Steve Jobs Makes Apple Fanboys Wet Themselves... Again!

(picture from Engadget)

Sorry for the unoriginal title, but it's true. Steve Jobs gave a press conference today at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, and gave a very impressive line up as well. If your crazy for Apple hand-held devices, you have a much larger selection this time then an overpriced phone.

First and foremost, probably the biggest buzz is the release of the same iPhone, but without the phone, for a few hundred dollars less. This product is now called the iPod Touch, which gives the same sleek design (this time a bit thinner) of the iPhone but now with a strictly media focus. It also includes Wi-fi capabilities (802.11 b/g) to download from iTunes when away from a computer (you listening Zune?), and to surf the web. Otherwise, your still getting the great touch-screen, and cover flow, with either 8 or 16 GBs of space for $299 and $399 respectively.

Also, for those that still want the iPhone, it would seem the price has now dropped to $399 for the 8 GB model (previously $599) since they will soon discontinue the 4GB line.

For the more traditional iPod users, Apple also announced the next generation of iPod's (now called iPod Classic) and iPod nano's. The iPod Classic looks the same, but now is a bit more rounded, and comes in the basic colors of silver and black, since its after Labor day and white is out of style. It even comes with the popular cover flow, in either 80 or 160 GB models, for $249 and $349 respectively.

The iPod nano is now a bit shorter and fatter, finally using up all the empty space with a bigger screen. Otherwise, it still supports your music, pictures, and video, with cover flow, and comes in 4 and 8 GB models, for $149 and $199 respectively. Keep in mind that you can only get the large color selection for the 8 GB model, the 4 GB one only comes in silver.

So there you go, lots of Apple news for you to digest. Check out the new Apple site with more information HERE.

Update: NBC Hooks Up with Amazon

Shortly after hearing the news that NBC and Apple parted ways in the video distribution market, now we have news of NBC's new partner: Amazon.com! They are supposedly going to use the Amazon Unbox service, their paid service to rent or buy downloaded video content, to distribute the NBC shows we know and love online.

But why Amazon? Rumors has it that while no official pricing was announced, Amazon is willing to accept the price increase demanded by NBC, as well as putting strict control on the content, both of which Apple had an objection to. Some good news for the end-users is that there may be a discount for those that buy multiple episodes, or the entire season of a show.

Stay tuned to Devicing for more details.

(Source)

Another Free Game That Doesn't Suck

Us here at Devicing have been fond of the indie games. The reason is that they are sometimes free, and some are hundreds of times better than most new games you pay upwards of $50 for. Here is yet another fantastic game you should all play.

Trackmania Nations!!!!!

It doesn't really matter if you are a fan of racing games, because this game is not only simple to pick up, but incredibly addicting (and we haven't even touched the track editor yet!)

This game looks amazingly good for a game that is only around 250 Megs.

The major purpose of this free game is to advertise not only Nadeo (the French company responsible for the TrackMania series), but also the Electronic Sports World Cup. The game records your best times and places you in the rankings with thousands of people from across the globe.

Oh, by the way, did I mention it's FREE?!

So there you have it, an incredibly simple, yet beautifully complex game that you can download for free and play online with thousands of people.

If you're interested in downloading the game go here

GoogPhone?

After the success of the Apple's iPhone, there have been speculations that other big companies will be sticking their ideas in the blender and seeing what concoction pops out.

The gossip is that Google is going at it and will create the David that will defeat the Goliath iPhone which is covering the market of overhyped superphones.......probably because it's nearly the only "superphone" people know about after advertising Apple did.

The guys at Engadget have speculated the rumors to be true and are backing it up with rumors that seem to be getting more and more specific. These rumors include a kickass mobile user interface based upon some Linux OS as well as everything being based in Java.

You Are Winner!


If Google releases this phone, many a google-lover and techie will want one, probably because it does more than the iPhone and does everything the iPhone does better, but with the possibility of a flight simulator in every application (if you haven't heard).

Free Software: And Yet It Moves

Looking for something to waste a few minutes on, then why not try out this perfect example to prove to Roger Ebert that video games CAN be an art form. In this simple yet elegant side-scrolling puzzle game, not only do you move your character left and right (and up with jumping), but also rotating the world to get through the game's two levels.

And beautiful levels they are, where they are composed entirely of pictures from crumpled up and ripped up paper. The puzzles, though slightly easy, will have you scratching your head for a few moments your first time, as you try to manipulate the game's physics, and try to avoid falling to death with a real sense of gravity.

Its short but sweet, and you can see a truly unique game that will hopefully evolve into something more in the future.

Download the game here.

Maximize Your BitTorrent Potential!

BitTorrent is a dream for downloading things fast, no matter what the file is. However, some just don't see the light, and it might be because their settings are just not set up correctly.

TorrentFreak has the answer. They just compiled a list of 20 tips that should help you get your download, and upload, rates to the max. They include the list of ISP's that are throttling BitTorrent traffic, and how to get around it, and even what are the perfect settings for your internet connection.

View the list here.

So like, Apple broke up with NBC, like OMG!

For all of those users that use iTunes to download and watch some of their favorite NBC shows, like The Office, you might be in for quite a surprise this month. Apple intends to pull down all of the network’s shows from its library due to what seems to be some contractual disagreements.

There are several stories on why this is happening. Apple is reporting that NBC requested an increase of prices of their individual episodes from $1.99 to as high as $4.99. Also, there have been previous reports of NBC looking to disallow the playing of their content on iPods and such, which is a major reason why most people download the episodes in the first place, just to crack down on piracy. For these reasons, Apple is taking down this content when they are obligated to distribute NBC’s content until their contract ends in December. NBC however is rejecting the statements made by Apple, saying that they only requested a "flexibility in wholesale pricing."

Whatever the main truth behind the story is, both sides seem to be still trying to negotiate the current situation. Niether side is really reliant on the other, but it is advantageous to both for a deal to be made, since both can benefit as online distributed video is getting more popular. Devicing will keep an eye on the story as it progresses.

(Source)