iPod touch

TomTom today released an update for all versions of its turn-by-turn navigation application for the iPhone. This new version, which we reported on last week, includes quite a few improvements, including support for the original iPhone and all versions of the iPod touch.

Want to see something cool? Japanese design firm PROTOTYPE has networked 20 iPod touches to create one interactive display that creats chain reactions between devices, making for some very cool visual effects. Possibly coolest of all about the project is that it's highly scaleable, making it possible to create a 16x9 wall of iPod touches, all reacting and being awesome. Video after the break.

We've heard from a reliable source that Apple plans to introduce "a new iPod touch" this December. Our source couldn't go into details, but this may end up being the iPod touch with a camera that we'd expected back in September.

Some may remember that Phil Schiller, Apple's Sr VP of Product Marketing, told Gizmodo a couple weeks back that "the holiday lineup is set," although Apple's been known to say things to kill off speculation in the past. Could this be something that Apple doesn't consider part of the "holiday lineup?" Maybe, maybe not.

Our source also believes that it's also likely that Apple may roll out this update after the Christmas shopping season.* We'll just have to wait and see.

The last three months of the year tends to be a big hit for the Apple Store locations and the company is set to unveil some new changes along with the ever-changing employee t-shirts. This year, Apple employees will ditch the current EasyPay portable computers made by Symbol Technologies, and will begin using an iPod touch with an advanced scanner accessory and point-of-sale (POS) software.

If you're wishing for FM radio functionality on your iPhone or iPod touch, you may not have much longer to wait. Per 9 to 5 Mac, a new tips is claiming that Apple is in the process of bringing FM radio functionality to the handsets. The functionality would reportedly be similar to that found in the fifth-generation iPod nano, which offers the ability pause radio and tag songs for use in iTunes.

Processor manufacturer ARM announced its new dual core Cortex-A9 processors capable of breaking the 2GHz barrier and perhaps casting light on future Apple products. Per AppleInsider, the Cortex-A9 MPCore "hard macro implementations" will enable chip makers to create even higher-performance devices from the low-power chips in "high density and thermally constrained environments" that the processors are usually found in, like the iPhone and iPod touch. In addition, the new design consumes less than 250mW per CPU while at peak performance.

Macworld has performed their own speed tests on the second and third generation iPod touch. The results show that it does meet or exceed Apple's claims in the areas that Apple mentioned. The device's speed also impressed them in all other areas, such as "applications launch (and quit) faster, Web pages load more quickly, processor-intensive games and programs.

As you already know, iFixit has published the results of their 3rd generation iPod touch teardown. After poking around, they have come across two very interesting discoveries. Tucked inside the shiny exterior is a newer one of Broadcom's chips that supports 802.11n Wi-Fi protocol where it used to only support 802.11g. Possibly more interesting, however, is what they didn't find.