Nicole Martinelli - page 50

Protect your iPhone with a nod to past tech with this leather iPhone, iPod Touch case designed to look like a Sony Walkman.

Available at Etsy for $25.

Twice in one week, iPod-obsessed designer Karl Lagerfeld hearted the iPod. First with iPod-ready, fur covered motorcycle helmets for his namesake label, then with this peek-a-boo briefcase for Chanel.

Probably the coolest thing about the pointless perspex carry-all is the iPod with its Chanel logo on the video screen — apparently Lagerfeld considered it more important than a cell phone.

Via Coolhunter

The folks over at iFixit got their hands on the new iPod Shuffle and instead of talking to it, they took it apart.

Turns  out the Shuffle is easy to open and contains a single IC, a battery and some user interface components.

“Amazingly, at least on our scale, both halves weighed five grams. That means the entire functional half of the iPod weighs only about 10% more than a single sheet of letter size paper.”
They also discovered that normal headphones work just fine with the new MP3 player, but, unsurprisingly,  without the proprietary ones there’s no volume adjustment or changing the song order…

Via Make

A couple of Target employees were caught after recently after stealing a number of iPods and some Zunes — 25 Apple devices compared to just four Zunes.

Is the iPod six times more appealing for a five finger discount? Device did a candid camera video with some cubicle inhabitants, leaving an iPod and a Zune side by side in settings like an office kitchen and on top of the water cooler.

You’d think the fact that two MP3 players “left” out together would make them suspicious, but not so.

A  program providing MacBooks for students in Maine plans to increase its scope by leasing 100,000 computers from Apple at a cost of about $25 million per year.

Maine started its first-in-the-nation program by distributing more than 30,000 computers to each seventh- and eighth-grader in all of the state’s state public schools in 2002 and 2003.

Now, all 120 of Maine’s high schools, along with 241 middle schools, will have new laptops under the same program. The cost runs about $242 per computer per year.

Maine governor John Baldacci believes the laptop computer program can go beyond the classroom,  becoming ” a powerful tool for the entire family.”

“Every night when students in seventh through 12th grade bring those computers home, they’ll connect the whole family to new opportunities and new resources,” Baldacci said. The computers would come with software to connect to the state’s CareerCenters, he added.

In 2007,  a study released by the Maine Education Policy Research Institute (.pdf)  indicated that student writing scores improved after laptops were introduced.

Image used with a CC license, thanks to torres21.
The AP via Bangor Daily News

The app designed to provide alerts on kidnapped kids in the US is now available, gratis, on iTunes.

As we reported last month, Jonathan Zdziarski, creator of the first iPhone forensics toolkit,  developed the AMBER alert. These alerts are issued when missing child cases are granted Amber status –œ  kidnappings of children under age 17 who police believe to be in danger of  bodily harm or death.
The iPhone Amber app provides a real-time feed of recent alerts including victim photos, suspect photos and descriptions, vehicle photos and descriptions and a reporting mechanism allowing users to report sightings.

The Amber Alert program was created in 1996 after the kidnapping and killing of nine-year-old Amber Hagerman.

The application was approved just two days after Zdziarski emailed Steve Jobs pleading for him to help expedite the app’s approval after waiting over a month, though Apple has not said if his letter had any effect on the approval.

Via ars technica

The full-time techie and self-described “part-time jackass” at drunken tech took a look inside a new single quad-core Mac Pro to find two mystery ports named “Big Frank” and “Little Frank.”

DT writes: “I haven’t seen an Easter egg, hardware or software, on an Apple product in a LONG time. I have no idea what the “Big Frank” non-socket or “Little Frank” actual-socket is. My only speculation is that the single quad-core board is the “Little Frank” and that the dual quad-core board is “Big Frank.”  I’ll speculate some more and say that maybe the connector is for the equipment testing hardware. ”

Any other guesses?

Via Drunken Tech

At China’s biggest online shopping site,  Taobao, $200USD iTunes gift cards are on sale for a fraction of their value, some as low as $2.6 USD.

Outdustry broke the story,  interviewing the owner of the site where hundreds of iTunes gift cards are on offer in varying amounts, from $25-200.

“The seller just sells the gift voucher code which they send you directly through Taobao’s IM software. You then redeem the card in your iTunes account.

Once successfully redeemed you then click ‘confirm’ and Alipay transfers your 18 RMB to the seller and you are free to start downloading.

The owner of the Taobao shop told Outdustry the gift card codes are created using key-generators. He also said that he paid money to use the hackers’ service.”

The hacked cards have been on sale for  about six months, the price has been driven down due to competition but a growing market have kept the false iTune cards lucrative.

Prices do seem to vary widely, when we checked there were $200 cards were going for about $15USD.

Via slashdot

A 17-year-old boy stole a number of personal items from Dallas homes, including a clergy collar and an iPod.

Justin Shane Perkins was charged with three counts of breaking and entering, misdemeanor larceny and three counts of larceny after breaking and entering.

Police allege that Perkins stole more than $2,000 worth of goods including  two DVD players, a diamond ring,  a Nintendo Wii with accessories, knives and a Sony PlayStation.
Image used with a CC license, thanks to bbaunach

Via Gaston Gazette

iTriage is an app for the iPhone and iPod touch that helps US users find local healthcare information on the road.

Developed by two emergency room doctors, it offers a national directory of emergency departments, urgent care facilities, retail clinics and pharmacies. Drilling down, the info also includes descriptions of capabilities and areas of specialization, web site links, opening hours and contact information. Quality reports on hospitals and physicians can be downloaded, too.

The docs saw a lot of patients making uninformed snap decisions, so they formed partnerships with leading health care information, service and technology companies to offer additional services,  including companies that can provide iTriage users with everything from quality and safety ratings and patient recommendations to 24-7 phone consultations with board certified physicians and assistance in negotiating medical bills.

Reviewers — including an ER doc and closet programmer — suggest  filtering to wade through all the info but otherwise like the app.

Available for $.99 on iTunes.

Apple plans to launch a netbook computer with a touch screen monitor as early as the second half of this year, Dow Jones reported.

Two Apple unnamed sources told the newswire that the mini laptop computers will likely have monitor screens  between 9.7-inches and 10-inches, other specifications and functions are still under evaluation.

Dow Jones was pessimistic about new netbook:
“Apple’s entry may come in what is expected to be a very tough year for computer sales. Desktop-computer shipments in particular are expected to fall by nearly one-third globally in 2009 as consumers increasingly shift to laptop computers, according to projections released by research firm Gartner Inc. earlier in March.”

A Mac netbook has long been rumored since the success of smaller lighter laptops, typically with a 10″ screen, from companies such as Asus, Acer, Dell, HP and MSI Wind.

If you were, like one of our readers, too busy watching “Chuck” last night or you live outside the U.S., you can still vote for Woz on Dancing with the Stars. Polls are open until noon EST.
Check out his moves to the aptly-chosen “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet”  then go to the ABC website,  register and you’ll be able to cast all 13 of your votes (yes, the hack Woz  predicted works) as I did this morning from Milan.

Fashion supremo Karl Lagerfeld loves iPods. He used to have 100, and even though he is now down to 40, they are carried around in a custom Louis Vuitton trunk and stocked by a dedicated iPod assistant.

So when the fashion guru turned his be-ringed hand to designing motorcycle helmets for his namesake label, he fitted them out with an iPod connection (bluetooth? Even fashion bible WWD didn’t get more specific than saying the helmets were “fitted for an iPod.)” And, then, well  to give it a little punch, draped them in mink and chincilla.

If the model on ready to wear Paris catwalk show is anything to go by, the helmet feels as bad as it looks. Kind of a shame, since they’re made by French bike-couture helmetiers Ruby.

Via Canadian Press

The iTunes Celeb Playlist feature is now a free podcast. Kicking off the 15-minute-podcast of tracks loved by the rich and famous is Tom Jones, who recently admitted that his knowing hands are all a fumble when it comes to his iPod, which is stocked by an assistant.

The podcast is worth it just to hear that Welsh accent as a very personable Jones admits first hearing Aretha Franklin on the car radio thinking it was jazz singer Nancy Wilson , professes his love for Amy Winehouse’s “Back to Black,”  and thinking Elvis was talking about “salomi” instead of “so lonely.”

Steve Wozniak is hoping to get the geek vote for his fancy footwork on Dancing with the Stars.

He will be tripping the light (?) fantastic tonight with partner Karina Smirnoff on the ABC show (8/7c), where he’s up against “Jackass” Steve-O, former Go-Go Belinda Carlisle and actress Denise Richards, among others.

Here are the numbers to vote:

Steve Wozniak & Karina Smirnoff

phone number:  800-86834-10 or  800-VOTE4-10
text in code:   3410

To vote online, check out the official site (poll page goes up when the show goes live).

You can also follow the Votes for Woz movement via the dedicated  twitter stream or Facebook group.
Dancers are judged by professionals but the folks at home decide whether the couple moves forward in the competition.

Phone lines, text votes (AT&T customers only) and online polls will open at the top of each performance show so viewers can vote for their favorites.

Phone and text lines stay open for 30 minutes after the end of the show. Online voting will remain open until noon (Eastern Time) the next day. (Wonder if that means Woz fans outside the US can vote for him or it will be blocked…Update: you can vote online — 13 times — until noon EST the day after the show is broadcast, from anywhere, as long as you register.)

Wozniak adds: “You can vote up to 13 times with your cell phone. Actually, you can only vote as many times as there are contestants, which will likely be either 11, 12 or 13 this Monday, but extra votes surely don’t hurt.” He also spoke of an iPhone app to vote in the iTunes store, but a quick search didn’t turn it up…

Are you planning on voting your support?

Jasper Goodall’s “Poster Girl” series, on show in London, like his “Liquid Peril” work above, takes liberal inspiration from Apple’s iconic iPod ads.

A freelance illustrator, Goodall has worked for MTV, Gucci, Adidas, Coca-Cola and BMW.

Goodall describes his work as: “sexual, fantastical, dreamy. Basically, contemporary fantasy art.”
You can see more of his work from the show here, some are borderline NSFW.

The show’s has been held over until March 12 at the Electric Blue Gallery.

Via The Mirror

Soundwalk is a vest with two speakers in the shoulders to blast your iPod tunes out as you ride around.

Developed by a Korean company, the vest speakers run on two AAA batteries, the iPod plugs into a front pocket (though there don’t seem to be pics showing where, exactly).  Soundwalk costs £39.99 (roughly $55) and the makers boast that “the astonishing surround sound from speakers (pictured below) which can compete with a live performance.”

Even on the model, however, the vest is a bit on the fugly side.

Better sound than sorry?

Via the Telegraph

Nothing like a little creativity in the face of frustration: San Francisco PR guy Derek Brookmeyer’s iPhone kept crashing and giving him error messages so many times that he decided to save the screens and count them.

His blog has a collage of 15 of these error screens, mostly related to Internet browsing, along with a letter to his crash-happy iPhone, that starts:

“Dear iPhone,
You are starting to drive me nuts. You are slower than ever, freeze up constantly and give me error messages like it’s your job…”

Via Could I Have Been

If the 25 year anniversary of the Mac has you feeling nostalgic, you might want to check out the wares at this memorabilia sale.

There’s a little bit of everything, (including a Hoyle deck of cards with the Apple logo), but some of the best pieces are from the ’80s, including the original Mac brochure, the user manual and the first four issues of Macworld magazine.

The seller is parting with the collection to get together money for medical care and hopes you’ll take good care of his Mac stuff…

Via MacNN

A feature called “Now Playing,”  launched in  fall 2007,  allowed latte-sippers to wander into a Starbucks, log onto the iTunes Store with a laptop, iPod Touch or iPhone and instantly see what song was playing in-store, plus browse and buy music on iTunes.

Unwired View found a patent Apple filed for a similar feature.
The basic idea: place a local cache of iTunes media store server at a retail location and follow the music played from that cache. The associated info is beamed to iPhones and Macbooks via local Wi-Fi network.

Apple envisions lots of in-store tie-ins and cross selling thanks to the feature.

From the patent application:
“One advantage of the invention is that patrons of establishments can dynamically receive store-based information while at the establishments. Store-based information facilitates user experience and can also facilitate locating associated media content from an online media store.

In store-based information can be displayed on a patron’s portable electronic device while the patron in the store… The online media store can coordinate with central management to make store-based information centrally stored and accessible…”

Via Unwired View

Showtime is stumping for votes for its programs up for Emmy awards by making them available on the iPhone and iPod Touch to TV Academy voters.

Emmy voters with Apple mobile devices can screen full episodes of Showtime series including “Dexter,” “Weeds” and “United States of Tara” by entering a password.

The move is expected to save Showtime some money, a spokesperson told Variety that shelving DVD screeners last year by partnering with Internet video provider Brightcove to post its Emmy hopefuls online saved “tens of thousands of dollars.” The Brightcove option will be available again this year for Apple-less Academy members.

Via Textually

You just might find out about layoffs at your company on the way to work, if a new iPhone app dedicated to cutbacks and hires does its job.

The layoff and hiring news app receives real-time data feeds from website layoffdaily.com.
Info includes today’s layoffs news (at this writing, those cuts include from “Chicken Soup For the Soul” to Lamborghini and Utah State University), plus previous two day’s layoffs and, to balance things out a little, a section dedicated to news about which companies are hiring (American Welders Society, call centers and Six Flags New England.

It’ll set you back $1.99, but may prove vital.

Via Mac World

Freshman “Late Night” host Jimmy Fallon started off this week with a joke that patted Apple on the back  and a Mac on his host desk.

Fallon, who is trying to fill the mighty big shoes of David Letterman (and the slightly less large shoes of  Conan O’Brien  took a pot shot at Microsoft during his opening monologue of the second first episode:

“Despite the recession, Microsoft is planning to open stores to compete with Apple.  They’ll be just like the Apple stores, except the staff will freeze when you ask them a question.”

Then Fallon sat down to welcome guests including Tina Fey, followed up by Robert De Niro and Justin Timberlake from behind a desk with a Mac laptop  (a MacBook Pro?)  on it, next to a mug with pencils, though he never opened it. (Apologies for the grainy pic, outside the US, NBC  blocks the episodes).

Before the show debuted, Fallon was called the Mac of hosts, compared his “PC” competition Jay Leno.

Is this the first time a Mac figures as a prop on a late-night talk show?

Former President Bill Clinton signed an iPod Nano 8G, put 10 of his favorite songs on a playlist and now it’s being auctioned off for the Gibson Foundation for Music Rising.

The sax-playing 42nd President put a few interesting choices on his playlist:

1.  Brown Eyed Girl (Van Morrison)
2. I Get Along Without You Very Well (Carly Simon)
3. Bahia (Stan Getz with Charlie Byrd)
4. Bridge Over Troubled Water (Simon & Garfunkel)
5. Crown Imperial (“The Presidents Own” U.S. Marine Band)
6. Angel (Sarah McLachlan)
7. Philadelphia Freedom (Elton John)
8. English Folk Song Suite [1-3] (North Texas Wind Symphony)
9. A Song for You (Willie Nelson)
10. Winds of the Old Days (Joan Baez)
11. Concierto de Aranjuez [1-3] (John Williams)

You can check it out on ebay. When we looked, the current bid was $751.

Via 24 bit

In the celluloid version of Brit Toby Young’s memoir about life at Vanity Fair in New York, Macs are the mark of who counts and who doesn’t.