I was fooled

iTunes for Windows Mobile 5. Well, at least I would have to replace my PocketPC before being able to listen to my m4p files and who knows when that'll be.

SOURCE: TUAW

FAKENESS 00:07 EST 9/29/05: A lot of people are saying this, but I trust PocketPC owners the most.

KTamas: 1. His phone is in Vibrate mode, so there is no sound, lol. Even then, he does listens to the music.

AND

brianchris: Perhaps another piece of evidence that it is a fake is the fact that the device is a T-Mobile MDA II ( http://www.pdagold.com/hardware/det...sp?DeviceID=154 ), YET is obviously running the Windows Mobile 5 OS (by the softkeys at the bottom of the screen). Very few devices are getting an upgrade to WM5, and certainly NOT the MDA II

AND FINALLY

Raphael143: Don't shoot the messenger, but the editor at msmobiles.com states that he knows a guy who knows the guy who did this and it's 100% fake. http://www.msmobiles.com/f/viewtopic.php?t=9816

SOURCE: PPCT

Weekly

Just a couple things I wanted to share from this week.

First off, as my meal plan got reduced from 285 to 210 to 50, as if there wasn't enough incentive to attend company infosessions, I'm scoping 'em out on MonsterTrak and going to as many as I can. Preferably late so I have an excuse to eat and not be dressed up. I did attend the third infosession in business casual because I had a meeting later in the day. That's a savings of like 30 meal-plan dollars a week. Heck, I'm earning my iPod nano back by eating dinner at infosessions.

Next, iPod news! Duke has apparently revamped their iPods in education pilot program to be less of a waste of money. While giving iPods to every freshman (which I heard only put them back $100,000) makes it possible for instructors to integrate iPods into their classes, not every class is going to need one. So, Duke is only giving an iPod to you if you a) don't already have one and b) you actually need it for a class.

More iPod news! My iPod arrived in a little cardboard box the next morning after I posted about the shipment. I didn't get to see it until I got home yesterday for Mid-Autumn Festival, however. I do report that it is delightful and cool, and everything. The first complaint is that to undock it from the computer, you have to take out the headphones as you won't be able to unlock-via-squeeze the connector through the adjacent headphones. My mom gave me a small zip-lock bag for the iPod as a temporary case and it's no less aesthetically pleasing. It feels small and compact, yet dense and substantial. I'm truly beginning to appreciate the interface and design--especially the play/pause button.

What else? I found a friend from high school taking a semester off from Cornell and he's taking classes at Rutgers.

Spin in place in style

Yesterday, I got a chance to ride the 1st generation of Segways. There was someone running around posting party cards (whatever you call them) at the bus stop riding a Segway. I had seen him before while tabling at the involvement fair and later regretted not asking for a ride. Upon seeing him again, I immediately asked and he agreed to let me take it for a spin.

By and all, it was an interesting experience. He told me to stand up straight and lean forwards to speed up or backwards to reverse. I wobbled a bit, but was able to stay still. There's a little wheel (?) around the left handle that controls turning and AFAIK, there's a zero degree turning radius. I didn't get to ride for too long, because I didn't want to keep him from doing his job, but it was fun.

This was another missed opportunity to photoblog due to my lack of having a digital camera.

SOURCE: Second chances

My (unpopular) nano has shipped

Just thought it was interesting that my iPod nano shipped direct from China. The service type says IP Direct Distribution, so maybe FedEx handles the entire distribution process.

On an entirely different note, Apple stock dropped around the same time this article was published. The bad news is that retail stores have sold only a fraction of the iPods they had in stock. It's suggested that Apple may have anticipated demand and simply shipped an excess of iPods to the stores, but they point fingers at the perceived contradiction of paying more for less capacity. Well, that certainly didn't matter for mini sales, which likely greatly surpassed Apple's original estimates. ANYHOW, I own Apple shares as I'll occasionally mention so that you can tell that my favorite parts of the article are not objective.

Oh, and my color choice is 7 times less popular than black.

SOURCE: TheStreet.com

UPDATE 5:41 AM EST 9/15/05: Whoa. SAME information, totally different analysis. Forbes reports that Piper Jaffray raised the price target to $60.

SOURCE: The Inquirer

(Why) is Google Talk better?

I looked at the 'About' information for Google Talk, and it seems that Google's using licensed voice technology from Global IP Sound. It gets better, because Skype, MSN, Net2Phone and tons of other companies use the technology in their products. I was at first naively disappointed, but it'd be quite absurd for Google to reinvent the wheel when it comes to VoIP. This makes interoperability seem more real and tangible (at least between Skype, MSN, and Net2Phone) if they're based on the same technology.

But, why did someone say that Google Talk's simply better? The difference might be due to the vast networks Google is supposed be superimposing over the internet that drives Web Accelerator. I haven't tried the voice features (!) but I think this is why Google still has a competitive advantage as more bandwidth + expansive network = better quality.

Lastly, here's some interesting insight from Jeff Maurone about who developed Google Talk at Google.

(UPDATE 11:22 PM EST 9/12/05: : / I forgot to factor in the fact that not that many people are using Google Talk, while Skype has tens of millions of users. I also forgot that Skype was started by the Kazaa people, and that it uses Skype users' computers to route calls over their p2p network. So much for that. So, while Google might be able to devote resources to Talk, Skype is efficiently handling much more traffic. Realized that after reading this interview with the SIPphone CEO. They also use the same underlying VoIP technology.)

Idle thoughts...

a) I don't cut in line because, well, I never really did it and it's really annoying when you're about to be late for work trying to get dinner and people cut in line.

b) The pepsi machines that have the bill slot, coin drop, and coin return in the middle are more fun than our old coke machines. Why? They don't just spit your money back when you press the coin return. They give you entirely different ones. Think of the potential!!!!!

No one should buy the shuffle (anymore)

Just marking this "breath-taking" moment. Keep in mind that it syncs calendar and contacts from Outlook.

SOURCE: Engadget.com

UPDATE 7:00 PM: Before you go rush in and get the 4 GB, just remember that the 20 GB is only $50 more ($40 with education pricing)...

UPDATE 11:39 PM 9/8/05: Win a free nano. All it takes is picking your 10 favorite posts at TUAW and blogging about it. I wonder how many I've linked to.

Economic insight of the day

My business chinese professor said that oil prices are high, not because of any change in the supply or production of oil. Instead, prices are being driven higher and higher by speculation. In other words, people think the price of oil will be higher tomorrow, so they're buying it up. This makes what my roommate Mike said make more sense, that there will be a burst of the oil price bubble, just as Greenspan warned about an eventual burst in the housing market.

SOURCE: Prof. Qi Yun Fang

UPDATE 9/3/05 9:05 PM EST: So, apparently, this insight isn't the be-all and end-all when considering the effects of an actual refined oil supply drop of 1.8 million barrels due to Katrina. See the linked Washington Post article about the oil situation.

Typing on a G5...

So, several things happened today. I went back to work and had a decently quiet shift and a good conversation with my co-worker. The buses weren't running when I left, so instead of calling the knight mover, I just walked/jogged home. That's the most exercise I'll get besides table tennis. Being that it was like after 5 AM when I got back to the dorm, I figured I'd get some breakfast at the 24-hour dunkin' donuts. Planning on getting as much sleep as possible until my second period class, I forwent coffee...

Unfortunately, I was deprived of my first lecture of the semester (Democratic Political Philosophy) because our professor couldn't make it to class. I was really looking forward to it because I liked the topics on the reading list. Partly because of the resulting free time, I exceeded the bandwidth limit and lost my access for a week. Learning how to bump locks was not worth it. NO LINKS ON THAT.

My second class Computer Graphics involves learning about the core concepts of 3D graphics, including modelling, rendering, and animation. Despite falling drifting off to sleep a couple of times during the lecture (which I always do, for some sinister reasons), I'm excited about the class. Programming assignments are worth 65% of our grade, and are to be completed individually, but I don't mind as long as I hand things in ON TIME.

What else... more work tonight, brother's windows died :/ Katrina hit hard... That's what I should be posting about...

SOURCE: The swirling void