If you have just bought an iPod, then you are in for a bit of bad news as Apple have announced updates to their ubiquitous iPod line of MP3 players, mainly regarding the iPod Nano and iPod Touch. As we warned before, it was highly expected that Apple would use the event today to announce new products, and it seems many of the rumours around the new iPod Nano turned out to be true.

I managed to keep up with the event via Gizmodo’s liveblog, which provided photos and text updates through the hour. So what did Apple show us today?

iTunes 8

iTunes has been hanging on to version 7 for a while now, and one of the biggest rumours leading up to today was a new version of iTunes being released, version 8. What’s new? Apart from a new visualizer (can I have it as a screen saver, Apple?), a new feature called Genius is meant to help you find music that “go great together”. For people with huge libraries, this could be a lot of help of getting some stuff organized for once. As for me, I am someone who doesn’t use playlists that much, or in fact at all, so I can’t really see this making much of a difference to me in any way. Also updated is a new view which presents your album covers like iPhoto or iMovie skimming, where you swipe the mouse over the Artist or Genre to see album covers inside. There is something about this view which for now makes it feel as though it doesn’t really fit in iTunes, but it may just need some getting used to.

iPod Nano

As Kevin Rose had predicted (or received in a leak) the iPod Nano has reverted from its old, fatter design back to the taller one we knew before, coming in a variety of colours, and with a new, curved design (much like what is going on with the back of the iPhone, or the tapering of the MacBook Air). Also, we have seen new features such as an accelerometer so that when you turn the Nano, it will also turn what is on screen, useful for Cover Flow mode and more importantly watching videos and movies, as the screen is now taller. Also included is an update to the iPod OS with Genius, the feature seen in iTunes which recommends music to you, rather like a Pandora or Last.fm of your iTunes Library. Another feature, although maybe viewed as more of a gimmick by many, is the ability to shake the device, which uses the accelerometer to turn shuffle mode on. In my eyes, that isn’t really a selling point, but I am sure in some way to some people that will be handy.

Another change comes in the capacity of the Nano: You can now get 8GB and 16GB versions of the device, coming in at £109 and £149 respectively. This is a welcome addition to the line of iPods.

iPod Touch

The smaller brother of the iPhone, the iPod Touch has also received some updates, although not as massive as seen on the Nano. The second generation of the device is now even smaller and lighter than it’s predecessor, and includes a speaker, hardware volume control buttons (much wanted by existing Touch owners) and intergration of Genius from iTunes into software 2.1. Also included into the new Touch is Nike + iPod support, a technology which helps you with your workouts, which helps you track your progress during exercise. Oh, and the prices have been dropped slightly on the Touch, now coming in 8, 16 and 32 GB sizes at £169, £219, and £289.

What else?

Well, Apple decided that the iPod classic needed some love and upgraded the 80GB model to 120GB, but in doing so also dropped the 160GB model. Not too sure what to make of that move. And to (presumably) avoid a mass server flood, the iPhone 2.1 software, which has been described as having a multitude of fixes for bugs in iPhone OS X, and helping battery life, poor call quality, crashes and other random annoyances that have plauged the iPhone 2.0 OS since it’s release.

Qik, the Ustream/Stickam/Justin.tv/etc for mobile, is expanding to more handsets, to go along their already supported handsets such as Nokia’s popular N95 and the iPhone (although it does you require you jailbreak, due to Apple’s limitations). Most of the updates are to Taiwanese company HTCs most recent products. New Qik software will be coming to the following phones:

• HTC Touch Dual
• HTC Touch Diamond
• HTC TyTn-II
• AT&T Tilt
• Sony Ericsson Xperia X1

Qik brings the idea of lifecasting straight your 3G or WiFi enabled phone, making it easier for anyone to share their life on the go. As I tested in a 3G area on my phone, Qik works amazingly well if you have good signal, and even on 2 bars of 3G I got a good upload speed. Just don’t if for lengthy periods on a limited data plan, or you might run up some lengthy charges…

It seems that the 120GB Zune was let out a bit early recently as a lucky shopper in Atlanta, USA got their hands on a brand new Zune, as well as providing the receipt and some unboxing pics to prove his luck. It will cost $250, which isn’t bad when you consider that an 80GB iPod classic costs $249.

Google have shown off another part of the Android OS, by revealing the Android Market, their answer to the iPhone App Store. The Android Market will be free for anyone to add apps to, as it requires no approval process to have your stuff put up in the listings (although how would you control so many apps without some kind of monitoring?). This has a big advantage over the Apple App Store, which currently requires apps to be approved before they have a chance of making the store itself. Other than that, the Market is very similar to the iPhone App Store in the sense that it is one place where all the Apps are, as well as providing easy updating.

The only thing I can really see as a problem here is that Android is a free, open OS that will be available to all phone companies to use. The inherent problem with this is that there will be many different types of phones, some with big screens, some with small screens, some with certain features (maybe GPS etc), some without. How will developers make their apps so that they work across this vast selection of phones? This works on the iPhone and iPod Touch, as they have the same screen size, and mostly the same features. Obviously, the iPod Touch lacks GPS and a cell connection, but Location Services still work on the Touch if you are connected to a mapped Wi-Fi hotspot.The main issue here is how developers will Develop apps so that they work across the wide selection of Android we can expect.

Still, the “Market” is a great idea to make Android phones even more easy to use and desirable as a phone OS. It will certainly be a change from scouring the web for Apps you want like you still do with Nokia phone or BlackBerry devices. It’s good to see that the Android OS doesn’t look too shabby either, and whilst many would argue that the design doesn’t matter, in all honesty it does. People want something that looks great these days (which in some cases is the sole reason why people buy phones, especially the iPhone).

Let’s just hope that Android will be released without all the problems that the iPhone has (and still is) plagued with.

Read more about the Android OS over at the Official Blog.

This month, we have seen many people come up with ideas for suspected releases of new Apple equipment again. Some great (and some pointless) ideas have been spreading through the net as to what could potentially be launched.

I thought I would give you a low-down of the latest breaking rumours circulating the inter-web 2.0 nowadays.

1. iPod touch re-design [Article] - Yes the first rumour is that Apple are going to redesign the iPod touch to match the iPhone by placing a plastic rear cover to the touch. I hope this doesn’t come true as I myself have just purchased an iPod touch. The pros of this would be a reduction in price and less visible scratches but considering one of the reasons for the new iPhone rear was to improve the 3G reception there is no real advantage. Maybe this is the signs to an addition of GPS to the touch.
2. New MacBook [Article] - Now this is one of those rumours that is repeated at every launch date so the question is will the MacBook finally face a re-design?. Well from the suspicious leaked pictures it seems the rumoured MacBook might incorporate a touch screen element and flip into a tablet PC (Mac), for me this would be a wonderful addition. But if this does become reality then Axiotron, the company producing the Modbook, will pretty much be out of business and the MacBook will most probably increase in price. Bad times 
3. iPhone Nano [Article] - Well it seems very unlikely to me but the Daily Mail have reported possibilities of a Pay-as-you-go iPhone nano launched in time for Christmas. One question, what’s the point?.
4. 4GB iPod Shuffle [Article] - I think this is pointless. What would be the reason behind having that much memory for tracks that you would be limited in selecting (no screen). You either have the option of selecting shuffle or skipping through your vast quantity of 4GB. It’s going to take you long time. Well if your a Shuffle fan then I suppose this is maybe for you. Tell me your views.
5. Zune inspired Nano [Article] - A nano shaped Zune, well it could be a possibility. Actually I think it would be a good addition, certainly for watching videos on the nano. But is bigger, better, but will Apple actually steal a design from one of its rival company? Good, but seems very unlikely to me considering the potential slander by the media this could potentially cause.
6. Glass trackpad MacBook [Article] - Sounds cool, but is it practical? Think of the smudges! Anyway this article says the MacBook will incorporate a glass trackpad. It shall be supporting gestures (it better had) and the ideas of a new MacBook with tapered edges from the design of the new MacBook Air and iPhone 3G.

RIM will be bringing the BlackBerry Bold to the UK later this August, fueling the ever increasing CrackBerry habits of businessmen and addicted emailers alike. The Bold (or BlackBerry 9000) will be the best BlackBerry in the range, with a sexy frontend to the OS, a sleek black styling as well as WiFi, GPS, Bluetooth, 3G and EDGE, and a standby time of 13 days (which is a long time for a smartphone, to say the least). When launched, the Bold will be available in T-Mobile and Carphone Warehouse stores, with no word on any expansions to other carriers as of yet.

Also included is a 2 megapixel (same as the iPhone) and flash (one up on the iPhone), as well as 1 GB of memory and support for more with an additional memory card.

Whether or not this will take off and be an “iPhone killer” is yet to be seen, but I predict that missing things such as the full featured experience of the iPhone’s iPod, the App Store and multi-touch may leave this to the hungry business types, always out to get the latest device to keep them connected. However, that is not to say that this is not a nice phone, and it certainly (for now, anyway :D) beats the iPhone hands down in the enterprise market, with better push email support and things such as the ability to edit Microsoft Office documents, whereas iPhone users can only view them. And even though there is no App Store, the ability to install any application made for the BlackBerry without having to submit officially to RIM is a big one up on the iPhone, and this is certainly a valid arguement that BlackBerry supporters use when arguing over the best phone.

I have to say, even though I am an iPhone user, my limited use of a BlackBerry Pearl has proven to me that they are very nice mobile devices and I can certainly see why they are better for business applications than the iPhone is. However, you can see where the iPhone is a breath of fresh air on the OS side, as the BlackBerry OS feels a little old, as well as no HTML support in email and other niggles which certainly make it a little annoying. The keyboard was definitely something I was not to sure of, but the Pearl has a QWERTY keyboard that doubles up each key to save space, so I am sure something like the Bold might suit me more, with each key to itself.

If I had the choice between this and an iPhone, I would choose the iPhone, but it certainly is a nice phone that I would certainly consider if the iPhone wasn’t an option. I can see this being a hit for sure.

Here are some specifications provided by CrackBerry.com.

• Size - Length: 114mm, Width: 66mm, Thickness: 14mm
• Weight (with battery) - 133g (same as the 88xx series. I can attest to it!)
• Memory - 1GB on-board (storage) and 128 MB Flash (applications)
• Battery - 1500mAhr lithium cell
• Est. Battery Life - Standby: 13 days, Talk Time: 5 hours
• Network Support - UMTS: 2100 / 1900 / 850MHz, GSM: 1900 / 1800 / 900 / 850 MHz, GPRS, EDGE and HDSPA networks
• Wi-Fi - 803.11a/b/g enabled
• Display - HVGA, 480 x 320 pixels, Transmissive TFT LCD, supports over 65k colors
• Media Player, Video Support - DivX 4, Div X 5 & 6 are partially supported, XviD is partially supported, H.263, H.264 and WMV3
• Media Player, Audio Support - .3gp, MP3, WMA9 (.wma/.asf), WMA9 Pro/WMA 10, MIDI, AMR-NB, Professional AAC/AAC+/eAAC+
• Media Player, Audio - BlackBerry Media Sync allows you to transfer your desktop iTunes music to your BlackBerry!!!
• Camera - 2.0MP, 5 x digital zoom (with flash of course)
• GPS - internal GPS with extended ephemeris, BB Maps is standard
• Bluetooth - Bluetooth v2.0, all the normal stuff and Bluetooth Stereo Audio via A2DP and AVCRP
• USB Port - Enables charging and high-speed data synchronizations via USB “A” to mini-USB “B” cable (I can personally say moving files back and forth is now lightning quick!)
• Browser - HTML browsing, View Movies/Clips from websites built for mobile streaming, RSS feed support

Funnily enough, I was messing around with my iPhone today and discovered that Google had opened up a Google Translate version, specifically for Mobile Safari. Now this is not a native app, but a handy way of getting quick translations on the go. It’s available at the same address you access it on your computer - www.google.com/translate.

This goes with the other list of web apps Google have developed or the iPhone, such as Reader and GMail (although I just use Mobile Mail).