engraving
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Apple will engrave emoji on your AirPods case for free
Apple is expanding the free engraving options on AirPods cases to include emoji. The selection is fairly limited, ranging from a few faces (such as my personal favorite, the grimace) through to heart and star symbols. You can also have a ghost, robot, alien, skull, hand gesture (but no middle finger) or an animal emoji adorning your AirPods case.
Moto Maker 'signature' engraving to arrive after Moto X launch
If engraving a personalized Moto X with Moto Maker's "signature" feature was at the top of your to-do list, you'll have to put your plans on ice. Motorola's just told us that the custom inscribing will be available at some point in the future, though it's not sure when that might be. At any rate, fashionistas will still be able to give their hardware custom paint jobs right on time.
Wharton School of The University of Pennsylvania offers custom engraved iPads to students
If you're heading back to school, attend the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania and need to buy an iPad, you can pick up one with the school's logo engraved on the back. iPad engraving has been offered since October 2010 and has since begun to offer logo etching for corporations, and Wharton worked with Apple to produce a custom-branded 32 GB Wi-Fi iPad that's available for current students and staff. Dan Alig, the Wharton School's senior IT director, said that it's been working with Apple for the past two years to deploy branded iPads to the school's executive MBA program. "Because it's a fully funded program, we buy the units on the student's behalf," Alig said. "The goal of the pilot was to enable a very mobile student population with a more portable version of their course material." After seeing the pilot-program students with the custom iPads, other students, faculty and alumni began inquiring about purchasing them. Because the logo engraving is only available for bulk institutional orders, Alig said, Apple worked with Wharton and campus reseller Penn Computer Connection to make the custom iPads available for sale. In addition to the engraving, the Wharton iPads have customized lock screens and desktop backgrounds, the school's branding video in the video library, the support office in the Contacts app and a number of Safari bookmarks geared toward helping students. Current students and faculty can purchase the Wharton iPad through Penn Computer Connection, and the Wharton School plans to work with its alumni relations team to try to make it available for alumni.
Samsung brings us more to love, offers Galaxy Note engraving in South Korea
Sure, you can draw whatever the heck you want on the front of your Galaxy Note, but what about that blank blue or white canvas 'round back? With north of a million 5.3-inch pocketable slates in circulation around the world, you'll need to get a bit more creative to truly make it yours -- and Samsung is willing to help. If a trip to South Korea is on the books between now and March 31st, you can now deck out your Note with custom messaging on the back, with the company letting customers "engrave wished letters on the backside of their own device with laser beams." And we can all agree that laser beams boost the appeal of any device -- even the Note. So what would you tattoo on your Note's backside? We'll share a few staff picks just below, but let us know your plans in the comments. "Large is just a matter of perspective" "Yes, I can make phone calls" "It's not a STYLUS" "Size DOES matter" "More to Love" "Wide Load"
Apple now offering free iPad engraving
Been holding off on an iPad until you could put just the right two-line message on the back of it? Well, today's your day, as Apple is now finally offering free engraving for both the 3G and WiFi models just as it does with iPods -- and conveniently just in time for the holidays. That will change the shipping time from 24 hours to one to three business days, however, so make that message count.
Apple now offering iPad engraving
If you've ever wished you could put a personalized message on the back of an iPad like you can with an iPod, you're in luck: Apple has unveiled free engraving for the iPad just in time for the holiday season. Free, as in $0: for no additional cost, you can add a laser-engraved message onto a new iPad's aluminum backside. Engraving increases the shipping time by a small amount, but there's an even bigger potential pitfall. If Apple follows the same policy for iPads as it has for iPods, you may not be able to return an engraved iPad. Apple's sales and refund policy specifically states, "Personalized iPods (e.g., engraved or customized in any way) may not be returned for refund or exchange under any circumstances unless such product is Dead on Arrival." The policy hasn't yet been updated for the iPad, but it won't surprise us at all if the same policy holds true for Apple's far more expensive tablet. Having a personalized engraving on your iPad could also reduce its value if you want to sell it later; having something like "Merry Christmas honeybuns" printed on the back of a secondhand iPad doesn't go over well with most potential buyers. In other words: iPad engraving is a great idea, but the buyer should definitely beware. [via Mac Rumors]
Gresso's Las Vegas Jackpot phone costs a million dollars, seriously
When you make it your business to deliver outlandish new looks for mobile telephony, it can sometimes be a challenge to just outdo your last effort. So Gresso's decided the only way forward is to collect all the fine materials it had lying around -- black diamonds, pure gold, diamond-cut sapphire crystals, and 200-year old African Blackwood -- sprinkle them atop an otherwise nondescript featurephone, and slap on the spectacular price tag of $1,000,000. Only three Jackpots are being made, while there'll be a Las Vegas handset without the black diamonds and sapphires for the more mundanely rich among us, priced at $20,000. Oh Gresso, just one tip: next time, try to align your earpiece to your fancy designs, we hear wealthy folks appreciate some attention to detail.
University of Oregon shows off engraved MacBook Pros
I've always been jealous of the folks who get free laptops from their work or school (back when I was in school, I used a paper notebook and a pen and liked it!), but I'm especially jealous of the folks from the University of Oregon's Center for Student Athletes, who not only get some sweet MacBook Pros to use courtesy of Apple and Nike, but have each one laser engraved with the school's symbolic O. The engraving isn't just aesthetic; it's useful, too. In addition to the school branding, each laptop has a specific number engraved on the bottom of it, which helps prevent theft and helps the school track down wayward laptops. Cult of Mac has a great little interview with the engraver, with some fun insider info about how this is all done (he's even engraved fingernails, which sounds a little gross). We've seen some cool engraving projects before, but I like this one; functional and good-looking.
Sony Snowflake DSC-TX1 comes with engraved holiday spirit
For a limited time only -- and you should be able to guess how long that is -- Japanese SonyStyle customers can order up the TX1 in the especially wintry attire you see above. Already available in a choice of five colors, the cam will also let you choose between black, silver and pink for the engraved models, and we also hear these snowflakes are part of a wider range of engraved designs. Options titled Safari, Race, and Heart are also available, and you can even add your own message to the front, or just tag it with your name if you're feeling narcissistic. Either way, you can see the other color options after the break, or try out all the different looks using the interactive skinning tool at the source link.
Zune Originals engraving now available for 80GB models
Take note, Zune dudes and dudettes: the Zune Originals engraving -- which has heretofore been relegated to the 4GB and 8GB flash versions of Microsoft's new player -- is now available on the big daddy, the 80GB. That's right -- now text, wild graphics, and combinations of the two can be emblazoned upon your media player, serving as a testament to your original and inimitable personality till the end of time. Did we mention it's free? Motor over there and check it out, right this second.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Inappropriate iPod engraving text
TUAW reader Mark Wooten tipped us off to the fact that there's at least one name Apple won't engrave on the back of an iPod: Jesus Christ. As of this writing, you'll receive the error message "Inappropriate message text" when trying to use 'ol J.C.'s name to engrave your shiny new iPod. When "Jesus" and "Christ" are used separately, however, it appears the Apple store doesn't have a problem.Guess this brings a whole new meaning to "thou shalt not worship..."
