Apple set the music industry's ear ablaze with last month's debut of its revolutionary iTunes Music Store. The new service garnered nothing less than rave reviews from venerable journalists such as Walter Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal and David Pogue of the New York Times.

Based on the latest updates to iTunes - version 4, and QuickTime - version 6.2, the music store ushered in a new era in the media world, selling an unprecedented 2 million songs at 99¢ apiece within 16 days of its launch.

Integral to this development is iTunes 4, which sports a new and improved audio encoding format - Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) - which gives you, in effect, near CD-quality audio at less than MP3 file sizes. iTunes 4 also features 'playlist sharing', a neat function that let's you share your playlist with anyone on your network - locally or anywhere in the world via the Internet.

Now your friends can listen to music on your computer on their computers - now how's that for cool? And oh! It's Mac-only (at least for now...) and requires OSX.

If you're ready to sing a brand-new song, mosey over to the Apple site for your free copy of iTunes 4.

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Last week Apple released its latest update to OSX, version 10.2.6 which delivers enhancements and improved functionality for the Address Book, Graphics, Printing, OpenGL, PC Card and USB hub device compatibility.

This latest update improves printing compatibility for PostScript OpenType fonts and addresses an issue in which certain bitmap fonts could not be printed to a PostScript printer via the LaserWriter 8 compatibility path.

Also featured in this update is Address Book support for the Sony Ericsson T610 phone.

Get your 10.2.6 update here....

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At times during the design process you may need to view your work in monochrome so that you can more accurately assess your design's tonal values. So, before you start creating grayscale copies of your work for this purpose here's a nifty built-in OSX (Jaguar) solution.

Open the System Preferences Panel and select the Universal Access Preference Pane. Press the button labeled 'Set Display to Grayscale' and... voila! Your monitor is now in grayscale mode.

While in the Universal Access Preference Pane you can activate the "Switch to Black on White" button. You can also access this mode by pressing the "Command-Option-Control-asterisk (*)" key combination. Though this mode was designed to make screen viewing easier for people with certain types of vision problems it can also be used to view your work in negative mode.

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Verizon recently launched its free Wi-Fi service for Verizon Online subscribers. The pilot program is currently being deployed in Manhattan, New York and depending on demand Verizon plans to deploy the service in other cities.

Wi-Fi, or Wireless Fidelity, allows consumers to connect to the Internet at high speeds without wires - similar in operation to how a cell phone works - by transmitting a wireless signal from a base station to a device. The service works through public access points that Verizon has dubbed "Hotspots". Many new laptop and handheld devices come equipped with Wi-Fi antennae and software with add-on Wi-Fi accessories available for older machines. The new service will allow consumers to connect to the internet while away from their homes and offices.

Learn more about Verizon Broadband Anytime

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Last week Apple announced a refreshed and lower priced version of its most affordable G4-based system, the eMac. The company was forced back to the drawing board to retool the original line which was plagued by widespread display problems and significant failure rates.

With a blazingly fast 1GHz PowerPC G4 processor and a base configuration that starts at just $799 the new eMacs let you create digital media faster. The eMacs ship ready for wireless networking and you get to choose between a CD-ROM, a Combo DVD-ROM/CD-RW or a 4x SuperDrive which can encode DVDs in real time. Sporting a 17-inch (16-inch viewable) flat CRT display you get less image distortion and glare than curved CRTs with nearly 40% more viewing area than a 15-inch CRT - a sight for sore eyes.

The all-in-one polycarbonate plastic design means there aren't a lot of extra cords, which makes setup simpler. There is also a 'Tilt and Swivel' stand designed by Apple and sold separately as an optional accessory, which allows users to tilt the system from -5 to +15 degrees up and down, and allows for 360-degree swiveling.

Built-in to the new eMac are two FireWire ports, five USB ports (three on the unit and two on the keyboard), a 10/100BASE-T Ethernet port, stereo speakers and an audio line in jack. And all of this in one compact computer that's smaller than most stand-alone PC displays!

The eMacs also come bundled with the iLife software application suite, which includes iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie and iDVD (on the SuperDrive-equipped model only).

Hopefully, Apple got it right this time.

See the new Emacs here...

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Lighter than 2 CDs!
Able to download music at blazing speeds!!
Fits comfortably in the palm of your hand!!!

Is it a bird?
Is it a plane??

No! It's the new iPod from Apple.

Once again Apple has upped the ante on what many consider to be the finest digital portable music device to date. The new iPods, now available for Mac and Windows, are now available in three lighter and thinner models weighing in at 5.6 ounces and just over half an inch thick. The new configurations feature drive sizes of 10GB, 15GB or 30GB each. The iPod features easy one-handed operation, hassle-free functionality, backlit LCD screen and buttons for low-light visibility and stunning, well-considered design that places it far ahead of the curve as well as the competition. Coupled with the iTunes Music Store (featured earlier in this newsletter) the iPod represents a new way to preview, buy and download music.

A new feature of the 15GB and 30GB models is a dock that handles charging and synchronization with the desktop via FireWire or USB 2.0 and an audio line out for connecting to powered speakers or a stereo system. In addition to support for the most popular audio formats - MP3, MP3 Variable Bit Rate (VBR) and WAV - the iPod is the only portable digital music player that supports the AAC format (Mac-only, of course), which features CD-quality audio in smaller file sizes than MP3, so that even more songs fit on your iPod.

As if being able to fit your entire music collection in your pocket was not enough (at least for most of us), the iPod now lets you maintain your contacts, calendar and to-do lists, and play Solitaire, Brick and Parachute (you can even use your own music as the soundtrack while playing a game). This is in addition to an included notes reader that lets you download text-based information and read it on the screen, a sleep timer so you can fall asleep to your music, and an alarm clock, which lets you choose to wake up to either an alarm tone or your favorite music.

Neat, huh?

Like to know more? Check out the new iPods here...

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