Sonos ZonePlayer S5 wireless music system, $399

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Home Entertainment, Music, Wireless / WiFi

Sonos is looking to market to the iPhone and iPod touch crowd with their new ZonePlayer S5 wireless music system. If you’re familiar with Sonos, you know that the price of entry has always been a bit high historically. The ZonePlayer S5 brings that price down to about $400. You plug it in to a router, and you are good to go with the ability to play your entire music library, as well as music from services like Rhapsody, Napster, Last.fm, and others, by using your iPhone as the remote control.

The price rises if you don’t have an Ethernet port handy for the S5, as you would then also need to buy a ZoneBridge, which allows you to connect the ZonePlayer S5 (as well as any other ZonePlayers you have) to your network wirelessly. We definitely think this is a positive step in the right direction for Sonos. By adding an all-on-one ZonePlayer/speaker to their line-up at this much lower price point, they’ve made it enticing to check them out to see what all the fuss is about. We’d pick up a ZonePlayer S5 over a Bose Sounddock any day of the week.

Read More | Sonos ZonePlayer S5 Demo

• Tools:
• Permalink
• Comments (0)
• Digg This
• Share on Facebook
• Email this story

Ping! app updated to 1.0.1, fixes bugs

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Social Networking, App Updates, $0.99

Ping!, the iPhone-to-iPhone messaging app, has just been updated to version 1.0.1, and with the update comes a bunch of bug fixes. Here’s a little of what’s changed:

• You can now unregister your Ping! ID
• Landscape keyboard fixed so you can now send updates from that view
• Duplicate messages will no longer be received
• Notification settings icon fixed
• There’s now an in-app invitation email

Ping! certainly isn’t the prettiest app in the world, but it is definitely functional, and allows free iPhone-to-iPhone messaging without having to use SMS, and it’s way faster. You can pick up Ping! for $0.99.

• Tools:
• Permalink
• Comments (0)
• Digg This
• Share on Facebook
• Email this story

Ping! brings iPhone-to-iPhone messaging to the App Store

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Social Networking, New Apps, Reviews, Free Apps

We were just alerted to a new iPhone and iPod touch app called Ping!, which aims to provide free iPhone-to-iPhone (and iPod touch) messaging to users of those devices. We tried it, and thought it was worthy enough to give a shout out to.

Basically, once you download the free Ping! application, you set up a username, and you are set. You can invite others from within the app over email, letting them know your username, and also set up whether you want push notifications or not. Once you start a conversation, it’s very similar to SMS…except it’s free, and instant. You get the speed of an IM conversation with the persistence of SMS, all at no extra cost. Even better, it works internationally. So you can send and receive messages with people in other countries, and again, at no extra cost.

Go ahead and give Ping! a try, we think you’ll like it.

Read More | Ping! in App Store

• Tools:
• Permalink
• Comments (70)
• Digg This
• Share on Facebook
• Email this story

Zune HD size comparison gallery

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Displays, Features, Handhelds, Microsoft, Portable Audio / Video

The Zune HD launches today, and we know a bunch of you are considering picking one up, but want to know how it stacks up agains other items like the iPod touch, and even the older hard drive based Zune 120 (since they’re all on clearance now.) We’ve taken the liberty of putting together a size comparison gallery that puts the Zune HD up against those very items. Yup, check out our Zune HD size comparison gallery for all the goods.

Read More | Zune HD size comparison gallery

Gallery: Zune HD size comparison gallery

• Tools:
• Permalink
• Comments (0)
• Digg This
• Share on Facebook
• Email this story

Microsoft’s take on today’s Apple announcements

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Corporate News, Microsoft, Music, Portable Audio / Video, Software

One things we’ve been wondering today, admidst all of the Apple It’s Only Rock and Roll event news, is how Microsoft was feeling, especially as it pertains to their Zune business, which is set for a major overhaul in six days. We got in contact with a Microsoft spokesperson, and asked them about what they thought of the new iPod and iTunes announcements. Here’s what they had to say:

Since our debut, Zune has offered a different kind of end-to-end digital entertainment experience that includes wireless MP3 players, a robust online store, music community and innovative software features that help users easily find the music and videos they love.

The entertainment experience for consumers hasn’t changed that much after Apple’s announcement today.  Our point of view has always been that people want to be entertained, and they want a better way to watch and listen to the digital entertainment they love.  We’re interested in getting you your content where you want it in rich, exciting ways.  We look forward to sharing more on September 15th.

Okay, so Zune is all about music and videos - not games, video recording, and all that other stuff. We get it, and we like the focus. What we don’t like, though, is how Microsoft allowed Apple to steal their thunder by announcing the new line-up way after Microsoft announced the Zune HD, followed up by Apple launching the new iPods a week before the Zune HD hits stores.

In the meantime, if you’re a music fan looking for a new music player, we say wait until the fifteenth. What you see come out of the Zune camp may surprise you. All of you. I’ve already said too much.

• Tools:
• Permalink
• Comments (1)
• Digg This
• Share on Facebook
• Email this story

iPhone OS 3.1.1 now available

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Cell Phones, Handhelds, Software

Amidst all the other Apple news from today’s “It’s Only Rock and Roll” music event is the fact that iPhone OS 3.1 (or, technically, 3.1.1) is now available. With it comes things like support for Genius Mixes, pre-cut ringtone downloads at $1.29 a pop, app organization support in iTunes 9, and Genius recommendations for apps. There’s also a bunch of polish, bug fixes, and ease of use features as well. Just connect your iPhone or iPod touch and check for an update.

• Tools:
• Permalink
• Comments (0)
• Digg This
• Share on Facebook
• Email this story

iPod touch 3rd gen: $199 8GB, $299 32GB, $399 64GB

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Handhelds, Music, Portable Audio / Video

Apple has just announced the third generation of the iPod touch at their “It’s only Rock and Roll” event this morning. The first order of business is that the 8GB iPod touch is now just $199. In addition, the 32GB model will now sell for $299, and the newly announced 64GB model (which I am drooling over) will sell for $399. The iPod touch has hit that magical $199 price point, and based on that, we think Apple can expect sales to shoot even higher.

The new touches also have iPhone 3GS innards, since they support OpenGL 2.0, which means games will look and perform even better.

The negative? No camera. That is the one thing we were hoping to see added to the touch, and it didn’t happen. Oh well, there’s always next year.

• Tools:
• Permalink
• Comments (5)
• Digg This
• Share on Facebook
• Email this story

Apple confirms September 9th rock and roll themed music and iPod event

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Music, Portable Audio / Video, Software

Yup, we’ve suspected that September 9th was going to be the day that we’d see a bunch of new hotness from Apple as it pertains to music, namely iTunes and iPod-related announcements. Well, it’s been confirmed, as Apple has started sending out invitations to a rock and roll themed event on the 9th, to be held at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater. Expect the entire iPod line to be refreshed, with the exception of the shuffle, and with the focus being on the iPod touch and iTunes 9.

What do you hope we see next Wednesday?

• Tools:
• Permalink
• Comments (0)
• Digg This
• Share on Facebook
• Email this story

Bleeding Edge TV 316: Yelp Monocle Hidden Feature Brings Augmented Reality to iPhone

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Full Episodes, Gizmatic, Apple, Cell Phones, Features, GPS, Handhelds, Podcasts, Videocasts, Videos

Stream this video to your iPhone

My pal Robert Scoble announced that the Yelp iPhone and iPod touch app that was recently updated included a hidden Augmented Reality feature. Obviously, as soon as we saw, we had to give it a shot, and we figured we’d do it on video. Augmented Reality apps use the camera on the iPhone, along with overlaid information, to present location data while looking at the “real world” - it’s very cool, and you can expect a bunch more of these types of apps to make an appearance on the App Store very shortly upon the release of iPhone OS 3.1.

In this demo, we show you how to unlock the Monocle mode in the Yelp app, and also give you a look at what exactly it does. For now, our early opinion is that it’s a cool idea…it just needs to be refined a bit to be truly useful.

• Tools:
• Permalink
• Comments (0)
• Digg This
• Share on Facebook
• Forum Discussion
• Email this story

Spotify streaming music app coming to iPhone

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Music, App Store News, New Apps

Hey, streaming subscription music fans, it looks like Spotify has finally been approved by Apple, and it will be appearing in the App Store shortly. You may not realize how big a deal this is at first glance, but trust me, this is huge. Spotify is a service that gives you all-you-can-eat access to music for a set fee each month. The app appearing on the iPhone and iPod touch means that you can use another store besides iTunes to listen to, and download, music. Yes, Spotify even lets you listen to downloaded tracks if you are offline. This is a game-changer, and we look forward to getting our hands on Spotify once it is released!

• Tools:
• Permalink
• Comments (0)
• Digg This
• Share on Facebook
• Email this story