Slashdot Mirror
Obama's "ZuneGate"
theodp writes "Barack Obama supporters were left shaking their heads after a report surfaced that the president-elect was using a Zune at the gym instead of an iPod. So why would Mac-user Obama be Zune-ing out? Could be one of those special-edition preloaded Zunes that Microsoft bestowed on Democratic National Convention attendees, suggests TechFlash, nixing the idea that the soon-to-be Leader of the Free World would waste time loading Parallels or Boot Camp in OS X just to use a Zune."
Here in Germany I see more no-name mp3 players than ipod and zune COMBINED. What does it matter if he's an apple or windows guy? It's not linux, so why does it matter?
Obama is said to have been wearing Fruit of the Loom underwear instead of his usual Hanes...
WTF...*this* is news for nerds? I could care less what any politician uses to listen to his or her music.
I will seriously kill myself if he likes Star Wars better than Star Trek.
I record my sleeptalking
He is one of those f*** bastards who use the tool that best fits him (for example being free, if it is really a gift from microsoft) instead of "what he should use"!
(or better)
He is one of those f*** bastards who only want to listen mp3 ignoring how stylish is his player!!
Impeachment now!!
Maybe he cares more about the music he's listening to rather than the make/model of the player.
If I did n't have an mp3 player and got a zune for free, as long as it played my mp3s correctly I'd use it. Sometimes I wonder if Apple is a religion or just some company that makes tech products.
I can't believe that some people care more about which MP3 player he uses than what policies he's going to implement.
Can I get a reality check to aisle S, please?
"It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations, if you live near him." - Tolkien
Holy Christ! Our president to be is using "such and such" as his mp3 player!? Holy Christ! Some one please tell me what popular Hollywood celebrity is dating what Hollywood celebrity right now as well because this is all totally fucking relevant to my life!
I ignore Anonymous Coward posts. If you want to discuss something, that's awesome. Log in.
As MAC user with a Zune, he will be able to experience the true value of DRM. I hope he'll remember that the next time some DRM lobbyist asks for a favor...
I'm posting to let you all know that I don't care!
GENERATION 25: The first time you see this, copy it into your sig on any forum and add 1 to the generation.
Can you impeach a president elect? I think we should try!
I have this fantasy in which I am kind of superhero who travels the country tracking down hack reporters who slap the "gate" suffix on anything vaguely resembling a scandal, then jabbing them with a cattle prod until I'm satisfied justice has been served.
Was it a brown one?
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
I seriously doubt Obama loads his own mp3 player, and that's a good thing. He's got lots to do before his first day on the job, and screwing with computers isn't on the list.
It's one of those "what a product represents" things. The Zune is immediately uncool at slashdot because Microsoft, newsflash- Microsoft make some decent products. Rated Excellent at cnet- http://reviews.cnet.com/mp3-players/microsoft-zune-120gb-third/4505-6490_7-33259222.html?tag=mncol;lst . Reality check, this is a good mp3 player that he got free, I'd be concerned if he went out and spent $250 just for a different make.
Perhaps it's just a prop that one of his advisers handed him to make him look hip.
Michael Reed, freelance tech writer.
As a Dutch citizen I have the perfect freedom to:
- get abortions
- do soft drugs of various kinds
- drink alcohol from the age of 16
- get serviced by a hooker
- get euthanasia
- get married whether I'm gay, bi or straight
- get divorced
- speak my mind
- drink on a sunday
- have sex in public places so long as it's not visible from the street
- go where I please (we don't need visa for 99% of the planet)
None of which are freedoms I've seen Americans enjoy.
So I second that motion. Obama will be president of the USA. Calling him "Leader of the Free World" pisses me off too since he sure as shit don't rule my country.
You guys are all missing the point! The "news, things that matter" part of this isn't that Obama is using a Zune, but that a Zune has actually been seen being used by someone. Happens to be the president-elect, that's just the bonus celebrity factor. But have you ever seen a Zune outside a store? See, now you know why this is news. :-)
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
Many of the freedoms you list are not universally permitted/denied (alcohol, abortion,divorce). Also, maybe you missed the news when your government decided to ban the sale of magic mushrooms. But, I'm sure you're too busy to read the news, what with all your travels around the world via your Visa trumping Dutch citizenship. *cough*bullshit*cough*
It's also interesting that you claim you don't need a Visa to visit 99% of the planet, yet those who want to visit YOU, do need one.
"When you see a unixer brainwashed beyond saving, kick him out of the door." - Xah Lee
- Because I'd like to avoid shooting my mobile's battery to hell through constant use for music.
- Because despite the propaganda from various cell phones makers, there's more and more evidence coming out that tends to show it's not very healthy to carry one over you for long stretches of time.
- Because I'll never again bind myself with another 12/24/36 months contract to have the latest 'ooh, shiny' and I much prefer buying a cheap phone with no strings attached which will last me at least a couple of years. That way I can change provider whenever I feel like it.
That's thinking about it for a couple of minutes. I'm pretty sure different people could find other reasons easily enough.
- get married whether I'm gay, bi or straight
Americans can get married whether gay, bi or straight... as long as they marry someone of the opposite gender!
Take that cloggie!
dutch freedom of speech is a joke compared to american freedom of speech. Dutch freedom of speech basically means you're allowed to say what the left-wing elite thinks is right. In the usa freedom of speech is absolute as long as you're not inciting violence. For example in holland, try saying that you don't like black people, homosexuals, muslems, etc*. Try starting a racist movement*. Try saying that you think homosexuals are sick*. You will get into problems with the law, even if it is your honest to god opinion.
and where do you get the idea that you cannot get an abortion in the usa? or drink on a sunday? or get divorced? Or pay for sex?
*disclaimer; i'm not a bigot by any means, i just used those things as examples.
Considering the battery is there for running a moderate output transmitter, its not surprising that playing music pretty much has bugger all effect on battery life if you are involved in a call a day. (My W350's battery is barely scratched by playing music as opposed to normal standby).
If you read the GSM spec, you'll find when your phone is idle its transmitter is switched off. It listens to the closest towers, and when it notices its switched area (as in group of towers) it wakes up, notifys the BSC and goes back to sleep. Considering then its mainly a non-transmitting device like an iPod - I doubt the health issues are from anything but hippies. (I mean come on, its got a tiny battery - just how much energy can it deliver to your balls without flattening it? :P)
Me too. Thats why I bought outright every phone I have owned.
3laws: No freebies, no backsies, GTFO.
evidence coming out that tends to show it's not very healthy to carry one over you for long stretches of time.
No doubt. Wouldn't your arms get tired?
I dont care to know any of the following about Obama's preferences:
1. Ipod or Zune
2. Apple or PC
3. Charmin or Scott
4. Missionary or Doggy
5. Chevy or Ford
Folks get over it - Obama is not the second coming and he's not the Antichrist -
In the interest of full disclosure: I'm dutch.
Yeah, I'm afraid you have a point. Dutch tolerance is more a sort of institutionalised indifference.
However, you must take into account that right up until the 1950's, most Dutch people had only seen foreigners as pictures in a book. Even I at 27 years can recall watching TV in primary school, and half the class starting to scream and yell profanities because the announcer was black.
That's not an excuse, it's just how it is: people that are "different" are scary. In the Netherlands it used to be the Turkish Dutch, now it's the Moroccan Dutch. In the US it's the gays and potheads.
Error: password can't contain reverse spelling of ancient Chinese emperor
who bothered voting, at any rate. The other 37% - well he'll represent all of them because that's what happens when you're too damn lazy to vote.
Well, yes in a certain very distorted sense of the word there is more evidence coming out that carrying a cell phone isn't very healthy, I mean as time passes we do see more studies claiming connections between negative health outcomes and cell phone use. However, we also see more studies disputing this link.
Could cell phones be somewhat unhealthy? Sure, but there are some careful studies suggesting the opposite and most importantly any theoretical basis for the supposed effect is at best pretty speculative.
First of all ask yourself if you were a cell phone company would it make sense to go out and suppress the science with some organized cover up? For starters given that lots of smart people who have read the research aren't convinced it's likely that your biases as a cell phone exec would virtually guarantee that you didn't believe the health claims. But in that case you would want to fund the most reputable scientists and perform the most respectable study possible rather than funding less influential rent-a-studies. Even if these execs have been convinced of the link by a unpublished stream of compelling evidence the lawsuit against the tobacco companies should have taught them that you shouldn't cover up the science and risk liability when you can just use advertising to associate your product with healthy living in the mind of the public despite the science.
I mean let's be serious, the idea that the cell phone companies are engaged in some intentional plan to cover up the evidence about cell phone harm just isn't plausible. But while it isn't as sexy we know that publication bias exists and can have a substantial effect. Scientists want to spend their time on papers that will bring recognition, grants and employment not ones that say "we didn't find any statistically significant correlation in the groups we examined." This means we are a lot more likely to hear about data sets showing a link than those that don't. After all 5% of studies should end up with an effect at a 95% significance.
Moreover, it's hugely difficult to run a randomized trial for this kind of claim meaning that any effect could be nothing more than an unrecognized prior cause. People who use cell phones are far more likely to use a wide range of other products and probably correlates with a ton of genetic and socio-economic factors. Even studies linking which ear people used for their phone to later cancer occurrence aren't definitive. It's certainly plausible that our dominant hemisphere is more active/different and thus runs a greater risk of cancer.
The truth is that these sort of weak statistical links between an item an ill health effects are frequently wrong and need to be examined carefully. If, as we see in the cell phone study, not only do the studies go both ways but the more careful positive studies show a weaker effect and we lack any firm theoretical foundation for expecting an effect we should conclude it's probably just an artifact of publication bias or common causation.
Of course given that people are so conviced radiation is evil that they falsely convince themselves it makes them sick I don't expect this kind of reasoned consideration to have much impact on the public at large. However, if you are that afraid of "radiation" you should find another website.
If you liked this thought maybe you would find my blog nice too:
Here we go...more pop culture BS! Who gives a rats ass?
Oh crap, it's been revealed that I don't know what I'm talking about!
Oh well. Here's some more clueless blather to indicate that I think you're either a moron or a fool who can be easily distracted by words!
FTFY
As a Dutch citizen I have the perfect freedom to: - get abortions
Legal in the US
- get serviced by a hooker
Well you can do that in Nevada. Its not like the Dutch have NO restrictions on prostitution, (no street hookers)
- get divorced
You can't get divorced in the US?
- speak my mind
We can't do this in the US?
- drink on a sunday
WTF? Have you been to the US since 1950? Their are some states that have prohibitions on where/when alcohol can be sold, I don't know of of any state that prohibits consumption in a private residence.
- go where I please (we don't need visa for 99% of the planet)
Getting a visa is going to largely depend on the *other* country, not your own.
The president is smarter than you think. He just wants make his iPod a less attractive target for theft.
Not sure about the latest ipods, but when I bought my Zune a year ago it was because it had a built in radio tuner (and ipods did not) and I wanted to be able to listen to sports games while working outside on the weekends. I think some gyms broadcast audio from the TV's in the gym over radio, so maybe that's why he was using a Zune.
iTunes Store: millions of songs. Download and keep any song for $1.
Zune Pass: millions of songs. For a flat rate of $15/month, download as many as you want, for use on up to three Zunes and three computers. Each month, you get to designate 10 of these as permanent. If you cancel your subscription, you keep the ones you designated as permanent, and the rest go away.
I have two iPods and an iPhone, and I'm sorely tempted to get a Zune for Zune Pass. That's a fantastic deal.
The usa just voted in its first black president, in the netherlands people went nuts when rotterdam recently got its first morrocan born mayor. Dutch tolerance is a myth.
Make that "European tolerance is a myth" and you're closer. I've lived in Europe and all around the US. Germans, Brits and the rest of Europe are some of the most openly racist people I've ever met. The only place I've lived that was worse for racism is Japan.
But then many stereotypes are blown away if you actually pay attention. A close friend of mine will be the first person to stand up and tell you she experienced more racism directed against her while living in California and Oregon than she ever has when she lived in Kentucky, Tennessee and Alabama (where she now resides).
"An unarmed man can only flee from evil, and evil is not overcome by fleeing from it." Col. Jeff Cooper
Do you have oil? if so I'd watch what I say.
If you read the GSM spec, you'll find when your phone is idle its transmitter is switched off. It listens to the closest towers, and when it notices its switched area (as in group of towers) it wakes up, notifys the BSC and goes back to sleep.
This is unequivocally wrong. Just put your "idle" phone next to a clock radio for 20 minutes. When it goes "dit dit dit" over the radio speaker, you'll know the transmitter is on. It generally checks in with the tower a couple times a hour, even when not switching towers.
In this it's tough to dismiss health concerns out of hand, especially with GSM. Name another device you have that frequently causes interference with nearly any device that has an audio amplifier? It's clear the RF energy characteristics of cell phones (esp. GSM) are not the same as other devices we are used to, so it's difficult to offhand say they couldn't possibly affect other parts of their environment (like our bodies) in different ways than other electronic devices.
http://lkml.org/lkml/2005/8/20/95
Every ipod I've ever used can create an on-the-go playlist on the fly.
And I don't know if I've ever seen a cable remote that has a clickwheel. The Apple FM Radio remote certainly doesn't.
I stopped caring about directory structure when I started using iTunes' smart playlists. Why do I care where the file is stored, if I can hit all its criteria with a query?
And I find iTunes really good at batch-updating id3 tags.
Good luck with your search.
Why yes, I AM a rocket scientist!
I want to know what kind of mp3 player Obama uses. I also would like to know why he chose the Zune in this instance.
This isn't Paris Hilton. I actually give a shit about the personal life of our president-to-be. Any insight into what kind of "person" he is that could be extrapolated to what kind of president he'll be...is interesting.
One of the reasons I didn't vote for McCain was because he demonstrated that he didn't know jack-shit about computers. The subject of Net-Neutrality is looming on the horizon (and frequently discussed here) and I want my president to have an interest. Obama's Facebook and MySpace campaigns impressed me. I hardly think this story is irrelevant.
I mean, 400+ people commented on the story. Even discounting the whiners, it obviously sparked discussion which is why I come to Slashdot.
What does it matter if he's an apple or windows guy? It's not linux, so why does it matter?
The irony of these two sentences back to back is so deliciously rich.
Stupid Apple fanboys -- why won't people praise Linux more!?
If it's for-profit but free, you're not the customer -- you're the product (e.g., the Slashdot Beta's "audience").
Here's where I call you a fanboy to cover up my lame inadequacies and ignore reality...
Fixed that for you.
No, the clickwheel is still annoying to operate inside a pocket, especially in tight pockets, even when both thumbs are fully functional.
Uh, no. The screen is on the top of the device, with the clickwheel at the bottom. Once know which side is up (a .0002 second operation for a non-putz), you have up (menu), down (pause), left (back), right (next) and center (select). If that's too hard for you, you should give up any hope of using an mp3 player, driving a car, or getting laid.
Or how do I start a second playlist again?
Uh, you go to your on-the-go playlist and make a new one. Does mental retardation run in your family?
And about structure: I'll take my personal directory structure over tag soup any day, thanks.
A distinction without a difference. The aforementioned playlist, artist, genre, podcast already covers every possible way to organize your music, the only problem is you wouldn't have an excuse to engage in rhetorical masturbation over it. And given how disable your hands are, that could take a very long time.