On Tuesday, October 14th Apple is having a MacBook event. Is this the new MacBook Pro? This image popped up on NVIDIA.com.

Tell us your thoughts.

Update: Yes the new MacBooks have arrived, but this does not look like the new ones.

A new search engine has hit the web last week called Cuil, pronounced ‘cool’. Cuil’s main focus is on having the world’s largest web index and eventually becoming more popular then Google.

Criticism

When Cuil was released on July 28th it has been getting some criticism for displaying incorrect information searched for, displaying inappropriate images next to search results and crashing numerous times on launch day.

Features

Cuil offers some nice features such as ‘Drilldown’ which can organize your search result into categories, ‘Roll-over definitions’ which defines words as you put your mouse over it, ‘Tabs’ which gives you suggestions of your search and puts them into tabs and ‘Navigation suggestions’ which gives you suggestions as you type your search.

Conclusion

Cuil looks like it has good potential with their new features and I am excited to see how Cuil will turn out over the years and see if they accomplish their goal to win over Google!

Overview and Options

I have been using My Yahoo! for a couple months now and I really enjoy using it as my homepage. With My Yahoo! you have many options for different themes and layouts so you can customize your homepage anyway you want. There are a lot Modules (plugins) that you can use and there is just about everything you could ever want displayed on your homepage. Some of the the plugins are Y! Messenger, Weather, Local TV Listings, Facebook and many, many more! For my theme, I use a Texture called Wood. As for other textured themes you my choose - Grass, Green Tea, Flowers, Fur, Camouflage and more. My Yahoo! is very similar to iGoogle, but I like My Yahoo! a lot better, it is better looking, there are more options and it is easier to use.

My Configuration and Setup

Tabs - I have two tabs, one for all my RSS and news and another for my Yahoo! mail. Setup tabs by just clicking the New Tab button.

RSS - I have tons of RSS feeds configured on my homepage ranging from Apple Hot News and family photos. Setting up RSS feeds is very simple. Just click the ‘Add Content’ button, add the RSS feed link, click ‘Add’, choose how you want it to be displayed (picture&summary etc.) and now you’re updated your favorite sites.

Content and Appearance - Adding content and changing the appearance is just as easy as clicking a few buttons!

Moving content is a click and drag process.

So as most of you already know, Apple announced the new iPhone last week during WWDC 2008. To most people it probably wasn’t much of a surprise, we all saw it coming from popular sites such as Engadget or Gizmodo, but we were very excited when we found out it has GPS and is half the price! It will be priced at $199 and will be available July 11. A few other updates to the iPhone were the 3G (obviously), a new glossy back cover in either black or white (8GB only black), compatibility with Microsoft Exchange and the newly announced MobileMe. Apple will be replacing .Mac with the new MobileMe with added features and 20GB of online storage for $99 a year. And for the update on the App Store, on June 27 July 11 the App Store will be launched for iPhone users to download applications for the iPhone for free or a price.

The Apple iPhone has been very successful in its 9th month of being released. I don’t have an iPhone, I would love to have one, but I have used one, played with one and I loved it! The iPhone has been rated 79 percent of being “Very Satisfying.” and has also taken 28 percent of the cell phone market, making it come in second place and leaving RIM in first.

The iPhone is packed with applications and features such as Safari, iTunes, Mail, WiFi, Bluetooth and a 3″ touch screen. All the plans available for the iPhone include unlimited data and M2M etc. To view the available plans with all the details and features click here.

I think Apple has done a tremendous job on the iPhone! The only thing for me making the iPhone from being perfect is its EDGE network. I know Apple would have included 3G and they could have, but they would have had to sacrifice battery life and size. If the lack of 3G was the only thing holding you back from purchasing the iPhone, well you wont have to wait long for it. According to some rumor sites, Apple is suspected to be releasing a new iPhone including 3G network at their upcoming WWDC event in June. Some things I love about the iPhone are:

    1) The user-interface (UI). It makes if very easy to use, navigate and type. All you have to do is just touch what you want and thats it. What makes it even more easier is finger gestures. For example, there is “Pinch” which is used for zooming in/out on Safari, Photos or Maps. Another zooming gesture is doing a double tap. The built in accelerometer is a great feature too. This is very nice because you can rotate the iPhone 90 degrees and the screen will also rotate 90 degrees into landscape mode so you can have a wider viewing area or use Cover Flow. It will only do so if you’re using Safari, iPod or Photos. The iPhone includes a built in proximity sensor too, so when you make a phone call and lift the iPhone to your ear it will turn off the screen to save battery and to prevent accidental touches made by your face.

    2) Visual Voicemail. Apple has included this feature so you can select your voicemail’s and play them back in any order making it faster for you to be able to listen to your important messages first. Visual Voicemail will let you rewind and fast forward your messages too.

    3) Safari/Internet. I am very happy Apple included the Safari web browser in the iPhone and I am very happy AT&T included unlimited data. This makes viewing the internet on your cell phone more enjoyable. Why it makes it so enjoyable is you get the full webpage and not a text only page. You also can watch QuickTime videos and use one of the two finger gestures to zoom in/out on pictures and text.

    4) iPod. This is the first cell phone with a full iPod in it. Now you don’t have to hold your cell phone and iPod in your pocket, you can have it all in one. A great feature included is the iTunes WiFi music store. With this you can buy music on the go and the songs you buy will automatically sync with your computer.

    5) Mail. This mail application enables you to access and view your mail with free Yahoo! push mail. It also offers you to access your Microsoft Exchange server, GMail, AOL, .mac and others.