Could This be the Next iPhone?

Picture from MacRumors.com

There are photos circulating that are supposedly the next iPhone. If the photos are real, then it would certainly be an improvement upon the current model's casing. I like the shiny black just fine, but a matte black with a little bit of grip to it would be a great idea. Also, bringing back the metal casing on the back instead of the plastic one that we have now would make the iPhone feel much more sturdy which is definitely something I liked about the original iPhone. We will have to wait and see of course if these are in fact real photos, but for now we can speculate and try and figure out what kind of casing we would like the best. The next iPhones are likely to come out around the middle of the year since this is when Apple has stated as the normal life cycle of the iPhone. Above is the picture compliments of MacRumors.com

UPDATE - it turns out that this is in fact not the new iPhone case, but it was either a consideration by Apple or a way to identify a leak in there staff. In either case it would have been very nice for the new iPhone to have a matte finish, but hopefully they consider it for the next one.

Flash for iPhone Coming?

There have recently been talks about Adobe bringing flash to the iPhone, but it has been almost two years since the original iPhone came out so does it really matter anymore.  Apple has been working on doing more than just fit the mold of every other company out there and has actually tried to make things the way they want them.  Flash is a great example of this.  Apple decided not to encourage Adobe to create flash for the iPhone in hopes that Apple can help push the internet to work better with the iPhone and possibly create a new platform that could make Flash obsolete.  This is an incredibly bold move that hopefully in the long run will make it possible for iPhones to have rich internet experiences, but for now it seems like it is hindering the internet experience.  Now that the iPhone is so popular it gives Apple more leverage to push for internet reform, but will it be enough to actually make any sort of dint in the out of date internet?  We will have to wait and see.

Update: Adobe has officially stated that Apple has not allowed them to make flash for iPhone.  This is sad for all of us wanting a full internet experience now.  I admit that flash is out of date and far to processor intensive, but it is still the king for delivering rich internet experiences.  Maybe some day Apple will allow Adobe to bring flash to the iPhone, but until then we can only hope that more people make mobile versions of their site that do not require flash for them to be used.

New MacBooks and MacBook Pros Announced

The event today proved to be quite an exciting event for fans of Apple notebooks. The MacBooks and MacBook Pros got plenty of revamps and they look stunning. You should definitely check out the Apple webpage to get the nitty gritty specs, but here are a few of the things that were rumors and I love that they turned out the way they did:

- The trackpad is glass and doesn't have a button; instead it is a button itself and it is bigger and allows for much more multitouch support
- The NVIDIA graphics cards are confirmed so the graphics are going to be a lot better on the new MacBooks and especially the MacBook Pros which incorporate not only one graphics card, but two so that it can use one for lower power consumption and one for better performance.
- The screen are all LED and this means less power consumption and thinner brighter screens.
- The ports are all on one side and the disc drive is on one side so plugging cords in only mean manuevering the notebook to one side and the DVD will eject more easily if the notebook is in my lap



There are plenty of other great features that I have not mentioned here just because of course it will be better explained at Apple and with more pictures and videos; get it from the source if you really want to know everything there is to know. Now there is one great thing and one bad thing about the notebooks. The bad thing is that they appear to only include DVD drives and not blu-ray support; bummer, I was really looking for the blu-ray. The great news is that these puppies are available tomorrow, so check em out and order it now.

New MacBook and MacBook Pros Coming Soon

I always get excited about new Apple products coming out and new notebooks are long overdue in my opinion.  I love my MacBook Pro and I got it when they first came out (yes I am one of those crazy people).  Sometimes you just have to have it I guess.  That exciting time for new notebooks has finally come again though.  Apple will announce the new MacBook and MacBook Pro models on Tuesday the 14th and will likely explain all of the new exciting features.  I have been checking out the rumors and general rumors and photos indicate a few things about the new laptops:

 - There is going to be an aluminum version of the MacBook now and not just the Pro

 - The new notebooks will be using a dedicated NVIDIA graphics cards to provide higher quality graphics 

 - The larger trackpads that are included on the MacBook Air are going to be on the new MacBooks and MacBook Pros

There are other rumors surfacing about possible LCD HDTVs made by Apple that would include the Apple TV functionality right out of the box.  I am not so sure about the HDTVs, but most of the notebook stuff seems to be feasible.  the other thing is the possible inclusion of Blu-ray drives in the notebooks rather than the DVD drives included now.  We will have to see on Tuesday how it pans out.  In  the mean time take a look at these pictures at Mac Rumors; they should wet your appetite for the new all aluminum notebooks. 

iPhone 3G New 2.1 Software Update

After the "Let's Rock" special Apple announcement, we have found out that Apple is going to release a new software update for the iPhone 3G. This new software, 2.1, is supposed to be the answer to all of our 3G problems and battery life complaints. Although I find it hard to believe that Apple can really do much about AT&T's poor 3G network, it will be interesting to see if anything gets better. The other promise is the battery life being significantly improved. Well, that seems like a hard thing to do unless they are really getting those push updates and such working. Hopefully it will really work and end up improving the iPhone 3G's battery life. Only time will tell. Actually, we will know these answers shortly after Friday as that is when the new update is being released.

In light of this update, I will take a few days and see what improvements are in store before I continue the full review of the iPhone 3G.