Think you need more gear to make that video podcast/music video/movie/viral video hit? Think again.  This video, for the Eskimohunter’s Surfing at 32ºF, was shot entirely on Nokia Nseries cell phones. “Each of the Nokia Nseries devices I used was perfectly suited to the kind of experimental, ‘out-there’ shots I wanted to capture for ‘Surfing at 32ºF’,” says […]

Alex Sokirynsky, developer of the banned iPhone app Podcaster, is using the little known “ad hoc” method to distribute his software, via the site NextDayOff. Podcaster is designed to let you subscribe, manage, stream and download podcasts directly to your iPhone and iPod Touch. Some, like Read Write Web‘s Sarah Perez, think this may let developers […]

Friday, we reported on Almerica Podcaster, a podcast client for the iPhone that Apple banned from the store because it duplicates features offered by the iPhone’s native software.  We said: Rejecting an app because it competes with Apple’s own software, though, sends the signal that people shouldn’t develop podcast-related applications for the iPhone. This is bad […]

Almerica reports that Apple has rejected the hotly anticipated Podcaster iPhone application from the App Store: Today I finally got a reply from Apple about the status of Podcaster. Apple Rep says: Since Podcaster assists in the distribution of podcasts, it duplicates the functionality of the Podcast section of iTunes. That’s right folks, it duplicates […]

Apple’s iTunes 8 introduced a new feature, Genius, designed to help you find new music. I was unimpressed with Genius – it’s not much more than a recommendation engine, designed to get you to buy more music. In other words, it’s a lot like the recommendation system Amazon has been offering online for a decade.  Wired […]

Apple today released iPhone 2.1 software. Here’s what’s in the update: Decrease in call set-up failures and dropped calls Significantly better battery life for most users Dramatically reduced time to backup to iTunes Improved email reliability, notably fetching email from POP and Exchange accounts Faster installation of 3rd party applications Fixed bugs causing hangs and crashes for users with lots of […]

The new features in iTunes 8 haven’t impressed me. Genius is mainly a way for Apple to sell you more music, and the new views in iTunes are very slow, compared to the older list views.  Something that is very useful in iTunes 8, though, is its support for individual podcast settings: This is a […]

Apple’s Let’s Rock event today offered anticipated updates to the iTunes and Apple’s iPod lines, but failed to do two things that many were hoping for: eliminate concerns over Steve Jobs’ health and offer “one more thing” – an unexpected introduction with some “wow”.  Jobs noted wryly that “The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated,” […]

Microsoft today announced Zune updates, timed to upstage iPod/iTunes announcements anticipated from Apple on Tuesday.  Unfortunately for everybody who owns a portable media player, Microsoft’s announcements are woefully misguided and mistimed.  You have to give Microsoft credit for releasing another Zune update that brings new features to their existing players. Apple typically saves significant new features […]

Amazon today announced Amazon Video On Demand, a new video service that lets customers watch ad-free movies and television shows on Macs or PCs. Previously, customers could only download titles and watch them on a PC (using the Amazon Unbox application) or on their TiVo box. Now customers can either watch instantly within their web […]