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Journalists Cover Microsoft, Using Macs

It’s not an easy time for Microsoft — with Steve Ballmer having to field questions about being “buffoons” and an “evil empire”  at the shareholder’s meeting (.doc) — so when they get together “the world’s most influential technology pundits and online writers” (nb: we weren’t invited) for Mobius to discuss super-secret mobile tech you’d think [...]

Guide To Black Friday Apple Bargains: Cheap MacBooks, iPods and Accessories Galore

Here’s a guide for finding the best bargains on Apple-related gear during the infamous Black Friday sales on November 27. We’ve compiled a comprehensive list of gear from leaked photos of sales flyers and descriptions of sales.
The bargains include a 2.26 GHz MacBook + $150 gift card at Best Buy for $999.99 ; a 32GB [...]

Review: Voices Is Today’s Best Thing Ever, Grab It Now While It’s Cheap

New on the App Store is Voices from the clever folk at Tap Tap Tap. You can guess what it does.

Open it up, pick a silly voice. Helium is pretty silly. A microphone appears and the app even clears your throat for you (try it, you’ll see what I mean). Now speak your brains, and [...]

Review: Sony Walkman S540 Series Video MP3 Player

Press releases, you will hardly be surprised to hear, are rarely very interesting. But one arrived in my inbox a couple of weeks ago that made me double-take.
“Sony’s S Series Walkman,” it chattered, “is a serious challenger to the iPod Nano.” Gosh, really? Perhaps the Cult had better have a look at one, then, despite [...]

iPod Put Through Washing Machine, Plays On

<a href=Nothing like a heartwarming story of triumph despite abuse: Wired.com scribe Charlie Sorrel chucked his 2G iPod Nano into the washing machine along with his fuggy gym clothes and socks. Oops!

Waterlogged and not responding to the touch of its frantic owner, instead of going for CPR Sorrel opted to follow reader advice and let the drenched device dry out.

A few days later? Well, it’s now responding to its owner, despite the fact he was all thumbs when it came to taking care of it.

My own negligence once led to waiting anxiously while a two-person rescue team pulled my second-gen device from under Milan’s metro tracks (where it fell as I was running to catch a train) — one reset and it kept on ticking for a few years, as if the fall had never happened.

Any success in rescuing your iPod from accidents?

About the author

nicole_martinelli

Nicole Martinelli was born in San Francisco and has lived in Milan and Florence, Italy. Cultish tendencies and love for DIY increased while living on the Old Continent, where tech came late and cost more in Big Mac index terms. She's written for Wired.com, The New York Times and Newsweek, and since 1999 on her site, Zoomata. If you're so inclined, friend her on Facebook or connect on Linked in.

Email the author | Read more posts by Nicole Martinelli.

13 comments

    Luckily, I haven’t washed my iPod or iPhone, but my USB thumb drive has survived three accidental washes.

    My Nano (3rd gen) went through the wash as well. It works but the display backlight does not. So, it sits in my MINI Cooper as the iPod. Perfect since the MINI display is used and not the iPod (Nano).

    same thing happened to my ipod 3G. Twice, and also through the dryer. Still,after 5 years, working perfectly.

    My 6 years old son got a brand new iPod for Christmas (2008), on the 26th it was gone. We looked everywhere in the house, in the car, at granmas house etc. A had had it engraved with his name and out phone number so we were really surprised it didn’t surface. In April it was recovered. It had been forgotten in the side pocket of a pair of favourite trousers, that had been in the washer two or three times a month. Still working of cours.

    Great…… a sniff of water and my Macbook Pro is dead!!!!!

    Mine accidentally got the same treatment. Unluckily, everything works but the battery :-(

    I can go one ‘better’: I washed my iPhone 3G, with colours no less, and it still works great nine months later.

    I searched and searched for my tiny, almost microscopic Apple Bluetooth Headset, only to discover it in the bottom of the washing machine — it must have been in my shirt pocket. Resigned to the loss, I set it aside and went on with my life.
    A few days later I picked it up and said, “eh, why not?” I plugged it in to charge and was astonished to discover that it’s still working just fine.

    My Son managed to send his ~2-3 week old shuffle through, and so far it is working fine. Put it in a hearing aide dryer for a few hours and charged it up! Rock Rock On!

    Did this to my Apple remote 3 years ago. Still works. =D
    That story about the iPhone is awesome…

    I dropped my video ipod into the ocean on holiday and after I’d dried it out in the sun for a couple of hours it turned back on again, that was a few years back now and its still going strong!

    [...] In yet more goodness from Cult of Mac, the little iPod that could. [...]

    Haha ive washed my 2nd gen ipod 7 TIMES IN A YR and still works like new!!!
    D

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