I find it interesting when words or objects of popular culture make their way into novels (I believe I posted on this the first time I saw Sheryl Crow’s name in a novel). I spotted a reference to iPods in Robert B. Parker’s Bad Business [pg 197], which was published in March of 2004.
“Vinnie put the shells on the coffee table and leaned the shotgun against the couch at the near end. Then he took an iPod and some earphones out and put them on the coffee table.”
Nokia’s snazzy new 6620 gives Internet radio its due. It boasts plenty of impressive video features, including a still camera that produces surprisingly good photos. But it’s the radio, available on a service through AT&T Wireless — now part of Cingular — that sets it apart. Why is the radio so important? Because it’s live. Viable live TV on handsets is at least a couple of years away. Radio works right now.
God, how depressing. I’m on my third Thinkpad and loved ’em all. Next one will be a Mac.
I gave some serious thought to purchasing an iPod or similar digital audio device. But the buggers cost $300-400 and I didn’t want to pay that much. And I don’t have 10,000 mp3 files, anyway. But I have started downloading and listening to interviews from IT Conversations.
Listening to these on my laptop was somewhat limiting so I sprung for a SanDisk Digital Music Player. This little gem has 512 meg of (flash) storage and will play for 15 hours on a single AAA battery. It was on sale at Best Buy for about $120 and I can take it back if I don’t like it.
So when would you use a device like this? Today I went to see National Treasure and got there about 15 minutes before the movie began. Popped in my ear-buds and listened to the first part of a talk by Richard Florida (The Rise of the Creative Class).
It got me thinking again about this whole podcasting thing. The stuff I’m interested in will never be broadcast on a traditional radio station. Or, if it is, I’m unlikely to know about it or pick up that station. But the IT Conversations website has hundreds of hours of content that I’m very interested in. And I can go and get it whenever I want. And listen to it whenever and where ever I want.
Radio programmers have always been about trying to find the right combination of music, news, talk, whatever… that would appeal to the greatest number of people within their coverage area. Lowest common denominator. That doesn’t work for me anymore. I want to listen to what I’m interested in. When I want to listen to it. Where ever I might be. The web makes this possible.
I took Microsoft’s new search engine for a spin tonight and can’t say I was impressed. Looked a lot like Google but it’s hard to knock them for that. And it probably does some things that Google doesn’t but I didn’t take the time to try find out what they might be. I did an image search for “Steve Mays” and came up with two photos that truly capture the real me. But I’m a Google Boy to the very end.
I haven’t needed to save browser “Favorites” or “Bookmarks” much since Google came along. But I have a few. And a few more on my Thinkpad. And a few more on my home PC. And it’s too much trouble to try to keep them all sync’d up. But a new service from Amazon has made the problem go away. It’s called A9 (I have no idea) and it’s pretty slick.
“A9.com is a search engine, using web search and image search results enhanced by Google, movies results from IMDb, and more. A9.com remembers your information so you dont have to. You can keep your own notes about any web page and search them; it is a new way to store and organize your bookmarks.” [More]
Any links I save in the future will be on my A9 page. My thumb is up on A9.
Most of my in-car radio listening is XM these days. But at home I still tune in to a couple of the local stations. And it dawned on me this week that the little transistor radio I listen to is more than 20 years old. We brought it with us when we moved to Jefferson City in 1984. And it could have easily been 10 years old then. I love this little radio (made in Hong Kong for General Electric). On the front it proudly announces “Integrated Circuit” and, on the back, there’s a little plasic clip for attaching to your belt. I’m trying to think of other things in my life that have worked as well or as long as this little transistor (when did we drop that adjective?) radio. I so clearly remember when a small, portable radio like this was the ONLY way to listen to music or news away from your home, car or office.
If/when this one breaks or dies, with what sort of device will I replace it? I’m sure they still make them but for how much longer. Will they become integrated with some kind of mobile device (cell phone)? That doesn’t seem practical. I’m not going anywhere with this. Just a small ode to a long-time companion.
What’s an invitation for a Gmail account worth? If you have an invitation to open an account on Google’s new e-mail service, you could sell it on eBay for as much as $60. But if cash is a little too prosaic for you, your Gmail invitation could net you 4 pounds of fresh fudge, some Jewish mystical knowledge, a photo of a wife and a girlfriend kissing, a tarantula, Paris Hilton’s phone number or any one of more than 1,000 other options. Full article at Wired.com
[Update: Google launched on April 1, 2004. Created my account on April 21, 2004]
As a long-time Blogger subscriber (going on three years), I got an invite to beta test Google’s new email service, Gmail. And they allowed me to invite two friends to try the service. One of whom pointed out that these accounts are selling for as much as $50 on eBay. Might be just because not everyone can get them yet… or the gig of storage. I’m not ready to drop Hotmail as my back-up (to work) email.
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