Flickr user jumbledpile (nichole) offers pics of a unique iPod meatloaf ‘birthday cake’ made by her friends Amanda and Carlos, which has to be as notable for floating the idea of a birthday cake made from meat as it is for its homage to Apple’s iconic MP3 player.

With creamy mashed potato ‘frosting’ layered over a tasty center of seasoned ground beef, the meatcake comes with cheesy earbuds and pea decorations arranged to suggest the iPod control wheel and personalized data screen.

Easily serves a party of 6 – 8 Apple fans like peas in a pod. Sorta.

[iPhoneSavior]

Engineer and programmer Steve Capps, who worked on Lisa, the Finder and Macintosh system utilities, talks about his work on the original Macintosh team with the guys at RetroMac Cast in a two-part podcast (episodes 115 and 116).

Capps got started by automating a library in college, then went to do the same at Xerox before landing at Apple in 1981. He was chosen to work for the Mac team because he had “the right chops at the right time.” Capps was working on a printer drive for the Lisa team, when Steve Jobs lost interest in Lisa and put the steam behind the Mac, calling Capps over.

“Great to talk about the old glory days,” Capps, who went on to work on Internet Explorer and MSN Explorer, said.

Via Newton Poetry

CrossLoop, the Monterey, CA-based developer of a popular screen-sharing application for PCs announced this month a version compatible with Intel Macs, extending the company’s innovative on-line technical support model to the Apple community.

Having racked up over 100 million minutes of tech-support served by nearly 5 million downloads of its PC client since 2006, CrossLoop is now seriously targeting the universe of Mac users and even pitching the product as a perfect vehicle for helping PC users switch to Mac.

While a great percentage of the peer-to-peer help sessions done with CrossLoop are free (downloading the software is free and there is no charge for users to share their computer screen with other CrossLoop members), the company’s platform supports a community of nearly 15,000 registered “helpers” whose freelance technical support can be had using the service for between $50 – $60 per hour.

CrossLoop competes in a field with larger (Citrix) and better known (Geek Squad) names, but is currently logging a quarter million screen-sharing minutes a day and looks to be in the game for the long haul. If you are looking to help a friend remotely with a software install or considering freelancing your tech support skills on the side, CrossLoop could be well worth a look.

US college students and teachers who buy a Mac get an iPod Touch thrown in a back-to-school promotion. (Fine print: you have to buy before Sept. 8 and shell out the cash for the iPod touch, which you get back via rebate. Full details here.)

The ad shows a cheerful student  whose iPod Touch displays “Monopoly” but with the iPod Touch being used more frequently in colleges for orientation,  class lectures and in some cases required or in place of textbooks having one is becoming less of a plus and more of a necessity.

Via Mac Daily News

Can you think of another company whose outdated and obsolete products get repurposed as art pieces even a fraction as often as do those from Apple?

How about a late 20th century PowerMac G4, which, as a 10 year-old desktop might possibly still be good enough to run your elementary school children’s games and learning software, but for all practical purposes is probably better suited as the inspiration for a wall clock to remind you, time after time, how gear Apple cool is.

At a mere $60, these may not last long and you should look into turning your own dusty G4 into a DIY project.

[iPhoneSavior]

Microsoft will release a Web-surfing, HD-video-playing, multitouch Zune in the fall to compete with the iPod touch — and the hardware actually looks pretty cool. But as Apple well knows, the gadget is one thing, the software and services are another.

Sporting a sexy metal case, the Zune HD will have a 3.3-inch, 480 x 272 OLED capacitive touchscreen display (16:9 widescreen); a built-in HD Radio receiver, and WiFi. The “HD” refers not to the touchscreen, but the HD radio and HD out (720p), though that’s only available with an optional cradle. Pricing was not released, and release is “early fall.”

“There’s a lot here that MSFT is doing well, especially when it comes to the hardware,” said Interpret analyst Michael Gartenberg on his blog.

Our friend Roger, the t-shirt designer from Brighton, U.K., has another Mac-related shirt for us to check out.

It’s a classic skull design, made with the keys from a pair of Apple keyboards. The white keys come from an extended white Mac keyboard; the black keys were taken from the original iMac (the one with the half sized F keys). Says Roger:

“I could say it depicts the obsolescence that all computer equipment faces, but really it’s just skulls make great tees! What Mac geek wouldn’t like to see a design featuring Mac keys, and only only closer inspection can you find the classic Apple command key.”

Hit the jump for a bigger picture of the skull — and the elusive command key.

You can find Roger’s skull tee here, available in a range of colors.

So, just to make things clear: a Twitter client is bad, a Nine Inch Nails app is positively evil, eBooks that enable you to access so-called objectionable content will warp your fragile little mind—except when Apple U-turns, possibly due to the stare of evil panda. But an app where you shake a baby is OK, until Apple realises that it isn’t.

However—and this is important—flagrant and blatant IP infringement is apparently fine, judging by Luigi Vs Pac.

And, yeah, we know Apple shouldn’t have to be the IP police when it comes to App Store content, and that some properties being ripped off are somewhat obscure. But, c’mon—Luigi and Pac-Man? In one game? Oh dear.

Solar power has been an obvious answer to many of the world’s daunting energy challenges for a long time, but the expense and relative bulk of solar panels have largely kept solar out of the running when it comes to solutions for mobile power.

Suntrica, a nordic eco-tech company, seems to have found a solution, though, with a line of charging solutions that are small, light, and flexible and could be just the thing energy conscious consumers are looking for to power their gadgets to go.

Suntrica’s SolarStrap™, SolarBadge™ and SolarBadgePRO™ use a flexible, high-efficiency solar panel connected to internal, lightweight batteries for instant or later use. Battery capacities range from 3.7Wh to 7.3Wh and the output of all the chargers is 5.5V DC at 800mA, which makes them perfect for all your portable electronic gear.

Current models are compatible with Apple iPod and Nano, though the company plans to release iPhone compatible chargers in the next couple of months.

The designer of the brilliant “PhotoShoplifter” t-shirt (see the pic after the jump) is back with a new design honoring old Macs.

Roger of RubyRed T-shirt Designs has created the “Sad Chimes Rest Home” shirt featuring three vintage machines that are loved but no longer used.

“Old Macs deserve more than ending up on the scrapheap after a life of creation and innovation,” Roger says. “Be sympathetic to your old Apple in its time of need, send it to the Sad Chimes Rest Home for retired and redundant Macs. A place where the Mac Classic and the G3 iMac can reminisce about operating system developments.”

More of Roger’s work after the jump.