iTunes 11: Empty playlists and syncing to iOS devices

If you choose to sync music by selecting specific playlists, you select your iOS device, then click the Music tab to check the playlists you want. I do this for my iPhone and iPod touch. I have found, however, that with iTunes 11, any playlist that is empty gets unchecked. Here's why this is a problem for me. I have a few playlists that I use for listening to new music or podcasts. I manually place tracks in these playlists, when I have something to put in them. However, there are times when I sync my iOS devices that they are empty. In the past, this didn't matter; the next time I added something to the playlists, they would sync. But in iTunes 11, they become unchecked in the Music tab, and I have to manually go back and sync them again. My solution is to add a very short silent track to the beginning of each of these playlists.Some time ago, I made these silent tracks to be able to use them as pauses in playlists, and posted them ...

published on Monday, the 24. December 2012, macosxhints

Sync calendars to an older iPod

I have a perfectly serviceable 5th generation iPod nano (2009-2010). Unfortunately, every time a new major version of iTunes is released, this iPod loses part of its usability. In an earlier hint, I showed one way to restore the ability to sync Contacts. With the release of iTunes 11, Apple has also removed the ability to sync Calendars. Under the Info tab for my nano, I now see these incorrect and misleading messages: "No contacts are available on this computer." "No calendars are available on this computer." Here are two ways to remedy that situation. In Calendar, select a calendar in the sidebar, then choose File > Export > Export... and direct the output to the Calendars folder on your older iPod. Repeat this operation for all the calendars you wish to export. (File > Export > Calendar Archive... also works, but on the iPod, all events will appear under All Calendars. I ...

published on Monday, the 17. December 2012, macosxhints

Live Coverage of Apple's iPad Mini Media Event [Event Ended]

Apple is holding a media event today at the California Theatre in San Jose, California, where it is expected to introduce the iPad mini, a 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro, a tweaked full-size iPad with Lightning connector, and updated Mac mini models. A release of the company's revamped iTunes software also likely and iMac updates are a possibility. The event is scheduled to kick off at 10:00 AM Pacific Time / 1:00 PM Eastern Time. Photo by Dean Takahashi/VentureBeat For the first time in two years, Apple will be providing a live video stream of a media event via its website for Mac and iOS users and Apple TV. Live Video Stream of Apple's iPad Mini Media Event In addition to Apple's video stream, we will be updating this article with coverage and issuing Twitter updates through our @MacRumorsLive account as the media event unfolds. Separate news stories regarding the event announcements will go out through our @MacRumors account. Apple's online stores around the world are currently down in advance of the event. Recent News and Rumors - 'iPad Mini' Name Confirmed by Smart Cover Part Descriptions - 13-Inch Retina MacBook Pro Starts at 128 GB Flash Storage, Mac Mini Goes Quad-Core - Four New Lightning Adapters, Higher-Power iPad Power Adapter Coming Today - New Full-Sized iPad to Have Upgraded FaceTime Camera? Live Transcript - Event begins at 10:00 AM Pacific / 1:00 PM Eastern The lifestream has begun with wide shots of the theater and the crowd. We are hearing reports of extremely laggy and stuttering connections on the livestream. As usual, Apple CEO Tim Cook begins with an overview of the state of the company, starting with the iPhone 5. It was the strongest iPhone launch ever with more than 5 million phones sold the first weekend. Apple is showing a promotional video for the iPhone 5 launch. Now recapping last month's new iPod, as well as iOS 6. Apple reports that iOS 6 is running on more than 200 million devices, calling it "the fastest upgrade rate of any software in history that we're aware of." On to iCloud. Customers have 125 million documents uploaded to iCloud and have sent 300 billion iMessages over the past year at a rate of more than 28,000 per second. 70 million photos shared via shared photo streams. Regarding the App Store, Apple now has 700,000 apps on the store, including 275,000 apps specifically for iPad. Customers have downloaded 35 billion apps from the store. Apple has paid out $6.5 billion to developers. Apple now has more than 1.5 million books on the iBookstore, and 400 million books downloaded since the launch of the store. Updating iBookstore with new features: Continuous scrolling, sharing of passages on Facebook and Twitter, iCloud syncing support, and support for 40 new languages including Korean and Japanese. Now on to the Mac. Mac has been outgrowing the PC market for 6 years straight, and Apple sells the number 1 desktop and number 1 notebook models in the US. "We're really pleased with all of the momentum of the Mac. But we are not standing still. We're going to continue innovating with the Mac." Phil Schiller is out now to demo some new products. "You might not know that our best selling notebook is the 13" MacBook Pro." Now, introducing new 13" MacBook Pro with Retina. .75" thick, 20% thinner than the old model, and 3.5 pounds. No optical drive and includes IPS Retina display. MagSafe 2, two Thunderbolt ports, USB 3.0, dual mics, stereo speakers. 4,096,000 pixels, 2560 x 1600. "There's never been a small notebook that gave pro photographers this kind of technology and capability." Ivy Bridge Intel Core i5 or i7 processors, comes standard with 8GB of RAM and up to 768GB of SSD storage. Intel HD Graphics 4000 graphics processor. 7-hour battery, backlit keyboard. Starts at $1699, 2.5GHz dual-core i5, 8GB Ram, 128GB SSD. Shipping today. Now showing off a new television ad. "The new 13" MacBook Pro? for the pro in all of us." The full line of Apple notebooks start at $999 for the 11" MacBook Air, and run all the way up to the 15" MacBook Pro with Retina Display maxed out at $2799. Next up is the Mac Mini. "You knew there'd be something called mini in this presentation, didn't you?" The update for the Mac Mini is on the inside. Adding Bluetooth 4.0, dual or quad Intel Core i5 or i7 processors, up to 16GB of RAM, 256GB SSD or 1TB HDD. Shipping today. Now, iMacs. The #1 desktop computer in the US. We've had 7 generations of the iMac, all better than the last." New iMac is extremely thin, lacking optical drive. 5mm thick at the edges, 80% thinner than before. Thickens slightly towards the middle. Using a new technology called friction stir welding to make the case. The display is 45% thinner than the prior generation. Still 27" and 21.5", not retina. 2560x1440 and 1920x1080 IPS displays. Fully laminated glass for 75% less reflection. FaceTime HD camera and stereo speakers. Ivy Bridge Intel Core i5 and i7, four USB 3 ports, two Thunderbolt ports, up to 3TB storage, SD card slot on the rear. New "Fusion Drive". Combined 128GB SDD and 1TB or 3TB HDD drive, "fused together with software." Core applications and the OS automatically go on the SSD while documents stay on the HDD. Mountain Lion determines apps you use most and automatically puts them on the SSD. Performance approaches that of SSD. Uses 50% less power when idle. iMac starts at $1299 for 21.5", 8GB RAM, 1%B HDD, GeForce GT 640 graphics. Begins shipping in November. 27" starts at $1799, shipping in December. Tim Cook comes back out. "These products are really cool." "Next, I'd like to talk about iPad." Apple has sold more than 100 million iPads. Apple shipped more iPads in the June quarter than any PC manufacturer sold across their entire line. The iPad has a 91% share of tablet web traffic. "Why is iPad so phenomenally successful? ? People love their iPads!" Cook is going over customer testimonials and the reasons customers love the iPad. Lots of focus on textbooks and the use of iPad in education. Updated iBooks Author, including new templates, user-included fonts, mathematical expressions, multitouch widgets, publishers can remotely update their books. Available today. Now talking about the business world. 94% of Fortune 500 companies are testing or deploying the iPad. "Just getting started." "We're not taking our foot off the gas." Phil Schiller returns to the stage. "Half a year ago, we introduced the 3rd generation iPad with Retina display." Now, "we're sitting here to talk about the 4th generation iPad." New iPad includes A6X chip, double the CPU and graphics performance of the A5X. 10-hour battery life. Cellular version has expanded international LTE, including Sprint in the US. Higher speed Wi-Fi and Lightning connector. "So much faster than the competition, I can't even see them in the mirror." Added Lightning to USB and Lightning to SD card adapters. Same configurations as prior generation, same pricing. Black and white colors. The iPad Mini. "I think you know what this is." "This isn't just a shrunken down iPad. There's nothing as amazing as this." Incredibly thin and beautiful, incredibly thin and light." 7.2mm thick, 25% thinner than full-size iPad. 0.68 lbs, 53% lighter. Available in black and white aluminum like the iPhone 5. 7.9" display, 1024x768. Same resolution as the iPad 2. All iPad software will work with no changes. Comparing the iPad mini to an unnamed new Android tablet. Metal vs plastic, 7" display versus 7.9". "The iPad mini has a third larger display area." Comparing webpage display area; iPad Mini shows 49% more of the webpage on the vertical, 67% more on the horizontal. A5 processor, LTE edition, FaceTime HD camera, 5MP iSight on back, Lightning connector, 10-hour battery. Lots of comparisons to the iPad 2 and all the way's the mini is better. Apple has created a video featuring Jony Ive talking about the design and engineering that went into creating the iPad mini. "We wanted to keep the things that make the iPad so magical." Ive is talking about chamfers again. New accessories for the iPad mini; new Smart Covers. Starting at $329 for 16GB Wi-Fi model. $459 for 16GB LTE model. The iPad 2 sticks around for $399, and new 4th-gen iPad with Retina starts at $499. Preorders start Friday, Wi-Fi models ships November 2. Available in a very wide range of countries. LTE models ship 2 weeks later in the US and then slowly around the world. Plays a new TV ad showing off the newest member of the iPad family. Tim Cook is back, going back over what Apple has done so far in 2012. "We hope you love these products as much as we loved creating them. I'd personally like to thank all of the teams at Apple for working so hard creating the things you've seen today? They dedicate a huge part of their lives to making the best products on earth. These are the most talented and most innovative people I know." Recent Mac and iOS Blog Stories • Apple Fires Chief of Korean Unit After Only 17 Months on the Job • Apple October 23rd Media Event Spoiler Free Video Stream [Posted] • Gift a Photo Book for $20 With 'Mosaic', Right From the iPhone • Apple Notifies iMac Owners of Expanded Seagate Hard Drive Recall • Nicholas Allegra, the Hacker Behind JailbreakMe.com, No Longer Working at Apple

published on Tuesday, the 23. October 2012, macrumors

Apple Acquires HTML5 Web Firm Particle

CNET reports that Apple has acquired Particle, a small San Francisco-based startup firm specializing in HTML5 Web and Web app work. The acquisition is said to have been for the company's talent rather than any specific project it was working on.The company has done HTML5 work for Google, Motorola, Amazon, Yahoo, Sony, and Apple. The group has also created some "labs" projects including Intervue.me, an asynchronous video interviewing project. [...] The deal went through late last month, though not all its less than a dozen employees stayed on to work at Apple. Those who did are listed as "creative technologists" as well as one "user interface engineer," according to their public LinkedIn profiles. The report speculates that Particle's Web expertise makes it likely that the new Apple employees will be working on such projects as Apple's website, iAd, and iCloud.com. Particle's About page outlines some of its work with Apple prior to the acquisition:Particle brings positive and energetic relationships with Google and the Chrome team specifically, as well as great Apple relationships and execution experience around iAds, iTunes Extras, and Apple.com. We have participated in and piloted much of the technology which will display the next generation of advertising and deliver media content for the next decade.TechCrunch has documented five of Particle's former employees who are now listing Apple as their employer on LinkedIn, with all of the transitions listed as having taken place in September. Recent Mac and iOS Blog Stories • Phil Schiller Says New iPod Touch 'Too Thin' for Ambient Light Sensor • Microsoft Releases Pricing on Surface Tablet, Ships October 26th • Apple Adds Shared Reminders to iCloud.com Web App • 'Pocket Planes' Gains iPhone 5 Support for iOS, New Mac App • iCade 8-Bitty Nintendo-Like iOS Wireless Controller Now Shipping

published on Wednesday, the 17. October 2012, macrumors

Delete a podcast that won't go away on iOS device

I recently tried to download an episode of a podcast on my iPhone, but the download failed. Nevertheless, the podcast was listed on my iPhone, with one episode, but trying to play that episode did nothing. There was no way to delete it. When I deleted it from within the Podcasts app, it seemed to go away, but when I deleted the Podcasts app to use the Music app for listening to Podcasts, it was still there. I tried turning off syncing of podcasts in iTunes, syncing, then turning it back on, but it was still there. There was no obvious way to delete this "phantom" podcast. I finally tried going into Settings > General > Usage > Music, and saw the podcast listed in the Podcasts list. A swipe to the right on its name, a tap on the Delete button, and it was finally gone.

published on Monday, the 8. October 2012, macosxhints

How to back up an iOS device to iCloud

Following yesterday's hint about fixing an iOS device that wouldn't launch third-party apps, I realized that it would be useful to back up my iPhone via iCloud, in case I have a problem away from home. I looked around, and saw that we don't have anything about this on the site, so I thought I'd write a brief primer. You can turn on iCloud backups in iTunes: connect your iOS device, then, on the Summary tab, in the Backups section, click on Back Up to iCloud. However, when you sync your device, it won't back up to iCloud. The only away for this to happen is, according to Apple, when a device is connected to the Internet via Wi-Fi, connected to a power source, and has its screen locked. And, this only happens once a day. However, you can force a first iCloud backup on the device by going to Settings > iCloud > Storage & Backup, then tapping on Back Up Now. (You can also turn on or off iClo ...

published on Wednesday, the 3. October 2012, macosxhints

Apple updates Aperture to 3.4.1, fixes installer bugs, more

Apple issued an update to Aperture late Friday, its pro-level photo-management and editing software. Version 3.4.1 is a bug-fix release, primarily addressing an installer issue in v3.4 that caused the application to quit on launch for some users due to accidentally corrupted preferences. The new version also improves the reliability of syncing photos to iOS devices via iTunes, cleans up a bug with downloading and viewing photos synced with Facebook albums, and generally improves overall stability....

published on Saturday, the 29. September 2012, macintosh-news-network

Resolve problem with iTunes not recognizing iPhoto library

A number of people, including some I know, have had a problem with iTunes not recognizing their iPhoto libraries, and not being able to sync them to their new iPhones. It turns out, as explained in this Apple support forum thread, that extraneous ampersand characters (&) are causing the Album Data2.xml file to be parsed incorrectly. One friend showed me that in his case it was an & in a song title. Removing the & characters seems to fix this. So if you're having problems syncing photos, this may be the reason why.

published on Monday, the 24. September 2012, macosxhints

Restore iOS device from backup with limited disk space

iTunes stores iOS device backups in ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup. Each folder within the Backup represents a different "backup" that will be presented as a possible restore source when restoring an iOS device. In the process of restoring from a backup, iTunes migrates the data from one of those Backup folders into another, sibling folder, that will naturally end up being the same size. Because you end up with two distinct backup folders, it follows that in order to restore an iOS device, you need to have at least as much free space on the device as the size of the backup subfolder. In my case it was more than 50 GB. In order to restore my iPhone, I needed more than 50 GB free on the disk where iTunes finds my backups, so I copied the backups folder to another disk with lots of space, then made a symbolic link to it at the original location: % cd ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync % cp -r Backup /Volumes/BigDisk/Backu ...

published on Friday, the 14. September 2012, macosxhints

Live Coverage of Apple's iPhone 5 Media Event [Event Over]

Apple is holding a media event today at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, where it appears set to introduce the iPhone 5, updated iPods, and a brand-new version of iTunes. The event is scheduled to kick off at 10:00 AM Pacific Time / 1:00 PM Eastern Time. Media line forming at iPhone 5 event (Source: Josh Lowensohn/CNET) Apple will apparently not be providing live video coverage of the event to the public, but a number of news sites will be on hand to provide text and photo updates, and we're including links to several of them here. We will also be updating this article with coverage and issuing Twitter updates through our @MacRumorsLive account as the media event unfolds. Separate news stories regarding the event announcements will go out through our @MacRumors account. - Engadget - Ars Technica - The Verge - The Loop - gdgt - Macworld - AllThingsD - CNET - SlashGear - AnandTech Apple's online stores around the world are currently down in advance of the event. Recent News and Rumors - iPhone 5 Logic Board Shows A6 Chip, Qualcomm MDM9615M LTE Modem, Hynix Flash - Updated iTunes, iPod Touch, and iPod Nano Coming Alongside iPhone 5 Today - 'iPhone 5' Name Prematurely Revealed on Apple's Site - Apple's New iOS Device Marketing: 'Lightning' Dock Connector, 'Earpod' Headphones, 'Loop' Accessory - 'Biggest Upgrade Ever' for iPod Touch to Bring New Colors, GPS, Camera Improvements? Live Transcript The event is about to begin. Tim Cook has come on stage. "Good morning." "Thank you for coming this morning! We've got some really cool stuff to show you." Updates about Apple Retail first. Apple spent two years building the new Barcelona store. Cook is showing a promotional video from the store's opening. 380 stores in 12 countries, with the first Swedish store opening on Friday. 83 million visitors in last fiscal quarter. On to the Mac. Apple has sold 7 million copies of Mountain Lion, making it the fastest-selling version of OS X ever. Cook praises the MacBook Pro, calling it "the best Mac we've ever made." "Together with MacBook Air, our notebooks rank #1 in U.S. in marketshare over the last 3 months", capturing 27% of the market. Now, to the iPad. "The iPad is driving the post-PC revolution at a breathtaking pace." "We sold more iPads [last quarter, 17 million] than any PC manufacturer sold of their entire PC line." 84 million iPads total, through June. "Shocking when you think this is a category that didn't exist two and a half years ago." iPad had 62% market share in 2011, and now has 68%, even with competitors launching many new tablets. The iPad makes up 91% of all web traffic from tablets. Nearly all of Fortune 500 are testing or deploying iPad, and many are creating custom apps. Cook says that there are more than 700,000 apps on the App Store, with more than 250,000 specifically for iPad. The average user is using more than 100 apps, and 90% of apps on the App Store are downloaded monthly. More than 400 million iOS devices sold through June 2012. "Some very exciting news to tell you about iPhone." Phil Schiller is on stage. First launched the iPhone in 2007 and it was a breakthrough for the entire industry. Time magazine called the iPhone "the phone that's changed phones forever." "We're gonna do that again today." "Today we're introducing iPhone 5." "It's the most beautiful product we've ever made." It looks very similar to the leaked images, the phone with the metal back. "It is made entirely of glass and aluminum. It's designed and built to an exacting level of standard unlike anything we, or anyone in our industry, have made before." Image courtesy GDGT.com 6.7mm thin, 18% thinner. The world's thinnest smartphone. Weighs 112 grams, 20% lighter than the iPhone 4S. "The challenge is to make it better and smaller." 4-inch display, 1136x640. Five rows of icons, plus the shortcut row on the bottom. Phone was made taller because the width is designed to fit the hand perfectly. "As you carry your phone, it should fit beautifully in your hand." "All our software has been updated." Keynote, Pages, Numbers, iPhoto, iMovie, GarageBand. "You can see a full, five day workweek." Old apps run letterboxes, with pixel-perfect rendering. Black borders on either side so the display remains centered. A few developers received a sneak peek, and debs have said they can update their apps "very quickly." Screen is nearly 16:9, with 44% better color saturation. Display is better, with touch integrated into the display, so it's thinner, sharper, and has less glare. "We couldn't be prouder of it." Apple has added new wireless tech, including LTE and DC-HSDPA. Apple says it took "a lot of incredible engineering." Apple is using a single chip for voice and data, and a single radio chip. In the US: Sprint, AT&T and Verizon will support LTE. Canada: Rogers, Telus, Bell, Fido, Virgin. After the event, Apple will publish a full list of supported carriers. The iPhone 5 supports dual-channel 5GHz 802.11n, allowing for max performance up to 150Mbps. "We've updated every aspect of iPhone 5." Image courtesy Apple The new A6 chip is 2x faster and has 2x the graphics performance compared to the A5. It's 22% smaller and more energy efficient. EA Studios is coming out to demo Real Racing 3. The game is scheduled for release later this year. Regarding battery life, Shiller says the iPhone 5 will exceed the battery life of the iPhone 4S. 8 hours of LTE browsing, 10 hours of video, 40 hours of music, 225 hours of standby, 8 hours 3G talk time. The new camera has an 8 megapixel camera with backside illumination, a hybrid IR filter and a five-element lens. f/2.4 aperture. 25% smaller, dynamic low light mode, precision lens alignment, sapphire crystal. The camera evaluates nearby pixels to give up to 2 f-stops greater low-light performance, along with new image processing in the A6. 40% faster on photo capture. Adding Panorama mode. Sweep the scene vertically to get best resolution. Showing a 28 megapixel image of the Golden Gate Bridge. "Creates seamless transitions between photos." Video is 1080p but with better video stabilization. The front-facing camera is now 720p, backside illuminated with facial recognition. The iPhone 5 has three microphones, one on the bottom, another on the front, and one on the back. Improved voice recognition and cancellation. The phone has an improved speaker design, and is 20% smaller, and with a five-magnet transducer -- three more magnets than previously. Additional magnets make the speaker more efficient -- more volume for less power. Apple is calling it "wideband audio". Next, the connector: "So many of the things we used to do over the wire, we now do wirelessly." The 30 pin dock connector goes back 9 years. "It's served us well for almost a decade." New connector called "Lightning". All-digital, 8-signal design. Adaptive interface, improved durability, reversible, 80% smaller. Bose, JBL, B&W, B&O and others are already working on the new connector. Apple creating a "bunch of accessories" to hook up to old equipment. That's the iPhone 5. iOS 6 up next. "Perhaps one of the most important features of the iPhone is the software it runs. And we have iOS 6. It's been designed from the beginning to take advantage of the iPhone 5." Scott Forstall is out for a demo. This is stuff we have seen before -- Maps with Yelp and Siri integration, flyover, satellite views, etc. Now showing off Safari. "It looks great on this display." Offering a new fullscreen mode. Showing iCloud tabs. Demoing Passbook, coupons, movie and airplane tickets. Demoing Shared Photo Stream. Now, the new version of Siri with sports scores, standings, and more. "Can you recommend a good movie in theaters?" Siri: "That is a very subjective question. Here's what others have found to be good movies." Showing Rotten Tomato rankings. Asking for restaurant reservations delivers you to OpenTable. Updates to Facebook via Siri. "We think you're going to love it." Now Phil Schiller has returned to the stage. Comes in two colors, black or white front. "The thinnest and lightest phone we've ever made." White version has a raw aluminum back, while the black version has an anodized back. Now showing the promotional video after running down the specs again. Jony Ive in the video: "With this unique relationship with your iPhone, we take changing it very seriously." Bob Mansfield: "It took an incredible cross-collaborative effort" to make the phone thinner. Video is giving more details on the Lightning connector, sapphire lens on the camera, touts LTE as potentially faster than home Wi-Fi connectors. The video goes through the special manufacturing process used to make the phone. The video should be posted on Apple's website soon after the event is finished. Phil is back as the video ends. Same pricing as iPhone 4S. $199 for 16GB, $299/32GB, $399/64GB (with two year contract). iPhone 4S is $99, iPhone 4 is free with contract. Preorders start on Friday, shipping one week later. Launching on the 21st in the US, Canada, UK, France, Germany, Australia, Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore. Launching on the 28th in 22 other countries. iOS 6 arrives next Wednesday the 19th for the iPhone 5, 4S, 4, 3GS, new iPad, iPad 2 and 4th generation iPod Touch. Tim Cook is back on stage to talk about "something near and dear to our hearts". Music. "Music is in our DNA." "Some exciting changes with both iPod and iTunes." Eddy Cue is on stage now. 26 million songs on iTunes Store, with 20 billion songs purchased in past 9 years. Now available in 63 countries. 435 million iTunes accounts. More than two-thirds of downloads are coming directly from iOS devices. Apple has built a new iTunes Store for iPhone and iPad. Redesigning App Store too. New store apps arriving with iOS 6 on the 19th. Redoing iTunes for Mac and PC as well. 200 million people using iTunes in the Cloud, 15 billion pieces of content served directly from the cloud. New iTunes is "dramatically simpler". Now he's demoing it. Image courtesy GDGT.com Click on any album and it expands to show more information, clearly influenced by iOS. Artists have the ability to share photos with their listeners, showing that some parts of Ping haven't disappeared entirely. Allows users to split screen playlists and the full library, making playlist creation easier. The changes aren't radical, but streamline and polish everything. There is a new 'Play Next' button to force the next song as a particular choice, without stopping the current song. Now, movies in iTunes. "We've built iCloud right into iTunes." Syncs movie positions from device to device. Demo's a movie that was paused on the iPad, then resumed on the Mac. Similar experience on the App Store in iTunes for the Mac as on the mobile device. The new iTunes will be available in late October. Greg Joswiak is now talking iPods, of which Apple has sold more than 350 million over the years. "iPod and music are part of the DNA of the company." We wanted to take the chance to reinvent the Nano. We thought, "what elements do we want to add?" "We wanted to give it a really large display. We want it to have really easy to use controls. We want to make it thin and light." Of course, they add the Lightning port to it as well. The Seventh Generation Nano looks a bit like the original Nano. 50% thinner than the Nano it replaces. Wider screen, 5.4mm thin, 2.5" display that's MultiTouch, with a home button. Seven colors: aluminum, black, purple, green, blue, yellow and red. Image courtesy Includes FM tuner with DVR, fitness and pedometer, view video and photos. Bluetooth with wireless audio streaming, so supports Bluetooth headphones and car integration. Promises 30 hours of music playback, the longest of any Nano. iPod Touch is next up. 175,000 games, 150 million players in Game Center. Apple is going after mobile gaming hard with the Touch. New iPod Touch is 6.1mm thin, 88 grams. The lightest Touch they've made. "Almost as thin as the nano, but it's a touch!" Aluminum on the back with a brushed finish. Speaker on the bottom plus Lightning connector. Has iPhone 5 4" display. Apple touting the great screen, perfect for games and video. Includes the A5 processor, and 7x faster graphics than the old touch. Now they are demoing the game "Clumsy Ninja". Regarding battery life, Apple promises 40 hours of music playback, 8 hours of video, slightly increased over the 4th generation Touch. The camera is much improved, with a 5-megapixel, backside illuminated, f/2.4, 5-element lens, plus the same sapphire crystal lens cover as the iPhone 5. Includes support for the new Panorama feature, as well as support for the iOS version of iPhoto. Also includes a 720p front-facing FaceTime camera, with 1080p video on the back side. AirPlay Mirroring supported. There is a hidden feature on the back of the new iPod Touch, called the Loop. It's designed to hook to a wrist-strap for added security when taking pictures or walking about. Included with the iPod Touch. Will be great for kids. Includes Bluetooth 4.0, 802.11 b/g/n dual-band, and other typical wireless. No LTE or cellular for the Touch. It does include Siri, however. Comes in five colors, raw aluminum, black, blue, yellow and red. The iPod Shuffle is gaining a different color selection. "We want to turn our attention to something different, and that's speakers." 600 million sets of Apple earbuds have been shipped -- more than 1.2 billion "little speakers". Now offering new headphones, called EarPods. "Doing a great headphone is hard, because ears are really, really challenging because everyone's ears are different." In the works for three years. Includes in-line microphone and controls. "Look like no earphone you've ever seen before." Has a directed speaker port that points forward into the ear canal. Doesn't create a seal the way other in-ear headphones do. A port in the back for mid-range, one in the stem, and the main port pointing to the ear canal. All to maximize airflow for sound quality. A standalone accessory, shipping today -- but included with the new Touch, Nano, and the iPhone 5. iPod Shuffle remains $49. iPod Nano is $149 for 16GB. 4th Gen iPod Touch still sold, 16GB/$199, 32GB/$249. 5th Gen iPod Touch is 32GB/$299, 64GB/$399. New nano and touch available in October. (Product) RED models available for each model. Tim Cook is back on stage now, showing off a new television ad for the new lineup of iPods. "A whole new lineup of all-new music players." "We are very excited about all the products we've launched today." He's going over all the new products announced today. iPhone 5, new iPods, iOS 6, new iTunes. "When you look at each of these, they are incredible industry-leading innovations by themselves. But what sets them apart, and what sets us so far ahead of the competition, is how they work together. "Only Apple could integrate these services and bring them together. Apple has never been stronger and that is thanks to the dedication and creativity of our employees throughout the world. "They are doing the best work of their lives, because delivering revolutionary products is making a real difference in people's lives." The Foo Fighters are taking the stage as a musical guest. Recent Mac and iOS Blog Stories • iCloud Mail Outage Enters Second Day for Some Users • Apple September 12th Media Event Spoiler Free Video Stream [Update: Posted] • Siri Co-Founder Adam Cheyer Left Apple In June • More Claims of Tweaked Full-Size iPad with Display and Battery Life Improvements, Potentially Thinner Body • Sony's Sound Forge Pro Mac Launching This Month for $299

published on Wednesday, the 12. September 2012, macrumors