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Latest Gear Live Videos
iBlueTube Accents iPod Tunes with Blue Light
Posted by Dave White Categories: Accessories, Apple, Home Entertainment, Music, Peripherals,
We see a laser light show in this device’s future. It’s the iBlueTube from Thanko, and it is an iPod dock that has two full-on vacuum tubes, one sticking out each side of what is an extended docking mechanism.
The middle part of the dock looks normal enough, with the iPod resting in a small circular dock populated with buttons and cord slots (including hookups for real speakers, and even viewscreens). Zoom back out again and you’ll see a triangular backlighting system that lights up blue via the LED vacuum tubes.
The main appeal of this item seems to be the cool factor, although the speakers are said to pump out 12 watts of power, which is more than your average iPod dock. Plop one of these docks down on your mantel and have a few friends over, and you’re sure to have some appreciative audience in no time flat. Of course, you’ll pay for the privilege: The iBlueTube, which is scheduled for release in Japan sometime in the next few weeks, is projected to cost the equivalent of $566 USD.
Read More 
| New Launches via Gizmodo
Gallery: iBlueTube Accents iPod Tunes with Blue Light
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Apple has begun a worldwide battery exchange program for select batteries used with the 15-inch MacBook Pro. These batteries do not meet Apple’s “high standards for battery performance”.
The batteries Apple is recalling have model number A1175 and a 12-digit serial number that ends with U7SA, U7SB or U7SC. The batteries do pose a safety risk, according to Apple, and appeared in MacBook Pros between February and May of this year. After verifying with Apple that the battery is part of the recall, the computer company will ship out a new battery free of charge.
Read More | Apple MacBook Pro Battery Recall Notice
Gallery: Apple Recalls Select MacBook Pro Batteries
Flip4Mac Universal Binary Now Available
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Movies, Music, PC / Laptop, Software,
Intel Mac users the world over await the day that they can eliminate all Rosetta applications from their systems permanently, and today we are one step closer with the release of the Flip4Mac Universal Binary. For those unfamiliar with the product, Flip4Mac allows Mac users to play Windows Media content from within Quicktime. Since Microsoft decided to shelve Windows Media Player development for the Mac, users have had to suffer through using an old version, running in Rosetta. Now that Flip4Mac has gone Universal, it has changed the game. If you run an Intel Mac, you need this program.
Read More | Flip4Mac via Flip4Mac on Microsoft.com
Gallery: Flip4Mac Universal Binary Now Available
iFlip Portable Video Player For Your iPod
Posted by Dave White Categories: Accessories, Apple, Portable Audio / Video,
So you have that newfangled video iPod and you want to watch at all those TV shows you downloaded, but you’re tired of squinting to see the details? No problem. Memorex is there for you, with the iFlip - a video screen in which you plug the iPod, allowing you to see those tiny images come to gloriously colorful life. Yes, you can buy that S-Video cord and hook up your ‘Pod to your superfly HDTV, but what about when you’re on the go? This is iFlip’s biggest selling point, its portability.
The screen on this device is 8.4 inches wide, a significant on the 2.5-inch screen that you have on your iPod. Oh, and if you really want to, you can take this baby home, hook it up to the big screen, and let the images fly.
If you’re salivating for this product, we’re sorry to say that it’s not on store shelves yet. Memorex has targeted September as its release month. We do know the price, though - $200 USD.
Read More | iLounge via Gizmodo
Gallery: iFlip Portable Video Player For Your iPod
Apple Does Bluetooth Mighty Mouse
Posted by Nino Marchetti Categories: Apple, Peripherals, Wireless / WiFi,
Apple has gone and made their Mighty Mouse even mightier with news today they were releasing an upgraded product which has wireless Bluetooth built in. The new wireless Mighty Mouse is priced at $69 and available now.
The wireless Mighty Mouse, said Apple, uses Bluetooth 2.0 technology to connect to Bluetooth-enabled Macs and also has a new laser tracking engine which is reportedly 20 times more sensitive than standard optical mice. This is on top of standard features like four independently programmable buttons, a Scroll Ball that lets users scroll in any direction and the ability to be used in single button or multi-button modes.
Read More | Apple Mighty Mouse Product Page
Gallery: Apple Does Bluetooth Mighty Mouse
GraceNotes to Publish Song Lyrics Online
Posted by Nino Marchetti Categories: Apple, Internet, Music,
GraceNotes, which maintains the CDDB database containing music CD information on more than 55 million tracks and 4 million CDs, yesterday said they’d obtained the rights to publish song lyrics of more than 1 million songs, according to Reuters. They are now chatting with their online music partners, including Yahoo and Apple, about “plans to launch a service to offer legal and accurate lyrics for all digital media”. This service would be the first industry-sanctioned want to provide lyrics legally.
Read More | Reuters: Gracenote, music publishers in lyrics deal via iLounge
Gallery: GraceNotes to Publish Song Lyrics Online
Mac OS X Browser Comparison Smackdown
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Internet, Software,
The folks over at Macintalk has done the dirty work for us, putting four major browsers to the test on Mac OS X (although, they disregard Opera completely.) They looked at things such as speed of rendering, RAM usage, Javascript loading, standards compliance, and even RSS handling. Reading through, I must say it is pretty thorough. If you have been wondering if paying for OmniWeb would give you a batter browsing experience on the Mac than sticking with the free Safari, Firefox, or Camino, give this one a read.
Read More | Macintalk
Gallery: Mac OS X Browser Comparison Smackdown
Sling Media Looking For Mac SlingBox Beta Testers
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Home Entertainment, PC / Laptop, Portable Audio / Video,
For all you SlingBox lovers out there who have been laboring with the product on your PC, it seems that the time has finally come for the peeps at Sling Media to start supporting the Mac. If you own a SlingBox and want to be one of the pioneer’s of it’s co-coexistence with your Apple computer, you may want to sign up for the Limited Beta. Of course, you need to swear that you won’t speak of any of the testing activities to anyone (but feel free to tell us). If you want in on the beta testing love, you have until July 26 to head on over to the questionnaire.
Read More | Sling Media
Gallery: Sling Media Looking For Mac SlingBox Beta Testers
iDrops Cleans Your iPod
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Accessories, Apple, Portable Audio / Video,
You ready for the next in line in the whole iPod-targeted product market? This time, it comes by the way of iDrops. Corny pun aside (you know, ‘eye’ drops?! Ha!), the shtick here is that this cleaning fluid is specially tailored to not only clean your iPod, but make it shine like new. It can be used on each and every iPod that has been released (although, not sure why one would need to buy this for a shuffle), and it even comes with a nifty eye dropper. Of course, it’s not the cheapest thing in the world, coming in at $14.95 USD per bottle. I think I’ll just stick with iKlear, as it works on iPods, as well as monitors, HDTV displays, etc.
Read More | iDrops Product Page via UberGizmo
Gallery: iDrops Cleans Your iPod
Apple said today they were fazing out educational sales of their eMac, their last CRT-based computer, in favor of a new $899 configuration of the 17-inch iMac. This iMac for education is available now for education customers.
The 17-inch iMac for education sports a 1.83 GHz Intel Core Duo processor, a built-in iSight video camera and iLife ‘06, Apple’s latest suite of digital lifestyle applications. It also includes a “Combo drive for burning CDs and reading DVDs, 512MB of 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM memory expandable up to 2GB and hard drive storage capacity up to 160GB”.
Other features of this educational iMac configuration include built-in 10/100/1000 BASE-T Gigabit Ethernet, built-in 802.11g Wi-Fi for up to 54 Mbps wireless networking, five USB ports (three USB 2.0) and two FireWire 400 ports.
Read More | Apple Education iMac Page
