Or, how to irritate owners of older Macs in one easy step: don’t include a Firewire cable in your newest iPods. So what are the poor saps who buy a new iPod Photo or iPod mini supposed to do if they don’t fork over the $20 for a firewire cable ($20 for a piece if rubber-covered wire using a technology Apple developed, mind you) that probably cost 50 cents to make? Deal with USB 1.1, I guess. What a pain in the ass.

Addendum:
You can see what else I think about this issue here.

The latest iPod update brings some pleasant surprises, making features of the 4th generation iPod’s available to all. Now Apple says that versions 2.3 (for 3rd gen iPods) and 1.5 (for 1st and 2nd gen ipods) adds a shuffle feature to the main menu as well as a music menu. While this is all well and true for the 1.5 update, the 2.3 update also adds the functionality to save multiple on-the-go playlists and also delete songs from on-the-go playlists.

I guess that apple is finally supporting the older iPods after many protests from owners.

Reuters reports that Apple Computer may be interested in purchasing TiVo Inc, maker of digital video recorders.

“What we hear on the street is that Apple is interested in their business and that they are a takeout target,” said analyst Steven Kroll Jr. of Monness, Crespi, Hardt & Co.

Representatives for Apple and TiVo both declined comment.

TiVo’s chief executive, Michael Ramsay, has said the company is not for sale. But with a market capitalization of only $300 million, analysts figure the company might be an easy target, perhaps from consumer electronics makers to media companies looking to bolster their video services.

From a financial standpoint, a full takeover would not be hard for Apple, considering they have over $6 billion US in cash and zero debt.

Link to article

Well, Apple has just released new iPods. Sure they may not be new branches of the iPod family, the 6GB iPod has been expected for quite a while now and the 30GB iPod photo is quite nice, mostly because it’s price. The thing that worries me is that Apple has decided to ship USB 2.0 but not firewire. Now this worries me because Apple used to push Firewire really hard and most Macs since about 2001 have Firewire, but not USB 2.0. So why is Apple giving up on long term Mac users in favour of PC users?

Anyway, pessimism aside Apple has done something else I wouldn’t have expected it to do. It has released a new iPod update that updates 1st, 2nd and 3rd generation iPods to give them the shuffle feature in the main menu that the 4th generation iPods have. I guess Apple wants life to be random for us all.

Wednesday, Apple introduced new iPod mini models.  A 4GB iPod mini now costs $199, and a 6GB one costs $249.  The new models come in the old silver and three new colours, trading their pastel shades for a deeper blue, pink, and green.  Gold is gone.  The mini also now features 18 hours of battery capacity, according to Apple.  That’s more than double the previous version’s claimed 8 hours of life.

Also on Wednesday came price cuts for the iPod photo.  The 60GB model’s price has dropped from $599 to $449, and the 40GB model for $499 was replaced by 30GB for $349.  The monochrome-screen 40GB iPod, which cost $399, is gone.  However, the price cuts come at a cost of fewer bundled accessories:  the new iPod photo has no FireWire cable, A/V cable, dock, or carrying case.  Users must now depend on USB 2.0 to connect their iPod photos, or pay $19 more for a FireWire cable.