It's hard to believe, but Google is 7 years old now. If you are curious about Google's rise to power, there's an interesting timeline of the company's history on Google.com.

It's full of trivia tidbits like these:

• Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin didn't like each other when they first met
  
• Google was originally called BackRub because of its "unique ability to analyze the back links pointing to a given website"
• Google's first office was in a friend's garage

Definitely ultra nerdy, but worth a quick read.

Want to keep a watchful eye out for the next monster hurricane? Mac OS X Tiger users might want to check out a widget called Radar In Motion.

Radar In Motion is a free Dashboard widget that grabs radar images from the Weather Channel and then displays them in an animation.

You can access radar imagery for any given city or region.

The widget has several options for displaying and updating the maps, including weather alerts and the ability to save maps for a specified period of time.

Download: Radar In Motion

As you may know, you can order an iPod from the Apple Store with a custom, laser-engraved message. However, not everything gets engraved. Apple has been rejecting some messages for editorial reasons.

The following is a collection of engravings that were actually rejected by Apple, and some that probably should have been. Enjoy!


Read More: Rejected iPod Engravings

With Tuesday's release of the Dell Ditty music player, Dell is trying to make its impact on the mp3 flash player world.

Their focus was on a creative design and to trump the features of the iPod Shuffle by offering a built in FM tuner. Did Dell succeed?

You decide which player is best for you:


Capacity:
Ditty - 512 MB
Shuffle - 512 MB or 1 GB
Advantage: Shuffle


LCD Screen:
Ditty - Yes
Shuffle - No
Advantage: Ditty


FM Radio:
Ditty - Yes
Shuffle - No
Advantage: Ditty


Dimensions:
Ditty - 3.6 x 1.1 x .5 inches
Shuffle - 3.3 x .98 x.5 inches
Advantage: Shuffle


Compatible with iTunes:
Ditty - No
Shuffle - Yes
Advantage: Shuffle


Weight:
Ditty - 1.29 oz
Shuffle - .78 oz
Advantage: Shuffle


Battery Life:

Ditty - 14 hours
Shuffle - 12 hours
Advantage: Ditty

WMA Compatible:
Ditty - Yes
Shuffle - No
Advantage: Ditty


AAC Compatible:
Ditty - No
Shuffle - Yes
Advantage: Shuffle


Price:
Ditty - $99
Shuffle - $99
Advantage: TIE

iTunes 5.0 was just released a few weeks ago, but Apple has already posted an update for their popular iPod companion application.

The two major new features in iTunes 5.0.1 are a "powerful" new Search Bar and the ability to create folders for organizing playlists. In addition to these new features, Apple has also addressed several stability issues from iTunes 5.0.


NEW SEARCH BAR
In previous versions of iTunes, if you were looking for something, you had to run separate searches of both your personal music library and the iTunes Music Store. The new search bar in iTunes 5.0.1 blurs the difference between the two. Apparently Apple wants you to find whatever song you are searching for whether you own it or not, and in the case of the latter, encourage you to make a purchase from the iTunes Music Store.



PLAYLIST FOLDERS
As our music collections grow, so do our playlists. Apple realized this and has added the ability to organize our playlists into folders within iTunes.

To make a new playlist folder, open iTunes 5.0.1 and select New Folder from under the File menu (File > New Folder). A new "untitled folder" will appear along side your other playlists. For those savvy iTunes users with lots of playlists or who like to create nested Smart Playlists, this new feature will be enormously helpful.


STABILITY FIXES
iTunes 5.0 had some major stability issues. Personally, I experienced frequent crashes when browsing the iTunes Music Store or burning CD/DVD's. So hopefully the 5.0.1 update will fix most of those issues.


Here's what Apple says was included in the 5.0.1 update:

• new Search Bar which helps you find exactly what you are looking for in iTunes or from among 2 million songs on the Music Store
  
• folders for organizing playlists
• new Parental Controls for music, music sharing and podcasts.
  
• several stability improvements over iTunes 5.0
  

You can download the iTunes 5.0.1 update at http://www.itunes.com.


[MethodShop.com]

Can't get enough of your new iPod Nano? You are not alone. The iPod Nano is barely a few weeks old and already has several sets of icons.

So if you are looking to spice up your computer with some iPod Nano icons, here's a few places to check out:

FastIcon.com usually provides commercial icons to software developers for use in toolbars and navigational elements. However, sometimes they like to feature a set of free icons on their download page. FastIcon has posted free iPod Nano icons available for Mac, PC and Linux.

iPod Nano icons via FastIcon.com:

Interfacelift.com has been providing both commercial and royalty-free icons to computer users since the year 2000. They have a great set of free iPod Nano icons created by artist CyberLuke.

iPod Nano icons via Interfacelift.com:

After 2 years of heavy hard drive use, my 30GB 3G iPod died last week. The iPod itself is fine, but the hard drive is toast. Luckily I was able to pull most of my important files off (some of them one at a time). Right now the guys ate iPodMods are fixing it for me.

Why did this happen? I wasn't just using my iPod for playing music. I was transporting large amounts of files everyday to and from work and even capturing DV video to my iPod. I also kept my iPod mounted to my computer all day and played music off it. As I later learned, this is not exactly a smart move. Over time I basically wore out my iPod's hard drive. So please learn from my mistakes. Try to use your iPod mostly for music and not for massive and frequent file transports.

I mailed my iPod off iPodMods to get fixed but I still need a portable hard drive to shuttle files back and forth with me everyday. I needed a small and reliable drive that I can use with both Macs and PCs. I also wanted one made by a very well known hard drive manufacturer. My data is very important to me and spending a little extra for a quality hard drive is well worth it in the long run. I had a bad experience with a cheap Maxtor hard drive before and will never buy a crappy drive for my data again. After an extended search I found the perfect match: the Seagate Pocket Hard Drive.

The Seagate Pocket Hard Drive is a standard high-speed USB 2.0, bus-powered device. It provides a true "plug and play" connection that supports hot plugging so you can connect or disconnect the drive even when your computer is on. The drive receives power directly through the USB connector so there is no need for an external power source or batteries.

The high-speed USB 2.0 is backward compatible with the older USB 1.1 standard. However, USB 1.1 only supports transfer rates of 12 Mbits/sec. To take advantage of the speed of your Pocket Hard Drive, connect it to a computer that supports high-speed USB 2.0 connections. High-speed USB 2.0 supports data rates up to 480 Mbits/sec (40 times faster than USB 1.1). You can save any type of data and files on the device including text, graphics, programs, music, and even multimedia files.

The Seagate Pocket Hard Drive is a Flash Memory drive that has no mechanical parts. This means there's no hard drive to wear out and no spindle motors to power.

This hard drive is big on storage but small in size. If you are looking to put fewer "hard drive miles" on your iPod, then definitely look into getting an alternate portable data drive.

Although Seagate isn't the Lamborghini of hard drive manufacturers (try Hitachi), their Pocket Hard Drive has gotten rave reviews and gets the job done at a great price.





[an error occurred while processing this directive]

If you managed to get your hands on an iPod Nano, you might have browsed through the menus and noticed some new features like a World Clock.

The World Clock is easy to use. Just set the clock and you can see the current time in multiple locations all at once. Seemingly trivial but surprisingly helpful for someone who does a lot of international business or traveling.

Our favorite little detail was how the clock faces turn black/white when it is night/day time in a particular city (see image on right). This makes it even easier to digest multiple world time zones with a single glance.

You can also set alarms in various time zones, set the clocks to change at Daylight Saving Time (or not, if you don't observe DST like Arizona residents) and sleep timers in different cities.

The World Clock is (currently) only available on the iPod Nano and Video iPod.

[MethodShop.com]

Japanese site, SUYAMA, has completely dissected their iPod nano and posted a whole series of pictures and an accompanying narrative comparing the nano to the mini.

A full Babelfish English translation of the autopsy is available, but here's an excerpt just to wet your appetite:

"If having it is accustomed, being iPod Photo, you use without strange feeling, but when extent and this size which become, you can show especially scantness, whether it is harsh to return to the just a little origin.... There is no difficulty in the chest pocket and the size which is settled is the very much grateful place in commuting use. With the kind of one which was being inserted in ポッケ of the rear end in the opposite direction, when sitting down, just a little insecurity...? It may be able to expect the appearance of the various private cases from each company, is."

Priceless..

[Syndicated post via iPodStudio.com]

UPDATE: You can see the September 2007 Apple iPod Nano ad set to the song "1234" by Leslie Feist here.

Apple has released a downloadable QuickTime movie of the iPod Nano ad on their website.

The iPod Nano commercial is a departure from Apple's black silhouette dancer ads. It features just a hand flipping around the tiny Nano with the grace of a seasoned Las Vegas card dealer.

And what iPod ad would be complete without a terrific soundtrack? The song featured in this commercial is called "Gimme That" by The Resource.

Our friends at iPodStudio.com had this reaction to the new iPod Nano commercial:

"Lots of hands and Nanos and amazingly, no silhouettes! Apple's been running a pretty intense ad campaign to make the world aware of the latest addition to the iPod line and seems to think it might have a winner on it's hands (pun?)... I'm guessing they're right... again."

BeSocial: methodshop

Labels: ipod

Scott Kelby, writer, trainer, and devoted Mac fan, has created a funny spoof of the iPod advertisements. David Pogue managed to get it posted over at the New York Times (hey, it is the first place I look for spoofs and wacky videos).

The video features the brand new 'iPod Flea' that can hold one song and play it over and over again for one hour.

For those of you who thought the iPod Nano was too big, watch the iPod Flea video. You'll probably think it's pretty funny.

Apple has just announced the new iPod nano, "Take everything you love about iPod and shrink it. Now shrink it again."

The iPod nano sports a sleek white or black (!) exterior that mimics the much-loved regular iPod, comes with your choice of 2GB or 4GB of flash memory, and is priced at $199 and $249, respectively. At 1.5 ounces, it is very light and measures only 3.5 x 1.6 x 0.27 inches. That is small, people. The 1.5 inch color screen enables the iPod nano with all of the now standard photo viewing and album art capabilities previously known in the iPod photo.

May I be the first to say, "wow." This looks fantastic, it seems to combines all of the elements that I like so much about the mini and improves upon them by making it smaller, better looking, and endowing it with a color display. The price is reasonable, as is the storage capacity. I dig the name, too.

Visit the iPod nano page at Apple.com or view the tech specs here.

[Via iPoditude.com]

Unless you are a crazed video game nut or live in the U.K., you probably haven't even heard of the controversial gadget called the Gizmondo. It's a lima bean-shaped competitor to Sony's PSP handheld except it has more features and is currently only available in the United Kingdom. The Gizmondo is an all-in-one gadget. It's a video game, movie, and music player, a Web browser, text message and e-mail communicator, a camera, and a GPS-loaded navigation and tracking device.

What makes the device so controversial is how the executives at Gizmondo plan on using the unit's GPS functionality. Gizmondo plans on allowing advertisers to geo-target ads. So while you are loading up a video game or checking your email, you may have to wait while a 20 or 30 second advertisement for your local drug store or politician plays on your Gizmondo screen.

This has many potential Gizmondo owners here in the United States outraged. Many feel that the company has no right to advertise to them on a device they themselves purchased. In response to these concerns, the company intends to sell two types of Gizmondos: a $400 version, which will not receive so-called "Smart-Adds," and a $229 ad-enabled version. Gizmondo claims that the cheaper unit will receive at most three 20- to-30-second ads per day, for now.

Gizmondo CEO Michael Carrender says his company plans on launching a multimillion-dollar multi-channel ad campaign this October aimed at young, rap-loving early adopters here in the United States.

"Kids will walk into a store, see a model for half the price, and think 'What's the big deal with three ads a day from Busta Rhymes or some basketball player?'," said Carrender. A barcode or coupon will sometimes appear after ads, along with mapping directions on how to get to a retailers nearest location. Barcodes can be scanned directly from Gizmondo screens. "Just imagine being the first to hear a new 50 Cent and Gwen Stefani music sample or get a free Slurpee from 7-11--all because you receive Smart-Adds."

Just remember, when you fill out your warranty information, Gizmondo plans on using that information for improved ad targeting.

Gizmondo shoppers beware.

According to website THINKSECRET, a new version of the popular iPod Mini will be revealed at the Apple Expo in Paris on September 20. Apparently Apple has tried to add several new enhancements to the iPod Mini as well as reduce its overall physical size.

In addition to being smaller, the new iPod Mini will reportedly feature two major changes: a color screen and flash memory.

Why switch to flash memory?
Why would Apple move the iPod Mini from a regular hard drive storage medium to solid state flash media like the iPod Shuffle? There's 3 major reasons for making this change: smaller sizes, lower power consumption and overall reliability.

Although flash based MP3 players may feature less storage capacity than their hard drive based counterparts, they are smaller, lighter and have no moving parts. This alone makes flash based MP3 players popular with joggers and people with active lifestyles. Dropping a flash based iPod Shuffle on the sidewalk while jogging, probably won't result in a disaster. However, the same can't be said for a normal iPod. Standard iPods like the U2 Special Edition and the iPod Photo are bigger and heavier because of their internal hard drives. Regular hard drives have moving parts and can be permanently damaged by even a stiff jolt, let alone a drop on solid concrete. Flash based players are generally just more reliable and less susceptible to damage because of their lack of moving parts. Also, because flash based MP3 players have no moving parts, they consume less power. There are no hard drives to spin with flash drives and you can expect a much higher battery life with these players.

Moving away from standard hard drive storage and over to smaller solid state flash media will shave 20 to 25 percent off the size of the unit. It's rumored that the new Mini will be available in three models: 4GB, 6GB, and 8GB and will feature dual NAND flash memory chips in order to achieve these higher storage capacities. Adding more fuel to this rumor, Apple has made a supplier deal with Samsung to purchase their 4GB flash drives.

"To further the size savings, the new iPod Mini will sport a color screen that's slightly smaller than the current version. Sources say the screen will measure 1.467 inches, down from 1.67 inches, but will feature a higher resolution: 176 x 132, up from 138 x 110, as Think Secret reported in February. It's likely, but uncertain, that the iPod mini's scroll wheel will also see a small reduction in size.

Pricing is not entirely clear at this point, but sources expect the new 4GB and 6GB models will remain priced at $199 and $249, respectively, while the 8GB iPod mini will cost as much as $299. At that price the 8GB iPod Mini would cost as much as a 20GB iPod, but Apple isn't worried that equivalent pricing will affect sales of the iPod Mini as sales of the full-size iPods have lagged far behind iPod mini's in recent quarters."

If the rumors are true, it sounds like Apple will have another hit on their hands. How can they go wrong with an iPod Mini that's smaller, more reliable, uses less power and has a color screen? Perhaps the price point will be too high, but only time will tell.

[Sources: ThinkSecret, MethodShop & iPodStudio]