Like engravings on iPods. It’s a great way to personalize Apple’s popular media player for a friend or loved one. Just in keep in mind that it’s impossible to return an engraved iPod!

Makes sense actually: Except for those who originally bought them, these engraved iPods have virtually no resale value, and Apple definitely can’t provide refurbished units with “WORD 4 LIFE” engraved at the back of them, can they?

Still, this is something to keep in mind dear readers! There’s a reason after all why retailers like Apple provide engraving for free—it frees them from a potentially significant after-sales support option from the get go.

If you’d still like to get an engraved iPod, you can do so through the Apple Store.

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The video camera, while a welcome feature in emergencies or must-capture moments, delivers 640 x 480 output. Even under good lighting however, nano videos lack clarity. The FM radio isn’t that different from your typical cell phone radio; you need to plug in the earphones to listen to your favorite FM stations, as the cord acts like an antenna. The built-in pedometer? You can only maximize it when you buy an iPod + Nike kit—which you have to do so for the previous-gen nano anyway. And the less said about the external speaker, the better.

What does work in the iPod nano’s favor is its status as an affordable, stylish, and high-capacity portable music and video player. This remains true for the fifth-generation iPod: nothing else on the market costs below $180, features a bright 2.2″ 240 x 376 screen, is really thin, and makes short work of browsing through music and videos.

In other words, the iPod nano is perfect for those who’ve fallen for Apple’s effective (and mostly accurate) iPod marketing, but aren’t willing to pay more for the iPod classic or touch, and would rather do without the display-less iPod shuffle experience.

Visit the Apple Store to buy the iPod nano

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elitemacor: “iPoop… iCry. I was so hoping for something more.”

WeezerX80: “Great just what the world needs, another freaking MP3 player. Go Steve! Where’s the Newton?!”

Pants: “hey – heres an idea Apple – rather than enter the world of gimmicks and toys, why dont you spend a little more time sorting out your pathetically expensive and crap server line up? or are you really aiming to become a glorified consumer gimmicks firm?”

And, my personal favorite:

nobody special: “All that hype for an MP3 player? Break-thru digital device? The Reality Distiortion Field™ is starting to warp Steve’s mind if he thinks for one second that this thing is gonna take off.”

Still tripping on smug nostalgia? Here’s how Steve Jobs packaged it for the masses, at a “low key” event:

I disagree that the iPod was a “quantum leap”, as Steve Job insisted, as there were already MP3 players with hard disks on the market when the iPod was launched. But there’s no doubting the iPod’s appealing usability, nor the willingness of Apple to stick with its own vision.

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Courtesy Julien Madérou

Seriously though, Madérou is a genius! He even made provisions for the iPhone cable! The instructions are available for printing on A4 or US letter (8.5″ x 11″) sheets, and are a simple matter of cutting out the template and following the video below.

I’m assuming a iPhone dock made out of Japanese paper will crumple in an instant once it bears the full weight, and at least one commenter on Julien’s blog post says the “paper weight may need to be increased.” If I do try this out (I’ll need to get an iPhone first), I’ll probably try cutting out some illustration board and scoring the folds for better pliability.

If you’ve already have your own paper iPhone dock, feel free to share just how much paper strength is called for.

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Courtesy Beatallica

For those not familiar with Beatallica, the band takes the message and theme of famous Beatles songs (like “Let it Be”) and modifies the tone to match Metallica’s sound (”The Thing That Should Not Be”), ending up with a usually hilarious song influenced by both source artists (”The Thing That Should Not Let it Be”). Sometimes it’s done vice-versa. Listening to a James Hetfield wannabe’s rendition of a classic pop song is enough to induce floor-rolling laughs.

Anyways, the best part is that, to avoid litigation from either Metallica or the representatives of the Beatles’ estate, Beatallica has made all songs available for free download. You can of course purchase any of the band’s albums as a show of support, but if you’re looking for music to fill your PMP now, you can head over to beatallica.org. Have fun!

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Courtesy Spracht

Make Spracht wants you to know that the BluNote can store up to 8 Bluetooth device profiles, runs on an AC adapter or 4 AA batteries (both are included in the package), promises good audio quality through its Stereo Widening and Bass Boost functionality. On top of that, as a speaker, the BluNote also supports hands-free, conference-type calls when hooked up to a mobile phone.

A full review to follow if and when Spracht sends in a demo unit. In the meantime you can check out the product page and buy the BluNote here for $99.

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At first glance, Apple is protecting its bottom line—which any publicly-listed company has a legal an obligation to do, given it’s responsibility to shareholders to increase share value and dividends. What I personally find disturbing about reports requiring silence in exchange for refunds is that the company wants to be held unaccountable for obvious design faults with its products. Something that literally explodes in your face and causes injury is a flaw that needs definite addressing.

I’m pretty sure Apple’s working on the problem as I write this, but the reality is that while patches (usually) do a good job of fixing software bugs, there’s really nothing much you do about hardware bugs, especially since iPhone users are locked into two-year contracts using the same device.

What Apple can do though is tell owners what steps to take with their iPhones and iPods—which the company already does to a certain degree, on its website. But that’s not enough. What’s needed is a clear announcement revealing that iPods and iPhones have actually exploded and caused injury to a minor percentage of owners. They should detail what steps they’ve taken to investigate the problem, making clear their findings to help people avoid the same fate.

Granted, this approach is honestly bad for business, as it sullies Apple’s reputation for great industrial design, and may even lead to government-mandated recalls. You can also bet it will lead to class action suits.

But the company should also consider the long-term benefits of being honest with their customers. I’m pretty sure the Steve Jobs fan club would immediately paint any explicit admission of exploding iPhones and iPods as a sign that the company has its customers’ best interests in mind—and they would be right. This is definitely better than trying to buy the silence of people, only seeing them complain to the media of Apple’s attempt to keep its slate clean.

Source

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So it comes as no surprise that the latest iTunes update basically “disables devices falsely pretending to be iPods, including the Palm Pre.” Palm’s reaction to this isn’t clear yet, but here are some possibilities:

Palm Sues Apple. Given Apple’s dominance of the portable music industry, could Palm’s lawyers argue that Apple is being anti-competitive?

Someone hacks iTunes to restore Pre compatibility. Or simply comes out with a program that fools any version of iTunes into accepting non-iPods for syncing. You know it’s going to happen, especially if the Pre was able to re-motivate the Palm faithful.

Apple Sues Palm. So the iTunes+iPod ecosystem is a closed, proprietary setup. Which Palm tried to violate. There should be a legal liability or two somewhere there, and Apple could imply industrial espionage at the very least, especially since a former Apple executive was responsible for the Pre’s creation.

What do you think will happen? Feel free to comment below, especially if your possibility wasn’t listed above.

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The last sentence of that money quote does make sense. After all, if you’ve spent years licensing—and earning—off manufacturers who want to use your mobile platform, you don’t kill that kind of Golden Goose. This remains true even if your mobile platform has steadily lost market share and presence to Apple’s offerings, and even a yet-to-be-released smartphone from Palm.

What makes more sense are rumors of Zune functionality integrated with Windows Mobile 7, due for release in 2010. Which of course, is another way of saying “we’ll improve Windows Mobile’s media player.” If ever Microsoft was just pulling our leg, and a Microsoft-phone is actually under development, I don’t think it will be this bad:

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