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June 29, 2005

Apple: Photos All Around!

With a major rearrangement to its iPod lineup, Apple Computer has announced that it will now be including color screens in all of its standard, white iPods. The company is planning to merge both the iPod and iPod photo lines into a single, unified series of products with photo viewing and slideshow functionality standard.

This new series will incorporate a 20GB model with room for up to 5,000 songs for $299, and a 60GB model that will hold 15,000 songs for $399. In addition, Apple is adding extra podcast-handling functionality for iPods, including the ability to easily create bookmarks within a show. Apple has also not forgotten about the iPod shuffle and iPod U2 Special Edition, lowering the shuffle's price to $129 and the U2 Special Edition's price to $329 in addition to giving it a color screen.

The new iPods will be available in Apple Stores as well as from store.apple.com, and will include the latest iPod software update which provides them with the enhanced podcast functionality. For users of older iPod models, this functionality is also available by downloading the update through OS X Software Update, or manually from Apple's website.

Posted by Alan Joyce at 07:10 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Google's New Google Earth

Google today launched its new Google Earth service, which allows free access to maps of 3D buildings and terrain as well as satellite imagery, all wrapped into one program based on Google's Keyhole. The new service currently only works on Windows machines, but Google is promising Mac support as soon as possible.

Some notable capabilities of the new feature include the ability to use an integrated version of Google Local search to find businesses and attractions, dynamic videos of driving directions, and an easy, collaborative method for users to share annotations.

The new service is available at earth.google.com and although the base package is free, Google also offers Plus and Pro editions for $20 and $400 a year respectively.

Posted by Alan Joyce at 12:20 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack