Happy Birthday Google!

Google has gone back to its original logo and spiced it up just for its 10th Birthday

Well, today everybodys favorite search engine turns 10. I know its nothing big, but when something has been around and has been on large for this many years, you gotta give them credit some how. Check out the Google timeline here (created by Google) and check out the official post.

Microsoft Tries New Ads and Fails, Then Wins, Then Trys New New Ads and Fails More

Yes, it’s true, but is anyone surprised? After Microsoft’s deal with Jerry Seinfeld to do some Ads to compete with Apples nice Mac vs. Pc ads, they put out 2 ads. The first one confused civilizations and will continue to do forever more. However, the second one was just getting a little understandable and actually a tad funny. But what do they do? They take a whole newer and worse direction by actually going directly after the Apple Mac and PC ads. And what do you know, the ads are one again not understandable. Sheesh, its like the transition from XP to Vista again.

Get A Touch of Gaming on the iPhone

Since Apple has released the Application Store in iTunes on on the iPhone/iPod Touch, one of the big things was gaming on the devices. With the accelerometer and the touch screen, there are really endless possibilities to the gaming realms. I was listening to my favorite gaming pod cast, WiiSpot, and the guys who do the awesome ‘cast are doing another pod cast, this time more focused on the iPhone/iPod Touch gaming platform. The do a Wii Podcast an a DS pod cast, so if your a fan of either of the three try them out, they’re very good pod casts.

IPGM News: Updates, Updates, Updates

So, I was doing some updating today, and as it turns out, doing a little updating turned into a lot fo updating. Heres some stuff you guys might notice.

1. I have given some VERY important updates to the Segments page. Including new email adress ect.
2. I have also updated the FAQ and About Us pages

Also, I have some sneak previews here.

1. I will start linking a lot to published documents on the web to act as webpages.
2. Some new Stationary and Temporary Segments are coming
3. Polls May Return

So that’s all I have right now. See you guys when I see ya.

Jobsnote ~ September 9th: My iTunes Turns 8

In the Seiries Jobsnote I talk about all that happened at that big Apple Keynote. This 4 part series focuses on the September 9th, 2008 Event.

iTunes 8 was one of the medium releases of the Sep. 9th Event. In this post I’ll cover all of the major new features.

Grid View

New to iTunes is a nice grid view. I love how it works so well with your albums. Also, for genres, Artists and Composers, when you run your mouse over tiles with multiple albums, you see different album covers from that collection. And, for TV Shows and Podcasts little badges show up on different podcast tiles to tell you how many new episodes are available. Its a very nice addition and you really must try it for yourself. The only problem are loading times which I’m told will be faster in the next release of iTunes. Even though, A++ for Apple on this one.

HD TV Shows

Finally, following HD Movies comes HD TV Shows. I did not have a chance to try them myself because every time I wanted to add a free HD TV show to my cart it said the episode was unavailable once in my cart. Suspicious……. So, anyway, HD TV Shows work with Apple TV and the are “supposed” to work on computers too, but I wasn’t so lucky. Hmmmm, B- for Apple on this one.

New Visualizer

I tried out the new visualizer, and I am very impressed with the looks. The design is amazing and the effects as well, however, there are no controls over the whole thing like there are with the classic visualizer. Because of thsi only an A- for Apple. I still love it though.

Genius

*I will do a full post on the genius feature on iTunes later, stay tuned.*

Overall, iTunes 8 gets a B, simply because some of the features are still buggy and I think Apple could have done a little better job with some features and some bugs. However, iTunes is still an amazing program, like a glass of ice water in hell. Stay tuned, because next time I will be reviewing the Genius feature.

Jobsnote ~ September 9th: My iPod Nano Went On A Diet

In the Seiries Jobsnote I talk about all that happened at that big Apple Keynote. This 4 part series focuses on the September 9th, 2008 Event.

Well, turns out that all those spy shots of that 4G iPod Nano were correct. Now, I do admit I was a bit sceptical about how this whole going from thick to thin thing was gonna go for Apple, and as it turns out, they performed the transition surprisingly well. I never expected them to do the User-Interface as they did or throw in an accelerometer.

So, though my first impression wasn’t all too good, but when I looked into the features, it turns out Apple did a pretty good job. The only thing that I didn’t get? The going from thick to thin thing. Last year, apple just re formed the whole nano and gave it a whole new look and feel, and 99% were very happy with it. So, the only thing I didn’t make any send out of was why was Apple retrogressing to an older form factor that has already been done? The world may never know.

Some of the new features on the new nano are the accelerometer to sense when you turn the device on its side. This works for Photos and to change into cover flow. Also, the genius feature in included on the nano (I will post about this later). Also, you can shake the nano (violently) to have it shuffle your songs.

Also, the nano comes in 9 beautiful colors for both the 8GB and 16GB versions. They start at $149 for the 8GB and go up to $199 for the 16GB. Overall, is the iPod nano on my christmas list? Maybe. In my opinion, it will be a big upgrade from my old 30GB 5th gen, but then the storage would be reduced to half, which I could deal with but I may want more space for the future. So, in conclusion, the nano will be a great hit this holiday season and it may be the hottest thing on your wish list too. A+ for Apple on this one.

Jobsnote ~ September 9th Event Revealed so “Let’s Rock”

Apparently Apple has set out to have a special event next Tuesday, how exciting. They are sure to release new iPods for the holidays.

“Whatever, just as long as it’s not that round, awful looking nano.”

Engadget hit it right on with that comment above. I REALLY hope thos rumors aren’t true. So anyway, just htought i would spread the word. Apple is sure to have the keynote out online the same day.

iPod 4G Rumors Not True, Sort Of | UPDATE: Ya, So I Was Wrong

Image via Engadget

It appears that some very ugly photos of the next iPod nano have been floating around the inter-webs. Making their way to Engadget and TUAW. I am here to tell you that these are very, very untrue. As if it weren’t already obvious by the picture above, the supposed 4G nano shots show a very very ugly product design with, what’s that you say? Plastic Caps? A Longer screen? A Longer shape with an Uglier color? Yes, folks, if you look back a year ago to the Keynote posted on Apples site, you can see that when the new nano came around, Steve Jobs made a very specific point about how people didn’t want those ugly plastic caps. You can also see that the new interface would not work on the longer screen being position in Portrait mode. Maybe in Landscape, but still, who would want to turn it to browse in the way that they like? Also, if you take a look at the past year, there have overall been no complaints about the 3G nano except the fact that joggers don’t like the form as much. The only thing that Apple has gotten from the 3G nano were very high sales.

So here is my conclusion based on Fact:

Apple is not that stupid, guys and girls. They know that people love the new nano, and I would bet my life that they wouldn’t be as dumb as to change the product line completely. Now, The 3G nano may now have a total redesign waiting for it at the September 9th Event, but it may have things like capacity bumps to 16GB and price drops.If were lucky, we may even see 32GB. Yes, I know 32GB is stretching it. But they did it with the touch and were still able to keep that thing as small at the 8GB version.

Now, Apple may not be so stupid as to release a new product line for the nano, but they may be onto something with this skinnier design. As I mentioned before, Joggers complain about the new nano because they say its harder to hold then the skinnier, 2G nano. So, although they might not release new nanos with the special, skinnier form factor, they may release a version of the nano for joggers. The Nano-J or the Jano, or the iPod Jog. This would be a special nano designed just for the joggers out there. It could have Nike+ built in to it and come with an armband. It would be in 1GB, 2GB, and 4GB versions.

So, although we may not see much for the 3G nano at the event other than refreshes, we may see a new addition to the iPod nano family specially for joggers.

Update: I just took a look at another pic (Image via Engadget) of the supposed nano and found that it is showing the older, bigger dock connector that you squeeze to get it out. This only furthers my point of these images being fake, because as we all know the new iPods come with the thinner connectors.

Update 2: Ok, so may be I was wrong. However, when I wrote this post I had a different mindset. Apple has surely done a good job with making the new nano look good. Catch up with a full post series later this week.

Which iPod is for You?: Final Post

Well, I covered all the iPods for you and I hope that helped a lot fo you people attempting to choose. Here’s just a reference post with links to all the other posts.

iPod Classic

iPod nano

iPod Shuffle

IPGM News: A New Design

The New Logo to go with the site design refresh.

Hey guys just another small updatet today. The site desing is now a little more snazzy. I like to keep people on their toes. Anyway, expect some posts in the near future for the weekend.