Simply Mac Blog

Archive for September, 2010

Sep 201007

The new iTunes: love it or hate it?

by admin

At this point, we’ve all had a little time to take the new iTunes out for a spin and see what this Ping business is all about. So now that we’ve all played around with it, what’s the verdict? Love it or hate it?

Vertical Buttons
The first thing I noticed was the vertical buttons. Kind of odd, but I don’t know that it’s making me feel violent feelings one way or another. And hey, if you hate it, you can always switch it back to horizontal with a little terminal trickery.

Mono Sidebar
The second thing I noticed was the monochrome gray madness in the sidebar. Initially awful, but it’s growing on me I guess. Although it’s not as easy to find things. But if you’re a hater of the monochrome, never fear—there are hacks for that, too.

New Logo
Deciding that a CD was a little outdated, Apple gave the logo a little facelift, but it seems a little lackluster to me. Not that this is that important, but still interesting.

Ping
I haven’t played around too much with this yet, but my first thought is does the world really need more social networking? But then I signed on and saw that Ping recommended I follow 50 Cent, Lloyd Banks, and Keith Urban, and I realized, hey—Ping really knows me. Sarcasm duly noted.

Well there’s my thoughts thus far, but I want to know what you think. Do you like the new design? What about the logo? And do you think Ping will catch on? Or will it fizzle?

What do you think about the new iTunes?

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filed under: Apple News
Sep 201003

It’s Friday…GIVEAWAY FRIDAY!

by admin

We’re just a few hours away from a glorious long weekend, and what better way to celebrate than a giveaway?

Today we’ve got 8 tickets to the Nascar Camping World Truck Series 350 race at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway on September 25. Yes! Vegas, fast cars, and free tickets. What more could you possibly want? Since the race is in Vegas, this might be more for our St. George customers, but hey, if you’re up for a road trip to Vegas, you’re completely more than welcome to enter to win.

So here’s how it’s going to go down. We’ve got two questions below, and the first person to correctly answer either will get four of the eight tickets. You can only answer one question, don’t bother trying to win both sets! Also, make sure you remember to put in your current email address when you comment so we can reach you if you win!

Question #1:

Before co-founding Apple, Steve Jobs worked for which company?

Question #2:

Besides Apple, Steve Jobs has been the CEO of company (name one)?

Note: It will probably be easier if you mark which question you’re answering in your comment!

comments4
filed under: Contests & Giveaways
Sep 201002

iOS App Spotlight: Urbanspoon

by admin

I hate to admit it, but I’m a creature of habit. Whenever the topic of “where should we go to dinner?” comes up, I usually suggest the same 4 restaurants I’ve been going to for years. I can’t help it if the curry at Noodles & Co. is amazing and never fails to please, alright? But for those of you who crave an adventurous whim in your restaurant repertoire, there’s the Urbanspoon app.

Urbanspoon is a slick little app that allows you to search for local restaurants. Sounds pretty basic, but it gets better. The app has a slot-machine-esque interface that allows you to search for restaurants by location, type of food, and pricing. If you’re looking for something specific, you can lock that category down and shake your phone to find restaurants that meet your specifications. But if you’re feeling lucky, you can just shake your phone and get a wildcard idea for your night on the town.

Besides the searching capability, you can also read all kinds of user reviews that usually have pictures of the atmosphere and entrees. I find these the most helpful since I generally subscribe to the “gotta see it to believe it” school of thought.

The best part about Urbanspoon? It’s free! Check it out and shake up your routine a little bit. You might just find your new favorite dinner spot.

comments4
filed under: App Spotlights
Sep 201002

Random Giveaway Round 2

by Matt Midgley

Simply Mac Prize BagIf the only thing better than free stuff is free Simply Mac stuff, then Ed, who posted a comment on one of the blog posts about the St George Grand Opening, should be very excited. He’s a winner! (Check your email, Ed)

—-

Interested to know how you can win? Simple, really: reading and interacting on our blog! You see, we really want this blog to be a Simply Mac community sort of thing. We already know our opinions and thoughts on the things we’re posting; we want to hear from you! As such, we’ll continue to randomly select readers winners from amongst the comments (on any and all blog posts)!

(Please note that winners will be contacted via the email address used when commenting.)

comments10
filed under: Contests & Giveaways
Sep 201001

New iPods, iOS 4.1, iTunes, Apple TV, and more! Woah!

by admin

Wow. That music event was quite the ringer. So many new products and features were just announced, and I’m reeling with excitement up in here.

In case you missed the event, here’s a little rundown.

Brand new iPod line

We’re talking all new here, people. The shuffle is going back to the square design with buttons, and they’re only offering a 2GB model. The iPod nano got a HUGE overhaul with a tiny new square design, and YES! A touch screen! Outlandishly cool and still coming in 8GB and 16GB models. And last but not least, the iPod Touch got retina display and—just like we were all hoping for—front and back cameras with FaceTime! It’s sporting a new, thinner design.

iOS 4.1

The new iOS is going to be pretty darn sweet if you ask me. All the bugs of the current iOS are going to be worked out and there’s going to be a super cool new game center for all you gamers out there, TV show rental, and HD video upload capability. My favorite new feature, though, is HDR photos. Are you kidding me?! That’s going to be amazing.

iTunes 10 with Ping

They’ve cleaned up iTunes a bit and added a new social networking feature called Ping where you can follow all of your friends and favorite artists and keep up to date with what they’re listening to, what they’re doing, and what concerts they’re going to.

Apple TV

The Apple TV also got a huge overhaul. It’s now a tiny little black box that fits right in your hand, and everything streams wirelessly. No syncing required! You can rent HD movies for $4.99 and stream all of your photos and videos wirelessly to your TV.

So much cool new stuff to get excited about for the upcoming holiday season. What new product are you most excited about? Let us know!

What new product/feature are you the most excited about?

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filed under: Apple News
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