Archive for the 'Podcasting' Category

Engadget’s Hands-on with Apple’s new devices…

Published on Tuesday, September 12, 2006 in Apple, Gaming, Movies, Podcasting, Technology and TV's. Closed

Engadget were at Apple’s “It’s Showtime” press event today and they were able to get hands on with all the new releases, including the iTV prototype, which was a big shocker. Check out the links for all the juicy pictures.

2G iPod nano hands-on [link]
5G iPod v2 hands-on [link]
iTV hands-on [link]
iPod Shuffle and new headphones hands-on [link]

They all look really good, and I’m even impressed with the iTV, even though that hasn’t been officially released. I’m still not sure about the shuffle though, however I do like the nano now. I do want to try them out, but my nearest Apple store is in Birmingham and we won’t go there for no reason just to visit an Apple Store. The other one is in London, and I don’t think we’ll visit it for a while. The other ‘tech’ shops around town are pretty rubbish. They wouldn’t have the new iPods for a while. The Currys.digital shop still has the iPod nano labelled under Hard-disk player. The obviously don’t know anything, but I was amazed to see a MacBook there. I tried it out and it was very fast, I really want one now. After I finished playing with it, one of the store clerks went and started that god-awful screensaver thing they have. I hate those so much; they aren’t really going to get customers to buy the product if they can’t test it.

The iTV – Apple’s Media Center

Published on Tuesday, September 12, 2006 in Apple, Internet, Movies, Noteworthy, PC, Podcasting, Technology, TV's and Wireless. 4 Comments

This is the one product which hasn’t been released, as in it is not on Apple’s website. The name iTV is not official yet, so it is subject to change. I think that is good because iTV sounds a bit plain, and similiar to Elgato’s EyeTV line of products. So people could get confused. Down to the details:

It looks like a flatter Mac mini.
No power brick, but there is USB 2, Ethernet, 802.11 Wireless, HDMI, Component and RCA jacks as well as optical audio.
Controlled via the Apple remote.
Hooks up directly to your TV, set-top box or other input device.
An enhanced version of Front Row, with windows media centre style browsing. The right hand side has menu and the left has images.
“You can do movie trailers form Apple.com right from your couch. This is big screen over the internet, live as we watch. [demo]“
Movies, TV Shows, Music, Podcasts, and Photos
Coming Q1 of 2007
Works with Macs and PCs
$299

As Apple doesn’t have an official page, I’ll link you to Engadget’s live coverage of the “It’s Showtime!” event.
This certainly seems like a very interesting idea and because of the price point even more so. Now we just have to wait for it to come out, doh!
read more

iTunes 7 – With Movie Store!

Published on Tuesday, September 12, 2006 in Apple, Gaming, Internet, Movies, Noteworthy, Podcasting, Software, Technology and TV's. Closed

The new version of iTunes has a lot of new features, you can find a good walkthrough of the main features at TUAW. These are the main enhancements:

TV Shows are available in h.264, in 640 x 480 which is up from 320 x 240.
You can update your iPod from right inside iTunes now, you don’t need to go to Preferences. You can say, “I want to sync the 10 most recent unwatched episides of all my TV shows.”
You can sync content between multiple computers as long as you have the same iTMS account and both the computers are authorised.
Coverflow mode allows you to scroll through the artwork of your music as if it was on a shelf.
Music Artwork can be downloaded free from Apple, and it will fill up all the missing artwork in your library!
“Today we’re starting out with films from Disney, Pixar, Touchstone, and Miramax – four studios owned by Disney. Today we’re making over 70 films agvailable online today including Pirates of the Caribbean. They’ll be available the same day they’re out on DVD.“
New movies will be $12.99 if you pre-order them or buy them during the first week. Other movies are $9.99. The movie store is integrated into iTunes and you can preview new releases in album cover flow mode. They will also be at 640 x 480 with Dolby Surround Sound. Initially it will be for the US only, but it will go international in 2007.
Games for iPod are $4.99 and only work with the 5G iPod (old and updated).
A refined look with sections for music, other content, playlists etc. It is not really too big, but it allows iTunes to flow more seamlessley. You have to see for yourself, it is hard to describe.

It is available for download now. I think that’s virtually it, I’ll update it if I find anything else.

Stream iTunes to your PSP

Published on Tuesday, April 18, 2006 in Apple, Internet, Podcasting, Shorts, Software, Technology and Wireless. 1 Comment

Sony’s PlayStation Portable (PSP) is a very popular device and has sold a few million units, but when compared to Apple’s iPod, the PSP lacks storage space. Luckily, the PSP has a built in WiFi card to make up for this disadvantage. With a few simple steps, all of which are included in this tutorial, anyone can stream any non-copyright music from their iTunes library to their PSP.

The 5-Step Setup Procedure:
1) Download iTunes-PSP-Server.exe and save it to your desktop.
2) Disable any firewalls and/or keep port 8080 open.
3) Launch iTunes and then click on the iTunes-PSP-Server after.
4) In IE/Firefox open the page “http://localhost:8080″
5) Setup is complete if an “iTunes RSS Server” page appeared.

Stewie is getting his own talk show

Published on Wednesday, January 25, 2006 in Podcasting and TV's. Closed

You know Stewie, the evil and extremely smart British baby on the series Family Guy, well he is getting his own radio talk show, sort of like a podcast. It is only for the internet so I see no reason for it not to be listed in iTunes and it will start sometime this year. “‘We think that the property is perfectly suited for that audience’ Fox Interactive Media president Ross Levinsohn said Tuesday”. I think so too. There are millions of Family Guy fans out there who would love to listen to this. If it was released as a podcast, or with at least an RSS feed I most certainly would. Family Guy is great, and has that quality that the Simpsons doesn’t. They are both great shows but Family Guy is funny in its own way (and so are the Simpsons).

MacWorld ’06 in a nutshell: Steve’s Keynote roundup

Published on Tuesday, January 10, 2006 in Apple, Noteworthy, PC, Podcasting, Technology and Wireless. Closed

Oh my god!!! Full details coming later on.

Intel Powerbook – Called MacBook Pro – Dual Core
Intel iMac – looks exactly the same – Dual Core
iLife ’06 – with iWeb etc
Tiger 10.4.4
iPod remote with FM Tuner

Engadget has a good coverage of the Keynote in more detail here.

New Blog feature: Podcasting

Published on Tuesday, January 3, 2006 in General, Podcasting and Technology. Closed

I was looking at plugins for WordPress when I cam across the Talkr Podcast plugin. It enables you to have automated MP3′s generated from your posts. I thought this was quite a cool feature so I configured the plugin for the blog. Now at the end of every post you will see a link to the MP3 file for that post. You can also get the RSS feed here. I liked the idea of this feature so I thought I might as well add it. The automated voice doesn’t sound too bada actually, I thought it would sound a lot worse.
On a seperate note I have added stars next to posts that I think are the most interesting.

Front Row on my Mac

Published on Monday, November 21, 2005 in Apple, General, Internet, Movies, Podcasting and Technology. Closed

First of all I’m going to say I do not condone hacking nor piracy. What I have done is purely for educational purposes only. So please don’t sue me Apple, I don’t have any money. Because of the nature of this ‘experiment’ I cannot provide links from where I got the files. All I can say is I used Apple’s legitimate Front Row updater to update the Front Row on the new iMac’s (w/ iSight) from v1 to v1.0.1. Pictures after the jump.
Continue reading ‘Front Row on my Mac’

The silent podcast which is, err, silent

Published on Saturday, November 5, 2005 in Internet, Podcasting, Random Stuff and Technology. Closed

In our crazy world we all need some silence. Relax with your iPod. Download collections of digitally clear silence encoded in high quality AAC.

They also have the world’s first silent vidcast containing the best silence I’ve ever heard. See for yourself at their website and their iTunes page.

SmashMyiPod.com releases their video

Published on Monday, October 31, 2005 in Apple, Internet, Podcasting, Random Stuff and Technology. Closed

This is truly horrifying . I previously mentioned a site, SmashMyiPod.com, which is “dedicated in raising $400 to buy and iPod and destroy it inside the Apple Store they bought it from“. I was bit skeptic seeing the early photos which looked like they weren’t taken inside the Apple Store. Now I know why, they were chucked out from the Apple Store after their little ‘demo’. The video shows the guy walking in a buying the iPod, then his friend walks up, throws it to the ground and starts stomping on it with his foot. After they get chucked from the Apple Store they get a sledgehammer and batter the iPod to pieces. A few photos then follow showing the smashed iPod. Watch the video for yourself here.
It looks like they weren’t cheating on people with buying a 4G iPod as the video looks legit. But they did say they raised more money than they needed, which they probably kept themselves. Anyway the video is still fun and scary to watch .

read more (page with links to the video)