up for AdSense.

Bidvertiser

Bidvertiser, a CPC ad network that competes with Google AdSense. It main advantage over AdSense is its low $10 payout. You only need to make $10 in order to be paid. Big publishers wouldn’t care about this but for many small blogs that are still waiting to hit that magic $100 Google payout level, getting pay at a lower level is quite attractive.

Sign up for Bidvertiser

ReviewMe

ReviewMe allows advertisers to buy sponsored reviews on your blog. Review prices are based on your blog’s Alexa, Technorati and estimated RSS numbers. Publishers can set their own pricing if they don’t like the price ReviewMe set. Reviews can be positive or negative. The only requirement is the post must be at least 200 words long.

Sign up for ReviewMe

SponsoredReviews

SponsoredReviews is very similar to ReviewMe.com. Review prices are based on your blog’s Alexa, Technorati and estimated RSS numbers. Publishers can Bid the opportunities . Reviews can be positive or negative. When you submit your blog for review, the SponsoredReviews system pulls stats on that blog from several sources, like Technorati and Alexa. Your link popularity is calculated, and you’re giving a total ranking of anywhere from 1 to 5 checkmarks. You’re given a suggested price based on vertisers” tab will do just that. These are open opportunities that anyone can bid on. But remember that price you set for your blog? If you want $20 per review, you can NOT bid on offers that had a minimum over $20.

Sign up for SponsoredReviews

SMORTY
If you love making money online using your blog then why not try with Smorty, a site where you can get paid to blog. To join Smorty is so easy and simple, you can begin to blog for money as soon as your blog is approved. The systems pays within 6 days of approval of the post.

Payperpost

One of the site like smorty, sponsoredreviews abd they are most paying site of all.

Sign Up For Payperpost

See the List of the Sites for Making Money.

Let me know if you have any questions on any of the sites i have referred.

SUBSCRIBE TO RUSHIT SHAH

2008-04-13T02:58:00.000-07:00

There are two main ways that you can keep up to date with the latest news at Heena Mehta Dot Com Mogul. Each option will suit different people and you’re more than welcome to pick any (or all) of them.

RSS Feed

For those of you familiar with RSS and News Aggregators you can follow Heena Mehta Dot Com Mogul via our RSS feed. Simply add it to your news aggregator and you’ll get notification every time something is published on Heena Mehta Dot Com Mogul. Learn More about RSS and how to use it.

Rss will help you to make your life simple and fast. Once subscribe to my feeds you don't have to come to blog and check for updates, i will male you the updates on your google or yahoo readers and i cal also mail you my post in your mail ox read below for more.

Email Subscription

If you’re not an RSS user you can get one daily email that gives you any post that has been written on Heena Mehta Dot Com Mogul that day. You can unsubsribe from this this service at any point. This service is provided by a third party (Feedburner) and you can subscribe to it by leaving your email address in the following field and following the instructions.

Please note - your privacy is assured with any of the above options. I do not use your details for any other purposes than what you sign up for and details are kept private.

Exploring Microblogging services

2008-03-30T12:38:00.000-07:00

Micro-blogging platforms like Twitter and Pownce allow you to write short text messages to be shared with friends or everyone. I have been using Twitter from a long time now. If you are are using twitter you can follow me on http://twitter.com/tihsur. Microblogging is a part of social network.This allows you to keep in touch with a circle of friends who might be interested in what you are doing from time to time. As with all other social networks or websites, I tend to see these micro-blogging services as a means to generate exposure for websites and businesses, particularly because they can send traffic through the insertion of relevant links.

I was going through few sites and i came across 3 more sites which i really liked and i think they would be really helpful for me to increase my site popularity and visits.

List below are few examples of Microblogging.

1) Twitter:

Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows users to send "updates" (or "tweets"; text-based posts, up to 140 characters long) to the Twitter website, via short message service (e.g. on a cell phone), instant messaging, or a third-party application such as Twitterrific or Facebook.

Updates are displayed on the user's profile page and instantly delivered to other users who have signed up to receive them. The sender can restrict delivery to those in his or her circle of friends (delivery to everyone is the default). Users can receive updates via the Twitter website, instant messaging, SMS, RSS, email or through an application. For SMS, four gateway numbers are currently available: short codes for the USA, Canada, and India, as well as a UK number for international use. Several third parties offer posting and receiving updates via email.

2) Pownce :

Pownce is a free social networking and micro-blogging site started by Internet entrepreneurs Kevin Rose, Leah Culver, Daniel Burka, and Shawn Allen. Pownce is centered around sharing messages, files, events, and links with already-established friends. The site launched on June 27, 2007, and was opened to the public on January 22, 2008. I wont say pownce has copied idea from twitter but i would say that few functionality of this site is same as twitters.

3) Jaiku

is a social networking, micro-blogging and life streaming service comparable to . Jaiku was founded in February 2006 by Jyri Engeström and Petteri Koponen from Finland and launched in July of that year. It was purchased by Google on October 9, 2007.

If you any more sites like this i would love to see your comment on it.
Tags: microblogging, micro-blogging, micro blogging, twitter, pownce, jaiku, build traffic, web traffice building tips, blogging, bloggers, get traffic .........

Track to Exceed Revenue Targets - APPLE

2008-02-15T04:18:00.000-08:00

Apple should match or exceed its revenue targets during the current quarter, with the Mac sales boom compensating for slower growth in iPod sales, an analyst claims.

Shaw Wu from American Technology Research told clients: "While near-term trends look difficult with a looming recession and a slow-down in consumer spending, we continue to believe Apple is well-positioned to weather the storm better than most with its strong fundamentals."

The analyst rates Apple as a stock to buy with a 6-12 month price target of US$175.

"Our sense is that Apple is tracking modestly above its guidance of $6.8 billion," the analyst explains. "Macs appear to be the most promising with continued momentum carried over from previous quarters. While MacBook Air sales look somewhat underwhelming, it is helping drive more traffic. We remain comfortable with our forecast of 2.1 million Macs against consensus of 2 million," Wu warned.

iPods appear to be tracking to 9.5-10 million units led by fairly robust demand for higher models, the analyst explained, pointing to seasonal decline in iPod sales and lower than anticipated demand for the low-end iPod shuffle.

On the iPhone, the analyst warned of weaker than anticipated demand, and confirmed the extensive nature of the market for unlocked iPhones.

"Our sources indicate that iPhone is being used in 35-40 countries against the four authorized countries," he said. "Out of the four million iPhones shipped, we estimate at least one million, and perhaps as high as 1.5 million may be hacked."

"While hacked iPhones have some impact to deferred revenue, we are not overly concerned as iPhone is only a 3 per cent contributor to reported revenue." by RUSHIT SHAH

itune hacks

2008-02-11T06:22:00.000-08:00

Rushmeon - Rushit Shah

How to get locked audio from an iPod to your computer. Very useful when, for example, you've had to format your drive because of a virus, and the music isn't on your computer but it's on your iPod. It's also an easy way to copy your music from one computer to another

Unlock Iphone For Free

2008-02-06T03:47:00.000-08:00

IPHONE 100% UNLOCK 2 EASY STEPS - The most amazing bloopers are here

Bought an iphone or havent and want to but dont want at&t?? well now you can get an iphone and activate it and unlock it for free dont have to pay like some are offering.... Just follow to easy steps and enjoy your unlocked iphone with t-mobile rogers fido etc anywhere in the world.

Is the world's thinnest laptop any good?

2008-01-23T11:27:00.000-08:00

At a glance

What is it?	Thin laptop
Price	£From £1199 (Compare prices)
The good	Thin, 13.3-inch screen, light, option of solid state drive
The bad	No optical drive, no Ethernet, no FireWire, no replaceable battery, expensive
We say	Will it impress your mates? Of course it will. But for us there are too many sacrifices
You say	No reader reviews yet, be the first... >> Sign up and write a review...

See larger / more images / slideshow

Full review

REVIEW: 15 January 2008 - Apple has launched a new line of laptops with the MacBook Air, an ultra-portable model that Apple say will sit in between the MacBook and the MacBook Pro ranges, but while it might be the thinnest laptop in the world, is it any good? We had a brief play at the launch in London.

When Steve Jobs' pulled out the laptop from an envelope on stage the crowd of journalists, commentators, guests and resellers present and watching from London gasped. Up close you can see why.

It's incredibly thin. In fact according to Steve Jobs: "The thickest part of the MacBook Air will be thinner than the thinnest part of the Sony TZ series".

To give you that in real terms the MacBook Air goes from 0.76 inches at its fattest section down to 0.16 inches at the thin end.

Exact dimensions for the new notebook, which is being paraded under the banner of "Thinnovation" by Apple are - height: 0.16-0.76 inch (0.4-1.94cm), width: 12.8 inches (32.5cm), depth: 8.94 inches (22.7cm) and weight: 3.0 pounds (1.36 kg).

But getting that thin has meant sacrifices have had to be made.

You might get a USB 2.0 socket, a micro-DVI socket, a headphones jack and iSight webcam, but there is no optical drive, no FireWire port, no VGA, no DVI, no Ethernet socket, no chance of expanding the RAM memory or the hard drive and strangest of all no replaceable battery.

When Apple say "there is something in the air", they weren't joking and the crux of this laptop is all about wireless connectivity.

So you get 802.11n and Bluetooth 2.0 + ERD connectivity to help you get connected. You also get a new software feature called "Remote Disk" that will work with both PC and Macs that allows you to "borrow" its hard drive or optical drive so you can load software, and share content to your Air.

It's something that will no doubt come in handy when you go to install the next bit of software via a CD. You can buy an external optical drive, but it's an additional outlay.

The MacBook Air might be thin, but that doesn't mean Apple has given you a 7-inch screen as with the Asus Eee or asked users to be cramped using the keyboard. The laptop features a bright 13.3-inch LED screen and a full sized QWERTY keyboard, which is also blacklit.

Below the keyboard is a new larger multi-gesture touchpad that works like the Apple iPhone allowing you to scroll through windows and rotate and view images. Currently only working with Apple products, Apple hasn't yet released the software to third party developers so don't expect to see it in Firefox or Adobe applications in time for launch in 2 weeks time.

In use and the touchpad is 90% easy with it taking a little getting used to. In our brief play we struggled at first with the rotating of images and it's not at intuitive as the iPhone at first glance perhaps because you aren't moving your hand directly on the screen. I'm sure however given time and a longer review test it would become second nature.

Behind the scenes and the tech specs are impressive regardless of size. The laptop will come with an 80GB hard drive as standard with the option of a 64GB Solid State Drive (although this is being touted by Apple as an additional £639 cost in the UK) and it will come with 2GB of memory as standard. It will also feature an Intel Core 2 Duo chip at 1.6GHz as standard with an upgrade option available taking you to 1.8GHz making it no slouch in bed.

We weren't able to fully benchmark or test performance but from our quick play it was fast and as nippy as our MacBook Pro.

As something that fits in the ultra-portable moniker, while it's thin, envelope-thin in fact, it's not handbag size and so those looking for this to be their "internet in the pocket" device will be disappointed. The size isn't going to let you get rid of the laptop bag just yet.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS
As a piece of engineering, the MacBook Air is impressive and Apple should be commended for getting all that tech into a device that is so thin. Up close and personal it's very impressive and makes our 6-month old MacBook Pro look like someone from Fat Camp.

So why aren't we getting all excited about it as much as we should? Well for us it comes down to that non-replaceable battery.

What's the point of having a portable device if you have to be within 5 hours of a power supply. Granted 5 hours is a long time and Apple suggest that if you opt for the SSD option you'll get even longer, but the inability to be able to replace the battery on the fly is a deal breaker for us.

It might be fine when you first get it out of the box, but what happens in 2 years time when you've got to take it back to Apple because the battery is giving you below par performance?

It's one thing being without an iPod while it's sent away to be fixed, but if it's my work machine what then? Perhaps Apple are expecting you to have a second machine?

Apple say that the lack of replaceable battery is because that was one of the only ways of getting the MacBook Air to the thickness that it is, and the company is most likely right, but for us it's just one sacrifice too many.

Will it impress your mates? Of course it will. But for us there are too many sacrifices.

Expect a full review shortly. The Apple MacBook Air will be available in 2 week's time.

>> Our score	Not yet rated		>> Your score	?/10
>> See other reviews with this score			>> How would you rate this product?

Compare Prices

Apple Macbook Air C2d-1.6g 2gb 80gb 13.3in Uk (MB003B/A) PC Notebook
(MPN: MB003B/A)

Launching MacBook Air - World's Thinest Laptop

2008-01-16T23:37:00.000-08:00

Wikipedia said: - The MacBook Air is a lightweight Macintosh notebook computer by Apple Inc. CEO Steve Jobs revealed the laptop by removing it from a manila envelope at the Macworld Conference & Expo on January 15, 2008. Apple claims it to be the "world's thinnest notebook"^[1] at 0.76 inches (1.93 cm) thick at its thickest point and 0.16 inches (0.41 cm) at its thinnest.

Overview

Steve Jobs with MacBook Air

To reduce the computer's size and weight, Apple engineers omitted certain features long standard on their laptops. It is Apple's first notebook since the PowerBook 2400c without a built-in removable media drive. Users may purchase an external USB SuperDrive, or use bundled Remote Disc software to access the optical drive of another computer. It is Apple's first notebook since the original iBook to lack a FireWire port. It also lacks an Ethernet port, although a USB-to-Ethernet converter may be purchased separately. The Intel Core 2 Duo processors are also specially made for the MacBook Air, with its physical size being shrunk by 40% to fit in the confinements of the notebook.

The laptop has the magnetic latch system of the MacBook and an aluminum casing like the MacBook Pro. The trackpad offers iPhone-like Multi-Touch gestures, an improvement over previous MacBook trackpads. Among the gestures are pinching, swiping and rotating.

Remote Disc

The MacBook Air can wirelessly access the optical drive of another Mac or Windows PC that has the Remote Disc program installed, allowing the installation of applications from a CD or DVD.^[2] It can also reinstall the system software from the included installation DVD.^[3] Remote Disc supports netbooting, so the MacBook Air can boot from its installation DVD in another computer's drive.^[4]

User-serviceability

Unlike Apple's other notebooks, the MacBook Air has no user-replaceable parts. Its hard drive, memory and battery are sealed within the casing.^[5] Apple will replace the battery for a fee.^[6]

Green credentials

According to Apple, MacBook Air is the company's most environmentally friendly laptop, having an entirely aluminum case and a mercury- and arsenic-free glass display. The circuit boards designed by Apple are free of BFR and PVC.

Expansion

Expansion is limited. An external battery, roughly the dimensions of the computer itself, can be attached. An external optical drive, an Ethernet adapter, and other peripherals can be connected to the single USB port.

Specifications

Component	Early 2008 ^[7]
Display	13.3" glossy LED-backlit TFT LCD widescreen display, 1280x800 pixel resolution
Graphics	Intel GMA X3100 graphics processor with 144 MB of DDR2 SDRAM shared with main memory
Storage	80-GB PATA hard drive 64-GB SSD optional
Processor	1.6 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Merom^[8], with 800 MHz FSB 1.8 GHz Core 2 Duo optional
Memory	2GB PC2-5300 DDR2 SDRAM soldered to the logicboard
Wireless Networking	Integrated AirPort Extreme supports 802.11a/b/g/draft n
Wired Ethernet	none, Optional USB Ethernet Adapter
Optical storage	none, Optional External USB SuperDrive
Camera	Built-in iSight
Battery	37 W-Hr Lithium-polymer battery 5 hours estimated run-time.
Physical Dimensions	22.7 cm D x 32.4 cm W x 0.4~1.94 cm H 8.9 in. D x 12.74 in. W x 0.16~0.76 in. H 1.36 kg (3.0 lbs.)
Bluetooth	2.1+EDR built-in
Port connections	1x USB 2.0 1x Micro-DVI video port (adapters are included for VGA or DVI monitors up to 1920x1200 pixels) 1x Audio Out (3.5 mm stereo jack)
Audio	1x microphone 1x mono loudspeaker External speakers must be plugged in for stereo.
Keyboard	Backlit full-size keyboard with ambient light sensor
Trackpad	Supports multi-touch gestures

Timeline of the MacBook family

See also: Timeline of Macintosh models

How come i forgot MAC mini

2008-01-07T08:12:00.000-08:00

Just realized i forget to tell you about Mac mini, and so here is my post for Mac mini

Introduction

The Mac Mini is, at once, a radical change in direction for Apple Computer Inc. and the quintessential Macintosh.
More than two decades ago, the original designers of the Macintosh envisioned a $500 appliance computer that exemplified simplicity. The Mac Mini is just that, at exactly that price. Mac OS X has lost some of the software elegance and consistency of the original system, but the Mac Mini is still the finest example of those principles on the market today.
As the lowest-cost personal computer ever sold by Apple, the Mini also represents a big change in Apple's business model. We discussed this concept at length two years ago in our iCheap pages, and it was the core of a raging debate back in 1997 over the termination of Mac OS licensing.
When Steve Jobs killed licensing, it propped up Apple's profitability, but Mac OS market share slid into decline. The first iMac - a wildly-successful, modestly-priced appliance computer for the Internet age - helped save the company.
Now we have a new Apple appliance for a new decade of personal computing, one of declining costs and margins symbolized by IBM's sale of its PC business to China. The Mac Mini, built in Taiwan to Apple's specifications, has the potential to boost Apple's business again, just as the iMac did in the 1990's. The market (and Apple's future development of the Mini) will decide.
The Mini, like the iMac, represents a radical re-packaging of technology, rather than the revolution in technology of the original Macintosh. Yet, this sort of repackaging can change the market dramatically, if hordes of people buy it, or if a "killer application" transforms it, the way VisiCalc transformed the Apple II and iTunes transformed music distribution.

The Package

What we have today with the Mini is simply the most accessible Mac yet. $500 is a critical price point, but that's only a third of the story. The second third is the remarkably friendly design of this computer. People don't want big, noisy, power-hungry boxes, as Apple realized after shipping the notorious "wind-tunnel" Power Macs and early Xserves. Whether you're in a home or office or server room, compact size, quiet operation and low power usage are all real benefits. And the Mac Mini excels in all those areas.
The final third? Software. Mac OS X, despite its funky Finder and a variety of other bugs and issues, is far and away the best general-purpose operating system in the world today. And it's amazingly free from the worms, viruses, spyware and malware that plagues PCs running Windows. Apple's applications, despite a few software glitches of their own, are remarkably useful, friendly and extensive, adding significant overall value.
Combine all these benefits, and the $500 Mac Mini is a great deal, with its software bundle and its 1.25GHz processor, CD-RW/DVD-ROM drive, 40GB hard drive, modem and combination analog/digital video port, which can handle any number of big, beautiful monitors with 32 MBytes of dedicated video memory driven by an ATI Radeon 9200 chipset. To save money, you can also use cheap 17" and 19" CRT monitors while still getting plenty of display space. And if a monitor breaks, you don't have to give up the whole computer, as you do with an iMac or eMac.
Apple also sells a $600 Mini that's a reasonable upgrade for the money, doubling hard drive space to 80 GBytes and boosting processor speed to 1.42 GHz.
With a measly 256 MBytes of SDRAM, neither model is equipped with adequate memory for heavy work, but Apple will double the memory for an extra $75, a wise investment. (Apple itself recommends 512 MBytes for its own iWork and iLife applications and requires 512 MBytes for iMovie HD features.)
Apple's 1-GByte memory card, though, is $325 even after a price reduction, while reliable third-party vendors (such as MacInTouch sponsor Ramjet) are selling one for $250 or less.
Memory is specified as PC2700 (333MHz) DDR SDRAM. PC3200 memory also works but offers no extra benefit. The Mini's internal bus speed is 167 MHz, and there's a standard Level 2 cache of 512 KBytes on the G4 processor chip to bolster performance.
You can upgrade to a DVD-writing SuperDrive (DVD+/- R/RW) for an extra $100, a modest premium compared with Apple's pricing for some other Mac models. Boosting the hard drive from 40 to 80 GBytes is an extra $50 (which might better be allocated to a faster, larger FireWire drive).
Apple can add Bluetooth or AirPort Extreme cards at $50 and $79, respectively, or $99 for both [updated after Apple's January 25 price reduction]. The AirPort price is reasonable if you need that capability. Bluetooth can be added externally via USB at a lower price.

Notes and Impressions

The Mac Mini's packaging is beautiful, very iPod-like, but not too ecologically friendly, with plenty of the usual styrofoam and plastic wrapping involved. The computer comes packed in a cute clamshell box with a handle on top and a four-panel quick-start guide printed on the box's side.
The computer is very compact, about the size of a Seagate FireWire drive, but heavier, so it feels substantial. Clearly designed for horizontal placement, the Mini has a big rubber pad on the bottom, although an Apple note says it can be placed on the side, instead. The user's guide notes: "Don't place anything on top of your computer. Objects placed on top of the computer may keep the disc from ejecting." It also warns that objects on top can interfere with wireless operation.
You shouldn't place the computer on a carpet or anything other than a hard surface, in order to keep the vents clear. (A similar caution applies to keeping vents clear in a vertical orientation.)
There is a built-in speaker, but it's so tinny, we can't imagine anyone wanting to listen to much audio through it.
The shiny white, 85-Watt power supply has a cord about 5 feet long that reaches to the Mac Mini, ending in a plug that's uncomfortably similar to a FireWire plug. (It doesn't latch very securely, which could be an issue, if it pops out by accident.) A separate, non-standard, 3-conductor cable connects the brick to your AC outlet. A round push-button power switch is on the back of the computer near its ports.
The Mini offers a DVI video output for Apple Cinema Displays and similar monitors, plus a small, solid video adapter for plugging in a standard, D-sub analog video cable. Apple's 30" Cinema Display isn't supported, since it requires a special PCI card. An Apple DVI-to-Video adapter is an extra-cost option if you need S-video or composite video output.
DVDs comprise an iLife '05 disc; an install disc holding Apple Hardware Test, Mac OS X 10.3.7 and bundled applications; and a Mac Mini Mac OS 9 install disc. (You can't boot into Mac OS 9, though.) Applications include AppleWorks 6.2.9 and Quicken 2005. The operating system version is a non-standard 10.3.7 variation (7T21) with a Darwin 7.7.1 kernel and QuickTime 6.5.2.
The Mini is almost silent (quieter than an iMac G5 and as quiet as an iBook). We couldn't hear it at all in a room with a few other quiet computers until we put an ear to the back of the Mini.
At an ambient temperature around 70 degrees F., the Mini felt very cool to the touch, even while running processor-intensive tests. The computer draws air from the bottom and exhausts it out vents at the top of the back - we could feel a very slight, cool breeze there from its fan.
There is no Processor Performance option in Energy Saver, a welcome relief from the hassles of trying to trade performance and longevity against heat and noise with iMac G5s and laptop Macs.

Access and Expansion

Apple's iMac G5 broke new ground in accessibility and support. The new iMac is wonderfully easy to open, and the internals are all laid out for easy access. In addition, Apple created a new self-service system online to streamline problem diagnosis and repair. The Mac Mini is different.
The Mini is not designed to be opened by typical buyers, nor is it easy to open. When I searched Apple's support site, there wasn't even a support page dedicated to the Mini. (Hopefully, one will show up soon.)
Mac hackers, however, quickly disassembled the new computer with the help of an Apple QuickTime movie and tips from others. (See our Mac Mini Reader Report.) This opens up extra options - for example, you could replace Apple's 256-MByte memory card with a third-party 1GB card at a reasonable cost, or you could upgrade Apple's hard drive to something faster or bigger, if you're very adept with computer hardware.
Hacking the Mac Mini, however, is a lot trickier than it appears, and if you break the computer, Apple may decline warranty repairs. Here's what we found when we finally cracked open this Chinese puzzle to install a faster hard drive:
The Mini is fitted together with incredible precision. To open it, you must place it upside down on a soft-covered table, then insert a very thin, flat, strong tool (such as a kitchen spatula or putty knife) into a miniscule crack between the aluminum side/top housing and the bottom/back platform.

The tool must pry the bottom section's plastic fingers inward to release their catches on the side section, as you simultaneously pry up the bottom section away from the aluminum section. Not easy.

Once you've disengaged the two sections, the memory card was fairly accessible in our Mini, which lacked AirPort and BlueTooth cards, and the optical drive was positioned on the top of the open computer. The hard drive, however, is buried at the bottom of a plastic unit holding storage and fan, screwed onto the motherboard, and connected by various wire harnesses taped into place.

To actually replace the hard drive involves completely disassembling this unit, with its plethora of different-sized, difficult-to-access Phillips screws. The final hurdle is removing the fan to get access to the last screw holding the hard drive.

If you're crazy enough to take on the challenge, special procedures could make the difference between success and disaster. Try using a muffin tin to hold the different sets of screws, with PostIt notes or something to label the sets. Make sure to have a big variety of high-quality Phillips screwdrivers with long shafts. It's all too easy to ruin the screw-heads because they don't quite fit a particular screwdriver. Taking good digital photos of each step may be critical to re-assembling the computer.

The fan screws into place (although you might think it clipped into place).

Re-assembling the computer can be very tricky. Assuming you get all the screws and wire harnesses and tape back in place correctly, the final reunion of the two major housings is still very challenging, with delicate metal fingers all over the place and an incredibly precise fit that will highlight your clumsiness if you make the tiniest mistake. The trick seems to be first ensuring that none of the fingers is out of place, then sliding the bottom/back housing almost vertically into the top/side housing, rather than trying to tilt it first one way and then another.

So, like the original Mac and the original iMac, the Mac Mini is very specifically designed for external upgrades, not internal ones. It offers two fast USB 2.0 ports, a FireWire 400 port, Ethernet 10/100 and analog audio output via a 1/8-inch stereo jack. That should cover most applications you might have, although the Mini really needs the performance of a FireWire 800 port (apparently included in the original design specifications).
For audio input, you'll need a FireWire or USB adapter, like Griffin's $40 iMic. If you have several USB devices, which is common, you'll need a USB 2 hub, such as Kensington's 7-port Dome Hub, which supports both low-speed and high-speed USB devices.
One of the great advantages of the Mac Mini is its video support. You can buy almost any monitor you want, from dirt-cheap CRTs to huge digital displays, including Apple's 20" and 23" Cinema Displays. And if the display breaks, you don't have to give up your computer, too, a huge advantage in our book.

Performance

Performance was one of the biggest questions with the new Mac Mini. Would it be crippled somehow, to prevent "cannibalization" of Apple's more expensive models? Would there be design compromises as a consequence of its compact form?
We ran our standard series of benchmark tests on the new computer, as soon as we got one. It was a 1.25GHz model with a Combo optical drive (Matsushita "CW-8123"), configured with Apple's optional 4200-RPM, 80-GByte hard drive ("Toshiba MK8025GAS") and 512 MBytes of memory. (A MacInTouch reader subsequently provided Xbench results for a 1.42-GHz model.)
You can see the results in our Mac Performance Comparison, in which we added Mini results to previous tests of the iBook G4, eMac and iMac G5.
(You can also compare these results against additional Mac models, such as a Power Mac G4 and iBook G3, using results from our iMac G5 Performance comparison and a previous Power Mac G5 analysis.)
The good news is that the Mac Mini performed well. It's not crippled and there don't appear to be any major design flaws affecting performance. The one significant issue is disk speed.
The Mac Mini uses a 2.5-inch laptop hard drive, like an iBook or a PowerBook, and these drives are not as fast as the 3.5-inch drives used in Power Macs, iMacs and eMacs. Not surprisingly, the Mini fell behind the desktop systems in our benchmark tests, performing on par with an iBook G4 in disk performance.
This isn't terrible, because the iBook G4 isn't that bad. We've successfully recorded live, stereo 44.1KHz, 24-bit audio to a similar iBook G4 using a Digidesign Mbox and ProTools, even though the company recommends using a separate drive for recording. The performance limitation won't bother you for word processing, surfing the Web, running a mail server or name server, or any of a hundred other normal applications.
However, if you're trying to run a high-performance database application or get a big multimedia job done on deadline, you may find the internal drive a bit too slow. Also, it's limited to 80 GBytes, which isn't a whole lot nowadays.
What can you do? We tested a fast, external, 3.5-inch, 160GB Seagate hard drive with USB 2.0 and FireWire connections. This certainly offers you plenty of extra capacity, and the FireWire drive offered a small boost in performance but still lags behind desktop storage systems. USB 2.0 was about 50 percent slower than FireWire or the internal drive, making it unsuitable for all but cheap backup-type storage. It's unfortunate that the Mini lacks FireWire 800, which could have solved the disk performance problem.
There are a few 2.5-inch drives on the market that promise more performance, and we ordered the fastest one we could find, the "Travelstar 7K60", a 60GB Hitachi drive with an 8-Mbyte cache and 7200-RPM drive speed, which cost about $175 plus shipping and tax.
Miraculously surviving the challenge of swapping internal hard drives, we formatted the fast drive and cloned the contents of the original Apple drive, newly housed in a FireWire enclosure. (The Mini didn't provide enough bus power over FireWire for the external drive, so we had to use an external power supply with it.)
The "Fast 60" drive improved performance by about a third in our benchmark tests, putting disk performance on par with that of an iMac G5, although at a much lower capacity. (This improved level still lags behind a 160GB Apple/Seagate drive in the eMac, and it can't compete with a striped RAID duo in a Power Mac.) To our relief, the new drive was also quiet, like the Apple drive.
Other than the disk issue, we found Mini performance actually exceeded that of the similar eMac and iBook G4 models. The Mini seems to take advantage of a faster memory bus and graphics controller, and the 1.42-GHz model apparently offers a useful boost over the 1.25 GHz version. You probably couldn't tell the difference if you switched from one to the other, but over time, or in demanding applications, the 1.42-GHz model might save enough time to be worth a little extra money. (The 1.42-GHz model may also run a little hotter and a little louder than the almost-silent 1.25-GHz Mini, but we haven't been able to test that yet.)

Display Issues

Following the original publication of this review, MacInTouch readers identified a serious problem with the Mini's support of VGA analog monitors, in which the display would be darker and fuzzier than normal. The problem affects certain monitors and not others - we didn't see it on the analog (VGA) flat-panel monitor we used, but it can affect both CRT and LCD screens, depending on the display.
European readers noted an explanation in the German computer technology magazine, C't [translated to English here by Patrick Machielse from 2005 issue 4, page 70]:
During our measurements of the analog signal quality of the VGA adapter another weakness (besides low 3D frame rates ed.) came to light: the peak voltage measurements stayed below 530 mV and therefore outside of the VESA norm. This leads to washed-out pictures on many displays, especially when using higher resolutions. Good analog monitors with high contrast ratios can compensate for this to a large extent, but using the digital connection will lead to much better picture quality.

In addition to this problems with analog video output, a number of MacInTouch readers also have reported problems with random "green dots" on digital displays, varying with the display and the resolution setting.

Comparisons/Application

We looked in detail at the differences in performance among current Mac models in our Performance Comparison page, and we won't repeat that here. But what are the implications of those differences? Who should buy a Mac Mini and who a Power Mac G5? When is the eMac better than the Mini and vice versa?
We think the Mac Mini is a perfect solution for normal home and office applications. Do you have a relative with an outdated PC who needs a new computer to surf the Web, exchange email, print digital photos and listen to iTunes? Buy a Mini.
Do you have an expanding business taking orders, handling bookkeeping and processing email? Buy a few Minis and whatever displays you can afford. If a display or a Mini breaks down, it's cheap and easy to fix or replace.
Do you have a school full of old computers with monitors and keyboards? A bunch of Minis could be the perfect upgrade. (We fully expect Apple to sells tons of Minis to the educational market.)
Are you running a webserver, a name server and an email server on a big, noisy, power-hungry computer in a crowded closet? Replace it with a Mini.
If you're doing professional video, audio or database work, you probably need a Power Mac or 15"/17" PowerBook as your main system; they are the only options for maximum disk performance (via multi-drive RAID configurations and FireWire 800 on these PowerBooks) and support for multiple monitors. For high-demand servers, an Xserve may be the answer, if you've got the money, and you'll need an Xserve or Power Mac to host multiple Ethernet ports. The Xserve is the only Mac to offer ECC (error-checking and correcting) memory, which suits mission-critical applications.
It's the middle ground where things get a little tricky. The all-in-one eMac and iMac offer a little better disk performance than the Mac Mini, and the Mini starts to approach their prices when you add on a new monitor, extra memory and some more storage in an external case. On the other hand, the bigger Macs can't be popped in a briefcase and carried to another location on a whim, as the Mini can, and you lose the whole system if one component breaks.

Conclusions

When buying a Mac, you ultimately have to analyze your own individual needs and resources (keeping an eye out for bargains as prices vary from time to time). But what Apple has given us with the Mac Mini is an elegant, useful, novel new option - a new choice at a new low price that we never ever had before.
And it's not just an extra choice, it's a great choice that's right for a wide variety of applications and needs. The Mini, as far as we can see right now, is a wonderfully useful, friendly, attractive Mac that exemplifies the best principles of the original Macintosh vision.
We hope, and believe, that the Mini will be a great success, helping Apple expand both its mission and its market, amidst intense competition. But for the best success, Apple needs to recognize and address the two most significant issues in its first Mini iteration: substandard analog video output and the lack of FireWire 800 support. (And neither improvement would justify raising the price.)

By Ric Ford

iPhone - Taking control

2008-01-03T08:20:00.000-08:00

Using the iPhone is, for the most part, pretty simple. But even the simplest of gadgets can have a learning curve: raise your hand if your VCR is still blinking 12:00. If you’re looking for some help navigating the ins-and-outs of the iPhone—if, for example, you got a brand new one for Christmas—look no further than this handy How To over at the Mothership. Veteran Mac troubleshooter and Macworld contributor Ted Landau walks you through the subtleties of the iPhone’s touch interface, covering everything from taps, to double taps, to swipes, and more.

And, if you find the article a useful resource, you’ll be happy to know there’s much more where that came from: Ted’s penned an entire electronic book on the iPhone, Take Control of Your iPhone, available from TidBits Publishing. It covers everything from the basics of using the phone to troubleshooting crashes and freezes. You can snag the whole book for $15 (or $10 if you pick it up today). And, since it’s an electronic book, you’ll have it immediately (if not sooner). What’s not to like?

Six new facts about the iPhone

2007-12-28T03:28:00.000-08:00

The iPhone was announced by Apple CEO Steve Jobs during the keynote address at the Macworld Conference & Expo on 9 January 2007. It's an an Internet-enabled mobile phone that is expected to revolutionize the mobile industry.

The iPhone's features include those of a camera phone, an MP3 and video player, mobile phone, and Internet services like e-mail, text messaging, web browsing, Visual Voicemail and wireless connectivity. The iPhone user input is accomplished via touchscreen with virtual keyboard and buttons.

The iPhone is scheduled to be released in the United States on June 29, 2007. It will be available from the Apple Store and from AT&T Mobility, formerly Cingular Wireless, with a price of US$499 for the 4 GB model and US$599 for the 8 GB model, based on a two-year service contract. Apple intends to make the phone available in Europe in Q4 2007 and in Asia in 2008.

Six new facts about the iPhone

The iPhone dominated the news this week after two events provided new and rare details about the most hotly anticipated tech product since the original Macintosh computer in 1984.

Press coverage is running at a fever pitch in advance of the iPhone's June 29 launch. Search for "iPhone" on Google News, and you'll get 7,653 recent stories. On Google itself, the query brings up some 73 million hits.

Read the latest WhitePaper - A Good Mobile Experience: Balancing IT Requirements While Giving End-Users the Mobile Experience They Want

Last Friday, an "iPhone Sales Training Workbook" for AT&T Wireless employees was leaked to the press through the MacRumors forum, revealing some details about the device. And Apple CEO Steve Jobs revealed a few more facts during his Worldwide Developers Conference keynote Monday.

Despite all the coverage, it's hard to separate opinion from the facts, the new details from the old. So here are the six new facts we learned this week about the Apple iPhone.

1. The iPhone is a communications mixed bag, with support for IMAP, POP3 and Yahoo Push e-mail. It will automatically recognize phone numbers in e-mail messages and provide one-click access to dialing them. However, it will not support Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), so users won't be able to send text messages with pictures or video to other cell phone users. The iPhone will not let users "chat" with friends directly via instant messaging (IM).

2. When you're watching a video on the iPhone and a call comes in, the video will automatically pause while you take the call, then resume when you hang up.

3. The iPhone does not offer Global Positioning System capability.

4. Third-party applications will be allowed only as Web-based applications loaded from the Internet on the iPhone's Safari Web browser. Apple will roll out a Windows version of Safari, which should drive support, application development and awareness of the browser to improve the Safari-centric iPhone experience, especially for Windows users.

5. In order to use an iPhone, buyers will be required to first set up an account with the iTunes store using their credit cards, even if they have no intention of buying anything there. This is in addition to the required carrier contract with AT&T. Current iTunes account holders will be able to use existing accounts.

6. We already knew that iTunes would provide sync capability between iPhone and e-mail, contacts, calendar, photos and other data on both PCs and Macs. We learned this week that the synchronization is automatic when the iPhone is plugged in.

SD Card gives regular digital camera Wi-Fi

A start-up called Eye-Fi announced plans to release a $100 Secure Digital (SD) memory card with a built-in Wi-Fi chip that would allow regular digital cameras to connect via Wi-Fi to home networks for transferring pictures to PCs.

Skype phone records conversations

A new, $45 Skype-supporting voice-over-IP phone called the Ipevo Free.2 does all the things a regular Internet phone does, plus one additional neat trick: With the press of a button, it will record to an MP3 file on your computer.

The phone supports both PCs and Macs, and it records to other formats beyond MP3.

The Ipevo Free.2 notifies the people you're talking to when the call is being recorded. If it's a Skype-to-Skype call, it will display a note on the other person's screen. Skype-to-regular-phone calls get occasional "beeps" when the recording function is on.

Marco says Ipod Classic SUCKS

2007-12-24T10:17:00.000-08:00

I was looking forward to the new iPod Classic, since it’s a great bargain for space (80 GB for $249) and seems like the perfect iPod for people who want to carry their entire collections or a lot of video. It would be great to replace Tiff’s aging iPod Mini, so we went to the Apple Store today to see the new lineup. (Unfortunately, the iPod Touch, a.k.a. the iPhone without a phone, isn’t available until the end of the month.)

iPod Nano

The new “fatty” iPod Nano was excellent. There’s not much to say about it, except that it’s amazingly thin and video looks decent. The screen is smaller than the iPod Classic’s, but not by as much as you’d think. Video is very watchable.

The new colors are more pastel than before. The (PRODUCT) RED version is definitely pink (“light red” at best).

But I wish they’d give us a 16 GB version for $249. It’s pretty sad that if Tiff wanted to upgrade her 6 GB iPod Mini from 2004 to a brand new Nano, three generations later, she’d only gain 2 GB of capacity.

iPod Classic

Unfortunately, the iPod Classic was extremely disappointing. I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone.

Its most significant problem is the sluggishness of simple actions.

The Nano and Classic both have an updated interface with photos and album art sprinkled around. I don’t like it — it doesn’t add any value, but it clutters the screen and makes navigation more visually confusing. Apple added many unnecessary new visual effects to simple operations such as track changes.

The iPod Classic stutters through every operation, including:

Adjusting the volume
Opening menus
Browsing lists
Changing tracks
Seeking within tracks

Not only does the interface lag and stutter, but the music skips. It’s so bad that I assumed that the iPod I was testing was defective, so I tried others in the store and got identical results.

The worst offender is the new Cover Flow view in the Nano and Classic. Neither of them devote enough memory to caching the album art images, so scrolling through them isn’t seamless — you’re just shown massive sections of placeholder art as it loads. On the Classic, the music skips like crazy.

The Nano loads Cover Flow images much more quickly, and I couldn’t get the music to skip once. While the interface navigation wasn’t perfectly smooth, simpler operations like volume adjustments and track changes were dramatically better on the Nano.

Because the Classic has a hard drive instead of the Nano’s flash memory, loading data is much slower. My previous-generation 30 GB “video” iPod is sluggish when it loads new tracks, but it has never stuttered during the simple operations that the Classic struggled with, and the audio has never skipped.

The Classic’s hard drive isn’t to blame for its miserable usability — its new software is significantly more bloated and sloppily designed than the previous iPod generation’s OS.

Recommendation

Skip the iPod Classic. If you need large capacity, find a clearance video iPod from the previous generation. I’ve used one of these for two years, and it’s excellent.

Consider the iPod Nano. The Nano is dirt cheap for what it offers, and should satisfy nearly everyone’s needs. Do you really need to carry around all of the Spin Doctors’ albums wherever you go? (I’ve had them with me everywhere for two years, and trust me, I didn’t need to.)

I’m disappointed in Apple. They typically won’t release bad products, and I don’t know how anyone at Apple could stand behind the iPod Classic with pride.

iPhone problems and drawbacks - thanks to the Cellfreaks

2007-12-24T02:36:00.001-08:00

Let me apology to Steve Jobs to post something against Apple but this is very important for my Readers to know everything about Apple and there products. I also like to thanks Cellfreaks for the tips.

Yes, the feedback on the newly released iPhone has been overwhelmingly positive but for those of you who aren’t happy unless you’re unhappy, cheer up! Here’s a list of software, hardware, and Tupperware letdowns that prove the iPhone falls a wee bit short of perfect.

(And if you have anything else to add to the list, feel free… because doing my job for myself is so very inconvenient.)

1) The Barry Allen disappearance; there’s no Flash, or Java for that matter; making watching web videos more a miss than hit on iPhones.

2) Pixel envy – you’ll have it with your iPhone camera. The 2 megapixel camera is a little bland with 5 megapixel camera phones now available and the other kind of flash and zoom is also missing. There’s also no secondary camera for self portraits, so you can’t get narcissistic with your bad self.

3) You can ring my bell; but only 25 different ways. You can’t import more or use your MP3s as ringtones, meaning you’re at the mercy of Steve Jobs’ personal taste AND he still hasn’t secured the rights to Beatles songs. Be afraid, be very afraid.

4) He got game and it be chess. That’s the most graphics heavy game included with the iPhone; what was Pong too complicated?

5) There’s no third party applications allowed on the iPhone; with Steve Jobs suggesting that developers use the Safari web browser and AJAX to simulate them on the internet. Yes, he actually claimed that was just as good as allowing third party applications with a straight face.

6) I’m not saying AT&T’s ancient EDGE network is too slow for internet browsing, but there are unsubstantiated reports that the dinosaurs when extinct waiting for a page to load on it.

7) Something like one in ten of the initial iPhones bought was defective. While that number will obviously go down after the initial launch; that really sucks for the people who were waiting in line nine hours.

8) Gizmodo is reporting how many AT&T stores were trying to make you buy at least two or three accessories before they’d through in the iPhone; as AT&T representatives could get written up if they didn’t sell between $60-$65 of accessories per person. In contrast, Steve Jobs last Thursday just promised all Apple employees a free, no strings attached iPhone.

9) A lot of people have had trouble activating their iPhone on the AT&T Cingular network, which is done through iTunes. Apparently in the six month leading up to the launch it never occurred to AT&T that a bunch of people were going to be logging on at once and it might overload their system. In case you haven’t picked up on it yet, AT&T are idiots.

10) There’s no wireless synching with your Mac, no video recording or video output, or microSD memory card capabilities, though the iPhone does already come with 4-8GB of onboard memory.

Apple ups iPhone purchase limit to five

2007-12-11T10:36:00.000-08:00

After putting a two-unit limit on purchases of the iPhone back in October, the company has quietly raised the limit back to five.

If you've got a family of three, you can now get everyone an iPhone in one transaction.

iPhone Atlas spotted the move on Friday, and Wired also confirmed on Monday that Apple is still not taking cash for the iPhone. At the time the limit was announced, Apple said it wanted to ensure there would be enough supply in hand for the holiday shopping season, which is well under way.

So, either they've ramped up production, which would make sense following the European launches, or demand has waned. I don't see anything that indicates that interest in the iPhone has fallen off, especially at the $399 price, but we'll know for sure in January following either Macworld or Apple's earning announcement.

Apple is apparently still worried about the resale market, however, since it's sticking with its policy of only accepting credit cards for iPhone purchases. That was the reason given for the decision to stop accepting cash: that the company wanted to discourage unlocking and unauthorized resales of the iPhone. It will be interesting to see how long Apple sticks with that policy as more and more iPhones enter the world.

You can go through some more reviews on some good site like AShop below.

1) Auto Parts

2) Hotel Reservations

3) Trust source

4) Badcreditoffers

5) Nikon

6) Fashion collection

Apple iLife 08

2007-12-06T10:53:00.000-08:00

All Mac users are familiar with iLife because it's included free with every new Mac. But the new version may surprise even the most stalwart Mac users. "This is the biggest jump in iLife since we introduced it." So said Steve Jobs when he unveiled iLife '08 last month.

Programs such as iPhoto, iMovie, and iDVD, are the ideal tools for people who want to use their Mac to create and organise digital photos, music and video. This powerful, yet easy to use software suite is one of the key features that attracts new users to the Mac. But although Mac sales have flourished in the last couple of years, the iLife suite has actually been neglected during that time – with no significant updates since 'Life '06 was introduced almost two years ago.

Well, Apple's made up for that now with iLife '08. There are major upgrades for iPhoto, GarageBand and iWeb that make them more powerful than ever, as well as keeping up to date with new developments such as the rise of YouTube. This new release isn't without controversy, though – for with iMovie '08 Apple has gone so far as to scrap the previous program altogether and release something entirely new. So read on to find out if that two-year wait was worth it.

In the picture

In some ways, iPhoto has become a victim of its own success. The program makes it so easy to manage large collections of digital photos that, according to Apple, it's now quite common for people to load thousands upon thousands of photos into it. Managing such a large number of photos can be a bit of a chore – even with the program's ability to group photos into Albums, as you still have to sort through all those photos and choose the contents of each Album yourself.

So Apple has added a new feature called 'Events' that lets iPhoto do most of the donkey-work for you. The 'Source' panel has been reorganised so that instead of simply showing a 'Library' it now includes two new items labelled 'Photos' and 'Events'. The Photos item is the same as the old 'Library' – click on it and you'll see previews of every single photo stored in the program. However, when you import photos into iPhoto it will now automatically group all photos taken on the same day into a new Event. When you click on Events you will just see the first photo in that group, which now acts as a kind of preview for the entire Event. However, you can quickly skim through all the other photos in that Event simply by rolling the mouse gently over that first photo. This is a really clever idea, as it effectively means that iPhoto is doing all the work of organising your photos for you, while also making it easy to skim through your photos to find what you want.

If you've got a mixture of photos that were taken on the same day – perhaps a wedding ceremony and then a reception party afterwards – you can easily split them into separate Events. You can also merge multiple Events to combine sets of photos taken over a period of several days. We actually suspect that many people will now stop using the Albums feature altogether and just let iPhoto organise everything into Events for them instead. We also like the ability to choose exactly which photos you import from your camera, because this will save time weeding them out later.

The editing tools in iPhoto have been improved too. The Crop tool now displays a grid that illustrates the 'rule of thirds' (dividing the picture into a 3 x 3 grid so that you can centre the main subject properly), and there are also new tools for adjusting highlights and shadows. One nice touch is the ability to adjust settings such as brightness and contrast for one picture, and then copy those new settings onto other photos as well. This will be handy if you've got a set of photos that were all taken in the same lighting conditions, and which all need the same adjustments.

Unfortunately, some of the other editing tools – such as the red-eye removal – are still rather crude, and iPhoto is still no replacement for a photo-editing program such as Photoshop Elements. It's important to remember, though, that iPhoto is primarily a tool for managing your photo library, rather than a true editing program – and on that score this upgrade works extremely well.

For more Apple Article read this blog "Music and Apple"

Review on Ipod Touch

2007-12-04T10:01:00.000-08:00

Before i start with anything lets see the apple.com about what they have to say about Ipod Touch

Multi-touch

iPod touch features the same revolutionary interface as iPhone. Built to take full advantage of the large 3.5-inch display, the multi-touch interface lets you control everything using only your fingers. So you can glide through albums with Cover Flow, flick through photos and enlarge them with a pinch, or zoom in and out on a section of a web page. And iPod touch features a touchscreen QWERTY keyboard perfect for browsing the web in Safari, searching for videos on YouTube, finding music on the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store, or adding new contacts.

Ambient Light Sensor

The iPod touch display has an ambient light sensor that automatically adjusts brightness to suit the ambient light in your surroundings. The result? A better experience for you and battery-saving efficiency for iPod touch.

Accelerometer

An accelerometer detects when you rotate iPod touch from portrait to landscape, then automatically changes the contents of the display, so you immediately see the entire width of a web page, your music in Cover Flow, or a photo in its proper aspect ratio.

Yeah, we know we're a little late with this one, but we see the iPod touch as a pretty major turning point for Apple's iPod line; when it was announced, we finally thought we'd found an iPod we could really get behind. For years technology enthusiasts pondered the possibility of an Apple-made widescreen, WiFi-enabled portable media device, and they finally did just that -- even throwing in a few things that, prior to the iPhone, we might not have expected, like a full-fledged web browser, internet video player (YouTube), multi-touch interface, etc. But after playing with the touch for a few days, it's become pretty clear that Steve was right when he declared that the iPhone is still the best iPod. Read on to find out why.

Late last year. iPods had fallen into a rut: the features were stale, the form factor of the flagship device basically stopped progressing, and it started to seem like Apple didn't care or understand where portable media players were headed -- or at least didn't seem to realize what such devices were capable of. So it came as no surprise that as soon as the iPhone was announced, people began demanding that same device, sans phone. And why not? Not everyone hates their cellphone, or wants to switch to AT&T, or lives in America (or select countries in Europe) -- and from a media player standpoint, the iPhone made the iPod technologically respectable again. Only a handful of other devices, like the Archos 604 WiFi, come equipped with that specific bundle of features (web browser, touchscreen, and WiFi).

Fortunately for that rather sizable group of potential buyers waiting for the phoneless iPhone, it was clear that Apple had invested an enormous amount of effort (and money) into creating its mobile OS X platform, and that all those development bucks weren't going to live on in only one product -- especially not a device that is ultimately beholden to deals with cellphone carriers. So the iPhone without the phone -- the WiFi-enabled widescreen iPod -- finally started to seem more like an eventuality than some distant hope. When it was announced a couple of weeks ago, the surprise was less that Apple had been working on this device after all, and more the myriad iPhone features unexpectedly absent. We'll get to that shortly.

hankfully, as far as media playback goes, all the best stuff from the iPhone made the cut in the touch. It shares the same audio, video, and photo apps as the iPhone, which is a good thing since we still love the new Apple mobile media interface every bit as much as we did when we first reviewed the iPhone. The iTunes WiFi Music Store works exactly as advertised; search is fast, sampling tracks and downloads are easy, and syncing tracks back to your host computer is effortless. Apple really nailed this. To date, most over the air music downloads on a portable media devices have been tedious, if not completely impractical.

Also unchanged are our primary complaints about said media playback, the same complaints we've had about the iPod for years: we don't like managing our media through iTunes, and we don't like being limited only to those few codecs Apple supports (AAC, MP3, H.264, and MPEG-4). In fact, if Apple gave us greater codec support (or even just the option to add additional codecs ourselves) and mass storage support for drag and drop while adding media, we'd probably be able to overlook the other, smaller things that ail us about iPods.

Software

Since the touch is an iPhone at its heart -- really -- comparisons on the software end of business were immediate and inevitable. We're going to assume you're at least casually familiar with the touch's progenitor, but if you didn't read over our iPhone review or haven't much used one yourself, we're happy to say the touch remains a rock solid device on the software end. We experienced far fewer crashes now than we did with the v1.0 iPhone firmware; the rest of the interface is just as responsive and reliable.

Apple has also since made a number of improvements to the touch which have yet to carry over to the iPhone. (We're expecting the iPhone to be brought to parity with the touch in its next firmware update, due in the next week or so.) One major annoyance, about which we took umbrage in our iPhone review, is that periods are unnecessarily difficult to type. No longer: the touch takes the BlackBerry approach, where pressing the space bar twice types a period automatically. This is a godsend.

Also improved: many of the clicks, chirps, and other system sounds have been tweaked, most often with the result of being slightly less grating than the noises of the iPhone. And, of course, the addition of international support in menus and keyboards means you don't have to be a US American to use the thing.

But it isn't what's on the touch that caused us to sit up and take notice so much as what's not on it. The iPhone's suite of apps set certain expectations for what the touch should include. Granted, we understand why the iPhone's mobile email app was omitted from the touch. While we still would have liked to have the option to email over WiFi, its intended purpose is as a portable media player, not a mobile communicator, so we can follow that line of thought. But why leave out its notes, weather, stocks, and Google maps apps? We know the portable doesn't include the same constant connectivity as the iPhone has with EDGE, but it's not like downloading music over the iTunes WiFi Music Store is a practical application in ways that checking for weather, or jotting down a quick note are not. The touch is still a connected portable device, after all, and what we see is Apple mimicking the limited feature set of the old, stale iPod line instead of fully realizing the touch's potential.

And let's not forget the touch calendar controversy. Why allow users to indulge in some PIM basics, like editing and creating new contacts, while not others, like editing or adding new calendar appointments? When we confirmed that Apple had indeed dropped calendar editing from the touch, we were floored. Not even because it's that essential a function, but because we can't possibly fathom why anyone in Cupertino thought to take something of value, however small, away from for no apparent reason.

For a company that continually emphasizes its software as being the core of what drives great consumer electronics, we just can't understand why Apple chose curb the touch's capabilities right at the outset.

Hardware

With the touch, Apple's hardware is, as usual, striking when compared with many of its competitors. Ever so slightly wider (about 1mm) and significantly thinner (8mm, which is no small feat) than the iPhone, the touch has far harder, sharper edges on its facade, and a sloping, almost difficult to grip rear. It even manages to leverage that space with a large enough battery to put out more than its advertised 5 hours of video playback -- we got about 5.5 - 6+ hours. But despite its impressive thinness, after the last few months of using the far more functional iPhone, the touch left us in want. It may be the ideal size for a device of this kind, but it omits many of the simple hardware niceties we've grown used to in the iPhone.

Hardware volume controls were highest on the list of things we miss. We could just as easily live without a mute switch on a media player, but losing the hard volume buttons is rather disappointing. Granted, Apple has made it easier to get to the media controls and volume when the device is in sleep mode; just press the home button three times (once to wake, two more times to bring up media controls without unlocking it). But what's wrong with a real volume switch, too? With no hardware controls, doing something as frequent and essential as changing the volume necessitates removing the device from your pocket. Furthermore, without hard volume buttons, you can't adjust the volume at all while playing music in landscape (i.e. Cover Flow mode). This is pretty basic stuff that drives us up the wall.

Also missing -- and missed: an external speaker. Yeah, we know not every media player has one, and it probably would have added some bulk to a device so slim as the touch. But sharing samples of songs, a bit of video, or -- duh -- YouTube now instantly necessitates friends adventurous enough to use your funky headphones each taking a turn watching Chocolate Rain or the Hipster Olympics. We know in the long run it's a relatively minor thing, but it's still disappointing.

But that's not all. While we appreciate the aesthetic sacrifice Apple made in in adding a proper WiFi antenna to the touch, the odd, asymmetric black corner on the rear looks off and misplaced. We wish Apple have just placed the antenna behind the touch's face, or possibly along the top or bottom of the unit, where its sleep / wake button or headphone jack is. It's a relatively minor aesthetic nitpick, we know, but Apple obviously holds its hardware design in the highest regard, and to us the antenna seems uncharacteristically out of place for an iPod product too pristine to even have hardware volume controls.

Then there's the matter of the display. Ours happened to be one of the "small number" of touch units with the faulty screens. It's difficult to capture in a photograph or even explain in text (so far the best shots we've seen came from Apple-Touch), but the result is dark shades -- especially black tones -- look almost inverted. At very least it's distracting, and at worst it makes some darker video almost unwatchable. We hope Apple gets these units fixed on the double, because for us this janky screen teeters on the edge of a return-your-unit-forever dealbreaker.

And then, finally, there's the shiny chrome back side, which is just as easy as ever to keep pristine and unmarred, provided you store your iPod in a vacuum or cover it in armor. We still don't get this. Yes, people like shiny gadgets, but the glee of that first five seconds of ooh pretty hardly outweighs the lifetime of fingerprints and scratches that the iPod's rear mirror finish accumulates. We thought Apple had learned its lesson when it gave the iPhone a matte aluminum back side. Guess not. We can't be alone in thinking chrome doesn't patina like an old pair of jeans. To us it just seems to look worse with time.

Wrap-up
It's hard to argue that there isn't beauty in simplicity, especially when it comes to consumer electronics. But there's such thing as too simple -- and sometimes too simple can turn into crippled. Most of our complaints about the touch have to do with what it lacks -- not in general, but when compared its big brother, the iPhone. Had the iPod touch come out first, the lack of a hardware volume switch, integrated speaker, and all those apps might have been perfectly passable, but now the expectations have been set, and we can't see how taking things away from users can possibly add value. Everyone in this industry is trying to give their customers more, but with the iPod touch Apple gave its customers less in what should have been the best iPhone alternative on the market. This time around, in Apple's obsession to edit, they managed to leave some of the best stuff on the cutting room floor.

Go through Some more Updates on IPOD touch

iPod Anyone?

2007-12-04T07:37:00.000-08:00

Having an iPod these days is not a status symbol anymore. For those like me who works for the web and designs graphics with high MB file size, iPod nano, iPod mini, or iPod shuffle is an investment. With iPods's 6 to 60 GB capacity, it is a dream of every techie. You can save all of your important files in a small, sleek and very elegant iPod.

But of course, a $300 to $400 ++ iPod nano or iPod video costs too much for some of us. If you want to have a cheap iPod and wouldn't want to settle for anything less (and go for the cheap flash audio players around), then you may need to read my suggestions below to be able to have that cheap iPod that your money can buy (and your conscience to allow).

GO FOR REFURBISHED

No one would notice that your iPod nano, iPod video, iPod mini or iPod shuffle was bought from a cheap iPod refurbished e-store. In fact if you buy a new iPod, it will look the same like the refurbished cheap iPod after a few months of use. No one would try to look for your receipt just to know you bought your iPod nano, iPod video, iPod mini or iPod shuffle from an Apple store and not from a cheap iPod store, or would they?

Also, if you bought a new iPod from an Apple iPod store and then the time came that you needed an iPod battery replacement, you will need to pay Apple iPod store 59 bucks for a refurbished iPod nano, iPod video, iPod mini or iPod shuffle, only this time, with a fresh iPod battery.

cheap iPod nano, iPod video, iPod mini or iPod shuffle costs for about $190 to $250 from the cheap iPod or refurbished iPod e-stores.

BID AT EBAY

Try your luck at Ebay and you might get a cheap iPod that costs only $250 for a brand new line.

Many people bid their equipment at Ebay because they need the money far better than the equipment immediately and badly. So most of the times, Ebay sellers sell cheap iPod and part ways with their sleek and sexy iPod because if the immediate need for large sums of money.

You can bid for cheap iPods at Ebay simple by searching "cheap iPods" or sale iPods. There is a chance that you might get a cheap iPod for a brand new iPod nano, iPod video, iPod mini or iPod shuffle.

Take your chance at Ebay, you may never know, you might get that cheap iPod that you want for as cheap as 100 bucks!

BUY YOUR FRIEND'S USED IPOD

All of us have friends who can afford to buy a brand new iPod without the need to starve for a few months of saving or can buy a Porsche car and still remain mortgage free. If you don't have this kind of friends, your friends maybe have this kind of friends.

Apple iPod regularly changes their models; regularly as in every 6 months since the last two years. iPod fanatics do not want to be caught tinkering on their old and already cheap iPod, they want to have the latest model in the market.

These kind of people, your friends or your friends friends, will gladly sell their 3 month old Apple iPod for a cheaper price.

Cheap iPod doesn't always come in a persons way that easily, so grab the chance when someone offers you a cheap iPod for sale!

GO TO EXCHANGE CENTERS

There are some exchange centers on the net or on local newspapers that offer cheap iPod, brand new and refurbished, in exchange of any items of, more or less, equivalent amount. If you have some items that are still of superb condition and might interest those people who are selling cheap iPods, offer your equipment or items in exchange of the cheap iPod.

If you think you don't need your 3G celfone, you can have it exchanged to a person offering brand new but cheap iPod. Or if you have two items that you think with their selling amounts combined could match that of the cheap iPod, then you can part with those items.

Remember to test first the cheap iPod before you make the exchange.

Apple slapped with iPhone patent suit

2007-12-04T06:55:00.000-08:00

A company that holds patents relating to a 'visual voicemail' system is suing Apple and a host of telecoms companies for hundreds of millions of dollars.

The lawsuit was filed by Klausner Technologies in the US Court for the Eastern District of Texas, and asks for $360m from Apple and AT&T.

The suit also names Skype, Comcast and Cablevision Systems as having breached US Patents 5,572,576 and 5,283,818 and asks for $300m in damages from each company.

New York-based Klausner Technologies claims that the patent infringements concern internet voicemail services.

"The iPhone violates Klausner's intellectual property rights by allowing the user to selectively retrieve voice messages via the iPhone's inbox display," said the company in an official statement.

Klausner Technologies sued AOL for $200m in 2005 over its voice platform technology, eventually settling the case and licensing it to AOL.

Vonage settled a similar case in October this year over its Voicemail Plus, when Klausner granted Vonage a patent license for an undisclosed sum.

"We have litigated this patent successfully on two prior occasions," said Greg Dovel, counsel for Klausner Technologies at law firm Dovel & Luner.

"With the signing of each new licensee, we continue to receive further confirmation of the strength of our visual voicemail patents."