Unboxing photos of iPod classic, iPod nano...

Apple's new iPod classic and next-generation iPod nanos began arriving at stores across the US -- one day ahead of the projected "weekend arrival." The flagship San Francisco Store had all of models of the new Nano line, but only the 80GB model of the iPod classic (both silver and black); however, all were still behind the counter -- not on display, but available for purchase. The classic iPod nano and shuffle lines were still on display along with the previous generation iPod video. Interestingly, thanks to the price drop of course, the iPhones were seemingly flying off the shelf. Many users were clamoring for the last of the $299 4GB iPhone models, which were limited in supply.

Adobe previews Web-based Photoshop

Delivering the keynote speech at Photoshop World 2007 in Las Vegas, John Loiacono, senior vice president of the Creative Solutions Business Unit at Adobe, gave a sneak peek at Adobe Photoshop Express an online version of Photoshop akin to Adobe Premiere Express, which is a lightweight Flash-based Web application. Adobe Photoshop Express is not yet publicly available. The company also announced a Photoshop CS3/CS3 Extended and Photoshop Lightroom purchase offer where Adobe will offer savings of up to $150 when Adobe Photoshop CS3 or Adobe Photoshop CS3 Extended is purchased with Adobe Photoshop Lightroom. Finally, Adobe unveiled the Photoshop logo, which represents the family of Photoshop products, which will appear at a future date on all Photoshop-related marketing.

Universal version of DesignMerge Pro shown...

Meadows Publishing Solutions will be demonstrating DesignMerge Pro for Adobe InDesign and QuarkXPress 7.0 Universal Binary at the upcoming Graph Expo show in Chicago. DesignMerge provides variable data printing and data publishing features. It allows users to create customized 1:1 marketing documents by linking a QuarkXPress or InDesign document to a database file. Then, each copy of a printed document can be "personalized", changing items such as name, address, and even graphics. All of the features of InDesign or QuarkXPress are available when using DesignMerge software, and it supports all of the most popular VDP output formats including Optimized PostScript, PPML, EPS, PDF, VIPP, Barco/Xeikon Book Ticket, and QuarkXPress documents. It is also compatible with systems offered by Canon, Xerox, HP, EFI, and Konica-Minolta. 

G.H.O.S.T. Hunters game released for Mac...

Macgamestore.com today released G.H.O.S.T. Hunters: The Haunting of Majesty Manor, placing players in the role as a new investigator for G.H.O.S.T. Hunters tasked with investigating a possible haunting at Majesty Manor. Players must search the house for clues and generate a list of suspects, then eliminate possible suspects while rushing between the dark attic and the haunted rooms in a race against time. "Will you be able to solve the mystery in time?" The new title features hidden objects, its own soundtrack, and sharp high-resolution graphics. G.H.O.S.T. Hunters: The Haunting of Majesty Manor is available for $20 via Macgamestore.com.

Sonnet rolls out 8-drive SATA RAID array...

Sonnet Technologies today rolled out its Sonnet Fusion R800RAID 8-drive storage system designed for film and video editing professionals. The Fusion R800RAID system features a PCI Express RAID host adapter that supports RAID 0, 1, 4 (DVRAID), 5, 10, 50, and JBOD configurations. The device itself is a 2U rackmount enclosure that contains hot-swappable drive modules with Enterprise/RAID edition SATA drives as well as robust locking cables, according to Sonnet. With drives formatted as a RAID 0 group, the R800RAID is capable of single-stream 2048x1556 LOG RGB capture and playback. Configured as a protected RAID 5 group the device achieves 557MB/sec transfer speeds -- fast enough to handle uncompressed 10-bit 1080 4:4:4 high-definition video or multiple streams of DV, HDV, and DVCPRO content. Sonnet's Fusion R800RAID 8-drive storage systems are compatible with Mac OS X 10.3 or later, are slated for shipment next month, and are priced from $5,400 (4TB) to $8,900 (8TB) with extra 1TB drives available for $800 each. [updated photos]

Fanurio 1.7 time tracking software released

Atelier Software today released Fanurio 1.7, a time tracking and billing application designed for freelancers. The software allows users to organize work, track time, and create invoices. Users can add new clients each time a contract is signed, and can add project items as well as expenses to the account for work performed. The software supports setting any item as billable at any time and distinguishes whether the billing should be hourly or flat rate. Users can add billable items to invoices, create invoices even before a project is finished, and can work with multiple projects simultaneously. Time spent on each item is recorded using a timer or is entered manually, and Fanurio features an iTunes-like mini view that gives users quick access to the timer. Fanurio is priced at $40 and requires Mac OS X 10.3.9 or later.

iPhone price cut spurs college interest...

In a flash poll conducted by SurveyU the evening of September 5, 1,000 college students reacted extremely positively to Apple's $200 price reduction on the iPhone. 11% of students surveyed now report that they will purchase an iPhone when their current cell phone contract expires, compared with 4% in August. While college students were initially cautious about the hype surrounding the iPhone, they have now seen how the iPhone performs -- a fact that when coupled with this price reduction, will likely result in a solid sales bump with an even bigger jump upon the next release. The surveyors report that when it comes to the iPhone, pricing is the key factor for college students, with 80% citing price as very important in their purchase decision in June, July and August.  After the price drop, the importance of price has jumped to 90% among those who have not yet purchased an iPhone.

Yahoo! Messenger 3.0 beta 2 adds tabs, more

Yahoo! Messenger 3.0 beta 2 has been released, adding a number of significant new features to the instant messaging application including tabbed IM windows. Now, when you have two or more conversations going on, they appear as separate tabs in a single window. Plus, you can drag a tab out and make it into its own window (or drag it back in to consolidate). The new release includes chat room support -- a feature previously unavailable in the Mac version of Yahoo! Messenger. Message archiving has also been added, allowing you to save conversations. In addition, there are new emoticons, bringing the Mac version up to par with other flavors of the program.

Apple offers $100 credit to iPhone owners...

Apple's Steve Jobs on Thursday said he would offer previous iPhone customers a $100 store credit toward purchase of any product at an Apple Retail Store or the Apple Online Store, following thousands of emails and feedback from angry customers. Backtracking on his previous hard-line stance, Jobs also acknowledged the role of early adopters in the evolution of a product, while emphasizing that price continues to decline over the life of any technology product. Customers, he said, could expect a $100 credit some time next week. In an open letter to customers, the CEO reiterated that the company was making the right decision with its price cut ahead of the holiday season, but noted that trust was an important factor in customer relationships.

Polk, Apple intro iTunes Tagging on HD Radio...

Polk Audio today introduced the i-Sonic ES2, the second generation of its hybrid digital radio and iPod dock. The new device introduces a new feature in collaboration with Apple known as iTunes Tagging. Songs properly marked on HD Radio stations can be tagged by the radio and have the information sent to a docked iPod; when the iPod returns to its home Mac or PC, the tags create an automatic iTunes playlist with links to buy the songs directly from the iTunes Store. This gives audiophiles a new way to find new music and enjoy it immediately, Polk says.

Analyst on iPod successors, iPhone price cut...

Apple's new iPod shuffle, iPod nano, iPod classic, and iPod touch portable players are worthy successors of the company's previous models, according to American Technology Research senior analyst Shaw Wu. "From our assessment, we find the feature sets and price points well differentiated and believe this will help minimize cannibalization among product lines and vs. iPhone." Wu believes the new iPod nano "fatboy" could perform like last year's re-designed iPod shuffle, which was a run-away seller. The analyst also sees a favorable trend with Apple's $149 and $199 prices vs. the $79 iPod shuffle. Apple's iPhone price cut also made headlines yesterday, angering some customers who purchased the pricey handset in recent weeks.

LightScribe labeling gets detail improvement

LightScribe Direct Disc Labeling has announced enhancements that reduce graininess and improve fine detail reproduction for the company's DVD/CD solution labeling. The results of the improvements are visible on photos, graphics and text on LightScribe CDs and DVDs. They're contained in a free upgrade of the LightScribe system software and requires no additional changes to hardware capable of using the labeling software. LightScribe is a laser DVD/DVD label burning technology found in many popular brands of disc burners, laptops and PCs. You can download the latest version of LightScribe's system software from the product Web site. It requires Mac OS X 10.3.9 or later.  

Jobs: no apology, no refunds; Beatles coming...

Apple's Steve Jobs says Apple won't give users refunds for purchasing one of the early iPhones at $599 and that the price drop won't really hurt Apple's bottom line. Less than 10 weeks after the iPhone launch, the 33 percent price cut is one of the most dramatic seen by Apple fans, but is common in the world of technology, according to the CEO. Jobs quickly stepped past offering any apology in an interview with USA Today and didn't touch upon the apparent lack of consistency in stories that both Apple and AT&T are offering different customers: some customers are having luck getting refunds, credits, or other compensation, while others are even being treated rudely. "That's technology," Jobs said when asked what he would tell his early adopter customers -- many of whom are irate. "If they bought it this morning, they should go back to where they bought it and talk to them. If they bought it a month ago, well, that's what happens in technology."

Apple patent tracks subscription popularity...

Apple has filed a patent for determining the popularity of a source of serial (sequentially released) online content based upon a number of subscriptions to the source. In other words, the patent calls for a method that would allow Apple to track how popular a stream of content, from the iTunes Store for instance, is based on how many users currently subscribe to it. The method seeks to create a new counting mechanism, as current techniques for analyzing the popularity of content take into account only the number of times the content item has been selected, purchased, and/or downloaded by a user. However, some sources of online content, such as web feeds and podcasts, include multiple parts, each of which may be available at different points in time. As such, Apple seeks to determine an item's popularity -- as a third-party -- without having access to information concerning whether and/or which specific items of content associated with the source of online content have been downloaded. The obtained information could be used to recommend other sources of serial online content to the user for consideration.

Belkin debuts cases for new, revised iPods...

Belkin today unveiled what it says are the first cases for Apple's revised iPod nano and iPod classic, as well as the company's newly introduced iPod touch. Belkin's Sport Armband Plus for iPod nano, iPod classic, and iPod touch features breathable water-wicking "Coolmax" material alongside an included cable capsule to help manage and store earphones. The Sport Armband features a pocket for key or earbud storage and is water-resistant, while Belkin's Remix Acrylic case offers "true-sense" click wheel functionality from within a thin and compact polycarbonate enclosure. (pricing available below)

Seagate intros desktop, laptop, PVR drives...

Storage maker Seagate has announced several new hard drives, for a multitude of uses. At the fore is the Barracuda FDE, what the company claims is the first 3.5-inch desktop drive with native encryption. All material on a drive is AES-protected, and requires password entry before a computer can even finish booting. Deleting the encrytion key renders information unusable, a deliberate feature. 7,200rpm models with storage up to 1TB will begin shipping in 2008.

The Momentus 5400.4 is a 2.5-inch laptop drive, spinning at 5,400rpm with capacities rising to 250GB. Ramp-loading and special motors keep the drive quiet, and shock protection measures should protect it against harsh forces, up to 325Gs in operation or 900Gs when dormant. The first 5400.4s will ship in the fourth quarter of 2007.

iTunes 7.4 plugs album art security hole

Apple today released security update for iTunes 7.4, plugging a hole that could allow attackers to run their own programs or crash iTunes. The security risk requires an unsuspecting iTunes user to open a maliciously crafted music file, after which an attacker could cause a crash or run custom software to put the at-risk Mac in further danger. The update addresses the vulnerability by performing proper bounds checking to prevent a buffer overflow in iTunes when processing album cover art. Apple recommends the update for all users of Mac OS X 10.3.9 or Mac OS X 10.4.7 or later.

Apple, music labels face European Commission

Apple and the big music labels are preparing to attend a closed meeting with the European Commission regarding concerns over iTunes Store pricing. The commission will meet with Apple and its partners on the 19th and 20th of September to discuss antitrust claims of unfair pricing for online music sales, which stem from Europeans paying different prices for iTunes tracks that vary by region. Apple also restricts shoppers from browsing musical tracks outside of any specific region, locking shoppers into their local store without allowing purchases from other neighboring European iTunes Stores. Apple has stated that it seeks a single set price for all European iTunes customers, but that the record labels continue to prevent such change, according to Macworld UK.

Sony makes A700 DSLR official...

In the wake of an accidental leak yesterday, Sony has now officially announced its A700 DSLR camera. A 12.24-megapixel sensor is confirmed, as is HDMI output and an 11-point autofocus system, whose accuracy can be improved by setting aperture to f/2.8. Image quality is aided not only by an image stabilizer, but by two in-camera noise reduction filters, one before and another after analog-to-digital conversion. The camera can shoot at an infinite 5fps in JPEG mode, or up to 18 frames in RAW.

iPhone SIM hacks spread, foster world sales...

Following earlier successes in unlocking the iPhone, details of different procedures are rapidly spreading online, and aiding international sales. An Australian website is claiming to have a 10-step guide to making an iPhone work on any 2G cellular network, worldwide. The key is a Czech-made TurboSIM card, but also needed are various pieces of official and unofficial software (such as iActivator), plus physical tools for cutting and grafting a local SIM to AT&T's. Only Visual Voicemail is said to be broken in this method.

Wacom debuts Special Edition Intuos3 tablets...

Wacom today introduced three new Intuos3 Special Edition pen tablets (site not updated, older product pictured) to celebrate its 25th year in the business. The tablets, which are available in three sizes which include 6x8, 6x11, and 9x12 boast refined black and gun metal gray color scheme. The new devices include Wacom's Classic Pen, as well as the Intuos3 Grip Pen. Each tablet includes a "Professional Accessory Kit" that includes five standard nibs, five stroke nibs, five flex nibs, an alternate pen grip without side switch holes, one nib removal tool, and one replacement side switch. A transparent overlay can substitute with the traditional gray overlay when needed, and Corel has agreed to ship a special software package for Intuos3 Special Edition customers only on September 27th. The new tablets are priced at $370 (6x8), $410 (6x11), and $500 (9x12).

Apple in hot water with HTC over "touch" name?...

Apple could potentially deal with a lawsuit from cellphone maker HTC after naming its one of its latest music players the iPod touch, according to one trademark lawyer. While the name by itself is distinctive enough to potentially avoid a suit, the media player's similarity to the HTC Touch in its media playback, touchscreen, and Wi-Fi functions may be enough to warrant a trademark dispute. Though Apple had announced its iPhone with closer functionality months ahead of the HTC phone's June debut, the iPod touch has launched roughly three months after, potentially exposing Apple to claims of stealing its Taiwan rival's product name.

Seagates revamps Maxtor OneTouch 4 drives...

Seagate on Thursday introduced the next generation of its Maxtor OneTouch storage solutions: the new Maxtor OneTouch 4 family is available in three models and storage capacities of up to 1TB and offers new data protection and security along with software tools to help manage content and data in a new industrial design. Seagate's new drives are now bundled with improved software for performing multiple-computer data synchronization, drag-and-drop encryption and a "bare metal system" restore. In the event of a fatal crash or virus attack, Maxtor's new (Windows-only) SafetyDrill restore feature enables the nearly instantaneous restoration of an entire computer, according to the company. The external drives feature USB 2.0 connectivity, 7,200 rpm disks, and 16MB of cache.

Analyst questions iPod line, lack of content...

Market analysis firm iSuppli says that while Apple's revamped iPod lineup plays catch-up with other players in the industry, the company generally benefits from better execution of features of new features and that Apple's Starbuck partnership and the iPhone price cut would help Apple's maintain its leadership in the market. The firm, however, criticized Apple for the lack of video content announcements during Wednesday's iPod/iTunes event and questioned some of the company's product development decisions, including the continuation of the iPod classic line and the limited capacity on the full-screen iPod touch models.

Jobs hopes for NBC on iTunes, sees growth...

Apple continues to hope that NBC Universal will reconsider and sell its shows via iTunes. Following its Wednesday iPod/iTunes event, Apple's CEO said that he hopes NBCU will return to the industry-leading digital store. "We hope they'll reconsider their decisions over time and maybe find out that iTunes and iPods are a great way to digitally distribute their content to tens or maybe hundreds of millions of customers around the world," Jobs said in an interview with Reuters. Earlier this week, NBC Universal turned to Amazon's Unbox service after it decided not to renew its iTunes distribution/sales contract with Apple because of no pricing flexibility. While NBCU later insisted that its currently running series would be available on iTunes through December when the contract ends, Apple last Friday said it would not sell new network TV episodes because the contract was set to expire in the middle of the season.

Photos, video from Apple's iPod/iTunes Event...

Apple has posted a QuickTime stream of the Wednesday iPod/iTunes event at the Moscone center in San Francisco. Apple CEO Steve Jobs used the invite-only event to revamp its iPod line-up with an iPod shuffle refresh, new "phatty" iPod nano, larger capacity iPod classics, and a new iPod touch line based on the iPhone platform. The company also used the event to introduce the ability to create custom ringtones for $1.98 (price of song plus $0.99 to create a ringtone-- now available in iTunes 7.4), a new iTunes WiFi mobile store, a partnership with Starbucks to enable direct purchase of music, and a 33 percent reduction in the price of the iPhone -- which angered many users -- and the discontinuation of the 4GB iPhone model (available for $299 while supplies last). [photos of the event are available after jump]

Apple's iTunes 7.4 for new iPods, ringtones...

Apple early Thursday morning released iTunes 7.4, bringing the ability to sync music (and other items) with the new iPod nano (third generation), iPod classic, and iPod touch. Users can also use the software to create custom ringtones exclusively for iPhone with some -- but not all -- of the songs purchased from the iTunes Store. Apple also said that users can also play purchased videos with closed captioning (when available), easily rate favorite albums from one to five stars, and watch videos at a larger size inside the iTunes window. The software is available as a 38.4MB update from the Software Update control panel or via the Web for both Mac and Windows.

MS: new 'OOF' feature in Entourage 2008...

As part of teaser campaign leading to the Office 2008 launch, Microsoft has announced new features that it will add to Entourage 2008, including new direct access to "Out of Office" ("OOF") features and improved Exchange support in Entourage. The company said that Office 2008, recently delayed until January of 2008, has updated Exchange support as well as will offer improved calendaring support. "We’ve worked closely with enterprise customers to prioritize features and improvements in Entourage 2008," the company wrote in its corporate blog. "As well, we have established an unprecedented level of collaboration between the Entourage team and the Exchange team, and we will continue to invest in strengthening that relationship to ensure that future versions of Entourage work great with Exchange."