Macworld, the annual expo dedicated to all things Mac, was launched today in San Francisco.

The announcements of new upgrades was a mixed bag, but we’ve rounded them all up for you to digest in one easy read.

GarageBand ‘09

This year GarageBand is going to get beginner friendly with the addition of learn-to-play features.  The software will come packaged with 9 beginner lessons for guitar and piano, but you will then be able to purchase “Artist Lessons” from a built-in store.  At a cost of $4.99 a lesson, you can learn how to play particular songs from the likes of John Foggerty and Sting, produced exclusively for GarageBand.

iLife ‘09

As shocking as it may be, iLife ‘08 has gotten an update into iLife ‘09.  How do they come up with these names?  Hours of research, I’m sure.  While there were no Earth shattering updates to this, iPhoto ‘09 did get two new features in the form of “Faces” and “Places”.

Faces will allow the software to do facial recognition so that you can organize your photos by people.  Say you want to bring up all of the pictures you have of your cousin Sue.  Just start a search for Sue by clicking on one image of her, and the system will try to find all of the images you have that she is in.  Sure there will be some mistakes, but still a very handy tool for organizing your photos.

Next up was Places which will allow you to geotag your images.  A goodly number of camera now support geotagging, and this feature will now allow you to organize photos by location.  If your camera doesn’t support this feature, you will be given the option to enter location information manually.

iMovie ‘09

Video enthusiasts will get lots of new toys to play with this year in the way of image stabalization, new themes, effects such as aged film, move the audio track from one clip to another and so on.  Sounds like there are ton of new features this year for the amateur film makers out there.

iWork

The Apple produced office suite saw a lot of updates this year.  While Keynote, their presentation application, got new effects such as transitions, the most intriguing update was the remote app for the iPhone and iPod Touch.  Once installed you will be able to connect to the presentation on your Mac, and then show the entire presentation file right threre on your device.  Very handy for people on the go, or say you are doing a lunch meeting.

The big announcement, however, was the launch of iWork.com.  You will now be able to click a button, enter an email address, and share the document with that person for review.  They can also make edits to it, you can share notes with each other about it and so on.  For now you can sign up for a free beta test of it, but it will eventually become a paid service.

MacBook Pro 17″

MacBook Pro 17″ models saw huge technical advancements, especially in the field of batteries.  Depending on the style of video chip you choose, you can expect 7 to 8 hours of life from a fully charged battery.  This is 30% ahead of the industry standard, and you will also get 1,000 charges from your battery, which is three times the normal amount.

While the new features of the MacBook are impressive (2.6 GHz, 4 GBs of RAM, 512 MB of video memory, etc), the price is a jaw dropping $2799 for the basic configuration.

iTunes

iTunes got the coveted last announcement spot with the news that songs will now be priced at $.69, $.99 and $1.29, but all of them will be DRM-free.  There are currently 8 million songs available without the draconian copy protection, and by the end of the month that number will grow by 25% to ten million.

iPhone users will also be able to now purchase songs no matter where they are via the 3G network.  You will get the exact same quality as you would buying it on your computer, and you will be able to synch it off your phone to your computer next time you attach the two.

Conclusion

While there were some interesting new features to the existing products, where was the Mac Mini?  The entry level Mac has not seen an update since August 2007, and while Apple sold a record number of Macs in 2008, their entry level options are sorely limited.  Disregarding the now severly outdated Mini, your cheapest option for an up-to-date system is the $999 MacBook.

I have said for years that Apple would be dangerous if they would pay more attention to budget conscience consumers, but yet they ignore them once again, even in this current economy.  Bad move, Apple, bad move.

It may be an extreme point of view, but I think that phishing attacks may be the thing that finally tips Twitter in to the pool of, “Well, that was fun while it lasted.”

The phishing attack that happened to Twitter this past weekend has opened the flood gates to a whole slew of new problems, and as much as I love Twitter, I think this may be the beginning of the end.  Pete Cashmore of Mashable made a very astute observation this weekend as he also wrote up the attack.

Ironically, this may be a coming-of-age for Twitter: nobody phishes where there are no phish to catch. In other words: while stealing passwords is a vile activity, the fact that such attacks are being embarked upon would indicate that Twitter is now large enough to be a viable target…even if its savvy early-adopter audience may be wise to such scams.

And he was right, it was a sign of coming of age for the service.  It wasn’t so horrible that you couldn’t ignore it, it was just fairly annoying, and it kind of made you laugh as every direct message you received from people with the attack in it was like a signal, “Hey, I was stupid enough to fall for the scam!”  At least you got a laugh at their expense.

Where I crossed the line into feeling like this was a sign of doom for the service was when I received this following direct message (DM) twice tonight in a 20 minute span.

hey. i won an iphone! come see how here http://helloiphones.com

Folks, the spammers have found us.

One of the things that has made Twitter such a valuable tool to so many is that it was a fairly pristine means of communication.  If you got a (DM) it meant that someone was really trying to get a hold of me.  I have my DMs set to go to both my cell phone and my email because the volume was low enough that it was never a nuisance to receive them.  However, walking through Walmart tonight doing some late night grocery shopping, and having to fish my BlackBerry out of my clothes twice in a short period of time just to find out how I could get a free iPhone, well, that has definitely made me reconsider having those messages go to my phone.  This cuts down on the chances people have of getting a hold of me, and it was a nice way of text messaging people without having to give out your cell phone number to everyone and their brother.

If the trust is lacking, what does have Twitter left to build on?  If it becomes rife with phishers and scammers, then it loses its place as the golden child of the social media crowd, and they will move on to the next thing.  Even the massive outages that led to the infamous Fail Whale being seen on a regular basis were tolerable because you wrote it off as growing pains, but endless iPhone scam messages might very well make people want to just throw the towel in and walk away.  How car behind can the Viagra and online pharmacy ads be?

There is an even bigger potential casualty of this whole debacle, and that is the third-party Twitter app companies.  These people rely on you trusting them and giving them your Twitter password to make their services work.  The number of these has grown so much, we have even seen the launch of a site, Twitdom, dedicated just to keep track of them because there are so many of them now.  How will any apps survive when everyone is wondering if they can trust like you say they can.

Chris Brogan made a good point tonight on his blog about how we can end this current round of annoyances by simply stating, “Log Into Twitter And Change Your Password“.  It really is just that simple to end this whole mess if everyone goes in and changes the password they just gave out to some untrustworthy site.  What about the next time, though?  And the time after that?  This is not a problem that is going to go away any time soon, I fear that it is hear to stay, and Twitter is never going to be the same because of it.

One of my favorite communication tools now feels dirty to me.  I am no longer going to be able to use it as I want to use it because I don’t want to receive a DM text message at 4:00 AM telling me how I can witn an iPhone.  Never will I be able to look at the service in the same way, and I fear that I am one of many, and that, my friends, is why this could be the fall from grace of this once mighty networking behemoth.

Macworld expo is this week, and as with any Apple event, there are sure to be announcements of exciting new products.

Each January Apple holds a conference called Macworld in San Francisco where the Macintosh faithful gather to talk with developers and see all of the new company and third-party products for their favorite computing system.  So what is on the agenda for this year?  Apple always play their cards close to the vest, but there are some hints to things we might see this year.

iPhone

While the annual iPod announcements are usually made in September at a separate event, the iPhone was first introduced at Macworld 2006, so it isn’t inconveivable that we may hear some news about what to expect from the third iteration of the popular smartphone.  3G was considered a major hurdle, but that was introduced in the second version of the phone, so it is anyone’s guess what we might be seeing this time around.

There has been some speculation of an iPhone Nano, a smaller version of the phone, but that seems a bit out in left field as a true option.  How will you talk on an even smaller device let alone type on it?

iMac

There are numerous rumors running around that the iMacs will receive updated chipsets, and this could be announced at Macworld.  Will it be a huge update?  Doubtful, but there will probably still be some sort of tweaking to the all-in-one computing solution.

iWork & iMovie

The Apple office suite is rumored to be moving to a cloud computing version.  This would be a direct attack on Google Documents, and would also bring them in to line with Microsoft’s latest movements with Office.  There is also some talk of iMovie, Apple’s popular video editing program going into a cloud computing version of some type, but this seems to be a little less certain than the iWork rumor.

Mac Mini

The entry level Mac hasn’t been updated since August 7, 2007, and it seems to be a foregone conclusion that it will be seeing a new version at the expo.  Rumors have circulated that it will receive a new form factor that will make it look more like the current iMacs, but there is also word circulating that there may be a new option that will allow you to purchase it without an optical drive.  Will this actually save you money?  That remains to be seen, but the previous versions ran $599 and $799, and if those prices dropped, you could almost certainly see Apple’s market share of the home computing market rise.

Conclusion

Is any of this a certainty?  Of course not, this is Apple after all.  At best these are educated guesses based on rumors and past trends of the company.  All of the news will come out on Monday, and we will be sure to update you as soon as possible with all of the news.

Popular microblogging service Twitter appears to be undergoing a phishing attack.

Phishing is an attempt by scam artists to acquire personal information about you and your login to popular sites by mimicking official information of another site. In this particular case you will receive a direct message from one of your contacts on the service that says:

hey! check out this funny blog about you… http://jannawalitax.blogspot.com/

Luckily the website has not been blocked by Google as you can see from the image below that you now receive when you go there.

When the page was unblocked it did look exactly like the Twitter login page and asked you to submit your username and password that you could see this “funny blog about you.” The problem here is that these particular scammers undercut themselves with anyone that is the least bit web savvy by directing you to a blogspot.com blog and then asking you to login in to your Twitter account which has no connection whatsoever with blogspot.

According to Pete Cashmore at Mashable, part of the problem in this particular case arises from people who have their direct messages set to be delivered to them via email.  If you were to click on that link inside of a piece of mail, you might be more likely to go ahead and sign in with your user information.

As always, you need to be careful with any site you visit that then asks for your login information for a site.  Does the web address look correct?  How did you get there?  All questions you should be asking yourself before you give any site your information.

UPDATE: They have already changed their message. The new one is:

Hey, i found a website with your pic on it… LOL check it out here http://twitterblog.access-logins.com/login

UPDATE #2: They have changed their tactics again.

hey look at this funny blog http://rosalierebyb.blogspot.com/

UPDATE #3: You have to give them points for their persistence.

fixed it.. hehe here is that blog i wanted to show you http://twitterblogs.access-logins.com/login

While we have already warned you about extended warranties, you also need to be warned about all of the little extra services companies will try to sell you.

The folks over at Dvice (which also take credit for the picture shown here) are warning their readers about an apparent scam being run by Best Buy.  They will show you two HD televisions shown the same image, and you can clearly see the “calibrated” unit has a much sharper image.  For $300 they will help you “calibrate” your set to get the best image you can.  The problem is that it appears the better image is being shown via an HDMI connection while the poorer picture is being transmitted by either composite cables or other standard definition means.

This is not adefinitive example of the problems with add-ons ervices, but it sure looks like it.  It is, however, another perfect example of how you should research things online.  Go on a search engine, search on “calibrating your HD TV” and you can probably find people telling you how to do it, or if you even need to bother.  And this goes for any and all services that stores might try to sell you.

Remember, stores want to sell you as much as possible, but you always need to ask yourself if you really need what it is their selling you.

It is said that one in five Internet users are still using Internet Explorer 6, and one has to ask “why?”

According to TG Daily, Internet Explorer 6 (IE6) users are starting to see a message in Gmail that tells them they should switch to Google Chrome or Firefox 3.  Seeing as one in five Internet users are still using this outdated browser, we have to agree with Google on this.

IE6 is the browser that came with most people’s computers, and they just never saw any reason to seek out another one, but there are a multitude of reasons why a person should.

• IE continues to have numerous security issues, even having major ones as recent as the last month.
• The browser uses outdated web coding standards.  When we launched the new StarterTech design, it looked great in every browser except for the various versions of IE.
• Faster JavaScript handling which will make your browsing experience speedier.

We have stated before why you should use Firefox, and we still stand by that, but even an upgrade to Internet Explorer 7 would be a better idea than continuing to use IE6.  With Firefox and Flock you get a large collection of extensions that allow you to do a lot more with your browser than just surf the web.  Opera also has a loyal following and numerous extensions.  Google Chrome is built for speed, and is pretty straight forward thus far without a lot of clutter.  And Apple’s Safari gets forgotten a lot of the time as people think it is only for Macs, but it can also be used on PCs and will give you a pretty slick browsing experience.

So what are you waiting for?  We’ve provided direct links to all of the browsers we’ve mentioned, why not download one and give them a test drive?  You may never look back at IE6 again.

Firefox

Flock

Google Chrome

Opera

Safari

Yet another month has passed for StarterTech and our readers.  As we do on the first of each month, it’s time we look back at which posts caught your attention the most in the previous month.

What Is Google Desktop -It’s good to know I’m not the only one out there that was surprised by Google Desktop doing more than just searching your files for you.  It’s a great tool, and I am using it more each day.

Google Adds To-Do Lists To Gmail -Considering the number of new features Google added in the last month of 2008, it isn’t surprising to see the top two stories are related to the Big G.  This one is all about how you can now create To-Do lists inside of your Gmail account.

Text Messaging a Bigger Gouge Then You Knew -Until congress gets this all sorted out, the outrageous prices cell phone carriers charge their customers for text messages will stay a hot button issue.

Google Launches Friend Connect -Surprise, surprise, another new Google product in the top five stories of the month.  This one is for the new Friend Connect product that people are still uncertain exactly what it is going to do for them.

Save On Electronics With Post Christmas Sales -With the way the economy is, it shouldn’t be a big surprise to any one that people wanted to save money on any new electronics they wanted.  The time after Christmas seemed to be the perfect time for most to head out and pick up the ones they desired.

What were your favorite posts of the month?

We reported on the problem of the freezing 30GB Zunes, and it seems that they have found the source of their problem: February 29th.

Microsoft has updated their Zune Support site with the information you need about how to get your 30GB Zune working again.

My Zune 30 is frozen. What should I do?

• Wait 24 hours from the time that you reset the Zune and then sync with your computer to refresh the usage rights; or
• Delete the player’s content using the Zune software (go to Settings, Device, Sync Options, Erase All Content), then re-sync it from your collection.

Follow these steps:

1. Disconnect your Zune from USB and AC power sources.
2. Because the player is frozen, its battery will drain—this is good. Wait until the battery is empty and the screen goes black. If the battery was fully charged, this might take a couple of hours.
3. Wait until after noon GMT on January 1, 2009 (that’s 7 a.m. Eastern or 4 a.m. Pacific time).
4. Connect your Zune to either a USB port on the back or your computer or to AC power using the Zune AC Adapter and let it charge.

Once the battery has sufficient power, the player should start normally. No other action is required—you can go back to using your Zune!

My Zune 30 has been working fine today. Should I be worried?
Nope, your Zune is fine and will continue to work as long as you do not connect it to your computer before noon GMT on January 1, 2009 (7 a.m. Eastern or 4 a.m. Pacific time).

Note: If you connect your player to a computer before noon GMT on January 1, 2009,  you’ll experience the freeze mentioned above—even if that computer does not have the Zune software installed. If this happens, follow the above steps.

What if I have rights-managed (DRM) content on my Zune?
Most likely, rights-managed content will not be affected by this issue. However, it’s a good idea to sync your Zune with your computer once the freeze has been resolved, just to make sure your usage rights are up to date.

What if I took advice from the forums and reset my Zune by disconnecting the battery?
This is a bad idea and we do not recommend opening your Zune by yourself (for one thing, doing so will void your warranty). However, if you’ve already opened it, do one of the following:

To read about how Microsoft missed programming in February 29th, you can go to the Zune Insider for that information.  It is amazing to think that Microsoft could have missed something like that, but they did.

It isn’t only the calendar that is changing today, but StarterTech also just got a big old coat of fresh paint!

It’s hard to believe that we only launched this site on April 12th of 2008, it seems like a lot longer with all of the news, information and how-tos we have brought you so far, but it’s true.  Even though the site isn’t yet a year old, we felt that the beginning of 2009 was the perfect time to re-design the site, and thanks to the folks at Blog Design Studio, they delivered our brand new look right on time to us this morning!

We went with a much more “open” design to make it easier to read, and we also added some new features.

Comments

We have added the Intense Debate commenting system to the site allowing you to better follow comments, reply to people directly and, if you register with their site, you can build a reputation that follows you to every site that uses their system.  You can also subscribe to an RSS feed of a posts comments if you would like to continue following the discussion.

Share This

We have added the Share This button at the bottom of each post as opposed the old system that only had four social bookmarking buttons.  If you are unfamiliar with this button, you can read more about it here on the site in What Is Share This, but if you click on it, it is pretty self explanatory.  This will also allow you to finally email articles to other people you may know who would enjoy something we have posted.

Sidebar

You will now find the categories area is much easier read and to navigate.  Simply click on the one that interests you, such as What Is, and you will see all the posts we have done in our What Is series.

You will also find our most recent articles and comments there for easier browsing.

What’s Ahead In 2009

We feel this new design better reflects where we plan to go in 2009.  The old design was an “off the shelf” design that allowed us to get started, but now that we have a unique and origianl design, we feel it better communicates what we are as a site.  We want to bring technology to the masses in an easy and understandble manner that is accessible to all.

If you have any suggestions and or comments, please feel free to leave them on this post.  And don’t forget to subscribe to our RSS feed to follow us through the new year!

It seems owners of the 30GB version of the Microsoft Zune are getting an unwelcome New Year’s gift: non-working units.

According to Engadget, all versions of the 30GB Zunes have stopped working with the change over to the new year.  Making the story even a bit odder, according to BLORGE, it happened at 3 AM Eastern Standard Time, which leads people to believe it had to do with Midnight Pacific Standard Time, the time-zone of Microsoft’s headquarters in Redmond, WA.

Users are finding their media players completely locked down, and even trying to do a reset isn’t helping things at all.  The only solution people have found so far is to actually open up the unit, unplug the battery, and then plug it back in, but this is not an easy task for the average user.

Microsoft is reported to be working on it, and there is a thread on their forums you can follow, but due to traffic the site is not currently responding correctly.  You can also check the Zune support site for more information, though as of right now it just says they are aware of the problem and are working on it.  There is currently no estimate on when a fix will be in place, or how users will even be able to implement it seeing as their units are completely locked down at this time.

It is curious how this is only effecting one version of the devices, and not the entire line.  One wouldn’t expect their firmware to be that radically different based on the size of their hard drives, but apparently they are.