In its "Let's Rock" event today, Apple introduced three new iPod touch models, all of which are available today.

$229 will get you 8GB of storage, $299 will buy 16GB, and $399 scores 32GB. That's knocking $70 to $100 off the price of each.

The form factor is very slightly thinner, and has a similar tapered back as the iPhone 3G, as rumors suggested. It will also include an exterior volume control and a built-in speaker for "casual listening." There is no microphone built in, but the touch will work with new Apple headphones that include a microphone on the cord. The new headphones are sold separately for $79.

The new models all come with version 2.1 of the iPod touch firmware, which includes the Genius recommendation service mentioned earlier in the presentation. The software also comes with Nike+ built-in, so all you have to buy is the shoe sensor/transmitter. No more dongle.

For those with a current-model iPod touch, the software update is free for those updating from 2.x, and $10 for those upgrading from 1.x.

The new iPod touch models also are more environmentally-friendly, and are constructed with arsenic-free glass and BFR-free, mercury-free, PVC-free, and highly-recyclable components just like the new nano.

[Photo via Engadget.]

As an entertaining Friday afternoon aside to our discussion earlier this week about how to recover data from a dying hard disk, it turns out there's plenty of uses left for the ones that have finally stopped pining for the fjords.

• With this tutorial from HacknMod, you can turn your hard disk into a grinder or sander.

• You can make a windchime and a keychain out of the parts inside the hard disk. Classy!

• You can turn it into a speaker.

• Years ago, my dad used to make clocks out of the huge 14-inch disk platters he used in old HP 3000 minicomputers. Turns out you can do this with the smaller drives of today, too.

• Finally, if you acquire enough expired hard disks, you can make a huge domino set out of them.

The speaker on the iPhone isn't too shabby, but that's not to say that users don't want to blast their music, right? Well, you can always buy some iPod/iPhone friendly external spears to plug your iPhone into, but some of us want portability! Erik Groset, the 23 year-old creator of the LiveSpeakR, thinks he has the device that will have iPhone users raving.

The LiveSpeakR is unlike most iPhone speakers in that it clips onto the iPhone and plugs into the USB connector on the bottom. The speakers can then rotate to work with landscape and portrait view, and can also expand to fit nicely into your pocket. LiveSpeakR's are also shielded from RF interference, so you won't get the nasty GSM-speaker interference that you get with regular speakers.

On the LiveSpeakR website, they say that the product will be available in "Summer 2008," as they are currently looking for manufacturing partners. Currently, there's no word on pricing.

Thanks, Erik.