A new battery/case product to extend your iPhone’s battery life will be shipping in a few weeks.  The unit will set you back around $100.

The Juice Pack is a colorful soft-grip case for cushioning and improving the gripability of your iPhone. Inside, there’s a rechargeable lithium-ion battery capable of providing enough juice for an additional 250 hours of standby time, 24 hours of audio playback or seven hours of video. Upshot: Go ahead and take the iPhone with you on your next camping trip.

iPhone Case Includes Battery Extender | Gadget Lab from Wired.com

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Tags: iphone, batteries

Apple Inc. Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs’s annual Macworld surprise may be a slimmed-down laptop and a higher-capacity model of the iPhone.

Jobs traditionally uses the Macworld Expo in January to showcase new products. Last time, it was the iPhone and Apple TV; the year before, faster Macs with Intel Corp. chips.

Jobs, 52, also may introduce a larger-screen handheld device for playing music and video and surfing the Web, said Andy Neff, an analyst at Bear Stearns & Co. in New York. Apple may also unveil a new version of Apple TV, a $299 device that connects to TVs and lets people watch movies and shows stored on their PCs.

Apple’s Jobs May Surprise With Slim Mac, New IPhone

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Tags: Apple, iPhone, Macworld, AppleTV

 In the midst of an expected announcement from Apple, the iTunes store is current unavailable with just the curious phrase, “It’s Showtime.”

 It is expected that Apple will be announcing the addition of full-length movies for purchase from iTunes.

 In other video iPod news, 4Flix.net has announced non-DRM movies and TV shows, via a monthly subscription fee.  But most of them seem to be the out of copyright films already available for free at Archive.org.  The movies will be viewable on the video iPod.

 UPDATE:

iTunes is updated with movies and games.  Enjoy Pirates of the Caribbean, Life Aquatic, or play a game of Pac-Man.  All with your iPod.  Sadly the movies are way more expensive than if you just bought the DVD, ranging from 9.99 to 14.99.  The games aren’t cheap either at 4.99.

GM and others will be adding integrated iPod connectors to more than 56% of their 2007 vehicles. Bring the total number of iPod supported vehicles for 2007 to more than 70%.

The systems will offer iPod charging, improved sound quality, and convenient iPod storage. iPod integration will give the driver full control over the iPod through the stereo controls included with the car.

The rise of iPods over Satellite radio has already been predicted.

In response to a recent lawsuit filed over possible hearing loss the iPod can cause, the latest release of the iPod software adds new volume control limits. It even allows parents to set the max volume and lock it with a password.

Lost now has a season pass in iTunes. You can get the discount of buying the entire season, before the episodes air. 25 episodes of Lost would cost you around $50 if you buy them individually, or only $35 when purchased with the season pass. With the season pass you get all the existing episodes from season 2, and all future episodes - which download automatically. This is in addition to the multi-pass option that was added to some shows, such as The Daily Show and the Colbert Report. The difference is the multi-pass option gives you the most recent episode, plus the next 16.

Apple is again being sued by Apple, the Beatles’ record label. Who the hell are the Beatles?

iTunes has new FREE video content. Best of Ghost Hunters, Vol 1 is currently a free download from iTunes video store. This 44 minute episode lets you relive the best hauntings from season 1.

MacDailyNews is reporting that Levi Strauss is debuting their iPod compatible jeans. Have iPod accessories gone to far?

Design features include:
• Easy Pocket Storage — An iPod docking cradle is built into the jeans and is “invisibly” housed within a side pocket. The Levi’s design team took special care to ensure the iPod unit remains neatly and securely stored in the jean, while the iPod “bump” in the pocket is virtually eliminated. The cradle is equipped with sophisticated technology housed in a red conductive ribbon that allows users to quickly and easily remove their iPod from the pocket to view its screen while staying connected. The jean is machine washable once the iPod is removed.
• “Hip” Controls — A special joystick remote control is externally designed into the jeans’ watch pocket to enable operation of the iPod. Four-way controls allow the wearer to easily play/pause, track forward, track back and adjust the volume control without ever removing the iPod from the pocket.
• Handy Wire Retractor — A handy retractable headphone unit has been built directly into the jean to help prevent tangles and efficiently manage the iPod earphone wires.

Before you upgrade your jeans however, jump over and update your iTunes to 6.02 and the iPod (with video) to 1.1.

New features in iTunes.

• MiniStore New in iTunes 6.

  Discover new music as you enjoy your collection or import new CDs with MiniStore — right from your iTunes library.

• Sync Home Movies New in iTunes 6.

  Create iPod-compatible versions of your own movies using iTunes.

• AirTunes Enhancement New in iTunes 6.

  Simultaneously stream the same song wirelessly to up to three home stereos or powered speakers — using AirPort Express with AirTunes.

The Queen of England has honored Johnathan Ive, senior vice president of design at Apple Computers, with the title of Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE).

The title recognizes Ive’s achievements in industrial design as leader of the team that produced not only the iPod but also the iMac, iBook and Powerbook computer lines in his nearly 13-year career at Cupertino, California-based Apple.

NBC, currently in last place for viewers within the major networks, will be trying their hand at marketing their shows via iTunes. A collection of current and older TV programs will be made available for download through iTunes.

NBC Universal has inked an agreement for 11 shows–current series as well as library programs. This includes NBC’s mainstay “Law & Order,” as well as “The Office,” “Surface,” “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” “Late Night with Conan O’Brien,” USA Network’s “Monk,” and Sci-Fi Channel’s “Battlestar Galactica,” as well as classic library shows “Alfred Hitchcock Presents,” “Dragnet,” “Adam-12,” and “Knight Rider.”

The shows are currently available on the iTunes store for $1.99 each, commercial-free.

Tivo will be adding a new feature that will allow users to transfer recorded video to their portable devices. The TivoToGo service will be expanded to create video that can be viewed on the 2.5 inch screen of the video iPod. The service will cost Tivo users an extra $30, and is not endorsed by Apple. The feature will not be available until early next year.

Don’t have an iPod? Tivo subscribers with 20,000 points you can get a free, limited edition, Tivo-branded iPod.

Apple has announced that since it started selling videos 3 weeks ago, over 1 million have been downloaded.

Steve Jobs said, “Selling one million videos in less than 20 days strongly suggests there is a market for legal video downloads. Our next challenge is to broaden our content offerings, so that customers can enjoy watching more videos on their computers and new iPods.”

This is pretty impressive considering the anemic video selection on iTunes. Although I would say it should do more than “strongly suggest” that consumer want video downloads.

I would also be curious on how many video podcasts were downloaded during the same period.

UPDATE: Slate has good article called, “TV You’ll Want To Pay For”.