Every once in a while a revolutionary product comes along that changes everything. Apple, a company known for innovation, has been very fortunate in this regard. In 1984 they introduced the world to the first Macintosh and changed personal computing forever. Then in 2001 Apple introduced the first iPod and redefined the music industry.

Today Apple introduced 3 revolutionary products: widescreen iPod, mobile phone, and internet communicator. But there’s a catch… these revolutionary products aren’t 3 separate devices. They are all rolled into one product called the iPhone ($499 4GB, $599 8GB).

The iPhone (GSM+EDGE) has a touchscreen interface with multitouch capabilities. That means you can use multiple fingers at the same time. How can such a small device have an advanced multitouch interface? The iPhone runs the Macintosh operating system OS X. How did Apple fit an entire operating system into a tiny phone? I don’t know. Magic?

The iPhone syncs to your computer just like your iPod. All your media (music, videos, podcasts, etc.) as well as contacts, email amd calendars will sync to your iPhone. You can even add any any IMAP or POP email account. Yahoo users will like this next perk. Yahoo is giving all iPhone owners free IMAP email. You normally have to pay extra for this feature.

Web browsing on a mobile phone was probably one of the worst user experiences you’ve ever encountered. Well those days are over. The iPhone uses the Safari browser and can smoothly navigate complicated sites like Google Maps.

And if all this iPhone business wasn’t enough, Steve Jobs also announed Apple TV ($299) - a way to enjoy your media on your big screen TV. Anything you put into iTunes (content from iTunes, DVDs you’ve ripped, videos from YouTube, etc.) can be wirelessly transmitted to your Apple TV box.

The Apple TV has 802.11 WiFi (b, g + n) and will automatically sync from your PC.

More Apple TV specs:

• 40GB HD
• 720p HD video
• componet
• RCA
• USB 2.0
• ethernet
• WiFi
• HDMI

digg story | methodshop

Too many rumors swirling, buckle down and get ready!!!! It’s already 9:10 AM pacific!

Here’s MACWORLD 2007!!

We’ll be all text, since I’m nowhere near the keynote!!! (ok, I’m in Marin)

Feed data thanks to MacRumors and Engadget.com

Everyone drinks deeply the apple juice (cool aid reference). Steve’s in black per usual. Here it comes.

general discussion of Intel changeover and transition on the software side, (boorrring, show me the money!)

only talking Mac today (read, No new iPods, at least that’s what he says so far).

Then he chats up iTunes and says TV shows are coming as downloads, (is that new?)

This is going to get long, so follow the jump and refresh (hit F5) that if you want to play along at home.

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The iRecord Personal Media Recorder is a very cool device. It’s designed to get media onto your portable device. Any portable device in fact and that’s the trick it’s got up its sleeve. Things don’t get much simpler than this - to use it, you just plug your TV/DVD player/whatever into one end of the box and plug your portable media device into the other end.
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On last Thursday’s episode of Mad Money, host Jim Cramer selected Apple Computer as his No. 2 growth stock of 2007.

Cramer picked Apple Computer over Microsoft and decided to vent his rage against Microsoft by smashing a new brown Zune with a baseball bat. In case you missed it, the Zune smashing video is now on YouTube.

Although Apple’s up more than 175% the last two years and more than 50% since July, Cramer believes Apple Computer will move higher because “picking stocks is not like flipping a coin.” There’s no balancing out that occurs, he said. Instead, “winners keep winning and “losers keep losing.”

Cramer considers Apple a winner that has changed the way people listen to music with the iPod and the iTunes Store. “Not only [Apple] a brand people trust and love, but it is cool… Microsoft’s Zune MP3 player will not be able to push past Apple.”

Cramer went on to say that there are always bears and short-sellers, but in Apple’s case “they are wrong and should get buried… [Apple] has a winning formula, and nothing is going against it.”

You can subscribe to the Mad Money “Lightning Round” video podcast in the iTunes Store here: Mad Money w/ Jim Cramer - The Lightning Round

digg story | methodshop

Keeping your iPod in the car in one place isn’t easy. Anyone who has tried doing said task will agree with me, anyone who hasn’t will probably laugh, but I’m telling you, it’s hard. For one thing, every time you stop then start right up again, your iPod wants to slide along with you. Trying to find your iPod after it’s fallen down to the floor and is somewhere beneath your feet is pretty dangerous while driving, so why don’t you do the rest of the drivers on the road a favor and pick up an iSticky for your car, they’re cheap too.
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Did you get a lot of DVDs for Christmas? Want to watch them on your iPod? For years, the best DVD ripping program, Handbrake, was only available for Mac. But the unthinkable has happened. Handbrake has been ported for Windows. It’s still in the experimental beta stages, but you can download a PC version of Handbrake now.

If you are unfamiliar with Handbrake, it’s a GPL’d multiplatform, multithreaded DVD to MPEG-4 ripper/converter. Here’s a MethodShop.com tutorial on how to use Handbrake.

Features:

• Can encode directly from DVDs (even encrypted ones) or from VIDEO_TS folders
• Supports AC3, LPCM and MPEG audio tracks
• Outputs MP4, AVI or OGM files
• Outputs AAC, MP3 or Vorbis audio
• Supports 2-pass encoding
• Supports encoding of two audio tracks
• Includes a bitrate calculator
• Supports picture deinterlacing, cropping and scaling

Links:

• Handbrake for Mac
• Handbrake for Windows
• Handbrake tutorial

PC users looking for a super DVD-to-iPod easy solution should use DVD Copy by InterVideo.

digg story | methodshop

Yeah, so there are waaayy too many Apple Rumors coming around prior to Unky Steve’s upcoming announcements.

Sadly, I don’t want what’s likely to be offered, here’s what I want.

A Macbook Pro Tablet!!!

This is exactly what Apple has been missing (in my opinion), however, these are people that still sell mice with 1 button (umm what’s simpler than a stylus?)

As a designer, I have stayed away from the Apple platform due to it’s lack of interoperability with my beloved SolidWorks. It’s a solid 3d modeler that works great, and works with everything! (plus it’s compatible with the next engine, but this article isn’t about that).

Here’s what we kinda know from Kevin Rose (digg.com)

there’s a 4Gb and 8Gb iPhone, they work with all the cell providers, one’s got a slideout keyboard, and one is a virtual clickwheel model.

What we know for sure is NOTHING!!! (I love that Apple can really keep a secret, it makes people drool needlessly! Hysterical!

So here’s what I want. (keep clicking kids!)

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I was going back through some archives recently and found a few links that got lost at the time. So although it’s a bit late now, have a look at these videos courtesy of the guys over at www.cinenow.com.

First up is the Tokai combined in car head unit / MP3 player. In terms of aftermarket car audio it seems like a nicer idea than drilling more holes in the dash for an iPod dock although in these days of 4 and 8gb flash players 256mb is starting to look a little dated! If you’re in the UK you can find them at pixmania for a shade over £100.

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