JBL has introduced JBL On Stage Micro and JBL Radial Micro. Both come equipped with IR remotes for iPod track selection, menu navigation and volume control.

Both JBL On Stage Micro and JBL Radial Micro are compatible with all docking iPods, and incorporate the Apple iPod Universal Dock adapter. Featuring OnePoint design, both units connect with a USB 2.0 cable to synchronize the iPod that’s being charged in a dock with a Mac or PC.

Both JBL On Stage Micro and JBL Radial Micro remember their last volume setting, have touch volume and mute controls and include IR remotes, which make adjusting the volume or browsing the iPod menu a breeze. The units have a built-in mini stereo jack and additional cables for connecting to other digital music player devices, CD players, gaming devices, laptops and desktop computers.

Harman Kardon’s Digital Media Centers are DVD-Audio/Video media servers that rip CDs, transfer the content to an internal hard disk drive, and transfer the files to USB drives and memory cards for playback in portable devices.

The servers also store digital images and plays back compressed music files and digital images stored on portable media and CDs.

A separate DVD-A/V player from the company similarly doubles as a music-filling station, ripping CDs and transferring the content to portable media at up to 4x speed. It also plays back compressed music files and digital images stored on portable media and CDs.

The Digital Media Centers include the DMC 1000 HDD server/DVD player at a suggested $2,999 and the DMC 250 DVD player at $399. They’re due in November.

At the Future of Web Apps conference, held September 13-14 in San Francisco, Odeo’s CEO Evan Williams revealed how his startup podcasting company screwed up.

Last year Williams blogged his thoughts about tech startup companies, publishing his Ten Rules for Web Startups. But according to Williams, he didn’t follow his own rules, letting his company become unfocused and bloated.

“I was working on Odeo at the time I wrote that,” admits Williams, “and I was ignoring most of those rules.”

Williams went on to list the company’s top five screw-ups.

Persian businesswoman Anousheh Ansari,set to be the first female commercial space tourist, is scheduled to lift off on the Russian Soyuz TMA-9 flight Monday, September 18th.

She plans to blog and podcast from space at a site hosted by Los Angeles-based X PRIZE Foundation.

“I‚Äôm hours away from my flight,” notes Ansari at her Space blog. “It is hard to explain my feelings‚Ķ a strange mix of excitement and anxiety. Strangely enough my anxiety is for those who await me here on Earth. My family‚Ķ I know how hard this must be on them. I must say I‚Äôm not enjoying this stage of it all. I just want to get the launch behind me and start floating in the wonderful weightlessness of space.”

Memorex has introduced a news line of iPod accessories, including a portable widescreen display, a speaker system, a clock radio and an iPod boombox.

The iFlip, right, gives video iPods an 8.4 inch widescreen LCD display. It is designed for non-stop use during long travel stretches, providing users with up to five hours of video playback.

Priced at less than $200, it also features a built-in, rechargeable battery that is integrated right into the unit, preserving the iPod device’s own internal battery.

Seagate Technology has announced the results of a magnetic recording demonstration, setting a world record of 421 Gbits per square inch (421 Gbit/in2). Seagate expects the capacity ranges to result in solutions ranging in 40GB to 275GB for 1-and 1.8-inch consumer electronics drives, 500GB for 2.5-inch notebook drives, and nearly 2.5TB for 3.5-inch desktop and enterprise class drives.

A 275 GB media player would be able to hold about 69,000 songs.
At 2.5TB capacity, a hard drive would be capable of storing 41,650 hours of music, 800,000 digital photographs, 4,000 hours of digital video or 1,250 video games. Seagate anticipates that solutions at these density levels could begin to emerge in 2009.

“Today‚Äôs demonstration, combined with recent technology announcements from fellow hard drive companies, clearly shows that the future of hard drives is stronger than ever,” said Bill Watkins, CEO of Seagate. “Breakthroughs in areal density are enabling the digital revolution and clearly indicate that hard drives can sustain their advantage to meet the world‚Äôs insatiable demand for storage across a wide range of market segments.”

Virgin Atlantic has joined other airlines restricting the use of Apple and Dell in flight because of they could potentially catch fire or explode.

Virgin Atlantic has joined Korean Air in restricting the the use of Apple and Dell laptops in the wake of both companies’ recalls of potentially dangerous batteries. Passengers wishing to take a laptop from either company onto a flight must first remove the battery.

Upper and Business Class travellers can use their laptops as long as they plug them into the In Seat Power Supplies.

“As a result of the current problems being experienced by the Apple and Dell Corporations with some of the batteries fitted to some of their laptops, as a safety precaution and with immediate effect, customers wanting to use an Apple or Dell laptop on board can only do so if the battery is removed,” Virgin said in a statement.

“Any removed or spare batteries must be individually wrapped/protected and placed in your Carry On Baggage. This is limited to two batteries per passenger.”

ifrogz has introduced a three-piece silicone iPod case design that not only protects iPods from everyday wear and tear, but lets users create hundreds of thousands of case combinations.

“Most case makers give us only a few basic colors to choose from. ifrogz sees things differently,” said Scott Huskinson, president and CEO of ifrogz. “There’s absolutely no reason why the look of their iPods shouldn’t be as unique and customizable as their playlists.”

Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, a century-old institution described as “elegant and refined, but perhaps a bit fusty,” has introduced a classical music podcast, The Concert. The recordings are from the museum’s regular concert series, and feature performances by acclaimed master musicians and up-and-coming young artists. A new program is posted every two weeks.

“Because of my age, I really didn’t know what an iPod or podcasting was,” confesses the museum’s music director Scott Nickrenz, who’s 69. “But there’s a very young staff here who started whispering in my ear and saying, ‘Scott, you really have to look into this.’ Once I saw the potential of podcasting, it became an obsession — and one of the most exciting things of my life.”

A recent episode takes a look at Chopin’s Piano Fireworks (MP3).

The podcast is Creative Commons licensed, so you are free to download and share both the podcasts and the individual tracks.

Wingspan has just announced iLoad +, an add-on for the company’s iLoad product, that transfers audio and video content from your cable or satellite box directly to an iPod. It’s also great with puppies and appears to have aphrodisial properties.

Wingspan’s iLoad device copies CDs to an iPod at high speed without using a computer or requiring an Internet connection. All album and track information is transferred as well. The iLoad + device is an add-on accessory that plugs directly into the iLoad USB port. The iLoad + device connects with a user’s satellite TV box or cable TV box. Any content that is available to the subscriber can be scheduled for recording and played back on the iPod or a television.

According to Wingspan, the iLoad and the iLoad + not only let you get music and video on your iPod without a computer, but they even help you get lucky.