The iTrip is a tiny little transmitter that you attach to the mini-jack sound-out on a music device (typically an iPod) and then tune so it broadcasts over radio on a certain channel in a modest radius. Which got it banned in the UK for violating the Wireless Telegraphy Act from 1949 - it falls into the pirate radio category. Well, soon you'll be able to get one without having an uncontrollable urge to yo-ho-ho with a bottle of rum. Apparently the bureaucratic mills are starting to grind, with the exceedingly fine result that Ofcom is "working with other European administrations to develop a common set of standards to allow some low-power devices to be sold and used in the UK." Well, we hope.
Trusted Reviews also notes that the Ofcom report said some gadgets "may not meet these technical standards, designed to minimise interference to other radio users. As a result, they are unlikely to be authorised for use in the UK in the future." I have an iTrip (it's nowhere near as useful as I would like but when it does work it's brill) and consider that it minimises interference already. What do they want us to do, put a safe on it? [GT]
iTrip [via Gizmodo and Trusted Reviews]
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These have been and still are readily available from the high street at branches of KRCS Apple Store (krcs.co.uk). The fact they're still banned is a major selling point!