After airing a send-up of an iPhone commercial on Monday’s Ellen DeGeneres Show, the comedienne apologized for the parody at the behest of, well, Apple.

According to DeGeneres, Apple was none too pleased with her spoof, which depicted the actress fumbling with the device, trying (and failing) to send a text message. “The people at Apple didn’t think it was so funny,” she said on her show. “They thought I made it look like it’s hard to use and I just want to say I’m sorry if I made the iPhone look like it was hard to use.”

Read more and watch the spoof commercial and her apology here

Source: Mashable.com

Lady Gaga announced that she would be partnering up with Apple to produce a limited edition line of iPod Shuffles. Gaga is already knee-deep in tech ventures — from Polaroid cameras to her Heartbeat Headphones — so adding a specialty Shuffle to her resumé should be no problem. The 4GB chrome-plated shuffles (which are exclusive from the Apple Store already) will be branded with Gaga’s logo and come stocked with bothThe Fame, The Fame Monster, as well as a playlist of her favorite tunes from other artists. Bonus — she’ll also be lending a hand to design an accompanying pair of earbuds to match.

She seems be to quite the tech and marketing savvy individual these days!

Source: GeekSugar.com

To celebrate this upcoming milestone, Apple has created a countdown to it’s 10 billionth song download. For each song purchased, consumers will automatically be entered in a contest to win an iTunes Gift Card, with a limit of 25 entries per day per person or iTunes account.

The 10 billionth song download (or first non-purchase entry after the 9,999,999,999th song download) will be the big winner of a $10,000 iTunes gift card!

Watch the countdown or enter the contest here.

Apple held a press conference and media event to announce the launch of it’s much-hyped new tablet, the iPad. Prices range from $499 to $829 (depending on hard drive size and WiFi/3G connectivity).

Notable features include capabilities to use all iPhone/iPod Touch apps, USB syncing, enhanced music browsing, PDF-viewing, and an iPhone-like “Home” screen rather than desktop/dock.

Notable MISSING features include a camera (front-facing or otherwise), Flash capabilities, and any CD/DVD drives.

Initial consumer feedback isn’t overwhelmingly positive; many (myself included) were expecting something a lot closer to the MacBook in functionality. Perhaps there will be a desire for developers to create apps exclusively for the iPad, but as of now it is mostly an oversized iPhone… without the phone.

Source: MacRumors

Apple released in a press release earlier today that they have yet reached another milestone, 3 BILLION app downloads in less than 18 months.

Click here to read the full press release

The skirmish between Apple and Palm over whether owners of Palm devices can sync them up with their iTunes libraries has come to something of a resolution — though maybe not the one Palm had hoped for.

Earlier this summer, Palm filed a complaint with the USB Implementers Forum, an industry group that oversees standards for USB connections, claiming that Apple was restraining trade by only allowing Apple devices to access iTunes, its popular media management software.

On Wednesday, the group replied to the letter, dismissing Palm’s assertion that Apple was in violation of its policies. It also said that Palm’s strategy of having its Pre phone masquerade as an iPod so it would work with iTunes was a violation of the group’s membership agreement.

Get the full story here

Source: New York Times

The new MacBooks have been revealed today as promised. A few of the highlights include a “unibody” made from one piece of aluminum, ultra thin LED-backlit display, better and faster graphics, and a multi-touch glass track pad. One of the things Apple is most proud of is that the new MacBooks are energy star compliant and rated EPEAT Gold (The Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool, or EPEAT, evaluates the environmental impact of a product based on how recyclable it is, how much energy it uses, and how it’s designed and manufactured. Few products achieve EPEAT Gold status — and even fewer notebooks). They have also removed traces of toxins such as mercury, arsenic, and PVC from all components to make a more overall eco friendly product with more recyclable parts. And, they’ve even made the packaging 41% smaller to create more dense shipping pallets, allowing Apple to ship more units in one plane, therefore using less fuel, and ultimately reducing their carbon footprint. Click on the links below to take a look at the video from Apple that introduces this new MacBook, and check out the environmental stats. I hope to have my new MacBook by week’s end to do live a show and tell. 

The New MacBook 

The Greenest MacBook Ever

The Apple rumor mill has been going full force now for a few months, speculating what the next big thing in Macs will be. I know I’ve personally been holding off on purchasing a much needed new laptop until Apple unveils the highly anticipated new Notebooks. Finally invitations (intriguingly sparse, with just an apple notebook highlighted under a spotlight) have gone out to the press for an invitation only event on October 14th. Will the “Brick” rumors be true - whispers about a new manufacturing process  to sculpt casings for products out of aircraft-grade aluminum, using a system that carves the pieces out of a single block of metal using “3D lasers” and water-jet cutting have been circulating for a few weeks now. What about the new low price point of laptops starting at $800, compared with the $1,099 consumers must currently drop on a basic MacBook? Or perhaps Notebooks will be available in a rainbow of colors like the recently announced 4th generation iPod Nano? Maybe even an ultra-slim new profile similar to the MacBook Air? All the mystery will be put to bed by next Tuesday and I will most definitely be sitting on the edge of my seat to see if any of the hype proves to be true!

Source: The Wall Street Journal - Apple Likely to Unveil New Laptops

MacBook Brick?