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The Secret Behind the iPod Scroll Wheel
Grump sent in a story saying "Ask any iPod user what they like the most about their device, and most will probably mention the scrollwheel. Here is the story behind the company that makes it (hint: it's not Apple). Great not just for the history, but insight as to both how Apple's design process works, and how the scroll wheel itself works."
Do they mean the clickwheel? Or is this actually about the previous generations with the scrollwheel?
As a 48 yo grandmother and feminist I am offended that the article says:
"Even my grandmother could use it."
I like the wheel on my RIM Blackberry, seems like this has been around a little bit longer than the iPOD. The clicking interface along with the scrolling up and down is pretty nifty.
Check out the best P2P sharing website: MEDIACHEST.COM
25 years ago, Tektronix graphic terminals had scroll-wheels for cursor movement (this was before mice became widespread). And Hewlett-Packard had an innovative scrollwheel that was usable in both directions (in conjunction with the cursor keys) on the 9836 series desktop computers.
The scroll wheel is just a round touchpad and is based on the same technology Synapsis has patents on. It even feels the same as the touchpad on my PowerBook.
Touchpads are the best thing that ever happened to this company. They're getting licensing fees and royalties on almost every notebook sold, or they make money directly as the component vendor for the touch pads.
It's good to use your head, but not as a battering ram.
The company that designed the scroll wheel is Synaptics. They have another product called the Fingerprint TouchPad that is basically a tiny fingerprint scanner/authentication device. I've always thought that this kind of device would be great if it was integrated into something I have hold to use, such as my cell phone or mouse. Biometric security isn't absolute security, but it can be one level of security that is nearly invisible if implemented correctly. Neat stuff.
Volume goes up and down, but we're all used to round nobs for that. I can think of very few instances where a up-down lever is used to control a device instead of a circular mechanism.
Car stereos, but that's relatively recent, what else?
[/joke]
Cool little article, although, I have heard of synaptics before - actually L-O-N-G before. Anyone who installed Linux on an old HP laptop can tell you that!
DAMN YOU OCTODOG! DAMN YOU TO HELL!
Yup, Synaptics rock my black-and-beige socks. I love the edge scrolling on my Tosh laptop trackpad - and fully supported under Linux too.
"The dew has clearly fallen with a particularly sickening thud this morning"
Why should Apple make their own touchpad? Synaptics has much much more experience in the matter. "Let the pros handle it", so to speak.
I wish I could write clever and witty sigs.
This "article" just shows some pictures of what I can only assume is the touch sensitive plates under the wheels. It doesn't explain anything about them and how they work, nor does it really talk about the "design process."
but insight as to both how Apple's design process works, and how the scroll wheel itself works.
The article doesn't say how the scroll wheel works. It also doesn't mention anything about Apple's design process...
It is a touchpas, and Synaptics makes practically all the touchpads for Laptops, PDAs and mice. I don't think a lot of people thought that Apple made the touchpad itself. AFAIK, most people know that the Apple genius behind the iPod is quality bought components from companies that make them better than you (Synaptics, PortablePlayer, Sony) combined with Apple design and user friendliness.
The company made a straightened-out version of it for Creative's Zen Touch
It amazes me why they haven't considered making a mouse with this straightened-out version. Scroll wheels for mice would benefit from some development. Mine keeps getting stuck and makes an annoying sound when scrolling
Channels
Volume
Menus
etc.
"I'm just here to regulate funkiness."
If apple doesn't make it than I want some RD to port the technology over to cars. I would love to drive with a 15" click wheel. If that can't work, than I will just stick with the remote idea from Men In Black 2.
Im dreaming ofa big bndwdth, That can resist the
The power-switch on the iMac. How great it is and how you can find it.
Rub them in circles and you'll get louder, softer, or a range somewhere in between...
also works best when you have a good grip and use your thumb!
Oh I agree totally, you shouldn't waste time and money trying to reinvent the wheel. I just find it stupid that somebody would consider this news that apple doesn't make part of the ipod.
This just in apple doesn't make hard drives!
This sig has no nutritional value...
...capacitive. It must be, or something fairly similar.
It explains why the human finger can operate the wheel, but drag a BIC biro round the wheel and nothing happens.
Obviously you don't RTFA too often - I'd say about half of the stories on Slashdot use text directly lifted from the article in the summary.
I don't see what the problem with this is. Why should someone bother writing a summary for a story submission, when there's a perfectly good one available in the article itself?
I suppose it technically is plagiarism, but considering that the story submitter doesn't really stand to benefit from it I don't see how it matters. Have you ever heard yourself say "Damn, that was a kickass summary. That story submitter must be a freaking genius!"?
No? Didn't think so.
This space intentionally left blank.
I just assumed it was made by Synaptics. All of the cool touchpads that allow scrolling and stuff are made by them. I'm not talking about touchpads that just transfer relative movements, but pads that can actually tell the computer where on the touchpad that it is pressed, like a wacom.
I think that is neat because then you have a grid and it can be used as buttons like it is on the 4g ipods.
Chris
That's frequently the case...I wish more people would at least prepend a "Quoth the article."
tasks(723) drafts(105) languages(484) examples(29106)
I'd like to see some independent evidence that the iPod scroll wheel is actually superior in terms of usability to other kinds of navigational devices for use on MP3 players.
The main attraction to designers of touch sensitive devices like Synaptics produces seems to be that they are comparatively cheap, fairly intuitive to novice users, take up little space, and don't gum up. But while those are clearly lots of positive traits, they are not the same as saying that those devices are good from a usability or efficiency point of view.
It's only plagiarism if the submitter takes credit for the summarized text.
The problem is that in some user-interface scenarios (switching weapons in FPS games?), the "notched-wheel" type tactile feedback becomes an asset. When you're trying to smooth-scroll, however, you run into what you complain about. Of course, in the former case, you could simply make touching the upper area of the strip a "click forward" and touching the lower area a "click backward"... but I suppose it wouldn't feel the same.
I love UI problems... there's never an ideal solution but a good compromise can be very useful/profitable...
Thank you for revealing the secret!
I'm wondering if there isn't a secret behind other things too, like my TV's remote control. It works alright, but it's tough to push the little buttons on the TV with it sometimes.
Maybe offtopic, but...
When I was in high school in 1995, the computer lab still had these ancient (Icon? Or Ikon, I think) computers for CAD lessons. They were a solid integrated unit, with a big rolling trackball in the right-hand corner, and a network operating system with a CGA (I think) display. It ran on a 10base2 network cable, and hooked up in a chain of other clients to a (literally) black-box server of some sort.
Anyone know anything about these systems?
Actually it is plagerism is the submitter does not site his source. Takign credit is implied with submission. A simple prepend of
"BLAH writes" before the quoted text avoids any plagerism claims that coudl arise.
I read a couple articles elsewhere proclaiming "APPLE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR TOUCHWHEEL!!!@" only to find that Apple is responsible for it.
They conceived it, they narrowly specified its behavior, they brought it to market. Just because a contractor was involved that means Apple's "not responsible" for its creation? Apple's responsible more than ever: the corralled the capabilities and efforts necessary to make it a reality.
The only feeling I'm getting here is that you have absolutely NO LIFE.
Here's hoping /. puts in an option so I can -1 you "free iPod" idiots. Get a job, you freaking leeches.
Buttongs? Is that a new type of undergarment?
-
If you haven't yet tried the clickwheel on an iPod yet, do it. The article is handy if you're curious about implementation, but actually using the device to navigate a huge music library will literally make you grin.
Just a bit of testimony on this, up until last week the only encounters I'd had with iPods were store demo models and I couldn't figure the bloody wheel out. I do have to say it's not immediately intuitive, having the clickable buttons threw me off, I thought you used the back and forward ones to navigate the menu. Last week I got an iPod all of my own, a 4th gen one with the clickwheel. After a bit of frustration trying to figure out how to use the clickwheel I finally noticed it moved up and down as my finger moved along it. Bingo, easy to use after that.Based on past experiences I'd not been a fan of the design, but after learning HOW it works and using it I have to say it's exceptionally well designed. It's easy to scroll through the lists and volume control is a breeze. I can even reach down and adjust the volume on it while driving and not have to look at it. I even have to look at the radio to make sure I get the right knob so that's saying something! (Note that I do not listen to it with headphones while driving in the car, I know that's dangers and illegal in most states.)
-
Oh, and speaking of iPods, please click the link in my signature
... :-)
Take him up on it or even use mine. Find a conga line to help you get your referrals. That's where my iPod came from, amazing to get a free nearly $300 device.I've had scroll wheel mice since the very first one Microsoft introduced. None of them got stuck. You need to spend a few more $$$ on your mice. That or maybe put a slipcover over your mouse when engaging in your more messy pursuits.
Apple has probably gone to Synaptics for every touchpad they've put in their laptops. I'll bet Apple didn't even think twice about going to them for the scrollwheel, it was a natural choice.
Eliot Van Buskirk writes his MP3 Insider column semi-regularly for C|Net. It's pretty decent. He doesn't scoop anyone, but he's smart. I didn't know he used the MP3 Insider name elsewhere.
He also forgot to set up mail forwarding. I just moved into a new apartment, and I keep getting mail for an Eliot Van Buskirk. I wonder if it's the same guy...
There are no trails. There are no trees out here.
That's not a clickwheel, it's a thumbwheel. Sony actually has a patent on clicking thumbwheels in Japan. But anyway, the problem with thumbwheels is the same as mouse wheels, you have to "pedal" the thing to go through long lists. That is, you have to remove your thumb from the wheel when you've scroll all the way one direction, then put your thumb back on at the other end and scroll again.
It works, but in very long lists it is noticeably inferior to a circular wheel you can stay on. Try scrolling through your list of all songs on your Rio. It doesn't work well, and this is proably why the Rio has you select the first letter of the song first and then go to the list (at least the Karma does).
It would explain the wierd (and beautiful) shapes on the pad. The capacitance measured gradually increases on each pad as your finger is above more of the pads surface area. Radial baoundaries between the pads would give pretty sharp cut offs, and constant values whilst within an individual pad. The pointy pattern makes the transition more gradual and smooth.
I love the ipod, but hate the scroll wheel. I use my ipod in my car frequently. sometimes scrolling through that thing is worse then driving and talking on a cell phone. i look down, i'm one 'click' above the artist/song that i want, look at road, look down, scroll ever so slightly, end up one notch past what i want, look at road, look down, scroll ever so slightly, one notch past again, and so on.
the new click wheel looks a lot nicer and would probably solve that problem, but i have the old one.
The circular pictured to the right of the first-gen iPod is incorrect. That is clearly a picture of a touch-sensitive device, which the first-gen iPod doesn't have.
The first gen iPod uses an optical encoder to track the movement of the scroll-wheel in much the same way a mouse works (non-optical mouse).
The article implies that proportional motion--you move your finger more quickly, the pointer or scrollpoint moves further--is somehow unique to Synaptics, or is a product of their "knack for navigation."
Uh, yeah, and there's no acceleration setting in X Windows?
The scrollwheel is made out of PEOPLE! PEEEOPPPLEEEEEE!!!
See subject.
No, if you want to get technical, it isn't theft. It's when you're appealing to the general idea of what "theft" is that it seems like theft.
Mayhaps you could do everyone a favor, Taco, and just redirect the slashdot domains to BoingBoing, and save us having to check two different feeds every hour. :P
Three of the top eight stories are from BoingBoing this AM. Geep. I'm all for wider dissemination of information, but come on...
What does it mean to wake out of a dream
and be wearing someone else's shorts?
BNL, Born on a Pirate Ship (1998)
It's such a step forward in UI I expect to see it other places soon. the move to put the play/fwd/etc buttons on the wheel just adds to the functionality. I think it would work very well on cellphones, or pdas. it's a brilliant design.
CP#$B
free ipod and free gmail!
Technically it's not plagiarism, but quoting. And that is legal, if you keep it to a short blurlb and not the whole text. What would be nice is a short notice like "From the article:" or something.
The true story behind the the Ipod's headphone jack.
Little things mean a lot sometimes. Try using a Sony vertical-design mini-DV camcorder sometime, and see how you like the rocker-switch zoom.
"Fundamentalism" isn't about divine morality. It's about human authority.
No techinically it is theft. You get music you are supposed to pay for without paying. How is that not theft?
I'm pretty sure that what people class as "1st Generation iPod" actually covers two differently-designed scrollwheels, assuming by 1st Gen iPod we're referring here to the ones with the buttons placed round the scrollwheel.
It may well be that the very first 1st Gen iPods used an optical encoder. However, my late-1st Gen iPod (first of the 20Mb models) definitely has some form of touchpad, as the touch ring does not move.
When scrolling with my third-generation iPod, it won't move for a good distance, and then suddenly it scrolls by two, and then normally to the third and fourth items. Anyone else have this problem?
They had a touch sensitive face, and predate the Ipod a bit..
Not quite the same thing, but similar capacitive detection technology.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Apple is a marketing company. They just
package and sell other people's work.
And they are a good one at that. Look how fanatical their customer base is. Apple marketing has got them so figured out that they think Apple actually invents this stuff.
They think Apple invented the GUI, 64 bit computing, Unix and portable digital music.
And they mod like maniacs.
Electronics Design Chain
I'll have you know, Apple invented the power switch, the fastest PC, the GUI, Unix, the internet and downloadable music.
Before the Apple powerswitch, people had to poll their machines to see if it was on or off.
... Apple will have to send its elite lawyer hit squad to break your kneecaps. That's a patented clickwheel, you know.
Lets all just do the enormously satisfying deed of pissing off the politically correct crowd, and call it clitoris, as it was meant to be called.
;-)
And before you ask "WTF", let me explain.
Over here, the word for "mouse" is also a slang word for pussy. So what do you call the slightly protruding feature that you twiddle with you finger?
About as much info about the design as I used to get taking apart crap as a kid. Doesn't talk about the core technology of the interface; just looks at it from the ignorant fanboy perspective. Yeah, it's early and I'm ornery...
Free scroll wheel: it works! :)
Seriously, I choose iPod because of the software (iTunes and the firmware), the coolness and form factor. I don't care really about the input device... most of time the damn thing is playing and I'm not using the wheel!!!
They think Apple invented the GUI, 64 bit computing, Unix and portable digital music.
While I understand your need to troll, sir - I'd like to point you to two famous inventors: Thomas Newcomen and James Watt. The latter is much more famous, as he is often identified (incorrectly) as the inventor of steam engine. In fact, the first practical steam engine was built by Newcomen, but it was Watt who has improved it to the point of triggering industrial revolution. I think Apple is a bit like James Watt in history of personal computing. They didn't invent GUI, but they improved it to the point of triggering revolution in UI concepts. They didn't invent UNIX, but they improved it to the point that even Joe Sixpack can use. They didn't invent portable digital music, but they improved it to trigger a revolution in how we purchase and listen to our music.
Actually, it is now trivial to unlock an iPod by dragging a BIC around the touch wheel... you just have to jiggle it in the right way for a while, and pop, it comes unlocked.
Ut Tensio, Sic Vis
The scroll wheel is a clever big of engineering alright, and it's a good way to quickly navigate medium sized lists -- maybe three or four screenfuls of choices.
... would be quicker and easier than ...
However, the iPod UI designers seemed to take this as an excuse to present you with enormous lists to scroll through with the wheel. My MP3 collection is modest by the standards of most iPod owners (I've not filled 20GB yet) -- but "browse by artist" gives me a list of 209. Scrolling to somewhere near the beginning is OK. Scrolling to somewhere near the end is OK (because you can scroll right to the end, then back). Scrolling to somewhere around the middle of the alphabet is a real pain.
All they needed to do was make it heirarchical --
"Artists -> (easy scroll) -> S -> (easy scroll) -> Smiths"
"Artists -> (difficult scroll) -> Smiths
It is the "xset m A/B C" setting. In this post you can see there is even a better method... just not documented (how rare... programs lacking documentation...). If you mean about the synaptics touchpads, you need special software.
There's one factual error in the article. Synaptics didn't design or manufacture the mechanical scroll wheel on the gen1 iPods.
A company that has a wheel for navagating quickly through data which takes up more than a screen on the iPod should really get their heads around mice with scrollwheels..
I can't stand browsing the net without a wheel mouse.. I know macs can use other mice, but apple not grasping this seems a bit silly..
I wonder if I am the only one who, holding his 2G iPod in one and and browsing Slashdot and actually RTFA, tut-tutted and felt the need to post a correction to the glaring error in this article. Clearly our correspondent is not as au fait with the iPod as he might appear to be...
...and we have the crux of the issue. As those few (or not so few) early adopters will tell you, proud as they are with their 10 and 20Gb bricks, the 2G iPod has proper buttons with finger feedback, because the only difference between the 1G and 2G iPods is that whilst the former's wheel moved, the latter's was touch sensitive. The buttons stayed the same. It was not until the 3G iPod that the touch-sensitive buttons were introduced, erroneously in my opinion (for the same reason cited in the article - that they give no tactile feedback).
Quoth the article:
"As you can see in the image to the right, the scrollwheels from the second- and third-generation iPods keep that radical-looking design, and you can see where the four touch-sensitive buttons line the area between the scrollwheel and the screen."
This in itself is not incriminating, but does betray a certain fault in the author's knowledge - it implies that the second generation iPod has touch-sensitive buttons. Further down the article...
"To me, this was a huge design improvement, because the 2G/3G iPods' touch-sensitive playback controls didn't offer any feedback to the finger."
Anyway, just thought that that little nugget ought to be noted for the record.
iqu =)
Bang and Olufsen used the exact same wheel on one of their telephones several years before Apple. While Synaptics might make the technology, and would have had to re-engineer aspects to suit Apple, the design itself is pre-Apple in almost every way. This would be like saying that Apple invented the mouse--they just poularized it.
A wheel and central click button implementation that is _exactly_ like the 1st gen iPod appeared in 1998 on the Beocom 6000 Bang and Olufsen system.b eocom.htm
http://www.danchan.com/feature/2001/02/25/beocom/
The user interface is the same: scroll through options or through the system's phone directory by rotating the wheel. Enter your choices by clicking the center button.
All four volume settings are also controlled via the wheel: ringer volume, phone speaker volume, stereo volume, and tv volume.
The next pasture is always greener
Well, actually, Synaptics pitched the idea to Apple first. It took Apple a year or so to come back and "narrowly specify" the design they ended up with.
I'm still acutely without iPod, but a friend let me take hers to the gym recently. I now consider the coolest feature being able to use the scroll wheel through fabric. I'm sure it wouldn't work with denim, but through typical cotton gym shorts, I could just reach down and draw circles on my thigh. Totally surreal. Between that and some fleshtone headphones, I could further reduce unnecessary interaction with humanity by a factor of 10!
Quantum materiae materietur marmota monax si marmota monax materiam possit materiari?
No, technically it's quoting without the quotation marks or attribution. Really, that's plagiarism.
The problem is on slashdot's summaries you can't tell when they are quoting the person that submitted the article, and when that person is quoting the article directly. This is ambiguous:
Is Grump saying what is in the quotes, or is the article "saying" what is in the quotes? Either way, the author was not attributed.
Ironically, the word ironically is often used incorrectly.
Their design team came up with a great concept, found people who could put it together relatively inexpensively (and in an extraordinarily quick amount of time). They have managed this project superbly. Everybody else (both in the MP3 player market and in computer field in general) had access to all of the elements that Apple did. None of them came close to putting together anyting remotely as functional, stylish, easy (and they still haven't)
1) Can't be arsed to copy my CD collection(500+) onto my PC just to copy it onto something else.
2) Is downloading by firewire as quick as taking a CD out of my CD walkman and putting another one in? Thought not.
3) Maybe if they did the big ones in something other than white.
4) With those headphones that sit round the base of your neck as opposed to those ear buds.
5) Finally, lets face it, the i-pod is so last year.
I recently played with an iPod Mini. It was new, so it had little music in it. I did not even plug in the headphones.
The UI for music is incredible. It is easy to build lists of favorites and such. Then I tried the games. That UI needs work. You play several of the games by moving the paddle side-to-side. It took some time to learn how to be accurate with a paddle that increased speed the longer it was moving. But the worst is the game exits the moment your finger leaves and returns to the pad. It is difficult to keep your finger connected to the circular control for tens of minutes without slipping off or relaxing the pressure. The moment you slip, game over, not because you lost but because the UI commands were designed poorly.
I realize that the games are just there because every small electonic device must have games. No one says "I've got to get an iPod Mini for the cool games." But if you are going to have a function, have someone test it. Making the "quit game" UI a double-click would have made it so much more usable. (Or does MS own the patent on double-clicks now?)
I spend my life entertaining my brain.
I'm wondering if there isn't a secret behind other things too, like my TV's remote control. It works alright, but it's tough to push the little buttons on the TV with it sometimes.
That's a pretty good idea, it's a lot easier than my technique of trying to throw the thing with enough accuracy to hit the TV buttons from the couch.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
> You get music you are supposed to pay for without paying. How is that not theft?
You did not take anything and did not deprive the owner of anything, so technically it is not theft.
Technically it is infringement of the owners rights.
"Technically it is infringement of the owners rights."
If ignorance is bliss you must be one of the happiest men in the world.
Do you really believe your own rubbish when you ratoinalize the theft of all the movies and music you download.
Zealot.
You need to learn to spell. And some grammar wouldn't hurt either. "I think faster THEN I type", I doubt it.
Pic
Now if only there were a Linux driver supporting the wheel...
I own an iPod, and enjoy it muchly, but sometimes the scroll wheel actually annoys me. It makes it much more difficult to go one item down in the menu. Sometimes I wish there was up/down buttons in addition, but then Apple tells me I shouldn't think this way, so I don't.
jack's bicycle is music to my ears
The touchring wasn't in the first gen iPod- it probably wasn't even a Synaptics device since they only seem to make capacitive devices and only later seemed to expand into other features such as pointing sticks, fingerprint sensors, LCDs, and eventually a wheel (though more like a mouse-style) all used in conjunction with a touchpad.
The first gen was a simple optomechanical wheel complete with a nice large cartridge bearing for a nice feel and big enough to have the center button go through it.
Only in the second gen did it become a touchring.
Third gen was the touchring with the capacitive buttons above the touchring (and the one in the middle of the touchring)
Fourth gen and mini were the touchring with the tact switches in the middle of and under it.
Point taken. However, I think the article is an interesting look at the evolution of the industrial design, and the actual internals of the iPod, much like an article describing the hard drive evolution in Apple desktops might be interesting.
I wish I could write clever and witty sigs.
I read the article and found it to be nothing more than a fluff piece. It contained very little about the internals of the ipod nor hardware design.
There is more indepth information on Synaptics' web site than in this article.
I'm sure I'll get modded even further off topic for this.
This sig has no nutritional value...
The reason why I say this is not because I want to troll but because I recently found out that all Synaptics notebook touchpads have ability to make their scrolling option to work in a circular fashion. Linux version (X server's) of the touchpad driver allows for this functionality via GUI configurator. It behaves almost identically as the iPod's circular scroll wheel and in that way makes me wonder who really made the first circular scroll wheel and furthermore is it Synaptics or Apple that is unlawfully using other company's patent, or even more interestingly that the Apple's patent does not restrict other companies from using it in the context of a touchpad?
I guess the fact that a simple question about whether the iPod scroll wheel actually works more efficiently than other controllers got moderated down shows us once again: Apple's user base just isn't interested in facts, they just like to believe that Apple does everything better. Great going, guys.
Anyone remember when they called scroll wheels and clicks wheels, "jog" wheels :-)?
the source is cited.
jeez.
Jog dials are the ones on VCR's and the like that only turn up to a 1/4 turn in either direction to control the fast forward and rewind and then snap back into place.
Perhaps I am wrong, but in my world i never think of a jog wheel spinning all the way around, just back and forth. So I would have to say, "No, I do not remember when they called scroll wheels, jog wheels."
Try operating a laptop touchpad or an iPod with wet fingers!
The scroll wheel is strongly reminiscent of the
Spinning Alphabet Wheel, say what?
-I like my women like I like my tea: green-
I find the 4G's clickwheel too sensitive for rating songs. Unless I'm rating songs at 5 stars or no stars, its really tedious to try to get it "just so" on 1, 2, 3 or 4 stars. I've read this complaint on a number of forums as well, so I know its not just my iPod.
I got an iSkin EVO2 and I've found it is easier to rate songs while resting part of my finger on the iSkin. Even still, its not perfect. So I think Apple should take this suggestion on how to rate songs and roll it out in the next software update:
1 rotation on the wheel per star. 1 rotation clockwise=add 1 star, 1 rotation counterclickwise=remove 1 star. Simple, precise and can be as fast or slow as the user wants it to be. Everything else seems to be perfect sensitivty for the clickwheel though!
What do y'all think? Is this superior to the current method?
...unfortunately no one can be told what The Mat^H^H^HGoatse is...they must experience it for themselves...
From the Slashdot FAQ at http://slashdot.org/faq/com-mod.shtml:
What about comments copy-and-pasted from other sources?
If someone copies text from elsewhere and doesn't mention that it's copied or name the source, it's plagiarism. Moderate it Redundant, or feel free to alert moderators by posting a link (perhaps anonymously).
Answered by: Jamie
Last Modified: 1/17/03
---
The reference needs to be in plain view for it to count. Is it a huge deal? No. It suggests that the poster (not submitter) doesn't read the story to make sure it's something even worth posting, and that the submitter has no issue attaching his name to the content.
The quality of the summary is irrelevant. That's like saying that Puff Daddy/P. Diddy in his infinite lameness is allowed to sample because his songs suck.
you'd see that PortalPlayer's prototypes were kludgy, ugly starting points. They had parts of the hardware down, but it only would have sold to geeks. Apple brought in their reference design, redesigned the interface. Apple made the whole package work and work so damn well.
The Rio Karma organises its lists of all the artists, albums and tracks on the device in just the way you describe. Better, because while selecting an initial letter you can see the first six or so artists/etc starting with that letter.
Pretend that something especially witty is here. Thanks.
I did that at work with my 4G ipod. Only the ipod was in my shirt pocket and I got a weird look from a co-worker every time I changed the volume.
RTFA. Synaptics made the touch wheel on the iPod.
what's the difference between the ipod scroll wheel and the clickable one on my mouse? or the clickable one on my ancient diamond Rio500?
just using newer more expensive technology where existing technology would to the exact same job?
...I got nothing.
I like how they organise alphabetically, aside from words like "The", but they also ignore other mostly prefixes like "Le" and such :)
Another lock-step RIAA idiodrone.
"Theft" means exactly that: you taking something from someone without permission. Sharing music is duplicating software (basically, it's a digital document useless without hardware to access it) with permission of the sharer. The sharer still has his music; nothing has been stolen. A duplicate has been created. "Theft" don't enter into it, unless you're the RIAA and are trying to make people hate file sharing.
It's not a lie. It's the truth with lossy compression.
In 1982 I worked for a company called "Touch Technology" in Annapolis MD. Our main stock in trade was keosk touch screen devices. The owner, one E. Garry Barrett, had figured out that the current state of the art technology in capacitive touch screens could be rendered static-shock proof by simply routing a big (8 gage?) copper wire to the gap between the monitor and the touch-screen over-glass.
If you used the Nemian Marcus(sp?) bridal registry keosks in the eighties you used our product.
But his true passion was his invention of "the Touch Mouse". He had the idea, and was using the above keosk business to fund research, for a bus-mouse device that was a tiny touch screen with buttons and several modes of opration.
We had a prototype (the 8051 tended to hang after about 2 minutes so, according to a lawyer, we didn't have enough to get a patent) and manufacturing dies and such.
But then one day Gary decided we needed more funding. We did, in fact, need that funding. The Vulture Capitalists gave us that funding, and then within six months raided the company and disolved it.
If he is still alive, I am sure that E. Gary Barrett cannot walk into any store selling laptops without wanting to cut his own throat. Those touch-pads, in the absence of some foolishly short-sighted Vulture Capitalists, would each be paying him hommage in green folding applause.
The lessons:
1) Most technology exists long before you see it.
2) Never trust venture capal.
Innocent people shouldn't be forced to pay for inferior software development.
--"Code Complete" Microsoft Press
The optical sensor that Microsoft's (and others') optical mice use, is made by Agilent. Gary Gordon, who works at Agilent, invented the optical mouse. Microsoft just happens to license the technology.
My other dog is a Wienerschnitzel.
The point is that Apple got a patent on this, yet Synaptics ships its touchpads with this functionality. This either implies that Synaptics has reserved the right to continue to make its own versions of the circular scroll wheel despite the Apple's patent, or that they are doing so unlawfully. Otherwise, we should see a mp3 player soon with a Synaptics touchpad which behaves in exactly the same fashion as iPod without breaking Apple's patent...
I mean, I specifically stayed away form the iPod because I can't stand the damn thing. I test drove one for a few hours, and it certianly did *not* grow on me. It took forever and a day to scroll from the top to the bottom of a large list, during which I had to keep rotataing my thumb, over and over and over.... I can see myself getting RSI in mere days from this monstrosity.
Meanwhile, in my MP3 player with a nice side-mounted jog-wheel, I ccan simply *hold* the button down and boom, it scrolls away.
Really, I think the iPod wheel could have been better designed. It would make much more sense if you could drag your thumb around half way, and *hold* it there, to continue the scrolling. To stop scrolling you could simply move your thumb back to the 0 degree point, or around thereof.
Ah well. I don't own, nor ever have touched an iPod, so I didn't even know about the scrollwheel. And live life on the edge! Get modded off topic!
I wish I could write clever and witty sigs.
Judging by all of the people I've seen with iPods around here, the thing iPod users like the most is probably the fact that those sissy white headphones help them identify each other, and thenceforth find some place to stick their lil' weenies into each others' bum-holes.
If you're offended, you're probably one of 'em, so go ahead and mod me down.
I have the 4th Gen iPod and *no* I don't like my wheelmouse-click, that is the most annoying thing in my iPod, it broke after 3 days with just a few drop of water on it and I'm struggling to get it repair from Apple right now, no refund, Final sales, if I call back for tech support Apple will charge me money and Apple doesn't ship me the return box (their India's tech support didn't know where Montreal was and I bet they didn't understood properly my address). Worst tech experience ever :(
I owned the 1th Gen iPod with just a regular wheelmouse-no-click and it was much more responsive (and no I don't have fat fingers lol) and lasted 21 months even if I drop water on it. I really like that one.
I don't mean to flamebait Apple, but, please, small buttons has been used for years and has been working just fine even with water!
1) You lazy douche. I've got 300 CDs, and I ripped my entire collection in about a week and a half. I did it for about two hours per night-- by which I mean I did other stuff on the computer and/or watched TV the entire time, and just popped the next CD in when the computer spit out the one it had just finished.
2) Downloading your entire collection by FireWire certainly is quicker, because you only have to do it once. Copying a single, newly-ripped CD to the iPod takes about the same time it would take you to put a CD into your CD Walkman.
Also, is carrying around your entire music collection in your shirt pocket or the glove box of your car possible with CDs? Thought not.
3) You can get them in other colors if you really want to.
4) So buy whatever headphones you prefer, the wired remote will accept a generic 1/8" stereo minijack.
5) Whatever, dude. Somewhere between one and two million people who bought iPods so far this year disagree with you.
You have put your finger right on (huh huh) my only issue with my 4G iPod.
I'd say 1/4 rotation per star, but regardless: It's FAR too sensitive right now. Scrolling through text lists is a breeze, but the stars are hypersensitive.
Why yes, I AM a rocket scientist!
Some people lock their rotary diallers , so that the phone function only for incoming (some lock their phones when they leave office)...
.. but it takes a bit of practice and works only for the Strowger (IIRC) pulse exchanges.
... (and we liked it !).
The clicker is a nice way to deal with this
We had an analog exchange till '99 , but it used to drop my dialup every 3 minutes
Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum videtur
And when you are doing a browse by artist with any modest sized collection (300+ artists), even if you move your finger around the dial so fast your thumb burns it still takes 5+ seconds to go from top to bottom.
Their list-based interface is simply unacceptable for large amounts of data. I mean, even if there was a way to hold something down so you could scroll by *page* instead of item by item, that would probably make it work.
The next thing is http://www.immersion.com , "touchsense"...
No need to be genius or spying Apple for it.
There is a reason for that. A broken phone/socket/cable can easily dial 112 with two single circuit interrupts (there can be many seconds between them) followed by another two interrupts close to each other (closer than 0.2s). This is uncommon but not impossible. Also, that is the reason why the number is not 111 in the first place (which would be easier to remember and faster to dial) becuase any three single interrupts of the loop would dial it. From the switch point of view dialing 111 is indistinguishable from a socket losing contact because none of the iterrupts have to be close to each other which is not the case with any other number. On the other hand, numbers like 999, 997 or 961 are almost impossible to result from random interrupts.
Sincerely,
Pan Tarhei Hosé, PhD.
"Homo sum et cogito ergo odi profanum vulgus et libido."
heh.
quit fighting, boys, and eat your vegetables.