iPod

To be honest, I've never heard a Bluetooth speaker I liked, because better sound was available from wired speakers, like the AktiMate Micro model. They're sold in pairs for $499, so you get true stereo sound, a rarity even with higher-end Bluetooth and most other wireless alternatives like the $600 Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin Air, $600 Bose SoundDock 10, or $399 Sonos Play:5. Those three are perfectly fine for what they are, but wired stereo speakers from Audioengine, Emotiva, and AktiMate sound better, much closer to what I hear from traditional hi-fi speakers. True, they're not … Read more

Just days after its release, one of the most high-profile iOS jailbreaks turns out to be the fastest to be adopted too.

Evasi0n, which gives iPhone, iPod, and iPad owners deeper access to the software on their devices than Apple allows, has been downloaded and used by nearly 7 million people since its release on Monday, Forbes reports.

To put that figure in perspective, Apple last month said that it had sold more than 500 million iOS devices cumulatively, and that 300 million of those were running iOS 6 -- its latest major release.

The 7 million tally comes from … Read more

Mailbox, a mail client that delivers Gmail messages to the iPhone, went live in the iTunes store today, but not everyone is going to have access right away -- the service is filling reservations on a first-come, first-served basis.

The app is designed to make for a mobile-friendly experience. To archive or trash, users can simply swipe the messages. If they want to look at an e-mail later, users can send e-mails back to the in-box with a tap. There's also a push notification.

Reservations can be had by downloading the Mailbox app. You'll need a reservation code … Read more

This week's show is all about those rumors that just refuse to die -- and for once we're not talking about the next iteration of the iPhone.

Some sneaky sneaks found hidden "radio" buttons in the iTunes code of a freshly jailbroken iPad. Does that mean that radio streaming is coming soon? Or is it just leftover code that someone didn't bother to take out? Rumors of Dell going private finally came true after weeks of speculation and much to nobody's surprise. The PlayStation 4 might be announced in a couple weeks, which could mean it'll be released this year, but maybe next year, but maybe who knows?

But the most upsetting of all the rumors is maybe a new one, but definitely a gross one: Facebook is said to be prepping a standalone app that will let your friends know where you are, without you having to check in to anything.… Read more

The U.S. Patent and Trademark office published a patent application from Apple today for solar-paneled technology designed for devices with small screens, such as iPhones or iPods.

This "integrated touch sensor and solar assembly" would involve integrating social cells into a touch screen by using electrodes that can pull double duty as a solar cell and a touch sensor. Apple envisions this technology for handheld devices, like "a media player or phone," according to the patent application. In addition to images of different size iPods, the patent application also comes with an image of a screen that's sized for an iPad. … Read more

There's a hint that Apple has something new in the pipeline, and the company appears to have tucked it away inside the latest version of its iOS software.

Discovered last night within a freshly jailbroken iPad: a set of buttons and code references for "radio," a feature found in iTunes on Macs and PCs, but not on the iPad or iPhone. Making things more interesting is another button suggesting you can make purchases via the radio feature, presumably from iTunes.

The buttons, which were spotted by 9to5Mac, hint at Apple's much-rumored radio service, a product that … Read more

1964 Ears makes custom-molded, in-ear headphones, just like Ultimate Ears, JH Audio, and Westone, but 1964 Ears is a relative newcomer. It has to try harder than the more established brands, so 1964 Ears offers a wider array of customizable features and service options than the others. Prices start a little lower, at $350 for the 1964-D, and $650 for the top-of-the-line model I'm reviewing here today, the 1964-V6. That's significantly less expensive than the established brands' flagships.

1964 Ears can also "remold" your old universal-fit balanced-armature headphones, like a Shure or Etymotic pair, and make … Read more

SAN FRANCISCO -- Amid the sea of screen covers, phone cases, battery packs and software hawkers at Macworld's iWorld conference there was a strange sight: archery.

No, there weren't actual arrows flying around San Francisco's Moscone Center. Instead, it was people squinting down the crosshairs of a bow hooked up to an iPod Touch, pulling back a real string in the hopes of nailing virtual targets.

The device, called the Bowblade, is a $185 peripheral, designed by a chiropractor named Ron Green. It's designed as both an exercise tool and gaming rig, though how it works … Read more

Feeling the storage crunch on your iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad? A free utility may be able to help.

Last summer, CNET's Matthew Elliott took iMobie's PhoneClean for a test drive. The utility provides a "digital colonic" (Matt's words), cleansing any iOS device of useless and unnecessary files that might be consuming valuable space.

However, Matt wasn't willing to subject his iPhone 4S to PhoneClean's mysterious ministrations, only his iPad.

Wuss.

As the braver, dumber, blogger, I decided to let the newly updated PhoneClean 2.0 do its thing on my iPhone 4S. … Read more