ipod-touch

Apple Manager Breaks Rule, Makes 10-Year-Old Girl's Dreams Come True
Reader Matt tells the story of how an Apple store manager broke a little rule so as not to dash the hopes of his 10-year-old daughter, and, in the process, made a little bit of retail magic happen. More »

Use iPod Touch As A Phone To Save On Bills
The iPod Touch can be more than the oft-ignored stepbrother of the iPhone - with the right hacking touch, it can be a replacement for its much loved sibling. More »

Apple Replaces The Out-Of-Warranty iPod Touch I Broke For Free
Unlike houseplants, iPod Touches don't take kindly to watering. After Emily accidentally victimized her device in such a manner, she contacted Apple to see what it would cost to replace it. When she balked at the price, a helpful customer service rep sent her a free one. More »

"Useless" One Of Most The Prevalent Words In 1-Star App Store Reviews. Why?
Marco wrote a script to tease out the most commonly appearing words in 1 and 5 star App store user reviews and found some interesting trends. Among them, the word "useless" is surprisingly popular for 1-star reviews, and it's often for pretty narrowly defined reasons. More »

Apple Set To Launch Xbox Live-Like Video Game Service
Not only did Apple announce a marauding horde of new iPods and an adorable micro AppleTV yesterday, it also revealed that an Xbox Live-ish service called Game Center is coming out next week along with the system update for iPhones and iPod Touches. More »

Best Buy Drowned 3 Of My iPods, Offers $25 In Consolation
Do you enjoy having a functioning iPod Touch? Then don't let Best Buy get their clumsy mitts on it and hire them to apply the tricky, delicate Zagg Invisible Shield. Reader Span_Wolf writes that he thought that he had a run of terrible luck with buying defective iPods, but eventually figured out the real cause of his troubles: he thinks, and Apple agrees, that Best Buy staff's misapplication of the fancy plastic cover damaged the devices. More »

Loading A PDF Could Give Hackers Total Control Over Your iPhone
Better not load any PDFs on your iPhone for a while, not unless you want to risk handing over total control of your device to hackers. The exploit affects all iOS 4 iOS 3.1.2 and higher devices, including the iPod touch and the iPad. More »

Track Free And Cheap Games For Your iPhone Or Touch
There are several apps on the Apple app store that help consumers track sales and free offers from developers, but you have to launch them and check in regularly. The website App Spy offers an automated price tracker for games (just games, unfortunately) that will send you an email whenever a price threshhold is reached. If you tend to be an app junkie, it can help save you money by letting you get your fix on the cheap good stuff. More »

Botched Parental Controls Let Kids Check Out iPorn
The software that controls Apple's iPhone and iPod touch includes parental controls that are meant to block kids from buying porn apps. And it works. Sort of. While kids whose parents use the software to protect their iPods can't purchase any of the App Store's billions of "babe" apps (App Store porn is largely of the soft-core, pin-up variety), they can still browse it, checking out the app descriptions, reviews and, of course, screen shots. Oops. More »

I Can't Find A Way To Fix My Borked iPod
Liz has an iPod Touch that freezes up a few songs into a listening session. She's patiently slashed through mountains of red tape to try to find a solution but has just about given up on finding a fix. She writes: More »

After Taking Whipping From iPod, Redesigned Zune Will Battle iPod Touch

—>Microsoft's Zune is like Rocky in his fight with Ivan Drago. After getting the crap thoroughly beaten out of it in front of the entire civilized world, the Zune just keeps stepping back into the ring for more punishment.   More »

All the outrage over Sling Media's iPhone app—which would have only worked with the latest Slingbox models—may have been moot. Boy Genius Report says they've received a tip that AT&T asked Apple to kill the app due to concerns about potential bandwidth drain. Update: JosephFinn points out that the tip is likely fake, as the IP address came from a prison. [IntoMobile]  More »

Morning Deals

• Apple: Refurbished iPod touches on sale, 8GB for $180, 16GB for $240, 32GB for $320
• Amazon: Rewards points upgrade for existing Amazon.com Visa holders
• Apple: Free Select iTunes TV Shows in HD (requires iTunes 8

Highlights From Dealnews

• Travelocity: United Airlines Sale: Round-trip flights from $108
• Amazon.com: Amazon.com Men's Watch Deals: Timex, Marc Ecko, more from $40 + free shipping
• Sears: Seven7 Women's Jeans for $18 + $6 s&h, more

Highlights From Buxr

• Budget Truck Rental: $50 Gift card when paying w/American Express
• Reverie: T-Shirt Sale: Buy 1 TEE get 1 free TEE
• BestBuy: Westinghouse 42" 1080p LCD HDTV and portable DVD Player for $749.99 + shipping

Highlights From Dealhack

• Drugstore.com: New Customers: Save $5 or $10 off First Order
• Vann's: Panasonic FZ28 10.2MP Digital Camera $340 Shipped
• Amazon: Get Savings of up to 75% off Bargain Books

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Morning Deals

• Newegg: Wii Fit with Balance Board, We Ski, and Hori Wii mat for $149.99
• Apple: Buy a Mac, get an iPod touch for free after rebate
• IKEA: Labor Day Sale, up to 50% off (in-store only)

Highlights From Dealhack

• Eastern Mountain Sports: Labor Day Sale Save up to 70% off
• Amazon: Up to 50%+ off High Sierra Backpacks & Messenger Bags
• Geeks: Kodak EasyShare V1003 10MP Digital Camera $90

Highlights From Bargainist

• Arbor Day Foundation: 10 trees for $10
• Arby's: BOGO free Super Roast Beef Sandwich, more coupons
• The Fruit Company: 25% off everything coupon

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Happy Resolution To Very Strange Circuit City iPod Touch Bait And Switch

—>Circuit City lied to Ian about giving him a discounted iPod Touch, but now he has a satisfactory resolution. He writes:

After writing a number of emails to Circuit City and after a making few more (fruitless) calls, I tried something new and posted my story to their public online customer service forums. The forum manager responded very quickly and promised that someone would call me back to resolve things. I received two calls last Thursday from Circuit City staff who wanted to help fix the situation;

  More »