We’ve seen iTunes releasing some apps for free lately, and now the latest in that line of limited time offerings you can download Episode 1 of the Law and Order: Legacies game. Based of course on NBC’s popular series you can become the investigators and solve each case like an expert. Episode 1 is about a maid being murdered in a five-star hotel and while investigating this case a deep conspiracy involving hacking is uncovered. Definitely an interesting game with great graphics now available for free, and who could argue with that logic?

A $3 discount makes this app free!

Looking for a free game to play and pass the time? Why not check out the latest of the free apps from the iTunes library; Jetpack Joyride. In this iOS game you take on the roll of Barry, who has just got his hands on a very powerful jetpack. You pilot him through various stages and utilize some powerful weaponry to annihilate your foes along the way. Each level allows you to earn some cash and upgrade your guns for even more destructive power. It’s a simple and fun game, while at the same time utilizing some heavy reflexes as stage increase in difficulty. It’s won some awards in 2011 for being a best iOS game so it’s definitely worth a shot, not to mention that it’s free.

We’ve seen iTunes offering free downloads before, and now JetPack Joyride is among them for a limited time.

Looking for a fitness coach to assist you in your running on the go? There’s an app for that! And this time that app is free! Thanks to iTunes being so generous and just giving away popular apps we have today a fitness assistant which provides multiple layers of information and tracking to keep you going on the schedule you need. With this app you can track and calculate all of your runs via GPS navigation, but at the same time can also schedule and plan them out based on how far you would like to go or even to the point of how many calories you want to burn. Keep it all timed so you know exactly where you are in it, and improve yourself if needbe. Calories are all taken into account, so you can always know where you are with that, and beyond the simple calculations it provides this app also boasts sexy voice feedback in either English or German if that’s how you roll.

Get this, today only, for FREE!

iTunes of offering this HDR Photo Camera App for iPhone for FREE!

Looking to expand upon the built-in camera the iPhone provides? Well here’s an app just for that, and in this case you can get it for free. The HDR Photo Camera is designed to of course give you the ‘High Dynamic Range’ lighting and clarity to any photo you take. Now it does this by snapping three photos at once at different exposure levels and combining them together to create one perfect shot. Your mileage will vary of course depending on what you’re trying to capture, but they do suggest that the photo include some dark and some light areas for the absolute best results overall. But since it’s free you have nothing to lose in trying it out!

Now you can get this App as a free download straight from iTunes!

For a limited time iTunes is offering this iGun Zombie Game for iPhone for FREE!

In the mood to shoot things? Than iTunes has you covered and for a limited time you can download the iGun Zombie game straight from their stores for free. iGun Zombie of course features the gameplay you would expect from reading off that title, so don’t worry about complicated storylines or dealing with cute and fuzzy animals. Just sit bad and shoot things, and in this very case things that should already be dead. The more zombies you splatter about the more opportunity you have for upgrading your armory of weapons thereby allowing more methods to splatter them about. Over 150 missions are available here and every gun is customizable to suit your style. It’s free for now and the developers are promising an update very soon so grab it while it’s still available!

Nothing beats free!

iTunes is offering free access to the game Duel: Blade & Magic Pro for iPhone!

From iTunes you can now grab a free copy of this very popular Role-Playing-Game for iPhone called Duel: Blades & Magic. As the name implies this game is all about battling with monsters and even your friends. It has over 10,000 concurrent users making it one of the most popular RPGs available on this platform. You can choose between being a traditional warrior or also a spellcaster (ie. Witch) and learn many different skills which will help you in your quest to trounce the enemy forces and advance through quests. There’s also a variety of pets which will help you along the way (30 to be exact) and since this utilizes the features of IOS4 you will be treated with some great visuals and fluid animations which definitely aid in this game’s reputation.

This app usually retails for $9, but you can get it for free for a limited time.

For a limited time iTunes if offer this Nike Training Club App for iPhone for Free!

If it’s free it’s for me, and apps are definitely no exception. Now iTunes is offering you a chance to grab this Nike Training App so you can put a whole new spin on your exorcise routine. It acts as your own personal trainer which allows you to choose between 60 custom and built-in workout routines and the ability to fine tune and tweak it to perfection to make you lean and muscular. It features full body workouts that time out to 30-45 minutes or more professional variety workouts for 15 minutes a piece. it’s functionality is simple and very easy to use, so you don’t need to be tech savvy to handle your workout setup and since its on your phone it integrates nicely to your music albums for background to your routine.

iTunes has this 500MB app for free!

When Steve Jobs introduced iTunes ten years ago, it changed the world. But not without having to drag the record labels kicking and screaming to it. But a decade later, the music industry has been reborn and downloads are common place. And, as Steve Jobs predicted, people who want their music “ala carte,” are more than happy to pay for it. But they also want to be able to use the music they buy with all their devices. And that’s how iTunes Match was born.  For $24.99 a year, iTunes Match allows users to store their music in the cloud and access it from up to 10 different devices. So, finally, not only can music fans finally just buy the songs they like, they can listen to them anywhere on just about any platform. And it couldn’t be easier to set up. Here’s what you need …

1. Be up to date

First, make sure you have the latest version of iTunes (vs. 10.5.1). It should automatically ask for your approval to update it when you go into iTunes, but if not, then PC users can select About iTunes from the help menu that then Check for Updates. If you’re a Mac user, go directly to Check for Updates from the iTunes menu. Download and install.

This is also a good opportunity to make sure you have all the songs in your iTunes library you want to match initially. You can always add later, but remember that iTunes will store purchased song from the iTunes Store for free in the Cloud, but ripped songs will count against your iCloud storage allotment.

2. Lay down the plastic

Once iTunes is updated, then open and look under the “Store” category. Your second choice will be iTunes Match. Once you click on that, iTunes will give you one last spiel (including reminding you will have millions of songs with which to match, and listen to at 256kbps) and then ask you to subscribe for $24.99. Click on the button and iTunes will ask you to login into your Apple account, where upon the charge will go onto your stored credit card.

3. Scanning commences

Once you’ve finalized paying for your iTunes Match subscription, iTunes will begin to scan your library and match it with the higher 256kbsp versions in the cloud. Any songs you may have that iTunes cannot match will then be uploaded along with matching artwork. Once this three step process is finished, you can then proceed to adding up to 10 iOS devices or computers to your iTunes Match list.

4. Add your computer

To add your computer to your iTunes Match list, go back to the iTunes Match option under Store and iTunes will depict a splash screen with a blue radial button which says “Add this computer.” Select it and your computer, iTunes Match will repeat the process of scanning, matching and uploading any available songs. Only do one library at a time, since iTunes Match will not allow for simultaneous matching. Once matched, your computer is ready to listen. Songs that have been matched will have a familiar cloud and arrow head. Click on the Cloud and you can download those songs to enjoy.

5.  Add Your Mobile Devices

Now it’s time to add your mobile iOS devices (i.e. iPhone, iPad or iPod). But before you take the plunge, make sure you’ve backed up your device to iTunes (before you match would be ideal). The reason is that when you match your iOS device, it will replace your music library with the matched library. This is a good thing as iTunes will be replacing them with higher quality 256kbps versions.

Next, access Settings in your iOS device and then Music. There will be a new menu item at the very top for iTunes Match. You’ll want to turn that on. Then, Match will request your Apple ID password. Once entered, select Enable. The your iOS device will proceed to match your music found on your device.

Once matched, there will now be another item in your Settings menu … Music screen: Show All Music. When you enable, all the songs that iTunes has matched will be shown in your iOS library. They will be the songs with the little cloud icon to the right. When you choose the song to play, iTunes will download it to your device to play and the cloud will disappear. If you leave the Show All Music option off, you won’t see any of the songs from the cloud in your library. Each song in the cloud will be listed with a cloud/arrow head and you can select as many songs as you would like to queue up and download. And here’s a neat thing, the song will play as it downloads.

6. Wrap Up

And that’s it. Now you have access to all your songs in the Cloud. But understand that while iTunes has access to millions of songs in it’s master library, not everything is up there. So if you have an eclectic ear, or love to listen to obscure and older artists, you may have to wait a short interim until iTunes acquires those songs. But that’s the price for being eclectic, isn’t it?

The iPhone 4S is a series of seemingly minor upgrades, but those upgrades work together to create something new, something that is very much an improvement over the nearly two year old iPhone 4. A number of these improvements are available to older phones via iOS 5, the latest iteration of Apple’s mobile operating system. The stand out features are limited to the iPhone 4S, however, including Apple’s new “personal assistant”, Siri.

Hardware

I received a white model, and it looks great. When placed next to a white iPad 2, they look right at home together. The glass back that so many people have complained about (mostly because it cracks like…well, glass) is still there. Many people have expressed a dislike for it because it is so easy to break, but I think that it feels better than a cheap plastic back or an easily scratchable metal back. As someone who is extremely careful with their phone, I’ve never had a problem with the glass. In my opinion, whatever fragility is gained because of the glass back is worth it. The device feels so much better than the plastic-and leather-backed competition.

Body

From all outward appearances, there are no discernible differences between  the iPhone 4S and last year’s model. That’s because the iPhone 4S has the same body as the CMDA iPhone 4. If you’ve been using an AT&T iPhone 4, you probably won’t even notice the minor difference in button placement between the two models. I didn’t notice until after a few hours and it was only because I had the two devices sitting next to one another on a table.

This lack of outward change isn’t a bad thing, since the iPhone 4 was (and still is) the best feeling smartphone in the market. I’ve used a plethora of devices since the release of the iPhone 4, and none of them feel as solid or as well built as the iPhone 4/4S.

The Guts

Just because the outside of the iPhone 4S remains unchanged, that doesn’t mean the internal components stayed the same. In fact, quite the opposite is true. Inside of the iPhone 4S is the same A5 processor that powers the iPad 2. Many reviewers have remarked that the iPhone 4 was already fast enough that the upgraded processor in the iPhone 4S won’t make much of a difference. People said the same thing about the iPad and the iPad 2 when it was first released. But there is a noticeable boost to performance when using the iPad 2. The same can be said about the iPhone 4S. The performance boost is generally about the same as the difference between the iPad and iPad 2.

Not everybody was invited to the upgrade party though; there are some components that didn’t get an upgrade. The amount of RAM has stayed the same, but 512 MB is more than enough for most smartphones. Only extremely taxing apps like Infinity Blade other graphically intense games come close to using that much memory. Games like that lean a lot more on the graphics processor than they do on the system RAM, so it isn’t too much of a concern.

Camera

During the announcement of the iPhone 4S, Scott Forstall mentioned that the  camera in the iPhone 4S is probably the best camera that most people will own. He is probably right and this is one area where the iPhone 4S really outshines the iPhone 4.

The iPhone 4S camera has a more detailed eight megapixel sensor. For comparison, the iPhone 4 has a five megapixel sensor and the 3GS has a three megapixel sensor. Resolution isn’t everything, though. If the higher pixel count was the only thing they changed on the camera, the result would simply be more detailed poorly lit shots. To help with low light settings, the iPhone 4S camera has a much larger aperture than the previous generations. The larger aperture means that more light can reach the lens and pictures taken with less light look much better than they would with the iPhone 4 camera. The iPhone 4 took decent pictures if you were in a place with a good amount of light but not in darker settings, but didn’t take good pictures in low light situations. The iPhone 4S handles these low light situations much better than previous models.

The other big change is the lens speed. The iPhone 4S camera is ready to shoot in just over a second, compared to almost three seconds on the iPhone 4. Every iPhone owner has missed at least one or two perfect shots simply because they were waiting for the camera app to open up. While there is still a bit of a delay, it is mostly gone now.

Take a look at the pictures below. Each of these photos was taken with the iPhone 4S and they haven’t been touched up in any way. Click to enlarge.

Call/Data Quality and Battery Life

It does make phone calls, after all…The model I tested works with AT&T’s network and the call quality was average. There really wasn’t anything remarkable about it. There are none of the reception issues that plagued the iPhone 4 when it was first released. If you have a solid signal, the data speeds on AT&T are good. During my testing, I didn’t have a single dropped call, including the time I spent in downtown Atlanta (which is notorious for its bad reception).

Battery life is about the same as an iPhone 4, which means that you can easily get through a whole day without having to worry about your phone dying. I am a heavy iPhone user and I had no problems. If I’m waiting in line, I’ll pull it out and start browsing the web. My iPhone is my primary music device and I’ll use it to watch YouTube or Hulu videos on a regular basis. Even with that, I still made it through the day without any problems.

Overall Performance

In judging the performance of the iPhone 4S, I think that comparing it to the iPhone 4 is a bit misleading. When most people buy a new phone, they do so at a discount by signing a two year contract. Most cell phone carriers don’t allow people to get a new phone at a discount until their current contract is almost over. Most people eligible for upgrades are people with iPhone 3GS models.

Siri

Siri is the new voice controlled assistant that is available only on the iPhone 4S. Previous iPhones have had limited voice control, but all it could do was dial numbers and play music from the iPod app. Siri has a much larger scope. It can look up information for you, create alarms and calendar appointments and remind you to do something when you arrive at a specific location. It also lets you dictate text into any program.

Once you learn how to use Siri, it’s incredibly useful. Actually, I should be a bit more specific– once you learn what Siri can do, it’s incredibly useful. Siri can understand what you mean, but it doesn’t always know what to do with the information. I think that as Apple adds more information providers for Siri, it will become more and more useful. Right now, it only works with Yelp and Wolfram Alpha, the upshot of which is that if either of these two providers don’t have information what you are looking for, you’re out of luck. If Siri doesn’t have any information or doesn’t understand your question, it will simply kick you out to a Google search, which usually contains the correct answer.

Learning Siri’s limits can be a bit of a pain, however. For example, if you ask Siri to look up movie theaters near your house it will pull up a list of movie theaters, sorted by proximity. If you ask it to look up show times for a specific movie, it will give you the same result: a list of nearby theaters, sorted by proximity.

It does give you some rather specific information though, if it knows it. I was watching an episode of an old TV show called “Car 54, Where Are You?” and I asked Siri when the show was on the air. I did so without even pausing the show and  surprisingly, it responded by telling me that it was on the air from September 17, 1961 until April 14, 1963.

Siri’s biggest advantage is that it can understand natural language. The “natural” part is key. You can speak to Siri just as if you were conversing with a friend. If you ask Siri “Where is the closest gas station?”, it will have no problem understanding you. With the VoiceOver system that Siri replaced, you had to speak clearly and slowly for it to understand you. You don’t even have to clearly enunciate. If you use the word “umm” a few times, Siri will simply ignore it.

It can also learn, to a certain degree. If I tell Siri to send a text message to my sister, it will ask who my sister is and then remember it from that point on. You can also say something a bit more complex, like “Send a text to my sister saying that I will be twenty minutes late.” and Siri will understand what you mean and send a text message to your sister. This is extremely useful if you are driving or in another situation where you can’t actually look at your phone’s screen.

The only major drawback to Siri is that you have to have an Internet connection in order for it to work. Since it works with Apple’s servers to process your input, it needs to communicate with them. This can be a problem, as several times over the weekend, Apple’s servers were overloaded and Siri kept saying it could not connect to them. Siri is completely useless without a network connection. That would be understandable if you could at least use the old VoiceOver system as a fallback, but you can’t.

Safari

The browser is one area where iOS is lightyears ahead of the competition. When compared to Android’s built-in browser (simply called Browser), Mobile Safari is in a different class. Sure, Android’s Browser can run Flash, but it’s a battery hog and slows down the overall performance. Even if you turn off Flash, Android’s browser is still slower than Mobile Safari and it often renders pages incorrectly. I’ve only encountered incorrectly formatted pages once or twice in the three years I’ve been using iOS, but it seems like a regular occurrence whenever I pick up an Android phone.

Mobile Safari was fast on the iPhone 4, but it’s near instantaneous on the iPhone 4S. If you have a strong 3G signal or are on WiFi, there is a noticeable difference in page load speeds. Even after updating my iPhone 4 to iOS 5, there was still a noticeable difference in page load times. Even complex pages like BBC News and Fast Co. Design loaded within one or two seconds. Other than the boost in speed, there is no difference between Mobile Safari on the iPhone 4 and the iPhone 4S.

iOS 5

Some of the most significant updates to the iPhone 4S come from iOS 5, the latest version of the iPhone’s operating system. Anyone who owns an iPhone 4 or 3GS will get most of the new features that come with iOS 5. The fifth revision of the iPhone’s operating system is a major upgrade, so even those people who are still using older models will still be happy. It might even be the most significant update since the addition of the App Store in iOS 2.

Notification System

The best new feature is the new notifications system. In previous versions of iOS, if you got a notification (be it a text message, calendar alert or a new voicemail), an alert would pop up and take over the screen. If you were in the middle of playing a game, it would interrupt the gameplay until you dismiss the popup. While it was a minor annoyance, it was made worse by the fact that after you dismissed a popup, it was gone forever. The same thing would happen if a new notification came in– it would replace the previous notification on screen, thus making it disappear forever.

The revamped notifications system in iOS 5 rectifies this problem, since there is now a centralized place to access all of your notifications. By swiping down from the top of the screen, you bring up a list of all of your past notifications. At the top of the screen are two widgets, one which shows you stock prices and another that shows you the weather for your current location. If you think these take up too much space and just want to see notifications, the weather and stocks widgets can easily be turned off.

By default notifications are ordered by app, but the order of these notifications can be changed via the Settings app. For example, you can set notifications from the messaging app to always show up at the top of the list. You can also disable apps that will clog up your notifications list (this is especially useful if you get a large number of emails).

In the new system, a small notification appears at the top of the screen when a new message appears. It’s hard to explain, but it “flips” the top of the screen over and reveals the notification. After a few seconds, it flips back. This new notification style does not interfere with the app you are using.

For those of you who liked the modal popup from previous versions of iOS, you can very easily go back to that on a per app basis or just change back to it wholesale.

Twitter Integration

Twitter has exploded in popularity over the past year, with even the most un-techno-savvy of people joining. With over 100 million users, it’s safe to say that a large percentage of iPhone users also have Twitter accounts.

Apple has recognized this, and there are pretty deep ties between iOS and the Twitter service. From almost any built-in app, you can easily post a piece of data to Twitter. For example, if you are browsing the web in Safari and want to share the page you are reading via Twitter, simply tap on a button in the toolbar and a nice little message box will pop up with the URL already entered and allow you to customize your post.

There were rumors that Facebook would be integrated into iOS 4, but that never materialized, likely because Facebook wanted to share the data it gained about users with advertisers, something that Apple was opposed to. While Facebook integration might have been nice, Twitter seems like a much better fit. And if you really want Facebook integration, you can set up Twitter so that it will automatically post your status updates to Twitter to your Facebook account.

The integration is nice, but it could be better. In typical Apple fashion, there is no way to customize which URL shortener or photo sharing service you use. As someone who doesn’t use the default Twitter photo service, I find this a bit annoying. It means that I either need to start using Twitter’s built-in photo sharing service on my other Twitter clients, or I’ll have my photos split between two different services.

I’ve been using the iOS 5 beta for almost 4 months and I’ve only used the Twitter integration a handful of times. That said, it is a really easy way to share things via Twitter.

iMessage

While a lot of talk about iOS 5 has been about Twitter, iMessage is probably going to be the most important new feature of iOS 5 (aside from Siri, but that’s more of an iPhone 4S feature).

For those readers who don’t know, iMessage is a new service from Apple that aims to replace text and instant messaging. It allows you to send messages, videos and pictures from one iOS device to another. It’s essentially a suped up version of text messaging that includes the ability to see when the other person has read your message and when they are typing a reply. Oh, and most importantly, it works with iPads and iPod Touches.

If you’ve used a BlackBerry, you are undoubtedly familiar with BlackBerry Messenger; iMessage is Apple’s version of BBS. On the iPhone, iMessage is integrated right into the Messages app. That’s right– the same app that is used to send text messages. What’s more, if you enable iMessage Apple will automatically check the recipient of your message against a list of known iOS 5 users and send your message via their infrastructure instead of as a text message. All of this is transparent to the user and happens completely in the background.

The fact that you can send messages to your friends using iPod Touches and iPads is also a nice touch. In order to contact them, you simply message them via their email address– just like FaceTime calls to non-iPhone devices.

Wi-Fi Synchronization

It’s a feature that has been long overdue and something that people have wanted ever since the first iPhone was released. It’s finally here: wireless syncing. It’s as simple as it sounds: iOS 5 allows you to wirelessly sync your phone to your computer. This is especially nice if you are constantly adding music to your library or you listen to a large number of frequently updated podcasts.

If you have your iPhone plugged in and iTunes is open on your computer, it will sync and backup in the background. Syncing doesn’t render the phone unusable anymore. It simply occurs in the background, so you can use your phone normally as it syncs in the background. The biggest drawback to this is that it only works if your computer is on. That means that if you want to sync your iPhone overnight, you have to leave your computer on as well.

These features are nice, but again it’s something that Microsoft had on all of their Zune products, going back to the original model that was released in 2006. Still, it’s nice that wireless sync is finally here.

Is It Worth Upgrading?

If you own an iPhone 3GS and you are looking for a new phone, then the iPhone 4S is the best you are going to get. As someone who jumped from an iPhone 3G to an iPhone 4, I can tell you that it is worth the upgrade for the screen alone. The boost in speed and the extra RAM is also quite enticing.

For those people with an iPhone 4, the waters are a bit more murky. The hardest part about upgrading is not whether or not the current phone is better than what you have now, since the latest and greatest will always be faster than the previous generation of devices; the hardest part is whether or not you will regret it in a year months. Since you have to sign a two year contract when you buy a new phone (or pay a ridiculous sum for an off-contract phone), you won’t be able to upgrade until your contract expires. This means that buying an iPhone 4S will likely exclude you from whatever Apple announces next year (iPhone 5?). As a result, I would say that unless you have to have the latest and greatest, I would suggest that iPhone 4 owners hold off on the iPhone 4S and wait for the iPhone 5.

Editors’s Rating:

4.5 out of 5 stars

Excellent

The bottom line: The iPhone 4S shows that Apple is able to stay competitive without engaging in the kind of specs race that Android handsets seem to be locked in. The Samsung Galaxy SII might have a dual-core 1.2 GHz processor while the iPhone 4S only has an 800 MHz processor, but that doesn’t matter. The software/hardware integration that Apple is so good at makes the iPhone 4S the most compelling smartphone on the market.

Pros:

• Fast as hell
• Great camera
• Best designed phone on the market
• Incredible screen

Cons:

• Glass back breaks easily
• Higher capacity models are expensive
• Carrier-locked GSM models can’t roam internationally; you have to use the AT&T SIM card.

You can get the iPhone 4S from Apple for $199 with a 2-year contract.

We’ve definitely had a wide range of products get sales hit in the past week. From video cameras to HDTVs at record breaking low prices and even smartphones and tablets. Here’s we’ve compiled a list of the best ones that are still around to take advantage of:

10. Panasonic HDC-TM41H Camcorder – $200

Beach Camera offered this sale on eBay and regardless of the nice price docking here it’s still around. This portable camcorder from Panasonic has everything you need for taking videos everywhere and of course comes in at 1080p. It has 16GBs of internal memory to take advantage of along with slots for SD cards which allow for much more. It even boasts an impressive 135 minute recording battery life to boot.

9. Yamaha RX-V471 5.1-Channel Receiver with Free Apple TV – $330

Now this is certainly an impressive one. Not only do we get a sweet discount deal on this powerful 5.1-Channel receiver system but it even comes with a free Apple TV (Which is a $98 value by itself!) This receiver has full support for the latest technologies like 3D and ARC while also presenting us with 4 HDMI inputs, Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD encoders and an included iPod dock for pumping your music through your system.

8. Dell Ultrasharp U2412M 24-Inch Monitor – $320

Now this may seem like a high price from Dell, but this is no ordinary monitor. First off an $80 Coupon (XD5W7S1JRP52C8) bring this Dell LED Display down to this price. The monitor itself features IPS technology bringing out truly realistic and stunning visuals along with an incredible viewing angle which makes it easy to look at from anywhere in the room. And you also get a wonderful 16:10 resolution of 1920 by 1200 which gives you more than enough room for multitasking to be very easy, both vertically and horizontally.

7. Canon Powershot ELPH 100 HS 12MP Digital Cameras – $130

Crutchfield’s coupon savings still apply on this super portable Canon Digital Camera. Using code: 3A825 will save you $20 off an already low price mark. This camera can take large 12-Megapixel shots with ease and also contains a 4x Optical zoom while each and every image is graced by its DIGIC 4 image processor which brings out the best of quality. It also has a 3.0-Inch touch display and is capable of taking full 1080p High Definition videos.

6. Blackberry Playbook 7-Inch 16GB Tablet – $299

Yes you heard right, this powerful and brand new Blackberry Playbook tablet has had its price reduced even more, and even now you’re able to take advantage of it. This tablet comes with a colorful HD 7-Inch display and utilizes the BlackBerry OS which allows for some great multitasking and Internet browsing freedom. It’s powered by a 1Ghz Dual Core CPU and has 1GB of RAM, which sounds more like PC specs than a tablet. This one also comes with 16GBs of Internal memory which can be expanded with SD cards.

5. Apple MC526LL/A iPod Nano 16GB (Current Gen) – $150

The price hit has come down for these super sleek and powerful iPod Nanos. You can grab any color you like at this new low price from Amazon. The newest Nano features a size similar to a shuffle, but includes a multi-touch display for controlling your music cravings. 16GBs of internal storage come from this model for plenty of music listening on the go and when gesture based controls are combined with its display its never been easier to listen to exactly what you want to hear.

4. Apple Macbook Air MC968LL/A 11.6-Inch – $950

Believe it or not you can still catch this super low price for the popular and super thin Macbook Air. This model comes complete with a super compact 11.6-Inch screen and comes powered by a speedy Intel core i5 processor and 2GBs of RAM. It also contains a 64GB solid state drive which gives it even more speed and impressing performance and includes support for Bluetooth 4.0, integrated HD Facetime webcam and a brand new Thunderbolt port.

3. Curtis LCD4686A 46-Inch LCD TV – $445

And here it is, if you’ve wanted to get your hands on a large TV for any room now’s your chance to make some awesome savings! This large 46-Inch Curtis TV has a full 1080p High Definition resolution and a 5,000:1 contrast ratio for deep colors. It also includes a wide variety of inputs which make it home theater friendly and these include HDMI, VGA, HD Component and several analog composites to fit all of your needs with ease.

2. Vlingo Voice Assistant for iPhone – FREE

We’re sure you’ve heard the saying If it’s free its for me, and iTunes has surely delivered on that by offering the powerful and flexible Vlingo Voice app for just that. This app allows you to speak your commands to your iPhone, which it will follow to a T and make life much easier on the go. You can tell it to do things such as texting your friend Mike, or updating your Facebook status or even ask it to locate a place of interest for you and a map will display. Eitherway it’s definitely worth checking out as it will cost you nothing!

1. HTC Droid Incredible 2 for Verizon Wireless – $0.01

Speaking of free, why not check out this new and improved Droid Incredible 2 for a price that may as well be free. With a contract deal you can experience the latest smartphone technology packed into this little phone. With a large 4.0-Inch HD display it graces you with the latest Android has to offer as well as SRS WOW HD sound to complete the experience. It includes an 8MP cameras as well and plenty of connectivity from Bluetooth to GPS and WiFI so you’re never left behind.

For a limited time iTunes is offering this Vlingo Voice Assistant for the iPhone for FREE!

Free is always a nice thing, and when it comes to apps that usually bear a price it makes for a great testing opportunity. Here iTunes is offering the Vlingo Voice Assistant for your iPhone as a free download, and with this app you can do pretty much anything or everything with simple voice commands. With Vlingo you simply press a page to speak, and when you do you are able to voice out commands that your phone will follow. Some includes examples are to “Text John; What’s up?” and your phone will follow, or even “find Italian restaurants” and your query will be searched for you. You can even tell it to “update Facebook: I’m on a boat” and that status message will be instantly applied. With Vlingo the possibilities are endless, and now anyone’s can be thanks to its free status!

For a limited time the VINGO voice assistant app is free

So what is iCloud?  Well, it used to be called Mobile Me, but it wasn’t automatic and it cost $100 a year.   But starting next month, iCloud is Free.  And simply put, it’s your archive online.  It stores everything you want and syncs it to every device you need, whether your iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, Mac, or PC.  You take a picture at Disneyland of the kids with Mickey?  iCloud will automatically sync it to you Desktop at home.  Get a new client’s information with a fist bump to your iPhone?  It’s automatically synced to both your iPad and Desktop.  Download a great song you heard at Starbucks?  It’s on your iPod almost immediately.   And with a simple login, you can transfer all your apps and media to your new iPad from your iPhone.

That’s iCloud.  More than just a hard drive, it’s a syncing service.  And the best part is, it’s free.  Well, up to 5GBs worth that is.  But here’s the kicker on that – your purchased music, apps, books, photos and TV Shows don’t impact your 5GB space.  Just documents you share and CDs you rip.  After that, you need to pay a nominal fee (between $20-100 a year) for more space.  And here’s the awesome thing – with an upgraded plan, you can also just list the CDs you own and iCloud will automatically go get them.  No ripping required.  Man, that’s completely worth the upgrade price!

Although Apple’s iCloud won’t officially launch until Apple releases iOS 5 next month, there are several features which iPhone and iPad fans can enjoy right now. Here’s how …

Finding previously purchased Apps on your iOS device

If you want to re-download an App you’ve purchased before on your iPhone , iPod Touch, or iPad

1. Go into the app store and navigate to the “updates tab.”
2. There, you will see a new button called “purchased apps.”
3. Touch that and it’ll take you to another screen that will list every app you have purchased and downloaded.
4. There are two tabs – all apps and then apps not on this phone. Find the app you want and then click on the download icon.
5. The app will begin to download.

Finding previously purchased music on your iOS device

The huge development that iCloud is bringing is that users can now re-download music that they’ve purchased.

1. Just go to iTunes on your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad and click on the new “purchased” tab. You will see a listing of all the media you have bought divided up between music, movies, and TV shows. Select.
2. You will then see two tabs, “All” and again, “Not on this iPhone (or iPad)”. You’ll also see stats on how many you’ve purchased and how recent to break it down further. You will also note your songs broken down by artist and how many purchased.
3. Select an artist and you will get menu that shows the number of songs and each one listed with a download icon. If it’s on the iPhone or iPad already, it’ll be grayed out with “Downloaded.”
4. If not, you will see an iCloud icon to redownload it. Or, you can select the “Download All” option at the top of the screen.

Finding previously purchased music/apps in iTunes on your Mac or PC

1. Enter iTunes and log in.
2. On the main iTunes page you will see a option on the right that says “Purchased.” Click on it.
3. You will then see your media broken out into All Media, and Not in my Library. Then, it’ll further be broken out by Music, TV Shows and Movies, Apps and Books. You will then see it further organized, like in your mobile device, by artist and the number of each per artist.
4. Select your artist and you’ll get a separate page with each song or media broken down and a button to either download or you’ll see you’ve already downloaded. Then you can re-download whatever you’re missing, or turn on automatic downloads and they’ll download immediately without further action.
5. And in the lower right hand corner you’ll also see a download all button to download anything you’re missing off your desktop. This is advantageous if you’ve bought apps or music directly from your phone and you need to get them onto your desktop as a backup and to enjoy in iTunes directly.

In addition, downloading is complete, the song or app will also be automatically synced to all of the other devices using the same iTunes account via iCloud, for up to 10 devices.

Automatic downloading of previously purchased App/Music

To sync purchases to all your iOS devices and your Desktop, you’ll need to enable Automatic Downloading, and here’s how …

1. For the iPhone or iPad, go into Settings.
2. Then, scroll to the Store menu and tap.
3. There, you can enable automatic downloads and decide if you want to use Cellular as an option to download them over 3G. If this is disabled, you will only be able to download via WiFi.

What to expect in October

And coming in October, users will be able to sync up to 1,000 pictures and videos up to iCloud and share them with those same devices through an app called PhotoStream. Documents, emails, calendars and contacts will also be synced to the cloud through iCloud.

Users will be given 5GB of iCloud storage for free, with additional space charged as follows:

10GB – $20/year
20GB – $40/year
50GB – $100/year

Additionally, users can buy iTunes Match for about $25 a year, with unlimited iCloud storage space and the ability to sync all music, not just purchased but also ripped music from CDs or purchased from other stores like Amazon. And users won’t have to upload them. iCloud will merely scan your iTunes account and add whatever is missing to other iCloud devices – up to 25,000 songs per account. Brilliant!

And the best part is, you don’t have to enable anything except automatic downloads. Starting with iOS 4.3, iCloud functions became available.

Sick of the basic ringtones included on your iPhone?  Do you keep trying to answer your iPhone when you hear the Old Ringtone?  Now, and there has been for some time, a super duper easy way to make free ringtones using iTunes and your preexisting library of music.  And guess what?  We’re gonna tell you how to do it.

1. Find a song you like

2. Right click on the song and select GET INFO

3. In the OPTIONS tab enter the start and stop time.

To figure this out listen to the song and determine a section that you like.  You probably don’t want it to be more than 10 seconds in length.  Avoid songs that aren’t loud enough, otherwise you won’t be able to hear your phone ringing. Once you’ve got the time entered click OK.

4. Right click on that same song and select CREATE AAC VERSION.

A duplicated version will appear just above it.

5. Right click on the duplicated version and click SHOW IN FINDER.

The song will then appear in your finder.

6. Return to iTunes, right click on the duplicated song and click DELETE.

Make sure you REMOVE THE FILE but DON’T DELETE IT.

7. Head back to the finder where that song was located and edit the name.

It should read “xyz.m4a”.  Edit it to read “xyz.M4R”.  Your OS will ask you if you want to use .m4r so make sure to CLICK on that.

8. Double click the new song in the finder.

It will automatically begin to play in iTunes.  Click on Ringtones from the iTunes menu and it should appear in there.

9. To add this ringtone to your iPhone, just sync.

With your computer and select the new ringtone from the sounds menu in your iPhone.

Apple scooped up Lala well over a year ago and since we haven’t heard much about the cloud based music service.  However, today Apple unveiled their iTunes Match, a service that is virtually analogous to Lala’s last offering, but offers some enhancements.

First off, let’s look at what it is.  iTunes Match let’s you effectively upload all your tunes to the cloud, allowing you to access your music any where you go, that is assuming you’ve got an Internet connection.  It works by scanning your iTunes library and verifying that you own the music.  You won’t have to upload any music to Apple’s cloud service, unless of course they don’t already store that album or song in their library.  

Apple is pitting their service against Google and Amazon, both who in recent offered a comparable service.  The asking price is $25 a year. For that money Apple will upgrade all your tunes to 256kbps, which ain’t a bad deal considering they’ve been asking individual dollar amounts to upgrade songs or albums to the higher bit rate ever since they released iTunes Plus.  As of now the service is capped at 20,000 songs, which on average is about 2000 albums.  Lastly, Apple promises that that ‘scan and match’ service will take just minutes, not weeks, unlike some competitors (Amazon).

There is no word on an actual release date but we’re assuming this fall, when Apple plans to release their Cloud Service, a free of charge service with up to 5GB of space (it let’s you sync your contacts, photos, etc).

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On Friday (might have been early Saturday morning), as we predicted, Apple’s App store had its 10th billion, not million, app downloaded.  To promote this momentous occasion Apple offered a $10,000 iTunes gift card to the lucky shopper as a way of promoting their overwhelming and sometimes ridiculous amount of success.

This is the woman, Gail Davis of Orpington Kent, who won it, then almost squandered it and then some how, with a bit of luck, which she clearly has, managed to finagle the winnings back.

The story goes something like this: the phone rang and her first reaction was to hang up assuming it was a prank call, which she did.  Unbeknownst to her, her 14 and 17 year old daughters had been downloading apps that morning.  When they realized the atrocity their mother had committed they prompted (whined and yelled) her to call Apple back.  Unfortunately, Davis’ attempts were to no avail, that is until iTunes’ VP, Eddy Cue, got wind of the debacle and rectified the situation.

It’s probably safe to say Gail Davis is one lucky person and her daughters will be downloading apps for years to come, all on Apple’s tab.

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4.5 out of 5 stars

Pros:

• Excellent design and user interface
• Touchscreen more accurate than 99% of smartphones
• FM radio, finally!

Cons:

• Small. Small enough to lose very, very quickly

As gadgets get smaller and smaller, we begin to reach the absurd size problems we remember from Zoolander. The departure from the past iPod Nano design, as well as the complete reworking and shrinking of the latest device is highly questionable, and interested consumers are all wondering whether it’s worth the upgrade.

Is it?

Apple’s complete makeover for the iPod Nano may look like the company is confused, but their history proves otherwise. Every product they make, every filing they submit, and every word out of Steve Jobs’ mouth is intentional. The latest Nano does not buck that trend.

The 6^th generation iPod Nano rids itself of video recording and playback, effectively cuts the size in half, and has finally removed the last remnant of Apple’s renowned scroll wheel. In its place, a 1.54” capacitive touchscreen running on a slimmed down version of iOS.

The loss of video recording and playback is nothing to fret over. Yes, it was convenient, but the tiny screen was, frankly, ridiculous to watch video on. I’m glad Apple acknowledged that and rid of the function. Recording video on such a small device was likewise handy, yet the light weight and small size, not to mention low resolution and mediocre picture quality, made the feature a last-resort for users. Most video shot on the Nano never even left the device, thanks in part to no Wi-Fi antenna.

This latest Nano is trimmed of all the fat from the previous model and gets down to the very core of the device: a small music player that’s simple, intuitive, and easy to use for anything. For kids to store their music collection on; for adults looking to exercise to a beat; for the busy salesman who already carries around too much in his pockets and needs something small and simple.

For these users, the Nano is an excellent fit. In practice, the Nano is an exceptional media player. With up to 16GB (8GB or 16GB models available), there’s more than enough space for the daily excursion or even a month-long trip. Battery life is rated for 24 hours of continuous audio playback, and the recharge time is quick, capable of a full recharge in just a few hours (or 80% charge in 1.5 hours).  In fact, there’s only one thing that doesn’t make the Nano the ultimate road warrior: its size.

Like all small things, the latest Nano is easy to lose. Scaling back in every way for this latest Nano simplifies the device, but also makes it a chore to keep an eye on. While testing it, I lost the Nano several times, each time slightly more than the last. Luckily they were all around the office or home. Had I left it on some store counter or doctor’s office, it would be as good as gone.

The iPod Nano, thicker than the 4th gen iPod Touch thanks to its clip

With the iPod Shuffle, such a loss isn’t a big deal. $50 is a much easier replacement than $150 (or $180) for the Nano. The inclusion of a clip to holster the Nano is great, to wear on the belt or an armband, though while testing I only used the clip for exercise. For the sake of not losing it, I recommend using the clip whenever possible.

Features are limited for the Nano to what’s already on the device, and the Nike+ add-on. The Nano is not strictly speaking an iOS device, though many of the functions feel and look identical. Rotating the screen (a 240×240 pixel square) is done with two fingers turning the image on-screen. This method is convenient and intuitive – much better than using accelerometers for the same function. Instead of a dedicated home button, pressing and holding a finger on the screen for three seconds returns to the home screen. Because there is no way to exit apps besides for holding on the screen, swipe functionality plays an important role on the Nano. Swiping left on almost any screen will go back one screen.

Apps on screen can be moved around, but none deleted. Four pages of apps include quick links to music (playlists, artists, now playing, Genius mixes, etc.), settings, photos, fitness, clock, and an FM radio. The photos app is almost identical to other iOS devices, though as I found out when putting pictures on the device, it took my 7000+ photos roughly two hours to be resized specifically for the Nano. It won’t store full-size images, and for good reason: there is no pinch-zoom function on the Nano, only a double-tap to zoom in enough for the full screen to be utilized.

The clock app includes an analog clock, stopwatch and timer. Fitness includes a silly pedometer, which uses the internal accelerometer to count steps. A history of the Fitness app’s use is also recorded.

The FM radio uses headphones as an antenna, and undoubtedly built the relatively weak iPod headphones to work best for reception. Other, higher-quality headphones I tested didn’t receive as good a signal as the iPod headphones, but users will have to determine quality of the sound versus quality of the earbuds for themselves. Unlike the Zune HD, this is no HD radio, just a standard FM receiver. Any number of stations can be set as favorites. A special “Live Pause” feature allows up to 15 minutes of radio to be stored, in case you don’t want to miss anything. Battery life cuts down significantly when using the FM radio. In my testing, I averaged between 6-8 hours listening to FM radio.

The iPod Nano also has voice control, though the included headphones do not include the required microphone. Interested users will have to purchase a separate set for $30.

Apple’s latest iPod Nano is a simplification of media playback devices. The computer and cellphone giant has finally made three (technically four) separate mobile entities: the Shuffle – light, inexpensive, and for music only; the Nano – screened, high capacity for photos and music, and an excellent exercise companion; and the Touch (or iPhone) – the do-all media device for music, videos, pictures and games. The Nano performs its function marvelously, though interested consumers can purchase similar media players for cheaper. But they won’t find a better, crisper, and cleaner device than the latest 6th generation iPod Nano.

Amazon has the 16GB for $172.

Ever been to an Apple store with a spiral staircase? They’re awesome to look at from a design perspective. Now it looks like iTunes might be getting a similar look, as an Apple patent shows plans for a ‘Spiral Interface’. It works by grouping artists, genres, or albums together under spirals, allowing for a cool new way of browsing your music. I’m not sure yet whether it will make things more functional, but I don’t think Apple would release something like this if they didn’t work those kinks out. We might have to wait for iTunes 11, though.

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You know it’s a slow day when software updates are in the news. iTunes 9.2.1. is out now, and you can grab it via Software Update or Apple’s site. To be fair, though, this update does seem to have quite a bit going on, and might make your iPhone 4 use a little less stressful (besides the whole death grip thing). Here’s the full list of fixes:

• Disables older versions of some incompatible third-party plug-ins
• Addresses minor issues with dragging and dropping items
• Addresses a performance issue when first syncing to some devices with iTunes 9.2
• Addresses an issue upgrading to iOS 4 on an iPhone or iPod touch with encrypted back-ups
• Addresses other issues that improve stability and performance

Let us know if it feels snappier.

Apple’s rolled out iTunes 9.2 today, an update to the application that’s main purpose is getting it ready for the iPhone 4, with PDF support and faster syncing. Here’s the full list of updates (I’m partial to the album artwork improvements myself):

• Sync with iPhone 4 to enjoy your favorite music, movies, TV shows, books and more on-the-go
• Sync and read books with iPhone or iPod touch with iOS 4 and iBooks 1.1
• Organize and sync PDF documents as books. Read PDFs with iBooks 1.1 on iPad and any iPhone or iPod touch with iOS 4
• Organize your apps on your iOS 4 home screens into folders using iTunes
• Faster back-ups while syncing an iPhone or iPod touch with iOS 4
• Album artwork improvements make artwork appear more quickly when exploring your library

]]> http://www.gadgetreview.com/2010/06/itunes-9-2-released-needed-for-iphone-4.html/feed 0 http://www.gadgetreview.com/2010/04/why-i-hate-itunes-syncing-sucks-and-so-does-selecting-music.html http://www.gadgetreview.com/2010/04/why-i-hate-itunes-syncing-sucks-and-so-does-selecting-music.html#comments Wed, 28 Apr 2010 18:25:02 +0000 Christen Costa http://www.gadgetreview.com/?p=54047

I’m angry.  If you own an iPad and an iPhone then you know that iTunes does not play well with both devices.  After syncing my iPad with my iTunes everything seemed fine.  That is until I plugged in my iPhone.  My selected list of artists had been completely wiped.  You see I only have 16GB of storage on my iPhone and well over 40GB of music, so I have to selectively choose my fave artists, otherwise iTunes gives me a bunch of crap, least of all none of my newly purchased music, such as the Gorillaz “Plastic Beach”.   But now, when I plug in my iPhone and attempt to sync (after reselecting all my artists), iTunes says that I don’t have enough space because of the previously synced music.  Shouldn’t iTunes recognize that I’m selecting a completely new set of artists and resync from scratch, not try to pile on top the same artists that are already on my iPhone?  Furthermore, the iTunes selection process is god awful.  The two finger scrolling feature doesn’t work well within the application and the window is so gosh darn small you have to scroll down a million times before completing your selection.

Note to Apple: Fix f*cking iTunes.  It’s hands down the worst part (aside from AT&T) about the iPhone and iPad.  Please, do us all a favor and let us drag and drop music to our devices and not go through this painful, almost sodomizing like experience.