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Down-to-the-wire holiday gift guide: app-enabled accessories (and Swingbyte giveaway!)

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It’s Thursday and you have four days to get the perfect Christmas gift, but have no fear…9to5Mac is here. O.K., enough with the cheese, let’s talk app-enabled accessories. Oh, man, I need to stop.

But, seriously, app-enabled accessories are the perfect gifts: they come in a variety of price ranges and work with a variety of iOS apps. So, we looked at a few popular, unknown, pricey, and not-so pricey ones and rounded them up below. Hopefully, this guide will give you a few ideas and inspire you to go shopping A.S.A.P.

Note: If you buy through Amazon, and are an Amazon Prime member, you could get many of these products shipped overnight for just $3.99 each.

Scroll to the bottom for details on the giveaway.

1. Ion All Star Guitar | Amazon sale: $93.15 (reg. $129.99)

Ion launched this nifty toy in the fall, and it is really, really cool. Think Guitar Hero…but for jammers and free-stylers. Like Ion’s popular iCade line, it charges with AA batteries. So, no wires and no fuss. It also fits any iOS device. A padded storage compartment adjusts to fit the iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch, and there is room to plug in a Lightening adapter (not included).

The built-in speakers pump out great volume, but there is also a headphone output for silent practice, and it has electric, acoustic, and bass guitar effects. The guitar, which is useable by both left-handed and right-handed folks, works best with the All-Star Guitar app that comes with 10 free songs pre-loaded, with access to additional songs for download, but it also works well with Garage Band and WI Guitar.

It’s packed with features, feels sturdy, and is definitely a cool gift for the musically inclined. Oh, and it seems like a neat way to learn guitar.

www.ionaudio.com

More accessories are below.


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Apps & updates: Xbox LIVE app updated with iPad support, Nike+ Running, Spotify, more

Xbox LIVE version 1.6: There are more than a few notable updates today, starting with the Xbox LIVE app that just received iPad support for the controller features rolled out to iPhone users in June. Among the new features for iPad: the app will now allow you to “connect, control and discover content” on your Xbox 360 console through a quickplay list of content, and it provides controls for play, pause, fast forward, and rewind.

Nike+ Running version 4.0.2: Nike is constantly adding new features to its iOS apps, and the Nike+ Running app was updated today with the following enhancements:

– Sharing has changed. Your run gets posted to your timeline, so even though you won’t see it on your newsfeed, your friends will see it in theirs.

– Quick start. Just hold down the Run button and you’re off with the new Quick Start feature.

– Pro Tip: Rotate your phone to landscape when looking at your run summary to view your mile splits.

– We are continually working to give you the best possible running experience. This update includes performance stability and GPS improvements. We appreciate your feedback.

Spotify version 0.5.3: Also updated today was the Spotify iOS app, which received a new context menu in search for iPad users, as well as stability improvements and a number of fixes to common issues.

As always, we will continue to update this list as more updates roll out today…

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Apps & updates: Nike+ Training, Nike+ Basketball, NY Times on Flipboard, more

Our list of newly released apps and updates kicks off today with two new Nike+ apps and another nice update that brings even more content to Flipboard. As always, we will keep this list updated as more notable app related news comes up throughout the day.

Nike+ Training: Nike released a new app today that works with shoes using the Nike+ Sport Adapter (included in Nike+ Sport Pack bundles) that syncs wirelessly with your iOS device over Bluetooth. The app’s iTunes page explained “Sensors in your shoes track every jump, step and rep as you take on pro athlete drill packs that challenge you with the moves the world’s best use to get into shape.”  This app is geared specifically towards fitness routines, and it provides four-week programs for daily workouts and demonstrations of drills from Nike trainers.

Nike+ Basketball: Nike also released another iOS app today called “Nike+ Basketball” that that works with the same Nike+ technology, but it is geared specifically towards basketball players, allowing you to track “how high, how quick and how hard” you play. The app provides stats for Vertical, Quickness, Hustle, and more. It also has a “Showcase Your Skills” feature that allows you to capture video and create highlight reels of your games to share through various social networks.

Flipboard version 1.94: After receiving an update earlier this month with Google+ and YouTube integration, today the app gets full access to the New York Times for paid subscribers, as well as the NYT Top Section free to all readers

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irejb1CEFAw&feature=player_embedded]

Amazing Alex: We already knew it was coming when Angry Birds developer Rovio announced it acquired iOS puzzler Casey’s Contraptions  and planned to rebrand it as “Amazing Alex”. Today we get a little bit more info about the game and a short teaser video from a post on the official Rovio blog:

 Set the objects up to bounce, pop, ricochet, bash, and crash into each other and create an elaborate Rube Goldberg device! With a houseful of toys to play with, there’s more than one right answer! Share your most creative solutions with your friends and see what they came up with!… Got a great idea for a level? Design intriguing new levels using 35 interactive objects and share them — with friends or with the whole world! With other fans constantly creating and uploading new levels, there are always new challenges to check out!

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Apps and updates: Modern Combat 3 slashes price, Gabi launches, OmniPlan fixes bugs, and FIFA goes Retina

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A slew of popular apps updated, launched, or cut their price tags on the App Store today, and 9to5Mac gathered the most noteworthy ones in our usual round-up below. Today’s crop includes FIFA Soccer 12 getting optimized for the new iPad, Disney Film Pulse bringing interactive gaming to cinemas, Modern Combat 3 dropping to 99 cents, details on Gabi—the new Facebook-integrated service, and much more.

Check them out:


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Apple researching social fitness tech sporting real-time sharing of performance data for competitive workouts

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In the future, hitting the gym along with your iPhone-toting pals could spur competitiveness in ways unlike ever before. Apple’s mobile devices run a variety of fitness apps and third parties provide useful accessories ranging from casual jogging to some serious working out. Not content with resting on its laurels, Apple is looking to ratchet it up a notch with a new patent filing titled “Interfacing Portable Media Devices And Sports Equipment” that surfaced Thursday in the United States Trademark and Patent Office database.

It outlines new fitness technology letting you share performance data with your friends in real-time, as you are working out. Mentioning that traditional sharing through a third-party website is so last century, the filing goes on to describe immediate data sync between friends exercising on a similar equipment. Moreover, unlike Apple’s fitness center app patent or this fitness freak filing, it does not even pretend to mention Nike+. This suggests Apple could be developing its own solution that might some day augment or even replace Nike’s technology with numerous bells and whistles.

Fancy yourself working out on a treadmill next to your boss and being able to brag about your lower heart rate and blood pressure all the while covering greater distances. Heck, you could be even working out at your local gym while boss is running on a treadmill at his office in Tanzania.

Speaking of competitiveness…


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New iPod nano storage moves to SanDisk from Toshiba, iPhone 4S BOM estimated at $203

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Toshiba-branded NAND flash module in the previous-generation iPod nano (left) and the SanDisk module in the new model (right). Click for larger.

Apple on Monday reaffirmed its dedication to the iPod family and its latest iPod nano saw a slight refresh stemming mostly from the power of software. The enhancements include an improved user interface with larger icons, sixteen new watch faces and the improved Nike+ fitness functionality (accelerometer?). Furthermore, the new interface available to the older nanos, too, via a firmware update. Apple’s diminutive music player is available in seven colors, priced at $129/$149 for the 8GB/16GB version.

Gadget experts at iFixit tore it apart and found out the device carries the same model number A1366 as its predecessor, while the part number shifted from MC688LL/A to MC689LL/A, yet another indication of the minor hardware tweaks. The device still features the same 240-by-240 pixel display which remains inseparably bonded to the front glass. Also looking at the logic board, the seventh-generation iPod nano sports three Apple-branded chips, like its predecessor.

However, Toshiba’s NAND flash module from the previous-generation model has been replaced with flash memory from SanDisk, which appears to be the only major change to the device’s internals. The battery is still soldered to the logic board and getting the display off of the device requires the use of a heat gun, just like before, iFixit noted.

Additionally, iFixit’s director of technical communication Miroslav Djuric confirmed to 9to5Mac via email that the new model carries an updated Apple processor, the Apple 339S0104 chip versus the Apple 33850859 silicon found in the previous model. From TechInisights, it appears that this is a repackaged Samsung processor+DRAM:

  • Apple 339S0104 stacked PoP – Samsung APL3278A01 ARM Apps Processor and 512 Mbits Mobile DDR SDRAM from Samsung K4X51323PI

    This stacked package-on-package device, once decapped, revealed another design win for Samsung (manufacturers of the A4 ARM processor).

    This package revealed a Samsung APL3278A01 ARM application processor and 512 Mb (64 Mbytes) of Mobile DDR SDRAM (part number K4X51323PI).

By the way, UBM TechInsights guesstimated that Apple is spending $203 in parts for each 32GB iPhone 4S.

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