Who says only the autographed Wii can be auctioned off? This one right here's also for auction, and it's for a good cause. Yup, if you check out Clothes Off Our Back.org (which you can access via our Read link below), you'll find that an iPod Nano signed by the case of the TV sitcom "The Office".

Kate Flannery, Angela Kinsey, and Phyllis Smith don their signatures on the Nano for the benefit of the Children's Defense Fund, Cure Autism Now and the emergency relief efforts in Darfur (Friends of the World Food Program, Save the Children and the U. S. Fund for UNICEF).

So far, there are four bids up. If you're interested in stepping in the shoes of Angelina Jolie through this little act of goodwill, you have (as of press time) 44 days, 20 hours, and approximately 15 minutes to go before auction expires. Current bid stands at US$ 325.

Fanboys beware! This dude from St. Louis kicks out all the stops to the definition and raises his obsession a level higher. Yes, that's right: Jeremy Mehrle's apartment is a tribute to the Apple Macintosh. And its quite an impressive display, in fact: he has 74 Macs in his basement with 30 at the Classic bar (yes the bar is in his basement). Also in his collection are four different Apple II personal computers, 18 assorted CRT-based Macs, a Next Cube, and a 20th Anniversary Mac just to top the icing. This would've rocked had it been one of those "Get a Mac" ads. See for yourselves!

    

You can see more of his vision of Mac dedication by clicking on the Read link provided below.

Take a bite out of this one. Try a cursory search for an "Apple Phone" in the patent office (you could try Google Patents), and one of the items that pops out (the first, in fact), dates back to the 1980s. It's an Apple Phone alright, but it ain't exactly touch-screen.

  

This is one of the set of patent drawings for "the ornamental design for a telephone, as shown and described," filed in 1982 by Denni F. Rivette, et. al. We guess the only connection this patent has to Apple is Rivette, et. al.'s acknowledgement that the aesthetic design for the phone is taken from the trademark Apple logo (it's there in the patent). We don't know if this was a design commissioned by Apple or the inventors are just giving Jobs due props (most likely the latter - the 80's weren't the iAge).

Still, looking back all these years, one can only imagine if Apple thought of capitalizing on its Apple image. Of course, back then, its image wasn't about all things i- (like iPod, iMac, iTunes, iWantEverythingSuffixedBy"Pod", iTV, iPhone...).

Hey, we're actually quite amused.

Over at Boulder, Colorado, the local Apple Store was recently the victim of theft. Apparently, the thief was able to run off with 42 second-gen 4GB iPod Nanos, all worth a total of US$ 8,705.

Now, things like this are probably something that should be expected, considering the fact that the new line of iPods are considered as hot items. What baffles (and amuses) everyone though, is that the thief not only stole the popular MP3 players, but he also managed to take the 2-foot-by-2-foot, 30-pound Plexiglass display case that the iPods were placed in as well. As for the kitchen sink, it was later found to be safe.

Police claim that they still have no suspects.

When the iPhone was unveiled by Steve Jobs in the concluded Macworld Conference and Expo, you might recall that Mr. Jobs took a call on the iPhone during his Keynote. The ringtone was one unique sound - something that could make you forget about the iPhone's price tag and its inability to use iTunes songs as your ringtone. It was unique and angelic, and a lot of people are clamoring for it.

Gizmodo reports that New York City musician, Andy Neesley has transcribed the ringtone so musically inclined people could play it on a piano or could even come up with a symphonic version of it. Cool idea...for now. But this ringtone is just going to be ordinary once people begin sporting their iPhones come June.

Barely a month after its unveiling, and even though it isn't even available to the public yet, it seems that Apple may already have to start picking up the pace even at this stage. As it turns out, a quick search around the Nokia website reveals that their engineers are already working on something that, admittedly, looks cooler than the iPhone.

As seen in one of the photos, this new work-in-progress unit from the Finnish mobile phone company has been dubbed as "Aeon". No, they're not the ones from Final Fantasy X (no, the blue one isn't "Shiva", and so on).

If it turns out that this will be the look of Nokia's next generation handsets, then Apple may be in trouble. Not only does the Aeon look very pretty, but as with most current Nokia phone models, it will also most likely be 3G-capable, one main feature which the iPhone still lacks.

There still isn't much data about this new contraption, but we'll be keeping an eye on it to see if this new idea pushes through.

We know most of you guys probably still are on the whole iPhone mania, but while that's awesome and all, let's try and switch our attention for a bit to the updates the Apple site has been getting lately.

Of course the iPhone section is there already, but did you guys also notice that they've added a Science section to their site? Oh yes indeedy!

Apple hasn't exactly been big on that industry, but apparently they are now because the Science section packs in a whole lotta info on why Apple is THE ideal tool for your "scientific" needs and why Mac OS X is THE ultimate platform for discovery.

The new Science section also includes all the applications and various tools and utilities that Apple currently offers to cater to the needs that scientific research and computation entail. You'll also see testimonies from medical universities on why they chose Mac. Here's one from Scott Thorn Barrows of the University of Chicago Medical Center: "Our profession is overwhelmingly Macintosh. ItÂ?s just so much easier to use. ItÂ?s more dependable. ItÂ?s more intuitive. Its faster and itÂ?s just more elegant."

But why take Scott's word for it? Head on to the Apple Science section and see for yourself. Just click on the read link below and you're good to go.

So, after an entire year of waiting, speculating, theorizing, and guessing, Apple then unveils the much-awaited iPhone (though they might want to consider a name change soon, with Cisco breathing down their necks. iCell doesn't sound so bad...).

So with that entire year in mind, Gizmodo has compiled a gallery which showcases the number of iPhone renditions which were done by people who hoped that the then-mysterious product would look the way that they envisioned it. After all, sparks went flying when we first saw it on the back of a magazine in March 2006, and then the deluge started.

So how close was everyone's guess to the actual product? See for yourself.

View the rest of the non-iPhones after the Jump!

Uh-oh. It looks like those metal-scavenging Jawas have finally gotten their grubby paws on R2D2 and have turned him into... well, an iPod dock. As spotted at the CES 2007 floor, this little droid won't exactly pilot your X-Wing for you anymore, but it CAN play your tunes and project your movies.

At the Nikko Home Electronics corner, the R2-D2 DVD Projector was spotted being sold for more than US$ 2,000. You can pop in your favorite DVD movie in the slot and project the show onto your wall. If you're tired of that, R2D2 can also play your CDs or hook up to your iPod.

This guy's true purpose is to play DVDs though, and can display an image on the wall at up to 80 inches wide, or he can tilt up so he can project onto the ceiling, just so you can lie back while you watch the latest season of "House MD".

As for the remote, the remote control slides out of a replica of the Millennium Falcon. Besides controlling the projector though, this remote can also move R2D2 himself, making him go forward, reverse, right, left, and do pivot turns as he makes his signature bleeps and boops (I have to admit, that is so darned cute...).

Now if only he came with his mini-zapper and his rocket boosters, it would be perfect.

...But this one's not a game.

"The Sword of Oz", the first of a planned trilogy of "The Dark Witches of Oz," has been transformed into an epic fantasy adventure interactive ebook for the PC, DS, PSP, PS3, Wii, and the iPod. Yes, the iPod. The story is based on the classic "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" by L. Frank Baum.

"The Sword of Oz" is set before before the wicked witches overthrew the old king of Oz and prior to the arrival of Dorothy and Toto. Instead, it's Dorothy's future grandfather Arthur Gale who is wearing the ruby slippers, so to speak.

Gale is the character through which this new chapter in OzÂ?s history is experienced. "The Sword of Oz" is a multi-branching adventure and readers can pick which adventures Arthur will take on. The different paths through the narrative vary widely but also closely connected so events not directly experienced by a reader in one sitting still affect those in the adventure they choose to experience.

"The Sword of Oz", written by best selling fantasy novel author Darren Reid ,will be available exclusively at NextGenBooks. NextGenBooks is a new website where PC and console (Wii, DS, PS3, and PSP) users can access Darren ReidÂ?s free ebook library. The Sword of Oz interactive ebook will be released on January 19. Hopefully, it will create a generation of interactive e-bookworms.

For more info on "The Sword of Oz", Darren Reid, and NextGenBooks, please click on the "Read" link below.