brushed metal
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How Apple introduced brushed metal
Remember when "brushed metal" dominated the look of Apple's software products, including OS X? Stephen Hackett at 512 Pixels does, and he's put together a look at its origins. Brushed metal didn't debut with Mac OS X 10.3, as many believe. Instead, Hackett notes, the UI motif first slipped onto our screens with QuickTime 4.0 in 1999: "The feature that's most remembered, of course, is its UI. Gone was the Platinum look that graced almost every single window in MacOS, replaced with a slick UI with embedded buttons, dials and more." Hackett will publish more posts exploring the evolution and eventual demise of brushed metal. We're looking forward to it.
Thrustmaster's Ferrari F1 Wheel Add-On takes you from zero to hero in $200
You may never get the chance to join Ferrari's Formula 1 team, but indulging your imagination is about to get a lot easier, now that Thrustmaster has unveiled its new Ferrari F1 Wheel Add-On -- a life-sized replica of the wheel you'd find within the 150° Italia. Announced yesterday, this rubber-textured wheel features a full slate of professional-grade rotary knobs, switches and action buttons -- including two rotary encoder switches, eight push-buttons and a set of "push and pull" sequential shifters that, true to form, are attached directly to the wheel face. Designed to seamlessly attach to your T500 RS, the accessory will be available in two models: a PC- and PS3-compatible mode, with 13 action buttons and three D-Pads, or an advanced PC-compatible mode, with 25 action buttons and one D-Pad. No mention, however, of that And if you look in the upper left corner, you'll even find your very own boost button. The Add-On is slated to start shipping in early October for $200, so buckle up and steer past the break for more details, in the full PR.
Cowon's all-metal J3 PMP gets official
We'd already gotten a early look at Cowon's new all-metal J3 PMP earlier this month courtesy of the red dot design awards, but the company has just now gotten fully official with it, and detailed its complete specs. As expected, this one packs a 3.3-inch AMOLED touchscreen, along with 4GB, 8GB or 16GB of storage, a microSD card slot for further expansion, a built-in DMB TV tuner and FM radio, Bluetooth support, a built-in speaker and, of course, that brushed metal case -- not to mention a few familiar UI elements. Unfortunately, there's still no indication of a price, nor is there any word of a release over here. Update: At least one website has listed prices of between 189,000 and 359,000 South Korean won, or roughly $166 to $316. [Thanks, David K]
iPhone modded with titanium back
Everyone's saying that the next version of the iPhone will have a case upgrade, but Martin Schrotz couldn't wait -- he encased his iPhone 3GS in titanium, and Engadget has a gallery of pictures of the ubercool mod. I thought he had actually put the titanium cover over the plastic back, but apparently he went whole hog and actually removed the back cover and replaced it with this one. The design isn't quite perfect (though it looks great for a one-man mod, don't get me wrong) -- the logo is a tad too big, and the metal looks a little homemade to be Apple's actual brushed metal -- but it is much cleaner than the current plastic design. I wouldn't be surprised at all if the iPhone's next revision does take away a lot from the iPad. Hopefully not just in the hardware, either -- a cool metal back would be great, but I'd like to see the firmware overhauled as well.
Apple's new iMac
Who could've seen this one coming? Apple surprised no one this morning with brand new iMacs. Built from aluminum and glass, the new all-in-one desktops feature a complete, slimmer redesign and will come in two sizes: 20-inch and 24-inch. There's the usual compliment of ports like USB 2.0, Firewire 400 / 800, a slot loading SuperDrive, iSight camera and so forth. The new look features a glossy display to match the majority of Apple's consumer lineup, and new keyboards are indeed coming along for the ride -- in an extended wired version as well as a mini wire free model, running the Bluetooth 2.0 spec. Under the hood Apple has up to a 2.8GHz Core 2 Extreme processor, ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro graphics, up to 1TB of storage, 802.11n and Bluetooth 2.0, with 8x SuperDrives and 1GB of RAM standard across the board. Prices start at $1,199 for the 20-inch, $1,499 for a processor and graphics bump, $1,799 for the 24-incher and $2,299 for Core 2 Extreme. The full rundown of Apple's stock models is after the break.Update: Corrected the 2.8GHz Core 2 Extreme spec, and added a fourth configuration to the rundown.%Gallery-5646%
LG &37 media player melds touchscreen with brushed metal
While everyone is still waiting for the true video iPod, LG appears to have kinda sorta beat 'em to the punch with its new "&37." Sure, we've seen touchscreens before on media players and even electronic dictionaries -- but none of them come in brushed aluminum, and really, who doesn't love brushed aluminum? Good looks aside, this 2.4-inch media player, which recently debuted at the Korea Electronics Show, packs 4GB of strage, a three-hour battery, a photo viewer and a "mobile XD engine," whatever that is. We imagine that you'll be able to find this 51.5 x 90 x 10.4mm (2.02 x 3.54 x 0.4-inches) ampersander in Korea sometime soon, but no, we don't know how much it'll set you back. Click on over to the next page & check out a few glamor shots of the &37.[Via I4U News]
Godot M9500 4GB digital audio player
While we never really heard anything about a lawsuit following the release of Godot's suspiciously familiar mini music player, it looks like the company is swiping a more generic trait this time by outfitting the M9500 in a coat of brushed metal. The palm-sized 4GB DAP sports a 1-inch hard drive beneath its flashy casing, and can playback MP3, Ogg Vorbis, WMA, and WMA-DRM files when not tuned into an FM radio station. The relatively small 124 x 64 pixel LCD displays ID3 tags, and this unit manages to include line-in recording to convert any incoming audio signal to MP3 without the use of a computer. The rechargeable battery supposedly keeps the jams flowing for 9 hours, and with 12 minutes of anti-shock, you joggers should be just fine while on the move. Although this unit could easily be regarded as just another ho hum offering -- albeit one with a glitzy faceplate -- it does offer a few nifty extras such as voice recording and a "bookmarking" feature that allows you to easily recall where you were if you happen to be rudely interrupted (or otherwise) while listening to an audiobook. If you've somehow avoided an impulse buy on one of these middle-of-the-road DAPs, and you just can't resist that brushed metal allure, the M9500 can be picked up now for £80 ($151) in the UK.[Via Shiny Shiny]
Daring Fireball: brushed metal saga continues
"Brushed Metal: Can I borrow a hundred dollars?Safari puts his hand on the door to close it.Safari: I have to go.Brushed Metal: Fifty?Safari: Get out of here."After this week's release of a completely non-Brushed Metal iLife 06 suite, Daring Fireball's John Gruber is at it again with another hilarious episode of a doomed Anthropomorphized Brushed Metal Interface (note: colorful language warning). In case you didn't catch the first installment, in which iTunes 5 was the first official sign of Brushed Metal's numbered days, you should probably check that one out first as it might make more sense. Either way, they're a couple of darn funny posts from a great writer. Kudos John.
