With good and bad, hopefully with a lot of good things and the bad ones just to remind you what's the difference between the two, you arrived at the end of the week. Obviously, the week doesn't end on Friday, but every day is a new beginning, and this one is the beginning of the end for those tiresome working days, and the dawn of the best days of the week - the weekend... Those working during these weekend, please excuse me for that, but don't go away - this contest starting today is for everyone, as long as you like trying new programs and doing something useful, like synchronizing your data from the Pocket PC or smartphone with your Mac!

If there's something I like more than writing, enjoying my favorite music or surfing the Web, that's playing. Not necessarily games, since I enjoy playing with various software applications and discovering programs I never heard of more than smokin' tires in Project Torque or fighting my way to the final credits in some shooter or role playing game. That's exactly what you'll have to do for this SyncMate contest, but before I give you the details on what you need to do, let me tell you a few things about the prizes...

...since we're not talking about little things here. Just hear this: 3 for free, and 3 for half the price, how's that? I am talking about SyncMate licenses, of course!<-336x280 Large Rectangle - right-> These being said, let's see what needs to be done so that you can have SyncMate before Halloween, shall we?

First, you need to fire up your Mac(that's available for those few of you reading us on the iPhone, or maybe even using a Windows PC), and download SyncMate.

Use the program to do what it was built for(if you ask me, you can even try to download Weird Al Yancovic's discography for free, but I don't think that's going to work), and think about what you'd like to see added in future versions, what should be changed...and maybe you can even find some bugs! You have a full weekend ahead, so don't rush things - take your time to check every little feature and if you have more devices that SyncMate supports, "play" with each one of them.

At last, clear your thoughts, and write them down in an email to send here, and remember to put "SyncMate Contest" in the subject line. That's all you have to do, and if you show that you really know how to write a feedback letter, you can be one of the lucky winners.

Before leaving you to download and enjoy SyncMate, just a brief reminder: 3 free licenses, and 3 with 50% discount, these are the prizes, and all you have to do is write what you like, what you have, and what you would like to be added in future SyncMate versions. Just be sure to send your email before the 30th of the month!

With this, I declare the SyncMate contest officially open, and if you're crazy about freebies, contests, and so on, you may also want to check our Shades iPhone 3G cases giveaway, and your chances of visiting BindApple and grabbing something to remind you of us will increase exponentially. Good luck!

QuickTime is one of those programs you end up being forced to use even on Windows, and after having to install it - usually to view your digital camera movies, you end up falling in love with it, if I can put it this way. I know it may sound a bit exaggerated, but when it comes to software, there's a thin line between love and hate, just as it happens in real life. Just like most computer programs, QuickTime is not perfect, but it's surely improving with each new update, since the upcoming QuickTime update, 7.6, will bring a very important improvement, as we're going to see right away...

One of the categories constantly growing in the iTunes Store is the HD content, made available by Apple not so long ago. I know it is possible for some people to watch HD content and enjoy the Dolby experience using some headphones, but not even the best Sennheiser headset won't make this a better experience than a nicely balanced 5.1 Surround Sound system.<-336x280 Large Rectangle - right-> Unfortunately, QuickTime's support for 5.1 channel audio is not perfect yet...

...but "people familiar with the matter" say the Apple developer community is already testing the QuickTime update 7.6 for Windows, Mac OS X Tiger and Leopard. What's so special about it?

It seems the pre-release version tested is aiming to pave the way for much better sound in cases where different sound is being delivered to each channel, while MPEG-1, AAC and Apple Lossless playback and conversion are also areas where developers should focus their testing on.

The sad truth is that QuickTime as we know it will soon become a memory, since Apple will only work on a few additional updates, after releasing the QuickTime update 7.6. The reason behind this is that the Cupertino-based company is planning to shift its focus to QuickTimeX, a completely new QuickTime application with focus on the latest audio and video formats.

Obviously, the focus of this application will be to play HD content efficiently, and I think there's only a matter of time until HD content will reign supreme in the iTunes Store. This may not happen within the next months, maybe not even in 2009, but I can bet that HD content will take over before 2011 kicks in.

When thinking about cheap MP3 players, most serious gadget freaks I know take Apple out of question from the start. Unfortunately, their reason to do that is that the iPod Shuffle is more about design and less about sound quality and features, so others choices always come in first place, unless you want to have a cheap iPod, and nothing else. Anyway, it doesn't matter if you like it or not, since I am sure there will be a bunch of people to be attracted by the new colors available for Apple's cheap MP3 players, despite the fact this is the only update - the color...

To me, "new colors" is equal to "nothing," but Apple says "iPod shuffle is a badge of musical devotion. Now in new, more brilliant colors." How cool can that be? What I want to say once again is that some of Apple's products may not be that great, but their marketing department surely does the job right! Now, let's get to the real thing about Apple's cheap MP3 players, shall we?

Beyond those "more brilliant colors," the iPod Shuffle remains unchanged - the 1GB model costs $49, while the 2GB version is priced at $69. <-180x150 Small Rectangle - right->Unfortunately, to make room for the new blue, green, pink, and red colors, the orange Shuffle has been taken out. I don't know if sales of that iPod were really weak, but I must confess I would rather get an orange MP3 player, instead of a green or a pink one. What do you think?

Well, boys and girls, this is it - if you're really looking for cheap MP3 players, my advice would be to think well before buying something, because there are a few traps here, as you're going to see right away...

First, you may end up with a nice iPod Shuffle, but without decent features and storage capacity - and this one is not that cheap, either; second, you could grab some cheap no-name MP3 player that may die on you unexpectedly, sometimes when you simply try to update the firmware(I know what I say, I've been there - only that the MP3 player I have in mind when I say this was a gift).

Other than the two possible situations described above, there are plenty of decent choices you could make, with Creative and Sandisk being only the top of the iceberg...

One of the things I really can't stand is accounting. Don't ask me why, but it's enough to mention that I hate repetitive tasks and math. That's almost as good as an answer, right? Anyway, getting back to those quarterly Apple revenue reports is something I'll keep doing, especially when the results are looking so interesting, as they do this time...

When I say "interesting," I don't think about the numbers, because there's something even more interesting than them, and that is their meaning. Just think about the fact that the global economy is going down, and Apple goes up; the Windows-based computer sales everywhere show a much smaller growth rate than Macs; finally, the cherry on top is that the iPhone, despite all its problems, is selling better than everyone(including Apple) expected. Now, let's take these down one by one, shall we?

First of all, let's take a brief look at the numbers. Even Steve Jobs said the numbers are "truly stunning," and here's why -<-336x280 Large Rectangle - right-> "By eliminating subscription accounting, adjusted sales for the quarter were $11.68 billion, 48% higher than the reported revenue of $7.9 billion, while adjusted income was $2.44 billion, 115% higher than the reported net income of $1.14 billion. Adjusted net income that is more than double our reported income. If this isn't stunning, I don't know what is. All due to the incredible success of the iPhone 3G."

When talking about devices shipped during the last quarter, they also look stunning, of course. Just think about 2,611,000 Macs(21 percent unit growth and 17 percent revenue growth over the year-ago quarter), 11,052,000 iPods during the quarter(8 percent unit growth and 3 percent revenue growth), and no less than 6,892,000 iPhones, compared to 1,119,000 in the year-ago-quarter. Stunning, indeed, simply stunning!

Regarding the iPhone, it is also worth being mentioned that Apple managed to climb into the third position of the world's largest mobile phone suppliers top, beating Sony Ericsson and RIM's Blackberry.

With the Apple revenue reports looking so good, I only have one wish remaining - a few thousand Apple shares in my (currently empty) portfolio. Thank you very much in advance, Santa! ;)

When it comes to synchronizing data between different devices, I always considered this a real pain. I think the only things worse than this would be having to attend a funeral, my neighbors' loud (and rather silly) music, and hardware or software problems that occur exactly when you have something important to do. Since I have such a fear of synchronizing stuff, finding out about SyncMate was a real blessing, especially since I got the news right from the source of this great application, namely Eltima Software.

SyncMate is a software for Mac OS X 10.4 and higher and Mac OS X 10.5 which allows you to sync the following: contacts, bookmarks, iPhoto/iTunes, as well as to manage text messages. Coming in two flavors SyncMate FREE Edition and SyncMate Expert Edition, this program reached version 1.4, its latest build (1.4.1.367) being released on the 3rd of October. These being said, let's check the features available in the FREE and Expert editions, shall we?

Here's what the official press release says about the FREE edition: "SyncMate FREE Edition is a perfect solution for information management. It is FREE and easy-to-use synchronizer for Mac and Pocket PC/Smartphone, that will help you keep all your documents, text messages, contacts, calendar entries and events and other stuff well organized. <-336x280 Large Rectangle - right->With SyncMate Free edition you can synchronize applications like Address Book, iCal, etc. Also you can easily read SMS directly from your Mac, check detailed device information (battery state, etc) and visually analyze memory usage."

Now, if we move to the Expert Edition, we have additional synchronization possibilities, since this version allows you to share Internet between your Mac and your mobile device, synchronize time, iTunes and iPhoto, as well as separate folders. The cookie on top of the "expert cake" from Eltima is the ability to manage text messages without having to touch your Pocket PC, since all operations are performed on your Mac!

SyncMate FREE Edition can be upgraded to the Expert flavour with only $39.95, but if you're one of our regular readers, you may want to hold that purchase for a few days. Even if you're not one of our regular readers, you should check back here, because we'll have a contest pretty soon, and the prizes will be licenses for the Expert version of SyncMate.

I know it sounds tempting, but I won't tell you more at this time. Be sure to bookmark us or subscribe to our news by email, and you won't miss the day when SyncMate Expert Edition for free will be one step away!