shuffle

Buzz Out Loud 928: The 404-year-old virgin

Justin Yu is not a virgin, but he plays one on this podcast. And that's just the kind of thing you get when you have a member of the 404 on the podcast. We also evaluate the new nearly-buttonless iPod Shuffle, some online gaming stats, and Google's new ad-targeting system.

Listen now: Download today's podcast EPISODE 928

New talking shuffle http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2009/03/11ipod.html?sr=hotnews http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10193443-37.html

iPod touch 2G finally jailbroken with NitroKey http://www.engadget.com/2009/03/10/ipod-touch-2g-finally-jailbroken-with-nitrokey/

Speaking of hacking…Chinese … Read more

The 404 296: Where the new iPod Shuffle looks like a suppository

Apple releases a new iPod Shuffle that looks curiously like something you would use to take care of constipation. It looks as if "SNL" wasn't that far off though when it suggested the iPod Peque?o. But hey, this one talks to you!

In more Apple news, Chinese hackers figure out how to crack the iTunes gift card system. Apparently, it's just a key code generator, and for a mere $2.60, you can get yourself a $200 gift card. We don't know if it works, and even if it does, it won't be for long. If you do know, tell us by calling 1-866-404-CNET (2638). Along those same lines, we find out that "Full frontal nerdity" is already taken for a show motto. Please send in more suggestions.

In depressing news, grammar is apparently becoming horrible on Twitter. No surprise given the 140-character limit. Let's just hope @replies don't wind up in some kid's term paper. Also more depressing, "Star Wars" is coming back as a television show. If the new J.J. Abrams-directed "Star Trek" movie becomes a hit, they may make restart the television franchise.

We've got a whole slew of guests coming on the show in the coming days including Erica Boeke, Dr. Michael Breus, debbiefromtoronto, and Jonathan Coultan. And our very own Justin Yu makes an appearance on the "Bore Out Loud." Keep listening to "The 404!"

EPISODE 296 Download today's podcast… Read more

This iPod Shuffle is a disaster

Updated at 11:30 a.m. PDT with info on Apple allowing third-parties to make accessories.

Let me start by saying that I'm a fan of the iPod Shuffle. I run with one and I just recently bought a second refurbished gen-two Shuffle for $30 to give to my brother. But with the new gen-three Shuffle, Apple made some design decisions I just can't understand.

First off, the old Shuffle was small enough. There's small--and then there's too small. Yeah, it's great that the gen-three Shuffle is the size of a small USB thumbdrive, but … Read more

iPod Shuffle: The reality check

Apple's iPod Shuffle received a refresh today that was long overdue. But as much as I love the way Apple is innovating with its iPod Touch and iPod Nano, I think it may need a reality check on this buttonless $80 paperclip it's calling the new Shuffle.

I'll be sure to keep an open mind when it comes time for a review, but for the moment, let's cut through Apple's reality-distortion field a little. Here are five criticisms I have about the new iPod Shuffle.

1. No buttons? Sure there are buttons on the headphone … Read more

Apple shrinks its iPod Shuffle

Updated at 6:22 a.m. PDT with more details and new images, and 8:45 a.m. PDT with comments from Apple.

Apparently the tiny iPod Shuffle wasn't tiny enough. On Wednesday, Apple unveiled a 4GB Shuffle that's half the size of its predecessor.

The new device is smaller than a AA battery yet holds up to 1,000 songs, Apple said. The preshrunk Shuffle also adds a new VoiceOver feature that can recite song titles, artists, and playlist names, as well as provide status information, such as battery life. Speaking of which, Apple said the gadget's battery life clocks in at 10 hours.

Priced at $79, it comes in silver or black. The aluminum body of the third-generation Shuffle stands 1.8 inches tall and is 0.3 inch thick. The navigation and volume controls are in a small protrusion on the right earphone cord.

With the new Shuffle, users can organize songs by multiple playlists. The VoiceOver feature can speak in 14 languages: English, Czech, Dutch, French, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Mandarin Chinese, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, and Turkish.

VoiceOver is Apple's term for the text-to-speech engine built into Mac OS X Leopard in order to let blind people use a Mac more easily. The "Alex" voice generated by that software is the one that Leopard users will hear, while Windows users and Mac OS X Tiger (10.4) users will hear a different voice, said Greg Joswiak, Apple's vice president of iPod and iPhone marketing.

The first time you sync one of the new iPod Shuffles with iTunes, Apple will install software on your Mac or PC that makes the voice feature possible. This isn't speech recognition; you can't speak into your iPod headphone and order up Bob Dylan's "Blood on the Tracks," but the voice feature is more useful than just reminding you of the name of that song you downloaded three years ago but had forgotten about until it randomly came up on your Shuffle.… Read more

Grab an iPod Shuffle for $29 shipped

As an semiregular jogger, I'm gonna make a bold statement: The iPod Shuffle is the single best MP3 player for runners. I'll explain why in a minute, but for now, here's the deal: Apple has refurbished iPod Shuffles for $29 shipped.

That's for the 1GB silver model only. A blue one will run you $39, which has been the price on these refurbs for as long as I can remember.

The Shuffle comes with earphones, a dock, and everything else you'd find in a brand-new model--including Apple's one-year warranty. (The only thing you don'… Read more

Best MP3 players you can wear

As MP3 players keep getting smaller, cheaper, and more colorful, some of them have become fashionable enough to wear.

There are MP3 players you can clip to your shirt, hang from your neck, strap to your wrist, or even wear on your face. Most of these itty-bitty MP3 players are light on features, but no one ever said fashion wouldn't require some sacrifices.

Take a look at CNET's top wearable MP3 players.

Perfect accessories for the iPod Shuffle

So you've managed to get your hands on one of the world's most popular MP3 players, the Apple iPod Shuffle. Accessorizing the littlest of iPods presents a special challenge because it doesn't share the same dock connector as its larger siblings. But that doesn't mean it should be left out in the cold, sad and caseless.

We've rounded up several accessories that will work perfectly with the second-, third-, and fourth-generation Shuffles. Check 'em out.

Shufflebrain: Making a social-game company

For years, Amy Jo Kim has been a well-known and respected member of the video game design community, as well as the author of perhaps the best book ever written on building online community.

But for the most part, through years of working on other peoples' projects--Ultima Online, The Sims, the virtual world There.com, Rock Band, and many others, as well as consulting for countless companies--Kim has played a supporting role.

That's all set to change. Kim, along with her husband and consulting partner, Scott Kim, are in the midst of what might be their most ambitious project ever: Building their own game company from the ground up.

Their start-up, known as ShuffleBrain, plans to announce the public beta of its first effort, a Facebook game called PhotoGrab, in a matter of weeks. On the one hand, PhotoGrab is a puzzle game, tasking players with matching small snippets of photographs with the full pictures they're taken from--and doing so against a clock that's quickly counting down. The more accurate the placement and the more snippets you can match, the higher the score.

But PhotoGrab is also a social platform that is built around the idea of encouraging photographers to upload groups of their own pictures and make their own games from them.

So, for example, after playing for a little while with a few of the games already in the system, I uploaded five pictures I took last summer while visiting the Corvette factory in Bowling Green, Ky., on my CNET Road Trip 2008 project, and then spent a few minutes selecting small circular pieces of the photos for players of my game to identify. … Read more