Macgasm

Our phones have bugs, they’ll always have bugs, and we’ll always need updates to our devices. What’s interesting is that Rick Broida, of CNET fame, has it on good authority that 4.0 has been shipped to some prominent application developers already. Today, we’re also hearing that iPhone software updates are on hold because there’s way too many references to the upcoming product announcement.

Whether or not it’s a Tablet remains to be seen, but something is coming, and there’s way too many signs pointing towards a new device is on the brink of release. For all we know, it might just be a new iPhone or new touch. However, it is hard to look past the fact that Apple’s top lawyers have recently had some issues with Gizmodo’s bounty for news on the Tablet. These types of things don’t usually happen unless someone’s on the brink of finding out some valuable information.

A lot of influential tech people are starting to talk about a tablet, and some of them have a pretty great track record with Apple predictions. If I were a betting man, I’d be starting to place bets on a Tablet in a couple of weeks.

[Via CNET and iPodNN]

I’m stuck in 2000, when hard drives were still ridiculously expensive, and designating an entire hard drive for music and another for video was a necessary evil. You couldn’t afford to back up all of your content, so you hoped that you’d only lose either your movies or your music. Keep in mind, in 2000 I wasn’t yet out of my teens and was just venturing to college, so money was a premium.

Times have changed and drives are super cheap now, which is a great thing for those of us who consume copious amounts of audio and video content, and who absolutely refuse to delete anything. But what happens when you want that content spread over a couple of drives, and you’re iTunes library is already all synced to one? Expanding a library could be a pretty huge chore.

Enter TuneSpan. Their main goal is splitting your iTunes library between multiple drives without having to mess around with the crappy iTunes settings every time you want to import one album to one drive, and then turning off the preference when you want to move another album to your default drive.

Hey, no one said managing iTunes was easy, but at least someone decided to do something about it.

The application is straight forward. You drag and drop specific albums, genres, or content types into a windowpane, then select where you want it to go, and then click span. Done and done.

Sure beats doing it manually if you ask me, and it’s been working like a beauty since I’ve been using it. No complaints yet, but I’ll be sure to let you know if stuff goes south quick.

Word to the wise: Before you use any application that automates changes on your computer, you’ll want to make sure that you’ve backed up your stuff. Don’t say I didn’t warn you, and certainly don’t blame us if your system breaks.

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In this episode, we talk about what you need to get right after you get your first Mac.

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In this weeks episode we talk about Widemail, which lets you take advantage of a wide-screen monitor in Mail.app.  We also argue about the Tablet and how it is going to influence Kindle  sales.

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A couple years ago (about 10), I read an article about Bill Gates being able to control a ton of things at home from the luxury of his office. It might have been bunk, and it could very well have been a rumour, but the thought never left my mind. Today, we’re starting to see it as a realistic possibility.

News out today from Patently Apple has shown that Apple Inc. is working feverishly to create an ecosystem in our homes, so interconnected that we might be able to use electricity to network our homes, and control devices. Networking over electricity lines has been something that Linksys and Cicso has been working on for a couple of years now, but complete device integration hasn’t become a reality… yet.

Given the patent filings, and the rumours out of Google about putting their OS in refrigerators, we might be looking at the next format war–our homes.

Could you imagine being able to do this remotely, from the luxury of your cubicle?  Right after installation, I’d have it turn on the oven to start dinner, queue up some music, start up the jacuzzi, then let my pants hit the ground when I walk through the door.  What would you do?

[via Patently Apple]

If you’re a graphic designer or digital artist of any kind there’s probably good chance that you’ve futzed with a graphics tablet at some point.  They’re really handy, and  a tablet helps get your sketches into a computer a lot quicker than one of those clunky scanners.  However, if there’s one downside to using a tablet it’s portability. It’s a little annoying having to cart around a tablet with you every time you leave the office.

You no longer have to do that. In fact, you no longer need a tablet at all. Inklet, an application designed by Ten One Design, turns your multitouch trackpad into a graphics tablet with a little bit of software (24.95), and if you’re feeling particularly liberal with your cash, you can buy a Pogo Sketch pen (14.95) so that you can ad pressure sensitivity to your glorious new tablet.

The application is pretty amazing and it has some serious potential.  The application sits in your menu bar waiting to be turned on.  It’s not in your face, and it’s pretty intuitive.  I’m personally not much of a tablet user, so I can’t really elaborate on sensitive, and accuracy of the translation from the trackpad to the screen, but I’ll tell you this much, it seemed pretty accurate to me.

Instead of writing up how the applications works I thought I’d add the PR video from the developer.  They can explain it better than I can.

[via 9 to 5 Mac]

With only a couple of weeks left before Apple’s event, where they are supposedly going to announce a Tablet, the iPhone rumors and stories have begun.  The month of January should be marked as the beginning of the iPhone rumors season.  This is were everyone has an official source from Apple, or they have seen the new iPhone themselves.  Some would call this link baiting, or simple enthusiasm for Apple’s new shinny device that brings most of joy and happiness.

Telecom Korea announced on Tuesday that they will have the new iPhone 4G in June.  Now let’s not get excited about the word 4G.  More than likely they mean 4th Generation.  I don’t even think AT&T will have a 4G network up and running in time for the new iPhone.  They can’t even get their current 3G network under control.  I digress.  The next items that are mentioned are the usual suspects.

Along with new hardware which is always a given with a new iPhone,  they claim that the battery life will be improved by double that of the current iPhone.  If I can get through an entire day without having to charge my iPhone I would be ecstatic.  As it is now I have to charge my iPhone in the afternoon otherwise I have a dead iPhone for my drive home.  A dead iPhone makes Gerard a very unhappy guy.

If Apple actually brings this next feature to fruition, I would be the happiest iPhone Geek alive.  Wait for it, wait for it, yes a front facing camera as well as a standard rear camera.  This feature has been rumored since before the iPhone 3G was released in 2008.  Even weeks before the iPhone 3GS was released this same rumor popped up. In both cases it was being talked about right before each of the launches.  As with this one they are already talking about it.  So, maybe this time it will happen.

We have five to six months left before the new iPhone comes out.  What do you think the next iPhone will have?  I want to hear from you.  Drop a line in the comments section.  Will there be an LED Flash?  Will the display be OLED?  Who knows?  Like I said I want to hear what you think, so get to typing.

Photo Credit: Apple.com’s iPhone Gallery

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In this episode, we talk about the importance of the small updates.

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