As we ready our reviews of the 2008 iPod nano, classic, and touch, we wanted to provide a little bit of early information on surprising updates to features found in prior versions of these devices. There will be a number of others—including changes in the way certain iPods charge—but here’s an early list of things that you might find interesting.

11. Radio. The fourth-generation iPod nano works with the prior iPod Radio Remote accessory, and now includes a feature called Tagged Songs, which can tag songs you hear on the radio for later purchase through iTunes. FM radio tagging has recently been touted as a new built-in feature in Microsoft’s Zune; Apple previously supported HD Radio tagging, which uses a less popular form of digital radio tuner and has required dock-like radio hardware. The 120GB iPod classic has not gained this feature, and the second-generation iPod touch brings up an unsupported accessory message when it’s connected.

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On Friday, we posted a short roundup of what’s expected in iTunes 8 thanks to the rumortastic stylings of Kevin Rose. The Pandora-like Genius feature, Genius Sidebar, Grid view, and more are all said to be included. Although the general web consensus was that it would probably land on next Tuesday’s Apple Special Event, we were skeptical.

Well, that skepticism was unwarranted, it seems. A person close to the situation has informed us that, as of this morning, iTunes 8 is finally confirmed for September 9. This person conveyed that much of what Rose claims is in iTunes 8 is correct as well. So, our hunch was wrong. And we’re glad, because it sounds pretty cool, too.

Another little birdie told us that it’s widely expected within some Apple circles that iPhone 2.1 will be released on September 9. We were told that, aside from what we already know about iPhone 2.1 from leaked info on the web, there are other parts to 2.1 that were specifically removed from developer seeds in order to keep them secret from the world. This both excites and worries us, because if true, then there are features coming in the newest firmware that have not been widely tested outside of Apple. On the other hand, we’re suckers for a surprise.

All we can say is that Tuesday can’t come fast enough for the rumor mill.

Source

In Computer Heaven:
The management is from Intel,
The design and construction is done by Apple,
The marketing is done by Microsoft,
IBM provides the support,
Gateway determines the pricing.

In Computer Hell:
The management is from Apple,
Microsoft does design and construction,
IBM handles the marketing,
The support is from Gateway,
Intel sets the price.

originally from here