Geek In Me

by Erica Sadun via tuaw.com

Laughing Squid posted these yummy, adorable, and prize-winning iPhone cupcakes. The cupcakes, created by Nick and Danielle Bilton, swept the Cupcake Decorating Championship at Ignite NYC II.

I love the phone badge and the timer’s tiny details but can’t help but feel that the stocks cupcake somehow is missing a bit of white frosting. Also, the calendar date was wrong for the time of the championships, but I suspect that the judges wouldn’t notice that.





by Tom Samiljan via switched.com

As most in the online blogosphere had been predicting, Apple CEO Steve Jobs yesterday announced a bunch of new updates, additions, and replacements to the iPod and iTunes family. Fellow AOL Tech blog Engadget was there live blogging the event, if you want details, but here’s the gist of the new announcements.

iTunes 8 Adds HD TV Shows, NBC, and New Genius Feature: The latest upgrade to iTunes brings back NBC shows to iPod owners who were missing the ability to watch ‘Battlestar Galactica’ and ‘The Office’ on their portable devices. Also added, HD versions of said TV shows, a welcome addition to the existing HD movie lineup on iTunes. Meanwhile, Genius is a LastFM/Pandora-like song recommendation feature that will help you automatically generate playlists of your existing music based on your actual listening tastes. It’ll also, of course, make intelligent suggestions based on music you’re buying in the store. We have yet to try it out in person, though, so more on that later.

Slimmest iPod Nano Ever: Shipping in nine colors, the new Nano kind of looks like the Nano-before-last, but is apparently the slimmest ever, according to Jobs. It comes with some of the innovations found in the iPhone and iPod Touch, such as an accelerometer, so that the screen can automatically switch between portrait and landscape mode. It also has the new Apple Genius feature built in.

New 120-Gigabyte (GB) iPod Classic: The overly thick 160GB model will be scrapped to make way for this slimmer, 30,000-song-holding model, for the nice price of $249.

32-Gigabyte (GB) iPod Touch: Now you’ll have twice as much space to hold all those movies you’ve been wanting to watch on the Touch’s stunning widescreen. It’ll cost you a hefty $399, but the 8-gigabyte Touch is now only $229.

New In-Ear Headphones: Plenty of earbud-style headphones exist, but so few that’ll match your iPod so nicely. For $79, you get a pair of these dual-drive ‘phones, along with a fit kit featuring three earbud sizes.





by Robert Palmer via tuaw.com

In its “Let’s Rock” event today, Apple introduced three new iPod touch models, all of which are available today.
$229 will get you 8GB of storage, $299 will buy 16GB, and $399 scores 32GB. That’s knocking $70 to $100 off the price of each.
The form factor is very slightly thinner, and has a similar tapered back as the iPhone 3G, as rumors suggested. It will also include an exterior volume control and a built-in speaker for “casual listening.” There is no microphone built in, but the touch will work with new Apple headphones that include a microphone on the cord. The new headphones are sold separately for $79.
The new models all come with version 2.1 of the iPod touch firmware, which includes the Genius recommendation service mentioned earlier in the presentation. The software also comes with Nike+ built-in, so all you have to buy is the shoe sensor/transmitter. No more dongle.
For those with a current-model iPod touch, the software update is free for those updating from 2.x, and $10 for those upgrading from 1.x.
The new iPod touch models also are more environmentally-friendly, and are constructed with arsenic-free glass and BFR-free, mercury-free, PVC-free, and highly-recyclable components just like the new nano.





via uberphones.com

Apple has just recently rejected an iPhone application because it supposedly is a “limited utility to the broad iPhone and iPod touch user community”. Said application does its best to simulate the classic “pull my finger” gag, where the person farts when his finger is pulled.
While Apple may have rejected it, the developer is currently taking email addresses to help those who need his help to get hold of the application unofficially.
Sometimes it’s hard to imagine how Apple can approve the “I Am Rich” application, but reject this kind of application.





via ubergizmo.com

It’s not the first time that Apple files patents related to some kind of tablet computer. It has been described as a “big iPhone”, or as a full-fledged tablet, but on the latest images, it looks like a large mobile internet device (MID). It’s probably the right format: big enough to read and use the fingers but most likely thin and light. Images in the photo gallery show different situations, including an interesting one with a virtual keyboard. If it was to be priced correctly ($500-$700), it could be attractive. Now, we need to know more about the software, apps compatibility and performance.





by Dan Reilly via switched.com

Have no fear, Apple fans. According to Valleywag tipsters, Steve Jobs remains among the living, albeit still skinny. He’s also taken to parking in handicap spaces, although it’s unknown if he has a proper sticker or not.

Jobs’s health has been a topic of concern this summer since a public appearance where he appeared thin, leading many to speculate that it’s another bout of the pancreatic cancer he had in 2003. One Valleywag tipster ran into him on the sidewalk near his Palo Alto home, calling him “healthy” but “very thin.” So, be our guest and have at this story with wild speculation and irresponsible rumor mongering.