Garmin GPSmap 376c

Garmin GPSmap 376c
Originally uploaded by gadget.

The integration of GPS mapping and satellite delivered data can bring you real-time re-routing to our car navigation system, ala XM NavTraffic on some Acura and Cadillac vehicles, as long as the traffic data collection is supported in your city. Boaters and aftermarket GPS fans can use the GPSmap 376c from Garmin to display weather overlays on their current map. A 3.8" 480 X 320 256 color screen looks crisp and bright, a battery gives between 4 and 15 hours of use and this, of course, tunes in all 150 channels of XM satellite radio. Radio will cost you $12.95 a month, but weather data, a whopping $29.99 to $49.99 per month. Looks like weather needs a better service model from XM, like NavTraffic which is only an additional $3.99/month for existing radio subscribers. It does however look to be a nice convergence piece of satellite technologies. Plus you could even spill your boat drink on it as it is water restant. Now available at your favorite boat store or online retailer for $800 to $1000.

http://www.garmin.com/products/gpsmap376c/ - For boaters

If you are more of a driver than a boater, the 7" widescreen 16:9 480 x 234 pixel Street Pilot 7200 gives you traffic updates via ClearChannel's or XM NavTraffic service plus weather information albiet more limited than the marine version above. In addition to XM satellite radio, Audible book and MP3 playback adorne this in-vehicle GPS and an SD slot gives you the storage capacity for multimedia and map updates. An integrated FM modulator eliminates the wire between the display and your head unit for stereo audio playback. Look for this unit in December at streeet prices of $1000 to $1200.

http://www.garmin.com/products/sp7200/ - For drivers

The Apple iPod gave us so much, now it taketh away. Gone from the top of the 5th Generation iPod is the remote control port that few probably used anyway. The real travesty is that this port also provided power for accessories like the Griffin iTrip FM modulator and iTalk voice recorder. Watch for replacements to these in "sled" form factor that connect to the bottom port to derrive power and line-level audio. This should not have the distortion problems that the headphone jack was prone to in the past.

The real interesting feature deletion from this iPod though, is its lack of Firewire. Yes Apple, who helped to create this standard has orphaned the technology on thier latest incarnation of the Nano and iPod with Video. That's right, the entire iPod line for fall 2005 only supports USB 1.1 and 2.0. Was this a way to save a few precious cents at manufacturing or is this a testament that there are much more PC than Apple users now? I say the latter as most iMac and iBook users do not have the opportunity to put PCI 2.0 cards in their computers. Perhaps this is just a creative way for Apple to force computer upgrades rather than their throwing in the towel on the technology. Expect slightly longer charge times and slower speeds in syncing with USB 2.0 over Firewire also called IEEE 1394.

Video on the iPod vs the PSP

Sony PSP UMD slot
Originally uploaded by gadget.

We knew that Steve was going to do it, even when he said that people don't want to carry movies around with them. Apple announced their familiar form factor yet thined iPod with 30 frames per second video playback through its new 2.5 inch screen. It also supports a composite RCA output, which is unique over the PSP's closed video output architecture. Will iTunes content (which is weak with 2000 mostly unknown videos at launch) beat the Sony Connect service with its downloadable media and retail UMD movies? Time will tell, but we can dig into the technical specs right now between the two devices.

The iPod won the war of the pocket music players against Sony, the inventor of the portable music category, from their Walkman and Discman players in the 1980's. Apple beat them from their 30 year monopoly because the iPod supported 7 different compressed media formats versus Sony's single ATRAC codec, a carry over from their MiniDisc technology they pushed into their "MP3" player lineup. It was not until Fall of 2004 that Sony announced MP3 support, well after the device game was lost. In 2005, they began shipping laptops with SD and Memory Stick ports - a further shift towards supporting standards other than their own.

Lets look at the specifications of the Sony PSP vs. the iPod 5th generation video player.

Sony PSP:
Overall device size: 6.7 x 2.9 x .9 inches
Video formats via "UMD": H.264/MPEG-4 AVC Main Profile Level3
Video formats via "Memory Stick": MPEG-4 SP,AAC
Output via 4.3" 16:9 TFT
480 x 272 pixel, 16.77 million colors (130,560 pixels)
Content via Sony Connect or retail UMD movies
Create your own via Image Converter 2 Plus for $14.99
Storage capacity: 2GB or 10 hours via Memory Stick Duo or unlimited via UMD media
Battery: 2-3 Hours

iPod 5th Gen:
Overall device size: 4.1 x 2.4 x 0.43 inches
Video formats: H.264 video: up to 768 Kbps, 320 x 240, 30 frames per sec., Baseline Profile up to Level 1.3 with AAC-LC up to 160 Kbps, 48 Khz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4 and .mov file formats
MPEG-4 video: up to 2.5 mbps, 480 x 480, 30 frames per sec., Simple Profile with AAC-LC up to 160 Kbps, 48 Khz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4 and .mov file formats
Output via 2.5" 4:3 TFT and RCA Composite output
320 x 240 pixel 16.7 million colors (76,800 pixels)
Content via iTunes Music (and Video) store
Create your own via Quicktime 7 Pro for $29.99
Storage capacity: 60GB or 150 Hours of video (max)
Battery: 2-3 Hours

The iPod is clearly smaller, but the screen is nearly half the resolution of the PSP. Remove its wide screen capabilities and you are going to need to get your eyes close to the iPod to see detail in videos. There is a psychological difference to these devices too. The iPod is known as a "passive" listening device where the PSP is an "active" engaging product. We have to engage to watch TV or play games so the iPod's video capabilities may go forgotten after the novelty wears off or the time to download content into iTunes then transfer it from your computer to the iPod makes us weary. If users have large music collections, the tradoffs between many songs being replaced by only a handful of TV programs may be another detriment.

Sony has their Connect download service and many UMD movies in retail stores while Apple has no movie program because of digital rights issues from the DMCA and only a few "formerly free" broadcast TV programs and some music videos available to purchase. I predict that it is only a matter of time before Pixar and Disney movies are available on the iTunes service, with the other studios to follow. Downloading a 2+ hour movie will be extremely time consuming and expensive for both a time and cost of bandwidth standpoint.

Both Sony and Apple offer software programs to convert home movies or TV programs that reside on your PC hard drive into MPEG4 formats compatible with their devices. Unfortunately, as easy as it is to rip your audio CDs to MP3 format, neither of these will allow you to "rip" a DVD that you own onto the devices although third-party "hacks" will let you achieve this with a few extra steps.

Now Apple does support a TV output and even an optional $39 remote control which makes this a neat "pocket PVR" for your television at home or on the road. Today, at the launch of the 5th gen iPod, I say the PSP wins at video and the iPod wins at music. These tables could change however, if Apple buys TiVo and enables their PC Home Media Option or rear USB ports to sync between the two formerly disparaged devices. An iPod that "talks" to a TiVo would be one of the few killer convergence devices. If you think about it, both Apple and TiVo have nailed the perfect consumer experience. Sony is playing catch-up.

Video on the iPod vs the PSP

Sony PSP UMD slot
Originally uploaded by gadget.

We knew that Steve was going to do it, even when he said that people don't want to carry movies around with them. Apple announced their familiar form factor yet thined iPod with 30 frames per second video playback through its new 2.5 inch screen. It also supports a composite RCA output, which is unique over the PSP's closed video output architecture. Will iTunes content (which is weak with 2000 mostly unknown videos at launch) beat the Sony Connect service with its downloadable media and retail UMD movies? Time will tell, but we can dig into the technical specs right now between the two devices.

The iPod won the war of the pocket music players against Sony, the inventor of the portable music category, from their Walkman and Discman players in the 1980's. Apple beat them from their 30 year monopoly because the iPod supported 7 different compressed media formats versus Sony's single ATRAC codec, a carry over from their MiniDisc technology they pushed into their "MP3" player lineup. It was not until Fall of 2004 that Sony announced MP3 support, well after the device game was lost. In 2005, they began shipping laptops with SD and Memory Stick ports - a further shift towards supporting standards other than their own.

Lets look at the specifications of the Sony PSP vs. the iPod 5th generation video player.

Sony PSP:
Overall device size: 6.7 x 2.9 x .9 inches
Video formats via "UMD": H.264/MPEG-4 AVC Main Profile Level3
Video formats via "Memory Stick": MPEG-4 SP,AAC
Output via 4.3" 16:9 TFT
480 x 272 pixel, 16.77 million colors (130,560 pixels)
Content via Sony Connect or retail UMD movies
Create your own via Image Converter 2 Plus for $14.99
Storage capacity: 2GB or 10 hours via Memory Stick Duo or unlimited via UMD media
Battery: 2-3 Hours

iPod 5th Gen:
Overall device size: 4.1 x 2.4 x 0.43 inches
Video formats: H.264 video: up to 768 Kbps, 320 x 240, 30 frames per sec., Baseline Profile up to Level 1.3 with AAC-LC up to 160 Kbps, 48 Khz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4 and .mov file formats
MPEG-4 video: up to 2.5 mbps, 480 x 480, 30 frames per sec., Simple Profile with AAC-LC up to 160 Kbps, 48 Khz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4 and .mov file formats
Output via 2.5" 4:3 TFT and RCA Composite output
320 x 240 pixel 16.7 million colors (76,800 pixels)
Content via iTunes Music (and Video) store
Create your own via Quicktime 7 Pro for $29.99
Storage capacity: 60GB or 150 Hours of video (max)
Battery: 2-3 Hours

The iPod is clearly smaller, but the screen is nearly half the resolution of the PSP. Remove its wide screen capabilities and you are going to need to get your eyes close to the iPod to see detail in videos. There is a psychological difference to these devices too. The iPod is known as a "passive" listening device where the PSP is an "active" engaging product. We have to engage to watch TV or play games so the iPod's video capabilities may go forgotten after the novelty wears off or the time to download content into iTunes then transfer it from your computer to the iPod makes us weary. If users have large music collections, the tradoffs between many songs being replaced by only a handful of TV programs may be another detriment.

Sony has their Connect download service and many UMD movies in retail stores while Apple has no movie program because of digital rights issues from the DMCA and only a few "formerly free" broadcast TV programs and some music videos available to purchase. I predict that it is only a matter of time before Pixar and Disney movies are available on the iTunes service, with the other studios to follow. Downloading a 2+ hour movie will be extremely time consuming and expensive for both a time and cost of bandwidth standpoint.

Both Sony and Apple offer software programs to convert home movies or TV programs that reside on your PC hard drive into MPEG4 formats compatible with their devices. Unfortunately, as easy as it is to rip your audio CDs to MP3 format, neither of these will allow you to "rip" a DVD that you own onto the devices although third-party "hacks" will let you achieve this with a few extra steps.

Now Apple does support a TV output and even an optional $39 remote control which makes this a neat "pocket PVR" for your television at home or on the road. Today, at the launch of the 5th gen iPod, I say the PSP wins at video and the iPod wins at music. These tables could change however, if Apple buys TiVo and enables their PC Home Media Option or rear USB ports to sync between the two formerly disparaged devices. An iPod that "talks" to a TiVo would be one of the few killer convergence devices. If you think about it, both Apple and TiVo have nailed the perfect consumer experience. Sony is playing catch-up.

5th Generation iPod Top View

5th Generation iPod Top View
Originally uploaded by gadget.

The greatest thing about the 3rd and 4th generation iPods were their top and bottom accessory ports. Say goodbye to the top power and control port on the 5th generation Video iPod. This means that remote controls and FM modulators like those from Griffin will need to be larger to house their own batteries. Unless, they are pushing power through the headphone jack, which I doubt.

The bottom connector stayed the same, so your speakers from Altec Lansing, JBL and even the new iHome iPod alarm clock (which sounds GREAT! for $99!) will work with this new portable player.

I was also suprized that they did not include the Bluetooth stereo profile (A2DP) for wireless headphones. This is also unfortunately disabled in the Motorola ROKR phone as well.

Since the Intel Intercast boards of 1995 I have been fascinated with the convergence of PCs and Television sets. This path, however takes two routes which I have been known to call push and pull. Windows 95 brought TV tuner cards (that actually worked) to the den and WebTV boxes, now called MSN TV, extended PC like functions to living room. Both of these examples are a pull or consuming activity. My Apple computers and now with the stability of XP, my Windows machines let me manipulate and encode digital video from photo and movie cameras, recorded media or live TV. My TiVo content can now live on my huge PC hard drives and be further compressed to resolutions and compression rates more suited to portable devices. Services like Google Video will host my old television shows and even let me charge for them if I wish - ala iTunes. The problem at hand is Digital Rights Management or that bad three letter word that techies call DRM. Now I understand what it costs to produce content. I'm a writer, producer and content creator by trade. I get paid for disseminating what is in my head and putting it in the media. However, I believe as the content becomes available to more people in an easy manner, it gains value. Just as the original swapping of bootleg concert tapes, and now MP3 files help build fan communities for new and established bands, I hope that media content can be aggregated and live on in the new world of TelePixels. Whether it is to extend brand or reach, or become a click and view micro-payment model. The days of the network are dying. I do not watch networks. I watch shows. Networks are ineffecient, difficult to navigate and slow. It is time to trim the fat. This blog will investigate the world of TelePixels, or multimedia content on personal electronics.