Apple Computer Inc. is having an iPod-related public relations headache following a report by a British newspaper on working conditions at Chinese factories where the popular music player is built. The company that Apple subcontracts iPod nano and shuffle manufacturing to, Foxconn iPods employs 200,000 workers who live in dormitories where visitors are not permitted. Workers toil for 15-hour days for as little as $50 per month. Apple's is currently investigating these "sweatshop" allegations but the best way for Apple to ensure good working conditions is to build its own manufacturing plant in China.
A little program called Dot.tunes. makes it possible to stream music from your iTunes library to your Wii. It creates a Flash-based player which you can then access via the Opera browser and play on your TV audio system compatible with Mac and Windows. However, unlike many other cool Wii applications, this one isn’t free. It does come with a 15-day trial before you need to register. Check Wii/iTunes Flash Player for detailed instructions on how to set-up the program.
The myvu personal media viewer from MicroOptical Corp. is a device that consists of a black, ultra-sleek visor/viewer with noise reduction ear buds. It works with a 5G iPod or later. The video display combines a lightweight pair of 320x240 LCD screens and a remote control into one package with wall and car chargers and solid overall audio and video performance. The iPod-specific version is a pretty cool device priced at US$299.95 with a good-looking visual illusion that MicroOptical says is comparable to watching a 27-inch screen from six feet away.
Do you find loading content on your iPod complicated. What if you can put your favorite CDs onto an iPod with a device that completely bypasses the computer and iTunes. Silicon Valley startup Wingspan have announced iLoad devices that connect directly to the source of your media: CDs, cable TV or satellite box and cell networks and allow you to easily take that content, along with all music, album and video data, directly to the iPod without using a computer or requiring an Internet connection. Now loading your music and video can be as easy as enjoying it. iLoad is easy to use and is available at http://www.iLoad.com or by calling +1 888 324 7979 with a US$249 price tag. According to the FAQ on the company's Web site, iLoad can copy a CD in approximately eight minutes, though it is unclear as to how you move the music already imported into your iPod by iLoad, into iTunes.
The KT4560 Hello Kitty Stereo Clock Radio and Ipod Charger is an iPod docking station for dock-connecting units with a video out jack for connecting an iPod to your TV for watching videos and viewing photos. And as it's name suggests, it also comes with AM and FM Radio and an alarm clock so you can wake up with tunes from your Pod or any other DAP.The KT4560 also serves as a charging station for the iPod Mini or Nano, making it one of the most practical Hello Kitty gadgets ever.
The new Bluetooth Soundstation car kit from Novomax makes talking on the phone while driving a breeze. The newest Soundstation, the BT S200, an upgraded version of BT S110 has an OLED screen, which supports the extra functions such as displays caller ID, battery status, phone book downloading, and call status. Furthermore, it supports simultaneous two-link connections which means it can support two mobile phone at the same time. It has a rechargeable Li-ion polymer 770mAh battery with talk time of 6 hours and stand by time of 550 hours
This AM/FM Clock Radio features a cool Superman design and another high-flying feature: you can project the time on your ceiling or wall for easy reading. The S-shield can also be projected for added fun. Wake up to the built-in Superman theme song or the built-in alarm. Smack the giant "S" symbol that doubles as the snooze button to get a few more minutes of sleep when you need it. Use a 9V battery (not included) for backup and the clock will keep telling the time even if you lose power. Available for $19.99.
Omniyat Properties is getting set to construct a 23-story luxury tower inspired by none other than Apple's iPod. Slated to be the new "iPad residential tower" designed by Hong Kong-based architects James Law Cybertecture International. The 23-story tower, due to open in 2009, will be built on a “docking station” at an angle of six degrees including more than 200 homes and offices. For some reason, when I look at this building I think Nokia and their batteries.
Audio-Technica presents ATH-CK9, the all new 2006 specially designed Inner Ear Earphones. It features an advanced armature system for better playback sound. The Inner Ear style plus 3 types of ear-buds prevent the sound from leaking. The ATH-CK9 has a long 1.2m Y-type cord that corresponds with any kind of audio player. Available in black and white for $169.00 USD.
Toshiba has released a limited version of its all new ultra slim 512MB MP3 player, the Gigabeat P5S with a NANA Theme[a character published in Cookie, Japanese shōjo manga magazine]. Designed with simple control buttons on the unit the Gigabeat P5S can record up to 8.3 hours of music. Featuring a thin 1.1" OLED color screen for high resolution display with a flash memory drive, it is light weight and portable. It supports audio in WMA / MP3 / WAV format and onboard world-band FM radio allows users to tune in to their favorite stations (76~108Mhz). It also has a convenient voice recorder function and EQ adjustment.
Samsung Electronics has launched a unique Music Menu service, utilizing its music sharing concept MP3 player YP-K5 in partnership with a restaurant in Seoul, Korea. Now customers can enjoy their meal listening to their favorite song coming from the K5. The customer orders a certain song from the music menu and the restaurant serves the K5 with the music downloaded as well as the food. We had posted about Samsung’s latest MP3 player launched this year, which comes equipped with a built-in stereo speaker with a concept of music sharing.
An iPod vending machine dispenses iPods, iPod Nanos, Shuffles and a variety of iPod accessories and headphones. The pods unfortunately cost much more than a pack of gum. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that a single iPod vending machine sold thousand dollars worth of iPods in one month. What do you do after you purchase an iPod from the vending machine and are on the plane? Well nothing, because it doesn't have any music on it.
Got an iPod? Like to party? The Party Pro is the ultimate party guide for your iPod. This comprehensive and user-friendly database of partygoer necessities includes the 800 most used drink recipes, 55 drinking games, a global bar & club database for every major US and European city, Bartender 411 (Tips and Tricks), 100 pick up lines for men and women, and a new post-party solution feature. It has all the stuff you could possibly want from a party-guide on your iPod. Download the free demo version from Apple's site. The full version costs $9.99.
Corporation RWC has introduced a vacuum tube amplifier set RM-VA1S for the iPod though you can also connect other players. The device has vacuum tube type 6N1 2, 6E2 1 loading and the amplifier output is 15W×2channels with signal-noise ratio above 86dB. The external size of amplifier section is 260×145×130mm (width × depth × height). The size of the tweeter is 1 inch and the woofer is 4 inches wide of the two-way bookshelf speakers with output impedance of 4Ω. Available in Japan from January 25th 2007 for 69,800 Yen ($ 590).
If you haven’t yet succumbed to the Apple iPod shuffle, then take a look at the Brando USB MP3 Player and SD/MMC Card another flash-based MP3 player that not only costs less, it can be configured to carry significantly more music for the same amount of money. It has a tiny memory card slot that can read music stored on your MMC or SD card. Depending on how big a card you insert, you can also use the player as a portable hard drive which plugs into any USB port.
A little program called Dot.tunes. makes it possible to stream music from your iTunes library to your Wii. It creates a Flash-based player which you can then access via the Opera browser and play on your TV audio system compatible with Mac and Windows. However, unlike many other cool Wii applications, this one isn’t free. It does come with a 15-day trial before you need to register. Check 
The myvu personal media viewer from MicroOptical Corp. is a device that consists of a black, ultra-sleek visor/viewer with noise reduction ear buds. It works with a 5G iPod or later. The video display combines a lightweight pair of 320x240 LCD screens and a remote control into one package with wall and car chargers and solid overall audio and video performance. The iPod-specific version is a pretty cool device priced at US$299.95 with a good-looking visual illusion that MicroOptical says is comparable to watching a 27-inch screen from six feet away.
Do you find loading content on your iPod complicated. What if you can put your favorite CDs onto an iPod with a device that completely bypasses the computer and iTunes. Silicon Valley startup Wingspan have announced iLoad devices that connect directly to the source of your media: CDs, cable TV or satellite box and cell networks and allow you to easily take that content, along with all music, album and video data, directly to the iPod without using a computer or requiring an Internet connection. Now loading your music and video can be as easy as enjoying it. iLoad is easy to use and is available at 
The KT4560 Hello Kitty Stereo Clock Radio and Ipod Charger is an iPod docking station for dock-connecting units with a video out jack for connecting an iPod to your TV for watching videos and viewing photos. And as it's name suggests, it also comes with AM and FM Radio and an alarm clock so you can wake up with tunes from your Pod or any other DAP.The KT4560 also serves as a charging station for the iPod Mini or Nano, making it one of the most practical Hello Kitty gadgets ever.
The new Bluetooth Soundstation car kit from Novomax makes talking on the phone while driving a breeze. The newest Soundstation, the BT S200, an upgraded version of BT S110 has an OLED screen, which supports the extra functions such as displays caller ID, battery status, phone book downloading, and call status. Furthermore, it supports simultaneous two-link connections which means it can support two mobile phone at the same time. It has a rechargeable Li-ion polymer 770mAh battery with talk time of 6 hours and stand by time of 550 hours 
This AM/FM Clock Radio features a cool Superman design and another high-flying feature: you can project the time on your ceiling or wall for easy reading. The S-shield can also be projected for added fun. Wake up to the built-in Superman theme song or the built-in alarm. Smack the giant "S" symbol that doubles as the snooze button to get a few more minutes of sleep when you need it. Use a 9V battery (not included) for backup and the clock will keep telling the time even if you lose power. Available for $19.99.
Omniyat Properties is getting set to construct a 23-story luxury tower inspired by none other than Apple's iPod. Slated to be the new "iPad residential tower" designed by Hong Kong-based architects James Law Cybertecture International. The 23-story tower, due to open in 2009, will be built on a “docking station” at an angle of six degrees including more than 200 homes and offices. For some reason, when I look at this building I think Nokia and their batteries.
Audio-Technica presents ATH-CK9, the all new 2006 specially designed Inner Ear Earphones. It features an advanced armature system for better playback sound. The Inner Ear style plus 3 types of ear-buds prevent the sound from leaking. The ATH-CK9 has a long 1.2m Y-type cord that corresponds with any kind of audio player. Available in black and white for $169.00 USD.
Toshiba has released a limited version of its all new ultra slim 512MB MP3 player, the Gigabeat P5S with a NANA Theme[a character published in Cookie, Japanese shōjo manga magazine]. Designed with simple control buttons on the unit the Gigabeat P5S can record up to 8.3 hours of music. Featuring a thin 1.1" OLED color screen for high resolution display with a flash memory drive, it is light weight and portable. It supports audio in WMA / MP3 / WAV format and onboard world-band FM radio allows users to tune in to their favorite stations (76~108Mhz). It also has a convenient voice recorder function and EQ adjustment.
Samsung Electronics has launched a unique Music Menu service, utilizing its music sharing concept MP3 player 
An iPod vending machine dispenses iPods, iPod Nanos, Shuffles and a variety of iPod accessories and headphones. The pods unfortunately cost much more than a pack of gum. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that a single iPod vending machine sold thousand dollars worth of iPods in one month. What do you do after you purchase an iPod from the vending machine and are on the plane? Well nothing, because it doesn't have any music on it.
Got an iPod? Like to party? The Party Pro is the ultimate party guide for your iPod. This comprehensive and user-friendly database of partygoer necessities includes the 800 most used drink recipes, 55 drinking games, a global bar & club database for every major US and European city, Bartender 411 (Tips and Tricks), 100 pick up lines for men and women, and a new post-party solution feature. It has all the stuff you could possibly want from a party-guide on your iPod. Download the free demo version from Apple's site. The full version costs $9.99.
Corporation RWC has introduced a vacuum tube amplifier set RM-VA1S for the iPod though you can also connect other players. The device has vacuum tube type 6N1 2, 6E2 1 loading and the amplifier output is 15W×2channels with signal-noise ratio above 86dB. The external size of amplifier section is 260×145×130mm (width × depth × height). The size of the tweeter is 1 inch and the woofer is 4 inches wide of the two-way bookshelf speakers with output impedance of 4Ω. Available in Japan from January 25th 2007 for 69,800 Yen ($ 590).
If you haven’t yet succumbed to the Apple iPod shuffle, then take a look at the Brando USB MP3 Player and SD/MMC Card another flash-based MP3 player that not only costs less, it can be configured to carry significantly more music for the same amount of money. It has a tiny memory card slot that can read music stored on your MMC or SD card. Depending on how big a card you insert, you can also use the player as a portable hard drive which plugs into any USB port. 
