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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.'"
How much does this cost? Or is it free for Apple?
Lifetime supply of iPods!
Well I'd apply, but I'm too busy hanging around Slashdot.
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....
From TFA:
;)
"The iPod group is looking for a Hardware Engineer. This person will be an individual contributor on a top notch team with responsibilities for the design, implementation, and integration of digital and analog electronics. 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."
Does this mean we are very likely to see an iPod with a video display and capable of sending and receiving music via WiFi? This is very likely.
What strange language the author uses there. Is he answering his own question about whether it's very likely by saying yes, it's very likely? Or is he saying that it's very likely that it's "very likely?"
I think it's very likely that I'm confused
everything in moderation
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....
Obviously they're running into troubles... their adapter can't overcome the bandwith limitations of wireless handhelds. The
picture goes fuzzy...
25% Funny, 25% Insightful, 25% Informative, 25% Troll
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.
I'm supprised they aren't looking for more jewlers after making P Diddy a diamond iPod.. damn
Boxing Equipment Reviews
Obviously Apple knows their job announcements are scrutinized, and it wouldn't surprise me if they were casting a broader net than they need to be, as insurance against future needs that may or may not materialize.
Read the EFF's Fair Use FAQ
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.
ur n3w 1 570p 5|-|0p 4 pr0n
Not only carries music, but it'll take in 40 gigs worth of divx or mpeg for your viewing "pleasure"
Included in the posh packaging is the new ipod, battery charger, headphones, and hand lotion. How thoughtful, Apple. Thanks.
I think in the next future Apple will improve its often underlooked yet very interesting piece of hardware - the Airport Express base station. Since we have now iTunes music streaming to your home stereo system, video streaming to your home cinema system sounds like the next logical step. I'd rather expect this "engineer" to work in this field. I don't believe in video iPod as it would be simply not feasible. You can walk the street and listen to the music, you can't walk the street and watch a movie (especially not on a 3-inch screen). At least not unless Apple introduces some nano-implants allowing the movie to be streamed wirelessly directly to your retina...
It's a job posting of the iPod hardware division tho, so I doubt they'll hire people for developing anything different than just what their name implies.
I wish job postings for *my* company made it to Slashdot's front page on a Monday afternoon.
--
make install -not war
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.
Apple should probably know by now that the iPod has a lot of "value added" potential, outside of the music player.
It functions exceptionally as an MP3/AAC/AIFF/Audible player - no dispute about that. It works well as an audio recorder from what I've heard. And it also functions "decently" as a calendar/address book/note taker.
Apple might be seeing something beyond a "video iPod". Personally, based on what Mr. Jobs has said, I'd be surprised if it went that route. Most people I know don't care to be watching video as they walk/exercise/work/drive.
But what if the iPod became more of a hub? Take the current Airport Express device - 802.11 device plus audio player and print server. What if your iPod could wirelessly transmit audio to it, so you wouldn't need another computer on all the time - just pick up the iPod, and it would be like a little remote. Or you enter the room with your iPod, and the Airport Express starts playing what's on there, so you have seamless music from your earphones to your speakers.
Imagine if that could be done with video as well - just take the videos you made with iMovie or one of Apple's major movie editors, and plunk it onto the iPod. Now you can go to the other room and demo the movie on the TV set.
Remember how The Lord of the Rings was downloaded onto iPods and transferred to the editing room? Imagine a digital video camera that, instead of a small tape, just plugged in an iPod - direct from video to hard drive, and then just plug it into the computer and edit away. Or, if you have a digital camera, same thing - and now you can wirelessly transmit those photos to your computer for editing/emailing and the like.
So rather than a "video iPod", I wonder if Apple won't make the iPod an extension of the "digital hub" idea. Of course, knowing Apple, those features will work best with a Mac - but if they get other companies like HP to jump on the bandwagon and support these functions with their devices and software, Apple won't care - they'll still be selling iPods and cashing in the checks at the bank.
Of course, just an idea. I could be wrong.
52 Weeks, 52 Religions with John Hummel
/me raises hand.
I usually don't reply to ACs, but the Objective-C bashing is just ignorant. Objective-C is not used much outside of the Mac OS X development community, but that does not make it a bad language. I've programmed fairly extensively in it, and I can say that it is a truly incredible language that makes tasks really simple. It is a true object oriented language (everything inherits from NSObject) yet you still get to keep pointers, which gives you a lot of power as well. It has the power of C++ and the ease of use of Java or C#.
I have yet to meet anyone with significant experience in Objective-C who can say they dislike the language.
-- Fighting mediocrity one bad post at a time.
Its a cover. With WiFi and BT it's going to be a way for Apple to control the masses with portable Reality Distortion Field generators everywhere!
bells and whistles != good device.
I don't believe in video iPod as it would be simply not feasible. More like already been done Maybe not sellable, but that's a different issue. Here's a hint: video out is pretty cheap and easy to implement, so that 3-inch screen is NOT a limitation. Look at how many people are buying DVD players for their cars. Look at the cars that are already iPod ready. Now put 2 and 2 together!
"Freedom means freedom for everybody" -- Dick Cheney
You'd think that all this stuff (wi-fi, video) could be plug-ons for the iPod, much like the Media Reader and microphone.
Why burden the base unit down with this stuff when you can blast it to a plug-on? As long as the firmware supports it, of course.
It has the power of C++ and the ease of use of Java or C#.
Ouch!
I know Obj-C isn't perfect, but saying it has the ease of use of Java or C# is a bit harsh.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
Here's a request from Apple: Instead of working on wifi, make enough of the fucking iPods you have now so that every retailer but you isn't backordered for weeks!
Who the heck would want to program in Objective-C?
More people than you think, AC.. We get a *lot* of applications for every open req around here.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
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.
Oh vanity, thou name is a dimond studded ipod
If I were running Apple, I would do it just to read what all of us armchair quarterback types have to say about it. Think about it... People's guesses may be combinations of tech that Apple didn't think of yet, and they get free market feasability research at the same time. Plus, it's funny.
Of course, if I were running Apple I'd stop making products that get handled a lot out of white plastic (iPods, keyboards, and the like).
Someday a real rain is gonna come...
system integration - Check. I installed Samba last week
digital logic - Check. That's ones and zeros, right?
SDRAM - Check. I use that in my camera
Flash - Check. I flashed my DVD-rom thingy to be region free
ASIC - Um. That's like a CPU for a nintendo.
processor selection - Check. AMD beats Intel every time. Only fan boys use Intel.
ATAPI - Check. I've installed Harddrives before
various communication protocols (ie: GSM, Bluetooth, IEEE 802.11, Firewire, and USB) - Check: I've got a GSM phone and a USB flash drive.
display types and video and analog integration. - Check. How easy peasy! Just match the colors on the cable plugs and the sockets.
Apple, here I come!
Wonder if I should change my name to "iMateito"?
Norman Cook's Ode to Sl
You're right. Obj-C is so much better that those two its not even funny.
The only reason I'm replying is to congratulate you on the benign post. Oh god, lame hex humor. I truly apologize. If I wasn't programming registers on a chip today that joke would never have happened. I promise. I'm going to crawl into a corner now.
-- Fighting mediocrity one bad post at a time.
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?
The iPod's core functionality for me is as a data repository. That includes music, so it plugs into my car stereo. But it is also one of my backup drives, and emergency boot disk, plus it has all my contacts and calendars on it. Mine is one of the old ones so it doesn't record audio, but if it did I would certainly make use of that functionality.
I could care less if I can watch movies on it -- I think the portable movie-player market is tiny anyway. Functionality that WOULD be great for me would be a firewire CF card-reader that was fast enough to transfer 1GB microdrives while I'm shooting with my 1Ds. The current Belkin adapter is simply too slow to be of use.
It makes sense to add wireless to the iPod because as I say its core functionality seems to be data storage and data streaming. It does NOT want to be a portmanteau data-display device. I really hope they don't go there.
Of course once it has some wireless capability, you're gonna be able to check email with it, right?
I'm not wrong. You haven't thought about it hard enough.
I would think that a want ad posted on /. would be the worst case scenario for any HR department. Instead of looking at three or four people that do have the requisite knowledge and skills, Apple is going to be so overwhelmed with thousands of people claiming to have experience in all the areas ("hey, I hooked up my own WiFi network at home, can plug in USB flash disk keys and I can almost always transfer my digital videos") that they are going to go nuts vetting and responding.
A more interesting story might be is hearing how Apple worked through all the applications this piece generated.
myke
Mimetics Inc. Twitter
It's simple, really. /. is a privately owned site. It isn't the BBC with some kind of public charter that specifically says 'we are unbiased'.
/. crew love apple hardware :-)
Plus the
----- Documentation is worth it just to be able to answer all your mail with 'RTFM' - Alan Cox.
I would think that with the library of music and movies Sony owns, and its electronic audio/video division, it should be way ahead of the computer company. Will Sony come out with a next-generation portable entertainment device? Will Apple beat them to the punch? Stay tuned!
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.
If this link/posting was indeed true, I would think this would be more for someone working on the video version of the airport express base station, as the audio/WiFi version is already out there.
Little steps at a time folks, little steps ...
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?
Yep, you're right. Archos already has the Video iPod. *cough* Did they do some kind of deal with Apple like HP?
blog & fiction: jd87
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
Especially under Steve Jobs, who's notorious for a nasty attitude toward engineers. Isn't it just a hostile environment.
If you were that good of an engineer why work at Apple? Why not pick and choose. Go to Creativelabs/Sony and give them an edge and more.
Remote sounds most likely. I see a couple possibilities...
1. AirTunes-capable überDock. Play AirTunes from your iPod over 802.11g with a Bluetooth remote. This would involve the various protocols: FireWire & USB for the dock, 802.11g for the network, Bluetooth for the remote...
2. iPod PVR? Store video to your iPod & play it at any A/V capable dock or computer. Not, repeat not to play video on your iPod. Just as you can purchase audio copies of various radio broadcasts, you could purchase video copies of television programs at the Apple Media Store. Same simple anti-copy restrictions would apply. H.264 codec w/ FairPlay wrapper?
I don't see Apple putting the time and money into making the iPod more expensive for a feature set that so few people will use (wireless xfer, video iPod).
That what was all this school was for... to teach us how to solve our own problems. -- janeowit
Hold your horses. Why does it have to be iPod?
/. RDF is becoming stronger than Jobs?
Couldn't it just be a sign of further developments around Airport Express?
Or is it that
ID: the nose did not occur naturally, how would we wear glasses otherwise? (apologies to Voltaire)