If you actually go through the article, you'll see the discussion of the 3rd-party software used to make the iPod compatible. Moreover, Apple appears to be allowing them. I don't see where it refers to Apple themselves selling this software, at all. Neither does it say that they're planning on making a non-Firewire version...
There is something wrong with your iPaq's battery. I use mine with a CF sleeve, and can usually get 1.5 hours out of it (some get 2-2.5). With a PC sleeve (and its corresponding battery) you can get 4-7 hours.
That's why those devices (Sharp, Casio, etc.) never gained the popularity that Palm/PocketPC has. Palm's big innovation was making HotSync easy and reliable, and bundling the cable/cradle in the box. That, and opening up the API so we could play games on it:)
iPaqs are already available, and have been for a while, in quantity. Amazon has the 3635 in stock (do a search for iPaq), as long as you don't mind buying from Mr. 1-Click.
Now, if you're looking for the 64MB iPaq, yes, that is in very short supply.
As to whether it's worth it, if you want a color screen and MP3 capability, and are willing to overlook some of the QA issues (slightly higher defect rate), it's a superb unit. If you really are only going to use it as an organizer it's probably overkill. I paired mine with a Microdrive and use it for MP3's all the time.
Many of the Wince devices suffer from serious interface issues. Start button on a handheld, anyone???
Actually, the Start button on a PocketPC works just like the Applications launcher on a Palm, but better. MS has fixed this issue quite well.
Also, the power use issues on them won't go away. They have true multitasking, lots of memory and fast processors. While I'd normally say this is good, it is such a drain on batteries that they just can't hold up to Palm devices. They need big expensive batteries just to get acceptable lifespan, whereas Palms can last much longer on a single charge.
No longer nearly as true. The m505 and the iPaq, for example, have similar battery life. Most lithium-ion devices have somewhere between 10-20 hours battery life. Admittedly, the Palms' simpler OS leads to smaller/simpler applications, so heavy usage may differ. But I've rarely had battery life issues with my iPaq.
Making lightweight devices just isn't Micro$oft's strong point. The only way that Palm can lose is by making their new devices so expensive that they look like Wince competitors. Oh wait, they are doing that. Oh well, I can't help it if they hang themselves when they have the better product.
Of course, the other consideration here is as powerful processors get cheaper and less power-hungry, the "visible" strikes against WinCE-based devices are less and less. Witness the StrongARM chip - it runs WinCE fast and has decent battery life. I don't hate the Palm per se - I used it for many years, and found it extremely useful in what it does - but MS is on its third generation, and history shows they usually get "close enough" to their competition before moving forward in one way or another.
Please refrain from complaining about hypocrisy when it does not actually exist.
Whoah, whoah, relax:) "If you thought..." - where did you see the hypocrisy? Did I actually STATE that the US is any better? Or worse? I live in the US, but I'm not trying to defend them--or Europe.
Now that I reread it, I agree it's probably a poor choice of words; my general point was intended to be that this is pervasive around the world and in all subjects, not just technology.
If you thought only Europe issues stupid patents, you should read the Patents section every Monday in the NYT. Many are disturbing, IMHO. Yesterday's is at http://partners.nytimes.com/2000/11/20/business/20 PATE.html; check out the second patent:
Greeting cards already play music when opened; next, they will release an occasion-appropriate scent. Donald Spector, who lives in Union City, N.J., has patented a greeting card that emits an aroma.
The card comes with a small port on its rear panel. The port is covered with a sticker; inside is a small, vented bag containing plastic beads that have been infused with a fragrance. The aroma escapes from the bag through the vent.
A person who gets one of Mr. Spector's cards would open it, read the greeting and then peel off the sticker covering the port to release the scent of roses on Valentine's Day, chocolate cake on a birthday, or gingerbread, eggnog, or pine boughs at Christmas. Mr. Spector received patent 6,024,386.
No, no, no! It does *NOT* use 8 wires. Two pairs are set aside for other purposes (voice, etc.) This is the 100BASE-TX specification. There *is* a 100BASE-T4 specification, which uses all 4 pairs, but this is rarely used and is for lower-than-CAT5 cabling.
You can get from 2.5 to 5 hours on that tine little thing. Wow. Amazing. My 1998 Wallstreet G3 gets 3 on one battery and has a 14 inch screen.
Realize a key fact here: the battery on the PictureBook is small. The G3 laptop batteries are likely much larger. If you look at many of the other x86 laptops that are out there (weighing 4.5-7 pounds) they have very decent battery life. I have a Sony 505TX with a quad-capacity battery, weighing about 4.5-5 pounds, that gives me 6+ hours battery life. But it's not 2.2 pounds!
(Interesting note: the quad-capacity battery on the SuperSlims such as my 505TX is the same one as the PictureBook C1XS, and hopefully this unit... and did you see the battery times with the quad on the new unit? Up to 20 hours!)
The battery life on the previous PictureBooks, with any use, quickly dropped to under 2 hours. So, for it, this is a huge improvement. And this is why the Transmeta chip is so useful.
Of course, we'll have to see whether or not the claims pan out to reality.
/.'ers, please check out the site before commenting:
There is *no* trial download available, despite the "press release" saying that the product was released a *year* ago. I'd think/. would find it before that.
If you look at the site structure, everything is flat-file, i.e. it's all page_XX.htm. Highly unprofessional site.
The "buy now" page is insecure, so I wouldn't try it.
They say that USA Today, etc. have commented on Flash VOS; I just tried a google search and nothing showed up on the first page.
If I'm wrong, someone please post a clarification. The only thing is that the domain seems legit: a whois lookup shows that it was registered in 1998...
I do hope you're only trolling. Otherwise, I'll have to say you obviously don't know the first about being left-handed. Your mind has much better control over your left hand than it does over your right. It's just like us righties have so little control over our left hands.
No, I do hope you're trolling. I'm lefthanded, was born that way, but use the mouse with my RIGHT hand. You can learn any skill with either hand if you try and develop the motor control and the muscles.
Also notice that the PCB is manufactured by Adaptec (logo at bottom left), and on the "multiprocessor board" they're all Adaptec SCSI controllers. If you've ever played with a 2940 PCI controller you'll notice it's the same style chip:)
Interesting - this might mean that the PII Xeons are becoming the next PPros. Of course, the availability of these puppies is going to suffer very quickly...
First off, note that it's unlikely that full-fledged DSL routers will ever be discontinued -- you'll still need them for networks, etc.; no sane sysadmin is going to rely on a software-based router, when their servers have enough CPU utilization as it is. Second, this will help especially for poorer people - free DSL can now be that much closer to free (not that I'd use it, but the days of $20-$30 DSL are that much closer...) Third, gamers -- don't buy these and you can beat up on all the warez d00dz whose mommies bought them the el cheapo DSL router! You've got a tactical advantage here! Don't complain!:-) --bdj
I saw this a while ago and was tempted to buy one - Sony has some of the best designs out there. Then one discovers it's SDMI compliant.
But now, stop and think for a minute. This is Sony. Owner of one of the BIGGEST record labels in the country, and they're best buddies with the RIAA. What did you expect?
I think I'll wait for the new Creative Labs one coming out, or that Pine Music CD/MP3 player. I would stay away from this one until the SDMI stuff sorts out, personally.
OK, so I admit that one of the most common complaints that new Linux users have is that they can't get their winmodem to work in Linux. Most of them go out and buy real modems and are then happy. Allowing them to use winmodems in linux however will keep them from ever buying a full modem and seeing that it is remarkably better.
But for simple e-mail and some minimal web browsing the performance isn't substantially different to make this a big point.
Also people will no longer make sure the new system they are getting does NOT have a winmodem. This has one major disadvantage, the companies that make the winmodems will get more and more buisness. Thus the already difficult task of finding a modem that isn't a winmodem will become significanlty MORE difficult.
Well, what *is* a winmodem? It's a software-based modem. There's nothing wrong with that in theory; the problem is that the modem manufacturers haven't released the specs or the source code on how to drive these modems, and only release Windows drivers. Many of them use Lucent's or Rockwell's chipsets -- if we could convince THEM that it is well worth it to open their specifications (What are they gonna lose? Some STATE-OF-THE-ART technology? Oh, the horror!) then software modems could be justifiable for everyone, because they really do lower the cost a few bucks (yeah, yeah, not that it makes a big difference, but in today's cut-throat world they all try to cut).
Of course *real* modems have their advantages, especially for people who want the least CPU utilization and lowest ping times, especially gamers or for dial-in servers. But there isn't anything inherently evil about software-based modems that require us to stamp them from the earth. Remember the big trend a couple years ago towards multipurpose DSP's that could drive your modem and your sound card (for instance, MWave)? They're great ideas... IF the companies that designed and built them allowed others to tap into the power and support other platforms.
While I think it's unfortunate that this happened, and unfortunate that there's no way NSI can be held responsible, I also don't see what would be so bad about simply taking a different domain name - sure, "races.com" would have been nice, but there are plenty of other names out there that would work just as well.
Well, there is the small matter of the 4 grand or so he shelled out to buy races.com...
This point of view changed when I met a 5 year old boy who had been playing doom since he could hold a mouse.
What the hell is a 5-year-old doing playing Doom? Every parent I've met makes a point of keeping such games away from that age, when children don't know what "reality" is quite yet.
How did he get the game? What, his PARENTS bought it for him? Even though there are warnings on the cover!? I think it is VERY clear that the parents are to blame here.
Quite frankly, to extend that example into a general commentary on the effects of games on children is too simplistic. But what that kid's parents are allowing him to do is a microcosm of the problems we have and the problems we face...
Slashdot Mirror
If you actually go through the article, you'll see the discussion of the 3rd-party software used to make the iPod compatible. Moreover, Apple appears to be allowing them. I don't see where it refers to Apple themselves selling this software, at all. Neither does it say that they're planning on making a non-Firewire version...
--bdj
--bdj
--bdj
p.s. *I* thought it was funny.
--bdj
Now, if you're looking for the 64MB iPaq, yes, that is in very short supply.
As to whether it's worth it, if you want a color screen and MP3 capability, and are willing to overlook some of the QA issues (slightly higher defect rate), it's a superb unit. If you really are only going to use it as an organizer it's probably overkill. I paired mine with a Microdrive and use it for MP3's all the time.
--bdj
--bdj
Now that I reread it, I agree it's probably a poor choice of words; my general point was intended to be that this is pervasive around the world and in all subjects, not just technology.
--bdj
--bdj
http://support.intel.com/support/express/switches/ 10100fast/22421.htm shows that each pair satifies the half of the full-duplex connection.
--bdj
(Interesting note: the quad-capacity battery on the SuperSlims such as my 505TX is the same one as the PictureBook C1XS, and hopefully this unit... and did you see the battery times with the quad on the new unit? Up to 20 hours!)
The battery life on the previous PictureBooks, with any use, quickly dropped to under 2 hours. So, for it, this is a huge improvement. And this is why the Transmeta chip is so useful.
Of course, we'll have to see whether or not the claims pan out to reality.
--bdj
--bdj
- There is *no* trial download available, despite the "press release" saying that the product was released a *year* ago. I'd think
/. would find it before that.
- If you look at the site structure, everything is flat-file, i.e. it's all page_XX.htm. Highly unprofessional site.
- The "buy now" page is insecure, so I wouldn't try it.
- They say that USA Today, etc. have commented on Flash VOS; I just tried a google search and nothing showed up on the first page.
If I'm wrong, someone please post a clarification. The only thing is that the domain seems legit: a whois lookup shows that it was registered in 1998...--bdj
--bdj
--bdj
--bdj
--bdj
Grr. To hell with it all. I'm gonna post my posts NAKED, without any previewing. :-)
--bdj
First off, note that it's unlikely that full-fledged DSL routers will ever be discontinued -- you'll still need them for networks, etc.; no sane sysadmin is going to rely on a software-based router, when their servers have enough CPU utilization as it is. Second, this will help especially for poorer people - free DSL can now be that much closer to free (not that I'd use it, but the days of $20-$30 DSL are that much closer...) Third, gamers -- don't buy these and you can beat up on all the warez d00dz whose mommies bought them the el cheapo DSL router! You've got a tactical advantage here! Don't complain! :-) --bdj
But now, stop and think for a minute. This is Sony. Owner of one of the BIGGEST record labels in the country, and they're best buddies with the RIAA. What did you expect?
I think I'll wait for the new Creative Labs one coming out, or that Pine Music CD/MP3 player. I would stay away from this one until the SDMI stuff sorts out, personally.
--bdj
Of course *real* modems have their advantages, especially for people who want the least CPU utilization and lowest ping times, especially gamers or for dial-in servers. But there isn't anything inherently evil about software-based modems that require us to stamp them from the earth. Remember the big trend a couple years ago towards multipurpose DSP's that could drive your modem and your sound card (for instance, MWave)? They're great ideas... IF the companies that designed and built them allowed others to tap into the power and support other platforms.
--bdj
--bdj
--bdj
--bdj
--bdj
How did he get the game? What, his PARENTS bought it for him? Even though there are warnings on the cover!? I think it is VERY clear that the parents are to blame here.
Quite frankly, to extend that example into a general commentary on the effects of games on children is too simplistic. But what that kid's parents are allowing him to do is a microcosm of the problems we have and the problems we face...
--bdj