Sirius and XM Satellite Radio are fantastic platforms that offer wireless, satellite-based forms of radio. Unfortunately, the two companies haven’t prospered. They continue to suffer losses and subscription rate decreases. One of the major reasons has been the poor economy, but even more disruptive to these satellite companies has been the problem of user accessibility.

They have car receivers, home receivers, portable devices–You’d think they cover the whole gamut. But they haven’t really been successful at marketing their portable devices since they’ve been expensive, small storage capacity, and no universality between computer platforms (PC and Mac).

The iPhone has come along and made application development a booming tycoon of business opportunities. Fortunately for the satellite radio companies, a basic program was created to allow consumers to login to their satellite radio account (subscription required). From there, users can scroll through the entire list of satellite programming.

Download the program at: uSirius

iTunes 7.7 is only a few days from being released. A special pre-release version was seeded to developers tonight.

Use iTunes 7.7 to sync music, video, and more with iPhone 3G, and download applications from the iTunes Store exclusively designed for iPhone and iPod touch with software version 2.0 or later. Also use the new Remote application for iPhone or iPod touch to control iTunes playback from anywhere in your home — a free download from the App Store. — Source

So, in a free app, Apple will be giving users the ability to control Macs, Apple TVs, iTunes, etc. with the touch screen of the iPod Touch and iPhone. Look forward to this app coming with the next update of the iPhone firmware.

A few years back, Starbucks founder and CEO Howard Schultz sat in on one of Steve Jobs’ keynote speeches, presaging a vital computer/caffeine partnership. It wasn’t long before those little iTunes download cards starting showing up on the Starbucks counter, and iTunes was featuring a specially designated iTunes + Starbucks feature. iTunes cards often feature music of the month and the download cards are for a full album. It’s saved a vast amount of space and made the search for music an entirely different experience. The larger the selection of iTunes cards, the more Starbucks will seem less like a coffee shop and more like a record store of the past. But that’s not the end of the story; it becomes even further intertwined when a third party comes into the mix.

Around the time of the launch of the first generation iPhone, Apple decided upon AT&T to provide wireless service. It was highly publicized that Apple was looking for a company that would allow them to get royalties off monthly cell phone payments on the iPhone. As we all know, Apple priced the iPhone at $599, with no savings by signing on for two years. Without a doubt, Verizon Wireless missed the boat here when they declined the opportunity to work with Apple, citing that they could make a phone of their own, without having to pay third party royalties. And so it evolved that Apple and AT&T teamed up to provide service for the iPhone.

Perspective consumers were dismayed when discovering that the device would be running on AT&T’s slower “EDGE” network, known for having notoriously abysmal data service. Add into the equation that 3G technology was already working and delivering close to Wi-Fi speeds. In preparation for the major launch of the original iPhone, AT&T prepared their EDGE network lines and markedly boosted speeds. Without a doubt, these preparations were all tailored for the iPhone.

Eventually, AT&T’s CEO (and rumors around the blogosphere) acknowledged the development of Apple’s next iPhone: the iPhone 3G. AT&T delivered again, by upgrading the EDGE network to 3G. Apple was now ready to release the iPhone 3G on the network.

Right before the announcement of the new iPhone 3G on June 9th, Starbucks was in hot water with T-Mobile, which initiated a lawsuit as a result of Starbucks’ sudden jilting of T-Mobile, in preference for AT&T. Starbucks was preparing to have iPhone/iPod Touch + Starbucks content and music ready for their Wi-Fi consumers. And who does Schultz choose for cafe wireless? None other than AT&T. The new AT&T wireless internet at Starbucks allows 2 hours of free internet when connected to a Starbucks Rewards registered card account. Registration is free, and has made a trip to Starbucks even more appealing.

There have already been a number of rumors about iPhone users receiving unlimited free Wi-Fi service inside every Starbucks. Now more than ever, the probability of the two products working in tandem seems a given. Apple, AT&T, and Starbucks are collaborating so closely these days that one can envision these three companies developing an even closer partnership to serve their niche consumers.

This year Apple got an early start to their Back to School promotion that’s usually just a free iPod Nano after rebates. Fortunately, this year’s deal also applies to iPod Nanos and Touches.

The rebate can be applied to either iPod and is good for a $299 total cost for the iPod. That’s essentially the cost of the 8 GB iPod Touch.

Buy a qualifying Mac and iPod with your Apple education discount from June 3, 2008, through September 15, 2008, while supplies last, and be eligible for a rebate up to $299.

The free iPod deal each year before school is a great deal, but this one creates the most bang for your buck when buying your Apple computer. For instance, the basic MacBook costs $999 with the educational discount and the $299 Mail-in-rebate will apply to an iPod Touch purchase. Looking on eBay, one would say a brand new iPod Touch (8 GB) would sell for about $230. This essentially brings the purchase of a Mac to $770 (before all fees and taxes). Not a bad deal!

Click here for link to Back to School Promo.

The iPod Touch has continued to captivate me. I’ve been increasingly interested in purchasing one for quite some time. The ability for the iPod Touch/iPhone/OS X software to become more complex and developed, alongside 3rd party app development, is making it an enticing buy. But what’s holding me back?

For starters, there’s a hefty price tag–$299 for an 8GB model. I have a relatively large music collection, but an even larger (size) of TV Shows and Movies that I’ve downloaded from Apple’s iTunes store. By all means I don’t have to have my entire iTunes library with me at all times, but sometimes I want to rock out to some punk and sometimes I want to listen to some indie rock. I go through different music moods and I want to easily switch between my whole library.

What occurs to me is that every sign is pointing me towards the iPod classic. It’s got the size, ability to play TV Shows and Movies, and is even slighty smaller than the iPod touch. Unfortunately, I don’t want to part ways with the iPod touch’s features and larger viewing screen.

I want the touch interface and web capabilities of the iPod touch with the storage capacity of the iPod classic. Oh and one more thing, I’d like to see the device’s size shrink down to that of an iPod nano.

iPod touch interface, iPod classic storage size, and iPod nano form factor. Bring me that Apple, and I’ll hardly think twice about dropping $299.

Both the iPod Touch and iPhone have received major updates in storage capacity today on the Apple store. Unfortunately, the upgraded storage capacities have come without major price cuts to the baseline models.

As of today, “Now there’s even more to touch.” The iPod Touch now includes a top-of-the-line 32 GB model. The new version is priced at a steep $399. Although there was a major upgrade to the line, the 8 GB model is still priced $299.

The iPhone also got a modest increase today, with the introduction of a 16 GB model. The new iPhone costs $499, with the older model still priced at $399.

Today, Apple released a new music video for the iPod + iTunes line. Video is a move towards higher definition of contrast and features Mary J. Blige.

The song, “Work That,” can be found here on the iTunes store.

Steve Jobs and his creative team in Apple always dazzle us with their innovations. Mac revolutionized the computing world and from then on they never looked back. Apple impressed us with their hardware and with Tiger they literally went in for the kill. Back then, it’s not surprising to meet Mac fans getting loans just to purchase the latest Apple hardware.

The highly anticipated and well-selling Leopard operating system has been getting some fabulous reviews from the professionals, but will the regular user really notice the difference?

We’re Mac fanboys here, and we’d like to think that everything Apple produces is the best. Unfortunately, Apple’s newest operating system doesn’t live up to its hype. Across the Apple/Mac rumors and new websites, Mac OS X Leopard has been getting fabulous reviews. Many have highlighted the new Spaces and Time Machine features, but here’s what we found.

The installation took a bit longer than one and a half hours. The upgrade makes a disc check that takes about 45 minutes (thankfully it’s optional). Then, a long process of installation begins. A calculating time feature doesn’t even show the estimated time until about one hour. After a stop and start installation, the installer says that the upgrade is complete.

The computer then restarts into the new Leopard operating system. A slow initial startup begins. Afterwards, the installation process is complete. After the install, you may want to do a “Software Update…” under the Apple icon. We found about 16 to 17 MBs of new updates after the installation of Leopard.

For most Mac users, the bottom bar of icons holds every application that they’ll ever use. There are noticeable changes in the design of the desktop, a translucent top bar and a 3D reflective bottom bar. Both changes are minimal and are neither positive or negative. iCal is cleaner and operates slightly quicker, but isn’t any major upgrade. Apple Mail gives users templates for creative e-mail design that is a practical feature. iChat allows for greater compatibility with chat applications and now incorporates Google Talk accounts. The Finder is interesting, as the upgrade makes the finder more like cover flow in iTunes.

One of the most functional and pleasant upgrades was the upgrade to iTunes. Now, when files are dragged onto an external music player, like an iPod Shuffle, users can operate iTunes without waiting for a short freeze in the program. This change not only saves time, but doesn’t result in the annoying hassles like before.

Time Machine’s features are quite revolutionary, allowing the user to backup files and literally go back in time to when certain files were deleted or added. In order to backup the entire computer’s file systems requires ample hard drive space or a well-sized external drive.

Unfortunately, the operating system’s new Spaces program is a semi-pointless feature. The different “Spaces” are really only a way to “hide” (Apple Command + ‘h’) programs. The new visual spots assign different Spaces for programs and as you switch between different programs, the computer switches to different desktops. All in all, it’s interesting, but by no means a necessary part of Leopard.

Leopard is definitely an interesting upgrade, but hardly worth the $129 it costs to upgrade. As stated before, most users will find the upgrades fun and interesting, but hardly necessary or time-saving.