As is all but customary in September, Apple hosted a press event this week centered around its consumer music and media lines of products. iPods, iTunes, and the Apple TV were the order of the day today, and we got some surprises out of Apple as well.

For example, a new iPod Touch with a camera on the back had been widely leaked, mostly because a number of case manufacturers had put cases in their stores earlier than they probably should have that showed space in the back for a camera. We even saw square cases for what looked to be a square, fat iPod Nano, and the truth behind those leaks was revealed as well.

Apple’s culture of secrecy is starting to show a few cracks, but not really of Apple’s own doing – it’s just impossible to get as large as Apple is and have as many partners as Apple does and not have breaches here and there – especially when your company is so popular yet so secretive that people are actively looking and scouring the web for possible leaks and clues into what your next move will be.

With that being said, let’s dive into today’s announcements. All in all, there’s little that’s earth-shattering here, mostly updates and changes that are evolutionary and not revolutionary, but that doesn’t mean they’re not worth getting excited over.

• iOS Updates and Gaming

  Steve started out the presentation by announcing the availability of iOS 4.1 for all devices, including the iPod Touch and iPhone, and 4.2 for the iPad coming in November. He also mentioned that iOS devices have outsold Sony and Nintendo gaming devices combined, so there’s no reason to not take them seriously as gaming platforms. Apple is full and true a gaming company – and the first announcement hammered the point home.

  Apple announced GameCenter, a new multiplayer matching service for iPhone and iPod Touch games that support multiplayer competitve or co-op play. You’ll be matched up with others who own the games you do and want to play live online, and you’ll be able to play multiplayer games right on your iOS device. Apple has already signed up Epic Games for at least one RPG title.

  The fallout from this could be enormous – we very well may be looking at the eventual introduction of more multiplayer games for iOS devices. Do I hear World of Warcraft or integration with Battle.net for the iPad, anyone?



• iPods, iPods, and more iPods!

  Steve Jobs said as much: every iPod in the lineup saw changes and upgrades today, some of them really impressive, others not so much. The venerable iPod Shuffle, which as of yesterday was a tiny, nondescript aluminum brick, saw the return of the click-wheel to its face, and looks more like the iPod Shuffle of old – square with a clip on the back and a click-wheel on the front. The new shuffle will sport 2GB of storage and retail for $49, an amazing price point. It’s retains the voice-activated playlists of the original, and comes in six colors.

  The iPod Nano got the biggest makeover. The new iPod Nano comes in a square version – again – and ditches the clickwheel and screen entirely for an iPod Touch/iPhone-like touch screen. The iPod Nano is tiny and the touch screen is tiny too, with only enough screen real estate for four app icons. The new iPod Nano is shaped just like the new Shuffle, but the touch screen and the buttons on the outside control everything. It also features a clip on the back for portability, comes in seven different colors, and will retail for $149 for 8GB and $179 for 16GB.

  The new Nano was clearly the most controversial of the announcements – I looked at it and actually laughed aloud at how ridiculous the concept is: it seems entirely too small for that touch display to really be worthwhile, but it’s clear that the touch-screen and apps are Apple’s future, and you’re coming with them if you want an iPod. Whether or not the iPod Nano is actually running a full version of iOS that can run apps from the iTunes App Store remains to be seen. The Nano also lost its camcorder, so I suppose we can safely consider that feature a flop.

  The iPod Touch got updates too, including a camcorder on the back (likely to make up for the lack of one in the new Nano and to put it where it rightfully belonged in the first place – iPod Touch users are more likely to download apps and want to do the same things their iPhone-owning counterparts do) even though it can’t take still pictures, a slimmer profile (that doesn’t have the same design at the iPhone – it retains the old curved design,) and Apple’s new Retina Display for high-resolution goodness. The new iPod Touch is also getting iOS 4.1, so all those great new apps and games for the iPhone 4 will work on it as well.

  The new iPod Touch also has a front-facing camera, and will support FaceTime calls with iPhone 4 owners, which is an amazing announcement. The new iPod Touch costs $229 for 8GB, $299 for 32GB, and $399 for 64GB, still ridiculously overpriced for massive adoption in my opinion, but we’ll see sales in the coming months.

  Conspicuously absent from the announcement entirely was the iPod Classic – Apple’s last remaining hard-drive based digital media player. It saw no updates, no changes, no price drops, not even a mention – which leads me (and a lot of other tech bloggers) to believe that we’ll see it silently put to death in the coming days.

• iTunes 10 and Ping

  Also announced today was an update to iTunes, bringing the version of the app to iTunes 10, which in itself is really a usability update to the service to make the service easier to use and more streamlined. The biggest new feature in iTunes 10 is the addition of Ping, a social service that will allow users to share and suggest music to one another, swap playlists, discover new music, and share what they’re buying and listening to with their friends and family. Apple’s essentially built a social network into iTunes, and it’s probably the last nail in the coffin for MySpace and a lease on life for iTunes itself – especially in Windows where people have been deserting it en masse because it performs so terribly.

  The new service will allow users to share what they have playing, as well as concerts they’re planning to go to, and other users will be prompted to sample or download the music they’re playing as well as buy their own tickets to the same concerts or shows. It seems that Apple is inching step by step into a more Web-focused and enabled music service, likely using the technology and talent they got when they purchased LaLa back in April. Still, the announcement did fall short of a full web-based iTunes music store, and there were no subscription services for iTunes or massive changes to the catalog like some people had predicted.

• One more thing: The Apple TV!

  Steve Jobs pulled out the infamous line at the end of the iTunes segment, and claimed that he had one item that – while it was never a huge hit, was definitely well loved by the people who adopted it: the Apple TV. He claimed it was time to make HDTV and the Apple TV more than just “a hobby,” and unveiled a new all-streaming set-top version of the Apple TV that’s small enough to fit in the palm of your hand.

  The new Apple TV will have $0.99 HD video rentals, and first-run $4.99 streaming HD movies (first-run meaning it’s the same day the DVDs hit the shelves, not in advance like Netflix.) The box will be all-streaming and have no on-board storage, and support streaming media from services like Netflix, ABC, Fox, and others, although some content providers haven’t fully signed on yet.

  The tiny device will have HDMI and Ethernet on the back, and support 802.11n wireless for streaming video. Users will even be able to use their iOS devices (iPads, iPhones, etc) as wireless remotes for the new Apple TV.

  That’s all the good news, and a rundown of the features. This is where the questions start, that’ll have to be answered when people get hands-on with the Apple TV next month after it ships: first of all, what does “HD” mean to Apple? When I think HD, I’m thinking gorgeous 1080p video, but not all streaming services think that way. Are they going with the TV definition and sticking with 1080i, or are they bumping it down even further and sticking with 720p? Will the Apple TV be able to stream media from other sources, like an iTunes library on another device on a home network?

  I like the ability to stream video from so many Web-based sources, but more and more TVs are coming with the ability to do the same thing, and more and more set-top boxes are hitting the market. Granted, the new AppleTV undercuts them all by price point, but also sacrifices on-board storage and goes for an all-rental (which on the flip-side means no-ownership) model for media on your big screen. It’ll also have to compete with the likes of the upcoming Boxee Box (unless they find a way to let you install Boxee on the new Apple TV directly,) the Roku, the Western Digital TV Live, the PopBox, and the Popcorn Hour, to name a few.

  The AppleTV is likely aimed at consumers who don’t have anything connected to their TV for streaming today, and who might want a little more in the way of additional video content than an XBox 360, for example, can offer easily, and without the need for syncing or streaming media from another source. Kind of a beginner’s set-top box with room to grow – and at that price point, it’s well placed.

That does it – all of the announcements today were exciting, but as I said not particularly earth-shattering. The changes to the Apple TV were likely more revolutionary for Apple and its approach to video and TV content, but evolutionary when considered in the context of the rest of the market. The changes to the iPod lineup were largely welcome, although I’m curious to see how the new Nano – the only model that really changed appreciably with the exception of the super-cheap Shuffle – is received by owners.

Of all of the announcements, I’m actually most intrigued by iTunes 10 and Ping. I really want to give it a shot and see if it can breathe a little life into music-based social networking. As soon as it’s available for download (Apple said it would be out today) I’ll let you know.

What do you think about the announcements today? Will you be picking up a $99 buck Apple TV, or a new iPod? Sound off in the comments!

Our friends down under in Brisbane, Australia have a fantastic little hangout for geeks and gamers alike called the Mana Bar: Australia’s first video game themed bar! Events and parties held at the venue will have video game themes, and all of the house special cocktails are all named after video game characters, titles, places, and so on. For example, you can just as easily walk up to the bar and order a Princess Peach as you can order a martini, but if you’re feeling daring you can walk up and order a Mana Potion or a Health Potion if you need a little refreshment, or even a Purple Tentacle if you’re feeling a little ecchi.

Also, going to the Mana Bar doesn’t mean you just drink tasty beverages inspired by your favorite video games, it means you get to play some of your favorite video games as well! The games rotate out every month, and the bar has on-site XBox 360s, PlayStation 3s, Nintendo Wiis, and even downloadable titles for people with handheld game consoles! If you have a bit more money to spend, you can walk up to the bar, order your next drink, and buy a video game right there on the spot as well.

Before you head out though, check out the dress code page: leave your shorts and thongs at home (unless you’re in cosplay, in which case the Mana Bar apparently welcomes you!) and don’t forget to invite Pikachu! Now, if only I can get down there in time for Steampunk Saturday…

[ The Mana Bar ]

If you’re as much of a fan of iSkin as I am, you’ll be thrilled about their most recent promotion: they’re planning to give away an 3G, 64GB iPad to one lucky back-to-school student, and they’re including a dock, cleaning cloth, messenger bag, and an iSkin Vu to keep it safe!

I was about to enter the contest, but when they asked if I was actually going back to school this fall, I didn’t have the heart to lie. I suppose I could take some classes…

Still, don’t let my folly stop you – head on over and enter the contest! I’ll be jealous if you win!

[ iSkin :: Back to School Contest ]

Every year, the folks over at PC Mag put together their list of the Top 100 Web Sites of the year, and while it’s not one of those reader-submitted types of roundups (which generally result in the same list of sites year over year), it’s always interesting and a good solid mix of both classic sites that everyone is (or should be) using for their day to day activities on the Web and undiscovered sites that will likely make a huge difference for the folks who are seeing them for the first time.

Among some of the interesting sites on this years list are a few that I find particularly interesting like Critical Past and LocalDirt, the former a site that has thousands of hours of stock historical footage and the latter a site that’s designed to help you find farmer’s markets, co-ops, and CSAs in your area. Some of the classics? The venerable Lifehacker, GDGT, and Epicurious. Best of all, you can download all of the top 100 sites as a file to add to your browser’s bookmarks easily at the end of the article.

[ PC Mag :: Top 100 Web Sites of 2010 ]

The original Motorola Droid was an amazing device (full disclosure: I own one and love it, so I’m a little biased) and here we are less than a year later and Motorola has already end-of-lifed the original Motorola Droid and has unveiled its successor, the Droid 2!

The new version of the Droid will look much like the original – the same screen size, same 5-megapixel camera, and with a slide-out keyboard, but the new version will eliminate the d-pad on the original Droid (a lot of people disliked it – I don’t mind it so much, I just don’t use it often) in exchange for a wider keyboard with higher keys, and will sport a faster 1GHz mobile processor in it, a substantial upgrade from the 600Mhz processor in the original Droid.

Additionally, the Droid 2 will come with Android version 2.2 “Froyo,” which is rolling out to existing Droid devices as we speak, have its wi-fi hotspot feature turned on (for an extra $20/month to Verizon Wireless) that lets your other mobile devices use your phone as a wireless base station, and a bit more onboard storage that will hopefully also improve performance.

I’ve mentioned before that Verizon Wireless has come a long long way, baby, and this is more evidence to the fact. Verizon isn’t as afraid to put high-end premier devices on their networks as they used to be, and their speedier hardware approval process has put them in the driver’s seat when it comes to top notch devices. The Droid 2 is available now in Verizon Stores and online, and if you’re a Star Wars fan, there’s a special R2-D2 version of the Droid 2 coming next month!

[ PC Mag :: Verizon, Motorola Introduce Droid 2 ]

Obviously I’m more of a “build it, don’t buy it” kind of guy, especially when it comes to a gaming rig. I’d rather spend more on quality components that I research and choose myself and then put the whole package together on my own than trust another company’s decision-making on which components to skimp on and which are worth investing in.

Admittedly, that approach isn’t for everyone! If it’s right for you, however, the fine folks at ExtremeTech have a guide for you on how to build the right gaming PC for your budget – whatever that budget may be! The article is a series of lists of components you can pick up and put together at different price points. If you have $500 to spend? There’s a gaming rig you can assemble for that. Maybe you have twice that much – there’s a section on building a gaming PC for $1,000! What could you get if you had a few more dollars to spend than that? $1,250 it is.

Head on over and take a look at the full roundup – just in time for back-to-school shopping!

[ ExtremeTech :: Build the Best Gaming PC for Any Budget ]

Don’t forget that if you’re a big Facebook fan, you can keep up with Gears and Widgets over there without having to load us up separately! Head over to the Gears and Widgets Facebook page and like us in order to get new posts delivered directly to your Facebook news feed!

[ Gears and Widgets: Facebook Fan Page ]

Fans of Google’s Android mobile phone operating system have a lot to cheer about, as the NPD just announced that in the United States, Android devices outsold Apple’s iPhone and Research in Motion’s (RIM) Blackberry phones for the first time ever. The race had been largely between Apple and RIM with RIM still in the top spot, but Android’s had the wind under its wings in the last few months with several strong devices launching across multiple carriers from multiple hardware manufacturers.

Here’s a little snippet lifted from PC Mag, who covered the story:

During the second quarter, about 33 percent of new smartphone purchases were for Android-based phones, compared to 28 percent for BlackBerry, and 22 percent for Apple’s iPhone.

“For the second consecutive quarter, Android handsets have shown strong but slowing sell-through market share gains among U.S. consumers,” Ross Rubin, executive director of industry analysis for NPD, said in a statement. “While the Google-developed OS took market share from RIM, Apple’s iOS saw a small gain this quarter on the strength of the iPhone 4 launch.”

The most popular Android phones were the Motorola Droid, the HTC Droid Incredible, the HTC EVO 4G, the HTC Hero, and the HTC Droid Eris.

A number of folks *coughcoughMASHABLEcoughcough* are incorrectly headlining this news as “Android is number one now,” which is only true if you apply the conditions of sales during Q2 2010 and sales in the United States only – it’s important to note that in the rest of the world, the battle is really a three-way between the ever-dominant Nokia and their Symbian OS which has never really caught on in the US and Canada and two upstarts named RIM and Apple.

Even in the United States more broadly and outside of Q2 2010, RIM is still on top and Apple is still number 2, but Android is making a very strong showing – and the longer Apple remains locked in to a single carrier (one that no one likes, at that), the worse off they’ll be.

[ PC Mag :: Android Tops RIM for First Time in Q2 ]

If you’re running Windows 7, you’re probably right about at that stage where you still love the operating system, would never dream of going back to Windows Vista or Windows XP, but you may not be fully aware yet of all of the tricks and bells and whistles that the operating system has under the hood that can really help you in your day to day computing.

Thankfully PC Mag has this fantastic roundup of 50 tips that can help you really squeeze all of the power and juice out of Windows 7 that you could possibly need, and some of them are enough to make you want to upgrade to Windows 7 if you’re sitting on an older OS for some reason or another.

Among the tips are ways to make sure your system is performing at its peak, and others allow you to tweak and customize the look and feel of the OS so it’s just right for what you do most often. Best of all, a number of the tips work for just about every operating system in some way or fashion, so head over and take a look!

[ PC Mag :: 50 Ways to Make the Most of Windows 7 ]

One of the things I’ve spent the past couple of weeks working on has been a comprehensive roundup of some of the summer’s hottest new keyboards, including models from Logitech, Microsoft, Eclipse, and Matias. Logitech’s new Fantasy Collection is affordable, attractive, and aimed at people who want to personalize their workspaces without shelling out a ton of money. Microsoft’s new Arc Special Edition is a media center keyboard with sharp looks, a nice curved design (perfect for lap and couch use) and a tiny receiver, the Matias USB Keyboard + Smartphone Stand comes with a space to rest your phone and a powered USB hub, and the high tech Eclipse Litetouch Keyboard offers sharp looks and a high tech LCD keypad on the right side of the keyboard with customizable function buttons!

I tested each one of the keyboards over the course of several months, and when all was said and done, I had some pretty strong opinions about them all – some of the more than others. Head over to check out the review and leave me a comment either here or there: I’m curious to hear what you think!

[ Tom's Guide :: Keyboards of Summer - 4 New Keyboards, Tested ]