Video showing the addition of Trophies on the Playstation 3 with the July 2 release of the 2.40 firmware.

Apple brings an update 10.5.4 to Leopard just in time for the new iPhone and Mobile Me. You can just run software update to install. See details after the jump.

Continue reading Apple Brings Leopard 10.5.4…

Dash Express gets a huge update that contains literally hundreds of modifications, many straight from forum and blog feedback. Check out the video and Dash Express blog.

iCall is coming to an iPhone near you, allowing users to make and receive calls over WiFi and saving cell minutes. iCall will allow you to transfer inbound calls from a regular GSM cell call to WiFi instantly and seamlessly, allow access to same address book and customize voicemail options. iCall is supposedly an official Apple-approved application that’s expected to debut at the new App Store soon.

Rhapsody has struggled to compete with Apple’s domination with iTunes in the past by ignoring the iPod and offering a subscription model that only worked on Windows. This has failed miserably. Now they will try to take on iTunes by embracing the iPod with DRM-free MP3 tracks they will sell at $.99 and most albums for $9.99.

They will be entering an expanding field with eMusic, Amazon and Wal-Mart already selling DRM-free MP3s. Amazon sells MP3s at a discount with most single tracks selling at $.89 and most albums selling at $7.99.

Take Katy Perry’s new album One Of The Boys selling on Amazon for $7.99 which is $2 more at Rhapsody. The Katy Perry single I Kissed A Girl is only $.89 at Amazon and $.10 more at Rhapsody.

Continue reading Rhapsody Embraces iPods and Launches MP3 Store…

In-game XMB demonstrated on a firmware 2.40 PS3 (expected on July 2) with a quick hit of the PlayStation button. Sony also reveals that the 2.40 firmware update will deliver the Google search bar like the PSP update and the ability to play and control your own music stored on the hard drive in-game. See more in the video.

Chrysler has announced a new service called uconnect web utilizing EVDO, the 3G cellular network that will allow any Wi-Fi equipped device in a car a constant, rolling Internet access. Basically this is an in-car “hotspot” that will be made available as an option in all 2009 Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep vehicles costing $449 with service set for $29 per month with a contract.

The range for the hotspot will be about 100 feet around the vehicle. If you are interested in this feature now take a look at my review CradlePoint PHS300 Allows WiFi Almost Anywhere.

The CradlePoint PHS300 costs about $149.99 [Amazon] and can run on its built-in battery of from your vehicle’s 12 volt lighter plug. An USB modem and service is required from Verizon, Sprint, AT&T or Alltel.

Sony has confirmed today that it will be bringing video downloads to the Playstation Network starting in the US market later this summer. PSP and video-capable Walkman owners will also have access to this service spurring competition to Apple and Microsoft.

Details for the new service is expected to be unveiled at the E3 gaming expo that opens on July 15th.

Sony also says it plans to offer video streaming to all of its BRAVIA LCD TVs with the Internet Link.

“This isn’t a matter of dissing Microsoft, but Intel information technology staff just found no compelling case for adopting Vista.”

Intel, a longtime partner of Microsoft, has decided against upgrading the computers of its own 80,000 employees to Microsoft’s Vista operating system.

The decision, after a lengthy analysis by its internal technology staff of the costs and potential benefits of moving to Windows Vista, which has drawn fire from many customers as a buggy, bloated program that requires costly hardware upgrades to run smoothly. See Bits NY Times for entire story.

Bill Gates will be leaving Microsoft as a day worker by the end of this month. This signals the end of an era and the start of the Steve Ballmer roller coaster ride at Microsoft (in my opinion).

If you ever got mad using Windows or the microsoft.com website (and who hasn’t?). I have included an internal email I found that shows you were not alone, even the big guy at Microsoft gets frustrated with Windows! One big difference between Steve Jobs and Bill Gates was that Jobs would have rolled heads until it was fixed. Did Gates rant fix the problems? You decide. See below.

Continue reading I Will Miss the Bill Gates Rants…

Windows users will soon have no choice but to accept Vista on new PCs as June 30 is the cut off date when Microsoft will no longer make Windows XP available to large system builders. Like or not Vista will be the desktop OS sold.

Dell will only accept orders for PCs with Windows XP until June 26, which was extended by demand. After the cutoff date, Dell customers will still be able to obtain Windows XP only on certain gaming and business systems that will be Windows Vista PCs that have been “pre-downgraded” to XP through a loophole in Microsoft’s licensing terms.

Continue reading Windows XP R.I.P. – Now the WoW Begins…

Nokia is offering cash in a deal worth about $410 million to buy the 52 percent of Symbian it doesn’t already own. Nokia said investors holding about 91 percent of relevant Symbian shares that includes Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB, Sweden’s Telefon AB L.M. Ericsson, Panasonic Mobile Communications Co. and Siemens AG have agreed to accept the offer.

Nokia will need this to help in the increased competition from the Apple iPhone, Windows Mobile and Google Android. Symbian runs on the popular N95 phone and on many of the most popular smartphones.

Continue reading Nokia Gets Itself an Operating System…

Forget console Hockey games, forget having friends, just get one of these! See video above. The robotic arm was developed by NuVation who recently won a People’s Choice Award at the Freescale Technology Forum 2008 Americas conference.

You can now open PDFs directly in Google Docs and store them online.

This is not Safari it is Firefox with the GrApple Yummy theme.

I love the new Firefox 3, I think it is a real nice update, but even though they changed and improved its look, I still think it looks a bit out of place on my Mac.

Luckily there I can use a Aronnax theme. There are three very Safari 3-like themes available. I really like the GrApple Yummy. I actually get confused sometimes when I have both Firefox and Safari open at the same time. Installing a theme to Firefox is just a couple mouse clicks and a re-launch of Firefox. Aronnax themes are free and they accept PayPal donations.

Next add two Firefox add-ons, Fission to add a Safari-like progress bar and Stylish to customize Firefox. Once you install Stylish, now add the Combine Stop/Reload buttons style. Make sure to follow the instructions. Also add the Firefox PDF Plugin for Mac OS X so PDFs can be viewed in the browser like Safari.

Here is what $22 million can buy in high definition wow factor. The new Comcast Center in Phillie has a giant 27 by 87 foot high-def video wall that uses over 10 million pixels. Using six Barco DX700 LED digitizers, seven Encore video processors, and three Matrixpro routers pushing 27,000 GB of information around. Open to the public, in the lobby of Comcast Center it runs 18 hours a day. The Comcast Center is 58 stories, just under 1000 feet, it is Pa’s largest building. Very cool.

The iTunes Store has sold more than 5 billion tracks worldwide since it was first launched in April 2003, according to Apple. iTunes currently offers over 8 million tracks from major and independent labels, hosted in close to two dozen countries. Apple additionally claims that it is selling or renting 50,000 movies per day from a library of more than 2,000 titles with 350 of these are in HD resolutions. Can’t wait to see what the AppStore numbers will be like 5 years after its launch.

Four burglars used sledgehammers, saws and pry bars to break through an adjacent wall from an empty store that used to be Bombay Furniture (out of business) into the Apple Store located at Tice’s Corner in Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey. This is the Apple Store I visit most often.

The break-in set off alarms around 3 AM in the morning with police responding catching three out of four of the burglars. They are now in custody at the Bergen County Jail. The fourth man is still being sought.

Continue reading Burglars Caught Heisting Apple Store at Tices Corner…

Mozilla has made the latest version of Firefox available for download. The Firefox developers are attempting to break the Guinness World Record for most software downloaded in 24 hours. I hope they make it. Get it here. Here is a list of the new features.

Want to get the first look at the Apple Store Sydney? See it here on APCMag.