Tech Manifesto

Zillow has been getting a lot of press recently for its live mapping combined with real estate info. Just type in the address you are interested in and it will show you the assessed value and valuations of other homes in the area. For some houses it also has square footage, bedroom/bathroom count, and historical info.

It uses a very nice mapping technology from a company called GlobeXplorer. It seems to run very smooth and has great overlay graphics. Checking out the price value graphs, I can see why real-estate is so lucrative. Check it out.

Links

Google Logo Mockup

Google recently updated their GMail logo so this mockup might actually be a possibility. It is about time for a new logo, they’ve been using the same one since August 1999. Yikes! Where is the graphic artist when you need one?

Design

Apple Patent

Apple recently filed a patent describing the new Video iPods touch sensitive configuration. The display shows that with the touch sensitive display built into the iPod will allow advanced scrolling capabilities.

Think Secret can confirm recent rumblings that Apple is nearing completion of a completely revamped video iPod that will shed the ubiquitous mechanical click wheel for a touch screen and will sport a 3.5-inch diagonal display.

iPod Widescreen Mockup Image

This video iPod, which has been in development and on the table since before Apple released the 5G iPod last year with video playback, will feature a display that will occupy the entire front face of the device. Sources who have seen the device report that it features a digital click wheel, one that overlays the touch-sensitive display and appears when a finger touches it and disappears when the finger is removed.

Black Widescreen Model

Apple has been working with at least two other companies to perfect the digital click wheel display technology. While not all the engineering was completed in-house by Apple, sources have said Apple could hold an exclusive license on the technologies it borrowed from other developers for a period of time, limiting the ability of competitors to copy Apple’s design.

Additional details concerning the new iPod have yet to be confirmed, including capacity and a release date, although all indications point to the spring, possibly as early as late March or early April. During the Macworld Expo in San Francisco, Apple CEO Steve Jobs alluded to a major announcement on or around April 1, Apple’s 30th anniversary as a company.

Landscape and Portrait View

Like previous iPods, sources insist that this video iPod will lack any sort of wireless connectivity, and will continue to connect to televisions using the conventional cabling solution of current models. While other rumors report that you will be able to surf on iTunes music store, capable on this large of a screen, and buy and download music wirelessly to the device.

Apple is notorious for iPod scratching. The latest 1GB iPod nanos seemed to have solved this problem. Apple silently rolled out a slight redesign: a raised edge or lip designed to make the player harder to scratch. This same raised plastic edge could prevent the display from touch screen damage. There is no set price yet for the device but it is expected to replace the current iPod video line with the same price tags. We will just have to wait until April, for the meantime, it wouldn’t be smart to buy an iPod at this time. Thanks to ThinkSecret and AppleInsider for information.

Apple

Insider photos of the “new” Nintendo DS Lite. The cheap appearance and buttons makes this look like it was made in the 90’s.

Nintendo is planning to launch this in late spring according to recent reports. Who is Nintendo impressing lately?

Gaming

Recent analyst comments are speculating that Apple is using iMixes technology to implement the Podcast feature in the next version of iTunes. With this feature iTunes users would be able to set up a “playlist” of regularly listened to podcast and have a system of voting on it just like music. An example would be “Technology News Daily” that would consist of several podcasts.

A user would be able to subscribe to the Podcast iMix to receive all the feeds in that person’s podcast playlist. Ultimately increasing the number of podcast subscriptions through iTunes.

The name of this feature remains to be unknown but several rumors suggest “iCasts” or “iFeeds.” Apple’s iTunes has sold 850 million songs since it opened in 2003.

Apple