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How the iPod Touch Works
starexplorer2001 writes "The iPod Touch isn't in stores yet, but HowStuffWorks has a nice summary of how the 'touch' part of the iPod Touch works. Very similar to how the iPhone works, without those pesky rebates! From the article: 'The iPod touch also has a few other features that iPod enthusiasts had hoped to see on standard iPod models. Some users hoped for a wirelessly enabled iPod so they could synch their music or share files with friends over a Bluetooth or WiFi connection. The iPod touch is the first iPod to have wireless capability, although it doesn't use it to synch with a computer or friends' iPods. Instead, you can use it to browse the Web, watch YouTube videos or download music from a WiFi-specific iTunes Music Store. With its widescreen display and WiFi capability, the iPod touch might sound like a big step up from older iPod models. But the iPod touch isn't for everyone.'"
They finally listened to his comments! Now with wireless and *more* space than a Nomad.
Want to improve your Karma? Instead of "Post Anonymously", try the "Post Humously" option.
Anyone taken one apart and verified if there is bluetooth hardware in it?
Stereo bluetoth headphone support is long overdue for ipods. If hte hardware is there software coudl be round the corner?
Well, according to appleinsider at least: http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/07/09/13/ipod_touch_unpacking_tour_and_first_look_photos.html
Well, it has never been successfully tested.
it works by touching it...duh
My iPenis turns on by touch also.
One of the great features of the clicky wheel is that you can grab your ipod in your pocket and adjust the volume or skip tracks easily without looking at the device. On a multi-touch interface you're going to have to look at the screen to know what you are touching, which will make it a lot harder to use in your pocket or while driving.
The part of this article that I found most interesting is that you need to use your skin for the touch screen to work - that kinda rules out any sort of future handwriting recognition.
I guess I just really want Apple to give me a real PDA - an iNewton - instead of an iPod that looks kinda like a PDA.
Warning: Apple/Nintendo fangirl. Likes her electronics cute & cuddly. May be rabid.
There are reports of the iPod touch being in stores already.
$400 for 16 gigabytes of storage is simply not good enough for a lot of people with large music libraries who like to have 30-40 albums to listen to on command.
I like to watch video on these portable players (I have a Cowon A2 myself), so there's also seasons of anime or whatever to take up 4-8 gigs each.
In a year or so, when these things will hold 64 Gigs of flash memory, they will be great purchases for someone like myself. Until then, they're not even an option. And that's the single biggest "improvement" I'm looking forward to in future iPods. (Though I'll probably just grab a Q5 when it's available.)
But hey gotta start somewhere.
I like basketball!!1!
Just as the iPhone's "exclusive" with AT&T was only a speed bump to those who wanted to use it on any network so too will the iTouch's inability to share music wirelessly with friends only exist for a short time.
I expect there to be multiple hacks for sharing music wirelessly with friends within a month after it hits stores. And to be honest I'm starting to expect this kind of wink-wink nudge-nudge release from Apple. They can't release a product the way consumers want it so they get the recording industry/telecom industy to agree to "rules" that just make their devices likely targets of benign hacking.
Now, I KNOW what my account name is but you HAVE to admit that Apple's use of the greater software community pwns Microsoft who regularly attracts NEGATIVE hacking.
And just to prove what a fanboy I am: This is the first device since the Newton that I'm wetting my pants over.
I'm just going to wait a week, till someone hacks it to do 802.11G and bluetooth headsets.
THEN it'll be the product we've all been waiting for!
I hear Apple has a prototype that does just that, but in true Apple fashion, it's wire-wrapped by hand, weighs 47lbs, and for some reason there's a Sony rep hidden in the closet...
If I knew the wedgies I gave you back in 6th grade would have resulted in this . . . I might have taken a moments pause.
So what you're saying is due to the wireless limitations, this thing is *defective by design*.
Way to go, Apple.
To me the iTouch is a waste of money...I suppose it could make a PDA, but really you can get better PDA's for less money...they just don't have the storage space that makes up the whole purpose of buying an iPod in the first place.
But what do I know, I use a Rio Karma...
Living With a Nerd
Wonderful to know how it works. But will it blend?
A casual stroll through the lunatic asylum shows that faith does not prove anything. - Neitzsche
That's right... if you have to look at the price, you obviously should have one. Apple is only for the sexy people. And by sexy, we mean wealthy. And by people, we mean label whores.
Infinite time means everything that can happen, will. You being you is absolutely incidental. You do not exist.
Wireless sync is all I care about. That would make my life much easier. I've got a 40GB 3rd gen and I really like it, but I don't have a lot of reason to move up. I probably buy the either the 16GB touch or the 80GB classic. Not sue which. But I would have bought one of those two very fast.
As it is, the only compelling reason for me to upgrade is the video ability. The surfing on the Touch seems neat, but it isn't enough for me. I am not using the video now. TiVo announced that they will bring TiVoToGo to the Series 3 this November, and if that works for me (I'm on a Mac, so you never know) then I may get one.
My current iPod is functional as I need.
Like I said, wireless sync would do it. So would open development on the touch (I'd love to play with that). They are quite nice, and if I had more of a need for a new iPod I'd grab one of those models. But I replaced the battery in my iPod last year so other than a few little scratches from 4+ years of use, it's as good as new.
Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
As a long time Apple fanboy, I'll invoke the don't buy the rev a rule on the iPod Touch. To an extent, the Touch is what I wanted when I saw the iPhone. Unfortunately, the storage space isn't big enough for my music collection. I'd like to have at least 32GB of storage available before I think about buying one.
Brought to you by Team SPAM! where we believe: "Information in the noise!"
Sounds like this would be a pretty short article: "Exactly the same way the iPhone does, but without the phone."
Excellent opening statement. It stimulates Desire, which we all know is the precursor to in the marketing "AIDA" scheme. (And when you release the product, just submit another article.)
Great introduction of the features, especially the "big step up" part. And you've even given your target audience a reason to click into the submitted link too. (You've suggested there are people this product may not be perfect for, not that anyone reading this on Slashdot would fall into that "un-hip" category.)
Fellow Slashvertisers take note - this format can be applied to your next submission too!
My itunes library is around 45GB, thats 22 days 14 hours in playtime.
The best MP3 players in the world can barely manage 30 hours of playback. Anyone thats says they "need" to carry around 100GB of music is talking utter crap.
I'm willing to bet that most people with more than 30GB haven't listened to every song they own. I know I haven't I probably have about 15 or so albums i've never listened to (and im not proud of it) and I know a lot of my friends are similar... but its SO IMPORTANT to carry them around with me at all times.
To be honest I think it's more of an ego thing for people like the parent poster, they need to have as much music as possible with them at all times. These type of people download the entire discography of the doors (about 30 albums) just to say they have it, not because they love the doors..
http://www.apple.com/iphone/storecredit/
That's a very pesky "rebate" which I received within 5 minutes of clicking the link.
Not 6-8 weeks if I'm lucky.
Let's pause for a moment to inject a dose of engineering reality.
1. We're talking about a low-power device with very limited programming capacity. That's different from the storage capacity.
2. How, in technical terms will files be shared?
Let's say a hacker can use the wireless+dhcp client. Then what? A bonjour client perhaps? Maybe, but bonjour just advertises services. So, put an ftp server behind that maybe? Great! The hacker will need, Bonjour libraries and all the underlying dependencies, an ftp server and an ftp client and enough cpu/memory to run it all. It reminds me of a line from the remade Oceans 11, "Let's say you rob Terry Benedict's casino. You're still in the middle of the f*cking desert!"
Got Trader Joe's? friendwich.com RSS feeds work now!
Can you use it as an e-book reader?
or at least store html-pages on it?
They disabled appointment entry for the calendar widget. That's really too bad, since I was hoping that this device could be the convergence of my Palm T|X and my iPod. Does anyone know if they crippled any other features of the iPhone? I would have bought one if it truly was an iPhone minus the phone. (I refuse to give AT&T $1500 on top of the not-even-subsidized cost of the iPhone.)
I guess the other thing I'm waiting for is an API for programmers. I like to store my passwords and PINs using encryption on my device. (1) Storing them on someone's server using their Safari-based web app won't work, and (2) Hacks people are using to write native apps aren't sanctioned and may stop working in the future. Sigh... C'mon Apple, open it up!
Wireless. More space than a Nomad. !Lame.
it's pretty. moving on.. the addition of flash memory is the greatest thing that the touch has going for it. but why so small? would it really cost that much more to produce a 20/40 gig version of this? flash memory has come down in price exponentially in the past 2 years, most of the chain electronics retailers sell flash drives for around $10/gig, as opposed to almost $150 for a 1 gig drive a few years ago. sure apple has to make a profit, and i'm certain they pay less than $10/gig for flash memory. more goes onto an ipod these days than just un-converted MP3 files, the space is the real luxury behind these little white boxes. maybe a now "classic ipod" could be released as a 40/80 gig flash, instead of the "classic" hard drive enclosure that it is.
oh marmalade.
So I was browsing on the latest touch ipod news this am and I noticed this post when reading about the diagnostic menu that some ipods are coming with...
"
HINT: The Cereal box is the key to returning it back to the main OS X. Hidden submenu, requiring a certain touches on the screen.
Apple said this on September 14th, 2007 at 2:02 pm
"
the word apple is a link to apple.com
I wonder if they are that on the news about their products or is this just someone having fun?
Should be called the iPod Stroke.
Your god may be dead, but mine aren't!
Look, no one is saying that this is a self-esteem issue or that all apples customers are unable to express themselves without getting their credit-cards out, but sometimes you have to wonder eh!
So, given how vocal this minority are, there has to be more to this than meets the eye; indeed there is a definite psychological pay-off for certain groups - they like to isolate themselves and make a real mission out of their lifestyle choice. In what seems like a heartless world they need something to believe in, to fight for, and if they lose sight of the fact that at the core of their cause is a bunch of overpriced plastic tat then thats exactly what it takes, thats why they are apple fans.
Interestingly, and Jobs knows this, the more they're asked to pay, the more they feel they're getting out of it. If you're expected to buy a new Ipod every year then thats what it takes, its worth it to be part of the apple elite.
Now, with the open source movement you can see a political dimension, and the way its growing in size and what it can offer is undeniable. When you consider the potential that GNU/Linux might have in the future, its not surprising that its advocates are quietly confident and not quite so evangelical, in that rather creepy and spooky Apple way.
Of course the big question is why it is that a site like slashdot even bothers with apple stories. what relevance is a bunch of over-marketed and underpowered toys to nerds?
why should news of a company that makes fisher-price computers and shitty little widgets matter?
I wish someone would touch myPod.
I keep calling my Shuffle the "iPod Tangle" because every time I dig it out of a pocket I have to spend 30 seconds untangling the wires.
Never mind the many times some part nearly got ripped/broken off because the wire got caught on something.
Can we get a "-1 Wrong" moderation option?
I'm not the OP, and he probably _IS_ trolling, but that doesn't mean he's not right!
that some people really like [insert interest]. I run a website and an internet radio station. I have an emusic account I've had since they were ala carte which alone lets me scavenge then download 90 new tracks a month. I spend hours tracking new artists. Following favorite labels. Checking Bleep or FineTunes or Inertia for music. I don't have any Doors albums or any classics for that matter. I use the net to discover new music and I use podcasting and my program to share it.
So I tend to agree. And ya, it's nice to have your whole music collection because you don't always know exactly which 8GB chunk you'll want to listen to (which at a decent bitrate isn't really that much). But it works for some people.
Quack, quack.
"But the iPod touch isn't for everyone."
NO FUCKING SHIT. Nothing is for everyone. This is such a lame, overused statement. It's just the reviewer trying to sound insightful. There is no system on Earth that is better in every way than whatever it's replacing. I have an iPhone and it's pretty neat but there are many times I miss having physical buttons. Hell, you've got to be looking at it while you slide your finger on it just to answer a damn call. It would be cool if, in addition to the ability to press the power button to silence/decline a call, you could press a volume button once to answer it.
More than that, it's even hard just to figure out which way is up when you first grab it. Even looking at it, I'm used to phones with a slot for the mic and/or a circle where your ear goes--exactly the opposite of the iPhone. As for the iPod functions, I use my iPod in the car all the time and I'd hate to have to look at it every time I wanted to skip a track or two. I've still got it. No sense mentioning that my collection is too big to fit on a 4, 8, or 16 GB model. In fact, that was part of the reason I bought my iPod when I did--it would have been worthless to me if I couldn't have my whole collection with me at all times.
Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
That it can access you music via Wi-Fi, right?
It doesn't help if you are out of any wi-fi connections, but for most people this will be fine.
Basically you can say, I don't want these songs, replace it with these.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
yeah it needed a battery replacement along the way, but it still looks great, the comparatively giant scroll wheel feels more comfortable and honestly the one and only thing I would change about it is that (unlike my 5th gen) it forgets where it was in the list of shuffled songs if you turn it off.
I've had the opportunity to watch movieson the go, ogle album art, etc. with my 5th gen but the only thing I consistently want to do with these darn things is listen to music and the 2nd gen is very, very good at that along with being faster at filling from the Mac Mini that the 5th gen.
because my boner kept knocking it out of my hand.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
"We're talking about a low-power device with very limited programming capacity"
We're talking about a device with (based on the iPhone's specs) 128MB RAM, UNIX, 8-16 gigabytes of mass storage, and a 600 MHz ARM processor. It may be a little less than that, but not much... one of the most CPU intensive apps on the iPhone is Safari, and that's on the iPod Touch as well.
I've run a popular web server with three 1000 member mailing lists, one of which was high volume for the time, plus two MUDs... all on a 486/50 with 5MB of RAM and 110MB hard disk. That's less CPU power, disk, and probably RAM than the original iPod, and not much more than my five year old Clie SJ22. Heck 10 years ago Apple's top product was the Beige G3. That's a G3/233, 64M RAM, and I don't recall how big a hard disk but it wasn't measured in gigabytes... and people were running servers on that.
As for the software, I've written a web server as a 20 line shell script. You don't need Bonjour, or a real FTP server, or a compiler... HTTP right to the IP address of the iPod would work fine.
Hi There, There is one mistake in the article. The Ipod Touch IS available and out now. I was just at an Ipod store (same mall where I grab lunch) and they were already selling out quick. Lower storage version sold out almost right away. How much was there total in stock of that lower version? 5 units in total! For a store that prides itself on a 'hands on' experience, the store person swore that there was a demo model lying around somewhere, but could not even find it. Wonder if they are having supply chain problems, or don't care as long as the Apple Machine turns out in bulk by the Christmas season.
How long until there's an open source category for "open ipod" software on freshmeat and sourceforge?
Since this isn't a phone, Apple's not gonna have legal and contractual reasons to keep the iPod Touch locked. If they're smart they'll treat this like the Apple TV and offer at most a token defense to keep from getting "enhanced" ipod support calls.
Can it download podcasts for me?
I'll see your Constitution and raise you a Queen.
I've got a Cowon A2 also, and I'll second your thingy that says you need more space. I've got 30GB on the A2, and though I like to watch movies, I only keep 2 or 3 episodes of a show on there (about 200MB really) because the rest is filled up with my music. I own around 400 CDs and I want to have instant access to all of them, I really don't know what song will strike my fancy at any time.
And what makes owning 400 CDs actually worth it? Being able to listen to your own custom radio station by basically pointing the browser to the root directory and playing everything on shuffle. Otherwise who knows when I could get around to listening to my old CDs? This way I can turn it on random and hear a mix of new and old songs, without having to think "What were songs I really used to like listening to" and digging through my old albums to find each one. I may not even realize that some old songs may take on a new meaning and I'll like ones now that I didn't really used to linger on.
All that said, I would rather have a flash player as well because then I could be a little rougher with it and not have to worry. Something with no moving parts (touch screen even, so no buttons) would be perfect for carrying in your pocket and forgetting about it, but still being able to whip it out for a video should you be bored and have the chance to stare at something for a while.
Twinstiq, game news
How the iPod works is easy... 1. Create a recognizable branding. 2. Dedicate yourself to the production of pretty consumer electronics with nifty functionality. 3. Appeal to a small but fiercely loyal fan base. 4. Market the HELL out of said products. 5. Profit.
Eek!
...are a wonderful breakthrough in technology, with the exception of its mediocre 8GB storage capacity. Who's music collection is actually under 8 gigs? Not mine and probably not yours either. I am more interested in the 120GB "Classic" model because of the iTouch iPods limited storage capacity. It's not just innovations in interface design that are going to win me over. Anyone else agree?
As for that it is the thing shame which cannot understand English! But when you grasp of language you than grasp of actuality furthermore being thinner in it posts with Slashdot, not to lie, no one becomes aware! The egg which it inhales do!
(Courtesy of Babelfish double-Japanese translation, from this: It is a shame that you cannot understand the English language! But truly, when you post on Slashdot, no one will notice that your grasp of the language is even more tenuous than your grasp on reality! Go suck an egg!)
Seriously, please learn the language of the site before you try to post here.
+++ATH0
I too liked that comment. For example, the Touch isn't for me because I have its big brother, the iPhone. This is a good article, especially about how the screen works. Does anyone know of another device in the market that uses the same "clean" touch technology? The iPhone screen is just so accurate with respect to touch, its awesome. My 4yr old can us the touch gestures very well (with almost no training). Sammy / with iPhone
What's so important? What's so important??
That's like asking, "What's so important about WiFi? Can't you just put an Ethernet port on it and plug it into the wall?"
The one thing that drives me nuts more than anything else with my computer and my iPod is the wires. They get tangled every single day, and I truly do not know how. Either the headphones get knotted up in the computer bag overnight, or they snag on my shirt, or the power cord snags on my foot...
We're probably not going to get real wireless power in laptops any time soon, but Bluetooth headphones and stereo audio standards already exist. I had some from Logitech for a while, but I guess I have a bigger head than average, because they kept breaking in the back.
I would LOVE an iPod that has A2DP Bluetooth support. Not having to deal with the headphone cord every day would (once again) make my life much, much easier. If you don't want to use it, just turn it off, and it's not wasting any power at all.
Dan Aris
Fun. Free. Online. RPG. BattleMaster.
Linux? Oh, wait a minute...
Maybe lets hope Sony brings out a comparable device (if china CETC can do it) Sony can too, but with their SUPERIOR software/java/ INSTALL WHAT YOU WANT ability.
Why is it so many people make great capable hardware but with utter crap software/restrictions!!!
This isnt 1984. We have the cpu power and ram today.
Liberty freedom are no1, not dicks in suits.
The fact that I can't wirelessly stream my iPhone's music to my Airport Express (which leads into my stereo) is just incredibly stupid.