iTunes 8.1 – ‘iTunes DJ’ iPod touch and iPhone integration

12 03 2009

iPhone remote to iTunes 8.1 DJI just upgraded to the latest version of iTunes (version 8.1) and I can’t really comment on whether it’s any faster as it wasn’t that slow for me in the first place.

Supposedly it improves the speed for people with large libraries (I have around 2500 songs, I think.)

Anywho…. onto the new feature with this version – Party Shuffle has been renamed to iTunes DJ and it seems more useful. Especially if you know people with iPhones or iPod touches.

Here’s why:

The already brilliant Remote application for the iPod / iPhone has been upgraded so that guests and regular (enrolled users) can request songs and therefore change the playlist that is currently playing.

Think of it as a jukebox — people with iPhones or touches can request a song, or simply touch the heart symbol next to a song already on the playlist, indicating that they are voting for that song…

A song with 3 votes will be played before 2, for example. And songs are automatically selected if none are voted for (from a playlist you select or your whole library).

Enrolled users i.e. your iPhone / iPod can edit and rearrange the playlist completely — just as with any other playlist or if you were at your computer doing it, but guests can only suggest songs and vote, they can’t change which speakers it’s playing out (with Airport Express(es) / Apple TV) or change the volume.

iPhone remote - DJ genius suggestions.

Genius recommended songs based on a DJ song.

As a guest there is one feature that seems unavailable to the enrolled users – You can touch the ‘i’ arrow in the top right and be shown songs that are similar based on iTunes Genius which you can then vote for, if you should so wish. Click the picture on the left to see.

It’s pretty cool. Especially when your music is playing out through multiple speakers using Airport Expresses.

I can’t say I’ve noticed anything else that is different, though genius now works for movies and tv shows, apparently.

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Categories : Apple

Is the iPod Classic dead?

10 09 2008

Yes, I know it’s just been ‘updated’ along with the iPod nano & touch. But you can’t surely say that that was an upgrade?

It’s exactly the same! WITH LESS SPACE.

Prior to today you could buy an 80GB or a 160GB iPod Classic in black or white. Now, it’s 120GB (in black or white) or nothing.

And it’s no different; the nano got all the newness: the new software, the accellerometer, the new design….

The software on the iPod Classic seems to be exactly the same as the previous one; it doesn’t even appear to have been given Genius like the touch, nano & iPhone. Admittedly, it could be added later with a software upgrade but it seems weird that they didn’t want it as a launch feature.

Jobs admitted that the iPod Classic is the one that started off the iPod range and that in itself probably means it is here to stay, but perhaps it is not the highest priority because the other models sell more?

Only time will tell whether the iPod classic will stick around; the only selling point that I think it has at the moment is the larger storage space (I’m sure many have more than 32GB of music or want to use it as portable storage) and the fact that it is by far the cheapest per GB.

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EDIT: According to this, the iPod classic will “eventually get an update to enable Genius playlists”


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Categories : Apple

iPhone 3G – The drop test

5 09 2008

Wasn’t something I was intending to do but I have now dropped my 3G iPhone and it still works! Yay.

Dropped it from the height of around 1 metre whilst *slightly ;) * drunk.

To be honest I was surprised that the screen didn’t smash; all it has done is made a couple of marks on the bottom where it landed on the pavement. Not a big deal, by any means.

My best attempt at photographing the damage is shown to the right ->

Just out of interest though, I looked to see how much a new back would be; without spending too much time on it, the cheapest I found was £40 (about $80) which I think is a bloody rip off!

Also, some of the components are housed inside the back part so ultimately, it really isn’t worth the bother.

My iPhone lives to fight another day!

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Categories : Apple, Computers

iPhone to iPhone 3G – Was it worth it?

25 08 2008

iPhone vs iPhone 3G

So, I, like many others have had my iPhone 3G for about a month and a half now….. I think that’s long enough to decide whether the upgrade was worthwhile – was it worth the money? oh no, that isn’t a valid point for me; I’m £100 up from the upgrade to 3G :)

Let’s see now; there’s only really 2 major differences between the original and the 3G: the latter has a 3G modem (go figure) and a GPS receiver. Of course, firmware 2.0 brings 3rd party application support through the excellent App Store; I’m not going to count that though, since that upgrade is offered for the iPod Touch and original iPhone.

The design has changed a little – the back is now made of plastic rather than that MacBook Pro style aluminium; it’s offered in two colours: black and white (16GB only) and the back is curved (so it tapers out from the sides) rather than being flat. Overall, these design changes make it feel and look better than the original, as usual with Apple.

3G - two colours available

3G - two colours available

So principally, the new model should offer faster internet access and the ability to locate you more accurately. The question is, does it?

First, I feel I have to explain that my experience with the original iPhone was ummm average – I loved it… but almost everywhere I spent time there was no Edge coverage, only GPRS; I very rarely saw Edge. So, to be frank it was very very slow. Something upon which I blame O2 for.

Almost everywhere I spend time with my iPhone 3G has very good 3G coverage and it’s pleasantly fast. I can’t be sure that it is as fast as it should be (and I don’t really care for the most part) because it is so very much faster than GPRS.

I see people complaining about how they thought the speed increase would be much bigger; those people went from Edge to 3G rather than GPRS to 3G like I experienced – I’m happy with the speed increase it yielded.

Though, with the amount of complaints I’ve seen on the internet about it not being as fast as it should be; it probably could, and should be faster than it is.

Overall though, I’ve been very fortunate; I’m yet to experience a dropped call, I’m satisfied with the speed and in other ways, it’s the same as the original – brillant!

Pro’s:

  • Faster data access
  • GPS
  • 3rd party applications (not really a pro for 3G, but 2.0)
  • Looks & feels better

Con’s

  • Compatible with less accessories; chargers, speaker docks….
  • Laggy response in some applications (mainly down to 2.0 as it is the same on the iPod & original iPhone & should be fixed by future software updates)
  • Same old camera – still a 2 mega pixel model from 2005; without the autofocus! It’s adequate, but disappointing for 2008.

To conclude, I think the upgrade to 3G was definately worth the -£100 I spent on it. Ahh, scratch that….. I made £100 out of the upgrade and I got a much better phone for it -  It was definately worth it!

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    Categories : Apple

    iPhone 2.1 Jailbreak – now worthwhile

    22 08 2008

    …. At least, I think it’s worthwhile – there are a lot more applications available now compared with when the first jailbreak was available & Installer is available (though it’s a beta version and the majority of good applications are currently in Cydia)

    )

    I haz Installer, App Store & Cydia :)

    What sold it for me is that there are now ways to theme your iPhone / iPod Touch like SMBPrefs offered in the past.

    There are two theming apps that work, one which many jailbreaker’s will be familiar with: customize and the other; Winterboard.

    Customize is definately the more fully featured of the two offering the ability to theme the home screen as well as change sounds, message text throughout the software and much much more.

    Also, MobileTerminal works pretty well; just as well as it did in 1.1.4 as far as I can tell and it comes in really handy if you know what to do with it. ;) Command-line FTW!

    Just get Touchpad Pro & VNSea working and I’ll be content.

    /


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    Categories : Apple, Computers

    WordPress for iPhone

    22 07 2008

    Preliminary thoughts on the WordPress iPhone client:
    photo
    It’s ok.

    A way to view blog stats would be nice since the graph doesn’t show up in Safari.
    You should be able to see / moderate comments in it.
    Landscape mode is a must for the next version – the keys are much bigger that way.
    Some more formatting options e.g. being able to bullit point this list!
    Having the ability to search for images on the web from within the app would be more convenient.
    And, as far as I can see, you can only add pictures to the bottom of posts *goes to computer to move* :(

    /

    And yes, I could probably have found a more suitable picture for this post but I searched wordpress and found a Halo-WordPress logo which looks cool! — I wonder why it was made?


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    Bungie can[not] haz iPhone

    11 07 2008

    Just been linked to the Bungie webcam page by Clarkson and with today being the release day for the iPhone 3G, Bungie applied their sense of humour to things:

    Bungie iPhone

    I on the other hand cannot has iPhone until next week :(

    I love Bungie…… Hopefully we’ll see something out of them at E3 this Monday.
    /

    Having just been linked to it again [you think I would look for myself, eh? :p], it seems that the Bungie employee(s) who wanted an iPhone couldn’t have one, just like me :(

    iPhone sold out before Mr Hand could haz - FAIL

    iPhone sold out before Mr Hand could haz - FAIL


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    Very badly handled, O2……

    7 07 2008

    So, I woke at about 11 o’ clock this morning to find a text on my phone from O2 telling me that the iPhone pre-ordering process began at 8am this morning! Seems like good news, right?

    Wrong. Very very wrong….. Of course, I went straight to the site [o2.co.uk/iPhone] and, at that time I was presented with a maintenance page saying that the store was currently down and to try again later. Great start, this.

    A few refreshes later and I’m presented with a rather comprehensive form asking for my phone number, account number, dob, address, head size, card information, inside leg measurements, which tariff I wanted, which phone I wanted [not to mention that the white 16GB isn't available, not that I wanted it; but of course, others do].

    Having filled in the form, I submitted it and let out a small sigh of relief before being presented with a message telling me “An error has occurred. We apologize for the inconvenience, please try again”

    GRRRR

    After many failed attempts at filling in that form and also being presented with an unnecessarily-fancy AJAX page at random which took my phone number and sent me a code by text that I had to put into the next box that never bloody appeared…. I got a message thanking me for my order and that said something along the lines of “we’ll contact you if any of the information you provided was incorrect”….. No confirmation text or email…. no confirmation number. All very reassuring.

    So, here I am – not really sure whether my order form really got where it was meant to and eagerly awaiting Thursday for either the text telling me my phone has been dispatched or further information on the iPhone which, as of about 1:30 is out of stock for ordering online. *sigh*

    /

    Edit: Thursday – 8 PM — Got a couple of emails yesterday evening telling me my order was being processed but it didn’t ship today. Then got called at about 6 PM tonight  with a guy saying we’re out of stock for release day, but you are guaranteed one by the 18th.

    I think I’m off to an O2 store in the morning to see if I can nab one… if not, I’ll just wait till next week.


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    A new iTunes version coming soon…..

    9 06 2008

    The requirements for the iPhone 3G list iTunes 7.7 as a requirement.

    I sincerely hope that it is a release that provides some fixes rather than just an upgrade to support the new phone.

    For as long as I can remember now, iTunes hasn’t closed properly and I have to kill it’s process from task manager. And as of a couple of days ago, it won’t start up at all! I really need to get onto fixing that….. or rather, Apple do; Lots of people experience this problem when using the iPhone / iPod touch apparently….

    /

    Edit: have now fixed iTunes *touches wood* well, at least it opens; for the last two attempts it has closed properly too! I hope it continues. Was something to do with Symantec i.e. Norton’s LiveUpdate service (which I had disabled)…. Will have to investigate that link when I can.


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    Good luck, smartphones. The better, cheaper iPhone lands July 11th with 3G & GPS…

    9 06 2008

    Apple finally revealed the iPhone 3g!

    Software is the same but it has

    • 3G Data Speeds
    • GPS (which also combines cell-tower and WiFi positioning from before)
    • Awesome battery life (see pic below)
    • A very good price

    I think the phone market just got dominated.

    More details to follow.


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