Touch Me

[ehowton]

I'm considering an iPod Touch. Not for music mind you, I already have a Shuffle and a Nano. No, what I want is a mobile computing platform. Ever since my wife got her netbook, she contently checks her email and plays her games on the couch in front of the television. I've grown envious of her mobility. Sure she shares it with me, but if I had my own netbook I'd install the Ubuntu Netbook Remix on it because I shudder every time I see that "Start" Button (Where do you want to go today?)

No, what I need is something sleeker; more accessible. More awesome. I need the iPod Touch.



I initially wanted a full version of OSX in an iPhone form-factor. but after drax0r bought a Touch, he remembered that post and called me to tell me I was wrong, and explain what he could do with his new Touch:

• VPN


• SSH


• RDP

Flabbergasted doesn't quite fit my reaction. And as much as I'd love to get an iPhone, I'll wait until my employer picks up the voice & data plan, as I haven't paid a cell phone bill in 10-years and I don't plan to start now. But to be able to do all that from an iPod? (While snickering next to my wife and her suddenly bulky netbook?) YES PLEASE!

schpydurx informed me that the next Apple Keynote is coming up and, he said, their recent history dictates that a new generation of iPods will be announced. A little digging reveals that the iTablet - an AirBook/Touch hybrid for lack of a more descriptive term - won't be unveiled until 2010. But that's not what I'm waiting for. Usually, prices of current-gen hardware plummets after the announcement of updated tech. And seeing that my Nano is 16GB and I won't be using the Touch for music, I'll likely save my money and get the 8GB Touch at a reduced price. So yeah, I'm waiting for the Keynote. Go ahead. Touch me.


Squeegy intently anticipates catttitude's next move


http://ehowton.livejournal.com/tag/ipod

Comments

[melancthe.livejournal.com]

Your cat is very fluffy.

Wait, that didn't come out right ...

[celtmanx.livejournal.com]

He prefers fluffy cats.

[melancthe.livejournal.com]

Fluffy cats with deep vibrating purrs?

[schpydurx.livejournal.com]

I must admit when I first saw this post in Safari's Top Sites, I wondered where you were going. When you started talking about what drax0r can do with his Touch, I thought "I wonder if ehowton knows about the iPod event.

Then I got the biggest shock of my life: you remembered a news story that I shared with you.

I'll believe the tablet when I see it. There's this rumor and that rumor, but you know how Apple is with these things: it's not over until they announce their product.

The expectation at the September 9 presser is Nanos with cameras. That is the most sensible move. I don't think that Apple will be launching a tablet any time soon. The rumors about next year will have to materialize. Remember a couple of months ago we got all these stories about how Apple had bought up all the displays from the Korean company? Yeah, we'll just have to wait and see.

What I'm surprised that they aren't focusing a presser on is the release of Snow Leopard. I expected you to blog about how you've never bought an OS since ME with the exception of Leopard and I figured that you'd be the first in line for Snow Leopard...but then again, as that only runs on Intel based Macs and you like to live in the past...

Not that I expect you to take my advice on the Touch, but here goes: by the time that Touch is reduced in price, (unless there is some announcement on September 9 that affects Touches) it will be too late. Let's say Apple does do the tablet the rumor mill has slated for next year. When that comes out, it's going to make the Touch irrelevant.

The other thing to consider here is that unless you're buying used, Apple controls the price. Three weeks from today is when the iron will be hot on the 8 GB touch, not a year from now.

[ehowton.livejournal.com]

Safari's "Top Sites" seriously and immediately deprecates Opera's "Speed Dial."

Its not that I don't remember things you send me, its more that you're intolerable when I mention them to you, as if, for example, you not only imagined iPods, but also engineered them, then dug ore out of the earth yourself to create them. Its very tiring.

iPods with cameras. You call it 'sensible' I call it: http://ehowton.livejournal.com/114762.html

Speaking of Snow Leopard, its not that I "like" to live in the past. For those of us who are responsible for more than ensuring a hot pizza is delivered to a customer in under thirty-minutes, a constant struggle between financial responsibility and quality of life plays out every day. Yes, to a lesser degree you're also impacted by that, but when I choose to "blow" cash on something I think we can both agree is ultimately uncessary, I have to weigh its effects on those I am responsible for. In short, you're assumption in this is immature.

Your advice on the Touch would be entirely sensible if that were my goal. Setting aside the fact that I'm not an early adopter of new technology, you've managed to argue exactly why I 'm interested in a Touch. Price vs. Performance. When the iTouch becomes "irrelevant" that's exactly when I want to swoop in for the kill.

"Apple controls the price" is mostly true. It is not a hard & fast rule. Many time, outside the prying eyes of Apple, many discount stores and resellers do, actually discount Apple hardware. Wal-Mart is notorious for putting Apple on sale, and so is Best Buy. In fact, just yesterday Ernest picked up a current-gen (DDR3) MacBook Air at Best Buy for $800. The deals are out there - so let your blind faith donkey-punch you in the pocketbook because you think you know something.

[schpydurx.livejournal.com]

Safari's "Top Sites" seriously and immediately deprecates Opera's "Speed Dial."
No it doesn't. You can't use Top Sites via keyboard shortcuts and there is a bug with the feature that cause CPU usage to spike rendering the machine useless while it renders those previews.

You call it 'sensible' I call it: http://ehowton.livejournal.com/114762.html
How do you pronounce that again. Do you even know how hyperlinks work?

For those of us who are responsible for more than ensuring a hot pizza is delivered to a customer in under thirty-minutes...
You need to get your head out of your ass. You sound like Barry talking about "misinformation" when all people are doing is talking about what's in the bill. No one here has delivered pizza in years. Making this kind of non-sequitur just makes you look dumb.

In short, you're assumption in this is immature.
Dude, really, did you ever take a fucking English class? This sentence means nothing. Learn how to write the language before attempting to communicate in it.

When the iTouch becomes "irrelevant" that's exactly when I want to swoop in for the kill.
This is the first sensible thing that you've said. My point was that if indeed the Touch becomes irrelevant, would there still be support for the device and would it actually make your life and mobility easier than carrying around a clay brick?

In fact, just yesterday Ernest picked up a current-gen (DDR3) MacBook Air at Best Buy for $800.
I'd be curious to see this machine. I know that durning the transition between Rev A and B, there was a lot of misleading deals on refurbed Airs.

he deals are out there - so let your blind faith donkey-punch you in the pocketbook because you think you know something.
How's that Psystar purchase working out for you?

[xx-adamo-mangie.livejournal.com]

Ooooo iPod touch. Sexy.
P.S: Steal your wife's wireless internet. That would just make it all even better while you two are sitting on the couch and she keeps asking why you're snickering.

[ehowton.livejournal.com]

Sexy. Yes, that's the word which was missing from my post.

[schpydurx.livejournal.com]

I like the way you think.

Speaking of Apple News...

[schpydurx.livejournal.com]

Anti Virus Software in Leopard?

Whitebook to Live On?

Speaking of things which are immaterial in context...

[ehowton.livejournal.com]

I really have no interest in this information.

Speakin of you being nothing more than a talking head

[schpydurx.livejournal.com]

Speaking of things which are immaterial in context...
That's right. You don't have a Mac that meets the spec requirements for the next iteration of the best OS on the planet and you're not a deal hunter. My bad.

[panacea42.livejournal.com]

The ipod touch is a great machine, bought one for my boyfriend's last birthday and he loves it. Just make sure you'll be happy with the on-screen keyboard, I can't stand it myself...but then again I'm still using a PalmOS Treo, so what do I know? ;-)

That is one adorable cat!

Since I know you're eying a shinny new Mac...

[schpydurx.livejournal.com]

this story may be of some interest to you.

[ehowton.livejournal.com]

Good to know - thanks! I've used a Vaio rather extensively (ugh on that keyboard) and I dislike my wife's tee-tiny netbook keyboard, but the one on the Touch/iPhone seems, at the very least, entirely adequate.

[schpydurx.livejournal.com]

I would have thought that you would have preferred a physical keyboard--even if it meant typing with your thumbs--to an onscreen keyboard given your propensity for tactile response.

[panacea42.livejournal.com]

Saw those Sony UMPCs when they came out, yes that keyboard looks painful.

Agree that a new paradigm is in order for data input, but I'm not convinced that a touch screen picture of the current crappy keyboard is much progress. What would be truly groundbreaking is a direct mind-to-text interface -- coming at some point I'm sure, but I want it now!

[thesweetestnote.livejournal.com]

It's all Greek to me but I love it!!!

[schpydurx.livejournal.com]

Mozart did German, Latin an Italian.

[exorhi.livejournal.com]

I love my shuffle. I do wish that I had a nano. Shuffles odn't hold a lot, but they're great for at school or exercise.
Apps are an amazing invention.

I would say go for it.

[ehowton.livejournal.com]

The Shuffle is way more portable. Nowadays I keep it permanently affixed to my mowing hat ;)

[exorhi.livejournal.com]

I Put it on my shirt collar when I go out biking. It's definitely a win.

[schpydurx.livejournal.com]

May I suggest that you make Pocket Pain Doctor your first App for your new iPod Touch?

[ehowton.livejournal.com]

Hrm. Apparently Engadget wrote a bad review of that app...before they even tested it. Hey - that's one of your favoirte sites isn't it?

[schpydurx.livejournal.com]

You used to write for a paper, so here's an idea: Why don't you buy the app, test it yourself, write your own review proving Engadget wrong and then sue them for libel.