Apple Stores in Japan are putting out limited edition iPod Touch and nano cases with gold etchings on the back that say which district or area it was purchased from, plus some nice traditional artwork, according to ipodNN.

The cases will only be available for one week, and cost about US$26 for the Touch case, and US$22 for the nano.

In a no-brainer upgrade, Apple has just (belatedly) upped the iPhone’s storage capacity to 16gb, and the iPod Touch to 32gb.

At first, I got giddy with excitement, as a fanboy is wont to do with something new from Apple. But almost immediately that euphoria deflated as I realized how ho-hum the upgrade is. We’ve been waiting for this for at least six months now. No new and impressive features. No 3G, no better battery, no Air-type slimdown. Outside of the 1.1.3 Firmware, it’s exactly the same banana as the current models, only with more space. And they both cost US$499.

I’m stumped why they don’t go whole hog on the phone and bump it all the way up to 32gb. There’s no reason other than they don’t want to kill the iPod Touch, but I think a high-capacity iPhone without the phone will always have a market. I’d buy a 32gb iPhone if they had one.

I’ve learned to live with 8gb on an iPhone. I’ve been idly ruing my decision to move up (down?) from a 16gb iPod Touch to an iPhone with half the storage; as a phone, the iPhone is actually mediocre and subpar in some areas (like I’ve said in a recent podcast I recorded; you won’t believe the ribbing I got). Now that they’ve doubled capacities, I’m just …underwhelmed. I’d rather get the 32gb iPod Touch than a 16gb iPhone, to be honest about it.

I’m sure fanboys who’ve got not much to live for after realizing the new ultrathin Mac is a lot of hot Air for the most part, will fixate on upgrading their phones to the double-capacity ones. Have fun, guys. I think I’ll wait for something a bit more substantial.

Macbook Air.

I’ve always wondered about the people endlessly tinkering around with the demo units at Apple stores. What the heck are they doing? Playing games? Surfing? Emailing?

Well, we know what one person was doing - writing a book.

Isobella Jade, an aspiring commercial model, has actually written her memoirs without owning her own computer. She’d write bits and pieces on demo units inside an Apple Store in Soho, New York, saving the files to her Yahoo account in email form, day after day. Isobella says she’s too poor to buy her own iMac, so she mooched off the Apple Store until her book, Almost 5′ 4″ was finished.

I remember one of my favorite writers, Harlan Ellison, who as a publicity stunt wrote one entirely while inside a store display window where you could watch him work from the street. Isobella’s stunt is more sneaky, though.

Her book has been self-published, but she has signed over the world rights to The Friday Project in the UK, and a commercial version of Almost 5′4″ will be available next year.

How she did it, and an interview with the author, is over at the Mental Floss blog.

(And man, here I am with 5 computers, and I can’t even finish one. Sheesh.)

New York City’s got a new Apple Store, and an even bigger one than the original.

The new branch opened Friday at the corner of 14th and 9th, and is home to the largest, most elaborate and complicated-looking glass staircase ever built. This Apple Store has three floors, with the first floor 40 by 85 feet. It’s got the same styling as the other branches worldwide, but is unique in that you can get a view of the inside from anywhere around the corner because of the wide glass windows on both street fronts.

Apple’s press release:

The Apple Store West 14th Street is Apple’s first three-story store with two floors dedicated to products and a third dedicated to services, including a 46-foot Genius Bar and specially designed areas for workshops and personal training. The Apple Store West 14th Street also introduces Pro Labs where customers can receive free, in-depth training on Apple’s industry-leading pro applications including Final Cut Pro.

The knowledgeable staff at the Apple Store West 14th Street includes more than 175 highly trained Mac Specialists, Mac Geniuses and Creatives who are ready to share their expertise in video editing, digital photography, music production and more. The team of Creatives at West 14th Street will begin leading free multi-session Pro Lab series in January, offering personalized instruction and hands-on experience for customers who want to take their music, video and photography skills to the next level.”

More pictures from AppleInsider.