Smoking Pod

Bought a new i-Pod last week. 80GB. The works.

Over the past few days I have discovered podcasts and a few thoughts come to mind...

1) Oh... How the world has changed... Probably an understatement of a very high order, but I can never say it enough. Let's take news for example. First (and I'm talking really long ago) there was no published news about the world at large. Then came the printing press and eventually the daily newspaper. Still only local. Then came the telegraph and more global news. Then there was a revolution. Television and the 9 O'Clock bulletin changed the world (on a side note - it's scary to think I grew up in a world where we had only 1 TV channel - oh... how the world has changed). That eventually led to a multitude of TV channels dedicated to giving you news that you might want to hear, customizing for scope (global or local), subject (business or sport) etc. Then the big mama - the internet. News about just about anything is available instantly. Highly customized. Highly immediate. Podcasts are just another delivery mechanism of this highly customized gratification of my quest for information. And what an idea it is.

2) An Apple a day... and you'll be a millionaire. Let's give it to Steve and his troops. They have taken the pants off a lot of bigger, richer corporations that probably had the right to win with portable MP3 players. Sony should win this game because of the Walkman heritage. Microsoft should win this game because I'm using microsoft software to type this, Creative should win this game because they have a better product technically. But no - the guys making the computers that only the real geeks and designers use are actually making a killing. How? Geek designers of course. It's simple. It's minimalistic. It's just fucking beautiful. And with apologies to Henry Ford... you can have any color as long as it's white (well... to be fair - it's also available in black now!)

3) One inning ahead. And while the world catches up on MP3 players, my new 80GB i-Pod is a lot more than just that. I can watch videos, use it as a back up for my hard disk, listen to the radio, play games and generally be anti-social. What an idea!

All it takes is an idea. And of course, a mad belief that it will work. And of course some crazed resilience to make it happen.