In case you missed the completely baffling Gates / Seinfeld ad, here's the skinny: Microsoft is getting serious about polishing the tarnished Vista brand (its words, not ours). According to new reports, that aforementioned spot is just the beginning of Redmond's costly push to "change consumers' perception of Windows," and soon you'll be seeing Microsoft Gurus in your favorite B&M locations. These so-called experts will be there to "explain the benefits of Windows," but we're not sure if they'll only be around to answer inquiries or if they'll be actively approaching you in an uncomfortable attempt to talk about Aero and ReadyBoost. We're hearing that some 155 representatives will be deployed before the year's end at stores like Best Buy and Circuit City, so at least you now know where not to shop if you're terrified of confrontation.

[Via Electronista, image courtesy of StarBulletin]

There you have it, more supposed iPod nano 4G love, unboxed and wearing a distinctive iPod nano 2G lime-colored coat. Must be cold in the house that fruit built from all these leaks.

Update: As noted in the comments, that 2G-style coloring is matched with an old-style squeeze-connector iPod cable, making this leak, at least, highly suspect.

Look, you know the drill here. This may be the painstaking result of some CAD-school-dropout's nights home alone, or the latest in cheapo knock-offs from the Far East. You may be looking at a Photoshop spackled together from newspaper clippings, puppy dog tears, and Steve Jobs' fever-dreams. Or, this could be a really crappy, actual photo of the iPod nano 4G in its packaging. It sure looks enough like what we've been seeing lately to be any / all of the above. Regardless, we'll know the truth real, real soon.

[Thanks, anonymous tipster]

Looks like that Apple event for the Tuesday, the 9th of this month is on. We know it'll be new iPods (they always do iPods for the fall / holidays), but hopefully they'll have a little something special for us. Whatever, just as long as it's not that round, awful looking nano. Go on, hit the comments and get speculating.

First comes smoke, then comes flames a-blazin'. Shortly after hearing that Apple was gearing up to unveil a new iPod nano (at the very least) on September 9th, in flies a curious Best Buy ad that could be evidence of a tweaked iPod touch. According to our tipster, the image in the ad and the image on Best Buy's website are ever-so-slightly different, and while we'd typically pass this off as the result of a fading ink cartridge, we've been expecting new touches for months now. Just a few days left until we figure out what's really going on here.

[Thanks, Samm]

Update: As a few folks pointed out, it seems the image is a touch on the ancient side. Still, we know new iPod touches are coming in our hearts -- we can just feel it.

Our spicy, siesta loving friends over at Engadget Spanish just nabbed a hands-on with Hama's "iPod nano 4G" case on the floor of IFA. The tip came in anonymously about an hour ago and sure enough, there it is, buried in a mountain of iPod accessories and sharing the same smooth arc of the Kevin Rose nano -- as it will from henceforth be known. Hit the read link for all the pics, or check a couple more after the break.

Looks like Apple is continuing to push the envelop of digital music with new "interactive album applications" set for imminent release. The first artist in the cue is Snow Patrol, scheduled to release their latest studio album next month. According to a Polydor production manager, the downloadable, "interactive" application (via AppStore or iTunes or the rumored iTunes version 8?) will offer additional content such as artwork, behind-the-scenes images, and lyrics for iPhone and iPod touch owners -- "A digital booklet that will take you into the videos and content," if you will. Now who says that digital music can't be profitable?

[Via MacWorld UK]

For better or worse, it looks like the so-called iControlPad is edging closer to reality -- or at least something really similar. According to a new image (and our limited Spanish translation skills), Belkin is actually looking to produce an App Store gaming controller, though we're still not entirely convinced that what we're seeing is legitimate. Whatever the case, the JoyPod would somehow, someway provide users who purchased Super Monkey Ball to play it using a bona fide game pad, though we can't figure out if the iPod touch / iPhone slips in behind the controller or if it just morphs to fit the JoyPod's space constraints. Guess we'll see (or not) soon enough.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Update: Belkin pinged us to say this is 100% fake. Ah well, at least you know the truth now.

Trying to divine what Apple's up to from patent applications is never easy, but every now and again the diagrams actually make it obvious -- and it looks like Steve and his elves are hard at work on large-format touch interfaces, possibly for a tablet Mac of some kind. The latest touch-related filing is some 52 pages long and details everything from working with multiple finger inputs to onscreen keyboards how window controls would work, but we're mostly transfixed by the claw-like demon-hands that seem to be operating all this kit -- apparently Apple engineers have the same nightmares as the rest of us. If we had to bet, we'd say that a tablet Mac is still a long ways off, but we've been wrong before -- and there's always a chance Steve's got something wild in store for next month.

[Via AppleInsider]

Apple's taking a pretty lackadaisical attitude toward one of the most easily avoided security flaws in recent memory, calling the iPhone's passcode lock bypass a "minor iPhone security issue" and saying that a fix will be rolled out in September. Thanks, Apple; we suppose it'd be a little too much trouble to ask for a fix sooner, even though you already fixed it once in 1.1.4. For what it's worth, a company spokeswoman is quick to point out that the flaw can easily be hidden by changing the home button double-click functionality to take you to the home screen, but most users don't know that, now do they? Way to show some hustle, guys -- cookies and gold stars all around.

You have to figure that major news outlets keep obituaries on hand for all kinds of public figures and celebrities -- still, you can't help feeling a bit of a chill upon learning that notice of Steve Jobs' death mistakingly hit the wires yesterday afternoon. A slip-up at news outlet Bloomberg caused the lengthy obituary to roll across a number of screens before being pulled -- but not before a Gawker tipster was able to send off a copy to the gossip site. Under normal circumstances, this would probably come off as a random gaffe with minimal impact, but given recent reactions / over reactions concerning Jobs' health (thanks in no small part to his appearance at WWDC, pictured above), this comes off as a rotten-timed moment in journalistic and technical butterfingerism. We can only hope this didn't send too many investors into a tailspin -- we'd hate to see any War of the Worlds moments caused by something so silly.

[Via CNET]

Folks, be honest with us here -- did you really expect Orange and / or Apple to say anything other than this? Amidst reports that iPhone 3G line sitters at Polish Orange stores were actually paid to be there, the carrier has shot back in order to defend its dignity. In an e-mail reply to an Ad Age inquiry on the matter, a spokeswoman proclaimed that as "part of the excitement around the launch of the iPhone, some of [Orange's] team has been joining customers outside [of the] shops." She also noted that "sales were strong" and that Orange "was happy," though actual numbers were not revealed. So there you have it, now make of it what you will.

[Image courtesy of AppleBlog]

Nothing says "I'm mad as hell about my iPhone 3G's battery life and I'm not going to take it anymore" better than blasting it out of a loudspeaker. Bonus points for that loudspeaker being integrated with a battery pack, which in turn connects to your -- you guess it -- iPhone 3G (or original iPhone, if that's how you roll). Well, $44 to the folks at Brando will buy you that very opportunity, it turns out. Who knew?

Apple's iPhone 3G ads paint a pretty cheery picture of the device in action, but just as many of you have noted, the omission of Flash and Java means there's a big difference between what the "the real internet" and what's on the iPhone -- enough so that the UK's Advertising Standards Authority has pulled one of Apple's latest ads from the airwaves because it claims "all the parts of the internet are on the iPhone." At least two people complained to the ASA that the ad was misleading because sites that use Flash and Java don't work on the iPhone, and the board agreed, saying that "We concluded that the ad gave a misleading impression of the internet capabilities of the iPhone" because "viewers were likely to expect to be able to see all the content on a web site normally accessible through a PC rather than just having the ability to reach the website." If we had to guess, we'd say this decision is more likely to prompt Apple to be more careful with its ads in the future rather than ever bring Flash or Java to the iPhone, but you know Adobe is feeling pretty smug right about now. Check the ad after the break.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]