Slashdot Mirror
Apple iPod with Video and WiFi Capabilities?
An anonymous reader writes "Apple is currently seeking an engineer for its iPod hardware division. However, they are not looking for just any engineer. They are seeking an engineer with WiFi and Video integration experience. 'The iPod group is looking for a Hardware Engineer. Experience in the following areas is important: system integration, digital logic, SDRAM, Flash, ASIC's, processor selection, ATAPI, various communication protocols (ie: GSM, Bluetooth, IEEE 802.11, Firewire, and USB), display types and video and analog integration.'"
What is this, Monster.com? We get product ads as articles, now we get ads for people to make new products as articles so we can get more products and therefore new articles?
My head is going to explode....
But to make the frontpage ad-space for Apple... is beyond me.
Well, Apple's already moved into the 'home broadcast' sector with the Airport express streaming music via 802.11 protocols, so it wouldn't seem too far a stretch for them to start streaming video or DVDs around your house, perhaps onto a vPod.
However the amount of battery consumption for such a beast would be epic.
...set the standard for this sort of thing and give other people something to copy off of so we can start getting some better products of this type. I really thought they would have jumped on this bandwagon a while ago....
I wouldn't put too much stock in a job ad. If I were Apple I would add as much miscellany to the ad posting as possible to distract the competition.
sulli
RTFJ.
Two thoughts:
1) Why do they feel the need to complicate the iPod? People love the fact that it does one primary thing, and does it brilliantly. The iPod is expensive enough without any more frills.
2) If they are just looking for an engineer now, just think how long before any product sees the light of day.
Not again, please.... Macrumors had this too, and a gazillion other messageboards, I'd bet.
Everytime Apple hires someone, people want to think it has to do something with the iPod.
They make pretty good computers too, you know?
Plus... there is no proof of this. This is just some blind quote from some random site! As far as we know, this guy made this up.
I know slashdot isn't "the press" but something to suggest that this is something more than randomly created news would be interesting.
New profit model:
1. Write interest, speculative quote
2. Make guesses about the quote
3. Get slashdot to bump your article
4. Google ads on make-up article
5. Profit!
The only thing I wonder about is how the MPAA and its member companies will take this. Hopefully Apple's talked to them already or is in the process or they could find themselves with a wonderful videoPod without any way to get movies for it legally. Given their success with iTunes and the iTunes store I'm inclined to believe they have this worked out already though.
I wasn't as excited about the iPod since I have a portable CD/Mp3 player and it works fine for me. I would be quite excited and interested in a video device though.
Why only one engineer? I could understand if there is a hiring budget or time constraint(getting the new employees up to speed). If I was in charge or necessary resources for the project i would consider hiring more than just one. No telling what may happen(the Engineer's a control freak etc...)
----- You know you have ego issues when you register a domain in your name.
No mention of ultra wide band in there. It would be interesting if they tried it though. The iPod might have enough buy-in with consumers to make this technology finally take off.
If you never make mistakes, it's probably because you're not doing anything.
bells and whistles != good device.
This particular story may be a hoax, as others have pointed out, but how could Apple not be looking to add wireless to the iPod?
Wireless means:
With mp3 functionality being integrated into all-in-one cellphones, Apple could also being looking into this market, which may be critical for the survival of the iPod. And who better than Apple to give a simple interface that controls all these functions? BTW, I'm willing to give out gmail invites in exchange for completed referrals at freeipods.com.
That being said, do we really care about an Apple job posting? I think bluetooth or Wifi integration would be very cool in the iPod. But this story just seems down right silly. If Sony posted an ad in their Walkman division for the same skills would it be noticed? What about Rio? We don't even know what this means, and speculation before they have even gotten going on the hiring process just seems like a waste of time.
This is pre-vaporware, if there is such a thing.
Great ideas often receive violent opposition from mediocre minds. - Albert Einstein
People regularly complain about the iPod's relatively small battery capacity. A video iPod would be much worse.
Ninety percent of the time, an iPod does nothing more than decode MP3's from a RAM cache and drive a pair of headphones.
If you add to that a backlit color LCD, a WiFi transceiver and video decoding, you'd be lucky to get an hour's worth of play time. For that reason, I don't expect to see a video iPod any time soon.
...how'd you like to be a member of that interview team?
"OK, we need to find someone that can take our flagship, multi-million dollar product and add a layer of function and complexity onto it not yet realized in the electronics field anywhere."
I mean, unless the designers of the Walkman or Gameboy come strolling in, what kind of candidate is it going to take to fill this position?
Given the number of competitors to the iPod market (HP, Microsoft, (sur)RealNetworks, etc.), it would help a company like apple to post a fake job offer, to make the competitors think the next iPod will have all these features.
Of course, Apple is not known for slick advertising, media savvy, and tight control of their message. The iPod group probably posted the job offer without thinking about the implications.
Yea right. Look, people. If the job were legit, it would just say "Apple is looking for..." instead of the "iPod group is looking for...". Apple is not stupid; they like to restrict knowledge of their products. This is a red herring.
Keep in mind that the ipod already has a screen, the requirements listed don't necessarily mean that they plan on improving on it any. "Display types and video and analog integration . . ." knowledge would probably be necessary for the existing ipods as well.
My guess? They'll make an ipod with a color screen, but it probably still won't do video.
...looks a whole lot more intelligent now that people have started speculating on the meaning of job postings :\
I think that Sig I saw was correct after all: The earth's intelligence if finite yet the population is growing.
BTM
That was the turning point of my life--I went from negative zero to positive zero.
the pricing of anything other than basic human requirements is not an ethical concern.
There's no way to prove that the rumor sites had anything to do with it. Maybe they didn't get any responses, and someone told HR that "we're looking for digital, analog, video, Bluetooth, WiFi, and ASIC" didn't mean find one superhuman with skills in all of those very specialized fields.
You can keep your wi-fi and video, the main thing that puts me off buying an iPod is the lack of FM radio for listening to sport & talk radio. Seriously, how much would it cost Apple to add such a simple feature?
iPod group, not necessarily iPod product. It's possible that this group will evolve into a multi-faceted consumer electronics effort, but there's no point in Apple publicly acknowledging as much now. So for now, they call it the "iPod" group, after its one product.
Or, maybe someone actually wants to watch videos on a twinkie little 2" screen.
--realinvalidname