as the few readers that are still reading this nearly non-existing site have noticed, blargKABOOM is pretty much over.

this site was an experiment for me: is technology writing actually a goal of mine, will people read a site that is small and written by teens, can a name like blargKABOOM actually work, etc. so many questions, blargKABOOM brought answers.

when there was a solid writing standard of a lot of quality posts during a week (maybe 2 a day), bK was doing really well. we had a readership base, we had a writer, and we had technology. which was really nice.

overtime, however,  I noticed the real lack of need for this little site here. we have the Engadget’s and Gizmodo’s… why blargKABOOM. and when there really wasn’t a good enough answer for me, I decided I needed to do something else. to build a site that has a reason.

and so, I announced in January big news for the future of blargKABOOM. major updates for 2009. well, we’re half way through the year: where are the updates?

the updates aren’t coming folks; well, not to blargKABOOM at least. for months now I’ve been working on a new site, a better site, a site with a purpose. now, it’s not launch ready yet, nowhere near launch ready; but my goal is to have it up, at least a beta or alpha version, by the end of this year. more of a universal site, this new “news network” (as i call it) will not have a focus, but will provide coverage of everything, with multiple types of coverage (real-time, media, video, etc) aimed at the teen demographic. for more info on that, check out my site jonathanfriedman.com

i can’t really shut down blargKABOOM as it was incredible at it’s peak, and i have to thank the readers who read this site when it was respectable and my staff (especially Danny Ahdout, who can be credited with finding the first trace of search on the iPhone).

so here’s the deal: blargKABOOM is on hiatus… indefinitely. however my new site will have many similar features, yet, honestly, be 100x better than what we have here with blargKABOOM.

cheers everybody, and thanks for reading.

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Here we go everybody, final round. The MacHeist 3 Bundle is almost over; the bundle has 14 great Mac apps worth $980 for just $39. I’ve added almost half of them to my daily routine, check it out now. The Bundle sale ends at 9 PST, so check it out ASAP.

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as many of you have noticed, we’ve been update-less for nearly a month now. a combination of spring break and midterms are partly responsible, but the major reason is work on future updates to this site and a new site in the development stages.

so first off, an apology is necessary to all of you. so we’re sorry for this lack of coverage, and hopefully you’ve been able to get your news fix from other sites (like engadget.com and gizmodo.com).

but really what I want to say is that blargKABOOM has a future, so please stay tuned to this site along with the blargKABOOM twitter account and my site and twitter. we’ve got something really big coming later this year, so prepare for that.

but if blargKABOOM still remains un-updated, don’t fret. we’re just frantically trying to get this new site finished. so thanks for understanding and stay tuned.

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Apple sent invites to an iPhone 3.0 press event on March 17 @ 10am to major media outlets this week, with the attached text:

“Join us at an invitation-only event to learn about the new SDK and get a sneak peek at the iPhone OS 3.0 software. The event takes place at Apple, Building 4, Town Hall on March 17 at 10:00 a.m.”

Engadget, Gizmodo, and gdgt will be offering live coverage, so check those sites this Tuesday @ 10 am for the most up-to-date news.

Technology sites over the web have already started making wish lists of features they’d like to have, however certain sites are already hearing rumors of features to be included: MMS (multimedia text messaging) and internet tethering allowing you to share your phone’s network connection with computers are two key rumors, though the ever-awaited copy-and-paste is also on this rumored feature list.Personally, if Apple wants the iPhone to remain on top, its got to pull a rabbit out of its hat (which its done before) and show a completely new UI that allows for easy copy-and-paste, new gestures, better app sorting features, and unobtrusive non-interrupting notifications. Basically, Apple needs to look at the features people want and add them, or they will have a lot of iPhone users switching over to the newly announced Palm Pre which has nearly every feature we iPhone users desire.

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Apple announced a new iPod shuffle today, retailing for $79 with 4GB of space. The new model is similar sized to a stick of gum and has no visible controls as the new included headset acts as the remote. As with the old shuffle, a clip is still on the back ready to grip onto anything; to spruce it up, Apple changed the clip to stainless steel. The new shuffle, available in black or silver, uses “VoiceOver” technology for the mp3 player to speak to you. A click and hold of the earbud button says the track name, while a long hold allows you to select different playlists. The VoiceOver feature works in almost every language, though the voice switches from the standard OS X Leopard voice, Alex, to a more robotic female voice when the iPod user syncs with a PC (so to get that smoother tone, you gotta go buy a Mac along with your new iPod shuffle - classy move Apple.) The old 1GB model is still available for $49. Debates over whether this switch to no buttons is good have already started, let us know what you think in the comments.

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We’ve been pretty slow on keeping you all up-to-date recently, so a quick apology for that. There are some big things in the works for later on this year and I’m working hard to get these new features up-and-running. Now back to the news:

• Apple updated its desktop line today, bring hardware updates to the Mac mini (long overdue), iMac, and Mac Pro. Most of these updates deal with detailed specifications on hardware (processor, hard drive, graphics, etc), so check out Apple.com for all the details.
• Amazon launched the “Kindle for iPhone” application yesterday, bringing almost all the features of a $359 device for FREE. Users cannot purchase books directly from the app and subscriptions are not automatically updated, but users can get their full Kindle library on the device and purchase books via the Safari Mobile browser on the phone and get them directly on the device. Basically, users have a fully loaded Kindle (without subscriptions and the controversial text-to-speech features) on the iPhone, something almost everyone has been waiting for.

So that’s the news everybody. Again, apologies for being pretty slow recently, but we’re working on big things, so stay tuned.

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After Apple had released their new line of updated products today, I went to build a new Mac Pro to see how much my dream machine would end up costing.  [here]  While going through the options, I noticed that the image next to your choice for a second display, where your only options to choose were 24in or 30in, showed two displays that both look like the LED Cinema Display.

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Apple released a beta version of Safari 4 today, with new features grabbed from Google’s Chrome and Mozilla’s Firefox browsers. Taken from Chrome include moving tabs above the address bar, adding a top sites page, among other speed based improvements. From Firefox: the address bar now grabs from history and bookmarks and displays the most relevant below the bar and the search bar does the same by grabbing from history and gives auto-completion suggestions. Apparently there are over 150 new features, so check out Apple’s Safari 4 page to check out all the features and download the beta.

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The next generation iPhone will have a matte-black metal finish according to some recent leaked photos. Do we trust those recent leaked photos? Not really. Sure, we’re not gonna immediately deny these photos’ legitimacy, but a big signal that these are fake: the case uses metal. Why would we immediately say metal means its not real? Because metal is a complete failure when dealing with cell and WiFi signals, so that’s why we’re gonna give this rumor a big “iffy” stamp. MacRumors and iPodObserver both received the images earlier today, and iPodObserver did post the first pics of the iPhone 3G’s glossy back months before the release, but we’re still doubtful. Check out some more pictures at MacRumors.

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Just as predicted, the kindle 2 (official name) will be available on February 24 for $359 and the leaked pictures were real. Some key specs of the new device: 25 percent thinner than the iPhone, 25 percent longer battery life than the original Kindle, 7 times more storage space, 20 percent faster page-turning, and most importantly: IT READS TO YOU. It’s got text-to-speech built-in for those of you to lazy to move your eyes. Oh, and another major design change, the next/previous page buttons are tiny and won’t accidentally be pushed, which was the worst feature of the original Kindle (the sides of the device were buttons). Will this new model sell out in one day just as the original did? Who knows, but the kindle 2 is pretty tempting.

via Gizmodo

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