Apple Slashes iPod Prices, Hinting at New Model

(NEWSER) - Apple tried to silence an angry British father and daughter with a gag order after the girl's iPod Touch exploded and "went 10 feet in the air," said the dad. The company offered a full refund of $275 for the music player, but only if the two agreed to sign a confidentiality agreement about the settlement—which threatened a lawsuit if they talked, reports the Times of London. "We didn’t ask for compensation, we just asked for our money back," the father said. More»

Touch, Classic get capacity upgrades

(NEWSER) - Sure, Steve Jobs stole all the headlines at Apple's shindig today, but there was some product news, too: The new version of the iPod Nano adds a video camera, microphone, and FM tuner, CNET reports. The new Nano also has a slightly larger screen, which is now 2.2 inches instead of 2. At $179, the new 16GB Nano will be $20 cheaper than its predecessor. The 2GB iPod Shuffle is also getting a $20 price cut—to $59. More»

Some talk of cancer, but mostly tech

(NEWSER) - Perhaps as much speculation has surrounded the possible attendance of Apple CEO Steve Jobs at the company’s product event today as what the event will actually be about. The first question is answered, Bloomberg reports: Jobs has made his first public appearance since having a liver transplant during a 5.5-month medical leave this year. He has already taken the stage to MC the event, the Wall Street Journal reports. More»

(NEWSER) - Nicholson Baker wanted to like the Kindle, honest. But when he unwrapped it and began to see what all the fuss was about, he "tussled with a sense of anti-climax," the prolific author writes in the New Yorker. Things never improved. He slams the e-reader for having a "greenish, sickly gray" screen, cruddy images, and limited selection of books. Amazon "is very good at selling things," he writes. "It isn’t so good, to date anyway, at making things." More»

App Store is the leading retailer of mobile programs

(NEWSER) - Apple’s App Store has had a pretty good year—since its inception, the store has sold 1.5 billion applications for the iPhone and iPod Touch, making it the leading retailer of mobile applications, CNet reports. Not only has the App Store done well, its success seems to be increasing: the store moved 1 billion applications in its first 9 months, but then sold 500 million in the next 3 months. More»