Kevin Rose spills beans on new iPods

Kevin Rose of Digg fame has posted an interesting entry and video on his blog. Telling us of his insider information, revealing a new iPod Nano in a curved and tall/skinny form. Plus all of the iPod line-up dropping in price. All this plug a juicy snippet on Mac OS 10.5.6. Check out the video for full details below and visit Kevin's blog here. It is nice to see him doing posts like this, thanks dude.

Apple post another new ad, but ssssh don't tell!

Wow, yet another new advert out of the Apple HQ... and this one is probably a favourite of mine from their newest releases. 'Off the Air' introduces viewers to the fact that if you are switching from a PC to a Mac, Apple will help you transfer your files across... cool! Check out the new advert here.

Three new Apple Adverts... Calming Teas

Apple have three new adverts today, as part of their 'Get a Mac' series. Things kick off with 'Pizza Box' which is kinda funny, moving on to 'Throne' and then my favourite of the trio 'Calming Teas'. You would have thought that the humour would be wearing a little thin on this format. Not so, Apple deliver the message with their usual pizazz, I suggest you check the new ads out here.

Apple give 30 day free extension for MobileMe problems

Well, you certainly can't say that Apple don't value their customers. They acknowledge that the MobileMe roll-out did not go quite as smoothly as planned. They also tell us that their use of the word 'push' was not exactly as users had expected. As a goodwill gesture, they have given all MobileMe subscribers a FREE 30 day extension to the service.

Text below;
We have recently completed the transition from .Mac to MobileMe. Unfortunately, it was a lot rockier than we had hoped.
Although core services such as Mail, iDisk, Sync, Back to My Mac, and Gallery went relatively smoothly, the new MobileMe web applications had lots of problems initially. Fortunately we have worked through those problems and the web apps are now up and running.
Another snag we have run into is our use of the word "push" in describing everything under the MobileMe umbrella. While all email, contact or calendar changes on the iPhone and the web apps are immediately synced to and from the MobileMe "cloud," changes made on a PC or Mac take up to 15 minutes to sync with the cloud and your other devices. So even though things are indeed instantly pushed to and from your iPhone and the web apps today, we are going to stop using the word "push" until it is near-instant on PCs and Macs, too.
We want to apologize to our loyal customers and express our appreciation for their patience by giving all current subscribers an automatic 30-day extension to their MobileMe subscription free of charge. Your extension will be reflected in your account settings within the next few weeks.
We hope you enjoy your new suite of web applications at me.com, in addition to keeping your iPhone and iPod touch wirelessly in sync with these new web applications and your Mac or PC.
Thank you,
The MobileMe Team

iPhone 3G update : thanks Apple Store Bluewater

A very quick update for you all. Having driven back down to Apple Store Bluewater today, I am a happy bunny. Just 30 minutes later and I was out of the store with my iPhone 3G. A big shout out to Nick, thanks so much for doing the VMWare goodness on my contract and getting the iPhone into my hands so quickly. It makes a lot of difference when you are served with a smile, by someone who is genuinely interested that you have a great Apple experience.

Rather than rush my review for you, I have left my iPhone sealed until tomorrow. Hopefully, by about midday, you will be able to see a very special video review of my new baby. It'll be worth waiting for... believe me.

iPhone 3G Speeds - 2G Queue - no iPhone for UK

Please excuse the rather strange title, but I would love to share my experience with you today... one that was shared by thousands. It purely reflects my personal experience, not my opinion of the product... the new iPhone that I have yet to get my hands on.

So, my iPhone was ordered from O2 just over two weeks ago. Yes, I know it was first come first served, but when I was in the store there were supposedly six 16GB versions in stock and four people ahead of me, so no problem. Then when I sat to do my paperwork, oh no, they had sold the last 16GB version. Well, an 8GB one would not do, and whilst the salesperson was very apologetic, they did not really seem that bothered. The customer experience at O2 is nowhere near that of an Apple Store, so it is a shame they tarnished my experience.

I then headed on down to take some more photos at the Apple Store in Bluewater. Mid-morning and about twenty people in front of me, there were problems. Aparently the O2 servers that allows Apple to activate the sim cards was down. Perhaps it runs on Windows, if only O2 would listen to Steve Jobs ! An hour or two passed, and although it was a long wait the guys and gals there were great. They served up cappucinos and hot chocolates from the local Starbucks. Then lunchtime came around and they were waiting on O2 to call them to do things over the phone. That call did not happen for a long time, so an Apple provided prawn sandwich found my hunger satisfied, but no sign of my iPhone. Around 4pm I really had to leave, at which time they had sold just three iPhones. What an absolute mess. As I write this I am trying to ring them to ask if they actually put on aside for me, along with my £15 complimentary iTunes voucher.

Well, the good news is that the Apple Store seem to have plenty of stock and some more customers have been lucky and got their sims activated and are now enjoying using the device. From what I saw whilst at the store, the device is very sleek, with the curved glossy back being very comfortable to hold. The screen also seemed very bright and crisp, although I did not side-by-side comparison.

A big thank you to all those smiles at the Apple Store Bluewater. Although I came away empty handed, you made the day bearable, although the caffeine shots have left me a bit wide-eyed.

iPhone 3G activation DOWN at Apple Store

After waiting in queue at the local O2 store and having an iPhone 3G sold from under my nose, I headed on down to cover the launch at the Apple Store Bluewater. Unfortunately the O2 servers were experiencing serious overload, so the queue was not moving. The guys and gals here were breaking into the petty cash to supply us with coffee and cakes, but people were getting a little frustrated. Let's hope the queue starts moving soon. Expect to see full coverage on the website later in the day.

iPhone 3G lands at AT&T Store

Wow, this video is an exciting one, building up some great anticipation for tomorrows iPhone 3G launch. It shows a delivery of the new iPhones to an AT&T store, duly stacked onto shelves and locked away. I am very surprised that this video was allowed to be shot, I guess it is an employee or a friend of a friend. The 16GB white models come in white boxes, how cool is that!

Click here to watch the attvideolog Youtube video.

Apple Store add new iPhone 3G details

The second addition to the online Apple Store seems to be some new iPhone 3G pages. Clicking through the links from the store gives you a summary of what's new, plus help in finding an O2 or Carphone Warehouse store to buy your new device. Rumours are rife that come July 11th there will be a big shortage of the new iPhone 3G. O2 have apparently run out of stock for online ordering... let's hope they kept enough back for their stores!

Apple Store online - MobileMe added

The Apple Store is now back online, with a couple of updates to the store. The first is the new MobileMe retail packages being added. As we already knew, £59 for a single user or £89 for a family pack (5 users). The product/service is being touted as shipping Mid-July, which seems about right. The transition for current dotmac subscribers is this week, on the 9th July, so the following week for new users gives Apple a few days to bed in the new service. I am looking forward to this one and will bring you my views on MobileMe when it goes live.

Apple Store is Down - new Products or MobileMe

What could it be this time? The Apple Store is down this morning. Could this be just the MobileMe news of a July 9th start date. They will obviously be selling new subscriptions through the online store. Or, could it be a new product, like an updated MacBook? My money is on the MobileMe product, but my dreams are with a new Aluminum MacBook, with a nice sleek case... oh, no, that's the Air... we will keep you posted.