Apple Rumors: New iPods, iTunes 8, and a Price Drop?

Digg.com’s founder Kevin Rose: is either - quite well connected, lucky enough to get random emails by Apple insiders, or is just looking for blog traffic. Really, it’s probably all three. A self-made gentleman of the blog-o-sphere, Rose is taken quite seriously by most bloggers and podcasters, as his information is the stuff of dream posts. Hard hitting, late breaking, unconfirmed tech rumors… revealed.

We bloggers crave this type of inside track so badly that we’ll believe most anything. Rose revealed on Sunday’s “This Week in Tech” that he has received unsolicited anonymous emails, which included...

PDF files of reference photos and technical specs for the new nano. The photos released, show a rounder, thinner, and longer body design, in addition to a wider screen. Who knows if the emails are from people working for or with Apple on the latest iPod nano design, but the information is thought to be creditable.

Rose also wrangled up some insider info on the iTunes 8 release, however remained tight lipped about the purported new features, in hopes of avoiding ridicule if his information is found to be false. Of course, that’s silly because people are going to ridicule and discredit him, either way. He also won’t release the full photos of the nano with the technical specifications attached to protect the sources anonymity. OK, then. So we should just take his word for it? Seems as if.

Rose also added what seemed to be his speculation of an impeding price drop. Making the assertion that the current iPhone price, of $199 w/ two-year contract, has been taking sales away from regular iPods.

I personally never really considered buying an iPhone, the service contract always seemed like a rip off, so I bought the iPod Touch, no contest, no debate, no wavering. It seems counter-intuitive that Apple would readjust their entire iPod line's price point to match a discount that is given when a two-year contract is signed. I don’t see it happening… good thing we’ll only have to wait a few weeks for all to be announced (Sept. 9). I hate not knowing whether I'm right.



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Coby makes HD Radio Affordable

Due out this August are two HD radio receivers, the HDR-700 and the HDR-650, from that value brand we’ve come to love – Coby. These latest Cobys aren’t quite the $5 headphones - stocked at your local bodega - that you’re used to picking up. These HD radios pack some serious sound in a seriously small package.

The HDR-700 is a portable cordless tabletop HD radio with an integrated rechargeable battery and splash-proof casing, making this Coby the perfect travel companion. The portable tuner/player sports an SD card slot for MP3 playback and, of course, is able to pick up crystal clear free HD broadcasts – anywhere. Price to move with you at $149.

The HDR-700’s partner in tuning is the component HD radio receiver, the HDR-650. Its brushed aluminum casing and diminutive stature allows it to easy assimilate into any stereo system. The alarm and sleep functions let you wake or rest to perfectly clear brilliant sounding audio. Sure you’ll have some ads to contend with, but what’s the alternative… paying for radio transmissions? No Thanks, I'll just pay $99 bucks for this little guy and have all the radio programming one person can handle.

Press Release
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iPhone Gets Video Projection

So while we portable gadget addicts wait for cell phones that include tiny embedded projectors. A Johnny-on-the-spot Taiwanese manufacturer, Honlai, has been reducing the size of today’s available projection technology, and making it into a form suitable to befriend iPhone aficionados.

This projector represents some of the newest iPhone accessory tech being reviled at Computex Taipei 2008. It boasts screen sizes between 15”~ 27”, which is perfect for a medium sized room. It’s far from HD, but youtube works in a pinch; so a resolution of 640x480 should be enough to satiate you ravenous media appetite. The paltry contrast ratio of 200: 1 is a bit of a bummer, but hopefully a nice price upon release will allow us gloss over this.

Judging from the test runs published online...

the picture quality isn’t bad. There's no doubt, these units give you instant access to room filling visuals that would otherwise remain handheld; however, as far as the sound goes, the speakers pump out all of two watts. Which will be sufficient to get the point across, though some audio is bound to get lost.

Whether this iPhone projector will be used to display the buyer’s vast array of legally purchased iTunes movies, or whether it will become an impromptu presentation tool, allowing enterprising business folks to sell their ideas on the fly, has yet to be determined. Price will most likely decide this.

But, however they take off, I predict they definitely will. Our digital lives are turning away from being solely sedentary. More and more people are realizing the benefits of mobile computing; in turn computers are getting smaller and are conforming to us more. I can’t wait until we are truly freed from the desk, and wearable computers are commonplace.

If this all seems a little far fetched too you, you can always plug your iPod into any analog AV system using cords from Apple.
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HTC's 'Dream' is the First Phone Slated to Run Android

Since November, HTC has reportedly been working on a phone that would run Google’s new platform Android.

The video below is a BBC report on Google’s platform. The demonstration was preformed on an unknown phone; that is, unknown until this morning when the news broke that HTC, a Google partner in the Android project, supplied the prototype for the report.

It’s called ‘Dream’, and HTC provides the capable candybar phone a full keyboard underneath the large touch screen panel (no multi-touch though), better than average processor speed (300Mhz), Google Map’s Street View, and a 3D processor for 30 fps gaming, all residing in a slightly robust 5 inches by 3 inches case.

‘Dream’ is set to ship around Black Friday; HTC will have good company with most of Google’s other partners planning similar launches around Turkey Day as well.

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iPhone 2.0 Patent...Finally, a Flip iPhone

Apple devotees aren't the type to sit on a technology for very long, and even though the iPhone is hardly old news, the patent office has received an application and drawing from Apple of their latest incarnation of the iPhone, 2.0 styles.

The concept is a flip phone where the flip is a clear dual-sided multi-touch trackpad. When closed, the clear multi-touch flip lays over top the phone's display, and controls the device in the same way as the present iPhone. When open the underside of the flip turns into a keypad for dialing. Of course, being that it's an Apple, they had to get 'cute' with it. In addition to the standard phone pad layout, this new concept calls for a mock up of an old school rotary phone, and the ability to just draw the shape of your numbers individually.

Despite my tagline, this concept seems more about providing choice in the iPhone's form rather than replacing the current iPhone. The clamshell phone design has deeply embedded itself into the culture of technology, starting with "Star Trek", but continue on through to the iconic Razr, and beyond. Plus, it's smaller. It only makes sense for Apple to diversify their product offerings; no phone manufacturer has gained a disproportionate share of the market through just one phone, not even Apple.

The video below is a concept video produced by Christopher DeSantis that has gained some attention recently due to Apple's patent news. The concept presented in this video, if brought to fruition, would bring a new form factor into play. One I think would succeed.

..via unwiredview..
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Computers Convey Sense of Touch

Multi-touch interfaces recently took center stage, again, with the introduction of newer Apple laptops outfitted with a multi-touch trackpad, and multi-touch is quickly working its way into your computer display as well.

My question is, how much feedback can this system give our actual sense of touch? Achieving this is a whole different set of objectives all together. A game controller does this, in a way. They’re a type of what is referred to as a haptic interface, the car crashes the joystick vibrates.

The newest haptic interface, developed by Ralph L. Hollis and team of Carnegie Mellon, allows you to feel a virtual product by providing users feedback on gravitational resistance and surface texture using magnetic levitation and, that’s right, a joystick. The difference here is the sensations that are delivered by Hollis’ haptic device mimic what the hand would feel with much more accuracy.

This is achieved through the implementation of a magnetic resistance to simulate sense of touch. The controller is topped with a hand grasp, and the stick ‘floats’, or is suspended by way of opposing magnetic fields in a bowl like apparatus.

Butterfly Haptics, the firm marketing the interface hopes to have this device ready and available by June or July.

Some expected applications include virtual surgery or virtual dentistry training. The trainees would be able sense the texture of a tissue, or feel the resistance from a tooth being drilled.

As the technology advances, haptic devices will seep into our everyday lives even further. Their pervasiveness is already evident. The popularity of vibrating cell phones and game controllers has eased this technology into our culture. Adapting more advanced haptic interfaces into our everyday lives shouldn’t be too much of a stretch.

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Minox's Digi Cam: for 'Spies Like Us'

Not to make it a theme here, but the spying business is a great gadget producer. One from the days before cyber-espionage, is the Minox TLX Subminiature Spy Cam. The iconic size and sliding action of the completely mechanical camera is well recognized. You’ve undoubtedly seen them used in movies where the spy photographs the target’s documents with one.

If you like your gadgets to invoke that spy slickness, but hardly need to be inconspicuous; the Minox DC 7411 digital gives you the tools to capturing life's highlights, easily and 'with the slickness'. Sporting a slimmer casing, 3-inch LCD, face detection, smart styling, and a 7.2 MP sensor, this capable flick maker will have you wishing your work assignments self destructed in...30secs.

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Compact Megapixel King: The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W300

Sony gets what we want the ‘mega’ in megapixels to mean. With the Cyber-shot DSC-W300, Sony redefines this prefix to mean not a million but mammoth, incredible, abundant, *almost* an overkill. 13.6 million pixels is a densely packed sensor yet a large pixel count alone doth not a great camera make.

A digital camera sensor is nothing without superior optics to focus the light shining on the sensor, correctly and with no distortion. Carl Zeiss lenses have been making crisp images with a rich tonal range for well over a century, this is why all Cyber-shots are outfitted with Zeiss lenses to give us the best possible image. This is an especially important component to not skimp on.

Another component often overlooked is the case which all those electronics reside in. Cameras fall, some don’t survive; this one's chance of coming out unscathed is greatly increased due to its added titanium coating. The coating also helps keep that new camera shine longer by adding “highly-resistance” scratch and fingerprint protection.

Indoor lighting in past models could be a hairy proposition, but with the DSC-W300’s “extra high sensitivity” (ISO 6400) even dimly lit rooms can remain naturally lit and can be shot successfully without a flash. Grain and noise in the dark areas usually manifest themselves in lower light photos, Sony’s addition of a noise reduction filter helps minimize this and eliminates the need for post processing by performing in-camera filtering, a great time saver.

Try not to mistake this camera for the Terminator, because it does indeed use artificial intelligence technology. Only here, instead of murderous protection, it provides some sensational photographic skills. The technology prioritizes faces and triggers the shutter the moment the camera sees a smile. And, if switching between scene modes is too much of a hassle the powerful picky picture maker does this for you as well, with scene recognition technology. Freaky right?

Sometime we might wait months before downloading a batch of pics to our computer. Sony realizes this and offers new ways to organize and view snaps right on the 2.7 inch LCD. Image management is enhanced with the addition of an in-camera search by face, date, or calendar view and of course they’ve added HDTV output and, nicely enough, a longer music file capacity for sideshow playback. These enhancements allow for quick and intuitive preparation of elegant slideshow presentations.

The opportunity to actually lay hands on this Cyber-shot is still a few months away; feel its power vicariously for now, and preorder this hot shot for delivery around the beginning of May.

UPDATE: Video after the jump. Click for More Information
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Nüvifone Set to Topple Apple's iPhone

Garmin’s latest announcement introduces us to the nüvifone, the company’s ambitious first foray into the mobile phone market. Obviously, any phone carrying the Garmin brand will be heavily skewed towards navigation and geo-tagging functions, and the nüvifone delivers, in theory. Success in this realm, for Garmin, will depend on how well they pull off the integration of the GPS enabled functions with the rest of the phone’s capabilities. On paper, the nüvifone meshes internet browsing, navigating, photographing, messaging and actually carrying on a conversation with style and functionality.

The phone is reportedly 3.5G capable, this basically means with the right network support the nüvifone would have the fastest download speeds ever experienced on a phone. At first glance the 3.5” touch screen and similar overall size makes the nüvifone look like a bootleg iPhone. Looks can be deceiving and in this instance they are. As fundamental to the phone’s operation as music playback on the iPhone, the nüvifone takes navigation seriously, while still remembering it’s mostly a toy at heart.

Some geo-tagging options are all fun and games like the automatic picture position tagging. A photo taken with the built-in camera will be appropriately geo-tagged; you could then send the photo to a friend just to let them know where you’re at. If they happen to have a nüvifone as well, they could then navigate directly to the photo’s position. Presumably you’d stay there to meet up with them. This isn't any better than just telling your mates were you’re at, but loads more fun.

Another, more plausible, example of the seamless navigation integration would be going from walking and talking; to driving, navigating, and conversing hands-free. As soon as the phone snaps into the car mount cradle the audio transfers to the speaker phone and the navigation function automatically activates.

Nüvifone also tags your position as soon as you take the phone off the car mount. This promises to make locating that out of the way parking place much easier. Plus, it took you an hour to find an open spot, you don’t want it take that long or longer to find your way back to it.

Garmin has built a huge database of points of interest, but they also realize that many folks use and trust Google to search points of interest. Using Google, the Garmin accesses all the resources of the web, including user generated ratings, to sort points of interest search results. They’ve also geo-positioned landmarks within the POIs database and linked them with sightseeing photographs from Google’s Panoramio, thereby enhancing those travels to unfamiliar destinations.

Added as more of a side note, the phone also plays movies and music, but I wouldn't throw out your iPod just yet.

If Garmin successfully completes this ambitious undertaking, the big question then becomes which carrier would offer this phone? AT&T would do well to keep their bid in front of the Garmin decision makers; having the two most feature-rich phone offerings would certainly boast profits, and maybe bring plan costs down. Well, one can dream, can't one?

<..via press release..

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Squeezebox Duet, it's All About the Control

Your digital music collection just found a new outlet for expression. Squeezebox Duet ($400 MSRP), far from being a duet redo of a rockin’ Who song, is Logitech’s answer to the problem of getting the tunes on your computer to play through the speakers of your home theater system or similar system.

Squeezebox’s disposition for making sweet music with computer contents stems from its wireless capabilities. The Wi-Fi connects to you digital music library over your home network and also connects to music streams like Pandora, Rhapsody, or Slacker (w/ a SqueezeNetwork subscription) even when the computer is powered down.

There is no amplification provided by the squeezebox receiver, so plugging the squeezebox into a stereo receiver or some powered speakers is a definite requirement. Connecting the unit up a stereo receiver happens via the analog or digital (coax/optical) connections.

The jewel of this soon to be released multi-room system is the controller. This Wi-Fi home audio controller features an iPod like scroll wheel, large color display, flickr support, built-in speaker, headphone jack, and (just uncovered) a hidden SD card slot. Control all your music and streams from this well laid out, easy to handle remote.

The system comes with one controller and one receiver. The packaged system includes the equipment for setting up one room. Multiple rooms can easily be accommodated by extending the system with the purchase of additional receivers ($150 MSRP). Every room in your house could have it's own unique soundtrack with each room controlled by the single remote, of course you can get more remotes too ($300 MSRP).

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Magellan's New Lineup, iPhone Inspired?

Magellan Elite 2370
Magellan, seemingly taking a play from the iPhone play book, has announced that a borderless 3.5” touch-panel display will adorn one of their latest PND, the Elite 3270 (not pictured). By removing the traditional beveled plastic case, Magellan hopes that the resulting form will be considered more “elegant and high-tech” by users, thus setting them apart in a crowded PND market.

Along with its new edge to edge flat screen, touch sensitivity is also enhanced. If brought to market today the Elite 3270 would be the industry’s most compact PND standing 3.24” tall and 0.7” thick. The model will ship with all the necessary accessories for easy installation into your vehicle. Alas it’s not out yet. The list price is $499.

Maestro™ Elite 5340 (pictured above)
Improved processor speed and a dedicated graphics accelerator are good reasons to choose the Maestro™. But, if display size is a driving factor in your GPS purchase decisions, than you might be interested in the 5” screen that beautifies this newest flagship model of Magellan GPS.

For the majority of us this alone is not enough to make the sale. So what other goodies does Magellan have up their sleeves?

Besides giving you 35% more viewable area, Maestro™ is a highly customizable device. With the “One touch” interface you can identify and store your favorite destinations, like which chain restaurant you like to eat at or what superstore you like to buy underwear from. Then, with one touch the Maestro™ instantly accesses directions to the nearest store in that chain from your present location. This would be great for traveling through unfamiliar territory. One touch is also touted as a safety feature minimizing driver distraction by streamlining access to destinations and POIs.

Further contributing to driver safety is the SayWhere™ voice command. Simply speak the destination address and Maestro™ calculates the appropriate route in seconds or search POIs with voice commands like, “Nearest Indian Restaurant”. The Maestro is equipped with a dual microphone to decipher your voice, and for Bluetooth® enabled phone calls. After you tire of your selected voice telling you where to go, switch over to the media player with built in FM transmitter to broadcast your MP3s through the car stereo.

Traffic data isn’t over looked either. This subscription based traffic update also makes alternate route calculation based on historical traffic data taking into account the time of day. The smartness of this traffic data system might make it worth continuing the subscription after the three month trial period expires.

General Packet Radio Service (GPRS)
Is too much information every really *too* much information? We don’t think so. Magellan is betting most of their information age demographic feels similarly. To that end, Magellan has partnered with Google to provide their Maestro Elite 5340+GPRS with the uncanny ability to provide overly comprehensive location specific information through Google local search, "simply type in what it is you're looking for and Google displays relevant results around the your current location or a specified location". List price 1,299.

These are said to be scheduled for release sometime in the first quarter of 2008.

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