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April 24th through 31st Archives

Wednesday, April 30th 2003 04:30 CDT

PBZone Bag Week Continues: Shaun Jackson's Laptrap Reviewed; Exclusive Spire Discount

As promised, we have a review of Shaun Jackson Design's Laptrap portable office meets PowerBook sleeve product. If you've never seen it in action, check out our evaluation.

Shaun Jackson Design's $20 discount off their original Lapdog product continues throughout bag week, so look below in yesterday's news for details on that exclusive reader discount.

Also as promised, we have another exclusive discount for our readers. Spire USA is offering $15 off any product in their store for a week only. Use coupon code "BAGWEEK" to receive the discount. Check out all of Spire's products here. Stay tuned tomorrow for a bag review from their lineup and later this week for more reviews and exclusive discounts.

Dr. Bott Adapts Jacket to New iPods

Clearly you were worried yesterday when you noticed that the new proprietary iPod connector on the bottom of the new iPods rendered your neat Burton AMP snowboarding jacket with built in touch-controls for your iPod useless if you wanted to upgrade to the new and improved portable music player.

Never fear, the boys and girls at Dr. Bott have come to the rescue:

Dr. Bott announces AMP Interface for iPod.

AMP Interface allows owners of the Burton Amp Jacket to use their new third generation iPod (with dock connector) with the integrated SOFTswitch technology.

AMP Interface replaces the interface of the jacket with one that incorporates the remote connector and headphone jack of the new iPod.

Compatibility:
AMP Interface for 3rd generation iPod is compatible with the new 10GB (M8976LL/A ), 15GB (M8946LL/A) and 20GB (M8948LL/A ) iPods that have the dock connector.

Pricing & Availability:
AMP Interface retails for $24.95 and will be available in May.

Tuesday, April 29th 2003 15:44 CDT

PBZone Bag Week Begins

Yesterday's Big-Apple-Music-Event pushed back a week-long series of features we planned on running by one day, so you'll see them overlap into some of next week.

It's taken some time to get all the review units together, but we're finally ready to kick off PBZone's first annual "bag week." We have five bags from a wide selection of smaller, mostly Mac-specific companies ready to review and hope to mix in a few PBZone-only discounts for our readers.

Each day we'll feature a company and any discount that might be offered and review one of their products the following day.

Today's feature company is Shaun Jackson Design. We're pleased that they're offering a PBZone-exclusive special on their Lapdog product to kick off the week. To receive the discount, click on the banner above and enter the code "pbzone" to automatically receive $20 off their famous Lapdog, seen below:

Tomorrow we'll have a review of SJ Design's Laptrap product from their Higher Ground line and preview another company discount and their upcoming review. The other companies participating are Spire, Booq, Waterfield Design, and Willow Design.

JR Hill & Co. Introduces Sleeve for 17" PowerBook

Over at JR Hill & Co., they've expanded their line of leather sleeves for PowerBooks--literally--to include the 17" PowerBook G4:

Our new Sleeve was designed to be a simple yet stylish leather case for Apples new 17" PowerBook G4. Made of durable full grain leather or balistic nylon, with 1/8" padding in front, back and sides, your PowerBook will be well protected.

Our PowerBook Sleeve is made for people who don't want a full sized notebook computer bag. Our Sleeve can either be carried by itself or can be placed into a briefcase or backpack and your PowerBook will be protected. Our Sleeve also features a zipper on all three sides, leather piping and handles.

The new Sleeve is backed by our Lifetime Warranty and, unlike most computer accessories, ours is proudly made right here in New England USA in our own factory. The leather version retails for $109.99 and the nylon version retails for $84.99. Both will be shipping on May 12, 2003. For more information, pictures and to order, please visit our website at www.jrhillandcompany.com.

Apple "Singing" Ads Posted

We aren't sure these'll catch on like the "Switch" ads--which spawned almost 100 parodies--but the "Singing" ads from the Music Store product launch yesterday have been posted here on Apple's site.

BusinessWeek Mini-review of the 12" PowerBook

We noticed this mini-review of the 12" PowerBook on BusinessWeek's website. It quickly profiles the Sharp Actius subnotebook and the 12" PowerBook G4 we all know so well.

The reviewer's two major "complaints" with the 12" G4 is that it "runs Mac software" and runs very hot. We'll grant him the latter complaint, but beg to differ on the other problem. It's always good to keep an eye on how Apple's products are perceived in the mainstream press.

Monday, April 28th 2003 12:35 CDT

UPDATE: 1513 CDT-Fortune Articles Provide Background on New Music Service

As usual, Steve Jobs has granted exclusive media access to Fortune magazine. They've got the best "background" type articles on the development and motives behind the new iTunes Music Store.

Check out these links:

• Songs in the Key of Steve
• Review: The New Class of iPods
• Behind the iTunes: Which Celebs are Fans?

Enough reading about it here. Apple's site is updated.

Check out all the accessories that can be bought with the new iPod. Particularly of interest is the Belkin battery pack.

Apple Music Announcement

All the rage today is going to be the Apple music-related announcement. As far as we can tell, the Mac web is being hammered by people eager to hear any news because there's no webcast of the announcement.

These are the early details we're able to find:

• New iPods-15, 20, 30 GB
• Lighter than "two CDs in their cases," the new iPods support AAC, the FireWire connector is on the bottom, there's a new docking station, backlit buttons, buttons above the scroll wheel, line-out available on the docking station, alarm feature, and two more games.
• iTunes 4 is announced, which adds AAC support, Rendesvouz support, backup music to DVD-R, and lets you access songs from other Macs.
• The new iPods are available Friday in the US and internationally on May 9th.
• The music service has 200,000 tracks available with 30 second previews and cover art provided for free.
• The service works on all iPods and up to 3 Macintoshes.
• All songs on the service are 128KBit AAC
• The "iTunes Music Store," as it's called, offers one click purchasing inside the iTunes application for a single song or a whole CD.
• The application highlights music with explicit lyrics with the usual logo for that in America. Jobs demonstrated this with Eminem's music.
• Exclusive online tracks from about 20 artists, including Bob Dylan (including two songs that have never been released at all)
• Apparently there are some music videos built into iTunes. Jobs showed a never-before-seen Bob Dylan video to feature this ability.

Friday, April 25th 2003 13:00 CDT

Griffin Begins Shipping iTrip

This seems to be Griffin Technology's week for big product announcement and launches for the iPod music player:

NASHVILLE, TN ­ April 25, 2003. Griffin Technology Inc, innovator of exciting hardware and software products for the Mac and PC market, today announced the iTrip FM Transmitter for iPod has begun shipping. Officially announced at MacWorld Expo SF this past January, the iTrip has attracted much attention and coverage for its iPod exclusive features like unlimited station frequencies and its battery-free iPod mating design. Since its debut, thousands of customers have pre-ordered the iTrip and will be among the first to receive the units. Now shipping, the iTrip is $35 and is available directly from Griffin Technology at http://www.griffintechnology.com.

The iTrip introduces several unique design innovations and industry firsts. Ultra compact in size, the iTrip rests atop the iPod and attaches securely to the headphone jack. Unlike other FM transmitters, the iTrip can broadcast to any available frequency on the FM dial. The station choice is selected in the iPod itself. The iTrip also requires no batteries. It draws its minimum power directly from the iPod and automatically shuts off after 60 seconds without music. For on the road charging, iTrip cleverly rotates 90 degrees out of the way, exposing the FireWire port.

³Weıve been overwhelmed by the pre-release interest in iTrip.² said Van Thompson, VP - Production for Griffin Technology. ³Itıs going to take several weeks to catch every order up but I think our customers will find the wait worth it. The iTrip is one of the finest overall packages weıve ever released.²

Mac Users Should Seek Help Sometimes

A reader emailed a link to this guy's weblog which includes a short 3 MB QuickTime movie of the arrival of his PowerBook 17" on Wednesday. Needless to say, the user should seek help.

Thursday, April 24th 2003 13:10 CDT

Firewire Dino Smashes All Other Firewire Hubs

We just noticed this product, quite possibly the coolest Firewire hub available anywhere. It's $70, but well worth it to the right buyer:

Music Service Roundup

Ahead of next week's expected announcement of a large music download-type service by Apple, USA Today has a roundup of the current systems available and what Apple's service might mean.