Turns out that those rumors about a completely redesigned and re-engineered Nano were true: The short-and-stout Nano has an intriguing new look, and is pleasingly lightweight and compact to hold in the hand. has an intriguing look, it doesn’t strike me as being a revolutionary, market-changing product.

• Form and Function: I’m thrilled by the lighter weight and how the device fits perfectly in my small hand. Still, I’m not convinced I’d want to watch a two-and-a-half hour movie on it–even if the 2-inch, 320-by-240 resolution display is the same size as that on the iPod Classic carries.
• Broader Capabilities: The Nano’s alterations include adding support for both video playback and casual games (three games come with the unit; more will be available via the iTunes Store). and a lower price ($149 for the 4GB model, and $199 for the 8GB model).
• Evolution, not Revolution: All of its innovations aside, the new Nano somehow doesn’t strike me as being a revolutionary, market-changing product. The previous, petite Namo is already the most popular iPod Apple makes; these new features and competitive prices will only enhance its appeal. I’ve seen other compact multimedia devices, though none quite so small or thin as the new Nano. But truly, size is just part of the equation: The bigger hook with the Nano is simply that it’s an iPod variation on the concept.

Most of the time, it’s pretty simple to get movies, TV shows or podcast content onto your iPhone or iPod touch for viewing at a convenient time — you can simply use iTunes to download it (for a suitable fee). Things get a bit more complicated when you want to watch a commercial DVD from your collection on one of these devices.

Fortunately, as we reported recently, there’s a great tool called HandBrake that accomplishes this task quite nicely and has just been updated to a fully-compatible, Leopard-only version. OK, but now that you have the software, how do you use it so you can watch that 300 DVD when you’re on the train to work tomorrow?

The folks at iPhone Atlas have taken care of that one for you; they’ve just posted an article that guides you step-by-step on how to take video from that purchased DVD and get it onto your iPhone or iPod touch. It’s a pretty simple and painless process that yields surprisingly good results — especially when watching something on the very nice, touchable screen of the iDevices.

Article Source TUAW The Unofficial Apple Weblog http://www.tuaw.com

Compare this against the backdrop of downloading a video at $1.99 at iTune, many people would be tempted to download at these iPod movie download sites. So one burning question is: Do these sites really exist? Or Are they really able to deliver you what they promised?

Apparently, several of these sites are the real deal. Of course there are some which are downright Kazaa, LimeWire style websites. These websites basically share files, and in most cases illegal or copyrighted media files. So be really careful before you start downloading movies from some of these iPod download sites.

I am going to share with you some tips to help you to sieve out the real deals from the scam. This hangs a lot on what people specifically customers are saying about their services. So what are the things you should be looking out for when shopping for a quality paid membership site, as you scour the iPod or music forums?

1. Interface of the iPod Movies Download Site

Is the interface easy to navigate around? It must be simple enough to operate even if you are a newbie. This often speaks volumes about the professionalism of the site.

2. Software Provided

What kind of software do they provide? Do they charge you for the usage? Expect to get downloading software for free from some of the better sites. They should not be charging you at all. Please also find out if the software is compatible with your computer and your iPod.

3. Security in downloading the iPod Movies

How secured is it to download the iPod movies to your PC or Mac? Would it expose our computers to viruses, spyware, adware, etc?

4. Customers’ Comments and Feedback

Customers will not lie about their experiences. Hear some of the honest comments given by the customers at iPod forums.

5. Excellent Customer Service Support

Imagine facing difficulties while downloading your favourite movie that you intend to watch during the weekend and cannot get the technical support you need? What you need is solid technical support that is there when you need it.

These are important tips to distinguish the real deals from the imitations. In my next article, I will be sharing about the inside scoop about top iPod movie download sites that iPod users have been talking about.

The content of this article is provided for the purpose of education and illustration only and is in no way associated with Apple, iTune, or any company or subsidiary of Apple. This article may be freely reprinted or distributed in its entirety in any ezine, newsletter, blog or website. The author’s name, bio and website links must remain intact and be included with every reproduction.

Davion is a successful webmaster and author. Find out how you can access to unlimited ipod movie downloads – full length DVD quality movies easily from home at ipodmoviedownloads.blogspot.com.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/

A class of year 8 students at Shepparton High School in central Victoria are the first in Australia and among the first in the world to use iPod touches in the classroom for a global “mobile learning” project.

The students use the hand-held media players to search the internet, download music, do quizzes, research and submit assignments and collaborate with a school in Singapore.

Preliminary research on the program found students were more willing to come to school, did more homework and used their iPods more than laptops or desktop computers.

Using an online learning program called Studywiz, students and teachers accessed school-wide emails and saved their homework to an “elocker”.

Pupils also used the iPods, which were lent by Apple, for science experiments – to see how many decibels they produce – and in history classes.

Louise Duncan, the teacher who set up the project, said the devices were cheaper than laptops and allowed students to tailor information and stay focused in class.

The project had also shown not all teenagers were comfortable in a digital environment. “We assume that 14-year-olds are really technologically savvy, but they’re often not,” she said.

Article Source at smh.com.au,The Sydney Morning Herald http://www.smh.com.au/

The version of the existing Broadcom chip that supplies WiFi and Bluetooth on existing models jumps from BCM4325 to BCM4329, according to resource files reserved for a third-generation iPod touch. The component upgrade adds new support for 802.11n features, including the ability to find and join 5GHz networks.

Existing iPhone and iPod touch models only support 5GHz 802.11a networks, or 2.4GHz 802.11b/g networks, forcing users who want the top speed of 802.11n (available on all MacBooks) but compatibility with 802.11b/g networks (to use the existing iPhone) to set up a 2.4GHz compatible network. That compromise forces the wireless network to deal with interference from other networks on the often crowded 2.4GHz band.

Apple’s latest generation of AirPort base stations added new hardware support for dual-band networks, allowing both fast and slow devices to connect to independent 5GHz and 2.4GHz signals at the same time. However, this isn’t possible with previous AirPort base station hardware, or when setting up an ad-hoc WiFi network from a notebook, for example.

Other features related to 802.11n include Space Time Block Coding (STBC), which sends the same data across multiple antennas for redundancy against radio interference; Short Guard Interval (SGI), which increases the data rate by squeezing out shorter padding intervals; A-MPDU, the aggregation of multiple MAC-level service data units; Block Ack, which increases efficiency by transmitting multiple data frames followed by only one acknowledgement frame in a transmission block; Greenfield mode, the increased efficiency gained by dropping 802.11a/b/g backward compatibility; and RIFS, reduced interframe spacing, which minimizes unused radio dead time by cutting the interval time between sent packets.

The new device also focuses on efficient power management, with a special integrated PMU (power management unit) and a shared Bluetooth and WiFi receive signal path, which “eliminates the need for an external power splitter while maintaining excellent sensitivity for both Bluetooth and WLAN.”

The new component should dramatically speed up WiFi throughput and flexibility as AT&T and other UMTS mobile providers also upgrade their 3G networks to take advantage of parallel improvements in mobile 3G speed capacity expected in the new iPhone.

Article Source at AppleInsider, http://appleinsider.com

The latest iPod reinvention expands the line from three models to four, priced from $79 to $399, with capacities ranging from one gigabyte (roughly 240 songs) to 160 gigabytes (up to 40,000 songs.) And that doesn’t count the iPhone, Apple’s much-hyped cellphone, which also includes a full-blown iPod.

I’ve been testing the newest member of the iPod family, the big-screen iPod Touch. It’s a close cousin to the iPhone that connects to the Internet via Wi-Fi wireless networking and replaces the famous iPod click wheel with a touch screen. It starts at $299, $100 less than the iPhone but with the same eight-gigabyte capacity. There’s also a 16-gigabyte iPod Touch for $399.

Like earlier iPods, the Touch is elegant and capable, and works smoothly with Apple’s free iTunes software for Windows and Macintosh PCs, as well as with its computer-based online iTunes Store, which sells far more downloaded songs and TV shows than any other legal outlet.

Not only that, but the Touch introduces a mobile version of the iTunes store. It’s called the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store, and it allows you to buy, right on the iPod, any of six million songs for the same price you’d pay on a computer. This portable store will soon be made available on the iPhone as well.

For all its beauty and functionality, the Touch has some quirks and downsides. It’s the first iPod model I’ve ever tested that fell significantly short, in my tests, of Apple’s battery-life claims. It’s also the first iPod that lacks any physical buttons for controlling music playback.

The Touch looks, at first glance, like an iPhone that can’t make phone calls. It’s a handsome, thin, black rectangle with a huge 3.5-inch screen — the same size and resolution as the iPhone’s gorgeous screen. But the Touch is even thinner, and a bit shorter.

Like the iPhone, the Touch has just one button on its face, a Home button, which takes you to the main menu, a series of beautiful square icons. And, like the iPhone, the Touch has an on/off button along the top edge. Most everything else is controlled by Apple’s new “multitouch” touch screen interface, which includes a virtual keyboard for text entry.

But unlike the iPhone, the Touch lacks volume-control buttons and a button on its earbuds for pausing or skipping songs. So you have to play, pause and skip songs by touching the screen. This is made easier by a feature the iPhone lacks (so far): If you double-click the home button, music controls appear on the screen, even if the screen is turned off. Still, you can’t control your Touch by touch when you’re listening to music with the device in your pocket or purse.

In my tests, music and video playback went perfectly, and so did viewing photos. The Wi-Fi functions, including the Web browser, a YouTube video viewer and the new mobile store, also worked perfectly.

The Touch is missing some Internet-oriented features from the iPhone that would work well over Wi-Fi. It lacks the iPhone’s email, mapping, stock tracking and weather programs. But its keyboard has a feature the iPhone lacks: As on a BlackBerry, you can insert a period by double-clicking the space bar.

Apple says the Touch was meant mainly to present typical iPod features, not to replicate the iPhone, and it included the Web browser only so users could get onto Wi-Fi to use the mobile music store in certain places that required a log-in screen.

But it seems ridiculous to me to sell a powerful device with Wi-Fi and a huge screen, and to leave out things like an email program, even though you can use Web-based email programs. I assume Apple was concerned that the less costly Touch might compete too much with the iPhone if it had these features. In fact, if somebody can jam a voice-over-Internet capability into the iPod Touch, it might be more of a threat to the iPhone, which is tethered to a single cellphone carrier, AT&T.

The company claims that the Touch can play music for up to 22 hours and video for up to five hours on a single battery charge, even with Wi-Fi turned on. But in my tests, using factory settings, music playback lasted just under 17 hours and video playback lasted just over four hours. Nearly every other iPod I’ve tested, including the new Nano, handily beat Apple’s battery claims.

Also, some early iPod Touch units have had defective screens, where images appeared too dark. Apple says this problem affected a small number of units and is being remedied. My two test units displayed beautiful images.

Despite these downsides, the Touch is a great media player, and the iPod remains the best end-to-end portable solution for playing and purchasing music and video.

Article Source at All Things Digital Web site, http://walt.allthingsd.com

Once you start searching for such download sites, it is important to remember that you will not be able to download and then start playing the movies on your iPod straight away. You will first need to download and install some special software which can actually let you convert the movies into a format that your iPod is able to handle.

Sad to say, some of the software companies will actually want you to part with your hard earned money in order to get a piece of such file conversion software. There are ways in which you can download and then convert movies that you can play on your iPod for free instead. Below here, we will take a look at what is needed in order to accomplish this.

Step 1 to Download iPod Movies Online

Firstly you will need to install the latest version of iTunes on to your PC, which is simple to do as you can go directly to the Apple website and get it. All you need to do is go to http://www.apple.com/itunes and then read up what the minimum system requirements are. Once you are done, you can start to download and install it onto your PC. The installation program has a comprehensive step by step guide that would walk you through the installation process.

Step 2 to Download iPod Movies Online

Now that you have iTunes installed on your PC you next need to transfer the movies files that you are wanting to download onto your iPod into the iTunes directory. That is assuming you already have in mind which are the ones you intend to download or have downloaded already. However if you have not downloaded any movies yet, then go to one of the more reputable movie sites and start downloading the movies you are looking for your iPod. After the download has been completed, you should find a new file created on your computer called .mov. All you need to do now is to drag the file and then drop it into the iTunes video library on your PC.

Step 3 to Download iPod Movies Online

Once you get into the video library, a thumbnail image will appear on the screen and if there is more than one movie in this library, you will see a thumbnail image for each movie. Now right click on the movie file of your choice and then a menu appears in front of you and next select the command which says “convert selection for iPod”.

Step 4 to Download iPod Movies Online

We are almost done here with the process to download movies for your iPod online and then converting them to ensure that the movie formats are compatible with your iPod. So far, if you have followed the instructions, it should be quite simple for you. Once the whole conversion is completed, you just need to connect your iPod to the computer and then do a direct transfer of the movies from your computer to your iPod.

That is it. All it takes is 4 simple steps to download movies for your iPod from the net. By now, you might be keen to know where you can download tons of iPod movies without having to pay through your nose. If that is the case, find out more from my iPod blog on where you are download iPod movies online instantly for pennies.

The content of this article is provided for the purpose of education and illustration only and is in no way associated with Apple, iTune, or any company or subsidiary of Apple. This article may be freely reprinted or distributed in its entirety in any ezine, newsletter, blog or website. The author’s name, bio and website links must remain intact and be included with every reproduction.

Davion is a self-confessed iPod lover. Find out how you can access to unlimited ipod downloads – digital quality music, full length DVD quality movies, TV shows and videos instantly. Also, read another of his popular article on where to find quality iPod movie downloads cheaply.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/