The witching season is upon us. Halloween is just around the corner and to celebrate we’re having a costume party, sort of. We’re giving away a few treats plus a $300 Griffin Technology shopping spree!
While we know we already have a product that’s perfect for this spooky time of the year, we’re looking for more.
Tis the season to trick out your favorite Griffin device in a creative costume. Break out your craft supplies or Photoshop and have some fun!
3rd place wins one AirCurve and one PowerDuo Reserve. Total MSRP $80.00
On Friday, October 30th we’ll pick the three best costumes and announce the winners.
TO ENTER:
Take a photo of your Griffin product when it’s dressed up and ready to go. Then upload the photo to the GRIFFIN COSTUME PARTY Flickr group. Flickr is free to use.
Back in 2003 we invented the first iTrip (pictured to the right). Our little FM transmitter set an entire industry of iPod accessories into motion.
There’s been a few updated versions of iTrip over the years, each with it’s own set of cool new features.
Now, six years later, we are excited to be announcing the release of the all new iTrip, fully integrated with its new iTrip Controller app – the most advanced iTrip yet!
Here’s what’s included:
• Broadcasts music, podcasts and audio books to any nearby FM radio
• Displays track and artist information on RDS-compatible radios.
• Backlit graphic LCD display is easy to read in any light
• Large menu button allows easy fingertip navigation of menus
• Griffin’s SmartScan technology automates setup and operation by instantly finding the best available frequency in any locale
• Users can save up to 3 presets for easy recall
• Choose between stereo and mono transmission for best signal
• Toggle SmartSound EQ adjustment on or off
• Transport controls allow track changes directly from the iTrip and return tactile button feedback to iPhone and iPod touch
• Micro-USB port for charging any USB-powered iPod or iPhone from any compatible charger, including Griffin’s classic PowerBlock or PowerJolt
Not only did Australian Josh Darrah create a wooden iPod mini, he also carved a classic iTrip mini.
Our crack investigation team (me) reached out to Josh for an interview. Unfortunately, management didn’t feel the need to send me to Australia, so I had to settle on email.
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D. You are clearly a gifted wood worker, when did you begin carving?
J. Wow, thanks so much for the compliment. I’ve been carving little wood projects just for fun for around 9 years now. I started carving little chess sets that I’d lose interest with after making only the king and half a rook, wooden rings as gifts for friends, hardwood covered photo albums that were waaaay too heavy, a few gandalf styled long curved pipes when I was all crazy ‘into’ the lord of the rings books, and recently some bonsai display tables.
D. Who or what turned you on to wood working?
J. Most of my family are artistically creative, so luckily i’ve always been surrounded by people making things. My stepdad is a carpenter by trade, and my grandad has always been a keen maker of things and had such a perfect set of old tools in his shed. I guess that’s what helped me eventually to start making things from wood and realise just what a perfect medium is can be. I can’t put my finger on exactly why, but now I’m one of those people who simply loves working with wood.
D. What got you inspired to encase an iTrip, iPod and dock in wood?
J. I think it was just as simple as a random thought one day. I was holding my ipod mini and had the thought ‘‘ooh, I wonder what this would look like with a solid wood case…’’. So I guess there wasn’t much inspiration aside from the fact I just plain love wood? I then was given a new ipod nano for christmas last year, which of course meant that my poor old first ipod would now be sent to retirement village tech box with my old discman. But that also meant I could now have the courage to try the wood mod on my mini. The idea of having the ‘soul’ of my old mini (ridiculously corny and sentimental I know) in a nice piece of wood was just too fun of a thought to not try out.
As for the itrip mini, there was no way I could ignore modding it in wood to match the ipod, especially because it was the trusty sidekick to my mini for all those years of driving and free fm band searching. The wooden dock was made one night simply because I was project-bored and dying to make something else out of wood.
D. Why did you choose light red cedar for your iTrip over a different type of wood?
J. Since I had already chosen the darker australian red cedar for the ipod, I wanted a wood colour for the itrip that would stand out yet complment that dark cedar. I also loved how the itrip was pretty iconic with it’s pure white colourway back in the day, so I grabbed a much lighter block of red cedar to pay a little bit of tribute to that white old housing.
D. Was tearing open the products unnerving, or are you comfortable with your wiring talents?
J. I’m actually zero-skilled with wiring talents, and I don’t even own a soldering iron. I wish that it was more unnerving for me when I was tearing open the products to mod them though. I paid the price for being so blasé because I was so excited to get to work on the mod. In the first 30 seconds of taking apart the ipod mini, I snapped the headphone jack right off the logic board. It was horrible. I didn’t learn my lesson and in the carving process in that I actually got sawdust all through the ipod and broke the click wheel’s sensor ribbon. I was such a little kid about it and ended up finishing the case with completely broken internals. Luckily I found a great repairer through ebay (ipod remedy) and they were able to fix everything up for me.
But when it came to the itrip I was able to be more careful. Since I had an old busted itrip to use as the test build, I was able to make the shell perfectly to fit and then just slide in the second working itrip’s internals.
D. Do you have any future plans to create other wooden versions of Griffin products?
J. I don’t have any plans to mod other griffin products with wood as yet, but if I see something and it gives me an idea, I’d love to get straight back into another wood modding project. That is unless Griffin has some product they simply want to donate?….ha ha.
D. Do you have anything else you’d like to share with our community?
J. I hope that readers enjoyed my little project, and here’s to people who continue to create, mod and share. I love getting to see what other crafty people get up to. Thanks again for the interview, it’s been a pleasure.
Thanks for the interview Josh. Next time I hope we can meet in person.
I love watching the countless reviews of our products on YouTube and other video hosting sites. I wish I had the time to comment on each one. It’s nice to see people actually unboxing our products and testing them in real time, but it’s even better when we can see it being used.
I was really entertained by Sukhjit’s road trip video with her friend Rachael Joy. They were in the process of traveling from D.C. to Austin, Texas for SXSW. That’s a really long car ride! Google Maps has the whole trip clocked at about 1,526 miles. That’s about 23 hours!
In an effort to keep their sanity on the road, Sukhjit and Rachael made their own iTrip review. Check out the video, and you can read her blog to see the whole post. Enjoy it.
A few years ago before I started working with Griffin, I concocted a magic trick with my iTrip. I’ve always had a fascination with cool illusions, not big glamorous stuff but original fun stuff instead. While playing with my iTrip, I created the iTrip Static Radio Trick.
The Presentation:
Make sure you are near a terrestrial radio. Tell your friend you want to do a card trick on him. Force him the six of hearts (see Set Up), and have him show it to any spectators present. Turn your head away to be sure no one thinks you’re peaking. Now have him return the card to the deck and shuffle it.
Take the shuffled deck and add some theatrics. For example, tap the deck on the top of your head to concentrate on the card, or attempt to read your friend’s mind to see the card. Look frustrated.
Flip on his radio to the sound of static, and crank up the volume. Tell him that the static helps you concentrate. Suddenly, a woman’s voice appears on the radio from nowhere. The mysterious woman chooses his card, and the radio returns to static. Your friends will be amazed.
Download this MP3 (Right Click and choose SAVE AS), and have it ready to play on your iPod or iPhone.
Tune your iTrip to an available radio frequency on your friend’s radio. If pre-tuning isn’t possible, you can always do this trick at your house.
Be sure the volume is loud enough, so your friends will hear the MP3.
You’ll have 20 seconds of static before the woman’s voice begins.
Either stash your iPod near the stereo before you hit play, or play it from your pocket.
Quickly turn off the radio before the static ends.
Your friends will gasp when the mysterious woman chooses his card. This worked really well when I performed it several times. I should add that it also helped get me a job at Griffin . Have fun!
The witching season is upon us. Halloween is just around the corner and to celebrate we’re having a costume party, sort of. We’re giving away a few treats plus a $300 Griffin Technology shopping spree!
. Have fun!