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43 cents is what, as ZDnet reports, a Russian network of malware affiliates called “Partnerka” pays to get a Mac infected. The network tries to lure you into downloading malicious video codecs and video players that allow you to play video files that Quicktime cannot play.
Our advice: Download Perian or vlc (my video player of choice) and if neither can play a video file, it’s not worth watching it.
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NewTeeVee published a side-by-side comparison between the new iPod Nano with video and the Flip SD. While the Nano’s video quality is decent, it got beaten fair and square by the Flip. See for yourself in the comparison video that NewTeeVee posted.
What does this mean for the iPod Nano? Nothing more than it will succeed and that Cisco is in deep trouble unless they significantly up-feature the Flip. Remember the good enough economy and Steve Jobs being the master of it? Clearly, the Nano’s video is good enough for many. Combine it with the Nano’s outstanding music player capabilities and you see why people will flock to it. Simply replacing two gadgets (Flip and Nano 4G) with one new gadget (Nano 5G) has a lot of appeal. Plus, if I want really good video, I can always take my DSLR or my camcorder as my second device.
If I was in the market for a small video camera today that captures video that I intend to upload to YouTube, the Nano would be a no-brainer. But I’d think thrice about buying a Flip.
It will be interesting to see how Cisco reacts to this. They must be nervous over there…
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A little surprising to me was the announcement at Apple’s Music event that the iPod nano gained video (I might have been too preoccupied with the iPod Touch). There had been strong rumors about a camera making it into the Nano, but not video. Apparently, Apple wants to fire a preemptive shot at the Cisco Flip Mino and given the specs, price and Apple’s popularity and market share, they should succeed in taking away the lower-end market from the Mino.
Video is easy to take, as seen on Apple’s iPod Nano video site. Point the Nano, scroll down to video capture, then take your videos. Synch them through iTunes and upload them to YouTube. Pretty basic usage model, certainly interesting to the youth market that Apple is targeting (despite the fact that the Nano seems to be relegated to the exercise market, while the youth has moved on to the iPod Touch which does not feature video. Go figure!)
Despite including a camera and video, there is no photo app that allows you to take pictures. Apparently, taking photos is not cool enough for the kids any longer…
Video itself is 640×480. No image stabilization, so expect jerky videos. No touch screen, so no focus points to be picked. Zoom with your feet. Just simple PSU (point & shoot & upload). In other words, it will be a success.
Price: $149 for 8GB, $179 for 16GB. At these prices, it’s a no-brainer which one to buy.
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The movement to put Bluetooth into Televisions is gaining momentum, with Broadcom not only having its Bluetooth chips in select Sharp and Samsung TVs, but now in LG’s as well. TV manufacturers who are forecasted to sell more than 200 million TVs world-wide this year hope to use Bluetooth to up-sell consumers to their more expensive models.
The push to put Bluetooth into TVs is great news for iPhone owners. Not only can they use their iPhone or iPod Touch as a remote control for their TV, they can also stream music from the iPod app to their TVs (or use their bluetooth headsets to listen to their TVs).
As a photographer, I’m salivating: Playback of my images on big screen TVs! Not just the images that I shot with my iPhone, but I could also store higher-resolution images, portfolios and slideshows on my iPhone and play them back on the TV. Or store them on Flickr and grab them from there for TV playback.
We will see how video will work via bluetooth, if at all. The data rates might just be too high and the iPhone’s battery might be drained too fast. But by the time Bluetooth reaches ubiquity in TVs, the iPhone 4G (or even 5G) will be out and so will be the “iPad”. And a newer version of the Bluetooth standard.
We will keep watching this exciting development!
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