Fox releases X-Files branded iPods

We know — you’ve wanted an iPod for years, but you’ve always wanted one branded with your favorite TV show, and that 90210 version didn’t cut it. Boy, is it your lucky day. Fox has released some “Limited Edition” X-Files iPod Classics and Nanos, ready for your purchase right now for only $329.00. You read that right — you’re paying almost $100 for pictures of Mulder and Scully. But surely if anyone’s worth it, they are, right?

Unfortunately, as Apple’s resident X-Files nerd (well, one of them) Robert Palmer pointed out to me, they’re branded with the latest movie’s title, not the original TV show, so those who don’t actually Want to Believe (y’know, after all these years, why doesn’t Mulder just believe already?) will likely be disappointed. But since you can customize them with your name (or whatever else you want on there — we recommend “Clyde Bruckman”), hopefully the movie’s title won’t concern true fans too much.

[Seenon via Chip Chick]

Popularity: 11% [?]

The real .mac opens up with new regulations

ICANN, the ruling body for Internet domain naming, has voted to relax a few rules that will supposedly open up a whole slew of top-level domain names, multiple news sources are reporting. They haven’t exactly said why they’re doing this, only that it will “preserve the security, stability, and global interoperability of the Internet.” Which seems like a good reason, we guess. But whatever the reason, it’s good news for people who don’t want to use the old standbys of .com or .org — now, bidding can start for .sex, .xxx, .post, or any other combination of letters.

Like, for example, .mac. Yes, for the first time in the history of the Internet, Apple would have been able to make good on its .Mac brand — except that, as you know, they decided just a few weeks ago to change that brand to Mobile Me. Though we supposed mobile.me is probably out there somewhere.

Of course, as we’ve speculated before, the change to Mobile Me wasn’t so much about domain names as it was about just getting away from the Apple brand, and creating a service that both Mac and PC users would be interested in. So odds are that Apple wasn’t waiting for .mac anyway. But it is interesting that even though they can finally have it, they don’t actually need it any more.Thanks, Darcy L!

[Source: CNN.com]

Popularity: 8% [?]