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Wifi/Video iPod?

Lepton said:
Wi-Fi makes sense. Airport Express needs a remote, everyone said so, and Apple winked back a smiling "we know".

I predict an accessory. Small, Wi-Fi, half power (150ft), b only, battery operated, plugs into the iPod, makes it a dynamite remote for your computer. It is not meant for syncing to the computer or streaming out of the iPod, even though it might be possible to do. It is meant to send commands to your computer to run AppleScripts. Scripts will control iTunes, presentations and ALL sorts of things. Scripts reside on the computer but if they are missing a copy is on the iPod and sent to the computer.

Next gen iPods might have this built in.

As for Bluetooth, there is a new profile for it that can stream CD-quality audio to good stereo headphones. We can easily imagine this in an iPod to allow for wireless headphones. I'm up for that!

As for video, we should remember that Apple probably doesn't hire people for the very short term. Someday video will be in handheld Apple devices and the research of this will take a while.

I don't see a video product right away, though I'm dying for one. Apple's pattern is usually not to be first in such obvious products. Note the iPod was not first, it was best. Same with iSight and any number of products. So, let the other guys come out with the first gen of video devices, let them shake it out enough so Apple can see what people REALLY need in such a device and what people REALLY do and can do with it. Then, when the right hardware is available, a dyno-mite product will appear.

I see a video product coming out after the OLED screens are up to speed. Brighter, thinner, lighter, wider view, lower power. Main problem left is limited lifetime. Then, I see a device that is thin, Wi-Fi g, OLED with stylius, and optimized to run Apple Remote Access! In other words it's not as much a stand alone device as it is a remote screen for a real Mac. Now THERE'S a remote!
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Dude, you're like Ms. Cleo. Are you using a deck of tarot cards or what? "I see this, I don't see that." It's like you're reading Steve Jobs' palm or something! :D

I guess my big question is this: Since I've looked at some teardown pics of the 4G iPod, and there is pretty clearly no antenna in there for either bluetooth or wifi, the only option is to come out with some external attachment device that would likely plug into the dock connector to provide these functionalities, if they become available at all. That being the case, why would said attachments not work with other generations of the iPod featuring the dock connector, i.e. the 3G iPods or the minis?

I'm all for having wireless cababilities built into the iPod, to give it the ability to loop into the AirTunes scene or act as a "whole-mac remote" as you suggest. A wifi gadget to stream music from an iPod to an airport express and into a stereo would be awesome...kinda like a super-duper iTrip...and I guess I could maybe see that happening. But likely not.

And back to what somebody else said earlier, I'd love to have a radio tuner built in. I am a huge baseball fan, and I like listening to game casts on AM radio while doing yard work or at the ball park. I also really really enjoy a local heavy metal radio station on the FM dial, and I like to listen to that station now and again to hear what's new in rock and roll, hear newer artists or newer songs from my favorite artists that I don't have in my collection (yet). Radio helps me find the next song or album I want to buy. It's like...research. I just get tired of commercials in a BIG hurry, and then I start to miss the commercial-free joy of the iPod again. If I could do all that directly from my iPod, I might super-glue those little earbuds to my head.

Lastly, here's a crazy idea. Not sure why nobody has come out with something like this yet...or maybe it exists and I just haven't seen it yet. I want an iPod powered car stereo. Not like the iPodYourBMW stick-it-in-the-glovebox solution, either. I'm talking about an in-dash stereo that has a slot where you could horizontally slide-in and "dock" your iPod. The screen interface and playback controls would then switch from the iPod to the car stereo deck, and you control your songs, albums, playlists, volume, shuffle, etc. right on the face of the stereo deck with regular tactile buttons like you find on any other car stereo. When you get to where you're going, you just "eject" your iPod from the dock, jack in your headphones, and be on your merry way. Now THAT would be sweetness. I'd gladly pay a few hundred bucks for something like that, especially if it were made by Apple. It'd be just like buying a new car stereo and mounting it in the dash, except...way, way cooler. :cool:

-Joe
 
i see...

JoePike said:
Lastly, here's a crazy idea. Not sure why nobody has come out with something like this yet...or maybe it exists and I just haven't seen it yet. IIt'd be just like buying a new car stereo and mounting it in the dash, except...way, way cooler. :cool:

-Joe
Click to expand...

yeah Alpine is releasing it.
http://www.alpine-usa.com/products/leading_technology/leading_tech_kca-420i.htm
Oh yeah, I used my tarot cards, but no Miss Cleo.
oops, iPod still goes in the glove box...
 
JoePike said:
Yeah, we're in for a bunch of trouble here, aren't we Mac fans? All those brainless consumers out there who spend $350 on their garbage Winblows machines will be flooding the MS online music store to purchase MS garbage-encoded music online with their garbage dialup connections so they can play them on their garbage 128MB Rio MP3 players. Watch out!

I give it three days until some hacker figures out a way to spread a nasty chaos-enducing virus by exploiting some inevitable major security flaw in this Microsoft music store, undermining the entire thing and running it into the ground. Mark my words...
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Yeah, the virus will overwrite all the music with Britney Spears tracks that don't actually play properly and blue-screen your player! But no-one buying from the MS store will notice the difference. :(
 
Remember the iPod 4G is completely redesigned hardware and software wise so it could be ready to accept the new hardware while older 3G just can't accept the new hardware.
 
comictimes said:
I personally would much rather have them focus on making the ipod as ridiculously tiny and thin as possible rather than give it more features. Or, if they do make a video ipod, I would like for them to make a related product, but split it off from the ipod line. So that you will be able to have your tiny ipod which plays music and does a couple other spiffy things, or your slightly larger physically ipod which can play movies as well as music... that would be good, I think.
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Agreed. The ipod does music well, and that's the only thing I want it for. If somebody wants an everything pod, they can, but please don't kill the ipod because you think music will get old, and there have to be new features. Music's been around for thousands of years, and I'm not tired of it yet, are you? If they didn't add a single feature, and just shrunk it down until I put it on my key chain (including wireless headphones) and maybe 350 GB, eventaully, I'd be perfectly happy and willing to buy the next version until then.
 
dontmatter said:
Agreed. The ipod does music well, and that's the only thing I want it for. If somebody wants an everything pod, they can, but please don't kill the ipod because you think music will get old, and there have to be new features.
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I also agree, as i said in an earlier post (page 3, I think). At first I was skeptical about Apple NOT coming out with a iPod with video capabilities, but after thinking about it logically it really doesn't make sense to do so. The iPod is a music player, and a damn good one at that. Adding video means more expense, a much bigger unit (to account for the huge ass battery needed to power the screen), and bigger hard drives. By adding video (at this time in technology), everything we know and love about the iPod will cease and all for some stupid ability to play videos that one might only use when on a plane or road trip.

It's my experience that people use the iPod when walking to class, driving in the car, jogging, etc, all times which watching a video just isn't feaseable.
 
nothing in it

Maybe it's simply that Apple have just lost a guy with all these qualifications and just want to replace him, personally I see nothing striking in this advertisment.

I do however think there is far more mileage in the capabilities of the iPod, but one thing I'm sure will not happen is that apple will make crude developments to make the iPod an all in one gadget.

Video,,, well maybe, but I can't see it being anything as crude as 3G video, maybe an add on that will transmit mpg2 or .mov files to another add on plugged into your scart port on your TV (maybe slideshows produced in iphoto).

Apple won't make any tacky advances, but I'm sure they will make advances. I just don't think this job advertisment is any indication of what they are up to.
 
JoePike said:
Dude, you're like Ms. Cleo. Are you using a deck of tarot cards or what? "I see this, I don't see that." It's like you're reading Steve Jobs' palm or something! :D

I guess my big question is this: Since I've looked at some teardown pics of the 4G iPod, and there is pretty clearly no antenna in there for either bluetooth or wifi, the only option is to come out with some external attachment device that would likely plug into the dock connector to provide these functionalities, if they become available at all. That being the case, why would said attachments not work with other generations of the iPod featuring the dock connector, i.e. the 3G iPods or the minis?
Click to expand...

When it comes to things Mac, I see visions. Oh wait, something's coming in.. I see... you are buying all my software, in vast quantities...

Yes, I do envision a Wi-Fi accessory, something like the Griffin iTrip. Small, fits on most iPods. New iPod firmware not required. The iTrip is an FM transmitter, programmed by special MP3 files you put on your iPod. I can see something like that here. An MP3 with embedded scripts in special tags. I see programmer-types making a simple program so people can embed their own scripts in the MP3s to do - whatever. That's the beauty of it. As for security, I feel it can be handled in various ways. You have encryption on the Wi-Fi link, and the scripts can only do things the user receiving them can.

I'm a software, not a hardware guy, but I believe this could be done right now by any hardware folk who know how to interface with the iPods.
 
iTablet

aswitcher said:
I wonder if this thign appears whether it will be from the iPod division or the main Mac comp division...
Click to expand...

I'd say from the iPod division. They should be better at luring in present iPod users.

:) 717
 
Interesting Register Article

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/02/25/ibm_debuts_pocketsized_pc/

IBM debuts pocket-sized PC
By Tony Smith (tony.smith at theregister.co.uk)
Published Wednesday 25th February 2004 12:36*GMT

IBM Japan has developed a tiny prototype PC that measures just 16 x 8.2 x 2.2cm (6.4 x 3.3 x 0.9in) and weights a mere 300g (10.6oz), the company said today.

For now dubbed the PC Core System, the (literally) pocket PC is based on a 1GHz Transmeta Crusoe TM5800 processor. Inside the case, you'll also find 256MB of memory - it can take up to 512MB - and a 20GB 2.5in hard drive. The machine runs a variety of versions of Windows.
......
snip

In fact, what the PC Core System most reminds us of is Apple's iPod. It may be a hard drive-based music player now, but the iPod already offers basic PIM display functionality, and adding support for still and moving photography would be a doddle. Mac OS X 10.3 was originally planned to allow users to store their Home directories on an iPod. That feature may not have made it to the final cut, but it remains a possibility for future versions of the OS.

At that point you've essentially got a next-generation PDA - or the kind of device today's PDAs are evolving toward (http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/archive/33629.html) - and it's no great surprise to see the machine's processing power grow to allow it to do all the heavy lifting too. Carry your iPod with you during to day to listen to music, read email, check your diary and so on. At home or in the office, you just slide it into your Cinema Display - or a cradle connected to the LCD - and do some work. ®​
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foniks2020 said:
Actually it waits until you feed it after midnight! Then it runs and jumps in the toilet and MULTIPLIES... playing 50¢ and Madonna tunes all morning, partying and drinking all your alcohol....

beware the 4G iPod...
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if it drank all my alcohol OR played 50¢/Madonna all morning, that iPod wouldn't live long enough to see it's battery life diminish.
 
717 said:
It al makes sens: we are getting an iTablet based on a iPod. Not an iTablet based on an iBook. Nice spin-off. :)
Click to expand...
Agreed. That's exactly the first thing I thought when I saw that ad. Good to see I'm not the only one.
 
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