This Lego-look speaker will pump some sound for the iPod Classic, iPod Nano, iPod Touch and iPod Mini. The USB-charged speaker blocks come in red, blue, green, white, black  yellow and pink.
No details on how powerful it is, but probably enough to annoy someone in the next cubicle over.
At around $20, it’s an idea for the random people on your list.

Available at Delight

One argument against it: Industry observer Michael Gartenberg thinks Microsoft won't make its own cellphone because doing so would potentially destroy its partnerships with companies that sell Windows Mobile-based devices, like Motorola (MOT), Palm (PALM), and HTC. "Microsoft now has traction with more than 20 million licenses out there and a great stream of partners and new phones for consumer and business use," Gartenberg says.

The problem: Windows Mobile isn't Windows, lacking both its market share and price tag. Those 20 million licenses don't make much for Microsoft, which only charges $8 to $15 per phone, according to research firm Strategy Analytics. Even at the high end of that range, selling 20 million licenses in a year is just $300 million in revenue for Microsoft. That's couch lint for a company whose sales are expected to near $70 billion next year.

Meanwhile, Apple (AAPL) just shipped 6.9 million iPhones last quarter for $4.6 billion in revenue. Plus whatever revenue Apple gets from selling "halo" Macs to iPhone owners, iTunes songs, and iPhone App Store purchases. Plus whatever goodwill synergy Apple gets with its other products, like using the iPhone as an awesome Mac remote.

So, about that Windows Mobile partner stream? Microsoft would have to sell 300 million Windows Mobile licenses -- almost one third of the mobile market -- at $15 apiece to near $4.6 billion in revenue. And that's not happening next year, 2010, or any time soon. (Moreover, we're not convinced someone like HTC would ditch Microsoft if it were still making money selling Windows Mobile phones.)

Can Microsoft build an iPhone? Probably not. But it doesn't have to build an iPhone yet. It just has to build something better than the phones that currently run Windows Mobile, Palm OS, and lesser phones. Which can't be be that hard, especially with the help of Danger, the mobile platform company Microsoft bought earlier this year.

What's the payout? Even if Microsoft can sell just 1 million Microsoft-brand phones next year at a very low, $300 wholesale price -- half of the iPhone's -- it could equal that $300 million in hypothetical Windows Mobile revenue. Plus commissions on app sales, a few pennies of search revenue from built-in Live Search, potential Xbox tie-ins, etc. Not the dumbest idea we've ever heard.

See Also:
Steve Ballmer Pretends Not To Understand Google Android Pricing Strategy
Another Apple iPhone Advantage: Mac Software Companies
'GPhone' Sales Strong: HTC Eyes 1 Million G1s Shipped In 2008
Palm's New Smartphone Platform DOA?

Lay-offs have become common as a winter cold as companies from New York to Silicon Valley cope with the ailing economy. But Apple, in its inimitable way, is hoping a bit of employee shuffling will prevent any more pink slips.

Friday, Palm confirmed it would drop employees from the Treo maker, telling CNET the move was made due to “challenges facing our company and the industry.” Although Palm didn’t mention the number of layoffs, Silicon Valley blog Valleyway put the figure at 1,050.

Apple, despite recently eating into Palm’s marketshare, hasn’t escaped worrying about a slowdown in consumer demand for gadgets. However, instead of jobs cuts, the Cupertino, Calif.-based company is experimenting with reduced hours for its sales staff and extra duty for Apple Store workers more accustom to answering support questions or tackling creative tasks.

As part of the limited trial, Mac Specialists, who greet customers at the door and push Apple products, will have their part-time schedules reduced by four hours. To compensate, Apple Geniuses will be asked to take up the slack - working four extra hours per week as a Specialist. Apple employees working in the Studio are will be required to work eight hours in sales, according to Apple Insider.

The job shuffling effects an unknown number of Apple retail locations. The trial results will determine whether the job shuffling will expand or be ditched in favor of ordinary job cuts.

Both Apple and Palm are responding to slower sales. Even usually brisk online transactions are lower, according to a new estimate of sales for this year’s holiday period.

Consumers are expected to spend just $30 million online in November and December, according to researchers at eMarketer. The company revised its previous sales projection, which had been on track to mark another year of double-digit e-commerce growth.

“People are going to be more frugal this holiday season,” analyst Jeffrey Grau said in a statement. EMarketer announced Monday it expects online sales to grow just 4 percent, down from the 10 percent earlier projected.

Online sales will likely increase by 7.2 percent for all of 2008, less than half of the 19.2 percent reported in 2007.

Meanwhile, in a bit of economic irony, Palm’s saviour may come from its rival Apple. Jon Rubinstein, Apple’s former senior engineering vice-president, in September joined Palm’s board of directors as part $725 millionfrom investment firm Elevation Partners.

Below are a few WinterBoard mods that have come out recently. There are two themes; My Pink Theme (via iSpazio) and Unreal (via BigBoss). The other mod is a clear lockscreen mod titled Best Clear Lockscreen (via BigBoss). This will make your slider background, keypad background and clock background transparent. It looks really nice if you also have a transparent theme on your iPhone. I’m all about transparent themes though lately I have been very satisfied with the Smoog theme and have been keeping it around. What I would really like is a nice rustic brown theme (I’m feeling winterish). I thought I was going to get that with the FootLight theme (via BigBoss) but, it only modded a few icons and I only really liked the Wallpaper and the Safari, iPod, Settings and Camera icons. All of these mods are activate via WinterBoard. Check out the screenshots below.
… [visit site to read more]Related Articles:

• WinterBoard Mods
• New Themes for WinterBoard
• WinterBoard Mods
• WinterBoard Mods
• New WinterBoard Themes

We just received word here at Mashable that Yahoo found the service so successful in their India test launch that they’re extending the product for inclusion in US search results off main Yahoo.com search queries.

They’re starting out with a limited set of search terms, pulling content from Wikipedia entries, Flickr photos, YouTube videos, and news. It’s an interesting way to get at-a-glance update on who a particular new player in the news might be or for a quick briefing on what might be going on about a certain current event, very similar to the modus operandi over at Mahalo.

---
Related Articles at Mashable | All That's New on the Web:

Yahoo Glue Launches In India: Visual Search Is This Week’s New Pink
AdaptiveBlue Launches Glue to Show You Who’s Visiting What on the Web
Yahoo Flirts With Social Networking
Yahoo Starts Layoffs While Deciding What To Do Next
Yahoo’s Playing with our Mashing Emotions Today
Yahoo OMG. Get Your Celeb Gossip Here.
Yahoo Launches An Eco-Guilt Trip

The quirky brand born from a Toyota Camry trunk in 1989 (known for T-shirts and, no, they don’t make cupcakes) has just added its crossbone-cupcake logo to these cases for the iPhone and iPhone 3g. They come in silver or hot pink and cost $24.99 from the online store.

Via Ctothejl

TUAWFirst Look: My Little Tank for iPhone originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 17 Nov 2008 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

What do you do when a box shows up at your door one day and you haven’t been expecting it? Well, you do what I do when stuff from JAVOedge shows up - you rip it open like its Christmas morning. This time though I was in for a HUGE shock - this particular box (which again I wasn’t expecting) had not one, not two but over twenty cases in it! Naturally, I sent an email to my friends at JAVOedge and made sure they really meant to send this to me - because frankly I thought maybe they made a mistake. Turns out I was wrong, they really did mean to send all these cases to me, and they really did want me to review them and better yet they want me to give them away! So, I will be doing that soon - I’m just not quite sure yet how to do that, so make sure you keep an eye on the site because I’ll figure out how to do it soon.

Well, enough talking! Let’s get started!!

(All images open up to a larger image) Click on through for a look at each set of cases!

Tattoo Collection

Naturally I didn’t use the Tattoo case for very long, because well frankly butterflies just aren’t my style. However, I think this back cover is one of the sharpest looking of the whole group. The blue one in particular caught my eye because its got a really nice sheen to it which looks great with the white and the black iPhone 3G. These are the thinnest of the group (about a single credit card thick), and also the least "grippy" of the group. "grippy" meaning the least likely to help prevent you from dripping your phone. They aren’t slippery, but they have a very smooth texture unlike most of the others. JAVOedge - make some (less girly) designs of this style and I’d definitely be interested.

Zig-Zag Collection

The Zig-Zag collection was another case that definitely caught my eye immediately. I’ve Got a white iPhone 3G so naturally I gravitated to the white case and I frankly love it. The case is somewhat slicker grip wise than I expected, but its not slick enough to make me worry about dropping it either. I’m not really sure what material they are using here (the case itself is made of plastic) but the external layer has got to be some kind of cloth with a coating on it - because it definitely looks like cloth but has a slight sheen to it. Anyway, this case (like most of the rest) will add some minor bulk to the device (2-3 credit cards thick) but the solid plastic of the case makes it feel very secure.

Estate Collection

These are by far the shiniest of the pack but also one of the most grippy. Again, I’m not totally sure what the material is but it almost feels like a stitched material with a plastic injection. Its really hard to describe. Thickness remains on par with the Zig-Zag collection, but for me these ones add just a bit more "bling" than I personally care for. Still, the look is classy and fitting of the name "Estate".

Metallic Checker Collection

This is another group that I love the look of. Unfortunately I wasn’t really able to image capture this set as well as I really wanted to but the best way to describe the feel of this back cover is if you were to imagine the thinnest thread you can, crossing back and forth on the cover. It feels a lot like thin cloth close to what you would feel on the shoulder straps of a dress. Very classy feel to it, looks great on the device, feels even better in your hand when you’re holding onto the iPhone 3G. The shimmer of the cover makes the middle one look like a cream color and the one on the right like a gold - however that’s really not accurate - colors for me look like a light tan and a bronze.

Pebble Leather Collection

Classic soft leather feel. End of story. We all know what leather feels like - so there’s no sense in beating this one to death. If you love the feel of a soft leather case but want more protection than one that it just made of leather this is a definite winner. Hard plastic backing with leather molded to it.

Cyber Cover (left)

Cork Cover (middle)

Fiber Cover (right)

I’m going to skip the Cork one for a minute (more below). The Cyber cover also comes in white and was quickly stolen by one of my friends for his black iPhone. This one has a very cool "tech" look to it and the white version with a black iPhone 3G is just incredible. The cover is very smooth, incredibly grippy and one of the best looking and feeling cases of the group. While not the one I would chose for myself (my favorite is coming up) this one would be my second choice if I had a black iPhone. The pink looks great (if you like pink) on both the white and the black 3G.

The Fiber cover is a very deep bronze wood color (despite the lying colors of my DSLR and the flash). Feels very much like the thin thread stitched feeling of the Metallic Checker case.

Urban Collection

My bad on this one. There is and should be a black cover in this collection - but alas it was quickly stolen as well by a friend and for good reason - this is the coolest feeling case - almost like a soft felt. Yes felt. I absolutely 100% love the feel of this back cover and with the black one already taken - I’m keeping the red one for myself. If you’re going to buy one of these covers - my good buy recommendation is for these ones. Black, Red or Tan - all three look really good and feel over better in use.

I said above that I would be mentioning this one again - because it really is deserving of its own section. This is the Cork cover and surprise, surprise its got cork on the outside. Now when I first saw this case I honestly couldn’t imagine that JAVOedge would be able to pull this one off… but they really did. I’m VERY impressed with this cover. Its not the grippiest, its not the shiniest, its definitely not the most hip case of the group, but for everything it lacks in all of that it makes up for in sheer "how the heck did they do this" cool. Make no mistake about it - this looks and feels like a wood cover for you iPhone 3G, and much like the iPhone 3G will definitely have people looking and asking questions. If you’re looking for something different, something to set you apart for the millions of other iPhone 3G owners this is the one.

Before I begin the barrage of other images I’ve got - here’s some quick info - obviously the links above go to the individual product pages. All of the back covers retail at $19.95 - some of them are on sale right now for 15% off. For the long listing of all the covers - click HERE and remember - I’ll be giving away almost all of these cases soon - so keep an eye out for that.

The group focuses on a number of areas, like abstinence, the sanctity of marriage, fighting the corrosive effects of Hollywood, and good parenting. Dobson himself is a pretty big fan of spanking children (he says it's biblically sanctioned).

No word on which political efforts the group will have to pull back.

So I'm sitting on my couch last night with my popcorn and my bunny slippers watching one of TV's great shows - NBC's "The Office". And there is the following exchange between Jim and Pam:

Pam: "I'm failing my computer class."

Jim: “I thought you were good at Flash?”

Pam: “I was. But then they switched to Acrobat just as I was learning Quark. I hate computers.”

You can see this clip here. Or, you can watch the entire episode at the NBC web site (the clip is at Minute 8:00).

Now first of all, we need to give NBC a gentle ribbing for possibly blurring the distinctions between three very distinct software applications - Adobe Flash, Adobe Acrobat, and Quark.  To paraphrase what the Twitter crowd was saying after the episode: "Why exactly would a user switch from Quark to Adobe Acrobat and how does that relate to Adobe Flash?"

All kidding aside, there are a lot of users who have audio content, video content and Flash skills and want to utilize all of these resources to create more compelling, more dynamic business content . And Acrobat 9 is an incredible tool to do all of that. With new support in Acrobat 9 and Reader 9 for Adobe Flash, users are able to convert many common video formats (like MOV, AVI, etc) into Flash video (FLV) and then embed that video content onto a PDF page. They're also able to embed Flash applications (SWF) onto a PDF page. This means that Reader 9 can serve as a universal media player and your recipients will only need the free Adobe Reader to consume your audio or video files.  Read more about the feature set here. And if you haven't seen it yet, download an incredible sample file illustrating this put together by Pink Floyd's David Gilmour. Finally, with Acrobat 9's PDF Portfolios, not only can you bring together many different files and customize the consumption and branding experience using our default Flash-based layouts, but you can also create your own unique Flash layout and customize your PDF Portfolios in any way imaginable.

So you see, Pam? Adobe is working hard to allow you to transition those Flash skills into the Acrobat world. We're confident that with Acrobat 9, you'll be able to create rich, interactive business communications which will benefit the fine Dunder Mifflin paper supply company. Now if we could only come up with some features which will help Dwight with his beet farm and Meredith with her love life. Well - software can only do so much.