The MP3 Player Turns 10, Still Listens to Boyz II Men Occasionally

Ah, to be young again. Today marks the anniversary of the first device built with dedicated storage coupled with built-in mp3 decoding, the venerable MPMan F10, built by Saehan Information Systems in 1998. Featuring a luxurious 32MB of storage, this player could hold about eight songs, required transfer of files via a serial cable, and went for the very respectable price of $250. Largely unheralded in the US, the MPMan paved the way for the popular Rio PMP300, built by Diamond Multimedia.

Of course, things have changed a little since those halcyon days. Some have changed for better, some for worse. Still, it's always good to remember where we originally came from and be thankful. Cheers, Saehan Information Systems! Now, where did I put my serial cable? I want to crank up some Ace of Base, kick back, and play some GoldenEye on my N64.

Rolly Ready For US; I Still Don't Get It

Okay, I understand that this is not a gadget for everyone. I understand I'm not the target market here. But here's the burning question for me; who the hell is the target market? What looney tune has gone into a focus group for Sony and specifically said, "I want a little egg-shaped thing, that plays music, and dances. That'd be right up my alley." Even more questionable, what Sony executive has thought, "Hmmm, focus group said they want a dancing musical egg. Let's do it! And... here's the real kicker...let's do it for 400 bucks!" Then he gave himself a high five. Just listen to this:

"Rolly has the ability to attract your attention as soon as you turn it on," said Brennan Mullin, vice president of marketing for audio at Sony Electronics. "It's a tremendous example of what can happen when entertainment and technology merge."

You know what else has the ability to attract my attention? The loss of four hundred bucks from my bank account! Anyway, the Rolly comes preloaded with 3 song-and-dance numbers ("Also Sprach Zarathustra," Avril Lavigne's "Girlfriend" and Earth Wind and Fire's "Boogie Wonderland") the ability to program your own dances, 2GB of memory, and a lingering sense of sadness that the money you just spent could've gotten you another somewhat popular Sony appliance.

[Sony's Rolly Rolls Into US]

Napster Sheds It's DRM, Runs Around Nude

Watch your back, iTunes. Napster have opened their new web store today, and along with it, a brand spanking new pricing structure. Starting right this second, all tracks are $0.99 apiece, albums are $9.99, and all of it is totally DRM free. Even better, the almost all of the tracks are enocded in mp3 at the pretty decent bitrate of 256Kbps, along with high resolution artwork (at least 1000 x 1000 pixels).

For those of you still digging the all-you-can-eat subscription models, they is also still available for $13 (Online) & $15 (To Go) a month, although obviously these will carry the same DRM restrictions that they had before. Namely, protected WMA format, and the files expire when your subscription is up.

Unfortunately, not all the news is peachy keen. Napster will not be allowing people who have bought files in the older protected formats to upgrade to the new DRM-free tracks, due to label restrictions. Oh well, I'm sure nothing bad will ever happen with those tracks.

[Napster Web Store]

Fizz Cup Is Bringing Ice-Cream + Soda Back

I can't think of the number of times that I've been out on the town and thought, "I really need an ice-cream float, like right now." This is officially known as the Ice-Cream Conundrum. Well worry no more! The Earth has assigned it's finest scientists onto the task of solving the Ice-Cream Conundrum, and here is the result. The Fizz Cup is a unique way to enjoy the pleasures of an ice-cream soda on the go without having to construct a time machine, travel back to the 50's and find a local soda fountain. All yours for the price of $13.50 for a 6-pack of Fizz Cups - think of all the money you'll save on time machine components alone!

[Fizz Cup]

Firefox RC 1 Hits The Wires

Firefox 3 Release Candidate 1 has just been dropped on the masses, and features a handful of interface changes, some security enhancements, and upgraded speed and stability for AJAX-heavy sites like Gmail. I'm really glad RC1 has hit, because it means that extension makers will now start the process to add Firefox 3 compatibility to their wonderful work. Seriously, Firefox is good, but it is the extensions that make it great. So if you're still lingering on the memory-hogging hambeast of Firefox 2, Firefox 3 RC 1 is here to save you. Hop to it!

[Firefox 3 RC1]

I'm Afraid I Can't Let You Apply That Wallpaper, Dave

2001: A Space Odyssey is an awesome movie, and features one of the coolest sentient computers to ever feature in a movie; the HAL-9000. Are you a Stanley Kubrick fan? Does your computer sing "Daisy" in a creepy way when it gets a BSOD or kernel panic? If so, this is the wallpaper for you. Just remember, don't ever plot against it where it can hear you. Once it knows your plans, things just go from bad to worse.

[Deviant Art] (use the download link on the left sidebar)

Tenori-On Is Awesome, Musical, Nerdish

Yamaha, you have tickled me today. The Tenori-On, a new drool-worthy gadget thinly disguised as a "digital musical instrument" creates visible music, which dances across it's 16 x 16 LED matrix screen. By pressing different LED buttons, you can create notes which can then be further manipulated by pressing the controllers on the side of the screen, altering pitch, tempo, loop control and more. Playing the Tenori-On is fascinating, because can be done not only by listening to the notes, but by watching the screen and using patterns and shapes to form music. Hard to explain, but easy and beautiful to watch.

Now, all you music nerds whose jaws just dropped to the floor, let me say this: the Tenori-On is only available in extremely limited quantities, for a measly sum of $1200. Orders are on a first come, first served basis, so register now if you'd like to pick up a unit.

[Yamaha's Tenori-On]

Motoroll'd: Motorola CTO departs

Motorola's woes continue, with their Chief Technology & Strategy officer Richard Nottenburg moving on from the struggling company. Although his official line was that he "left to return to the New York area to be with his family and pursue other opportunities," most people are speculating that he is taking off as a result of being passed over for the new mobile devices CEO. Or it could because he's a savvy guy who knows when to call it quits on a company desperate for a turnaround. I'm hopeful he's left to start his own mobile devices company, Nottenburg Devices. Why? Because then they could make the tagline: "If it ain't a Nottenburg, it ain't Notten!"

Sprint ready to unleash WiMAX

Despite some early hurdles, it looks like Sprint's deployment of WiMAX, (their chosen successor to the current 3G network) is ready to roll after testing in Baltimore and DC. They've also been all buddy-buddy with Samsung over WiMAX, and they'll be helping to get the ball rolling on the hardware side of things with a WiMAX-enabled ExpressCard and baked-in WiMAX chipsets in devices like their Q1 UMPC.

See, the big problem with WiMAX is that it's only as good as the hardware that supports it. If some manufacturing big guns don't show up to the party, it may have a pretty difficult run into the mainstream. Currently Intel, Samsung & Motorola are on board with WiMAX, but with Motorola's handset business in a financial tailspin at the moment, they might not have the drawing power they once did. Sprint are saying they are going to be pushing out some dual-network devices which support both CDMA and WiMAX straight away, but if they don't make some headway soon, LTE will be breathing down their necks, courtesy of AT&T and Verizion.

[Business Wire]

OLPC Adopts Windows XP; I Feel Uneasy

Microsoft has announced a partnership with OLPC (or the makers of the XO laptop, if you prefer) to provide Windows XP along with the low-cost laptop, starting in June. This version will be $3 more than the regular XO laptop price of $200, or you can opt to dual-boot both Windows and Linux, for about $7 more. You also get a larger storage space for your money - XP comes loaded on a 2GB SD card, providing 1.5GB of usable space in total after installation. Microsoft have also taken extra special care with this release, spending more than a year developing specialized drivers to handle the ebook, writing pad and webcam for the XO.

So am I just a little paranoid, or does everyone get a little nervous when Microsoft makes a statement like this?

"The availability of Windows, in addition to Linux, on the XO laptop will allow customers to have an expanded choice of operating environments that best fit their requirements. The intention is to create a version of the XO laptop that provides the ability to host both Windows and Linux operating systems, giving users the ability to run either on the XO laptop."

Run Linux and Windows.... together? Ebony and Ivory? In perfect harmony?

Ok, the jig's up. Just who are you and what have you done with Microsoft?

[Microsoft Press Release]

Palm Apparently Still Doing Stuff, Treo 800w Surfaces

I always feel kind of guilty when I take a shot at Palm. They're like the kid at school who is really annoying, but then you found out his parents beat the crap out of him and that why he's so messed up. Since floundering in the last couple of years with their Treo releases, the delay of their own operating system and the whole Foleo fiasco, Palm are working on turning it around with new releases like the Centro (which isn't doing too badly) and the new Treo 800w.

This new Treo looks like it will be bound for CDMA networks, and boasts a rumored spec sheet that includes Windows Mobile 6.1, EV-DO Rev. A, GPS and a 320 x 320 touchscreen. My favourite part of this story is that internally at Palm, the new Treo is known by the codename 'Zepplin'. Why not just call it the Hindenburg, Palm? Oh, the humanity!

And now I feel guilty again.

Eee 901 available June 3rd, Slips Further Away From Low-Cost

Eee PC, the little computer with a dangerous penchant for getting more expensive, is upping the ante once again. Asus has announced the new Eee PC 901 will be available in June at a price point of 'under $650' (it's totally going to be $649). Enhancements include a new low-power Intel Atom processor under the hood, bluetooth and a couple of metallic highlights to slightly change-up the current design.

The Eee PC has faced competition in the subnotebook category in recent times with the introduction of the MSI Wind and the HP 2133 Mini-Note. In fact, the MSI Wind is a full $100 cheaper, yet also packs an Atom processor. Is it just me, or does Asus seems utterly determined to price themselves out of the low-end market?

[Digitimes]