Today's Top Stories:

  Apple Revamps Their Entire Line of Best-Selling iPods
Just when the competition thought they might still be in the game, Apple quashes all hope with the completely revamped iPod line - and the results are stunning! The top-of-the-line, fifth-generation iPod now features a 60-percent brighter, more vibrant color display and seamless integration with the new version of iTunes. It can also play more advanced video games, which are available from the iTunes store. There are two models: 30GB, and an 80GB model, which can hold up to 20,000 songs or 100 hours of video. The all-new iPod nano has a sturdy aluminum body, up to 24 hours of battery life, and more than twice the music capacity for the same price as the previous generation. There are three versions: the 2GB model in silver, the 4GB model in silver, pink, green, and blue, and the sleek black 8GB model. Apple also announced the second-generation iPod Shuffle, which should be available in October. Its about half the size of the original, weighs just half an ounce and features an all-new aluminum design with a built-in clip that makes it the most wearable iPod ever. With one gigabyte of flash memory, the new iPod Shuffle can hold up to 240 songs. Apple also released iTunes 7, which is a free download for both Mac and PC owners. The new version includes hot new features that will enable users to quickly find titles in their library or casually browse through music theyve already purchased. The iTunes Store also got a new design and is now offering over 75 movies from Walt Disney Pictures, Pixar, Touchstone Pictures, and Miramax Films. Movies will become available on the iTunes Store the same day they are released on DVD.

  Native Instruments gets a KOMPLETE Makeover
It seems like only yesterday that Native Instruments introduced its first products, but 2006 is actually the companys 10th anniversary. So its only appropriate that they should release their latest and greatest software bundle this year, KOMPLETE 4! This new version incorporates Universal Binary versions of ABSYNTH 4, BATTERY 3, and FM8, all of which add significant creative capabilities and offer increased integration with NI's host system KORE and the KoreSound format. The new KOMPLETE package also includes the critically acclaimed AKOUSTIK PIANO, which offers musicians and producers access to a comprehensive range of world-class, performance-ready piano sounds. Native Instruments has also refocused the content of KOMPLETE 4, which now offers 12 instruments and effects. The companys INTAKT and KOMPAKT sample players are no longer part of KOMPLETE and have been discontinued as individual products. Comparable functionality is provided by the more powerful KONTAKT 2 and BATTERY 3 samplers. Owners of the individual versions of INTAKT and KOMPAKT can take advantage of a special crossgrade offer for KONTAKT 2. All owners of KOMPLETE CARE 2006 will receive a free update to KOMPLETE 4. The KOMPLETE CARE update program will not be extended beyond its current 2006 version due to a change in Native Instruments' product-release policy. Relevant product releases will be consolidated and combined with a corresponding annual revision of the KOMPLETE bundle, which will be made available to registered users at an attractive update price.

  Guitar Of The Day
Next to the Les Paul model, the ES-335 Dot Neck is unquestionably Gibson's most recognizable design. First introduced in 1958 the same year the Les Paul got its sunburst maple top this guitar has been in production ever since. In 1962, the dots were replaced by pearloid blocks, but today Gibson has gone back to the basics. The ES-335 Dot were looking at has an interesting finish that Gibson is calling "Light Burst," along with a figured maple top, back, and sides and single-ply cream binding on both the body and the fingerboard. The most interesting thing about the ES-335 is that its a hollowbody design, but with a solid block of maple that runs down the center of the body. This helps eliminate annoying feedback at high volumes, but allows for a sweet sustain. The solid mahogany neck has a 22-fret rosewood fingerboard and the 1960 slim-taper profile, considered by many to be the fastest neck Gibson has ever produced (it was used on the 1960 Les Paul, as well as the various SG models starting in 1961). The guitar comes equipped with a pair of 57 Classic humbuckers (typically called PAFs, for patent applied for) that are capable of going from super clean to smooth, buttery distortion, depending upon the amp you run it through. Naturally, a guitar this classy comes with a deluxe, plush-lined Custom Shop hardshell case.