Mac notebook and other portable computing is covered
in The 'Book Review, and general Mac
news is in Mac News Review.
All prices are in US dollars unless otherwise noted.
iPhone News, Reviews, & Opinion
iPod News, Reviews, & Opinion
iPhone/iPod Add-ons
iPhone Add-ons
iPod Add-ons
iPod and iPhone Deals
iPod News, Reviews, & Opinion
Apple Adds 2 GB iPod shuffle, Drops 1 GB Price to
$49
PR: Apple on Tuesday
announced that its iPod shuffle, the world's most wearable music
player, is now even more affordably priced at $49 and that it is
introducing a new 2 GB model of the iPod shuffle for $69. The
popular iPod shuffle is just half a cubic inch in volume, weighs just
half an ounce, features an aluminum design with a built-in clip and
comes in five colors - silver, blue, green, purple and a (PRODUCT) RED
special edition.
"At just $49, the iPod shuffle is the most affordable iPod ever,"
said Greg Joswiak, Apple's vice president of Worldwide iPod Product
Marketing. "The new 2 GB model lets music lovers bring even more
songs everywhere they go in the impossibly small iPod shuffle."
The iPod is the world's most popular family of digital music players
with over 140 million sold. The lineup includes iPod shuffle, the
world's most wearable iPod; iPod classic holding up to 40,000 songs*;
the incredible iPod nano with video playback and the breakthrough iPod
touch with a revolutionary Multi-Touch user interface. iPod owners can
choose from a vast ecosystem of accessories with over 4,000 products
made specifically for the iPod including cases, fitness accessories,
speaker systems and iPod connectivity in over 75 percent of US
automobiles.
The new 1 GB iPod shuffle is available immediately for a
suggested retail price of $49 through the Apple Store, Apple's
retail stores, and Apple Authorized Resellers. The 2 GB iPod
shuffle will be available later this month for a suggested retail price
of $69 through the Apple Store, Apple's retail stores, and Apple
Authorized Resellers. iPod shuffle requires a Mac with a USB 2.0 port,
Mac OS X 10.4.8 or later and iTunes 7.4; or a Windows PC with a USB 2.0
port and Windows Vista or Windows XP Home or Professional (Service Pack
2) or later and iTunes 7.4 or later.
*Music capacity is based on four minutes per song and 128-Kbps AAC
encoding.
It's Weird to Live Without an iPod
The State
News' Lindsey Poisson says:
"After weeks of not having my iPod handy, I'm undergoing severe
withdrawal pains. I wrote this column expecting to find an answer, but
I'm not entirely sure I've found it. What helps is how other people
have responded to my iPod query. Each discussion has zeroed in on the
same subject - personalization.
"The little thing literally expired the first day of classes this
semester, without a chance for me to say goodbye. After about two years
of moderate use, it had a good, long life. However, now I'm alone in
this world.
"No David Bowie, The Killers, Nine Inch Nails or the latest podcast
from National Public Radio's 'Wait Wait - Don't Tell Me!' Just silence
as everyone else on campus walks around plugged into earbuds.
"Technically speaking, it's a problem that could easily be solved.
Given the time, money and inclination, I could probably pick up another
- probably one much better than my old-school iPod shuffle. Consumerism
is just neat like that.
"However, the issue goes deeper than the iPod itself. It's the need
for the iPod. I 'miss' an inanimate object - something I don't usually
do...."
Link:
It's Weird to Live Without an iPod
Drop in iPod Sales Expected
Seeking
Alpha reports:
"Once again Apple gets hammered in the press. This time by Sandy
Berger, FBR analyst, who figures that second quarter 2008 unit sales of
iPods and iPhones will be down 60% and those of MacBooks will be down
50% from last quarter's results. He arrives at these estimates by
gauging Apple's suppliers....
"But before investors lose too much heart, consider the
following:
"Q2 unit sales traditionally do go down after the booming holiday
season. It's awfully hard to match those Christmas iPod gifts in
January through March. iPod sales are seasonal. Look at 2007 unit sales
for the iPod. They went from 21 million in Q1 to 10 million in Q2 for
2007. A drop in iPods is expected; anything otherwise would be very
unusual....."
Link:
Apple: Rumors Keep on Coming, but Numbers Will Surprise - iPod Sales
Down
iPhone News, Reviews, & Opinion
Users' Love Affair with iPhone Stumps Mobile World
Panel
EE Times David
Benjamin reports:
"A blue-ribbon panel of human behavior and technology experts at the
Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain agreed that the best recent
advance in the mobile telecommunications user space came not from a
mobile telecom company but from Apple Inc. - the iPhone.
"Anup Murarka, director of technical marketing for Adobe, cited a
study showing that 77 percent of iPhone purchasers described themselves
as 'very satisfied' with their user experience.
"In an ominous note for mobile operators, the iPhone respondents
credited their happy experience not to AT&T, the channel through
which iPhone services were delivered in the US, but to Apple, the
device maker."
Link:
Users' Love Affair with iPhone Stumps Mobile World Panel
Google Confirms Huge Search Traffic from
iPhones
Macworld UK's
Jonny Evans reports:
"Google has confirmed it has seen 50 times more searches from the
iPhone than from any other mobile handset.
"'We thought it was a mistake and made our engineers check the logs
again,' Vic Gundotra, head of Google's mobile operations told the
Financial Times at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona."
Link:
Google Confirms Huge Search Traffic from iPhones
Land Rover LRX SUV Controlled by Integrated
iPhone
Auto Express' James Disdale reports:
"Think Land Rover, and no doubt a chunky off-roader will spring to
mind....
"Not this time! The LRX was the star of last month's Detroit Motor
Show. It's a rakish concept representing a bold new design direction
for the company as it gets ready to go head-to-head with the
forthcoming BMW X1....
"The dashboard is clutter-free, featuring only an LCD
screen boasting 3D graphics. It's linked to an Apple iPhone placed in a
dock below the gearlever. This innovative set-up does away with the
traditional key, and allows owners to personalise the car's
functions.
"Everything is controlled through the phone - the seats, climate
control, sat-nav and even the colour of the ambient lighting, with a
choice of deep red, soothing green and cool blue. The screen acts as
the ignition, too, generating a large red 'start' button when you want
to fire the engine."
Link:
Land Rover LRX SUV Controlled by Integrated iPhone
Bad Breath? Your Phone Can Tell You!
EE Times'
Junko Yoshida reports:
"NTT Docomo is promoting the notion that a cellphone can morph into
just about anything.
"The latest example is the Japanese company's 'wellnesss handset,'
shown at the Mobile World Congress here.
"While billed as a prototype, a working model of the electronic
paramedic is said to be able to check your heart rate, measure body fat
and accurately count your footsteps.
"But the killer app in the wellness handset is its 'halitosis
monitor.' Breathe into your phone, rather than your loved one's kisser,
and it tells you whether you need a quick blast of Binaca."
Link:
Bad Breath? Your Phone Can Tell You!
Monitor Home Energy Usage from Your iPhone
Electronic
House's Arlen Schweiger says:
"You might not see this on one of those hip Apple commercials for
the iPhone: using that nifty little device to check in on how much
electricity your home is using and how much it is costing.
"Current State software, a concept developed as part of The Greener
Grass, taps into your home as a real-time energy use monitoring system
and timer for powered devices."
Link:
Monitor Home Energy Usage from Your iPhone
The Next Generation of iPhone Hacks
Technology
Review's Kate Greene reports:
"Apple's plan to release a software kit that lets people create
legitimate add-ons for the iPhone could make the device appeal to an
even wider audience....
"In today's cell-phone market, the iPhone stands out as the shining
example of what a handheld device should have: a sleek design,
easy-to-use software, and an intuitive interface. But the day Apple
released it, geeks found the phone lacking, and they went to work to
make their own software for it. These hackers have been crafting clever
add-ons that range from instant access to a Blockbuster Online DVD
queue to a pocket guitar that takes advantage of the touch screen. In
addition, people have found ways to unlock the iPhone from AT&T, so
that it can work on other cellular-phone networks."
Link: The Next
Generation of iPhone Hacks
iPhone/iPod Add-ons
Clickwheel Builds on Its 2000AD 'Webcomics'
for iPhone and iPod
PR: Clickwheel, the distributor of online comic books or
'webcomics' for Apple iPhone and iPod and the exclusive distributor for
the Sci-Fi comic 2000AD, has announced it will be expanding its
offering in the lead-up to the main 2000AD Digital Download service
launch later this year.
Clickwheel and 2000AD owners, Rebellion, has agreed to include
archive material from 2007 in addition to the weekly 2000AD comic
downloads, which began in December 2007.
Will
Simons, Creative Director of Clickwheel said; 'The plans Clickwheel and
Rebellion have for the 2000AD download service are wide-ranging and
incredibly exciting. They began with the 2000AD Christmas special in
December and we're now implementing the first in a series of archive
content.'
Jason
Kingsley, CEO and Creative Director of Rebellion added 'As the download
service was designed for existing overseas 2000AD readers and latent
fans, the first archive will feature every issue from 2007 to give fans
access not just to copies they haven't read but also overall storylines
over a number of issues.' Will concludes; '2008 promises to be an
exciting year for Clickwheel and 2000AD. We have offered the latest
copies of 2000AD since December and with the 2007 archive in place,
characters and storylines within the comic can be fully explored and
enjoyed.'
The archive goes live Friday 15th February 2008.
Visit clickwheel.net for more details
Link: Clickwheel
iPhone Add-ons
USB Fever iPhone Unlock Card
PR: With this card, you can unlock your iPhone
Applications: Attach this card to your SIM Card to unlock your
iPhone
Package Contents: iPhone unlock Card x 1
Note: Firmware 1.12
Link: USB
Fever iPhone Unlock Card
USBFever iPhone Wide Angle
Lens
PR: Don't be limited by the original iPhone Lens, now you
have a way to widen your eyes (iPhone).
Features:
- Plug and Play
- 1 piece off attachment, just attach it when you need it.
- Special coating on lens
- compact size: 20x15x12mm
- Magnification : 0.68x
Package Contents: iPhone Wide Angle Lens x 1
US$11.99
Accepting preordering, to be shipped on/before 29 Feb 2008.
Link: USBFever
iPhone Wide Angle Lens
iJailBreak 0.5.1 Released: iPhones on 1.1.3
Can Jailbreak Themselves
PR: AriX and Ben have announced the immediate availability of
iJailBreak 0.5.1, the latest version of the open source Mac OS X
jailbreaking utility. iJailBreak 0.5.1 allows iPhone (and soon iPod
Touch) users the ability to jailbreak, and if so desired, unlock and
"hactivate," their device in mere minutes. Currently iJailBreak 0.5.1
is an Intel-architecture only application that supports Mac OS X Tiger
and Leopard.
This process also works for other firmware versions, however
iJailBreak 0.5.x was written with 1.1.3 in mind, thus it's suggested
that you only use iJailBreak 0.5.x for 1.1.3. Note that the unlock only
works for iPhones with Boot Loader 4.6 (all iPhones that came preloaded
with 1.1.2 or 1.1.3 have Boot Loader 4.6).
iJailBreak 0.5.x fixes many of the issues found with the "1.1.3 Soft
Upgrade"-based method, including the inability to play some DRMed
music. Those who have used the 1.1.3 Soft Upgrade include users of
iJailBreak 0.4.x and iJailBreakMobile 1.0.
An iPod Touch-compatible version will be shipped as an update as
soon as technically and efficiently possible and will include the free
and legal enabling of the iPhone applications.
The jailbreaking process is very straightforward: download
iJailBreak 0.5.1 from Google Code, plug in your device, open and run
iJailBreak, and when you're ready, click the Jailbreak button. The
entire process should take just a few minutes, and no music or settings
will be lost. Your device will automatically reboot into your new,
jailbroken 1.1.3 firmware.
Also, a feature for a future version the 0.5.x branch is in the
works that allows users of the "1.1.3 Soft Upgrade" (which, again,
includes users of iJailBreak 0.4.x and iJailBreakMobile 1.0) to "truly"
jailbreak their device. This is not currently in 0.5.1.
As with all previous versions of iJailBreak, 0.5.x is free/open
source software released under the GNU General Public License version
2.
Link: iJailBreak
iJailBreak's 0.5.x branch is an automated iPhone jailbreaker, taking
advantage of ZiPhone as its core. The project is run by 13 year olds
AriX and Ben.
Protecting the Screen from Being Seen,
Case-mate Covers the Handheld Market
PR: Makers of innovative accessories for the iPhone,
BlackBerry, Treo, iPod, and other handheld devices, Case-mate,
announces the launch of a groundbreaking new Privacy Screen.
The
Case-mate Privacy Screen Pro provides the ultimate protection from
prying eyes. The static cling screen allows a viewing angle starting at
45-degrees from the device's surface, ensuring that data is crystal
clear to the user but not to nosy neighbors. It is the highest level of
security available on the market today (other brands offer a 60-degree
viewing angle). The Case-mate Privacy Screen works both horizontally
and vertically, and the static cling design is easy to install and will
not leave a residue on the screen when removed. This state of the art
Privacy Screen provides the user a crystal clear view, without the
dimming haze created by similar products.
PDA, iPhone and Smartphone users everywhere can relax in the
security of keeping their business, their business. The Case-mate
Privacy Screen Pro is available for order.
Case-mate.com offers a wide selection of innovative cases, holsters,
and accessories for iPods, iPhones, MacBooks, BlackBerrys, cell phones,
MP3 players, and laptops. Cases are available in a variety of colors,
and most come with free personalization and free shipping. Case-mate
products have received stellar reviews from consumers and industry
professionals for their perfect combination of style and function.
Link: Case-mate
Double Trouble - Proporta Dual Skin Silicone
Cases
PR: Proporta are certainly the ones
who know how to give your device the protection it truly deserves, but
offering protection and style at the same time can sometimes be a
little trickier. Proporta hit the nail on the head with their Dual Skin
Silicone Cases - offering your iPod even more protection than it could
ever wish for, and making it funkier than ever before.
Two tough protective skins make up
the Proporta Dual Skin Silicone Case and protect your device from
scratching and impact damage, as well as complimenting it in a wide
variety of colours.
Both silicone layers have all the
necessary cut aways enabling access to all ports and controls so that
your iPod can still be used when it's inside the two layers. The upper
layer also offers cut outs along the side of your iPod for anti-slip
confidence, and a little bit of extra style.
Proporta's Dual Skin Silicone Cases are available for all the newer
members of the Apple iPod family, including the iPhone, iPod classic 80
GB, 160 GB, and 3G iPod nano.
Link: Proporta
iPod Add-ons
Griffin Evolve Wireless iPod Speakers
Review
Register Hardware's
Barry Schertel reports:
"Griffin makes some pretty cool bits and bobs for the iPod and
iPhone, but its crowning achievement to date has to be the new Evolve
iPod dock and speaker set.
"At first glance, the Evolve is nothing much more than an iPod dock
- a fairly trendy looking iPod dock, but an iPod dock nonetheless. Then
you pick up the speakers and notice they are completely wireless."
Link:
Griffin Evolve Wireless iPod Speakers Review
Company Creates Wood Sound Systems for
iPods
GateHouse News
Service's Bob Tremblay reports:
"Owners of iPods who want to hear their music without headphones
typically have to buy a sound system made out of plastic.
"Now they don't, thanks to Sprout Creation. The product creation
company based in Wayland, Mass., has released Vers (pronounced like the
line of poetry), a brand of sound systems made from handcrafted
wood.
"Its debut product, Vers 2X, sounds better, looks better and is more
environmentally friendly than the plastic products on the market, said
Dave Laituri, who founded Sprout Creation last year with Tim
Trzepacz."
Link: Company
Creates Wood Sound Systems for iPods
The Tinbot iPod Case
PR: The Tinbots are here
Tinbot is a new generation of iPod cases. Designed to add some
flavor while protecting your favorite gadget, the Tinbot features
original designs from trendsetters in contemporary art: renowned vinyl
toy designers Mad, Sket-One and Christopher Lee; DC Comic book master
Jock; urban artists Parra, Kurt Ketchum and 7Sleepr. Also, we are
offering a matte white Tinbot that you can customize to your heart's
content!
With a slim, sexy design, the
Tinbot cases are constructed of high quality, impact-resistant tin and
come equipped with headphone and charging ports. The interior is lined
with neoprene padding to cushion the iPod in case of scrapes, bangs,
drops, grinds, slashes or any other wear and tear that daily life
dishes out. We invite you to check them out
What: iPod hard case
Material: tin
Compatibility: iPod Videos, 30 GB, 60 GB, 80 GB and iPod classics 80
GB, 160 GB
Price: $29.95
Link: The
Tinbot
GizMac Accessories Ships New iPod nano
Case
PR: GizMac Accessories begin shipment of their Aluminate iPod
case for the 3rd generation iPod nano. Aluminate is a hybrid Nano case
made from aluminum and polycarbonate. The front of the Aluminate is
thin, colorful aluminum and the back of the case is made of tough,
clear polycarbonate. The combination of the aluminum and polycarbonate
provide superior iPod protection for the Nano.
Screen
and click wheel protection for the iPod nano are built into the
Aluminate case. The Aluminate screen protector is part of the aluminum
front cover and provides full screen protection. The click wheel
protector is also part of the Aluminate's metal front cover and it
protects while allowing the click wheel controls to function.
Attachments for the Aluminate iPod case include a quick change
lanyard and carabiner clip. The Aluminate lanyard is a thin and light,
yet strong and secure way to carry your Nano. The carabiner clip
provides an additional way to wear or carry the Aluminate Nano
case.
"The Aluminate is a good looking and protective iPod case to begin
with," explained Ken Vitto, Marketing Director for GizMac Accessories,
"Then we added extra functionality and value as GizMac always does with
products we sell." GizMac has made choosing the color of Aluminate Nano
case a little easier by including two different colors of cases in
every package. The additional iPod case can be used to match your
changes in style or can be given to someone else. GizMac will even
customize your order with two of the same color Aluminates when
purchasing from their web site directly.
The Aluminate iPod nano cases are available in metallic shades of
black, silver, blue, pink and green. Retail price for the Aluminate is
$29.99 and can be purchased through authorized GizMac resellers or from
the GizMac website.
Link: GizMac
