I'm not sure if you've heard about (RED), but it's a project going on combining the efforts of Motorola, American Express, GAP, Emporio Armani, Converse and Apple to help raise money for women and children affected by HIV/AIDS and awareness about the AIDS epidemic. My wife first heard about it with Bono's appearance on Oprah. It's a noble cause that most of these companies are offering special products for, and a portion of the proceeds go to the cause.

However, I think the Apple product missed the boat. About 3 weeks after the new and redesigned iPod Nano's were released, they came out with a Red one for this project. Now, that may not seem like a long time, but for any technophile, 3 weeks after an initial release can be an eternity.

For example, my wife and I had just upgraded her dying iPod Mini to one of the new Nano's about a week after they came out. When she found out about this project, she said to me "If I had know the red ones were coming out, then I would have waited and helped support the cause". I'm sure she's not the only one who feels this way. Essentially, Apple missed supporting the (RED) project with any money from the early adopters. I just feel that's a shame, especially with a project such as this one. If they had planned better, they surely could have done a lot more good.