Appletell

Creative Labs has started shipping its TravelSound speaker setup for the iPod Nano to the US market. The TravelSound speaker setup utilizes two speaker channels into one body. This speaker baby is powered by li-ion battery and could give out approximately 15 hours of good use.

The TravelSound sets itself apart from other speakers by meshing two channels into a single body, in which the Nano docks flush. Each of these channels gives out a maximum 700mW of RMS power and boasts of frequency response of 180Hz to 20KHz. If its capabilities in producing high quality sound is not enough to convince you in considering this speaker for your iPods, its tiny size which allows you to carry it around with easy or put it in your purses or luggage, just might make want to snag this speaker dock.

The TravelSound speaker system also comes with USB 2.0 port which allows for synching your Nano to your Mac, that is aside from charging your Nano as well.

You can snag one of this speaker system for $80. But make sure that your iPods are 3rd generation Nanos as it will only work with those models because of its odd shape.

Via [Ipodnn] Product [Creative]

Want to put the external disk option in your iPod to good use? I mean, your iPod Shuffle, Nano, and 5th generation with with video models are all good as portable disk drives, right? So why let a good feature go to waste because of Apple’s closed system? With a new product called miShare, you can kiss the problem of file swapping between iPods goodbye. Simply attach one iPod on one end, and another on the other end, et voilà! The first iPod can now save the files to the second one on its hard disk, and vice versa. The only catch is that you have to add all the files, whether they be music, photos, notes, etc., via your PC because as mentioned previously, the data is only saved on the hard disk. But really, isn’t that forgivable given the convenience that this product brings?

miShare is available now for only $99.

Product [miShare] Via [CrunchGear]

According to Henry Milan, owner of patent number 6,991,483, Apple is infringing on his patent for a method to connect a Flash memory device to a connection port on another device, such as a computer.  This would affect devices such as the iPod Touch and iPod Nano, but Information Week has mentioned that, surprisingly, the iPhone is not mentioned in this report although it could be added.  The lawsuit wants to receive damages for the infringement as well as an injunction against the sales of the devices.  However, the law firm, Butzel Long, is not sure whether or not they want to pursue the injunction yet.

I’m sure Apple’s lawyers are busy over in Cupertino trying to get this straightened out, and I hope the lawsuit is settled quickly and efficiently for both sides.  I find it highly unlikely that the iPods will have to stop being sold, but that’s fairly obvious.  What are you thoughts on this patent dispute?  Is Mr. Milan on to something here?

It was so young, so full of vigor, singing its songs, always looking fashionable with its wardrobe of cases and sleeves. Not a care in the world. And then quite suddenly and without warning the sickness came, an error, a blinking signal, and then the cold silence. Technology can leave a void in your life to when it leaves you, without warning or an alternate digital music device. Nothing can prepare you for that first day you reach down to play “Jason’s Funky Get Down Dance Mix” and nothing is there, no Ipod, no Earth, Wind, and Fire...well maybe the wind. Blowing through your heart as Eric Carmen’s “All By Myself” plays in your heart, not your earbuds.

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Apple Japan has recently launched a promo and is including limited edition cases with iPod Nanos and Touches.  However, the Nano case costs 2,280 yen ($22), and the Touch case is 2,680 yen ($26).  The cases are made of hardened polycarbonate and coated in black rubber while the etching are made of a golden color.  The etching features the district it is bought in (Ginza, Shibuya, Nagoya, Sendai, Sapporo, Fukuoka, or Shinsaibashi), as well as a traditional Japanese symbol.

If you have picked on of these up or plan on it, let us know how it is.  Is it worth the extra money?  From the pictures, it looks pretty interesting.  It could be cool if Apple does something like this in the USA, Europe, or Canada.

Read the article at a Google translated site.

See the iPod Nano at the right of this text - well the back of that Nano is what victory looks like. In Japan, a contest began March 21, 2008 that involves the recent Nintendo DS release Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword. On April 16, 2008 15 fortunate Japanese residents can enter to win this Team Ninja pod…

Read [Gamertell]

After a Japanese man’s iPod nano caught fire while recharging (see here), officials are investigating a possible defect in the MA099J/A iPod nano model. Approximately 425,000 iPod nanos with identical model numbers have been shipped between September 2005 and September 2006. Fortunately, no one has been harmed due to the fire, although a possible defect in the iPod nano model is being investigated.

Apple has not denied any of the statements, although has refused to comment further. Japan is requesting that Apple look into the problem and report back to the Japanese government once an explanation was found.

Lithium-ion batteries, used in many electronics such as laptops, digital cameras, and iPod nanos, have been known to be the cause of many fires in electronics and recalls across the world for quite while. Many of the fires reported are due to overheating incidents, which is a possibility for this incident as well, although it is still under investigation.

Engadget reports that this weeks’ Circuit City circular shows a purple iPod Nano. The photo above is confirmed by the online screenshot linked at the bottom, and I can confirm that this appeared in my Sunday newspaper as well. The purple appears in place of the pink, but it is highly unlikely that Apple would discontinue the pink so soon, unless it was designed as a special edition Valentines Day version.

This update would bring the number of Nano models up to 8 (4GB silver, 8GB silver, black, green, blue, red, pink, purple). It is worth it to note that the color as a whole looks a little off in the iPod Nano photo, but not enough to have turned the pink iPod purple. Circuit City’s website photo for the Nano shows pink, and no sign of purple.

If this is a true update, it would be reasonable to expect it this Tuesday, for yet another update week in Apple’s calendar.

Read [Engadget] See [Ad Page]

We saw yesterday that already Apple has put up banners around the Moscone Center, the banners simply have the following message: “There’s something in the air”. The latest craze in the blogosphere is to guess what it means, and Valleywag has a pretty good one. Valleywag assumes that Apple’s mysterious message is referring to a WiFi-like technology called WiMax. According to their source, the long-range broadband technology may be included in the rumored 13 inch ultra-portable notebook and in the MacBook Pro line. It all sounds like it should make sense: “There’s something in the air” and Intel including WiMax in their latest chips. But the Silicon Valley blog is only giving it “a 60% chance” of it happening according to their source.

If anyone can kick off a brand new technology like WiMax - Apple should be the ones to do it. But I still think unless there are more WiMax links around the world, this won’t be so successful. Don’t forget that Apple is streaming this keynote live to Europe, so they wouldn’t be too pleased if the new notebooks could only take advantage of this technology in the USA.

Via [Valleywag]

mStation (the new owners of mophie) have announced a new design of the Wraptor iPod case to be available in October. The new design features a clear, scratch-resistant polycarbonate shock-resistant outer shell, with a soft rubber backing. The backing pops up to reveal a place to wrap your earphones, and pops down to securely hide them.

This looks like a pretty neat and clever design. I have found that with a lot of iPod cases with cord management, the cords become unravelled sometimes, and look a little ugly. With the pop-up rubber backing, you can hide all of that away while still keeping your earphones secured, and close at hand. If the Wraptor looks like a case that floats your boat, it will be available for $30 in October.

Product Page [mophie]