If you thought mixtapes died with the MP3 era, you’re wrong. Sure, they’ve become niche, and it’s perhaps cloyingly retro to break out your Walkman, but it’s hard to deny the appeal. There are already USB drives and DAPs made to look like an old-school magnetic cassette, but if you want something a little more DIY, MakerBot has a kit that you purchase and assemble your own MP3-playing “tape.” For $25 you get a package with all the essential internals plus plans for your Replicator to print out the snap together casing. If you’re not lucky enough to have a Replicator of your own, you can upload tracks and have the company print one out for you for $40.

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Still in the middle of your seasonal weight loss regimen? Well, if you’re in the market for a new fitness wearable, Motorola has dropped the price on its MOTOACTV to $149.99 for the 8GB model, $199.99 for the 16GB version and $299.99 for the Multi-Sport Edition. Need a quick refresher? You can expect to keep track of your running, biking, golfing and other sporty exploits alongside GPS, MP3 playback, heart rate monitor and Bluetooth. You’ll also be able to brag about those progress updates with your Facebook and Twitter mates alongside the $100 price cut. Ready to commit? Hit that source link below to do just that.

SOURCE via Motorola

Many Apple fans on the opposite side of the Pacific from Cupertino haven’t had much of a choice to shop from iTunes, even though they’ve had the App Store for some time. There’s now a much better sense of balance: Apple just flicked the switch on the iTunes Store for music and movies in a dozen countries and territories across the Asia-Pacific region. The company singles out our own Richard Lai’s Hong Kong as well as Singapore and Taiwan, but we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention that Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Macau, Malaysia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam are also getting the media catalogs, which include local content along with the international hits. It’s a full catch-up as well, with iTunes in the Cloud re-downloads and iTunes Match subscriptions available in every new country. If you’re a huge Andy Lau fan but wanted his albums from the most iPhone-friendly store possible, the wait is over.

SOURCE via Apple

It’s been a long, long time since Apple undertook a significant redesign of the iPod touch, which hasn’t been looked at since 2010 and received just a splash of white last year. A possible front panel part leak we’ve just seen could overturn all that — and hint at the 2012 iPhone’s direction in the process. If we go by the claims of MacRumors’ supplier friends, the media player would be growing up, but not out, with a taller 4.1-inch screen. We’re skeptical, as the white part (black on the inside) seems almost too good to be true — we haven’t seen anything similar elsewhere in the unofficial parts market. Still, having heard murmurs of larger iPhone screens and knowing Apple’s own tendency to base the iPod touch on whatever iPhone flavor is new this year, we could be looking at iPhones and iPods growing for the first time since 2007. There’s also some as yet unconfirmed next-gen iPhone parts included by the source, although we’d hesitate to call them smoking guns unless they’re put together in Apple-like form later in the year.

SOURCE via MacRumors

If you’ve been getting bored with that stale version of DoubleTwist you’re sporting, get ready for a breath of fresh air. The company has announced the next major version of its music player now awaits Android faithul in the Marketplace — and will hit the Amazon Appstore later in the week. New features include a new grid view for album art, premium EQ (if you’re running Android 2.3 or higher), an AirSync storage location option and a new playback screen which enables sliding to see previous / upcoming tracks. If you’re still not impressed, DoubleTwist promises another update in December that will be similar in stature. Take a look after the break for a few more screen shots, should you need more convincing and get ready to show off all of those Ben Folds album covers.

SOURCE via DoubletWist

The portable cassette players once nearly universally identified as the Walkman may have seen better days, but their spirit is still alive, so far as Sony is concerned. The company is apparently set to release the latest entry in the line, the slick-looking NWZA865B, a 16GB portable media player with wireless file sharing and music streaming capabilities. CNET points out that the device likely won’t have built-in WiFi, due to evidence from the FCC, which does seem to limit the aforementioned streaming options. The 16GB model is also likely one of a number of capacities to be offered, ranging from 8GB to 64GB. The device is available for viewing on UK retailer Buy.com with a £130 ($213) price tag and a July 31st release date.

SOURCE via Play.com

Odd news this is, but well, it looks like Motorola might be prepping to give the Nike+ SportWatch a run for its money. An intrepid tipster sent along a screenshot from a recent survey showing off what looks like a tricked out nano watch.

Described as an “all-in-one fitness and music personal fitness device” (redundant much?) that packs a GPS for “accurate performance tracking,” the as of yet unnamed gadget also sports a “smart music player” that compiles a list of songs based on the tunes that help you sweat your best. It also lets you wirelessly sync to your PC for workout analysis, and apparently does the same for Android devices.

Among the possible names listed in the survey is the MotoActive, hinting at, but certainly not pinning down, Motorola branding. Of course this is just an online survey, so take it with a pint a salt, or maybe a jar of em.

Sony’s got a reputation for pumping out forwardly-designed wares, but its new G-Series micro HiFi systems are a blast from the past — at a glance, anyway. Both rigs are MP3 and iPhone / iPod-compatible via USB and will be available in two different configurations. To start, the CMT-G1BiP / G1iP feature 60 watts of RMS power with DAB packed into the former for those who find only having AM/FM is passé. Next up, the CMT-G2BNiP / G2NiP add WiFi for getting your stream on from the Web or a PC and can be remote-controlled with a free iOS app. The “HiFi” moniker mixed with iPod connectivity might have audiophiles raising a brow to sound quality, but the brushed metal console and its piano-gloss satellites are lookers none-the-less. A single variant is currently listed on the Sony UK site, although there’s not a squeak regarding cost or release dates.

SOURCE via Sony

Alongside the iPod Shuffle, Apple has also announced their 6^th generation iPod Nano. From the picture above, it’s obvious that the buttons, or click wheels as Apple calls it, is not gone. Odd isn’t it. The Shuffle is getting its click wheels back, and yet the Nano is ditching it. But what’s gone, is replaced by a touchscreen panel. Obviously, you’ll be manoeuvring your new Nano with the touchscreen interface. This is obviously not an iOS interface, but merely a simple touch UI mod from the original Nano interface, to be ‘touch-friendly’. Read more…

Yes we’ve seen lots of Android smartphones, and some tablets too. But PMP (Portable Music Player) running on Android is rather rare. Samsung was the first to load Android onto their Yepp-YP-MB2, but now Philips seemed to have followed their footsteps with their latest GoGear Connect PMP powered by Android too. It’s a rather nice direction to drop the proprietary OS in favour of Google’s offer, as things get more ‘global’ and much well taken care off instead of in-house development which might even cost more too. Read more…