In this week’s Gadget Lab podcast, Dylan Tweney and yours truly geek out about the potential for Steve Jobs to be a ninja, in reference to a bogus news report published by Bloomberg about the CEO attempting to smuggle ninja stars from Japan.
Apple said it never happened, but who knows — maybe Steve’s just really good at hiding shuriken, like a real ninja would be?
In more serious news, we’ve had some hands-on time with the new iPod Nano, a touchscreen media player that might even make a decent wristwatch. (Dylan’s full review on the Nano will be published soon.)
Speaking of publishing, we’re currently holding an “iPhoneography” contest, asking readers to submit their most impressive smartphone photos. There have already been a bunch of great submissions. Keep them coming! We’ll feature the best art here on Wired so you can show off to your friends.
Still images are cool, but the world of video is getting plenty interesting with gadgets like the Veebeam, a streaming media player that wirelessly hooks up your computer to a TV. Sounds like an intriguing solution for fans of online video services like Hulu or Netflix.
Actor/comedian/intellectual/newspaper columnist/quiz-show host/techno-bibliophile Stephen Fry’s new autobiography The Fry Chronicles is available in several different editions: hardcover, paperback, and Kindle, naturally, but also an enhanced book in Apple’s iBooks store and most intriguingly, an interactive application called myFry for iPhone/iPod Touch and the iPad.
This signals something new. The mere fact of bundling a book as an application is old hat; there was a time, after all, before the Kindle and iBooks apps, when most apps for the iPhone were books. As the video above shows, though, myFry provides both the metadata and interface necessary to read the book nonlinearly — a synthesis of the familiar (flipping through the pages, jumping to any point one likes, not just a chapter head) and the new (sorting data by content tags rather than chapter titles or page numbers; following associative rather than sequential threads).
Alas, myFry is currently not available in the US; in the UK, it costs about 8 pounds, or about $12.50. Also, it’s not currently a universal application, meaning that iPhone and iPad users would have to purchase the application separately for each device.
As for other e-book formats, the iBook version of The Fry Chronicles is organized in the familiar manner, but enhanced with video clips, mostly of the author himself, hyperlinks, and other multimedia. The Kindle e-book, like the print versions, consist of the familiar rows of text + occasional images book-readers have come to know and love for ages.
In the video below, Fry justifies his (and his publisher Penguin’s) approach to e-publishing, and articulates his vision of the future of books: “I think the point is not why I’ve done this, but really why anybody wouldn’t do it now.”
Fry’s embrace of electronic reading is significant in no small part because of the depth of his knowledge of the history of print. In 2008 he made and starred in a BBC documentary on Johannes Gutenberg and the printing press, titled The Machine That Made Us. He’s also a novelist, a journalist, and a celebrated narrator of audiobooks. There are few public figures with the kind of total media experience that he has, both as a performer and thinker.
The myFry application does have its critics. Gavin C. Pugh, a writer for NextRead and FutureBook, complains:
I like a book to look like a book. I like the text to be formatted paragraphs that are indented unless you need to show a scene-break. If they are formatted like a webpage as Penguin have chosen to do here it changes the flow, at least for me. I also like to see each page turn.
Instead each section is presented as a webpage not only in formatting but in scrolling. And it does spoil the flow. Readers tend to scan webpages but absorb books (or things that look like books). How do I know the difference? I downloaded the sample Kindle and iBook versions. I didn’t feel any connection with app but when I started reading the Kindle version my finger ended up hovering over ‘buy’ option
The Kindle version, too, can be read on any device that supports the Kindle app; Pugh appreciates the multimedia enhancements of the iBook version, but laments that it’s limited to iDevices. Chris Matthews at TeleRead adds that the myFry app “does seem a bit expensive for what you get.”
It’s no longer only print aficionados who are resisting the next generation of e-books; experienced digital readers are protesting too, in the name of price, cross-platform portability, and book-specific standards. Meanwhile, other digital readers are waiting for something new; a book designed specifically not only for digital reading but for their device, that takes advantage of all of its strengths to present an innovative reading experience.
I see one potential solution to this impasse: transmedia bundling.
By transmedia, in this instance, I mean simply that different or derivative versions of the same object exist in different media formats. In this case, it’s printed books, audiobooks, enhanced and plain-vanilla e-books, and software applications. It could also include web sites, video games, posters, licensed merchandise, and so forth.
The movie industry has been extremely savvy about bundling its transmedia products — at least after films leave the theater. You can buy a deluxe edition of a film and receive a DVD, a Blu-ray disc, a booklet, an interactive game, a digital file of the film for your computer or media player, and other accessories, for a single price, usually not significantly more than if you had purchased just the DVD.
The book publishing industry hasn’t followed their lead. Instead, every product is treated discretely, released along different production schedules. Moreover, the industry has generally assumed that every e-book sold is a print sale lost — that the few readers interested in reading a book in both a print and electronic version will gladly pay full-price for both.
Now, however, we’re at the point where iBooks, iPad, and Kindle are not offering different scans of the same book, but genuinely different products — each of which may appeal to different readers, but also to the same reader differently depending on context.
The devices — especially dedicated e-readers — have also reached the point where it’s not uncommon for users to have a personal computer, a tablet, an e-reader, a smartphone, and a print library. But there is no way, short of purchasing a book and scanning it yourself, to read the same book in even a handful of those distinct contexts without spending a fortune.
Suppose instead that Penguin offered a deluxe hardcover version of Fry’s book for $35. Or even $50. (Amazon UK is currently selling the hardcover for 9 pounds, or about $14.) With this, you would get:
A handsome slipcover;
A finely printed book;
An audiobook, on either CD or mp3;
An e-book, in the format of your choice;
A software application, for the OS (mobile or otherwise) of your choice;
A commemorative flag, T-shirt, poster, and/or pin.
In other words, instead of punishing your transmedia collectors, reward and embrace them. Let bibliophiles strive to outdo one another with the audacity of cinephiles. Make the release of a new book an event.
Ripping compact discs provided a natural way to enjoy music anywhere; DVDs quickly did the same for movies. Now even Blu-ray’s DRM days are dwindling. In all of these cases, the industry lagged and fretted about privacy while users found and shared solutions on their own.
That’s already beginning with books. This won’t be the end.
When you consider that there are probably loads of AirPlay-equipped speaker docks waiting in the wings, it’s hard to get all giddy about XtremeMac’s Tango TRX. Although the dock has… well, a dock and a line-in jack, it also packs Bluetooth 2.1. On the sound quality end, it boasts a 2.1 digital audio system along with midrange drivers, two dome tweeters and a subwoofer. We got a look at it yesterday, and its orange LED status lights and patterned sides make it fairly handsome, but we couldn’t really get a handle on the acoustics as it was being demoed in a space with lots of loud and rowdy technology journalists. There’s no physical remote included, but XtremeMac is offering a Tango TRX app. Of course, if you’re streaming that music over Bluetooth you could just control it from the device itself, but the app does let you adjust the various EQ settings. The basic model will hit for about $180, but Apple will be carrying an exclusive TRX D version with a separate charging dock for $200. Hit the break for the full PR and the gallery below for a closer look.
You may have to wait until November to get some wireless printing capabilities on your iPhone, iPod touch or iPad courtesy of Apple’s own AirPrint, but at least some Epson printer users now already have an alternative option at their disposal. The company’s just rolled out its new PrintJinni app that it developed with a little help from Thinxtream, which will let you wirelessly print files to any WiFi-enabled Epson printer. Unlike AirPrint, however, this option will cost you — the app runs $9.99 but is currently discounted to $6.99 for a “limited time.” Full press release is after the break.
Did you find the iLoveHandles iPod nano wrist strap a little bit too restrained? Never fear, Incipio has served up this new Linq case, which swells up the 6th-gen nano with an ostentatiously rugged shell, a velcro strap, and a couple of daring new color options. Whether you’re a fan of baby pink or macho blue, there will be a Linq… just for you. Damn, you can build a whole advertising campaign around that. Anyhow, this new take on the iWatch concept will be available early next month for $25 with additional straps setting you back another $10. Or you can just buy a real watch — the choice, as always, is yours.
This article was written on May 04, 2007 by CyberNet.
Being the owner of an iPod Nano, I was kept from switching to Linux for a long time because there’s no Linux version of iTunes. Then I discovered that the Linux community has worked hard on some good alternatives, and today we’re going to take a look at some of them.
Click on a screenshot to enlarge it.
—Banshee—
Banshee is a music player for the GNOME desktop. Although it looks good, the music library looks somewhat chaotic to me. When you play a song, Banshee connects to the Internet to find related artists and it displays some general song statistics. The player can do basic iPod managing tasks such as adding/removing songs and changing ID3 tags, but it doesn’t support artwork or the “Skip when shuffling” option. Strange, because it displays the artwork associated with a song while playing it. Another bummer is that you can’t put podcasts on your iPod with Banshee even though it has podcast functionality built right into it. Overall, I think it’s a decent music player but it’s not advanced enough to fit the needs of an advanced iPod user.
—Amarok—
Amarok is probably the most popular KDE media players available. It is divided into five parts: Context, Collection, Playlists, Files, Magnatune and Devices. On the Context tab you can see some statistics, enter labels for the track that’s currently playing, and add other music by the same artist to the playing queue. The developers of Amarok have developed an algorithm to automatically calculate ratings for the songs you play. It is based on a number of statistics such as the number of times you’ve played the song and the number of times you listened to the song in its entirety. Neat! On the Collection tab you can browse your song database. Amarok’s media library is shown in Tree View mode by default, which makes it easy to find a particular song. On the Playlists tab you’ll find exactly what you’d expect to find there: playlists. Besides that, all your radio streams and podcasts are being kept here. Amarok has basic podcast functionality, but my experiences with that have been rather negative. On the Devices tab, you can connect to and interact with your iPod, other MP3 players and even USB pen-drives. If you want to send a track to your player, you have to right-click it and select Transfer to Media Device. Amarok will then send the track to the transfer queue. When you’re done selecting songs, right-click the queue and click on the Start Transfer option to send them to your iPod.
—gtkpod—
gtkpod looks like a very simple tool, but don’t be fooled by the way it looks though because it’s a powerful tool. It can do nearly everything that iTunes can: changing artwork, editing ID3 tags, setting the “Skip when shuffling” flag, batch editing and so on. Its major drawbacks? It has no built-in player, no Last.fm integration, no search and you have to click “Save changes” before it actually writes the changes you made to your iPod. Conclusion: gtkpod is not user-friendly enough for everyday use but if you need to use more advanced features such as “Skip when shuffling”, this is definitely a program you should keep in mind.
—Floola—
Unlike most programs we’ve tested, Floola can be used on Windows, Linux and Mac OS X. The developer claims that it’s also compatible with Windows Vista, but I haven’t tested this. Floola has got almost every feature that advanced iPod users need. Podcast support is present, the “Skip when shuffling” feature is implemented, and you can even enter lyrics for every song. Although it isn’t much of a music player, it allows you to play songs off of your iPod. Floola is 100% portable, which means that you can just copy its executable to your iPod and use it on nearly any computer. This program has great potential, but it’s still dealing with all kinds of bugs. For example: Floola failed to fetch updates for my podcast feeds, clicking ‘Edit Smart Playlist’ didn’t do anything and if you leave the album tag empty, Floola will change it to ‘UNKNOWN’. But then again, developing a cross-platform iPod manager must be very hard to do.
—YamiPod—
YamiPod too is available for all major platforms. Similar to Floola, it doesn’t have to be installed so it’s considered to be portable. However, YamiPod insisted that I’d copy a certain library to the /lib folder on my computer and you might not want to do that on someone else’s computer. Its interface looks a lot like Floola but it lacks some features that Floola has. It claims to have podcast functionality, but that looks rather complicated. YamiPod and Floola seem to have more in common than just the interface. Its smart playlist editing feature doesn’t work either and the album tag is also set to ‘UNKNOWN’ if you leave it empty. What’s more important though is that YamiPod can’t add songs to your iPod. If you’re not planning to use it to rip the songs on your iPod to your hard disk, this tool is rather useless.
—gPodder—
First of all: gPodder is not your average iPod manager. It’ll only take care of your podcasts, but I have to say it does the job very well. If you want to, you can instruct gPodder to download all new episodes. The synchronization process works as if you were using iTunes. Everything associated with a podcast (album art and shownotes) are transferred to your iPod along with the podcast itself. It just works. One thing that needs to be worked on is cleanup. You can’t delete separate podcasts on your iPod unless you use a tool like gtkpod. gPodder will allow you to delete all podcasts, but then you’ll have to re-transfer the podcasts you still need to your device.
Conclusion There’s not really one tool that can do everything you need to manage your iPod. They all have their advantages and disadvantages. Personally, I prefer gPodder for managing my podcasts while I use gtkpod for adding music to my iPod and editing my library. If you’re not sure which program to pick, download all of them and see what fits your needs best.
(1) In most cases, you can run KDE programs under GNOME. However, keep in mind that if you do this, it will take longer to load the program. This is due to the fact that the KDE libraries aren’t loaded by default when you log in to GNOME. This is also the case if you’re trying to run GNOME programs in KDE. (2) Refers to writing podcasts to your iPod. Reading them should work with any program that can read regular music files. (3) Only basic artist/album/genre filtering is implemented. (4) You can set the album art on album level only, which means that you can’t set a different cover for each track. (5) It can detect and read smart playlists, but for some reason the edit function doesn’t work. You can’t create smart playlists either. (6) Floola failed to create a new playlist for some reason. (7) Floola is written in REALbasic, so it uses its own libraries. Therefore it doesn’t matter whether you use GNOME or KDE because the libraries have to be loaded either way. (8) A certain library is required for that, see the included readme for instructions. (9) It doesn’t have an embedded player, but it can launch an external program to play the file.
Editor’s Note: This post was written by Pieter De Decker who is the developer of the free USBsyncer and iPodCALsync!
After spending seven days living with our new iPods, we’re gonna let them stay. As far as media-slinging sidekicks go, they’re pretty good. But it’s not all sunshine and rainbows. More »
Apple’s most recent iPod Nano didn’t impress our reviewers much, but if you pick one up anyway you’ll probably need a way to carry it around. The attached clip on the back is great for pinning the device to your clothes, but if you’re going out on the town with it you may want a better way to carry it around. Thankfully, iLoveHandles’ new iPod Nano wrist straps can do the job nicely if you’re the type to wear a wristwatch.
The product itself is just a leather watch strap with a notch cut out for you to affix the iPod’s clip onto. Just put the strap on like a wristwatch, and then clip your iPod Nano into place. Since the lock-screen on the new touch-screen Nano is your choice of an analog or digital clock, it works perfectly. The iLoveHandles straps are available for $19.99 list, but something tells me they won’t be the last people to make these, either to sell or to make for themselves.
This accessory was as inevitable as the hangover that follows the annual Gadget Lab post-CES party (where we enjoy a fabulous dinner at Denny’s followed by cheap wine sipped from stolen paper-cups in the liquor-store car-park). As soon as we saw the new iPod Nano’s clock-face app, we knew there would be a wrist-strap for it. We weren’t disappointed.
The strap has the pun-tastic name Rock Band and comes from a company called iLoveHandles. The Nano can be set to use the clock as its lock-screen, so a simple touch is enough to bring up the face and check the time. The Rock Band is a wrist-strap onto which the Nano clips (it has the same clip on its back as the Shuffle) and becomes an oversized wristwatch. Well, oversized if you’re not used to hefting a tacky chunk of gold Rolex on your arm, that is.
It’s a great idea, and not really that much different than the sports armbands that have held Nanos to the upper-arms of sporty people for years. I guess that if you were actually going to listen to music while wearing this, you’d need to run the cable up a sleeve to stop it constantly snagging, but that’s not big deal.
The Rock Band is $20, and is surely only the first in what will be a rather crowded market.
Digg What happens when Apple introduces a square-shaped new iPod and adorns it with an analog watch face for a lock screen? A whole new cottage industry sprouts up, whereby entrepreneurial types dust off old and mostly worthless watch straps, cut out an iPod nano-shaped compartment in them, and charge you $19.99 for the privilege of turning your tiny PMP into a somewhat bulky wristwatch. The saddest part about this is that we’ve got a feeling they might be on to a winner here.
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Apple’s most recent iPod Nano 
