We have a hardware trio of deals today, starting off with a number of used Macs, including a 500Mhz iMac G3 with a 15-inch CRT for $40. Next up is a 16GB iPod nano for $160, followed by a 16GB iPhone 3GS for $149. (A 32GB version sells for $249.) Also on tap is a number

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Daily Deals: $40 iMac G3, $160 16GB iPod nano, $149 16GB iPhone 3GS

Today we go back in time in our way-back machine to the days of G3 iMacs. A number of refurbished oldies-but-goodies lead-off our top deals, including a 500Mhz 15-inch CRT desktop for $39. Also on tap, a new category, App Store titles aimed at children, including Farmer Fred’s Animal Farm learning game. Finally, a plethora

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Daily Deals: $39 G3 iMac, App Store Freebies for Kids, Pixxo MiniBooMX Speakers

  Over the past decade, we’ve seen technology leap beyond our wildest dreams. The Noughties took us from kilobytes to terabytes, single-core processors to octo-core, and thin laptops to pocket-sized netbooks. And regardless if you’re a member of the Apple faithful or simply a casual PC user, we can all agree that the innovations we’ve seen over the past ten years have revolutionized the way we go about our daily lives. Read on to see our 50 favorite gadgets and technologies of this modern era, and leave a comment with your favorite tech memory of the last decade!   iPod Without the iPod we’d still be lugging around crappy MP3 players or worse, CD Walkmen. The classic iPod may be losing the limelight to the iPhone and the iPod touch, but without that original white music player that promised to put 1000 songs in your pocket, the idea for an iPhone may have never been pitched. Broadband If you had broadband in the 90s, you were some sort of super nerd. These days, even our grandmothers have broadband. We refuse to comment on their ability to snipe us non-stop while playing CoD: MW2 online with them. Kindle This is a no-brainer, but being able to read books without needing to go to the library or bookstore is awesome. Though the Kindle still needs to work out some kinks–we miss used bookstores and loaning books to friends–eBook readers are obviously here to stay. TiVo The dawn of Tivo and digitally recordable video meant you’d never miss a show and could skip over commercial breaks. Netflix The worst part about renting DVDs was having to leave the comforts of your warm, cozy bed to drive to the video store. Netflix took care of those inconveniences. And with the excellent streaming available on several different devices, you no longer have to wait for the mail man. Apple TV Thanks to Apple TV, now we can have all of our favorite media streamed directly to our wall-mounted televisions

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50 Technologies that Rocked the Decade

  Over the past decade, we’ve seen technology leap beyond our wildest dreams. The Noughties took us from kilobytes to terabytes, single-core processors to octo-core, and thin laptops to pocket-sized netbooks. And regardless if you’re a member of the Apple faithful or simply a casual PC user, we can all agree that the innovations we’ve seen over the past ten years have revolutionized the way we go about our daily lives. Read on to see our 50 favorite gadgets and technologies of this modern era, and leave a comment with your favorite tech memory of the last decade!   iPod Without the iPod we’d still be lugging around crappy MP3 players or worse, CD Walkmen. The classic iPod may be losing the limelight to the iPhone and the iPod touch, but without that original white music player that promised to put 1000 songs in your pocket, the idea for an iPhone may have never been pitched. Broadband If you had broadband in the 90s, you were some sort of super nerd. These days, even our grandmothers have broadband. We refuse to comment on their ability to snipe us non-stop while playing CoD: MW2 online with them. Kindle This is a no-brainer, but being able to read books without needing to go to the library or bookstore is awesome. Though the Kindle still needs to work out some kinks–we miss used bookstores and loaning books to friends–eBook readers are obviously here to stay. TiVo The dawn of Tivo and digitally recordable video meant you’d never miss a show and could skip over commercial breaks.

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50 Technologies that Rocked the Decade

It was perhaps the greatest gamble of Steve Jobs’ career. Barely 18 months into his second tour of duty with the company he founded, Apple’s interim CEO gathered a cadre of reporters at Cupertino’s Flynt Auditorium on May 6, 1998, to showcase the newest member Mac family: a funny-looking, rebellious sibling with a flashy attitude and a remarkable sense of style. Dressed in blue plastic and built to harness the power of the Internet, the iMac was the first PC that actually felt personal. And it would forever change Apple, the industry, and virtually everyone who came into contact with it. iMac G3 Legend has it that Steve didn’t warm to the iMac name until after it rolled off the assembly line, but it’s hard to imagine it being called anything else. With no less than five meanings attached to its little prefix–internet, individual, instruct, inform, inspire–the original Bondi Blue iMac was the personification of Apple’s think different campaign, an ingenious, incomparable, inimitable all-in-one machine designed to combine "the excitement of the Internet with the simplicity of Macintosh." While not quite the screamer it was billed to be, the first iMac was no slouch: $1,299 bought you a 233MHz G3 processor, 512MB L2 cache, 32MB RAM, ATI Rage IIc graphics, 4GB hard drive, tray-loading CD-ROM drive, 2 USB ports, stereo speakers, a funky mouse, garish keyboard and, of course, a 15-inch CRT display all built around a semi-translucent blue shell. Consumers immediately responded by ditching the boring, beige alternative, and soon iMacs were brightening desktops everywhere. But Bondi Blue didn’t appeal to everyone, and in 1999 (following a minor graphics refresh to accommodate OS 8.5), Steve took the iMac to "a whole new level." Determined to let users "express themselves in a new way," the iMac picked up five fruit-inspired colors (Strawberry, Blueberry, Lime, Grape and Tangerine ) for its first major revision. To sweeten the deal, Apple added 33 extra megahertz and trimmed $100 off the price tag–and in April, a 333MHz processor sped things up even more–but it was the array of colors that consistently stole the show. (If you’re feeling nostalgic–or just looking for a unique aquarium–they can be had today for as cheap as a bag of fruit.) Steve didn’t let the iMac rest on its palette, however. In October, the iMac DV brought the machine’s first FireWire ports, wireless support, slot-loading DVD-ROM drive and 400MHz processor, and added a RAM-stuffed, high-capacity special edition in the same Graphite color as its big brother Power Mac. At Macworld New York in July 2000, four new models made their appearance in an array of new colors, running up to 500MHz and ranging from $799 to $1,499: iMac (Indigo), iMac DV (Indigo, Ruby), iMac DV+ (Indigo, Ruby, Sage) and iMac DV SE (Graphite and Snow)

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The Complete iMac History — Bondi to Aluminum

  Great photos are made, not taken. Creating the perfect image requires a skill set that includes a deep understanding of one’s gear, the light, and the ability to think about what story you want the photo to tell and how to communicate that story through a captured moment in time. Tremendous patience, physical flexibility (a photographer spends a lot of time pretzeled into odd positions to capture the perfect angle), and an ability to think lucidly before dawn (can’t miss that golden light) are also essential. Most photographers would now agree that proficiency with photo-editing software is also a critical skill. So we asked six photographers to tell us about their favorite image processing applications and add-ons as well as share their best tips for making and digitally refining images. Lucas Gilman travels the world in search of untouched places and wild experiences, capturing images ranging from kayaking in India to backcountry skiing in South America. His work is often seen in National Geographic , Sports Illustrated , ESPN Magazine ,  ESPN.com, Men’s Journal , National Geographic Adventure , Outside Magazine , Men’s Fitness , Maxim Germany, FHM Australia, USA TODAY and the New York Times . Lucas recently won the “2008 American Photo Emerging Photographer Award” sponsored by Apple Inc. Preferred Post Processing Applications: The majority of my post processing work is done in Adobe Lightroom 2. I use Adobe Photoshop CS4 for small detail work and Nikon Capture NX for certain images

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6 Pro Photographers Share Their Most Guarded Digital Secrets

  Great photos are made, not taken. Creating the perfect image requires a skill set that includes a deep understanding of one’s gear, the light, and the ability to think about what story you want the photo to tell and how to communicate that story through a captured moment in time. Tremendous patience, physical flexibility (a photographer spends a lot of time pretzeled into odd positions to capture the perfect angle), and an ability to think lucidly before dawn (can’t miss that golden light) are also essential. Most photographers would now agree that proficiency with photo-editing software is also a critical skill. So we asked six photographers to tell us about their favorite image processing applications and add-ons as well as share their best tips for making and digitally refining images. Lucas Gilman travels the world in search of untouched places and wild experiences, capturing images ranging from kayaking in India to backcountry skiing in South America. His work is often seen in National Geographic , Sports Illustrated , ESPN Magazine ,  ESPN.com, Men’s Journal , National Geographic Adventure , Outside Magazine , Men’s Fitness , Maxim Germany, FHM Australia, USA TODAY and the New York Times . Lucas recently won the “2008 American Photo Emerging Photographer Award” sponsored by Apple Inc

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6 Pro Photographers Share Their Most Guarded Digital Secrets

Talk about biting someone else’s style. Not only is Microsoft trying to add some cool factor to its brand using celebrity influence , a game which Apple has long had in the bag, now it’s also opened its first official brick-and-mortar retail store, and it even just began offering PC hardware for sale via its online store. Next thing you know, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer will be wearing black turtlenecks. A revamp of the web site is part of the Windows 7 launch campaign, and it includes a brand new store that stocks more than just software. You can now purchase a range of Windows 7-toting computers from HP, Acer, Dell, Lenovo and Sony, which are the real heavy-hitters in the PC arena. You can also pick up a single desktop, a Lenovo A600 all-in-one. Selection seems slim, but Microsoft is being a good copycat and not overwhelming consumers with an overabundance of choice. All of the computers available on Microsoft’s web site come in stock configurations only, with no customization options beyond the ability to choose a color on select models. Users looking for more in the way of upgrades should still continue onto the manufacturer’s web site to order their machine, but Microsoft isn’t playing to that crowd.

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Microsoft Becoming Apple With First Retail Store, Online PC Sales

In 1999 I was building websites with UltraDev and Drumbeat. I was playing with DHTML and a cool new thing called CSS. I was dropping the word “recordset” into conversations with other geek friends via the just-released MSN Messenger Service. I considered myself pretty technologically accomplished. But then one day a friend visited and used my computer to check his email. As he took his seat before my beige plastic 15 inch CRT he mumbled “Ugh! It’s so small.” I was crushed. My monitor was smaller than his monitor. How embarrassing! Since that day I have always strived to use the largest monitor possible, and usually two of ‘em side by side. And while dual monitor setups are not so common in most homes, at least we’ve come a long way since the primitive days of 15 inch CRTs. The first flat panels ordinary people could afford were tiny, low resolution, low color saturation, low-light things. The contrast (pun intended) to today’s cheap, bright and capable LCD screens is remarkable, but it has been a very short journey from one to the other. I always knew that Apple made amazing displays

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Apple’s HD Cinema Display: Or, How I Overcame Monitor Envy

This round-up of Cricket apps is dedicated to all of the Cricket lovers around the world. With the ICC Champions Trophy beginning today, I thought it’d be a great opportunity to cover and review the Cricket apps that are available on the App store. Despite the worldwide popularity of cricket, the market for cricket applications on the iPhone is nowhere near the saturation point of some of the other popular sports. While this is most likely due to cricket’s limited appeal to the American market, there is still a fair amount of competition abroad — and some interesting innovations being put forward by iPhone developers. As more and more people get their hands on these devices, cricket fans from around the world have a choice between nine applications, most of which can be downloaded for less than US$1 for both the iPhone and iPod touch. Cricket (99 cents) Now in version 1.2, when the application is loaded, the news screen displays a list of headlines from articles published on ESPN’s Cricinfo website. Clicking on a headline opens a new screen which shows a summary of the article and a link to open the full story on the Cricinfo’s website. The same news stories can be filtered on a per-country basis via the Countries screen, which arguably makes the default news screen redundant. The Live screen shows at-a-glace summaries of all current and some recent matches. Clicking through on an individual match opens the match details on the Cricinfo website — which is not easily viewable on the iPhone screen. Overall, the application doesn’t provide much more than what a visit to the Cricinfo website would provide and may make some people wonder if paying for the application is justified, especially seeing that there are free applications that offer similar functionality. Cricket Live (iCricket) (99 cents) A relatively new cricket application for the iPhone (released in February 2009), it’s primary feature is a simple, yet functional news aggregator and viewer which pulls articles from several major news sources.

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Nine iPhone Apps for Cricket Lovers