With Notch busy over at Minecon and the entire Minecraft world eagerly awaiting the game’s graceful departure from Beta, there was just one thing missing: Minecraft on your iPhone. Though it has long been known to be in the works, the game apparently launches tomorrow, November 17, or now if you’re in New Zealand.

According to iTunes NZ, the game is designed to run on both iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch. You’ll need at least version 4.3 of iOS to run the game, but for most people that won’t be an issue. The $9.99 price tag may be a hurdle for some, but this is Minecraft we’re talking about. Most importantly, the game is a mere 2.3mb so you’ll be able to start downloading as soon as you purchase, without needing to connect to any pesky Wi-Fi networks.

While details on the game are slim, what we can discern from the iTunes screen shots is that the game will have an onscreen set of semi-transparent directional controls. At the center of the four arrow buttons is what appears to be the jump button, and truncated pallet gives you fast access to three items, with the rest presumably available from the player’s inventory.

The game will support multiplayer games, but it sounds like those will only be possibe via Wi-Fi and will be hosted on the user’s phone. The description of the game at iTunes says, “invite and play with friends to your world.” Which, while difficult to parse, sounds a lot like how Animal Crossing handled multiplayer; one player hosts the game and the rest are visitors.

It’s not clear how the pocket version of the game will interact with the PC version, if at all, but who cares, because you’ll have the ability to play Minecraft wherever you are. In short, I will never be able to use my aging iPhone 3GS ever again because its precious battery time will be entirely given over to building fortresses.

(iTunes NZ via)

Relevant to your interests

• Some amazing Minecraft creations
• Even more amazing Minecraft creations
• Minecraft apparently has an ending now

On October 23, 2001, Steve Jobs unveiled the first generation iPod. It was a modest announcement held in an Apple conference room for a small clutch of reporters; downright spartan compared to the spectacle that would come to define future product launches. The short presentation ended with the unveiling of a white, handheld digital music player with large capacity and an intuitive design. The rest, as they say is history.

Here in 2011, it’s hard to imagine a world without the ubiquitous music player or the tablet and smartphone that followed in its wake. Back in 2001, MP3s were just on the cusp of becoming something big. Looking at the lackluster competition the rise of digital music, Apple saw an opportunity to move behind home computing — which at the time was the company’s soul focus — and move into consumer electronics. It was a gamble that paid off, and paved the way for the company’s restoration as a major player in the tech industry.

(via Macworld, image via Ken Fager)

Relevant to your interests

• If it weren’t for the iPod, we’d all have to use MiniDiscs
• iPod magic tricks

Flash Media Server will allow publishers to take their Flash content and create comparable HTTP content that can be viewed on iOS without any adjustment to the devices or the Safari browser. Instead of using the actual device to render the stream, Flash Media Server will do it instead, preventing Flash content from totally devouring your battery life. Flash Media Server is now available for purchase for by publishers for a cool $4,500. Get to it guys, I’ve got several years of back-catalog Flash content I need to consume on my iPod post-haste.

(via BGR)

9to5Mac reports that an announcement was made at a Las Vegas trade show that GameStop will begin carrying the full line of Apple’s iOS devices in stores. GameStop has also begun accepting iOS device trade-ins for in-store credit, because of course they would. They’re seemingly accepting trade-ins before they have actually obtained stock of new iOS devices to sell, which could suggest that — aside from oh, GameStop — GameStop may be waiting for the iPhone 5 before they begin stocking new iOS items.

The stocking of iOS devices would make sense for the games-store-come-pawn-shop, as the mobile device market is technically the biggest market of gamers, albeit an extremely casual market of gamers who are outside of GameStop’s reach, which is exactly why it makes sense for GameStop to begin carrying the devices that put gamers outside of said reach.

The current rumor is that the iPhone 5 will hit this coming October, one month away, and will launch on AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile, though there isn’t word yet regarding how GameStop will handle device activation. If there’s one thing we can be sure of regarding how GameStop will handle selling the iOS devices, it’s that their paragraph-long sales pitch when they answer the phone is going to get a few more sentences.

(9to5Mac via Techmeme)

If you are honest, gentle reader, you probably have a rough list of books that you’ve been meaning to read for a long time. The kind of classic you pick up in a bookshop, the kind that makes you mull over how it would change your life until you remember that the latest Twilight/Dan Brown crossover novel has come out and skitter off to buy that instead.

But thanks to so many books passing into the public domain and the pioneering work of organizations like Project Gutenberg, more foundational works are available for free than ever before. And what’s more, the widespread use of e-readers like the iPhone, iPad, and Kindle mean that you can now read and store these books with ease and comfort.

Unfortunately, good, free books for e-readers are often tough to come by. The top free book list on Apple’s iBooks can be hit-and-miss; finding free books using the Kindle’s navigation is a laborious process, and again frequently includes more self-promoting teaser tomes from marketing gurus than it does books that you really want to read. Even if you have a specific classic in mind, the first search results are often ‘critical editions’ of the books which, while providing context and generally not costing as much as new releases, aren’t free. You clicked this link because it had ‘free’ in the title, right?

Below is a brief, curated list of the some of the best books available, for free, and formatted for the eReader of your choice. Remember, many of these are platform-agnostic: nearly all the Project Gutenberg books are available on the iBooks store, and the Kindle app runs on numerous platforms.

Also, because many of these books are in the public domain they lack important extras like notations, footnotes, and indices. You might think these aren’t important, but try reading The Aeneid or Shakespeare without them. You could spring for the pay-versions, but why not use another free resource and take a trip to your local library instead?

Without further ado, here are 50 Free, Classic eBooks That You No Longer Have An Excuse Not To Read.

Sci-Fi/Fantasy

20,000 Leagues Under The Sea – Jules Verne (Project Gutenberg)

This story has been remade and redone so many times that most people forget that the story revolves not around a submarine, but a crazed madman on a quest for revenge. Enjoy the madness, and the painstakingly thought-out technology of Jules Verne.

The Time Machine – H.G. Wells (Project Gutenberg)

Far, far better than any of the laughable adaptations, it’s mostly a social commentary on class. But it’s a lot of fun, from one of the original Sci-Fi masters.

Frankenstein – Mary Shelley (Kindle Store)

When she was 18, Shelley wrote this book, made herself and characters legendary, and arguably outshone her husband, “Ozymandias” author Percy Bysshe Shelley.

Looking Backward: 2000-1887 – Edward Bellamy (Project Gutenberg)

A man falls asleep in 1887 and rip-van-winkles his way into the dawn of the 21st century, discovering much that is shocking. Though originally intended as a social commentary on 19th century, it is nonetheless instructive well past the its prognosticated future.

Dracula – Bram Stoker (iBooks)

A surprisingly fun and breezy read, dripping with all the trappings of the Gothic novel. Shapeshifting, bloodletting, monstrous bats, and seduction buzz around the book. If you’ve only seen/read modern vampires, this is a must.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz – L. Frank Baum (Kindle Store)

You’ve seen the movie, and your history teacher probably told you it was an allegory about gold or something, but it remains a readable, highly imaginative work a century after its publication.

Grimm’s Fairy Tales – Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm (Project Gutenberg)

Whatever you think you know about these stories is probably wrong. They are far, far stranger than you’d expect. We didn’t put this in the children’s books section of this list for a reason.

The Chessmen of Mars - Edgar Rice Burroughs (Kindle Store)

There are so, so many good free Rice Burroughs books in the public domain that it’s tough to know where to begin; the Tarzan author’s Chessmen of Mars is a good place to start. Though it falls in the middle of a longer series, previous reading is optional, and how can you beat a premise like “Held captive by grotesque bodiless heads, Princess Tara of Helium was rescued by a warrior who dared not reveal his name. But escape led the daughter of the Warlord of Mars into even more loathesome peril — as the prize in a bloody game of living chess”?

The Works of Edgar Allan Poe – Volume 2 (Kindle Store)

There are five collected volumes of Poe available for free on Amazon, but the second volume stands out from the rest for containing many works which would later be called the beginning of science fiction. It also contains “A Descent Into the Maelstrom,” whose strange structure is sometimes heralded as the beginning of post-modernism. Clearly, an author ahead of his time.

History

The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire – Edward Gibbon (Kindle Store)

The entirety of Edward Gibbon’s sprawling, epic history is available for free download. Shocking in its time for its critical portrayal of early Christianity and its rather favorable take on “paganism,” the book is as important for its crisp prose as for its rigorous use of primary sources.

The Life of Abraham Lincoln – Henry Ketcham (Kindle Store)

There’s no shortage of biographies of Abraham Lincoln, but how many were written by a general in the Union army? There’s this one, and and that’s probably all you need.

On War – Carl von Clausewitz (Kindle Store)

Part historical examination, part military strategy and philosophy book, this tome by a 19th-century Prussian officer continues to be read by generals and even businessmen to this day because of its incisive theoretical nature. Though the book refers primarily to wars between the militaries of established states, its lessons still apply to nuclear warfare and confrontations with terrorists.

The Book of the Dead – Sir E. A. (Erner Alfred) Wallis Budge (Kindle Store)

An early translation of the Egyptian Book of the Dead. Mummification is only the beginning. Also, later spiritualists drew from this work for their crack-pot beliefs, so you’ll earn some spooky points by owning it.

Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft – Sir Walter Scott (Kindle Store)

A collection of reports and trials concerning witches and the paranormal. At one time considered to be the fore-most scientific discourse on the subject, and now a relic of a lost world view.

Slave Narratives: a Folk History of Slavery in the United States From Interviews with Former Slaves Maryland Narratives - The Works Project Association (Kindle Store)

One of the few sources that allows former American slaves to speak with their own words. They tell a different story of this country’s horrific practice of slavery than you got in your grade-school social studies book.

The History of the Peloponnesian War – Thucydides

One of the earliest histories, this is a record of the ancient war that reshaped the Greek world written by a general that shaped the conflict.

Fiction

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (iBooks)

Forget Dr. House. Sherlock Holmes stops criminals, great and small, with the power of deductive reasoning and an encyclopedic memory. Also, he’s a coke fiend. Love it!

Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen (iBooks)

Though the original is notably lacking in zombies, it remains a great read. Even if you think that 19th century social commentary sounds like a snoozefest, you will be gripped by the wit and sharpness of this tale of marriageable English sisters, even if you don’t want to admit it.

Moby Dick – Herman Melville (iBooks)

The biggest metaphor about whaling ever written. It nearly ruined Melville in his lifetime, but was later recognized as a great work of American fiction.

Siddartha – Herman Hesse (Project Gutenberg)

Based on the life of The Buddha of Enlightenment, Hesse’s novel follows the journey of a young man through life on a quest for enlightenment. Short and thought provoking, it’s good for reading during a commute.

Don Quixote – Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (Project Gutenberg)

One man’s hopeless quest for greatness, and the origin of my favorite Scrabble world: Quixotic.

Ulysses – James Joyce (Project Gutenberg)

A challenging, early experimental novel. Some maintain that if you skip every other word, it makes as much sense as if you read it straight through.

Little Women – Louisa May Alcott (Project Gutenberg)

A coming of age story set against a vibrant background in Victorian America. Engaging and insightful to this day.

Crime and Punishment – Fyodor Dostoyevsky (Project Gutenberg)

Russian novels are hard to describe, since they typically twist and turn so much that you end up far, far away from your starting point. Here, a man wrestles with his guilt, but that’s just scratching the surface.

Philosophy/Instructional

The Art of War – Sun Tzu (Project Gutenberg)

Used by everyone from Patton to CEOs to plan their strategy. Even if Sun Tzu’s work has no bearing on your life or your career, you can terrify your opponents by spouting off quotations from it.

Symbolic Logic – Lewis Carroll (Kindle Store)

Taking off his Mad Hatter hat and putting on his Math Hat, Carroll displays his prowess as a theoretical mathematician as well as his penchant for word play.

The Kama Sutra (darn, no pictures) (iBooks)

Impress potential mate with erotic instructions in verse. Don’t see the lack of illustrations as a detriment; think of it as a challenge.

Economic Report of the President (Kindle Store)

They’ll be screaming about it in Washington until 2012. But how many of them do you think have actually read it?

The Prince – Machiavelli (Kindle Store)

The original how-to on running a modern nation with guile and any dirty tricks that spring to mind. He really put the “Machiavelli” in “Machiavellian!”

Dream Psychology – Sigmund Freud (iBooks)

Much of what Freud has said is no longer widely accepted, and should be taken with a grain of salt. But this pioneering work has much to offer those interested in the theories that shaped modern psychology.

Voltaire’s Philosophical Dictionary (Kindle Store)

Certainly out of date in the factual sense, but Voltaire’s opinions on philosophical issues are still fascinating.

Republic – Plato (Kindle Store) (Kindle Store)

Certainly one of the most challenging works in this list, Plato’s work examines the nature of law and what is “just.” This work has gone on to shape many modern conceptions of politics, morality, and nations.

Civil Disobedience – Henry David Thoreau (Kindle Store)

Before Walden, Thoreau literally wrote the book on protesting, and posited the now oft-forgotten central concept of protesting; that you must accept the consequences of disobeying an unjust law.

Common Sense – Thomas Paine (Kindle Store)

A fomenting work of the American revolution, Paine’s pamphlet argued for freedom from Britain in a way that was understandable to the common folk. The result was an instant success, and no doubt played a part in uniting the yet-unborn nation.

Thus Spake Zarathustra – Friedrich Nietzsche (Kindle Store)

The downside of having an eBook of Nietzsche is that it’s harder to impress people at a coffee shop with it. The plus side is that you might actually read it.

Mathematical Prose Fiction

Flatland – Edwin Abott Abott (Kindle Store)

You might think that a book written from a member of a two-dimensional universe wouldn’t have much to say on geometry or social structure, but you would be completely wrong. This book does all that, and more, without ever being a chore to read.

Young Adult/Children’s

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll (Project Gutenberg)

A girl falls into a magical, mostly malevolent world. Thankfully she is not accosted by CG drudgery, nor Tim Burton wearing Johnny Depp’s skin like a mask.

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer - Mark Twain (iBooks)

Mark Twain’s classic of early American boyhood, and a portrait of the South. Read it before they replace all references to bigotry and slavery with sunshine and candy.

The Tale of Peter Rabbit – Beatrix Potter (Project Gutenberg)

No childhood is complete without the classic stories of Beatrix Potter. Though it is probably worth it to spring for the illustrated version, as Potter’s paintings are as indelible as her stories.

Plays/Poetry

The Odyssey – Homer (iBooks)

The Trojan War is over, and now the great hero Odysseus must find his way home after angering the Gods. Watch as this clever, debonair hero copulates his way across the mythological Greek landscape trying to return home to his family.

The Aeneid – Virgil (Project Gutenberg)

The voyage of Aeneas, who endures great conflict and eventually leads to the founding of Rome. An enthralling work, that still entertains.

Beowulf (Project Gutenberg)

A town is threatened by a terrible monster, who you gonna call? Beowulf. Forget that awful movie, and bask in the glory of a hero that could tear a monster’s arm off and follow that up with an epic poem about it.

The Canterbury Tales – Geoffery Chaucer (iBooks)

You could not be blamed for thinking that an epic poem written by a medieval monk would be dry reading, but there are few things more ribald than The Millers Tale. Surprise yourself with this one.

Leaves of Grass – Walt Whitman (Project Gutenberg)

If you don’t like poetry, then you owe it to yourself to read this, Whitman’s masterpiece. In this groundbreaking work, Whitman covers much of human life and celebrates life to the fullest.

Eirik The Red’s Saga (Project Gutenberg)

One of the great Viking sagas, chronicling the settlement of both Greenland and, more significantly, North America hundreds of years before Columbus.

The Complete Works of William Shakespeare – William Shakespeare (Project Gutenberg)

Impress friends and enemies alike with your new-found knowledge of the Bard’s famous lines. No, don’t worry about understanding them, you just need to say them.

The Importance of Being Earnest – Oscar Wilde (Project Gutenberg)

Notable not only for being written by Wilde, great wit of his generation, but also for being a genuinely funny play.

The Oedipus Trilogy – Sophoclese (Project Gutenberg)

The bit were Oedipus sleeps with his mother and kills his father is the sanest part of this trilogy of Greek plays. It’s a wild ride.

Satanic Contract Negotiation Techniques

Faust – Johan Goethe (Kindle Store)

Widely regarded as one of the greatest written works, and certainly one of the best pieces of German literature, Goethe tells the story of a man who sells his soul to the Devil, and the fate that befalls him afterward. A moving, engaging, and philosophical work.

Doctor Faustus – Christopher Marlowe (Project Gutenberg)

Another take on the story of Faust, who sells his soul for all the pleasures and wisdom of the world. But Marlowe adds a fascinating demonic character, who steals the show, and is so well written as to rival his contemporaries — which included Shakespeare.

(image via Amelia-Jane)

Update: Geekosystem reader Marilyn directs our attention to http://kindleclassics.blogspot.com/, which provides more in-depth summaries of and links to classic literature available on the Kindle.

Robert Quigley contributed research.

For years, Apple enforced a very stringent policy that greatly limited the warranty of their devices if they were exposed to liquids. This was taken further with the inclusion of Liquid Submersion/Contact Indicators (LSI or LCI) — small tabs that changed color in the presence of moisture.

This has remained an Apple use gripe for some time. Especially when a nameless user might have accidentally spilled black current juice all over his PowerBook while under the influence of Tequila and Law and Order SVU, turning his computer into a messy, unrepairable junk pile. But according to Appleinsider, this policy may be changing.

New iPod repair documents obtained by MacGeneration and posted on Appleinsider indicate that Apple may repair an iPod with a triggered LSI or LCI if:

…a customer disputes whether an iPord with an activated LCI has been damaged by liquid contact and there are no external signs of damage from corrosion, then the iPod may still be eligable for warranty service.

This change, though slight, likely springs from criticism (and lawsuits) of the LCI’s  reliability. Especially on iPods, where the LCIs are located within the headphone jack and exposed to the environment. This is certainly not a 180 for Apple, but for users just trying to get their music players to work it is a ray of light. And while it would be pure speculation to say that this is the beginning of a wider change in Apple’s repair policies for other devices, it is nice to see the famously monolithic company cutting its users a break.

(via Appleinsider)

I missed this awesome casemod when it made the online rounds a while back, but thanks to the magic of Tumblr, I’ve discovered Ryan Luke Johns‘ clever iBoy design. As diagrammed above, it’s got the hardware of an iPod wrapped up in a classic Game Boy case, with a dock connector cleverly inserted such that the Game Boy buttons correspond to iPod functions.

The iBoy is an iPod case with an internal dock connector—allowing the user to control the iPod with the buttons of an outdated Game Boy. Complete with a functioning speaker, hold switch, and headphone port, the iBoy is a user-friendly theft-deterrent.

The iPod has evolved and segmented quite a bit since Johns designed the iBoy in 2006, but this would still look pretty boss with an iPod Classic.

(iBoy via It’s all for you via EPICponyz | Artist’s page)

iOS 4.2, the long-awaited mobile operating system upgrade from Apple, has been the subject of crazy amounts of speculation this past month — Apple had merely announced that iOS 4.2 would be available for download sometime in November, but that didn’t stop iPad and iPhone users from breathlessly counting down and speculating as to why it had been delayed from dates that weren’t official.

The important thing is, iOS 4.2 is here, although Twitter users report that it’s not quite yet ready to download from iTunes. Word is it will be available to download at 10am PST (1pm EST).Update, 1:00pm EST: iOS 4.2 is now ready for download. Just connect your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch to your computer, load iTunes if it doesn’t load automatically, and follow the instructions provided.

Apple has, however, put up a new iOS page heralding the features of 4.2, as well as a press release, reproduced below.

The big new features: Multitasking for the iPad (finally!), AirPlay, which allows Apple TV owners to wirelessly stream music and videos from their portable iDevices, and AirPrint, the driver-free wireless printing feature. Apple has also made Find My iPhone, which used to require a MobileMe subscription (and which works for the iPod Touch and iPad as well), free to all.

Press release:

Major Software Update Brings Multitasking, Folders, Unified Inbox, Game Center, AirPlay & AirPrint to iPad

CUPERTINO, California—November 22, 2010—Apple® today announced that iOS 4.2, the latest version of the world’s most advanced mobile operating system, is available today for download for iPad™, iPhone® and iPod touch®. iOS 4.2 brings over 100 new features from iOS 4.0, 4.1 and 4.2 to iPad including Multitasking, Folders, Unified Inbox, Game Center, AirPlay® and AirPrint.

“iOS 4.2 makes the iPad a completely new product, just in time for the holiday season,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “Once again, the iPad with iOS 4.2 will define the target that other tablets will aspire to, but very few, if any, will ever be able to hit.”

iPad users can now run their favorite apps and switch between them instantly, while preserving iPad’s legendary battery life. Users can organize their apps with drag-and-drop simplicity using Folders, and Mail now features a Unified Inbox, fast inbox switching and a threaded message view.

Game Center allows iPad, iPhone and iPod touch users to challenge and play friends or be matched automatically with new opponents, showcase their scores and achievements, and discover new games their friends are playing.

AirPlay is a new feature for streaming music, video and photos wirelessly from iPad, iPhone and iPod touch to Apple TV®, transforming Apple TV into a great accessory for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch. iOS users also will be able to use AirPort Express® and AirPlay to stream wirelessly to any stereo or powered speakers, or directly to AirPlay-enabled speakers coming to market in the months ahead.

AirPrint is a next-generation Wi-Fi print architecture that dramatically simplifies printing by completely eliminating printer drivers. A selection of AirPrint enabled printers including the HP Photosmart, HP LaserJet Pro and HP Officejet will be the first to support printing direct from iOS devices. iPad, iPhone and iPod touch users can simply tap to print their documents or photos wirelessly to any printer that supports AirPrint.

The Find My iPhone (or iPad or iPod touch) feature is now free to use without a MobileMe℠ subscription and helps you locate your missing device.* The Find My iPhone app is a free download on the App Store℠ and lets users easily locate a missing device on a map and have it display a message or play a sound. Users can even remotely lock or wipe data from a lost device to protect privacy.

Other new features that iOS 4.2 brings to the iPad include: the ability to rent TV episodes directly to iPad using the iTunes® App with a 30 day viewing window and a 48 hour session window once playback is started; the ability to easily find and highlight specific words and phrases on web pages in Safari®; enhanced enterprise support so businesses can take advantage of stronger security features, new device management capabilities and improved enterprise integration; industry-leading accessibility enhancements; and support for 25 additional languages, including Korean, Portuguese and Traditional Chinese.

The revolutionary iPad allows users to connect with their apps and content in a more intimate, intuitive and fun way than ever before. You can browse the web, read and send email, enjoy and share photos, watch HD videos, listen to music, play games, read ebooks and much more, using the innovative Multi-Touch™ user interface. iPad weighs just 1.5 pounds, making it easy to carry and use anywhere.

Today, customers have downloaded more than seven billion apps from the groundbreaking App Store and more than 300,000 apps are available to consumers in 90 countries, with more than 40,000 native iPad apps. Over 125 million iOS users around the world can choose from an incredible range of apps in 20 categories, including games, business, news, sports, health, reference and travel.

Availability

The iOS 4.2 update is available today to download to iPad, iPhone and iPod touch by syncing the device with iTunes 10.1. iOS 4.2 is compatible with iPad, iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, second and third generation iPod touch (late 2009 models with 32GB or 64GB) and new iPod touch. Some features may not be available on all products. For example, Multitasking requires iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, third generation iPod touch (late 2009 models with 32GB or 64GB) or later.

*The free Find My iPhone feature is available for iPhone 4, iPad or new iPod touch (4th generation).

Hate to go with two ‘someone just released a beta of something’ type posts in a row, but it’s that kind of day! Apple has released the first developer’s build of the much-anticipated iOS 4.2 for iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch through its Dev Center. Yes, that means multitasking for the iPad, although only iOS developers will be able to download it from thence. Apple has also put out a press release formally announcing AirPrint, the wireless printing architecture that Apple showed off at its fall event.

For non-developers, iOS 4.2 will be available to the rest of us as a free download in November.

By their powers combined …

(via TDW | by Renier Martinez; minor killjoy note below.)

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[One TDW reader points out that the diagram isn't quite accurate: "The bottom portion of last gen nano is entirely different controls to the shuffle (capacitive touch wheel vs clicky buttons) and the top portion of the old nano is entirely different from the new nano (wide screen vs square, no touch vs touch, camera+mic vs no camera+mic)." But c'mon, it's still funny.]

Rumors abound about what afternoon’s press announcement from Apple will bring: The long-rumored iPod Touch 4G; streaming iTunes; an Apple TV reboot; iOS4 for the iPad. The guitar pictured on Apple’s press invite teases musical news of some sort, and RWW notes that Apple fall events “have always focused on the iPod line.” So: We’ll just have to see, and soon.

At 1pm ET (10am PT) you’ll be able to watch streaming video of the event at Apple’s website: However, Apple says that only Mac users will be able to follow the event, thanks to the internally-developed protocol they’re using to broadcast it. This isn’t entirely true — if you’re a PC user and can watch this, you’ll be good, and MacRumors has a guide for PC users to work around the kludgy restrictions by using VLC.

We’re not liveblogging the event; however, Engadget, Wired, RWW, The New York Times, Ars, GDGT, MacLife, MacWorld, CNET, and ZDNet are. Gizmodo is also hosting a “meta-liveblog,” liveblogging the other liveblogs. Check ‘em all out!

The UK AA has even gone so far as to coin a term for this iPad distraction epidemic: “iPod oblivion.” Well, that just makes me want to play Elder Scrolls IV on an iPod, now. Thanks a lot, guys. Well, that or it makes me want the iPods to actually be either exploding or vanishing into thin air, mystifying and distracting their owners.

The Association says incidents of this nature have risen 5 percent in the last year, and they worry that driving with mobile devices is getting more and more dangerous:

AA president Edmund King said: ‘When on the move our brains have much to take in and using technological gadgets means that our brains can’t always concentrate on so many things at once.

‘This is when we walk into traffic, don’t hear the truck, or drive cocooned from the outside world.

‘We can’t stop the march of technology but we need to halt the iPod pedestrian, cycle and driver zombies.

For some context on what causes accidents in general, here is a breakdown on the causes of accidents, based on UK and American data:

A 1985 study by K. Rumar, using British and American crash reports as data, found that 57% of crashes were due solely to driver factors, 27% to combined roadway and driver factors, 6% to combined vehicle and driver factors, 3% solely to roadway factors, 3% to combined roadway, driver, and vehicle factors, 2% solely to vehicle factors and 1% to combined roadway and vehicle factors.

So these accidents are of the most common sort, but just what percentage of all accidents is made up by these portable device distractions? A chart that you can download and view from here states there were around 221,0000 total road accidents in the UK in 2002. Those numbers have likely increased a bit, so accounting for that, we can say that these “iPod oblivion” accidents account for about 2 percent of all accidents in the UK. That doesn’t sound like much, but it’s still over 6,000 accidents that could have easily been avoided.

Perhaps the real problem here though is calling it “iPod oblivion” when it’s intended to cover all portable digital distractions. Come on, now, UK AA, let’s not turn iPod into the new Kleenex or Xerox.

(Via The Daily Mail via CrunchGear, image via RideLust)