Good things are finally coming their way towards Apple iGadget fans: Steve Jobs already announced the newfangled wonderful things in Apple's media event, and what a bunch or wonderful gadgetry they are.

After giving themselves a pat on the back about iTune's success (600 million copies of iTunes distributed, 95 million TV shows sold, 32% digital-only music releases), Jobs started announcing the newest additions to the Apple family, beginning with the little things, such as the addition of a red-colored shuffle among other new colors. It will have the same specs such as 1GB memory and will be on sale for US$ 79, and will be available shortly.

Next up is the new iPod Nano. It turns out that the rumors of a smaller, stockier Nano is true: it's the very same cuter iPod Nano whose pictures were circulating the net a few days ago. It has a 2-inch screen, the same QVGA resolution as the existing Nanos, enhanced user interface (with the same cover flow browsing as iPhone!), and 3 new games.

The new iPod Nano's battery life is more than alright: it can play for 24 hours only with audio, and 5 full hours of video playback. There are two storage flavors available: 4GB and 8GB. The 4GB flavor will be priced at US$ 149, while the 8GB will have a tag price of only US$ 199.

Even more good news? These cool new babies have already been shipped and will be in stores starting this weekend.

That's not all! More good news after the jump!

We've already seen a lot of "fake" iPod Nano images in the past and here comes another one sent in by an anonymous source to online site Gearlive. The curious thing about this particular "leaked image" and the ones we had before is that they all look similar, so one can't help but think that these are the real ones.

Amidst all these, there's one thing that is sure: there will be an Apple event scheduled to take place this Wednesday, September 5. Steve Jobs himself will be there and many believe that the CEO will finally be revealing the much-talked about third-gen iPod Nano. There is also some talk regarding an upgrade to the music player's operating system.

The possibility of a new iPod announcement this September was further strengthened when various online retail stores implemented a price cut last month for current gen iPods, hinting that Apple is on its way to clear excess stock.

iMac, iPod, iPhone... iCar? A Volkswagen spokesperson recently announced that VW Chairman Martin Winterkorn and Apple's Steve Jobs met a few days ago in California to discuss a new type of vehicle. It may even really be called the iCar.

The only info so far about the car is that it'll be targeting a young age group, most likely the same demography as the iPhone. Likely the car won't be a huge iPhone on wheels, but the idea of a car imbued with Apple technology is still drool inducing.

If people went to hell and back to hack the iPhone, it would be something to see what they'd do for the iCar.

Well, the long wait may finally be over for those pining for the new iPod models Apple has been promising us. Steve Jobs will be announcing the new line of iPods by September 5, earlier than most speculations floating around as to when the event would take place.

Sources from AppleInsider say that four different models will be introduced next month. These include NAND flash-based innovations for both the iPod video and the iPod Nano series.

There has also been word of the upgrading of the iPod's OS based on the Mac OS X. It has been confirmed, however, through interface concept videos from MacRumors that Apple has been working on a Mac-OS based iPod software that will retain their click-wheels.

One of the anticipated models to be revealed is the rumored "iPhone Nano." The possibility of this coincides with the unveiling of the original iPod Nano during the first week of September two years ago.

However, until the actual event comes to pass we're all just waiting for those new gadgets to finally satisfy our Apple fancy.

As former laptop market leader Dell continues to struggle, its rivals increase their momentum. Apple, in particular, has taken the initiative and is establishing itself as the likely new ruler of a growing industry.

Sales have continued to increase through the months as a 12 percent spike was noted in June. Reports from last month bring in more good news as a growth of 17 percent was observed.

"These results are great news for Apple, and they serve as powerful evidence that the 'halo effect' is indeed translating into real world Mac computer sales for Steve Jobs and company," says ChangeWare Research founder Tobin Smith.

In a survey of 3,665 respondents conducted by Smith's group, it was revealed that 28 percent of those who were planning to buy a PC within the next three months said that they'll get a Mac. Even more amazing is the fact that 23 percent said that they'll get a desktop Mac.

Smith says this spells a very bright future for Apple as it establishes itself as a more viable alternative to the PC. He also says that the iPhone can be a great tool to spruce up the "halo effect" that the company is enjoying.

In addition, the poll also showed that 86 percent of all people who purchased a Mac system in the past 90 days said that they were "very satisfied" with the product, in contrast to high dissatisfaction ratings for other manufacturers.

In what seems to be an amusing parody to the proverbial Apple god, this image was posted by user donatreides over at Flickr depicting the grave of Steve Jobs in the form of an iPod.

The picture evoked a stream of humorous comments when it was first posted and still continues to illicit much amusement. Though he has been reported with notable health problems over the past few years, this puts into perspective a lighter side of what eventually lies in store for everyone someday.

Even Steve Jobs had a thing or two to say about his life and eventual death someday in his commencement address last June:

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

What more can we say but, "Very well said Steve, now where's that new iPod scheduled for the holiday season?"

Looking at reports and data coming in, the folks down at Engadget believe that a new iPod is due to come out, and soon. They believe it should be out sometime on September or October (pending Steve Job's decision not to mess up their theory).

The conclusion of a new iPod coming out comes from some timing in the marketplace and info from retailers.

For one thing, it's been a while since the iPhone came out and there's sufficient passage of time between the recent release of the new iMac and the coming holidays for the market to be ready for another pretty Apple product.

Info from retailers also suggest a new iPod. Not only are iPods seeing a price drop but shipments are also declining. With the holidays coming up, this strongly suggests that they're preparing the market for something new under the same product line. It's also been brought up that a new iPod might cut down iPhone sales so a new version might not be questionable, but Jobs once commented that if there's any cannibalizing to be done in sales, it might as well be from Apple itself.

So don't go buying yourself an iPod just yet. Who knows? Maybe the next version will actually be the iPhone without the Phone.

The Mac Mini is by far the smallest desktop computer from Apple. It's been said that it's being targetted at those interested in a low budget personal computer.

While news regarding the product has died down a bit, Steve Jobs has assured the public that it is still very much alive and will be released with a faster processor.

There are two models currently available at the Apple store, the 1.83 GHZ Intel Core 2 Duo (US$ 599) and the 2 GHZ Intel Core 2 Duo (US$ 799). The lower priced Mac is packaged with 1 GB of ram and an 80GB hard drive, while the higher end unit will also ship with 1GB of RAM and a significantly larger 120GB hard drive. All the units are not pre-packaged with a monitor, keyboard, or mouse but you can order these in addition to your system.

All in all, both packages look like very attractive alternatives to low cost systems. After looking over the specs, this blogger finds himself wishing that Steve Jobs would create a high-end system designed for gaming while retaining the form factor of the Mac Mini. That would just be sublime.

  

The Apple Summer Mac product conference is already rolling hot with Steve Jobs manning the show. As expected, his keynote address is filled with surprising unveiling of new Apple projects and the "everybody saw this coming" types. Tab this one under the second category - as predicted and whispered around various boards the past few weeks, Apple is giving us brand new iMacs.

Sporting a retroish look, the sleek new iMacs are made of aluminum and glass. It comes in 20- and 24-inched versions, each equipped with the usual but impressive specs such as up to  2.4GHz Core 2 Extreme processor, up to 4GB of memory, ATI Radeon HD graphics card, up to 1TB of hard drive storage. 802.11n and Bluetooth 2.0 built-in. There's also the usual compliment of ports like USB 2.0, Firewire 400/800, a slot loading SuperDrive, iSight camera etc.

What's also worth noting is that the oft-rumored new keyboard for the iMacs turns out to be true, with Steve Jobs himself confirming it. Boasting of large spacing and flat keys, Apple seems to be aiming to give the iMac users the laptop feel while typing. iMac purists seem to be a bit skeptic with the move, but let's all wait and see what happens. The 20-inch iMac goes for US$ 1,199 each (add three hundred bucks more for a processor and graphics enhancements), while the 24-inch monster demands US$ 1,799 per unit.

Steve Jobs has been known to have a thing against buttons. You can see this in almost all the products that Apple has released under his direction. This minimalist approach to technology has been successful, and has been one of his principles ever since the company released their first computer.

Some of our older readers may remember that the original Macintosh's keyboard had fewer buttons than a normal PC keyboard. This was done because Jobs said that this would force independent programmers to make programs that would use the mouse, which wasn't common to systems during that time. His gamble worked.

Another example of this would be the iPod, which people now praise for its innovative and simple interface. What most don't realize though is that when the product was first released, a lot of people were calling Apple tech support just to figure out how to turn the product on. It took time for people to get used to it, but when they did, they preferred it to the more common buttons prevalent in the electronics industry.

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak had the following to say about Jobs' attitude: "When Steve hits on something important to him, for either a personal reason or a design reason, he sticks with it for pretty much his whole life... until someone can absolutely prove him wrong."

What Jobs insisted on some 27 years ago has become a cornerstone in the development of Apple's products. He has become a legend in his own time not because of the complexity of the technology his company developed, but because of how simple it is to use.