The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, October 17, 2005, Page 5, Image 5
I& THE MIX
4 Monday, Oct. 17, 2005 _I I jk -1^ f _l I jL. m />^<r5
Newest version of
Apple's popular MP3 player
has video-viewing capability
Special to \'\\Y. fiAMKfXMlK
9 ast week, Apple unveiled the newest iPod, which “does do video.” Select TV shows and films will be available for download.
Jerent Turnage
FOR THE GAMECOCK
Late last week, Apple
confirmed what many believed
to be next in the line of iPods:
an iPod with video-viewing
capabilities.
At the 2005 Apple Special
Event, Apple CEO and co
founder Steve Jobs hopped up
on stage and unveiled the
newest version of the popular
MP3 player.
£ “The new white iPod —
^nd yes, it does do video,” said
Steve Jobs to a capacity crowd
of press and Apple enthusiasts.
This new generation of iPod is
like the current generation,
but with slightly updated
features to support video
functionality.
The new iPod is designed
with a 2.5-inch TFT display.
The video is displayed at a
320-by-240-pixel resolution
while displaying 260,000
colors at 30 frame's per second.
“What about file types?”
you might wonder. The Video
iPod is set to support the video
industry standard of H.264 —
also the code for QuickTime
7, Apple’s video software.
MPEG4 is also supported-for
other types of video.
Apple plans to ship two
types of iPods this week. First:
a 30-gigabyte iPod with the
ability to store 7,500 songs,
25.000 photos, and 75 hours
of video, priced at $299.
Second: a 60-gigabyte iPod
with enough capacity to store
15.000 songs, 25,000 photos,
and up to 150 hours of video,
priced at $399.
Apple revealed that these
new models will come in two
color schemes: the standard
white and fan-favorite black.
The models are also up to 30
percent thinner than their
predecessors, making them the
smallest standard iPods yet.
Also, perhaps one of the iPod’s
biggest problems, the battery,
has been improved, Apple
said.
This new iPod also comes
with TV-out functionality,
whereby users can hook up
their iPod directly to a
television.
Apple is not about to count
Hollywood out with the iPod,
as it also announced a special
deal with Disney and ABC
Television to allow downloads
of five of their most popular
television shows: “Lost,”
“Desperate Housewives,”
“Night Stalker,” “That’s So
Raven,” and “The Suite Life of
Zack & Cody.” The shows will
be available for download with
the new iTunes 6.0 for $1.99
each.
The new iTunes 6.0 is
•
currently available on Apple’s
Web site. The previous seasons
of the shows will be available
immediately, and new
episodes will be downloadable
the day after their initial
television broadcast. It should
also be noted that
commercials will not be a
nuisance anymore, as these
shows will be downloadable
completely ad-free.
New Disney CEO Robert
Iger was on hand at the event
IPOD • 1
SpaceShipOne
Air and Space Museum
displays private spacecraft
t next to Lindbergh's plane
Privately funded manned crafi made three trips into space last year
Banks Rlbach
KltT CAMPUS
WASHINGTON — A new
neighbor hangs next to Charles
Lindberghs Spirit of St. Louis
from the ceiling of the
Smithsonian’s Air and Space
Museum. It’s SpaceShipOne,
the privately funded manned
spacecraft that flew into space
three times last year.
Burt Rutan, who designed it,
could hardly take his eyes off
the tiny aircraft — wmtrspan:
27 feet; length: 28 feet — at a
welcoming ceremony in the
museums central gallery
Wednesday.
Paul Allen, the Microsoft
billionaire who financed the
$25 million effort, signed it
over to the Smithsonian with a
challenge.
“What Burt and I were
hoping to accomplish with
SpaceShipOne — and I think
we did — was to show that this
kind of experience should be
open to the general public,”
Allen said. “Burt and I both
dream of the day when there
will be privately owned space
hotels and space stations.”
Rutan conceived of
SpaceShipOne in 1996 as a
lightweight and simple
alternative to NASA’s costly
hardware.
By relying on composite
materials and a new hybrid
rocket engine that burned
rubber and nitrous oxide, he
produced an elegantly
engineered craft that weighs
about 3 tons and travels at three
times the speed of sound.
The ship, with its strange
Swiss cheese windows and a
belly festooned with random
stars, rocketed more than 62
miles above the Earth’s surface
— technically suborbital space
— three times last year. The
effort won the $10 million
Ansari X Prize for completing
two of those flights within two
weeks.
In July, Rutan inked a deal
with Sir Richard Branson,
chairman ofVirgin Group Ltd.,
the British media and
transportation company.
The new company, Virgin
Galactic, bought Rutan’s design
from Allen and hired Rutan to
build SpaceShipTwo and its
successors.
Virgin Galactic plans to seat
up to eight passengers on the
new ship at $200,000 per
SPACESHIP
if liliWWililini'ii "ill in - wr? ^wwr^mwg?**?
KRT Campus
SpaceShipOne is the first privately funded and piloted spaceship to
enter space. It is now on display next to Charles Lindbergh’s plane.
Montclair State University gave on-campus freshmen a $250 Motorola cell phone this year at
orientation. Students can use the phones to access dining hall menus, a live shuttle map or other
university-sponsored information. Students can also send out their own messages.
For one university, cell phones
not only for communication
Students can find range of information through university \channels'
Illartha IMay
KKTCAMPUS
HACKENSACK, N.J.
When Travis Misurell arrived
for freshman orientation at
Montclair State University in
August, he received the
ultimate welcome gift. School
officials handed him a $250
Motorola cell phone — and
told him to use it.
Not for phone calls, but to
tap into a multitude of
“channels” packed with news
and updates on campus
happenings.
Misurell and his classmates
soon discovered they could use
the phone to display
everything from daily dining
hall menus to a map updated
every few seconds showing the
exact location of campus
shuttle buses.
“It’s pretty useful, and it’s
going to get better and better,”
said Misurell, a 19-year-old
from Little Silver, N.J.
So far, more than 1,400 of
Montclair’s 16,000 students
are using the phones, and
more are signing up daily.
Incoming freshmen living on
campus received the phones
for free. Other students pay
$50.
The company behind the
venture is Rave Wireless Inc., a
New York-based start-up led
by Internet veteran Rodger
Desai.
Desai says he’s got signed
agreements with seven other
area colleges — including
Baruch College of the City
University of New York —
plus the University of South
Florida, with an
understanding that the service
will be made available to their
students after the Montclair
State rollout, which was
officially announced Sept. 29.
Rave Wireless officials
believe, based on their
research, that this is the first
system of its kind on a U.S.
college campus.
Desai and his team studied
how young people use cell
phones for tasks other than
talking, and decided there was
a viable business serving
college campuses. His 25
person company is funded in
part by Bain Capital Ventures
and Sigma Partners.
As for the debut deal at
Montclair State, the school
pays an undisclosed annual
licensing fee to Rave that
provides all students with free
access to the service. School
officials said they were looking
for a cutting-edge
communications system and
Rave was looking for a school
willing to be its first customer.
They began talking last year.
Sprint-Nextel agreed to beef
up its network around campus
so the phones could be used
inside buildings and dorms.
The wireless company is
banking on students like
Misurell, who decided to use
CCILPH0I1C«6