Rumours are coming in thick and fast about all sorts of new and refreshed Apple products. It would seem that they may just carry some weight as well. With many rumours about the release of a new iMac to be coming our way seemingly any moment now, it would seem appropriate that a facelift on the iMac would come with new peripherals – wouldn’t it?

AppleInsider mentions in this post on their website a few very notable points which certainly lead to a new release of an iMac, there’s news of supply lines for the current model being restricted. Now in the past when this has been the case with other products such as the iPhone, iPods & Laptops it has almost certainly meant that there’s a new model on the way. To complement this it has been just over two years now since Apple first released the aluminium iMac in it’s current shape, all of these things say to me that it may just be time for an update.

What really catches my eye though is the thought that there may also be new peripherals such as an updated Mighty Mouse and Keyboard to go along with it. Personally I love the aluminum keyboard that was released with the original aluminium iMac. I find it easy and quick to type on, while also being nice and quiet, however I am considerably more excited about the possibility of a new mighty mouse.

Endgadget posted an article the other day about how Apple applied for new patents on the Keyboard and Mighty Mouse, these details were released on the American FCC’s website just long enough for keen eyes to grab some screen shots with pictures and all. I really do find the current Mighty Mouse a great mouse to use, and I think that it complements OS X very well. The ability to use and customise so many different buttons on the mouse in such a user friendly way is something that I seen on many other mice out there to-date. My one and only complaint about the current mouse however is that of the scroll ball. When it works it is genius, but give it some time and some frequent use and this thing gets so gunked up it renders it almost unusable.

The patents that were released seem to hint towards the new mouse containing some sort of multi-touch technology, if this is something that can replace the scroll ball while still maintaining the great user experience then I say bring it on! Given that one of our mighty mouse has a scroll ball that needs cleaning every second day I say that it is definitely time for a new model to come out.

http://www.news.com.au/technology/story/0,28348,25927464-5014239,00.html

I was reading the news story from the link above and it got me thinking. The article basically refers back to a case where a teenager had his girlfriends iPhone, it apprantly started hissing and then shattered, flying shards of glass around with one getting into his eye. The Child is said to be taking action against apple for this ‘faulty’ product.

In Apple’s usual manner when there is a story on exploding or overheating iPods, they have refused to comment or take any action on the issue. In my opinion I know that if there was a problem with the product Apple would probably be quick to replace all affected models, they have done his in the past with other products like laptops and iPods. Although from a public relations and reputation management point of view I believe that by Apple refusing to make any statements they are treading a very thin line which could impact on customers trust in the company and it’s products.

Rather than taking the path that Apple’s lawyers dictate each and every time I feel it would benefit the company in the long run to actually come out and say something in situations like these, something to reassure every iPod, iPhone and Mac owner out there that the products they are using on a day to day basis have been tested thoroughly, and that the situations where something is happening, are an anomaly and a small percentage of all items out there on the market. By taking this path rather than the path determined by the lawyers it would put them in a better position to recover if there ever was a situation where a batch of iPhones were faulty.

Apple you need to understand that while you may be sitting pretty now – if you continue down a path where you fail to recognize and rectify issues, these issues will one day snowball into a crisis and one that could impact how you proceed in the marketplace.

But then again, Apple never have been the conventional thinking computer company, have they?

I think that the invention of  wireless broadband dongles is one of the greatest things to come to broadband internet access in the last few years, mainly because it allows you to get online anywhere you have 3G mobile phone coverage and on top of this it allows people who only have one computer in the home the freedom of doing away with landlines and DSL at home.

I do however have a bit of an issue with the phone companies over these devices. While the plans for them are fine if this is your only method of access to the internet, I think it is a terrible ripoff if you allready have your home broadband and possibly your mobile phone with that carrier as well. If you are anything like us we already have the highest broadband plan our service provider allows which costs us over $100 a month, and we also both have our phones with the same carrier thats almost another $100 a month there as well. I feel that it is pointless paying another $50 dollars a month over two years or having an even more expensive pre-paid arrangement just to allow you to access the web anywhere you go.

What I would like to see mobile carriers do is bundle their products, what would be so wrong with us paying a little extra each month say $10-$20 to have a dongle that is linked to our home broadband account. Allowing us to utilise the data allowance we have  at home, anywhere in the country. Rather than having another whole contract for a separate device giving us an extra 1-5 gig’s of data,  which we allready get (and often don’t use) in our home broadband anyway.

I understand that there are probably extra costs associated with providing broadband via 3G but I think that it makes good sense, not only that but it would give the company who adopts it a good marketing and competitive advantage over the competitors in the industry.

Do you have any thoughts on this topic? If so please feel free to leave a comment below!

The Palm Pre has recently been released in America, and while I doubt we will see it here in Australia for quite some time due to the fact that it’s currently only a CDMA handset (no longer supported on Aussie networks) it has got an accessory that I would’ve loved to see on the newest model of Apple’s iPhone. The accessory that I’m referring to is Inductive Charging.

Inductive charging is a pretty neat technology that allows you to charge devices without physically plugging them to a power cable. There are currently charging mats out there that are square little rubbery looking mats that you can sit several devices on and charge them.

The pictures above are of the Palm Touchstone, the idea here is that the round base is connected to a power source, and you replace the standard back cover of the device with the touchstone back cover – pictured on the left. You can then simply sit your phone on top of the touchstone base and it charges your phone for you.

I think this is a great idea and can’t believe that it hasn’t been implemented on more devices. It may be a little gimmicky as it is just another way of achieving the same result that you can get when plugging in a power cable but it is something I would love to have! With the current iPhone 3GS coming out last month, it didn’t really have any compelling features that have prompted me to break my current contract and upgrade to the new model, this inductive charging, if offered on the iPhone 3GS would’ve given me a good reason to upgrade!!

This seems to be a long time coming for Three, I used the Three network for a number of years before I switched to Optus in August last year. Why did I switch, well because Three didn’t have the iPhone of course.

I have found up untill now Optus to have the best plans for the iPhone, Telstra are just plain expensive and you get hardly any included calls for what you pay, not to mention data – you have to pay extra for that. As for Vodafone well their plans are good but theres nothing in the ‘consumer’ price range it all seems to be up in the $70+ price range. This is why I went with Optus their plans seem to offer the best value for money and coverage.

I have always wanted an iphone ever since the original was released in America, and when it came to Oz in the form of the 3G I was ecstatic, we knew Optus and Vodafone were getting straight away and then came Telstra, but no not three. Three even launched a petition website to try and show Apple how much their consumers wanted the iPhone but for some reason they just couldn’t get it. At the end of the day though this caused at least myself and Melissah – two very happy Three customers to leave the network. From a marketing point of view this must have been a nightmare for them, to me I feel like we were the picture of a perfect customer to them even to the point where we were referring friends to the network because their cap plans were the best on the market.

While their plans are still great, and in the past year they have greatly expanded their 3G network to be somewhat comparable in coverage to Optus and Telstra (still charged at higher rates when you are outside 3’s own data area) I’m sorry Three but even though it’s great news that your finally getting the iPhone, its too late to get us back at least in the immediate future anyway.

Well the day has come! I know I have been waiting for quite some time now. The iPhone 3.0 Software is finally out. Do yourself a favor so you can take advantage of the great new features we have all been waiting for:

• MMS – picture and audio
• Cut, Copy & Paste
• Tethering to your laptop – yes your phone is now able to be a mobile broadband dongle
• Landscape keyboard in Apps like Mail, Safari, Notes, SMS
• Spotlight Search
• Faster web browsing in Safari
• Shake to Shuffle
• Voice Memo’s

To get all these great updates and turn your phone into the phone it ought to be, Connect it to your computer with the USB cable. If it doesn’t prompt you with an update message, in iTunes click on your phone in the devices list, and select the option to check for updates. This will download the latest software and install it on your phone. You’re now set to go. Enjoy!!

Yesterday Apple presented their Keynote at the annual World Wide Developers Conference or WWDC for short. With much anticipation leading up to the event, Apple generally pleased by announcing the new iPhone software which will be available June 17, a little more about that in a bit.

A breif overview of how the Keynote went down: First Apple announces that their new operating system ‘Snow Leopard’ will be available in September this year, the best part of their announcement here is that this new release will be priced at an amazing $29 US which is about $36 Aussie dollars for a single installation, or $49 US or about $60 Aussie dollars for a Family pack (up to 5 computers) More info here TechCrunch: Snow Leopard Should Purr Along With a Smaller Footprint. There are a whole host of other things but overall we should see a vast improvement in speed with this installed and the other exciting news is that the installation itself takes up half the space of Leopard so you should find yourself with about 6GB of space that you didn’t have before.

They also announced a refreshed notebook lineup, the basic gist here is that the only model in the Macbook family is the white polycarbonate Macbook, they have promoted the Aluminum Macbook, bumped up a few specs and renamed it a Macbook Pro. So there is now the ability to get a 13, 15, 17″ screens in the power of a Macbook Pro. For full specs visit http://www.apple.com/au/macbookpro/.

And now onto the fun stuff! The new iPhone software. As I mentioned in my video post previously a few things that I was hoping for in the next software update included:

1. Better Battery life
2. Tethering
3. Video & Video Editing

Now as far as the software update increasing battery life…there was no mention…but I am hopeful that it is something that will just come with the update as in the previous ones. Tethering however is now supported!!! Provided that your mobile carrier will support it (Optus in Australia will be supporting from the get go) you will now be able to tether your iPhone to your computer be it Mac or PC, it can be tethered either with the standard USB cable or by bluetooth and no extra software is required. This will be great for people on the go who don’t want the extra expense of a USB wireless broadband modem (myself included here).

A few other features that they mentioned are things that we have known about since the 3.0 software was announced earlier this year. That includes MMS, revised App store and iTunes store, Spotlight search function across the whole phone as well as a whole host of other things.

The one that I was hoping would come via a software update – Video – unfortunately did not arise….however….Apple did release a new iPhone!!! This will be badged the iPhone 3G S, S for speed. With faster internal chips for better graphics and just a faster phone in general. It looks exactly the same and will be available in Black or White like before. The biggest improvement is a 3.0 megapixel camera with Autofocus, designed for better low light performance and the ability to tap to focus on a specific item in the frame. This new camera also supports video, with the function of trimming and editing the footage as well as being able to easily share via Mobile Me, YouTube etc. The iPhone 3g S will be available in either 16GB or 32GB versions which is just huge.

So while I didn’t get all my wishes with the upgraded software, there is a new phone coming out. And the great news is that they are still keeping the 8gb 3g that is available now, but reducing the price! So if your in the market for a new phone or have been hanging out for the price to drop now is your time to buy. The new models remain at the prices that the 3G has been at for the last 12 months. If you would like a good wrap up of what happened at the WWDC keynote yesterday check out this video from Cali Lewis of Geekbrief TV

I don’t know about you, but I would love one of the new handsets. But given that I’m locked into a two year contract on my current iPhone, the new features just aren’t a compelling enough reason to break contract for a new phone? How about you, what are your thoughts about the new phone and software and will you be buying one? Leave a comment below!!