An idea whose time has come: a massage table with an iPod dock built in.
The Sonora Sound Spa Table with integrated Bose Speakers and an iPod Nano has a $6,195 price tag, so it’s not the kind of thing most people could have at home.
But if these became standard equipment at spas, it would be a vast improvement. You could have your kinks worked out while listening to an audio book from home or some non-annoying relaxation music. (No more pan flutes!)
Via Device
A 23-year-old iPod repairman pleaded guilty in federal court in Grand Rapids, Michigan to fraud and money laundering after acquiring more than 9,000 replacement iPod Shuffles by entering serial numbers into Apple’s Web site.
Nicholas Woodhams, who has to pay back Apple for the shuffle-and-switched iPods he re-sold for $49 each, also faces up to 30 years in prison.
As part of the plea deal, Woodhams also has to hand over a home in Portage, an Audi S4 sedan, a race car, a motorcycle, six computers and over $570,000.
Via Ap
Image used with a CC license, thanks to re-ality
U2’s lead singer Bono recently revealed in an interview with a DJ in Toronto that his ego knows no bounds. The band’s quiet break-up with Apple in favor of first Palm and now RIM? Well, it’s all because Steve Jobs wouldn’t let him help out with the hardware and software design of the U2-branded iPod.
“[RIM] is going to give us what Apple wouldn’t — access to their labs and their people so we can do something really spectacular,” Bono told Alan Cross.
Hmm. While I’ve always been impressed with U2’s ability to design an experience, ala ZooTV and the PopMart Tour, I can’t say that I have any confidence that U2’s input could have in any way, shape, or form improved the iPod. I’ll trust Apple’s creatives more than U2’s…singer.
This collaboration has fail written all over it.
Globe and Mail via Electronista via Digg
It looks like an iPhone and is about the same size as one, but it won’t harbor any of the nasty germs of your smart device.
This artisanal iPhone soap, which sells for $7.99, smells like “mojito” or “tropical mango,” more than you can say for the real thing. The maker Meilin, whose day jobs have also included troubleshooting cryptic error messages from SQL server databases, has also put together soap to give programmers a smile and a bar resembling an iPod.
Via Geeky Gadgets
Over at Core 77, this earbud holder was an in-house entry in this month’s one-hour design challenge to make something useful out of business cards.
Eric says he’s been using it for a week and its still holding up..In any case, it’s a nice way to use those out-of-date cards (dot-com bust, anyone?) instead of just recycling them…
Other Apple-related entries in the business card challenge include an iPhone stand and speakers. Feeling creative? There’s still time to enter the contest — the top five entries win 1,000 business cards.
Via Core77
Sean Kovacs brings word of GV Mobile, his new iPhone and iPod Touch client for the Google Mobile service, which should be available early next week. Google Voice is a remarkable service built on an old start-up called GrandCentral that Le Goog acquired a few years back. Basically, it allows you to consolidate all of your phone numbers to a single number, control who can call you, screen calls, listen in to voice mail as it records, send free text messages, and transcribe your voicemail. It can even allow people to dial your phone by clicking on a link on a web page. And since it initiates calls, not just placing them, iPod touch users can create a phone call to a different device!
And GV Mobile packs most of that into a handy-dandy iPhone OS app. The video’s pretty slick, and it seems to carry over most of what makes Google Voice so much fun. For now, it’s available only to those who had GrandCentral accounts and those who know folks at Google, but this should be a great companionreplacement to the main iPhone dialer once the service goes more mainstream. Now, if only the free SMS was two-way… no one would ever pay for AT&T’s overpriced SMS plans again…
9to5Mac via Gizmodo
Well, who doesn’t like a little Michael Jackson, dancing babies and quick, snappy edits in a smartphone commercial?
But does anyone think Apple’s legal department won’t soon notice the uncanny similarities between the UI for LG’s Arena and Apple’s own iPhone?
It’s no secret that Apple loves LG displays, but whether that love extends to a willingness to overlook LG’s ripping-off the iPhone’s UI remains to be seen. On the other hand, it’s possible LG licensed the UI. Neither Apple nor LG representatives were available for comment at press time.
Text strings in the latest beta release of iPhone 3.0 software indicate support for the 802.11n wireless standard, according to several reports over the weekend.
In addition to representing an upgrade to the WiFi capabilities of yet-to-be released versions of iPhone and iPod Touch, support for Broadcom BCM4329 chips — through which 802.11n would be accessed — could improve battery life on Apple’s mobile devices. iThe iPhone and iPod Touch currently only support slower 802.11b/g networks.
Perhaps the more interesting implication of details emerging in the 3.0 beta is the promise of video recording and upload capability, a feature some have derided the iPhone for lacking in its initial releases. A recently discovered video upload screen indicates a new version of the iPhone is meant to be able to upload video to MobileMe accounts, which would no doubt come as a welcome feature upgrade for users of Apple’s web services product.
It’s possible video uploading would be supported to any server, and that Apple will also be releasing iPhone software to edit video on the fly, but even if official support for video is limited, whole new avenues for 3rd party development will open up as a result of video on the iPhone.
As others in the smartphone market struggle to catch up to Apple’s product and services offerings, it appears Steve Jobs may have been right when he said his company is already years ahead of the competition.
Stanford’s School of Engineering recently launched a 10-week course on iPhone programming, available gratis on iTunes.
The video podcasts of about an hour each that teach programming for the iPhone and iPod Touch are the same ones offered on the Palo Alto campus, minus the tuition, with a few days lag time.
“There’s a lot of interest in the iPhone,” said Brent Izutsu, Stanford’s project manager for Stanford on iTunes U. “This course provides an excellent opportunity for us to show the breadth and depth of our curriculum and the innovation of our students.”
Not surprising, now that the media are calling the race to make money-making apps the new “gold rush.”
Via Apple Insider
What it is: A menu extra that provides at-a-glance statistics relating to CPU usage, memory, drives, your network, drive temperatures, fans, Bluetooth and date & time. Stats are shown in the menu bar, and each item’s menu provides further information.
Why it’s good: It’s fast and it’s stable, plus, unlike many similar applications on the Mac, it’s free. Set-up is absurdly simple, done via a System Preferences pane (although, iStat menu guys, being able to open configs directly from each menu would be a nice idea). The crowning glory is the Date & Time module. It enables you to show the time and date simultaneously in the menu bar, and the item’s menu provides a simple calendar and optional world clock. All three of these things are available as individual shareware via other companies, but here they’re all integrated, well implemented and free.
Where to get it: iStat menus is available from the iSlayer website, and even if you only use the Date & Time module it’s worth a look. Note that if you use the app very regularly, a small donation will help iSlayer work on future verisons.
The doll version of Steve Jobs wears a black turtleneck, jeans and the kind of intense gaze bound to make you feel guilty while downloading useless apps instead of masterminding something great.
Brought to you by podbrix, the same folks who created a limited-edition Young Woz and Jobs Playset in Lego (unfortunately sold out), this plush version of Jobs will cost you about the same as a pair of Apple earbuds ($32.00, shipping included).
Only 500 available, so if you want a pocket guru, now’s the time to act.
Via Macenstein
I spent a week in Paris recently, and although I was on vacation, I was still on the lookout for Macs. I almost missed this homage to the Apple design while I was out shopping with my uncle. Fortunately, he saw this excellent window display at the Printemps department store and stopped me to take some photos.
The display case, several large windows long, was completely littered with Apple products. See if you can count them all. You can also see the reflection of the other side of Boulevard Haussmann.
A 20-year-old Brooklyn man charged with raping a woman in New York got busted because he was so intent on stealing the victim’s iPod that he left his own cell phone behind.
According to the indictment, the NYT reports, Jonathan Salva grabbed a woman from behind around 4 a.m. on Feb. 21 as she walked along West 28th Street, between Eighth and Ninth Avenues, while listening to her iPod (or iPhone, reports vary.)
Salva made off with the device, but left his own cellphone at the scene, authorities said.
Salva pleaded not guilty to predatory sexual assault, a top charge that could put him behind bars for life. He was held in lieu of $250,000 bail.
One note of levity from the controversial G20 summit in London is the exchange of gifts between US President Barack Obama to Queen Elizabeth II.
The AP reports: Obama’s gift of an iPod to Queen Elizabeth II came loaded with 40 songs from popular Broadway productions, including “The King and I,” “West Side Story” and “Dreamgirls.”
The iPod (exact model unspecified) was given to accompany a rare coffee table book of songs by composers Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, which Obama also gave the queen. It also came loaded with video of her time in Washington and Virginia in 2007 during a private meeting overnight.
The Queen is reported to have owned an iPod since 2005, so maybe he was thinking it was time for an upgrade.
Among the standards, few selections stand out — “Seasons of Love” from “Rent” and “The Best of Times,” from “La Cage Aux Folles.”
Wonder if they the tracks were selected by Reggie Love, Obama’s 26-year-old-jack-of-all trades and designated iPod stocker, who is following the President on his overseas trip.
The Queen reciprocated with a portrait of herself and her husband.
Sony has added what the company calls “USB 1-wire” connectivity to select models of its 2009 car audio line up, enabling direct digital connectivity for USB powered audio devices such as iPods and iPhones, as well as other MP3 players and even USB thumb drives.
If you’ve ever been frustrated by the sketchy signal provided by radio frequency car adapters such as iTrip, or been dissatisfied by the sound quality of AUX in connectivity trying to get your iPod playing in the car, Sony’s Xplod line of head units is well worth a look and listen.
“We’ve needed to do this as an industry for some time,” explained Mike Kahn, Sony director of marketing for mobile electronics at a media meet and greet in San Francisco Wednesday night. Direct digital connection of the external device to the auto sound system is quickly becoming a standard feature for manufacturers such as Sony, Alpine and Pioneer, which is no surprise given the boost in sound quality over cobbled together analog connectivity solutions of the recent past.
Sony’s gear is very price competitive with its major rivals and its USB 1-wire technology doesn’t require any special cabling – you can use your standard iPod USB cable to plug right into the head unit, browse the device’s library and select songs right from the auto unit’s controls.
USA Today ran an article Wednesday saying the Skype for iPhone app is “raising concern among public-policymakers and consumer advocates,” who are irked that Skype calls are limited to WiFi and not permitted to access cellular or 3G networks.
I’m reminded of nothing so much as Lewis CK’s appearance on Conan O’Brien’s show, in which he pointed out how amazing things are in today’s world, and yet no one is happy.
Are Apple and AT&T actually “trying to handicap” Skype, as implied by Chris Murray, senior counsel to Consumers Union? Is there an “urgent need” for Congress and the Federal Communications Commission to revisit the rules and regulations for wireless voice services?
I’m no fan of Apple’s “walled garden” approach to the AppStore, nor do I love the fact that AT&T is my only service provider option for using iPhone in the US.
But in just over 24 hours of playing with Skype on my iPhone, I feel confident in saying Skype doesn’t need congress’ help in its competition with AT&T. If people will have a little bit of patience, Skype and other VoIP service providers will soon be providing them with communications services and calling options they couldn’t have imagined just months ago.
The cat is really out of the bag now, so just find a good WiFi connection and enjoy your free Skype calling. It’s only going to get better from here on out.
It might have helped a few folks if Debt Snowball Pro, a new app coming to the iTunes app store, had been released sooner, but who can really argue with the timeliness of a tool to help eliminate debt using the “debt snowball” method endorsed by finance guru Dave Ramsey and other professionals?
You can choose to pay off debts with higher interest rates first (to save money), or those with the lowest balances (for small, motivating successes along the way). Debt Snowball Pro shows you just how much money you’ll save by choosing these methods over making minimum payments. And it keeps you up do date on how much interest you’ve saved, when your payoff dates are, and when you’ll be debt-free.
Due to be priced at $2.99, Debt Snowball Pro is similar to the Parallel Focus app Pay Off Debt (opens iTunes), which it follows into the AppStore by just two weeks.
Well, sorta. I think this project is going to be more about his acting.
Jimmy Kimmel via Gizmodo
What it is: A simplified air-traffic control game. You drag paths for aircraft to direct them to designated landing zones. The number of aircraft on-screen rapidly increases, making it harder to avoid a collision. One collision and the game ends.
Why it’s good: It’s an original concept, perfectly suited to the iPhone touchscreen, and utterly compelling. At first, it seems like the game will be a breeze, but the difficulty curve is steep, and after only 20 or so landings, you’ll find the screen full of aircraft to deal with. The game also has a great sense of humor in its presentation (including twee aircraft ‘muzak’), and, for those moments where it all gets a bit much, a handy pause button. Like Tetris, it’s a simple game that you’ll return to regularly.
Where to get it: Flight Control’s available on the App Store, and is at the time of writing on sale for $0.99. More information about the game can be found on the Flight Control website.
Hailed by event promoter IDG as the “Start of A New Era,” Macworld 2010 will be held in San Francisco at the Moscone Center but about a month later than usual, from February 9-13.
After Apple made 2009 its last MacWorld, rumors abounded about changes, either site or dates. The new date puts it in less competition with the sprawling International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) held in Las Vegas around the same time.
In a statement, organizers said they thought the dates would make it easier for fans to attend.
“We firmly believe that these new dates will better meet the needs of everyone participating in Macworld, and are pleased to have been able to respond to this request from the community,” he added. “The journey toward a new era for Macworld has begun and we are more excited about this ride than ever before.”
But, in a tech calendar packed with trade shows, it presents a bit of a problem for some.
UK Mac fans (and we suspect most anyone coming from Europe) are grumpy about the new dates — because they can’t make one transatlantic trip to attend both Macworld and CES and the dates are too close to the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, scheduled to start two days later on Feb. 15.
How much difference do the new dates make in your plans to attend?
Image courtesy IDG
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2nh469INBk
Hmm. This was one of the suspect newslets (see today’s date) that at least gave me a chuckle: a touchless iCar, especially designed to let kids drive themselves around.
Brought to you by mobile open source software company Funambol, the car was designed by CEO Fabrizio Capobianco.
“I grew tired of driving my toddler daughter everywhere, ” said Capobianco. “The other day, she grabbed my iPhone and mastered it in 10 minutes. That provided the inspiration to add finger gestures to iCar. It’s so intuitive even a five year old can give the finger while driving.”
A jab at a “competing” Microsoft car was also thrown into the press release: “Microsoft also today announced its highly anticipated MiCar. The MiCar not only lacks a steering wheel, it has no wheels, period. In initial test drives, MiCar was completely immobile yet still managed to crash. It is available in one color only, “Death-Screen Blue.”
Steve Wozniak’s dancing dream is over.
I blame the fact that Pete Mortensen was not here liveblogging it tonight for Cult of Mac.
“I gave it a good try,” Wozniak said after being voted off the show. Few ever expected the burly billionaire engineer to win the contest, least of all Wozniak himself.
Despite having criticized the program’s scoring system in the past couple of weeks, in the end, he said performing on the program made him feel like “the luckiest person in the world.”
Here’s another next-gen iPhone concept worth pondering: Can Apple pull off adding features and functionality to the iPhone while making it even slimmer and sexier than it is today?
We’ll know soon enough, as anticipation for a June or July release event continues to build. More concepts ought to be popping up like spring flowers, too and the big design question seems to be whether any changes will be subtle, or will they push the device in an entirely new direction?
Let us know where you think Apple’s headed in comments.
Proving the universal appeal and applicability of Apple’s marketing template, the Spanish agency Shackleton gives us the iHam.
And if you’ve ever been to Spain, you understand the ubiquity of meat on the hoof hanging from the ceilings of tapas bars and restaurants and know, perhaps, how the Spanish love their ham.
Comes complete with a full line of accessories, an introductory video (which must be seen), and a PDF manual.
Simply brilliant.
Thanks to Adrian for the tip!
Follow after the jump for a screen shot of the accessories page.
In an unpredictable turn of events on Woz’s tumultuous “Dancing With The Stars” gig, his partner Karina Smirnoff has asked him to walk (not fox trot or tango) her down the aisle at her upcoming wedding.
The dancer will wed former DWTS co-star, Maksim Chmerkovskiy, who was paired with Denise Richards. Richards and Chmerkovsiy were eliminated unexpectedly on last week’s show.
Smirnoff says of Woz:
“He’s a little out of his element but has the biggest personality you’ll ever meet. He’s super funny and super charming.”
Awww. Let’s hope the pair makes it out of tonight’s show — it’s largely thought his internet fan base is keeping Woz in the running in what has been described as not so much dirty dancing but stinky.
