San Francisco – Apple’s CEO Steve Jobs, announced several announcements that change the way we have known the iPod, and additions of several new services. Apple is now beginning to jump into parts of the social networking business with their new server, Ping, which is integrated into the updated iTunes 10.

“iTunes Ping lets you post your thoughts and opinions, your favorite albums and songs, the music you’ve downloaded from iTunes, plus view concert listings and tell your friends which concerts you plan to attend.”

Ping

Ping allows you to follow your favorite artists’ photos and tour dates. A new way for artists to keep in touch with their fan database. A neat feature with Ping is a consolidated Top 10 list with other friends you are connected through Ping. These are just some of the features that Ping has to offer,  it will be interesting to watch how Ping is accepted in the social networking business.

iTunes Rentals

Another addition in iTunes 10 pertains to the iTunes Store now allowing renting of HD TV shows for a fee of 99 cents an episode from networks such as: ABC, ABC Family, Fox, Disney Channel and BBC America. According to the PR release, episodes are available after the broadcast of the show and you are given a 30 day renting period from the day you press the ‘Rent’ button in iTunes. The rentals can also be transported onto your iDevice, for your viewing pleasure on the go. I do no think there will be much success from the new TV show rentals. Why would a consumer want to pay Apple 99 cents for an episode when most of the time it is available for free on Hulu? Granted, if you are using Hulu Plus app on your iDevice, you are stuck with a limited ‘Free Gallery”, but the $9 fee (with ads) may be more economical compared to 99 cents an episode.

AirPlay

iTunes 10 also dubs AirTunes to AirPlay. The feature is the same, but Jobs wanted to give AirTunes a new name since more than music will not be able to be transferred through the Air – to your new Apple TV for example. AirPlay is a great alternative to expensive wireless music systems such as Sonos – see our guide on AirPlay in the house here. I love the idea of AirPlay and would like to see what creative ideas consumers will create from AirPlay.

“AirPlay now works without AirPort Express, using speakers, receivers and stereo systems from companies including Bowers & Wilkins, JBL, Denon and iHome…”

Final Thoughts

One of the features that I am most happy about is the improved syncing with my iDevices. In past versions of iTunes I have had to suffer painfully slow backups and syncs. Not to mention, iTunes 10 also includes a new look to the icon, with a music note inside a circle. Also, the interface in iTunes 10 has a new feel, with a redesigned user interface of iTunes 10, it gives the application a slick musical look.

Download iTunes at: www.itunes.com

Let us know, what do you think of iTunes 10?

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Access the MAC (Media Access Control) address of your iPhone in these simple steps:

• Tap on Settings
• Tap on General
• Navigate to and tap on “About”
• Scroll down to “Wi-Fi Address”
• The characters next to Wi-Fi Address are your iPhone MAC address

There are a numerous amount of reasons why people need access to their iPhone’s MAC address. Some wireless routers – such as the Apple Time Capsule can filter based upon the MAC address; so only certain devices are allowed to join. MAC address filtering is popular around highly populated cities such as New York, because numerous people see your wireless network range.

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This week I have a quick and easy trick that will allow you to have your computer speak to you. The first step is opening your system preferences and selecting “Speech”. You should then select “Text to Speech” and after select “Speak selected text when the key is pressed”. Then up will pop a screen that asks you for a key combination and just select the key or keys that you would like for your combination. You can also browse through the many options available including different voices and voice speed. Now to actually get your computer to say what you want you just highlight with your cursor and use the key combination that you previously chose.

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Currently, you cannot walk into the Apple Store and ask to purchase an iPhone 4 and one will magically appear. Apple leaves you with two alternatives: buy throught the online store, or wait to reserve an iPhone 4 online and pick it up when the Apple store emails you. I have a few quick tips on how to purchase an iPhone 4. The iPhone 4 popularity has made it difficult to find, sounds like de ja vu with the iPad.

The Apple Store Online is a safe alternative, but it will take about 3 weeks according to the Apple Store Online. From my conversations with the Apple Retail Stores, they are saying that the reserving in store would be a shorter wait. Note, you do not need to walk in the Apple Retail Store to reserve you can call. One you received the email from Apple notifying you that your iPhone has arrived, you have 24 hours. Reserving means picking the device up in store within 24 hours of receiving the email.

Best buy stores are also an alternative to purchase the iPhone 4. But, from speaking with customers and employees, they do not have a time frame in which you would receive your device.

All in all, the choice on how you would like to reserve your device is up to you. Personally, I would choose an Apple Retail Store as they tend to have a higher priority on receiving the devices. If possible call multiple Apple Retail Stores in the area and reserve the iPhone 4 – it would help increase you chances on receiving the iPhone 4 sooner.

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I’m going to speak for everyone and say that the worst feature of the iPhone is its exclusivity with AT&T’s overwhelmed, under-loved network. Unless you have the guts to jailbreak (and don’t mind cruising on the vintage Edge network) you’re stuck cursing AT&T, waiting for the day the Verizon/iPhone rumors come true.

Stop reading those rumor blogs (which have been on repeat since 2007) and start setting up your Google Voice number, which will allow you to shave some precious dollars off of your AT&T bill and introduce your iPhone to some next generation features.

Google Voice is free, and lets you create a new number (of your choice) and link it to your current mobile number. Calls, texting, and voicemail are all possible, linked to both numbers. This is all done Google style; call screening, in browser texting (on your PC), voicemail transcription, and contact-assignable custom voicemail greetings make you wonder why no wireless carriers have implemented these great online features.

Now to the money saving- you can actually cancel your texting plan (saving you ~$20/month), and effectively rely on Google Voice and your data/wifi connection; just make sure to give everyone your new number. Another plus – over wifi you can easily text, even without service. By default, Google forwards texts to  your old mobile number (you’d get charged for these) – but this is easily turned off, and you can access your inbox through the Google web App. While an official App Store app would be nice (Google doesn’t play those games), there are no real functionality limitations and it is amazingly fast for a webapp -probably the same speed as the native iPhone SMS app before the 4.0 update. There are no push notifications, but with the ability to email texts to a separate email address, this is not a problem. There is currently no MMS support, but there are many other (more efficient) options for sharing media.

Aside from eliminating your texting plan, Voice greatly enhances your texting and voicemail. Send and receive texts with your browser (using your keyboard!) – and your phone doesn’t have to leave your pocket. With the browser extension, texting becomes possible right on top of any web page. This makes it much more efficient, and much less distracting. While Apple’s visual voicemail is great, Voice takes it a step further, by transcribing and emailing voicemail right to your inbox. The transcriptions aren’t perfect, but they are easily decipherable, and are much more convenient than checking your voicemail traditionally. The audio is even embedded right into the email .

Google Voice is a pretty easy sell, saving you money on top of doing a lot more. When you create your number, make sure you think of a good word or two for your number to spell (you can search for a number by word) – that way you can tell everyone your number is 617-The-Dude (or something along those lines).

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Because the battery on my Macbook always seems to run out quickly, I decided to see if I could find some ways to extend my battery life. The first way to extend your battery life is to simply lower the brightness of your computer (this trick also works with iPhones and iPod Touches). You can also save battery life by going into system prefrences and clicking on “Energy Saver”. The “Energy Saver” option allows you to explore other ways to extend battery life like having your computer automatically put itself to sleep after a certain period of time. Limiting the use of CDs and/or flash drives will also extend your battery life as will closing the lid of your laptop. My last tip is to make sure that you are aware of all the applications you have running. The less apps you have running, the longer your battery life!

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