Slashdot Mirror

The miniaturization is likely what's the most remarkable, not the technology itself.

A better example would be the video cameras of a decade or two ago with our modern day handheld cameras. It was entirely predictable that it would become smaller, and because there were various types of cameras you could say it's hardly amazing that they went from bulky, two handed monstrosities to our convenient, pocket sized camcorders, but that would be disingenuous. Making things *smaller* (or alternately, bigger for some things) is remarkable when done to an extreme.

Unless, of course, the lidars out there right now are small enough to carry by a single human and fast enough to scan at a walking pace. In which case, yes. Just more of the same.

EPIC WIN for me, even if you noobs lack a mental cache.

EPIC FAIL, dipshit.

http://www.podcastingnews.com/2007/12/30/myspace-party-pic-cost-stacy-snyder-job/

You're not much of a google-jockey are you?

http://www.podcastingnews.com/2007/12/30/myspace-party-pic-cost-stacy-snyder-job/

Once you find an app that interests you, it just takes one click to acquire it and have it installed on your iPhone.

One click. Oh, and then enter your password. Which better be secure, since it's linked to your credit card number. And a good secure password includes upper case, lower case, numbers, and symbols randomly interspersed, making it a pain in the ass to enter into the iPhone. The app is free? Apple doesn't care, they damn well want your password.

As far as the customers are concerned, the iTunes App Store is a smashing success.

My first generation iPhone is perfectly capable of recording low frame-rate video. Apps have been developed to do exactly that. Where exactly do I download them? Oops. I don't get to, Apple refused to let them ship.

iTunes for Windows is festering crap, and the ITMS on the iPhone itself sucks for following a podcast. I need a dedicated podcast tracking and downloading system. Hey, there's an app for that! Oops, denied. But Apple kindly changed their mind, and simply required the developer to remove all of the useful functionality and turning it into a crippled streaming solution..

I'm a big fan of text adventure games, and I loved that iPhone Frotz could download games from the IFArchive. Oops, Apple disagreed and the functionality had to be removed..

I'd dig an e-book reader that gave be easy access to everything in Project Gutenberg. Apple's okay with that, so long as "everything" means minus historically important books about sex.

I sure would love an app to give me a better interface to Google Voice! Rejected. Remote control of a bittorrent client (not bittorrent on the phone itself, mind you). Rejected. I'm an adult, maybe I'd like some immature but "adult" apps. Rejected.

I'm a customer, and as far as I'm concerned the iTunes App Store a bland mush, not a smashing success. I'm coming up on the end of my contract with AT&T, and I'll be getting something different, something that serves me, not Apple and AT&T. I'm looking at the Android options and the Pre. I was hearing good things about the Pre, but this makes me very wary.

It's possible. In that case, by keeping the deals they make to different developers secret, they will have better negotiating power.

But this could also be more about Apple wanting control of what the media journalists, bloggers, and commenters on internet forums can say about Apple, their policies, and decisions. (E.g. the secrecy requirements may be "defensive" in nature, standard language they could use for all developer tools, possibly)

For example, if Google revealed certain information, it could result in the media publishing critical things about Apple.

Apple is very sensitive and aggressive in controlling their public image, and they are well known for their secrecy.

They are also well known for sending armies of lawyers at web sites or people revealing information they don't want puiblished, or that are excessively critical of them. Their tools include cease and decist letters, DMCA notices, threats to sue, and actual lawsuits....

Examples in recent years:

• Apple Computer ordered to pay more than $750k in attorney fees and court costs in a case that pitted the electronics giant against a group of online journalists who posted information about an unreleased Apple product on the Web.
• Apple Broke the law by lying about Steve Jobs' health
• Apple product failure results in gagging order
• Apple Lawyers set sights on new prey (after sending cease-and-decist letters to "Podcasting" websites over alleged dilution of the "iPod" mark)
• Apple Lawyers bully bloggers over iPhone skins
• Apple Lawyers Tried To Cover-Up Exploding iPod Stories,
• Microsoft Cows To Apple Lawyers, Changes 'Laptop Hunters' Ad
• Apple's lawyers shut down rumor site, 2 (Think Secret)
• Apple lawyers nix box pix
• Apple's lawyers attack everyone over iPhone icons - "Apple's lawyers also sent letters to journalists who simply reported on the fact that the skins were available."
• Apple's lawyers threaten fake Steve jobs (Parody site)
• Apple sued for threatening fan wiki - 2
• Apple sues Victoria School - over the use of a logo that is shaped like an Apple. [...] students are now afraid to give their teachers apples now because of the fruitâ(TM)s striking resemblance to the company logo.
• Apple Lawyers shutting down Iowa Bar's iPod Mondays
• Apple Cease-and-Decists Stupidity Leak
• A

I can't believe this post is on Slashdot. First of all, the iPod is just a mass storage device so virii and malware can infect it. Infact Apple even decided to infect Windows with their iPod. McAffee felt the need to create an iPod malware removal tool. And how long are people going to perpetuate the myth of OSX being 100% secure. Security through obscurity does not count. Granted most current virii for OSX requires a user giving root access to the program, but let's face it a lof of OSX users aren't technical savy. I would venture out to say most don't even know why they occasionally have to type their password in.

(Sorry, accidentally hit "OK" when my article was in an unusually incoherent state... let's try again...)

When Jobs said that recording companies ought to eliminate DRM, the press reported that "Executives at the major labels dismiss Jobs' challenge, saying that eliminating DRM isn't going to happen," while Reindorp, "dismisses Jobs' remarks as 'Irresponsible.'"

Turnaround is FairPlay... so Jobs ought to suggest that it was irresponsible for Reindorp to speculate that Microsoft might engage in predatory pricing.

No shit. My Vista Ultimate system uses nearly 1GB RAM at startup, and I don't have many services running or apps installed, since nothing I have works on Vista yet..

At work we decided that having a couple of developers running Vista from day one would the best way to ensure our compatibility. Sounded like a great idea till I drew that particular short straw...

In defence of Dell of which I am loath to do this is a known problem.

Meet exploding Imac http://www.podcastingnews.com/news/06_06/Mac_Lapto p_Explodes_Flame.html

Meet exploding batteries
http://www.infoworld.com/article/03/12/19/50OPreal ity_1.html

Apparently its to do with run away heat in lithium batteries reaching combustion.

Harvard Extension, the night school at Harvard University, is experimenting with podcasting too. While a much smaller project, I look forward to a future where I can download official audio from classes that I missed due to illness or work schedule conflicts. And kudos to Stanford for opening up access to education and knowledge to the public.

Well, you don't have to throw away the gift to get those features. I don't know how sexy your Digital Music Player has to be, and maybe having too many wires draped over your body and into your bag is a turn off, but you can add features to the iPod.
Radio:
the Tunestir
Radio and Recorder:
Griffin iFM
Recorder:
Griffin iTalk
I have to admit that I was suckered into an iPod. My best mate told me that the user interface to every other player he tried sucked, and the iPod's UI sucked the least. Then my wife went out and bought one for me for my birthday. So while I've been frustrated by lack of options, the third party add-ons have really addressed those things for me. My (off topic) complaint about iPods is how hard it is to read the full track/album names while browsing -- I have to play the track to see the track name scroll, but the album name is just cut off. And after scanning my complete CD collection, the UI on the iPod makes it impossible to tell which "Greatest Hits" album I'm about to select!

kinda, yah

and looks like vLogcasting is going mobile: http://www.podcastingnews.com/archives/2005/08/orb _intros_onth.html

There's some good info at the Podcasting News site.

Includes a what is podcasting article, along with info on using RSS in the context of a podcast.

Would you be interested if the podcast was your personal selection of MP3 content, freshly aggregated from various sources & sync'd to your portable media player? That's what podcasting is all about.

Podcasting News is a good place to find out more info, from the perspective of the podcasting community.

"Web Logging and Podcasting are the ultimate in ego masturbation."
That's insightful?
Most Slashdot posting is ego masturbation, too, but there's room for lots of voices, so there's usually something interesting to read, too!
There are many interesting podcasts, and a lot of garbage, too. People interested in new technology should check them out and make up their own minds.
Here's some good places to start:
Podcast Directory or
PodcastAlley
The lack of commercials alone was enough to get me interested!