Friday, September 14, 2007
I own a 4th gen 20GB iPod and a 1st Gen Shuffle. I’d been thinking about getting a new 4GB nano to replace the shuffle as I miss having the screen. Ever since I bought an adapter that makes my iPod appear as an external CD changer, I leave my 20GB in the car 24/7.
The store was out of 4GB nanos. Long story short, I got a black 80GB Classic.
I’ve never used a 5th gen iPod, but this new 80GB Classic blows the 4th gen away. Most of the reviews say the is new interface is sluggish, but it is not too bad. The screen is beautiful. Klondike is gorgeous.
I’m thinking of getting a dock with video out and a remote. That way I’d have basically have an appleTV with 2x the space, sans wireless streaming.
Thursday, September 6, 2007
Over the past few months I’ve worked on a project involving the Pepper Pad 3. I can’t say much about the project, but I’d like to talk about the Pepper Pad itself. The “Pad” is sort of typical of mobile PC-style platform; wireless network access, touch screen, camera, ~20GB HD, and a “use-it-as-last-resort” button-laden keyboard. The Pad’s special features are an IR blaster so it can mimic a remote and it runs Linux. Whenever I show the Pepper Pad to someone, their first words are “I want one!” But after playing with it for 10 minutes the reactions cools to “If someone gave it to me, I might use it.” Well, it should be noted that this device is aimed at the home consumer market, hence the IR Blaster and lack of spreadsheets or proprietary email protocols.
(Continued)