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By Sarah, July 15, 2009 1:52 pm

So mean. I’m not even a Palm Pre user and I still think this sucks. Apple released iTunes version 8.2.1 today, and with it comes a nice little blockade preventing Pre users from syncing their music libraries. Now that’s a low blow.

The release notes include a blurb stating, “iTunes 8.2.1 provides a number of important bug fixes and addresses an issue with verification of Apple Devices.”

I suppose fair is fair… but still, this is pure evil. Dieter from precentral.net suggests Pre users check out doubleTwist for music syncing until this gets worked out, if ever.

I’ve only heard good things about the Pre, which we shall call “iPhone #2,” and although I wouldn’t give up my iPhone for anything, there are many times when I want to punch AT&T squarely in between the eyes for its lack of service.

via precentral

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By Sarah, June 30, 2009 8:32 pm

Continuing on its path to being awesome, the Maine Learning Technology Initiative announced today that it will be extending its MacBook notebook program to high school students.

Photo: Flickr user pinkyia

Since 2002, the state’s education board has been working with Apple to provide notebooks to middle school students. This expansion will give high school students in grades 7-12 the same benefit.

Maine is currently the only state to feature such a program; the Maine Department of Education has already ordered more than 64,000 MacBooks for students and faculty, with an additional 7,000 that will be ordered in the coming weeks.

Maine Education Commissioner Sue Gendron said,

“We have seen incredible success, with our middle schools showing increased student engagement and achievement with (Maine Learning Technology Initiative) in place, and we want to bring this same opportunity to our high schools.” Gendron continued, “this is not just about technology–it’s about using the technology to support education.”

This is fantastic. I wish this had been available when I was in high school. This is especially useful now that technology is being integrated at a rapid pace into the high school curriculum, and more and more students are learning their trade prior to college (which some are skipping altogether). For students who are eager to learn about digital media, design, film, music, and more creative fields, getting experience on an Apple is the only way to go.

In addition to the hardware, Apple also plans to provide the state with educational software, professional development, repair and replacement, and tech support. Students will not only become more familiar with technology in general, but will do research, write and edit, conduct online simulations, and take online tutorials.

So you get a free computer, but it still belongs to the school. Students are able to use the MacBooks at home and at school, but they must be returned at the end of the school year.

Guess those un-internet savvy teens better watch their browsing history and delete all those racy Photo Booth pics before handing it over at the end of the term! … or not. Scandalous!

via CNET

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By Sarah, July 30, 2008 12:37 pm

Oh my GOODNESS, yes I am still alive. I recently started writing another blog – for SocialVibe – and I have been a horrible mother to TechDarling. Please forgive me? I’m back. I will update on the regular I swear, just please don’t leave me.

Ok I’m done begging. Let’s see, lots of new tech stuff happened in the last month or so, including the iPhone 3G – which I’ve had the opportunity to play with. For the first time in my life I actually WANT one, which is crazy, because I’m a die-hard iPhone-Hater. Maybe it’s because of the fabulous accessories that you can dress it up in. But I’m more interested in the fabulous accessories INSIDE of it. They have all these amazing applications, for Facebook, Twitter, etc. That and my Blackberry Curve has been acting a fool the past few weeks. It’s only a year old!

Moving on, we had an earthquake today here in LA and I’m going to be honest, I’ve never experienced something so exhilarating/terrifying in my life. I was on the 11th floor of a high-rise and the entire building started swaying and shaking. I thought for sure I was going out the glass wall that I was sitting a mere six inches from. But alas, I made it out alive.

The aftermath was the crazy part…. almost instantaneously, all of my social networks began going off like firecrackers with updates about the earthquake. “Did u feel that?!?!” “Earthquake!” “That was at least a 5 or 6-er” Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, I had at LEAST 20 IMs in 10 minutes. The actual quake wasn’t that bad, but the flood of communication that came after was what REALLY shook us up. The cellphone networks weren’t working for hours afterward.

It’s true what they say… the future is mobile. Web 3.0, my friends. I know this because I am a victim of this disease. Every time I go somewhere, do something funny, see something unusual, etc, immediately I want to let my network know. I met Magic Johnson a couple of weeks ago and the first thing I did was post it on Twitter. My entire office is on Twitter and sometimes I catch us using it for inter-office communication! It’s not just Tweets that have got me and the rest of the world crazy… there are countless other devices and applications that make computing-on-the-go easy as pie.

And in keeping with the mobile theme of this post, I’d like to talk about out a very smart alarm clock.

The Tyrant, by Alice Wang. It is a damn tyrant, because if you don’t get up when it starts ringing, it kindly picks 3 contacts from your mobile address book at random and calls them every 3 minutes to let them know just what a lazy bastard you are. My friends would haaate this, as would the countless other random contacts in my phone. And since I am a regular at sleeping through my alarm, I’m going to guess it would happen quite often. What? I’m just not a morning person.

Thanks to my very good friend Matt for telling me about this one. I think he thought of me because he used to be my roommate and witnessed me sleeping literally all day on the regular.

via Engadget

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By Sarah, May 3, 2007 12:24 pm

All you gold lovers will surely get a gold rush from this fancy little upgrade, a 24 carat gold plated iPod! Of course you’ll need to shell out the big bucks for this, $600 for 8GB Nano or 30GB Video, and $800 for the 80GB Video. Wowza. Just send in your iPod and they install the hardened mirror gold backing for you.

The front of it is still white/black, but boy, she sure is purdy from the back!

Available here.

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By Sarah, March 20, 2007 11:26 am

Are you sick of all the cutesie little iPod covers for your first generation Nano?  I’m not, but these little guys are so mean and scary, it’s adorable. 

What are they:  Nanomonsters. 

What do they do:  Keep your Nano warm with a little rubber bodysuit while looking scary cute. 

There are eight different characters, from Mitts, the evil pink bunny (my favorite) to T-bone the pirate and Skully the skeleton.  The opening at the bottom allows for you to plug in your headphones & iPod charger, but when nothing is plugged in, they stand up on their own.   Plus, one of their "hands" is a hook to attach to your clothes or bag.

Never again will I have to worry about dropping my iPod on the treadmill while I’m working out, because they are made of rubber and will bounce right back.  There is no screen or Click-Wheel cover though, so scratches are still possible.  Who cares, they look cool, and that is the most important thing after all.