I’d seen the press releases and announcements that this was coming, but somehow had never come across the official page on Apple’s website… well, here it is.

Staring this month, 24-Hour Fitness in the U.S. and Virgin Active in Europe began rolling out Nike+iPod compatible gym equipment. Looks like you just connect your iPod nano to a built in dock connector, choose your music, and start your workout. When you’re at home, sync your nano with iTunes and your workout data will be sent to Nikeplus website. No dongles or shoe transmitters required.

The Nike+iPod system will be integrated with treadmills, elliptical machines, stair steppers, and stationary bikes. It’s not clear if every one of these machines will be pimped out with Nike+ magic, or if it’s limited to select machines at select locations. Since I’m not a member of 24-hour Fitness, I’ll have to rely on reports from readers in the field.

The web page is very specific about one thing, however: These Nike+iPod machines are only compatible with the iPod nano. Those of you with an iPod classic, or iPod touch, or any other type of iPod are still left out of the Nike+iPod party. Seems especially arbitrary to me, and I have a feeling it will frustrate a lot of iPod owners who don’t understand that Nike+iPod really means “Nike+iPod nano.”

A quick update to yesterday’s post: RunKeeper has uploaded a much clearer video of their upcoming GPS fitness/tracking iPhone application. Not only is the new video in focus, but it also shows route maps on the companion web interface.

No pricing details announced yet, but you can sign up to receive more info on their website.

Matt just bought some new running shoes and has a question: “Why are modern sneakers so ugly?” A theory:

Hmm…I do want to run away from them every time I look down. So maybe it’s a motivational technique.

The comments are a fun read, especially if you’ve ever bought running shoes that you had to hide in the closet.

The first of what I hope will be many GPS running applications for iPhone has been submitted to the iPhone App Store and is awaiting approval. RunKeeper uses the iPhone’s built-in GPS to track your distance, speed, time, and route. The (blurry) video below shows the basic features of what seems to be a pretty bare-bones application, but it looks like it gets the job done.

One thing I’m not too crazy about is that you need to upload your data to their website to view a map of your route. It would be great if you could see your route and progress on a map in real time on your phone.

I look forward to seeing a better video demo of RunKeeper someday, and some more information on their website, but overall I’m really thrilled that the GPS running apps are coming. Still wondering when Nike will officially announce that they’re getting into the game with a Nike+iPhone app.

No word on pricing or an exact release date yet.

[EDIT: A clearer video is posted here.]

The native Wordpress app for iPhone
was added to the iTunes App Store tonight… And I’m loving it. I won’t be using it to write many long posts, but it should help with my posting frequency.

The best feature: Adding photos and screen grabs from the phone to my posts.

Bonus: Multiple blog support.

Missing: An easy way to add links. Looks like you have to type the HTML and url manually.

Get it now. It’s free!

Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ classic graphic novel Watchmen has come to iTunes in as an animated, narrated, “motion comic.” Episode 1 is available now as a free download and it’s a very faithful reproduction of the first book of the 12-book series. The animation is minimal, preserving the look and feel of the comic book (complete with the text balloons) and Moore’s writing is narrated word for word. There are a few places where the animation is a bit awkward, and the producers could have sprung for an actress to voice the female characters, but overall it’s a great way to familiarize (or re-familiarize) yourself with the original post-modern superhero story.

The live action Watchmen Movie is scheduled for a March 2009 release. Despite a very cool trailer, I’m not getting my hopes up. Hollywood has a way of butchering Alan Moore’s work (see League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and From Hell). It’s interesting to note that Moore’s name does not appear in the credits of the “motion comic” version.

As most everyone knows by now, two songs from Jerry Herman’s musical “Hello Dolly” figure prominently into the story of Disney/Pixar’s eco-robo love story WALL-E. On a whim last night, I checked iTunes to see if either of the two songs - “Put On Your Sunday Clothes” and “It Only Takes A Moment” - had risen to the top of their Top Songs chart. To my surprise, not only were they not in the top 10, neither song was even in the top 100.

Looking a the WALL-E soundtrack, the reason is obvious: Both songs, along with Louis Armstrong’s version of “La Vie En Rose” are ‘Album Only,’ meaning you need to buy the entire album to get those tracks. “Ok, I’ll just check the Hello Dolly soundtrack directly,” I thought. No dice. ALL of the songs on the Hello Dolly soundtrack are ‘Album Only.’ And going to Amazon won’t help; The situation is exactly the same there. So lame.

I thought iTunes was supposed to usher in an era of no longer forcing people to buy an album full of songs they don’t want, just to get the one song they do. I’m especially disappointed that this is happening on iTunes, given the close relationship between Apple, Pixar and Disney. Doesn’t Apple actively discourage this kind of behavior from other artists and record labels? If everyone starts making their hit songs Album Only, the iTunes Store suddenly becomes much less compelling and useful. It’s a bad trend.

Now, you can buy the individual songs from the Broadway cast album of Hello Dolly on iTunes, but as much as I love Charles Nelson Reilly, he’s no Michael Crawford. Does anyone know where to buy the individual tracks from the movie soundtrack? Or has Disney conspired to lock everyone into buying the full WALL-E soundtrack album?

I guess if you’re going to buy the whole albums, both WALL-E and Hello Dolly are a dollar cheaper (and no DRM) from Amazon.

Buy the WALL-E soundtrack from Amazon.
Buy the Hello Dolly soundtrack from Amazon.

A Man Needs A Maid is easily my favorite Neil Young song (out of a career of favorite songs). Check out these two performance videos - one from the 1970s and one from a few months ago - to see how a great song matures… along with its performer. The intensity and snarling frustration in the chorus of the younger Young gives way to the wistful longing of the elder Young. A true classic.

Yesterday, I posted an item from Gizmodo explaining the benefits of the iPhones A-GPS vs. plain old GPS. Within minutes of my posting, Giz removed the article.

Today, Giz is back with a new article about the iPhone’s GPS. It looks like it’s been re-written from top to bottom, but the gist is the same: iPhone GPS should rock.

When Apple announced that they were rebranding their .Mac service as MobileMe, I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who started thinking of all the fun possibilities for @me.com email addresses. It should be pointed out that if you’re planning to sign up for Me.com with the hopes of getting your firstname@me.com or lastname@me.com, keep in mind that current .Mac members’ email addresses are automatically grandfathered into the new domain. 1234abc@mac.com will automatically be 1234abc@me.com. It’s likely that most common names will already be taken.

If you don’t want to settle for John173@me.com, there are plenty of memorable options available. If you use the @ symbol as the word “at” you can turn short sentences into email addresses. Most simple examples, like look@me, smile@me, point@me, shout@me, and laugh@me already seem to be taken, but there are plenty of variations available. For example:

Pam.smiled@me.com
They.laughed@me.com
Clinton.pointed@me.com
Naomi.yelled@me (or naomi.threwherphone@me.com)

Even more possibilities are available if you choose to use the @ symbol as the letter a. If your name ends in “ame” you’ve got it made, like Valerie.Pl@me.com (some people fall just short, like Barack.Ob@me.com). But don’t stop there; there are tons of words that end in “ame.” I won’t list them all, but they can easily be found with a crossword puzzle dictionary. Here are some favorites:

No.Sh@me.com
So.L@me.com
Open.Ses@me.com
Edam@me.com
Macr@me.com

I love that these email addresses look almost like website addresses. If you wanted to go all the way with it, your email address could even be www.macr@me.com. Cool to geeks, confusing to everyone else. What more could you ask for?

If you’re interested in MobileMe and want to get a jump on reserving the perfect email address, I recommend saving $30 by buying a .Mac membership from Amazon. Set up the account and choose your email address before the rush of new subscribers. Your .Mac account will convert to a MobileMe account in July.

Oh, and if I’ve given away the email address you were hoping to register, please dontbemad@me.com.

Walt Mossberg’s review of Samsung’s Instinct phone in today’s Wall Street Journal is the kind of article that almost makes me ashamed to be an Apple fan. As an iPhone enthusiast, I’m always interested in reading about competing products — and am always secretly delighted when reviewers point out that the iPhone still reigns supreme — but Mossberg’s iPhone cheerleading has crossed the line.

It’s not that he simply compares the Instinct to the iPhone; given the similarity of the products, one would expect that. It’s that his review reads much more like a preview of iPhone 3G with a quick comparison to the Instinct thrown in for good measure.

The opening paragraph gives us a good idea of where the article is heading:

The parade of iPhone lookalikes continues. Soon after Apple announced the first iPhone a year ago, factories in Asia, at the behest of U.S. phone carriers, were asked to respond to the sleek, touch-screen device. Some already have reached America; more are coming.

No mention of the actual product being reviewed. But it gets better. A little further down, Mossberg devotes two entire paragraphs to the upcoming iPhone:

The price of the new iPhone’s base model, which comes with 8 gigabytes of memory, is $199, a 50% price cut from the comparable first-generation model. Yet, it now works on AT&T’s fastest data network, promising anywhere from two to five times the speed of its predecessor. It also has GPS for tracking your location, and fully supports over-the-air synchronization of email, contacts and calendars — through Microsoft Exchange in corporations or via a similar new consumer service from Apple called MobileMe. And you’ll be able to download directly to the phone a whole universe of third-party programs, from productivity software to games.

On the downside, the new iPhone’s camera remains very basic and still can’t capture video. For people who prefer physical keyboards, the iPhone will still fall short. It continues to include only a virtual onscreen keyboard. And the iPhone remains locked to a single carrier in the U.S., AT&T, which will charge $10 more per month for unlimited data consumption on the device.

Compare that to his in-depth discussion of the Instinct’s email and web browsing features:

But I found its email system and Web browser to be less sophisticated than the iPhone’s or the BlackBerry’s.

That’s it. No discussion of the features, weaknesses, or any other hint as to why he considers it to be less sophisticated. Does he mean it’s not as easy to use? Does he mean it doesn’t work as well? Does he mean it’s not as pretty? Guess you’ll have to buy one to find out.

I’m sure there are a lot of WSJ readers who prefer Sprint to AT&T (just based on coverage and reception) and would have appreciated a more substantive look at the Samsung Instinct. Mossberg would do well to remember that not everybody’s in the position to switch to the iPhone.

[via Engadget]

[Edit: Hmm... Looks like Giz has taken the article down. I've removed the broken link for the time being.]

Earlier today I posted some thoughts on how the new iPhone’s GPS might make the Nike+iPod system obsolete. Right on cue, Gizmodo takes a closer look at the iPhone’s A-GPS (assisted GPS):

The term aGPS or A-GPS itself has many slightly different meanings, but in this case, location is determined with a combo of GPS, and cell towers—plus public Wi-Fi networks, if they’re available. All that data is crunched and neatly served up by the “assistance server.” (The nicest thing about the iPhone 3G’s setup is that the size of the “you are here” circle on a map indicates how accurate the guess is). Best news for campers: Unlike most phones, the iPhone’s A-GPS will still work without a cell signal.

There are even more advantages to A-GPS. The assistance server tells the phone where the satellites are in the sky, speeding up the search for a handful of space signals. Without assistance, you’d need to receive several really solid GPS signals for a decent period of time before getting a lock—the assistance server can take paltry, choppy ones and make use of them. Oh, and there’s that battery-life thing again. A-GPS is way more efficient.

I still haven’t decided whether I’ll be upgrading from my original iPhone right away, but details like these sure make it tempting.