Apple TV is a digital media receiver sold, manufactured and marketed by the Apple Company. This is not helping you a lot to understand what is Apple TV and the next question might be "what is a digital media receiver?", well you will find the answer in the next lines.

A digital media adapter (DMA) or digital media receiver (DMR) is a home entertainment device that can be connected, for retrieving digital media files, to a home network. The media files can be pictures, music, podcasts or videos from a media server or a personal computer, and then play them back on a TV or a home theater system.

A digital media receiver is able to connect to a home network using either wired connection or wireless connection. This kind of media receiver includes a user interface that allows consumers to navigate through the digital media library, to search and to play back media files such as music, photos or videos. There are many kind of different digital media receivers, that are designed to handle different tasks: for example, you can find on the market media receivers that handle only music, others that handle pictures and music, a lot of them handle beside pictures and music, videos. And if you want to go further you can find others that allows you internet browsing or, if you like, to control Live TV from a computer with a TV tuner.

A digital media receiver has a lot of functions, some of them are:

- record, watch or pause live television.
- store and play music CDs or DVDs.
- you can also listen digital radio or you can pause it.
- you can create picture slideshows that be automated.

An Apple TV is a digital media receiver and so much more. The latest version of Apple TV can be bought with 229.00 US dollars and has hard disk space of 160 GB, so you can store in it as many music, videos, podcasts or movies as you like.

Apple TV allows consumers to play music, view photos or watch videos using an HDTV. This media files can originate from a local network or an Internet media service. Internet media services include: YouTube, MobileMe, iTunes Store or Flickr.  By connecting straight to the iTunes Store, for example, consumers can rent or buy movies, buy songs, television shows, albums, or music videos and can subscribe to audio or video podcasts. Many of this media files can be watched and played in high definition.

Users can browse and view YouTube videos or MobileMe photo albums. Apple TV can also stream or sync video, photo or music content from a network connected computer that is running iTunes.

Apple TV connects to video equipment or to a television through component video connections or High Definition Multimedia Interface.  The consumers must buy a component video/stereo or HDMI cable because Apple TV does not come with this kind of cable.

With Apple TV users can receive direct stream from YouTube, to be allow at this service you don't require a YouTube account you can make it if you want your options to be personalized.

Users can browse the iTune store, view podcasts and save them as favorites. You can view from Flickr and MobileMe accounts your internet photos, the product is going to display the photos in a slide show.

Apple TV gives users access to a very large selection of HD movies. First you must select a movie and them you can watch it. The HD movies can be rented starting at 3.99 US dollar and if you don't have the time to watch it the day you have ranted it, is not a problem, because you have 30 days to watch it. You can play it as many times as you want in 24 hours. You have many options to choose from: drama to comedy, classics to romance, thrillers to independents or popular Hollywood titles. A standard movie rental is 2.99 US dollar for the titles in the library and for new releases is 3.99 US dollars.

If you like short films, you can find Pixar animated shorts for only 1.99 US dollars.

If you want the collection of your favorite movies to become permanent you can buy them for 9.99 US dollars and, you will see, that the most of them are available the day they are released on DVD.

You can also find foreign language tracks, subtitles and a built-in parental control; this helps you to limit the types of movies your children can buy or rent.

Anything you purchase on your Apple TV can be transfer to your iPhone or iPod because it syncs back on your computer to iTnues.

You can also buy songs or albums from iTunes Store; songs cost 1.29 US dollar each and an album is about 9.99 US dollar. Once you have bought the songs or videos youcan make a playlist of your favorite music and that is how you can create your own music channel. The music can also be transferred to your iPhone or iPod.

You can explore the YouTube channel and see the movies you like in high definition. Consumers have also access to live internet radio. You can browse many streaming radio stations and you can find what type of genre you like best: reggae, jazz, rock, hip-hop, dance, pop and classical music.

Apple TV is the next generation of entertainment; you can rent or buy what media files you want without leaving your home. You can make every night a movie night because you have a lot to choose from.

The first iPod was launched in Octomber 2001. It had a 5 GB memory with a storage capacity of about 1.000 songs in mp3 format Form this year on Apple created a new fashion all around the world and revolutionized the entire market of mp3 players.

Everyone knows what an iPod is, but there are so many, so different type that is very hard to make a decision regarding the purchase of an iPod. Everyone wants to have an iPod and the best way to make a decision is to look closely at the cost and at the technical details.

Apple iPod shuffle is the simplest one. You can find it whit the price between 70 - 100 US dollars. The pros of this type of iPod are :can be between 1GB - 4 GB of memory, it can be found in various colors, it's easy to carry, the price is good, easy to use and the battery holds up to 8 hours, it's very small and it has a high quality sound.

The arguments against can be the fact that it has no radio and it has a lack of display track so you can't see the track that is playing. If you want a device just for listening music at high quality sound and a long lasting battery this type of iPod is for you.

The nest iPod is Apple iPod classic; this can be found between 70 and 200 US dollar depending of the memory between 10 GB and up to 160 GB.

The pros for this iPod are: very good sound quality, large capacity of memory, an interface with a "click wheel" that is very easy to use, the battery lasts log time, audio book can  be converted so that each book will be composed of a single file, therefore you can listen to your favorite book at your favorite iPod.

It can play songs up to 36 hours and videos up to 6 hours, has a LCD 320 x 240 display.



The arguments against might be that this iPod can be synchronize with only one computer and if you are not at that same computer you can't loud songs on it.

This is a very good choice if you are short on money but you also want an iPod with a display.

Next in line is the iPod Nano Apple, it's a mp4 player that can be found between 130 and 200 dollars with a memory between 4 GB - 16 GB

The pros for this one are:  the sound and display quality are very good; a big plus is that when a song is played at a lower volume you do not hear the background noise that is so common in other players. On the other side, at a high volume the sound quality is remarkable and this confirms the reputation of Apple products in this area.

The battery last if you are playing music al least 14 hours and if you are playing a video at least 5 hors.

The arguments against are the fact that the iPod Nano 3^rd generation does not have a radio or a voice recorder;. This type of iPod is not very expensive but not everyone can afford it.

Apple iPod touch is the expensive one, you can find it between 300-400 US dollar depending on the memory, but the most common one is with 16 GB of memory, but you can also find it with 8GB or 32 GB memory.

The pros: It is very easy to use thanks to simple menu completely different from most other players where you do not know where to find the settings. Here you can find anything in place; another quality is that it can connect to wireless Internet, and it can help you to experience anything you want or like on the internet using the integrated browser that is very intuitive, simple and pleasant. It is an excellent video and audio player with good sound quality, especially in headphones (the speaker does not sound very loud and very good).

You can use it as game console, on the internet you can find many games for it, some even free, that can be played by the movement of the iPod because it has an accelerometer.

Has a multi-touch widescreen with 3.5-inch diagonal, it can play videos up to 6 hours and music up to 36 hours. Is moving very fast on WiFi, the volume keys are very well placed, scratch-resistant screen, it is very thin with a rounded back .The most advanced portable music player you can find on the market nowadays.

Arguments against: if you don't install the iTunes software you will have a zero file transfer (this is a negative at every iPod), it runs only on MP4 and MOV file extensions, the GPS applications don't work in some regions. You can't change the track from you pocket like you can with the Shuffle or Nano and is very hard to get it out of pocket when you are in a crowded place.

This are the most common iPods, their costs and a lot of technical information witch can help you make the best choice if you want to have an iPod.

Doesn't matter want kind of iPod you want to buy, but we recommend to buy the one that suits you best because the iPod can say many things about its owner.

iTunes is a PMP application, utilized for playing and organizing your music and videos. This software is also a program that allows the user to handle the music on iPhones and iPods. Furthermore, this software can connect to the iTunes Store using the Internet to let you buy and download music, videos, TV programs, applications, games for iPods, audio books, podcasts and also, ring tones. It is using to download software for iPhones and iPods that are using the iPhone OS X.

iTunes was released by Apple Inc. on January 9, 2001, to the Macworld Expo, an annual conference kept in  San Francisco. The most recent version of iTunes, the iTunes 9, was released at Apple's September 2009 "Rock and Roll" event.

iTunes is accessible and ready for use and download for free for Mac OS X v10.4+, Windows 7, Windows XP and Windows Vista from Apple's official site. It is also sold together with  all Macintosh computers, and also with some HP and some Dell computers. Elder variants are available for Mac OS 9, Mac OS X v10.0 to 10.3, and for Windows 2000.

iTunes keeps the management  of  the tracks by producing a virtual library storage, permitting that users to be able to access and change a song's assigns. These attributes, named also  metadata, are kept in 2 different library registers.

The 1^st is a binary file named iTunes Library and it have a copyrighted file format that it is shorted as ITL. It gets datas like artist or genre from the files format's tag capacities , like the ID3 tag, and depots iTunes typically informations like  how many times was played or the rating numbers. iTunes in a typical manner  reads library data only from this files.

The 2^nd file, iTunes Music Library. xml, is reviewed every time the information in iTunes is modified. It purposes an XML format, letting program coders to easily write software that can access the library datas (as play count, last played date, and rating, that are not standard domains in the ID3v2.3 format). Apple's own iDVD, iMovie, and iPhoto programs access also this second library.

If the 1^st file is corrupted, iTunes will try  to remake  it from the XML file. Detailed 3^rd party instructions  concerning  this are documented in another place. There have been some fears, sustained by Mark Pilgrim, who told that this feature will produce an "undocumented binary black hole" for the reason that  the recovery from the XML file may not act properly.

It has also been said that this program does not automatically chase to change into actual datas in the library. If the user will move or erase a file, iTunes will display an exclamation mark near the library introduction and the user will need to amend the library record all by himself. Some 3^rd party implemented programs resolve this problem.

iTunes it is used also for ripping the CDs, but it can't rip any DVDs. Even so, in 2008, Apple released iTunes Digital Copy, a program that can do this, as  a bonus attribute  on some DVDs that allows a copy-protected. Like with any other digital music management tool, users have to use a digital converter to import analog recordings, like vinyls or audio cassettes to their iTunes library.

A personal iTunes Library can be shared trough a local area network using the closed, copyrighted DAAP, name that comes from the shorten of Digital Audio Access Protocol, released by Apple for this role. DAAP depends on the Bonjour network service using Frame Work, an Apple provided software. The DAAP specifications aren't available for the general users, but  some 3^rd part programmers knows them. An example can be the privately held consumer electronics firm specialized in home digital media products, Roku. Also, the software has been changed and is now used to share play lists from  softwares that don't have the Apple's signature. DAAP permit shared lists of songs between the similar subnets to be automatically recognized. When a song is distributed, iTunes can play the song but won't save it on the local storage device, with the objective of preventing unauthorized copies. Tracks with the AAC format can also be accessed, but the user will need to complete an authentication form. A largest number of users that may connect to another single user in twenty four hours is five. The View options are usually available to iTunes users but the Cover Flow option isn't available when playing a shared library through a network.

The iPhone operating system, known as OS X iPhone is developed by Apple Inc. specially for this type of phones, used also on the iPod Touch.  Just like the Mac OS X does, this operating system uses the Darwin foundation, which is compose by code derived from Next Step, BSD and some other free software projects. That's why, every iPhone and iPod Touch is compatible with the Single UNIX Specifications version three and Posix UNIX applications and utilities. It takes less than 240 MB of the device's memory storage and it is based on the concept of direct manipulations.

A home screen, rendered by Spring Board, with application images, and a platform at the lower side of the screen, indicating the icons for the applications the user access more often, is presented when the phone is turned on or anytime the home button is pushed. The display has a status bar to the opposite side of the top to display data, like time, battery level, signal intensity. The rest of the display is consecrated to the used  application. There is no concept of opening or closing  applications, only starting an application from the home display, and leaving the application to return back. It is possible to force-out an application to quit by pressing the power button until the "slide to power off" button appears, and then pressing the home button down. Although some multi-tasking is permitted it is not noticeable . However, it is restriction to applications released only by Apple. Third-party applications are ended when left, but with the 3.0 software upgrade, notices will be able to be downloaded from Apple's sites to the iPhone or iPod Touch. Many another of the admitted applications were created to work together, making the possibility of the sharing or cross extension of data from one to another. For example, a number  of phone can be selected  into an application and saved as a contact into another or dialed.



On October 17, 2007, into an announce posted to Apple's Hot News, Steve Jobs said that a software development kit, also known as SDK, would be released for3rd part programmers . The SDK was published on March 6, 2008, and let the developers to create  applications for the iPhone OS X, and also  test them in a simulator, which looks exactly like the iPhone. Still, loading an application into the simulator is accepted only  after  you pay a fee for the iPhone Developer Program.

Programmers  are permitted to set any cost for their software and release them for distribution on the Apple Store, of which they will get a 70% pay. Alternate, they may choose to release the apps as free sources and don't need to pay any other cost.



Since it was released, there has been some disputes involving the refund policy in the published print of the developer agreement with Apple Inc. In accord with the idea that programmers must agree to, if someone buys an app from the app store, 30% of the cost goes to Apple, and 70% to the coder. If a refund is gave back to the buyer, only if Apple agrees, the 30% is returned to the buyer from Apple, and 70% from the programmer. Apple Inc. can get another 30% of the cost from the programmer to cover their loss.

Apple didn't announced any projects to enable Java to work on the iPhone. Sun Microsystems announced that they will  release a Java Virtual Machine, known as JVM for iPhone operating system, founded on the Java Platform, Micro Edition. This will help the  Java programs to run on iPhone and iPod Touch.

Right after this announcement, programmers which were familiar with the SDK's terms of agreement thought that by not allowing third-party programs  to run in the background, like to be able to answer if your phone calls and the application to still work, letting  a program to download the code from another program, or allowing an application to interact with a third-party application, like JVM  with Safari, could block the development of the JVM without the Apple's pattern.



It is more than sure that Java running on the iPhone is beyond the boundary  of the iPhone SDK Agreement.

The iPhone OS don't support Adobe Flash, and Flash movies can't be viewed on web pages. Even thought Adobe released 2 versions of this software, Apple views  incomplete and not as suitable for the iPhone. Apple's argumentation to the public so far has been that Flash would be too difficult to handle or use especially because of size or weight for the iPhone, while Flash Lite, the second version released, would not allow a suitable feel for users.

On the 3^rd generation , the Apple's iPhone it is still one of the best sold product. After months of speculations and rumors, when they announced the releasing of this product, on January 9, 2007, the Time magazine named it "The Invention of the Year".  Year by year, Apple, upgraded this smart phone, transforming it into one of the best buy gadgets of the moment. It is a very useful instrument for all kinds of people, starting from the school teenagers to the active business man.  With its principals media functions and all the implemented other features it  manages to cover most of the current needs of a person in mobile technology.

Lotus iNotes it is an application  created by IBM, special for iPhones. It is a version of Lotus Notes, a software released by the same company and dedicated to access the  business e-mails, calendars and some other important applications, made on the beginnings to help on the use of the IBM Lotus Domino server.

This application it is accessed via an web- browser thought a wireless network  and it is coded to support the browsing support languages  like Java or HTML.

Lotus iNotes it is projected to allow the person who is using it to get to their calendars, e-mails, to-do lists, contacts or personal journals with the help of  codes like dynamic HTML or Ajax. These programming languages are made to improve the web-browsing and to minimize the refreshing rate of a web page, which it is such an annoying process when you don't have a good internet connection. It also have an instant message application and an offline support.

The Lotus application   can support browsers like Internet explorer or Mozilla Firefox.

This collaboration between Apple and IBM helped a lot of people, offering them a secured, intelligent,  fast and rich software, perfect for those who are using every time the iPhone. Thought an intuitive  interface, users can compose fast and easy e-mails using a zero maintenance web client.

The Apple Inc. succeed to combine the connectivity of IBM's  Lotus Domino  with the flexibility of the iPhone products.

Yet by 2008, this product has been an enigma for both developers and entrepreneurs and for future users, raising many questions about its functionality. But expectations were demolished when Apple announced the releasing of the new iPhone 3G in collaboration with Lotus iNotes, and over 500 companies  have signed at that time for a trial product.

This program can be downloaded, for free, for those users who already bought  the license for Lotus Notes, and it will come with an upgrade of this software to the 8.0.2 version.

Following the stats we can found that, in the world there are over 140 millions users. From this we can deduct that it is one of the best released programs, all over the time, for iPhones. To challenge with the two rivals that are using the same system of web- browsing, Apple integrated on this software more security features and an Microsoft's exchange e-mail server.

Unfortunately, there is no offline support for this application because it runs trough the iPhone's web- browser, named Safari. Using this application you can have an easy access to e-mail buttons  like Inbox, Sent, Trash, All Docs, To-do list and Contacts.

On the internet there are some user help manuals for the Lotus iPhone 3G but not so brief and are integrated into the larger manuals devoted to the use of additional software Lotus Domino.

With  the introduction of this software in the iPhone's menu, and adapting it for the 3G version, Apple dedicated this product to the business men and not only to them, targeting a special category of people which have an increased interest for  communication between people.

They also managed to make a giant step in the evolution of this phone and bring it to the highest standards of an user.

Like the Lotus Company, its associates, Apple seems to have only progressive steps and a very good reputation, the iPhone products and its every- year upgrades  coming as a testimony for this affirmation. From the first generation , to the actual one, the 3G,  it was the most popular sold smart phone, even if the other competing companies, like Nokia, released similar products with almost the same features.