What do you get when you cross an iPhone with an iPod shuffle? An iStick, of course! Designer Alexei Mikhailov has dreamed up this gadget to show what he thinks that hybrid should look like.

The iStick is modeled after a tube of lipstick. However, all four sides have a touchscreen providing for a slick interface.

While the device isn’t for movie or photo viewing, it would be perfect for listening to music. It’s small, light, and has the same great interface as an iPhone. The iStick would also have Coverflow to let you scroll through album covers for an added effect. WiFi is also built in to browse iTunes.

The pictures also show some tiny wireless headphones. We’d really like to see some of those.

The concept is great, but it would be pretty hard to fit all that technology into a device as compact as the iStick. We’re also wondering what the gray end cap is for. Maybe you can twist it around as another way to interact with the gadget. Hopefully we’ll see a similar device from Apple sometime in the future. More pictures after the jump. Read more »

Following on the heels of their ‘Advanced Multitouch’ patent application, Apple has filed a patent detailing a multi-touch device that would support a large number of gestures including typing, scrolling, pointing, and handwriting. The device would combine these gestures into a single mode-less ergonomic design.

From the filing:
“It should therefore appear modeless to the user in the sense that the user should not need to provide explicit mode switch signals such as buttonpresses, arm relocations, or stylus pickups before switching from one input activity to another. Epidemiological studies suggest that repetition and force multiply in causing repetitive strain injuries. Awkward postures, device activation force, wasted motion, and repetition should be minimized to improve ergonomics.”

The system would be able to detect a number of different hand configurations, allowing it to figure out what part of the users hand was interacting with it and reacting accordingly.

We think this advanced multi-touch system is really quite amazing. Devices like the iPhone and the Microsoft Surface have incredible possibilities for user interaction, and those devices only use a relatively simple form of multi-touch. This Apple patent gives light to a device with a much deeper level of gesturing than we have ever seen before, and we can’t wait to see what it looks like and how it works. Hurry up Apple, we want to get rid of our keyboards!

A recent Apple patent application depicts mockups of an OS X “Gesture Control Panel” with options for a Standard Trackpad, Basic Multitouch, and Advanced Multitouch. Although the trackpad and basic multitouch options have already made their way to Apple’s laptops, the advanced multitouch features are very intriguing. Read more »

Apple has dropped the price today on the 1GB iPod shuffle to a measly $49. The company has also announced a 2GB version to be available later this month for $69.

The iPod shuffle is just half a cubic inch in volume, weighs just half an ounce, features an aluminum design with a built-in clip and comes in five colors—silver, blue, green, purple and a (PRODUCT) RED special edition.

Although not the best of portable music players, at $49 the shuffle is certainly looking like a good deal.
Image courtesy of Apple

A tip has surfaced saying that Apple is preparing to drop the prices on the iPhone and iPod Touch by $100 within the next two months.

The price drop is believed to be making room for 3G iPhones later this year. Also, the 8GB iPod Touch might be dropped from the lineup entirely.

Apple may be announcing these price changes at the February event, along with the long-awaited iPhone SDK. Good news as price drops are always appreciated, especially when Apple is involved. We wouldn’t mind Apple keeping the 8GB iPod Touch and dropping the price to $199.

It looks like those official third-party iPhone applications may be making their way to our phones via iTunes. A slip-up by Tiny Code revealed the following:

“Tiny Code no longer produces fixes or applications for firmware 1.1.3. We can’t say much, but we are working with Apple and with their SDK for the next firmware release and SDK applications and we shouldn’t be missed for long. We will no longer update our Installer.app repo for legality reasons and you should see us soon on iTunes.”

The message has since been taken down from the site.

Maybe Apple is giving developers and easy way to sell their apps, and maybe Jobs wants to make some money from the iPhone SDK (rumored to be announced soon) for himself. Either way, it looks like this rumor may have some truth behind it.

We’ll post more info on the iPhone SDK when it’s announced, so stay tuned!

Soon, thanks to Apple’s deal with Starbucks for free WiFi at their stores, you’ll never have to see your name misspelled on your Cup of Joe again.

It looks like Starbucks is developing a program for the iPhone and iPod Touch that will let you order just about anything on their menu right from your device. You can also completely customize your coffee by selecting the size, type of milk, and cream, and even add a note to the order.

To top it off, you can even pay for your order from the program via a special Semacode that it displays.

The program also lets you save your favorites for a one-touch order when you’re in a hurry. Although this is certainly not helping create interaction between people, it looks like a quick and easy way to order coffee for Starbucks regulars. We’re excited to see this in action. Check out the gallery after the jump. Read more »

Financial analysts are predicting a 3G iPhone by midyear due to ever decreasing inventory of the current iPhone model in addition to growing demand for a 3G model. A 3G iPhone would also greatly boost the phone’s presence in European countries, making it seem like the next obvious step for Apple.

3G technology allows for high speed wireless access, which would greatly improve the user experience of the iPhone. 3G is not widely deployed in the US currently, and having a 3G iPhone would greatly widen the potential audience for the device. It would also provide just the boost needed to reach the 10 million iPhones sales goal by the end of 2008.

We hope to see a 3G iPhone very soon, perhaps even as early as the last week in February.
Photo: http://www.iphoneros.com