Forget about battery life and brightness for a moment and think about how helpful (or just plain cool) it would be to have a video projector built-in to your iPhone or iPod.  According to Digitimes, a pretty reputable tech manufacturing rag, Apple has commissioned Foxconn (one of the companies responsible for making current iPods and iPhones) to develop the technology to do just such a thing.  According to the quoted source,  projector-enabled sets will be available for the end of 2009.  Almost makes you wish you hadn’t re-upped with AT&T to get that 3gS doesn’t it?

Tags: 3g, 3gs, digitimes, foxconn, iphone, ipod, micro-projector, project, projection

The iPhone blog posted a picture of a home-brew iPhone stand made with pencils and rubber bands.  While we’re not altogether excited by the loss of productivity involved in the conception of this silly home-brew device, we are impressed with the ingenuity of its office-dwelling inventor.

But the accessory that takes the cake for silly-ness has got to be the iShelf, a stand for music CDs that holds the up so that they look like the images in a cover flow view on the iPod.  Hehe, can’t say we’ll be buying one of these any time soon.

Tags: accessories, cover flow, homebrew, iphone, ipod, ishelf, itunes, stand

But there were some bright spots. Mainly, the addition of high definition television content to iTunes, which paves the way for more Apple TV sales, and of course, the addition of NBC-originated content to iTunes. But the new iPods, while cool, weren’t quite the leap forward many were expecting.  They did add some nifty apps, like a workout tool co-branded with Nike.

Maybe the most significant addition to Apple’s music empire is this new Genius List feature, which takes a feather out of Pandora’s cap, creating playlists that suggest music based on the preferences of the user.  Nearly lost in all that hype was the detail that a new bug fix for iPhone firmware should be hitting the Net on September 13, according to Steve Jobs.

Here’s hoping the new firmware has a video camera and media messaging.

Tags: apple, apple tv, camera, firmware, ipod, ipod touch, steve jobs

According to our insider, new iPods will be introduces Tuesday, including a new model based on the new iPhone form factor and plastic case. Historically, Tuesday is new music day in the record business, so we expect to see a significant upgrade to iTunes unveiled as well. Maybe an improved (and HD) movie selection, so movies-via-iTunes actually becomes relevant.  See ya Tuesday if not sooner!

Tags: apple, ipod, itunes, rumors