ipod
Latest
Laura Bush listens to Dolly on her iPod
I'm not sure if this is positive press for Apple, but what the heck. According to reporter Bill Sammon of The Washington Times, first lady Laura Bush listens to Dolly Parton on her iPod. She apparently listens to less country music than her husband. Mrs. Bush allegedly has Tina Turner on her iPod in addition to the more expected choices. No mention was made to what model or models of iPod the First Lady rocks or in which settings she enjoys listening to her playlists.[via iLounge]
Dock your iPod in your ashtray
This is great if you don't smoke and you drive a car (Yes on both counts here. w00t!). You no longer have to use the ashtray as a coin recepticle. You can now actually use the little coin roll recepticle in your car! Now, you can dock your iPod in your ashtray! Ah, humanity! Is there any place you won't try to dock your iPod? I guess not...
iPods will gain in battery life with new Wolfson audio chip
Wolfson Microelectronics, the company behind audio chips found in almost every iPod model, is unveiling a low power masterpiece, the WM8985. The new chip will give up to 70 percent more listening time according to Wolfson. This means if your current iPod can play music for 14 hours (a statistic for a typical 5G iPod), with the new Wolfson chip and a similar battery the same iPod would be able to play for 23.8 hours.This type of statistic is rather unrealistic because each iPod upgrade means larger screens and a higher screen brightness and therefore a device that consumes more batteries. A 70 percent increase in battery life for this single chip is, however, quite a leap (most gains in chip power consumption are in the 20 to 30 percent range). It will be interesting to see if the WM8985 chip stays at a price point favorable to Apple with this new release.[via Macworld UK]
Hearing Aid manufacturer targets iPod owners
No, it's not because they think you're going deaf. Hearing aid manufacturer Starkey Laboratories has gotten into the business of creating custom-molded iPod earbud headphones out of either hard plastic or a special, long lasting foam. The company's aim is to not only create highly customized, durable and noise-reducing headphones for the iPod (they make them for bluetooth phones as well), but to also reduce the stigma that often accompanies in-ear hearing aids. I think it's an interesting idea. Starkey is still considering the marketing strategy, so keep your eyes peeled if you're interested in the ultimate in custom earbuds.[Via Your Tech Weblog]
An iPod jacket for the white collar set
So you want to wear a jacket with integrated iPod controls to work, but you aren't exactly Tony Hawk. Enter the Koyono BlackCoat Work. It's something you could easily wear to the office, and features a hidden, five-button control pad that allows for full access to the iPod's functions. Koyono describes it as a "denim jacket/sport coat hybrid," and is one for four new iPod coats the company plans to release during the 2nd and 3rd quarters of 2006. The BlackCoat Work will cost $179US, and you can sign up to be notified of the official release date. If they could only find a way to hide my headphones so I could wear this during staff meetings, I'd be all over it.[Via Engadget]
iPod "school" opens in London
File this one under "I am absolutely going to do this in my own town and make a ton of dough." Selfridges in London is offering classes to iPod-toting Londoners to the tune of £65 (about $115US as of this writing) each, with topics like using iTunes, creating playlists and downloading podcasts.Classes can be attended at Selfridges' Oxford street location, or in your own home. If I had know someone would give me a hundred and fifty bucks to show them how to make a playlist, I would have set up shop years ago. So good luck to the enterprising geeks at Selfridges (and may London's iPod owners not realize that they can walk to the Regent Street Apple Store and get the same thing for free).[Via Australian IT]
Rig of the Day: Siblings
Now here's a person after my own heart. Flickr user bushwood's snapshot features a G5 Power Mac, an original Macintosh, an iPod and a print of the old "Picasso" illustration. I especially like that the original Mac is still running. It's nice to respect your elders."macs" posted by bushwood.If you'd like to see your own rig featured here, simply upload photos into our group Flickr pool. We'll select an image every day to highlight.
Rig of the Day: iPod and Goliath
"This iPod is linked to another iTunes Music Library massive Xserve cluster. Do you want to change the link to this iTunes Music Library massive Xserve cluster?" We realize that this isn't your typical Mac rig, but we just had to point it out. Flickr user XaOS posts this shot of his iPod getting together with its (much) bigger brother. That's one heck of a music collection you've got there."cluster and ipod" posted by XaOS.If you'd like to see your own rig featured here, simply upload photos into our group Flickr pool. We'll select an image every day to highlight.
Nice collection of iPod hacks on Wikipedia
Today, Make Blog points out a great collection of iPod hacks on Wikipedia. The hacks are divided into GUI hacks, software hacks, eBooks and games, OS, hardware and peripheral hacks. I actually made use of the fix for the firewire cable that came with my original iPod photo a little while ago.[Via Make:Blog]
Record 16-bit digital audio with your iPod
Here's a great podcasting tool. The MicroMemo by XtremeMac is a mic that plugs into your iPod's dock connector port and produces 22 KHz/16-bit, high quality recordings. The mic is on a flexible neck for easy positioning, and there's a built in speaker for instant playback (no need to put on the headphones). The MicroMemo is powered by the iPod (we're not sure how much of a strain that's going to put on the iPod's battery) and the mic can be detached. Plus it just looks cool.XtremeMac is currently taking pre-orders at $79.95US.
harman/kardon Bridge
The harman/kardon Bridge allows you to integrate your iPod with a variety of harman/kardon audio equipment. You can control playback and see what tracks are playing on compatible gear, and it charges your iPod to boot. The nano and video enabled iPods can be used with this but it does not enable the display of videos or photos on your television.
UK Government: Free iPods for all!
Well, not really. Government officials in the UK are getting serious about combating online fraud and identity issues. There is a proposal for an ID card system, which would store a person's online identity. The cost of the cards would be high, and Patrick Cooper, head of applications and data services at the UK Department of Trade and Industry, has proposed replacing the ID cards with iPod nanos, according to an article on ZD Net UK. From the article:"If you had...an iPod with a digital certificate [it] would also work...My boss would give everyone in the UK an iPod...that would also mean there would be no reason for anyone to steal one because everyone would have one." Sounds like a plan to me!
Macworld unites iPod fanatics and Mac fanatics
During the keynote Steve gave the usual, 'the iPod is doing great' song and dance, however, he did say that this was Macworld and proceeded to talk about Macs for the majority of the keynote. The San Francisco Chronicle has a story up about the folks how have used the iPod as a 'gateway' drug into the Mac world and how many are attending their first Macworld.Ah, the mythical iPod halo effect, it seems less and less mythical every day.
Scam or Not?: 8GB iPod nano upgrade
My compatriot Eliot and I tried to slog around the net this morning to figure out if this 8GB nano upgrade is a fraud. We are fairly sure that this is a complete fake (helped by the eBay strangeness and lack of proof photos). However, this did bring up a bit of a conundrum.We couldn't find pictures of the insides of any 4GB iPod nanos without daughter boards. I personally seem to recall seeing them somewhere. The daughter board versions were the first ones to get ripped open and there are quite a few pictures floating around of those. I have a plea for you, dear TUAW reader. If you have pics of the inside of a 4GB nano without a daughter board, could you email a link to them to our tip line or leave the url in the comments? You will help our quest to weed out fake iPod memory upgrades.
Hands on with the new iPod Radio Remote
So, yesterday was my birthday, and just like any other good Mac user, I had to drag my wife to the Apple Store before going to dinner. A pre-celebration celebration, if you will. In any case, they didn't have the new iMacs in yet, but they did have the new Radio Remote for the iPod, so I quickly bought one. I've posted a bunch of pics of the device and its packaging over on my Flickr account, so make sure you check out all the pics.So far, I've only done minimal tinkering with the device, but here's my mini-review of cool bits I've noticed:If you haven't run the latest iPod update, the Radio Remote will work as a remote, but not as a radio.Clicking on radio and tuning is a snap. Hitting play temporarily "turns off" the radio.The top headphone jack on my 5G iPod continued to work even when I had headphones plugged into the Radio Remote. So, it's not just a radio, it's not just a remote, it's also a way to share your tunes with your friend or loved one by plugging in two headsets (one to the iPod and one to the Radio Remote). Very cool.Station information shows up underneath the station number when listening. As I had it tuned to 92.3 K-Rock in NYC, the text FREE RADIO and BOOKER kept scrolling underneath the radio frequency.The remote is identical to the controls on an iPod shuffle, so I imagine it will have the same easy to control while wearing gloves quality.The included headphones have the smaller stereo plug that comes with the nanos.The headphones plugged into the Radio Remote act as the antenna, so you cannot listen through the top port on your iPod with no headphones attached to the Radio Remote. There's audio, but it is all static.I'll post more on this later after I really get a chance to put this sucker to the test. I wonder how the battery life is if you are just doing radio 24-7...
iDuo
Atech isn't only in the toilet paper/iPod dock combo biz, they are also doing other devices for the iPod. The iDuo is one such item. It is a combo iPod dock and card reader that supports CF Type I and II, MD, MMC, MS, PRO, SD, SM, xD, and MG.Now, before you go crazy, this won't transfer things from the card to the iPod or vice versa, it just functions like a card reader and a dock.Pricing is not available at this time.
Atech's toilet paper dispenser/iPod dock
I saw this at the Atech booth, but sadly I can't find any pricing info on their website. I want one right now!
New "Sparks" iPod ad
When I was a student at Berklee, I had the distinct pleasure of seeing former student Wynton Marsalis perform. If you're a fan, you know that the Marsalis family is huge in the jazz world. Yesterday, Apple released two new ads: The Intel ad and a new iPod ad featuring Wynton himself, called "Sparks." MacTV has posted it this afternoon. It's nice to see Apple targeting someone other than pop music fans. Now go and grab it before a shoe company forces Apple to take it down.[via Engadget's podcast]
Griffin TuneCenter: Now THAT'S a docking station
Shortly after I bought my 5G iPod, I got a Universal Dock and remote. The dock is...ok. It lets me play my videos, music and photos on a TV, all the while charging my iPod (as long as I spend yet another $20US for a cable, and a wall charger, bringing things to a grand total of $116US). Yet, it seems to lack that Apple flair we all love so much. I want my iPod to act as a media center when connected to my television. At first glance, it looks like the TuneCenter from Griffin Technology may be what I'm after.Viewing photo slide shows and watching videos work as you would expect. It's how the TuneCenter handles your music library that really has my interest. When connected to your TV, the TuneCenter displays track and playlist information. With the included remote, you can navigate your iPod's entire music library, adjust the EQ, set shuffle and repeat preferences, plus the usual play, skip, pause, forward and volume functions. Here's where it gets really cool: the TuneCenter also streams internet radio via your home network, either wirelessly or via ethernet. Again, on-screen navigation lets you select a station. The best part? It costs less than Apple's set up: $99.99US. Better features for less money? Yes, please.Griffin is taking pre-orders now. The TuneCenter will work with the following iPods: 3rd Generation iPod with touch wheel and buttons iPod mini 4th Generation iPod with Click Wheel IPod photo iPod U2 Special Edition 4th Generation iPod with Color Screen iPod nano 5th Generation iPod with Video
iPod meets Geiger Counter
Cue mournful music.In a post apocalyptic world, all iPods will be rendered useless. Except for this one. Imagine the excitement of being the only person on the planet able to listen to music, all the while being notified of exposure to harmful doses of radiation. Cool!Seriously, this is one nice mod. Flickr user JavaMoose took a vintage (and still operational) Geiger counter he had lying around (don't we all have these?), gutted it, modded the case and mounted his iPod inside. Next, he altered the original wand to accommodate iPod's wired remote. Very clever. You can check out his step-by-step Flickr set here. Well done.[Via Engadget]
