It is pretty common these days for many radios to have an iPod docking station, but AOC is taking the concept to the next level by integrating a dock into their new Aire monitor.

The AOC Aire (aka e2343Fi) features a 23” Full High Definition experience with a resolution of 1920×1080, and will come with a built-in dock that supports both iPhone and iPod, allowing you to have all your multimedia content delivered to the monitor using plug-and-play technology.The monitor will also include SRS Premium sound as well.

For those who love the idea of quick access and integration of all their important media content, or just a way to get iPhone apps up on the big screen, the AOC Aire certainly looks like a tempting choice.

The Aire will debut sometime in March, and will be shown off in at CES 2012 in a few days.

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It seems that the year 2012 is shaping up to be an interesting year of uncertainty. We have rumors of various upcoming Apple products, Windows 8, Nintendo’s next home console, the end of the world according to Sony, and the advance in human consciousness all as possible options sometime in 2012.

On the Apple front, Gene Munster, an analyst with Piper Jaffray, believes that a redesigned iPhone 5 could appear in mid-2012. Such a handset could bring in features that Apple fans have long waited for like the introduction of 4G LTE technology. It takes an analyst to come up with that?

We also expect an iPad 3 and perhaps even a 7-inch entry iPad if rumors prove true.

The way that Apple sets up 2012 will largely affect the revenue for 2013, according to the analyst.

According to Munster there are two different models he believes that Apple will follow in 2013. He calls these two different approaches the base model and bull model.  Highly unlikely for Apple since the iPhone 4S would probably be the “base  model.”

For the iPhone, Munster’s crystal ball projects Apple to sell 142 million handsets for 2013 revenue, an 18 percent increase of revenue. A more bullish model for 2013 sees the company selling instead 162 million iPhone, which would result in 35 percent increase.

Munster believes that Apple will likely only produce one updated iPad model (iPad 3) for 2012, though rumors suggest otherwise.

Everyone is expecting the iPad 3 and iPhone 5 in 2012. Other rumors suggest a lower-end iPad and even an iMac Pro to replace the aging Mac Pro desktop line. Even a ultra-high resolution Macbook Pro is rumored to arrive in mid-2012.

Regardless of what Apple turns out in 2012, we’ll be sure to cover the best of it.

We have the right device for those of you who have a thing for tiny MP3 players. The music player pictured above, the Kube2 from Singapore technology company Bluetree Electronics, is not as thin as the latest generation iPod shuffles, but it’s being claimed by the makers as the “world’s smallest touch mp3 player”.

The Kube2 MP3 player, which is the successor to the company’s “Kube” released two years ago, measures in at 1″ x 1″ x 1″ and comes equipped with a touch sensor for navigating through the screen and menu.

The sensor will allow your finger to do the talking. Just a quick swipe with your thumb along the faceplate and the player switches to the previous or next track. You just have to place a finger at the top or bottom of the player to raise or lower the volume respectively. And the proper diagonal movements pauses playback or gives you the shuffle mode.

Unlike the first generation device which was made out of plastic, the Kube2 features an aluminum body. You will also get to play with a range of removable stickers for customizing the look of your device.

Its lithium-polymer battery provides six hours of continuous play and it can be fully charged via USB in an hour.

The microSD card slot supports cards of up to 32GB, which should allow you to store about 8000 songs. But the 4GB card (around 1,000 songs) that is available in the package might just be enough.

The kube2 comes with a price tag of approximately $35 and is currently only available in Singapore. It will be shown off at CES 2012 in January prior to its release worldwide.

[via DesignBoom]

These days you can pretty much toss a rock in Best Buy and hit an iPod, iPhone, or other related music accessories.  This is certainly not the first dock we’ve ever encountered, so in an endless sea of accessories, can the Yamaha PDX-11 offer something just different enough to make it worth the purchase? It turns out that the answer is a maybe. This interesting dock isn’t about a simple little device you keep tucked in your room.  The times when those of us who were children of the 80s walked around with boom boxs in tow are long gone. This may be for them, while at the same time it is designed with fun colors and a feel that gives it sort of a hip-hop look.

The PDX-11 is a rugged octagon-shaped loudspeaker, featuring a steel grill and a single 4-inch cone woofer and separate tweeter. According to Yamaha, the sound creates a “strong bass and stunning mid-range”, though once again there are many similar options out there for those looking. Beyond being just a dock the unit be hooked up to a PC, Mac, and other audio devices through its 3.5 mm mini jack. It also offers extra portability through its chrome bar handle.

This could be a great option for those of us looking for portable unit that can be powered through six AA batteries, for up to 8 hours of playback, or is comfortable at home using an AC adapter. For those of us that aren’t trying to recreate boom-box moments from Sixteen Candles, there are plenty of other great accessories out there that work fine from home.  If portable is your thing and you want to be a little different, though, then Yamaha’s new accessory might be right up your alley.

Well, a slightly updated version of the iControlPad has now been revealed and while the core idea remains the same — real gaming controls on a touchscreen smartphone — there is one notable difference: the clamp. You don’t need to buy special “sides” to hold your smartphone in place, because there’s an adjustable metal clamp that should be fairly universal. I can’t say whether it stretches out far enough for something like a Dell Streak, but I imagine something as big as the EVO 4G should be just fine.

As a quick refresher, the iControlPad features a d-pad, two analog nubs, four face action buttons, start and select, and a pair of trigger buttons toward the back. It works with Android straight up, as well as jailbroken iDevices. It’ll also work with non-jailbroken iPhones if you do the iCade emulation thing. Check it out for $62.49, including the metal clamp.

Twitter users will love to hear that the social networking platform has become fully integrated into the new iOS 5 mobile operating system by Apple. Today, available for the first time you can read and share tweets using your iPad, iPod Touch or iPhone seamlessly from within the OS. Unfortunately some users are having issues with iOS 5 upgrades which end up bricking their phone, but that may be a rare instance.

How do you use it? Well, its very simple. Just enter your login information on Twitter using your device and voila! You will always be connected to the site. In addition to this, the integrated Twitter for iOS 5 will allow you to tweet directly from the Apple apps such as Maps, Camera, Safari, Photos, Youtube and many more. Third party apps can also be used to make direct tweets like the Flipboard, Instagram, popSugar, LivingSocial, Chomp, Showyou, SoundTracking and many more.

Take advantage of the most recent Twitter version for iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch which lets you upload images directly to Twitter. You can get the Twitter app now by downloading it from the App Store.

Just when you thought the iPod Nano has already come to the end of the line, think again! The hardware refresh this week adds a multi-touch capability to the iPod family. The nano sports a 1.54” color TFT display with a resolution of 240 x 240 (220 ppi).

The new and improved nano now comes in seven different colors and can display up to 16 various clocks, perfect for snapping on your wrist. It is also offered in 8GB and 16GB capacities which are pegged at $129 and $149 respectively.

Let’s take a hypothetical look inside the Apple think tank. When they were thinking about what to do with the 6th-gen nano, they thought they wanted to go smaller and they thought they wanted a touchscreen. Then, they thought they wanted to remove the camera from the 5th gen, along with the video support.

Well, going back into that think tank, how can you “revolutionize” things “all over again” for portable MP3 players? You bring back the features you took away. Then it’s new and improved, right? That appears to be the thinking behind the upcoming 7th-gen iPod nano.

What you see here, apparently, is a leaked image of the next nano’s exterior metal casing. What’s that interesting hole in the top-right corner, you might ask? Well, it very much looks like a slot for a camera, don’t you think?

Based on this image, and we always takes these leaks with giant grains of salt, the seventh-generation iPod nano will retain the basic square shape of the 6th gen, but it’ll plop a camera back in there. We assume this also means video support is coming back, but that camera might be only for stills. They’ll also have to rethink the placing and design of the “clip” portion on the back. It would be best if they could have the camera on the front, then when using your watch strap it could be like a dick tracy communicator on Skype.

The seventh-gen isn’t here yet, but I can already imagine the 8th-gen. They’ll bring back the click wheel, elongate the shape, and say it’s brand new all over again.

[Read via Giz]

The second generation version of the Apple Peel is set to hit random retailers in China this Monday, March 28. If you happen to have a friend hanging out in Shanghai, you can get him or her to ship one over for your iPod touch, giving it iPhone-like capabilities. Naturally, you’ll need to jailbreak your iPod touch first.

It’ll still do the voice and text thing as the older version, but the new Apple Peel 520 will toss in some GPRS data connectivity. This is going to be painfully slow for anything more than text-based e-mails, but at least it’s something if you don’t happen to be bathing in some Wi-Fi.

Pricing is expected to be in the $79 to $90 range.

[Yoison]

Think about most of the iPod speaker docks on the market. They either require you to use a power cable or they run on batteries. They also happen to take up valuable desk or shelf space that could be used for something else. And then, take a look at the Waldok.

No, it’s not going to be the more technologically advanced or loudest iPod speaker dock on the market, but think about its design for a moment. It plugs directly into the wall without any dangling cables, docks an iPod of your choosing, and plays the music through its single speaker. I’ve seen charging docks that use this kind of design, but not speaker docks. This is slick and would be great for background tunes in smaller rooms.

At least, that’s the idea. The HERNstudio folks want to get this idea off the ground so they’ve put the project up on Kickstarter to raise the necessary funds. Not familiar with Kickstarter? You might want to take a look at our KickStarter project too!

[Gizmodo]