Entries from March 2009 ↓
March 11th, 2009 — Soapbox
So yeah, a couple of hours ago, the Apple store went offline. Which obviously meant that something was up, usually a new product (or more) being added to the store. Lo and behold, Apple went and introduced a new iPod Shuffle. Cue outpouring of oohs and ahhs. Which is to be expected since, hey, you’ve got to admit it looks pretty damn good.
While the older Shuffle features a literal rainbow of colors, the new one only comes in silver and black. It’s been elongated a little, and the clip at the rear has been retained. You get 4GB of storage on it too. The best part about the iPod Shuffle is it’s totally minuscule size – it’s literally smaller than your thumb. What’s more, Apple’s introducing a new feature called VoiceOver, which is basically the Shuffle telling you the song title, as well as who’s the artist singing said song. Better yet, VoiceOver supports multiple languages, with the current count at 14. If you have a song with a Spanish title, the Shuffle will pronounce the title and artist name in, doh, Spanish.
So what’s the problem?
Take a closer look at the pic above. Notice that the primary playback controls are located along the bundled earbuds’ cable. This is significant because despite the hold and shuffle controls that are located on the Shuffle’s body, unless you use Apple’s bundled earbuds, you have literally no control over volume or playback. This also happens to give Apple an excuse to sell more third-party accessories with built-in controls, leaving users who already have perfectly serviceable third-party earbuds out in the cold.
Then again, for the asking price of US$79 in the US of A (S$128 here in Singapore, and RM309 over in Malaysia), its doubtful that anyone who buys iPod Shuffles would actually bother spending probably the equivalent amount of money on a half-decent pair of in-ear buds.
What’s also interesting is that the idea of shoving the remote control onto the earbud cables isn’t all that new; just about every Sony Walkman sold today has that feature as standard.
Not quite the smartest thing to do in times like these, but hey, Apple’s pretty much made a habit of taking the path less chosen.
March 11th, 2009 — Inbox
Digital downloads has always been a sore point for the music industry, though entities like the iTunes Music Store, and now Nokia’s Music Store, are rapidly gaining popularity. iTunes however, faces a potential setback as it appears that a group of Chinese hackers have apparently cracked the algorithm that generates the individual codes found on iTunes gift certificates.
These certificates are being sold for dirt cheap, with US$200 value certs being hocked off for as low as RMB18 (roughly equivalent to just US$2.60). The seller admits that the codes being sold using key-generators sold by the hackers themselves. Buyers pay the sellers, who then instant message the code(s) over to the purchaser.
Either that, or the codes sold were actually paid for by stolen credit card information to begin with.
If the algorithm has really been cracked, the issue is easily solved by replacing it with a new one, though that also requires Apple to consider legitimate gift cards already circulating in the market. This doesn’t appear to be a new problem though, as similar codes have been circulating as early as 6 months back, and only attracting more attention thanks to increasing competition among the sellers as well as a rapid drop in selling price.
March 11th, 2009 — Inbox
In my mind, Microsoft Hardware makes some excellent stuff; keyboards and mice that cost a little more than most, but usually with better build quality and an eye to details that help make the user experience a better one. Today, that vision has received the equivalent of a swift kick to the crotch, thanks to the Microsoft Hardware team deciding that it would be a good idea to venture into the realm of laptop cooling add-ons alongside such luminaries in the overpriced accessories line i.e. Targus, Belkin and Logitech.
The Microsoft Notebook Cooling Base may be slim and portable, and while it comes with a cable clip and is USB powered, this just reeks of Microsoft trying to charge through the nose for something thats produced for really cheap while also boasting negligible benefit, if any. Even better, the Notebook Cooling Base with an asking price of US$29.95, can easily be replaced by something as simple as a book, or just about anything that props your laptop up from the table for better air circulation. Heck, with a few spare parts, some wire and a couple of minutes, you could easily build something that works as well for so much less.
Next question: is the thing Microsoft Vista-capable, or Vista-ready?
