1) I like TMBG. 2) It helps support the artist very effectively. 3) If enough people buy it, it will send a message to the RIAA that selling unencumbered MP3s is a better business than selling all these DRMed tunes.
By the way, no problems during the download process. Very easy, but not as seemless as iTMS. Still fun, and I was happy enough spending the $10.
Oh man, I just went through this. Basically, Explorer died on me. I almost never use it, but need it to fill out my time card. I tried re-installing, deleting & reinstalling (twice), manually deleting & reinstalling. Zip, zilch, zero. Finally, I decided to call my help desk (who would help be re-imaging my drive-- how easy for them!).
But I decided to try one more thing. I went to internet options and started setting everything to the default values. When I clicked on the button to clear the cache, it froze. I tried manually deleting these, and the folder froze. Finally, after 4-5 tries, I managed to delete all those files. Explorer works perfectly now.
I shudder to think how many people have reinstalled Windows, wiped their hard drives or threw away their computers because of this silly, fairly common problem?
I'm probably paraphrasing someone here, but I like to say that you should "never blame a conspiracy for what could be explained by pure incompetence."
What does that mean? I don't think the TV or print media is trying to promote MSIE & Windows by ignoring other operating systems & browsers. Rather, they are probably too lazy do any real research, and find it easier just to parrot a PR statement. If they don't understand part of it ("what's a 'Mozilla?'"), they'll ignore it.
And you'd be amazed at the number of people who recognize Windows' flaws, Explorer's flaws and MS's rather crappy record with security and compatibility, then will still pay money for MS software. Last night, a friend a mine was ready to abandon Quicken for Money b/c Money "must" be better. This is while using Quicken '99 and not even bother to compare features. This is the type of attitude that results in reporters assuming that everyone *needs* to use MSIE on Windows; if you're using something else, you're probably just stubborn, myopic of anti-capitalist.
Ya, I thought the same thing. It forces one to question if the submitter even understands what an option is.
I've had long discussions about options with my friends. I finally realized the only sensible objection to stock options. And that is they have no impact on the cash position of the company. When a company is small or newly founded, it doesn't really make sense to value options, as at that point the cash poisition of the company is the overriding concern; this allows start-ups to offer compensation that, while not equal to that of larger companies, offers a tremendous possible upside to employes. Once cash flow is no longer really concern, it's convenient to continue to give options, as it doesn't count against the income statement. At this point, Warren Buffet's words quoted elsehwere (if options aren't compensation, what are they; don't we expense compensation?).
In short, options for start-ups make sense, and no one really cares what the GAAP earnings are-- cash flow is much more important. For established companies, cash flow is often difficult to relate to the success of a company, so using GAAP earnings makes sense, and options should be expensed. And I have no idea what "fiduciary responsibility incentives" are, and the submitter doesn't either.
Well, maybe this will work better than the last investment in music downloading (what the hell was the name of that). But honestly, I don't see BestBuy doing much with this. I've never quite understood the appeal of retail (read: brick & mortar) tie-in with downloading services. Buying pre-paid cards may be nice, but that seems like a better business for 7-11, Starbucks or supermarkets. I suppose they'll start giving away CDs with Napster software, but I think the novelty/appeal of that wore off a long time ago, especially for broadband users (download market) who can easily download software from the net.
On the whole, it can't hurt Napster, but I fail to see how this is going to help them very much. Maybe I'm too skeptical, but overall this seems fairly pointless.
I learned most of my unit conversions from the back of cereal boxes & other everyday items. That's why I know there are 28.4 grams/ounce. 16.9 fluid ounces per half liter. I'm sure I memorized the noted convesrion from rulers in school.
And what's the deal with the reference to the Mars lander? It's not like they were using a conversion that was slightly off; they were using the wrong units. Anyone care to count how many Slashdot stories featured references to that error?
What do you mean? BMW only has like 5% of the market. They need to lower their prices, reduce the margins and increase their revenue. Otherwise they risk being marginalized, as buyers slowly realize that they're buying into a such a small market. Without the large stable of value-added resellers and service personnel to work on their cars, BMW is essentially doomed.
Next thing I know, you'll try to tell me that Apple is a major computer company.;)
This is neat, but certainly not a huge deal. Hopefully, if succesful, the major car companies (Toyota, GM, Ford, Daimler, VW) will take notice and do something similar. This seems like a great, lo-tech way to get your MP3s into your car, without requiring a dedicated in-dash MP3 player. I could see this option becoming especially popular in rental cars (which probably limits it to the Mini for now). I'm sure they'll start running "get a mini with your mini" promotions pretty soon.
Sadly, I know 2 people with BMWs who just miss the cut; one has a 2001 3-series, and the other has a 2003 M3.
More to the point, this will allow the driver to control the iPod form the steering-wheel controls (is the steering wheel the scroll wheel--eeks!), with a dock cable running into the glove compartment. I imagine you could install a holder for the iPod elsewhere in the car too.
Sorry to keep replying to myself. But I would be remiss if I didn't point out that Earthlink intentionally tried to mislead the press & the public when they trumpeted their results by creating their own definitition of spyware. Only 0.35 real spyware programs er computer, by the way. Here's Earthlink's original press release, and the actual report. I still blame the press for dropping the ball, anyone who bothered to read the actual report would know that the press release & headline is a bunch of hot air.
OK, I found some links to back up my claims. First, here is the initial BBC article mis-characterizing Earthlink's study. Here's a guy who did some shoe-leather work to point out the falsehood in Earthlink's study, along with some more helpful links. Enjoy.
28 spyware programs? No, that's not at all what Earthlink said. They did I study counting the number of spyware programs, adware programs and tracking cookies, and found an average of 28 per computer. Someone, either malevolently or ignorantly, decided to trumpet this as 28 spyware programs per PC. Even though the number seems on the face of it absurd (it is), most reporters and Slashdotters don't bother digging in & figuring out what the number really means.
So I don't know if the writer & editor thought it was funny or true, but either way, stating that the average computer has 28 instances of spyware is outright false.
Well, you can always add a big, fat hard drive to the TiVo to give yourself 100 hours or more of storage. Or, if you have a series 1, it's possible to add a network card & do a bit-for-bit copy onto your computer; I've done this, but I haven't bothered to see if I can get the 5.1 streams.
More accurately, some dogs. Or at least one. Maybe I'm off my rocker, but let me give you two example of her smarts.
1) Let me set the scene. Montana is inside a room, with the door mostly closed. The door opens inward. Often, in this situation, she will stick her nose in the gap to force the door open. However, she currently stands at the door with a toy (edible bone-shaped thingy) that prevents her from using this tactic. She ponders it for a minute, then does the following. She puts the bone down, opens the door, walks through the door, turns around, picks up the bone, walks away. She did all this without any trial & error, which is probably better than I would have done.
2) Here's the scene. I'm in my room, laying in bed. My door is open, no one else is home. It's morning, and Montana likely needs to go outside to pee. I'm lazy, so I continue to lay in bed. She's getting agitated, and is probably wondering why I don't get up to let her out. She then invents a trick similar to one she's used before. (The old trick: when downstairs, she would poke her nose on the doorknob, indicating that she wanted to go outside.) Out of nowhere, she goes over to my OPEN door, and pokes the doorknob with here nose! This blew me away, because she obviously was using the doorknob to signal she wanted to go out. She had no reason to associate that doorknob with outside, but she did anyways! I got off my lazy butt and let her out.
I also taught Montana 3 new tricks in about a week (when she was 4). I taught her to spin (in place), under (my legs) and up (after sitting down). A pretty smart dog, all in all.
It's $70 cheaper than the SliMP3. It can replace a base station for many users. Less than the Wireless-G bridge that Linksys sells. Digital outputs for hooking up a stereo! I just ordered mine, hopefully I'll get one of the first ones shipped. I'll probably tell my Mom and brother to get one too-- it's just too damn cool!
Well, when this was first announced, SCOX was trading at about $1. So when would you have shorted? $2, $5, $10? If you shorted $10,000 at $5/share, by the time it hit $20, you'd have to deposit an additional $30,000 to cover the difference in what you owe, otherwise you would need to sell.
So ya, if you shorted at $20 you would have made a killing (almost double your investment). If you shorted at $5, you would probably have been forced to cover, losing double, triple or quarduple your initial investment. So it never would have been that easy.
Well, it depends on what you mean by programming. Clearly writing C++ code and compiling it is programming. But what about less obvious programming (which are essentially instructions). Script languages like Perl, Applescript or ColdFusion (3 that I'm at least a little familiar with) certainly seem like a fair place to start. Even markup languages like HTML could be considered programming; after all, the HTML are instructions that tell your browser how to display a page.
If you're more interested in using an IDE to develop code (and not work with the underlying intsructions directly), then those listed above are not the best choices. But learning the basics of code syntax & understanding how these instructions translate into on-screen instructions are essential if you're interested in learning the core prinicple of programming.
So, Freenet had their Paypal account shut down. It seems that from the get-go, Freenet (and its community) decided this was politically motivated and shouted to the world about it; y'know, instead of trying to work it out with Paypal. So now that PayPal has reversed their decision, Freenet is unhappy because PayPal didn't show the proper respect & apologize? Gimme a break.
Not a troll or a flame, just think its a pity that the Freenet leaders can't exhibit a little diplomacy in order to advance their cause.
That's silly. I don't think A-Rod is worth $100,000 per game. I don't think Microsoft deserves to earn $10 billion/year. And I don't believe that anyone deserves $1 million for answering a couple questions correctly on a game show.
However, in our capitilistic society, we don't pay based on how much we think their time is worth. We reward entrepeneurs for taking chances, and we let people earn whatever the market will bear. If this was such a slam-dunk case, another lawyer probably would have filed the suit first, claiming the reward for himself. How much the guy's time is worth is irrelevant in a case like this.
Geeze, I thought we were all past the stage where we read the/. summary, made an false assumption or two, and railed against a non-existant abuse.
I'll make it clear: there is no special tax being proposed on custome software. Rather, the state seeks charge the sames sales tax on custom software that they charge on packaged software. Just like you on custom frames, custom paint jobs and custom cabinets.
Honestly, the/. crowd is so quick to dismiss out-of-hand non-techies complaining about (or cheering for) tech stuff b/c the non-techies don't know what they're talking about. And now the/. crowd is complaining about an issue which they haven't even made the minimum effort (Click the f'in link! The article takes 1 minute to read!) to understand.
I don't get it at all. While I think it's a great idea to have WiFi phones on a campus (I had a crazy business plan for that 5 years ago!), I just don't see the point in the rest of the world. If I have a cellphone, I don't need WiFi. And unless WiFi coverage is ubiquitous, I wouldn't want a WiFi-only phone. I have a Treo 600 with unlimited data & 800 peak minutes a month plus unlimited n&w and mobile 2 mobile & phone insurance. I pay about $34 (a really good deal, but anyone could get that deal for $40-45 with some work).
The point being, I ahve absolutely no need or desire for WiFi for either data or voice. A fat pipe would be nice for streaming audio, but I could live with a lower bitrate. Unless Motorola can make this 100% transparent, it will be such a colossal & immediate failure that New Coke, Audrey & Teledisic will look succesful by comparison. If they can make it 100% transparent, I doubt it will have any application outside of buildings with awful cell coverage; it just doesn't make any sense as a moneysaver, since most providers (e.g., SprintPCS) have excess capacity now.
Yeah, that should work. But look at it this way: if I were a betting man on which site "wins" the contest, I betchya that this Slashdot article has a pretty good chance. Many other blogs will post here and to the contest site, and I bet those 2 are in the top 5. Since Slashdot has such a high pagerank to begin with, this Slashdot article might just win the contest. Buggers.
Are you serious? Id like to know just when the U.S. Constitution amended the constitution to make speech illegal. No more writing letters or sending email without someone's permission I guess. Oh, but we won't enforce this law uniformly of course; we'll only go after the bad guys. Y'know, people sending porn and blood-sucking lawyers, and maybe guys who are former pedophiles, and that guy who shouted at the president last week, and Joe from down the street, because maybe then I'll be able to sleep in Saturday morning without hearing someone mowing their lawn.
I'd rather live with SPAM and bulk email than live with state-sponsored censorship. What's that quote about freedom and security? Change it to freedom and "avoiding inconvenience" and that's where your idea fits in.
This is great, now that Linux can run on the iPod I can.... play music? Pretty good stuff. Now I don't have to rely on Apple's crappy interface or poor integration with iTunes.
Honestly, I know this projects are mostly for shits & giggles, but the iPod seems to be about the least-appropriate MP3 player to port Linux too. You're paying a premium for software design & integration with the iPod. Linux on the Dell version would seem to be a more natural fit.
Slashdot Mirror
I just bought it for a few reasons:
1) I like TMBG.
2) It helps support the artist very effectively.
3) If enough people buy it, it will send a message to the RIAA that selling unencumbered MP3s is a better business than selling all these DRMed tunes.
By the way, no problems during the download process. Very easy, but not as seemless as iTMS. Still fun, and I was happy enough spending the $10.
Oh man, I just went through this. Basically, Explorer died on me. I almost never use it, but need it to fill out my time card. I tried re-installing, deleting & reinstalling (twice), manually deleting & reinstalling. Zip, zilch, zero. Finally, I decided to call my help desk (who would help be re-imaging my drive-- how easy for them!).
But I decided to try one more thing. I went to internet options and started setting everything to the default values. When I clicked on the button to clear the cache, it froze. I tried manually deleting these, and the folder froze. Finally, after 4-5 tries, I managed to delete all those files. Explorer works perfectly now.
I shudder to think how many people have reinstalled Windows, wiped their hard drives or threw away their computers because of this silly, fairly common problem?
I'm probably paraphrasing someone here, but I like to say that you should "never blame a conspiracy for what could be explained by pure incompetence."
What does that mean? I don't think the TV or print media is trying to promote MSIE & Windows by ignoring other operating systems & browsers. Rather, they are probably too lazy do any real research, and find it easier just to parrot a PR statement. If they don't understand part of it ("what's a 'Mozilla?'"), they'll ignore it.
And you'd be amazed at the number of people who recognize Windows' flaws, Explorer's flaws and MS's rather crappy record with security and compatibility, then will still pay money for MS software. Last night, a friend a mine was ready to abandon Quicken for Money b/c Money "must" be better. This is while using Quicken '99 and not even bother to compare features. This is the type of attitude that results in reporters assuming that everyone *needs* to use MSIE on Windows; if you're using something else, you're probably just stubborn, myopic of anti-capitalist.
Ya, I thought the same thing. It forces one to question if the submitter even understands what an option is.
I've had long discussions about options with my friends. I finally realized the only sensible objection to stock options. And that is they have no impact on the cash position of the company. When a company is small or newly founded, it doesn't really make sense to value options, as at that point the cash poisition of the company is the overriding concern; this allows start-ups to offer compensation that, while not equal to that of larger companies, offers a tremendous possible upside to employes. Once cash flow is no longer really concern, it's convenient to continue to give options, as it doesn't count against the income statement. At this point, Warren Buffet's words quoted elsehwere (if options aren't compensation, what are they; don't we expense compensation?).
In short, options for start-ups make sense, and no one really cares what the GAAP earnings are-- cash flow is much more important. For established companies, cash flow is often difficult to relate to the success of a company, so using GAAP earnings makes sense, and options should be expensed. And I have no idea what "fiduciary responsibility incentives" are, and the submitter doesn't either.
Well, maybe this will work better than the last investment in music downloading (what the hell was the name of that). But honestly, I don't see BestBuy doing much with this. I've never quite understood the appeal of retail (read: brick & mortar) tie-in with downloading services. Buying pre-paid cards may be nice, but that seems like a better business for 7-11, Starbucks or supermarkets. I suppose they'll start giving away CDs with Napster software, but I think the novelty/appeal of that wore off a long time ago, especially for broadband users (download market) who can easily download software from the net.
On the whole, it can't hurt Napster, but I fail to see how this is going to help them very much. Maybe I'm too skeptical, but overall this seems fairly pointless.
I learned most of my unit conversions from the back of cereal boxes & other everyday items. That's why I know there are 28.4 grams/ounce. 16.9 fluid ounces per half liter. I'm sure I memorized the noted convesrion from rulers in school.
And what's the deal with the reference to the Mars lander? It's not like they were using a conversion that was slightly off; they were using the wrong units. Anyone care to count how many Slashdot stories featured references to that error?
What do you mean? BMW only has like 5% of the market. They need to lower their prices, reduce the margins and increase their revenue. Otherwise they risk being marginalized, as buyers slowly realize that they're buying into a such a small market. Without the large stable of value-added resellers and service personnel to work on their cars, BMW is essentially doomed.
;)
Next thing I know, you'll try to tell me that Apple is a major computer company.
This is neat, but certainly not a huge deal. Hopefully, if succesful, the major car companies (Toyota, GM, Ford, Daimler, VW) will take notice and do something similar. This seems like a great, lo-tech way to get your MP3s into your car, without requiring a dedicated in-dash MP3 player. I could see this option becoming especially popular in rental cars (which probably limits it to the Mini for now). I'm sure they'll start running "get a mini with your mini" promotions pretty soon.
Sadly, I know 2 people with BMWs who just miss the cut; one has a 2001 3-series, and the other has a 2003 M3.
More to the point, this will allow the driver to control the iPod form the steering-wheel controls (is the steering wheel the scroll wheel--eeks!), with a dock cable running into the glove compartment. I imagine you could install a holder for the iPod elsewhere in the car too.
Sorry to keep replying to myself. But I would be remiss if I didn't point out that Earthlink intentionally tried to mislead the press & the public when they trumpeted their results by creating their own definitition of spyware. Only 0.35 real spyware programs er computer, by the way. Here's Earthlink's original press release, and the actual report. I still blame the press for dropping the ball, anyone who bothered to read the actual report would know that the press release & headline is a bunch of hot air.
OK, I found some links to back up my claims. First, here is the initial BBC article mis-characterizing Earthlink's study. Here's a guy who did some shoe-leather work to point out the falsehood in Earthlink's study, along with some more helpful links. Enjoy.
28 spyware programs? No, that's not at all what Earthlink said. They did I study counting the number of spyware programs, adware programs and tracking cookies, and found an average of 28 per computer. Someone, either malevolently or ignorantly, decided to trumpet this as 28 spyware programs per PC. Even though the number seems on the face of it absurd (it is), most reporters and Slashdotters don't bother digging in & figuring out what the number really means.
So I don't know if the writer & editor thought it was funny or true, but either way, stating that the average computer has 28 instances of spyware is outright false.
Well, you can always add a big, fat hard drive to the TiVo to give yourself 100 hours or more of storage. Or, if you have a series 1, it's possible to add a network card & do a bit-for-bit copy onto your computer; I've done this, but I haven't bothered to see if I can get the 5.1 streams.
Well, if you had DirecTiVo, you'd get the 5.1 feed anyways (at least on HBO).
More accurately, some dogs. Or at least one. Maybe I'm off my rocker, but let me give you two example of her smarts.
1) Let me set the scene. Montana is inside a room, with the door mostly closed. The door opens inward. Often, in this situation, she will stick her nose in the gap to force the door open. However, she currently stands at the door with a toy (edible bone-shaped thingy) that prevents her from using this tactic. She ponders it for a minute, then does the following. She puts the bone down, opens the door, walks through the door, turns around, picks up the bone, walks away. She did all this without any trial & error, which is probably better than I would have done.
2) Here's the scene. I'm in my room, laying in bed. My door is open, no one else is home. It's morning, and Montana likely needs to go outside to pee. I'm lazy, so I continue to lay in bed. She's getting agitated, and is probably wondering why I don't get up to let her out. She then invents a trick similar to one she's used before. (The old trick: when downstairs, she would poke her nose on the doorknob, indicating that she wanted to go outside.) Out of nowhere, she goes over to my OPEN door, and pokes the doorknob with here nose! This blew me away, because she obviously was using the doorknob to signal she wanted to go out. She had no reason to associate that doorknob with outside, but she did anyways! I got off my lazy butt and let her out.
I also taught Montana 3 new tricks in about a week (when she was 4). I taught her to spin (in place), under (my legs) and up (after sitting down). A pretty smart dog, all in all.
It's $70 cheaper than the SliMP3. It can replace a base station for many users. Less than the Wireless-G bridge that Linksys sells. Digital outputs for hooking up a stereo! I just ordered mine, hopefully I'll get one of the first ones shipped. I'll probably tell my Mom and brother to get one too-- it's just too damn cool!
Well, when this was first announced, SCOX was trading at about $1. So when would you have shorted? $2, $5, $10? If you shorted $10,000 at $5/share, by the time it hit $20, you'd have to deposit an additional $30,000 to cover the difference in what you owe, otherwise you would need to sell.
So ya, if you shorted at $20 you would have made a killing (almost double your investment). If you shorted at $5, you would probably have been forced to cover, losing double, triple or quarduple your initial investment. So it never would have been that easy.
Well, it depends on what you mean by programming. Clearly writing C++ code and compiling it is programming. But what about less obvious programming (which are essentially instructions). Script languages like Perl, Applescript or ColdFusion (3 that I'm at least a little familiar with) certainly seem like a fair place to start. Even markup languages like HTML could be considered programming; after all, the HTML are instructions that tell your browser how to display a page.
If you're more interested in using an IDE to develop code (and not work with the underlying intsructions directly), then those listed above are not the best choices. But learning the basics of code syntax & understanding how these instructions translate into on-screen instructions are essential if you're interested in learning the core prinicple of programming.
Also, there's the GPS Primer from The Aerospace Corporation, whose engineers are largely responsible for the development of GPS.
So, Freenet had their Paypal account shut down. It seems that from the get-go, Freenet (and its community) decided this was politically motivated and shouted to the world about it; y'know, instead of trying to work it out with Paypal. So now that PayPal has reversed their decision, Freenet is unhappy because PayPal didn't show the proper respect & apologize? Gimme a break.
Not a troll or a flame, just think its a pity that the Freenet leaders can't exhibit a little diplomacy in order to advance their cause.
That's silly. I don't think A-Rod is worth $100,000 per game. I don't think Microsoft deserves to earn $10 billion/year. And I don't believe that anyone deserves $1 million for answering a couple questions correctly on a game show.
However, in our capitilistic society, we don't pay based on how much we think their time is worth. We reward entrepeneurs for taking chances, and we let people earn whatever the market will bear. If this was such a slam-dunk case, another lawyer probably would have filed the suit first, claiming the reward for himself. How much the guy's time is worth is irrelevant in a case like this.
Geeze, I thought we were all past the stage where we read the /. summary, made an false assumption or two, and railed against a non-existant abuse.
/. crowd is so quick to dismiss out-of-hand non-techies complaining about (or cheering for) tech stuff b/c the non-techies don't know what they're talking about. And now the /. crowd is complaining about an issue which they haven't even made the minimum effort (Click the f'in link! The article takes 1 minute to read!) to understand.
I'll make it clear: there is no special tax being proposed on custome software. Rather, the state seeks charge the sames sales tax on custom software that they charge on packaged software. Just like you on custom frames, custom paint jobs and custom cabinets.
Honestly, the
(sigh)
I don't get it at all. While I think it's a great idea to have WiFi phones on a campus (I had a crazy business plan for that 5 years ago!), I just don't see the point in the rest of the world. If I have a cellphone, I don't need WiFi. And unless WiFi coverage is ubiquitous, I wouldn't want a WiFi-only phone. I have a Treo 600 with unlimited data & 800 peak minutes a month plus unlimited n&w and mobile 2 mobile & phone insurance. I pay about $34 (a really good deal, but anyone could get that deal for $40-45 with some work).
The point being, I ahve absolutely no need or desire for WiFi for either data or voice. A fat pipe would be nice for streaming audio, but I could live with a lower bitrate. Unless Motorola can make this 100% transparent, it will be such a colossal & immediate failure that New Coke, Audrey & Teledisic will look succesful by comparison. If they can make it 100% transparent, I doubt it will have any application outside of buildings with awful cell coverage; it just doesn't make any sense as a moneysaver, since most providers (e.g., SprintPCS) have excess capacity now.
Yeah, that should work. But look at it this way: if I were a betting man on which site "wins" the contest, I betchya that this Slashdot article has a pretty good chance. Many other blogs will post here and to the contest site, and I bet those 2 are in the top 5. Since Slashdot has such a high pagerank to begin with, this Slashdot article might just win the contest. Buggers.
Damn that Heisenberg.
Are you serious? Id like to know just when the U.S. Constitution amended the constitution to make speech illegal. No more writing letters or sending email without someone's permission I guess. Oh, but we won't enforce this law uniformly of course; we'll only go after the bad guys. Y'know, people sending porn and blood-sucking lawyers, and maybe guys who are former pedophiles, and that guy who shouted at the president last week, and Joe from down the street, because maybe then I'll be able to sleep in Saturday morning without hearing someone mowing their lawn.
I'd rather live with SPAM and bulk email than live with state-sponsored censorship. What's that quote about freedom and security? Change it to freedom and "avoiding inconvenience" and that's where your idea fits in.
This is great, now that Linux can run on the iPod I can.... play music? Pretty good stuff. Now I don't have to rely on Apple's crappy interface or poor integration with iTunes.
Honestly, I know this projects are mostly for shits & giggles, but the iPod seems to be about the least-appropriate MP3 player to port Linux too. You're paying a premium for software design & integration with the iPod. Linux on the Dell version would seem to be a more natural fit.