Earlier this week 9to5Mac posted some spy pics of what the new iPod Nano from Apple might look like and we, like many others, were not very impressed.

The new video Nano’s appeared to be a bit wider than previous models allowing for a small and wide video screen. The colors also appeared to be new. The spy photos are of the classic, rumor-enforcing poor quality but some colors could be recognized including light green, light blue and maybe a cranberry color along with 2 others that are said to be available when it’s released. The new Nano’s will come in 4GB and 8GB capacities and will have video capability.

Today Gizmodo published a mock-up rendering of its own of the new video iPod Nano showing the same fatter, …

Last month when we saw a gold iPod Shuffle going for $19k we felt like things were a little out of hand, but now someone has even outdone that with this $20,000 Shuffle decorated with diamonds, gold and platinum.

If people are willing to buy these things we can hardly blame anyone for making them but the ones that are dropping $19,900 more than the rest of us on a Shuffle are who we’re wondering about.

Engadget

Rumors are running about regarding a new iPod from Apple that may be released next week, and presumably will be called the iPod Touch. The word is the Touch design will be a 2×2 inch square that plays music and videos, coming with flash-based storage capacities of 4GB and 8GB.

It would essentially be a “nano” sized iPhone without any phone capabilities and will run $299 for the 4GB and $399 for the 8GB. Some type of announcement for the potential iPod Touch is expected to happen on August 7th but just this afternoon it sounds like invitations went out from Apple for an event on that day regarding the new Mac. So maybe we’ll have to wait a little longer to see a new iPod, but we’ll be watching Tuesday to see exactly what pans out….

DAPReview made a copy of video clips it got from MacRumors with some supposed footage of the next generation iPod interface. Unfortunately MacRumors took the post down stating it was for legal reasons due to Apple’s request, which of course helps make the rumor seem more legit.

The video shows some short clips of the “Now Playing” screen, some navigation and the World Clock. We would expect the 6G iPod interface to be quite a bit more like the iPhone interface, but either this preview doesn’t do the interface justice or it’s just not going to be all that cool.

Take a look at the video clips here and see what you think:

The nosy sleuths (and we like nosy) at Unwired View discovered a very interest patent application filed yesterday by Apple Computer for a “Dynamic lyrics display for portable media devices.” Apple’s filing explains that “The text being displayed is associated with and synchronized to the media content being presented.” Hmm, doesn’t that sound a lot like what a karaoke player does? Essentially Apple is claiming the patent on karaoke functions on a PMP but there is at least one device out there that does exactly that, Asus’ Z801 flip phone.

Even if Apple doesn’t wind up getting the copyright the paper shows that they are at least thinking about giving us a iPod style karaoke machine, for those of us that like to sing to ourselves and without any amplification to our voicebox.

For some the available choice of colors for their iPods are just not enough, and a few can take that to a whole new level. In this case it’s a level with a price tag of a little more that $19,000. A company called Xexoo makes a number of Apple products and accessories that are covered in 18 carat gold and one of them happens to be this gold iPod Shuffle.

The golden iPod Shuffle works the same as any other Shuffle except that it’s a little less resistant to scratches and dents and is priced equivalent to what it might cost you to get about 240 silver iPod Shuffles. For the $19k you also get a special box that the gold shuffle is delivered in and unlimited 24/7 concierge service should you forget how to use it at some point. They will also replace it …

Now that the the dust is settling a little bit from the iPhone launch it looks like it’s time to ramp up the rumor mills again around the the Beatles and the potential of a special, limited edition version of the Apple iPod. Pictured here is a mocked up version of what a Beatles Yellow Submarine iPod just might look like from TechDigest. It sports simply a bright yellow-submarine color and comes pre-loaded with every Beatles album ever made.

This special edition iPod has been rumored for quite a while now and we really like the idea (and TechDigest’s rendition). The talk is that this yellow iPod would be launched at the same time that the Beatles songs go on sale through iTunes. It also potentially could be available for only a month while iTunes has the Beatles albums and it’s competition does …

It’s got to be difficult to carry the fame that the Apple iPod enjoys without getting some bad press once in a while. A couple months ago we saw that the player can adversely affect pacemakers, and today an article was published in the New England Journal of Medicine stating that wearing your iPod in a Thunderstorm might not be the best idea.

The report cited a case at a hospital in Canada where a man was out jogging during a thunderstorm when lightning struck a tree that was next to him. As a result, the man was thrown about 8 feet, suffered some burns, a jaw fracture and blown out eardrums.

The physicians that treated the man concluded that the injuries he sustained were due to the iPod he was wearing. The burns were found on his …

No, Apple doesn’t make a black iPod Shuffle which is most likely why this Chinese knockoff made theirs with a color previously not available. According to the packaging it was designed in California but assembled (if that’s what “Assombled” means) in China, and is priced at only $14.

What’s interesting is the packaging and design look surprisingly similar to an actual iPod, but according to a translation from Le Journal du Geek who obtained the knockoff product, it’s actually made out of plastic which isn’t held together well at that.

via Engadget

We have to wonder about a lot of the iPod accessories we’ve come across lately, but here’s a handy looking little portable speaker with a built-in dock for 2nd generation iPod nanos. It comes in colors to match the different nano colors (pink, green, black and white), and has a custom-sized dock that fits nicely inside the device while still exposing the navigation controls of the nano.

The DOC speaker dock also has a carrying case and runs on 3 AAA batteries. This portable speaker system appears to be a reasonable solution for those who want portable music without having to wear headphones all time, and it also has a pretty reasonable price. You can pick up the DOC portable speaker dock from Brookstone for $39.99.

via popgadget

We’ve seen all kinds of accessories and products latched onto the iPod bandwagon over the past months so I wasn’t surprised to see an iGrill in my inbox; it was just a matter of time. What I was surprised to see was the legendary George Foreman getting into the mix with his lean, mean i-grilling machine, hence the George Foreman iGrill.

This iGrill works similar to the other grills in the George Foreman line with the electrical non-stick griddle, and can be used indoors or outdoors providing a relatively large 200 square inches of grilling surface. “Why the iGrill?”, you might ask. Well, the iGrill has a 10 watt speaker built into it and can play your iPod via a line-in jack. In fact it play music from just about any MP3 player that you connect to it.

We are totally sold on the idea …

According to a recent study, iPod music players can cause implanted cardiac pacemakers to malfunction and produce false reading while monitoring heart rhythms. The study was done by a 17-year-old Michigan high school student in conjunction with a team from the University of Michigan and Michigan State University, and presented to the Hearth Rhythm Society’s annual session in Denver.

In the study no other portable music players were used, only iPods. After testing 83 individuals with pacemakers by holding the iPod device 2 inches in front of the subjects chest for 5 to 10 seconds, almost half of the pacemakers produced electrical interference causing the device to either misread the heart’s function or to not read any heart function at all. In one instance the pacemaker stopped functioning completely. We have to wonder if the same results would …

After spending some time searching, the folks over at Crave have found a boombox for the iPod video that has a built-in video screen and an actual dock made for the iPod, plus more.

This iPod video boombox has a 7 inch video screen that comes in two different design models, one mounted on the front and another with a flip-up screen as shown here. This device makes it easy for iPod owners to take their player to the beach and share their music and videos with others, using the convenience of a boombox with a dock specific for the iPod.

We mentioned the “more” part because this boombox also plays CD’s, DVD’s, can pick up television signals and of course what would a boombox be if it didn’t get FM radio? The “iMep” series iPod video boombox is available from Boston Innovation retailing for …

Gadgets that need a somewhat-significantly sized interface for texting messages or dialing phone numbers can only get so small before they will just be too tiny for the average person to use, so what would a designer do when they’ve simply run out of space on the device? By looking at this patent found by Unwired it appears that Apple has an interesting solution.

Instead of trying to cram more buttons into a small area or re-purposing the same area, it appears that they are playing with idea of using both sides of a smaller gadget to make more room. By doing this Apple could potentially make an iPhone closer to the size of an iPod nano, by which they could have something like an iPhone nano.

On the USPTO web site, the proposed iPhone nano would have a full screen …

Life in a dorm can be cramped, and if you’ve got your iPod to watch the latest episode of “Lost” or “Heroes”, you know that it can be a pain trying to catch the action on that tiny screen. Altec Lansing is out to convince you that your school daze can be better if you pick up their inMotion iMV712 iPod entertainment system, a three speakers and screen combo which connects with your video iPod and plays the content on it.

The LCD screen is 8.5-inches wide and there is a four-inch subwoofer and two three-inch speakers on the sides. Your iPod docks in the base which also recharges it, and there’s also a remote that controls the functions of the inMotion or the iPod.

An RCA input connection and an auxiliary input jack for other brand MP3 players is also along for …