So Apple released the new iPod Photo, a 40GB or 60GB iPod with a color screen and video-out for displaying photos. Now, if it had been video it displayed (and I’m not 100% certain why it doesn’t, unless of course it’s a limitation of the video chip they can squeeze into a 6-ounce chunk of hardware), this might be cool. You could give the finger to the MPAA and rip your DVDs, dump ’em in your pocket and plug it into your friend’s AV system for easy watching. That’d be pretty spectacular, and it’s where we’re going – but we’re definitely not there yet, and for $600 I don’t think I’m interested in this interim step.
For $600 I’d rather buy a Treo 650, then throw in some extra cash for a Bluetooth headset and a couple of gigabyte SD cards to carry around my favorite songs. It’s weird, but I seriously suspect that Palm is currently in much better standing as the keystone element in the Personal Area Network than Apple. If Apple releases a new Newton, or adds Bluetooth to the iPod, or adds a phone to the iPod, or even just frickin’ buys Palm, they’ve got a shot at the next generation of gadgetry, but if they’re going to be so conservative with their iPod capabilities, that sky-high stock price is going to come crashing back down to earth real fast.
All right, back to work…
Storyteller, scholar, consultant. Loving son, husband and father. Kindhearted mischief-maker.
I'm the Director of the Games and Simulation program at Miami University in Ohio, where I am also an Assistant Professor in the College of Creative Arts' Emerging Technology in Business and Design department. I'm also the director of Miami's Worldbuilding and Narrative Design Research Laboratory (WNDRLab). I have a Master's in Comparative Media Studies from MIT and a PhD in Media Arts and Practices from the University of Southern California.
In past lives I've been the lead Narrative Producer for Microsoft Studios and cofounder of its Narrative Design team, working on projects like Hololens, Quantum Break and new IP incubation; in a "future of media" think tank for Microsoft's CXO/CTO and its Chief Software Architect; the Creative Director for the University of Southern California's World Building Media Lab and the Technical Director, Creative Director and a Research Fellow for USC's Annenberg Innovation Lab; a Visiting Assistant Professor at Whittier College and director of its Whittier Other Worlds Laboratory (WOWLab); the Communications Director and a researcher for the Singapore-MIT GAMBIT Game Lab; a founding member of the Convergence Culture Consortium at MIT (now The Futures of Entertainment); a magazine editor; and a award-winning short film producer. more »
The opinions put forward in this blog are mine alone, and do not reflect the opinions of my employers.
