Archive for April, 2007

SendStation announces immediate availability of Dock Extender for iPod; relaunches smartCharge with Line Out for iPod

Tuesday, April 24th, 2007

SendStation Systems is pleased to announce that its long awaited Dock
Extender for iPod has begun shipping. The unique Dock Extender is the
only solution on the market which allows you to dock the iPod or attach
dock-mounted accessories without constantly peeling your iPod from its
case.

It is available for USD 28.95 from the SendStation Online Store at www.sendstation.com and authorized resellers worldwide.

SendStation has also relaunched smartCharge, its popular iPod car
charger and cut its price: It now comes bundled with a special
audio-enabled USB-iPod Sync & Charge cable. It provides superior
quality sound through smartCharge’s built-in Line Out jack, for direct
connections to the Aux In jack found on many car stereos.

The new smartCharge works with all iPods with 30-pin dock connector and
the 1st generation iPod shuffle. It’s immediately available at a new
low price of USD 24.95 from the SendStation Store at www.sendstation.com and authorized resellers worldwide.

smartCharge and Dock Extender are both licensed iPod accessories, thus
carry Apple’s official Made for iPod badge.

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New Spring Styles from Acme Made

Tuesday, April 24th, 2007

It’s been a cold winter for a lot of us but spring is finally here and Acme Made is excited to introduce some of our own flowers to help celebrate spring. Be sure to check out our new Fleur and Pinwool woven wool/nylon blended textiles, imported from Denmark, as well as the striking Bloom White textile designed by Koloman Moser, circa 1901. Acme Made

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NextSentry security firm would like to Ban iPods from Workplace

Thursday, April 12th, 2007

NextSentry today announced that “Pocket Fraud(TM)” is quickly
becoming the methodology of choice for employees with legitimate
access credentials to download confidential customer data and
intellectual property for profit or personal gain. Since the start-up
launched in June 2006, NextSentry has seen employees increasingly
confident in using traditional removable storage devices like memory
sticks and CDs to improperly extract data from the enterprise with
tools that fit in their pocket. However, the company now believes
that the use of iPods for “Pod Slurping,” MP3s, and even digital
cameras with massive storage capacities will become the biggest
Pocket Fraud assets for internal theft from rogue employees. As a
result, NextSentry suggests corporations prohibit employees from
using such devices until proper policy enforcement capabilities are
in place in order to prevent data leaks.

According to NextSentry, mass storage devices like iPods, MP3s, and
memory sticks are finding a place in the enterprise either to make
employees happy or to increase productivity. For example, according
to an article by Anjali Athavaley in the October 25, 2006 issue of
the Wall Street Journal, “National Semiconductor Corp., a chip
manufacturer in Santa Clara, Calif., spent $2.5 million on video
iPods for its 8,500 employees, including those overseas, for training
purposes and company announcements. At Capital One Financial Corp., a
financial-services company based in McLean, Va., more than 3,000
employees have received iPods since the company began using them in
supplementary training classes. Siemens AG unit Siemens Medical
Solutions, a health-care supplier based in Malvern, Pa., purchased
about 100 iPods for its molecular-imaging group last year for training
and sales support.”

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Apple changes its iTune?

Thursday, April 12th, 2007

Since Apple launched its wildly successful iTunes music store back in 2003, CEO Steve Jobs has adamantly refused to offer a monthly subscription service. If you want to buy music from iTunes, you do it either by the single or the album, that’s it. But that could soon change.

Les Ottolenghi, CEO of INTENT MediaWorks, a digital distribution system that works with peer-to-peer networks, said he’s had meetings with people from Apple and he believes the company will announce a subscription service for iTunes within the next six months. “I think Apple is seriously considering a subscription offering right now even though they will probably tell you otherwise,” he said. Spokespeople for Apple were not immediately available for comment.

So far though, it appears that Apple has made the right decision to spurn the subscription model. Rival online music stores, such as Napster , RealNetworks’ Rhapsody and Yahoo’s Y! Music Unlimited, that offer monthly subscriptions have failed to attract a lot of interest. In fact, I wrote yesterday about how teens widely prefer iTunes to subscription-based music stores.

But Ottolenghi said that even though music subscription services have struggled against iTunes so far, he doesn’t think consumers are necessarily averse to paying monthly subscriptions. He argues that because Apple doesn’t offer a subscription product, that’s why music fans haven’t embraced the model.

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Speck is offering a Spring Sale with cases for under $10

Wednesday, April 11th, 2007

Speck is offering several popular cases for different media players and phones for under $10. Speck

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I would like to announce the 100th Million iPod Sold

Tuesday, April 10th, 2007

Apple® today announced that the 100 millionth iPod® has been sold, making the iPod the fastest selling music player in history. The first iPod was sold five and a half years ago, in November 2001, and since then Apple has introduced more than 10 new iPod models, including five generations of iPod, two generations of iPod mini, two generations of iPod nano and two generations of iPod shuffle. Along with iTunes® and the iTunes online music store, the iPod has transformed how tens of millions of music lovers acquire, manage and listen to their music.

“At this historic milestone, we want to thank music lovers everywhere for making iPod such an incredible success,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “iPod has helped millions of people around the world rekindle their passion for music, and we’re thrilled to be a part of that.”

“It’s hard to remember what I did before the iPod,” said Mary J. Blige, GRAMMY Award-winning singer. “iPod is more than just a music player, it’s an extension of your personality and a great way to take your favorite music with you everywhere you go.”

“Without the iPod, the digital music age would have been defined by files and folders instead of songs and albums,” said John Mayer, GRAMMY Award-winning singer-songwriter and guitarist. “Though the medium of music has changed, the iPod experience has kept the spirit of what it means to be a music lover alive.”

The iPod has also sparked an unprecedented ecosystem of over 4,000 accessories made specifically for the iPod that range from fashionable cases to speaker systems, and more than 70 percent of 2007-model US automobiles currently offer iPod connectivity.

“I take my running shoes and my iPod with me everywhere,” said Lance Armstrong, seven-time Tour de France champion. “I listen to music when I run. Having my music with me is really motivating.”

Every iPod features seamless integration with iTunes 7. The iTunes Store (www.itunes.com) features the world’s largest catalog with over five million songs, 350 television shows and over 400 movies. The iTunes Store has sold over 2.5 billion songs, 50 million TV shows and over 1.3 million movies, making it the world’s most popular online music, TV and movie store.

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Yahoo to provide music services for Sandisk player

Tuesday, April 10th, 2007

Sansa Connect lets users listen to typical MP3 songs, but also has a built-in Wi-Fi wireless communication connection, allowing users to download songs from Yahoo’s service without first linking to a personal computer.

The agreement, whose terms were not disclosed, pairs the Sansa Connect with both free and subscription-based services from Yahoo’s Yahoo Music service.

The device, first introduced in January, is now available for sale in the United States, according to Sandisk, which says it is the No. 2 seller in the U.S. of MP3 players, behind Apple Inc. (NasdaqGS:AAPL – News)

Hoping to lure shoppers looking for an alternative to Apple’s ubiquitous iPod, Sandisk has won over many consumers with its sleek Sansa line of digital players. But like rival consumer electronics makers Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. (005930.KS) and Sony Corp. (Tokyo:6758.T – News), the company has found it hard to gain ground against the iPod.

Apple has sold more than 70 million iPods since the product’s introduction in October 2001, and the devices now command more than a 70 percent share of the U.S. market for MP3 players, as they are also known.

Sandisk’s new device, which was among several announced at the Consumer Electronics Show in January, comes as Sandisk’s profit and shares are under pressure from steep declines in flash memory prices for gadgets like cell phones and digital cameras.

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Apple’s recent deal with EMI to sell DRM-free songs

Thursday, April 5th, 2007

A few months ago I was at a big family dinner at Capsouto Frères, a fancy French bistro in Tribeca. One of the partygoers runs a small computer and electronics shop and considers himself an authority on computers and consumer electronics. His opinions on Apple (AAPL) and its products bug me (to put it simply).

I held my tongue as he chattered on about all the supposedly fascinating things he was doing with his Microsoft (MSFT) Windows machines. We barely know each other, and he had no idea what I write about for a living. But when the subject turned to the iPod, he gave me an opening I couldn’t resist. “Oh those iPods,” he said dismissively. “People are always bringing them into the shop with complaints, and they don’t even play standard MP3 songs like all the others.”

“Absolutely not true,” I said, breaking my silence. “I don’t know where you got that idea, but it’s patently false.”
A Popular Misconception

His convoluted explanation, as best I could understand it, was that he thought iPods played some “Apple-only” format, which he called ACC (it’s actually AAC, as in Advanced Audio Coding, and it isn’t “Apple-only”). I explained that the iPod plays every major digital audio format save two, Windows Media Audio (WMA) and Ogg Vorbis.

He had somehow gotten it into his head that all online music stores, save iTunes, sell MP3s on which there are no copy restrictions. Noting that he was vastly misinformed, I told him that in in fact no online music store sells unprotected MP3s—the exception being eMusic.com—while Napster (NAPS) and Yahoo! Music (YHOO), for instance, sell heavily protected WMA files, which are compatible with a wide range of portable players, but not the iPod. Where he got his set of ideas, I don’t know.

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Noreve releases updated belt clip for demanding customers

Thursday, April 5th, 2007

Noreve has designed an exclusive belt clip for its demanding customers.
After months of development, Noreve is proud to present its new and discreet belt clip. It is now stronger and flatter, all while keeping its great advantage of being removable.

No more belt clip hassels…This new and exclusive clip continues to give you the possibility of replacing it with the Noreve button for a completely flat back (included).

The belt clip (light and thin) has been conceived to hang flat against the body. Its rotation system allows it to swivel 360° and has 8 different blockage points. (This comes in handy when standing and sitting often; it keeps the case horizontal and in place.)
The Noreve belt clip comes with its own special screw driver.

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Wi-Fi Blocking Paint

Wednesday, April 4th, 2007

My wireless network is very protected, thanks to my husband who takes plenty of preventive measures that keep intruders out of our network. The Gadget Hound also taught us a thing or two about the subject in this post, in which a reader’s concern prompted him to ask more about Wi-Fi scamming. If you haven’t changed the default name and password on your network, you’re contributing to your network’s susceptibility to malicious attacks, so don’t be surprised when intruders—either neighbors or strangers parked outside your home—bog down your network with spam, or illegal downloads. Like Tom said, the best way to keep those intruders out is by enabling WEP or WPA encryption on your network by changing the password on your router. Chris has a step-by-step guide on how to do this too.

SEC Technologies has another option: wireless blocking paint. One coat of this paint “creates an electromagnetic fortress by preventing airborne hackers from intercepting signals.” Sounds a little too much like something the government would be interested in, and less like a technology that would benefit the average Wi-Fi user who has already ditched the landline over a cell phone. The Register thinks the RF-proof paint would be put to good use in movie theaters, or similar places where cell phones interruption is frowned upon. EM-SEC currently sells laptop inserts and phone holsters with an electromagnetic shield that restricts the detection of Wi-Fi signals, which is another option that might deter laptop thieves. What a great idea.

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Apple Co. & Beatles label plan announcement

Monday, April 2nd, 2007

EMI Group PLC said Sunday it planned to unveil “an exciting new digital offering” with computer company Apple Inc., raising expectations that The Beatles’ music catalog is about to be made available through Apple’s iTunes online music store. EMI said it would hold a news conference Monday at its London headquarters with its chief executive, Eric Nicoli, and Apple boss Steve Jobs “and a special live performance.”

EMI has been The Beatles’ record label since the early 1960s. The Beatles have so far been the most prominent holdout from iTunes and other online music services, and Apple’s overtures to put the music online were stymied by a long-running trademark dispute with The Beatles’ commercial guardian, Apple Corps. Ltd.

In February, Apple Inc. and Apple Corps resolved their legal feud over use of the apple logo and name, paving the way for an agreement for online access to the Fab Four’s songs.

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