It was earlier announced by both Nike and Apple that the Nike+iPod exercise solution will be available in retail stores. Since then, the apparel had enjoyed tremendous commercial success. However, it seems that it isn't going to be smooth sailing from now on because the companies are facing a patent suit over the product.

Leaper Footwear, LLC owners Greg and Kenny Anderson filed the case this Monday in the United States District Court for The District of Utah Central Division. According to the two Andersons, they've created a similar product back in 1995 and was able to successfully had it patented in 1998.

The counsel for Leaper Footwear then sent a letter to Nike saying that the shoe maker take a license to the Anderson's patent. Nike, allegedly, wrote back two weeks after stating that it had "no interest in pursuing the idea." Part of the said suit reads:

Nike and Apple have generated hundreds of millions of dollars in infringing sales of iPod Nanos, Nike+ shoes, and Nike+iPod Sport Kits, easily exposing them to liability in the tens of millions of dollars for their infringement of Leapers patent.

It is further believed that Nike and Apples infringement has spawned additional revenues through sales of products related to the Nike+iPod system, such as the Nike Amp+ bracelet.

Nike and Apple have yet to make official statements and actions regarding the matter.

The company Integrated Mobile Electronics (IME) has announced that its IME Docking System has entered the production stage and is set to be released to the U.S. market shortly after. The device allows you to dock all popular MP3 player models seamlessly into a car's sound system for easy on-the-go listening.

It doesn't matter if you like Apple's iPods, Microsoft's Zune or SanDisk MP3 models. The IME Docking System has a variety of docking bays that will fit them all. These bays are interchangeable to make switching easier for owners of more than one device.

IME's modular and integrated docking system has a universal base which fits snug into a dashboard or central console in any vehicle. About six to eight weeks from now, these devices will be on store shelves. Pre-orders are most welcome to IME as it rewards those who do so with a 15 percent discount on every purchase. The IME Docking System goes out for US$ 250, while additional docks are available for US$ 90.

After the release of the new iPod touch, it won't be long before the NES.app will be finding its way into the device. Meanwhile, the NES.app has gone through some major revisions since the last update and is looking the better for it.

The latest release has undergone revision from nervegas and developer jordan. Changes include fixes to the controls and rendering, and a switch to a new core. Here's the changelog since version v1.2.0:

1.3.0
(nervegas)

• Forked InfoNES/pNESx to separate NESCore project
• Fixed scrolling and nametable issues - many games that
• previously had problems now render properly, or mostly:
• Rad Racer, SMB3, Zelda, Zelda 2, Megaman 3 and 6,
• Toki (Game Screen), RC Pro-Am (Dashboard), Rolling
• Thunder, GI Joe, others.
• New core: http://iphone.natetrue.com/nescore/

(jordan)

• Reworked PPU registers to function properly

1.3.1
(jordan)

• Switch to CPU timing instead of PPU timing
• Cleaned up scrolling code
• Kung Fu and others render properly now

1.3.2
(nervegas)

• Allow A & B to be simultaneously pressed
• NOTE: Only two buttons can be pressed at a time per Apple
• Rewrote save state / wiring routines for better compatibility
• Added mapper state hooks for seamless mapper state save
• NOTE: Saved games from prior versions are incompatible
• When auto-frameskip, set default skip to 1 when restoring
• Suspend emulator when changing orientation to avoid crashing
• Fixed Game Genie code entry

NES.app v1.3.2 can be downloaded below and as always, users are encouraged to go through the readme file before using the program.

Download: NES.app v1.3.2

Ever wanted to go back to the days when you made mixed tapes but all you have is the present-day iPod Nano? Conjecture Designs may just have the thing for sentimental people: reclaimed cassette tapes rebuilt to fit iPod Nanos. They are also responsible for the vinyl record-themed iPod cases, relevant for those who want a taste of the Golden Era of music.

Dubbed as the "45 nano", these cassette cases are created from actual cassette tapes which are hollowed out to fit the iPods, with a clear plastic window shield installed to protect the portable MP3 players. The clear plastic shield has enough openings to permit access to the controls, headphone jack, and charging dock.

If you're interested in getting one, you can get any of the cases for only $US 45 a pop.

For more information on how to get one, go check the Read link!

If you own a new iPod classic or nano and have noticed that it's a bit sluggish, you're not alone. As a matter of fact, there are a lot of other people whining and moaning about it, and Apple has taken the pleas seriously.

Enter the iPod Update 1.0.1 which addresses the slowdown caused by an unconfirmed culprit. The update improves the general performance of the iPod nano and classic and works the same for the two models.

The popular theory as to what was causing the slowdown was that these models have a more graphic-intensive interface which made screens hesitate from loading in between switches and made Cover Flow choke on occasion.

Apple iPod owners can easily avail of this nice fix from Apple when they plug their iPod into their computer and run iTunes. Once there, it's a simple enough matter to check for and download updates.

While the new iPod touch was definitely an attention-grabber with its iPhone-style touch screen, this very same innovation proved to be the source of early teething problems for this Apple gadget. This is with regard to recent reports that the new iPod's screen was (quite literally) lackluster - some users pointed out that the screen "Looks like a negative," in certain parts.
 
Is this some inherent design flaw with the new product? Not exactly, explained an engineer going by the online moniker drvelocity. According to the tech, what we're looking at may be a case of poor quality controls over at Apple's production facilities. Here reads drvelocity's technical assessment of the screen problem:

I'm an engineer with experience in the LCD industry and after seeing enough photos of the Ipod Touch I feel that I can make a pretty accurate assessment of the "black level" situation. It appears to me that it's a problem with the anti-reflective coating. The good news is this is most likely a temporary situation due to quality control issues.

The tech further indicated that an anti-reflective (AR) coating is a layer installed in the display's glass to prevent light from the LED reflecting back down into the display. Without it, the display distorts, creating the black areas that were spotted in some iPods.

drvelocity explained that the problem was most probably caused by the iPod touch's factory being forced to rush the the unit off the production line due to very heavy time pressure. What followed was a reduction in quality control, and the release of some sub-par iPod units lacking an AR coating.

The good news is that the tech also noted that this appears to be a temporary problem -  Apple should able to stabilize its QC soon. Now, in case you're among the guys who was unfortunate enough to get a damaged iPod touch, be sure to contact the company asap.

It seems sacrilegious, but someone was bound to break open the new iPod Touch sooner or later. So it's sooner rather than later as the guys from iFixit breaks open their brand spanking new - though not for very long - iPod Touch. At first glance it's like an iPhone, only not as fat. But what's the difference on the inside?

From their expert handling of the device they discovered some differences between it and the iPhone's hardware. One thing iPod Touch owners should be very happy about is the increased size of the battery. Because of the lack of a mic or a speaker that the iPhone required, the iPod Touch's battery is by far the larger.

Apple also seems to have gone for a more elegant, hassle free design for the iPod Touch's internal structure. Although this might be more efficient for manufacturing and processing, it might present some problems with repairing as many of the parts are connected in such a way as to fiddling or replacing an individual part might be difficult.

The guys also discovered that the front of the iPod Touch is made of glass, or at the least, a material that doesn't scratch easily. They used a key to scratch it and, lo and behold, it's still as smooth as a... well, an unscratched iPod Touch screen. The screen of their iPod Video wasn't as lucky.

They also found that the processors of the iPod Touch and the iPhone are very similar so the reports that they are able to run the same programs may indeed be true. There's a large chance we'll be seeing programs to transfer apps between the two devices pretty soon.

For more pictures of the naked iPod Touch, head on over to the full article!

In an attempt to block other media players from synching with the new iPod models, Linux users now find themselves unable to use their third-party software of choice to load songs into their new iPods.

An article in the ipodminusitunes blog states that there is a code embedded in the iPod, locking the iTunes database to a specific iPod. Any attempt to do modifications on the code will result with the iPod thinking that there are "0 SONGS" in its memory, even if there are songs uploaded into the iTunes database.

Other online sources think that this is not a measure to prevent piracy in itslef, but rather to eliminate competition of the iTunes store. Since most major music labels have eliminated DRM from their digital tracks, the likelihood of other music players that automatically load DRM-free music is very high, thus competing with iTunes Store.

This new move limits the choices of software to be used with the iPod, and since iTunes doesn't work on Linux, Linux users may need to either change to Windows or Mac, or not buy the newer iPods. Does Apple really want to lose its iPod Linux users? More updates as they come!

 

Probably the coolest thing about iPhone is its touch-screen feature. Being among the first mobile phones in the market to have navigation totally dependent on touch-screen technology is definitely one of the main reasons why Apple's currently hitting pay dirt. It's no wonder Apple has decided to implement the same technology on their latest creation, iPod Touch.

Boasting of the same user interface and Cover Flow browsing feature as iPhone's, it should be expected that iPod Touch's screen is as good as its big sister, right? Well, apparently no. According to a screen test comparing Apple's iPhone and iPod Touch being run by Gizmodo, the former's screen is considerably better than the latter. Their findings were explained best here:

The iPod touch's screen turns black areas somewhat grayish, washed out shadow detail, with absolute blacks appearing shimmery. ...I just got an email from a reader complaining his touch's screen "Looks like a negative" in the dark areas. ...Symptoms occur on the touch regardless of brightness level. Here is a case of varying screen qualities, despite them being spec'd the same. ...I think our verdict is that the screen on the touch is not as nice.

To better get the picture (pun intended), we borrow one of the images used by the folks over at Gizmodo and put it up in this post. For more images, follow our read link below.

One of the very first predictions to surface for the new iPod is that it would be an iPhone without the Phone and that seems to be the case - to the letter. Gizmodo got some unofficial word from inside Apple that the iPod Touch can run all the applications that the iPhone can (save for the ones that use the phone function of course, which would be useless).

The iPod Touch and the iPhone "use the same damn binaries," according to the source. Except for the interface, there's no real difference between the two devices. Although the iPod Touch will not have Mail or Weather and Stocks as part of its application collection (probably just to differentiate the functions of the device), they both run on the same Mac OS X core.

Logically the iPod Touch can run any application - even third party software - the iPhone can. So even if the iPod Touch doesn't initially have the same programs, all it should take is to allow a method of transfer of iPhone applications to the iPod Touch and voila! Once the iPod Touch comes out it won't be long before this is confirmed. Updates as we get them.