Firstly, there's the new iPod Nano which is actually nano this time around. Unfortunately they have replaced the click wheel with a multi-touch screen which can fit four icons on it. In my opinion it seems kind of gimmicky but I am sure Apple will prove me wrong with this being the next must have gift. The new Ipod Touch, as predicted will include all the new features of the iPhone 4 except for the phone, making it just an "i". As well this there is a new iPod shuffle which has the same button arrangement as the first gen shuffle but it is in the shape of a square. I guess they realised that a buttonless design was just plain stupid.

UPDATE: You may notice the bad photoshop job when you look at the apple logo in the reflection of the iPod Touch

There is a new iTunes version out. It seems like iTunes 9 just came out yesterday but here is iTunes 10. They have released a ping feature which lets you "socialise" with your favourite artists. So another 90MB download awaits you when you finish reading this post.

On top of this, a new Apple TV is on its way which is actually tiny. It basically lets you rent HD movies (NOT buy). for a low price which is sure to inflate for international markets.

Enjoy the pictures!!!

Whoops, almost forgot the iPod Classic, just like Apple did. There are NO improvements whatsoever.

Sure, the iPad is a great device for Web surfing, book reading, and movie watching. But it's also getting a lot of interest in corporations as a possible business device for field forces, nurses and doctors in hospitals, and knowledge workers in the office and on the go.

That interest is obvious from the top iPad downloads from the Apple App Store, where Citrix Receiver, an app that makes the iPad a portal to server-based apps such as Microsoft Office and SharePoint, has stayed in the top five almost every day. Also in that top-downloads list are Apple's iWork productivity trio (Pages, Numbers, and Keynote) and two Microsoft Office-compatible productivity apps (Quickoffice Mobile Connect Suite and DataViz Documents to Go Premium).

I decided to see how well the iPad could fit into a business environment. The short answer: awkwardly, but with lots of promise. (Note that all the apps mentioned here are available through InfoWorld's "no-junk business iPhone and iPad app finder" Web page.)

The iPad is very portable and has long battery life (six to eight hours in my experience, although the more networking you do via Wi-Fi, 3G, or Bluetooth, the less time you get). So it is very appealing as a laptop replacement, at least for short trips. For many users, it can indeed replace a laptop. Which users? Certainly those whose lives revolve around email, Web access, and basic office productivity work. For other users, it depends greatly on the software availability for your work tasks.

Here's what you can do, and what could get in your way.

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One of the largest technology companies on this planet is Apple. They are the creators of many of the products we use in our everyday lives such as the iPod and the iPhone. Whenever Apple releases a new product, they have a lot of market hype. Every technology blog, including this one, has to report on Apple's latest product. They were the ones who made having a lowercase "i" in front of a product name cool. On top of this, I notice a large traffic increase whenever a new Apple product has been released. Apple's Macs are far from the worlds most popular computers, this title goes to Dell. But for some reason, every time a new Apple product is released there is more hype surrounding it than any other product. People wait in nerve wracking anticipation when Steve Jobs hosts another keynote and journalists from around the world wait to be one of the first to hear about Apple's latest product. Whenever Apple does release a new product, you want to buy it. often it has its limitations but you still want to buy it. It just looks so cool. You merely have to a take a trip to your local Apple store to experience this feeling. But what is the reason for people's fascination with Apple, so much so that no matter what product Apple releases, you can guarantee a line will stretch for miles and it will be sold out in every store within a couple of days.

Take a look at the iPhone 4. It has had a few issues such as introducing video calling which is so limited that it is almost useless, and the dreaded antenna problems. By the time these issues had been found, many people in the US had already bought them and were upset over the antenna issue. You would think that on its worldwide release, the new iPhone's sales will suffer incredibly. This was not the case though, just take a look at the headline on The Sydney Morning Herald on the day of release:

"iPhone 4 Sold Out Around the Country"

"A Stronger than Expected Reception for iPhone 4"

As you can see, the antenna problems bothered no one. The phone was still selling like hotcakes. Apple's fan base is so dedicated that they are willing to accept Apple's band-aid solution in order to get their hand on the next big thing. Then, we look at the iPad. So many other companies have tried and failed in releasing their own version of the tablet. Often, more powerful but less user friendly than the iPad. Apple on the other hand managed to create a whole new segment of the market and convince people to buy a device they previously didn't need. Instead of telling people to replace their laptop, they should use the iPad to complement their laptop. On top of this, they managed to get above their expected sales and have basically made the tablet the next must have device. Something which other companies have been trying to do since the year 2000. They managed to bust the myth that e-readers must have an e-ink screen in order to compete. Despite the critics of the product, it sold more than anyone expected.

So what gives Apple this degree of control over their consumers? How can they convince someone to buy a product they don't really need and get them to buy something which has a lot less features than a cheaper alternative?

Well, there is no simple answer to this but I am going to give it a go. Apple's dominance of the market started with the release of the iPod in 2001. They had changed the market completely with a simple, easy to use media player providing a better alternative than most players out there in that day and age. Then they released a second generation model and expanded the line to fit new market segments. This made it the most popular mp3 player in the world and as you moved on to newer generations, more followed the iPod trend because of its coolness. Everyone had to have one and through this, people feel the need to upgrade to newer models and become first time owners of the iPod. From this, Apple got their loyal fan base with people always wanting a new model of iPod coming out much like people anticipate the release of a new operating system. Once someone has an iPod, they are likely to stick with the iPod and when a new model comes out, rather than consider an alternative, they will buy another iPod. Then, with the release of the iPhone, they combined the phone with the iPod and a completely revolutionary interface. People had been dreaming of having an iPod like interface on their phone, something which was easy to sue and brought the iPod to popularity in the first place. This is probably what boosted the sales of the iPhone in the first place. Then as each subsequent version came out, people felt the need to upgrade. This consumerism is what led to Apple developing a following behind the iPhone.

Apple's Mac was selling nowhere near as much as the iPod and so Apple took this opportunity, with a large following behind Apple and many people with iTunes on their computers, to convince people to go the whole hog and convert to a Mac. They reinvented it and made it support Windows. This left no excuse for anyone not to switch to Mac. As its popularity grew, they made it cool to own one. So through the aesthetics of the product, Apple has managed to win fans of its products. They get people to associate the Apple logo with quality devices and something which will make you look cool to be seen with. Through this brand recognition, they have made the younger generation look at Macs differently. They want to buy one to show their friends. How many times have seen someone with an iPhone and asked them if you can play around with it? Or when you go to the shops, how many times have you rushed to have a go on the iPad? This is how Apple's marketing technique works. They have no need to advertise on TV, it is all done through the  logo and Apple stores. They have made their product appeal to the younger generation and the older people who want to feel younger. When Apple introduces their own product, it will be even more popular because people just look at it and buy it because of the Apple logo.

Other companies have not built up the same reputation for their brand. They have not put in the time and effort into making their product look good and still have excellent build quality. This makes Apple the only company which has done this, making them unique and this is why people are so fascinated by Apple and their products.

Introduction

Recently, Sony released a movies store on their Playstation 3 where you can buy or rent the latest and not so latest movies. I was able to test this service out just recently and here is my review of it.

Pros

• Easy, inexpensive delivery service
• Integrated into the PSN store without an additional download
• Has both HD and SD movies for people with not enough download limit
• Movie rental service is convenient
• Decent video and sound quality

Cons

• 5.1 channel surround sound is not activated by default
• HD movies are not 1080p

Review

I rented three movies, Surrogates, Invictus and 2012. I found the delivery method was easy but on my 2Mbps connection, the movie took about 8 hours to download which is a bit of a pain. This means you have to plan ahead of time. Conveniently, Sony does give you an option to play the movie while it is downloading but the download is so slow that it will keep pausing the movie. It is better to just wait for the movie to reach at least 80% before you start watching it. Once I did get the movie, it said once it was opened I had 48 hours to watch it which is quite reasonable. I only tried out the HD movies and although they weren't full HD, the quality was very decent. I was quite impressed. Originally it was playing in stereo sound and only after fiddling around in the settings and changing the audio track could i activate the 5.1 channel surround sound. I can't imagine non tech savvy people being able to work this out especially since there are no clear instructions telling you you have to change the audio track to get surround sound. This is a real pain but once you do it, the sound quality is also amazing.

The price for renting a HD movie is reasonable at $5.99 - $6.99 which is around the same price as my local video rental store but many of the latest movies can't be rented at must be bought at the less reasonable price of $24.99. It really is a shame that when you are purchasing the movie with credit card, the minimum amount you can add to your wallet is $10. This means that everytime you buy a movie for $7 you have to give Sony $10. Only after your 4th movie will stop having to add funds. I don't know why you couldn't just pay the exact amount you needed for the movie. The other alternative is a PSN network card which has a minimum of $20 $30. So both ways you cannot pay an exact amount but only add amounts to your wallet. It means later on you might be forced to buy something you really don't want but need to to use up the funds in your PSN wallet. Another bad thing is that they haven't followed the Foxtel IQ method where if you don't watch the rented movie at all you don't get charged for it. This was good because if you changed your mind, you can simply delete the movie and you won't get charged anything.

Overall, I like the new movie service. The video and sound quality are very decent and the whole concept is excellent. If the download speed was improved and the files weren't so large it would be more accessible to people with lower download limits. Unfortunately, buying the latest movies can become an expensive affair especially when the Blu-Ray can often be bought for less than $25 and the DVD for less than $15 even for new movies. I don't think this is going to deter movie piracy either but those who want an alternative to the video rental store have a great one here.

Sorry about not updating the blog in ages. I have been extremely busy. So, I thought what better time to make a new post than on the introduction of a new Apple product. Quite frankly, I thought the iPad was a bit of a disappointment to me personally and I have to say that i was expecting big things of the iPhone 4. However, I believe this new product is just trying to play catchup with its Android counterparts for this generation. Yes, Apple has added over 100 new features to iOS 4 but none of them are truly revolutionary.

Take this quote for example of Apple's website:

"People have been dreaming about video calling for decades"

My first reaction to seeing this on Apple's website was to burst out laughing. You have to have been living under a rock for the last 6 years to not have noticed that most new phones have video calling capabilities. As well as this, FaceTime can only be used on WiFi between two iPhone 4s. The chances of the person you want to call being on a WiFi network with an iPhone 4 is astronomically low. Why wouldn't you just use Skype? Other features such as multi tasking, folders and an all new processor do not better its competitors such as the HTC Evo. They only just manage to match them. The A4 processor matches the Snapdragon 1GHz processor in many of the latest Android smartphones. Yet still, the iPhone is lacking in many areas. Apple didn't even take the opportunity to use 4G on their phone. It may be in its early stages but seeing as Apple only release one phone per year, they have to do something to stop it from becoming outdated in this year.

One thing I was impressed by was the retina display which has a really high resolution and the colours are well reproduced. As well as this the iPhone does look stunning and it looks like a high-end, well built device. But despite this, I could not imagine reading a whole, or even part of a book on an iPhone screen. It will cause too much eye strain due to the small screen and backlight. Although i think Apple have implemented the iBooks app really well. On top of this, I like the camera which the phone has and the photos it produces look quite good. Putting iMovie on an iPhone was also a really good idea but maybe they could have given it for free.

These are my first impressions of the iPhone 4. I should have a full review once it comes out in Australia in July. I shall leave you with this quote I found on a forum which is pretty true in my opinion:

"I can now replace my 2004 Nokia because the iPhone is finally catching up"

What do you think?

Introduction:
Denon has recently released an iPod dock for all of their products including radios and receivers. This iPod dock not only allows you to listen to music from your iPod but also allows you to view videos and photos. Your iPod can even be controlled with the remote control included with your receiver.

Pros:
-Easy to set up
-Lots of features
-Can watch videos and photos from your iPod
-Can control iPod with Denon remote
-Available in black and white to suit your iPod
-Works with iPhone

Cons:
-Menu system can be difficult to navigate
-Can only listen to music with iPhone
-Expensive

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Overview:
The Denon iPod dock is incredibly easy to set up and it even includes cables! You just plug in everything to the right input and turn the receiver on. You can use the remote to view the menu on the TV screen but the problem is that when you look at songs, all of the podcasts, videos and music are mixed which makes it quite difficult to find your songs. Another problem is that if you have lots of songs, there is no easy way to find them, you just have to scroll through the list of songs.

When the iPod is plugged in, it also gets charged which is a very useful feature and you can see the songs name and how far through you are on the receivers screen. This is far easier than looking at the small iPod screen from far away. The receivers also have a restorer feature which restores sound quality to compressed MP3 files. This works quite well and brings a noticable increase in sound quality.

At times using the remote can be difficult, especially when you have to repeatedly flip the remote over to access various features.

Many people can argue that you can plug you apple dock into the receiver with a cable but the problem with this is that it requires you to go to the iPod to change songs whereas if you have this dock you can navigate the iPod menus with the remote. This makes it very easy to play the music from your iPod.

Conclusion:
Despite the shortfalls of this dock, it makes it incredible easy to play music from your iPod with good quality through your home theatre system speakers or other Denon products. The fact that you can also play videos and photos is quite good and beats watching videos on the iPod screen. If you are willing to spend the AU$249 to buy it, it is worth it.
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Pros

• Great Sound
• Upscales video to 1080p
• Lots of inputs

Cons

• Flimsy, hard to use remote
• Difficult set up
• Auto calibration microphone didn't work
• Generates lots of heat

Overview

The Denon AVR-1909 or 786 as it also known is an excellent receiver. Once you get it running it performs really well.
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Performance

The Denons performance was quite good. Watching movies on it is quite fun and it gives you a cinematic experience. Sound quality was excellent with both music and movies however, setup is quite difficult. The remote is incredibly hard to use and feels quite cheap and flimsy and the flippy door on the back for multi zone looks like it could break off easily. The GUI isn't really very easy to use either. Sometimes the remote doesn't respond alltogether.

The remote is good though for quickly selecting your inputs with the Quickselect functions. You can also rename the inputs to find them more easily. This made the receiver a pleasure to use once it is up and running. Once you start a movie though, all this hassle is forgotten. Especially for people experiencing surround sound for the first time. The sound is really good with great perfomance, great mid tones and almost no distortion.

The receiver can also upscale any analog devices going through it to 1080p which is useful and works well in this receiver. There are no problems with the upscaling and the picture comes out looking quite good. You can even choose to turn off upscaling on certain inputs if you are having any problems.

The Audyssey mic provided didn't work for me. I might not have done something right so I can't tell you how it performed. However manual setup was quite easy provided you could navigate the menus.

Conclusion

Overall, the Denon receiver is excellent. I would recommend this receiver to anyone looking for a decent midrange performer. This is good for people setting up their first home theatre systems and those who are looking to upgrade their old ones. It is available really cheaply right now so it is a good buy as well.
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Overview:

The Sony Bravia XBR45 range is one of the best TVs on the market. Despite its high price tag, it offers black levels better than any other LCD TV on the market and even better than some plasmas'.

Pros:

• Excellent black levels
• Brilliant feature set
• Attractive design
• Lots of inputs
• LED backlighting
• Made in Japan
• Powerful speakers

Cons:

• High price
• Remote is too long to use comfortably
• Sony logo backlight can be distracting (can be turned off)

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Design:

For the XBR45 series, Sony has again gone with the floating glass design. i find it quite attractive although others might not agree. It is made to look as if the speakers are floating. The speaker grilles can be removed for cleaning puposes and can be replaced with different coloured ones. Sony supply these at around AU$150. The aluminium bezel is covered with a glossy plastic which looks nice but attracts alot of fingerprints. The TV stand is very sturdy compared to some other LCDs and plasmas on the market. It stops the TV from shaking and also has cable management to hide the cables.

Features:

One of the resons for the high price on this TV is the LED backlighting. It uses clusters of 4 LEDs with two being green and the other being red and blue. These LEDs can switch off in certain parts of the screen to make dark areas of the screen appear almost pure black and bright areas of the screen to still be vibrant. It works very effectively although I am not sure how much more effectively than the Samsung A950 which uses just white LEDs but a similar technique. The XBR45 also comes with Motionflow 100Hz Pro. Although this doesn't seem comparable to the 200Hz Z-series, when compared side-by-side, the XBR outperforms the Z by miles. The picture is more vibrant and it offers a similar smoothness. However the 100Hz Pro isn't available on the 40" XBR.

The XBR also offers heaps of customisation options in the PS3 style menu. It has heaps of options to get the picture and sound just the way you want it. The TV can also act as a huge digital photo frame with a flash drive plugs into the USB port on the side or via an ethernet cable. It can also stream music but not video. The TV also features an inbuilt HD tuner which works really well. It has an inbuilt TV guide and you can set reminders for your programs. The sets speakers are also really good. They offer a complete sound experience but as always, is not as good as a full surround sound system though they are good enough to watch live TV and even listen to a bit of music.

Performance:

I found the TV fairly easy to set up and the first time you turn the TV on a series of screens guide you through the setup process. Once on, the default picture settings were quite good but you might want to play around with this a bit. As suggested with the LED backlighting, the XBR has excellent black levels. It is one of the best blacks I have ever seen reproduced by a TV. One minor issue is navigating to different inputs. You need to scroll through a huge list on inputs and there is a slight delay with the remote control. It becomes a bit annoying but you get used to it eventually.

Blu-ray movies were amazing. The picture looked very crisp and the sound, even with just the TV's speakers was lovely. The dark areas looked dark enough as well as bright areas showing up nicely. PS3 games were just as good. The detail is stunning and again the picture looked crystal clear.

Conclusion:

If you are thinking about buying this TV and have the money, i would recommend it to anyone. It is one of the best LCDs on the market and can beat many plasmas. The build quility is flawless and the TV looks amazing. The black levels are some of the best ever and colour reproduction is good. If you buy this TV you will not regret it.

For Some decent calibration settings for this TV please visit this website. These settings are good but not a substitute for a professional calibrator

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