The iTunes 8.0.1 Update is now available which is a 59MB download. The update features:

• Seamlessly plays the current song when creating a new Genius playlist.
• Improves syncing spoken menus to iPod nano.
• Addresses an issue of deleting HD TV episodes when downloading.
• Improves checking for updates from the App Store
• Improves accessibility with VoiceOver.
• Addresses problems syncing Genius results to iPod.

It also creates this error message on my iPhone when syncing: “The phone iFinger’s iPhone cannot be synced. An unknown error occurred (13014)”

Apparently, if I reboot my Mac and possibly iPhone it will fix things.

This years top Christmas and holiday gift could well be Apple’s new iPod nano. Introduced, once again in perfect time for the Christmas shopping period. Apple’s tills will melt down, thanks to this very clever design.

This is the thinnest Apple iPod ever made. It has gone back to a form factor that owes more to some of the earlier incarnations of the nano line than the last one. At first I was hesitant about it’s style, but I think Apple, once again have got it right.

Squeezing new features like the accelerometer as found in the iPhone and iPod Touch. The new nano adds a whole new spin on it with the new Shake to Shuffle feature along with the ability to view cover flow artwork. This 4th generation of iPod nano is a slick and innovative design. Available in nine funky colours which all share the same curved aluminum and glass structure. The nano is the best yet, and I was a huge fan of the 3rd generation!

The nano also comes with the Genius playlist creator which will pick a selection of songs based on one that you select. In testing on my iPhone I have found Genius to locate songs that I haven’t played in a long time, and which all roll nicely with each other. Genius indeed.

Available in 8GB and 16GB versions in silver, purple, blue, green, orange, yellow, pink, (PRODUCT) RED and black.

The iPod nano is gonna be one of Santa’s most requested items this Christmas. Kids and adults alike are going to be devastated if they don’t get one in their Christmas stocking.

Apple iPod nano reviews

• Gizmodo
• Boston Herald
• CNN
• Chron.com
• SFGate.com

My 160GB MacBook Pro hard drive was almost busting at the seams. Filled with images, music and other digital files, it was on the verge of going pop. There was only one solution, to find a larger hard drive. My 17inch MacBook Pro warranty has since expired, so I thought that I would do the surgery myself. I bought a 320GB Seagate 7200 rpm drive to replace the OEM Hitachi 160GB unit. If you want to play along at home, here is what you will need:

1. A replacement hard drive (Doh!)
2. A T6 screwdriver
3. A small phillips screwdriver
4. SuperDuper!

To start with I did a clone of my internal drive to an external firewire drive. This took over 4 hours using SuperDuper!. I was getting a copy rate of 10MB/s. That done. I took the battery out of the MacBook Pro, and followed some very helpful Powerbook Medic movies.

1. Cloned hard drive with SuperDuper!
2. Battery Removal
3. Open up the MacBook Pro
4. Hard drive removal

Putting it all back together is just the reversal of the procedure above. Once the replacement hard drive is installed and the case is back on. Connect up your external Firewire drive. Boot off this, then run SuperDuper! again to clone the external drive data onto your shiny new internal drive. I ran Disk Utility to repair the permissions afterward, and my new drive and data on it seems fine. The new Seagate drive is a lot speedier than my old one. It took just over 2 hours to clone, at a speed of 16MB/s. Seems like a huge improvement, but could be that my old drive was really fragmented, due to lack of space.

Now I have loads of space! I also have a spare drive which I will find an external Firewire case for, and use it as some kind of backup device.

Caution and disclaimer

If your MacBook Pro is still under warranty, you might want to get an Apple approved repair shop to do the work, otherwise your warranty will be void. Also, these machines are very delicate. Make sure you don’t zap the electronics with static. Avoid touching the logic board in particular. Proceed at your own risk!

As promised during the Apple Let’s Rock Keynote. The iPhone 2.1 Software Update was made available yesterday.

iPhone 2.1 Software New Features

• option to wipe data after ten failed passcode attempts
• Genius playlist creation

Bug Fixes and Improvements

• decrease in call set-up failures and call drops
• significantly improved battery life for most users
• dramatically reduced time to back-up to iTunes
• improved email reliability, notably fetching email from POP and Exchange accounts
• faster installation of 3rd party applications
• fixed bugs causing hangs and crashes if you have lots of 3rd party applications
• improved performance in text messaging
• faster loading and searching of contacts
• improved accuracy of the 3G signal strength display
• repeat alert up to twp additional times for incoming text messages

Kernel Panic

The first time I tried installing the update I got a major kernel panic, and the black screen wipe of death. Possibly unrelated, but I haven’t had one of those for a long time.

The Let’s Rock Keynote is now available from Apple for your viewing pleasure.

Watching it now. It would seem my first impressions of the iPod nano, which I completely dissed yesterday, might have been a little premature and unfair. I really think Apple have once again got it right. The display looks gorgeous and the use of the built in accelerometer is very ingenious. Shake to Shuffle is an excellent party piece. I love the colours and particularly like the built in Voice Recorder, which means it has a microphone built in. Fantastic.

Apple’s Let’s Rock event was a bit of a disappointment for me. Mainly because Copy and Paste apparently hasn’t made it to the 2.1 iPhone software. The upgrade will be available on Friday. Expect:

• faster sync – yay!
• less call drops
• less crashes
• better battery life

The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.

—Steve Jobs

Also, it seems strange for Apple to drop the 160GB iPod Classic. The biggest iPod you can now get is the new 120GB Classic.

I am not sure about the new iPod nano, either. The new features are cool. Especially the shake to shuffle feature. I like the colours too. I will have to get my hands on one to see what it’s like in the flesh.

The new features of the new Second generation iPod touch look pretty neat.

Really looking forward to downloading iTunes 8. The new Genius feature looks cool. I wonder how it will categorise my music?

Roll on Friday.

Kane Kramer may not be quite as famous as Jonathan Ive or Steve Jobs for that matter. Yet you will know his invention. He patented a device in 1979 which showed a credit-card-sized player with a rectangular screen and a central menu button to scroll through a selection of music tracks. Sound familiar? Even Apple thought so, and asked Mr Kramer to give evidence in a court case to help defend their iPod design.

Kane Kramer took out a worldwide patent but was unable to raise £60,000 to renew these patents and the technology became public property.

To be honest, I was just so pleased that finally something that I had done which has been a huge success and changed the music industry was being acknowledged. I was really quite emotional about it all.

—Kane Kramer

He is now negotiating with Apple to gain some compensation from the copyright that he owns on the drawings.

Read the full article.

Tomorrow brings Apple’s Big Deal event. The banners are up and their are some tasty iPhone rumours abounding, as ars technica write.

there are other parts to 2.1 that were specifically removed from developer seeds in order to keep them secret from the world.

—Jacqui Cheng

My Big Deal Predictions

• iTunes 8
• New iPod nano
• New iPod Touch
• Copy and Paste for the iPhone

If Copy and Paste finally makes it to the iPhone, there will be a revolution. See you tomorrow!

It seems that the whole world wants to join the iPhone Revolution. Even revolutionary and inspirational leaders like Nelson Mandela and Fidel Castro want it’s pioneering technology.

Bill Gates and Seinfield have nothing on Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse. I thought the BBC didn’t do adverts, but I suppose everyone wants a piece of Apple.

On a more serious note. Pete Mortensen comments that Apple’s latest ads might have run out of Apple juice.

Able to run Microsoft Office isn’t news to anyone who could be swayed by a TV ad. What’s the next narrative? How does Apple start its next growth curve, whether through marketing or design?

—Pete Mortensen

I disagree. The Apple revolution needs to quite rightly focus on Snow Leopard. The Microsoft Exchange support might not be as evolutionary as the iMac, iPod or iPhone. But it’s time that Apple stopped being the rebel, and joined hands, even with Microsoft technologies. I want stable, efficient and fast. Snow Leopard looks like being the Mac cat that will claw it’s way into even the most blue shirted of corporate IT markets. I am expecting something unexpected at Apple’s Big Deal Event. But even so, they have already got most of the iLife right. Let’s see if they can do the "dull stuff" too…

…Back to comedy – You can keep your Viva la Vida, listen to Come The Revolution.

I like nothing more than to put on some cool, chilled out tunes on my iPod. Fridge maker Gorenje want to make it even cooler. They are now demonstrating their new “Made for iPod” fridge, which includes a docking station, charger and speakers. It will go on sale early next year. They don’t see it just as a music device though. Plug in your iPod Touch (and presumably your iPhone) and you have all your recipes, shopping lists and more at your fingertips.

Cool.

Cool Tunes

Here is a selection of cool music for your new fridge.

• Black Ice – AC/DC
• Chill Out – John Lee Hooker
• Chilled Ibiza
• Viva la Vida – Coldplay
• She took a long cold look – Syd Barrett
• Milk and Alcohol – Dr Feelgood
• Orange Juice Blues – Bob Dylan & The Band
• Message in a bottle – The Police
• Milk – Garbage
• Cold Blood – iFingers