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?"

Looking at reports and data coming in, the folks down at Engadget believe that a new iPod is due to come out, and soon. They believe it should be out sometime on September or October (pending Steve Job's decision not to mess up their theory).

The conclusion of a new iPod coming out comes from some timing in the marketplace and info from retailers.

For one thing, it's been a while since the iPhone came out and there's sufficient passage of time between the recent release of the new iMac and the coming holidays for the market to be ready for another pretty Apple product.

Info from retailers also suggest a new iPod. Not only are iPods seeing a price drop but shipments are also declining. With the holidays coming up, this strongly suggests that they're preparing the market for something new under the same product line. It's also been brought up that a new iPod might cut down iPhone sales so a new version might not be questionable, but Jobs once commented that if there's any cannibalizing to be done in sales, it might as well be from Apple itself.

So don't go buying yourself an iPod just yet. Who knows? Maybe the next version will actually be the iPhone without the Phone.

PaRappa the Rapper developer NanaOn-Sha recently teamed up with Sony BMG Music Entertainment to provide owners of Apple's fifth generation iPod an original music visualizer game known as musika. The said game is available now on the iTunes Store for just US$ 4.99.

Basically, users can just have fun with musika and enjoy the rather unique imagery provided by Nanaon-Sha. If you want to progress in the game though, you have to play along by pressing the center button in time with the letters in the song's name to display different visual effects.

"The iPod is a device that revolutionized music and it is now poised to be a progressive gaming platform. Many years ago Apple's tools first opened my eyes to the power of music and multimedia, so it's exciting to release my first game for this device", commented NanaOn-Sha President Masaya Matsuura.

musika was created with the help of video game development studio Method Solutions.

Timex has launched a new watch that can interact with the Apple iPod. While a lot of gadgets already have this ability, the new Timex Ironman iControl does have something unique up its sleeve: it can interact with iPods wirelessly.

The watch apparently comes with a receiver that lets users command iPods to play or pause, raise or lower volume and skip between tracks. The iControl can also reportedly interact with iPhones, but this feature requires switching the iPhone into Airplane Mode.

On the non-music side, the iControl can store up to 50 laps in its built-in memory and can store a training log with the current date, best lap and average time. It's water-resistant up to a depth of 328 feet and is available in pink, blue, green, orange and gray/black. It should be in stores today with a suggested price tag of US$ 125.

Rumors sparked a couple of days ago that Apple might be releasing the next-generation of iPods that will sport a new split-screen interface and other new features. Apple is currently not denying nor confirming anything but this latest development might be telling all of us something.

Reportedly, various online retail chains have slashed more than US$ 20 off on 30GB or 80GB iPods (the ones with video). These stores include Amazon, Best Buy, Circuit City, and J&R online stores. Target and Wal-Mart, on the other hand, are not part of this surprise price cut.

This, when you really think about it, could imply that Apple is already on its way to clearing away excess stocks to make way for the new ones. It is also possible that it's just what it is - a price cut - and nothing more. We guess we all just have to wait for August 7 as nameless sources have claimed that an announcement will be made by then.

  

Hankering for Sims on the go, when all you have is an iPod? Don't fret, Electronic Arts has something for the wheel-clicking crowd to enjoy while they're up and about: The Sims Pool.

The Sims Pool is actually a decent pool game wrapped in role-playing elements that are inherent in the Sims franchise. Characters can be customized to one's liking, and there will be "life-changing" events in the character's house while playing pool. The game is entirely controlled using the click-wheel, and features realistic ball physics and crisp sound effects.

The game can be played with computerized opponents, or you can swap turns with a friend. The Sims Pool is now available in the iTunes store for US$ 5, and is compatible with the iPod 5G.

Here's a radically simple way to discourage people from stealing your iPod: prevent them from being able to charge it. Yep, that's the new concept that Apple has filed as patent.

You know how the iTunes in your computer instantly recognizes if that iPod is the one it's matched with? Well that's the little trick that Apple wants to employ in the new anti-theft concept. If the iTunes in your computer fails to recognize the iPod as the one matched to it, it sends out a command to the iPod so that it will not allow further charging.

The concept would work for any device with a rechargeable battery because the device recognizes the charger. All it needs is a little modification to commit "recharge harakiri" on command. Here's how Apple describes it in their filing:
 

For devices that are mainly powered by a rechargeable-power-supply (eg. music-players, phones, Personal Digital Assistants), disabling the recharger effectively renders the device inoperable when the power of the main power-supply has run out. As such, disabling the recharger should serve as a deterrent to theft.

How about an iPod taser? That'll be a real effective deterrent to theft.

 

The iPod, despite its already booming success, just keeps getting better and better. Apple just filed a patent application for a Karaoke function for the iPod (and quite possibly the iPhone by extension), with a diagram pictured above.

The patent is focused on integrating the text files of the lyrics into the song media file, proposing a way to let the text scroll in tune to the music. However, nowhere in the patent application states a way to mute the voice from the song - which is important, because nobody wants to compete with Alisha Keys while belting it out.

Sure, there's already the iSing, and there are also other gadgets in the market that feature a Karaoke function, but the idea of being able to do karaoke on the go with everybody's beloved iPod is nothing short of awesome.

Click on the Read link to read the patent in full. (Image courtesy of Unwired View.)

With the release of the iPhone just a couple weeks ago, there's now been lots of speculation going around town about the next generation of iPods. Common sentiment among analysts holds that the 6th generation of iPods would be an iPhone, only without the "phone" aspect built into it. Now, Mac Rumors throws in an actual speculative date onto the table: August 7.

Some claim that the sixth generation of iPods would come in during the second half of 2007, but now, sources of Mac Rumors are actually clocking the date as early as August 7. Also, they break away from the well-established rumor about the touch-screen interface. They now say that a click-wheel might still be incorporated, as opposed to having a full touch-screen design.

An anonymous source now claims that the iPod interface will be revamped to a more visual interface, with iPhone-like design elements and transitions.

To round up all the other speculations, here are the other features that their anonymous source claims to be included in the 6th gen iPod:

• A Ken Burns effect to transition between album art
• Incorporation of the iTunes' Cover Flow feature
• A split screen interface

Well, those features are enough to sweeten up the bitterness of swallowing the touch-screen-less pill. Eventually though, you know what's going to happen. If Apple does intend to put in a full touch-screen design, all the more would thieves want to steal iPods. But then again, we found a way to prevent iPod theft, didn't we?

The US patents office may not house the most exciting manuscripts in the world, but reading some of the applications filed does pay off. An example of that is the discovery of Apple's remote control plans with the iPod.

In a recent application made by Apple, they hinted of what seems to be a home entertainment center which can easily fit a room. All the music and video can then be streamed from a new type of iPod which will also be a remote control of sorts with a new interface for that purpose.

Of course, a lot is still under wraps as far as the specifics go. One thing is for sure, though: Steve Jobs and his boys are pushing the envelope as far as their little juggernaut of a product is concerned.