iPod

When it comes to gold-slathered Apple products, there are plenty of options. Most people who buy them sneeze money and think nothing of tossing cash at a gaudy, high-priced accessory like an iPad with diamonds and T. rex bones. Ted Chapanian, however, came by his gold iPod watch through a whole lot of personal hard work.

The AuPod is made from a 6th generation iPod Nano and 18-karat gold. It took over 500 hours to build and cost $2,500 in materials. Considering that a gold iPhone 4S had a price tag of $9.4 million, that's not bad.… Read more

With one small feature, iOS 7 might introduce the biggest change in iOS gaming since the App Store.

There's something I've wished for on both the iPhone and iPad for years: a true, universal, dedicated game controller. iOS 7 has granted my wish: indeed, one of the small but very significant additions to the next mobile OS announced at WWDC allows for third-party controllers. It's funny this happened to be announced during E3, because it just might be the trigger to change the mobile gaming industry.

Why it's big Third-party accessory-makers have tried making game controllers … Read more

This week has been just crazy.

Among all the fun and games: At WWDC, Apple announced a completely revamped iOS 7, iTunes Radio, new MacBook Airs, a new Mac Pro, and a new OS X. At E3, Microsoft announced a price and release date for the Xbox One. And Sony announced the price, release date, and used-games policy for the PlayStation 4. Everyone cheered, and then passed out from exhaustion.

But because of all the hoopla, I think that Microsoft is going to ease up on its restrictions. What do you think?

Also, Samsung could beef up its Galaxy Note lineup, and an analyst predicts you'll be wearing an iWatch by the end of the year. … Read more

I get to hear a lot of headphones. Don't be jealous, most of them are different shades of awful. Some are so bad I yank them off my head in a few seconds, some are just cheap copies of famous headphones, and some are built like crap. The Griffin Technology WoodTones jumped out from the pack: they're beautiful, they're comfortable, and they sound great.

True to their name they're available in Beech, Sapele, and Walnut. Handling these $99.99 headphones, I found the real wood earcups make for a very different feel than the more typical … Read more

I remember the very first Bang & Olufsen product I ever saw, a Beogram 4000 turntable. It was lightyears ahead of the competition's look and feel in the early 1970s. The design hasn't dated one bit -- no wonder it's on permanent display at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

It's been ages since I checked out a B&O, so I decided to start small with their brand new BeoPlay H3 in-ear headphone ($249). It's a handsome enough design, but nowhere as striking as B&O's ultrasleek speaker … Read more

Bose is scheduled to hold an event in New York today to show off some new products. I won't be there because I'm out of town, but I was in the Venice airport today (on my way back to New York) and spotted a couple of new Bose products in the Bose store and decided to snap a few photos.

The first is the $249 Bose AE2w, which is the company's first Bluetooth headphone. It was announced back in May and is now available online in the U.S. It's based on the AE2 design but … Read more

iFixit's latest teardown takes a look at Apple's new iPod Touch and finds that despite internal changes, the device received the same repairability score as its higher-capacity counterparts.

Apple quietly introduced its latest iPod Touch last week. The fifth-generation, 16GB iPod Touch features the same 4-inch Retina Display and dual-core A5 processor as the 32GB and 64GB versions but loses the rear-facing camera and LED flash.

The 16GB iPod Touch's slimmer design weighs about 3 ounces, is 4.86 inches tall, and is 2.31 inches wide. The gadget costs $229, less than its higher-end counterparts at $… Read more

I've reviewed a number of portable headphone amps over the years, but they just took the analog output of a phone or MP3 player and made it sound better. Ideally, you want to totally bypass the player's digital converters, but up until recently that was a very expensive proposition. The V-Moda Vamp Verza cuts the price to less than half, and works with iPhones, iPads, and iPods, as well as Androids and computers. I'm really impressed with the little Vamp Verza's sound.

The look and concept were designed by V-Moda's Val Kolton in Milan, Italy, … Read more

Apple quietly began selling a new version of the iPod Touch on Thursday.

The new, fifth-generation 16GB iPod Touch costs $229 -- making it a bit less expensive than the fifth-generation 32GB iPod Touch at $299 and 64GB iPod Touch at $399, both of which were released last fall.

Meanwhile, Apple has stopped selling the fourth-generation 16GB iPod Touch with a 3.5-inch screen, which had cost $199.

The new 16GB iPod Touch features a 4-inch Retina Display and is powered by a dual-core A5 processor.

If you purchase the 16GB version of the iPod Touch, however, you will lose … Read more