At work today, Tim did something really clever. He figured out how to make Google Talk become your own streaming internet radio station. We tried it out, and it worked pretty damn well! Here’s the link to Alpha blog, where he wrote out the instructions:

• Purchase a male-to-male speaker/headphone cable. It should have a 1/8-inch mini headphone jack on each end.
• Plug one end into the mic-in port on your computer.
• Plug the other end into your computer’s headphone port. If you want to listen to music as you play it for your listeners (recommended), use a headphone splitter. Jack your headphones into one port of the headphone splitter, the male-to-male cable into the other port, and plug the splitter into your headphone port.
• Launch iTunes (or any other audio player) and start playing songs.
• Call up your friends over Google Talk. They’ll hear whatever you’re playing with surprisingly good sound quality.

Spectacular! Oh, and then we played a really great game, where you stream a rap song and try to type the lyrics as they come. It’s a good way to test out the lag factor as well.

Follow your nose, Bush!

From Engadget:

Well, looks like Apple?s updating their iPod mini lineup too, but certainly not before introducing (yet) another addition to their iPod starting lineup?the iPod nano. It will feature 500 song/2GB and 1,000 song/4GB capacities, a color display, and, of course, a click wheel. The device is no more than 62% the size of the already diminutive iPod mini, weighs 1.5 ounces (42 grams), will come in black (as well as iPod white), and includes a few new niceties such as a nighttime inverse screen mode for the $199 and $249 pricetag. Dock ($29) not included, but lanyard headphones will be available for $39.

Also, the Rokr.

Interesting! That looks pretty hot. Too bad it’s not a video iPod though. Ever slowly we inch closer…

Any minute now, Apple is going to make their announcement about something NEW AND GREAT! What will it be? An iTunes phone? Maybe. An iTunes Video Store? That would be rad. Of course, if that were the case, a video iPod would also be necessary. I was supposed to be at the Moscone Center to hear the announcement, but I got to work too late. I’ll find out soon and let everyone (who is everyone?) know. I was rooting for the phone for a long time, but then I found out that:

• You cannot uploud your own music to the phone from your computer.
• Each song that you buy from your phone will cost you $2 instead of $.99. Lame!

I’m hoping that Apple still have the ability to surprise, and unveils something that no one was expecting. But honestly? I doubt it.

UPDATE!
I’m a liar. You can use you own music on the phone, according to Apple.