iMac, iPod, iPhone... iCar? A Volkswagen spokesperson recently announced that VW Chairman Martin Winterkorn and Apple's Steve Jobs met a few days ago in California to discuss a new type of vehicle. It may even really be called the iCar.

The only info so far about the car is that it'll be targeting a young age group, most likely the same demography as the iPhone. Likely the car won't be a huge iPhone on wheels, but the idea of a car imbued with Apple technology is still drool inducing.

If people went to hell and back to hack the iPhone, it would be something to see what they'd do for the iCar.

In what seems to be an amusing parody to the proverbial Apple god, this image was posted by user donatreides over at Flickr depicting the grave of Steve Jobs in the form of an iPod.

The picture evoked a stream of humorous comments when it was first posted and still continues to illicit much amusement. Though he has been reported with notable health problems over the past few years, this puts into perspective a lighter side of what eventually lies in store for everyone someday.

Even Steve Jobs had a thing or two to say about his life and eventual death someday in his commencement address last June:

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

What more can we say but, "Very well said Steve, now where's that new iPod scheduled for the holiday season?"

Talk about extreme tests of endurance: a MacBook Pro survived after getting run over by a car. The Macbook got "left behind" after stuff was being loaded into a car and, well, it was probably the sickening squeal of grinding metal that signalled what happened.
  
Endurance tests usually only focus on extreme temperature changes, but running over a laptop? That takes the cake. It still works too. The screen's cracked to smithereenies but it's still working.

The story ends with the guy looking for the busted parts in eBay after finding out that repairs will cost US$ 900. Maybe he should go at it with a sledgehammer and Apple will replace it for him like they did for Sledgehammer guy.

Here's something you don't see everyday - a crashed iPhone on actual display in an Apple Store, for all the world to see. While we don't know what caused the crash or the events that led up to it, it's certainly something to note that a faulty product of a company that's built around being glitch and crash proof is presented so blatantly in public view.

It's a bit similar to that incident with Bill Gates demoing Windows 98, eh? Anyway, another thing to note - the camera used to photograph the crashed iPhone is also another iPhone that's docked next to it - and it's somewhat disconcerting that the text captured is almost unreadable.

Almost, as you can probably make out the letters by looking closer, but there's still some blurring. Of course, it may just be the photographer's hand being unsteady, as the details of the wall in the background is captured quite clearly.

Despite this rather awkward stumble, the iPhone's certainly enjoying the limelight, with almost all of its customers very happy with their little gadget of Apple joy. Let's just hope they work out all the kinks soon.

  
  

Best Buy has begun sprucing up its Apple electronics section and has redesigned the Apple corner, now dubbing it the new Apple Shop. The cool Apple store redesign was done not only for aesthetic purposes but in an effort to boost sales. Morgan Stanley said that a full expansion to all Best Buy stores can produce about US$ 400 million more in Mac sales each year.

In the center of the computing section of a Best Buy store stands a two-foot thick black wall, with speakers and LCD display embedded in it. The black wall serves as the center of attraction for the whole set-up.

Some of Apple's offerings are laid out on the table in front of the LCD display to let people have a first-hand look at the products. iMacs and MacBook Pros are on display, with the Mac Mini conspicuously out of the action. Apple also did something to Best Buy's tired-looking tags by hiding them in black Apple plastic folder jackets which can be flipped to reveal the prices.

The Apple corner renovation is done in part in an effort to expand Apple's presence in Best Buy stores and widen its market base. They initially started with doing the renovations for 7 Best Buy stores, then eventually spread out to about 50 locations. Apple plans to expand the new Apple Shop corners to 200 Best Buy stores by fall this year.

Check out the rest of the photos by following the Via link.

For some time now, the picking have been slim for Macs in terms of applications that can capture video from Blizzard's World of Warcraft. The most commonly used Snapz Pro X2 came with a rather steep (US$ 70) price tag.

In fact, a lot of people have turned to the 30 day trial version to work their magic. Well, Mac users don't have to worry about the price tag anymore. The new patch Blizzard rolled out on the PTR server now have the Mac Movie Capture.

The feature essentially allows the Mac client to capture in-game video to QuickTime movie files using a choice of codecs (H.264, Motion JPEG, or Pixlet), various resolutions, and even frame rate.  Specs? Well you'll be needing Mac OS X 10.4.9 and QuickTime 7.1.6 or better.

So try to get on the PTR to see if the new addition to the game works. If you're playing on the Europe servers though, be advised that copying characters into the server is still not working.

Anyone who has had to deal with snail-crawling 2G or 2.5G-limited Internet access would want 3G on their iPhone, too. "Where'd my SMS go?" wouldn't even begin to cover the network grief experienced with the multimedia-enriched mobile phone, but it appears that in order to have 3G, you'd have to get another iPhone.

 

Or so they say. While many rumors have flown around dubbing European phone buffs as the lucky ones to get the extra G, none have proven factual or true. And while Steve Jobs himself admits that iPhone 'surfing' on AT&T isn't as fast as preferred, Apple is going to be hard-pressed to come out with a simple 3G solution.

Another bit of interesting developments was a mention of AT&T, Apple, planning, iPhone and 3G in one sentence. PBS' Robert Cringely wrote in a column that he believes "Apple and AT&T are planning a fall rollout for full 3G iPhone service, with technical trials already underway in certain AT&T markets," although there were no factual statements to support his claim.

He goes on further that the iPhone has a 3G capability tucked within its innards, ready to burst open at Christmas when a new firmware rolls out and flicks the magic switch. Some folks have turned their iPhone inside out and have yet to spot a piece of hardware that rings 3G-capable, pointing against the speculations of Cringely.

3G needs a transceiver with 3G capability, blogs Philip Elmer-DeWitt, which means that another iPhone with the hardware would be needed before being able to even use 3G capabilities. In turn, that would also require more power for the additional hardware. 

But instead of scrambling over the comm for Scotty, Apple considered battery life was first and foremost in their list of priorities. Apple has assured customers that Wi-Fi Internet access can still be used as a faster alternative to AT&T's current EDGE network, but while hotspots are few and far between, there's nothing more you can do to speed up your iPhone 'surfing' experience.

If you've ever had to wait in line for something - maybe a ride at some famous amusement park, or for a copy of that just-released game, perhaps a console that's been selling out for quite some time - you know it's an annoying affair you probably wouldn't want to go through ever again.

If that's the case, then you should probably meet Greg Packer - a highway maintenance worker and hardcore linesitter from Huntington, New York, and coincidentally the very first guy in line for the highly-anticipated iPhone launch.

While we can certainly understand the overwhelming need to be the first to get an iPhone, what we don't get is the guy's obsession at being first in line for ANY newsworthy event. Yes, he's not actually in the line for the iPhone, but rather for the privilege - and the bragging rights - of being first.

From the unveiling of the viewing platform of Ground Zero to being able to meet singer Brandy in person - if you can be first in line for it, Greg's already camped out there, with his shirtless self draped on his portable lawn chair.

And not only does he get the media coverage for being the first in line, he's also regularly quoted at newsworthy events and his lines oftentimes appearing in major publications. The guy, if you really want to know, also has his own Wikipedia entry to boot.

How's that for getting your fifteen minutes of fame? Greg Packer, your core is indeed the hardest of them all - especially when it comes to linesitting.

It seems that four years ago, not even Steve Jobs nor other Apple folks realized that Apple shares would be what they are today: up by 1600% since early 2003. In a report by Brett Arends on TheStreet.com, it was revealed that even Steve Jobs wasn't able to take advantage of a potential US$ 4 billion in profit because of Apple stocks.

It was also revealed that this is because he made a decision four years ago to "cut his exposure to apple stock". During 2003, Apple stocks was down 80% from its peak. Arends reports that Jobs and the Apple board agreed that Jobs would disregard around 15 million stock options in return for 10 million actual Apple shares.

Arends writes: "At the time, it looked like he was giving up nothing and getting $75 million in return. And, as he had rescued the company from oblivion, who would argue he didn't deserve it?"

Perhaps what's even more amusing is that during March 2003, company employees were allowed to make exchanges similar to what Jobs did. Apple set up a program that let people swap their seemingly worthless, post-bubble stock options for a smaller number of options at a lower strike price. The reason for this is that the exchange would be beneficial as long as the share price stayed low.

As mentioned, Apple stocks is up 1600% since early 2003.

Now that Apple products are so hot, and its stocks so high, one would think that anyone, especially Jobs would wish to just have that potential 4 Billion dollars back. Would Apple folks wish to have all that stock profit back? Arends says that Apple media relations declined to comment on this.

 

Yesterday's WWDC saw Steve Jobs showing off the Leopard's desktop and we did like the fact that everything looked less grainy than ever before. Very pleasing to the eye indeed, but there's a little note that a MaxAsia pointed out.

And come to think of it, the user might be on to something. The Leopard's dock does seem a bit like Sun's Project Looking Glass. Above are images which you can view at full size when you click them. See if you think that there's a compelling resemblance.

Aesthetics aside, this shouldn't really be too much of an issue between the two IT giants. We'll keep you posted if anything major comes out of this.