Along with the announcement of the new iPod Touch, Nano, and Shuffle, Steve Jobs also announced a new version of iTunes. The release was available on Apple’s website soon after and it definitely had some changes that made it stand out against Apple’s other applications.

Some of the changes that made it differ the most from other applications was the new interface and the new icon. The new icon looks nothing like iChat, Finder, Mail, etc.. The black note inside the dark blue color enclosed in a white bezel just looks much different than icons that Apple are known for designing. It just feels like the icon is off in its own world, away from the pack.

Also, the interface seems like it’s a little more touch-friendly, which is odd of Apple. It looks like they tried to match the design of the iPod application on the iPad. All songs in the song list seem a little more spaced out than other versions and the volume slider seems slightly larger too.This could possibly mean that Apple has an upcoming slate planned that is going to run Mac OS, so that they can compete with the flood of Windows 7 slates.

This new release of iTunes also came with a social feature called “Ping”. Ping is described as a social network for music, and that’s what it is. Ping didn’t really impress me much as a social network. It can’t really compete with something like Twitter or Facebook. All it is is a place where you can talk about music with friends and it has some features such as posting on your page when you buy a new song on iTunes, which is kind of useless for people who use other services for downloading music such as AmazonMP3.

This release of iTunes really has me looking towards Apple for new announcements and overall, this version of iTunes is snappier than older ones on my Mac Mini, but it didn’t really leave me amazed.

David – Senior Editor

The long wait for an iPhone 4 jailbreak is now officially over and it came with beneficial effects for other iDevices too. This new jailbreak works on any iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad and is done directly on the device, with no need to use a device on the computer. The process is really easy and simple too. All you have to do is visit this website on your device and “Slide to Jailbreak”. It is recommended that you sync with iTunes, but I had no issue just performing the jailbreak and then returning to my springboard to a Cydia icon.

David – Senior Editor

The Pandigital Novel is an Android-powered e-reader. It features a 7″ screen, ARM 11 processor, 1GB of internal storage (expandable up to 32GB), and WiFi, all for the low price of $200. The iPad features a 9.7″ screen, Apple A4 processor, 16GB of storage (non-expandable, but also in 32GB and 64GB), and WiFi (and 3G on some models), but it costs $500 (or higher for 3G and/or higher storage). Now, here’s when the real deal comes in; the iPad runs iOS 3.2 and the Novel runs Android. Novel’s version of Android is device-specific and limited, but reports of some hacking have just surface and it appears as though the Novel has been fully rooted and running the stock version of Android 2.1. Though I can’t really say much about performance, judging from the processor, this is still a major breakthrough.

I truly believe that if this is in fact, 100% working and fast, for that matter, this could really stir up some competition with the iPad. It’s $300 cheaper, so you really are going to be paying a lot less for it anyway.

David – Senior Editor

Late yesterday, George Hotz (@geohot) announced on his Twitter acount that people are taking his iPhone hacking too seriously and it isn’t fun for him anymore. George Hotz is the creator of the original iPhone jailbreak. A few days back, George Hotz made a post on his blog featuring an iPhone 4 running Cydia. His blog is no longer accessible to the public, this is most likely because of controversy from the post. He claims that iPhone hacking is just something he did when he was bored and that people are making a bigger deal about his accomplishments than him. In order to find more updates regarding future jailbreaks, George says to follow his friend, @mikecohenn.

David – Senior Editor