iPod identifies unconscious jogger

An iPod was used to identify a woman who was found unconscious while out jogging. NBC reports that police believe that 27-year-old Ashlyn Dyer was the victim of a hit-and-run. She was discovered last Thursday and remains in critical condition in hospital. ...more

US bans iPod exports to North Korea

Dictator Kim Jong Il will have to turn to the black market to get his hands on a new iPod, after the US government banned the export of consumer electronics and other luxury goods to North Korea. The sanctions deliberately target Kim and the 600 or so families that make up the country's ruling elite but will not affect the vast majority of North Koreans. Other goods on the list of banned exports include Cognac, Rolex watches, cigarettes, artwork, cars such as the Mercedes, BMWs and Cadillacs, Harley Davidson motorcycles and jet skis. ...more

Record boss insists on iTunes price hike

And having driven a stake through the heart of file-sharing, record industry wants to leech iPod revenues The CEO of Warner Music has hit back Steve Jobs' jibe that record companies are being 'greedy' by demanding higher prices for music downloads. Edgar Bronfman said that the price of downloads should reflect the popularity of the artist and described Apple's one-price-fits-all approach as 'unfair'. 'There's no content that I know of that does not have variable pricing,' Bronfman said at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia conference. ...more

Surge in notebook demand puts pressure on manufacturers

A number of China-based notebook PC plants belonging to Taiwan makers are currently operating 24 hours per day, in order to cope with a surge of orders from leading vendors, including Hewlett-Packard, Dell and Acer, according to sources at the makers. An additional factor in meeting demand is a national holiday in China, which this year will see many factories closed between 1-7 October. However, Taiwan notebook makers are paying workers triple-time wages to continue working, the sources said. ...more

Digital consumers fuzzed by tech buzz words

The 21st century Digital Consumer makes for a good marketing phrase, but how aware are these consumers of digital technology itself? This was the subject tackled by Nielsen//NetRatings in a new survey of UK people online. Among the findings were that while just over half (52 per cent) believe online and digital technology makes their life easier, exactly half say they can't keep up with it all. 'In the relentless quest for the next big thing comes to new forms of digital consumption, there is a significant tendency for the industry to over-estimate consumer's knowledge and understanding of the seemingly limitless new terms and products out there,' comments the company's European Internet Analyst, Alex Burmaster. ...more