Those sites are claiming that there's enough space to fit an iPod nano camera in the iPod touch 3rd generation. This is their evidence:

That's ok. However, if you look at the guts of the iPod touch 2nd generation, you will find there's probably plenty of space to fit a nano camera too:

So Apple may be able to fit the iPod nano camera in the iPod touch third generation and the second generation. So?

The question is: Why the hell should they do that? Why should Apple include the lame 640 x 480 webcam of the nano—a camera that Apple doesn't allow to do still photos because they would look like crap—in a high end product like the iPod touch? Wouldn't people expect the same quality as the camera in the iPhone 3G or iPhone 3GS?

Like I already said in this analysis of the potential reasons, if there's no iPod nano camera inside the iPod touch, it is probably because the nano webcam sucks. Plain and simple. It just doesn't match the feature mix of the touch, and the standard set by the iPhone.

So no, I'm afraid there is no need to find mysterious conspiracies in this one, neither to justify failed rumormongering. In this case, Jobs points out perfectly valid reasons for the exclusion of the camera in the third generation touch, even if that fact sucks. It's a marketing decision on their part, not a technical one. He is not lying this time. You can crucify him for that, if you want. We already did.

I'm sure that, in time, they would include a camera in one of upgrade cycles, when they actually need it. But you can be sure that it will be a decent camera, and not the nano's. [iFixIt's iPod touch 2nd generation and 3rd generation teardown]

Take, for example, these excerpts from a MacRumors chat forum about the event. Apple is widely expected to make a fairly routine update to its line of iPod portable music players, adding larger storage capacities and perhaps cameras. But that's not going to keep the fanboys from fantasizing about jetpacks and unicorns!

Or, literally, rainbows:

Or how about a device that lets you keep 10 years worth of Steve Jobs porn video and audio in your pocket?

What could possibly be better than the Beatles showing up? The Beatles and Steve Jobs showing up, and pushing Phil Schiller to the curb, forever:

This guy is very eager to spend $400 so he can run things slightly faster:

This guy wants to see a real, live, humanoid female! Ha ha, good luck with that buddy LOL:

Finally, here are a couple of overlong wish lists involving AT&T subsidizing the return of the LP, via the iPod, with free cable TV, animated album covers (read: free drugs), half terabyte hard drives and alien "OLED" screen technology. OK!

(Top pic: Jobs holds a new iPod at Apple's iPod event, September 9, 2008. Getty.)

The Missouri University School of Journalism is making an iPod Touch or iPhone required equipment for incoming students. This has students who are PCs up in arms; one student, Elizabeth Eberlin, has started a Facebook group, her generation's ultimate gesture of pointless, passive-aggressive protest, to complain about the move.

But it's okay, say school officials, because "required" actually means "optional." Brian Brooks, an associate dean at the J-school, explained to the Missourian, "If it's required, it can be included in your financial need estimate. If we had not required it, they wouldn't be able to do that." The whole point of the iPhone requirement is to let students listen to recorded lectures, and Brooks admits they only need a laptop to do that.

So basically, this is a scam to let students take out federally subsidized loans to buy iPhones. Presumably they can put AT&T's minimum $69/mo. subscription on credit, too, and pay it off after graduation. We applaud this. Because if there's anything journalism needs, it's students who value gadgetry, theory, and massive student-loan payments over, say, reporting.

At each pass, he faced incredible skepticism; a rational analysis would have predicted defeat. But he persevered. His legion of admirers — and critics — are now wishing him a full recovery now that he begins a six-month medical leave from Apple. And whatever suffering his present physical condition is causing, the mental anguish of acknowledging that he is not well enough to lead his company must be its own particular pain.

Every hero's strength is usually also a flaw. With Jobs, it is his relationship with the truth. That spirit of denial is exactly what has led him to reinvent industry after industry for the past three decades. But the truth about his own declining health — at first flatly denied, then grudgingly confirmed but downplayed, and now confirmed as grave — cannot be changed simply through the power of belief.

In 2005, two years after he was first diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, Jobs waxed philosophical about death in a commencement address he delivered at Stanford University:

Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

Therein lies the contradiction: In his health, Jobs does indeed have something to lose. And following his heart, which surely tells him to ignore the problem, in this matter is dangerous.

Jobs's track record, though, makes his defiance understandable. Having overcome so many other obstacles, why would he not think the aftereffects of cancer would prove trivial, too? Here's the career which helped feed Jobs's hubris:

1976 Jobs, a college dropout, founds Apple Computer with engineer Steve Wozniak. They introduce the Apple I, a personal computer for hobbyists.

1977 Apple introduces the Apple II, one of the first personal computers with a color display. Over the next 16 years, Apple sells more than 5 million units.

1984 Jobs, with a crew of self-described "pirates" pulled from other projects at Apple, introduces the Macintosh, a computer with a graphical user interface and a mouse.

1985 Apple's board fires Jobs. He founds Next Computer.

1986 Filmmaker George Lucas sells Pixar, then an animation-software startup, to Jobs.

1995 Pixar releases its first digitally animated feature film, Toy Story, and goes public; Jobs owns 80 percent, a stake worth nearly $600 million. (Pixar movies make regular appearances in Jobs's presentations for Apple, like this one in 1999.)

1996 Apple buys Next for $430 million; Jobs becomes an advisor to hapless CEO Gil Amelio.

1997 Having lost faith in Amelio, Jobs sells his entire stake in Apple. Amelio is forced out. Jobs becomes interim CEO.

1998 Jobs unveils the iMac.

2000 Jobs drops the "interim" bit and becomes Apple's CEO.

2001 A month after 9/11, to little notice, Jobs introduces the iPod.

2003 Apple launches the iTunes Music Store, with a little help from rock-star friends like Mick Jagger.

2005 The iPod Nano comes out, unveiled by Jobs as an aside at the launch of a now-forgotten iPod-phone combination.

2006 Disney buys Pixar; Jobs's stake is now worth $4.6 billion.

2007 Jobs unveils the iPhone.

2008 The MacBook Air and the iPhone 3G are announced. Observers notice Jobs's dramatic weight loss.

(Photos by AP and Getty Images)

Micorosft's music player has always been an also-ran, a late-to-market entry which mimicked the iPod but offered no new features consumers found compelling. Interviewed at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Ballmer backed into an admission of failure:

In digital music, meanwhile, Mr Ballmer seemed all but ready to throw in the towel on the Zune mobile device, which has failed to gain ground on Apple’s iPod. But he suggested that the focus of competition in digital media was moving onto ground that Microsoft understands well: software.

He said that, with the market for dedicated portable media players in decline, the future lay in more “general purpose” devices – such as Apple’s iPhone and touch.

Asked if Microsoft would counter with a “Zune Phone”, Mr Ballmer said: “You should not anticipate that.”

Great advice, Steve! As if anyone — aside from the media, which loves a good fight — was ever anticipating more Zune products. Even Steven Smith, the fellow who infamously tattooed himself with three Zune logos, has switched to an iPod.

So what has Microsoft "learned" in its "long journey"? Well, it's back to making software, largely for cell phones, which other manufacturers will then deliver to consumer — the model it knows so well from PCs. But that's also the same finger-pointing business model which led it to abject failure in the music-player market before it started a crash program to create the Zune. And a recent glitch which rendered a popular Zune model dead on New Year's hardly furthers the notion of Microsoft being strong in software.

How funny that Microsoft executives think its technical strategy is what needs to change, when the real problem is that the Microsoft brand is far too stodgy to succeed in an image-driven business like music. That's the kind of cluelessness that leads to one failed campaign after another — like a wannabe politician who just can't grasp the idea that no one wants to vote for him.

Simple: It needs to bulk up to contend with the might of Apple, one of the largest buyers of flash memory.
Samsung has supplied the memory chips for Apple's iPhone since its launch last year. Before then, Samsung sold Apple memory for its iPod line, and continues to do so today. Apple is a huge customer for Samsung — so huge that it can command deep discounts, and tie up an enormous amount of Samsung's manufacturing capability. When Apple first launched its flash-memory iPod Nano, it locked up enough production to keep rivals off the market for months. (Even Samsung and SanDisk tried to launch me-too clones of the Nano, to no effect.)

Regulators may block Samsung's SanDisk bid. But they ought to keep an eye on Apple, too. Antitrust cops tend to spend all their time watching for monopolies — sellers who wield undue influence over a market. They should crack open their investment glossaries and look up "monopsony" — the condition that exists when a buyer dominates a market.

(Illustration via Apple Insider)

I’m still trying to figure out why they held an actual event today instead of just putting out a press release. As a fellow filthy hack commented to me after the big show, “Can you imagine if Sony did this?” Nevertheless, there was much cheering and shouting and clapping and whooping, even though much of it came from Apple employees who had been instructed to remove their green event T-shirts so they’d look like regular members of the public. I’m not making that up. Friends, it’s true — Apple brings along its own employees and has them cheer like mad for their own products.

I don't have a problem with updates being reviewed but it has to go a lot faster. Given the no-demos rule, an app lives or dies by App Store reviews. It's incredibly frustrating to watch review after review complain about a bug that you fixed and "shipped" two weeks ago.

Facing an iPod-related patent infringement lawsuit from a company called Burst, Apple's lawyers had to be delighted to find a British inventor who filed lapsed patents on a music player back in 1979. So they called Kramer and asked him to tell a judge that whatever Burst's claims about creating the technology behind the iPod, he came up with the iPod first and was happy to see it doing so well.

"The questioning by the Burst legal counsel there was tough, ten hours of it. But I was happy to do it," Kramer told the Daily Mail. "To be honest, I was just so pleased that finally something that I had done which has been a huge success and changed the music industry was being acknowledged."

For his pains, Kramer received a consulting fee from Apple and is now negotiating compensation for a copyright he owns on a patent drawing that looks like most any early MP3 player. Apple and Burst settled out of court.

Apple has determined that in very rare cases batteries in first generation iPod nanos sold between September 2005 and December 2006 can overheat causing failure and deformation of the iPod nano. Apple has received very few reports of such incidents (less than 0.001 percent of first generation iPod nano units), which have been traced back to a single battery supplier. There have been no reports of serious injuries or property damage, and no reports of incidents for any other iPod nano model.

Any first generation iPod nano customers who have experienced their battery overheating should contact AppleCare for a replacement. Any other customers who have concerns about their first generation iPod nano battery should also contact AppleCare.

Dale sent us his lengthy missive to Steve Jobs:

I am writing this in regards to an issue I have had with an iPod nano, first generation. I have included the relevant pictures of my iPod after this incident and links to related issues.

I had plugged the iPod in to charge on Saturday August 16, 2008. I was using the USB cable that came with the iPod and charging via the USB port on my PC. After being plugged in for somewhere between 5-10 minutes I heard a sizzling sound. I looked down on the iPod just in time to see it explode open and start shooting sparks and spewing smoke. I managed to unhook the iPod from my computer's USB port immediately. I had noticed that a small fire had started on the table I had the laptop and the iPod sitting on, and I managed to extinguish those flames quickly before any apparent damage could be done to my laptop. Unlike in other cases, I've read about, my iPod continued to spew smoke and spit sparks while throwing out some kind of sooty substance from the inside of the iPod for several minutes after removing the cable from the computer. I moved the still spitting iPod from the table and placed it on a book case across the room. I noticed that while doing this, the iPod was still extraordinarily hot to the touch.

I immediately called up the apple tech support line while I opened a window to clear the smoke out of my apartment. After weeding through their electronic menu, I was put on hold for around 15 minutes. This gave me some time to calm down, and after telling the representative that my iPod nano exploded, I was transferred directly to the customer support supervisor at the time. His extension is X86702. He walked me through a 20 minute survey regarding the issue before putting me on hold again to contact the "engineers". After this, he informed me that he did not get through, but would hear back from them that evening for certain. I was also informed that Apple would replace my iPod regardless at this point even though it's older. I have to take a few moments to commend him as he seemed to genuinely want to help me. I had asked what I could do to get a replacement iPod ASAP. I was told to go to the nearest apple store and they should be able to replace it. I also asked if it was ok to make an appointment for that evening, and I was told it would be fine as we should have heard back from the "engineers" by then.

After waiting several hours and not hearing back from the supervisor, I attempted to contact him at the extension and number I was given. This was transferred directly to his voicemail and I did not hear back from him that night. I had then traveled to the local apple store in Pittsburgh, PA to see what could be done about the iPod. Here I was told that "it's been submitted as a request to the 'engineers' and can't be handled". The support tech at the Genius Bar seemed genuinely concerned and opened a separate case file to see if he could do anything to help me out. He found out that all he could do was submit it to the engineers who would NOT be in until monday. At this point, I became overly frustrated that the original tech had led me to believe this issue could have been sorted out that day. Also I do not think I'm being unreasonable by asking a company to replace the iPod with a different iPod product, as I could easily have been hurt or injured by the one that had malfunctioned!

I had asked the tech if there's any way he can replace it as the guy on the phone had told me that the local store could swap it out. He then went into the office to confer with the manager and the GM via phone. He returned to tell me that they can NOT exchange the iPod, and can only escalate the claim to the "engineers". At which point, I became upset that, once again, the original tech was wrong that this could be handled on-site at the local apple store. I once again asked if they could do anything as I'm overly frustrated with the service I'm receiving; I was told that the iPod would be replaced regardless. At this point, the tech went back to the office to confer once again with the manager.

The manager comes out with the tech shortly after and explains to me that no one at apple has EVER heard of this happening (although, I have found articles that counter this), and that she did not believe there was anything that she could do. She asked me to "do her a favor" and wait until monday night (EST) to handle this matter. I informed her that I understand that she's stuck in a hard situation, but I was promised by someone in the support that this could be handled at a local store, and that the iPod would be replaced. She walks back into the back room, and shortly returns with a phone number. She calls up the GM and puts him on the phone with me. At this point, I want to commend the in-store staff as they seemed concerned about this issue and really wanted to make it right. I really do not wish to paint the store employees in a bad way as they had really tried to help me. The GM is, of course, another issue.

The GM gets on the phone and tells me who he is and he's sorry to hear this. He goes on to inform me that they CAN NOT and WILL NOT give me another iPod. He mentions that this has to go to the engineers first before he will even CONSIDER dealing with the issue. I mention that I have read the reports of this happening before, and that there are numerous instances. He scoffs at this and implies that this is a completely unusual occurrence and no one he knows of has heard of it.

I mention to him that the guy at tech support had told me this can be replaced at the local store. Once again, he says that NOTHING will be done until the engineers look at the iPod, and until he talks with them on monday. I ask why that is, and he says "to make sure there are no safety issues or concerns." I asked what were the issues regarding the safety, to which he replied "there are numerous things that could probably cause this". I asked him to name a few, and was met with "the list is too long to mention." I found this odd, as he had told me before he had never heard of this issue, yet could think of a long list of things that could cause an iPod to explode and catch fire.

I continued to ask what the safety issue would be if he just replaced the iPod. To which he said "it could be the cables". I told him that the tech support on the phone informed me that i should not use those cables, and that they would be replaced when the iPod is. The GM informs me that they DO NOT replace cables. I continued to say, but, if he was to replace the iPod and the cables, that it would eliminate any safety risk. He assured me that was not the case. I then informed him that it sounds like he was accusing me of intentionally doing this to my iPod. He claimed he wasn't, but I pointed out that if you replace any and all apple hardware involved, there's no safety issue, UNLESS the issue is with my existing hardware that's not apple. he informed me that that was not the case. I informed him that if this was due to a defective iPod, replacing the iPod eliminates the safety issue. He told me that it might not be that case. To which I asked, what exactly safety issue there was if the fault was NOT with apple software. He repeated that they need to look over the iPod to determine any safety issues before even considering replacing the iPod. I became very frustrated at this point that he was trying to use double speak in order to make excuses and push the blame onto me.

At this point I offered to leave the faulty iPod with the apple store to send off to the engineers as needed, but that I wanted my iPod replaced as I was promised by the tech on the phone. The GM informs me that the tech was in no way, shape, or form allowed to make that guarantee to me. At this point, and I am ashamed to say, I lost my temper with the GM. I told him that I was not pleased at all with this service since I was promised that the iPod would be replaced, and yet it was not going to be. The GM informed me that he wasn't even sure if it NEEDED to be replaced let alone if apple WOULD replace it. After this turn, my language became peppered with profanity. The GM continued on to tell me that he's not going to do anything about the issue, and that I could sit there all night and tell him how he should handle it, but it is NOT now he will handle it.

In other words, the GM wanted to take up more of my time in order to try and push the blame on me for the iPod breaking, completely negate anything I was told originally by tech support, and try to get me out of their store as quickly as he could without doing anything to resolve the issue.

After reading another issue or two, it appears as though apple is now saying that even if it is a faulty piece of equipment and does damage to other objects or people, that it is NOT their responsibility to replace it unless you have a current warranty. I had not picked up the extended warranty due to the fact that, at the time, I had not received word of any issues. Now, I am fully regretting that decision as I'm sure that they would not allow me to take out a warranty now to cover the issue. This upsets me as they have made a precedent to replace products, even out of warranty, if the issue is due to a severe product malfunction such as this.

After this, I can fully say that I am not pleased at all with how this issue has been handled by apple. I have been informed of an email address within the Apple company, and I plan on sending a copy of this email, along with the pictures to that address also. From the various stories I have read, of which I have included links, it has been made clear that this is NOT an isolated incident as Apple would have me believe. I do not feel that Apple has been doing a sufficient job of resolving this matter in any way, shape, or form. Based on the other reports, I do not have much hope that this matter will be resolved in any timely fashion, that my iPod will be replaced, that I will be compensated for anything, that I will get an apology for their tech support making claims that they were not permitted to, or for the store obviously not being on the same page as tech support. Frankly, in my search for information regarding the iPod, I've found other reports that claim this type of fault for other issues. This ranges from problems with computers, to mp3 players, and even to censoring comments and forum posts regarding bugs with their products. By bringing this up, I hope to make it known that these type of issues appear to be common with apple. Like other manufacturers, they sometimes produce faulty products, however, they seem to want to protect their corporate image and pockets more than make up for their faulty product. In this case, it was a known issue with this model of iPod and the company did not seem to make any motions to address the issue. I hope that by making this public, people may be able to avoid this issue happening with their own electronics, and that they may be prepared for what they would have to deal with in the process of attempting to resolve the issue. While Apple may produce numerous ad campaigns that make them seem almost invincible, their products are like any others: buyer beware.

The fiery Nano:

Dale's burnt desk:

The pictures look awfully similar to other iPods that have spontaneously combusted.

This iPod exploded yesterday and we don't see the harm in giving Apple a day to sort out what went wrong. Still, we're not sure how the engineers can do much without the physical unit, and it would seem wise for the Apple store to have an unspoken policy of 'Return Exploded iPod, Get 1 Free!'

Update: Apple agreed to replace the iPod.

I told a little story about Heath's iPod. Whenever we went into the trailer we'd say "Whose iPod is this?" Because it would always be some wacked-out music nobody had ever heard of before. And it was Heath's. And that iPod has since become a symbol of Heath and his friends pass it around to each other, download the music and then pass it on.

Eckhart has obviously strayed from the Hollywood line on copyright— downloading music from someone else's iPod is clearly infringement. But a blithe diffidence to piracy isn't the only way Eckhart's form of mourning shows how the mass culture has been infected by Silicon Valley.

A number of cases where bereavement meets technology have arisen over the last few years, such as the father of a American soldier who died in Iraq but couldn't get into his son's email account because Yahoo refused to allow access, or the numerous tributes left for the dead on their social network profile pages.

Ledger was only 28 when he died, on the cusp of the generation often called "Millennials." If he was anything like his peers, he must have defined himself in part by his taste in music. It's only natural that friends would go through his music collection as a way of getting a sense of the man they lost, with a song they enjoyed together providing a poignant point of shared experience.

But for those who already carefully craft their playlists the way my generation once obsessed over mixtapes, it puts a whole other layer of meaning onto your selections. I can see asking myself before synching with iTunes, "Will my friends appreciate the irony of including Journey's Greatest Hits if I get run over by a bus and all that's left of me is this iPod?"

Eckhart's recollection of Ledger suggests we can be known by our silicon — that we don't go to heaven as much as upload our digitized lives to the clouds. It is a view of our mortality that the programmers of Silicon Valley would be entirely comfortable with: Ashes to ashes, bits to bits.

Beyond vertically integrating yet another step in the process of making the popular devices, it would also keep the technology out of the hands of competitors, like the Samsung multitouch phone that looks strikingly similar to Jobs's pet project, and allow the company to keep an even tighter lid on leaks. The only thing Apple still won't do is fabricate the chips and assemble the devices, so while the boxes will still read "Designed by Apple in California," the devices inside will very much be "Assembled in China." (Photo by Chen Zhao)