Imagine having the ability to power your iPhone and iPod using the sun. Apple has apparently filed a patent for a technology that will stack solar cells beneath a touch sensitive screen. This will definitely solve the problem of needing room for the solar cells on the device after allowing for buttons and a screen. It will also allow iPhone and iPod users to charge up their devices without the external charger and could increase battery life. Solar powered calculators and watches have been available for years. Why not a solar powered iPhone and iPod?

“Just as Bento, the traditional Japanese dish, serves up different foods in a single compartmentalised tray, Bento, the new Mac application, serves all your different types of personal data in a single window,” writes John O’Brien (news.com). In his review. O’Brien calls FileMaker’s new personal database application for Mac OS X Leopard “a cohesive, powerful tool for keeping personal information at your fingertips.”

Because fewer public schools offer music programs to students, the nonprofit organization Little Kids Rock decided to “provide its unique music curriculum” free of charge to schools. And to us. Part of the expansive iTunes U, Little Kids Rock offers guitar lessons, drum lessons, and other musical resources. Check it out.

“The MacBook Air is so sleek and elegant,” writes Etan Horowitz (orlandosentinal.com) “that pulling it out of your bag and using it is as easy and seamless as taking a small notebook from your pocket.” “Wowed by its razor-thin design,” Horowitz “wanted to bring it everywhere.” Horowitz says “it’s a pleasure to sit with the Air on your lap while watching TV on the couch, listening to a speech at a conference or riding in the car. In fact, I wrote much of this column on the Air while riding in a car at night.”

“One grandmother,” explains John Boudreau (mercurynews.com), “used a tutorial to learn how to make podcasts with Apple’s GarageBand software so she could read bedtime stories to her grandchildren, who live on the other side of the country.” It’s just one of the examples Boudreau uses to explain how the One to One
personal training sessions available at the retail Apple Store have become “one of the most powerful marketing tools for the Cupertino company.”

Long an advocate for backing up the data on your Mac, Glenn Fleishman (seattletimes.com) believes he’s finally found the “no-fuss backup system.” It arrived with Time Machine. Part of Mac OS X Leopard, Time Machine “lets you back up your Macintosh with the least fuss combined with [the] greatest access of any archiving system I’ve ever used.”

You may already know that your Mac can open some documents — PDFs, RAW photos, Excel spreadsheets, text files — in a variety of applications. But did you know that you can tell Mac OS X that you’d prefer to open all Excel documents in Numbers, all text files in Pages, or all PDF documents in Preview? Find out how by watching the latest Quick Tip of the Week.

In his review of Safari 3, Jason Cranford Teague (macworld.com) awards the “solid, streamlined browser” 4.5 (out of five) stars, and he offers this recommendation: “Mac users who need a streamlined Web browser for simply browsing the Web should use Safari 3. (So should their Windows counterparts, since Safari runs on both platforms.) Safari has all of the features that most Web surfers will ever need, it’s extremely fast, and it integrates seamlessly with other Mac applications.”

Fortune surveyed “more than 3,700 people from dozens of industries” to assemble its list of America’s Most Admired Companies [of] 2008. “This year’s winners all have strong records of innovation, leadership, and financial strength,” and Apple leads the 20 selected companies and also ranks number one in computers.

With Quick Look — just one of the great new features in Mac OS X Leopard — you can get a sneak peak at the contents of a document without opening it. A single click lets you satch a video, peruse a multi-page PDF, scan a folder of photos, or enjoy an entire Keynote presentation without launching any applications. How can you take advantage of Quick Look? Find out in the latest Pro Tip of the Week.