This years top Christmas and holiday gift could well be Apple’s new iPod nano. Introduced, once again in perfect time for the Christmas shopping period. Apple’s tills will melt down, thanks to this very clever design.

This is the thinnest Apple iPod ever made. It has gone back to a form factor that owes more to some of the earlier incarnations of the nano line than the last one. At first I was hesitant about it’s style, but I think Apple, once again have got it right.

Squeezing new features like the accelerometer as found in the iPhone and iPod Touch. The new nano adds a whole new spin on it with the new Shake to Shuffle feature along with the ability to view cover flow artwork. This 4th generation of iPod nano is a slick and innovative design. Available in nine funky colours which all share the same curved aluminum and glass structure. The nano is the best yet, and I was a huge fan of the 3rd generation!

The nano also comes with the Genius playlist creator which will pick a selection of songs based on one that you select. In testing on my iPhone I have found Genius to locate songs that I haven’t played in a long time, and which all roll nicely with each other. Genius indeed.

Available in 8GB and 16GB versions in silver, purple, blue, green, orange, yellow, pink, (PRODUCT) RED and black.

The iPod nano is gonna be one of Santa’s most requested items this Christmas. Kids and adults alike are going to be devastated if they don’t get one in their Christmas stocking.

Apple iPod nano reviews

• Gizmodo
• Boston Herald
• CNN
• Chron.com
• SFGate.com

Apple’s Let’s Rock event was a bit of a disappointment for me. Mainly because Copy and Paste apparently hasn’t made it to the 2.1 iPhone software. The upgrade will be available on Friday. Expect:

• faster sync – yay!
• less call drops
• less crashes
• better battery life

The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.

—Steve Jobs

Also, it seems strange for Apple to drop the 160GB iPod Classic. The biggest iPod you can now get is the new 120GB Classic.

I am not sure about the new iPod nano, either. The new features are cool. Especially the shake to shuffle feature. I like the colours too. I will have to get my hands on one to see what it’s like in the flesh.

The new features of the new Second generation iPod touch look pretty neat.

Really looking forward to downloading iTunes 8. The new Genius feature looks cool. I wonder how it will categorise my music?

Roll on Friday.

Kane Kramer may not be quite as famous as Jonathan Ive or Steve Jobs for that matter. Yet you will know his invention. He patented a device in 1979 which showed a credit-card-sized player with a rectangular screen and a central menu button to scroll through a selection of music tracks. Sound familiar? Even Apple thought so, and asked Mr Kramer to give evidence in a court case to help defend their iPod design.

Kane Kramer took out a worldwide patent but was unable to raise £60,000 to renew these patents and the technology became public property.

To be honest, I was just so pleased that finally something that I had done which has been a huge success and changed the music industry was being acknowledged. I was really quite emotional about it all.

—Kane Kramer

He is now negotiating with Apple to gain some compensation from the copyright that he owns on the drawings.

Read the full article.

Tomorrow brings Apple’s Big Deal event. The banners are up and their are some tasty iPhone rumours abounding, as ars technica write.

there are other parts to 2.1 that were specifically removed from developer seeds in order to keep them secret from the world.

—Jacqui Cheng

My Big Deal Predictions

• iTunes 8
• New iPod nano
• New iPod Touch
• Copy and Paste for the iPhone

If Copy and Paste finally makes it to the iPhone, there will be a revolution. See you tomorrow!

I like nothing more than to put on some cool, chilled out tunes on my iPod. Fridge maker Gorenje want to make it even cooler. They are now demonstrating their new “Made for iPod” fridge, which includes a docking station, charger and speakers. It will go on sale early next year. They don’t see it just as a music device though. Plug in your iPod Touch (and presumably your iPhone) and you have all your recipes, shopping lists and more at your fingertips.

Cool.

Cool Tunes

Here is a selection of cool music for your new fridge.

• Black Ice – AC/DC
• Chill Out – John Lee Hooker
• Chilled Ibiza
• Viva la Vida – Coldplay
• She took a long cold look – Syd Barrett
• Milk and Alcohol – Dr Feelgood
• Orange Juice Blues – Bob Dylan & The Band
• Message in a bottle – The Police
• Milk – Garbage
• Cold Blood – iFingers

According to the Cult of Mac. September the 9th will be a huge day. The Apple media event is scheduled for 10am, September 9th at San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.

Rumours abound, but it is anticipated that their will be updates to the iPod product line, iTunes 8, possible new Mac notebooks and there are even indications of a touch-screen Mac tablet…