ipods

The iPhone and iPad get all the ink nowadays, but I think the iPod Touch is one of the single greatest gadgets ever built. It does nearly everything an iPhone can, but with a thinner form factor and without the monthly fees.

Today only, and while supplies last, Woot Sellout has the refurbished current-generation iPod Touch 8GB for $139.99, plus $5 for shipping. I'm pretty sure that's the lowest price I've seen on this model.

Update: Wow, my batting average is a disaster this week. Woot has already sold out. My apologies, cheeps.

Update No. 2: … Read more

Earlier this week I did a quick article on what Apple would name its next iPhone. Of the more than 4,000 readers who voted in our poll, 40 percent thought the next iPhone would be called "The New iPhone." Coming in second was "iPhone 5" with 34 percent of the vote.

If the rumors are true -- and there are plenty of indications they are -- Apple will not only be introducing a new iPhone in September, but a smaller iPad as well, despite Steve Jobs' apparent disdain for smaller tablets.

For a while, tech … Read more

Ouch.

Is there a worse feeling than seeing your iPod Touch smack the ground and hearing the unmistakable crack of glass?

Just one: picking up the iPod and realizing the screen is shattered top-to-bottom. That was one expensive attack of gravity.

This happened to my daughter not long ago, resulting in a fourth-gen iPod Touch that, remarkably, still worked, but really wasn't usable anymore owing to the spider web of cracked glass.

As the household cheapskate, I figured it would be cheaper to repair the unit than buy a new one. After all, a current 32GB iPod Touch sells … Read more

Sony pulled off a surprise yesterday when it added the Android 4.0-powered F800 and E470 to its popular and long-running Walkman series of personal media players.

It isn't Sony's first Walkman to run Android (in January the company unveiled the Z series) nor is Sony the first company to use Android for media players. Samsung and Archos, for example, have used the OS, with the Galaxy Player 4.2 being Sammy's most recent example.

Yet, for all the success that Android smartphones have reaped, there are no top-selling media players running Google's OS at its … Read more

Before the launch of iCloud, sharing an Apple ID linked to iTunes or the App Store was straightforward -- you would simply log in to the same account across all devices and you'd avoid having to purchase an app more than once.

With the launch of iCloud, users are still able to share one main "iTunes account" (if you will) and still have their own iCloud account linked to the rest of the iOS services. Although, not many people realize how straightforward it is.

When initially setting up a new device, go ahead and log in using … Read more

It's a completely new way to capture pictures that moves the process of focus, composition, and even interpretation from the photographer to the viewer. Ren Ng is the founder of startup Lytro in Silicon Valley, where they are building this new kind of camera and new kind of mindset to go with it.

The things Lytro exposes in consumer photography have always been just a little out of the grasp of the mainstream photographer. By making them simple, this company's technology could popularize some of the finer points of photography like depth of field and perspective control. Biggest challenges? Definitely the smartphone and the flight to convenience, social connectivity and low commitment that it represents. … Read more

When Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers partner Mary Meeker was asked about Facebook's IPO during an interview at the D10 Conference today, she pointed to a key problem: that Facebook's shares were trading on the private market at $104 billion valuation before the company went public.

Actually, they shares traded even higher than that as the anticipation and hype surrounding the giant IPO neared.

Facebook was the most active stock on SecondMarket, an exchange for shares in private companies. And plenty of hedge funds and other big money managers were scooping up shares there -- often at prices far … Read more

My quest for the best-sounding/lowest-cost desktop system is finally over.

I paired the tiny 20-watt-per-channel $24.49 Lepai LP-2020A+ amplifier with the $44.50-per-pair Dayton Audio B652 bookshelf speakers. The total price (excluding taxes) on Amazon is just under $70.

First, the caveats: I'm assuming that you, like me, will already have an audio source -- an iPod, smartphone, or CD player -- so I'm not including that expense. And you may need to invest in some speaker wire, which could run you another $10 or so. I also name a handful of optional accessories below that … Read more

California is not known as a carmaking state, but every carmaker is here. And few have been in Silicon Valley longer than Volkswagen Group with its Electronics Research Lab. There they try to crack the code on loading cars up with social media, connected navigation, portable integration, and more without distracting you to death.

I spent a day with wide-ranging access to the VW lab, in conversation with its director, Peter Oel. I came away with the impression that VW, like the rest of the industry, feels the tech cat is out of the bag and we aren't going back to a day when our cars are digital ghettos. That's also because carmakers know that high-touch technology is a key way they'll clobber their competitors, but they also keep their eye on the rear view as the government makes more and more noises that sound like distraction regulation. … Read more