@methodshop

"Apple is releasing a 2GB iPod Shuffle this June, and a 4GB version by August. A big upgrade from the maxed out 512MB and 1GB models currently available." [Via mobilemag.com]

Bigger is Better

With the Apple WWDC only a week away, rumors are leaking through crater sized sieves, and it has been learned that Apple will be quadrupling the size of its iPod Shuffle this month...


What this means is that the iPod Mini will now face some tough competition capacity wise...however, the lack of an LCD screen keeps both products with their advantages...the Shuffle for its low price and small size, and the iPod Mini with its LCD screen...

Personally, I'd like to see a Shuffle LoJack device being that I bought and lost mine within 2 weeks...and was never able to find it...I can just picture somebody now running on the beach listening to Pop Goes the World by Men Without Hats and just laughing as they grip MY iPod Shuffle...Enjoy it!

"Ginormous" makes it big in the non-dictionary competition.

Want to be like Snoop and add a little more shizzle to your vocabulary? You are in luck. "Non-English" is booming, according to the editors of Merriam-Webster dictionaries. They recently asked web users to submit their favorite words currently not listed in the dictionary and received more than 3,000 submissions.

Winners included:

• ginormous (adj): bigger than gigantic and bigger than enormous


• confuzzled (adj): confused and puzzled at the same time


• chillax (v): chill out/relax, hang out with friends


• cognitive displaysia (n): the feeling you have before you even leave the house that you are going to forget something and not remember it until you're on the highway


• phonecrastinate (v): to put off answering the phone until caller ID displays the incoming name and number


• lingweenie (n): a person incapable of producing neologisms
  

Though Merriam-Webster rebuffed my submission of "shitfest (n): a celebration of poor results" again this year, it does seem that if you aren't already using these awesomtastic words in your regular showcabulary, you're just missing out on the chizzy. In the meantime, you can learn to speak Snoop with a little help from the Shizzolator.

"The first bendable, posable iPod "friend," iGuy is also fully functional, featuring rubberized protection, docking capability and scratch-resistant screen for the iPod and iPod Photo." [Via biz.yahoo.com]

The White Gumby. Or, if the Pillsbury Dough Boy and Stay Puft had a kid.

It was bound to happen...

With all of the ipod cases out there, everything from ipod form fitting socks, to futuristic ipod jackets... now we get the ipod case that doubles as a Gumby-like scluptable rubber toy.

For $35, I think the iGuy is priced a little too high for its design. It doesn't really resemble anything close to a "guy" to me. If anything, it looks like the offspring of the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man and the Pillsbury Dough Boy but not as much fun to play with.

Anybody have any suggestions for iPod cases that take on the look of other well known fictional creatures? Ipoditude mentions its similarity to Stretch Armstrong...

How about the iSwampThing?

"NBC News announced today exciting new plans to deliver hourly updates and select portions of its network and cable news programming via podcast beginning in June." [Via nbcumv.com]

Podcasting Goes Network

All those lonely guys sitting in their basements making radio shows about their local weather and deciding that broadcasting these would someday be the future were absolutely crazy - - and absolutely right.

NBC has announced that they will be joining the world of podcasting for all of you who just can't stand running 20 minutes on the treadmill without getting your local news audibly...NBC said they will offer hourly updates with podcasts such as "White House Beat" and "Techwatch"...

Are you itching to get your hands on a Sony PSP, but can't justify adding yet another gadget to your electronics collection?

Maybe this will push you over the edge.

Playboy is producing "special" content including nude photos and XXX videos for the Sony PSP. This is in addition to the iPod Photo porn they already started distributing in December 2004.

For full access to the PSP Playboy Gallery, you will need to join the Playboy Cyber Club. However, for those of you who don't like to pay for your porn, you can get free access to a sampler that includes 15 images and one video.

Hummm.... Is that a PSP in your pocket?

Unless you'd like a slap in the face or a visit from the HR department, you might want to avoid enjoying your pocket porn collection on the bus ride to work or at your next weekly staff meeting.

The GEOCACHE hunt is on!!

Magellan, in partnership with Thales' Navigation business has created the 3rd annual GPS Geocache hunt throughout the United States. They have hidden over 30 Geocaches all throughout the United States in 30 different cities (and 5 in Germany).

The idea is that you follow an interactive ficitional story about a father and his son tracing their family routes throughout the United States. They come upon scenic places and memorable faces. It's YOUR job to find these places and if you do, and you're the first to get there, a 1st place prize awaits...Prizes range from Trips to GPS packages.

Beginning on Monday, May 23rd, and lasting until the contest ends, it's all in promotion of their new GPS units, the Magellan eXplorist™ 400, eXplorist™ 500 and eXplorist™ 600.

Want to get started? Follow the Methodshop.com Geocaching Tutorial.

If you were one of the millions of people who found a winning Pepsi/iTunes bottle cap, then listen up - time is running out. You must not only enter the cap codes in iTunes, but use them to buy songs by the end of today! Unused codes will simply disappear from your iTunes account.

Pepsi stopped distributing the bottles featuring the iTunes promotion on April 11, 2005. So buy the Pepsi bottles while you can. Be sure to peek under the cap before you buy to make sure you have a winning bottle.

IMPORTANT: You must use the song credit before TODAY - May 23, 2005. Open iTunes now.

Pepsi promotion winners can only claim up to 10 songs per day and 200 tunes total during the giveaway. Once the codes were entered into the iTunes Music Store, users have until 5/23/05 to use their free songs.

While searching and contimplating the purchase of my new dream lappytop, my buddy Jaron decide to throw a log onto the fire by sending me an enticing link to this. Colorwarepc.com brings color customization for your new iBook, Powerbook, Mac Mini and iPods. LOL, notice the nice Blush color that sooo has my name on it!!

The pricing really isn't all that bad, $399.99 for 12-14 inch iBooks and $99 for the Mac Mini. They also do game consoles such as the X-Box, PS2 and GameCube.

~ DarlaMack.com, Mobile Diva

"If you were to ask me which mobile device will take top place for listening to music, I'd bet on the mobile phone for sure. " [Via informationweek.com]

Sour Gates.

You can feel Bill Gates' resentment in this article towards the iPod. He, undoubtedly will be touting a cell phone/MP3 compliant gadget in the near future that he hopes will rival the iPod. It's interesting to note that the article mentions the possibility of an iPod/MP3 combo down the Apple pipeline...

"Nintendo Co. will launch its new video game console" [Via abcnews.com]

Nintendo Steps Up!

Code named, "Revolution," the new Nintendo game system annoucement comes just 2 days after XBOX announced its new game system, the XBOX 360...



The NEW Nintendo will be ready for wireless Internet gaming and be backward-compatible with the current generation GameCube.

Revolution will use 12 cm optical discs and be about the size of three DVD cases stacked together.

Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft are expected to show off their next-generation gaming consoles to developers next week at the annual Electronics Entertainment Expo, or E3, as all three companies seek to entrench themselves deeper into living rooms with advanced computing, graphics and multimedia features.

The latest and greatest from Singapore's Computerworld

This year's Singapore Computerworld featured products that will hit the shelf in the next year. Below are the highlights:

• LG Plasma TV with DVR: 50 and 60 inch widescreen high definition TVs with BUILT IT High Definition Digital Video Recorders. The recorder can hold 160GB which equals about 13 hours of HD TV...It should be available this month for about $8000-$15,000.



• VHS to HDD Transfer: A Pioneer one-button transfer device for getting all those dusty VHS tapes over to DVD. Simple and a time saver...Can also transfer digital video to DVD at 100x speeds...It will cost about $805 overseas and as of now, no plans to sell in the US.



• Mini Laptop: Weighs 999 grams (which is light), and has a 7.2 inch screen. Using a Pentium M Processor with no optical drive, this Toshiba product will go for $2000 in the US.



• Bringing back the Mini Disc: A media that never really caught on here in the US, the minidisc, is going for broke this time. With a devout following and advantages over the cheaper CD-R media such as reliability and rewritability, Sony has created a MD drive that connects to PC via USB...Older MDs will work as well...The cost will be $142.



• Phone or Camera? Both, kind of. The new Pantech&Curitel PT-S100 camera phone was designed with photographers in mind but at 1.3 megapixels, may not be bringing over the masses...FM radio player and MP3 player built in, the phone/camera will be $495.



• Swivel! I should've thought of that! Mitsubishi is creating flat-panel HDTVs that now have built in motors that allow their base to be swiveled so that they face the viewer...Great for sun reflections on the screen, or if you fell off the couch and don't feel like getting up to adjust your viewing angle.



• Do I hear THREE?! Toshiba has developed an HD-DVD disc that can hold 45GB...they have added a third layer to the HD-DVD disc in order to accomplish this.

Being a New York Giants football fan, I was very happy to hear that Donovan McNabb, who plays for the Giants biggest nemesis, divisional rival Philadelphia Eagles, will be featured on the Madden 2006 game box...Why? Simple. The Madden Curse. As if losing 3 straight NFC Championship games and one Superbowl isn't enough, McNabb will now be featured on a box that is cursed. It all started, and quite possibly ended with Ray Lewis.


Four years ago, EASports put Eddie George on the cover of their box. Ray Lewis, the dominating linebacker hit Eddie George in the playoffs of the year he was on the box that sent George injured and carried off the field. He had his worst season to date that year, after being dominant the year before.

The next year, Dante Culpepper saw his picture go up, and then saw his leg get taken out in a game in Chicago which ruined the Vikings season. The super Marshall Faulk fell prey the next year when after being featured on the cover, got hit so hard in one game, he had to miss the next six. The RAMS were bumped out of the playoffs early. Michael Vick was the next year's victim. After making the cover, he broke his leg against Ray Lewis and the Ravens in the preseason and missed almost the entire season. Ray Lewis last year made the cover, in quite possibly an attempt by EASports to end the curse that he started years ago.

So Ray Lewis was fine last year. Nothing broken, too bad, and had a great year. But is he immune to the Madden 2006 curse being that he initiated it? If so, then Donovan might be out for an injury that has been cooking and waiting to erupt on him for 2 years.

Go GIANTS!

"After months of teases, hints and leaks, Microsoft has finally --officially -- unveiled its next generation video game machine." [Via cnn.com]

The Brand New High Def XBOX 360!

With the release of Xbox 360, Microsoft makes good on its promise to provide an integrated entertainment system for your living room. Xbox 360 allows you to play the most compelling games, watch DVD movies, and enjoy digital music, photos, and videos with the console. Xbox 360 also opens the door to incredible new high-definition (HD) entertainment. Experience Xbox 360 games in HD and stream HD television and movies straight from your Windows Media Center Edition PC to your Xbox 360.

The XBOX 360 will cost between $300-$400 and be available in November of this year.


It will feature the following:

• High Definition audio and video


• Ability to extract media from PC or mobile devices


• Wireless Controller


• Removable 20GB Hard Drive


• Built in HD DVD Playback


• Wi-Fi Access


• 20% smaller than original XBOX and can sit horizontally or vertically


• 3 USB ports and 2 memory slots of 64MB each


• 3 symmetrical cores running at 3.2GHZ and 1MB L2 cache


• 500 MHz ATI graphic processor with 10MB DRAM


• 512 MB RAM at 700mhz


• Optional Live Camera


This thing is truely remarkable. It will be the fastest computer available, even at release time in November. The wireless controller is a great touch and its design is unprecedented.

The best aspect of the XBOX 360 however is its focus towards hi-definition audio and video... It's a landmark device being that we will see the shift heavily evolve over the next couple years of all similar devices catering to hi-def audio and video. The XBOX 360 should do remarkable well both overseas and here in the US.

"If you are using Safari on Tiger, thanks to the magic of widget autoinstall, combined with the meta tag, [widgets can be] installed automatically in your dashboard. " [Via stephan.com]

WARNING: Link Below will install a widget onto your computer exposing the vulnerability of Tiger!! DO SO ONLY IF YOU KNOW HOW TO DELETE WIDGETS THROUGH LIBRARY FOLDER.

If you copy and paste:

http://www.stephan.com/

(WARNING: Those running 10.4 may NOT want to do this - the actual widget is harmless but will nonetheless install a Dashboard widget onto your computer - read the website instructions for removing it)

through your web browser, you will see the flaw of Apple's Dashboard, new in Tiger 10.4...The program has the ability to install programs, erase hard drives, a whole bunch of stuff we don't like, right through Safari...It bypasses the need for a user name and gets right to the goods...

If you're using SAFARI, the widget will install automatically, and if you're using Explorer, Firefox, or something else, it will save it to your desktop to which you would have to place it in the right folder from there.

Apple is working on a patch for safari, but for users wishing to install Tiger, it is recommended that you manually uncheck the SAFARI checkbox when doing a customized install and wait for Apple to fix it...then just download it free from their site...

"Internet powerhouse Yahoo Inc. is expected to launch a deeply discounted music service today, betting that low prices and personalized features will lure customers away from the troves of free but illicit music online." [Via newsday.com]

Is it Worth It?

The service will start out at $60 a year, which is fantastic. It includes a million different songs, which is also fantastic. Thirdly, the integrity of files is screened by yahoo to prevent viruses. Again, fantastic...But there are some serious setbacks to the Yahoo Music Subscription Service:

• Cannot play songs on iPods
  


• Users have already mentioned problems with downloads coming through entirely
  


• You don't actually get the music, you just get to listen to it. For 79 cents more per song, you can burn the song to a cd.
  


• Legendary artists like The Beatles and Led Zeppelin are not available through this service
  


• Deeply discounted prices are not fixed

Rivaling services like Kazaa and iTunes music store, Yahoo is a legitimate player in the subscription music field, but the idea of paying for a service in which you get nothing in return, in the era of the iPod, may just not sit well with most people. It doesn't with me.

"GEOCACHING, (pronounced "geo cashing"), is a treausre hunt. It's using your GPS unit to help you find thousands of tucked away containers that contain goodies that are for you to have" [Via methodshop.com]

Use Your GPS to Find Treasure

Methodshop.com has compiled a fast and easy way to get started in GEOCACHING. You may have seen it on Law & Order this weekend, and want to know, how you can do it. Get a GPS unit or use your friends and hit the woods, beach, highway, or city and find thousands upon thousands of tiny boxes with hidden treasures all over the planet!

"PalmOne Inc. is expected next week to unveil a digital media device to rival the iPod, as the maker of hand held computers and mobile phones shoots for a piece of the growing market for portable music and video." [Via washingtonpost.com]

New Palm Specs Leaked on Amazon.com

Amazon.com has done it again. They've managed to spoil a company's day in the sun. They recently leaked the specs on a brand new media manager to be released by PalmOne on May 18, 2005...PalmOne, who as of this year, have struggled mightily in trying to regain the elite status they once had (sales down 25% this quarter), have created the LifeDrive in an attempt to get some of that market back. I think the $499 price tag will scare alot of people away...especially since they are trying to hit the ipod mini market in its ability to play MP3s. According to the Amazon.com leak (which they have since pulled from their site), the LifeDrive will come with an Intel XScale processor running at 416MHz, and its 320-pixel-by-480-pixel color display will work in landscape or portrait modes. The device will also offer a feature called smart file management.

In a private briefing with Apple product specialists, inside sources revealed plans to release their first update, 10.4.1 on or prior to Tuesday May 10th. The update will address issues particularly surrounding iChat, Apple Mail and Safari, as well as some Airport issues.

Many issues that have been reported to Apple support by Tiger users have been directly related to these applications as well as the third party applications designed for them. Most noteably are the issues for those using Apple Mail who feel they have been outsmarted by their inbox in a bad way.

Though the overwhelming resopnse to Tiger has been problem-free, as is often the case, Apple updates its operating system regularly based on feedback from users and provides minor updates freely across the internet. This allows Apple to iron out any bugs that they may not discover until after oddities in the new operating system get reported.

As I predicted in a previous article "Amazon's Tiger" within a week after the wide release Apple is going out of its way to release an update. For those who have purchased Tiger or are awaiting it's delivery, it may be ideal to install Tiger once the update is unleashed and then do a system update immediately after.

"Apple® today unveiled a new iMac® G5 line with faster 2.0 GHz PowerPC G5 processors, built-in AirPort® Extreme and Bluetooth wireless connectivity and Mac OS® X version 10.4 “Tiger,” the latest version of the world’s most advanced operating system. The new iMac G5s also include faster graphics, a new 8X SuperDrive® with double-layer support, built-in Gigabit Ethernet for faster networking, and 512MB of memory across the line." [Via itpronto.com]

iMac Daddy

It's good that Apple is getting these upgrades out now, because that mean something REALLY BIG is coming up in July for the Macworld 2005 Conference. The iMac, a design and purchasing favorite for space savers, has mirrored the success of the original iMac, and with this new line, now supporting double-layer DVD support and gigabit ethernet, it's a powerful tool for even the most powerful graphic designer out there.