I’ve grown slightly less obsessed with podcasts over the past year. In 2006 I was listening to TWiT, Diggnation, and a whole bunch of others daily, during my commute. More recently - not so much.

This has changed in the past month however, as the Apple TV has made podcasts more accessible. I’ve reinstated my former diet of audio podcasts, and video podcasts are much more satisfying on a large screen. Many podcasts play instantly via the Apple TV, rather than waiting for a download.

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After achieving “nirvana” with my Harmony Remote, I must report some problems I’m having with the Apple TV Take 2. There are only two, one minor and one major.

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I picked up a Harmony Remote, the cheapest Harmony 550. It’s a universal remote, meant to replace the increasing number of remotes in our home theater setup. The Harmony remote also organizes your devices by function, so you can press one button for “watch a DVD” or “play a video game” - and the proper equipment turns on, set to the correct settings. The remote’s settings are managed on a computer, and you push settings to the remote using a USB cable.

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Apple Insider has a look at some recent Apple patent filings that are more interesting than the usual stuff - there are tons of images outlining an Apple DVR - basically Apple’s take on a TiVO.

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Apple finally announced their iPhone SDK and it looks pretty cool. For all the gory play by play details, check out Engadget (with pics). You can also download the SDK starting right now, right here.

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Apple is certainly falling into an impressive pattern of churning out an update every Tuesday since the start of 2008. Now we have a seemingly minor but welcome update to both the MacBook and MacBook Pro.

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First the $49 iPod Shuffle (almost bought one yesterday), now this. The cheapskate in me is loving a recent announcement from Apple that they’ll be having a weekly, 99 cent movie rental for a specific movie. Last week it was Breakfast At Tiffany’s (great movie, excepting the now-politically incorrect Mickey Rooney role), and this week it’s The Hours. The special rentals will be announced every Thursday, which is timed well for the weekend.

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Apple cut the price of the iPod Shuffle line significantly today, taking the 1GB model to $49 and the 2GB model to $69. That’s significant, and a good move in the wake of a possible recession where consumers snap their wallets shut. $49 is the price of a tank of gas.

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The answer for me at least: not yet.

It’s is great news that HD-DVD is finally the “dead” format, now that WalMart has put support behind Blu-Ray, and Toshiba is rumored to drop HD-DVD as well. And just today, a rumor that Microsoft will soon release a stand alone Blu-Ray player for the XBox.

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This tip came from early-early Apple adopter JC who sent me a link to this article about how to add a custom icon to your website that appears when an iPhone / iPod Touch user saves your website.

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