This Lego-look speaker will pump some sound for the iPod Classic, iPod Nano, iPod Touch and iPod Mini. The USB-charged speaker blocks come in red, blue, green, white, black yellow and pink.
No details on how powerful it is, but probably enough to annoy someone in the next cubicle over.
At around $20, it’s an idea for the random people on your list.
Available at Delight
Just in case you don’t have such a great photographic eye, or perhaps are not completely satisfied with the images produced by your iPhone’s distinctive optics, there is help available.
More than 30,000 people have downloaded French photographer Eric Lafforgue’s free iPhone app Hervé Péroteau. He released version 2.1 on Sunday with more than 800 pictures available for use as screensavers for the iPhone and iPod Touch.
Lafforgue’s work has been published in prestegious magazines worldwide, including Geo, National Geographic, CNN Traveler, The Times, Stampa and UNESCO magazine. His app will fill 25MB of space on your device, but it automatically lets you know when there are photo updates available and includes professional tips from one of the world’s most successful freelance photographers.
Check out some of his images in the gallery below and be sure also to visit his stunning website.
All images © Eric Lafforgue
If a woman plays soft jazz when you come over but the top 25 played songs on her iPod are death metal, she’s not showing her true self.
The warning comes from psychologist Sam Gosling, author of “SNOOP: What Your Stuff Says About You.”
In this guide for men who want an excuse to pry, Gosling reckons her playlists will reveal whether you’ve hooked up with a potentially dangerous harpy and haven’t noticed yet.
His advice:
“Look for variety not quantity. Also note the differences between the music on her iPod’s top 25 most played list vs. the music she has playing when you visit. Jazz, classical or blues suggests openness; country, pop and soundtracks suggest she is more extraverted and possibly nicer.”
George Sawyer, who describes himself as “raised in a wood shop,” fashioned the Podbark case from flexible veneer adhered to wood-look paper with a protective screen sandwiched between. They wrap around the iPod with a finger joint, adding an authentic touch.
Sawyer started making them a few years ago, when the fifth gen iPod came out. Podbark currently fits those and the iPod classic 80gig, a comfort to those of us who have older models hanging around. They cost $15-$18, available in your choice of maple (pictured) or walnut.
iPhone (iBark?) and newer iPod models are in the works.
Podbark at Etsy
Depending on your point of view, Ben Stiller’s “Tropic Thunder” was either a bladder-threatening comedy, a hodge-podge of offensive stereotypes or just plain stupid.
After earning $100 mil at the US box office, it was recently released on DVD. The movie, about a ragtag bunch of actors forced to become real-life heroes, is a triumph of product placement. TiVo plays has a decisive role in the plot and everything from the newly-sexy cherry Chapstick and, yes, the iPod have cameos.
When Stiller’s character Tugg Speedman gets lost in the jungle, he soothes himself by watching Star Trek on his iPod, which was prominently placed in a giant gift basket in an earlier scene.
Not to spoil the plot, but after he’s attacked, he loses his cool and starts wearing his iPod as part of pseudo tribal fetish costume.
Guessing the iPod wouldn’t work with beads strung through it, but it’s a nice idea.
iPods provide welcome respite from annoying incidental music in stores, since retailers don’t understand that no one over 10 wants to buy anything while listening to Britney Spears.
There’s no bringing your own acoustic oasis in a bar for drinks, though.
Enter the WXYZ bar at hip Aloft hotel in Minneapolis, where customers can bring their iPods and blast personalized playlists over the venue stereo while they imbibe. Birthdays, anniversaries, 80s theme nights with office mates, the possibilities are endless.
Manager Amy Phillips said the plug-in-your-iPod idea was meant to provide “a connection to why they are there.”
The only catch? You do have to show them the playlist before hand. Which sort of rules out my favorite, though admittedly disturbing girl’s choir cover version of “I Touch Myself,” but I think it could be worked out. Or maybe I’ll have to sign up for this bring-your-own iPod night instead.
Photo credit: Metro Mix Twin Cities
Via Twin Cities Eater
Artcoustic has come up with a clever solution for small spaces or people who like music but want speakers to be good-looking or at least unobtrusive. It looks like a painting but this iPod dock with speaker blasts your sound without any of the bulk, the only thing not super cool about it is the name — SUPERSTAR iPod Music Centre.
The makers assure it’s a plug and play setup for these state-of-the art speakers with built-in
2x150watt Amplifier.
The front panel of the SUPERSTAR (what were they thinking?) comes in solid colors, jaunty stripes, a ton of patterns and even a series of Buddha portraits. And if you get tired of the look, move or repaint, you can always change it. Available in 2009, no word on price.
Via Smarthouse
Whacky journo types at the Super Soaraway Sun (as it used to be known when I was a lad) have discovered that you can turn VEGETABLES into BATTERIES.
Sun senior editors, average age 57, found that they could fill a few precious inches of newsprint with a story of a man who recharges his iPod with an onion, a technique well documented in school-level science for donkeys years.
An onlooker said: “If they hadn’t been able to get an iPod angle on it, they’d never have considered it as a story at all.
“But anything iPod is worth a hundred words here and there, mainly because everyone in the newsroom owns one.”
Continued on page 94.
Travis Hammond is a graphic designer located near Baltimore, Maryland. He works for a private auction firm and a local magazine, and does freelance photography and design work. He’s also a bit of an Apple nut, if these among many other examples of his Mac, iPod and iPhone inspired creativity are any indication.
See more at his website and his Flickr pages
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A Long Island woman stabbed an attacker in the neck with her iPod charger, then managed to pick the twice-convicted rapist out of a police line up — he still had the prong marks from the charger on his neck.
According to a local paper, at 2 a.m. the rapist approached an 18-year-old as she was walking home from a friend’s place. He made a pretense of asking for directions, then put her in a chokehold and pulled her behind a church.
In the struggle, she stabbed him with an iPod charger which didn’t prevent the rape but became key in identifying her 23-year-old attacker.
Sources told the paper that by the time police rounded him up as a suspect, about a week later the rapist still bore “two prong marks on the neck from the charger.”
Wondering whether the European iPod charger with rounded prongs would come in as handy for impromptu self-defense.
Via Macenstein
Fashion czar Karl Lagerfeld, who put his hand to an iPod casehimself once for Italian fashion house Fendi, owns a custom iPod trunk to support his professed love of Mac.
Lagerfeld totes his gear around in a handcrafted custom trunk from Louis Vuitton. Well, probably some bedraggled assistant has to pack his wardrobe of 20 iPods, one charger (what just one?), JBL iPod speakers and a subwoofer.
Too cool even to even carry the LV monogram (but they do have Lagerfeld’s initials near the handle) the trunk is made in trademark Taiga black leather with a microfiber interior.
Custom cases like these take from four to six months to make and run upwards of $10,000.
Via Luxist
Microsoft, a day after slashing prices of its Zune media player, Thursday threw a bone to fans of DRM-free music, offering a $15 per month Zune Pass subscription for essentially $5.
Microsoft said it would allow Zune Pass subscribers to keep 10 songs (worth around $10) per month that they can own, even if the subscription ends. Previously, copy-protection meant songs downloaded from the Zune marketplace would be disabled if the $15 per month subscription service expired.
“People want the freedom to listen to whatever they want across millions of songs, combined with the confidence that they can keep their favorite tracks forever,” Chris Stephenson, Zune’s general manager of global marketing, said in statement.
As we enter the critical holiday shopping period, the future of Apple’s iPod hangs in the balance as two courts consider a patent lawsuit over memory chips. Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Spansion Inc. Monday named Apple, along with other customers of Samsung in a dispute over alleged abuse of flash memory patents.
While the Delaware lawsuit, covering six patents, asks for damages and an injunction against Samsung, Spansion’s case before the International Trade Commission could result in blocking imports of Apple and other makers of devices containing flash memory chips, according to the Wall Street Journal.
A wide range of gadgets, from MP3 players to cell phones and digital cameras, use flash memory. The ITC could forego an import ban if it views the blockage would impose undue harm on a company.
Apple released a significant update for 4th generation iPod Nano Tuesday night. Software Version 1.0.3 includes a number of fixes to cover art and photo distortion issues that some users had been experiencing, and delivers support for the eagerly awaited Apple in-ear headphones with mic and remote.
Although the headphones were announced in September when the iPod Nano line was refreshed, they have remained as yet unavailable.
Nano users can obtain the new software by connecting the digital media player to their computer and launching iTunes. Follow the prompts for downloading and installing the software.
Ferrari Scuderia Spider 16Ms, recently unveiled in all their Batmobile-meets-James Bond glory, will have an optional iPod built in to the dashboard.
The 16GB touch, black with the prancing horse logo, will come loaded with Ferrari images and sounds — the famous engine purr, maybe?
This is the kind of kit Ferrari owners will love, since the detachable iPod allows them to take the brand with them in places (like the gym, shopping) where it wouldn’t be obvious otherwise that they were Ferrari owners. (I once worked briefly on the Ferrari owners’ site. As a person who let their driver’s license lapse and uses a bicycle to get to work, it was a challenge). And the iPod can keep you company when the car is kept safely in the garage for more practical transport or serve as a memento when you sell it.
The base price for the limited-edition car is $277,000, no word on the extra cost for the iPod upgrade.
Via iPod Nation
Artist Catherine Forster began examining the world through a microscope as a biologist, now she uses technology to talk about the world.
Her installation “Golden Oldies” features four silent videos inspired by pop songs (“Karaoke classics” she says) played on iPods.
These visual landscapes are inspired by “Tiny Bubbles” (Don Ho, 1966), ‘Under the Boardwalk” (Drifters, 1964), “Spinning Wheel” (Blood Sweat and Tears, 1969), and “Starry Starry Night” (Don McLean, 1971).
“Golden Oldies” was meant to be a humorous take on how people cut themselves off from the world by creating iPod retreats.
Right now, it’s part of a Biennial show in Kentucky, but Forster says the ongoing project include new videos from the 1960s to the 1990s. You can check out the videos up close from her site.
Is the exit of Tony Fadell, labeled the “Father of the iPod,” a signal Apple has larger plans for the device now partially eclipsed by the iPhone? Yes, say Apple experts.
“We believe this is the second major indication of the future of the iPod as a mobile computing platform,” Andrew Murphy, analyst at Piper Jaffray, told Cult of Mac Tuesday.
The introduction of the iPod Touch was the first tip Apple was moving toward greater mobile computing, Murphy added.
Fadell, who joined Cupertino in 2001, was a senior vice president in the iPod division. He’ll become an advisor to Apple CEO Steve Jobs. The decision, made with his Apple Human Resources executive wife Danielle Lambert, was to “devote more time to their young family,” Apple announced.
Former IBM vice president Mark Papermaster will take Fadell’s position, a move Murphy believes means more emphasis on hardware.
“Papermaster’s experience in chip design and his replacement of Tony Fadell shows Apple focusing on mobile devices and possibly doing their own chips for the devices (iPods and iPhones),” the Piper Jaffray analyst wrote in an e-mail to Cult of Mac.
Tony Fadell, Apple’s Senior VP of the iPod division and the man who first brought the idea of a small hard drive-based music player to the company, will step down shortly, according to the Wall Street Journal. He joined the company in 2001, setting up the first iPod engineering team and overseeing its design.
According to the Journal, Mark Papermaster, the IBM VP that is being sued by Big Blue to try to stop him from working for Apple, will take over the role. This all makes sense — Steve Jobs has publicly stated that Apple bought PA-Semi in order to develop systems on a chip to power iPods and iPhones, and Papermaster is a total guru of the POWER architecture upon which PowerPC chips and, in turn, PA-Semi’s silicon, are based.
Fadell is one of Apple’s least-known legends, even though he should be credit more than anyone else with creating the iPod. It’s a shame to see him go, but Apple tends to be a place where people burn out fast, and Tony rose incredibly quickly from contractor to SVP in five years.
Victor Vetterlein designed this slick prototype speaker dock to power iPods. The speaker base has rechargeable batteries that can power the stereo system for hours.
Vetterlein plans to make the dock capable of using a renewable energy source such as solar power, wind power, or hydroelectricity to charge the battery packs when the stereo is not in use. Each speaker is wireless and can be removed from the base unit.
Though this would look great in a living room, the rods between the speakers act as handles so you can carry the YO out for al fresco entertainment.
Via Dezeen
Now you can clip on your favorite songs in metallics: blue, green, pink and red. The original silver is still available for purists. It’s about time the iPod Shuffle got a color update, though I still miss the first gen design with the USB connector.
The most memorable product placement on US network TV in the last month was for the iPod, which appeared in the Sept. 18 episode of “Supernatural.”
Quick recap: in the show, brothers Sam and Dean Winchester travel the country investigating paranormal escapades in a 1967 black Chevy Impala.
In the product placement scene, Dean asks Sam about the Apple iPod hooked up to a jack in their car.
Dean is not impressed with the iPod (“you were supposed to take care of her (the car), not douche her up”) and chucks it into the back seat.
Nielson says it was the most recalled product placement in a broadcast network scripted series for the period between September 15 and October 12.
They gauge the number of views who can remember a product placement 24 hours after seeing the show.
The other top two memorable product placements were Tupperware (Cold Case) and Playboy (Two and a Half Men). There’s a joke in there somewhere, don’t disappoint me.
Via TV by Numbers
Paramount Digital Entertainment has revived the School of Rock brand with an application that teaches you principles of music education on your iPhone or iPod Touch.
The 2003 movie starring Jack Black tells the story of a struggling musician who scams a job teaching at an upper-crust private high school and ends up teaching the kids how to form a band and play rock music. The app gives users the opportunity to experiment with a variety of authentic virtual instruments ranging from guitar and bass to piano and drums. Users can also learn to play tracks from legendary artists including Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Scorpions and Royal.
The $6.99 app is organized as a game that incorporates features allowing players to explore the history and diversity of music and instruments through a series of quizzes and challenges. Players are challenged to identify brand-name guitars and keyboards using “axes” from well known musicians, receive instruction in the areas of melody, harmony, rhythm, tempo and beats, and have the ability to record and play back jam sessions.
As the game progresses, the songs and variations become more challenging, allowing players to master instruments, advance to different levels and accumulate points that eventually result in graduation from The School of Rock. Groupies and backup singers not included.
Supermodel and celebrity Mac spokesperson Gisele tools around Paris with an iPod for company. She stays in touch with her current flame, Tom Brady, however, via Blackberry.
What, no iPhone?
Via Popsugar
The LA Times, nothing if not the newspaper of hard knocks, offers this feature of best tunes for the economic blues, assuming you haven’t “pawned your iPod weeks ago.”
Picks include:
The Clash, “Career Opportunities”
Crystal Waters, “Gypsy Woman (She’s Homeless)”
Bob Marley “Them Belly Full (But We Hungry)”
Still working out whether this is supposed to be funny. And wondering why “Working in a Coal Mine” (Devo’s version especially) and “Hard Candy Christmas” didn’t make the cut.
Buddy, can you spare a Shuffle?
Better late than never: Oxford and Cambridge have joined scores of prestigious universities around the world making lectures available for free on iTunes.
So far, iTunes U offerings from Oxford include J. Craig Venter on genomics and and intro series about the university narrated by noteworthy alum, ex-Monty Pythoner Michael Palin. It will expand to 150 hours.
Rivals Cambridge allow users to download over 80 Naked Scientists “enhanced podcasts” (not sure we want to think about what the enhancing involves) by Dr. Chris Smith.
Oxford Vice Chancellor John Hood said, “We hope that this service will make Oxford’s diverse range of audio and video material more widely accessible to applicants, alumni, supporters of the University, and the intellectually curious.”
