M8-2 News Blog

Apple today announced that in less than 48 hours since its launch on Wednesday, more than one million users have joined Ping, its new social network for music. Ping lets users follow their favorite artists and friends to discover what music they’re talking about, listening to, and downloading. “One-third of the people who have downloaded iTunes 10 have joined Ping,“ said Eddy Cue, Apple’s vice president of Internet Services. “As many more people download iTunes 10 in the coming weeks, we expect the Ping community to continue growing.“

Computerworld reviewer Michael deAgonia writes that for “the past month, the latest 27-inch iMac from Apple has been the center of my digital universe.” Citing the computer’s high-resolution LED-backlit display, clean design, and speed, deAgonia concludes: “The iMac is pretty much everything I could want from a modern computer, the ultimate all-in-one.”

FileMaker, Inc. announced the Bento 3 Project Manager, a brand new set of templates designed to make it easy for Mac users to track their personal projects and manage their time within one integrated, intuitive place. The Bento 3 Project Manager includes a free 30-day trial of the popular Bento 3 personal database for Mac, plus two professionally designed, ready-to-use templates.

Apple today announced the new iPod touch, packed with incredible new features including Apple’s stunning Retina display, FaceTime video calling, HD video recording, Apple’s A4 chip, 3-axis gyro, iOS 4.1, and Game Center — all combined in the thinnest and lightest iPod touch ever. The new iPod touch features up to 40 hours of music playback and seven hours of video playback on a single battery charge.

iPod nano has been completely redesigned with Multi-Touch, which lets you navigate your music collection by simply tapping or swiping a finger on the display. Nearly half the size and weight of the previous generation, the new iPod nano features a polished aluminum and glass enclosure with a built-in clip, making it instantly wearable.

The redesigned iPod shuffle features both clickable buttons and Apple’s innovative VoiceOver technology, enabling you to easily navigate your music and playlists without ever looking at your iPod shuffle. The wearable iPod shuffle has an all-aluminum enclosure with a built-in clip and comes in five brilliant colors — silver, blue, green, orange, and pink.

iTunes 10 features Ping, a new social network for music that lets you follow your favorite artists and friends to discover what music they’re talking about, listening to, and downloading. With Ping you can post your thoughts and opinions, your favorite albums and songs, and the music you’ve downloaded from iTunes — plus view concert listings and tell your friends which concerts you plan to attend.

The new Apple TV offers the simplest way to watch your favorite HD movies and TV shows on your HD TV for the breakthrough price of just $99. With Apple TV, you can choose from the largest online selection of HD movies to rent, including first-run movies for just $4.99, and the largest online selection of HD TV show episodes to rent — from ABC, ABC Family, Fox, Disney Channel, and BBC America — for just 99 cents.

Computer Shopper makes the quad-core Mac Pro an Editors’ Choice, citing its speedy performance, easy upgradability, and new lower price. The reviewers write: “Creative professionals who need a machine with both muscle and good looks, and Mac fans who love to game, will find a lot to like in the new Mac Pro.”

In just over three years, iTunes U downloads have topped 300 million — making it one of the world’s most popular online educational catalogs. A dedicated area within the iTunes Store, iTunes U offers users public access to university courses, lab demonstrations, special lectures, and more from world class institutions such as Harvard, MIT, Cambridge, Oxford, University of Melbourne, and Université de Montréal.

JM Family — an $8 billion diversified automotive company and the largest Toyota distributor on the planet — has integrated iPhone and business apps available in the App Store into all of their daily operations. The company has also created a custom app that enables their sales organization to quickly track, review, and update dealership numbers.

The Los Angeles Times reports that Apple’s iAd mobile advertising platform is “getting favorable reviews from the companies whose advertisements were the first to run on the new system.” The article quotes Joe Jacoby, a senior manager of Nissan’s media operations, who says, “What iAd promises is the most progressive thing I’ve seen to date” in digital advertising.

PC Magazine makes the new quad-core 27-inch iMac an Editors’ Choice, calling it “a highly sophisticated, yet simple to use media PC.” The magazine found the new iMac to be faster than other all-in-one models they’ve recently tested and concludes that it “cements the Apple iMac as the all-in-one desktop to have and to beat.”

Editor Bradley Buecker describes how he cut his first feature film, Eat Pray Love, using Final Cut Pro. To edit more than 70 hours of footage shot on location in New York, Italy, India, and Indonesia, Buecker found a fast, efficient editing format in ProRes 422 (Proxy), introduced in Final Cut Pro 7.