I just read an intriguing little story about how a guy dropped his iPod in a plane toilet. Its posted on World Warcraft's forum, under the title: I played WoW, I became a terrorist.


This ... is going to be a long one. And believe it or not, it's a 100% true story. Its relation to World of Warcraft will not be immediately apparent. Anyway, the gist of what happened is here: The Ottawa Citizen


It all started when I got out of my seat to go to the bathroom. I went to the bathroom, washed my hands, and returned to my seat. A little while later the two stewardesses on the flight crossed each other in the aisle. They had a quick conversation that I was in earshot of.


I locked off the front lav. There's something in the toilet that's preventing it from flushing. Run some water and see if you can clear it." My face immediately turned red. The seat cover! I thought. It must have been too big to flush! I should have thrown it out!


I was so embarrassed. I tried to act normal ... I took a sudden interest in the contents of the seat pocket in front of me, acted nonchalant and all. I watched as the stewardess got on her hands and knees in the lavatory and did unfathomable dirty work.


Sometime later, I decided it would be best if I forgot the whole thing happened, so I went to put on my headphones and drown myself in iPod music. But ... no iPod. I panicked, checked my other pockets. Where was it? Not under the seat, not in the pockets, not ... anywhere. I looked up to the stewardesses. One of them had run past me in a decent clip. She was carrying a green handbook. She brought it to the other stewardess. They flipped through the handbook, read a page, then made a call. The other stewardess had retrieved a blue metal box and was removing some equipment from it.


I put two and two together. I knew what had happened.


So I walked up to the stewardesses, both clamoring over the handbook, and tapped one on the shoulder.

"So, I had an iPod before I went to the bathroom, and now I don't. I think I know what's in the toilet."

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Your iPod glistens on your waistband, a totem of modern engineering brilliance, perhaps the most ubiquitous cultural icon of the 21st century so far. This shiny box of wires and lights has become a byword for a whole western youth demographic, the 'iPod generation'.


But what does it say about a culture when its defining product, a product outwardly symbolising style and modernity, is accessible to that culture only through the exploitation of foreign labour?


Foreign labour exploitation? Yawn. Who wants a hippy tugging on the seam of your faux-distressed Diesel jeans, mumbling inanities about the guy in China who got paid £1.36 a day to solder your iPod together? No one. These are facts that we're not used to confronting when making a purchase decision in the glossy white foyer of Nike Town, or the glass and marble cathedral that is the Regent Street Apple Store. Frankly it's easier to ignore it. In fact, Apple assumes you won't be thinking about the workers in Foxconn's Longhua plant -- Apple's notorious iPod City. After all, you don't see the worker's faces in the iPod advertisements.

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Digital Audio Broadcast or DAB is the new radio scheme overseas that sources like the BBC already broadcast content over.


The problem is the technology is not as ubiquitous as the old shortwave technology in British homes so the BBC has come up with a novel idea to spur its adoption. The details are scant, but the BBC announced that it will soon release an add-on for MP3 players like the market dominant iPod that will allow portable users to receive DAB broadcasts.

Said a BBC Spokesperson

"We have a duty to make sure digital radio is relevant and clearly portable MP3 players are a massive area of growth."

The plan is a strong one as owners of digital audio portables are always on the lookout for the next "killer" feature. Unfortunately, those of us here in the States will have to wait for someone else to bring digital radio functionality to our portables.
The reason is because the US does not use the DAB standards adopted by the rest of the world. Instead, the US market and government selected the HD Radio standard.


Pity, it would have been great to be able to use the digital video and audio broadcast toys already shipping in Asia. There are a lot of radio stations broadcasting in HD Radio, though, and they have begun a big marketing push to bring it to the American public. If the BBC device is a success, someone will no doubt release a new iPod accessory to tap into this content.


Source: MP3 Newswire



Related Articles: iPod Video is small time, says Murdoch | Famous iPod Tricks: 1 - Recording Internet Radio | Famous iPod Tricks: 2 - Podcasting | Famous iPod Tricks: 4 - Working With Music Files

With my Macworld Senior Editor cap firmly in place, I’d like to say that I couldn’t have been happier when Apple shifted focus from the iPod to the Intel Macs and the next version of Mac OS X, Leopard.



iPod, iTunes, a trillion songs in your pocket, Pago Pago has been added to the line up of iTunes Music Stores, iTunes is now offering the complete works of Chad and Jeremy plus a pre-order on their new album, Old Sourdough reruns can be had for $1.99, oh look, there’s Bono on a blue background again….


Enough already.


But doffing that cap and replacing it with the sportier Playlist Senior Editor headgear, I push thoughts of Apple’s computer division aside and ponder, What’s Up With the iPod?




As Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference winds down and anticipation of the High Holidays winds up, Apple will turn its attention to its most gift-appropriate wares—the iPod and its accompanying accessories. Yet the landscape’s changed since the last revision of the iPod. How will this Second (or Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth) Coming of the iPod play out?

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Apple Computer’s iPod has been dominating the world of portable media devices since its inception – but it won’t stay in that position if Microsoft has anything to say about it.


The computer colossus is getting set to drop its own portable music device this year as a part of the music and entertainment project Zune. Though Microsoft hasn’t commented on the specifics, the project is set to have both hardware and software to compete with the Apple iPod and iTunes stronghold.


What we do know is that the Zune will have wireless technology unlike the iPod which needs to be connected to your computer to upload songs. The new device will enable users to download songs from wherever they are. It will also allow people a sort of P2P network that will allow you to swap tunes with friends.


But it’s not likely that Apple will sit still while Microsoft tries to encroach on their market. No word yet on what additions and or modifications will be made to the iPod to compete with the new Microsoft device. But one thing is for sure, the two will duke it out to be under people’s trees this holiday season.



Related Articles: Is Microsoft Taking Aim at The iPod? | Microsoft reportedly readying iPod rival for holidays | First Look at Microsoft's New Argo Player