National Semiconductor employees became the envy of everyone with iPod-envy when the company did an Oprah and handed a 30GB video iPod to everyone of its employees. But unlike Oprah, they are taking some of it back. When the company laid off 35 employees at its Arlington plant, National Semicon apparently didn't think that was enough to ruin their day. The laid-off workers were asked to return the iPods!

According to National Semicon, the iPods were rewards (although some called it "gifts") for its 8,500 workers for helping the company achieve its best fiscal year ever. "They were not a gift," the company said. The company stressed that it was "equipping" its employees with the iPods meaning they were in the same category as staplers and desks. The company expected the leaving employees to return the $300 digital gadget of the season or pay "fair market value" for it.

The problem is, thinking the iPods were theirs to keep, some of the employees had sold them or given them as gifts. "Nothing was ever said about ever having to give it back," said one of the laid-off employees. "If I'd known it was company property, I never would have picked it up." You know what they say... if it sounds to good to be true (and you're not part of Oprah's audience) chances are you have to return it after they give you the boot.

PodTropolis, the site that hosts bittorrents for iPod formatted-material in four categories -- TV Shows, Music, Movies and Music Videos, is in danger of bidding us farewell forever. Apparently, the site has been having problems paying up their server bills. In a statement seen in their site:

"Our host has put us on notice. We have been unable to pay it due to the fact that we lost an advertiser and donations have become practically non-existant. If you want to see Podtropolis keep rolling please donate via the sidebar, otherwise we have no choice but to close our doors."

It may be a dog-eat-dog world but I personally find the site very useful and convenient to use. Also, the guys over at PodTropolis would like to clarify that this is not a money-making scheme. They would appreciate cash donations but that would only offer a short-term remedy. What they really need are advertising solutions and dedicated PHP Programmers. So it is up to you if you want to help them out in any possible way that you can, they will surely appreciate this.

Talk about stretching the franchise beyond its limits! The iPod family is such a huge success we heard Apple is stamping everything with an "i" to keep the money rolling in. If you've got money to flush down the toilet, take a seat at Apple's iPotty. We stumbled upon a video that says this "supposed" Apple product holds 10,000 songs and a gallon of water. Hitting the flush bar plays digital music as your "hot stuff" dance round and round till its gone. As 'fun' as this may sound, the iPotty is just a product of Bretizzle's imagination.

ColorEnvy is a company that does everything to give your beat up iPod its luster back. They can custom paint your iPod to any color of your choice, repair scratches and do custom plastic painting of all kinds.

They are holding a rather interesting contest that will run until August 1, 2006 titled "The World's Worst Scratched iPod Contest". All you have to do is send in a picture of your iPod along with a short description on how you got it scratched. If you get chosen by the judges as having the iPod with the most scratch, you'll get your iPod refurbished and painted in the color you want. And to prevent any future disasters, they'll also throw in a Do-It-Yourself scratch repair kit.

Do not get any ideas of deliberately scratching your iPod just to win the contest, though. ColorEnvy has made it clear that they will not be held liable for any damages your device will incur.

Do some Apple users have too much time on their hands?

The editors of Tech E-Blog got photos of several Apple mods and recently published this selection of their favorites, showing what some folks do to "spruce up" their beloved Mac computers. The nostalgia buff inside me would like to see one designed like that early television model from the late 1940's that had a round screen (anyone ever seen one of those? They never worked very well, but were extremely cool-looking), or maybe a "Tri-V" from the original Star Trek.

#10: MAME

Not your "Auntie Mame" from the Jerry Herman musical, but a retro-80's arcade game-style cabinet, incorporating a flat-panel iMac and a top of the line sound system. Pac-Man or Asteroids, anyone?

#9: VINTAGE SE 30

This was the very first Mac I remember, running System 6 back in 1989. Unlike that particular model (top-of-the-line for its time, but useless for any applications today), this one - created by a user in Japan - has a new Mac Mini inside. The grayscale monitor is connected via the DVI port.

More of the Apple mods after the jump!

Ex-marine Brad Collum has written down eight ways to kill someone with an iPod Nano. They include some original ways, so check 'em out. Anyone willing to try these out?

1. Break it in half with your hands (very easy to do) and use the glass viewing screen's broken edge as a razor blade to slice the jugular when they are looking the other way.

2. Take off one sock (a dress or tube sock; pantyhose will work in a pinch), place the Nano in the sock, swing it around as fast as you can (being careful to not hit yourself), and whack the intended target right on the temple.

3. Take the reflective shiny part and catch the sun's ray and shine it in a vehicle driver's eyes, or if you are at a rock concert and the lead singer is prancing around on a center stage that protrudes into the audience like a phallus, you can use the same technique.

4. The cord on the earbud headphones can be used to strangle someone. A knee in the back can give extra leverage.

5. Dig a pit about 5 feet deep, then take about 15 3-foot-long stakes 2 inches in diameter and sharpen one end to a fine point, like a very sharp pencil. Jam the sticks at least a foot into the ground, with the sharp ends pointing up. Cover the hole with pine boughs, grass, and leaves. Treat the Nano like a slice of cheese pizza in a deep, hot oven and place it gently in the middle.

6. Carefully unstaple a tea bag and pour the contents on a plate. Break into the lithium-ion battery pack and saturate the tea with the battery's poison, then dry the tea in the sun (or with a hair dryer if you are in a hurry). Put tea back in tea bag and bend the staple back to its original position. Put the tea bag back where you got it.

7. Download to the Nano "We've Only Just Begun" by the Carpenters. Tell someone you will give him or her your Nano if they listen to that song a hundred times in a row.

8. Hide the Nano in a bowl of lutefisk, then take it to the annual Norsefest Lutefisk Eating Competition in Madison, Minnesota.

If you're looking for living proof that Apple People have a more intense and artistic relationship with their Macs than PC People do with their tops, look no further than Dan aka Incidentist. Dan, unlike any PC owners we know (and we know a lot), lovingly etched the image of Magritte's "The Son of Man" onto a 15" PowerBook using Squid Lab's Epilog laser. The graphic was made using Inkscape and before you know it, his PowerBook has become a mobile art. The obvious question from a PC person would be, "why? Why go through all that? Why? Why? Why?" Because they're Apple People, that's why.

    

The things some people will do to get a MacBook Pro! Some will even resort to murder by water!  That's what I_Love_My_Vans did. He tried to murder his Compaq laptop in his bathtub for the insurance money. He would then use the insurance money to purchase a MacBook Pro. Proof that the Universe does not reward scams, all the insurance company's horses and their men managed to resuscitate the water-logged PC and sent it merrily back to the perp. "Now i cannot afford my Apple Mac Book Pro. Weep with me," says ILMV. The morals of this story:

1. If you're going to commit a crime, don't take photos of evidence.
2. Don't mess with Karma even for a MacBook Pro. It will come back to you and  bite you in your ass.
   

We've stumbled across this, and quite frankly it just seems like a cool idea. Being reminiscent of the scanning laser at the start of the film Aliens, this is a tad different, where-by it is controlled by a sound input. Being used here with an iPod, there is nothing saying that it isn't possible to use any input device, perfect for anyone who wants to recreate a nightclub atmosphere within their bedrooms at a fraction of the price. Unfortunately, there were no details on how this was constructed and made, but we can only assume it used the iPod, the laser with lens, and a signal processor feeding into the laser system. Feast your eyes on the video...

I've read a recent survey seeking to determine which things most people can't leave their house without. The top three were their purse (money), cellphones, and iPods. I don't know about this guy, but I think he's just leaving up to that age-old saying, "You always hurt the ones you love".

Now I'm not one of those die-hard gadgeteers, and I actually initially thought the video was awesome, especially with that music, until I realize one very uncool thing - they're burning plastic. Hey, I don't care about masochists and what they do to themselves and their belongings, but it does bother me when the thing they do pollute the air I breathe. So let me say "Tomicles, this is not cool!"

Anyway, he dubbed this video "Black iPod Mod". I don't think you can really call it a mod (unless you're Tom Cruise and believe that jumping up and down a couch on national TV feels great), I can't recognize if it's an iPod anymore, well at least it's black; one out of three ain't bad I guess.