If someone says "pink," then I have to think about three things: I love Pink Floyd, I (usually) enjoy Pink, but I would rather die than have a pink car, shirt, or even a pink gadget in my pocket! Fortunately, today we're going to talk about a pink boombox for the iPod coming from Memorex, namely the miniMove.

Just as a side note, I remember that I used a lot of Memorex CDs and I was very happy with them, while the Memorex rewritable media I encountered had a very low quality. Well, you can't get everything perfect, but this time they got it right - except the color, if you ask me.<-180x150 Small Rectangle - right-> Regarding the reliability and quality of the build, I can't tell you anything, since I don't have the device here, so let's take a look at the information currently available about it, shall we?

The Memorex miniMove boombox is - fortunately - also available in white, black, silver or teal, and offers equalizer presets, backlit LCD display, a line-in jack which allows you to connect other devices, such as CD and non-Apple MP3 players, but the interesting part for iPod users is this - the universal adapter allows full compatibility with the entire line of iPods(if you face problems, you can use the line-in jack, after all), also having a wireless remote control in the package!

At last, I should add that the miniMove is can be used with the AC power adapter included in the package, or with 4 AA size batteries, and it's being sold for $49.99. Since there's no additional information about the sound output this device is capable of, I guess those audio freaks reading this already figured out this is not something for them...

My brothers of Apple, I am stunned once again. Even worse, it happens on Monday, but I hope I won't remain this way this week. I am safe and sound, nothing really bad happened, only that a few hours ago I found out about the new iPhone 2.1 firmware. So far, so good, but I found it absolutely incredible to know that the jailbroken version is also ready, virtually at the same time with the official one coming from Apple! Considering this, I wouldn't be amazed to see that, next time, the jailbroken version arrives first...

...but let's leave the future where it belongs, and look at what we have here, shall we? On "The unofficial, official blog of the "iphone-dev team"," a post about a day old says it clear, white on black:<-125x125 Button - right-> "Here are the new versions of PwnageTool and QuickPwn that support the 2.1 firmware. And as we just mentioned, iTunes was not harmed in the process ;-) no patching was required."

The funny part is that these guys from the so-called "iPhone Dev Team" hacked into the iPhone firmware 2.1 in an instant, but didn't take care of the iPod Touch 2.1 firmware yet, although that one was released a few days earlier.

Unfortunately, there's also a downside of the whole story: this jailbreak doesn't work with the new iPod Touch 2G, as I just said, and it doesn't work for iPhone 3Gs, either, being a pleasure reserved only for iPhones or first generation iPod Touch only.

On the 9th of September, as Steve Jobs announced the new goodies, the iPhone and iPod OS 2.1 were also shown to the world, only they didn't become available at the same time. The good news is that, finally, a few hours ago, iPhone 1st gen and iPhone 3G owners got the firmware 2.1 update available through iTunes 8. Since there is a long list of iPhone 3G problems, let's see what should be solved by this update, shall we?

I know you are anxious to find out more about what Apple claims to be fixed by the update, but first, you may want to take a look at the new iPod problems, too. Anyway, let's leave the problems aside now, and get to the fixes, so here's what the iPhone 2.1 firmware promises to do:

- Decrease in call set-up failures and dropped calls
- Significantly better battery life for most users
- Dramatically reduced time to backup to iTunes
- Improved email reliability, notably fetching email from POP and Exchange accounts
- Faster installation of 3rd party applications<-180x150 Small Rectangle - right->
- Fixed bugs causing hangs and crashes for users with lots of third party applications
- Improved performance in text messaging
- Faster loading and searching of contacts
- Improved accuracy of the 3G signal strength display
- Repeat alert up to two additional times for incoming text messages
- Option to wipe data after ten failed passcode attempts
- Genius playlist creation

You know what's the funny part? According to some early user reports, 3G is now working great, battery life was dramatically increased, and the interface is having a better response time than ever before!

Since I don't know anything yet from one of my iPhone 3G friends, and I always enjoy information from close sources, I have to ask you what's your opinion about iPhone 2.1, if you tried it, of course. Feel free to drop a comment below, it's going to be highly appreciated!

"The funnest iPod ever" is not the most clever marketing line Apple came up with so far, or maybe I am not smart enough to get to the blessing of its inner meaning. Anyway, as long as I won't buy an iPod Touch, and Apple won't send me one as a present, either, I can't really dig into the device, especially since I am not one of those considering portable media players a "fun device." For me, the portable media players are exactly the stuff you need when traveling and your companions are not quite the ones to chat with.

Now that I told you once again a few things about my position relative to portable media players, let's move on and see what's new with the iPod Touch. No, no problems yet, everything's just fine, although the new iPods are not available yet all over the world. While the devices didn't manage to reach every corner of the planet yet, the iPod Touch 2.1 update is widely available, as long as you're not living in North Korea or some remote island without any Internet connection, so let's talk about it, shall we?<-180x150 Small Rectangle - right->

Here's what the iPod Touch 2.1 update offers to its users:

- Speed: overall speed improvements, including faster backup.
- Stability: Safari runs like a puppy, and sites that crashed it before are now loading as well as possible.
- Configurable iPod Shortcuts: more flexible shortcuts, thanks to the "Edit" button available in the "More" window (unfortunately not available for Videos).
- Genius: "smart" playlists, but no "smart" guide for iTunes Store purchases. Anyway, for that, there's the Genius in iTunes 8!
- Battery Life: Much better, as early reports are showing.

We talked about this before, but let me remind you that the iPod Touch 2.1 update is worth $9.95 for those having the OS 1.x, while those with version 2.0 already installed can get it as a free update. Like it or not, you should pay for this, since it can turn your "old" iPod Touch in a whole new portable multimedia monster!

With the latest software update, I really hope there will be less iPhone 3G problems left for iPhone users to deal with, especially since tech experts all over the world have already started to talk about problems with the new iPods. What kind of problems? Well, that's exactly what we should discover in today's article, but I can tell you one thing for sure - for now, we're talking more about speculations, since real new iPod problems will start appearing in a few weeks, at least, as more and more people start using them.

Let's start with the new iPod Touch, pictured above. It's shaped like the iPhone 3G, it has most of its functions, apart from the phone-related ones, and features extended battery life, as well as a bunch of other goodies. Unfortunately, there are a lot of people still considering it a bit too expensive, especially since the subsidized $199 iPhone is a very attractive alternative.

For example, American Technology Research analyst Shaw Wu told clients that "We think [the] refresh of the iPod line is the necessary and appropriate strategy to maintain the firm’s dominant market share.<-336x280 Large Rectangle - right-> We expect the lower pricing to drive demand elasticity, and while the cost reductions could raise concerns about gross margins, we believe it will stimulate demand and benefit profits."

Next, we have the new and colorful iPod Nano. Described by Apple as having "nine amazing colors and a new design," this 4th generation is the first I really can say I like a lot. Any problems I can imagine? Too light, if you ask me, but at least it's larger than the shuffle, but very light gadgets are also easier to loose, and the video playback time announced by Apple, only 4 hours, doesn't seem enough at all.

Since competition in the iPod Nano's price range is very tough, I think Apple will lose a few percent of its market share in the media players field, but most problems will appear in the coming weeks/months, if there's something wrong with the design and manufacture, and I am thinking about the battery, first of all.

At last, iTunes 8, the application that will be used with all these new iPods, fails to behave as expected, since I heard that the new "genius" features aren't living up to the expectations, in some situations. Anyway, since we're talking about suggestions made based on your previous choices, so a pattern matching AI algorithm, they can't be perfect. One can only hope these features will start working good for himself, sooner or later, since some may get lucky, while others won't get lucky at all.

This is it for now, and I wouldn't be amazed to see some supply problems in the coming days, especially with the iPod Nano. The reason is obvious - no matter what some may say, Apple still rocks!