1GB iPod nano unleashed; Bono sees red

Watching Apple release another iPod is a bit like watching the sack of Carthage. Hopefully Apple will show some mercy on the Sonys and Creatives of this world -- unlike the Romans, who slaughtered or sold the citizens of Carthage into slavery before burning their city to the ground.

Certainly there would be some pleasure in witnessing Steve Jobs break skulls open with a gladius, but prevailing social convention prohibits it. With any luck the looming oil crisis will make such acts commonplace again between multinational CEOs.

The new 1GB nano is exactly like the original iPod nano, but with half the capacity of the previous smallest model, and a lower price-tag of £109. You can read the full review of this player here.

In other iPod news, it seems that while politicians have been gabbling about such trivia as Iran's nuclear capacity, it's rumoured that Bono has stumbled on another way to accelerate the global peace process: selling red iPods. A few decades ago McCarthy would have had a field day with this one. It's not clear yet whether Che Guevara or perhaps Bono himself will be etched on the back.

Conspiracy idiots speculate that this could be a covert effort by Apple to break into the Chinese market. They note that the addition of a few well-placed stars on the design in the final stages of manufacture could turn the red iPod into a national icon for the world's largest communist state. -CS