Created by Japan’s PROTOTYPE design team, iPod Cluster Media is an early proof-of-concept that stitches multiple independent iPod Touches into a hive-mind display wall. Each iPod Touch knows what the other one is up to, letting touch signals on one display influence all of the others. There’s even a remote-control iPod that can be used to send information to the display wall. Check out the video below to see some of the cool multi-multi-touch action:

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The system can even send control information to an external interface (notice the synchronized LED base in the video). PROTOTYPE envisions that their creation will one day be used for interactive digital signage for tradeshows and other exhibitions. While the first version of the iPod Cluster display is formed from a grid of 20 individual iPod Touches, but from the looks of this image, these guys have much, much bigger plans up their sleeves:

I really hope there’s an App for that some day real soon.

[via Mongoose Studios]

Every day that I use my iPhone, I discover yet another cool trick that I never knew I could do the day before. This time, it comes in the form of a little app called Snatch, which lets you turn your iPhone or iPod Touch into a completely programmable remote for interacting with applications on your Mac or PC. Just install the included server software on your computer, make sure that your iPhone and computer can see each other over the same Wi-Fi network, and you’re all set.

For starters, Snatch provides you with a wireless trackpad and scrollpad interface for working with just about any program on your computer. The trackpad even supports multitouch actions like a two-finger scroll or two-finger tap. But the real power of Snatch is hidden beneath the surface in its robust remote editor, which lets you create custom graphical buttons and assign them to any key, button or mouse action on your computer. The app can store up to 8 screens of remote control buttons, and provides an easy-to-use graphical editing screen for creating new layouts.

In addition to being able to build your own interfaces, Snatch offers a library of over 20 remote templates including Adobe CS3 palettes, a Hulu remote control or a PowerPoint slideshow controller among others.

You can get your hands on Snatch over at the iTunes App Store for $3.99 (USD).

Created by AssistiveWare, Proloquo2Go provides users who have difficulties speaking with a mobile text-to-speech system (known as an augmentative and alternative communication, or AAC solution) which allows individuals to quickly verbalize thoughts by pressing on icons on the iPhone’s touchscreen. The system is loaded with a vocabulary of over 7000 words and phrases, and provides an easy-to-use visual interface for finding words.

Proloquo2go features a human-sounding text-to-speech (TTS) engine which provides North American male, female, boy and girl voices. You can also download an update which allows these voices to be swapped out for British ones. There’s also a simple TTS typing interface if you want (and are able) to type words. You can even retrieve recently used phrases at any time and play them back without having to recreate them over and over again. This is a really thoughtful touch.

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While many of you might think $189.99 (USD) is a lot to pay for an app, I can only imagine what a bargain that might seem like if I had difficulty speaking. Especially knowing that traditional AAC devices cost thousands of dollars and are a huge pain to lug around. It’s nice to know that our fun and disposable gadgets can occasionally serve a meaningful purpose. Kudos to AssistiveWare for making a difference.

You can find Proloquo2Go on the iTunes App Store.

The awesome cassette tape player skin is called Retro Stuff is Better, designed by Tony Aguero. Michael Sison calls his Gameboy skin Monochrome. Both have iPod Classic and iPod Touch versions. The iPod Classic version of the Monochrome covers the scroll wheel with a large d-pad. Sweet.

And that’s the appropriately named VHS Heroes skin by Hollis Brown Thornton. I think it looks way better as a laptop skin, but it’s also available as an iPod Touch, Nano and Classic skin. All iPod and iPhone skins sell for $15 (USD), while laptop skins sell for $30. Head on over to Infectious for more designs. The shop also has instructions on applying the skins, but you can also check out Testfreaks’ review of Infectious iPhone skins for a tutorial, complete with photos.

[via holycool]

Designed by Biegert & Funk, the QLOCKTWO displays text that describes the current time using statements like “IT IS NINE O’CLOCK” or “IT IS FIVE PAST TWO”. Individual minutes are conveyed through the tiny white dots in the corners of the clock. A flip of the switch, and the seconds appear as a giant dot-matrix display behind the letters. And if you’d prefer your time in a language other than English, you’ve got a choice of German, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, or French versions too.

The handmade German clock features a painted acrylic or stainless steel face, which tops a sturdy wood box that houses an array of LED backlighting and circuitry required to tell the time. This sophisticated timepiece uses an atomic-synchronized time-signal reciever and automatically adjusts its brightness based on the ambient light around it.

Here’s a demo of the QLOCKTWO in action (in German):

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As much as I love the design, the QLOCKTWO isn’t cheap. It retails for €1099.99 (appx. $1565 USD), and interchangeable color faceplates are available starting at €95 (appx. $136 USD) each over at the Biegert & Funk store.

Now for the good news. If you happen to own an iPhone or iPod Touch, you can now grab a nifty little program over on the App Store that simulates the QCLOCKTWO’s functionality on your wonderdevice for just 99 cents. That’s definitely within my budget.

[QLOCKTWO via Design Milk]

Actually, according to Destructoid’s Anthony Burch’s review of the PC version, Enviro-Bear is the “best, and only bear-driving-a-car-simulator”, which I have to say puts a slightly finer point on it than I did.

Yep, Justin Smith’s Enviro-Bear 2010 is a driving game, but you play a bear who’s managed to get behind the wheel, and all he can do is use a single oversize paw to steer, accelerate, brake, shift gears, and throw crap out of the passenger compartment that gets in the way of his main goals – to eat fish and berries.

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As your bear runs amok through a jungle of clunky pixelated trees, he has to contend with leaves, pine cones, and an out of control badger – all with a single paw. Multi-touch is for wussies. Still don’t get it? Here’s the entire game manual:

1. Grab stuff with your finger.
2. Eat fish and berries.
3. When you are FAT enough, drive in a cave to hibernate.
4. You can throw stuff out of your windows and sunroof!

Ready to get your bear on? Head on over to the App Store now and plunk down that 99 cents you were going to spend on something from the Wendy’s value menu. No iPhone or iPod Touch? Then use your available paw to grab the free PC version here.

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[Enviro-Bear via iamhandheld and indiegames]

WifiPad provides you with the ability to control any game that uses the keyboard on your computer over a Wi-fi connection. Since you can also design and serve custom gamepads, you can use it to build just about any controller design and custom key assignments you want. It can also be used to build a remote keyboard for other non-gaming applications.

Just start up the WifiPad desktop server application (Windows or Mac versions available), set up your preferred key mappings for each game, and you’re all set to play your games using your iPhone or iPod Touch screen. It took me just under a minute to get up and running, and I was able to control a bunch of Flash games without any custom setup work.

Sure, there’s nothing quite like the tactile feel of real keys or a joypad beneath your fingers, and there is the potential for lag if you have any Wi-fi connection issues, but it is still kinda cool to whip out your phone and start controlling your games from across the room using your wonderphone’s touchscreen.

You can grab WifiPad now over at the iTunes App Store.

[WifiPad]

This octopus-like knot-o’-gadgets consists of a Nintendo DS Lite running Electroplankon, a new Nintendo DSi with Korg DS-10, both an iPhone and an iPod Touch, and a Kaossilator, all connected through Belkin Rockstar multi-headphone splitter–and they’ve all been put to good use.

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You may just be witnessing the next generation music game. Guitar Hero is finished; now it’s gonna be all about Playing Crap Lying Around In My Living Room Hero, and this guy is already a winner.

[GearCrave via 2dayblog]

Made by SGP, these metal skins are made of a wafer-thin layer of nickel or 24K gold-plate sealed with an anti-rust coating. Each set of self-stick metal decals for the iPhone and iPod Touch comes with not only a precision cut face plate, many come with a matching metallic accent ring you can stick around the Apple on the back.

The skins come in a variety of colors and styles, ranging from sublime to garish. I personally like the cobalt blue designs the most.

As an added bonus for iPhone and iPod Touch owners, SGP includes a bunch of metal icons for you to stick on other things, presumably cut out of the scrap metal that remains from cutting out the hole for the screen.

And just because you don’t have an iPhone, you don’t have to feel left out of the metal mayhem. SGP makes metal skins for a variety of other electronic gadgets ranging from cell phones to media players to digital cameras. (They also make some really cool wood, leather and carbon fiber skins for laptops.)

Prices for the metal skin kits range from $15 to $25 (USD) depending on the size and complexity of the decals. They’re all available over at the SGP Store.

(FYI – SGP warns that their metal skins are razor-sharp, so you’ll want to read the instructions and use care when applying them, otherwise you might end up with something a whole lot nastier than a paper cut.)

Look at that cute little Amazon exclusive. But the iPig isn’t just endearing: his little 6″x 5″x 6″ piggy body contains 5 speakers – a 4-inch subwoofer, two tweeters, and two 1.5-inch mid-range drivers – with 25 watts of total output.

Then there’s its dock, which is compatible with most current iPod models: iPod mini; iPod nano 1G, 2G, 3G, 4G; iPod classic 1G, 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G, 5.5G, 6G; iPod touch 1G, 2G; iPhone 1G, 3G. That creepy smile lights up when iPig is turned on and blinks whenever iPig is given a command.

As you can see, even if you don’t own an iPod the iPig can still play your music via its 3.5 mm auxiliary input. The rest of the switches on iPig’s butt are self-explanatory, but what do you make of this?

That’s one of iPig’s ears, specifically its right ear. Touch it to raise the volume, and touch its left ear to lower the volume. This is what Speakal calls a gimmick “Humanized Touch Volume Control”.

The iPig is available in all known colors in the universe, as long as it’s white, yellow, pink and limited edition black. Black iPig can be yours for $130 USD, while the other versions are slightly cheaper at $120 USD. And frankly, iPig really needs your support right now, because according to Amazon 89% of people who view iPig actually end up buying iPanda.

True story.

An entry in the iPhone wiki explains the exploit as well as additional info. Apparently the flaw has been exposed for some time already, but the unlockers were hoping to keep a lid on the flaw until the iPhone 3G is released. This is obviously to prevent Apple from finding out and fixing the flaw before the iPhone 3G is released so that people can immediately enjoy a jailbroken iPhone 3G.

However, a company called NitroKey recently began selling a slipstream software that unlocks the iPod Touch 2G using the exact same flaw. Not wanting to have people pay for something that they would soon release for free, the unlockers (I wish I had names, really, this is so awkward) chose to make the flaw public.

The patch that uses this flaw can be found here. You need to have pwnagetool or xpwn to use the patch. Also an iPod Touch 2G.

[via The Boy Genius Report]

The song, “Kids” by MGMT, has been a favorite for people using offbeat methods to play music, so it’s little wonder it sounds pretty good in this cover version. Thank goodness for that ocarina app.

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Now we’ve just got to get someone to test “Freebird” with iPhone apps so we all have something to yell at iPhone concerts.

[Pitchfork via The Weekly Geek ]

KERN is a little like Tetris, except it’s all about placing letters in their proper places. You can move the letter back and forth on the screen while the rest of the word advances downward, and when you think you’ve got it, rush the rest of the letters down. You’re then given a score. Pretty simple, pretty nifty, and very, very geeky–which might make it a perfect iPhone game.

You can even check out a video of KERN in action:

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[KERN via brain of g]

Produced by Solid Alliance and Appare Japan, Finger Olympics 100m lets you “run” a 100-meter dash using only your fingertips. Just place your index and middle finger on the touch screen of your iPhone or iPod touch, and start twiddling them as fast as you can.

It’s sort of like a modern take on the classic Konami Track and Field arcade game. You know, the one where you had to mash on the buttons so hard that your fingers bled if you wanted to be assured of a gold medal. There’s no guarantee that playing Finger Olympics might not leave you with blisters on your fingers either.

And the Finger Olympics are truly and international event since you can share your best run times with your neighbors across the planet thanks to a world high score board.

Finger Olympics 100m is available now over at the iTunes App Store for $1.99 (USD). Appare plans on releasing additional olympic events in the near future. One can only hope that shotput event doesn’t involve spinning around as fast as you can and throwing your iPhone across the room.

Now, Dope Wars is Candy Wars, and it’s available in the App Store for a mere $0.99. Now, instead of taking on the role of a drug dealer, the player is an illegal candy dealer in a future world that has banned candy in a desperate attempt to combat obesity. Instead of slinging weed, you’re trading in brownies. At Catamount Software, a sense of humor is clearly a job requirement.

They’re making no effort to hide the fact that the games are basically the same–in fact, they’re tracking news of the initial rejection and the new game’s acceptance on their official site.

[Catamount Software via Pocket Gamer]

In Sway, you move your character using your fingertips to control their hands as they grab onto objects and swing and sway through a maze of worlds, charged with the (not-so-innovative, but still fun) task of collecting stars before the clock runs out. And with character names like Lizzie, The Friendly Ninja, Benny the Bear and Recyclable Man, what’s not to like.

The gameplay mechanic sort of reminds me of a modern day take on the classic arcade game Crazy Climber, but instead of climbing up a building, you’re climbing up, down, left and right across the landscape. Be sure to check out the video clip below to see the game in action.

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Sway is the latest creation out of Illusion Labs, the same guys who gave us the addictive multitouch skateboarding game, Touch Grind. Expect the game to hit the iTunes App Store any day now.

Yep, that’s the idea behind interactive artist Eric Loyer’s new iPhone app, Ruben & Lullaby. By jostling your iPhone, you’ll make the lovers angry. Give them a little stroke, and they’ll calm down and maybe even shed a tear.

Your motions and gestures control the destiny of the young couple, and each action produces a real-time reaction from the characters in your little mobile drama. It’s sort of like a Tamagotchi for adults, with a couple, on a park bench.

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Ruben & Lullaby is the first of Loyer’s Opertoon series, which envisions animated stories that can be played like a musical instrument. While the concept of two fighting lovers seems a bit odd, the interactive component could be pretty cool for other animated stories.

It’s available now over at the iTunes App Store.

Software Engineer Michael Lauer recently released SID Player, which emulates the 6581 SID audio circuit from the C64. Of course, what’s a sound chip emulator without tunes? SID Player has you covered, providing on-the-go access to a collection of over 33,000 C64 music tracks by linking up with HVSC – the High Voltage SID Collection.

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Enjoy classics like Commando, Arkanoid and Yie Ar Kung Fu, along with thousands of original chiptunes by over 1,100 contributors. Each SID sound file only takes up a few K of your memory, and the files are tiny enough to be quickly downloaded over an EDGE or 3G connection, so fill ‘er up!

SID Player is available now from the iTunes App Store for $2.99 (USD), which according to my math, works out to be way, way, way less than a penny a tune.

[via electrobeans]

The article adds, “upon listening to an artist, you may click on the artist name and watch music videos of the artist on YouTube through Wi-Fi (WPA and WEP support included).” Other features that the new Walkman are supposed to have include a built-in link to Amazon’s online music store, a dedicated You Tube app, podcast downloads as well as online software updates.

This rumor is so hot that all we got was the mock-up… so yeah. No other pics. Just got logos and pasted em together. Anyway the new Walkman is said to also have a built-in S-Master digital amplifier and noise canceling capabilities. To differentiate themselves from the competition, Sony are calling the new Walkman “iPod Touch”. Kidding.It can play cassette tapes. No. The new Walkman also has a built-in FM radio. If any of you technabob viewing people get to go to CES ‘09,do  tell us if  any of this is for real or if I just made it up.

[via Sony Insider via anythingbutipod]

With their ear-like appendages, these Green House SPA-214ct speakers do look a little bit goofy (or like some other Disney character with big ears), but they do put the speakers in just the right location to provide decent stereo sound.

When not in use, the speakers rotate out of site and hide on the back of an acrylic case that envelops your Touch. The speaker also acts as a stand for your device thanks to a clever hinge mechanism that swings into action when the speakers are stowed.

A built-in rechargeable battery can be juiced up via your USB port, and you’ll get about 8 hours of sound on a single charge.

While the speakers are officially designed for the iPod Touch, you might be able to get it to work with an original iPhone too, but you’ll need to flip into Airplane Mode to use them. Originally available only in Japan, the guys over at Dynamism have brought these to the States for $59.99 (USD).