Apple iPod phone?

Saying it doesn’t know if the photos are genuine, MacDailyNews has printed pictures of what appears to be a prototype of a Motorola iPod Phone.
Hey, I don’t know if it’s real either. But I do know I want one.

Microsoft is missing the podcasting bandwagon

Again, Microsoft and the Windows world is out-of-touch with state of the art. In this
Support of podcasts in iTunes can spoil you ZDNet piece, the authors are so right-on about how behind-the-times Redmond is when it comes to this podcasting boom, writing:

… if Microsoft really wants to make life easier for podcast lovers that use Windows Media and/or PlaysForSure-compliant mobile media devices, it’ll copy what Apple has done with iTunes by enabling Windows Media Player as a podcatcher, and it will do it yesterday.

The fact of the matter is for non iPod users, listening to podcasts is still cumbersome at best.

Podcasting: Radio reborn

That’s Apple’s new mantra with the today-announced podcasting capabilities built into iTunes.
I just downloaded iTunes 4.9 with the podcasting enhacements and installed it on my desktop and iPod.
As we’ve come to expect with all things iPod from Apple, the interface is elegant, intuitive and painless in all respects. I subscribed to several technology shows, set the preferences to download and keep only the most recent episode and to do so every day at 8 p.m.
Didn’t see the bookmarking feature Apple touted in my conference call with product managers this morning. I’ll have to hunt around for it when I have more time.
The downloaded podcasts show up on the iPod as a playlist under music.
I plan to listen to a couple on the commute in and out of Detroit tomorrow.
This really, to quote Steve Jobs, is “radio’s next generation.”
There are 22 million personal music players out there (75 percent are iPods) and 6 million Americans listen to podcasts, according to an April study from the Pew Internet & American Life Project.
I’m predicting this new iTunes Podcast Directory is going to help those numbers grow very fast.
Oh yeah, Apple posted a nice tutorial on how to use GarageBand to make your own podcast.
Speaking of GarageBand, I’m looking for theme music for my technology podcast. I need about a minute’s worth. Send your MP3 file to me at mwpodcast AT gmail DOT com. No money but I promise to credit you if I use ypur composition.

Apple’s iTunes moves podcasting to mainstream

Apple has made its iTunes software more friendly with podcasting and moves what was once a niche Internet activity to the mainstream. A new iTunes Podcast Directory features over 3,000 free podcasts that users can subscribe to. Once subscribed, the directory automatically checks for updated shows and downloads new episodes to your computer. This podcasting bandwagon is rolling on in a major way and Apple’s leadership here is a big reason.

Supreme Court cases show tech’s increasing role in American life

The tech industry is all hot and bothered over today’s two Supreme Counrt rulings on Grokster and cable TV.
I’m not overly suprised on either decision.
But together they show how technology is a driving influence of 21st century America.
There’s no doubt the Grokster decision worries the tech industry. But come on now, did anyone really thnk people were using Grokster for anything other than the swapping of pirated music and movies?
As to the decision that that cable companies are under no legal obligation to share their lines with smaller Internet service providers, this just followed an earlier FCC finding that cable operators were exempt from the common carrier regulations that apply to phone companies. No suprise there.
What may make this interesting down the road though, is what hapens when cable begins large scale roll out of VoIP Internet telephony features. That IS telephone service.
I’m also somewhat concerned about the legalized monopoly status that the decision gives the cable companies.
DSL service, for the most part run by regulation-saddled phone copmpanies, are going to have an even harder time competing.

Inside Personal Tech podcast up

It ain’t pretty, there are audio hits, dropouts and gaps but this week’s edition of Inside Personal Tech - the Podcast is up and online.
With my Knight Ridder Newspaper tech columnist colleagues Julio Ojeda-Zapata of the St. Paul Pioneer Press and Mike Langberg of the San Jose Mercury News, we talk about a 3D home hunting video application for the Net, a cellphone aimed at young kids and eBay Live!, the gathering of eBay sellers in San Jose.

eBay Live lineups

These eBay users are also big customers. There’s an eBay Shop set up in the convention center here in downtown San Jose that sells T-shirts, coffee mugs and souvenirs. The demand is so huge you have to stand in line for up to a half hour just to get in. And then, like Disneyland, they have roped off lines to get to a cash register.
Talk about a loyal community.
Also spotted Meg Whitman, the high profile eBay CEO, patiently shaking hands and standing in a booth to have her photograph taken with attendees.
Can you imagine Bill Gates or Steve Jobs or any other bigtime tech CEO mixing it up with the regular folk llike that?

eBay Live

I’m out in San Jose, CA covering eBay Live!, the 10th anniversary celebration and gathering of eBay sellers. It’s a cultural happening of it’s own sort but also a serious educational conference that teaches people how to sell more items at higher prices more effectively.
There are few things that have had such a revolutionary effect on the way goods and products are bought and sold and eBay Live! brings together more than 10,000 eBay sellers, most of them avid cheerleaders.
There are more than 160 exhibitors and lots of technology on display but the people-watching opportunities alone are worth the trip.
Take the family you see above. They’re from Prescott, AZ.
Bob Bull (really, that’s his name), the guy in the center, is in a wheelchair, on oxygen for his emphesema and suffers from a heart condition, multiple sclerosis and diabetes. But eBay, he says, “has saved my life.” He and wife, Alice, left, and daughter, Barbie, right, sell odds and ends on the auction site. They’re here in San Jose, like many others, in full eBay uniform. Bob even sports an eBay eyepatch.
Bob’s Website tells his story, how before he felt helpless, but now “I found eBay. Now I feel productive again, being able to help others, and it gives me great pleasure to be able to do so.”

Wireless iPod headphones

I NEED one of these. We hate wires.. Logitech, even at $150, will have a hit on its hands.

Apple polishing

Paid a visit to Apple Computer headquarters in Cupertino, CA while on a west coast reporting trip this week. Ate in the company cafeteria with some Apple contacts, talked shop, new products and the very high morale these days on Infinite Loop, the private drive that houses the main Apple campus here in the heart of Silicon Valley.
Also visited the Company Store and picked up an Apple T-shirt that reads: “I visited the mothership.”

Wi-fi isn’t as popular as some would have us think

This tends to confirm a trend I first saw and reported on in Michigan a few months back: The public as a whole doesn’t seem to be as excited about wi-fi as the tech industry would like them to be. Orlando Pulls Plug On Free Internet Service
Just the other day, I visited a local UPS Store that has had wi-fi since last fall.
“How’s it going?” I asked the manager.
“Still waiting for the first user,” he told me.

Leavin’ on a jet plane…

Will be traveling all afternoon. heading west for a visit to Apple Computer in Cupertino and the e-Bay Live! conference in San Jose.

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