Well to answer your question it can store 2000 songs, or ~200 CD's. That's more than most people even own (loads of folks are still going for the 5 GB model because ~100 cd's is all they have), so erm, storage clearly isn't the problem for most users.
I remind you that *most* players on the market still have ~64 MB and are still selling. So attempting to invalidate it's usefulness becase it has ~9000 MB is utterly rediculous.
The Nomad is slow and very large, yeah I'm sure it will have firewire 'in the future', but my iPod had it last year and it has more storage space than I even need.
Now just to be clear - *it's not superiour to the Nomad because I have one (that's just a dumb statement to make)* *I bought one because it _was_ superior to the Nomad*.
Hell if I didn't have a G4 PowerBook I *STILL* wouldn't have a Nomad - I'd be sensible and get an Archos: http://www.thinkgeek.com/stuff/electronic s/5784.sh tmlwww.thinkgeek.com/stuff/electronics/5784.shtml
It's had 20 GB for ages, even when the Nomad had only 6 GB and it costs the same (at least in my local electronics store in London).
Despite it being larger than the iPod (hence the reason I went for an iPod) it's/still/ ~half the size of the Nomad! Don't you get how big an *non portable* the Nomad is?
I don't want to carry around something as clunky as a Discman (like the Nomad), just like I don't want to carry around something as clunky as a Newton anymore.
Even this new one won't fit in my trouser pocket, let alone my shirt pocket!
There is a lot of room for competition in the MP3 player marketplace, some are better than others (for example the Panasonic and Casio offerings are tiny, the Archos has the most space and iPod is the fastest to sync and fit's neatly in between. Whatever the question, the answer is just simply never the Nomad.
With ~20 hours battery life, it will have created a new neiche for itself, but I can fly roughly to the other side of the globe in 10 hours, so I'm not sure that I'd ever need much longer battery life in an MP3 player, unless I take a trip to the moon or something.
I agree with SMB performance under OS X being pretty crappy, could be my network though:-). Also hate the *stupid* way the Finder locks up when dealing with SMB/NFS shares:(
I've not tried the iPod on a Windows PC though, none of the boxes I have at home have Firewire card apart from my PowerBook. I have heard some bad things about it though, but assumed they were teething problems...
Most poeple have less than 200 CD's (which the iPod can store). Most poeple even have less than 100 CD's, so the 10 Gb option is far more than they need.
Note that *2* iPods have 20 hours battery life and store 20 GB and are still smaller than *1* Nomad.
Amusing, but points out how much of a size difference there is! Nomad's are *massive* in comparison!
IMO, the ability to play via genre (which is not native to the iPod, but as you say can be done using simple playlists) is one feature and does not make up for the other glaring problems (notibly the size) of the current Nomad range.
So yes, I think it's fair to to say it's superior. The only thing the Nomad does much better is the battery life, which is great for those on long journeys, though I can fly about half way round the world in 10 hours so the iPod is okay for me, *just*:-).
Personally I don't want this feature as for the most part I listen to Albums that are meant to be listened to end-to-end (and album's by artists like Pink Floyd, Kate Bush etc typically have tracks that run into each other), though I can see how you would want this feature.
I totally cant see how this would put someone off so completly!
It's certainly not true that every CD player in the work lets you "create a playlist on the fly" - very few let you do this IME. Most 'home' systems certainly don't allow this (say from Dixons, Tandy, etc). Also I have two Discmans right here (one Sony, and one Goodmans) and neither of them let me do this.
I can see that these would both be good features to have, thought the second one less so (I think it would be too cumbersome for most people to bother with as it's a device for listening to music, not organising it). Though the iPod's UI makes it easy for me to flip between songs like no other device, it's really quite charming to use.
Oh and one thing perhaps worth pointing out, while you " rarely, if ever, want to listen to songs by artist or album." the world has been listening to music one album or artist at a time for over a hundred years and everybody is most familer with it that way.
That doesn't mean listing by genre isn't a good idea, but it does indicate that most people won't mind if they can't do something they'd never done before:)
By your reasoning one can only assume that you've never bought a device which couldn't hold your entire collection.
That would mean you don't have a CD player in your car, your CD jukebox at home holds 1500 cds at once and you've *never* listened to music on the move? This must be the case clearly because Walkmans and Discmans only store ONE album at a time, let alone 200 (and they are still bigger than the likes of the iPod & Rio).
This new Nomad unit cant store 1500 CD's (Albums) either. So, your wrong, it *doesnt *"depend on your needs" - if the Nomad can't do what you want either how can it be better?
Regardless of that - 99.99% of people in the market for a portable music device have less than 200 hundred CD's. Most people have around a hundred or so (and so only need about 5 GB for music and tend to use the other half for storing data).
Added to that, it only takes 10 seconds to upload a CD, and it can store 2000 songs, so an iPod is very much *more* than enough for most pople.
Have fun missing out on listening to music while you wait for a pocket sized 80 GB portable MP3 player.
Even though you have to download software seperately if your a Windows user, Apple's 10 GB iPod is by far and away better.
There is no way any objective person could think this unit is superior.
It's got a 10 GB HD, 32 MB of Ram, the battery life is 10 hours, you can store your contacts on it, you can use it as a hard drive, you can even *BOOT* off it. There are also 3rd party apps to extend the functionality.
And still it's less then half the size of this thing!
For me, that's a key feature This thing is way too big for my pocket (the Nomad is *still* discman size!). It's just not practicle, whereas my iPod fit's in my shirt pocket (and isn't nearly as heavy).
The iPod is so small, and it's interface so simple and elegant, that I take it everywhere, even just nipping down the to the shop. I know I'd think twice before taking this thing outside with me.
I guess it depends on how much you like music.
- If your a big music fan, then your better off with something cassete player sized (ThinkGeek has one, though bigger that the iPod, it has slightly more storage, and still of a practicle in-your-pocket size)
- If your not a big music fan and only want something for long journeys then this could be the unit for you. But if you are, you'd be better getting a discman for 30 USD instead...
PS2 games certainly look rusty compared to the X box. I have held off buying a PS2 because in reality they weren't all that much better than Dreamcasts (which came out 2 years ealier and was great).
The PS One was great and ahead of the game, but the PS 2 wasa meger upgrade put next to the Dreamcast, and in part only had such a 'wow' factor because the Dreamcast was so poorly marketed that not many people saw it (and partly because they went off Sega after the Mega CD & 32x fiasco and the whipping the Saturn got at the hands of the PS One - which was because Sega made a primarily 2D console where as Sony looked ahead and focused on 3D performance).
If you've seen Dead or Alive 2 on the Dreamcast and on the PS 2 - and noticed how much better is on the Dreamcast (really!), you'll know what I mean about the Dreamcast's great peformance.
That doesn't mean the PS2 is consistantly always performs worse than the Dreamcast, just that it's not really much better (and as it's 2 years older, it *should* be). It's better on paper, but not to the extent that it can render games noticeably better than a Dreamcast as far as most people can tell it's not - which is the point.
The X Box however looks really fantastically better HW wise, the only thing that puts me off is that it's Microsoft. They have obvious things like bump mapping (the PS2 really should have this IMO) and nicer looking filtering on textures (IMO) and certainly seem to be able to shift significantly more heavily textured polygons. The games, like Dead Or Alive 3, look really great to me.
I would love to see GTA3 on the X Box, I think it would really trounce the PS version. This is true because, yes the X-Box is newer and so natrally should have the upper hand a little, but also because the PS2 is not all it should have been (bearning in mind how long it took to come out).
Ericsson have had a BlueTooth hands free for months (maybe even a year now).
They have 3 different models, the first one had technical probs, there is a new one which looks identical but fixes the bugs:)
There is a third one which looks like a set of stereo headphones, but it attaches to a battery back around your waist (so you may as well just get a normal hands free and stick your phone in your pocket). This one is lame:)
My boss has one of the new, good kind (and I will two just as soon as my flat mate and my tenant both pay me the rent the are owe:). Steep at 150 UKP though!
Yes, they theoretically interfere. But every person who's actually tried it with real devices in the real world knows it's not actually a problem.
I wish people who've never tried it would stop making such a big deal out of the fact that they happen to cross frequencies - it's REALLY such a/non issue/. It's just FUD putting people off for no good reason and it's very disappointing to see - BlueTooth in the US is lagging as it is - it's a great technology and I'm very happy with it (I'm just glad I'm in Europe and can take advantage of greater BlueTooth product avalibility!).
Bluetooth (on my Palm to T39) works very happly with my G4 PowerBook w/ Airport on my lap - neither experience any noticeable problems or cut out.
Both protocals are designed to cope with interference. It's not as if you 'suddenly lose a connection' or 'your bandiwidth suddenly drops' - nothing noticeable happens (network activity is fine and the PDA->Phone interaction is flawless).
Everyone who's actually used them outside of a lab says the same thing. If you had 100 bluetooth devices in the same room, all broadcasting at once, then I wouldn't be too suprised to see a little network slowdown, but even at that extreme, life would be bearable.
Yep I got mine a month ago from Expansys in the UK.
Next day delivery, ordered on the day they were announced. They were even cheaper than the high street price (now that's its in the high street), despite them being amoung first to market.
You obviously didn't read any of my posts properly (you keep asking stuff I've already covered).
Apple don't *give* you the window manager, you have to pay for it, it's their value added extra. But it's open so you can run your own Window Manager. They are a company (Jordan Hubbard doesn work for free), this cake is free, but the icing (the enhanced Windowing Environment) costs money.....
Actually they couldn't even give it away if they wanted to (for legal reasons, as they have various licenced technologies such as OpenGL that mean it would literaly cost them for each copy they gave away!).
XFree86 works just fine however, most Darwin x86 uses run it as their windowing enviroment of choice (like most Linux, BSD and GNU OS desktop users).
But as the OS is open source - you are free to write your own (if you don't like X for some reason).
If you pay enough you can get OpenStep with it's Window Manger for Intel.
Good god, every time I point out your mistaken, you think of another excuse...
How badly informed can one person be?! You call me a moron and even a troll for saying the thing even *exists*, when it's been ON THE FRONT PAGE OF SLASHDOT.
Well *ACTUALLY* every time you use anonymous FTP you have to specify your email address, that's all Apple are asking for..
But hey, if you are paranoid then just get a Darwin distribution from someone else FFS!
Are you honestly so ignorant about this you don't realise that Mac OS X on PPC is a port of OpenStep on x86? It's like everybody knows but you....
You don't get Apple's Window Manger for free of course but then you dont get the Sun's Window Manager unless you pay them for it, and you don't get SGI's Window Manager unless you pay them for it - and neither of *them* give their OS away for free.
So, the only part you'll miss that's not in Darwin on x86 but is in Mac OS X on PPC will be the Window Manager (Which is called Quartz), but XFree86 works just fine and you can run Gnome 1.4 for a pretty desktop.
Re:Salesmen are only motivated by money?
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Well I do work for charity yes, but not as a way of paying the bills - I prefer to do a little bit for work but primarily make monetary donations it makes more sense for me to make $$$$$ a month as good systems engineer and then donate $$$ each month on a regular basis.
But, to reiterate, I find that far less sales people I know do chairity work (well I can't think of any I know that do), than my friends in scientific, engineering or academic fields (of of whom most do do charity work).
I don't mean to imply that sales people are evil, but that they tend to have different motivation to, say, engineers.
Have you seen differently? How many companies have you been at where you've seen otherwise?
Re:Salesmen are only motivated by money?
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Most sales people do behave very differently to technical people.
This is less true of more senior sales staff, but the rank and file are much greedier and less interested in 'the good of society' or the good of anyone else, than your typical engineer, IME.
if the software will only run on ONE HARDWARE VENDORS CRAP, we OWN JACK SHIT.
Sun's OS is only supported on *their* hardware.
Unlike Apple's current OS, which runs on x86, a platform they don't even sell.
(technically, the only extra's in Mac OS X are the Window Manager and the Toolkits as with most vendors (including Sun, who ship their own version of X and their own Toolkits with their OS).
Fuck, You are a moron, aren't you.
Well clearly, yes you are.
More than that I'd say your a newbie (not just by your high user number) but by your choice of language and GPL-all-or-nothing attitude.
The *goals* of the GPL (more 'open' software) will fail with people like you at the helm (all hot air). I, for one, care about the big picture.
How often have YOU switched development platforms? IT'S A BIG THING
Well, erm, I do it all the time and don't even think about it. Between Solaris, Darwin, GNU/HURD, Linux and FreeBSD (across x86, Sparc and PowerPC). But then, my code is good.
I'm *currently* developing a project on my G4 PowerBook and checking the code out to FreeBSD system on x86 - everything works just the same, even all the libaries I'm using, not a single problem, different OS, different hardware. Just out of interest, I've exported to a Linux box, and it runs fine on that to, well whaddaya know?.
Developing on Darwin and running on other platforms is a no-brainer. Maybe your just not as good a develper and your code sucks? Maybe you nothing about ProjectBuilder, the history of this operating system of that developers the world over love this platform for development.
Some examples:
Despite Quake III development being started before Mac OS X existed, do you recall that the first time Q3A was seen in public was on Mac OS X? At MacWorld:SF? By John Carmack, in person? (I do, I was there).
Let's not forget that Doom was developed using this OS (older kernel, differenet hardware) using ProjectBuilder (the same project builder I am using now).
So, it's really easy is the sort answer - especially on Mac OS X. That's was one of the whole selling points of the OS as a development platform (write once, and compile for Win32 on x86, Solaris on SPARC and NeXT on 68k with *1* click [the 'Build' icon]). The same icon I click everyday (it's not changed...) Oh, to drop names, Internet Explorer *still* contains code created by Apple's/NeXT's ProjectBuilder (check the credits, Mosaic was developed with ProjectBuilder, runs just fine on Windows, Mac OS X, Solaris...).
I also notice your a Network Adminstrator for a School, not a Developer, Engineer, Systems Analyst or Academic, so I wonder what makes you think you know so much about this topic? You _really_ don't (just have a big mouth). Try talking to some developers first.
For all your talk I bet your STILL run Windows like most so called "supporters of the GPL" (who wimp out when it comes to games, or some other imagined "critical app").
Real men don't dual boot to Windows, real men don't even run Linux, real men run the GNU operating system.
I've been running it for about a year and a half, maybe nearly 2 years. What about you? Or do you not run the GNU operating system and are you just a full of hot air (i.e. A Windows and Linux dual booter)?
To the person who marked the above post a Troll - WTF?
How, in the name of all that's holy is that a Troll? Are you paranoid and do you think that *everything* is a Troll? Do you have a mental condition or have you just let your 2 year old bash randomly on the keyboard again?
[ The lyric "Got to keep the lonies on the path" springs to mind. ]
Hmm, here's an idea, I'd love to be able to see all the people that have modded a given post and be able to ignore their moderation of I decide they can't moderate their way out of a paper bag (because presuably they are doing bad moderating on lots of posts, not just mine.)
Would be very expensive on CPU time (bearing in mind the size of the/. userbase), but I'd pay for that feature:)
Sun holds no pretenses that they are an OSS vendor.
That's crap! OF COUSE THEY DO! They sell Linux boxes! Do you really know anything about the industry?
They do it much more so than Apple, for Apple it's a side line they don't push at their main stream customers, while Sun push the same tired stuff at their customers.
To summerize:
Apple open source their operating system (with a rested licence) make it run on x86 (Darwin has done for ~ a year, a fact which people *keep ignoring* when it suits them), rewerite the licence when people complain an yet they are WORSE than SUN?
SUN who REVOKED their open source strategy, and KILLED OF their x86 release? And did nothing when people complained?
How do you figure that?
As for the clones..your comments about that are just retarded too. For what it's worth, everyone in the industry knows that they cancelled the clones because Apple lost major market share to them (intead of attracting more users, it just ate into Apple's existing small share). Apple were in serious danger of going under at the time, and this had to be done.
Again, how does this make Apple worse than Sun?
Your just bashing Apple. That doesn't mean they don't deserve it, but not for this, not when they have done so much more than most other vendors (the only particular exceptions that spring to mind are Red Hat, and IBM).
Apple have been working on open source projects for years. They released a Linux distribution before it became trendy the dot com era buzzword and long before vendors started shipping it on their systems.
Apple have been putting serious effort in to OS development by working with the Open Software Foundation to build a better (Mach) kernel for the last decade, more so then any other vendor.
Their work culmiated in the (free, of course) release of MkLinux - Linux on top of a Mach Microkernel. This was no mean feat and this level of work has been emulated by anyone.
And your right Linux may very well die, but it will have nothing to do with Apple (what a truly bizzare statement!) but because it will be replaced with the GNU operating system, GNU/Hurd (which is a much more advanced Mach microkernel, like the Darwin Kernel).
Which has been the plan all along (try and follow the plot!).
You are living in fantasy land if you thing that Apple is evil or some way the enemy. They are looking out for their own (Staff and & Shareholders) like a all good companies do, but they have done a lot for idea of open source.
I expect their is little point in arguing with you because you seem to be a total anti-mac-zelot (like a mac zelot, but rather than unconditionally love everything Apple do, they unconditionally hate every thing Apple do).
Try and *think* for yourself and act on what you *see*, not your mornic contemporaries have told you....
Just to point out (because I keep reading otherwise in a lot of other posts) that Darwin *does* run on x86. It has done so offically (publicly) for ~ a year.
OS X comes from Rhapsody (which ran on x86 and PPC) which came from OpenStep (which ran on x86, amoung other platforms). We can go further back, but it's really not relevent:)
Suffice to say that it ran on x86 _long_before_ it ever got to PPC (the whole stuff about them releasing the PPC version first was either about (a) cleaning/organizing up the code on the x86 tree or (b) an utter lie). Either way they were *definately* at the very least _stretching_ the truth about it "not running on Intel" initially.
The've certainly limited the Intel version when loads of functionality from Rhapsody on x86 is missing now..., so they are definately *deliberately* limiting it (though it could be a just a code re-org...)
I don't want to break my NDA, so I'm not going to say more about this.:(
Anyway, from the Darwin FAQ: Q. I heard that Darwin runs on Intel processor-based PCs. Is that true?
They are the most closed company of all. They own the hardware AND the software
Oh COME ON! That's clearly not true.
Firstly: Sun Microsystems own the hardware and the software!
And Secondly: Sun no longer freely open source their OS.
And Thirdly: Darwin runs on x86 and is avalible to all while Sun no longer provide an OS that won't run on their hardware, never mind make it open source!
How are Apple worse than Sun? This really makes you sound like you just simply don't like Apple and are looking for an excuse to justify your position.
The OSS Community will never see a scrap of benefit from Apple.
That's just wrong.
What about the Darwin Streaming Server that is generally considered to be one of the best (beating commercial offerings from Real and Microsoft)
What about MkLinux and what can be gained from the OSF and Mach work on it?
What about they fact that by taking it seriously and by hiring Jordan Hubbard they are lending validity to the whole open source movement?
YOU SHOULD SPEND MORE POINTS MODDING PEOPLE UP OR THE SYSTEM DOESN'T WORK.
By all means mod troll's down, but by modding post like this down when you could be modding *good* post up, then you are breaking the entire system. *Think!*
Oh FWIW, I don't actually have anything against the main content of your post.
I also happen to think Apple is simply cover it's ass, though are being a bit lazy, from there persepective it's almost certainly not worth the $$$ in lawer's fees to get a special contract drawn up (unless of course he is contributing bucket loads of code).
I just happen to have a thing about people saying "that's life" and "welcome to the real world" as it's at the very least partly what we (as a society) make it.
I just really don't like those particular phrases because I've always been an alkward bastard who likes to solve problems rather than learn to live with them (which is usually the situation when someone is uttering one of those phrases, which people do because they are lazy and dumb, unlike good programmers who are lazy and smart and fix the problems simply so they and nobody else ever has to deal with them again).
To summerize:
Fixing problems - Good. Suggesting to a younger gerneration that they learn to live with problems (like bad legislation) - _*BAD*_
Slashdot Mirror
Well to answer your question it can store 2000 songs, or ~200 CD's. That's more than most people even own (loads of folks are still going for the 5 GB model because ~100 cd's is all they have), so erm, storage clearly isn't the problem for most users.
c s/5784.sh tmlwww.thinkgeek.com/stuff/electronics/5784.shtml
/still/ ~half the size of the Nomad! Don't you get how big an *non portable* the Nomad is?
I remind you that *most* players on the market still have ~64 MB and are still selling. So attempting to invalidate it's usefulness becase it has ~9000 MB is utterly rediculous.
The Nomad is slow and very large, yeah I'm sure it will have firewire 'in the future', but my iPod had it last year and it has more storage space than I even need.
Now just to be clear - *it's not superiour to the Nomad because I have one (that's just a dumb statement to make)* *I bought one because it _was_ superior to the Nomad*.
Hell if I didn't have a G4 PowerBook I *STILL* wouldn't have a Nomad - I'd be sensible and get an Archos:
http://www.thinkgeek.com/stuff/electroni
It's had 20 GB for ages, even when the Nomad had only 6 GB and it costs the same (at least in my local electronics store in London).
Despite it being larger than the iPod (hence the reason I went for an iPod) it's
I don't want to carry around something as clunky as a Discman (like the Nomad), just like I don't want to carry around something as clunky as a Newton anymore.
Even this new one won't fit in my trouser pocket, let alone my shirt pocket!
There is a lot of room for competition in the MP3 player marketplace, some are better than others (for example the Panasonic and Casio offerings are tiny, the Archos has the most space and iPod is the fastest to sync and fit's neatly in between. Whatever the question, the answer is just simply never the Nomad.
With ~20 hours battery life, it will have created a new neiche for itself, but I can fly roughly to the other side of the globe in 10 hours, so I'm not sure that I'd ever need much longer battery life in an MP3 player, unless I take a trip to the moon or something.
Hmm interesting points, thanks.
:-). Also hate the *stupid* way the Finder locks up when dealing with SMB/NFS shares :(
:(
I agree with SMB performance under OS X being pretty crappy, could be my network though
I've not tried the iPod on a Windows PC though, none of the boxes I have at home have Firewire card apart from my PowerBook. I have heard some bad things about it though, but assumed they were teething problems...
Didn't know was that bad on Windows
Most poeple have less than 200 CD's (which the iPod can store). Most poeple even have less than 100 CD's, so the 10 Gb option is far more than they need.
Note that *2* iPods have 20 hours battery life and store 20 GB and are still smaller than *1* Nomad.
Amusing, but points out how much of a size difference there is! Nomad's are *massive* in comparison!
IMO, the ability to play via genre (which is not native to the iPod, but as you say can be done using simple playlists) is one feature and does not make up for the other glaring problems (notibly the size) of the current Nomad range.
:-).
:)
So yes, I think it's fair to to say it's superior. The only thing the Nomad does much better is the battery life, which is great for those on long journeys, though I can fly about half way round the world in 10 hours so the iPod is okay for me, *just*
Personally I don't want this feature as for the most part I listen to Albums that are meant to be listened to end-to-end (and album's by artists like Pink Floyd, Kate Bush etc typically have tracks that run into each other), though I can see how you would want this feature.
I totally cant see how this would put someone off so completly!
It's certainly not true that every CD player in the work lets you "create a playlist on the fly" - very few let you do this IME. Most 'home' systems certainly don't allow this (say from Dixons, Tandy, etc). Also I have two Discmans right here (one Sony, and one Goodmans) and neither of them let me do this.
I can see that these would both be good features to have, thought the second one less so (I think it would be too cumbersome for most people to bother with as it's a device for listening to music, not organising it). Though the iPod's UI makes it easy for me to flip between songs like no other device, it's really quite charming to use.
Oh and one thing perhaps worth pointing out, while you " rarely, if ever, want to listen to songs by artist or album." the world has been listening to music one album or artist at a time for over a hundred years and everybody is most familer with it that way.
That doesn't mean listing by genre isn't a good idea, but it does indicate that most people won't mind if they can't do something they'd never done before
By your reasoning one can only assume that you've never bought a device which couldn't hold your entire collection.
That would mean you don't have a CD player in your car, your CD jukebox at home holds 1500 cds at once and you've *never* listened to music on the move? This must be the case clearly because Walkmans and Discmans only store ONE album at a time, let alone 200 (and they are still bigger than the likes of the iPod & Rio).
This new Nomad unit cant store 1500 CD's (Albums) either. So, your wrong, it *doesnt *"depend on your needs" - if the Nomad can't do what you want either how can it be better?
Regardless of that - 99.99% of people in the market for a portable music device have less than 200 hundred CD's. Most people have around a hundred or so (and so only need about 5 GB for music and tend to use the other half for storing data).
Added to that, it only takes 10 seconds to upload a CD, and it can store 2000 songs, so an iPod is very much *more* than enough for most pople.
Have fun missing out on listening to music while you wait for a pocket sized 80 GB portable MP3 player.
What a jerk ROFL!
Even though you have to download software seperately if your a Windows user, Apple's 10 GB iPod is by far and away better.
There is no way any objective person could think this unit is superior.
It's got a 10 GB HD, 32 MB of Ram, the battery life is 10 hours, you can store your contacts on it, you can use it as a hard drive, you can even *BOOT* off it. There are also 3rd party apps to extend the functionality.
And still it's less then half the size of this thing!
For me, that's a key feature This thing is way too big for my pocket (the Nomad is *still* discman size!). It's just not practicle, whereas my iPod fit's in my shirt pocket (and isn't nearly as heavy).
The iPod is so small, and it's interface so simple and elegant, that I take it everywhere, even just nipping down the to the shop. I know I'd think twice before taking this thing outside with me.
I guess it depends on how much you like music.
- If your a big music fan, then your better off with something cassete player sized (ThinkGeek has one, though bigger that the iPod, it has slightly more storage, and still of a practicle in-your-pocket size)
- If your not a big music fan and only want something for long journeys then this could be the unit for you. But if you are, you'd be better getting a discman for 30 USD instead...
PS2 games certainly look rusty compared to the X box. I have held off buying a PS2 because in reality they weren't all that much better than Dreamcasts (which came out 2 years ealier and was great).
The PS One was great and ahead of the game, but the PS 2 wasa meger upgrade put next to the Dreamcast, and in part only had such a 'wow' factor because the Dreamcast was so poorly marketed that not many people saw it (and partly because they went off Sega after the Mega CD & 32x fiasco and the whipping the Saturn got at the hands of the PS One - which was because Sega made a primarily 2D console where as Sony looked ahead and focused on 3D performance).
If you've seen Dead or Alive 2 on the Dreamcast and on the PS 2 - and noticed how much better is on the Dreamcast (really!), you'll know what I mean about the Dreamcast's great peformance.
That doesn't mean the PS2 is consistantly always performs worse than the Dreamcast, just that it's not really much better (and as it's 2 years older, it *should* be). It's better on paper, but not to the extent that it can render games noticeably better than a Dreamcast as far as most people can tell it's not - which is the point.
The X Box however looks really fantastically better HW wise, the only thing that puts me off is that it's Microsoft. They have obvious things like bump mapping (the PS2 really should have this IMO) and nicer looking filtering on textures (IMO) and certainly seem to be able to shift significantly more heavily textured polygons. The games, like Dead Or Alive 3, look really great to me.
I would love to see GTA3 on the X Box, I think it would really trounce the PS version. This is true because, yes the X-Box is newer and so natrally should have the upper hand a little, but also because the PS2 is not all it should have been (bearning in mind how long it took to come out).
Ericsson have had a BlueTooth hands free for months (maybe even a year now).
:)
:)
:). Steep at 150 UKP though!
They have 3 different models, the first one had technical probs, there is a new one which looks identical but fixes the bugs
There is a third one which looks like a set of stereo headphones, but it attaches to a battery back around your waist (so you may as well just get a normal hands free and stick your phone in your pocket). This one is lame
My boss has one of the new, good kind (and I will two just as soon as my flat mate and my tenant both pay me the rent the are owe
Yes, they theoretically interfere. But every person who's actually tried it with real devices in the real world knows it's not actually a problem.
/non issue/. It's just FUD putting people off for no good reason and it's very disappointing to see - BlueTooth in the US is lagging as it is - it's a great technology and I'm very happy with it (I'm just glad I'm in Europe and can take advantage of greater BlueTooth product avalibility!).
I wish people who've never tried it would stop making such a big deal out of the fact that they happen to cross frequencies - it's REALLY such a
Bluetooth (on my Palm to T39) works very happly with my G4 PowerBook w/ Airport on my lap - neither experience any noticeable problems or cut out.
Both protocals are designed to cope with interference. It's not as if you 'suddenly lose a connection' or 'your bandiwidth suddenly drops' - nothing noticeable happens (network activity is fine and the PDA->Phone interaction is flawless).
Everyone who's actually used them outside of a lab says the same thing. If you had 100 bluetooth devices in the same room, all broadcasting at once, then I wouldn't be too suprised to see a little network slowdown, but even at that extreme, life would be bearable.
Yep I got mine a month ago from Expansys in the UK.
Next day delivery, ordered on the day they were announced. They were even cheaper than the high street price (now that's its in the high street), despite them being amoung first to market.
Congrats to them!
You obviously didn't read any of my posts properly (you keep asking stuff I've already covered).
Apple don't *give* you the window manager, you have to pay for it, it's their value added extra. But it's open so you can run your own Window Manager. They are a company (Jordan Hubbard doesn work for free), this cake is free, but the icing (the enhanced Windowing Environment) costs money.....
Actually they couldn't even give it away if they wanted to (for legal reasons, as they have various licenced technologies such as OpenGL that mean it would literaly cost them for each copy they gave away!).
XFree86 works just fine however, most Darwin x86 uses run it as their windowing enviroment of choice (like most Linux, BSD and GNU OS desktop users).
But as the OS is open source - you are free to write your own (if you don't like X for some reason).
If you pay enough you can get OpenStep with it's Window Manger for Intel.
Good god, every time I point out your mistaken, you think of another excuse...
- darwin-cd-beta2.5-x86.iso.gz
How badly informed can one person be?! You call me a moron and even a troll for saying the thing even *exists*, when it's been ON THE FRONT PAGE OF SLASHDOT.
Well *ACTUALLY* every time you use anonymous FTP you have to specify your email address, that's all Apple are asking for..
But hey, if you are paranoid then just get a Darwin distribution from someone else FFS!
Darwin bootable CD for x86...
http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/gnu-darwin/gnu
Look ma, no registration.
What's with the " Show me! I'm too lazy, or stupid to look for it myself, do it for me! ", you've not even bothered to look.
. 4/release/darwinx86-141.iso.gz
Well I already did tell you where to get it, I posted the address of the Darwin FAQ. If that's too difficult for you to follow, the address is below.
Note they don't sell it, they *give it away*. You can download or just show up at any MacWorld and they will give you a shiny CD you can take home.
Go to www.apple.com, click on the tab "Mac OS X", the click on "Darwin" on the toolbar to check it out for yourself.
Or if your really lazy, just get it from here:
http://www.opensource.apple.com/projects/darwin/1
File size is: 230 MB
MD5 Sum is: 6610cc775144bd8ddeccf5bf194c1945
You can get GNU software from here: http://gnu-darwin.sourceforge.net/x86/
FreeBSD Ports work just fine on Darwin too: http://www.freebsd.org/ports/
Are you honestly so ignorant about this you don't realise that Mac OS X on PPC is a port of OpenStep on x86? It's like everybody knows but you....
You don't get Apple's Window Manger for free of course but then you dont get the Sun's Window Manager unless you pay them for it, and you don't get SGI's Window Manager unless you pay them for it - and neither of *them* give their OS away for free.
So, the only part you'll miss that's not in Darwin on x86 but is in Mac OS X on PPC will be the Window Manager (Which is called Quartz), but XFree86 works just fine and you can run Gnome 1.4 for a pretty desktop.
Well I do work for charity yes, but not as a way of paying the bills - I prefer to do a little bit for work but primarily make monetary donations it makes more sense for me to make $$$$$ a month as good systems engineer and then donate $$$ each month on a regular basis.
But, to reiterate, I find that far less sales people I know do chairity work (well I can't think of any I know that do), than my friends in scientific, engineering or academic fields (of of whom most do do charity work).
I don't mean to imply that sales people are evil, but that they tend to have different motivation to, say, engineers.
Have you seen differently? How many companies have you been at where you've seen otherwise?
Most sales people do behave very differently to technical people.
This is less true of more senior sales staff, but the rank and file are much greedier and less interested in 'the good of society' or the good of anyone else, than your typical engineer, IME.
That's why they are salesmen...
YMMV.
if the software will only run on ONE HARDWARE VENDORS CRAP, we OWN JACK SHIT.
Sun's OS is only supported on *their* hardware.
Unlike Apple's current OS, which runs on x86, a platform they don't even sell.
(technically, the only extra's in Mac OS X are the Window Manager and the Toolkits as with most vendors (including Sun, who ship their own version of X and their own Toolkits with their OS).
Fuck, You are a moron, aren't you.
Well clearly, yes you are.
More than that I'd say your a newbie (not just by your high user number) but by your choice of language and GPL-all-or-nothing attitude.
The *goals* of the GPL (more 'open' software) will fail with people like you at the helm (all hot air). I, for one, care about the big picture.
How often have YOU switched development platforms? IT'S A BIG THING
Well, erm, I do it all the time and don't even think about it. Between Solaris, Darwin, GNU/HURD, Linux and FreeBSD (across x86, Sparc and PowerPC). But then, my code is good.
I'm *currently* developing a project on my G4 PowerBook and checking the code out to FreeBSD system on x86 - everything works just the same, even all the libaries I'm using, not a single problem, different OS, different hardware. Just out of interest, I've exported to a Linux box, and it runs fine on that to, well whaddaya know?.
Developing on Darwin and running on other platforms is a no-brainer. Maybe your just not as good a develper and your code sucks? Maybe you nothing about ProjectBuilder, the history of this operating system of that developers the world over love this platform for development.
Some examples:
Despite Quake III development being started before Mac OS X existed, do you recall that the first time Q3A was seen in public was on Mac OS X? At MacWorld:SF? By John Carmack, in person? (I do, I was there).
Let's not forget that Doom was developed using this OS (older kernel, differenet hardware) using ProjectBuilder (the same project builder I am using now).
So, it's really easy is the sort answer - especially on Mac OS X. That's was one of the whole selling points of the OS as a development platform (write once, and compile for Win32 on x86, Solaris on SPARC and NeXT on 68k with *1* click [the 'Build' icon]). The same icon I click everyday (it's not changed...)
Oh, to drop names, Internet Explorer *still* contains code created by Apple's/NeXT's ProjectBuilder (check the credits, Mosaic was developed with ProjectBuilder, runs just fine on Windows, Mac OS X, Solaris...).
I also notice your a Network Adminstrator for a School, not a Developer, Engineer, Systems Analyst or Academic, so I wonder what makes you think you know so much about this topic? You _really_ don't (just have a big mouth). Try talking to some developers first.
For all your talk I bet your STILL run Windows like most so called "supporters of the GPL" (who wimp out when it comes to games, or some other imagined "critical app").
Real men don't dual boot to Windows, real men don't even run Linux, real men run the GNU operating system.
I've been running it for about a year and a half, maybe nearly 2 years. What about you? Or do you not run the GNU operating system and are you just a full of hot air (i.e. A Windows and Linux dual booter)?
To the person who marked the above post a Troll - WTF?
/. userbase), but I'd pay for that feature :)
How, in the name of all that's holy is that a Troll? Are you paranoid and do you think that *everything* is a Troll? Do you have a mental condition or have you just let your 2 year old bash randomly on the keyboard again?
[ The lyric "Got to keep the lonies on the path" springs to mind. ]
Hmm, here's an idea, I'd love to be able to see all the people that have modded a given post and be able to ignore their moderation of I decide they can't moderate their way out of a paper bag (because presuably they are doing bad moderating on lots of posts, not just mine.)
Would be very expensive on CPU time (bearing in mind the size of the
Sun holds no pretenses that they are an OSS vendor.
That's crap! OF COUSE THEY DO! They sell Linux boxes! Do you really know anything about the industry?
They do it much more so than Apple, for Apple it's a side line they don't push at their main stream customers, while Sun push the same tired stuff at their customers.
To summerize:
Apple open source their operating system (with a rested licence) make it run on x86 (Darwin has done for ~ a year, a fact which people *keep ignoring* when it suits them), rewerite the licence when people complain an yet they are WORSE than SUN?
SUN who REVOKED their open source strategy, and KILLED OF their x86 release? And did nothing when people complained?
How do you figure that?
As for the clones..your comments about that are just retarded too. For what it's worth, everyone in the industry knows that they cancelled the clones because Apple lost major market share to them (intead of attracting more users, it just ate into Apple's existing small share). Apple were in serious danger of going under at the time, and this had to be done.
Again, how does this make Apple worse than Sun?
Your just bashing Apple. That doesn't mean they don't deserve it, but not for this, not when they have done so much more than most other vendors (the only particular exceptions that spring to mind are Red Hat, and IBM).
Apple have been working on open source projects for years. They released a Linux distribution before it became trendy the dot com era buzzword and long before vendors started shipping it on their systems.
Apple have been putting serious effort in to OS development by working with the Open Software Foundation to build a better (Mach) kernel for the last decade, more so then any other vendor.
Their work culmiated in the (free, of course) release of MkLinux - Linux on top of a Mach Microkernel. This was no mean feat and this level of work has been emulated by anyone.
And your right Linux may very well die, but it will have nothing to do with Apple (what a truly bizzare statement!) but because it will be replaced with the GNU operating system, GNU/Hurd (which is a much more advanced Mach microkernel, like the Darwin Kernel).
Which has been the plan all along (try and follow the plot!).
You are living in fantasy land if you thing that Apple is evil or some way the enemy. They are looking out for their own (Staff and & Shareholders) like a all good companies do, but they have done a lot for idea of open source.
I expect their is little point in arguing with you because you seem to be a total anti-mac-zelot (like a mac zelot, but rather than unconditionally love everything Apple do, they unconditionally hate every thing Apple do).
Try and *think* for yourself and act on what you *see*, not your mornic contemporaries have told you....
Wow, this is -really- old news, though I know a lot of /. stuff is old these days, I'm surprised that no one has heard of this before...
.
Personally I first saw this on "Tomorrows World" (a BBC Science and New Technology television program) - about 10 years ago
They even demoed the system in a car, and let you hear the difference.
Just to point out (because I keep reading otherwise in a lot of other posts) that Darwin *does* run on x86. It has done so offically (publicly) for ~ a year.
:)
:(
a q.html
:/ Lame! :P
OS X comes from Rhapsody (which ran on x86 and PPC) which came from OpenStep (which ran on x86, amoung other platforms). We can go further back, but it's really not relevent
Suffice to say that it ran on x86 _long_before_ it ever got to PPC (the whole stuff about them releasing the PPC version first was either about (a) cleaning/organizing up the code on the x86 tree or (b) an utter lie). Either way they were *definately* at the very least _stretching_ the truth about it "not running on Intel" initially.
The've certainly limited the Intel version when loads of functionality from Rhapsody on x86 is missing now..., so they are definately *deliberately* limiting it (though it could be a just a code re-org...)
I don't want to break my NDA, so I'm not going to say more about this.
Anyway, from the Darwin FAQ:
Q. I heard that Darwin runs on Intel processor-based PCs. Is that true?
A. Yes
More at: http://www.opensource.apple.com/projects/darwin/f
PS: That " " in "fa q.html" shouldn't be there, bug in Slashcode!
"Since when did idiocy become a point of view?"-Dilbert
Might be attributable to Dilbert, but I think the one you ment was:
"Since when did ignorance become a point of view?" 8)
They are the most closed company of all. They own the hardware AND the software
Oh COME ON! That's clearly not true.
Firstly:
Sun Microsystems own the hardware and the software!
And Secondly:
Sun no longer freely open source their OS.
And Thirdly:
Darwin runs on x86 and is avalible to all while Sun no longer provide an OS that won't run on their hardware, never mind make it open source!
How are Apple worse than Sun? This really makes you sound like you just simply don't like Apple and are looking for an excuse to justify your position.
The OSS Community will never see a scrap of benefit from Apple.
That's just wrong.
What about the Darwin Streaming Server that is generally considered to be one of the best (beating commercial offerings from Real and Microsoft)
What about MkLinux and what can be gained from the OSF and Mach work on it?
What about they fact that by taking it seriously and by hiring Jordan Hubbard they are lending validity to the whole open source movement?
> Besides, Darwin won't run on anything else
> *but* their hardware
Erm that's not true.
Darwin runs on x86.
Or it could be that I'm *halucinating*, but then it's been a while since I took any mind altering substances, so I don't think so.: P
Just to prove my point, someone modded me down.
YOU SHOULD SPEND MORE POINTS MODDING PEOPLE UP OR THE SYSTEM DOESN'T WORK.
By all means mod troll's down, but by modding post like this down when you could be modding *good* post up, then you are breaking the entire system. *Think!*
**Good Grief**
Oh FWIW, I don't actually have anything against the main content of your post.
I also happen to think Apple is simply cover it's ass, though are being a bit lazy, from there persepective it's almost certainly not worth the $$$ in lawer's fees to get a special contract drawn up (unless of course he is contributing bucket loads of code).
I just happen to have a thing about people saying "that's life" and "welcome to the real world" as it's at the very least partly what we (as a society) make it.
I just really don't like those particular phrases because I've always been an alkward bastard who likes to solve problems rather than learn to live with them (which is usually the situation when someone is uttering one of those phrases, which people do because they are lazy and dumb, unlike good programmers who are lazy and smart and fix the problems simply so they and nobody else ever has to deal with them again).
To summerize:
Fixing problems - Good.
Suggesting to a younger gerneration that they learn to live with problems (like bad legislation) - _*BAD*_