Oh the memories. I'm not much of a tea drinker myself, but I do remember that stuff. Guarana is serious coding fuel.

Check out this one:

Samsung

This is really getting close to what I want. PocketPC phone edition, with Wifi and Blue tooth. I really like having a bigger screen (than the phone in this post) with a slide out keyboard. I'd say the only things missing are a VGA screen and a camera. The only other optional thing I want is a CF slot, but at least it has SDIO.

I would definitely prefer the larger screen with a slide out keyboard, like the Samsung has although I think that the Q looks nicer.

I think that I'd also prefer Wi-Fi to a low-res camera.

Well I would rank looks a bit lower on my priority list. Although I think it is cool that the new Windows Mobile supports 'square' screen format, I use alot of existing apps today that just aren't going to work with one.

The samsung is pretty sweet, but @ $649 (1 year contract) + $50/month unlimted data plan + $40/month voice plan this thing is totally aimed at people with expense accounts. The restrictions on the "unlimted data plan" at verizon are pretty funny too:

"Unlimited plans are for individual use only and not for resale. The Unlimited plans cannot be used: (1) for any applications that tether the device to laptops, PCs, or other equipment for any purpose, (2) for uploading, downloading or streaming of movies, music or games, (3) with server devices or with host computer applications other than the BlackBerry Enterprise Server, including, without limitation, Web camera posts or broadcasts, continuous jpeg file transfers, automatic data feeds, telemetry applications, automated functions or any other ?machine-to-machine applications, (4) as substitute or backup for private lines or dedicated data connections. "

Translation: You can surf the web and check email with your phone but try just about anything else and we'll cut you off. Don't even think about trying to use your phone as wireless modem for you laptop.

That's a great quote, George. Sums up exactly why I can't stand the wireless/cell space. Somehow, even with all the "competition" there is still somehow no innovation or downward price pressure. "Oh, we're losing $300 per phone, so we have to lock you into a $50 per month contract for 2 years just to barely make a profit." And somehow Dell can offer a X50v pocketpc for $300 with no service agreement, per-megabyte transfer or $1 a pop ringtones. I call shenanigans.

Maybe Windows Ultra Mobile 2007 will do the trick.

Yeah that app just drips of cool. Even their web site is hip.

Can you index non-physical media?

If you mean software that you've downloaded, etc, sure. You just won't be able to scan it in, but you can add it manually. You can also create your own catagories (i.e. "sports gear" or "severed heads").

What I'd like, which might already exist, are labels that I can apply. For example, labelling a movie as "Sci-Fi", "Action", etc. Each item can have multiple labels, like Gmail, so you can find things by genre or mood.

Um, how about because you don't play half the games you already have?

Oh sure, use "logic".

Oh sorry about that, what I meant to say was; buy, BUY, BUY!!

A friend of mine visited and let me play Tiger Woods golf on this. I couldn't put it down. The little analog joystick thing is super cool. The heft, glossy black finish, the screen, the games, the controls...it's all good.

Mmm, that's not a very good reason to not buy it. How about that it's summer and you should be playing outside? Yea, I'll go with that. Buy this in October.

All hands, cancel red alert.

I'm no longer in danger of buying a PSP. I bought a Dell X50v Axim instead (thanks to J for pointing out the coupons that saved me a bunch... not sure exactly how much because Dell lists that device at anywhere from $399 to $597... I got mine for $297!).

Furrygoat caved... ha ha.

How is that new Dell X50v working out?

So... maybe you guys can explain this to me. I've been really happy with Firefox because I don't have to take up extra room in my toolbar to have popup blocking and a google search pane. I don't see why I'm going to blow a whole row on my browser for this. (yes, I realize it highlights all the search terms in the page, but so does viewing through the google cache). And showing pagerank stats is OK, but it means google's tracking all my browsing.

I'm not saying this toolbar is a bad thing (it gives Firefox a lot of credibility), but I'm just not seeing the real value vs. using it on IE.

This actually reminds me that when Google toolbar for IE came out, I was thinking that Microsoft was completely out to lunch. The only reasons I used toolbar was to avoid the registry hack to search in Google from the address bar and to stop popups. Now... why is MS going to let Google toolbar get all the love for something they could easily just release into IE. They let a simple piece of technology totally make a laughing stock of their browser. Allowing their customers to hassle with downloading from a competitor for two basic features is really a dumb move for Microsoft.

Ummm, have you tried autolink or spellcheck or translate? Those alone make it worth while. Plus, it's like a whole 20 pixels! My guess is all you screen realestate whiners are wasting way more than that (i.e. are you browsing in full screen mode?).

Kudos to Google. Nice that we get to play with something you worked on.

I'm using the MSN toolbar and search hwever on all my machines. The funny thing is that I have it defaulted to use google for all my searches. I agree with J though, I'm all about screen realestate. I modify all my browsers and windows to be as thin as possible. I auto hide the taskbar etc. And yes I do browse full screen... on low res devices at least.

No idea what autolink is, but it sounds like advertising or something. Spell check might be OK for form submissions like this one. Translate I don't really need. Maybe I should install this and just enable it when I want to spell check. There's probably a firefox extension for that though.

What it comes down to for me, is when I start relying on one company too much for stuff, I start looking for alternatives. And I've hit this point with Google.

On another note: in firefox, type "http" into the url bar and hit return. Ouchie!

PageRank (sending the URL to Google so that it can return the "normalized importance" of that URL) is independent from spell checking or autolink. You can turn off PageRank and still use the other stuff.

Autolink scans a page for addresses, and makes them clickable via a link to a maps provider (Google maps is the default, of course, but you can choose MapQuest or Yahoo maps). This basically saves you cutting and pasting a bunch of times to fill out the address forms. If the map already has a link, it does nothing. It sounds like a frivolous feature, but it is really handy.

Another feature that is really useful is the little search box (on the left in the above image). I've configured mine so that it opens a new tab with the search results so you don't lose your current page.

Sounds like some features that should be part of the Accessibility Options in Windows. I've never known anybody to use those either.

Now out of beta. It adds Google suggest to the search box, and the ability to re-arrange the buttons (including moving them onto other toolbars, such as the menu bar) in order to increase screen real estate.

Umm, I think I saw this running during my last 360 presentation. It was way cooler than anything they have on WMP10 currently. Also the 360 will have a video conferencing camera... and the visuals are interactive... You can make your own assumptions :)

I saw Air in concert and their opening act was a crazy French dude and a totally hot chick who knew how to handle a Theremin. She made it look easy but you could also tell that it was a rather difficult instrument to play well.

I've only heard Zeppelin play the theremin on "Whole Lotta Love". I guess it's one of the only new instruments out there.

I'll check out the movies from the visualizations. I'm sure it's cool, but people did some pretty cool stuff early on with winamp, like Geiss. I like having a cool one built in, but I really hope the API is open enough that we get some cool user created ones (that aren't with micropayments). Probably not though, the market for "customizations" is usually pretty lucrative.

Anyway, it looks like another cool feature for Xbox360. It's really looking like MS is going to put together something that is good enough to take over several categories (game console, tivo, media player, apple TV box). It's the most excitement I've had in a long time over a Microsoft product. Second is XP x64, but they've killed that enthusiasm.

You can see the new 360 visuals in action (along with other cool live features) here:

Gamespy live demo

Wow, I think you could take Cringley's job. You even got off on a crazy tangent with the Mac Mini there at the end. Nice job.

Over all though I think you are on the right track. Turning the Ipod into a digital ‘capture’ device as well as a playback device makes sense. The funny thing is that if they keep integrating capabilities it could end up like a Pocket PC eventually! (I’m still looking for my uber convergence device.)

I agree that adding camera support would make sense. The screen is too small to really view pictures or video, but just fine for capture. As for whether they would do pictures or Video first, you pretty much get the video for free once you add the camera. All my recent digicams do video and they are only really limited by storage space – something the Ipod has in spades. As for audio, might as well throw it in at the same time. This kills two birds, you get to record auto tracks for your pod casts, plus you get to record video with sound. As for getting this stuff published, I don’t expect wifi or anything fancy. You just dock your Ipod and your casts get copied off and posted.

I think there is the whole cell phone space to consider, too. People don't leave home without their phones, but my bet is that they aren't going to carry more than one device. I wonder if the iPod will add cell phone capabilities?

Phones (with cameras) are just too convenient. Eventually, they'll have the storage to compete with the iPod.

Honestly I thought the phone integration the least likely just because I thought Apple wouldn't be very willing to work with cell phone carriers and their money grubbing price plans.
Guess I was wrong

I would think that ring-tone producers would be dissapointed to. You could just set up a different song for each person in your phone book.

Is it iPaul or iProphet?

my bad

Apple to become a wireless carrier?

A very interesting article from Ars...

I agree with this article. Buying processors for the Ipod and the Mac from the same supplier will get them a big discount. I think that this also helps explain the decision to go with Intel over AMD.

I don't doubt that the Ipod will become a video device at some level. I'm just not sure what the initial content will be for such a device. The thing about portable video players though is that I think I would find them most useful when combined with TIVO functionality. Apple 'currently' doesn't have this functionality. Now that doesn't mean that they have to create a MPC clone however. What they need to do is build an Apple Video Store that has parterships with Movie AND Television studios. Just make popular TV available for download 'rental' at a reasonable price.

I wonder how this will affect the AMD v Intel lawsuit. It fits in with exactly the type of "sweet deals" Intel gives out to companies. What a twist if Intel was prevented from doing this type of thing in two years, right when Apple switches over. LOL.

Why did Apple dump the 30GB iPod? I thought the cool thing about it was that it used a newer, single platter drive, while the 40 used 2 platters. So now they just have 20 and 60 gb? Why not 30 and 60? Did they just want to keep the price points at 299 and 399, but didn't want to put the 30 at 299? Somebody bring some competition PLEASE.

In that kind of market, too many choices is a bad thing. They already have the shuffle, the mini, the standard and the U2 edition. I think reducing the SKU's is the right thing to do. Plus it forces the 30g / 40g consumers to buy the more expensive model.

Well there is competition, not that could name them. I'm guessing that the 20GB drive is the sweet spot, according to their research. I can't imagine most people needing more (for audio).

Two Ipod features in the spirit of this post that would make the photo experience complete:

1. An SD flash slot so you could suck pictures straight out of your digital camera.
2. USB host capability with built in drivers for the most popular HP and Epson printers - so you could print directly from your Ipod.

SD and USB are so old-new economy!

Wi-Fi and Zeroconf.

They have a sd/usb host thing for another $30 or so that will store pictures from a camera. On the sizes, my point was: what type of company drops the newer 30GB to the old school 20GB! It can only be to force those users up a notch to 60 because not enough people were buying that one. I actually felt 30gb was a good option, especially since it's the same thickness as the 20. Apple somehow convinces people that Moore's law doesn't exist, and that even several years later, you should pay more for a bigger HDD.

Here is a (long) article about Apple, iTunes 4.9 and podcasting. Very interesting.

In a lot of ways, it seems like Apple squashes more independent developers than Microsoft does. That podcasting thing in iTunes is cool for market validation, but it seems like seperate tools (with bittorrent integration for example) would be better at downloading files and placing them in an iTunes folder.

BTW - I seriously have to install iTunes, and have iTunesHelper.exe and iPodService.exe running all the time in the background just to play a quicktime movie in the browser??? Apple! *Shakes fist*

Yeah, I was annoyed about that too. Serves me right for running taskmgr.exe all the time... like I need something more to be annoyed about.

However, I no longer care about QuickTime's idiocy. The streaming now seems to work, which I suspect has more to do with the fact that the general internet infrastructure is now better than say, Apple's code quality (for example: in iTunes, click and hold the mouse button on the scroll bar... you don't have to move it, just click and hold. Then watch your CPU monitor. Fun!).

My new nemesis is Windows Media Player. This is thing is a turd (minus the video codec). When I try to drag the WMP window from one monitor to the other while a video is playing, the window just goes black and app goes unresponsive. What?! Can't the WMP devs afford to test on dual monitors? (Note: this works with QuickTime on Windows).

There is a way to get quick time installed minus Itunes appartently, some sort of stand alone installer, but you have to dig for it. Google around a bit and you'll find it.

As for Media player. I've had it work anywhere from perfect to as you described depending on the machine etc. I suspect it has a lot to do with your video card / drivers. I've even had it play with half video on one screen and half on the other, but that was a couple of years ago. At work I can move it from one monitor to the other and the only hassle it only goes black for a second or so.

And the fun never stops with Crackly. He even manages to work in MicroVision.

Crazy. I still really like Microvision, but like flying cars, I'm starting to doubt I'll ever have retinal displays and good VR headsets in my life time. Seriously though Apple won't even do a wireless Ipod and that technology is totally mature, there is no way we are going to see a retinal display videoPod in the next year.

Cringely is an idiot. You can download Apple QuickTime without iTunes. It's not easy to find on their site, but it is there.

Here comes the video.

I suppose for music videos it would be ok and maybe talking head podcasts, but the screen is too small for a movie.

Apple launches mobile iTunes phone. The media event is tomorrow, but I want to see how much music you can get on it.

My guess is that it will hold the typical amount of legal music the average Ipod user owns. That should translate to around 64Mb.

Okay, the phone is whatever, but the black iPod nano is very sweet! Where's the wifi?

So the nano replaces the ipod mini then? I hope they are not using the hitachi micro drive for storage - my new one has started making odd noises already.

The nano is flash based, so longer battery and less moving parts.

Are you sure about that? 5G flash cards are over 200.00 to us joesumers. Also nice name, 'nano', creative already has an MP3 player with that name, the: Creative Zen Nano Plus.

Check it out here. It says "flash drive" in the tech specs, but does that mean hard drive, or regular flash card?

I think that the "Nano" in the Creative name refers to its market share.

Get on the main article dudes. Creative Nano - ouchie.

It begins.

Way to ressurrect a nearly year old post. I like how the VC that funded the project describes how it will be difficult to make money doing it. LOL. Why are they creating their own NPR? Won't the radio stations just buy cheap podcasting software and start offering shows that way? NPR already has a whole set of shows you can subscribe through via iTunes. "We'll have to re-invent radio stations"