The Truphone currenly only lets you ring other Truphone and Google talk users via a WiFi network. (So slightly more limited than an iPohne as you need ana vailable connection)  This is all via VOIP so once you have converted you iPod touch to an iPhone you will be able to make 100% free calls to other users.

Truphoen have also announced that the app they have created to allow calls from an iPod Touch will soon be able to make calls to landlines and mobiles, current pricing structures are currently in creation.

Personally I think this is great news for iPod Touch users who wanted a bit more flexibility with their device.  The Truphone iPod touch to iPhone conversion software is available to download on the Apple iStore! for Free!

The MP3 player itself has a standard but adequate 16gb hard drive and 1.6 inch lcd screen.  When teh sun isn’t out it has a USB power adapter to refill the old power cells!

Many users may find it’s control system unintuitive though, especially in the face of products such as the iPhone!

Icetech, a leading Energy Technology Specialist have released the Solar i9005, a reliable hard wearing Portable Solar Charger. The Solar i9005 is not quite as portable as many would like, but measuring in at less than 6 inces long and around 3 inches wide you do not see many people complaining.

The charger comes with a massive array of attachments, not to mention USB charging capability. This means it is possible to charge anything that requires upto 9v of power, so its got your phone, MP3 Player, iPod or even many portable DVD players covered.

While most people wouldn’t use this it costs as little as $70, making it a great utensil for anyone on the move. I know when I am doing a two week road trip around Europe this year, one of these babies will be on the car dashboard all the way!

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If you have an old generation of iPod and were tired of seeing new rechargers implementing only the plugs for the latest versions, then this AVD-Thingy can make a lot of sense for you; it features an iPod connector and a USB, capable of saving your life when you run out of batteries. Thank you Elecom!

more…

The madness over Apple’s latest gadget continues as the iPhone is released to the public, there was long lines on almost all the places where the iPhone was on sale.

Apple has set a target of selling 10 million units worldwide by 2008 and i think that’s not a hard target to reach.

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New York State Sen Carl Kruger says three pedestrians in his Brooklyn district have been killed since September upon stepping into traffic while distracted by an electronic device. In one case bystanders screamed “watch out” to no avail.

Kruger says he will introduce legislation on Wednesday to ban the use of gadgets such as Blackberry devices and video games while crossing the street.

“Government has an obligation to protect its citizenry,” Kruger said in a telephone interview from Albany, the state capital.

I think it’s a good move, sure people like listening and playing with their digital devices but if it can cost them their lives than it’s just not worth it.

Gina Hughes over at Yahoo Tech recently had the opportunity to go over Tyra Banks’ Holiday Tech Wish List.

Tyra Banks of course is the host of the popular America’s Next Top Model and The Tyra Banks Show, if somehow you didn’t know that..i’m suprised!.Some people commented that Tyra may just be the next Oprah, but i don’t think it’s anytime soon.

Anywayz, let’s get back to Tyra’s wish list this holiday season:

“Like most iPod owners, Tyra takes her iPod everywhere she goes. A Red iPod Nano is the must-have music player this holiday season. Covered in a shiny red enclosure, the rail-thin Nano is flash-based and ready to withstand any rigorous use. Since Tyra takes her iPod to the gym, Gina Hughes also recommends the Nike + iPod Sports Kit to track her progress online after each workout.”

View the full wish list here

A rather intresting news concerning Apple’s forray into the phone market with it’s iPhone is that the company plans to sell the phone ‘unlocked’ which simply means that you are required to insert a GSM subscriber identity (SIM) card, the good thing about this move is that it now opens up most of the world as the target market instead of just the US.

If Apple decided to be tied down by the likes of Cingular or T-Mobile than there will not be marketing for the iPhone abroad, Apple could potentialy stand to make alot of money if they decided to go with Cingular or T-Mobile but they have decided to leave it ‘unlocked’.

On another note the iPhones are expected to be released within the first six months of next year as Apple has assigned the task of completing 12 million units of the iPhones to Taipei based Hon Hai Precision Industry Co.

This is cool news indeed, i’m looking foward to owning an iPhone sometime in the future

More on Bloomberg

“There’s a certain amount of trouble that Apple can give us, but not enough to stop this,” Monique Farantzos, managing director at DoubleTwist told Associated Press.

“We believe we’re on good legal ground, and our attorneys have given us the green light on this.”

Source and More: BBC

Kuro Dock claims it has the record for producing the smallest and most compact iPod dock available for your iPod nano, measuring just 48 x 54 x 16mm and weighing 72 grams.

The Kuro Dock connects to your PC via USB 2.0, It also features a stereo line out port so you can connect the Kuro Dock to your home stereo.

The Kuro Dock is available for £31.99 at iPodWorld

It was on the cards for some time now. Microsoft’s ‘iPod Killer’ as the rumors were has now become official and is called Zune.

This is what Microsoft had to say about Zune:

“Today we confirmed a new music and entertainment project called Zune. Under the Zune brand, we will deliver a family of hardware and software products, the first of which will be available this year. We see a great opportunity to bring together technology and community to allow consumers to explore and discover music together.”

So..expect to hear alot of “Zune” this and “Zune” that in the next couple of months.

Source

The second generation of iPod Nano is set for release next month (August) and is set to unveiled by Steve Jobs at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference.

Nothing much is expected to change except that the new 2nd generation Nano will have larger capacity hard drives (probably 6GB and/or 8GB). They’ll also be available in a wide range of colours, including some that feature a full metal enclosure.

Separate rumblings suggest that Apple has procured a large number of 40GB and 80GB 1.8-inch hard drives for use in an updated 5G iPod. While it’s not known when an exact announcement regarding the higher capacity iPods might take place, the new models are not expected at WWDC.

Source: ThinkSecret

Rumors are that Apple’s CEO Steve Jobs is about to announce a new service for iTunes – Movie Rentals at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference in three weeks time.

The key point in this (upcoming) news is that movies will be available for rental, rather than following the existing iTunes music formula of purchasing songs. Users will still download the media items (in this case movies), but will not own it. So options include a subscription or rental-based model – with Steve Jobs favoring the rental model.

Source

ZuneLive.com follows in the vein of previous Microsoft domain – Live.com.

Looks like Microsoft’s stance is to add the word “live” in their products as Apple adds “i” to it’s range of products eg. “iPod”.

Some technical people decided to do a whois on the domain and found that the owner of ZuneLive.com was a certain man named Jack Spurr from Nova Scotia,that prompted many to disregard it from Microsoft because they never did register a domain under a person’s name instead they would always register a domain name under the Microsoft Inc banner.

But ZuneNation did a little research and found out that at least two other previous Microsoft domains were under the name Jack Spurr (Live.com and MicrosoftGadgets.com).

Full Article

There’s a bit of buzz on the net right now about Apple’s next move regarding their popular music player – the iPod.

According to rumors,the next step for Apple is to produce an iPod that talks!

According to the patent filing, Apple is billing the technology as a safety feature that will eliminate the need for eye-to-iPod contact in settings, such as driving a car or walking across a street, that require full attention.

Now..that would definitely set them above the rest,as the MP3 player market has been so saturated with iPod look-a-likes.

Source: Yahoo

Explay, an Israeli based company has produced a nifty gadget,a great addition to any mobile device -iPod & Cell Phones.

The Explay Nano-Projector is a mini projector that plugs directly into your mobile devices and displays an image on a screen as large as 30 inches.

Of course you could just upload the movies you have on your Cell Phones and iPod to your PC or Notebook but the beauty of this gadget is that it’s portable and relatively small in size and could be carried around along with your mobile devices.

It is set for an early 2007 release and pricing isn’t set just yet.

Explay’s nano-projector engines are built with a unique laser-based diffractive optical technology, a proprietary technology for enhancing micro-display efficiency, and a proprietary ASIC which tightly ties the components together. The combination provides a complete optic and electronic projector engine solution for simple and glueless integration into third party products.

Source

If your an iPod owner,be it iPod Video,Nano,Mini or just plain iPod,you would have been tempted to change the appearance of your gadget.Many times though the ‘iPod Skins’ as they are known are rather bulky or expensive…not anymore! thanks to GelaSkins

Gelaskins provides high grade vinyl skins to keep your precious little iPod’s safe from scratches and nicks while being inexpensive,stylish and unbulky.

The costs for a skin is at $14.95.

So what your waiting for…pimp your iPod now at GelaSkins

It comes in glossy black or white.It’s Intempo’s iDS-02 iPod Dock.

This looks to be a perfect partner to your iPod,The compact iDS-02 surround-sound system packs in the latest technology to deliver great volume, plenty of detail and excellent bass response. Its sleek design and smooth lines will look great wherever you use it.

Source and More: Gadget Candy

Check out the new U2 edition iPod.

iPod U2 Special Edition stands out. Jet black, it bears a prominent red Apple Click Wheel, a full-color display and, on the flip side, the autographs of each U2 band member on striking black metal. Thanks to this unique partnership between U2 and Apple, U2 fans can finally find what they’re looking for.

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Apple U2

Thinking about using the iPod as an extra Hard Disk?

Well, it’s pretty straight foward thing to accomplish, but still Christopher Null
of Yahoo! Tech has done a simple explanation of how this can be achieved for all the first time tech people out there! :p

Here’s how to do it: Install iTunes and connect your iPod. Assuming you use Windows (as Sarath later told me), click Edit > Preferences > iPod. Here, put a check mark next to “Enable disk use.”

Source & More: Yahoo! Tech

Yeah, that’s the news now, Evergreen has released
a 1 GB MP3 Player for just $9.

The player weighs only 30g so it is tiny too,In a device that costs about the same as a discounted CD you’d think corners wouldn’t so much be cut as bulldozered and to be fair they have been, but for the money does it really matter? For example the only audio format supported is MP3 (fine), it has no radio (so what?), no built in mic (neither does an iPod) and no LCD (ditto the Shuffle).

Via: Gizmodo

SPECIFICATIONS:

Memory Capacity: 1GB
Playback Time: 13hrs
Battery: 3.7V Li-polymer
LCD Screen: 4-line, backlit white
Supported Bit-Rate: 8-320kbps
Supported Files: MP3, WMA, OGG Vorbis
Radio Tuner: No
Microphone: Yes
Connection: USB2.0
Dimensions: 24x87x12mm

Samsung’s New 1GB MP3 Player, the Yepp YP-U1ZB s no larger than an iPod Shuffle, but can hold approximately 330 songs and utilizes a nice black and white back-lit LCD display that’s actually legible in direct sunlight, unlike the iPod Shuffle.

Source & More: PCSTATS

This device would combine an Xbox-like gaming device with a multimedia component that would play video and audio. This would mean that in one fell swoop, Microsoft would have a competitor to the PSP, Nintendo DS, and the Apple iPod.

More from BetaNews

Prices start at an affordable $9.99 for 16 episodes of “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart”, with subscribers being able to download the show after it’s been broadcast.

more via : Reuters

Samsung,the South Korean electronics giant, are ready to go head to head and compete with
Apple’s iPod in the MP3 Player market.

Samsung’s new flash memory MP3 player, called the YP-Z5, will be released first in the United States on the home turf of its rival. Europe will have to wait until late March and Asia until May to see the new contender for dominance of the lucrative MP3 market.

The YP-Z5, priced at 199 dollars to 249 dollars, is designed as a head-on challenger to Apple’s newest iPod nano, which costs 149 dollars to 249 dollars.

Samsung says price alone is not a decisive factor. Instead, the South Korean firm is playing up the capacity and user friendly aspects of the YP-Z5.

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it’s caught our attention namely because it’s Apple’s first true foray into the iPod accessories market, along with their new leather iPod cases. We did get a good listen in some of the rooms Apple set up on campus to demo the sound in a “real world” environment (our fav was the teenager’s space, replete with dirty laundry strewn about), and yup, it sounds pretty good.

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Among them are:

The Ibox!

iLounge Toilet Paper Dispenser

You can view the Top 10 HERE

In the last 10 days alone iTunes has sold a stagerring 30 million songs.

To help generate sales, Apple is offering prizes: every person buying a 100,000th song gets a black 4GB iPod nano and a $100 iTunes Music Card.

More on : MacWorld

The iPod can produce sounds of 115 decibels or more, which when listened to for more than 28 seconds per day can cause a loss of hearing. Also, the earbuds shipped with the device contribute to the problem as sound is not diluted before entering the ear, the complaint alleges.

Source: BetaNews