As Apple move forward to new heights with the success of their iPod range and their new iPhone bringing them their best ever Q3 results, the flip side of their success is just as impactful. Electronics firm Wolfson Microelectronics had Apple as one of their biggest clients, providing chips for their iPhones and iPod MP3 players.

Wolfson Microelectronics is based in Edinburgh, and they’ve stated there will most likely be job losses as a result of losing the contract with Apple for the chips. The company currently employs 370 staff in its Edinburgh plant.

Dave Shrigley, their chief executive, stated they will be forced to make cut backs and blamed the global economy for the proposed belt trimming measures. Staff are expected to hear about any job losses and cutbacks today.

Dave Shrigley stated:

Our ultimate business is determined by how many systems are sold to consumers. As a result we plan a review of non-research and development costs.

The company’s share price has fallen by 40% this year.

The iPod offers sound at a ‘Fisher-Price toy’ level according to Neil Young. This is quite a slap in the face for Apple who have engineered the leading portable music product of our generation. Neil was speaking at a Tech Conference called ‘Fortune’s Brainstorm Tech Conference.

In Neil Young’s address to the audience he stated:

Apple has taken a detour down the convenience highway. Quality has taken a complete backseat - if it even gets in the car at all.

He went on to say that the quality of music has been “dumbed down” as a result of MP3 files and MP3 players. He claims that MP3s represent poor audio quality, and is pushing for Blu-Ray to become the music standard going forward. He is also producing his life’s works on Blu-Ray, which he intends to release later in the year.

He hopes that Blu-Ray replaces MP3 as the musical standard.

During his talk Young criticised Apple in particular for what he called bring the quality of music down in a policy of convenience over quality.

He lamented:

We have beautiful computers now but high-resolution music is one of the missing elements. The ears are the windows to the soul.

A potential agreement between the G8 nations that would set up an Anti Counterfeiting Trade Agreement was feared to lead to the frisking of people’s iPods and MP3 players at airports. The idea being that they intend to crack down on the illegal sharing of music and video, which is costing the music industry billions each year.

However the potential agreement is unlikely to lead to airport security frisking people for their iPods and examining the music they contain, looking for stolen or copied tracks.

A document that was leaked last year warned that ACTA might push for the law to be changed so that airport security and customs staff have the powers to search people’s MP3 players, iPods and laptop computers looking for illegal music and anything that might infringe on copyrights.

A document released by the G8 however makes no mention of such powers, instead referencing methods to improve:

an efficient and well-functioning IP system.

The document states that they’ll be focussing on ways to track down and catch those who distribute illegal music.

We commit ourselves to strengthening cooperation and coordination among customs and border enforcement administrations through facilitation of information sharing,” said the document. “We have identified two principle areas for further progress: the exchange of data among G8 members through appropriate mutual assistance provisions … and the elaboration of a rapid alert system to exchange data on a more informal basis.

Reigncom are Korea’s leading manufacturer of MP3 players and they produce the famous iRiver model. One of their former vice presidents, a man named only as ‘Lee’ by the police, is being held over allegations of stealing technology from Reigncom, and setting up his own company in competition.

The rival company he set up apparently uses the same MP3 technologies that were developed by Reigncom while he was at the company.

Lee left Reigncom in October 2006 to form his new business. When he formed his new company he poached nine different members of Reigncom, all of whom were involved in developing MP3 player technology. He allegedly told the employees to bring the technologies they developed with them to his new company.

The MP3 players produced by Lee’s new company were very similar in their circuit diagram and source codes to those produced by Reigncom.

Although Lee claims he was able to use the same source code as Reigncom under a contract with his former employer, the police disagree, stating:

The contract does not indicate that Lee’s company can use the same source codes.

Australia is pushing for a total ban on listening to MP3 players while driving after it was claimed by a pedestrian rights group that a recent campaign by police to warn against using them didn’t go far enough.

The recent campaign from New South Wales police warned both pedestrians and motorists against the dangers of using MP3 players and iPods while walking and driving respectively. The police say they don’t actually have any statistics to prove the dangers of MP3 players, but recent incidents suggest there is a link.

Chief Superintendent John Hartley said:

The public needs to be aware of the impact of these new technologies and the distractions they create, for both pedestrians and motorists alike,” said the traffic services commander.

The campaign from the police shows pedestrians lying dead, with a white chalk outline being created by an iPod cord.

Harold Scruby is the chief exec of the Pedestrian Council, he claims that the police campaign doesn’t go far enough and wants to see MP3 players and iPods banned for drivers.

If you take out the audial sense, you remove one of the most important aspects of road safety. You wouldn’t hear an ambulance or police car, let alone someone tooting you.

Google’s instant messaging application, and its answer to Microsoft’s hugely popular MSN, is being made available for the iPod Touch and iPhone.

According to Google’s own blog:

In addition to sending your friends Gmail messages from your iPhone, you can now chat with them while you’re on the move, too!

The best part about the application is that users won’t need to install any software on their iPod, instead they can use Google Talk through their web browser by simply visiting: www.google.com/talk

One of the differences between the iPod version and the standard version though is that you would need to have Google Talk open in your iPod’s browser to be able to receive messages. In the standard desktop version you can receive messages without actually being on the site.

This is part of Google’s growing plan to take advantage of the increased usage of mobile technology throughout the globe.

We all know that iPods are used by people who work out at the gym quite a lot. You’ll often see runners on the treadmill, or on the rowing machine using their iPods to create the pace for their workout. There’s long been a synergy between exercise and music.

However, it could soon be the case the iPod is used to plug into the gym equipment and the two can control each other, if a new patent from Apple is to be believed. It’s thought that the gym equipment could come with an iPod dock and a screen for playback of the iPods’s music and video.

Recently Apple launched a big money partnership with Nike when they created the Nike + iPod system. The Nike + iPod was an accessory for your iPod that allowed you to place a sensor in your Nike trainer, and a dongle in your iPod, which allowed your iPod to monitor how far you had run. You could then sync your iPod with your PC or Mac, which then uploaded your progress to a website so you could see how well you were doing against your own preset goals, or competition,

The system proved very popular, and now it looks as though Apple wants a bigger slice of the workout market.

Two gym equipment manufacturers, TechnoGym and LifeFitness, are apparently in on the deal to allow people to control their iPods using touch screen controls on the exercise equipment.

The patent filed by Apple shows that the iPhone could also be included in the plans, with the iPhone controlling how many reps you perform on machines, such as bicep curls.

iTunes has been ruling the online music download arena for five years now, without any serious rival. However that may be all about to change as digital music download retailer Rhapsody is looking to compete with the Apple owned giant. In a $50 million assault Rhapsody will be offering music, not just via its own website, but through media partners such as Yahoo! and Verizon Wireless.

The music will be offered in the MP3 format, meaning that iPod users will be able to download and use them as well.

Previously Rhapsody offered a subscription model for users who would pay fees of between $13 to $15 in order to access music, rather than the pay-per-download system that iTunes employs.

Rhapsody realised though that they needed to embrace the iPod and make their service compatible with the market leading player in order to compete. Rhapsody VP Neil Smith said:

We’re no longer competing with the iPod, we’re embracing it.

Rhapsody are also planning to hit the social networking scene on sites like Facebook, as they provide music for the website ‘iLike’, which is a popular Facebook application.

They’re the most successful band of all time and they’ve topped the charts all over the world. Liverpool’s own fab four, John, Paul, George and Ringo (the Beatles) could be headed to a video game in the near future; but a video game that allows for the download of their music.

Discussions are currently going on to bring the Fab Four to a video game in a deal that could be worth millions, and utilise the extensive back catalogue of the Beatles.

The two video game companies who are interested in producing this game already have a great record of success with music based video games. Activision, who produced the hugely successful ‘Guitar Hero’ franchise, and MTV Games, who’ve made the equally successful ‘Rock Band’.

Both of those games allow the players to download new music for use within the games, although they cannot take the music from the game and transfer it to their computers, iPods or MP3 players.

If the Beatles game does go ahead it will allow the game company to take advantage of the huge Beatles’ back catalogue, which is still half owned by Michael Jackson.

It may surprise you to know that MP3 players aren’t just used for entertainment purposes or as educational tools. A hospital in Singapore is using MP3 players to allow patients suffering from asthma to cope with their condition more easily.

Controlling asthma requires a combination of medical treatment and for the patient to be sufficiently educated so that can control their breathing using a form of self-management.

SingHealth are the largest healthcare group in Singapore, and they recently ran a program called ‘Telecare for Asthma’, which was designed to evaluate how MP3 players could be used to help treat asthma sufferers. The pilot scheme was launched last year on World Asthma Day and ran for 6 months.

The idea of projects such as these is to use technology to help educate asthma sufferers to ways to cope with their condition, while overcoming the problems of illiteracy.

The initial trials were performed on two different groups of asthmatics, patients with poor literacy and energetic asthmatics.

Of the patients who had the poor literacy skills, many of them found that by using the MP3 players to educate them on the ways to cope with the condition they were able to better understand it.

Only one of those patients said they couldn’t operate the MP3 player, even though they were given full instructions.

This research shows that using MP3 players and other types of technology in the treating of illnesses is a great way forward for medicine.