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Archos Announces Portable Mediabox

Posted by timothy on from the tempting-toys dept.

An Anonymous Coward writes: "Archos has just announced the Jukebox Multimedia Portable Entertainment Center. Due this January, The unit is the same size and weight as the company's Jukebox 6000 MP3 portable, plays and records MPEG4 video, MP3 and WMA audio, has a color video screen built-in, and offers a FireWire interface as an option. What's most interesting about the player is an expansion connector that allows additional modules to be attached to the unit. One module lets the player take digital photographs and another allows the unit to record video from a TV. Neat concept that's more flexible than the Bokks AV component reported on Slashdot last week, but I think I would want more than the 10GB drive it uses for storage."

135 comments

  1. MPEG4 video? by Bonker · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Question for me is, are the different mpeg4 formats similiar enough that I can play my DiVX 3 and DiVX4 anime fansubs on it?

    --
    The next Slashdot story will be ready soon, but subscribers can beat the rush and slashdot the links early!
    1. Re:MPEG4 video? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

      Ya i want to know if it will be able to play my favorite anime DiVX and VCDs.

    2. Re:MPEG4 video? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

      oh my god, it's been a while since i've seen something that shocking. Excuse me, I must run to the bathroom now.

    3. Re:MPEG4 video? by 2nd+Post! · · Score: 2

      There is only *one* MPEG4 standard; DiVX and 3iVX etc are bastard children of the MPEG4 standard.

      Now there may be multiple implementations (Apple, Microsoft, etc), but like MP3, should, if the standard means anything, be cross compatible, though I have heard that the MPEG4 standard allows for multiple codecs (ala Flash layered with MP3 audio etc)... but I don't know about the last bit.

      --

      GPL Deconstructed
    4. Re:MPEG4 video? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      oh god I am going to zero-fill my hard drive and kill myself now

    5. Re:MPEG4 video? by Bi()hazard · · Score: 1

      If you look at the article closely, it says it uses CIF format video, which can be used interchangeably with VHS in their implementation. This allows you to use the device as a VCR, but not as a DiVX player. However, since CIF is not a corporate proprietary format, most professional video editing software packages will allow conversion of standard MPEG video to CIF.

    6. Re:MPEG4 video? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

      You know, I was just remarking to myself today how much the net lacks good old man pr0n. Thank you.

    7. Re:MPEG4 video? by hajmola · · Score: 1

      have you figured out the answer to "your" question yet??

  2. whatever by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    Our country is fighting skirmishes and secretly bombing iraq and you guys are talking about portable media devices? you guys need to take your american heads out of your tech gadgets and pay attention the world.

    1. Re:whatever by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

      Shoosh! Adve^H^H^H^H ...Stories like this are how Slashdot makes money nowadays! You anticapitalist pig!

    2. Re:whatever by NickV · · Score: 1, Redundant

      Wow, talk about a nasty goatse.cx bomb. Everybody, don't click that link!

    3. Re:whatever by George+WIPO+Bush · · Score: -1

      Yeh, click this one instead! Pretty girls getting tentacle-raped! (You know you're into that sort of thing!)

      --

      J. Wipo Troll, Esq.
      Crapflooder Associates
      Slashdot.org

    4. Re:whatever by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

      LOL OMG That was incredibly disgusting. I was actually expecting pretty girls getting tentacle-raped.

    5. Re:whatever by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic
      But... where's the tentacle?!

      I want my tentacle!

    6. Re:whatever by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic
      Can't you see?

      One of the ugly old men has swallowed almost the whole tentacle.

  3. Anonymous Coward, closet troll, dead at 49 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    I just heard sad news on the radio - The famous closet troll/homosexual Anonymous Coward was found dead in this Maine home this morning. There weren't any more details - it was just a little news blurb. I'm sure the slashdot community will miss him; even if you didn't like his humor and cowardness there's no denying his contribution to american pop culture. Truly an icon.

  4. The WIPO Troll Announces Portable Snotbox by George+WIPO+Bush · · Score: -1
    THE OFFICIAL TACO-SNOTTING FAQ By The WIPO Troll, $Revision: 1.12 $

    Why have I been receiving emails from CmdrTaco, in which he seems to be speaking in some kind of code language?

    Whenever Rob "CmdrTaco" Malda gets bored (and who wouldn't, running a site like Slashdot all day), he roams through the Slashdot database, penis in hand, looking for people who might enjoy engaging in homosexual orgies with him. How he determines this is anyone's guess; but if you have a homosexual-sounding nickname, or a nick with the letter P in it, you're in trouble.
    So this time, he found you. Lucky you.
    CmdrTaco's code language is relatively easy to decipher. He prefers to speak in thinly-veiled sexual innuendo to evade the watchful (but relatively stupid) eye of Slashdot's parent corporation, VA Software. CmdrTaco's "Commander" is, of course, his penis -- a small, withered little thing that lives in his pants that only comes out in the presence of other men or at the beck and call of CmdrTaco's own right hand. His "Taco bells" are the shriveled testes that droop beneath his Commander, and his "Taco sauce" is his, well, jizz. It should be more than obvious to you now what he means when he asks you to "ring his Taco bells" or "taste his gourmet Taco sauce."
    Lastly, there is a practice he refers to as "Taco-snotting" and the more shocking "circle-snot."

    Good Lord. What is "Taco-snotting?"

    "Taco-snotting" is the term used by CmdrTaco to refer to the practice of sucking the penis of a homosexual man (or unwilling heterosexual; CmdrTaco is rumored to prefer rape), then blowing the semen out his nose onto his partner's (victim's) face and body. A long, bubbly stream of milky-white semen is left on CmdrTaco's face, dribbling out of his nose and down his cheek: hence the term, "Taco-snotting."
    A "circle-snot" is a Taco-snotting circle-jerk, another practice common among the Slashdot crew. CmdrTaco, CowboiKneel, and Homos get together and Taco-snot each other with their gooey, sticky cum -- spooging their jizz-snot all over each other's faces and pasty, white bodies, until they're covered head to toe with each other's man juice. This can go on for hours. For the homosexual penetration that follows this lengthy foreplay, Roblowme is usually there to provide plenty of anal lubricant; he owns a limo service and has ample supplies of motor oil and axle grease ready to go.
    To complete this perverted orgy, fellow geeks Michael, Timothy, and Jamie will usually join in, dressed in tight leather mock-S.S. uniforms, jack boots, and leather gloves. The whole group then proceeds to snot each other's spunk and whip each other's pudgy asses with riding crops and chains until their pale, white geek bodies are exhausted and soaked in stinking sweat from the hours of passionate, homosexual revelry.

    Ewwwwww. So, can I stop receiving these emails?

    Hopefully.
    You most likely forgot to uncheck the "Willing to Taco-snot" checkbox in your account preferences. CmdrTaco has probably already got the hots for your wad, and he's probably already been lurking outside your bathroom window for weeks with a camera, some tissues and lube. There's no escaping a geek in heat, so it's probably too late for you, but you can possibly rectify this situation. To remove yourself from CmdrTaco's sights, log into your Slashdot account, go to your user page, click on Messages, and uncheck the box next to "Willing to Taco-snot." Maybe he'll ignore you. Probably not.

    I can't stop receiving these emails from CmdrTaco!?

    If you indulge him in a Taco-snot or two, he might leave you alone. You might also want to look into mail filtering, restraining orders, or purchasing a heavy, blunt object capable of warding off rampaging homosexual geeks in heat. Trust me, when they charge... oh, the humanity. If he gets you, and you let him Taco-snot you, you will most likely end up tied up in his basement to be used as his sex slave for the rest of your life (or until he accidentally drowns you in spunk in a circle-snot).

    Have you ever been Taco-Snotted?

    Unfortunately, yes. I first met CmdrTaco at an Open Source Convention. He invited me back to his room for a game of Quake and some "gourmet Tacos," but when I got there, he jumped me and tied me to his bed, stripping me. After taking his "Commander" out of his pants, Mr. Taco made me suck the withered thing six times. He then performed his vile Taco-snotting ritual on me three times over the next two hours, bringing me to orgasm after sweaty, mind-numbing orgasm... then he snotted my own milky-white jizz back onto my face, into my mouth, then again on my exposed belly.
    CmdrTaco invited several of his Open Source (or rather, "Open Sauce" -- man sauce) buddies over to continue the twisted snotfest. Linux Torvalds raped my ass with his "monolithic kernel," and Anal Cox used his "network stack" in a multitude of unspeakable ways on and in every orifice in my defenseless body. Michael was there in his leather Nazi uniform, caning my ass with a bamboo pole and ranting about "all those Censorware freaks out to get him."
    How did you finally escape, you ask? After about 16 hours of countless homosexual atrocities perpetrated against my restrained body, they all finally went to sleep on top of me, sweat-soaked and exhausted. I was left there, covered in bubbly, translucent jizz-snot, chained to the bed, with half a dozen fat, pasty-white fags lying around and on top of me. Fortunately the spooge coating my flesh worked wonderfully as a lubricant; I was able to squirm my way out of the handcuffs and slip out the back door. I'm just glad I survived the ordeal. These geeks had a lot of built-up spunk in their wads -- I could've easily been drowned!

    That's horrible. Does "Taco-snotting" have anything to do with CmdrTaco's "special taco"?

    No, that's a different disgusting perversion CmdrTaco indulges himself in. CmdrTaco is usually not satisfied with merely snotting your own jizz back onto your face, he most often enjoys involving his own bodily fluids in his twisted games. WeatherTroll has spent some time trying to educate the Slashdot readership about this vile practice (emphasis added):
    You may be wondering what CmdrTaco's "special taco" is. You will be wishing that you hadn't been wondering after you finish reading this post. To make his "special taco", CmdrTaco takes a taco shell and shits on it. He then adds lettuce, jacks off on the taco, and adds a compound to make the person who eats the taco unconscious. Of course, the compound does not make the person unconscious until the taco is fully eaten. Thus CmdrTaco force-feeds the taco to the unsuspecting victim.
    After the victim is unconscious, he is held against his will and used for CmdrTaco's nefarious sexual purposes. This includes shoving taco shells up the victim's ass, Taco-snotting, and getting Jon Katz involved.
    Completely different, yet no less revolting. It should be clear to you now that CmdrTaco is a very, very sick individual, as are most of the Slashdot editors.

    Does Jon Katz get involved in any of this? I thought he was a paedophile, not a homosexual.

    Actually, Jon Katz is a homosexual paedophile. He's also a coprophiliac, and, many suspect, a zoophile. Jon Katz is somewhat of a loner and doesn't involve himself in circle-snots. Mr. Katz usually engages in a game called " Katz juicy-douching" with his harem of little-boy slaves: a vile practice which involves administering an enema to himself of the little boy's urine (forced out of them with a pair of pliers), spooging the vile muck from his ass back into the enema bag, then squirting and slathering the goo all over himself, and the little boy's chained-up and naked bodies. If he's in the mood, he will sometimes skip refilling the enema bag and just squirt it from his ass onto his boys. Unwilling boys are further tortured with the pliers until they comply and allow Mr. Katz to juicy-douche them for the rest of their lives.
    As I already said, Mr. Katz is also a zoophile. As if the sexual escapades with the helpless little boys aren't enough, Jon usually enjoys his juicy-douches best when his penis is firmly planted in a female goat's anus. He is also rumoured to get off on watching his little boys eat the goat's small, bean-like turds.

    ...Are you getting hard writing this?

    Why, yes. :) Join me in a WIPO-snot?

    No, thanks. I'm already CmdrTaco's boi toi.

    ________________________________________
    READER COMMENTS

    1. Fucking hilarious too bad it didnt get a 5:Funny (Score:-1, Offtopic)
      by Anonymous Coward on 2001.12.02 19:01 (#2644105)

      this is good shit man

    2. Re:Taco-snotting@Home! (Score:-1, Offtopic)
      by Dark_Cobra87 on 2001.12.01 23:03 (#2642180)

      Oops, forgot to check that Taco-snot option...

    3. Re:Fuck Linux! Fuck him hard! (Score:-1)
      by Fecal Troll Matter on 2001.12.01 20:55 (#2641791)

      Mmmmmmm, Taco Sauce...

      Sig (appended to the end of comments you post, 120 chars)

    4. Look (Score:-1)
      by ArchieBunker on 2001.12.01 20:19 (#2641679)

      I love trolling but this shit is getting old, fast. At least start mixing them up a little bit. How about the 'How OSM was Freed' series?
      http://www.naawp.org/

    5. Re:Congratulations! You have been WIPO'd!! (Score:0)
      by Anonymous Coward on 2001.12.01 8:37 (#2640602)

      Stop posting this! I've got hangover and Taco Snotting doesn't make me feel any better.

      I'm really glad that Taco Snotting is illegal here in Europe.

    6. Re:Snot me baby, one more time! (Score:0)
      by Anonymous Coward on 2001.11.30 1:01 (#2634213)

      Get a life you loser! Don't you have anything better to do than insult CmdrTaco and the gay community? We are not perverts, we are human beings just like you. So give it a rest!

    7. Re:Hello, perdida!!! Won't you snot my face tonigh (Score:-1)
      by perdida on on 2001.11.27 14:13 (#2618764)

      Shut up you asshole.

      I am not great, I am merely adequate. I live in adequacy.

    8. Go back to Russia. (Score:0)
      by Anonymous Coward on 2001.11.26 22:22 (#2616035)

      You weiner trool!

    9. Re:The Taco-Snotting FAQ Rides Again!! (Updated so (Score:0)
      by Anonymous Coward on 2001.11.25 9:14 (#2609574)

      try to find a pic of actual "taco-snotting"! fucking funny it would be! so go to gay porn sites day in and day out until you find a man giving another man a blowjob that has jizz coming out of his nose and mouth. by the way, keep up the good work

    10. Re:Snotting another first!! (Score:0)
      by Anonymous Coward on 2001.11.23 12:18 (#2603370)

      WIPO, this is getting waaaay old, either drop it or revise it.... there've been no updates for days now...

      CmdrTaco

    11. Re:It's Taco SPAM!!! (Score:0)
      by Anonymous Coward on 2001.11.22 17:28 (#2600815)

      A truly excellent and very humourous troll indeed!
      However...

      To complete this perverted orgy, fellow geeks Michael, Timothy, and Jamie often join in, dressed in black Gestapo uniforms, jack boots, and leather gloves.

      Black GeStaPo uniforms? The GeStaPo (Geheime Staatspolizei - Secret State Police) wore civilian clothes (although there are reports on them occasionally using Allgemeine SS uniforms in occupied territories).

      I seriously doubt that perverted individuals like CmdrTaco et al would have the good taste to ever wear the outstandingly beautiful black Waffen SS uniforms! Please update the FAQ accordingly.

      • Re:It's Taco SPAM!!! (Score:0)
        by Anonymous Coward on 2001.11.23 4:06 (#2602610)

        Actually, it appears you are both wrong!! Ah ha!! I think our boy WIPO was thinking of the Allgemeine SS uniforms. Waffen SS were grey.

    12. Re:Microsoft's Taco-Snotting Connection (Score:-1, Troll)
      by Anonymous Coward on 2001.11.21 4:49 (#2594325)

      oh yeah, you say you have masturbated only 2 times to this post. well, by the time it takes for me to get through reading it, i usually end up masturbated 5 to 6 times, 10 to 12 if i have the goatse.cx homepage loaded up and am looking at it side by side with the slashdot page. my keyboard, hands, mouse, monitor, the underside of my desk and around the floor under my desk are cum soaked and sticky with the man smell i know and love.

    13. Re:Microsoft's Taco-Snotting Connection (Score:0)
      by Anonymous Coward on 2001.11.21 4:41 (#2594311)

      for version 2 you should make a total re-write of the cod...errr...text and add some details about cmdrtaco and the homo-gang's happenings with their coworkers (osdn?) and all of the gay revelry they enjoy and promote. by the way, did i just see cmdrtaco on television promoting the nax hair removal system? i guess after using vaseline in and around his ass he grew quite a ponytail and it had to be removed somehow...ouch!

    14. Re:Microsoft's Taco-Snotting Connection (Score:-1, Troll)
      by TRoLLaXoR on 2001.11.21 3:59 (#2594191)

      WIPO, do you notice how few comments you get for anything you write/post/spam nowadays?

      -Trollaxor

    15. Jon-Katz docking (Score:-1)
      by sales_worldwide on 2001.11.20 11:53 (#2588488)

      You forgot to mention Jon Katz's "docking" games, where he places his chopper head to head with another chap, and rolls the other guys foreskin over his own circumcised end ("docking"), providing him with fantasies of actually having his own forskin ...
      "Making linux GPL was the best thing I ever did" - Torvalds. I'd hate to see the worst thing...

    16. Re:Snotting a first! (Score:-1)
      by Fucky the troll on 2001.11.20 11:28 (#2588446)

      Woah! When did the WIPO troll get freed? And how the fuck did I miss it?

      Excellent FP, sir.

      This is a sig virus. Please put me in your sig

    17. Re:Snotting a first! (Score:-1, Troll)
      by Anonymous Coward on 2001.11.20 11:04 (#2588407)

      omg that is crapflooding material if i ever saw it!!!!!! and u got a first post!!!! whoot to the wipo troll!!!

    18. GW, please.... (Score:0)
      by Anonymous Coward on 2001.11.19 9:03 (#2583756)

      GW...you know we love every hair on your 27 acre ass... and I, for one, would never do anything untowards your graceful demeanor. And you probably have several friends that would love to help you do the bear dance all over my face if I so much as spelled your name wrong. And you know I'd defend your Constitutional right to defame God in heaven. I'd even help fund your education, should you ever decide to take that route. Hell, I'd buy you a tall tepid bear-whiz beer if you were here with me, right now!

      But. ...if you can't find another topic, I'm gonna step over your dead mother's grave and kick your assuredly anesthetitized butt clear across the playground.

      Now go stick your shaved head back down inside the woman's toilet, and just to show there's no hard feelings, I'll jump in the tow-truck and drive right over to help you pull it right out...ok?

      thanks

    19. Re:Help me Taco-Snotters!! (Score:-1)
      by mark knopfler 69 on 2001.11.19 8:25 (#2583695)

      I DO NOT BELIEVE YOU SIR. FOR ONE THING, THE E-MAIL FROM CMDRTACO DOES NOT HAVE ENOUGH GRAMMATICAL AND SPELLING MISTAKES. Let's be realistic here, CmdrTaco usually types with one hand, and since he is shaking from jacking off his aim on the keyboard isn't too good. Those e-mails were a little too well written. Sorry boy, you'll have to do better.

    20. Re: What the hell is "taco snotting"? (Score:-1)
      by WeatherTroll on 2001.11.19 8:14 (#2583667)

      You should update this to say VA Software instead of VA Linux.

    21. YOU ARE WINNER (Score:1)
      by smackmonkey on 2001.11.19 7:06 (#2583510)

      Crackhead moderators: this is +5, Hilarious material.

      --
      CNN declares War on Islam!
      Left-wing America declares War on its Civil Liberties!

    22. Re:On Taco-Snotting 1.9 (Score:0)
      by Anonymous Coward on 2001.11.19 5:40 (#2583336)

      This was funny the first 100 times. Now it is getting boring!

    23. Digusting and Shameful (Score:-1)
      by egg troll on 2001.11.18 22:27 (#2582054)

      Having masturbated *twice* to this post, I'm still incredibly aroused! Come over for a Taco Snot. I'll be wearing my crotchless Clifford the Big Red Dog outfit!!

      For more info check out this /. article

    24. IMPROVE THE FAQ (Score:-1, Flamebait)
      by Anonymous Coward on 2001.11.18 12:03 (#2580822)

      add more links to goatse and to cowboineal's site to make it better. a link to rotten.com would be nice too

      • Re:IMPROVE THE FAQ (Score:0)
        by Anonymous Coward on 2001.11.18 12:18 (#2580832)

        and a link to michael's site and to jon katz's site if he has one and homo's site. i dont know what else to say. maybe a few links to phallic.org they have nice penis pictures! a link to the planet quake site or whatever. really make the reader feel this faq really answers their questions. oh yeah, and when you talk about cmdrtaco snotting you, say he brought you to "orgasm after sweaty orgasm". describe it more is all i'm saying. and use more italics and bolding! and when you talk about jon katz shitting or whatever have a link to fecal japan on rotten.com

        other wise a great job wipo troll! keep up the good work!

    25. Re:CmdrTaco's filthy secret! (Score:-1)
      by Wil Wheaton on 2001.11.18 6:41 (#2580438)

      Hi. Let's be buddies.. butt buddies.
      --
      WIL WHEATON DOT NET

    26. WIPO speaks the truth (Score:-1)
      by dead_puppy on 2001.11.18 5:33 (#2580342)

      Here is an e-mail I received a week ago:

      From: malda@slashdot.org
      To: puppy_dead@hotmail.com
      Subject: were where you last friday? :(

      I thought we where supposed to meet at Backdoor's at 8-ish, sugar-lips? You could've at least told me that you could'nt make it! I was even in my favorite pink skirt for you, honey-cup... next time, you could be more considarite and tell me you cant come... bastard.

      --
      CmdrTaco (malda@slashdot.org)
      You finding Ling-Ling's head?

    27. Taco snotting is WRONG!!! (Score:-1)
      by Big_Ass_Spork on 2001.11.18 4:53 (#2580300)

      I do it wrong

      Laying here in the shadows of my room, I squint up at my love. My Ms. Portman. I am sore and tired after fucking her for eight solid hours. My chapped and aching dick is soaking in grits to relieve the pain. She gets on her knees and starts lapping the grits up out of the bowl. She places her beautiful hands on my penis and starts to lick the grits off my achy piece.

      Massaging my nutsack she....

      WAIT, I DO IT WRONG!!!!

      Yanking my dick out of her mouth I throw her to the ground and shove it in to her gaping freshly fisted ass. [goatse.cx]

      "OH BIG ASS SPORK!! Fuck my ass, fuck my ass good. DEEPER, my stallion, deeper!! Make a Beowulf cluster of sperm on my back!!"

      "Imagine a Beowulf cluster of this baby!"

      I DO IT WRONG!!!!

      ---
      All your Sporks are belong to Big_Ass_Spork! What you say?! All your Sporks are belo... forget it...

    28. Rob Malda Dead at age 25! (Score:-1)
      by j0nkatz on 2001.11.17 22:54 (#2579596)

      I just heard some sad news on the radio -- famous queerbait Rob Malda was found dead in his Holland home this morning. The details were a bit hazy, but it seems that he drowned in jizz while Taco Snotting his friend Hemos. I'm sure everyone in the /. community will miss him -- even if you didn't enjoy his queer antics and boring ass website, there's no denying his contributions to the homosesual cultural development, particularly in the areas of Taco snotting. Truly an American icon.

      I wanna Open Source sex so it won't be worth a shit either.

    29. TACO-SNOTTING is really Donkey-Punching (Score:-1, Troll)
      by Anonymous Coward on 2001.11.15 6:38 (#2567601)

      No no no, the correct term for that is "donkey-punch". I have eye-witnessed this amazing eye-popping event demonstrated on unsuspecting hose-monsters by my frat brothers in the past.. . :-)

    30. Re:the effect of knowlege laws... (Score:1)
      by AbsoluteRelativity on 2001.11.15 5:31 (#2567457)

      The WIPO Troll
      Slashdot and the Karma Lottery - News for uber monkeys, by uber monkeys.

    31. Re:Taco-Snotting (Score:-1, Troll)
      by Anonymous Coward on 2001.11.13 9:27 (#2557632)

      Oh, man that's just sick !

    32. HOW DO I GET AN ANONYMOUS PROXY? (Score:-1, Troll)
      by Anonymous Coward on 2001.11.13 9:03 (#2557604)

      TELL ME WHERE I CAN GET AN ANONYMOUS proxy please WIPO Troll. Maybe later i will join you in a snotting at my place. ;P

    33. Re:Taco-Snottage!?!?!? (Score:-1, Offtopic)
      by vikool on 2001.11.13 7:43 (#2557495)

      what is this bull shit,i feel offened that some people feel so so senseless to post stuff like these esp when such a tragic incident has occured

    34. Re:Taco-felching!! (Score:-1)
      by I.T.R.A.R.K. on 2001.11.11 22:38 (#2551890)

      Where the fuck do I sign up?!

      - I throw rocks at retarded kids

      "Adequacy.org: Where congenital stupidity is not an option, but a requirement."

    35. Re:Taco-felching!! (Score:-1, Troll)
      by Anonymous Coward on 2001.11.11 21:53 (#2551753)

      this shit is hilarious..keep up the good work.

    36. Re:Taco-felching!! (Score:-1, Offtopic)
      by rockwood on 2001.11.11 21:49 (#2551746)

      OMG! That is the most disgusting thing I have ever heard! WHo in their right mind would sit down and waste the time to construct such a replusive story. I guess I'll be skipping lunch and dinner today.. and possibly tomorrow also. The game doesn't affect reality. Reality affects the game.

    37. Re:Ban this! It's disgusting!! (Score:0)
      by Anonymous Coward on 2001.11.11 14:43 (#2550701)

      dude, this is crap-flood material if i ever saw it.
      duuuuuuuuudddddddddddddeeeeeeeee.

    38. Re:Taco-Snotting = HATE SPEECH (Score:-1, Flamebait)
      by Anonymous Coward on 2001.11.11 8:16 (#2550266)

      horny_rob_6969@hotmail.com

      Ah, so that's what the alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.horny-rob newsgroup is about!

    39. MOD THIS UP PLEASE!!! (Score:-1)
      by egg troll on 2001.11.11 5:34 (#2550024)

      +5, Arousing

      For more info check out this /. article

    40. Re:Taco-Snotting = HATE SPEECH (Score:-1, Offtopic)
      by Anonymous Coward on 2001.11.11 4:39 (#2549891)

      WINNER>

    41. Re:Taco-Snotting = HATE SPEECH (Score:-1, Offtopic)
      by Anonymous Coward on 2001.11.11 4:37 (#2549887)

      I love you. Why do you use your bitchslapped account, rather than signing up for a new account to post at +1 before getting bitchslapped by the censors here? I guess I should speak for myself, but I don't want to log out and lose all my slashdot customization properties, nor do I want to lose my 50 karma yet.

    42. Re:On Taco-Snotting (Score:0)
      by Anonymous Coward on 2001.11.09 9:19 (#2542412)

      you fucking rock! right down to the expanded cvs id!

      WIPO trolls > linux

    ________________________________________

    $Id: tacosnotting.html,v 1.12 2001/12/02 20:07:02 wipo Exp $
    --

    J. Wipo Troll, Esq.
    Crapflooder Associates
    Slashdot.org

    1. Re:The WIPO Troll Announces Portable Snotbox by GaylordFucker · · Score: -1

      not to mention... The WIPO Troll used himself as a test subject to try out the portable snotbox... i await your results and hope your product gets approved...

      Regards,
      Gay

      --


      Get that rats nest off your head, you numbskull -- Wesley Willis
    2. Re:The WIPO Troll Announces Portable Snotbox by George+WIPO+Bush · · Score: -1

      CmdrTaco raped me! (Did you read the whole poast?) I had no choice! He told me if I didn't he'd rape my sister instead!

      --

      J. Wipo Troll, Esq.
      Crapflooder Associates
      Slashdot.org

    3. Re:The WIPO Troll Announces Portable Snotbox by GaylordFucker · · Score: -1

      that's terrible... well i know the feeling must be terrible... literally... but at least you're more literate (and probably a better web administrator) than CmdrTrasho...

      oh yeah... last I heard... JonKatz was into the snotting scene

      Regards,
      Gay

      --


      Get that rats nest off your head, you numbskull -- Wesley Willis
    4. Re:The WIPO Troll Announces Portable Snotbox by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

      Q: Is CmdrTaco gay?
      A: He Mos' certainly is!

    5. Re:The WIPO Troll Announces Portable Snotbox by WeatherTroll · · Score: -1

      Dude, that isn't true. CmdrTaco is gay. He wouldn't want to be anywhere near your sister.

      --
      Digital Divide? The only divide Linux can bridge is the crack of my ass, when I use it to wipe my ass clean.
    6. Re:The WIPO Troll Announces Portable Snotbox by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

      That leaky sound you hear is CmdrTaco pissing himself after seeing this.

      Slashdot trolling just got a whole lot easier...

      http://www.geocities.com/frostpist/

      Spread the word!

  5. I fear the battery life will suck royally by NickV · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The major problem with products like these is the battery life is going to suck royally. My iPaq uses a high end Lithium Polymer battery, and I still only get about 8 hours of battery life... and that's not even doing something too intensive like playing mp3s or watching movies.

    Can you imagine the processor needed to decode mpeg4 on the fly? Can you imagine the processor needed to RECORD mpeg4 on the fly? Can you imagine how long this processor will run on 4 Rechargable NiMH AA batteries?

    Ick.

    1. Re:I fear the battery life will suck royally by magicslax · · Score: 0

      If I had moderator points I'd be using them. Instead, I'll just call it like it is - right on.

      The benefit of the massive storage space is flushed away by the ineviatable short battery life. How do you put down or watch 10gigs of video when you can only keep the thing on for a handful of hours. The situation is even worse with audio, since playing them eats up so much of your precious time.

      Now why didn't I think of that?

    2. Re:I fear the battery life will suck royally by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

      the battery does suck. But not as much as your mom! That bitch can suck the chrome off a trailer hitch!

      Can you imagine unzipping her fly? Can you image pulling down her panties? Can you imagine how long this dick will grow? I don't have to imagine - I just finished fucking her.

    3. Re:I fear the battery life will suck royally by Bi()hazard · · Score: 1

      I have a friend who works for Consumer Reports, and they tested a version of this model recently, actually. The report should be shortly after the final release. In general, it's clunky and overloaded. The battery life was a major issue-but interestingly it varies considerably between units. They decided to get cheap, and buy batteries without rigorous quality assurance, and the result is the stuff you see described in some of the other posts. One unit gets 5 or 6 hours, another gets 4, and one gets 8, even though they're performing the same tasks. Of course, using the more energy intensive features will cut the battery life down to as little as 2 hours. Buying a top quality replacement battery can help a lot, if you don't mind the work and extra expense. Overall, we found individual single purpose gadgets to be more efficient and effective in every respect; you'll be better off getting the jukebox's functionality from multiple devices-plus the multiple devices can work in parallel, whereas the jukebox can use only one module at a time. They haven't announced the price yet, but rest assured it will be quite high. With modules, it's price will likely rival that of a PC.

    4. Re:I fear the battery life will suck royally by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The new Microsoft Battery rocks ! It provides any portable electric device with an advanced Microsoft battery charge, and would power the GC continuously for 10 years and a week ! No kidding ! The same battery can power the more advanced X-Box for over 50 eons, because the X-box doesnt use the shit, overpriced PowerPC processor that those fucked up macs use! Microsoft, now they make the BEST battery as well as the BEST console, the BEST input devices, the BEST software, and the absolute BEST operating system WINDOWS XP !!!

    5. Re:I fear the battery life will suck royally by ozbon · · Score: 1

      Just an idea - wasn't the Crusoe chip supposed to be ideal for this kind of thing? Much better battery life etc. (I get 12-14 hours out of my Libretto with extended battery, 4-5 with standard) and still minimum of 600Mhz processing speed.

      Perhaps something like that would help power these items, without killing batteries every 3 hours.

      --
      I say we take off and nuke it from orbit. It's the only way to be sure...
  6. pockets? by magicslax · · Score: 2, Funny

    While the article claims the device will fit in a pocket, the odly shaped modules sure wouldn't. And at 12+ ounces already, it becomes an ungainly, low resolution digital camera...

    ...or a digital video camera with a _very_ long recording time. Somebody mentioned in a previous article how nice it would be to attach a 40 gig ieee1394 drive directly to a camera for hours of digital footage. 10gigs is certainly a step in the right direction, it just looks strange.

    ****IT SLICES IT DICES IT MAKES MPEG4 - your fully buzzword compliant device!****

    1. Re:pockets? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

      if by "pocket", you mean "vagina", then yes, my pcker does fit in your mom's "pocket".

      And at 12+" already, it becomes a slut magnet.

    2. Re:pockets? by MstrFool · · Score: 4, Informative

      It can get better. I have the 6000 jukebox and found that a 30 gig drive fits quite nicely in it and works as well as the 6 gig it comes with, and at $150 it makes a nice upgrade and only drops battery life by about an hour. Using the Monster 1800 ma NIMs corects that quickly as the bats it comes with are only 1500 ma NIMs. They also have 48 gig drives that are the same size over on pricewatch.com, havent tried one of those in my jukebox, but I bet it would be real nice in this player.

      --
      Question reality.
    3. Re:pockets? by MinusOne · · Score: 2

      I also have a Toshiba 30GB drive in my Jukebox 6000 (does that make it a Jukebox 30000?) Tishiba's highest capacity drive in the 9.5mm form factor is 40GB. I don't think that the 48GB drives you see on Pricewatch are 9.5mm, I think they are 12.5mm, which will not fit in the Archos. I'm not certain, but I think that 40GB is the max for now, but just a few months ago when I upgraded my Jukebox 30GB was the max. I suspect that by the end of 2002 you will be able to buy a 100GB drive that will fit.

    4. Re:pockets? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      pockets? What has it gots in its pockets, my Precious?

  7. Hmm... by cascino · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I'm sure that the the features of this new model will attract many, but I'll personally stay away: I've had three bad experiences with Archos products.
    I purchased an Archos 6000 MP3 player from ThinkGeek about two months ago, and it arrived DOA. It simply would not turn on. I got my money back (TG was excellent as far as service is concerned, by the way), and used it to purchase an Archos HD-MP3 from a retailer in New York (who offered the better model at approximately the same price). I figured that the first time was probably a fluke, and besides - the better model offered the ability to record MP3's, something I could definitely use to for live music recording.
    Two more returns later, and I'm still waiting for my fourth Archos MP3 player. My experiences may be the exception to the rule, but I'd be wary of something like this until reliability figures come out.

    1. Re:Hmm... by matthewn · · Score: 1
      Similar experience last June. Jukebox 6000 #1 (from Fry's, San Jose) worked for an hour, then died. Jukebox #2 reported an error and "RETURN UNIT" on its tiny little screen.

      Archos support suggested to me that I return unit #2 at a different Fry's location, because perhaps "the crate at San Jose Fry's got dropped." Sound advice: unit #3 came from a different location, and it's performed flawlessly from day one. Great product.

      Perhaps with an Archos, if you get past the first day, you're in the clear.

    2. Re:Hmm... by Chris+Pimlott · · Score: 1

      I purchased an Archos 6000 MP3 player from ThinkGeek about two months ago, and it arrived DOA. It simply would not turn on.

      Did you let it charge for a few hours before trying to use it first? And you have to hold down the power button for a few seconds before it will turn on.

      (No offense intended; it took me a while to realize how to get it on, and I hope your luck isn't so bad as to get 3 bum units...)

    3. Re:Hmm... by OmegaDan · · Score: 2

      I can't explain 3 bad units, but I can tell you the unit acts *very* flaky when its batteries are completley dead/bad ... won't power on, won't charge (this is the kicker!) ... it seemed to me the cpu draws its power from the batteries regardless of wether its plugged into the wall ... The batts went bad on mine one day, and it wouldn't charge, wouldn't play, gave HD errors when it *would* turn on ... I changed out the batteries -- it ran like new again ...

      --
      Free Techno/Jazz/DNB/MI Music by guys obsessed with monkeys!
    4. Re:Hmm... by cascino · · Score: 1

      Did you let it charge for a few hours before trying to use it first? And you have to hold down the power button for a few seconds before it will turn on.
      Yeah, I let it charge. No text in the display would come up at all - even when charging. The backlight would turn on, but regardless of how long it had been charged, I couldn't get text to appear on the screen. It worked just fine as a USB harddrive, but something seemed to be wrong with the LCD screen. My second unit did not suffer from the same problem, so I'm pretty sure that I wasn't at fault. Thanks for the thought, though.

    5. Re:Hmm... by batboy78 · · Score: 1

      Well I'm glad that they decided to go with the some sort of high-speed transfer, the Archos 6000 skips pretty bad when playing through a playlist, when hooked dirctly to the computer, now stand-alone with headphones its OK, but Firewire and USB 2.0 will sweeten the deal...

    6. Re:Hmm... by bfree · · Score: 2
      Perhaps with an Archos, if you get past the first day, you're in the clear.

      Unfortunatly not if your me anyway :-( My Jukebox 6000 worked fine for nearly two months and then the Hard Disk died :-( Now I'm deciding where the money from my refund will go :-) I think I'll wait a few months for a firewire+usb(+network) 25Gb+ Hard Disk that's no bigger or heavier than the Jukebox 6000 was (that was my weight limit for sure) and preferably has a good battery life (like 24 hours of play so you can take it away for the weekend and at least one hour as a portable hdd).
      --

      Never underestimate the dark side of the Source

    7. Re:Hmm... by hamanu · · Score: 1

      Sounds like your archos had it's contrast set to 0. There are instructions on how to adjust the contrast blind via the menu system out there somwhere. It probably worked fine.

      --
      every _exit() is the same, but every clone() is different.
    8. Re:Hmm... by Simulant · · Score: 2, Informative

      Mine is somewhat flakey on low batteries also....(It is one of the first hardware revs) It also sometimes says "USB Active" and then powers off for no apparent reason. But it plays MP3s very well most of the time, is pretty much flawless as a USB hard drive and was more affordable than anything else at the time. (Still is, I think). I've abused my too.. I broke the backlight when I installed a 20gig drive and I can't even count how many times I've dropped it, usually on the concrete while getting out of my car. I still love it though! I would like a more stable version of essentially the same thing. Wish they sold them cheaper, without the drives. They could also use a redesign so it's easier to get the batteries in and out. Oh.. and of course fire wire would be great! Not so sure I want to watch video on it though.

    9. Re:Hmm... by MinusOne · · Score: 2

      Mine never skips when playing a playlist, even a list generated from a random selection of songs on the box. The only think that has made it skip much is when the MP3's are encoded at over 192Kbps. Also, you should check that you have the latest revision of the firmware downloaded off of their site. Of course it could be that when I hacked mine the 30GB drive I put in has a much better data throughput than the original 6GB drive.

    10. Re:Hmm... by mrsalty · · Score: 1

      Your experiance is the opposite of mine. I purchased a Jukebox6000 in March and have never had any problems. perhaps i am the fluke?

      --
      -- Hail Eris
    11. Re:Hmm... by arcadesdude · · Score: 1

      It will skip if the drive is fragmented.

      Using a Defragging tool on the drive should help stop the skipping, and a new charge / new batteries should help as well.

      --
      --arcades
  8. Sounds nice by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Sounds great and all, but how much and when can I buy one?

  9. big deal by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    wake me up when they announce a portable pocket pussy.

  10. Osama Bin Laden, sand nigger terrorist, dead at 30 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    I just heard great news on the radio - That dirty arab terrorist, Osama Bin Laden, was found dead in this cave this morning. There weren't any more details - it was just a little news blurb. I'm sure the slashdot community will be glad that he is dead; even if you didn't see his ugly towelheaded face or his dirty beard, there's no denying he deserved to die. Truly an asshole to the world.

  11. Another frozen interface PC by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I bet there's a general purpose processor inside of these thingies doing all of the neat stuff. They have to pretend that it's a special purpose device, so as not to scare customers. What a shame.

  12. I really don't get it... by Daniel+Wood · · Score: 2, Interesting
    Why do people even want to bother with this kind of thing? A simple video in board and some PVR software on a Shuttle FV24 with an additional remote would be a much better solution.

    Perhaps its just that geeks prefer to hack things apart more than hacking them together?

    1. Re:I really don't get it... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So which video in board and PVR software would you recommend?

      And can I do this without a TV? I have a TV, but it's in another room... which TV tuner card would you recommend?

      Of course, I mean for Linux or *BSD.

      Does this Shuttle MB have IR on board?

  13. What about battery life? by Lunastorm · · Score: -1, Redundant

    The major problem with products like these is the battery life is going to suck royally. My iPaq uses a high end Lithium Polymer battery, and I still only get about 8 hours of battery life... and that's not even doing something too intensive like playing mp3s or watching movies.

    Can you imagine the processor needed to decode mpeg4 on the fly? Can you imagine the processor needed to RECORD mpeg4 on the fly? Can you imagine how long this processor will run on 4 Rechargable NiMH AA batteries?

    --
    You die too easily.
  14. hey timothy by GaylordFucker · · Score: -1

    why did you move out of Brooklyn? i live in Brooklyn myself... it's a great place... except the fact that i got robbed 7 times... but forget that... you ought to move back...

    Regards,
    Gay

    --


    Get that rats nest off your head, you numbskull -- Wesley Willis
  15. Not just another gadget by Bi()hazard · · Score: 0, Troll

    We've seen a lot of portable mp3 player announcements on slashdot, some of these totally undeserving of front page status. However, don't dismiss this article as another one: this is a different situation. The new Jukebox isn't an mp3 player, it's a replacement for a variety of gadgets and a major breakthrough in consumer technology. With MPEG4, MP3, WMA, a built in color screen, digital photos, TV input, and fast firewire the Jukebox 6000 is the all in one media solution-a camera, camcorder, TiVo, mp3 player, and portable storage device in one. No other device has ever attempted such an ambitious set of functionality, and this thing appears to pull it off. I can't wait to get my hands on one, this is clearly a revolution, and the wave of the future. Very definately "stuff that matters."

    1. Re:Not just another gadget by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You can't be serious.

      First, this is a marketing ploy designed to stop some of the bleeding imposed on their sales by the iPod.

      Second, with no mention of price, it's clear they have not yet finalized the specs. It will not be cheap, if it ever actually hits the market, and it will not be light weight. It will eat batteries like Fritos.

      The market has shown that combo gadgets that try to do everything, end up not doing anything well.

      Consumers want their devices to function without compromise, otherwise they end up on the shelf. This thing is a tribute to compromise.

      The only breakthru will be to your wallet, as it digs a hole and leaves you with regret.

    2. Re:Not just another gadget by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      crap! trolling isn't as easy as it used to be. maybe ill have to start reading the articles first. :P or maybe just go back to posting goatsex...

  16. Redundant, AND copied without attribution by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
  17. Goatse.cx man, freak, dead at 104 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    I just heard sad news on the radio - Goatse.cx was found dead in this Texas condo this morning. There weren't any more details - it was just a little news blurb. I'm sure the slashdot community will miss him; even if you didn't like his gaping asshole and his wonderful humor there's no denying his contribution to american pop culture. Truly an icon.

  18. ExCUSE me... by the_furies · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    I'm trying to enjoy News for Nerds, Stuff that Matters! Please find another site to post links to the photos from your family reunion.

    1. Re:ExCUSE me... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

      Yes, this filth belongs on sites that allow arbitrary html, so you can load the image on mouseover, or redirect to the page automatically. And, for gods sake, post something that has tentacle rape along side that! you got me all hot for tentacles now

  19. Invest 30 seconds to visit the site by Chairboy · · Score: 4, Informative

    If you took even the briefest moment to visit the site before trying to get 'fp props' or something, you would have been able to read that the unit has a 10 hour playback on one charge.

    It's not clear what this was 10 hours of playing, eg, is it the same for video versus music?

    1. Re:Invest 30 seconds to visit the site by OmegaDan · · Score: 3, Informative

      ummm, I own the arhcos jukebox 6000, and I can tell you that the "6 hour battery life" they claim is more like 2 or 3... the device also seems to have a mind of its own -- some days I get 5 hours, some days I get 2, on the same charge time.

      keep that in mind when you think about "10 hours"...

      --
      Free Techno/Jazz/DNB/MI Music by guys obsessed with monkeys!
    2. Re:Invest 30 seconds to visit the site by NickV · · Score: 1

      Umm... if you've ever used an Archos device or ever read any battery marketing bullshit before hand you'd realize that those claims are NEVER true. Do you get 6 hours of battery life playing a DVD on your laptop? I don't think so.

      Do you really think you'd even get more than 1 or 2 hours from record a video stream into mpeg-4 with 4 NiMH batteries? Yes I did read the release throughly... this wasn't some FP crap.

    3. Re:Invest 30 seconds to visit the site by MstrFool · · Score: 2, Informative

      I get 6 to 8 hours on the 2nd set I got from them. They put out word that the had some bad batteries and to call them for an RPL, took all of about 5 mins total, then a few days for them to get here. and if you don't like the life the get some better batteries, use some 1800 maH NIMs, they realy bring up the life and will charge fine in the unit.

      --
      Question reality.
    4. Re:Invest 30 seconds to visit the site by Elbereth · · Score: 2

      Wouldn't that be false advertising?

      I bought a piece of crap Teac CD-RW that advertised a two megabyte buffer, but 768k of that buffer is used for firmware! That leaves me with about 1.2MB to use, and I don't even have the luxury of burn-proof. Teac sucks royally these days. I remember when Teac used to make good, high quality stuff.

      Maybe we should start prosecuting the companies who pull this shit with us.

    5. Re:Invest 30 seconds to visit the site by ma2tias · · Score: 1

      I want to point out that the batteries are not called NIM, but NiMH (NickelMetalHybride) and the unit of the capacity usually used is mAh not maH.

      Also when is comes to batteries. It is important to take good care of them. Strictly follow the recharging intructions.

    6. Re:Invest 30 seconds to visit the site by Digitalia · · Score: 1

      Ummmm, I own an Archos Jukebox, and I can tell you that the "8 hour battery life" they claim is more like 9 or 10... The device also seems to act relatively consistently, with a standard deviation of no more than 1 hour. Perhaps it's time you switched to that second set of batteries they sent with the jukebox. After all, if the batteries are fucked, then you aren't going to get the full potential out of them.

      --
      Pax Digitalia
    7. Re:Invest 30 seconds to visit the site by a+nanny+mouse · · Score: 0
      Okay Senor Battery,

      I want to point out that first of all that you are obviously extremely intelligent and an excellent observer for noticing and pointing out those possibly life-threatening errors. However the expansion of "NiMH" is actually spelled NickelMetalHydride not NickelMetalHybride as you have erroneously attempted to explain. Thank you again.

    8. Re:Invest 30 seconds to visit the site by ma2tias · · Score: 1

      Point taken.

  20. I don't know if anyone else noticed tis, but.. by jx100 · · Score: 4, Informative

    for some reason it lists the specs for the Archos Jukebox at the bottom, not the Archos Jukebox Multimedia

    I mean:
    "Capacity: 6GB Low Voltage Hard Drive "?

    "Display: Graphic Backlit LCD (Up to 8 lines of characters)"?

    1. Re:I don't know if anyone else noticed tis, but.. by TotallyUseless · · Score: 2

      I was wondering why the top half of the article said a 10 gig drive, and the bottom half kept saying 6 gig. thank you for clearing up why!

      --

      Time for some tasty Shiner Bock!
  21. Hey! Look evrybody! by the_furies · · Score: -1
    Post was copied from post a few posts above (just in case you didn't fucking notice yourself)!

    Wow! Thanks, eagle-eye. Slashdot is safe form plagarists as long as vigilant readers like you are around! You get a gold star!

  22. MPEG4 support? by 2nd+Post! · · Score: 0

    It doesn't give much info on the MPEG4 support; I suppose Microsoft already has MPEG4 support (I don't know, I've never tried it, and I don't count DiVX and the ilk as proper MPEG4) but what Mac MPEG4 support?

    Unless they know something about Quicktime and MPEG4 that I don't, I guess.

    Has anyone seen anything about MPEG4 support in Quicktime?

    It is nice that the article mentions FireWire support, but I wasn't able to gather what that meant, since it was 'optional'

    --

    GPL Deconstructed
    1. Re:MPEG4 support? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      QuickTime just celebrated 10 yrs...MPEG 4 support is up next. Look for this and other 'news' from Mac Expo SF, in January '02.

      Also, big hd's will no longer be a mandate for digital editing...no longer a factor. Makes you wonder if the iPod will really need one, eh? Maybe Apple planned ahead?

    2. Re:MPEG4 support? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Has anyone seen anything about MPEG4 support in Quicktime?

      Yeah - here.

  23. Trends in players and portables/desktops by bryan1945 · · Score: 2

    Players getting more and more complex
    More portable desktops (LCD iMac)

    It ought to be rather interesting when these 2 trends run into each other.... the digital home appliance, maybe?

    --
    Vote monkeys into Congress. They are cheaper and more trustworthy.
  24. OMG the batteries!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The major problem with products like these is the battery life is going to suck royally. My iPaq uses a high end Lithium Polymer battery, and I still only get about 8 hours of battery life... and that's not even doing something too intensive like playing mp3s or watching movies.

    Can you imagine the processor needed to decode mpeg4 on the fly? Can you imagine the processor needed to RECORD mpeg4 on the fly? Can you imagine how long this processor will run on 4 Rechargable NiMH AA batteries?

  25. Obligatory Beowulf Post by Lunastorm · · Score: 0

    Imagine a Beowulf cluster of these!

    --
    You die too easily.
    1. Re:Obligatory Beowulf Post by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Hey lunastorm, you won't be posting at +1 for very long if you only post crap.

    2. Re:Obligatory Beowulf Post by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why must someone always say that? If /. ran a story on ticklemeelmo, some idiot says "Beowulf!" or "Apacha Enable it!"

    3. Re:Obligatory Beowulf Post by Bi()hazard · · Score: 1
      Why must someone always say that? If /. ran a story on ticklemeelmo, some idiot says "Beowulf!" or "Apacha Enable it!"

      Actually, we'd demand that it use embedded linux for real time voice synthesis. ;)

    4. Re:Obligatory Beowulf Post by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

      Hehe, Beowulf cluster of these?

      imagine swapping out all the AA batteries in a Beowulf cluster of these. :)

  26. What about the batteries? by BiffJerky · · Score: -1

    The major problem with products like these is the battery life is going to suck royally. My iPaq uses a high end Lithium Polymer battery, and I still only get about 8 hours of battery life... and that's not even doing something too intensive like playing mp3s or watching movies.

    Can you imagine the processor needed to decode mpeg4 on the fly? Can you imagine the processor needed to RECORD mpeg4 on the fly? Can you imagine how long this processor will run on 4 Rechargable NiMH AA batteries?

    --

    Love And Kisses,

    BiffJerky the Troll

  27. ..but not this year...if ever. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Due Q1 2002....and no mention of price.

    This is obviously a marketing ploy, and a sign they have been hit hard by the release of the iPod. The specs on this thing will be in flux for months, and it could never really see the light of day. Archos is playing catch up...isn't that cool :)

    Is there some reason you didn't link to the Archos site instead?

    Where they talk about future products?

    This thing will be high price and high weight and low battery life....it's already a dead duck.

    Too bad Apple has already left the building.

  28. Use as a digital wallet for photos by Jonavin · · Score: 1

    I surprised nobody has meantioned its use as a digital wallet.

    Now there are many options available these days including THE Mind@Works Digital Wallet(tm), Terapin Mine, Nixvue Digital Album, etc...

    This is actually the first product I've seen that allows you to view the pictures on the LCD. Plus the fact that there are other uses makes it handy when you're not using it as a digital wallet for your photos while travelling.

    Depending on price and availability, this may be one option I will consider for my 3 week digital photo storage needs.

  29. The Nikon digital wallet for photos by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The Nikon Coolgear Photo Wallet...$299.00.

    If you need something along these lines, this is the only way to go.

    1. Re:The Nikon digital wallet for photos by Jonavin · · Score: 1

      This product only displays photos. It doesn't solve the primary requirement as an alternative mass digital storage to expensive flash cards or microdrives.

    2. Re:The Nikon digital wallet for photos by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And it was mentioned in response to the sub-thread of 'wallet', where there is no 'requirement for alternative mass storage'...that's your requirement. Feel free to start a new thread if you want to go that way.

      How many photos do you carry in your wallet? Every photo you own? Of course not, that's not the idea.

      You take some out and you put some in...cars, girlfriends and wives...they come and they go.

      And saying that flash cards or microdrives are expensive is a consumer comment, not a technical argurment. I can afford them.

      I for one, don't have a problem with flash cards or their cost. They serve a purpose, and are reliable. I have several, from 16 to 64mb, not counting Memory Sticks. As long as I can read them, I'll use them.

    3. Re:The Nikon digital wallet for photos by Jonavin · · Score: 1

      I may not have been clear about my point.

      64mb doesn't hold too many 3 megapixel photos in RAW format, never mind the short videos that I will be taking. How many photos do you think you can shoot in 3 weeks? If you don't want to lug a round laptop for 3 weeks a storage wallet would be the best bet.

      I need at least 3GB by my estimates (based on previous trips) before I return home and get a chance to transfer the data to my computer, edit and make CDR archives. And what happens when I upgrade to a better camera that does 5mp RAW files?

      It not just about price. Why would you buy 20GB of flash card when most of the time you only need 512MB for day to day use? It's much more sensible to buy a storage device for thos elong trips. And in the case of this device, there are other uses when you're not using it as a photo storage wallet.

    4. Re:The Nikon digital wallet for photos by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Storage wallet..got it...take a look at this from Formac...might just be the ticket.

      studio DV/TVR

      I use a Palm IIIC and a Palm m505 as 'image wallets'. I can store images on the card in the slot on the m505, 64mb, as an example, and both work as small digital picture frames, with slideshows, etc. IR lets me move images between units, if that's needed, and both have snap on cameras. Not anywhere near the megapixel range you quote, but as they say, any picture is worth 1k words.

  30. Darn it looks good... Now, can we program for it?? by Abwh · · Score: 1

    I just bought the Terapin Mine... now this??

    Is the pcmcia port able to use lan or wireless cards or what??? Although firewire looks sweet, now I would REALLY have a pretext to buy a mini-DV camera too! Wheee!!

    That's the best thing about the Mine that I liked... forget USB, do your transfers over ethernet. That, and Terapin is getting ready their SDK for the linux kernel inside... Hopefully Archos could do something like that, let's say, we add support for Ogg Vorbis on this thing??? Hopefully it will have a generic CPU and not a bunch on dedicated chips that we can't mess with.

    --
    Gerry -- #include "ea!.h"
  31. Yeah it looks cool by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    but can it play my copy protected cds? ;)

  32. official site by pneuma_66 · · Score: 4, Informative

    As i was reading the article, i thought the item was a fake (all those badly rendered images), so i went to archos's site and here is the official page on the device. however, it still sounds like vapor to me.

  33. ...more than the 10GB drive... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Perhaps not, when you take a look at the digital video advances coming out of Apple....

    "The other key function in FCP 3 is the addition of a new QuickTime codec called OfflineRT. With it, users can transcode DV, SD or HD footage (in real-time) in the Photo JPEG format for timecode-accurate, low-resolution offline work. While you can normally store five minutes of video per gigabyte in DV format, Photo JPEG allows for 40 minutes of video in the same space. This makes is possible to edit clips offline -- with a PowerBook G4 on an airplane, for example -- with a fraction of the hard disk space needed for DV.

    http://maccentral.macworld.com/news/0112/04.keyn ot e.php

    And we still have Mac Expo in January to look forward to...

  34. Vapor, as in one steamed off little company by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...it's certainly vapor....and it's coming off of their marketing department that was recently steamrolled into a wet spot by Apple Computer :)

    Combo's do many things, poorly. Add in the battery overhead, and the cost of all the options, and this thing will die before it hits the mold.

    Archos is simply trying to keep it's name in the press so it can sell off all that USB equipped hardware before they close up shop.

  35. Compliment to PVR? by NanoGator · · Score: 1

    I really like this idea. I want to be able to watch my SnapStream (www.snapstream.com) captured TV shows on the go. Right now I lug a laptop around, but with the new airline security restrictions lately I'm worried one day I won't be able to do that anymore. If this little device can play back my shows, then I would be ecstatic!

    In second place, I'd take a product that's a laptop hard-drive connected via Compact Flash card to my PocketPC. It's two components to carry instead of one, but man it'd be cool to catch up on Farscape since I'm never home to watch it.

    --
    "Derp de derp."
  36. John Philip Sousa by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    da da da da...

    Fuck the lot of you all...

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    Slashdot is now a giant ad...

    da da da da...

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    Why must this site suck so royally?

    da da!

  37. Burn-proof is an unnecessary feature by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    What do you need the burn-proof for?

    Stop using Windows and you'll never need it.

  38. TrollMaster 2001 Released! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    That leaky sound you hear is CmdrTaco pissing himself after seeing this.

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  39. Gunman runs amok again the States by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic
    When will they learn that guns and nuts are a dangerous combination?

    Lock up the guns and the nuts and you'll have a nation of happy campers. Throw in a good measure of social responsibility in the form of universal healthcare and welfare and you'll soon be living in the same utopia as us Europeans.

  40. Boo on the batteries by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The major problem with products like these is the battery life is going to suck royally. My iCaq uses a high end Lithium Polymer battery, and I still only get about 37 hours of battery life... and that's not even doing something too intensive like playing mp2s or watching goat pr0n.

    Can you imagine the processor needed to decode mpeg4 on the fly? Can you imagine the processor needed to RECORD your mom's teeth on my fly? Can you imagine how long this processor will run on 4 Rechargable NiMH DD batteries?

  41. Re:It's all about the specifications, baby by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    http://www.geocities.com/frostpist/

    has got some nice specs... Check it out.

  42. umm what? by crayz · · Score: 1

    Consumer Reports has a policy of only testing products that are shipping and that it buys in a store. It doesn't take pre-release stuff, and it doesn't take stuff sent directly from the manufacturer.

  43. Is that real? by Fishy · · Score: 1, Redundant

    Is it just me or do some of those attachments look like concept drawings, not actual hardware.

  44. http://www.geocities.com/frostpist by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

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  45. please by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    make me a troll!!!

    no flamebait please!!!!!!!! make this flamebait pleeeeeeze!!!!!!!

    (ahhhh better...)

    1. Re:please by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

      Get TrollMaster 2001 and master the art of trolling... Free download @
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  46. misunderstanding by crayz · · Score: 1

    That is not the purpose of OfflineRT as I understand it. What OfflineRT is made for is to let someone take the DV stream, compress it down to something small(but with much poorer quality), and edit it. Then, once all the editing is done, you then go back to the uncompressed stream and using FCP it edits the large file based on what you did with the small one.

    It's made so that for instance you can take the 200GB of movie data you have and put it on your TiBook for editing, then resync it with the main piece of data. You don't want to store your original in that format because it'll look like shit.

  47. CIF format by pagercam2 · · Score: 1

    In video processin CIF ussually refers to the "Common Image Format" = 352 H x 288 Vertical, this is a CCITT standard, which is neither NTSC or PAL compatible, as ussual. VHS resolution is roughly 320x240 so this would be about as much data as you could support anyway, too small for desktop playback but this LCD is about that size. There is also 4CIF = 704 x 576 and QuarterCIF (QCIF) = 176 x 144.

    1. Re:CIF format by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic
      Say what? VHS resolution is exactly 480 active horizontal lines, and approximately 240 vertical lines (although they aren't really lines). All NTSC compatible analog video formats must have exactly 480 active lines.

      Now, somebody may have told you that you can get away with 320x240 for material that is intended to be transferred to VHS, which is probably true, but the fact of the matter is, VHS will hold a full 480 active horizontal lines, otherwise it simply wouldn't work when plugged into a NTSC TV!

    2. Re:CIF format by pagercam2 · · Score: 1

      Yes, NTSC has 480 lines, but this in interlaced analog signal at 30Hz frame (60 fields), if 480 was the simple answer VHS would look as good as DVD, it doesn't becasue the effective resolution is much lower. Something like 320 x240, different VHS tapes will have different effective resolutions, and the ability to define a digital resolution from an analog video is purely subjective. There are numerous tricks present in NTSC to reduce the data (bandwidth) required to get minimally acceptable video. The original RCA engineers working on the TV standard, decided on 24Hz video, to match the movie industry, then as geeks often try to do, showed thier new invention off to the women in the office who asked, why the image flicked so much. The male engineers, don't notice the flicker, but women have higher perception to flicker so the frame rate was bumped from 24 to 30Hz. Interlacing is abou the worst thing you can do image quality but it does trick the eye into beleiving the image is better than it really is. Effective resolution is performed on static images, but there has been much recent work on the brains ability to interpolate between, images to significantly bump up the perceived resolution and it has been shown that with jitter of the sensor, a 256x256 sensor can generate a 1Kx1K quality image through interpolation over multiple images, jitter by fractional pixels amounts. So there are 480 lines but that has nothing to do with resolution, your computer is digital so lines = resolution, and even more so with LCD, but in TV its all perception.

  48. no misunderstanding by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Your summary is correct, and no, there is no misunderstanding...

    My point is that the landscape of digital video is changing, and Offline RT is an example of change, not of specific reductions related to 'viewable' video.

    If the storage requirements for digital video were reduced to a level that negated the need for large drives, that would be a good thing, no?

    Remember, if raising the bridge becomes a problem, try lowering the water, instead. Apple may be ready to negate the need for mammoth drives, after all, there is a limit to what the processor can flush and the hd can hold and the bus can transfer, so why continue to approach that limit...why not reduce the load on all of those (and all of those are hardware related, remember), and reduce the cost of the device.

    How big will DVD's get before it's no longer practical to decode all that data...why not focus on reducing the data, and not have to design hardware that can handle excessive loads?

    Again, Apple is working the problem from more than one angle, and OfflineRT is an example of where they are headed.

    1. Re:no misunderstanding by crayz · · Score: 1

      How big will DVD's get before it's no longer practical to decode all that data...why not focus on reducing the data, and not have to design hardware that can handle excessive loads?

      There is no sensible answer to that question. As processor speeds and efficiency rise along with other technologies DVDs could get much bigger. Using better codecs can help, but only so much. If someone can make a 100GB DVD, and someone else can make a player that can play it, then what's the problem?

      You say you want storage needs for digital video down so that you don't need a large drive. Fine. Use a low bitrate and get a shitty picture. Or wait a few years until 500GB drives are available and a relatively small drive will be able to store a lot of high quality video. The word "large" is nearly meaningless when referring to a drive. The fact is that once drive sizes increase, the resolution DV cams use probably will too. But that's a good thing. In 50 years no one will probably think a thing of throwing around petabyte size files. I see that as progress.

    2. Re:no misunderstanding by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

      Solid state drives are short for this world. Flash memory will soon dominate and push platters and heads into musuems. The circle that you define is predicated on _no_ new technologies replacing hd's as they are now. Data storage requirements cease to become a factor when the data itself shrinks.

      I don't see that continuing long enough to survive the release of 'smaller' (reduced data), yet higher resolution, video streams.

      Better codecs won't be needed when the data stream itself is reduced. Look how much data moves along the optic nerve...it's certainly not grown unabated in response to increased resolution. The back end (the brain) does all the work, while the pipe is left to make only a small contribution to the overall system. HD's are big because the data is cumbersome. When the data is optimized, storage and pipes become incidental.

  49. CLOTHE YOUR SELF IN GOATSE! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

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  50. Apple working on this, too by PatSmarty · · Score: 1

    Word on the street is that Apple is working on a similar device: Video, Windows Compatibility on Tap for iPod

    1. Re:Apple working on this, too by NetFu · · Score: 1

      There's always word-on-the-street that Apple is working on something users want -- don't believe it until you see it AND can buy it. There have been too many rumors in the past that some idiot got out of some Apple employee by getting them drunk at a popular restaurant near Apple's HQ.

      Sure, Apple works on a lot of stuff and a lot of employees know about and work on that stuff personally, but whether or not that stuff ever makes it to market is always a HUGE "if" with Apple...

  51. Re:Osama Bin Laden, sand nigger terrorist, dead at by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Fucking racist bastard.

  52. Re:Osama Bin Laden, sand nigger terrorist, dead at by October_30th · · Score: -1
    Arab bashing is not racism anymore.

    Look, even DoJ is doing it.

    --
    The owls are not what they seem
  53. swallow my dick /. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    i hope you choke, CmdrTaco

  54. Is really is!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Blipp...Blipp...Blipp...Space is etarnal...

  55. The end of slashdot??? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Okay it's been like 9 hours without a new story: that is extremely odd for Slashdot. I imagine the principals in a room slumped over their chairs after a night of drinking and crying "What does it matter anymore???? Does anyone even notice?????".

  56. QUIT FUCKING SAYIING "UMMMM..." by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    QUIT FUCKING SAYIING "UMMMM..."

    I hate it when posts start out this way. It's the fag-geek way of saying, "You're a fucking idiot, let me tell you how it really is".

    Stop it. It makes you look like a pretentious dumbfuck. I wish there was a "-1 Used 'Ummm...'".

    1. Re:QUIT FUCKING SAYIING "UMMMM..." by ozbon · · Score: -1, Offtopic

      Ummmmmm. Maybe you're right.

      --
      I say we take off and nuke it from orbit. It's the only way to be sure...
    2. Re:QUIT FUCKING SAYIING "UMMMM..." by ozbon · · Score: -1, Offtopic

      Ummmmm. I'm sure you said this in the post above....

      --
      I say we take off and nuke it from orbit. It's the only way to be sure...
    3. Re:QUIT FUCKING SAYIING "UMMMM..." by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

      I have to tell everyone.

    4. Re:QUIT FUCKING SAYIING "UMMMM..." by Digitalia · · Score: 1

      Ummm, I was mocking the preceeding "ummmm" used by the other guy.

      --
      Pax Digitalia
  57. QUIT FUCKING SAYIING "UMMMM..." by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    QUIT FUCKING SAYIING "UMMMM..."

    I hate it when posts start out this way. It's the fag-geek way of saying, "You're a fucking idiot, let me tell you how it really is".

    Stop it. It makes you look like a pretentious dumbfuck. I wish there was a "-1 Used 'Ummm...'".

  58. QUIT FUCKING SAYIING "UMMMM..." by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    QUIT FUCKING SAYIING "UMMMM..."

    I hate it when posts start out this way. It's the fag-geek way of saying, "You're a fucking idiot, let me tell you how it really is".

    Stop it. It makes you look like a pretentious dumbfuck. I wish there was a "-1 Used 'Ummm...'".

  59. is that some pr0n in your pocket? by diesel_jackass · · Score: 1

    or are you just happy to see me?

    if this think plays Divx that would be sweet.

    --
    THERE IS NO DATA. THERE IS O
  60. Digital home appliances. by hotsauce · · Score: 1

    Your analysis is interesting. However, I don't think there will be one digital home appliance, just as there isn't one kitchen appliance. There will be many, and unfortunately from the ones in existence (Gamecube, iPod, Palms) they will be proprietary and non-upgradable.

    --
    Lies about crimes
  61. MP3 Recorder bugs by ctmacgyver1 · · Score: 1

    As an early purchaser of the Archos MP3 Recorder I have found that Archos has not completed the work on the MP3 Recorder (common these days) and if this carries over consumers would be advised to wait until the Video version has had plenty of "break in time" so Archos fixes many of the bugs.

    1. MP3 recorder powers off regularly when used in a car. My guess is that vibration is a factor, but even after adding much padding to the protected placement the unit is virtually unusable in a car. (I am talking 2002 model not a 49 chevy :-) )

    2. The firmware needs more revision as it is plagued by odd display bugs and other anomalies. These do not affect performance, but do impact the user experience. Powering off and back on will clear the display.

    3. Better documentation would be a nicety :-)

    4. Realize that the 10 hours claimed does not mean while the device is transfering files to/from pc. Better have that puppy plugged in or it will be drained in no time. (current draw is greater by HD under continual use blah blah blah... but they need to document that)

    Overall I love the MP3 Recorder and will be looking forward to reviews of the Video Recorder.

  62. Hard Drive Attachment by airos4 · · Score: 1

    Here's something that I've not heard mentioned at all - does anyone make or plan to make some sort of a module that could connect to either a laptop HD or a standard IDE drive, and let you play media files on it? With drive prices as cheap as they are, I'd be pretty happy with having something that clipped onto a normal, full size IDE drive and played the media files contained within. Then, you could unclip that module and plug it back into your home IDE channel in your system to transfer files, etc.

    --
    I wish there was a choice that said "Factually Wrong -1" when I mod.
  63. Not the exception by HamNRye · · Score: 2

    I have personally had miserable experiences with the Archos MP3 recorder. I am still awaiting shipment of my #4, after a poor history.

    I purchased directly from Archos.

    #1: Charging Jack on the unit was loose and finally shorted completely. Took Archos a month to get on the ball and issue an RMA.

    #2: Badly beaten refurb was sent out. HD errors out the wazoo, caused a bus storm if hooked to the computer.

    #3: Slightly bruised refurb. Played for 5 minutes (exactly) and locked up. Every time.

    Aside from the poor reliability, the jukeboxes have problems with large directories, playlists, etc. The random function can only be applied to one directory, and has a poor randomizing algorhythm.

    Example: My daughter's christening, I filled a directory with 300 songs and put them on random. The jukebox would play one song and then choke on the directory while looking for the next random song to play.

    Recording is VBR ONLY, and I often had trouble with recorded tracks playing back.

    Archos will be toast if they ever get some real competition. But heck, that's what I said about Microsoft.

    ~Hammy
    nothing4sale.org