The latest super slick upgrade of the popular Apple Australia iTouch is certain to cause a real stir on the market with it’s latest features.

Design wise it is slightly thinner than the previous incarnation, and sports a smoothly contoured stainless steel design. The Apple iTouch now uses the same side controls to adjust the volume as featured on the iPhone, so you can adjust the volume without having to use the touchscreen.

The iPod Touch now features a built in speaker and a dramatically improved battery life, offering an amazing 36 hours of audio playback or 6 hours of video. The Touch also includes the built-in Nike + iPod support software, allowing sensors to communicate wirelessly with your iPod to track your time and distance.

Alongside these features sees the iPod Touch 2.1 software update that has numerous interface enhancements and the new Genius Playback feature, along with a plethora of new games. These games can be played using the ‘tilt and turn’ system that actually responds to your movements. It’s perfect for racing games, where the entire iTouch acts as a steering wheel!

On the whole, the Apple iTouch is a stunning amalgamation of modern design with cutting edge technology, and I for one can’t wait to get my hands on one…

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Apple Australia is proud to launch their next generation of personal music systems. Always at the cutting edge for design and style, the latest incarnations of iPods are sure to have customers purring across the globe.

The world’s most popular music player just got better…

The all new Nano is the thinnest iPod ever, featuring a sleek new curved design in nine vibrant colors. This tiny device is available in 8GB and 16GB models, and now features ‘Genius’ playlist technology, plus the ’shake and shuffle’ feature.

The new iTouch comes in an amazingly thin contoured metal design, with a gorgeous 3.5-inch widescreen glass display. It also features a built-in speaker for casual listening, Wi-Fi wireless networking, integrated volume control buttons, and multi touch user interface. The new iTouch is perfect for playing music, movies and games with millions of songs, thousands movies and hundreds of games available on the iTunes Store.

The new iPod classic now has a capacity increase of 50% to 120GB, yet still maintaining the same, sleek 10.5 mm thinness. The classic also feature the Genius playlist technology, plus an extended battery life with 36 hours of audio playback, and 6 hours of video playback.

Even the impossibly small iPod shuffle has had a re-fit! The world’s smallest music player is now available in 1GB and 2GB models, and is also available in 4 new vibrant colors: blue, green, pink and red, in addition to the current silver version.

Apple has really gone to town with their new, vibrant colur scheme. Plus with their slick shapes and wafer thin designs, the latest incarnations are sure to be the sexiest music systems on the market.

> > click here to shop online with Apple Australia

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It only seems like yesterday but it is actually 10 years since Apple CEO unveiled the groundbreaking Apple iMac Australia.

On August 15, 1998 Apple transformed how people saw computers with the release of their all in one, bubble-shaped iMac, changing the face of the computer hardware world forever. This was the first machine to encompass all working parts into one desktop, and even though the puck mouse didn’t exactly set the world on fire, the idealism lives on. 

The iMac received nearly 150,000 pre orders, making it the fastest-selling Mac ever and a staple computer in schools and homes across the globe. Plus with the latest incarnation even more stylish than ever, I think it’s pretty safe to say the iMac will still be with us in another 10 years.

> > click here to check out the latest Apple iMac Australia

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Apple Mac Australia saw record sales to send their third quarter earnings soaring this financial year. The company sold a record 2.5 million Macs worldwide, an increase of 41% on the same period last year, with overall profits up 31% to $1.7 billion.

The company posted a growth of 37% on laptop sales alone, with their latest incarnation, the MacBook Air, figuring strongly. Even with the release of the iPhone, the iPod continues to be a big seller for Apple, with sales figures rising by 12% to more than 11 million units sold.

These figures do not include the majority of revenue gained from the 717,000 iPhones sold, due to the new iPhone 3G, it’s software, and many of the new features not being available during this fincancial period.

Apple chief executive, Steve Jobs, said –

‘This is the best June quarter for both revenue and earnings in Apple’s history. We set a new record for Mac sales, we think we have a real winner with our new iPhone 3G and we’re busy finishing several more wonderful new products.’

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Apple has dropped the price on their solid-state hard drive MacBook Air in Australia from AU$4,338 to AU$3,538, a saving of AU$800. Apple has also reduced the price to upgrade the processor from 1.6GHz to 1.8GHz, from AU$430 to AU$270. This discount will be available for both the flash model and the standard hard drive version.

 

With hard-drive failures being one of the more regular problems notebook users experience, the SSD option seems more secure, and with the new discount also makes it more affordable. Flash memory instead of moving parts for data storage is also likely to improve the reliability and stability of the Airbook system.

> > click here to shop online with Apple Australia

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Good things come in small packages, and let’s face facts; you don’t get much smaller than the Apple Mac Mini Australia.

This tiny piece of kit comes fitted with a 2GHz Intel Core Duo T2300 processor, 1GB of memory, a 120GB hard drive, an Intel GMA950 graphics card and a dual-layer DVD writer. The chassis itself is still a mere 165mm on each side, with the only discerning difference being a black square on the writer’s slot.

The big difference between the latest mini and the original is the number of ports available.  The latest incarnation features 4 USB ports, a Gigabit Ethernet cable, a Firewire 400 socket, not to mention a DVI-I video connector plus digital in/outs. Quite a jump from the 2 USB ports on the original machine!

If you’re in the market for a quick Apple ‘fix’, or space is your major concern, the Apple Mac Mini is as small, and as smart, as it gets…

> > click here to shop online with Apple Australia

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The 24-inch Apple iMac Australia is an all in one desktop which will have businessmen and gamers purring in unison – no mean feat!

It featured Intel’s 3.06Ghz Core 2 Duo processor with 2GB of RAM running at 800MHz RAM, plus a massive 320GB hard drive running at 7,200rpm. What really separates the men from the boys is the 512MB Nvidia GeForce 8800 GS graphics card, which on the 24-inch built in screen should have gamers across the globe drooling…

The brushed aluminium and glass chassis is a design heads dream, whilst the 2inch thick flat screen has a frame rate of 86.3frames per second at a 1,024×768 resolution – perfect for crisp Photoshop-ing and graphically great gameplay. The screen of the iMac is a sleek, self-contained system with all of the ports located on the back, with an integrated dual-layer DVD writer nicely tucked away on the right-hand side of the chassis.

The operating system not only runs OSX but also Windows, making the iMac an attractive proposition for not only current Apple customers, but also for PC users who fancy a look into what us Apple-heads are so addicted to…

> > click here to shop online with Apple Australia

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With the long awaited release of the Apple iPhone Australia imminent, we decided to take a look into some of the phone new features. This little beauty is going to sell by the bucketload, but that could be bad news for the iTouch…The new phone features a plastic back instead of the metal one, which will not only help the GPS system, but also stop the metal from getting scratched. Also, by using plastic it also helps minimise the size of the phone, even if it’s just by a few millimetres.

The phone itself will be available in 8GB and 16GB formats; though don’t be surprised to see a 32GB model available very soon. For some people an iPhone simple doesn’t have the memory to work as an out and out iPod, so I’m sure Apple will deal with this as they did with the iTouch and already have a bigger one in the pipeline.

Ah, the iPod Touch. What exactly will happen to these is slightly unsure as they are almost twice the price of their memory comparative iPhone, without the GPS or phone part. I guess if you’re already happy with your mobile then an iTouch is an option, but I can see a lot of people choosing the iPhone over the iTouch due to it’s ‘all in one’ capacity (I certainly am).

The iPhone’s GPS capabilities allow TomTom-esque turn-by-turn driving directions This is quite a feat for a mobile phone, though the location based social network meaning people can determine EXACTLY where you are, may not go down quite as well…

‘Where are you? Your dinners getting cold.’

‘I’m in the gym’

‘No you’re not, you’re in the pub!’

With the new pricing policy of the 3G iPhone, it looks like it’s going to be a head to head battle with the Blackberry in this summer’s smart phone war. The iPhone has a much bigger screen, multi touch input, and of course the iTunes Store. Plus it’s going to be cheaper than a Blackberry, though the 18 month contract may put off some people.

Another string to Apple’s marketing bow is their latest software – MobileMe. This allows PC users as well as Mac customers to easily sync the iPhones to their desktop computers for keeping their mail and contacts. MobileMe’s web-based applications also look like being the first Apple service that lives up to the high standards of Apple’s traditional desktop software.

The big question is, with the Apple iPhone encompassing so many different Mac products in one package, will the iPhone faze out some of the other Apple gadgets?

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The wait is finally over. The Apple iPhone Australia will be released across the continent on July 11th.

The next-generation 3G iPhone will be available across Australia on prepay plans without a contract when it is released next month, though specific pricing details have not been confirmed. The phone will feature brand new version 2.0 software, including support for Office and iWork, plus language support and parental controls. The new phone is smaller, has a better battery life and is a lot faster than the previous model, with speeds almost on par with WiFi.

The first Australian carriers of the phone, Optus and Vodafone, confirmed the handset would be available on a prepay plan. This will allow customers to buy an iPhone outright and then purchase credit, without having to sign a long term contract. Both carriers have already begun to take customer orders via iPhone online and in retail stories.

Even though Apple sold 6 million iPhones last year, the company feel the price of the previous model had put off a lot of possible customers, me included. It appears that the latest 3G model is almost half the price of the original iPhone, with the U.S. pricing at $US199 ($209.32) for the 8GB model to $US299 ($314.50) for 16GB.

The next-generation 3G Apple iPhone will be released in Australia and 21 other countries on July 11th and will eventually reach 70 countries worldwide.

> > click here to find out more about the Apple iPhone

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Dell computers latest XPS incarnation, the M1530, is a slick piece of ergonomic excellence with enough grunt under the hood to please even the toughest of competitors.

With Dell purchasing the Alienware Company, their latest laptop designs are more creatively based than previous versions. With the silky smooth finish available in Crimson Red, Midnight Blue and Tuxedo Black, even James Bond would be happy with the colour schemes on this model.

Pop the hood on the M1530 and you’ll find an Intel Core 2 Duo T7250 processor with 2GB of memory alongside 160GB hard disk. Graphically, the Nvidia GeForce 8600M GT card certainly covers the bases for serious gamers, though the glossy 15.4in display does settle for a rather modest 1,280 x 800 resolution.

It not often that practicality and fine design merge so smoothly, though with it weighing in at 2.62kg, it’s not as light on its feet as other 15.4in laptops. If portability is key then its little brother, the XPS M1330, is a better choice, but with its fine combination of power and design, the XPS M1530 is an absolute gem.

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