New iPod nanos: Full of Color, Features and More

As I mentioned above, Apple announced all new iPods on Tuesday, and that included changes to the iPod classics, touches and shuffles as well. Some details:

*iPod touch*
The new iPod touch boasts better specs, but keeps the same capacity sizes of 8GB, 16GB and 32GB. New features below:

* Slimmer design, with curved back
* 2.1 Firmware
* Genius playlist (Apple says: “With just a few taps, the new Genius feature creates a playlist of tracks in your library that go great together.” Not sure how that works, but cool!)
* Nike+iPod support (built-in Nike+ interface; all you need is the sensor for your shoe)
* Built-in speaker, with volume controls
* 36-hour music, 6-hour video battery life
* $229 for 8GB, $299 for 16GB, $399 for 32GB

*iPod classic*
The iPod classic now comes in only one size: 120GB for $249.99. They still come in both Silver and Black.

*iPod shuffle*
The shuffles have stayed the same as well, except for a new color scheme. They now include:
* A brighter color scheme of Blue, Green, Pink and Silver, reminiscent of past versions!
* 1GB for $49.99
* 2GB for $69.99

*More to come on the new iPods… all new iPods are listed, and most are ready to ship!*

“See all iPods here.”:http://www.smalldog.com/ipods

Last week I reported that Spotlight in Tiger (OS 10.4) could perform simple calculations. Unfortunately, this is not correct; Spotlight will only do this in Leopard.

If you’re online, it’s possible to use Google for simple calculations just as you’d use Spotlight. To use Google’s built-in calculator function, simply enter the calculation you’d like done into the search box and hit return.

You can use Google to convert between many different units of measurement of height, weight, and mass among others. Just enter the desired conversion into the search box and Google will do the rest.

See more of Google’s handy little features here:

“http://www.google.com/intl/en/help/features.html#calculator”:http://www.google.com/intl/en/help/features.html#calculator

More about search terms/ criteria in Spotlight in Mac OS 10.4:

“http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.4/en/cdb_sptknd.html”:http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.4/en/cdb_sptknd.html

And more about search terms/ critereia in Spotlight in Mac OS 10.5:

“http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.5/en/15155.html”:http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.5/en/15155.html

We had some frost last night in the valley, so a lot of people are beginning to think of winter and making the annual preparations. Artie has been cutting wood on his property and I bought a few cords to supplement my heating system this year. I’ve got a wood/coal furnace as back-up to my oil furnace, but I need to clean it up and make sure it is ready for the winter by changing the filters, cleaning the chimney and making sure the controls work.

Maybe I’ll put that off another weekend, though, since there’s a Victory motorcycle gathering in the White Mountains and Saturday looks like a nice sunny day. I hope you have a great weekend and thank you for reading this issue of Kibbles & Bytes!

Your Kibbles & Bytes Team,
_Don, Kali and Ed_

At Apple’s Let’s Rock event on Tuesday, Steve Jobs announced the immediate availability of iTunes 8. You can download it by “clicking here:”:http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/

The most newsworthy feature of iTunes 8 isn’t even music related; it’s the return of NBC’s very popular TV programing to the iTunes store. NBC pulled its programing in 2007 after failing to come to terms with Apple’s pricing scheme. Returning shows include The Office, Monk, Battlestar Galactica, 30 Rock, and Heroes.

It will be interesting if these shows return to their most-downloaded status in the iTunes store. Some consumers may have permanently switched to Hulu, NBC’s free online TV service. An important difference between Hulu and iTunes is the availability of HD in iTunes. HD shows cost $2.99 per episode, versus $1.99 for SD (standard definition) shows. If you buy a season pass for a TV program, there may be a discount.

The iTunes 8 interface is identical to that of iTunes 7 at first glance, but after a moment it becomes clear that new features and accessibly options have been added and improved. There’s a new grid view that allows you to see your iTunes library in a new way. Select Albums in Grid View and iTunes 8 displays your entire music library using cover art. Select Artists, Genres, or Composers and iTunes automatically creates groups of albums based on your selection. Simply skim across a group to see the albums inside, and start playing an album with a single click. This also works for movies, TV shows, podcasts, and audiobooks.

The new “Genius” feature lets you make playlists from songs in your music library “that go great together, with just one click,” according to Jobs. A new Genius sidebar also makes recommendations for accompanying songs that are available through the the iTunes Store.

In my limited experience with iTunes 8, the Genius Playlist feature works fairly well. I like that it finds music in my library that I’ve ignored or forgotten about. The Genius Sidebar is less useful right now; in time I might toggle it off.

Users can opt into anonymously sharing their Genius information with the iTunes store, which should constantly improve the Genius feature. New browsing options have been added. Similar to iPhoto, in iTunes 8 can skim or scrub through albums by artist, and use a similar view to skim movies, TV shows and other content. (Personally, I am very eager to use this feature – I think it makes sense with a very large music library.) A tab at the top of the screen allows you to toggle Albums, Artists, Genres and Composers.

Finally, iTunes 8 can be now be operated with Apple’s accessibility software VoiceOver.

_Dear Friends,_

They fired up the biggest machine ever built this week: the super collider in Switzerland, which is a 17-mile super cooled tunnel buried underground with thousands of computers and support gear. It is all designed as a particle accelerator to create particle collisions to test the “big bang” theory as the start of the universe.

The idea is to set two beams of protons traveling in opposite directions around the tunnel, redlining at the speed of light, generating wicked energy that will mimic the cataclysmic conditions at the beginning of time, then smashing into each other in a furious re-creation of the Big Bang… this time recorded by giant digital cameras.

They fired it up this week, but it will probably be months before the proton beams reach full power. Scientists don’t really know what will happen at full power when the collisions create something. There might spring forth black holes and the elusive thing that gives matter its mass. Or not! There might be particles called “strangelets” and evidence of “dark matter” and signs of “supersymmetry” and maybe a little antimatter. Real science or science fiction stuff. Lightspeed, anti-matter, black holes, and maybe even another dimension!

There is some fear that they might create an uncontrolled reaction and a huge black hole that will eat our planet.(!) The scientists scoff at this notion, and I sure hope they’re right! This collider is the smaller cousin of the ill-fated 54-mile collider that was to have been built in Texas. The Texas project was abandoned in 1993 after spending a few billion on it.

Apple’s “Let’s Rock” event produced iTunes 8 with new Genius features that I have just started to play with. I like the recommendations generated by my selection of a song in my library. That’s a good way to check out some music you haven’t heard before. I haven’t checked out what the Genius playlist features yet, but I like the idea! Oh yeah, there were new iPods, too. Lots of colorful nanos (I have to get a purple 16GB!) with some great new features. The iPod touch just keeps getting better and the thin 120GB iPod classic is a great value. There are even new brighter colors for the venerable iPod shuffle. Be sure to see our round-up of the new products below!