Apple Reveals a Fancy new ‘Magic’ Mouse and hardware updates

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African American, Apple, Technology

Apple's New Gear

Apple unleashed several hardware updates today in their iMac, MacBook, and Mac mini lines, but the most interesting news comes with the release of their new Magic Mouse, a wireless multi-touch mouse.

Straight from Apple:

The same Multi-Touch technology first introduced on the revolutionary iPhone comes to the mouse. It’s called Magic Mouse, and it’s the world’s first Multi-Touch mouse. Click anywhere, scroll in any direction, and swipe through images on its smooth, seamless top shell. It works wirelessly using Bluetooth, so you don’t have to worry about cables or adapters cluttering your workspace. And built-in software lets you configure Magic Mouse any way you want.

Apple’s Mighty Mouse may have been one of the most hated point-and-clickers on the planet (I’ve never used one that actually worked well), but Apple at the very least got an “A” for trying something kind of new. We’ll see if they fare better this time around. Gizmodo’s got a hands-on with the Magic Mouse, along with info on the updated $1,000 MacBook, the refreshed iMacs, and the beefier Mac minis.

The Magic Mouse will ship with the new iMacs starting today, or you can buy one separately from the Apple Store for $69. You may purchase the Magic Mouse at the Apple Store.

Source: LifeHacker.com

Is DoubleTwist a Real iTunes Alternative?

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African Americans, Jazz, Technology

iTunes has managed to become the de facto standard for desktop music organizers, leaving those with non-Apple devices in the cold. DoubleTwist syncs, shares, and converts your media quite handily, and has a built-in Amazon MP3 store, but can it really replace iTunes?

DoubleTwist (technically capitalized as doubleTwist, as is the fashion at this time) does a lot of neat things that iTunes will never do:

* It recognizes and synchronizes with a ton of devices, and otherwise works with any device that your computer recognizes as a storage space.
* Converts music and videos back and forth from device-specific formats, with quick upload links to Flickr and YouTube.
* Makes it super-easy to send music, video, or pictures from your desktop to anyone, whether or not they’re using doubleTwist.
* Downloads videos from YouTube for local viewing or listening, or converting to your phone or player.
* With the latest Windows update, due today, both versions of doubleTwist have a slick-looking Amazon MP3 Store integration.

Double Twist - Amazon Store

Does that make it a free, and DRM-free, iTunes replacement? Not exactly—at least when it comes to playing and organizing your music on your computer. In fact, doubleTwist seems to have been built as a complement to the libraries and playlists set up in iTunes or Windows Media Player, and doesn’t currently have much in the way of playback functionality beyond, well, “Play.” But if you’re not a hyper-organized music fan and just want a simple, no-nonsense tool to transfer some great tunes, pictures, or video to your phone, PSP, or other device, doubleTwist is a great option.

Go here, for complete article!

Source: Lifehacker.com

The 10 most potentially hazardous smartphones

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African Americans, Smartphones, Technology

Radiation threats: The 10 most potentially hazardous smartphones

“Based on new research, learn the 10 smartphones that emit the most radiation, the 10 that emit the least radiation, and a few quick safety tips.”

One of the scariest unknown technology risks of this decade is the issue of radiation from cell phones. There’s still an open question about whether long term exposure to these mobile devices will cause damage or disease to human beings.

The Environmental Working Group has a comprehensive new study (download the full report as a PDF) that surveys the scientific research on cellphone heath risks and provides radiation data for most of the current cellphones in use. Here’s how the EWG explained the mission of its study:

“We at Environmental Working Group are still using our cell phones, but we also believe that until scientists know much more about cell phone radiation, it’s smart for consumers to buy phones with the lowest emissions. The U.S. government ought to require cell phone companies to label their products’ radiation output so that consumers can do the numbers at the point of sale. It doesn’t, so EWG has created this user-friendly interactive online guide to cell phone emissions, covering over 1,000 phones currently on the market.”

– Author of article Jason Hiner

Source: blogs.techrepublic.com.com … for the complete article about smartphone hazards please visit for more details.

iPhone and iPod touch OS 3.1 Available for Download

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African American, iPhone, iPod Touch, Technology

iTunes Update

iPhone/iPod touch only: Apple today announced an update to iPhone OS 3.1, introducing a new “Genius” recommendation feature for the App Store, bug fixes and performance boosters, and several other small but worthwhile updates.

It’s also added a Ringtone section to the App Store on your device (for a whopping $1.29 a pop—which is why we recommend making them yourself [Windows guide; Mac guide]). Other than that, Apple’s not promising a lot from this update other than support for the newly released iTunes 9, its new features (e.g., Genius Mixes), and a few other nice tweaks. Below is a quick look at some of the other most notable updates from the release notes:

* Save video from Mail and MMS into Camera Roll (We’ll believe the MMS saving when we finally see MMS)
* Option to “Save as new clip” when trimming a video on iPhone 3GS
* Better iPhone 3G Wi-Fi performance when Bluetooth is turned on
* Paste phone numbers into the Keypad
* Anti-phishing features in Safari
* Improved Exchange calendar syncing and invitation handling

Hit up iTunes, plug in your device, and click the Check for Updates button to get started on the 240+MB download.

Source: Lifehacker.com

What Will Record Labels Look Like in the Future?

Tags

African American, Culture, Jazz, Music, Technology

In recent months there’s been a plethora of articles across the Internet, also the print media in reference to why the “Music Industry” and “Artists” alike are suffering from the loss in sales … here’s a in depth perspective from the folks at MediaShift/PBS.

Digital Music

The pioneers of the music industry couldn’t have seen this coming in their wildest dreams. When publishers were selling sheet music in the late 1800s, the idea of people privately sharing their product, independent of location and physical constraints, would have seemed ridiculous. But now record labels have been decimated by the digital shift, and are rethinking their entire business model to survive.

Even as recently as the 1970s, the thought that consumers would be able to bring the industry to its knees by circumventing the existing structure and barriers seemed ludicrous. Large companies solidified vertical and/or horizontal integration across almost all elements in the supply chain; this practically ensured a stranglehold on consumers.

Then, as the infamous “home taping is killing music” warning inside record sleeves indicated, the music business (record labels and trade groups in particular) became concerned that blank cassettes were eroding profits. The ability to record songs from radio, a record, or via another cassette meant that people could acquire music cheaply or even for free.

It’s worth noting that not all people saw this as the beginning of the end. In 1981 the Dead Kennedys endeared themselves to a legion of anti-corporate youth by printing this message on one side of a cassette EP:

“Home taping is killing big business profits. We left this side blank so you can help.”

As anti-establishment as the Dead Kennedys and their label Alternative Tentacles were, I don’t think even they could have dreamed up the situation most record labels would find themselves in during the following decades.

Source: Media/Shift

Bonus material to read: “Why We Steal Music” from AllAboutJazz.com!!

Researchers seek funds to study cell phone safety

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Technology

Recently, there’s rumors that it’s possible that cellphones cause brain tumors. Hopefully the researchers can help resolve this issue.

Cellphone Health

Article: Are cell phones safe? For years, studies have provided conflicting conclusions. Today, there is still no clear answer. But experts agree on one thing: more research is needed to find out the answer.

In an effort to raise awareness among consumers and to urge government leaders to allocate more funding for research, an international group of researchers is gathering in Washington, D.C. later this month to present study findings and to lobby government officials. Go here, for more details.

Source: News.C|Net.com

Make iTunes Friendly to WMA, OGG, and FLAC Files

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Technology

iTunes

Audiophiles love FLAC files for their lossless fidelity, while Ogg and WMA files aren’t widely supported. With free plug-ins, all three of those formats can be played and managed in iTunes.

MacWorld links to and explains a number of free iTunes plug-ins, both official (Windows Media for QuickTime) and third-party, that make Windows Media Audio, freely-licensed Ogg, and FLAC files compatible with iTunes libraries on Windows or Mac. In the case of FLAC files, you’ll actually have to convert the file types from .flac to .mov, but the article explains the easy way to do that with Mac’s Automator. On Windows systems, we’d suggest the previously mentioned Bulk Rename Utility. Found another way to make Apple’s generally walled-off media manager play nice with non-native formats? Tell us how in the comments.

Source: Lifehacker.com

Buy.com, Orbitz linked to controversial marketers

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Technology

According to the article below it appears due to the recession [or prior to] businesses are delving into shady schemes to make a buck.

News.C|Net.com: Thousands of Web shoppers have complained that “mystery charges” are showing up on their credit card statements and have accused those who operate Web loyalty programs of duping them into signing up.

As a result, the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee is investigating Vertrue, WebLoyalty, and Affinion, companies who make “cash-back” and coupon offers to consumers and charge those who enroll in their loyalty programs

If you think anyone who unwittingly signs up to one of these programs must be an e-commerce rookie and that it couldn’t happen to someone as savvy as you, take care that overconfidence doesn’t cost you. Josh Lowensohn, a CNET News reporter and longtime Web shopper, this week found that a credit card he rarely uses was billed $12 in each of the past eight months by WebLoyalty.

Last November, after almost completing a purchase at Buy.com, Lowensohn, 26, was presented with an advertisement that asked him for his e-mail address. (See top half of ad above and bottom half at the end of this story.) He couldn’t quickly find a way to get past the page and said he remembers thinking he would type in one of his rarely used e-mail addresses just so he could complete his transaction. Lowensohn was confident he couldn’t lose anything because the advertiser didn’t have his credit card information.

For more details please visit News.C|Net.com…

SourceNews.C|Net.com

BlackBerry Desktop coming to the Mac

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Technology

At long last, Research In Motion is bringing its BlackBerry Desktop software to Mac OS X.

In a blog post on Monday, RIM announced that a version of its smartphones’ desktop software will be released this September for Apple computers.

According to the smartphone maker, users will be able to sync their iTunes playlists, calendars, contacts, notes, and tasks from their Mac. They will also have the option of adding applications, updating the BlackBerry when new software is made available, and managing multiple handsets on their Apple computers.

Visit, here for more details.

Source/C|Net.com

Pod Pod to PC Transfers Music from Any iPod, iPhone Onto Your PC

Tags

iPhone, iPod, Software, Technology

Pod To PC

Windows only: Pod to PC can grab the music and movies off nearly any Windows-formatted iPod for transferring to your PC, and avoids duplicates while doing so.

Install and fire up the software, and if your iPod is connected by a USB transfer cable, Pod to PC should find it and offer up basic stats:

Most notable is that, along with an iTunes-like read on space use, iPod name, and the like, Pod to PC shows how many of the tracks on a device are already loaded into iTunes on your computer. So that “Automatic Transfer” button smooshed into the lower-right corner (Pod to PC has a pretty rough graphical interface, in case you couldn’t tell) does exactly that, grabbing uncopied tracks and placing them. Or you can tackle a transfer manually: