Who knew your iPod was more versatile than a Swiss Army knife? Jason Kottke’s list of 50 Fun Things To Do With Your iPod only goes up to 44, but who’s counting? Some of these tips are obvious (”Listen to your mp3 collection in the car”), but some are pretty creative (”Disguise it as breath mints,” your iPod shuffle fits nicely in a case of Altoids).

HE, Holland Electro, may offer the ultimate sound system for your iPod. Designed by Marcel Wanders, the new HE components include Pandora, a small wooden side table with integrated woofer; Egg, beautiful sculpted speakers; and Merlin and Mathilda, antennas for sending music from your computer or MP3 player to your speakers. I think they’d look great with the new iPod Nano.

Via Popgadget

I brought my iPod back to life with a little juice and a plastic crowbar.

You’ll remember that my iPod died. At least, I thought it was dead. I was pretty sure the battery was showing a good charge when it went blank and ignored my attempts to revive it. I went ahead and ordered an iPod shuffle because I had in my head (though I’m not sure where I got this idea) that a replacement battery was about a hundred bucks. Not so. I ordered a NuPower High-Capacity replacement battery from Other World Computing. The battery claims 30% more run time than the orginal battery and cost a mere $25.99. Replacing the old battery took about ten minutes (most of that time spent trying to pry the damn thing open). There’s an excellent video on the Other World Computing site that shows the entire process. Follow along and breathe new life into your iPod.

My iPod shuffle has been on backorder. Now I don’t know if I should cancel it…

I got my free Podwave iPod Portable Speakers from MacConnection today and I can honestly say they are worth every penny!

Since my iPod died I had to try them out with my wife’s. Even at full volume the audio is soft, but reasonably clear. Macally claims up to 8 hours of continuous use for the single AA battery that powers the speakers, which are a bit shorter and thinner around than an iSight. When I do get my iPod shuffle (the Podwave came in two days, but the shuffle is on backorder) it will be smaller and lighter than the speakers, which should make for an odd coupling.

Unfortunately, the free offer ($29.88 with a $29.88 rebate) seems to be over. I couldn’t find any mention of it when I just now checked the MacConnection site. I personally wouldn’t recommend them at full pop (they list for $39), but if you can find a deal somewhere else, I’d say they’re worth the $8.82 I paid for shipping (for both the speakers and the iPod).

You can read a review of the Podwave on iPodlounge here.

Apple announced new iPods today and my old iPod died on cue, like a replicant in Blade Runner.

I’ve been pining for a new iPod since I dropped mine on the sidewalk—even though it continued to work—and I almost caved when I saw the shuffle’s unvieling at Macworld (see Macworld After-Expo Report). Today, while attempting to update my iPod with the latest iPod updater, my iPod went blank (very suspicious, I think). Dead. Kaput. Finis.

But I’ll get over it. Here’s how:

I just ordered a new 512MB iPod shuffle and some Podwave iPod Portable Speakers Version 2 from MacConnection. I didn’t bother to shop around, but this seems like a pretty good deal. The speakers were $29.88, but after a $29.88 rebate, that works out to about… free, gratis, nada. They’ve got to be worth more than that (maybe not much more; here’s a review at iPodlounge). Oh, well I guess there is shipping, but they’ve got to get that iPod to me somehow.

Here’s an Apple mystery:

If you buy a 60GB iPod Photo for $449, AppleCare is $59, or about 13% of the cost of the iPod. If you buy a 512MB iPod shuffle for $99 (Apple’s price; I paid $94.88 for mine!), AppleCare will set you back… $59. That’s 60% of the cost of the iPod! ‘Splain that (actually, I have a theory: the shuffle is disposable). And if you can explain that, I’d sure like to know why, after all these years, Apple doesn’t make a two-button mouse.