Really stupid IPod Question
 

It's because I got the pink one, isn't it?

Really stupid IPod Question
 

I was guessing it was the Lee Press-On™ Nails.

Really stupid IPod Question
 

It's an Apple product. When they work, they work very well. But sometimes, for no reason at all, they decide not to work. There is no solution to this. It's just the way it is.

Treo or Blackberry?
 

Assuming I ever have enough business to need one, which would you recommend and why?

Treo or Blackberry?
 

Treo, better overal PDA. Better phone.

Treo or Blackberry?
 

If you are a heavy e-mail user, I would stick to a BB, especially if you have a blackberry enterprise server environment available. This combo gives you instant push email (every email you send and receive is wirelessly synced with your MS exchange/lotus server); wireless calendar sync; and wireless address book sync.

On the other hand, if email is not a priority, I suggest going with a GSM Treo 650.

Treo or Blackberry?
 

I would be getting primarily for email, but as a solo, I don't know that the investment in an enterprise server can be justified.

Treo or Blackberry?
 

If e-mail is your primary app, BB is a no-brainer, with or without the BES. Total cost would be less that $2000 to implement BES, and that will pay for itself in no time flat. We implimented a BES in our small office (less than 10 attys.) in the last year, and it's a very useful tool. PM me if you want to discuss further.

Mayhem
 

RICHMOND, Va. - A rush to purchase $50 used laptops turned into a violent stampede Tuesday, with people getting thrown to the pavement, beaten with a folding chair and nearly driven over. One woman went so far as to wet herself rather than surrender her place in line.

An estimated 5,500 people turned out at the Richmond International Raceway in hopes of getting their hands on one of the 4-year-old Apple iBooks. The Henrico County school system was selling 1,000 of the computers to county residents.

Officials opened the gates at 7 a.m., but some already had been waiting since 1:30 a.m. When the gates opened, it became a terrifying mob scene.

People threw themselves forward, screaming and pushing each other. A little girl’s stroller was crushed in the stampede. Witnesses said an elderly man was thrown to the pavement, and someone in a car tried to drive his way through the crowd.

Seventeen people suffered minor injuries, with four requiring hospital treatment, Henrico County Battalion Chief Steve Wood said. There were no arrests and the iBooks sold out by 1 p.m.

"It's rather strange that we would have such a tremendous response for the purchase of a laptop computer — and laptop computers that probably have less-than- desirable attributes," said Paul Proto, director of general services for Henrico County. "But I think that people tend to get caught up in the excitement of the event — it almost has an entertainment value."

Blandine Alexander, 33, said one woman standing in front of her was so desperate to retain her place in line that she urinated on herself.

"I've never been in something like that before, and I never again will," said Alexander, who brought her 14-year-old twin boys to the complex at 4:30 a.m. to wait in line. "No matter what the kids want, I already told them I'm not doing that again."

Jesse Sandler said he was one of the people pushing forward, using a folding chair he had brought with him to beat back people who tried to cut in front of him. "I took my chair here and I threw it over my shoulder and I went, 'Bam,'" the 20-year-old said nonchalantly, his eyes glued to the screen of his new iBook, as he tapped away on the keyboard at a testing station. "They were getting in front of me and I was there a lot earlier than them, so I thought that it was just," he said.

Most of them will be on Ebay by tomorrow.

RAZR
 

Anyone have this phone? Pros? Cons?

Also - has anyone purchased a new phone/plan via Amazon? For whatever reason, Amazon is offering much lower prices than buying direct from the carrier.

RAZR
 

The guy who sold me my car had one - he loves it. His only issue is with Cingular coverage - which is crap in this area. Unless it's gotten better. Some people have complained that the buttons are hard to use. I guess it depends on how fat your fingers are. Are you still stuck with Cingular? And I guess T-Mobile has one now. I dumped my ATT right after the merger, so I'm not sure about the coverage, but ATT sucked in the city. Sucked hard.

RAZR
 

But did it swallow?

eta: ooops, wrong board, pardon moi

Vonage
 

NEW YORK - Providers of Internet-based phone services may be forced next week to cut off tens of thousands of customers who haven't formally acknowledged that they understand the problems they may encounter dialing 911 in an emergency.

The Federal Communications Commission had set the Monday deadline as an interim safeguard while providers of Internet calling, also known as "VoIP" for Voice over Internet Protocol, rush to comply with an FCC order requiring full emergency 911 capabilities by late November.

Vonage Holdings Corp., the biggest VoIP carrier with more than 800,000 subscribers, told The Associated Press Wednesday that 96 percent of its customer base have responded to the company's notices about 911 risks. But that still means as many as 31,000 accounts would need to be shut off as early as Tuesday.



Vonage et al

No link to cancer - this week.
 

LONDON - Ten years of using a mobile phone results in no increased risk of a tumor in the nerve connecting the ear to the brain, researchers said on Tuesday.

But amid public concern about a possible link, the scientists who conducted the largest study so far on the subject said they could not rule out a higher risk over a longer period.

“The results of our study suggest there is no substantial risk in the first decade after starting use,” said Anthony Swerdlow of the Institute of Cancer Research.

“Whether there are longer-term risks remains unknown, reflecting the fact that this is a relatively recent technology.”

I anticipate next week's research showing an actual link to tumors.

link

It's a secret
 

Apple fuels buzz of mystery iPod
Special announcement set for next week

Analysts' speculation on what Apple might unveil next week revolved around two potential products: a long-awaited cell phone from Motorola that plays iTunes music and an iPod that plays video.

The phone was announced earlier, but details have been lacking on what it looks like and how it will work with Apple's online music.
"I don't think we're going to see a video iPod from Apple," said Michael Gartenberg, an analyst at Jupiter Research. "They're still adamant about the notion of portable video: lack of content, poor viewing experience and long download times."

He thinks Apple and Motorola will finally unveil the promised iTunes- enabled cell phone and perhaps a revamped line of iPods.

Wall Street analyst Gene Munster also thinks next week's event will be about the Motorola phone. In fact, he believes that after next week's event, Apple will unveil, at Macworld in Paris on Sept. 20, new versions of the iPod Shuffle and perhaps a new iPod Mini that uses flash memory rather than a hard drive.

The Mini, which comes in five colors, has been the most popular iPod. Apple's color-screen iPod Photo has been a flop, he said.

Word on the street is that it's going to be a release of a larger version of the Ipod shuffle with a larger flash memory. For a secret release, though, there sure is a lot of information about it.

It's not just chips and pop anymore
 

Travelers, hotel guests and visitors to fast-food restaurants now can use vending machines to buy electronic gadgets and other items that cost as much as $500.

Companies that are offering these services are hoping that U.S. consumers, increasingly conditioned by the Web to buy big-ticket items without a person present, won't hesitate to pay vending machines for items that cost 500 times as much as a bag of chips. It is also a gamble that the U.S. market is ready for a form of automated retailing that is commonplace in Japan and other countries, where consumers can readily purchase everything from fresh bags of rice to cellphone accessories via vending machines.

In one significant bet, Zoom Systems, a San Francisco start-up, plans to add more than 100 locations by the end of the year to its existing system of 165 high-end vending machines that sell expensive Bose headphones, iPods and wireless laptop cards. The machines are in airports, hotels and grocery stores. Zoom says it plans to be in a total of about 3,000 locations within the next two years, including office campuses and universities around the country.

Yes, I love technology . . .
 

http://images.apple.com/itunes/mobil...ne20050907.jpg

Holy moly, I just might have to totally gadget freak out on this one.

Yes, I love technology . . .
 

Dude, you need to provide details. $249. Not bad. The new Motorola Rokr phone holds up to 100 songs, which can be downloaded from a computer using a USB cable. The phone uses the iTunes software to play and organize songs and has a special button on the keypad marked by iTunes-style green music notes.

In addition..The Nano models are one-third the size of the colorful iPod Minis, which had been Apple's best selling model.

"The iPod Nano is the biggest revolution since the original iPod," Jobs said. Like the iPod Shuffle, the Nano uses solid state flash memory, compared to the iPod Mini and the regular iPods that use a small hard drive to store songs. Apple priced a 4-GB model, which holds up to 1,000 songs, at $249 and a 2-GB, 500-song model at $199.
Both have color screens and click wheels, come in either black or white and are thinner than a pencil.

speaking of iPods
 

I can't seem to download the new version of iTunes. It always stops in the middle. Is there any way I can check to see what's getting in the way? Could it be my firewall? I've tried it both with IE and with Mozilla and the problem is the same. Could it be my wireless? I might have an ethernet cable lying around somewhere.

speaking of iPods
 

Wait a day-probabaly the server is overwhelmed. Besides, it's better to let someone else tell Apple it crashed your machine.

speaking of iPods
 

Prolly the firewall.

Yes, I love technology . . . iPod Nano
 

OK, so the Nano looks really cool and all:

http://images.apple.com/ipodnano/ima...re20050907.jpg

But why kill off your best selling iPod when you announce it? I understand that they are, in essence, two products going after the same market share, but when you have something that works, why change it? Seems like a New Coke kind of move to me.

aV

Yes, I love technology . . . iPod Nano
 

If they had colors, instead of black and white, would you say the same thing? It's a mini, with a different name, more features (e.g., color screen), and fewer colors. Can't say I disagree about dropping the colors, but how many people bought the mini because it was pink? I would guess not so many.

Yes, I love technology . . . iPod Nano
 

Ahem. I love my pink mini. (Somehow, that sounds really geeky and really dirty all at the same time.)

Yes, I love technology . . . iPod Nano
 

From what I understand, the earphone jack for the Nano is on the bottom of the device. Not sure how I would like that. Believe me, I like the bells and whistles that are on the Nano, but as B 'n B points out, consumers like certain products for lots of different reasons. Color is certainly not an unreasonable factor in the decision.

New Coke beat Classic Coke in every single blind taste test that market researchers did before the roll out.

aV

Yes, I love technology . . . iPod Nano
 

But if pink werent' available, would you have bought it in a different color (gold, silver, lime?)

iPod Kil. . . WALKMAN
 

Sony throws it down just a few hours after Apple's big announcements.

The new WALKMAN

http://img.engadget.com/common/image...12931525180036

I have seen a few other pictures and the device is actually quite a bit larger than any of the iPods. The screen is "organic" and looks pretty cool. A 6 gig and a 20 gig model I believe. And yes, it does come in colors.

aV

Yes, I love technology . . . iPod Nano
 

Pretty sure one could turn it bottoms-up. Ask BnB how.

Yes, I love technology . . . iPod Nano
 

ZING!

aV

iPod Kil. . . WALKMAN
 

Looks pretty cool, but they have to overcome the hurdle of proprietary formatting that Apple seems to have beaten.

And it looks like it comes in two colors, silver and purple ("purple's a fruit").

iPod Kil. . . WALKMAN
 

http://img.engadget.com/common/image...81075182535305

aV

iPod Kil. . . WALKMAN
 

Oops.

http://www.podcastingnews.com/archiv...ros_wal_3.html

The 20GB model has only the two colors. I was going to blame PR, but now i blame my reading comprehension.

For kicky and cute, I rather prefer the Walkman Bean.
http://www.sony.co.uk/content/images/main,474.jpg

Apple suckitude
 

BTW, I tend to agree with the critics of the iTunes phone. (other than the used of "diluted" where "deluded" was meant).

Overpriced and underwhelming. I suspect Apple did this mainly to be first to market. Surely they had to bite their tongue in allowing Cingular to charge $2/song. Better to be in the game than on the sidelines, I suppose was the thinking, but I can't see the appeal. I have a cell phone. I have an iPod. This is not a peanut-butter cup.

Yes, I love technology . . . iPod Nano
 

I color I really liked could push me into buying one sooner rather than later. I've been putting it off. Alas, have not yet seen a color that really grabbed me.

Apple suckitude
 

Atticus?

Apple suckitude
 

I agreed with him when this was only rumors.

Do you have a pink Mini?

Apple suckitude
 

Hell no. The guy at the Apple store told me that was only for the 15 yo girls. Seriously. He said, "you don't want that one, it's for 15 yo girls in high school. It's only $50 more for the real one." Something to that effect. And actually I was looking at the pretty blue one. But they have plastic rubberized covers for the "real" Ipod that you can get in any color. I still chose clear.

Yes, I love technology . . . iPod Nano
 

You can pretty much pick your color here

eta: sample:

http://www.colorwarepc.com/_inventor...iPod/2_1_7.jpg

Yes, I love technology . . . iPod Nano
 

They killed the Mini because their studies showed that the vast majority of people who buy iPods have far fewer than 1,000 songs on them. They also didn't want to hear another five years of criticism because their HD-based iPods weren't shock-proofed for running, etc. Add in the always-diminishing cost of flash memory, and getting rid of the mid-market HD-based device was a no-brainer. It makes no sense to have HD capacity for 2,000 songs when only 200 of them are being synced. Do you really need 12 days of continuous-play music when 3 days will suffice, and battery life is less than that anyway?

Consider also that iTunes 5 tweaked the shuffle feature to be a little bit "smarter." People are using their iPods on random sync, random play to create customized radio stations, not to make their entire libraries transportable. The people who want to fit their entire music libraries on a portable device weren't buying the Mini anyway.

Apple suckitude
 

Up-selling through insult. Genius Bar indeed.