Apple today began shipping the new 2GB iPod shuffle. Available in five colors — silver, blue, green, purple, and (PRODUCT) RED special edition — for just $69, the newest model of iPod shuffle holds up to 500 songs. Order yours today from the online Apple Store; or visit an Apple Store in your area and try one on for size.

Apple today began taking orders for the new 2GB iPod shuffle. Available in five colors — silver, blue, green, purple, and (PRODUCT) RED special edition — for just $69, the newest model of iPod shuffle holds up to 500 songs. Order yours today from the online Apple Store; or visit an Apple Store in your area and try one on for size.

Aperture 2, the exciting new version of Apple’s powerful photo editing and management software, delivers more than 100 new features, and you can get a great introduction to many of them by attending the Aperture World Tour. It’s an excellent opportunity to learn about Aperture 2 from members of Apple’s photo marketing team. The free, in-depth presentation comes to cities around the world beginning next month. Sign up today and reserve your seat.

“We’ve earned a reputation for innovation, so we get to do incredibly fun stuff for great brands,” says Big Spaceship CEO Michael Lebowitz. “We like making people laugh, and we like making people scared,” he adds. And they like working on the Mac. “The Mac is the only platform that understands one of our key principles: How you engage with something has a direct impact on the results. I truly believe that working with thoughtful, human-oriented, creative technology makes you create more, and better, work.”

As a teacher, you’re always on the lookout for great educational resources. And you’ll find a rich supply of content on iTunes U. Take, for example, the free digital library available at teachers’ domain. Brought to you by WGBH, Boston’s award-winning PBS station, teachers’ domain offers downloadable videos and educator guides. Ranging from A Night in the Coral Reef to Homo Sapiens versus Neanderthals to Mitochondrial Flyover, they offer an invaluable addition to your science curriculum. And they’re just a tiny portion of the content waiting for you on iTunes U.

That’s what Stephen Shankland (c|net news) wants to know, and he’d like your help. “With the new Aperture 2 now available and Lightroom just celebrating its first birthday, I thought it opportune to survey readers. What would you buy? What would you advise somebody else?” The polls are open.

“Downloading and watching recent movies — in high-definition, from the comfort of your living room — is a stupendous experience,” writes Gary Krakow (thestreet.com)in his review of Apple TV. Krakow “chose the fabulous Disney/Pixar feature Ratatouille to test the system. All I can say is wow! Apple TV video quality is spectacular. The audio is pretty special, too. All in all, video rental has never been this quick and easy.”

“Much of the attention for iPhoto ’08 has focused on the new Events pane,” report Jim Heid and Kelly Turner (macworld.com), but the newest version of iPhoto “has many more tricks up its sleeve.” For example, Heid and Turner explain how iPhoto lets you customize print options, adjust fonts, create and assign keywords more easily, perform more effective searches, and still other tricks.

“Apple TV: The Sequel,” writes Edward C. Baig (usatoday.com), “comes with a newly tempting price and a major software overhaul. And it eliminates the need for a computer. Now, you can preview and rent videos using Apple TV alone.” In fact, Baig points out that once you click Rent, you can begin to watch the rented movie “on your TV within seconds, even while a video downloads. It’s instant gratification to folks who might otherwise drive to the rental store or wait for DVDs by mail.”

PC Magazine’s Edward Mendelson muses that “Leopard again raises the question of whether to switch from Windows to a Mac. I’ve found Vista to be a major disappointment that tends to look worse the more I use it.” Mac OS X Leopard, on the other hand, “is easier to manage and maintain and I vastly prefer OS X to Windows for Web-browsing, mail, and especially for any task that involves graphics, music, or video. Leopard performs all such tasks even better than previous versions did—and Leopard is the only OS on the planet that works effortlessly and intuitively in today’s world of networked computers and peripherals.” In fact Mendelson believes “it’s getting harder and harder to find good reasons to use anything else.”