The iPhone created a new IT (r)evolution with the way it interacts with an user. Touch screen displays and devices using touch-senzitive interaction were already available when the iPhone was released, but the iPhone, then the iPod Touch, took things to a new level of popularity. Now, everyone says the iPod line needs some fresh air, and they are completely right. When it comes to new devices using touch screen displays, I can't say what Apple may have in store for us in the near future, maybe except a new iPhone, but one thing is certain: they have just filed 3 new patents related to touch screen technologies, so something will happen for sure, it only remains to be seen when.

The patens filed by Apple are entitled as it follows: "Illuminated Touch Pad", "Touch Pad for Handheld Device", and "Techniques for Interactive Input to Portable Electronic Devices". I wish I could tell you more about these, but the names say a lot already, and in fact the obvious thing is that Apple improves its existing touch screen technologies, without adding anything out of ordinary to its patent portofolio. The interesting thing is that the last patent in the list describes an improved approach to providing used input in interactive, multitasking environments, such as - oh, yes! - games.

These being said, it seems Apple prepares to go on in small steps, and I don't blame them, but I only have one request - a serious iPod, please! What I mean, in fact, is that while existing music players from Apple are decent, there are devices which, for the same price, drag them into dust, but their only drawback is reduced popularity (as an example, I will only name Cowon - you can research and get back to me with your results, it would be a pleasure to hear you).

Now, there's one more thing to add to my "news watchlist", but until I get to see a MacBook Air with a touch screen, or maybe a replacement for the keyoard that uses hand writing recognition as input, today is just another day, with 3 new patents added to Apple's huge portofolio...

Data loss is a problem that we have to fight sometimes, but best thing to do is backup your data on a regular basis so you won't have to do it. Anyway, when vital data seems to be lost forever, there are some things to try, before taking your computer to a specialized data recovery lab and pay a few times the value of the defective hard drive. On the Mac, one of the most notorious data recovery and file repair utility is DiskWarrior, and its latest version brings full Leopard compatibility.

Produced by Alsoft, DiskWarrior just reached version 4.1. According to the official site, the new version "offers additional repair capabilities including the ability to repair damaged directory hard links (a new feature of Leopard for Time Machine backups)", being "the only utility that can repair damaged links, directory loops and other problems that can happen with directory hard links" at this time.

This application supports any Mac OS HFS or HFS Plus disk, including RAID setups, FileVaults, Time Machine backups and iPods, and if you have a Mac capable of running Leopard, that should be more than enough, regarding the system requirements part.

Unfortunately, there's no trial version available (or maybe I didn't search properly, but I doubt it), so if you're interested in keeping your data safe, visit this page to find out more about pricing and availability in your area. Good luck and stay safe!

The Web is full of articles about the MacBook Air already, and everyone keeps writing, and writing, and writing... I don't want to go against the flow, as long as I have something to say, and since some how news emerged today, I thought it would be nice to tell you about the 3 reviews published today in Wall Street Journal, USA Today and Newsweek. Their subject is, obviously, the MacBook Air, and we're talking about the version using a "traditional" 1.8-inch hard drive, and not an SSD...

Don't ask me why I don't write my own review, because the reason is obvious. As soon as I get my hands on a MacBook Air, be sure I'll share my experience with you, but now let's see what others have to say, shall we?

I won't get into "who-wrote-what", but I'll try to summarize the good and the bad for you, adding my own thoughts at the end. Are you ready? Here we go...

The positive parts noticed by everyone were the excellent keyboard and display, lower temperature compared to previous MacBooks, good battery life(only with Newsweek), the multi-touch trackpad and, obviously, the size and weight.

On the other hand, USA Today and Wall Street Journal concluded that the battery life was way below expectations (maybe those batteries needed to be formatted first? just a thought...), and everyone noticed the lack of Ethernet support (obviously, you could get an external adapter, but that's not something you think about when you get a MacBook Air), Firewire , and the MIA optical drive. Of course, you can get a SuperDrive for $99, but when using your computer in a plane, bus or train, it may not be really comfortable. Oh, yeah, the 80GB drive is also pretty small by today's standards!

Now, I should add something, that's what I promised, right? Well, being given the drawbacks of the "junior" MacBook Air, they forgot to add the price isn't quite a deal. In my opinion, Apple could take advantage of this whole deal and come up with a nice "student-only" promotion for those using their MacBook Airs for educational purporses. Let's hope someone "up there" will have the same idea, because that would be simply great!

When a company goes down, it's the fault of its CEO, first of all. When things go as great as possible, the CEO deserves to get rewarded for its efforts. Steve Jobs got through the first part already, since he had to quite Apple some time ago, and the company wasn't doing extremely well at that time (anyway, this was only one of the causes that lead to its departure). In the meantime, he got back and simply unleashed magic at Apple, as we were able to see in the last financial report, for example. Now, let's see what's in store for him...

According to a recent statement, because "continued leadership is critical to the Company, the [Apple] Compensation Committee is considering additional compensation arrangements for him [Steve Jobs]", and they are completely right. Why? If you forgot, Jobs has a personal portofolio of 5.5 million Apple shares belonging to the common stock, but in the last decade, since he got back to Apple, in 1997, he never sold at least a single share.

In fiscal 2007, all that Jobs got from Apple was his $1 annual salary. $1, not $1 million, simply $1! Well, the company awarded him an aircraft back in 1999, an equity grant in 2003, vested in full in 2006, as well as two stock option grants, in 2000 and 2001. In fact, the grants were both cancelled in March 2003, when Jobs received a grant of 5 million shares of restricted stock.

Those 5 million shares became 10 million when Appl's stock split in 2005, and the best part is that their value increased 8 times between 2003 and 2006, from $7.47 to no less than $64.66, on the vesting date, in March.

Currently, the value of Apple's shares is slowly descending towards $130 per share, but that's also two times more than back in March 2006, and I don't even want to think about the real "market value" of Steve Jobs. Oh, yeah, and Apple didn't say just yet what they have in the hat for Jobs, but if it's another stock option, I am sure he'll be happy to get it, as long as its successful work is directly reflected by the value of its shares...

If you want to use your Mac for video editing at a higher level than simply merging movies, cutting some frames or adding various subtitles, then Adobe's After Effects is a choice worth being considered. Primarily used in film and video post-production, Adobe After Effects uses a system of layers organized on a timelineto create movies using video footage or still images. Less than a day ago, Adobe announced an updated version to provide full Leopard support...

This latest version, labeled 8.02, can be installed in an instant using the Adobe Update Manager, if you already have Adobe After Effects installed on your computer. Anyway, some people may find it easier to download straight from a website, rather than using a download manager like the one from Adobe, so here's the link. OK, so we know how and from where to grab it, but what's new?

Well, there isn't anything new that's going to blow your mind included, but you get support for Mac OS X 10.5, P2 support in After Effects CS3, to complete the Panasonic P2 tapeless workflow in Production Premium CS3. From now on, After Effects users using a Mac will be able to import native P2 media and share it without any problem between Premiere Pro CS3 editing and After Effects CS3 composition and effects, via Dynamic Link, and all is going to happen without transcoding.

At the same time, Adobe InDesign and Adobe InCopy for Mac were also updated, to include various fixes and minor enhancements.