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Toshiba's iPod Competitor
a lonely moose writes: "It looks like Toshiba basically copied Apple's iPod. They got cheap on screen size and unit weight, and without iTunes, it'll be darn hard to handle as elegantly as the iPod. Anyway, check out
MacCentral's article and the smoking forum at the bottom."
That sucks on one hand because they copied it, but on the other hand maybe it will be cheaper. Tough to say, really.
Linux competitor
In 1991, Microsoft Corp. added the first digital audio and video capabilities to the Microsoft® Windows® operating system with Multimedia Extensions in Windows 3.0. From that simple beginning, Microsoft has continued to develop the core digital media capabilities of Windows, responding to customer demands for ever-more powerful, integrated and easy-to-use digital media features. This timeline illustrates how these capabilities have grown and evolved over the years.
Windows 3.0 with Multimedia Extensions
Player for Windows 3.0 Introduced: Fall 1991, about six months after Sound Blaster card adds digital audio sound capabilities to PC platform.
Key features and formats: First media player in Windows. Simple audio playback takes advantage of new PC sound capability. Plays CDs and waveform files.
Windows 3.1
Player for Windows 3.1 Introduced: April 1992
Key features and formats: Visual refresh.
Windows 95, 98
Player for Windows 95, 98 Introduced: December 1994
Key features and formats: First 32-bit Media Player. Adds support for Microsoft MPEG4 v1 and v2 video codecs, ACELP filter, FHG filter, Voxware MetaSound/MetaVoice audio codecs, Vivo G.723 audio and Vivo H.263 video.
Windows 2000
Player for Windows 2000 Introduced: October 1999
Key features and formats: Unifies Windows Media Player with the streaming functionality previously found in NetShow® server. Adds support for Microsoft v3 video codec and Windows Media Audio codec.
Windows Millenium Edition
Player for Windows ME Introduced: September 2000
Key features and formats: Adds digital media library, CD copying, new user-interface, CD metadata from All Music Guide, Media Guide, Radio Tuner, CD burning and more. Adds support for Windows Media Screen Capture codec and Windows Media Audio and Video 7 codecs.
Windows XP
Player for Windows XP Introduced: October 2001
Key features and formats: Integrated CD burning in the operating system, improved user-interface, DVD playback, improved sound quality, Intelligent Media Management, improved MP3 support including optional MP3 encoding, and improved device support. Adds support for Windows Media Audio and Video 8 codecs.
As the japanese farmer said, "Go out in the pasture, have a look at my cows, but be careful not to step in the toshiba"
I think this bodes well for Linux. Though SourceForge likely features many Open Source projects attempting to provide iPod support on Linux and other free *n*xen, Toshiba is giving us a product that works now. This sure makes Linux look pretty good.
Karma: Good (despite my invention of the Karma: sig)
FFFFFF AAAA RRRRRRR TTTTTTTT !!! F A A R R TT !!! FFF AAAAAA R RR TT !!! F A A R R TT F A A R R TT
As reported in today's Washington Post, the Marijuana Policy Project is now legally permitted to collect signatures to place our medical marijuana initiative on the ballot in our nation's capital. Would you please help us in one of three ways?
We must collect 40,000 total signatures (which translates into 20,000 valid signatures) in D.C. between now and July 7. This is a monumental effort!
1. TRAVEL TO D.C. AND GET PAID TO COLLECT SIGNATURES: Can you commit to gathering 200 signatures per day for 20 days, starting immediately? We will pay for your round-trip plane ticket, provide you with a hotel room, and pay you $2 per valid signature. (200 total signatures per day translates into about 100 valid signatures per day, which means you would be paid about $200 per day.)
Please call MPP's Kat DeBurgh at 202-462-5747 ext. 101 if you are interested in earning about $4,000 in three weeks. Those who are willing to fly to D.C. within the next two days will be given preferential treatment.
2. VOLUNTEER IN D.C.: If you already have a full-time job and live near D.C., would you please volunteer to collect 120 signatures between now and July 7? The training session will take about one hour, and you can collect 120 signatures in about five hours by standing outside of a Metro stop or a supermarket. The first training session is tomorrow (Saturday) at 1:00 p.m. at Armand's Pizza at 226 Massachusetts Avenue, NE, on Capitol Hill. Please sign up at http://www.mpp.org/dcinitiative/volunteer.html if you can come to this training or a future training, where you will be given free pizza and a free medical marijuana T-shirt to wear while gathering signatures.
3. DONATE TO PAY FOR SIGNATURE DRIVE: If you aren't able to collect signatures on a volunteer or paid basis, would you be willing to donate money so that others may be paid $2 per valid signature?
Please donate at http://www.mpp.org/dcinitiative/contribute.html at your earliest convenience.
In 1998, D.C. voters passed a medical marijuana initiative with 69% of the vote. Congressman Bob Barr (R-GA) and other hard-line drug warriors in Congress kept this initiative from taking effect, then barred D.C. residents from ever voting on the issue again -- trampling on the will of the voters and the rights of patients.
Three months ago, MPP beat Rep. Barr and the U.S. Justice Department in federal court, winning the right to run a new medical marijuana initiative in D.C.
And one week ago in D.C. Superior Court, MPP successfully defended the initiative from a legal challenge by a team of local activists who were trying to prevent the signature drive from starting.
Finally, yesterday, the local D.C. government gave us our petitions. We must now collect 40,000 total signatures between now and July 7. If we do, D.C. voters will surely pass our medical marijuana initiative this November, which means Congress will have to debate and vote on whether it will allow the local medical marijuana law to take effect ... or whether Congress will overturn the will of the voters.
We must gather 2,000 signatures a day for 20 days -- from June 16 to July 7, with a one-day break on July 4 -- in order to qualify our measure for the November ballot.
This is a monumental effort. Would you please help in one of the three ways listed above? Thank you!
Liberate your mind in two clicks or less.
Thank you!!!! Someone mod this up. Or better yet, post this as an article so that we can get real discussion on this.
Anime porn is for fags.
Decent replacement for floppies? If CD-Rs aren't up to snuff, how about thumb drives? (Little USB keyfob-sized devices with up to 256 megs of flash memory?)
:)
I got a 128 meg model for $64, and it is plug & chug on most OSes (including XP and OS X).
Many mobo manufacturers have USB boot/USB Thumb Drive as a boot device option in their BIOSes these days, too.
I can't think of any reason why you'd want a $321 5GB removable hard drive as a "floppy replacement" before you looked at a small, portable, bootable USB device first. Or were you just first posting?
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