Apple has been following a trend of going smaller and sleeker with their designs, and continue to push the envelope with the introduction of the new iPod Shuffle this week. Even though it now has 4GB of memory (1,000 songs), it's about half the volume of the last version...which was already just slightly bigger than a quarter. The unit now basically looks like a stick of Orbit gum in an aluminum wrapper with a headphone jack and a clip. It still has no screen. It also has no controls on the unit itself other than the on/off switch, there's no room. Instead, they moved them to the wire of the custom Apple headphones.New features include something called VoiceOver, where for the first time on an iPod Shuffle you can identify what or who you are listening to from a soothing male voice that comes directly from the iPod.
Yes...your iPod can now talk to you.
Personally, I'm not sold on this feature. I make the playlists that load onto my old Shuffle, so I know it's music that I enjoy and can already identify on my own. The name of the iPod is the "Shuffle", so you can conclude pretty quickly that its entire purpose is to randomly shuffle through what you loaded into it. The whole thing just seems unnecessary. It's a weak attempt at trying to give some kind of playlist control, without a display, to a unit that really doesn't require it.
Anyways, I'm harping on a feature that in my eyes (or ears) doesn't really matter.
What's the biggest reason for me not upgrading my old iPod Shuffle? The controls being moved to the earbuds. Currently, in order for this new iPod to work, you MUST use the custom Apple earbuds for this iPod. It's the only way to get it to work, because they are the only ones with the controls. Apple has said it is working with headphone makers to develop compatible earphones for the shuffle, but nothing else is on the market so far. I don't know about most people, but Apple earbuds destroy my ears, and the quality isn't anything to brag about. I'm in pain by the 3rd or 4th song, and want them out immediately. I'm pretty particular about sound quality and comfort and have invested in Bose Tri-Port In-Ear Headphones for my mobile listening pleasure. CNET doesn't give them the greatest review, but I think the sound from them is amazing and they are probably the most comfortable headphones I have ever used.
I'm not very keen on the idea of replacing my favorite headphones (which cost more than the new $80 shuffle to begin with) with something sub-par just because Apple decided smaller is better. ]]>
The computer mouse had its 40th anniversary on Tuesday. It's come a long way since it was first displayed to the public in 1968, but personally I think it may go the way of the Dodo in the coming years due to the increased implementation of touch screens and speech recognition.
Everyone I know used to owned a Dell. I think I've owned 3 or 4 in the past 10 years. But Dell took a tumble a few years back, and lost their commanding grasp on the market. I think a lot of it had to do with the fact that they were the ugliest option on the market for a while.