Apple What Ifs

What if Apple began making more than just electronics. What if they started making household items such as washing machines and toilets. Well, La Repubblica.it has brought these what ifs to life. They have compiled a gallery of some different Apple inventions. They have taken into account some of Apple's previous designs such as the iPod and also the Apple logo. Check out these 19 ideas that they have come up with and see what you think.

UMG Will Not Renew Thier iTunes Contract

This is breaking news. Universal Music Group (UMG) will not be renewing thier contract with iTunes. This means there will be a large portion of music that will have to be removed from iTunes. Since they will be losing songs, customers are soon to follow. With the current release of the iPhone, this news is sure to be a set back for Apple. It will be interesting to see how Apple responds to this.

Picasa's New Face

Yesterday, Google introduced a couple of new features for their online photo sharing site, Picasa. One of the new features allows you to tag your photos by location in which they were taken. Once you tag them by location, your photo albums will show up on a Google Map and your friends can view your pictures that way. It is actually a really cool feature, especially if you do a lot of traveling. Take a look at the Picasa site to see an example of this on the Las Vegas Strip.

Google also launched a version of Picasa that is designed for cellphones. The version is made to be used on the small screen of your cellphone. It uses your phone's built-in Web browser and allows you to take your Picasa with you anywhere. Overall, both introductions seem to be a great addition to an already nice piece of software.

Corian's New Z. Island

There are all type of products out their for your kitchen countertops. But, I must say this is the most futuristic product I have seen of it's type. Corian has introduced the Z. Island. The island boasts LED touch panels that are embedded in the surface and well as a mounted Mac that can be used for its multimedia functions. This thing also has three aroma deviecs that stick out of the island which can pump various scents out into your kitchen. This unit also has the capabilities to control a wall of abstract lighting fixtures which allows you alter the color and intensity of the lights. This new island seems way out there to me and I'm not sure how practical it will be for most home builders, but it is an interesting concept.

Ikan: Making Grocery Shopping Easier

Do you hate grocery shopping? Always feel like no matter how long you spend making a list, you always forget at least one thing you need? Well, then Ikan could be for you. Ikan revolutionizes your shopping. It is a little scanner that you use to scan all of your items before you discard them. It will then keep track of all of those items and put them in an online grocery list. With that grocery list you can either submit your order online, or you can simply print the list and take it to the store with you so you know exactly what you need. The Ikan also tells you if the item you scanned it recyclable and in which bin you would need to put it. I guess that's Ikan's way of being more environmentally friendly.

New Sanyo LP-XL50 Projector

Sanyo has come up with with a revolutionary short throw projector design. Their new projector, the LP-LX50. This projector can fill a a wall from as little as 3-inches away. It can be hung diretly above or below the screen and its unique design will prevent shadows from appearing on the picture. Its original target market is classrooms and meeting rooms, but I wouldn't be shocked if eventually you see a similar design out made more with a home theater in mind. Sanyo plans to release the projector in Japan in late 2007, and worldwide shortly after that.

SUV Turned into a Giant Scratch Card

Now this is truely bizarre to me. We are all used to seeing scratch cards in things such as the lottery. We get excited to scratch them off and see if we won. Think about that, except on a much larger scale. In London's Covent Garden, Chevrolet launched their new Captiva in a big way. The had the new Chevy Captiva "Scratch Car-d" on top of 16,995 pennies that were to be used as scratching utensils. Passers by could then take their turn at scratching off portions of the car until one lucky person found the winning symbol and won the car. I think this was a really cool way for Chevy to introduce their new Captiva. For more information visit CarTech.