SOLMI

It looks like Apple came through for us in the end. All early-adopting, Apple-loving iPhone buyers will be getting $100 store credit with the Apple Store, presumably good for both products and services ( repair, Apple Care, etc.). This is fantastic news for iPhone owners, a great PR move by Apple, and shows the power of the Apple community. Pretty good stuff.

As for the new iPod nano? I still think it looks like Winslow. I guess you can’t have everything.

On Wednesday Apple, Inc. held a special invite-only event for the press where they were widely expected to release new iPods. They did, in fact, do just that. Which is wonderful for all the future iPod owners out there; the new iPods are nothing short of amazing. Everything got a refresh, and everything looks fantastic. Except for the new iPod nano. It looks way too much like this guy:

Winslow if from the delightful comic Questionable Content.

Apple also announced a few other things, including a (currently) pointless relationship with Starbucks, the ability to download stuff from an improved iTunes Store wirelessly, and a $200 price drop for the current model of the iPhone. Wait, what?

So no new features or anything, just a huge price drop? Yes. And only after being out for two months? Yes. That sounds fantastic, but what about about all of the loyal early-adopters that ran out to buy the iPhone on the first day? What about them?

Good question.

In something akin to farting in ones face, Apple left a bad taste in the mouths of iPhone early-adopters and Apple loyalists by essentially charging them for supporting the company. Not cool. This news came shortly after announcing the addition of custom ringtones for the iPhone. Which also sounds great. Except you have to pay for them. Even if you already own the song. You still have to pay for them. Which is funny since there’s already an easy way of adding free ringtones to your iPhone.

On a bit of a side note (and all things considered this is minor) Apple also promised a new version of iTunes “tonight.” This was to add some of the new features they discussed at Wednesday’s event. It’s now 1:20am on Thursday. No new version of iTunes. Nothing. Just a sore spot in the wallet, and the shame of being man-handled for a lousy two hundred bucks.

Sucks to be us, I guess.

Maybe you’ve heard of Radio Lab, maybe you haven’t.

If you were like me, and you haven’t, you’ve been missing out on a whole world of awesome. And now that you know that it exists, I can bet you don’t have an excuse good enough to justify not listening to it. It’s free and your brain will thank you.

The audio production alone is outstanding. If you’re any kind of audio enthusiast you’re going to love this. If you have any interest in the exploration of space, and our place in it, you’re going to love this. If you have any sense of adventure, you’re going to love this.

I’m specifically referring to this episode on Space, which Gregg from Rails Envy had me listen to while giving me a ride the other day.

Do yourself a favor and set aside an hour. Give it a listen. Actually, you don’t even have to do that. Set aside five minutes. Say to yourself, “Eh, I’ll listen to the beginning and then I’ll probably turn it off.” Do that. Give it five minutes and see what happens. I’m pretty sure you’ll end up listening to the whole thing. And you’ll be really happy you did.

From one of the hosts:

“Nobody promised space travel would be safe, or pleasant, or easy, or even rewarding. All that was promised was that it would be an adventure. And sometimes we were in the mood, and sometimes we weren’t.”