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It appears that at least one lucky shopper at a Fry's in Atlanta managed to get their hands on a 120GB Zune before its official release, and there are even unboxing pics (after the break) and a receipt to prove it. If you look closely, it rang up at US$250—backing up recent rumours about the price. [Thanks Joe!]
The dudes at iLounge have scored schematics laying out the dimensions of the new iPod touch and iPod nano widely expected to debut on Sept. 9. While the nano's tall, skinny and curvy silhouette ain't a secret, according to these measurements, it's a smidge taller and about 0.4mm thinner than the second-gen nano (making it the most anorexic one yet). The iPod touch will bloat a bit, losing growing 1mm taller while shaving adding 0.4 mm of flab that'll be disguised by borrowing iPhone 3G's tapered design, officially making tapering the new white. And hey, does that look like external volume controls? Check it out below.
Navigon recently popped up with a high-end GPS with free-for-life live traffic info, followed by some similar models from Garmin, and now it's got a new entry-level model with the same feature. The 2200T is in fact the first "genuine entry-level GPS navigator" with free lifetime traffic, according to Navigon. It's also got the same Reality View system with lane assistant as it's more expensive sibling, with 3D-illustrated junctions to help you traverse complex intersections, a text-to-speech function, 3.5-inch touchscreen, SiRF GRF3i+ GPS chip with InstantFix II ability and an integrated traffic data antenna. It'll cost you around US$229, but for that you'll always know if there's a jam up ahead. Press release below.
According to a Wal-mart insider (OK, employee) the 80GB and 4GB Zune SKUs have both been listed as "NRPL" in Wal-Mart's database—that's retailer shorthand for "non-replenishable." Given Microsoft's recent confirmation of a new 120GB Zune along with some other unnamed goodies, it looks like new Zunes could be coming sooner as opposed to later. Or Wal-Mart has finally found someone to manufacture a Zoon.
The new iPods will come on September 9, as expected. Apple has sent us an invitation to the event, which will happen at the Yerba Buena Centre for the Arts Theatre in San Francisco on September 9 at 10:00 a.m. Obviously, it's about the iPod. But if you look at it carefully, there may be other hints. Let the speculation begin:
Sure, we've seen "new iPod nano" cases before. But they were shrouded in the potentially illegitimate fog of Chinese OEM. These new cases, spotted at IFA, are by Hama—a sizable accessory manufacturer out of Europe that's been in operation for over 50 years and now making that 4G iPod nano look like a pretty sure thing. Quick, give your loved ones your 3G nanos "out of the kindness of your heart" before it's too late! [Engadget Spain via gadget lab]
Apart from their Spinn 70s-retro analogue goodness, iRiver had two beautiful concept products in their IFA 2008 stand which had a design that looked further into the past, as far as the beginning of the 20th century. As you can see in the video, both their Clix speaker--inspired by the shape of cathode ray tubes--and their pipe music player--which you can blow to mute (insert joke here), and connect it to a speaker resembling a phonograph horn--look both intriguing and beautiful. [More IFA 2008 Coverage]
The Zune 120 and 16GB models are on their way, but here are some unconfirmed spy shots of the 120GB and the boxes for both. (There are more images post-jump.) [ZUnited, thanks Jared]
I love the new analogue controller in the iRiver Spinn as much as I love its simple brushed aluminium design, the old radio-inspired user interface, and the whole packaging. While I'm still partial to direct touch interfaces--which the Spinn has as well, although it's not multitouch--the Spinn rolling thingie feels great, giving it a heavenly 70s analogue feeling.
In the last few months car navigation systems have seen a variety of enhancements, from aerial photography to 3d city modelling to live traffic data and internet connectivity. None, however, have done live video. The Travel Pilot N700 has a small camera stuck on the back of the windshield-mounted unit that feeds live video on which navigation instructions are superimposed. The unit also features voice control, live traffic info, WLAN and Bluetooth connectivity and the ability to read and warn of traffic signs with the integrated camera. The price is expected to be about US$740, but the N700 is exclusive to Europe, for now. Video demo after the jump. [Motor Authority via Navigadget]
The S in the new Sony Walkman S Series apparently stands for sensing. When Fujio Nishida talked about it, I thought the thing actually sensed your mood by some kind of magical sensors (which actually would have been amazingly cool) to play songs to match them. Unfortunately, you have to select the mood you are in from a list of eleven, which include themes like "Energetic", "Relax", "Upbeat" or "Hot as a Horny Bunny".
Sony's S-series Walkman is their new high-end digital audio player that is not only their slimmest player to date, but has active noise cancellation and the SensMe music suggestion engine. Sony bundled 3.5mm EX headphones with the S-series players, as well as a pass through cable that connects to an in-flight entertainment system and uses the noise cancelling capability of the Walkman. In addition Sony released their midrange E-series and entry-level B-series Walkman players.
I can't speak for everyone in the room, but I'm not all that excited about the possibility of the iPod nano returning to its long, skinny origins. Originally repulsed by the latest iteration of nano, the deformed, squat body won me over the first time I actually held it in my hand. And it instantly made the styling of its thin predecessor seem like a vanity device—a lipstick-like accessory, not something designed to easily play my music. Anyway, these concept mock-ups by flickr's Umpa reminded me that skinny is still pretty hot. Widen the screen a tad and I might be sold, again. Bonus shot:
Nothing Earth-shattering here, but you might like to know that Sony has refreshed their Nav-U line of GPS units with the NV-U94T, NV-U84, NV-U74T and NV-U44. Their US$400 NV-U94T is the new top model, thinner than ever and sporting a 4.8" touchscreen with gesture recognition. Other features include stereo Bluetooth audio streaming (A2DP), hands-free calling with paired Bluetooth phone, photo viewing, and an accelerometer/barometer system known as Position Plus that tries to track your position even if the GPS suffers from interference (like when you drive through a tunnel). All of the new Nav-Us will be available this September. For more info on the complete line, we've pasted the press release after the jump.
Garmin's dropping four new models to the higher-end 7x5 lineup with the nüvi 755T, 765T, 775T and the 785T. All models will include lifetime traffic alerts via NAVTEQ Traffic and Bluetooth connectivity, but the updated 7x5 series will include the most exciting new features: a 4.3" touchscreen, a 3-D transparent view of buildings, and lane assist. Garmin is also dropping their budget friendly 2x5 series with three new models: the nüvi 265T, 265WT and 275T. I'd probably opt for the high end line with lane suggestions, but take the 765T with Bluetooth and skip the fancier models. Parsing Garmin's huge lineup is always challenging, but the differences are detailed here:
When an FCC filing reveals a company's product, there's usually this awkward silence from all corporate parties involved who wait for an arbitrary date to make any real announcements. Microsoft, proving that they do indeed read the internet, has admitted their plans to release a 120GB Zune and teased developments to come:
You've probably all seen about 120GB @the FCC- and just wanted to send you a note to confirm that is indeed part of the plan. There's definitely more details coming in the way of new software and hardware, pricing etc.
Microsoft's just slapped together a pair of special edition Zunes for both the Republican and the Democratic National Conventions and they look pretty damn great. The one for the DNC is awarded for the winner of the "Green Delegate Challenge", which is contest for delegations that "demonstrate the highest level of commitment to offsetting their carbon footprint from attending the Convention.". Theirs has a nice looking tree on the back. The RNC's, on the other hand, just has the blurb about environmental stuff as well as the picture of the RNC logo. Oh, and it's red, not green. [Thanks Crecente!]
Navigon's upcoming 7200T GPS unit has some pretty high-end features: voice destination entry, photo-realistic 3D views of roads with lane guidance icons and 3D landmarks built-in. But its niftiest feature is free real-time traffic info updates with no subscription fees, for life. That's just got to be handy, and comes over an FM receiver from Clear Channel's Total Traffic Network. The 3D road rendering is designed to stop you making the mistake I made last night: mistranslating a GPS display onto the complicated road interchange I was trying to cross because the two looked different. The Lane Assistant feature even tries to give you advance warning of which lane you'll need to be in before a junction. It's due in October for US$449. Press release below.
Cowon's stealing a march on the imminent IFA show by teasing with some info on its new S9 PMP ahead of time: and you know, it's an attractive beastie. The S9 Curve looks to take its name quite literally, having sleek metallic-looking curved edges, and possibly even a curved rear-end if that photo's anything to go by. Inside the case we know there's a 3.3-inch AMOLED touchscreen, capable of 16 million colours, a powerful-seeming 500 MHz CPU, T-DMB, Bluetooth connectivity, media player functions and an electronic dictionary app. It'll also run for 40 hours from just one charge, and has an accelerometer. But there's no info on price or release dates or its storage capacity, as yet. It just looks fab. [PMPToday]
In order to prove how far Sony has come since ATRAC3 and long-playing MiniDiscs, a new ad attributed to the company shows a NYC subway map traced in its entirety by black Sony earphones, accompanied by a Network Walkman. As if it wasn't enough to try to retake ownership just one iPod-saturated public transit system, a search revealed similar designs for both the London Underground and Sydney's Metro. That last one makes sense, since Sony retained the Sydney office of badass ad agency Saatchi and—repetition is key to messaging—Saatchi for the inspired work. One prob though: As any seasoned straphanger will tell you, you kinda need the colours, or else all the lines run together. [The Cool Hunter]
Either this is proof that contract manufacturing is a lightning-fast miracle of modernity, or that the bloggyverse is a noisy-as-hell echo chamber: No sooner does Kevin Rose prophesy that the next-gen iPod nano will be tall and skinny and rounded, but Chinese makers report case orders that meet their specs.
Kevin Rose's Apple crystal ball has been wrong more often than not (he was sorta right about US$199 iPhone), but this time he's seen pictures people! ("It looks pretty cool.") He says that not only will the new iPod nano be tall and skinny and giant-screened like we've heard, he says it'll be rounded (like iPhone 3G's ass-side, but all the way around), and even provides this handy rendering. His other rumourage, like a huge iTunes update with for-real new features, is all way more reasonable than his past forecasting, so they're actually possible too!
A "leak" at a UK online retailer's site reveals a whole bunch of info on TomTom's Go 940 Live GPS system: it looks like the system comes with a GPRS unit to give it live traffic and fuel-price info and the ability to Google search. Yep, alongside the IQ routing and intelligent lane advice that the Go 930 and the new Pro units have is a TomTom HD Traffic unit using GPRS to garner local traffic info, weather conditions, and lets you Google for whatever info you might need on the road. That traffic info is gathered "via anonymous mobile phone monitoring," but whether its these units that do the uploading, or a different system, is unclear. The unit's available on pre-order in the UK for around US$800, with the Live service likely to cost US$10-US$15 per month, but there's no data on when it'll hit the US. [Handtec.co.uk via GPSLodge Thanks, Jay!]
Tomtom has just come up with a suite of GPS systems for the "mobile workforce" dubbed the Pro series. The first units are the Pro 4000 and Pro 8000, and while the hardware is essentially unchanged from non-Pro models, there are a few tweaks. Firstly the software has a "menu lock" option, that's supposed to lower distractions and improve driving safety, the maps come with a free update that's to be used within a year, and there's a PIN lock to protect your data. Secondly the support package comes with a two-year extended warranty and a dedicated customer service line. The 8000 also has advanced IQ navigation, which plans routes using actual average drive times, and voice address-input and Bluetooth handsfree calling. The 4000 is out for US$330 and the 8000 for US$460. [Navigadget]
Thanks largely to those meddling kids at Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry--who were investigating cases of people burned by too-hot-to-handle nanos--Cnet says Apple admitted today that some first-gen iPod nanos were overheating and said that it will replace any first-gen iPod nano that smokes or sparks (or blows up).
120GB Zune Purchased at Fry's for US$250: Unboxed for Good Measure
New iPods Coming on September 9, Apple Let's Rock Event
iRiver Spinn Media Player Has a Great 70s Retro Flair, Feels Oh-So-Good
Apart from their 
I love the new analogue controller in the iRiver Spinn as much as I love its simple brushed aluminium design, the old radio-inspired user interface, and the whole packaging. While I'm still partial to direct touch interfaces--which the Spinn has as well, although it's not multitouch--the Spinn rolling thingie feels great, giving it a heavenly 70s analogue feeling.
The S in the new