Engadget Podcast 092 - 10.24.2006

Ah, can you smell; the autumn in the air? For some that means it's iPod season, which, incidentally, just celebrated its fifth birthday this week. We've got the scoop there and on how you too can avoid blowing out the Windows virus candles your iPod may have shipped with, as well as some talk on Logitech snapping up Slim, Art Lebedev's latest project, and some interesting (albeit unsurprising) details that surfaced about the Treo 680 on Cingular. Tune in, Engadget Podcast 92 coming right up.

Get the podcast
[iTunes] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes (MP3).
[RSS MP3] Add the Engadget Podcast feed (in MP3) to your RSS aggregator and have the show delivered automatically.
[RSS AAC] Add the Engadget Podcast feed (in AAC) to your RSS aggregator.
[RSS OGG] Add the Engadget Podcast feed (in OGG) to your RSS aggregator.

Hosts: Peter Rojas and Ryan Block

Producer: Trent Wolbe

Music: Solvent - Instructograph (Ghostly International)

Program:
00:33 - Apple says some 5.5G iPods shipped with Windows virus!
06:52 - The iPod turns five
17:00 - Logitech acquiring Slim Devices
21:32 - Here comes the Upravlator!
26:30 - Treo 680 headed to Cingular
29:08 - Listener emails
47:56 - Contests: deck out tech for Halloween, sing an Engadget song, shoot some sweet photos

LISTEN (MP3)
LISTEN (AAC)
LISTEN (OGG)

Contact the podcast: 1-888-ENGADGET, Engadget (Gizmo Project) or podcast at engadget dawt com

[shon Dempsey @ Oct 24th 2006 5:15PM]

i always wanted one of those dorky casio calculator watches.
Thanks guys for answering my email! Great insight. (even if i did send it like.. a month ago!!)
Keep up the great work!

[Arno @ Oct 24th 2006 8:50PM]

I like how you guys make the logo change in the iTunes version during different segments of the show, it's a very nice touch. Thanks for the podcast!

[Ryan L @ Oct 25th 2006 1:52AM]

Audio links are broken:

http://www.engadget.com/podcasts/Engadget_Podcast_092.mp3 --> http://stadium.weblogsinc.com/engadget/podcasts/Engadget_Podcast_092.mp3

= Server not found.

Also, RSS MP3 feed doesn't download either.

[VL-Tone @ Oct 25th 2006 5:21AM]

You seem like smart guys... How could you think the worm infected into the iPod firmware?

The iPod firmware is not a standard volume, a Windows worm couldn't infect it... Especially since the firmware's integrity is checked (using a checksum). The infected iPods wouldn't have booted normally and it wouldn't have pass quality testing.

What was infected in that case is the iPod's HD FAT32 partition. If you format the HD, the virus is gone, it doesn't stay in the firmware...

Anyway, you the actual solution for anyone with an infected iPod is simply to Restore the iPod using iTunes, and that will reformat both the HD and the firmware...

I wonder though how could this happen... I would think that what was infected is the computer used to create the master disk image that's mass-copied into iPods in the manufacturing process. I doubt they run iTunes on a Windows PC on each individual iPods.

I would have thought that Apple would have send them the same disk image to every plant. But from the look of it, each plant created their own, from an iPod provided by Apple. That iPod must have been infected by this worm as they plugged it into the computer used to create the master disk image.

I guess new rules will force sub-contractors to scan the master disk image before starting using it in the production line, and I guess this won't happen again.

[danj3ris @ Oct 25th 2006 8:25AM]

Why is the logo for the podcasts an "e" with curved lines, while the logo for engadget has the ending "t" exuding curved lines?

Which one is it? If I wore an engadget T-shirt, would people recognize that it is an engadget t-shirt by seeing a "t" with curved lines, or an "e" with curved lines?

Serious question.

[Ryan.Ozechowski @ Oct 25th 2006 12:08PM]

Anyone know why my mp3 download is playing is fast motion on windows media player(the speed button is on normal)

[James D. @ Oct 26th 2006 5:08AM]

So, the iTunes link here ("[iTunes] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes (MP3).") ain't mp3 as stated, anymore. It's some form of m4a that Winamp curiously declines to play.

Any tips on getting it to work with Winamp?
I subscribe to the mp3 RSS edition to actually hear the thing, but not in a way that auto-downloads as iTunes does, so a workaround would be appreciated!

[Brian Hoyt @ Oct 26th 2006 1:49PM]

RE: HDTV vs. HD Monitor
I think what the person was asking was the difference of HD panels that include an ATSC tuner or not. This is mostly in relation to sellers like westinghouse that call their HD LCD with ATSC a HDTV and those without ATSC tuner a HD Monitor since it has no tuner built in. Currently most other manufacturers are including ATSC tuners in all models sold in the consumer space. I think if you have no interest in OTA save some money and get one without ATSC built in.