Apple Intro New iPods, Headphones & iTunes 8

Apple unleased their new iPods, iTunes and content offerings today at their annual september press conference. Amongst their new offerings were a new iPod Nano and Touch. A change in the line up of their iPod classic and a new iTunes version and content such as HD TV Shows and features like Genius which apparently can generate playlists of songs "that go great together." The HD TV shows on offer will cost $2.99 instead of $1.99 for standard definition content. Apple also claimed to have over 65 million iTunes Store accounts worldwide. The 160GB iPod Classic has been retired because in Jobs words "No one buys the thick" one, which is funny, because most of my friends who have recently bought one, have bought this exact model. It seems that they will only be offering a 120GB model for an SRP of $249 (£179), and which should be the same size and dimensions as the current 80GB model. The new iPod Nano was unveiled as "the thinnest iPod we've ever made." and like many of the speculative renderings we were teased with, it does have an oval, tapered shape with a black or white wheel. It also features an accelerometer like the iPhone and iPod Touch for viewing Cover Flow album art, photos, and video when turned sideways. The Nano also has a built-in voice recorder and the ability to shuffle tracks, when shaken. The new iPod Nano also includes an iPhone-like headphone set which comes with a new clicker, volume control, and microphone. The clicker allows you to double-click to skip to the next song, press once to pause and three times to go to the previous song. You can also record voice memos with a microphone on the other side. Costing around $29, the new headphones will be available from next month, there will also be a new set of higher quality in-ear headphones that will have an SRP of $79. The iPod nano will purportedly have a "great" battery life with 24 hours of music and 4 hours video. The new iPod nano will have an SRP of $149 for the 8GB model and $199 for the 16GB. New iPod Touches were also shown and it appears that the new shiny Touch has the same 3.5" display but is thinner with a tapered, stainless steel back. The iPod Touch has the same integrated volume controls on the side, it also features a built-in speaker like the iPhone. Another cool feature is the integration of the Nike+iPod system for tracking running statistics. The new iPod touch will support up to 36 hours of music and 6 hours of video playback off a full charge. Unlike the other new announcements it is available immediately for $229 for the 8GB model, and $299 for the 16GB, and $399 for the 32GB.

Goodmans Release iPod Dock with 7″ Display

Goodmans have released a new iPod Dock featuring a 7" LCD Display. The GIPDV701 will display your video, films and photos from both your iPod, supports JPG, MP3 and MPEG-4 playback and the integrated 3 in 1 card reader adds more flexibility. It also features a remote control and a 12V car adapter. The unit will have an SRP of £89.99.

Boynq Wakeup - iPod Lovers Alarm Clock

So as an ipod lover you may have been looking for a cool dock with alarm clock capabilities. Unfortunately most of the solutions out there are pretty dull looking. However, fear not, Boynq, have announced a new iPod clock stereo with a cool design. The device features three beautifully integrated LCD displays, which show the time, radio stations and input channels in a soft white light. The Boynq Wakeup supports iPod Minis, standard 4G, 5G and Classic iPods, all generations of the Nano, and the iPhone as well as the iPod touch. iPods are docked on top of one of the panels. Devices can be charged and synched at the same time, and other audio sources are supported via line-in. No price or release date as yet, but black and white models will soon be available. Visit Boynq for more info

iPod Nano & iPod Classic Unveiled

After unveiling the new iPod Touch, and feeling a little disappointed with Apples efforts, I was pleased to see the Ipod classic and the New Video Playing iPod Nano. The classic is just like the 5G units but in capacities of 80GB and 160GB, whereas the Nano is available in 4GB and 8GB sizes. I for one, like the ipod Nano and can see sense in this PMP. The 8GB & 16GB iPod Touch offering fall short of true excellence due to its relatively small storage capacities ... go on Apple give us more storage on the iPod Touch.

iPhone Reviews Summary

The reviews for the iPhone are coming hard and fast ... most like what they see, and are impressed by what Apple have produced. However below I've listed the good and the Bad. Good Things - It's a great iPod with some web capabilities Cover Flow feature is awesome Orientation sensors are cool Display quality excellent. The UI is excellent and has only served to raise the bar... Battery life is more than most of us expected. 'Visual Voicemail' is pretty cool... The glass screen is remarkably resilient. Microsoft Exchange is supported The bad: No User Replaceable Battery ... Shame on you Apple yet again for being so inconsiderate!!! (A Phone without this, is a truly pathetic omission). The virtual keyboard is frustrating with a learning curve... The Absences of 3G is a mistake. Web browsing is real slow unless your use wireless. OS X uses 700MB of the 4GB/8GB Memory. No A2DP support – Stupid considering it's a media device!!! No cut, copy or paste options for text – staggering No MMS No editing of PDF, Word or Excel documents. No browser support for Flash or any other embedded video Poor voice call quality 2MP Still camera only – no video recording. No support for MP3 ringtones. Contacts must be scrolled through – no searching or voice dialling... No Memory Card slot!!! No GPS... The bottom line is that it makes a great iPod, but the phone capabilities and several features need a rethink... Links: David Pogue Walt Mossberg Edward Baig Steven Levy

iPod Mods offer 100GB Upgrades for iPods and Zune

iPodMods are offering to spruce up your favourite media player with a massive 100GB of storage. The Zune, both 60GB and 80GB iPods will accept the upgrade with some ease, however, the 30GB 5G and 5.5G iPods require a slightly modified back cover. Do you really want to spend the $300 required for this though. Thanks to Engadget for this lead. Good luck with the decision, I for one, can't be bothered.

100 Million iPods Sold

Apple announced the sale of its 100 millionth iPod. Quite the milestone really. "At this historic milestone, we want to thank music lovers everywhere for making iPod such an incredible success," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO, in a statement. "iPod has helped millions of people around the world rekindle their passion for music, and we're thrilled to be a part of that." With so many units sold it'll be hard for anyone to challenge it's position in the marketplace, although I've said it before, I think the mobile phone industry is beginning to make serious inroads with their latest generation of phones with multimedia support.

iPod Virus Created

Kaspersky Labs have created Podloso, a virus design to demonstrate a minor security hole in the iPod. For the Virus to work the user must actually download it. The virus will only infect an iPod with Linux installed. Podloso cannot spread to other iPods on its own, one in the right folders on an iPod the virus will make all songs and videos unplayable. Instead of playing back the affected files, the iPod will display an error message which reads, "You are infected with Oslo the first iPodLinux Virus." For more visit tgdaily.

Roth Audio iPod Dock

Roth Audio are a British company, who produce Music Cocoons, tube based amps and high fidelity docks for the iPod based audio enthusiast. I'm not sure about their claims to be able to produce sounds with warmth and dimension, but, they do however recommend using a lossless compression format for achieving the best results with these music cocoons. I would love to get my hands on one to review, just because they look so funky and cool. There several units in the works but the first with real information is the Music Cocoon MC4.