Future iPod Idea...

[tjwett]

i just thought that it would be sick if one day we could connect our iSight cameras to our iPods and record video and audio direct to the hard disk. i think everyone here is agreed that some day the iPod will sport a color LCD and be capable of playing much more than mP3s, the screen would make a neat little view finder for the camera. maybe it's a stupid idea, it is 3:30 in the morning afterall.

[davrouk]

I think the best thing they could do with iPod is make the headset a bluetooth job. I know the iPod is small, but it would still be nice to shove it in your bag and stick the earphones / remote on and control it via wireless.

If it had this, I would have already bought one. As it stands, I'm going to save up the money for one!

[Raiden]

Originally posted by tjwett
i think everyone here is agreed that some day the iPod will sport a color LCD

I disagree. A color LCD would do nothing but a little eye candy, and cut battery life by a 4th. I dont want that.

FYI, theres something called OLED that I dont know anything about, so thats not taken into concideration.

[tjwett]

Originally posted by Raiden
I disagree. A color LCD would do nothing but a little eye candy, and cut battery life by a 4th. I dont want that.

FYI, theres something called OLED that I dont know anything about, so thats not taken into concideration.

not that i'm super passionate about this idea or anything, but isn't battery technology improving very rapidly? plus the whole fuel cell thing. i'm not talking tomorrow but i could see a future version of the iPod becoming more of an input device. anyway...

[LimeLite]

I wouldn't be surprised if Apple is waiting for OLEDs to make iPods color. They are super thin, super bright, and use very little power compared to LCDs. They would make quite an amazing iPod.

[MacFan25]

I think that a color screen would look cool, but I don't want my precious battery life to go down. ;)

[macphoria]

We could have Fuel-Cell iPod in couple of years with color screen and 80Gb HD. Now that could connect to iSight, capture video. And iMovie will have extra Export option, Export to iPod, and you could watch your movie on iPod.

[bluebull]

I have a feeling that the iPod is slowly evolving into a PDA - like device with a huge hard drive.

[Ryan1524]

Originally posted by davrouk
I think the best thing they could do with iPod is make the headset a bluetooth job. I know the iPod is small, but it would still be nice to shove it in your bag and stick the earphones / remote on and control it via wireless.

If it had this, I would have already bought one. As it stands, I'm going to save up the money for one!


what about controlled from BT cellphones. considering apple's friendliness with SE and support for BT, this might happen pretty soon. i hope i hope...;)

[rainman::|:|]

Considering the iSight has a processor requirement of a 600MHz G3, and the iPods is... what, like 16Mhz? the hardware video codecs would surely pose a heat, power, and space problem...

pnw

[LimeLite]

Originally posted by paulwhannel
Considering the iSight has a processor requirement of a 600MHz G3, and the iPods is... what, like 16Mhz? the hardware video codecs would surely pose a heat, power, and space problem...

pnw
It requires a 600Mhz G3 in conjunction with iChat...and that's for streaming video. I'm sure it could be used for still shots and mpeg recording with a future version of iPod, though I think this is unlikely. It's much more likely that if an iPod has a camera that it will be built in.

[mactastic]

I was wondering the same thing myself when I saw the iSight. Sounds like an interesting idea, it would be wonderful if we could use the iPod to record photos/video/audio without having to take my laptop along. Who knows. If anyone can get past the technical hurdles, it is Apple.

[pseudobrit]

Originally posted by tjwett
i just thought that it would be sick if one day we could connect our iSight cameras to our iPods and record video and audio direct to the hard disk

Such a creature would be hideous.

One day, technology will allow the internals of gadgets to be small enough that Apple will be able to make an all-in-one Camera, PDA, MP3 player and cell phone and we'll be done asking for add-on features to the iPod.

Until then, Steve's current digital hub method is preferred. I'd rather have many devices that do one thing well than one device that does most of them half-assed.

When technology allows for a catchall device, you can bet Apple will get the first one to market.

[jxyama]

just my $0.02...

battery technology is actually not keeping up with others. conventional battery based on chemical reactions is still the most efficient one and it has many physical limitations. if battery technology would improve, i'd say all the electronic gadgets could be half the size.

we shall see where the fuel cell technology goes...

[sonofslim]

as long as we're making a blue sky list... how about butane fuel cells that also power a cigarette lighter built in to your ipod? that way when you're bar-hopping in your cool urban neighborhood of choice, you can conspicuously flaunt your ipod without looking like you're conspicuously flaunting your ipod on purpose.

[rueyeet]

I actually like the Bluetooth headphone/remote combo idea, power requirements notwithstanding. I routinely use my iPod on the bus, which goes through neighborhoods where I'd rather no one knew I have an expensive toy like the iPod. :(

Even better: just build the Bluetooth reciever into the remote clip (probably making the clip a wee bit larger, of course) and then just have a place for headphones to plug into the remote. That way the remote and iPod are easily hidden, and any set of non-Apple headphones will do (I currently use the Sony Fontopia ones with the silicon bits that block out most noise).

[LimeLite]

Bluetooth probably won't happen for a while because it drains a *lot* of power. And fuel cell in an iPod? Please, they're having enough trouble in laptops. The only one I've heard of in laptops last about the same amount as regular batteries...and it can't be recharged, you have to replace reactive chemical instead. That doesn't seam very practical. Maybe when they can make fuel cells small enough and powerful enough to last a week, or even just a couple of days...but I'd still rather be able to charge my iPod than have to replace it's "batteries" everytime. Especially for as much as it'd be turned on away from a power source. Maybe in a few years, but by then, I'm sure else will have been discovered.