IT'S WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2ND, 2010, I'M JEFF BAKALAR, AND IT'S TIME TO GET LOADED.
APPLE UPDATED ITS LINE OF IPOD MUSIC PLAYERS IN A PRETTY SIGNIFICANT WAY. THE IPOD SHUFFLE THANKFULLY GOT ITS BUTTONS BACK; THE IPOD NANO, BY FAR, RECEIVED THE BIGGEST CHANGE, DROPPING THE ICONIC CLICKWHEEL FOR A TINY 3 CM X 3 CM MULTI-TOUCH DISPLAY. THE IPOD TOUCH NOW COMES WITH THE HIGH-RESOLUTION RETINA DISPLAY FROM THE IPHONE 4, A FRONT FACING CAMERA FOR FACE-TIME CALLS, AND HD VIDEO RECORDING ON THE REAR. THE IPOD CLASSIC REMAINS UNCHANGED FROM LAST YEAR'S MODEL AT 160 GB. THE NEW IPODS ARE AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER AND SHIP NEXT WEEK.
STEVE JOBS ALSO ANNOUNCED NEW UPDATES TO I-OS. STARTING NEXT WEEK, I-OS 4.1 WILL FIX THE PROXIMITY SENSOR ISSUES, BUT ALSO ADDS HDR PHOTOGRAPHY, THAT MEANS THE I-PHONE 4 WILL NOW TAKE THREE IMAGES IN RAPID SUCCESSION AT VARIOUS EXPOSURES TO PULL IN DETAIL FROM HIGHLIGHTS AND SHADOWS. I-OS 4.1 ALSO BRINGS GAMECENTER, APPLE'S GAMING SOCIAL NETWORK, AND ITUNES PING, WHICH IS APPLE'S NEW SOCIAL NETWORK FOR MUSIC SHARING AND DISCOVERY, WHICH IS ALSO BUILT INTO THE NEW ITUNES 10. THE COMPANY ALSO PREVIEWED I-OS 4.2, WHICH WILL BE RELEASED IN NOVEMBER FOR THE IPAD, BRINGING MULTITASKING, FOLDERS AND FINALLY WIRELESS PRINTING TO THE IPAD.
APPLE'S "ONE LAST THING..." MOMENT WAS A DRASTICALLY DIFFERENT APPLE-TV. PREVIOUSLY, APPLE-TV ALLOWED USERS TO STORE MOVIES AND MUSIC IN THE DEVICE'S HARD DRIVE, BUT THE NEW HARDWARE DOES AWAY WITH ALL THAT. INSTEAD, IT'S A STREAMING-CENTRIC DEVICE, WHICH CAN PLAY MOVIES, TV SHOWS AND MUSIC STREAMED OVER YOUR HOME NETWORK--IT CAN ALSO STREAM NETFLIX TITLES. IN ADDITION, YOU CAN NOW RENT MOVIES FOR 4.99 OR TV SHOWS FOR 99 CENTS. THE NEW APPLE TV WILL RETAIL FOR JUST 99 DOLLARS.
IN SOME NON-APPLE NEWS, MICROSOFT HAS RELEASED WINDOWS PHONE 7 TO OEMS, SO THAT THEY CAN COMPLETE THEIR ENHANCEMENTS AND CUSTOMIZATIONS TO THE NEW MOBILE OPERATING SYSTEM IN TIME FOR THE HOLIDAYS. NO SPECIFIC DATES YET ON WHEN THESE MODELS WILL BE RELEASED.
THE FCC HAS STRUCK ANOTHER BLOW TO NET NEUTRALITY, BY DELAYING ACTION ON NEW RULES THAT WOULD SUBJECT WIRELESS NETWORKS TO THE SAME NET NEUTRALITY RULES AS WIRED CONNECTIONS. THIS AFTER VERIZON AND GOOGLE STRUCK TOGETHER A FRAMEWORK THAT MOST ADVOCATES OF NET NEUTRALITY VIEWED AS A SIGNIFICANT BLOW TO THE MOVEMENT.
FINALLY, SONY HAS RELEASED THREE NEW MODELS OF ITS E-READERS WITH ENHANCED TOUCH-BASED E-INK PEARL TECHNOLOGY. THE NEW MODELS WILL COST 180, 230 AND 300 DOLLARS RESPECTIVELY, BUT WIRELESS CONNECTIVITY IS RESERVED TO ONLY THE HIGH END MODEL. BUMMER, CONSIDERING THE LOWEST END KINDLE AND NOOK STILL HAS WI-FI FOR ONLY 149 DOLLARS.
THOSE ARE YOUR HEADLINES FOR TODAY. I'M JEFF BAKALAR FOR CNET.COM, AND YOU'VE JUST BEEN LOADED.
