Apple's continuing support of all things wireless has led to countless rumors of iPods with Bluetooth or iPods with wifi and a whole collection of other cable-less options. None of these have been confirmed, but the recent replacement of the three model iPod line with 2 models has sparked even more talk of what the yet unreleased high-est-end iPod flagship might include. 60GB? Color Screen? Bluetooth? Engadget posted this (probably fake) iPod ad that was "leaked" (read: photoshopped) which is more than likely just wishful thinking. In all honestly though, I can't imagine something like this being too far off. It just seems like a natural progression for them.

If you have an iPod and happen to drive a AUDI, BMW / Mini, Chrysler cars, Ford cars, GM cars, Honda / Accura, Jaguar, Landrover, Lexus, Mazda, Mercedes, Nissan / Infiniti, Porsche, Saab, Scion, Subaru, Toyota, Volkswagen, or Volvo this might be for you. Just released by Dension USA, this does what you think it does:

ICE-Link takes the place of your external CD Changer and it operates like one. iPod starts when CD changer is selected on a supported factory or aftermarket radio, and paused when other source is selected. Track control from radio and steering wheel controls are provided.

There's a couple of pictures on the site of these things in cars and while a little bulky, seems to do the trick. Way better than than "iPod your BMW" thing anyway. (via Engadget)

So everyone knows about the Apple - BMW team up to put iPod adapters in some BMW models so you can just plug your iPod in and go. This sounds great, except they left a few very rough edges. Engadget makes a list:

1. You can't use it with a BMW with a CD Changer, Satellite radio, GPS navigation system or cassette. So, that means  most/all the people who got a BMW are out. Who doesn't get at least one of those in their BMW?

2. Playlists. You need to make separate playlists on your iPod called BMW1, BMW2, etc…AND the track titles do not  show up in the BMW, it just says track1, track2, etc…Blah.

I have to agree with what they are getting at. It's a great first step to have a built in attachment for your iPod in the car since that's a primary listening location, but the adapter needs to work with you, for you, not against you. The iPod is great because of it's simple and it works - if the adapter negates that simplicity, what is the point?

Some interesting discussion going around this morning about using the iTrip for more than just your own listening pleasure. Turns out it's basically priate radio in a box, a very small one anyway. BoingBoing has a post from a reader who is printing bumper stickers so people in cars next to him can tune into whatever his iPod is dishing out. He says:

Griffin's stated range for the iTrip is a little inaccurate: I once left my iPod playing over the radio in the office, got in my car and drove out of the parking lot, around the corner and down the street. The signal petered out at about 150 feet. This is through the walls of my office and several intervening buildings!

But if 150 feet isn't enough for you, The Wolf Web has a schematic of what it takes to boost that up a bit higher. Arrrgh!

Engadget got their hands on an iTrip and gave it a spin around the block. The shocker? They *don't* hate it.

Final verdict
The iTrip mini is one of the best accessories for your iPod mini, if you have a lot of FM devices around this is the quickest best way to get your music on them, end of story. For $39 it's not a bad deal at all.

A friend just e-mailed me a link to several new images of more iRaq iPod spoof posters showing up around NYC. Looks like the page has been modified and says the images are from LA.

A few readers have noted that when they installed iTunes 4.6 all the music they had stripped with Hymn (previously known as PlayFair) was killed. Anyone have any further details on this?

Now thanks to Griffin Technologies you can get the same crappy FM transmitted sound quality on your iPod mini that you've come to hate on your full sized iPod. Preorder yours for $39 today! (via MacMinute)

Toshiba's 1.8-inch hard disk drive which is the heart of the iPod just got a new big brother, a 60GB version and Apple is already in line for them. Which if you do the math means a 60GB iPod is right around the corner. Toshiba is currently shipping 350,000 drives a month to Apple, and with this new one that's only going up. So much so, that Toshiba is trying to expand production to 1 million a month by the end of the year. 60GB of storage would make playing videos a lot more realistic. Anyone want to take a guess how long until can buy a 1TB iPod?

I've heard both sides of the arguement from people who like having their entire music collection on their computer and only a few songs on their iPod, and people who don't want any of it on their machine as well. Over at iPodGarage Bill Palmer makes the best case against auto-sync yet and explains why he, and everyone else should turn the feature off the moment they buy an iPod.

But sometime between when the iPod rumors first surfaced, and the day that the device was actually announced, there must have been some kind of meeting between the two parties in some back alley somewhere, because when the iPod gets announced, it's suddenly got this asinine crippling feature whereby if you connect your iPod to anyone's computer but your own, the iPod perks right up and threatens to completely erase itself if you even try to copy even one song from someone else's computer to your iPod.

But what if both of the computers involved are yours? Too bad. Your iPod completely erases itself if you even try. What if you're simply using someone else's computer in order to rip one of your CDs into your iPod? Once again, you're out of luck, and poof goes your entire music collection. Sure, it'll copy back in when you connect your iPod to your own computer, but at that point everything you just copied into it from the other computer will be automatically erased. The record companies had threatened to destroy the iPod before it even got out the door, and Apple caved to the point that iPods were built to auto-destruct if their owner tried to do anything that might even resemble the actions of someone stealing music…whether anything illegal was actually about to happen or not.

If you are in Chicago, New York, or San Francisco, you might want to swing by the W hotel and see if it's iTunes Day. The W is running a promotion where DJs will be playing music off iPods, stacks of CDs with downloaded music will be given away, "AppleTinis" will be served from the bar, and iPods and iMacs will be given away. This will be going down several days in each city so check the schedule and good luck.

Not that this comes as a big surprise considering how well the product is doing, but Apple Computers, Inc. has created a new iPod Division of the company and shuffled around a bunch of Execs to make it happen.

Jon Rubinstein, who has led the Cupertino, California-based company's hardware engineering efforts, will run the new division, an Apple spokesman said.

Timothy Cook, head of Apple's worldwide sales and operations, will lead a newly organized Macintosh division, Apple said. Tim Bucher, now in charge of Macintosh system development, will head up the Mac's hardware engineering.

There's been some talk about Apple splitting the iPod into a whole new company, but this seems to make more sense, and will put some good people in charge of makeing the iPod even better.

If you drive a Audi, BMW, Citroen, Ford, Honda, Peugot, Renault, Toyota, or VW using your iPod while driving just got a lot easier. If you don't have a ride by one of these companies, but have an Alpine, Blaupunkt, Kenwood or Sony stereo in your car, you might still be in luck. Dension Auto Systems is releasing a gadget that will allow you to control your iPod using your car's built in audio system. MacWorld UK Reports:

Dension head of business development Lee Harris said: "Mass-storage MP3 devices are the future of in-car entertainment. In producing the iPod, Apple has created a product that is as big a change to the audio industry as the Sony Walkman was in the 1970s. The ice>Link:iPod spreads this change to the car audio market by making the Apple iPod easy to integrate to the vehicle entertainment environment"

ice>Link:iPod uses a direct cable connection to the car audio system and lets users control their iPod using the vehicle's existing audio controls, including steering wheel buttons. The ice>Link:iPod comes with a purpose-designed cradle that holds the iPod securely and charges the iPod while it's in-car.

It's long been assumed that the people making the laws about digital music and fair use don't actually use any of the things they are trying to regulate. Rep. John Doolittle [R] bought an iPod and suddenly it all makes sense to him. From the Sacramento Bee:

I paid for this," Doolittle said, waving the iPod before the packed hearing room. "I bought the material I want to record on it. But I may be prevented from taking advantage of this handy device."

At issue is the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which was so popular after a recording industry lobbying blitz that the House approved it on a voice vote.

"I didn't grasp the issues before us in 1998," Doolittle confessed. "We went way overboard. This needs to be corrected."

Cult of Mac chimes in too:

Also needing correction is Doolittle's taste in music: Andrew Lloyd Webber, Abba, golden oldies and foot-stomping country.

The on-again, off-again world of PlayFair is about to be on-again no matter what Apple has to say about it, according to MacCentral. A free software proponet named Anand Babu has stepped in and says he has several groups outside of the US who are willing to host the software. SourceForge backed off when faced with Apple threats, Sarovar pulled the program for fear of dragging site sponsors into a battle they didn't want, so it will be interesting to see who steps forward and how long they will be there.

As the DMCA has an anticircumvision provision that could work against continuation of the project in the U.S., PlayFair was moved to Sarovar at the request of the author, according to Rajkumar Sukumaran, one of the maintainers of the Sarovar site.

Since India does not have a law similar to DMCA, Sarovar approved the project as it is legal in India, Rajkumar said. As PlayFair is a GPL (general public license), free software project, Sarovar could not find any reason for not approving PlayFair's request for hosting, he added.

Despite the decision to remove the project from the Sarovar site, free software proponents are defiant. "What is really happening is that a corporation is using legal means to shut down a free software project in India for the first time, and the small project is left defenseless even though they believe that they are right," Rajkumar said.