Most likely we will see new iPods across the board today if history is any indicator. I think we may also lose a model or two today as well. If I had to guess, that lost model will be the iPod Classic. Then again, Apple can afford to keep around the iPod that paved the way. Part of the reason I can see the iPod Classic going the way of iPods past is that I expect to see Apple roll out a new way of handling content and a new way of syncing. There is a lot of speculation around changes iTunes right now. Many believe Apple is going to introduce a cloud based iTunes where your library, or perhaps part of your library, is stored in the cloud. If they do this it would be possible to stream content directly to wireless Apple devices such as the iPhone, iPod Touch and the iPad. There is also a great deal of speculation that the new Apple TV may be added to that list as well.

Whatever Apple shows us today, I suspect we will see something entirely new for them. I’d put my money on a new iPod Touch with two cameras, iTunes in the cloud and iOS 4 on iPad.

Follow along live at 1:00PM Eastern over at gdgt.

The app has a fairly clean Pizza Hut theme going on that is pretty easy to use in a touch interface. Right away the user is told that they will be saving 20% on their order just for using the free app. From there you get right into ordering your food. It’s all pretty straight forward, you pick your pizza, drag your toppings down to you pizza until satisfied and proceed with your order. All the normal website options for ordering your food and checking out seem to be present and similarly presented based on personal experience.

Try not to crash.

Once you place your order you are given the option to play a built in mini-game to help deliver the food. The game is a pretty basic “don’t hit stuff” kind of game. Nothing worth seeking out in the future for me, but young kids seem to enjoy it.

I have a few issues with this app and it’s implementation. First, if you have more than three addresses saved online you won’t see anything past the first three. The only way around it is to go to their regular website and delete addresses until the you get what you need to show up. Not an issue for everyone, but it was a bit irritating to have to use their website to make the app work.

You already told me that.

While I’m on the subject of making the app work, that brings me to another issue I found. If the Pizza Hut you wish to order from is not open, the app will not work at all. That may seem logical, but that also means your can’t order ahead for a party you may be having that day. Maybe the website is the same, but I don’t know for sure. Could be a minor or major problem depending what time of day your event is.

The last and most irritating issue for me was deals. Pizza Hut has some great deals on their website and it’s usually the first section I hit up. I was happy to see a Deals button on the front page of the app, but that’s where it ends. If you actually try to use the button, the only thing it does is remind you how great technology is and you are saving 20%. Maybe it’s a better deal, but give me the choice please.

All in all the app is fairly easy and convenient to use. This app will likely be staying on my phone for The pure convenience it offers on the go.

Available from iTunes.

Tower defense games are a genre that is well represented on the iPhone. If you have never played a tower defense game the concept is simple, stop your enemy getting from Point A to Point B. Defender Chronicles changes things up by using a side scrolling two-dimensional view rather than the more traditional top-down look and adding a hero to the mix. The hero adds an RPG flavor to the mix with customizable armor and stats.

The game is set in a traditional fantasy setting with units available to the player such as warriors, bowmen, halflings, and magicians. The Warriors excel at face to face melée combat and slowing down enemies. Bowman put out a constant stream of damage to wear down opponents. The big damage belongs to the Mages, albeit at a slow rate of fire. Halflings are the unit I understand how to use least. I have only gotten through half a dozen missions at this point, so I have only had them for one battle. All I can tell for sure is that they cause enemies to drop extra money.

Speaking of money, all units are purchased and upgraded with money earned from each enemy killed. Unit guilds can only be built on pre-placed flags across the battlefield and the idea works quite well, I have yet to feel hampered by this mechanic. Upgrades make units stronger and at certain levels, give you two fighters rather than one.

So far I am really enjoying Defender Chronicles.

Developed by Menara Games and available on iTunes

Keep an eye out for that first post soon.

The biggest weakness for me is far and away the graphics card.  Today’s applications and operating systems are starting to offload more and more processing to increasingly powerful graphics chips, not to mention games.  The best I can hope for on a MacBook Pro is an NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT with 512MB of RAM, certainly not up to date in the notebook realm.  Apple hardware typically has exceptional build quality, has a high resale rate, and tends to last in my experiences.  The problem is they know it and are willing to charge a premium to get it.  When Apple went to Intel processors, they were competitive in pricing.  As time goes on their prices stay roughly the same while other hardware plummets in price.

Pricing is a major factor for a lot of people these days.  I’m sure Apple will continue to make a profit for a while, but they have another problem that is starting to show itself.  That problem is Windows 7.  In the last several years OS X has been far superior for my needs and tastes, while Windows has remained stagnant.  Windows Vista was less than a win for Microsoft for mind share.  As it turns out, Windows Vista was exactly what Microsoft needed in my opinion.  They listened, they worked hard, and they made Windows 7.  The new Microsoft OS is almost as good as OS X for me and feels very comfortable coming from a Mac (not that I ever stopped using Windows on my desktop).  Basically what I am getting at is that Microsoft has managed to come close enough to OS X that I am now looking at switching back with my next laptop.  If I am willing to do so, I’m not the only one.

Personally I am interested in photography, video games, and various other things.  Lately most of my gaming is either related to World of Warcraft or on my iPhone.  More posts coming soon.

Between the extended maintinence and servers crashing, I have been able to get in a couple runs of The Forge of Souls and one run in Pit of Saron.  It’s hard to pass judgement quite so early, but as a bear tank I found Pit of Saron to be a little easier to tank.  The main problem for me is that in The Forge of Souls (at least on regular) mobs are so spread that I had problems keeping rage up between pulls.  Once I got a pull it wasn’t much better due to pulls of caster groups that are spread out from each other.  In Saron the mobs were nice and packed together with plenty of clusters around.

I have yet to use the random dungeon tool that replaced dailies, so I can’t really comment on that too much.  I’m a fan of the Disenchant roll that was added, expect prices on mats to plummet.  I’ll post back with more over the next week as I get settled in and Blizzard works out all of the bugs.