Yes that’s right, the iPod Touch.

But I can all ready hear it, ‘it’s to small’ and ‘where is the os’. Let’s just take a look at what a Tablet PC really it. It’s a portable computer with a Touch Screen. And that’s what the iPod Touch is.

Sure, it doesn’t have a full operating system but really, in a device that small, could you use Windows? While the operating system could do with some tweeks, such as an open application environment, it is still a great OS. Just take a look at the App Store.
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Now its time to bring on some predictions for the Apple range of products for 2009.

I’m once again not going to do a MacWorld list but a year wide list. But this time, we’ll take a look at each product, and possible rumored new products.

iMac
One of two things will happen in 09 for the iMac. We will either see a spec bump, or a redesign. A redesign would see the ‘fat trimmed’ from below the screen and you’ll just have one “gorgeous” display. We may even have two models, an iMac slim, miniaturizing technologies similar to the MacBook air, and a standard iMac with the same thickness as the current unit retaining more powerful processors.

MacMini
The little brother may have several thing occur around this segment. The Mini may be discontinued with a price drop in the iMac range, a spec bump upgrading CPU and RAM to faster chipsets. The third could see the existing housing replaced with a MacAir, a slimlined unit designed to fit above the AppleTV by being a full computer without the Optical Drive, which would be available as an addon that would sit flush below the unit.
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Just got my new iPhone 3G. Writing a test post however the visual editor doesn’t work with the iPhone. I’ll have to use plain text in HTML mode until I can find a solution. I wonder if the iPhone plugin helps with this or does it only present the blog by changing the theme? One thing I can say is typing into the post box in horizontal orientation is difficult to read as the text is to small.

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From Rankin Tech Blog

Has anybody noticed lately that Dell seams to be moving more towards the Beverage market?

When I first checked out the Inspiron Mini-9, I really wanted to give the cup a bit of a tap. Then when the S2409W monitor was released, that circle carving in the stand just screams “Cup Holder”.

From Rankin Tech Blog

Telstra has announced prepaid wireless broadband, but you wouldn’t want to actually use it. The rate are ridiculously high, 1 GB costing $80 on the $60 recharge, compared with only $20 for Optus.

While Optus was recently voted as having one of the worst 3G services in the world by its customers, this is no excuse at all for Telstra to charge these types of prices, though there is one good price to be had, with $80 buying you 3.5 GB of data, which is $10 cheaper then the $89.95 post paid price for 3 GB. Guess who’s stuck paying a higher price >:-( . If this isn’t changed soon there will be a lot of annoyed customers, and i’ll be one of them.

Though on a good note, the website informs us that a $30 recharge could:

• Do 15 Google searches,
• Check your email 11 times and
• Visit Myspace 8 times

Wow, the internet has never been so amazing. Yet I can do all this on my mobile phone, still have 100 MB left and it only costs me $10 for 150 MB!

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Apple today announced a new line up of iPod’s just in time for Christmas.

The iPod Nano has a new curved casing, upgraded interface and a range of colours greater then the average woman’s lipstick collection. The new sizes are 8GB (US$149/AU$199) and 16GB (US$199/AU$279).

The iPod Touch has been put on a diet, and includes almost all the features of the iPhone, except the phone and GPS. The sizes are the same but now with lower prices (US$229/299/399, AU$329/419/549)

The Classic has lost some of it’s capacity and now only comes in 120 GB for US$249/AU$339

And the little brother, the Shuffle, has had a makeover now in more vibrant green, blue and purple as well as silver and Product RED. They are the same price but I really do think Apple missed an opportunity to change the contours of the Shuffle to match the new Nano.

iPhone 2.1 software has also been announced, with major bug fixed promised sometime this weekend.

Apple has also released iTunes 8 which includes a new Genius feature to help recommend songs.

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New Vodafone Business Caps

Vodafone Australia has just updated it’s mobile business caps to charge by the minute, and no longer offers credit caps.

In a move which may irate some users, the move to US and overseas style ‘minute’ based plans might make those who use their phones only for calls happy,but those who use mobiles for virtually any other purpose in their business will face a large increase in their bills.

While the new plans includes a “moderate” amount of text messages, these are simple not enough and there seams to be no way to ’swap’ minutes for texts or any other purpose. Some may even question the true value of ‘minutes’, considering that most peoples mobile calls to the office are only a few seconds and the calls are charged ‘per 30 seconds or part thereof’ with no connection fee.

True value in minute based plans only occur when calls are charged per second, expecially in the business world where every dollar, or in this case minute, is worth all you can get from it.

The iPhone business plans have also been upgraded with minutes, and while included data remains the same, the addictive use of text on devices like the iPhone will see many more complaints unless the above mentioned ‘minutes exchange’ can be implemented.

From Rankin Tech Blog

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For those who have tried Firefox ove the past year or so, or those who have had enough of the bad performance of Firefox 2 and Internet Explorer can rejoice now that Firefox 3 has been released.

The new version includes an interface enhancement and numerous updates that make running Firefox faster and easier.

You can download Firefox by either clicking the link on the right column of the page or by going to getfirefox.com

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I have it on good word that the iPhone will be launched in Australia “around the same time” when the Apple Store at George Street in Sydney opens.

I attended a presentation recently and this, along with iTunes U coming to Australia in 2008, are certainties.

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I’ve started a new blog at unilife.rankincentral.net. I’m going to university and have created the blog to communicate my experiences while I study.

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