News Archive for 05/12/05

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5G leather cases for iPod

12/05, 5:55pm

Sena Cases debuts leather cases for video iPod

Sena Cases today announced that its iPod Video Dockable Sena 30GB and 60GB cases are available for pre-order. The slim, streamlined cases are specifically designed to protect and showcase Apple's fifth-generation iPod with video capability, and feature a special "Bantam" belt clip that can lock the device into vertical or horizontal positions. Constructed from premium European leather, each Sena case is hand-stitched with openings for all iPod ports and controls. A leather flip top protects the device, and fastens with a hidden magnetic strip. The leather cases are dockable, and are available at a 20 percent discount for $40 until December 15th.

Playboy debuts \"Bodcast\"

12/05, 4:45pm

Playboy debuts "Bodcast" for video iPod

Playboy.com today introduced its "Playboy Bodcast," enabling consumers with portable media players to take Playboy on-the-go; the "video podcast" can be downloaded directly to portable players, such as Apple's video-capable iPod. The "Bodcasts" are updated every weekday, and contain specific content from Playboy.com. The website's "Joke of the Day" delivers a joke by a playboy model, "Ask Hef Anything" offers "wit and wisdom" from Mr. Playboy himself--Hugh Hefner, while "From the Mouths of Babes" provides advice from Playboy's cyber girls. Simple instructions for downloading the "Playboy Bodcast" are available from the website, and playboy.com plans to introduce "sexier," premium "Playboy Bodcasts" in the future.

ESPN on iTunes?

12/05, 3:20pm

ESPN mulls content deal with Apple's iTunes

Walt Disney's ESPN is looking to partner wtih Apple to offer content via iTunes, following the launch of its own branded-mobile service. Calling itself as a "sports media company," ESPN may join its corporate cousin ABC in a landmark deal, ESPN and ABC Sports president George Bodenheimer said on Monday. Although ESPN has not held talks with Apple, the cable sports network plans to offer its audio and video content of original shows and game clips to "any pipe, any device." The comments, revealed at the UBS global media conference, were made following the company's plans to launch its cellphone service called Mobile ESPN by leasing space on Sprint Nextel's cellphone network. Phones are expected to available at Best Buy within a week, according to the report.

Retailers iPod stock

12/05, 2:55pm

Retailers struggle to keep iPods in stock

Investment research firm PiperJaffray today reported that its checks of Apple retail stores reveal that Apple is "highly stocked" heading into the holiday season, while third-party retailers are "struggling to replenish" supplies. Reiterating an "outperform" rating, the firm said that the distribution limitations may limit iPod sales and that Apple may not be able hit iPod shipment numbers estimated by some Wall Street analysts. Late last week, 8 of 10 Apple stores had all iPods in stock; however, only 2 of the 20 third-party retailers, however, had all varieties of iPod. Inventory for both the iPod and nano remains spotty at third-party retailers, with 17 out of 20 indicating that they are missing at least one type of nano (2GB or 4GB) and 15 of 20 missing at least one of the larger (30GB or 60GB) iPods.

Canada political podcasts

12/05, 12:15pm

Canada's Conservative Party offers podcasts

Apple's podcasting technology has quickly spread to become a vital element in many business and individual information distribution strategies, the latest area being politics. A Canadian political website--Conservative.ca--has jumped on Apple's bandwagon, offering free audio and video podcasts of its content to visitors as new information becomes available. The website harbors news releases, speeches, campaign blogs, and more to interested individuals craving updates on the Canadian political situation on-the-go.

A Christmas Carol for iPod

12/05, 11:55am

"A Christmas Carol" released for iPod

Storynory today released Charles Dickens's seasonal classic "A Christmas Carol" for the iPod generation, to be podcast in three-parts effectively re-creating the way Dickens published most of his books as serials. "At Storynory, we are creating a growing library of classic and modern iPod-ready stories for children," said Storynory spokeswoman Angharad Lynn. "Christmas Carol was a natural choice for us to feature on the site in December. Parents can download it to their iPod, or burn it to a CD. It's a great way to introduce children to classic literature, and completely free." Storynory offers hours of classic children's literature, read by actresses in order to educate and entertain children.

iPod, iPod mini cases

12/05, 11:10am

Banana Republic offers iPod, iPod mini cases

Banana Republic is selling leather music player cases for iPod and iPod mini, designed to protect the digital music players while offering access to the clickwheel. The cases are constructed from genuine Italian leather, and feature a protective flap with magnetic closure to cover the screens and control pad windows. Both cases are available in "metallic," "rosy blush," "orange blossom," "mardi gras gold" (shown at right), "green velvet," and "Creamware" colors. Leather cases for iPod measure 2.5 x 4.5 x 1-inches, ship with a belt clip, and are available for $38. Leather cases for iPod mini measure 4 1/16 x .75 x 2.25-inches, and are priced at $32.

iPod brings new challenges

12/05, 11:00am

iPod brings new challenges to K-12 schools

Apple's iPod is offering new challenges for K-12 schools, as the player becomes more ubiquitious and offers more features, such as video playback. The iPod is touching off a debate on technology in schools and the new generation white-earbud-adorned students: some schools ban the use of electronics throughout school day, while others try to circumvent problems of enforcement and the possibility of cheating, by allowing certain electronics, according IndyStar.com: "In a school with 4,000 students, I would bet that 75 percent of them have something like that. It makes it hard to police when you only have 250 teachers and some teachers turn (students) in, and some teachers don't."

visualizer iTunes plugin

12/05, 10:05am

eXo music visualizer 1.0 plugin for iTunes

FraKtus has released a new plugin for iTunes: the eXo music visualizer v1.0. The eXo music visualization engine, fully hardware accelerated using OpenGL, features a 2D procedural texture generation unit and a 3D scene description. The visualizer users XML to load descriptions, utilizes a mathematical parser to evaluate expressions for all behaviors (particles, colors, waveform...), can load 3D shapes in the XML description, and has a full modular 3D shape synthesizer. The visualizer comes with about 40 different scripts that will run randomly. It's also possible to select them manually through the preference dialog or using keys. It is available for free and requires Mac OS X.

Apple iPod 101

12/05, 8:50am

Apple publishes "iPod 101" website

Apple has posted a helpful online guide for new iPod users called iPod 101. The company describes it as "your guide to rockin' out, gettin' down, and boogieing with your iPod, iPod nano, iPod mini, or iPod shuffle." Intended for Mac or Windows users, "iPod 101 contains tons of information that'll help you enjoy your iPod to its fullest and guide you on your way to becoming iTunes savvy (we're using iTunes 6 in our course materials)." Topics include "iPod Anatomy," "Crank Up the Tunes," "I Need More Music," "Show Me My Photos and Videos," "Maximize My Experience," and "My iPod is Sad (or Alarmed)." There's also a short video of how to reset an iPod.

Rhapsody to support Macs

12/05, 7:45am

Real's Rhapsody to offer Mac support

RealNetworks today will announce a new Web-based version of its music service, which will bring support for Macs and Linux-based devices. The company will support a variety of browsers, including Safari in an effort to expand the reach of its flagship subscription music service Rhapsody, according to Dow Jones. Real's first major announcement since settling its lawsuit with Microsoft in October will include a a "Web-based service called Rhapsody.com, which allows existing Rhapsody subscribers and new users access to streaming music via browsers such as Internet Explorer, Firefox and Safari. Previously, Rhapsody subscribers had to access the service by launching software on Windows-based PCs.,,,, Real is the market leader for subscription music products, ahead of Napster and Yahoo. As of the company's last quarterly report, Real claims 1.3 million paying subscribers; Napster reported 448,000 subscribers in November. Yahoo does not break out its music subscription numbers."