GBTV #548 | MediaSmart Server Firmware Update, iRiver P7, Cube B52 HD, nanoTouch
Posted on: April 13, 2009
Posted in: Video
Posted by: Cali Lewis
Shownotes:
If you have an HP MediaSmart Server ex485 or ex487, there’s a firmware upgrade that includes the ability to convert video and stream to an iPhone over WiFi or 3G. The app you need on your iPhone is called iStream.
There are two alternatives to an iPod that look promising. The iRiver P7 has a 480×272 LCD touch screen, supports a wide range of formats, and comes with 16GB of exapandable memory. The Cube B52 HD has a 5″ touch screen and has the ability to output 1280×720 video.
Patrick Baudisch, a Microsoft researcher, created the nanoTouch, a prototype that explores putting touch navigation on the back of a device instead of the front so your fingers don’t get in the way. I’m interested to know what you guys think about the idea. Leave a comment below!
You can save money on domain name registrations and renewals from GoDaddy.com with discount codes GB1, GB2 and GB3. For an explanation of each code, click here. Christian used promo code GB3 at GoDaddy.com when he registered KaffCast.com.
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April 13th, 2009 at 1:09 pm
This occlusion thing sounds genuinely interesting!
April 13th, 2009 at 1:13 pm
Great brief today! :)
April 13th, 2009 at 1:44 pm
Hi Cali. I find occlusion to be a real pain on my iPod Touch. Love the touchscreen, but even with my (relatively) slim fingers I really struggle sometimes to figure out whether I am pressing the right button, or even whether I’m pressing a button at all.
Haptic feedback might help, but I like the idea MS have come up with.
But…I just tried holding my Touch and trying to move my finger across the back and it is very difficult to do one handed. The idea might be good, but the practice might be difficult/impossible to work without a radical redesign of human hands. And not even Microsoft can do that right now.
April 13th, 2009 at 2:18 pm
Hi, this was a good show and that streaming app will provebly start a lot of developers compearing to do that which will be cool :)
Also, having the touch screen on the back of a devise will probely make it realy hard to use and very ubcomdortable of is it’s large… So I think it is a bad idea but it will be cool having a digital transparent screen thrre are lots of posabilities there! But microsoft will not do well with it… Apple would be better making it more slick and adding better features
April 13th, 2009 at 3:34 pm
I echo Nick Howe’s sentiments- a rear capacitive trackpad would make it nearly impossible to use the device one handed. This would make such a device unnecessarily difficult to use in an everyday situation.
Great show as always!
April 13th, 2009 at 4:34 pm
YES I LOVE THE NANO TOUCH FINALLYYYYYYY no more screen cleaming i have an iphone and so much dirt and stuff get o the screen yes i would buy one today!!
April 13th, 2009 at 6:04 pm
while I agree the touch screen/finger problem is annoying (this is the reason I stopped playing Zelda on my DS), I dunno if rear touch would help. It’s really neat, but just not as intuitive I feel.
Though, there’s not much you can really do short of maybe hand gestures, but for a handheld device, that seems cumbersome. Hell, even touchscreens are because you lose tactile feel and HAVE to look at your device most of the time to control it.
April 14th, 2009 at 9:35 am
I think it would rock. Aside from the big fingers, I wouldn’t mind not leaving fingerprints all over my iPod touch!
April 14th, 2009 at 10:29 am
The rear side touch feature was already listed in a patent application from Apple some time ago.
April 15th, 2009 at 7:29 pm
Cali,
Your podcast says the firmware upgrade is available, but it isn’t for me. Are you sure its online yet?
April 20th, 2009 at 9:13 am
I am not too sure this Media server should be given the time of day. I’ve been stung a couple of times by Medias Servers not working with either my Sony Playstation 3 or Windows Media player on a Laptop, and there was me thinking DLNA is standard. :(
April 23rd, 2009 at 9:24 pm
Apple already filed the patent on this in 2007: USPTO 20070103454 which can be found here:
http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PG01&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=%2220070103454%22.PGNR.&OS=DN/20070103454&RS=DN/20070103454