Apple's closing out the new application talk today at WWDC with a demo from Line 6 and Planet Waves, who have joined the Cupertino-based company in order to give your iPhone the ability to control your guitar and amplifier. Sadly, the wireless communication between the Line 6 Variax guitar and the iPhone on stage had some issues, though the folks assured us we could see more later on at Line 6's website. If this thing manages to function, it will also let you re-tune your six-string and change models on the fly. No word on price or availability just yet, but we'll let you know if either of those factoids appear.

Nearly a month after Line 6 treated bedroom guitarists everywhere with the brilliant BackTrack, along comes a few new tools for the more serious musicians. Or, at least the ones that think they're serious. The newly announced POD Studio family of USB recording interfaces feature the POD Farm plug-in and 44.1/48kHz, 16-/24-bit recording. The no-frills GX unit boasts a single 1/4-inch guitar input, while the UX1 adds a balanced XLR input with preamp and two 1/4-inch analog outputs; the top-end UX2 (pictured) offers two 1/4-inch inputs (one normal, one pad), two balanced XLR inputs with preamps and phantom power, S/PDIF digital output and a pair of assignable VU meters. Each box comes packed with Ableton recording software, though Line 6 doesn't bother to share the costs for these.

[Via Electronista]

Read - POD Studio family
Read - POD Farm plug-ins

While we're not crazy about modeled solid-state guitar tone, sometimes firing up that 800-watt tube amp just isn't feasible -- which is where Line6's new Pocket POD comes in. Essentially a miniature version of the company's popular POD amp modelers, the Pocket POD features 300 presets based on vintage and modern amps and cabs developed in conjunction with several popular guitarists, a host of effects including delay and compression, 1/8-inch input for jamming along to an iPod, headphone jack, and USB connectivity to Line6's Vyzex software to tweak and tune your presets any way you like. If this thing sounds half as convincing as other Line6 modelers, it'll be quite a steal at $129 -- but deep down you'll know it's not the same.

[Via Macworld]

We're pretty sure Apple faces about as much legal heat as every other big time corporation out there, but ever since Cisco invited Apple (or vice-versa?) to a few rounds of throwdown, "Apple" and "trademark" just seem to go hand in hand. Apparently, the POD moniker that has caught so much flack over the years is facing a slew of additional opponents, who apparently think the oh-so-coveted three letter word fits better in its own name. PodFitness, Inc., Secure-It, Inc., Varsity Group Inc., TastyBytes Software, Inc., VNU Media Measurement & Information, Inc., and Line 6, Inc. (makers of the highly-regarded "POD" lineup of guitar effects processors) are all crying foul on Apple's notoriously tight grip, but considering that all the filings are still marked as "pending," we can only assume the war wages on. Nevertheless, some of the filings stretch back to 2004, and although most things like this have a way of simply "vanishing" over time, we're fairly certain the grumpy plaintiffs are (at least somewhat) enjoying that "instituted for proceeding" bit. So while opposition continues to flail helplessly as it tries to disarm the almighty POD from Steve and Co., we're still left wondering how everyone and their next of kin can prefix any product at all with "i" without raising a fuss.

[Thanks, Nikropht]