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Apple TV

Today Steve Jobs announced a lineup of new products for consumers to drool over. First Apple announced the updated iPods, followed by the much rumored new Apple TV.

The new and improved Apple TV has been rumored for a couple months now. Features include a much smaller design than the previous version with a black finish, 802.11n Wireless connection, Ethernet connection,  as well as 720p HDMI and Digital Audio output.

The new Apple TV boasts Netflix streaming, $0.99 TV show and $4.99 DVD rental through iTunes. It also houses the ability to wirelessly stream music, pictures, and videos from any computer in your home.

iPod Nano

The new iPod Nano is 100% touch screen and about the same size as the 2nd generation iPod Shuffle. It’s available in 8GB ($149) and 16GB ($179) and it has a clip built onto the back.

iPod Shuffle

The new iPod Shuffle has grown in size from the previous generation and has been retrofitted with the 2nd generation buttons located on the iPod rather than the headphones. The Shuffle is available with a capacity of 2GB for $49.

iPod Touch

The iPod Touch received built in rear facing camera allowing you to record 720p video. It also has a front facing camera with retina display and utilizes FaceTime video calling. It is available in 8GB ($229), 32Gb ($299) and 64GB ($399).

iOS 4.0.1

Apple just released it’s first update for iOS 4 which “improves” the accuracy of the signal strength displayed on your iPhone. *Also part of update 3.2.1 for iPad users*

Don’t be misinformed, this does NOT correct the actual signal strength issue that has the entire iPhone 4 community up in arms.

On that note – AppleInsider just posted a public letter sent to Steve Jobs from US Senator Charles Schumer, criticizing the iPhone 4′s signal issue and the way Steve Jobs has handled the situation thus far. Schumer strongly encourages Steve Jobs to publicly acknowledge the issue and offer a remedy to current iPhone 4 owners, free of charge.

UPDATE: According to Gizmodo, Apple is holding a press conference tomorrow (July, 16th) at 1PM EST to make an announcement regarding the iPhone 4.

Apple iPad

Steve Jobs announced Apple’s latest technology this morning. Their newest release is a tablet that they’ve named the ‘iPad’. Apple designed the device in hopes that users would utilize the iPad to…

• Check E-mail
• Search the web
• Manage and edit photos
• Watch HD movies or TV shows
• Listen to music
• Electronically purchase and read books and magazines
• Electronically purchase and listen to music
• Take notes
• Use Google Maps to navigate your way to your destination
• Manage your personal calendar
• Manage your contacts

The iPad starts at $499 and has an LED backlit screen with built in WiFi in all models. 3G is also available in the $629 – $829 models. It’s available with three flash memory storage capacities – 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB.

The iPad does lack a few things that might be deal breakers:

• No multitasking
• No camera
• No Flash compatibility so it will not display Flash videos or images that are found on many webpages
• It is not compatible with T-Mobiles 3G network
• Adapters are necessary if you want to plug your iPod, iPhone or SD cards directly into the device

Click HERE for more tech specs.

Sources: GizModo | Apple

iMac

If you are in the market for a new computer and have been considering the new 27″ iMac I strongly recommend holding off on your purchase. For some reason these machines are being shipped from Apple with the following problems:

Yellow Tinted Screens
Flickering Screens
Cracked Screens
Completely DOA

A large number of people are complaining about having one or more of these issues. To make matters worse, Apple is replacing the malfunctioning iMacs with machines that are having the same issues. And if you try to get the second iMac replaced Apple will just tell you that “It’s quite likely the issue will continue to happen…and that we’ll become stuck in an endless loop.”

Apple is clearly aware of the problem and even admits that 27″ iMacs shipped as of today will suffer these same problems. I’ve always been a fan of Apple, but if I paid $1,700+ for a computer and had these results I would be beyond furious.

Sources: Gizmodo | MacRumors

MCE OptiBay

If you’re anything like me, you find that you never actually use the SuperDrive to play DVD’s or CD’s in your Macbook or Macbook Pro. And any software that would need to be installed can be easily moved onto a flash drive and installed via USB.

I’ve been juggling the idea of installing Windows 7 on my Macbook Pro for work. But the thought of partitioning space on my already extremely full 320GB HDD to install Windows through BootCamp does not appeal to me. And I still dislike the idea of running Parallels or Fusion 3 to emulate Windows as it takes up a lot of resources and can slow down the laptop exponentially when running multiple applications.

The other day I was shown an excellent solution to my dilema. The beauty of the built in SuperDrive is that it is connected with a SATA connection. This means that if you could find a way to put another SATA harddrive in the place of the SuperDrive you could essentially have 1 harddrive for OSX and one harddrive for Windows or Linux.

The MCE OptiBay solves this issue brilliantly. It allows you to remove the SuperDrive and replace it with this piece of hardware housing a second bootable SATA harddrive. You can purchase the OptiBay with a harddrive from MCE’s website or you can save a little money and purchase the OptiBay without a drive and pickup a 2.5″ SATA drive of whatever capacity you choose from NewEgg.