You have all probably heard about the new iPod Nanos from Apple. Well Steve jobs claimed in the Showtime Special Event that they were suppose to get an astonishing 24 hours of battery life.
Well any company out there claims that their batteries last forever. Consumers just take an educated guess on how long the battery will really last.

I recently purchased a new 8GB iPod Nano. I was very impressed with the battery life on it. I listened to if for a few hours and the battery bar continued to stay full! Well I was ready a post on a forum somewhere talking about the battery life of a new Nano, and it got me thinking… “How long does the battery actually last?”
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Having an iPod is something I have been lucky enough to be party to from the second generation release onwards, so I have enjoyed the simplicity in design, the superb interface, the usefulness and the power for many years. I use my iPod every day for music and podcasts mainly, but the odd video crops up every now and again.

About a year ago I invested in two separate speaker systems for my iPod in quick succession, the first I will not name, the second by Logitech was good and I still have it now. So it was with much excitement that I had the opportunity to review the ‘i-deck compact’, not only because it promised to be a step up from what I had been used to, but also because it is manufactured by Monitor Audio, who just happen to also make the home cinema speakers that I have now enjoyed in my lounge for the last two years.
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The My Dream App semi-finals have begun. Nine finalists remain in the competition. Users are asked to vote for their favorite idea. In this round of voting, three competitors will be eliminated. Those eliminated will receive Mac Mini computers.

Voting has already started and will end on Saturday, October 14 at 11:59 p.m. EDT. My Dream App has been giving free software to voters in the past three weeks. In this round, all voters will receive Voice Candy, a voice recorder for OS X.

Several guest judges are on the panel to assist with the voting: Kevin Rose co-founder of Digg.com, David Pogue the New York Times tech columnist, and Leo Laporte from This Week in Tech.

My Dream App launched a month ago and has received over 2,700 ideas.

My Dream App was created by Phill Ryu. If you want more information on the contest visit My Dream App.

NYC Apple photo courtesy of iProng.

Listner Paul just sent me an email to let me know that it looks like Apple is in the process of replacing the silver Apple logo over the elevator and stairs at the 5th Avenue NYC store with a red Apple logo. My first thought was maybe they are getting ready for the holidays, but then I saw this post on Think Secret. Apparently Bono will be on the Oprah Winfrey Show tomorrow and will show off a special edition red iPod Nano. The unit will be a 4GB model wrapped in a special red case and will sell for the standard USD$199.00 price. USD$10.00 of each unit sold will go to Bono’s AIDS-awareness charity, (RED). RED then passes the money they raise to The Global Fund who helps women and children affected by HIV/AIDS in Africa. Until this launch (RED) products have oinly been available for purchase within the UK where they have special (RED) American Express cards and Motrola SLVR phones.

Update: Friday (10/13) Apple did release a special edition red iPod Nano. Also, the 5th Avenue Apple store in New York did have it’s logo changed to a red version. Thanks to Bill at iProng for the photo.

Mungai Mirrors, a UK company, has just announced a cool little device to turn your MacBook or MacBook Pros iSight into a quick and dirty DV cam. The device is called the Huckleberry and it’s genius is in it’s simplicity. It consists of a set of brackets and a small mirror that attach to the top lid of your Mac notebook. It fits just above the built-in iSight and effectively turns the iSight around allowing you to shoot video directly while monitoring what you are capturing on your Mac’s screen. Now one slight problem with the technique might be the “mirrored” image effect but, as the companies site points out, that is easily solved by using iMovie’s “Mirror” Video FX filter or by picking up a copy of eCamm’s iGlasses. Unfortunately the company’s site doesn’t seem to offer any images of video captured via the device so I can’t say what the quality is, but assuming there is no image loss this could prove to be a fun little gadget. The Huckleberry available for pre-sale now and is just £15.00 plus post & packing (shipping and handling to us Yanks). It will be launching at Mac Expo in London, October 26-28 2006, in partnership with Computer Warehouse and will be shipping in mid-October.

Belkin announced the TuneStage II on Wednesday. TuneStage II allows you to play your iPod wirelessly through your home stereo using Bluetooth. In order to use TuneStage 2, you would connect the transmitter to your iPod and wire the receiver to your stereo. You can use your iPod to control the music playing through your stereo from over 30 feet away. If you own the iPod Nano 1G/2G (aluminum) or iPod 5G, you will also be able to remotely control the volume.

Available separately, is the TuneStage II Transmitter. With the TuneStage II Transmitter, your iPod can be connected to stereo headphones and car stereos that come with stereo Bluetooth technology.

TuneStage II is compatible with the following iPod models: iPod nano 1G/2G, iPod mini, and the 4G/5G iPod.

You can purchase TuneStage II starting in late November for USD$149.99.

On October 11th, Belkin announced a universal FM transmitter that can be used with MP3s, portable DVD players and other devices using the 3.5mm headphone jacks. TuneCast 3 is reported to be an improved version of TuneCast II, offering greater ease of use and a status indicator.

You can use TuneCast 3 to listen to music and movies through your FM stereo. With a battery life of 20 hours it is great for long drives. If you don’t want to use the battery, a power code is also included.

You can purchase TuneCast 3 in North America beginning in November. Sales in other regions will follow. If your car doesn’t come factory equipped to connect your iPod or you use a portable DVD player, TuneCast 3 is a great solution at an affordable price, just USD$49.99.

How many times have you launched something like Illustrator and been frustrated by the hundreds of tools thrown in front of you, when all you need is a simple application for creating a quick logo, map or other drawing? Or perhaps you are new to the world of design and you need to create something, but do not have the budget to spend on every single app on your shopping list. Until now, there has not really been a viable alternative, so Freeverse steps up to the mark with their ‘Lineform’ application.

Many of my comments in this review may seem to sound negative, but I need to put you straight on this right away. When I say that Lineform offers a simplistic interface, or takes the easy route to giving me the tools to do the job in hand, this is really a positive. For many years now I have used Freehand instead of Illustrator because the interface makes it a lot simpler to find your way around. Lineform is very similar to this, the interface is very clean and allows you to get on with what you are trying to achieve. When you need more powerful tools, they are on tap too, but without being over-complicated (unlike some very expensive apps).
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The idea behind a new program ScreenRecycler is that most Mac users have some old computer sitting right next to their main computer on their desk that is gathering dust. ScreenRecycler is intended to let you use that machine as a second monitor for your main computer.
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I often ask myself, just how many items can someone review and still give a fresh and interesting evaluation that readers will be willing to read. This was more difficult to answer than I first thought, but I came to two conclusions. Firstly, it helps if the product is useful and well thought out and secondly, it pays dividends to actually use the product.

The Danger Mouse from MacMice fits nicely into both of my realizations and I am sitting here right now writing this review whilst actually using the product. I feel instantly at home with it for many reasons and all of these reasons fit into the ‘well thought out’ category.
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