Mactropolis.com - Your Friendly Global Mac Community

Apple have started selling their new in-ear headphones via the Apple Online Store. Estimated shipment times are 7-10 days for the US and the same for the UK. The new headphones will cost US customers $79.00 and UK customers £53.83, which to me seems a little pricey.

The in-ear headphones boast a remote & mic, plus pro audio performance and sound isolation. Each earpiece contains two drivers — a woofer and a tweeter — providing “rich, detailed, and accurate sound reproduction and amazing bass response for all types of music” state Apple on their Online Store page.

The current headphones that come with the iPods are good, but they’re not the best headphones I’ve had. They’re also not the most lasting. Far from it actually. I’ve had many pairs of standard iPhone headphones, two of which started to come apart near the jack and on another set an earpeice removed itself from the wire. You may think I’m not looking after them, however on every occasion Apple has replaced them without charge. I’m quite sure they wouldn’t do this if they had believed the damage was caused by the user.

Although I like the look of the new headphones, and they certainly look more comfortable than the standard headphones, which after a long period of time really start to hurt my ears, I just don’t think they’re worth the hefty price tag.

The in-ear headphones require software versions 1.0.3 for iPod Nano (4th gen), 2.0.1 for iPod Classic and 2.2 for iPod Touch. If you decide to purchase a pair of in-ear headphones from Apple, please let us know what you think and whether you’d recommend them.

If you’ve visited the Apple site today, or you’re on Apple’s e-mail list, you’ll know that they have just announced the Black Friday “special one-day shopping event.” For a while now it has been speculated Apple would hold a sales event on Black Friday. An advertisment on the Apple website reads:

Come back to the Apple Online Store this Friday for a special one-day-only Christmas shopping event. You’ll find dozens of great iPod, iPhone and Mac gift ideas.

Mark your calendars now. Until then, start your research by browsing the Apple Online Store to find iPod, iPhone, and Mac gifts for everyone on your list.

I wonder how “special” this special event will be, and what sort of price cuts we’ll be expecting. Currently, no announcements have been made with regards to what products will be reduced and by how much. I suppose only time will tell. It’s also unclear whether Apple will offer the same products & discounts in their retail stores.

I know I will certainly be browsing the Apple Online Store come Friday, hoping to pick up a bargain. However I’m worried that, with Friday being pay-day, this month’s wages won’t last very long!

According to Greek blog iPhone Hellas, they have received word from a ‘reliable’ source that the new iPhone firmware 2.2 will be released next Friday on November 21st. To back up their claims, Gizmodo has expressed that iPhone Hellas is also a ‘reliable’ source.

The beta of firmware 2.2 has been in the hands of developers for a while and we have already heard leaks of the new features it will include, some of which are:

• Google Street View
• Podcast Downloading via iTunes on iPhone itself
• New-look Safari address bar
• Japanese ‘emoji’ icons
• Line-in audio activated

The last iPhone firmware (2.1) was released back in September and for many made vast improvements to the operation of their iPhone. I installed the update and found that I had far fewer call drops, no more keyboard lag and not one crash since.

I for one will be keeping my fingers crossed and my mouse pointer poised on the ‘Check for Update’ button in iTunes come next Friday — I am very much looking forward to Google Street View and podcast downloading. I wonder if Apple has fixed the flaw that allows jailbreaking of the new firmware?

[ Source ]

Podcast downloads enabled in iTunes

Since the iPhone 2.2 firmware has been seeded to developers, several leaks have surfaced that have given us some things to look forward to with the new software release. We recently posted an article that contained details on Google Street View, but we now have something else to get us that little bit more excited — podcast downloads!

German blog Schimanke.com has published pictures that show the new firmware downloading podcasts within iTunes on the iPhone. Over-the-air podcasts are something many users have been looking forward to, me included. I often find I’m not in the mood for music and fancy a good podcast, but chances are the ones I have on my iPhone I’ve listened to already, so the ability to download new podcasts on the device itself, I think, is a great feature.

It seems we have a lot to look forward to in the next update however, we are still yet to hear anything about the background push notification service that Apple promised in September. The service is designed to alert the user of various things without the need to have the an application running. For example, if you currently receive a message in Facebook, unless you have specific applications open, you would be unaware — but with the push notification feature, it’s possible you can be alerted of a new message without having the application running.

Apple seeded the Beta 2 of firmware 2.2 to developers in October, however we are yet to hear when the update will be released.

[ Source ]

Security Consultant Piergiorgio Zambrini made news in the iPhone world last year when he wrote a code that unlocked the iPhone enabling it to be used on other networks. He now believes he has discovered a bug in the device that hackers can use to crash the iPhone & iPod.

Zambrini told Forbes that he discovered the flaw back in July and notified Apple of the issue. Zambrini is yet to receive a response from Apple regarding the problem.

It is believed the bug lies in the audio proportion of Apple’s video format — it can be exploited via a video file that if opened, will crash the device.

[ Source ]

Here is a picture of the banner going up for the Let’s Rock event this Tuesday outside of the Yerba Buena Center in San Francisco. It features one of Apple’s famous iPod silhouette figures, suggesting this will be a music orientated event, as if there was any doubt.

This event is expected to announce new iPod’s, in particular iPod nano and iPod Touch news, and iTunes 8 which is expected to include new visualizers and “genius” playlists. The event will take place on September 9th, 2008 at 10 a.m. Pacific, 1 p.m. Eastern.

[Image courtesy of Andrew Mager via iPhoneSavior]

This time every year the rumor mill starts cranking out predictions of the iPod product line refresh, and this year is no exception. The iPod Nano and iPod Touch are expected to see updates. In addition to the iPod line up refresh it is expected that Apple will update it’s MacBook and MacBook Pro Product lines with new Aluminum cases with a tapered design. These are certainly exciting times, and I can’t wait to see what happens.

What do you predict? Leave a comment and let us know!

Signals of the annual iPod refresh are starting to emerge. Reportedly Target’s iPod inventory has had a change in status from “Active” to “Discontinued.” Argos a UK retailer has started to clear out it’s iPod inventory in preparation for updates. Apple is widely expected to release it’s new line of iPods in September with the annual music special event.

I wonder how it will shake down?

Apple has recently filed a patent which that strongly hints toward the development of an add-on dongle/hub/dock-type device that will accept AM, FM, HD, or satellite radio along with cable TV, satellite TV, antenna, and/or IPTV. The multiple connecting devices, as shown in the patent filing, could range from being a dock, a stereo, or even a computer.

Sure doesnt look very Apple. Do you think we could be seeing an offical TV iPhone & iPod dongle in the future?

[via The iPhone Blog]

The Folky Rock star Neil Young recently made some criticisms of Apple, the iPod, and quality of music available via iTunes. At a recent Fortune conference, Young said that the sound quality of recordings available at iTunes have been reduced to ‘Fisher-Price toy’ levels in recent years. Really? I never noticed… But I’m no audiophile…

He also laid the blame squarely on Apple.

“Apple has taken a detour down the convenience highway. Quality has taken a complete backseat… if it even gets in the car at all.”

With that said one might agree that Young isn’t in the most appreciative mood. Last I checked, iTunes carried roughly 30 of Young’s albums, and over 150 of his songs. Don’t press Apple Neil, they could pull your music… But wait… it’s just about the music… right?

Don’t Let It Bring You Down Neil. We all know you have a Heart of Gold… That said you are an Old Man… and a little Helpless.

Oh my…

[via MacWorld UK and iPodNN]