January 11, 2006, 6:15 PM PST
Wiki via cell phone
Posted by: Dorian Benkoil

This one's a little experimental, but it's so intriguing--and the potential applications so "wow"--that I have to share it. An experimental application, called Cellphedia, developed by a New York University student, lets users type a question into a cell phone, post it for all registered users to see, then lets others compete to answer it.

OK, so what, you say? Well, this is just the first, embryonic version. Ultimately, it could become a mobile wiki, or collaborative journal or encyclopedia that harnesses the knowledge of all who go there. So instead of "mob-logging" (people joining forces when prompted via cell) you have "mob-wiki," people sharing their intelligence from the palm (or Palm) of their hand. The inventor, in fact, notes that Wikipedia was his main inspiration.

Imagine the applications: Your mobile sales force learns something of relevance to others on the team and sends it around for all those on the road to see on their mobile devices. Or they have a question and can get an immediate answer in a meeting, without using a computer or calling anyone. In fact they may not even know who else has the knowledge but can just tap the entire group, around the world. You offer your expertise and can give it, from anywhere, for a fee that could ultimately be linked automatically to some sort of payment system. A cell phone service provider (your business?) becomes the intermediary, letting people pay a minute amount to connect and share valuable information (the Skype model, kind of).

I've done a little imagining out loud here, but I wanted to let you have a peek and consider the possibilities.

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January 11, 2006, 5:47 PM PST
PS3 to cost $500? Yowie
Posted by: Molly Wood

They say Blu-ray has a bit of a price problem over HD-DVD. Well, Blu-ray is giving the forthcoming PlayStation 3 a price problem, too. Analysts predict it could cost nearly $500, partly due to its high-def DVD player. Oh, and some think it might be more. If so, expect another run on Xbox 360s later this year.

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January 11, 2006, 5:44 PM PST
Next iPod to be its own accessory?
Posted by: Molly Wood

According to a recent patent application, the next version of the iPod might have a built-in FM transmitter that would let you stream music to your car stereo, the way Griffin's iTrip add-ons do. But given that Griffin's turning out an iTrip roughly every 8 seconds, it seems like a duplication of effort to me.

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January 11, 2006, 5:36 PM PST
Google Video live and...sort of awful
Posted by: Molly Wood

The Google Video Store landed this week...and that sound you hear is indeed a thud. Videos are hard to find, confusingly labeled, and downloadable to audio players only sporadically, and the interface is, how do they say, ugly. Ugly ugly. Oh, and it's expensive. World domination plans? Probably still on track.

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January 11, 2006, 4:52 PM PST
Amp'd goes live, and check out those ads
Posted by: Kent German

On the heels of its formal launch last week, new MVNO carrier Amp'd Mobile has added a second cell phone to its lineup. The Motorola Hollywood, a revamped version of the Motorola E815, comes in slick black and incorporates the carrier's youth-oriented 3G multimedia features. Other features on the fully loaded handset include an Amp'd-branded menu interface, Bluetooth, a 1.3-megapixel camera, messaging, a music player, and a speakerphone. The Hollywood joins the first Amp'd phone from Kyocera--a slider model available in both black (the Jet) and white (the Angel)--in providing a comprehensive range of EV-DO content and music downloads via Verizon's network. Amp'd is aiming for the under-30 set, so content partners include MTV, Fox Sports, and Comedy Central. Service plans vary, but they follow a traditional contract model, with some services costing extra, depending on your monthly minute usage. For more information, browse the way-too-flashy Amp'd Web site. We'll have a full review of the Jet in the next couple of weeks.

The hipper-than-thou carrier has also embarked on an online advertising blitz that won't fly in your local Sunday school class. One has an image of a man taking a photo of himself with his pants down, another has two women kissing, and another has a Mariah Carey look-alike dressed in a revealing outfit certain to make Mr. Blackwell's list. All three ads have buttons marked Approve or Disapprove--if clicked, they take you to the Amp'd site. I can just imagine the meeting where the ad agency execs presented that campaign.

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January 11, 2006, 3:59 PM PST
Macworld: iPodding your car gets serious
Posted by: Molly Wood

Everyone's doing car tech these days, and Macworld 2006 is no exception. Tucked in among the forest of iPod, iBook, and PowerBook (or is that MacBook?) accessories is an auto tech section of the show floor. There, you'll find the latest and greatest in aftermarket accessories for connecting your iPod to your car. Tape adapters, MP3-capable stereos with an auxiliary jack on the faceplate, and FM transmitters (which always fail in busy metro areas like San Francisco) just don't cut it anymore. Here are three options that caught my eye. (Check out videos of all three here.)

Alpine IVA-W200
Alpine introduced a trio of new head units at CES, each of which offers some serious music integration choices not limited to the iPod. The IVA-W200 arrives in the form of a 7-inch, touch-screen color display. It is, duh, an AM/FM radio, and it's also a DVD player that will accept pretty much any CD type you have. It'll also connect to and receive song information from digital audio players such as Creative, iRiver, Samsung, or Dell--and any other Plays for Sure device--over USB.

Then, of course, there's the Full Speed Connection for iPod, which includes a search feature that lets you cruise through playlists, artists, albums, and songs superquickly--you can even perform the equivalent of a page-down action to hop through a long list of songs. And of course, you get the metatags, artist, and song info displayed on the touch screen, and iPod charging, to boot. And all for the low, low price of $1,100 (plus optional add-ons for HD Radio, XM Satellite Radio, XM with NavTraffic, Sirius Satellite Radio, and more)--and that's before installation. Makes that $10 tape adapter sound a bit better, eh?

Spec.dock
The Spec.dock, from 2point5.com, isn't an entire stereo unit like the IVA-W200. Instead, it solves that pesky digital-audio-to-stereo-integration problem: "but where in the heck do I actually put the iPod?" Spec.dock is a vehicle-specific dock for iPods--with fitted docks for a few car models, such as recent Volkswagens; 3-series, 7-series, and X5 BMW models; the Dodge Magnum and Charger; and the Chrysler 300c. And there's a universal cup-holder model if, say, you're the Toyota type. The dock, once installed in a former ashtray or similar place, connects to the back of your iPod-friendly car stereo of choice and gives you a nice, attractive mount so that you can show off your iPod or, if your stereo requires it, control the music from a slightly more convenient location than the passenger seat or the glove compartment. It's about $150, but presumably if you've already kicked down for a BMW, an iPod-friendly stereo (aftermarkets are more likely to display track and artist information, as you might suspect) and various professional installations, the custom dock is just the icing. Unlike the Alpines mentioned above, Spec.dock is iPod-only.

Scosche Bluetooth Wireless Interface for iPod
This last is actually my favorite of the bunch (pending a full review and considering the 10 minutes I spent with it--this is a blog post, just to be clear). Scosche's interface consists of a Bluetooth transmitter and receiver. The transmitter snaps on to the back of your iPod, while the receiver is installed behind your car stereo or in your dashboard, providing wireless access to the now-Bluetooth-enabled iPod. Scosche says it has better quality than an FM transmitter because it's a digital signal, and it won't cut out the way the iTrip has a tendency to do. You'll want an aftermarket stereo, since the setup plugs into an auxiliary port, but Scosche says an adapter is available for factory stereos, bringing the total cost to from $249 to $299. Cool factor? With Bluetooth's 30-foot range, you can take the iPod (or any other player, really) outside to the parking lot, the park, or to the campfire, and still control the music playing inside the car--handy if the back of your vehicle is just one big stereo. Hey, I've seen it. Also, the unit will pair with any Bluetooth cell phone, and then you'll get that excellent show-off moment where the phone rings and the music shuts off until you're done talking. Plus, and especially if you're performing any of these installations at home, the fewer wires, the better.

Granted, this would all be a lot easier if Steve Jobs would just announce the iCar at next year's keynote, but that might be too much to hope for. Might.

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January 11, 2006, 3:39 PM PST
Google Video just not good
Posted by: Tom Merritt

So after its stealth launch yesterday, I decided to give Google Video a whirl. I was especially heartened by the news that Google Video would work with iPod. Everyone has been trashing the Google Video interface because it's not pretty, but I was OK with it. The drop-down menu got me where I needed to go: Deep Space Nine videos.

However, the interface failed me when I got to the list of available DS9 videos: all it listed were the titles of the episodes and the title screen, which is the same for every episode. It gave me no information on what season an episode was from or what episode number within that season it was. I'm a fan, but I don't have all the titles memorized. There's also no description of the episodes. So I picked a nice-looking title at random. Once I clicked on the name, I got a bit more info about the episode, but not much.

So I clicked the button to buy the episode, and it prompted me for my Google login. I gave it, and it promoted me for my login again. Three times it did this until I started to doubt I had my password right. I tried a different password, and it told me the password was wrong. I even logged out of Gmail and back in to make sure I had the right password. I went back and tried two more times, and finally, it worked. I got a Confirm Download button with the information that this video would work only in Windows XP and would require an Internet connection to watch. Wait. What about the iPod? I went ahead and spent the two bucks to see what would happen. It started downloading the Google Video player, which I thought I already had, and then went about playing the video.

Since I wanted to see if I could move the file onto my iPod anyway, I clicked a link to manually download the video without downloading the player. It did so in 2 seconds, hardly enough time to download a 45-minute episode. I went into the Google Help screens and found that next to the download button, it's supposed to give you a drop-down menu of the available format options, one of which would be iPod video. Deep Space Nine had no options. In fact, it had no drop-down menu. And even if there were one, you wouldn't get that drop-down menu until after you've paid for the video. So I guess I should have read the tea leaves of "require Internet connectivity" to mean, "no iPod version available." But it would have been nice to spell it out.

I looked through other options, such as Charlie Rose interviews, old I Love Lucy episodes, the Twilight Zone, and more to see if I could find one that mentioned iPod video, but none of them did--at least not before you've paid. I wasn't willing to keep on droppin' Hamiltons to find out. I did find a free video from The Screen Savers TV show back in 2000 that gave me an iPod video option with the download. So at least it's not a total lie.

In the meantime, I'll stick with iTunes for paying for video content. It's the same price, and believe it or not, Apple, of all things, gives me more flexibility with my content than Google. This is the first crack in Google's once very shiny armour. I hope the company fixes it soon. And CBS? You might want to strike a deal elsewhere just to hedge your bets.

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January 11, 2006, 1:11 PM PST
Slingbox will be Mac compatible soon
Posted by: James Kim

I just met with Sling Media for a one-on-one demo of the SlingPlayer Mobile software, which enables Windows Mobile 4 or 5 devices such as the Palm Treo 700w, the upcoming Motorola Q, or any Windows Mobile Pocket PC handheld to receive streaming video from the home TV, including local broadcasts, cable TV, DVR--you name it. The application, as previously reported, will also allow you to control and program your TV, your DVR, or even your 100-disc DVD player. Yes, indeed, the Mobile version of the software works well using either a Wi-Fi or a 3G network, and honestly, it--along with the Slingbox itself--is one of the coolest and most useful products I've seen in a long time. While we're all goosed about video content from iTunes or Google, we must also recognize that after inital setup and any applicable data fees (for example, $15 a month for all you can eat using Sprint), SlingPlayer will get you what you want practically whenever you want it--for free.

But even more special for this mostly Mac user (I have a 1.25GHz PowerBook G4, and yes, I want the MacBook) is yesterday's announcement that the SlingPlayer application will be available for Mac OS as SlingPlayer Mac in Q2. The software is currently in alpha, and it will work with all current Slingboxes. According to the company reps, streamed video will be delivered in WMV. Stay tuned for more info and a review of the SlingPlayer Mobile client for Windows Mobile devices.

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January 11, 2006, 11:31 AM PST
Locked in: Apple iPod vs. the others
Posted by: Jasmine France

I love my iBook. Something about the Mac interface since OS X was first introduced appeals to me--probably the fact that it's all friendly and bubbly and whatnot. I mean, let's face it, the Mac OS is beautiful, and apps made specifically for it--such as iLife, iWork, and Dashboard--are extremely handy and easy to use, even for technophobes.

So here's my problem: I don't want to use the iPod. It's not that I don't like it exactly, though I certainly have my issues (one of which has since been resolved). It's more that once I get an iPod, I have to buy my digital music from iTunes, and once I start doing that, I have to continue buying iPods--that is, unless future players support all protected content, AAC, WMA, and otherwise. Please, can't we just all get along? I do not like getting trapped into a cyclical model, thankyouverymuch. At least with the Windows players--as we're calling all the non-Sony, non-Apple MP3 players now--I have my choice of stores. And once I buy from those stores, I have the choice of getting a different MP3 player when I get a new one. Plus, as the subscription model continues to improve (currently, a WMA-only thing), I like it more and more.

But back to the original issue, which is actually related to the application of Janus compatibility (on-the-go subscriptions) in practically all new and future Windows players. I started thinking about this several months ago, when I first saw the iRiver U10, but it came rushing back when I was at CES and actually met another Mac user who wanted to get a non-iPod MP3 player. (Incidentally, his reason is that he's owned four iPods in a row, and all broke shortly after the warranty was up.) I thought I was the only one.

When iRiver brought the beautiful U10 to CNET back in October, I was stoked. In the past, iRiver players have been Mac compatible--not so with the U10. Apparently, Janus compatibility requires a Windows-specific mass-storage protocol that the Mac OS is currently unable to recognize. And because Mac users represent such a small percentage of overall PC users, there's no revenue being put into adding Mac compatibility. Plus, probably about 99.9 percent of Mac users with an MP3 player are all about the iPod. I guess those nine other people and I are out of luck. Actually, that's not entirely accurate. Last I checked, all Cowon players were Mac-friendly, but while the company's players sound excellent and are packed with features, the complex interface and the sometimes poorly laid-out controls aren't conducive to the Mac spirit. Are there solutions out there that I'm missing? Please let me know below.

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January 11, 2006, 11:17 AM PST
Bling out your iPod Nano
Posted by: Jasmine France

Got an extra 13 grand to blow? Why not pick up this International Gem & Jewelry Show iPod Nano case? The case, which will set you back precisely $12,495 (plus tax, no doubt), is bedecked with 10.36 karats of diamonds set in 120 grams of white gold--sounds heavy. You can special-order one from Intergem.com, and it'll even throw in the iPod Nano to go in it. (Thanks, New York Magazine.)

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