iPod Shuffle gets color
The iPod Shuffle now comes in orange (a new color for any iPod model) as well as 4 other colors. Here’s a good review by an iLounge.com editor of why the new Shuffles are better than the old, colors notwithstanding. Hint: it’s the earbuds, bud.
If they didn’t lack the bass response of the higher end Nano and iPod Video, I’d have been an owner back in November, when these amazing aluminum Shuffles were introduced.
Vista released… meh
Microsoft’s first new operating system in 5 years was released for retail sale yesterday. Eyes lifted briefly, then went back to television or work. Vista was previewed to death over the last couple years, and released to corporate clients over two months ago.
Many stores that had planned midnight showings were surprised at the lack of devotees queuing up to buy Vista. CompUSA’s premier store on San Francisco’s Market Street only saw a fraction of the 500-plus shoppers its manager had hoped for at the stroke of twelve. And in an unintentionally hilarious piece of irony, many of those who came to shop — including those at the head of the line — were there only for discounts on gadgets rather than Microsoft’s software darling. Similar stories surfaced in other parts of the US.
Suspense had been entirely bled from Vista, so yesterday’s release was a big yawn. Of course, accusations flew that Microsoft’s new OS is a ripoff of Mac OS. It would have been surprising if they didn’t fly. It’s happened with every version of Windows, to one degree or another.
January 31st, 2007 at 8:50 pm
Nice. Succinct, but informative. I agree that better earbuds for the shuffle is a bigger deal than the new colors. Colors are nice, but I would probably just buy the silver anyway.
If only now Apple could work on adding Ogg and FLAC support to grandpa QuickTime, then iTunes iPod would surely follow.
January 31st, 2007 at 9:15 pm
I really wanted Visa to be better than XP, an OS I only grudgingly use for testing, but I don’t think it is nearly the jump over XP that everyone was expecting. After reading Gutman’s paper, okay listening to the Security Now interview (I really should have read the paper), and reading other tech reviews of Vista, I wonder if most of the past five years has gone to kowtowing to media companies by integrating stronger DRM technologies and making a prettier interface. Security should be better, I believe XP was supposed to be “so much better” than past versions of Windows. I suppose time will tell. Until then, I am all about OS X and various linux distros–Ubuntu, Xubuntu, DSL.
Security Now Episode 74 Podcast link:
http://www.twit.tv/sn74
Gutman interview Security Now transcript
http://www.grc.com/sn/SN-074.htm
Gutman’s Vista cost analysis paper:
http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut001/pubs/vista_cost.html
Security Now Episode 74 Podcast link:
http://www.twit.tv/sn74
February 1st, 2007 at 12:50 am
“first new operating system in 5 years” may be true on the consumer side, but certainly isn’t true when you include the server and enterprise products…
Server 2003 (and all the variations)
XP 64 (which is more based on the server 2003 codebase than the XP 32 codebase
There were releases of MCE and the Tablet PC edition too within the last 3 years.
It’s all too easy to think that M$ consumer products are the entirety of their product line but the consumer products are a small part of their overall offerings.
February 1st, 2007 at 1:46 pm
SteveAx, that’s a good point. However, wasn’t the Tablet PC edition and MCE really expansions of XP. XP 64 always seemed like a better OS than the 32bit version, but many people say don’t bother because the support isn’t there for drivers and software.
Server 2003 is probably a bigger deal out of the bunch, and from what I have read, a pretty decent OS.
I think it is fair to say Windows Vista is the first new MS operating system for home and corporate desktops in the last five years.
Nathan
February 1st, 2007 at 1:54 pm
I think it is fair to say Windows Vista is the first new MS operating system for home and corporate desktops in the last five years.
Yes, absolutely. Good catch Steve, I should have said what Nathan said.