Ok, the heading was just a teaser, but it is true that many athletes are using the iPod as a part of their routine. Simon Whitfield, the Olympic triathlete listens to music on his iPod at 5 am. When at the course, it is Jason Mraz’ music for him. It is his way of chilling out. Whitfield incidentally won a silver in the triathlon. His iPod is an important part of his pre race routine, just like many other artists.

 Workman is a favorite artist of Whitman. Sports psychologist for the Canadian canoe/kayak team, Penny Werthner says music serves two purposes for athletes. It helps athletes avoid distractions as well as psyches them up for the competition.

  Read more… »

One major issue many users have faced with the 2.0.x version of the software in the iPhone is sometime the phone does not go beyond the Apple logo while booting. If you have applied an update to the application via iTunes or on the iPhone, the phone may spontaneously reboot and get stuck during the process. Hundreds of people have had this issue. If you are hit by this glitch all you can do is an iPhone full restore. Hold the Home button down. Plug it into the USB cable or dock and and when the special screen is displayed then release the Home button.

iTunes will then inform you that it has found a phone in recovery mode and then the process of restoring your iPhone begins. The first step will be a reinstall of the OS by iTunes. Then the applications will be restored and then the data can be synced back to the iPhone. This annoying bug has been a part of the 2.0 version of the software and has found a place in the 2.0.1 update as well….sigh.

Read more… »

Just when you start to think that what else could you do with your iPod, Apple comes out with an answer. Gone are the days of just listening to music or watching videos its time to play ‘Ball’. Literally! Recently, Gameloft released Mystery Mansion Pinball for the iPod. Priced at $4.99, the fame is available for download from the iTunes store. 

Apart from the fact that you can play it on your iPod, one thing this Pinball game differs from the rest in is in the sort of features it has. You are brought to a haunted house in Mystery Mansion Pinball where you encounter the likes of creatures like Vampira to the Frankenstein’s monster etc. All this while you keep a pinball going through a B-movie game. Amongst other options, the game has high-scoring chutes, bumpers and lots more.

  Read more… »

Good news for Apple lovers! On Tuesday evening, Apple announced that it has finally managed to get rid of the bugs and kinks that have plagued the MobileMe since its launch nearly three weeks ago. Apple also said that it now aims to improve other areas of the service.

 The Cupertino-based company said that it has succeeded in mail restoration. For nearly two weeks, owing to a mail server crash, one percent of users had been locked out of their email accounts. They can now happily access their mails. In the beginning, Apple had feared that it had actually lost some subscribers emails owing to the crash but thankfully an update on the issue posted on official MobileMe status page reveals that these emails have been successfully recovered and shall soon start appearing in their inboxes.

Read more… »

In less than a week since its release, Apple’s iPhone 3G has hackers trying to break open it’s supposedly full proof system. iPhone Dev Team, which is a group of hackers, has over the weekend released a ‘jailbreak’ software for the iPhone 3G. It allows iPhone 3G users to install those applications on their handsets that are not approved by Apple.

Pwnage Tool 2.0, as the software has been dubbed allows users to charter their way through an iPhone or iPod touch that has a firmware version 2.0. What it does is remove all those software controls that Apple has put in place in order to restrict users from installing independent applications. The iPhone Dev Team was quick to clarify that these softwares which are not available through the Apple’s Application Store can run alongside Apple-approved programs.  Read more… »

In this competitive day and age where everybody is fighting to grab your attention, electronic gadgets too are a part of the rat race. With new technologies bursting in on the scene by the second, it becomes difficult for the common man to decide what the right choices are. In the case of the iPod touch and iPhone too there is an influx of compatible applications available. Below is a brief description of the best of the lot.

 For all those who like to listen to the radio, the AOL Radio is a great application as it allows you to stream over 200 radio stations, including local stations, covering 20 music genres. For book lovers, the eReader allows you to download books bought at the eponymous site and flip the pages by a mere finger swipe. Included for free in this application are two public-domain books. Keeping you up-to-date with the current happenings in the world is the NYTimes which is literally the New York Times in the palm of your hand.  Read more… »

Not only is the iPod the most popular MP3 player in demand but the sort of accessories it can be teamed up with has created a niche market for iPod compatible gadgets. From twin docking stations to alarm clocks and audio systems, the iPod is ruling the roost. Leading the race to come up with the most innovative ways of integrating the iPod is iHome.

 And their latest offering to the iPod is as good as it gets. The new iHome Audio computer speakers are furnished with iPod synching and charging dock facilities. Compatible with your PC and Mac, these 15 Watt speakers have an in-built dock for your iPod touch, Nano, iPhone or iPod. Now you can play and sync your iPod with iTunes even when it is docked at the base of the speakers and getting charged. The speakers come with a sync switch, headphone jack for personal listening, volume controls and also a remote control. These are available at your local market for a retail price of $149.99.  Read more… »

Rhapsody is all set to break the monopoly of iTunes when it comes to songs that you can listen to on your iPod. The Rhapsody executives referred to their endeavor as a means to provide “Music without Limits”. These songs will now be available to consumers online via partners that include the likes of Verizon Wireless and Yahoo!

Till now, Rhapsody’s reach was severely curbed due to its subscription offer. Under it, users could download unlimited songs but at a payment of about $15 or $13 per month. Along with that, Rhapsody’s service was incompatible with the most popular digital player-Apple’s iPod. But now, the songs offered by Rhapsody are in MP3 format and are hence compatible with the iPod. iTunes, which has the lion’s share, over 70 percent of the digital music market in US, is now under threat with a rival such as Rhapsody.

Read more… »

If your iPod is your best friend then you wouldn’t want it to be lonely would you?  Even as markets soar with new iPod accessories, the ones that you really need and not just to show-off are still scarce. In multi-iPod households, home playback and charging needs of owners create many problems. JVC offers a quick solution in the form of the Dual iPod Docking Station.

 Available at your nearest shop, the JVC NX-PN7 can host two iPod players simultaneously. It accommodates the two iPod’s together while they are getting charged. It also offers playback from each via the dock’s audio system. In addition to the iPod playback, there is also an AM/FM tuner along with a timer and clock. How’s that for versatility!

Read more… »

The next time you sit down to copy songs on to your digital music player from your friend’s CDs or are sharing songs via e-mail, you’d better know that you are amongst 96 per cent of 18 to 24-year-olds or 89 per cent of 14 to 17 year olds who are doing so and that too illegally.

 A recent survey conducted by the University of Hertfordshire has left the music industry in a state of shock after revealing that an average digital music player or iPod contains over 842 songs that are illegally copied. The research shows that over fifty per cent of the 14 to 24 year old population was willing to share all the music on their hard-drives, allowing their friends to copy more than thousand songs at any given point of time.

Read more… »

Just when you begin to think that the iPod series has definitely reached the end of its innovation, they surprise you with a BANG! On the latest in the world of iPod’s, iXoundWear has announced the release of made to suit Caps for iPod(R).These are now also available for sale.

These caps are meant to provide welcome relief to all those people who love to exercise while listening to their iPod(R), but hate the hassle of dangling wires. Aiming to provide variety to its users, the cap comes in two types-Sport Caps and Running Caps. The colors too are varied ranging from the usual black and white to blue green and pink. Both the cap models (Sport and Running) are compatible with Nike(R) +iPod(R) Sport Kit for runners.

Read more… »

The iH69 and iH70 speaker systems are here. These speaker systems made for the Mac and PC have iPod docks incorporated in them as well. If you want to buy them, it will be only a short while before they hit retail stores. The iH69 will cost $99.99 and the iH70 will cost $129.99.

With built in docks for the iPod in both the speaker systems, you can hear music on your iPod as well as recharge it’s battery. These speaker systems can also be directly attached to your computer. This will allow you to hear music, game sounds as well as other multimedia content on your PC or Apple Mackintosh.
Read more… »

It seems that the iPod is not just limiting itself to solar powered bra’s charging it. Recently in a new patent filing for the iPhone and iPod, new technology has been described that will make “Green Earth” people happy.

In the patent filing, a process has been described that talks about using solar cells for power. This is a step that will make the iPod’s popular media player all the more popular.
Read more… »

There are options galore when it comes to creating a stereo system around your iPod. Such a system would typically consists of an iPod dock, speakers, amplifier and remote control. In such an arrangement you could succeed to get both great sound and mediocre sound. The highest quality of sound comes with the Klipsch iFi and Jamo’s i300, both setting you back by $400.

If you had to put together your own system for the same price, could you get it to sound better – that was the question on my mind. There were two advantages I could see of such a move. Separate speakers often make for better sound. Separate components also leave the possibility of upgrading. For great sound in such a system, you need a cradle connecting to a iPod dock connector port for good sound quality.
Read more… »

Now charging you iPod is a snap, if you are female that is. The solar powered bra that charges iPods is here! This bra created by Triumph International – a Japanese lingerie maker is completely Earth friendly.

Made of organic cotton of the highest quality, this bra does not affect our environment adversely. Thats not all, the bra’s also come with plastic pouches. Filll them with water and quench your thirst – no need to recycle!
Read more… »

Now television is yours to enjoy on your iPhone! Now live television can be streamed onto your iPhone as well as your iPod Touch. The credit for this innovation goes to Orb Networks. OrbLive has been designed by them, which is an application that works with jailbroken iPhones and iPod Touches.

All users have to do is install the streaming app from Orb Networks on a PC that has a TV tuner and install OrbLive on their iPhone or Touch. After setting PC to live TV, the content can be directly streamed to the Wi-fi enabled device from Apple. Although this piece of work is not the most technologically sophisticated, it is still a first!!
Read more… »

There are many reasons to transfer music from your iPod to your computer, including wanting to transfer the files to a new iPod, getting a new computer and wanting your music there as well as on your iPod, storage size issues, even dealing with a hard drive crash and wanting to recreate your iTunes library. (God forbid you ever try copying your iPod files to your computer’s iTunes library after a crash if you have been using automatic synchronization. You will find that your empty iTunes library will replace your full iPod, and you’ll lose ALL your music!)

Transferring your music from your computer to your iPod has always been easy, including that ‘gee, let’s just replace all those lovely iPod tracks with an empty library!’

Unfortunately transferring in the other direction (iPod to computer transfer) has not been, unless you bought the music from the iTunes Store. Indeed, with the latest versions of iTunes, you are not only limited to transferring only purchased tracks, but iTunes allows you to only transfer all your purchased tracks, rather than being able to pick and choose which ones you want to move. Talk about being pushy.

(For those of you wanting to know step-by-step details in transferring music from your iPod to your computer using iTunes, check out “Copying Content from your iPod to your Computer – The Definitive Guide” available at iLouge.com

Fortunately third-party vendors were quick to recognize the market and jumped in with both feet, providing all sorts of options for transferring your music from your iPod to your computer, even with the new DRM restrictions.

The best of these utilities can read iPod databases files and use them to locate specific tracks as well as show playlists, ratings and play count. Indeed, some of these products can quite nicely be used in place of iTunes, for those of you not wanting to use iTunes.

Here are a few that you could consider:

> Lenogo iPod to Computer Transfer – This works with iPod, iPod Touch and iPhone!

> imTOO iPod Computer Transfer – This is another great software for transferring songs, files and video from iPod to your PC.

XPlay, another transfer utility, also works on both Macs and Windows operating systems and doesn’t require you to learn a new system. Simply plug in your iPod, and XPlay makes it appear as simply another drive on your computer. Just open the XPlay folder and your music appears just like it does on your iPod. You can then drag-and-drop your music from your iPod to your computer…and vice versa. Talk about easy. XPlay even includes a built-in WMA to MP3 converter.

Transferring music from your iPod to a computer is easy with the right tool. Check out your favorite search engine to find reviews and user comments, and the best tool for you.

Many people who are in the know of Apple and iTunes say that Apple should change their approach to iTunes. They say that it is a good idea for Apple to allow users to access all or most of for a monthly fee. Currently users can buy either a song or a album at one time.

This idea has been popularized by record labels that want a more regular and predicatable stream of revenue from iTunes. iTunes ranks after Wal-Mart as North America’s second-largest music retailer. According to Steve Jobs, it is a better idea for people to own rather than rent music.
Read more… »

There is something new in the malware world. There are now websites with code specifically written to crash your computer which runs on Safari, whether it is PC or Mac. In addition the code on these websites result in a lock up on your iPhone or iPod Touch. It requires no user interaction to execute.

This glitch in the Safari spans most versions. It seems like the latest version is not vulnerable to this though. What happens that the memory allocated to Safari is overrun. Cnet says that remote code execution may be possible but is unconfirmed. This new exploit is different from an earlier exploit that required user interaction, this one is executed without user interaction.
Read more… »

The iPod Touch and iPhone are just like handheld computers. They have storage space, memory and mobile processors. Just like a computer, therefore, you should shut it down every once in a while. When you are on a roaming or foriegn network the iPhone will then not fetch updated emails. The iPod Touch will deliver improved performance as a result of regular shutting down.

Many iPod Touch owners have observed that playing large play lists or in shuffle mode, the iPod stops playing music and returns to the home screen. When the iPod Touch is turned off by default, it goes into standby mode. The RAM is then maintained just like in a laptop.
Read more… »