Last week, we learned that Apple would be revamping some US retail stores, including a new iPod touch-based point-of-sale (POS) system. A new scanner accessory allows Apple to replace the old Windows CE-based sales handhelds.

Gary Allen of ifoAppleStore has given AppleInsider an exclusive look at the thing, and it's pretty cool (that is, if retail hardware is your bag). It's an iPod touch with a magnetic stripe reader, a barcode scanner and Apple's proprietary payment-processing software. The iPod rests inside what AppleInsider calls a "slip-on shell" that plugs into the dock connector; it includes its own battery to power the two scanning peripherals.

Apple Store employees will use the devices to accept purchases made with credit cards, debit cards and cash; they can even make returns and activate a new iPhone.

It looks like a clever device. If you see one in the store (or if you use one), tell us what you can.

[Via The Apple Blog]

Over at Wired's Gadget Lab they've got a rundown of a neat new feature of iTunes 8.1: iPhone / iPod touch voting for songs in DJ mode. Basically, Apple also released an update to their Remote application to go with iTunes 8.1 and it is now possible to set up iTunes so that anybody with an iPhone or touch connected to the same network can actually request songs from your library into the DJ list (formerly Party Shuffle playlist). Once songs are queued up, other guests can even vote on the songs (presumably to move them up the queue, though that's not confirmed). You can still control all playback features via Remote on your own, authorized iPod touch or iPhone.

This is a brilliant piece of integration from Apple. Invite your friends over (though only if they have an iPhone or touch, naturally) and let the guests choose the songs. There are apparently some annoyances and quirks to the system in the way the queuing actually works, but one imagines those will be worked out in the future.

[via Gizmodo]

Do you own one of those fanciful new MacBooks? You know, the ones with the cool multitouch trackpads? Do you envy Safari users that can take advantage of multi-finger scrolling, pinching and squeezing in their web browsing? If so, you might be a perfect candidate for the new Firefox 3.1b2 beta.

Since October, Mozilla has been releasing preliminary builds of Firefox that allow you to use the gestures that are common among the Safari browsers out there; however, they've added some special gestures that are unique to Firefox. Some of these 3-finger gestures include:

• Swipe Left/Right to move backward/forward through browsing history
• Swipe Up/Down to move to top/bottom of web page
• Pinch in/out to make the text larger or smaller
• Twist left/right to move between open tabs

If you want to get your hands (quite literally) on the newest beta of Firefox, then head over to the Firefox 3 beta download website. There's still no word yet on when the final release of Firefox 3.1 with touch support is expected.

Special thanks to Tom Dyas for sharing his early builds.

[via MacRumors]

With the day's Apple news slowing down, the Apple store finally came back online after what seemed to be an eternity. We've been looking around and here are the changes that we found:

• New iPod nanos are now available for order and ship within 24 hours
• New iPod touches are available for order and ship within 1-3 business days
• New iPod classic is now available and ships within 24 hours
• New iPod shuffles are available and ship within 24 hours
• New in-ear headphones are not available and sport a "coming soon" message
• New earphones with remote/mic are "coming soon" as well

That is all the newness that we spotted, be sure to leave a comment below (or send us a tip) if you spot something else.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in!

Last night, Apple offered up the iPod touch 2.1 firmware early for iPod touch owners (iPhone owners will have to wait until Friday). Not much has changed since the 2.0 firmware, but Apple did add some features to the Music section of the iPod touch -- most notably, Genius.

Unlike Genius in iTunes on your Mac/PC, Genius on the iPod touch doesn't connect to Apple's servers and exchange information (however, it may download an indexing file of sorts from iTunes on your computer). You can create a Genius playlist on the iPod touch using 2 methods:

• While playing a song, tap once on the artwork, then tap on the genius button (in the middle of the pop-up toolbar)
• Tap on "Playlists" on the bottom toolbar and select "Genius"
  

When you use the Playlists > Genius button, you will need to specify a song for Genius to analyze. Once your Genius playlist is created, you will be presented with a screen with 3 new buttons along the top:

• Save - this button allows you to save your current Genius playlist
• New - tapping this button will create a new Genius playlist (you must specify a new song to analyze)
• Refresh - tapping on this button will refresh the current playlist, replacing any old songs with new ones

The Genius logo will appear next to the songs that you've chosen to analyze. That is all of the new features in 2.1: just Genius. Be sure to take a look at our gallery of Genius screenshots.

Don't get me wrong, I love my iPod touch. As a matter of fact, I'm writing this post with it on the beach as my girlfriend goes surfing. But with Apple's new product announcement on Tuesday, it makes me wonder what changes could be in store for our favorite supercharged music player.

I think the single greatest thing Apple could do for the iPod touch is take a page from the Amazon Kindle and offer free "Whispernet" service for every iPod touch sold. (Or, say, roll it in with a Mobile Me subscription.) Amazon bought access to a chunk of Sprint's EVDO network, which means every Kindle has network access wherever it goes.

Apple could make such a deal with AT&T -- and its various partners worldwide -- to provide the necessary bandwidth. Who knows -- perhaps they have already. Allow tethering with software like NetShare, and you've got Internet access for your Mac, too. Instant-on, and always there. Brilliant.

Another simple addition would be GPS functionality, bringing the iPod touch in line with its newer sibling. Suddenly, the need for both a GPS and an iPod in your car is obviated, and it opens up interesting opportunities with the car manufacturers who already offer iPod integration in their vehicles.

Third, and this could apply to new iPhones too, would be to allow access to the dock connector for Apps. This opens up all kinds of options for iPhone and iPod touch owners to use voice recorders and cameras, as well as potentially control a wide range of equipment from industrial automation tools to backyard telescopes.

Who knows what Apple has up their sleeve? Certainly not me. But with this wish list fulfilled, you can be sure a new iPod touch is in my immediate future.

Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster is speculating that Apple will hold a special event in early September to announce new iPods and MacBooks, according to a research note he released.

Munster is bullish on seeing Apple enter the sub-$1,000 market for its MacBook line, and has been saying so since last month. He also anticipates a new form factor for the MacBook Pro line, noting that its exterior design (and that of its predecessor, the PowerBook G4) has only slightly changed over the last five-and-a-half years.

In the same note, he suggested that larger-capacity iPod shuffles and nanos are on the way, but with no change in pricing. He said that the iPod touch could even be redesigned and priced at $199.

Looking into the future, Munster said he thinks a touchscreen Mac portable isn't ready now, but could be available closer to 2010, while a redesigned (even smaller) MacBook Air could hit store shelves next year.

[Via Barron's.]

Apple yesterday released an update for iPod touch for those users who don't want to pony up the ten bucks for the 2.0 software update. However, Macworld could discern no difference between 1.1.4 and 1.1.5, and no release notes are available.

I'd conjecture that the same security fixes that were included in the 2.0 update are included in this one, similar to the way Tiger is still updated with security patches. At least, I hope that's the case.

Obviously, no functionality is offered as a part of the update: you'll have to spring for the 2.0 update for that.

You can download the update via iTunes by clicking "Check for Updates" with your iPod connected to your computer, and opting out of the 2.0 upgrade.

Thanks, David and Toon, for the tip!

Blessed are the patient, for they shall pay $9.95 (or $10.79, with sales tax depending on your billing address) and download the iPod touch 2.0 Software Update (store link), and yea they shall wait some 20 to 30 minutes for the 226 MB of new firmware to descend from the high Akamai and bestow App Store access upon them. In point of fact, also blessed are the impatient who remained awake and clicked the "Upgrade" button every five minutes up until 12 am ET, which is about when everything started to get moving.

Downloading it now, gallery below, first impressions to come. We have a warning from reader Paul that his upgrade to 2.0 (on an iPhone first-gen, not a touch) nuked his Address Book data, so be sure to back up before you upgrade your devices. We also have a tip from Cody that Canadian would-be buyers of the 2.0 update and App Store goodies must use a credit card; iTunes gift cards are not working to place the order.

Note that there is a new SLA accompanying this upgrade, as one might expect (PDF here). If you're hungry for more as you wait for your upgrade to download and run, you can browse the list of iPod touch-compatible apps or check out our First Looks so far.

Update: Installed, resynced and bought some apps -- all working as expected except for Mail, which is hanging on start and kicking back to the main screen. Going to try wiping it down and resyncing if I can. A note to the commenters who are suggesting pulling a torrent of the new firmware instead of coughing up the $10... c'mon, are you going to risk your $300 iPod's health on a pirated software update? It's $10. Give up cigarettes or something.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in.

Our WWDC liveblog has the story -- Apple demoed a whole slew of apps (more than any one person would ever need) at the keynote today, but for my money, the most interesting were probably the least useful: I bought an iPhone to play games with.

Sega was up first, demoing that version of Super Monkey Ball they've been working on. The real key on this one will be the amount of content they can come up with, and the devs have said they're planning to put in lots of levels -- the more the better. It will debut for $9.99 right at launch.

Pangea was up next, showing off a few ports they've put together -- Cro-Mag Rally is a "caveman racing game" that uses the accelerometer (surprise) to drive a vehicle. This is, unfortunately, the problem you run into when you get a really innovative set of controls on a gaming device. It takes innovation not only to come up with the controls, but to find new ways to use them. Just as the Nintendo Wii suffers from thousands of useless minigame collections, the iPhone at App Store launch will likely suffer from thousands of "accelerometer racing" games, with only one or two really worth playing.

But Apple saved the best for last -- a company named Digital Legends was invited to show off their action/adventure platforming game, and it showed real promise (you can see some good screenshots on Engadget's liveblog). Unfortunately, this one won't be out until "a few weeks" after the App Store launch, but hopefully for every touch jewel puzzler and accelerometer racing game we have on release day, we'll have a truly innovative gaming delight later in the iPhone's lifetime.

An Apple patent application under the name "Illuminated touch pad" has been published by the US Patent & Trademark Office. There are several innovations detailed in the application, but it pertains primarily to touch sensitive inputs that provide light-based visual feedback. Among the variations included is a system that provides feedback with variable intensity (or color) based on direction and speed of the object in the sensing field. It's a possible indicator of some future advancements in the interface of the iPod classic.

The technology presented could be used in a multitude of devices, current and future. Ultimately, it's another indicator that Apple will continue to refine the user experience in innovative ways. Of course, I never had many doubts in that area. The MacNN has a detailed description of the patents applied for.

When Steve Jobs announced five new apps for the iPod Touch yesterday, people were ecstatic -- for about ten seconds. Once he mentioned the upgrade would cost current iPod touch owners $20 (they're included on all new units), most of the comments from participants following the keynote in TUAW's IRC channel were largely unprintable.

Apple's customers aren't usually the sort to take things lying down, however, so now there's an online petition calling on Apple to make the apps free to current customers. As I write this, there are close to 600 signatures and climbing.

It's worth noting that Michael Rose and John Gruber pondered the possibility of iPod touch updates and user costs back in October 2007, as Apple's quarterly earnings report indicated that the iPhone's subscription accounting model was not being used for the touch. At the time it wasn't clear what would happen when functional updates to the iPod touch were released; now we know that they come with a price tag.

[Thanks, Daniel!]

Though there was plenty of other news at the Keynote today, iPod Touch users got a little love thrown their way today -- for a price. Master Steve announced that effective immediately, there are five new apps available for the Touch: Mail, Stocks, Notes, Weather, and Maps. Oh, and it will set current Touch owners back $20.

• Preview mail before you open it, display grapics and photos inline, and view HTML, PDF, Word, and Exel attachments.

• Stocks, Weather, and Notes all appear as widgets on your home screen.

• Google Maps determines your approximate location if Wi-Fi is on and gives you directions, marks specific locations (Starbucks?), and has both hybrid and satellite maps to show you the way.

Granted, it's not as exciting as the iPhone update (nor is it, ahem, as free) -- but at least we've got notes and mail now, right? That ought to count for something.

iPhone hacker eok writes to let me know that he and Samuel have gotten SIP registration and signalization working. They took a few mobile terminal shots, but the real work is being done via ssh. Samuel is working on connecting the audio in/out to the pjSIP. If you have iPhone or iPod touch coding skills and want to get involved in the project, connect to #touchmods on irc.undernet.org. It looks like most of the work will be done on European time.

Oh, and if anyone is giving away free iPods to worthy developers? eok recommends that Samuel gets one first. He writes that Samuel has been the driving force behind the compilation.

Over at the iPod touch fans forum, user Marian reports that he's managed to confirm that the iPod touch audio input pins are active. He modded an old docking cable, connecting the line-in pins to an audio source. He then used my voice recording app to capture the signal. You can see pictures of his setup on his personal blog.

I'd really appreciate it if any of you own an iPod mike (iTalk, MicroMemo, whatever) could test it with VoiceNotes on a touch and see whether these pre-built solutions are also compatible.

Update:Marian writes that he's recorded from audio line in. You can find a sample he recorded here. He's now working on attaching a mike. Unfortunately, since I exclusively record using the voice-optimized AMR codec, the quality is just so-so.