Ipods

Another week, another Apple product feted as the Second Coming in gadget form. Wait, hang on a minute. . .

Apple are pretty good at hype, but it seems like they’ve been a little too good at it this week. Apple fan-boys and -girls (and shareholders) were roundly disappointed this morning with the launch of a slightly improved iPhone 4, the 4S. They were let down after whipping themselves up into a frenzy of iPhone 5 speculation over the past week.

But give it 9 days, when the smartphone is set to be released here, and you’re sure to see Apple-maniacs queueing from one end of your nearest capital city to the other to get their hands on the new smartphone. Their existing year-old iPhones will just get tossed. That’s a feature of Apple products. Your latest whizz-bang gizmo is always just a few short months away from being made obsolete by a product with only slightly more whizz and a pinch more bang.

Continue reading "An Apple a day, then Jobs wants you to chuck it away" »

A European initiative to restrict how loud you can listen to your iPod could vastly improve your next public transport experience.

In the latest attempt to protect us from ourselves, the European Union this week proposed an 80 decibel limit on the volume level on portable music players.

This, their scientists say, would protect the five to ten per cent of music listeners who crank it up a little too loud from damaging their hearing.

Continue reading "Assaulting my ears is as bad as polluting my lungs" »