A Decade of Apple Oddities

harrymcc writes "It's been exactly ten years since Steve Jobs stood on a stage at Apple and explained to a surprisingly small group of journalists that his company was going to make a music player and call it iPod. Technologizer's Benj Edwards celebrated the iPod's first decade by rounding up a dozen iPod-related oddities, including the iPod-powered tooth cleaner, an iPod mount for a semi-automatic sniper system, and the classic 1958 Dieter Rams Braun FM radio that may have helped inspire it all."

Re:Why so much Apple crap here lately?

[PNutts]

"There's nothing special about iPods. They're a digital music player, just like every other digital music player out there..." ...except it's the single best selling line of personal music players of all time, having sold more units that all competitors combined.

And it's so sad the haters can't put things into perspective. We're talking 2001, not 2011. At that time it wasn't just like every other digital music player, just like the original iPhone wasn't like the other mobile phones out there. So sad for a tech site.

Re:And Slashdots Founder's Reivew fn the iPod

[mccalli]

"The fact remains, however, that the iPod was lame and continued to be lame until it got wireless. And it didn't have much storage space. Also, it was DRM-laden back then, too."

No, the fact does not remain. It had 5Gig - a massive amount for a pocketable player at the time. Forget CD player-sized Nomads, the correct comparison is to pocket-sized Diamond Rios and similar. They had 64Mb and 128Mb typically (my memory fails, there might have been 256Mb ones as well by then).

DRM-laden? Rip, Mix Burn was the advert - you ripped your own CDs, DRM-free. The iTunes Music Store came later than the iPod.

It's perfectly possible not to like them without falsely belittling them.

Cheers,
Ian

Re:Why so much Apple crap here lately?

[Anonymous Coward]

You say Apple is "brainwashing" everyone about OS X? Tell me, when did you last see it advertised on TV? How about in print? On the web?

I think John Hodgman and Justin Long might like to have a few words with you regarding the last time they advertised Macs and OS X. [wikipedia.org]

And before you embarrass yourself, yes, that was both on TV and on animated banners on the web (I can't confirm seeing print ads). And yes, they DID mention it by "OS X" more than a few times during that campaign.

Bullshit

[bonch]

Why has there been so much Apple crap here on Slashdot lately?

You're asking why there is so much news about one of the top tech companies with several of the hottest tech devices on the market? And you even got modded +5 Insightful for it? Slashdot has officially become a haven for Apple-hating idiots.

There's nothing special about iPods. They're a digital music player, just like every other digital music player out there. People have modded them for many years now, and many of these same "hacks" were done using portable CD and tape players well before then. None of this is remotely interesting, even to those of us who enjoy such hacks.

Less space than a Nomad, right? iPods changed digital music and became a staple of pop culture. They helped legitimize online music stores and innovated several interface ideas. The reason this is getting covered today is, not only did Steve Jobs recently die, but today is also the 10th anniversary of the public introduction of the iPod.

Can we please have some interesting content here for once? Something not having to do with Apple or American politics, perhaps? Maybe something involving science or math in some way, or maybe even engineering?

I decided to take a look at the front page and see if it really was filled with "so much Apple crap" as you anonymously (of course) claim:

Hyperion Promises An AmigaOS Netbook
NH Supreme Court To Rule On Bigfoot Video Shoot In Public Park
A Decade of Apple Oddities
Google Not Reciprocating On IFrame Usage?
Why Computer Voices Are Mostly Female
Ask Slashdot: How To Enter Private Space Industry As an Engineer?
UK Government Pushing For 'Trusted Computing'
More Interviews With World Solar Challenge Competitors
A Silicon Valley School That Doesn't Use Computers
Using Fuel Depots Instead of Giant Rockets
3D Printers To Save Hermit Crabs
Universal Uses DMCA To Get Bad Lip Reading Parody Taken Down
Jumentum Introduces a Single-Chip Linux System
Canadian Company Plans Solar-Powered Heavier-Than-Air Airships
Hobby Humanoid Robot KHR3HV Rides Bike At 10k/h

One Apple story out of 15 is some great imbalance? What the hell are you talking about?

Re:Why so much Apple crap here lately?

[bonch]

Yes, you are super-awesome and way too independent-minded to like what the sheeple buy from Crapple, right? Please, continue standing cross-armed in the corner, grumbling at everyone else, independent-minded Slashdot poster.

Re:The difference is in the details

[ZigMonty]

Dodgem cars? Really? I think you pretty much proved his point. If you don't get why some people like fast cars, fine. I'm not sure why the superior attitude is necessary. And hint: there's more to enjoying a sports car than the speed. It's the acceleration that counts.