Engadget Podcast 053 - 11.22.2005
posted Nov 22nd 2005 3:50PM
You might call it was a momentous week - not only did Nicholas Negroponte and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan unveil the MIT Media Lab's OLPC $100 laptop at the UN Net Summit in Tunisia, but there's also some serious buzz emanating from the video game world. Yes, months of patiently waiting have paid off, and Microsoft's finally launched the Xbox 360 - and we're giving up half a podcast to talk with one another about its features, media capabilities, and high def gaming experience. We even took to the street to find out why so many people were waiting in line to get one on a cold, rainy Manhattan night. And, of course, we're taking your listener calls at 888-ENGADGET, too.
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Hosts
Peter Rojas and Ryan Block
Producer
Randall Bennett
Music
J+J+J - Music with Headphones (Schmoof Remix)
Format
59:22, 27.1 MB, MP3
Program
01:00 The OLPC $100 laptop unveiled at UN net summit
09:38 Microsoft announces CableCARD for late 2006
15:06 Verizon has two new QWERTY phones
21:16 iPod with video no likey cellphones
22:51 Taking a look at the Nokia 770
27:20 Listener voicemail
37:44 Our Xbox 360 blowout
LISTEN (MP3)
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LISTEN (OGG)
Call up the Podcast at: 1-888-ENGADGET
just saw Peter Rojas on ABC
Holy Crap! I'm on the podcast! Thanks for the Palm Info guys!
ogg file not working again
Hey,
Fixed the problem!
Cya,
Randall
Holy Crap! I am on it too! Thanks for answering my Pbook question... i am going to wait it out.
Yay, finally no cellphone talk for first half of the podcast.
Keep up the great work guys.
Please add an Ogg Vorbis feed!! It's not only open-source, but it's also the higher quality at smaller sizes. Not everybody likes being tied to proprietary formats. While we're at it, you should probably dump the MP3 feed. You can cover everyone with just AAC for the iPod users, and add WMA for everyone else. Any player that doesn't support WMA (basically just iPod and Sony players) require proprietary software to transfer files anyway, and that software can handle the conversion (to atrac for the Sony people).
Seriously, just give me an Ogg feed. (Full Disclosure: Whatever I download gets converted to WMA-Voice @ 20Kbps, and I listen to it in high-speed in Windows Media Player at work anyway. So, if you decide to offer that format, you'll yourself some serious bandwidth.)
How sad am I? I turned off the podcast when you got to the Xbox stuff. Yes, I know.
Regarding why carriers don't pick up phones, I was once at a very depressing but enlightening meeting between some small phone manufacturers and carriers where the carriers said they want to keep their product lines short.
They don't want to have to carry too many models in inventory, they don't want to have to train their sales or support staff on too many models, and they want models they know they can get reliably into channel in large quantities. Mass market before niche, and top manufacturers with established supply relationships before anyone who might be chancy. If they fill their limited inventory slots with reliable stuff, they won't even look at the little guys at all.
Oh - and they only want advanced features if they can see how those features would increase monthly data revenue (i.e. no high-megapixel cameras without 3G picture messaging first) You can see how the entire structure of this system conspires against the types of handsets Engadget readers love.
Your podcast is boring. I don't want to hear you going on and on and on and giving your opinions. Sure, you have an opinion, great. Give it quickly and move on. I listen to the podcast to get the news, not your poor analysis of it. You get off on a tangent and then it always ends with "at this point we'll just have to wait and see". I don't like the fact that you both interrupt each other too. Show some respect, get some format for your show and give each commentator about 30 seconds to comment on a story. Don't run over each other trying to get the exact same point across. You are preaching to the choir. Also, try not to use too many acronyms. Yes, I know what EVDO means, but not everyone does. I love the site, but I hate the podcast. It could have been so much better, but hearing you both act like "know it alls" just makes me think you are jerks. Oh, and if I hear you say "Market Prop" one more time, I swear I am going to kill someone.
I think you have a totally wrong expectation for the Engadget podcast, Derek. To me, the Engadget podcast is PERFECT as is. I don't need to hear the news in a podcast. The news is on the site. The podcast is FOR the opinions. Otherwise, just get a text to speech going on the RSS feed of the site.
"I don't like the fact that you both interrupt each other too. Show some respect, get some format for your show and give each commentator about 30 seconds to comment on a story."
In other words, turn the podcast into a boring news show? No thanks, you can get that anywhere. The engadget podcast is like having a conversation with 2 guys about tech. That's its greatest thing. No canned format, just a natural conversation.
This is much much better than the alternative.
Keep up the great work Peter and Ryan.
Derek,
Some advice for you: if you don't like the podcast, stop listening! I'll live. I really don't understand people who keep reading sites or listening to podcasts that they don't enjoy. If you didn't like a specific TV show would you keep watching it? No, of course not. So why do you keep listening to a podcast you are so obviously dissastisfied with? Makes zero sense.
There's no way to please everyone, so I'm just going to do a podcast that makes me happy. If people want to listen, fine. If not, that's also fine!
Peter
And by the way, I've never used the term "market prop", not even sure what that means.