Ah, the irony that Raymond Miller went into his local Stamford Town Center Apple Store because he was having issues with image files on his computer. The Genius found the suggestive images and called on one of the police officers stationed in the mall. Miller was arrested while he was waiting to get his computer back.

According to the Stamford Advocate, he was charged with one count of possession of child pornography, a class-B felony which is punishable by a minimum five-year prison sentence if convicted. No word if the Genius was able to fix his G5. [The Stamford Advocate via Tuaw]

"The invention relates to an implement for coring bananas and filling the latter through the cored portion with ice cream and more particularly to a banana extractor and ice cream injector.

The primary object of the invention is the provision of an implement of this character, wherein the barrel or cylinder thereof is formed with a knife tip so that the said barrel or cylinder can be readily inserted within a banana to bore or core the same and thereafter a charge of ice cream introduced within the banana so that the same may be consumed, that is, the ice cream, on the eating of the banana, thus effecting a combination of banana and ice cream in a convenient and attractive form."

This sounds amazing. And why limit ourselves to ice cream? As Blam posits, filling a banana with peanut butter and jelly would also make for a damned near perfect snack. It's been over 75 years. How much longer do we have to wait for this thing? [Novah 11]

Priced at $150 and available now, the HD520 shoots 11MP stills and 720P (MPEG-4/H.264) video to SDHC up to 8GB. It features face tracking, a 2.5-inch LCD and weighs less than 6 ounces. But every halfway decent point and shoot is getting 720P capabilities...and no offense to Genius, but I trust the lenses/CMOSs used by Canon, Sony, Nikon, etc more than this.

The G-Shot's form factor is exciting for about five seconds. Then you realize, it's just technological nostalgia, evoking images of more expensive, once-innovative products. But we don't need a palmcorder to shoot crappy HD anymore. Everything is doing it. [Genius via OhGizmo!]

[Digg]

It's a further indication that lots of the Genius-related magic happens on the server, as the feature was re-introduced to iTunes without a local software update, according to the iLounge folks.

So, as you can see, I don't use iTunes to keep track of my movies, so Genius couldn't offer me any recommendations inside my library. And if you need something to suggest to you that you may be interested in the other Batman movies while you're watching Dark Knight, this is the tool for you. [iLounge]

One of the two managers interviewing told him that it actually didn't matter how many he was able to answer—most of the staff can't even answer half of them, stuff like:

• What is special about the Mac Pro’s current Ram setup?
• What is Automator and what does it do?
• If a user account keeps crashing on login what do you do?
• What are 3 keyboard combinations you can boot your computer with?
• Are you familiar with OS 9?
• If a customer asks you to sync music from their iPod to computer, what do you say?
• How do you answer a customer who wants to share music with his friend via iTunes?

If you can pass that weak filter—I don't even own a Mac (unless you count my recently built Hackintosh) and I can answer five of those—you'll be welcomed into a loving environment that is " 'very strict' with its employees and what they do with their free time." Lovely, but Aviv turned the offer down.

It just shows you that Geniuses are no different from any corporate tech support group, be it Geek Squad, Firedog or Crapkitty Battalion: Some of them really know their shit, but almost (or just) as many don't know the command key from that gaping, screaming hole in Steve Ballmer's face. [Macblogz via Valleywag, Image via presta]

They must be making popsicles in hell now, because Microsoft has come up with a much better way to expand your musical horizons than Apple iTunes 8's Genius in their new Zune software: MixView. Not only is MixView much prettier and more fun than Genius—we already knew that—it's also more useful, more informative, and it leverages the infamous social aspect of Zune in a beautiful way. In fact, it makes Genius look like a flat, gray, boring Windows application.

MixView shows music you may find interesting based on a playing song in a graphical way. It also shows the relations graphically. Take this shot of Billy Joel's Piano Man:

At a simple glance, you can see albums that are related to this song. The interface invites you to explore, seeing artists influenced by this artist, artists who influenced this artist, and similar albums by the same artist. You learn this quickly because when your cursor flies over, a translucent bubble tells you more about it: "Richard Marx influenced by Billy Joel" or "Frankie Valli influenced Billy Joel." On the top you can see Billy Joel's The Strangers, while on the bottom you can see James Taylor's Sweet Baby James, which is a related album.

In the black boxes you can see the names of the top listeners of the song. If you put your mouse on top, a small list of the Zune user's favorites appears, allowing you to go and explore his or her library in depth. All of this happening fast, giving instantaneous responses to all your actions.

Now, compare this simple buy beautiful and powerful user interface with this:

I rest my case. While the list is simple, even with the Coverflow effect on to make it visually more palatable it's definitely not as engaging as Microsoft's solution. In fact, it is more confusing and overwhelming. If the purpose of Genius is to invite you to expand your musical horizons—like Apple says—this is definitely not the right way to entice listeners to do so. In addition to that, not only Genius looks like an accounting application—and completely out of sync with what you can find on your own iPod touch—but Genius recommends songs that you already have just because they are in a "Best of" album.

While Zune's MixView doesn't have any really new features—other web services offer similar things—what's new is how perfectly they have implemented the whole thing, how good, elegant, and simple it looks. Quite simply: MixView is what Apple should have done from the very beginning with Genius. And I don't even have a Zune. Would this make me switch to Zune? I like my iPhone and the rest of iTunes too much to switch because of a single feature. But if Apple doesn't wake up and smell the coffee—iTunes is still basically the same concept it was back in 2001—they may find themselves as a runner-up in the software music player user interface front. [Thanks OMG! Ponies!]

Zune 3.0 can be downloaded next week, on September 16th. [Zune]

iTunes 8, complete with fancy Genius Playlists and grid view, just went live via Apple Software Update and on Apple.com. Go grab it if you're interested, and let us know how the fancy playlists work out for you. Hit the jump for our initial impressions and a gallery of screenshots.

First impression: this thing takes FOREVER to install and requires a restart. I want those 20 minutes of my life back, Apple. This is a media player for god's sake.

Second impression: it's eating all of my system resources going through my 120GB of music for Genius Playlists. This had better be worth it. It's using over 300MB of my system memory and it appears that it's going to take a good hour to handle this. You've been warned.

Grid view is pretty useless as far as I'm concerned. It makes sorting through your music collection next to impossible if it's even sort of large, and when you click an album to play it you can't see the album's tracklist. Couple that with the fact that half my albums don't have art attached and you have a feature I'm guaranteed to never use.

The new visualizer is AWESOME. I love it.

Is this a bug? The icon that goes next to whatever song is playing in list view doesn't seem to appear anymore. If I'm looking at a list of songs, the only way to see which is playing is to look at the top window and then find that title in the list. That's no good. Nevermind, it's back now. Not sure what the hell was going on there.

Update: about 40% into this Genius business. It's sloooowwwww.

Ho-kay! After like 3 hours Genius Playlists are working for me. My first try was selecting an ambient track (Tim Hecker; I listen to nerdy music, OK?). The playlist it came up with was full of indie rock (a lot of The National and Interpol for some reason) and made no sense whatsoever. Strike one.

Selecting a more well-known indie pop band (The Bird and the Bee) had better results, putting up a bunch of stuff of the same genre. Andre 3000 brought up a playlist of mostly hip hop, which is good, although it had some random wildcards in there as well (Tortoise? Really?).

I think the more mainstream and well known the music you use to source the playlists, the better. Until more people use it and Apple gets more data for more obscure acts, you're going to get random results. This is because it uses metadata from the songs; it doesn't actually analyze what's going on musically. This is why the recommendations made by Pandora are so awesome. In time, Genius playlists should get more useful, but I think I'll still stick to Pandora when I want to mix things up.

As for the recommended tracks in the sidebar, more often than not I found that it recommended stuff I already have. Maybe that's because most of my music wasn't purchased through iTunes (ahem), but most of the time the "Top Songs You're Missing" were in the album I was already listening to. [Apple]

Other Kevin Rose predictions such as a "trippy" visualization with "planet like objects" and downloadable TV shows in HD haven't been confirmed, nor have previous rumors of an iTunes subscription service. But that differently-shaped iPod nano seems to be a lock. [MacRumors]

All for $1500, which is a lot less than ES used to be and a lot less than what the competition charges over at Yamaha and Denon for the really crazy stuff with more than 7 channels. All do 1080/24p and anything easier as well as Dolby Digital, TrueHD, DTS High Res and Master Audio. Upscaling, the real difference in receivers these days, is handled by Faroudja DCDi Cinema tech, not a bad chip at all. More details below.

SONY enhances “elevated standard” audio/video receiver line

WITH THREE NEW MODELS
SAN DIEGO, June 26, 2008 - Sony today introduced three new
audio/video receivers in its “Elevated Standard” (ES) product
line that deliver high-quality sound and video performance.
Engineered for high-end home theaters, the new STR-DA4400ES,
STR-DA3400ES and STR-DA2400ES receivers feature sophisticated
A/V technology supporting 1080/24p video signals, the latest
audio codecs (Dolby® Digital Plus, Dolby® TrueHD, dts® High
Resolution Audio and dts® HD Master Audio) and Faroudja® DCDi
Cinema™ technology for upscaling all video sources to 1080p
when connected via HDMI™ to a compatible high-definition television.
The ES receivers are all designed around a unique construction
platform, digital board and a wide band power amplifier to
maintain the purity of the audio and video signals by minimizing
external vibrations and internal jitter.
“The rapid evolution of audio and video has generated increased
demand for connectivity and high-performance components,” said
Tyler Ishida, director of marketing for Sony Electronics' Digital
Imaging and Audio Division. “This new line of ES receivers
delivers the fidelity, build quality and connectivity expected
for an outstanding cinematic experience in the home.”
The new models utilize a xross media bar™-inspired graphical
user interface for easy content navigation, Sony's Digital
Cinema Auto Calibration for simple surround sound setup, and
BRAVIA® Sync™ for Theatre for easy synchronization of compatible
home theater components.
Sony's DIGITAL MEDIA PORT adds control, networking and connectivity
options for music playback through various accessories, including
a Cradle for iPod (TDM-iP10), a Network Walkman™ cradle, a
PC client device and a Bluetooth® adapter (each is sold separately).
The models are also Sirius® and XM Connect-and-Play™ Ready.
The STR-DA4400ES 7.1 channel receiver has a 120-watt amplifier
(8 ohms, 20 Hz - 20 kHz, 0.09 percent THD), six HDMI inputs
and DSD decoding through HDMI. It offers high-definition video
distribution to a second zone, audio distribution to three
zones and picture-in-picture for monitoring of multi-zone output
or an external video source. The model will be available in
August for about $1,500.
The STR-DA3400ES 7.1 channel receiver has a 100-watt power
amplifier (8 ohms, 20 Hz - 20 kHz, 0.09 percent THD), four
HDMI inputs, a 12-volt trigger, IR repeater and high-definition
video distribution to a second zone (composite). It will be
available in August for around $1,000.
The STR-DA2400ES 7.1 channel receiver has a 100-watt power
amplifier (8 ohms, 20 Hz - 20 kHz, 0.09 percent THD), a basic
icon-driven graphic user interface and four HDMI inputs. The
model will be available next month for about $800.
All ES receivers are supported by a five-year limited manufacturer
warranty and will be available online through www.sonystyle.com
, at Sony Style stores nationwide
and at authorized Sony dealers across the country.

[Book of Joe]

The HomePub is available in Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and the UK (where it costs around 450, or $1000) and there are plans to bring it to the US. [HomePub and Asko via Appliancist]

Body: Unbreakable
Screen: Shatterproof
Internet Connection: Poor
Memory size: 0 GB
Sound Quality: Woolly
Ringtones: No
iPhone: No
Google Maps: No
Camera: 5 megaknitzels
Price: Cheaper than the real thing

My Mom handknit an iPhone [Daddy Types via Boing Boing]

Everything else is pretty standard: "hyper-speed turbo scroll," 1600/800 dpi, and ambidexterity for lefties and righties. No price, but since I use Alt+Tab and Firefox, and "hyper-speed turbo scroll" actually sounds a little scary, I'll stick with my MX 500. – Matt Buchanan

Product Page [Genius via Computerworld]

I'd say more, but I don't claim to be a crow expert. (They aren't covered much on Discovery as of late but I'll be happy to expound upon sharks and/or army ants.) – Mark Wilson with video by Richard Blakeley

Once you do, you leave your computer with them and within a day or two you'll get a call from a Genius with the diagnosis and a quote (which is often $0 if you're under AppleCare). Not a bad way to get your Mac repaired if you have to work all day and can't make it in to a Genius appointment. – Jason Chen

Don't Wait For A Genius: Quick Drop Your Mac And Go [Consumerist]