Display News Headlines on iPod 23
1Eye writes "Wired is running this article on the iPod, about a hack to display XML news headlines."
That's pretty nifty. I wrote a 40-line Perl script to download arbitrary RSS feeds and create MP3s with the headline as the title and the site name as the artist, but it doesn't do long titles (limited to 30 chars by ID3v1, D'oh!) and doesn't manage the MP3s with the iPod.
Kinda cool, yes. Useful? Hmm.... (Score:2, Interesting)
even cooler by the fact that it was done by a 11-
year-old codegrommit) I've gotta ask how useful
this is? I mean, I get headlines on my pager and
cellphone as it is, and with those, I can always
waste more of my minutes downloading the whole
story. This is essentially the same as pulling
down avant-go pages to a handheld. Cool yes, but
you still need a laptop or desktop to sync it.
Still in all, hacks like this might pave the way
for something truly indipendent down the line.
(bluetooth hookup using the firewire port?)
Re:Kinda cool, yes. Useful? Hmm.... (Score:2, Interesting)
1) To connect to a cell phone to use it as a modem (I'm a not a big fan of 9Kbps connections but maybe someone, somewhere, is) or
2) to sync a bluetooth PDA, but when most come with a USB docking station - or failing that a usb connection cable (that'll suck less power out of your palm than a bluetooth module) I don't see any real benefit - pther than one less cable on the desk
Bluetooth would be a pretty useful feature on the iPod, it could be used for sending small chunks of data to it from your Mac (or PC once windows support arrives) such as vCards. Or it could be used for a remote control - such as the one that Griffin [griffintechnology.com] (http://www.griffintechnology.com) recently previewed.
Better yet would be a remote of the variety supplied with some Kenwood audio equipment - featuring a large LCD status display and a few buttons. It's what users that connect their iPod to a hifi system really need. I'd be quite happy with what would, in effect, be a second screen for my iPod acting as a remote control via bluetooth - maybe it's just a pipe dream, or maybe someone with greater technical skills than me (and solid financial backing) will make it a reality...
Re:Kinda cool, yes. Useful? Hmm.... (Score:1)
As for use for Bluetooth, I see a contradiction in your comment. Firstly you mock the Bluetooth connection between PDA & Mac. Then you wish for a Bluetooth between iPod & Mac. I personally wouldn't replace Firewire with Bluetooth, as you would never reach the speed with Bluetooth that you get with Firewire. And when using the iPod as an external HD or transfering MP3s to and from it, you do appriciate the speed. On the other hand PDA syncing is quite a small affair, and Bluetooth, USB or even serial is quite sufficient.
As for the cell phone speed? I'm quite happy with my GPRS phone's speed (9-46k, depending on net traffic) and can't wait to get my hands on the Mac's USB-Bluetooth adapter. Of course I prefer the cable at home or office, but on the road I don't have much choise. Of course I don't know where abouts you live and the 9k may be your only option, but at least here in Finland we get the GPRS-option.
And about the Bluetooth remote control? That would indeed be cool, if only my "hifi" would support it too...
And a comment about the original article: I do think it's great that kids out there do these hacks. Even if its usefull only to yourself - keep on hackin'!
Re:Kinda cool, yes. Useful? Hmm.... (Score:1)
Nitpickin? (Score:1)
Yes, I know it doesn't make much of a difference, but still this is how the Net (slashdot alike) distorts information so quickly and easily. And on the other hand, back when I was 14 it was very important that I was not confused to an 11 year old kid...
And as for the usefullness of this hack? Who cares if it's usefull? I say that its great that there still are kids out there who do this kind of hacks, even if none find it usefull. Most of the hacks I did back when I was a kid were not usefull to anyone but me. But they sure tought me stuff and that's why I can call myself a pro nowadays - not because of the degrees, they're only worth the paper they're printed on. It's knowledge that counts, not degrees!
And lastly on the usefullness of offline news readers in general. While some people do not find them usefull at all, some do. I for myself like to read news off my PDA while sitting in the metro on my way to work. Yes, I could do it with my phone too, but the screen is too small for it and GPRS does have problems underground...
Re:Nitpickin? (Score:1)
making was the fact that if it was just headlines,
what's the sense? And hell, even if it was the full
stories, reading them off an iPod's display isn't
much better than reading them off my phone's display.
Hell, if it's like the DoCoMo phones, the phone
display is better.
Good point about the differentiation between 11
and 14 though.
12 year old kid (Score:4, Informative)
Re:12 year old kid (Score:1)
makes me wonder... (Score:4, Funny)
(OT) StuffIt Code (Score:1)
Re:(OT) StuffIt Code (Score:1)
Oh Man (Score:1)
Come on, this aint no BECAUSE WE CAN thing. Except if that PERL script actually ran on the iPod itself. That'd be cool.
And I think there is a newsticker thingie out on versiontracker doin it with vcards.
now what would be truly cool.. (Score:1)
Or if i could use it to back up my digicam. come on theres 5gb on mine 10gb on some, that blows away my 64mb cf card. or if you could hack a cf card reader to back up to the pod, either by extracting the data as raw or just copying it to the hd space.
Use the vCards kid! (Score:1)
Get to it, hackers!
This should be front page stuff (Score:2)
The Ipod story is one of computing darwinism at its' best!