Category: Gear and Gadgets

You could have cut the tension with a knife at MacWorld yesterday, when the reporters and fans filed in to see Steve Jobs give the keynote speech, and Steve wasn’t one to dissapoint. Starting off the day by unveiling a new wired remote for the iPod with video that includes an fm tuner (now the folks that have been all uptight about the iPod not having one can’t complain, but similarly it’ll retail for 49 dollars and not come with your new iPod) and unveiled more television shows that will be available through the iTunes video store.

Moving on to the Macintosh, everyone had all but expected Apple to make the Mac Mini the first intel-powered Macintosh, as was promised last year, but Steve has other things in store. After unveiling the 2006 versions of iLife and iWork, as well as Mac OS 10.4.4, which is immediately available and runs natively on intel platforms, Steve presented us with an all new iMac that hides a pair of intel processors under the hood, called the Intel Core Duo. But no sooner than he unveiled the iMac did he unveil the next Apple portable, called the MacBook Pro, which is destined to replace the Powerbook altogether and also runs a set of Intel Core Duos under the hood. The Intel Core Duo is based on Pentium M technology, which makes them run cool and run fast.

(more on that here: [ http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,124243,00.asp ] )

The MacBooks are shipping in February, and the new intel iMacs are shipping immediately. More information on Apple’s announcement and the new lineup is here:

[ http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,124323,tk,dn011006X,00.asp ]

[ http://www.wirednews.com/news/technology/0,69998-0.html ]

More photos from the show floor at CES, brought to us by the staff at PC World! Now that the show is in full gear and going strong, we’re getting a look at some of the wackier and more interesting items brought out for show, some of which probably will never even make it to store shelves near you. But nevertheless, they’re definitely fun to look at, at the very least!

PC World brings us this time a company that’s selling to the gaming crowd by selling pre-modded personalized computers, the ultimate iPod dock/stereo station, a handheld lie detector, the ultimate backpack, and just the device you need to turn your old 4th gen iPod (ipod photo) into an ipod that can play video. (if you’re like me and bought your ipod photo like 3 weeks before the ipod with video came out!) Add to thast some hot new satellite radio receivers that can go anywhere you go, and even more cool gizmos, and you have PC World’s photo wrap-up from the third day at the show!

[ PC World // CES: Show-stopping Photos from Day 3 ]

PC World is back, giving us more sneak peeks and hot products now that the show has officially opened and the droves of media, geeks, and technology enthusiasts are walking the floor looking for hot items and what will hopefully be the next big trends in technology and the digital lifestyle. This year’s looking good, and the products on display are definitely hot, but we have yet to see what’ll make it to store shelves and showroom floors and what will remain pipe dreams and conceptual ideas.

Alienware’s slimline PC that looks suspiciously like an Apple iMac (haven’t we been through this before with Gateway?) , even more portable media players and devices, droves of newer, smaller, digital cameras, and new ways to store and access your music, movies, and media from anywhere are all on display. PC World has full coverage of CES and specifically the second day highlights at the links below.

[ PC World // CES Photo Gallery: Hottest Products From Day 2 ]

[ PC World // CES Info Center ]

The insiders at PC World have already managed to sneak their way into CES long before the show opens (officially on Thursday) and have wandered around to get some exclusive pictures and highlights from some of the gadgets we’ll be seeing on the display floor this year. Some of these guys look pretty cool, others….not so much. Regardless, if this is any indication, we’ll be seeing a lot of cool stuff on the showroom floor at CES 2006.

From Hello Kitty Guitars to compact media players that might give the iPod a run for it’s money, all the way to USB flash drives that use electronic paper technology, even these first few photos have me licking my chops to see what’s next. Stay posted, as more information comes along, we’ll share it with you. As for what we have now; link is below the jump.

[ PC World // CES Photo Gallery: The First 24 Hours ]

Rumor has it that Apple is planning on making a significant product announcement on October 12th, and sent out invitations to movers and shakers to meet with Apple at the same theatre where the U2 iPod was released last year. AppleInsider seems to think so:

[ http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=1304 ]

And they’re not the only one buzzing over the possibility of a vPod being released; our friend Leander over at CultOfMac.com [ http://www.cultofmac.com/ ] is pondering exactly what we’re pondering:

[ http://www.cultofmac.com/index.php/2005/10/04/apple_to_intro_video_ipod ]

Apparently next wednesday”s announcement is supposed to coincide with a major overhaul of the iTunes Music Store, which is also leading people to believe video is in the works and all those hidden features we’ve been reading about in iTunes will come out in broad daylight. Only time will tell!

Two major announcements from Apple today: first of all, Apple is continuing its partnership with Cingular and Motorola to introduce a full on iTunes phone, the ROKR from Motorola, available in the United States only through Cingular, which patches straight into the iTunes Music Store through a dedicated music button on the phone. It’s pretty neat, especially if you dig mp3s on your cellphone and using real songs as your ringtones, and I can only hope that the partnership extends to other cellular providers in the United States. This is definitely the phone for music lovers.

Check out the phone:
[ http://direct.motorola.com/hellomoto/rokr/ ]

Pretty sweet, huh? Well, while everyone expected that announcement, and it’s admittedly awesome, it wasn’t all Apple had in store today! Meet the iPod Nano, the tiniest mp3 player on the planet, but beefy on storage: when I first saw it, I seriously thought it was a joke, but it’s not-the thing is thinner than a number 2 pencil, sports 14 hour battery life, comes with a color LCD display, and in 2GB and 4GB models. It’s beautiful, check it out:

[ http://www.apple.com/ipodnano/ ]

Absolutely gorgeous. Starting at $199 US, it’s not too horribly pricey that it doesn’t fit snugly into Apple’s iPod lineup. Now we just need to get our hands on one and we can see the real deal for ourselves. I’m looking forward to it.

UPDATE // iLounge has an excellent first look article at the iPod Nano that’ll blow you away. I mean seriously, this thing is hot. Check it out:

[ http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/articles/comments/super-first-look-apple-computer-ipod-nano/ ]

If you hadn’t been able to tell from the array of podcasts this week and from a whole assortment of other tech news, some small part of hell just froze over because Friday Apple announced that it was releasing a mouse with -gasp- more than one button. But then again, leave it to Apple to release a mouse with multiple buttons that actually doesn’t have any..well..buttons. Don’t believe me? Well, meet the Mighty Mouse [ http://www.apple.com/mightymouse/ ] and here he comes to save the day! (I know, I know, I couldn’t resist)

Seriously though, as soon as Apple released the thing, geeks like me rolled our eyes and breathed a collective “about time” and “oh for crying out loud” sigh, namely because it’s been way overdue since Mac OS 9 introduced multi-button support, and it’s natively handled in OS X (all versions, for that matter). Essentially this means that Mac users for the past 5 years at least have bought their macs, ditched the Apple mice that came with them, and immediately ran out and picked up a cheap Microsoft or Logitech to make use of the multibutton support. So Apple finally wisened up. Good news. But look at it-the little trackball in the center, and the fact that it looks like it only has one button (and can be configured to only have one button) and the little squeeze-clicking by squeezing the sides? Oh come on. I have to admit, even I, an Apple die-hard, rolled my eyes. And yet, they still flew off the shelves! I haven’t gotten my hands on one to play with yet, but PCWorld has, and here’s their First Look:

[ http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,122072,tk,wb080805x,00.asp ]

Oh look out! Gamers beware! Okay-this really wasn’t so particularly amazing or unexpected. We all had expected the purchase price for Microsoft’s next-generation console gaming system, the Xbox 360, to be about $299, and today’s leak by Walmart pretty much confirmed it. Granted the price could change between now and then, but it probably won’t go up for any reason. In addition to this, the rumor mill is pointing to a November 4th, 2005 release date for the Xbox 360, and most game stores and websites are already taking pre-orders for the system and most of its release titles.

For more details, and a little comparison to the rumors circulating about Sony’s Playstation 3 console, scheduled to come out sometime next year, check out this article from ArsTechnica.
[ http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20050802-5159.html ]

Here it comes to save the day! Mighty Mouse is on its way!

Okay seriously. Leave it to Apple to design and develop a mouse that has multiple buttons and a scroll ball but doesn’t actually have any buttons. It’s pretty sleek looking, don’t get me wrong, but seriously, they could have chosen a name other than Mighty Mouse. It just sounds…well…silly, and brings to mind images of the old cartoon. Oh well, maybe that’s what they wanted to do. Anyway, the new mouse features multibutton support (especially in the form of two buttons at the top of the mouse, finally giving Apple users the right-click that’s been long coded into the OS but languished as a hidden feature) and some other special features for the side buttons and the scroll ball. It’s pretty neat, but the $49 price tag is nothing to smile at-it’s not surprising since all of Apple’s keyboards and mice are expensive (Apple keyboard: $29, Apple wireless keyboard: $59, Apple mouse: $29, Apple wireless mouse: $59) and the Mighty Mouse was sure to fit in there somewhere. The Mighty Mouse is wired, and here’s to hoping it’ll start shipping with every new Mac. When it’s the default mouse for the Macintosh, then we’ll have a winner on our hands. I can’t imagine Apple doing anything else, though.

Check out the Mighty Mouse:
[ http://www.apple.com/mightymouse/ ]

Or more appropriately, “Apple’s Tiger Drives A Car.” In this year’s DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) Grand Challenge, Team Banzai has developed a fully autonomous vehicle running on Mac OS X, version 10.4, more commonly known as “Tiger.” The logistics are actually spectacular, they used a VW Touareg controlled by PowerMac G5s that operate every aspect of the vehicle, from the gas and the brakes to the steering and the GPS navigation system. The event takes place this fall, but I’m already curious how their vehicle will perform in the qualifiers and hopefully the subsequent race.

[ http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,121920,tk,dn072205X,00.asp ]