iLounge

The latest edition of iPodweek, our weekly newsletter covering all things iLounge, is coming later today. iPodweek is a weekly summary of the best news, reviews, and feature articles we’ve published, and it also features giveaways and iPod accessory discount offers from various companies. There’s still plenty of time to sign up and receive this week’s edition — just use the simple form below to submit your email address, if you haven’t done so already.

IMPORTANT: Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo, AOL, Earthlink and others, make sure we don’t end up in your spam box. Please accept emails from iLounge.com. Thank you.

This week’s featured photo comes from our iPhones Around the World gallery, and shows an iPhone 3G resting on a beach at Kanantik Resort in Belize. To share your photos and to be considered for our Photo of the Week, you simply need to submit your own photo to one of our galleries. So get out there, take some pictures with your iPod or iPhone, and maybe your submission will be our next Photo of the Week!

We’ve been busy developing our new iLounge company store so you can get your hands on official iLounge gear. We’ve got fresh new designs on just about everything from t-shirts, hoodies, mugs, buttons, stickers, and even the Flip mino HD video camera. We’ll be adding new designs frequently and also focusing on special edition designs per product. Stop by the store and send us any feedback using our contact form.

We’re coming up on the final two weeks of the Uncommon Custom Case Giveaway, so if you haven’t yet entered, now’s your chance. In this unique giveaway, iLounge and Uncommon are giving away 200 custom cases for the iPhone 3G, 3GS, or iPod touch. With such a large number of prizes available, we are splitting the cases up over four weeks, with 50 to be awarded each Monday, on February 22 and March 1. To enter, simply fill out and submit the form on the giveaway page—Good luck!

With over 2,600 votes from iLounge readers, our latest poll—“Phone calling aside, what’s the most important feature of your iPod or iPhone that you could not live without?”—has ended. Readers could choose between audio or video playback, games, e-mail and web access, other non-game apps, or the camera.

Perhaps signaling a shift in usage patterns for Apple’s portable devices, 45% of readers said e-mail and web access was the most important feature of their iPod or iPhone, followed by audio playback with 36% of the vote. Other non-game apps came in third with 8% of the vote, followed by games with 5%, video playback with 4%, and camera functionality with only 2%. Thanks for all your votes!

Our new poll focuses on sexual content in the App Store—should Apple be banning such content? Should it remove the content altogether, move it into a dedicated “Adult” area, or leave it where it is? Or do you not have an opinion on the matter? Whatever your feelings, our new poll, “Should Apple remove sexual content from the App Store?” lets you answer that question. You can find the iLounge Poll in the left-hand column of the main iLounge.com home page. Vote today!

The latest edition of our iPodweek newsletter, recapping the week’s iTunes, iPod, iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV developments, will be arriving in subscribers’ inboxes later today. In addition to highlighting the best news, reviews and feature articles we’ve published throughout the week, it also features giveaways and occasional iPod accessory discount offers from various companies. There’s still plenty of time to sign up and receive this week’s edition — just use the simple form below to submit your email address, if you haven’t done so already.

IMPORTANT: Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo, AOL, Earthlink and others, make sure we don’t end up in your spam box. Please accept emails from iLounge.com. Thank you.

In recognition of the ongoing XXI Olympic Winter Games and Valentine’s Day, today’s classic image from our iPods Around the World archive shows a pink iPod mini near English Bay Beach in the city of Vancouver, Canada.

We’re looking for your great iPhone and iPod images to add to our galleries! Wintertime shots and anything else you might be able to contribute would be appreciated! So get out there, take some pictures featuring your favorite iPod or iPhone and maybe your submission will be our next Photo of the Week!

Don’t forget to get your entry in for our Uncommon Custom Case Giveaway, there’s still time to do so. In this unique giveaway, iLounge and Uncommon are giving away 200 custom cases for the iPhone 3G, 3GS, or iPod touch. With such a large number of prizes available, we are splitting the cases up over four weeks, with 50 to be awarded each Monday, on February 15, 22 and March 1. To enter, simply fill out and submit the form on the giveaway page—Good luck!

The latest edition of iPodweek, iLounge’s weekly newsletter recapping the last seven days in news, reviews, articles, and more, will be sent out later today. In addition to rounding up the week’s top stories, iPodweek also features giveaways and accessory discount offers from various companies. If you haven’t yet signed up to receive iPodweek, there’s still time to register and receive this week’s edition — just use the simple form below to submit your email address.

IMPORTANT: Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo, AOL, Earthlink and others, make sure we don’t end up in your spam box. Please accept emails from iLounge.com. Thank you.

If you haven’t yet entered our Uncommon Custom Case Giveaway, there’s still time to do so. In this unique giveaway, iLounge and Uncommon are giving away 200 custom cases for the iPhone 3G, 3GS, or iPod touch. With such a large number of prizes available, we are splitting the cases up over four weeks, with 50 to be awarded each Monday, on February 8, 15, 22 and March 1. To enter, simply fill out and submit the form on the giveaway page—Good luck!

iPodweek, iLounge’s weekly newsletter recapping the last seven days in news, articles, reviews, and more, will be sent out to our email subscribers later today. In addition to rounding up the week’s top stories, iPodweek also features giveaways and accessory discount offers from various companies. If you haven’t yet signed up to receive iPodweek, there’s still time to register and receive this week’s edition — just use the simple form below to submit your email address.

Ever since the App Store opened in 2008, we’ve been working to determine the “correct” balance of iPhone/iPod touch application and game news for our readers, while looking for the right place to put that news on our main page. Now that Jesse Hollington has come on board as our full-time Applications Editor, we have an interim solution in place, and are looking for your feedback.

This week, we added a new section to the main page specifically for Apps & Games News, which you will hopefully see on the left hand column near the iLounge Poll. Like all of the left column sections, you can collapse this one if you don’t care about apps and games, move it downwards, or move it upwards and keep it open. Since a very significant percentage of iLounge’s readers now own iPhones or iPod touches, we think that many people—but not everyone—will want to keep it open.

Another option would be to integrate the same Apps and Games headlines completely within the main News column, giving the stories equal footing with all other news, or otherwise include them solely as headlines in a dedicated box like our reader comment spotlight. Since news for this section can range from small to important, depending on both the story and the individual reader, there are reasons that each approach might work.

So we’d like to know what you’d prefer, and why. Please share your (on topic) thoughts in the Comments area below. Thanks!

This week’s featured photo is from our iPods Around the World gallery, and shows an iPod touch in the ghost town of Bodie, California. To share your photos and to be considered for our Photo of the Week, you simply need to submit your own photo to one of our galleries. So get out there, take some pictures with your iPod or iPhone, and maybe your submission will be our next Photo of the Week!

With over 3,500 votes from iLounge readers, our latest poll—“What are your feelings about the iPad name?”—has ended. Users were given four choices for each gender, with options for those who liked the name, liked the name but don’t plan on purchasing an iPad, dislike the name, and dislike the name but would still consider buying one.

In a rare occurrence, reader opinion on the iPad name was split straight down the middle, with exactly 50% of respondents who said they like the name, and 50% who said they didn’t. Out of our male respondents, the response was split 52/48% between “like” and “don’t like,” with the women showing a more negative 34/66% split. Perhaps more importantly, 62% of overall respondents said that they would consider buying the iPad, with more readers—regardless of gender—saying that they’d consider buying the device even if they didn’t like the name. Thanks for all your votes!

Our new poll focuses on iPod and iPhone use. Aside from making phone calls, we’d like to know what you feel is the most important feature of your iPod or iPhone—the one that you couldn’t live without. Whether it’s audio or video playback, e-mail and web access, games, apps, or camera functionality, our new poll, “Phone calling aside, what’s the most important feature of your iPod or iPhone that you could not live without?” will let you answer that question. You can find the iLounge Poll in the left-hand column of the main iLounge home page—cast your vote today!

The winners of our Sena Cases Engraved Giveaway have just been announced. In the giveaway, 10 iLounge readers won a Sena Cases Sarach Leatherskin case for the iPhone 3G & 3GS, with free custom engraving. Congratulations to all the winners! Don’t forget to enter our Uncommon Custom Case Giveaway, our latest giveaway.

iLounge is pleased to announce the Uncommon Custom Case Giveaway. In this unique giveaway, iLounge and Uncommon are giving away 200 custom cases for the iPhone 3G, 3GS, or iPod touch. With such a large number of prizes available, we are splitting the cases up over four weeks, with 50 to be awarded each Monday, on February 8, 15, 22 and March 1. To enter, simply fill out and submit the form on the giveaway page—Good luck!

If you haven’t yet submitted your entry for our Sena Cases Engraved Giveaway, this weekend is your last chance. In our Giveaway of the Month for January, iLounge and Sena Cases are giving away 10 Sarach Leatherskin cases for iPhone 3G/3GS, with free engraving. To enter, simply fill out and submit the form on the giveaway page—the giveaway will end on January 31, 2010 at 11:59PM Pacific Time. Good luck!

iPodweek, iLounge’s weekly newsletter recapping the last seven days in news, articles, reviews, and more, will be sent out to our email subscribers later today. In addition to rounding up the week’s top stories, iPodweek also features giveaways and accessory discount offers from various companies. If you haven’t yet signed up to receive iPodweek, there’s still time to register and receive this week’s edition — just use the simple form below to submit your email address.

Our initial Limited Edition iLounge.com iPhone case auction for charity has ended as a huge success, helping to raise $255 for the the Red Cross Haiti Relief & Development fund. Congratulations to the winner!

We’re so thrilled by the result—and by the interest from readers—that we’ve decided to auction off our two remaining cases (Auction 1/Auction 2) to help raise additional funds and give those who didn’t get a chance to bid the first time another shot. These cases sport a unique grey and orange color combination and were handed out at the iLounge booth inside the iLounge Pavilion at the 2010 CES; only 100 were made, and only two remain unaccounted for—meaning this is your last chance to own one and help out those suffering from the recent earthquake in Haiti at the same time. The auctions will end on January 31st at roughly 11:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. Pacific Time, respectively. Good luck!

Update: Our second and third Limited Edition iLounge.com iPhone case auctions have ended, with another $192 being raised for Haiti relief efforts. Congratulations and thanks to both the winners!

With nearly 2,900 votes from iLounge readers, our latest poll—“Will you buy the Apple tablet if it requires you to sign up for a cellular data service plan?” has ended. Readers were given a range of choices, with two positive answers, one dependent on plan pricing and one not, as well as two negative answers, one of which covered those who weren’t interested no matter what services or features are offered.

Unless most readers were hoping for a price lower than $499, it seems many will be in line for an iPad in the near future, as more than half of readers—56%—said they wouldn’t buy the tablet, now known as the iPad, if it required cellular service, but would if it’s Wi-Fi only. A full one-fifth of readers—20%—said they wouldn’t buy the iPad no matter what features or services are offered, followed by 19% who said they would buy it but only if the pricing and data service terms are reasonable. Finally, 6% of readers said they would buy one regardless of the pricing of the cellular plan. Thanks for all your votes!

Our new poll focuses on the product name, “iPad.” We’d like to know what you think of it. Whether you’re a man or woman, do you like the name, like it but don’t plan on buying one, or do you dislike the name, and will buy one anyway, or do you dislike the name and don’t plan on purchasing one? Our new poll, “What are your feelings about the iPad name?” lets you answer that question. As always, you can find the iLounge Poll in the left-hand column of the main iLounge.com home page. Cast your vote today!