Two big TUAW snaps up to reader Timothy Colburn for tracking down this fab iPod nano offer. Between now and June 30th, when you buy a refurb nano, Apple is going to throw in a $15 iTunes gift card. Sweet! Make sure to read through the how to and the terms and conditions because they're significantly longer than the offer itself.
So does this mean that Apple is readying itself for an iPod refresh? We have no idea -- but a nano in the hand is worth two in the bush.
Update: Just got back from my son's school play and found several notes in my mailbox about this offer. Apparently, Apple sales associates are not honoring this promotion any more and the promo has been removed from the website.
Today Apple announced a new Scrabble iPod game and updated the Mini Golf game, both released by EA games. Mini Golf was one of the first iPod games, originally released in 2006, which allows you to "putt" through many different mini golf-like levels. Scrabble allows you to play a crossword-style game of creating words from the letters on a 15x15 game board.
Both games are available for iPod Classic, iPod nano, and iPod with video (5th generation). You can download them from the iTunes store for $4.99.
After spending a brief time off line (in the US and Canada), the Apple Store is back up with something new to show for it -- pink iPod nanos.
It's available in 8GB only, costs $199US (just like its 8GB siblings) and is shipping for free. We thought it might be tied to a charity -- perhaps Breast Cancer Awareness -- as the RED nano is, but it's simply pink for pink's sake. Just in time for Valentine's Day.
A Georgia man got a surprise recently when his iPod caught fire -- inside his pants pocket. Danny Williams was working at a kiosk at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport when he says he noticed "flames coming up to his chest." It seems the year-old Nano he had in his pocket spontaneously combusted and the only thing that kept him from sustaining serious injury was a piece of paper in the same pocket that acted as a shield.
Williams told Atlanta's WSB-TV, "If [the] TSA had come by and seen me smoking, they could have honestly thought I was a terrorist."
Williams says Apple has offered to replace the Nano, and his mom notes she's relieved it didn't happen while he was sleeping or driving because the outcome could have been "much worse." Not that it's a good idea to keep your Nano in a pants pocket while driving, and many people sleep without pants, but you get the idea.
Aaron bought 40 of the new iPod nanos for a client (all he says is that he had to put content on them), and apparently was struck by how beautiful they were all lined up together, so he got a quick photo shoot set up on Flickr.
While I called them stubby and squished before, I have to admit that they look pretty darn elegant in these pics. I'm still not buying one (an iPhone is going to be my next purchase, very soon here), but the design is growing on me a little bit. I still think the scroll wheel looks weird, though-- it balances perfectly on the old iPods, and here it's too small and leaves too much space open on the sides. I'm no Ive, but I know what I like.
Dear TUAW readers, I have a confession. Normally I am not a person who spontaneously buys an iPod . However last Thursday morning was, well, a little different. Upon seeing the new Nanos, Shuffles and iPod Classics on display at an Apple Store I just happened to be passing (convenient, eh?), I was torn. Do I buy a new Nano? Do I need one? Do I want one? Can I even justify purchasing one, given that I have a (RED) 4GB Nano that I love dearly? The answer to all those questions was close enough to 'yes', almost exclusively because I wanted a video-playing iPod. And more importantly, because I had 7 days of travel that would allow the Nano to prove its worth. Well, after a week of video-playing, music listening and more, the jury is in.
And before a wiseacre chimes in with "slow news day, huh?" we'll be honest and say, that yes, it IS a slow news day. Apple has an event next week, which generally means a quiet period beforehand. So until someone sends us pictures of Steve Wozniak showing Larry the Cable Guy a magic trick, we're just going to have to deal with a fairly sparse day of posting.
[thanks to moo for the Woz link and Atariboy for the lanyard tip]
This is rather disappointing. According to iLounge, Apple has re-designed the TV out functionality of the new iPod classics and nanos so that they no longer work with older third-party TV out cables and docks. Apparently, the new classics and nanos require an Apple authentication chip in the dock/cable to unlock the TV out setting and these chips are only available to official third-party suppliers. At this point only official Apple products and a few select third-party offerings will unlock the TV out setting. The AV cables for the new iPods will reportedly sell for $49 when released.
Here's the ad for the new iPod Nano, (also available in QuickTime on Apple.com) which I still think doesn't look that great (the Nano, not the ad). I mean yeah, it's super cute and tiny, and it is extremely awesome to have a screen like that (with its 204ppi) playing video on a Nano. But it's just so... stubby and squished.
Still, Apple makes up for it by using the best song off of Feist's latest album, and the video that goes with it. Not quite as iconic (or out-there) as Orba Squara, but it is a great tune.
I completely missed one of the biggest changes made to the various iPods today-- they're now all capable of video out. Apple is selling Component and Composite video cables right now, and listing them as compatible with the new Nanos, iPod Classic, iPod Touch, and even the iPhone.
Does that mean video out is being added to the iPhone via a software update? If it's been available on the iPhone before, I've never heard of it. Then again, the composite video cable is listed as compatible with iPod Video, so this ability has been around at least since earlier this year, even if the quality isn't very good.
But the iPod Touch's bigger screen does mean a better resolution. Are you willing to spend $50 for the cable just to watch your iPod on the big screen? Might come in handy for sales presentations and the like, but there are so many other ways to stream things to your TV at home that it doesn't seem like that big a draw to me.
Note: The picture is actually the Viewsonic Viewdock, not the AV cable. But it does pretty much the same thing.
The swirling rumors of new iPod nanos have turned out to be true, and they look just like all those leaked photos pictured which is to say... stubby. The new body makes room for a 2 inch color display with the highest pixel density that Apple has ever shipped. The nano uses that screen to sport an overhauled UI for the iPod which includes CoverFlow and 3 bundled games.
Apple claims you'll get 24 hours of audio playback or 5 hours of video. The iPod nano comes in two capacities: 4 gigs for $149 which will be available in silver and the 8 gig for $199 which will come in a number of colors.
We've finally found something that can kill an Apple product: 30 minutes of highway traffic. Sam O. wrote in to tell us what happened to his brother's 2G Nano-- his grandmother apparently found it in the driveway, and decided to pick it up and put it on the hood of his car. He didn't realize this had happened, however, until he'd driven out for some errands, so after swearing profusely for a bit, he got back in the car to follow his route and see if he could spot it.
It's hot pink, obviously, so he did find it-- just in time to see an 18-wheel semi run it over. The gory results are below. We've seen Apple products take quite a licking and keep on ticking before, but apparently sitting on the highway for 30 minutes in Boise, ID will shut them down for good. Good to know.
Of course, the real question is: did AppleCare cover it?
Wanna buy an iPhone for 99 cents? You probably missed your chance. Apparently 99 Cent Only stores in California are having a big 25th anniversary party, and this morning, at their store in Westchester, CA, they sold 9 iPhones to the first 9 customers for only 99 cents each.
That can't quite be legal, considering that Apple and AT&T have paid a lot of money to make sure you get the iPhone from them, but of course it's just a fun contest to promote the store's anniversary. Unfortunately, if you missed your chance this morning, the prizes go downhill fast-- a Friends VHS set and cordless powered scissors are among the options for Friday. Wait a minute, "cordless powered scissors"? That sounds pretty cool, actually.
Of course, the 99 cent store isn't the only place you can find good deals-- Adam dropped us a heads up that Nanos are being sold in Apple's refurbished store for only 99... ok, well, dollars. But a 2gb Nano for 99 bucks is as cheap as you'll find it.
According to Forbes, Apple stock is up based on today's rumors of an iPhone nano. We here at TUAW have heard this latest rumor, we're just not freaked out about it. As far as we can tell, all this furor is based around a single Apple patent that was speculated upon by J.P. Morgan analyst Kevin Chang. And right now as far as we can tell, while the news-o-sphere (the traditional media equivalent of the blogosphere) is going crazy on this unsubstantiated suggestion, there aren't any facts backing it up.
Yes, Apple will probably follow on to the iPhone--that's kind of a given. And yes, the next iPhone may be cheaper. But since the existing iPhone is already nano-esque in that it is flash-based with only 4 or 8 GB of memory, it's hard to see where speculation about a second iPhone that's nano-esque and possibly slightly cheaper is actually all that, you know, newsworthy.
Now this is interesting. Apple applied for a patent today that depicts an iPod-looking device with a simple clickwheel that displays numbers...much like an old rotary phone. Could it be a low-cost sibling for the iPhone?
This is all speculation, of course, but Apple does offer both a high end and a low end iPod; would a basic companion to the iPhone not make sense? Some users just want to make and receive calls, and couldn't be bothered with all that hoity-toity "internet" stuff. Thanks, Chris!
After spending a brief time off line (in the US and Canada), the Apple Store is back up with something new to show for it -- pink iPod nanos.
In case you were wondering, the 
This is rather disappointing. According to 
I completely missed one of the biggest changes made to the various iPods today-- they're now all capable of video out. Apple is selling 
Wanna buy an iPhone for 99 cents? You probably missed your chance. Apparently 99 Cent Only stores in California are having a big 25th anniversary party, and this morning, at their store in Westchester, CA, they sold 
According to Forbes, Apple stock is up based on today's 
Now this is interesting. 
