Friday, March 4, 2005

Two New Apple iPod Minis Add Color and Battery Life
(February 23, 2005) Apple continues to make its iPod line ever more attractive with two new iPod Minis announced today. The new Minis will come in four colors: the silver held over from the previous Minis, as well as the new blue, pink and green colors. The size, design and control system remain the same, however, the minis now advertise up to 18 hours of battery life--increased from the previous 12 hours.

Down from $250, the 4GB iPod Mini (approximately 1,000 songs) now costs $200, and a new 6GB iPod Mini (approximately 1,500 songs) costs $250. Both models include earbuds, a USB 2.0 cable for syncing/charging and a belt clip. Also, if you purchase one from http://store.apple.com, Apple is currently offering free shipping and a free laser engraving.

Source: Apple Computer, Inc.

New, Lower Priced iPod Photos Replace Apple's Flagship iPod
(February 23, 2005) Today Apple announced a slash in the price of its iPod Photo, and reworked the overall iPod line so that any iPod over 20GB will include photo viewing ability. Dropping the old $500 40GB iPod Photo, Apple introduced the new, slimmer-bodied 30GB iPod Photo (approximately 7,500 songs), which will sell for $350. The 60GB model (approximately 15,000 songs) has dropped from $600 to $450. A new iPod Camera Connector ($29, sold separately) will now let you transfer photos to an iPod Photo directly from a digital camera. With the price cuts, certain accessories are now optional, including the iPod Photo AV cable ($19) and iPod Photo Dock ($39).

Both iPod Photo models include earbuds, a USB 2.0 cable for syncing/charging and an AC adapter. Also, if you purchase one from http://store.apple.com, Apple is currently offering free shipping and a free laser engraving.

Source: Apple Computer, Inc.

Epson's All-In-One Photo Center Offers Printing and Scanning
(February 22, 2005) With printing, scanning and copying abilities, the new Epson Stylus Photo RX620 concentrates on photographer-friendly features for both the digital and film crowds. Epson claims lab-quality photo printing, with six-color ink jet printings and borderless printing in 4"x6", 5"x7" and 8"x10" sizes. Built-in card slots for 11 types of memory cards make direct printing without a computer possible, and a 2.5" color LCD further facilitates direct printing.

The RX620's scanner delivers 48-bit 2,400x4,800 color scanning of documents, photos, slides or film. With Epson's Easy Photo Fix technology built-in, it also can automatically return old, faded colors closer to their original luster. You can scan into a Mac through the high-speed USB 2.0 port or choose to make computer-free color or B&W copies. The RX620 is on sale now for $300 from www.epsonstore.com.

Source: Epson America, Inc.

Photoleap Plus 1.0 for Mac Emails Hundreds of Photos at Once
(February 14, 2005) Promising to work just like an email program--so there is no learning curve involved--Photoleap Plus 1.0 (www.photoleap.com) uses a proprietary, patent-pending compression to allow sending up to 250 high-resolution digital photos in one manageable email. It also features integration with Apple iPhoto. Photoleap Plus 1.0 costs $29. Also available are a Pro version ($499) and a free version with limited features and advertising not shown in the pay versions.

Source: Photoleap, Inc.

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iBOOK G4 12"

After yawning over the last under-achieving iBooks in our September 2004 issue (page 58), a breath of fresh AirPort has perked up our appreciation. Yes, the 12" iBook finally has built-in AirPort Extreme for high-speed wireless Internet access, and this means the most portable and affordable of all Apple laptops will likely never leave your side. Wireless access is everywhere these days, and we had a ball discovering all the hot spots we could leech off of in cafes, bars, friends' apartments and of course at home. The AirPort Extreme worked flawlessly and automatically, and its performance seemed limited only by the strength of the host network.

The G4 processor has bumped up from 1GHz to 1.2GHz, while the price has dipped a bill from $1,100 to $1,000. Somewhat disappointingly, the RAM, hard disk and graphics processor are all the same as they were two revs ago when the iBook first added a G4 processor. Overall, however, the improvements and the price drop make this iBook a much more enticing buy.

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