Filed under: Home Entertainment, Portable Audio

Just in case you didn’t get your fill of tall-ass monolithic 2001-lookin’ portable audio device docks, Philips has a new cop on the beat: the not-yet-announced Docking Enterainment System DCM270. Besides playing CDs and docking your GoGear (or wait — is that a YP-K3?), it’ll even play nice with your iPod, something Apple’s decidedly punier Hi-Fi can’t attest to. More on it soon.

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video, Wearables

We’re sure you’re well aware of Nike and Apple’s mutual partnership (or two) by now, and this time Nike’s C.O.R.E. Backpack iD is getting some familiar iPod lovin’ with a built-in remote keypad system and dock connector interface. While we’re fairly certain you already own at least one piece of apparel with electrostatic iPod controls on them, they’ll eventually end up in the wash (we hope), leaving you liaison-less for the day. With Nike’s new pack, your books, laptop, Cheetos stash, and little white (or colorful) Apple are all taken care of on a daily basis. Nike allows you to fully customize the backpack, and aside from choosing your alma mater’s colors, the “Nike Flow” backpanel, or the sweet “security zippers,” you can opt to have the iPod controls built straight into the strap. Per usual, you can dictate the volume, track, and play / pause / stop functions while on the go, and it even boasts a handy headphone port as well as a storage compartment for when you ditch the cans and actually pay attention in class. The C.O.R.E. Backpack iD starts at just $55, but the oh-so-tempting iPod interface bumps the price up to $105, but it’s still a bit cheaper than your alternatives.

[Via iLounge]

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Portable Audio

There really hasn’t been a whole lot of love lost between Apple Computer and Apple Corps over the years — especially since that whole “we won’t sell music” debacle — but it seems that Stevie J and co. might finally be getting through to the guardians of all things Beatles, and could be on the verge of an exclusive iTunes launch of the elusive catalog, reports Fortune. From the sound of things, plenty of millions are set to change hands if the deal goes through, with Apple Computer potentially providing a good bit of advance cash for the marketing push and prospective sales. The Beatles haven’t been incredibly receptive to the use of their music in marketing so far, though there was word recently of a downloadable offering somewhere, but it sounds like Steve is hoping they’ll make an exception to be featured in one of those snazzy iPod ads — it was good enough for Dylan and Bono afterall. Purportedly EMI Group, the band’s label, is the catalyst behind these talks, and while nothing is quite legit yet — in fact, it’s all still hearsay as far as we’re concerned — hopes are high for Strawberry Fields, Revolution, LSD and all that jazz down in Cupertino any day now.

[Thanks, Mack S]

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Portable Audio, Portable Video

Sure, we’ve heard the heartwarming stories of SMS savings a boy’s life and TiVo preventing a man from heading to prison, but this round of “Gadgets Saving Lives” features none other than the token iPod as the center of attention. While Griffin has long since had the idea of using the iPod to power a flashlight-type device, a mushroom hunter (yes, they do exactly as the title describes) resorted to the backlit LCD in his Apple in order to lead rescuers to his location. While enjoying a presumably thrilling evening of picking ’shrooms from the wild brush in Vancouver, Washington with his mother, Pini Nou somehow found himself off the beaten path and lost under a cover of darkness (and wild grass, too). By phoning in authorities and faintly describing his surroundings, troops were able to get close enough to view the white glow emitted from his PMP, and 20 minutes later he was safe and sound, albeit “cold, tired, and aching.” So, there you have it kids, the ultimate excuse to get an iPod for the holidays — safety.

[Thanks, Napo M.]

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video, Transportation

After selling your car, television, computer, house and children, you thought you were finally safe from this nasty epidemic of “iPod integration” — think again. Now the nasty little buggers are going to start showing up in airplanes, since Apple is teaming up Air France, Continental, Delta, Emirates, KLM and United to add charging, audio and video integration for airline passengers. Is nothing sacred? Such seat-based connectivity should be available by mid-2007, and Apple is working with Panasonic Avionics to spread such integration to even more airlines. Five bucks to the first guy who figures out how to get such ubiquitous charging jacks to juice up our laptops.

[Thanks, Zep]

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: GPS, Portable Audio, Portable Video, Transportation

With Sharp throwing down a svelte in-car LCD ready to display nearly any automotive statistic (or roadtrip route) you’d ever need, and Chrysler planning to offer the MyGIG do-it-all device on upcoming vehicles, Panasonic is tossing in its own rendition to keep the competition on their heels. The Strada CN-NVD905U is an in-car navigation / head unit that boasts a 7-inch touchscreen, 30GB hard drive, built-in DVD / CD player, NAVTEQ mapping software, and support for Bluetooth handsfree operations. The trilingual GUI also touts automatic rerouting, and if you’re not already tuned into XM Radio, you can access Sirius’ real-time traffic data to avoid those crowded freeways on your commute back home. Additionally, it sports “iPod video connectivity” for rear seat and front passenger entertainment, but we’re sure all those snazzy movie functions are kept under wraps until you throw it in park. While there’s no telling how much dealers will end up charging for this in-dash machine, the Strada CN-NVD905U should start making noise (and keeping us on track) next Spring.

[Via Slashphone]

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

And here we have the brown Zune stacked agains the Zen Vision:M, iPods 5G and nano, and the Sansa E200 series. Just because it’s taller than the rest doesn’t mean it’s larger than the rest though; we actually found the Zune to be deceptively small, and still quite pocketable. But hey, that’s just us, we’re the peeps prepped and ready to rock a Universal in tight jeans.

P.S. -In case you’re wondering, the screens only “lit” on the Zune because it’s a non-functional retail display unit.

[Thanks, Steven]

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds, Portable Audio, Portable Video

Remember that Apple patent that we eyed back in early September? You know, the one that patented the merging of various electronic devices into a single gadget? Well, it’s back and better than ever before — it’s an update to U.S. patent application Serial No. 11/367,749, and is entitled “Multi-Functional Hand-Held Device.” So how’s this patent different from the last time? It’s not, really, but it provides a fair bit more detail written in that cryptic legalistic prose that we’ve come to know and love; it describes and displays the new interface, which may include various triggers along the edge of the bezel: “By way of example, the visual guides 180 in FIG. 4 include ‘Menu,’ ‘Power,’ ‘Left,’ ‘Select,’ ‘Right,’ etc. It will be appreciated that the visual guides 180 and their arrangement depicted in FIG. 4 are only exemplary. More or fewer visual guides 180 may be provided, and the size of the visual guides 180 can be larger or smaller than the scale depicted in FIG. 4.” Further, there’s a new portrait and landscape option described, handy for viewing photos or watching episodes of “Lost” while on the bus. But even the music-playing core of the iPod will get a makeover, coming in with an on-screen time slider, volume control, and other options that seem to be user-defined and customizable. We’ve still got questions as we did last time concerning prior art, but perhaps these newer details fill in the gaps. All in all, it would appear that the true video iPod (with possible cell phone or GPS add-ons) is still on the drawing board at this point, and it remains to be seen how these illustrations translate into reality. We’ve got some more patent diagrams of that portrait/landscape view and of the new “now playing” interface on the flip side, hot off the patent filing presses.

[Via MacNN]

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Filed under: Peripherals, Portable Audio, Portable Video, Wearables

Some products are simply doomed to fail before they even hit the market, and the iSoundCap was surely one of those items. Unfortunately Amazingly, the start-up centered around a less-than-fashionable ballcap with an apparently appealing ability to tote your iPod is still alive and well, and is now kicking out yet another flavor with trainers (and higher revenue) in mind. The aptly-named Running Cap is “made with a breathable, lightweight mesh fabric, and places the iPod in protective neoprene” to keep any stray wires from flailing around your face. The new exercise-friendly version will supposedly be offered in pink, silver, green, black, red, and blue, which coincidentally matches the colors of the new rainbow nanos. Marketed as the “ultimate way” to carry your iPod while utilizing the Nike+iPod kit, the sweat-proof cap could indeed siphon a few extra dollars from the running crowd, but as of press time we aren’t exactly certain how much coinage these outlandish dome adornments will demand.

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Filed under: Portable Audio, Wearables

While any review of a “sport” product from a gadget site has to be taken with a certain grain of salt, those looking for a more athletic-oriented iPod RF remote need look no further than iLounge, who have rounded up three of the top contenders: the Belkin SportCommand, the Scosche 150′ Wireless RF Sport Remote, and the Monster iEZClick. Though they may not have put ‘em through some of the same abuse that the target audience likely will, iLounge nevertheless gave top honors to the Belkin remote, finding it to be the best designed of the lot, with buttons big enough to be used wearing gloves, and a wireless receiver that actually works better than Belkin’s claimed 50 feet. Its biggest drawback, not surprisingly, is the price: $80. They also found a lot to like about the Scosche unit, although the tiny buttons proved hard to manipulate wearing gloves and the aesthetics left a bit to be desired. The Monster iEZClick got the lowest marks, with a bulky design and the weakest RF transmitter of the bunch, although it is water and shock resistant, not to mention slightly less expensive than the other two. We’ll leave it to the outdoors-types among you to report how well they hold up in more extreme sports — and, no, Segway polo doesn’t count.

Read - Belkin SportCommand
Read - Scosche 150′ Wireless RF Sport Remote
Read - Monster iEZClick

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Filed under: Portable Audio, Wireless

Any wild guesses as to which big tech exec isn’t a fan of the new Zune? If you guessed Steve Jobs, you’d be completely correct; in a recent interview with Newsweek’s Steven Levy, Herr Jobs says that he’s not at all worried about the Zune. “I’ve seen the demonstrations on the Internet about how you can find another person using a Zune and give them a song they can play three times. It takes forever. By the time you’ve gone through all that, the girl’s got up and left! You’re much better off to take one of your earbuds out and put it in her ear. Then you’re connected with about two feet of headphone cable,” argues His Steveness. You make a good point, Steve, but we’ve heard you sing this tune before, like when the original Mac didn’t have networking capabilities and you basically told people to resort to sneakernet — of course, eventually Macs were able to connect with one another. So, we’ll agree with you that the wireless capabilities on the Zune kinda suck out of the box, but we’ll also bet that you’re already at work on some wireless action for a future iPod, no matter how hard you might deny it now.

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Portable Audio

Being the highly edumicated folks we are, we prefer to lug a complete set of the Encyclopedia Britannica in a cart wherever we go, but we suppose the proletariat might prefer something a bit more convenient. For them there’s this new “WikiPod” script from Matt Swann that pulls down a wiki page, along with all of the pages it links to — and all the pages they link to and so forth — until it hits the maximum megabytes you specify, or bumps up against Apple’s 1000 note limit for the iPod. Of course, if you’ve got an older iPod, you could always run Encyclopedia on iPod Linux, or you could just bust out your phone and utilize one of the numerous mobile Wiki solutions, but whatevs. We figure the perfect solution to all this would be a Linux-based Apple iPod phone, but we suppose that might be asking a lot.

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Peripherals, Portable Audio

We’re not exactly sure how many different (or not so different) iPod docks are absolutely necessary, but we suppose the money is good, so we can’t be too terribly hard on these manufacturers trying to make a quick buck with their endless iterations of the infernal things. Today’s flavors comprise a virtual cornucopia of boringness, with Onkyo, Elecom and iLive all trying their darnedest not to stick out. Onkyo starts things off with their Wave Radio-inspired AERO Sound System (pictured), which includes CD playback, has a 5 watt 2 channel speaker, and will go for around 40,000 to 50,000 yen (about $335 to $419 US) when it goes on sale on November 30th. Next we have the the ASP-WP8 from Elecom, which boasts of 5.5 watt 2 channel sound, some decent looks and a 16,065 yen pricetag ($135 US). The ASP-WP8 will be out in late October. Finally, we have the painfully named IHMD8816DT Home Docking System from iLive, which boasts of full-on DVD playback along with the simple iPod docking action, and will be retailing for around $160. All three players come with cute little remotes, and while the first two appear to be Japan-only, the iLive dock should be inciting yawns from the store shelves of our very own shores. Check out the Elecom and iLive after the break.

Read - Onkyo AERO Sound System
Read - Elecom ASP-WP8
Read - iLive IHMD8816DT

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video, Wireless

When it comes to Apple’s product roadmap, to say there’s an enormous amount of buzz and milling of rumors is a ridiculous understatement. Believe it or not we tend to have to disregard the majority of rumors floating around (or that get sent in to us); that said, when not only one, but multiple trusted sources get in touch to let us know Steve Jobs & Co. are supposedly finally about completed with the wireless / video iPod, we have to take note. Supposedly they’re preparing to announce the device in the very near future, which we’ve been told is both wireless and widescreen (both features we’ve been waiting for the iPod to take on, since, well, forever) — you didn’t think last month’s new nano / new shuffle / iTV event was going to be it for the rest of the year, did you? We’ll keep you posted.

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

Rocking Linux on your iPod and hacking the firmware to change the on-screen graphics are certainly nifty tweaks to distinguish your otherwise commonplace Apple gizmo, but tossing a screensaver on there definitely ups the ante. While you may have seen video loops running on 5G iPods displayed at your local Apple Store, you probably figured a genius from the service bar rigged it up using a soldering iron or proprietary software, but the simplicity behind the secret is quite refreshing. To fancy up your own 5G (and likely 5.5G) iPod, simply create a folder dubbed “Demo Mode” and rename any video clip “Demo.” After 2 minutes of stagnation while on charge, the device will automatically begin looping your recently renamed file, which is (presumably) sure to bring pure geek elation to even the most imperturbable PMP junky.

[Via MAKE]