Bowers & Wilkins has 40-plus years of experience and know-how in speaker design in a single package. A new creation was announced on their website:

Bowers & Wilkins prepares to launch a new speaker especially designed for iPod. Called Zeppelin, the speaker will provide a level of sound quality usually available only through dedicated hi-fi separates. Zeppelin is certified “Made For iPod” and is designed for use with the current model range. The name was chosen due to its design line. The concept was created by Native Design, London.

Zeppelin will be available from September 2007 in Apple Stores or online (http://store.apple.com). The manufacturer recommends a retail price of $599.00.

Press release here.

Steve Jobs, Apple’s boss showed today their new series of iMac desktop computers. The company decided to go just for 20 and 24 inch displays with no 17″ version. However you now can get a 20″ iMac with an Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 1 GB of RAM and 250 Hard Drive for just $1,199. So here are the three new options as they appear on Apple’s website:

The new 20-inch 2.0 GHz iMac, for a suggested retail price of $1,199 (US), includes:

• 20-inch widescreen LCD display;
• 2.0 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor;
• 1GB of 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM expandable to 4GB;
• a slot-load 8x SuperDrive® with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW);
• ATI Radeon HD 2400 XT with 128MB GDDR3 memory;
• built-in iSight video camera;
• built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking & Bluetooth 2.0+EDR;
• 250GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 7200 rpm;
• mini-DVI out (adapters for DVI, VGA and Composite/S-Video sold separately);
• built-in stereo speakers and microphone; and
• the new Apple Keyboard, Mighty Mouse and infrared Apple Remote.

The new 20-inch 2.4 GHz iMac, for a suggested retail price of $1,499 (US), includes:

• 20-inch widescreen LCD display;
• 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor;
• 1GB of 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM expandable to 4GB;
• a slot-load 8x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW);
• ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO with 256MB GDDR3 memory;
• built-in iSight video camera;
• built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking & Bluetooth 2.0+EDR;
• 320GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 7200 rpm;
• mini-DVI out (adapters for DVI, VGA and Composite/S-Video sold separately);
• built-in stereo speakers and microphone; and
• the new Apple Keyboard, Mighty Mouse and infrared Apple Remote.

The new 24-inch 2.4 GHz iMac, for a suggested retail price of $1,799 (US), includes:

• 24-inch widescreen LCD display;
• 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor;
• 1GB of 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM expandable to 4GB;
• a slot-load 8x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW);
• ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO with 256MB GDDR3 memory;
• built-in iSight video camera;
• built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking & Bluetooth 2.0+EDR;
• 320GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 7200 rpm;
• mini-DVI out (adapters for DVI, VGA and Composite/S-Video sold separately);
• built-in stereo speakers and microphone; and
• the new Apple Keyboard, Mighty Mouse and infrared Apple Remote.

Dear iPhone users, we know that the biggest and the most annoying problem with your phone is that you are afraid your battery will let you down and you don’t feel like paying $85 for it. If you have some personal tech skills or at least you like to do things on your own then I have a solution for you. It’s a do it yourself kit, from Brando, to replace your iPhone’s battery in just a few easy steps.

The price for the iPhone battery replacement kit is only $20 and includes a non-official 1400mAh 3.7 VDC battery, a screwdriver and instructions. Keep in mind that you may break your device or lose the warranty so unless you can live without them, don’t do it.

[Buy it on Brando, via Xataka]

Fear no more, iPhone users. Though tests say you won’t need a new battery soon, it looks like the guys at iPodJuice .com has a $45 battery to replace your used one, only for $45 (add $20 for shipping). That means that if you choose third parties to change the battery, you won’t pay the $85.95 Apple asks.

The iPodJuice product is a 1400 mAh lithium-ion battery which will get you a ten year guarantee after you get it installed. Did I mention that you can do it yourself? It would only cost you $25 to buy it (add $20 for shipping). The battery is designed for the 4GB and 8GB iPhone models and though you may not need anything right now, you have an alternative in case anything happens.

[iPhone Battery Replacement via Technabob]

News came in that the iPhone Bluetooth Headset is starting to kick in. A Flickr member, Nomad, have already seen it in an Apple store in Marlton, NJ and snapped pictures while unboxing it.

It comes in a black box that has the duo dock to charge both the iPhone and the headset at the same time and the travel charger to do it on the go. It also has a very nice feature : the magsafe connector, that allows to connect safely to the dock or to the cable. Another nice feature is that you get to see the charging status of the Bluetooth Headset directly on the iPhone if they are both seated in the dock.

[via TUAW]

A rumor about Apple iPhone launch in UK circulates on the Internet. PC Advisor revealed that sources close to Apple said the UK launch is prepared for September 2007. Although the sources are considered almost sure, the UK mobile operator O2 has not reach an agreement with Apple to be the exclusive partner for iPhone.

However O2 had beaten off the rival Vodafone for signing the deal with Apple. Unconfirmed press reports announced that O2 has already signed the contract with Apple to carry UK calls for iPhone.

According to Yahoo News, PC Advisor had contacted O2 and a spokesman confirmed that O2 and Apple had not reached a deal on the iPhone. We can tell for sure that iPhone is expected in Europe before the Christmas. The month predicted for release was November, but looking at the phone’s success I would say Apple is hurrying for the European launch.

via Yahoo News

A week after the iPhone met the US consumers analysts already started to hint at new products Apple laboratories are preparing. Even if sources in Apple’s supply chain are cited, I find it hard to believe an iPhone Nano with a circular scroll wheel will soon make its debut.

Seen as a competitor for the yet undisclosed Motorola RAZR 2, the product is supposed to reach the shelves sometimes before Christmas at a price of about $300. This will make Apple compete on the traditional mobile phones market (not just on the smartphones one) which could bring the company a bigger percentage than the initial Steve Jobs estimate of 1% (10 million handsets).

The second product rumored to be in preparation is a new iPod with borrowed features from the first generation iPhone. Yes, replacing the NAND memory with a magnetic hard drive for cheaper and greater storage seems a good idea. However, an iPod with a touchscreen and most of the features existing in the iPhone might turn out to be a competition for the very Apple handset that inspired it as it will most likely cost less.

This reasoning makes such an iPod very unlikely but an upgrade to the current Apple line of MP3 players is almost necessary as the competition already offers larger screen areas, greater storage capacities and other valuable features which often come at lower prices. However, nobody knows what Steve Jobs is planning but an announcement is near and we will then see what new devices and features Apple’s boss prepared to impress us.

Apple announced a battery replacement plan for the iPhone mobile phones that passed the warranty period. It looks like you will need to pay $79 to install a new battery and a $6.95 fee for handling and shipping. Apart the extremely high price of $85.95 there are bigger problems you could face if your battery dies (warranty or not). First of all you need to backup all your profiles, photos, songs, contacts, email account settings, text messages and other stuff on iTunes, because they will be all wiped out.

Second of all, you need to leave your mobile phone with Apple for 3 working days which is not something that we can afford, right? I am waiting for a lot of mushroom companies to pop up, to replace iPhone batteries so that the price could go down and the downtime could lower.

iPhone was released yesterday in US. Even the stores were closed the people sat in the line many hours before the launch. Some were nervous, some were excited. Here are a few photos and video footages of the event:

From San Francisco World Premiere:

and another one:

The victory:

The launch will be this Friday 6 p.m local time. Everyone waits the most advertised device. The iPhone has got over 11,000 articles and 69 million hits in Google in the last six months.

But people don’t talk too much about what it can’t do. Today I have found some shortcomings. For example iPhone can’t record video and the songs can’t be used as ringtones. That are common features for any mobile nowadays. Besides, it doesn’t support games, flash applications, instant messaging, MMS or voice recognition.

iPhone is revolutionary in mobiles industry, but it is not perfect. Other things it doesn’t have are: 3G, expandable memory, removable battery. Probably other new problems will be discovered after the launch. Some people who tested the phone reported lower battery levels than it was announced. The question is: “Does it worth the hype?”

[via Gizmodo]