Controlling your iPad or iPhone in your car with a normal FM transmitter can be a pain in the butt. Controlling them through a device that plugs them into the AUX port on your car isn’t any better typically. The problem is that you have to look down to skip tracks and taking your eyes off the road isn’t a good thing.
Monster has unveiled a new car adapter that connects the iPhone or iPad to the car via an aux input and a 3.5mm cord. The cool part is instead of having to look at the iPhone to control the thing; you can control it with hand gestures. The car adapter is called the Monster iMotion CarPlay 3000.
Once connected you can swipe your hand from left to right to skip forward and from right to left to go backwards. The only downside I see is that the usefulness of the device might not be as good for everyone depending on where the aux input and DC outlet are.
Last year’s Apple Peel 520 turned your iPod touch into an iPhone — mostly, accepting a SIM card and allowing you to send and receive calls, texts, and even throwing a little extra battery life your way. Now we’re looking at the next generation device and, which certainly looks a lot more sleek and less bulky than the previous model — from a distance it could be confused for an iPhone 4. This version also allows the use of GPRS data, as you can see demonstrated in the video below. No mention of price or availability just yet, but review units are said to en route to other news sites, so hold that phone — or iPod as it were.
Oh my goodness gracious. Take a peek at the chart below created by the talented folks over at asymco. It depicts Apple’s quarterly sales since the fourth quarter of 2005, three quarters before the iPhone was first released. The most staggering factor might either be the very obvious upward moving trend without very much of a dip since the chart began, or it might be the face that even though the iPhone (which was released in 2007) was the only iOS device out three and a half years ago, this past quarter iOS accounted for 65% of Apple’s sales. That’s monstrous.
Some of the figures in this chart more specifically ring right around $15 billion for the iPhone and iPad last quarter, with iPod Touch generating $2.3 billion on its own. On the other hand, OS X powered products like laptops and desktops generated only 20% of the revenue where 5 years ago that percentage was closer to half. The total percentage of Apple product sold by Apple this past quarter that WASNT powered by one of its operating systems was 10%. Is Apple no longer a software company? Is Apple almost solely a hardware company? When answering a question on Quora on whether Apple is a Software, Hardware or Media company, the creator of the chart above, Horace Dediu answered by saying it’s all three. This question was of course answered before he made the chart.
Apple’s announcement of Steve Jobs’ medical leave just one day before releasing its Q1 financial results struck us as well-planned yesterday, and here we are: if Cupertino’s record $6 billion profit on a record $26.7 billion in revenue isn’t enough to turn that frown — and stock slide — upside down, well, nothing else will. iPhone 4 sales were predictably strong through the holidays, clocking in at a record 16.2m units, or up 86 percent from last year, while Mac sales went up 23 percent to a record 4.13m and iPod sales were stronger than expected at 19.45m, a seven percent decline. As for the iPad, Apple’s tablet had its second straight dominant quarter, with record sales of 7.33 million — some 3 million more than the Mac. Apple’s financial call with new acting CEO Tim Cook and CFO Peter Oppenheimer is scheduled to start at 5PM EST — check after the break for our usual liveblog while you’re listening live on Apple’s site.
On April 10th, 2009, Apple started a contest for those who love the App Store, and downloading applications from it. They announced that they were catching up to the 1 billion downloads mark, and to celebrate the company wanted to hand out a $10,000 iTunes gift card, along with a few other prizes. On April 24th, they closed down the contest, as they officially passed the 1 billion downloads mark. Now, Apple is ready to celebrate again, as they’ve put up the app download counter again, this time tracking their arrival at 10 billion downloads. And once again, you could win if you’re lucky enough.
Just as the last contest outlined, the winner of the $10,000 iTunes gift card will have to be the person who downloads the application that marks 10 billion downloads from Apple’s App Store. To be eligible for the contest, you’ll need to be at least 13 years or older, and live in a country where the App Store operates. The iTunes gift card won’t be just for iTunes, either. If you do win, you’ll be able to spread that money around in the App Store as well. Head through the source link below to find the official rules of the contest, and more info.
The iXtreamer iPod/iPad dock has landed in the UK, and you’re getting plenty for your money. As well as an extra-wide docking slot suitable for Apple’s iOS tablet, there’s WiFi b/g/n, a 3.5-inch hard-drive bay, HDMI and network connectivity.
To be honest, iPad support is only one string to the iXtreamer’s bow; it’ll work as a DLNA/UPnP streamer, play back 1080p HD video with 7.1 surround sound, stream internet radio, work as a TwonkyMedia server and as a standalone NAS or FTP server. There’s also Blu-ray ISO support, the ability to use your iPhone as a remote control, and a full on-screen UI.
It’ll also play FLV streaming video from online, opening the door to accessing on-demand content as well. The iXtreamer is priced at £159 ($247) from Advanced MP3 Players and is shipping now.
The Audio industry is always huge at CES, and to stand out, you’re going to need an innovative or interesting product. This is exactly what Branex Design has done with their new iTam tam Premium Docking Station.
Combing superior audio quality with impressive design, the iTam tam is definitely an interesting furniture piece. The dock is compatible with all docking iPod models and boasts 3 independent speakers, 1 subwoofer, and 2 circular placed midrange tweeters.
The design is based off of the 1968 Tamtam stool and can fit in pretty much anywhere with a modern decor. Available now, the stool retails for around $500.
It seems that Apple’s AirPlay streaming is ripe for moddery and hacksterism, and if the recently (very recently) released AirMediaPlayer wasn’t proof enough, the kids at Remote HD have released a plugin that adds the AirPlay to your first gen AppleTV. That’s right! Just install the plug-in and the Remote HD iOS app, and you’ll soon be streaming movies, podcasts, photos and more. What are you waiting for? Hit the source link for instructions, and make sure you let us know how it all works out for you.
The Zeppelin is the first wireless speaker dock that will stream your music through Apple AirPlay. AirPlay will allow your computer to stream music and even control every aspect of volume leveling/equalizer settings directly from your PC or Mac.
This version of the Zeppelin not only differs with wireless funtionality, but with sound quality as well. The improved amplifiers and bass will prove to be an excellent upgrade from the previous Zeppelin purchased three years ago. An interesting design implemented is the ability to actually grasp your iPod as it is docked into place making iPod selection more user-friendly.
In addition to Boxee-addled media devices and the customary run of new storage solutions, Iomega‘s got its own take on the iPod dock to show off. The SuperHero can back up photos and contacts from your iPhone (3G model and up) and iPod touch (second-gen and up) to an SD card — no apps or music, unfortunately, due to restrictions in the API. The associated app pops up automatically when you slot in the device, and there’s a few options for fine-tuning what exactly gets saved. A smart idea, but it’d be nice if we had more output options like audio (for an elegant stereo solution) or USB (just in case you did have a computer handy, with or without iTunes). SuperHero’ll set you back $69.99 and comes bundled with a 4GB SDHC card, but more importantly, there’s an amusing video ad to see. It’s after the break.
