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Display News Headlines on iPod

Posted by pudge on from the ipda dept.

1Eye writes "Wired is running this article on the iPod, about a hack to display XML news headlines." That's pretty nifty. I wrote a 40-line Perl script to download arbitrary RSS feeds and create MP3s with the headline as the title and the site name as the artist, but it doesn't do long titles (limited to 30 chars by ID3v1, D'oh!) and doesn't manage the MP3s with the iPod.

2 of 23 comments (clear)

  1. Kinda cool, yes. Useful? Hmm.... by Surlyboi · · Score: 2, Interesting

    While it does have a decent cool factor, (made
    even cooler by the fact that it was done by a 11-
    year-old codegrommit) I've gotta ask how useful
    this is? I mean, I get headlines on my pager and
    cellphone as it is, and with those, I can always
    waste more of my minutes downloading the whole
    story. This is essentially the same as pulling
    down avant-go pages to a handheld. Cool yes, but
    you still need a laptop or desktop to sync it.

    Still in all, hacks like this might pave the way
    for something truly indipendent down the line.
    (bluetooth hookup using the firewire port?)

    --
    Mod me down and I will become more powerful than you can possibly imagine...
    1. Re:Kinda cool, yes. Useful? Hmm.... by Blackstealth · · Score: 2, Interesting

      The fact that you mention a bluetooth connection is interesting. Apple hasn't any products that make use of Bluetooth, other than the USB adapter. So far it only has two uses:
      1) To connect to a cell phone to use it as a modem (I'm a not a big fan of 9Kbps connections but maybe someone, somewhere, is) or
      2) to sync a bluetooth PDA, but when most come with a USB docking station - or failing that a usb connection cable (that'll suck less power out of your palm than a bluetooth module) I don't see any real benefit - pther than one less cable on the desk

      Bluetooth would be a pretty useful feature on the iPod, it could be used for sending small chunks of data to it from your Mac (or PC once windows support arrives) such as vCards. Or it could be used for a remote control - such as the one that Griffin (http://www.griffintechnology.com) recently previewed.

      Better yet would be a remote of the variety supplied with some Kenwood audio equipment - featuring a large LCD status display and a few buttons. It's what users that connect their iPod to a hifi system really need. I'd be quite happy with what would, in effect, be a second screen for my iPod acting as a remote control via bluetooth - maybe it's just a pipe dream, or maybe someone with greater technical skills than me (and solid financial backing) will make it a reality...