And if you want to watch video form your iPod or iPhone – well, why not?! Sure, you’re in a car, but it would be criminal to have a 7″ screen and not show videos on it!

[Source: JVC]

I know the couple of entries have been relating to the iPod and iPhone but I promise we are not turning into fan boys, there are just some interesting accessories appearing on the market recently. This iPod docking station from Griffin is no exception.

The AirCurve for the iPhone and iPhone 3G is described as

Solar power, coud it be the answer to our power crisis? Well no, it is not efficient enough yet but it will charge your iPhone in less than 3 hours. A solar powered iPhone leather case has gone on sale and hopes to be the answer to the iPhones shocking bad battery life.

The case has a built in battery which can be charged via USB or solar power. You can then use this battery to charge your iPhone or you could charge your iPhone directly from the power of the suns rays. For just $48 the solar powered case is a bargin.

[Source: Redferret]

iYo YOYO

We saw the iYo YOYO (pictured above) and memories of our childhood came rushing back, yoyos are versatile toys; you can walk the dog, go around the world and now you can even charge you iPod or iPhone with one. The Swedish designer Peter Thuvander has taken your average yoyo added a little Apple style (i.e. made it white and simple) and placed a small lithium-ion battery inside. Through the act of playing with the iYo the internal lithium-ion battery is charged which in turn charges your device.

Simple concept but is a fun twist on green energy, if you have a child give it to them and voila, free energy. The iYo YOYO is still in concept but when it hits the market we look forward to getting our hands on one, it certainly beats charging your iPod with an Orange.

Polygon: Charging on the go

The Polygon bike lets you plug your iPod in and charge it as you cycle. It looks very futuristic but unlike the buttons on the Enterprise, the Polygon is more than just for looks. There are handy buttons on the handle bars so once you stick your iPod in the bike-dock you have full control over the iPod without having to move your hands away from the all important steering mechanism. Some other neat features are the integrated locking system so your iPod won’t fall out and the location of the headphone jack means the wires won’t get in the way.

Apple were not amused when this developer sent them his application for consideration. They deamed the “pull my finger” joke to be too boring for their iPhone or iPod Touch.

Apple told the developer:

“We’ve reviewed your application Pull My Finger. We have determined that this application is of limited utility to the broad iPhone and iPod touch user community, and will not be published to the App Store.”

Anyway a bit of fun for an evening, and even if you can’t play with it on you iPhone or iPod touch you can enjoy the video.

[Source: macrumors]

You are out and about with your laptop and want to access the internet, maybe to write a blog entry or you have some other work to do. Slight problem, there are no WiFi hotspots anywhere near you! You could do the stuff on your iPhone but it lacks a decent text editor and it is not the best solution for prolonged web surfing. So what can you do, is there a way to tether your iPhone? Tethering refers to a method that enables your laptop to use your mobile phone’s wireless data connection, i.e. your mobile phone becomes a wireless modem for your laptop.

The Apple iPhone doesn’t support tethering, it was deliberately left out and this is a big letdown for most. Luckily there are lots of clever people out there who were not happy with this situation so they did something about it. Carry on reading to find out how you can tether your iPhone…

Nullriver are some of the smart people who came up with NetShare app that is basically just a SOCKS proxy that will enable you to link an ad-hock WiFi network to the iPhone’s 3G so you can browse the Web on your laptop using your iPhone’s data connection. NetShare even made it onto Apple’s App Store before the censors realised what it did and yanked the software.

There are not many instructions on how to get it up and running but engadget has put together a video for you:

Nullriver is not the only option though, iPhone 3G Blog has a step by step guide that involves you first needing to jailbreak your iPhone and then installing a couple of pieces of software on your iPhone. It seems quite straight forward to do and the author of the post claims it only took about 3 minutes to set up.

Kyle over at Dragon Forged has yet another option for you to try; he has even put together a nice 11-step guide to help you along the way.

Using any of these methods it would seem you need to Jailbreak your iPhone and so you do run a risk of bricking your lovely shiny Apple iPhone but there are always risks in life so you may believe the benefits are worth it. These methods get the job done but don’t expect them to be blazingly quick.

[Source: Engadget, iPhone 3G Blog, Macenstein]

The new iPhone 3G is out of the way, but technology is continually moving forwards so it is not much of a surprise that just as Apple get iPhone out the way, the rumours about new iPods has started.

Both the iPod Nano and the iPod Touch are due for an upgrade, whilst there aren’t any firm details yet the rumours started when reference to “iPod2,1″ were discovered in the code of Apple’s beta 2.1 firmware for the iPhone.

What can we expect? The best change in my opinion will be a reduction in the RRPs, which will make the iPod Touch and iPod Nano a much more appealing. Other than that you can hope for a 64GB version and strangely enough Apple may even include GPS support.

For the Nano, rumours suggest that is it going to get taller and thinner as well as getting a much larger screen with an iPhone/iPod Touch widescreen aspect ratio.

Apple should officially announce something in September. Not that excited about the changes to the iPod Touch are nothing to get excited about but the iPod Nano with its larger screen is certainly a step in the right direction.

[Source: TrustedReviews]

Not all the versions of iPod/iPhone come with their own stand as standard so the industrious users at instructables have come up with several homemade solutions. You could go out and buy a stand from the shops relatively cheaply, but you could make your own for less money and have more fun doing it. There are several options for making your own stand; you could make one that fits in your wallet or you could make a car stand for your iPhone or iPod Touch. Read on to find out more.

iPhone/iPod stand from a business card

This is a very neat idea, all you need is a business card (or simply some card), scissors and a ruler. Cut the two lines marked, and then fold the card where the other lines are and you have a stand for your iPod of iPhone. This little stand will fit back in your wallet when you are done so it is very portable. It may be slightly gimmicky but you could use it as your business card and pass out iPhone stand cards to all the people you meet so they will always have your number to hand.

iPhone/iPod stand from document clips

This one doesn’t come with any instructions except the image above. It is quite straight forward, you will need 2 large bulldog clips, 2 small bulldog clips and 3 thingies to clip the two small bulldog clips together.

Not quite small enough to fit in a wallet but will easily fit in a pocket, you could even dismantle it to make it easier.

iPhone/ iPod Touch car stand doc

This stand for an iPhone or iPod Touch is made from items you can find in your home, except for maybe Velcro which you might have to buy. The person on instructables cleverly uses the plastic base which came in the box with your iPhone/iPod, as the main stand.

Brando has recently been releasing small device after small device and each time claiming they are the smallest in the world. Here is an overview of some of their devices.

World’s smallest microSD reader

The first offering for the smallest in the world is the T-Flash USB Micro Drive Reader that can read and write MicroSD/T-Flash memory cards. Stick a card into this thing and hey presto you now have a mini pen drive. You can put your favourite movie on a MicroSD card and have it with you where ever you go. This little treasure retails for just $14.

Smallest flash drive

This supper thin flash drive which measures a mere 3.5 inches long has a quite remarkable capacity of 4 GB. If you don’t need 4GB you could always get a smaller version which is only 512 MB and would only set you back $19 where as the 4GB will cost you $55. With a USB 2.0 flash drive this small I would be afraid of losing it, shame it can’t be attached to my keys.

Tiny USB Bluetooth adapter

At just 14 x 19 x 6mm and only weighing 2 grams this has got to be the smallest way to get you computer Bluetooth compliant! I really can’t see how you can make it any smaller without making it impossible to use. To get one of these it will only set you back $24. Down side is this only compatible with Bluetooth 1.1 but it does have a range of about 10 meters.

World’s smallest wireless mouse

This petite mouse is the smallest in the world “probably”, yes that is right they claim it is the smallest but they don’t really know. That aside, this has switchable resolutions and promises 70 hours of continuous use with a range of about 23 feet. That’s all very nice but how usable is it? It looks like it will be quite uncomfortable to use and will just be good for giving you RSI. If you are interested in this mouse it will set you back around $29.

World

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The tale tell “i” at the front implies this is another attachment for your iPod. Which it is but it is much more as it is compatible with any USB device which can play Mpeg4s, so don’t be put off by the “i”. This little gizmo’s aim in life is to make yours easier. It won’t be making the tea for you but it does offer an easy way to convert your TV programs and films to Mpeg4 without the need for a computer or iTunes, which means you can watch them on the move. Read on for more information.

Plug the iRecorder into your TV and media device and it will take the movies, TV programs, or whatever you fancy, compress them and stick them on your iPod or other media device. It won’t even complain if you ask it to record day time soaps.

The iRecorder enables you to use your iPod, PMP, or other media device as a portable DVD recorder; as the iRecorder is quite small and easily fits in your hand you can take it with you where ever you go. You can even take it around a mates and record stuff off their TV or camcorder, or Sky Digital, in fact you can record off anything that has a RCA jack output. iRecorder does all the compression in real-time, but there is some confusion about the compression rate, in one place it says it can fit a 2 hour movie into 2GB, in another section it says for every 1GB of storage it will get you 3hours of footage. I know which one I would like it to be but I cannot tell you for sure which it is.

One nice little feature is the full video playback which enables you to hook it up to the TV and play the media on the iPod or other device. The iRecorder has an AV out that means you can watch your media on any TV, so if there is a TV handy you don’t need to watch your film on the small screen of your iPod. When playing the media back through a TV you can use the remote control and onscreen menu to control it all.

Features

Here’s a quick round:

• size: 11 x 9 x 1.5cm
• Records and compresses media from your TV, satellite, camcorder, directly to your portable media device
• Stores recordings in Mpeg4 format
• Puts recordings directly on any USB device (includes PMP, iPod, USB memory sticks, etc), there is no need for iTunes or a computer to aid the transfer
• Compatible with iPod Nano 3rd Generation, iPod Classic, Video iPod. It would appear it is not compatible with iPhone and iPod Touch although iRecorder’s site implies it is
• AV-IN jack so you can plug in any device with a RCA jack output
• AV-OUT enables you to playback recordings from your device, back on your TV
• Remote control (batteries included) that enables you to set the timer so you don’t have to be around when it starts recording
• 2 sets of 3-1 AC cables
• Scart to AV adapter
• Female AV to female AV adapter
• 12 month warranty

The iRecorder currently retails at:

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