Bites from the Apple: Delayed Gratification

After fulfilling my civic duty with a several-week stint on jury duty and being away from the daily check-ins on Apple news, I started back in on my daily Apple news review this week and found that we're still no closer to the release of the magical iTouch/iTablet. Despite some promising rumors pointing to the possibility of the long-rumored portable tablet device getting announced in conjunction with Apple's annual September roll-out of new iPod models, Apple writers/bloggers John Gruber and Jim Dalrymple (both well sourced in the rumor department) are certain that it won't be at the September event and that we won't be seeing the iTablet until 2010 at the earliest. And that sounds about right to me, based on the fact that Apple likes to focus on one theme per event and, as Wired's Gadget Lab notes, an early 2010 announcement event timed around the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) would be an attention grabber.

So, what will the September digital music event bring (currently rumored for the week of September 7)? We should see new iPod nano and iPod touch models with integrated cameras (another case manufacturer has leaked next-generation case models that seems to confirm the camera presence, seen at right), and possibly see a price reduction in the iPod touch to match the upcoming Microsoft Zune HD. Additionally, we'll probably be introduced to Apple's new interactive album scheme that's been codenamed Cocktail, which "will feature interactive material, including photos, lyric sheets, liner notes and clips from music videos" (and which will now compete with a new digital album format called CMX that will be offered by the big four music labels... get ready for another music format battle). The next version of iTunes (v.9) will also get released, and there's expectation that it will add Blu-ray Disc support (and possibly connectivity to social networking sites).

• There's been a bit of chatter this week that the release of Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard has been moved up from its original September launch timeframe to the end of August, with MacNN reporting some books about Snow Leopard (such as the Mac OS X Snow Leopard Bible) getting their release dates adjusted accordingly. Speaking of Snow Leopard books, 9to5Mac lists its top 5 guides to Snow Leopard, which includes the aforementioned Bible as well as titles by David Pogue and Robin Williams. (For those who might find Pogue's 1000-page tome a bit much, might I suggest my colleague Jeff Carlson's Snow Leopard Pocket Guide, which clocks in at just a quarter of Pogue's page count and is meant to get you moving quickly through the new OS.)

• The mobile video sharing service Qik released its official iPhone app (it had been available for jailbroken iPhones), which allows you to directly upload videos to Facebook, Twitter as well as the Qik web site. However, it's not as full-featured as some had hoped: it's relegated to use only over Wi-Fi, it works only with iPhone 3GS models, and it doesn't do live streaming video--only uploads (via Ars Technica and Lifehacker).

• According to an industry study, iPhone 3GS users are far more satisfied with their purchase (at 99%) than Palm Pre owners (87%).

• I don't commute very far, but during my jury duty when took the bus to downtown Seattle and used my iPhone 3GS for primary communication during the day, I began to understand the many complaints about battery life--I'd be nearly out of juice by the time I returned home each day (and that was without push notifications turned on or heavy multimedia playback). If I were doing more day-to-day traveling with my iPhone, I'd seriously consider the Mophie Juice Pack battery extender, which gets a positive review over at The Apple Core blog.

• The next version of Microsoft's Mac Office is slated to be released in late 2010, and it will replace the Entourage email program with Outlook, which will offer improved connection to Microsoft Exchange for corporate users as well as provide a slimmed down email database that should work better with both Spotlight search and Time Machine backups.

• According to AppleInsider, Netflix might offer its Watch Instantly streaming video service to iPhone/iPod touch users (as well as to the Nintendo Wii).

• If you've got an iMac or Apple Cinema Display, check out the BackPack shelf that attaches to the back of the pedestal--perfect for an external hard drive or even a Mac mini (via SwissMiss)

• The Apple Blog offers some handy suggestions on additional System Preferences that can make your Mac life a happier one--including the one-two video punch of Perian and Flip4Mac, which brings Windows Media Video and host of other codecs to your viewing pleasure.

• And finally... a use for the craptastic headphones that come with iPods and iPhones from my new favorite time-wasting site, There, I Fixed It:

  

--Agen G.N. Schmitz

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