Yeah, there's a lot of good, civically-minded things you could do with your cash... but wouldn't it be more fun to blow it on a 1GB iPod? If you're dying to prove how little £20,000 (or around $40,000) means to you, here's your chance. A jeweler named Thomas Heyerdahl has created an 18 karat, diamond studded, white and pink gold iPod shuffle, meant to be auctioned at a charity in London. We've seen an almost identical version which appeared to be selling just for the heck of it -- at least this one seems to be going to good cause.

[Via Mobile Magazine]

Break out the champagne, that Apple spec bump you've been waiting for is finally here: the 2GB iPod shuffle is shipping as of today. It'll set you back a cool $69, but if you've decided to hold off on this round of lackluster MacBook updates, we're guessing you've got the cash. Go ahead, you've earned it.

It's turning into quite the day for shuffle aficionados. Apple just slash the price on its 1GB iPod shuffle this AM to a very palatable $49, and now the company is pushing a brand new 2GB version out the door for $69. The color selections will be the same as little brother, including a (PRODUCT) RED version. It'll be available later this month.

Well, what do you know. What was $79 just a few minutes ago is now just $49. Making room for something new are we Apple? Still no change to iPod touch and iPhone pricing but we'll keep an eye out.

Update: Apple store offline. Picture of all the discounted shuffles after the break.

Update 2: Store back online with new 2GB shuffle for just $69 -- available later this month.

[Thanks, Mog]

With little fanfare a new iPod package has made its way onto Target shelves in the name of cancer. The pink shuffle -- which may or may not be different than the hot pink model from the last-gen shuffles -- comes packaged with a $15 iTunes Gift Card, courtesy of Target, who is donating a portion of the proceeds to The Breast Cancer Research Foundation, totalling $25,000. Happily, the player maintains its $79 price tag, so barring an aversion to pink or cancer cures, you've really got no reason not to seek one of these out. They're only in retail stores, and there's no telling when supplies will run out.

[Thanks, Kiwi616]

Apple came out swinging today, with three entirely new iPod models, a color refresh of the shuffle, the launch of the iTunes WiFi Music Store, iPhone ringtones and a price cut, and a partnership with Starbucks -- if you blinked and missed something, here's a brief recap of what went down at Moscone West:

Live Coverage / Hands-on

• Steve Jobs live -- Apple's "The beat goes on" special event
• iPod touch first hands-on
• iPod nano 3G first hands-on
• iPod classic first hands-on
• iTunes WiFi Music Store first hands-on

iPod / iTunes

• Meet the new iPod family
• Apple announces (PRODUCT) RED iPod shuffle, new colors
• Apple announces new 3rd gen iPod nano
• Apple's new iPod classic
• Apple's iPod touch gets official
• Apple announces iTunes WiFi Music Store
• Apple and Starbucks join up for iTunes WiFi purchase

iPhone

• Apple adds iPhone ringtones to iTunes
• iPhone to get iTunes WiFi Music Store, too
• Apple cuts 8GB iPhone price to $399
• Apple killing 4GB iPhone, $299 while supplies last
• Where the hell is the 3G iPhone for Europe? We might know.

And to round out the day's hardware hands-ons we wrapped our mitts around the new iPod classic. It's thin, it's solid, but it's still hard drive based, which for our flash-loving selves will always be kind of a bummer. But if you're the type that carries around 80 (or 160 friggin gigs) of media and you like to use iPods, this is the new king of the hill. (Photographed is the 80GB model, not the thicker 160GB iPod.) Unfortunately, tasks like Cover Flow ran about as (un)smoothly as on the nano, so if you're expecting a fully iPhone-like experience, don't get your hopes up.

P.S. -The new shuffles were difficult to find, but we also threw a couple shots of those in the gallery for good measure.

Apple's been a little busy it seems, since the company just announced three all-new iPods, plus a few new colors and price points for existing products. From smallest to largest we have the PRODUCT (RED) iPod shuffle, which is accompanied by some other new colors, the iPod nano on the left up there, the iPod classic in the middle, and the iPod touch on the right.

Here it is, just like we expected: the 1GB (PRODUCT) RED shuffle. Same $79, available today. Buy it and make little Oprabono cry. Put on your Easter Bunny suit and check all the pastel action in the gallery below. Red, Ah... Lavender, Ew.

Check your pulse Apple fanatics, "the beat goes on" September 5th... now just two days away. Unusual for Apple rumors, this event has pretty much all the analysts and so-called insiders in sync with their predictions. Mass disillusion or divine soothsaying, we don't know. Certainly everyone's been expecting this to be a big quarter for product transitions. While we wait, we figured you might as well get up to speed on all the predictions for Wednesday's big show:

• iPod Touch with flash-memory, WiFi and OS X-based Cover Flow user interface
• iPod nano "phatty"
• Wireless iTunes store sales for iPhone and wireless iPod(s)
• (PRODUCT) Red iPod shuffle
  
• iTunes ringtone service
• Beatles on iTunes -- yes, again
  

While not necessarily rumored for Wednesday, there's always a chance that we'll hear a bit more about Apple's automotive collaborations with Volkswagen and Jaguar. Just sayin's all.

As if you need another source "confirming" the launch of new iPods at Apple's September 5th event, along comes DigiTimes riding their wave of Taiwanese component manufacturing insiders. According to the folks who brought us the Powerbook G5, Apple is due to drop a new Inventec Appliances manufactured, flash-based widescreen "iPod video" with touch-interface (widely rumored to carry the iPod Touch brand) sporting WiFi and an iPhone-like UI when it ships "at the end of this month or early October." Also in the cards is a Foxconn manufactured iPod nano with more storage and iPhone-like UI at the same prices as existing models and higher capacity iPod shuffles from Asustek. So yeah, it falls in line with all the other rumors but that doesn't mean we're buying it.

AppleInsider totally called it last time with the Oprah-launched (PRODUCT) RED iPod nano, so we're inclined to believe that they may have the inside line on Bono's latest attempt to cozy up with the Jobsian Empire, in the form of a signature-red shuffle refresh purportedly being announced at the upcoming "Beat Goes On" event. For those of you tracking these sort of things, this (PRODUCT) RED shuffle claim follows the nano Phatty, iPod Touch, Beatles on iTunes, and portable Coverflow rumors on the list of possible announcements to be made on September 5th at the Moscone Center -- among many others that we probably haven't picked up on. Okay, back to your regular programming, but don't get too comfy, because the next 'inside scoop' could be just minutes away...

[Image courtesy of AppleInsider, thanks jungzandvliet]

Creative's done quite the about-face from the early days of calling the iPod Shuffle "worse than the worst Chinese player" -- the company's latest DAP speaker dock, the TravelSound i50, is designed to work exclusively with Apple's smallest player, and the clean lines complement the Shuffle's minimalist style in a pleasingly different way. Not much else to see here -- you plug in the Shuffle and it plays your tunes -- but you've got to wonder why Creative isn't lavishing the Zen line with such stylish accessories.

[Via epiZENter]

For the small price of 248,000 Norwegian Kroner (around $40,000) you can pick up a concentrated mix of gold, diamonds, and... iPod Shuffle. There's not a lot more to this blinged out creation: why anyone would want to place forty gees worth of precious carbon on a $99 gadget, we'll never know.

[Thanks, Eirik S.]

Some folks just don't know when to call it quits, and yes, we're looking directly at the Chinese knockoff factories responsible for all of these shameful attempts at ripping the iPod. Of course, this isn't the first time the Shuffle (first-gen or second) has been duped, but this iteration certainly raises the opprobrious bar. Pulling the oh-so-prestigious black color scheme over to the Shuffle side of things, this clone was somehow designed in California but "Assombled" in China, but what else would you expect for a mere $14? More comedy, er, pictures, after the jump.