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Release Date: August 05, 2009
Genre: Games
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Discover New Music

  • Life's Rich Pageant

    • 8 out of 10
    • R.E.M.
    • In the long series of R.E.M.'s evolution, this album (finally?) showcases their ability to capture on tape what had been happening in the live for years: heartfelt, sweat-filled performances that just
  • How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb

    • 6 out of 10
    • U2
    • U2's latest entry is a mostly underwhelming collection of songs that does very little to sound any different from its equally pedestrian predecessor, 2000's "All That You Can't Leave Behind." While

  • Chicago Transit Authority

    • 10 out of 10
    • Chicago
    • For those of you who don't know, Chicago didn't always suck, and everyone in the band didn't always play a keyboard. When the band started off they were pioneers of rock and jazz fusion, and guita

  • Wolfmother

    • 8 out of 10
    • Wolfmother
    • Black Sabbath, The White Stripes, The Stooges. There aren't many bands worth their salt that want to be compared to other bands, but when I listen to Wolfmother's self-titled American debut, I can

  • Bowie at Beeb: Best of BBC Radio 68-72

    • 10 out of 10
    • David Bowie
    • The companion CD to a BBC television concert, BBC Radio Theatre has some of the best renditions of many of Bowie's best songs throughout his career. "I'm Afraid of Americans" is substantial

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News

Mac mini, shuffle Take Gold in 2005 Best Product Design Awards

Apple Computer's Mac mini and the iPod shuffle told first place gold in this year's Industrial Design Excellence Awards (IDEAS), with the Airport Express receiving a second place silver recognition.

The competition, sponsored by Business Week magazine and the Industrial Design Society of America (IDSA), gave a total of three awards to Apple and its head designer, Jonathan Ive. Over the last five years, Apple has amassed a total of 17 awards, second to Samsung with 19 titles among corporations.

Judges called the Mac mini's "streamlined aesthetics" as "perfectly complement (to) Apple’s existing product line." IDSA judge Tucker Viemeister called Apple the leading producer designer in the world, "continuing to hammer away at both bad design and fluffy design. Their design philosophy is getting close the ultimate 'less is more.'"

IDSA judge Pierre-Yves Panis said the shuffle's simplicity "comes from drastically narrowing our choices (or making them for us). We get to give up the responsibility of having to navigate and choose and with that comes freedom and lightness. Calm."


The Apple Mac mini, which was announced in January, took a first place gold award in the 2005 Industrial Design Excellence Awards.

JBL and Harman Multimedia took a second place silver award among computer equipment for the design of its OnStage iPod docking and speaker system. "OnStage’s design language also complements all iPods," the judges concluded. "Much research went into devising the means to generate high-performance sound from such a small device, including the placement of the radial driver as well as the interplay of the ring shape to the table, which specifically enhances the base."

The winners were announced in the July 4 edition of Business Week.

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