The T9 has a 3-inch full colour touchscreen, inbuilt accelerometer and vibrate function, microSD card slot, voice recorder and FM radio functions. It supports a range of file formats and has 4GB of storage inside for just $110.

Part of me wonders why smaller companies try and take on Apple in this market. A Microsoft with a Zune HD – yeah, that makes sense. But something like this will just end up buried under the weight of the billions of dollars Apple will make selling iPods without really doing anything to them…

[Laser]

I don’t even know why this iPod thingie—which includes microphone, headphone, memory, display and media player—is also a wireless headset. Would this be paired to an iPhone? It doesn’t make sense, since the iPhone is already a media player. Why would I want to have a second one on the headset itself? Maybe to connect to another non-media-playing mobile phone? Do those exist anymore? Does Steve know about this, per chance? [Baltimore Sun via 9to5]

We’ve told this story plenty of times before, but on the iPod’s eighth birthday, I think it’s time to think about administering the Last Rites. Three years ago, Charlie White wrote a piece about everything that was wrong with the iPod, and nearly everything that could be solved was. From 2006: There’s no FM, Scratches, Battery life, DRM, iTunes is janky, No Bluetooth, Thief magnet, My kid wants a new one every six months, No widescreen, No WiFi.

So many of these problems were fixed, but is that good news? Yes, for us, but not for the iPod.

Because the problems weren’t fixed by the release of the perfect iPod, but a whole new species: the iPhone and its non-phone-y sidekick, the misnamed iPod Touch. (There’s a good reason why many people prefer to call it an iTouch.) Apple themselves expects the iPod’s trajectory to chill out as iPhone sales eat into the big picture. And it’s not because of these small fixes as much as the fact that while the iPhone and iPod Touch apps collections get bigger and more useful, there’s been a quick shift from the regular iPod as a consolation prize in a time where if you don’t have a network connected pocket computer, you’ve got a toy. A toy that is an island. Or something.

So yep, iPod, you’re eight, your sales are in the toilet, your shrinking click-wheel has gone from genius to nuisance, your very existence robbed the Touch of a camera it deserves, and apparently nobody cares about hard drive players anymore, no matter how much they can hold.

You’ll make it to year 10 and 11, and maybe beyond that. But you’ll never be as important as you were. And so if you went away tomorrow we’d swipe a touchscreen in solute but without much remorse. [iPods on Gizmodo]

The GP 400N is nice since it slides back in while not in use, but you do have to charge it separately with a mini USB connection. You get twelve hours of playback on one charge. No real pricing info available yet. [GP-EL via Craziest Gadgets via Geeky Gadgets]

It sounds pretty lame, but apparently USA Track and Field rules state that elite runners competing for USATF championships or cash prizes aren’t allowed to use electronic devices. Everyone else is free to.

Adding to the whole mess, Goebel was only made the winner after the fastest woman was earlier disqualified for accepting a water bottle from a friend, instead of just official water stations. On a forum debating the water incident, a photo of Goebel using the iPod turned up, and then the shit hit the fan. Again.

If they’re going to disqualify me for having an iPod they should disqualify everyone who had one,” she said. “It’s just a little ridiculous. I went there to have a fun race with my friends. If you’re bored, it pumps you up a little bit.”

I hear ya, but rules are rules, I guess. [JSOnline via The Sporting Blog]

The hardware capability for FM radio does exist in some models — the current iPod touch and iPhone 3GS have FM transmitters, and the 2nd-gen iPod touch also has a chip that’s capable of receiving FM signals, though it uses it for Nike+ stuff.

It’d make sense to add more software parity across the line, but who knows — no date is given for when we might actually see this FM radio app. [9to5Mac

Of course, even the miniest of mini camcorders cannot be crammed into the shell of an existing shuffle, so Xiangyun Industry Co did the sensible thing and sacrificed the music player to focus on transforming the device into a spy camera. Features include a 1.3MP sensor with VGA resolution and the ability to capture 1280×960 still photos. Not bad for $US15-$US30, but you are going to need to outfit an entire spy ring if you want to get your hands on one. Orders are only taken in bulk with a 100-unit minimum. [Global Sources via Red Ferret]

OK, so Apple didn’t have to do anything with this, but it doesn’t matter. When Big Bird and Elmo get all funky funk with an iPod dance video, you know that the only innocent thing left is Xmas. Maybe.

Never mind. [TUAW]

The victim was an 18-year-old schoolgirl. Glad the dude at least stuck to the age limit, but it doesn’t quite make it any better. And also, as you saw in our review, the Nano isn’t that good of an upskirt camera. It may have an “infrared” filter, but that’s not a real filter, and it doesn’t actually help a camera that doesn’t do low-light very well perform low-light any better. What you need is something with a flash, preferably infrared, so you can…wait…I shouldn’t reveal all these tips. [Kobe via Fucked Gaijin via Feer via The Awl via T3]

The Price

$US80

The Verdict

Mikey is a nice, solid-feeling little mic for the iPod or iPhone. When used as a voice notes recorder, holding it up to your mouth, the standard setting of sensitivity doesn’t offer much of a difference versus the built-in mic. The ability to set the sensitivity for other uses, however, makes a big difference.

Setting it on a table to record an interview or conversation, for example, results in distant-sounding and quiet audio using the built-in mic. With the Mikey set to the most sensitive setting, however, the audio comes across clearly and loudly. For louder recordings, such as concerts, it’ll do its best to keep things from getting overblown. If you use that low-sensitivity setting for normal use, of course, you won’t be able to hear a thing.

At $US80, it’s tough to recommend for casual users, but for people who want to turn their iPod or iPhone into a more versatile portable audio recorder, it’s pretty great.

And a note: while the Mikey isn’t certified for use with the iPhone, and will prompt you to put it into aeroplane mode if you plug it in to an iPhone, it works just fine. Blue Microphones tells me that the next version will be certified for iPhone and will lose the prompt. [Mikey]

Sensitivity settings work great for various types of recordings

Looks and feels really solid

$US80 is too expensive for an accessory like this