“How much of your life could you cram into an iPod? That’s the question I’m pondering in the wake of Apple Computer’s release of the iPod Photo, the one with the color screen that can store and display digital pictures in addition to a huge collection of music,” Arik Hesseldahl writes for Forbes.
“In case you missed it, Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs… personally took the wraps off the long-rumored iPod Photo this week. It looks a lot like previous iPods, but in addition to storing and playing lots of music, it can turn users’ digital photography collections into slide shows set to music. Even better, on the player’s docking cradle are two video-out ports, one for composite video, the other for S-Video, so the the iPod can be connected to a TV or other external display,” Hesseldahl writes. “That got me thinking, not only about the relatively obvious path that Apple could follow toward an iPod that can play video. The killer consumer app in this case would be playing video not on that tiny iPod display, but on an external monitor. Yet there are bigger ideas to consider. Could the iPod and similar devices be the start of something bigger in the area of personal data storage? “
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: We already use our iPods in an interesting way that, it seems, would blow Hesseldahl’s mind. We come in contact with many different Macs in different locations, but found we needed our files, our applications with our preferences, our keychains, our email, our bookmarks, etc. So, we put our Macs on our iPods and then put our Macs in our pockets. By making our iPods bootable, we can plug into any Mac with FireWire, boot off the iPods and, presto, there are our Macs, just the way we like them. Granted, we’ll probably go through iPods quicker than usual this way, but we’ve got iPods set up this way, booting several times per month, that are over 1.5 years old and still working fine. Read “How to use an iPod as a bootable drive” from Engadget for more information here.
I, too, use iPod as a bootable “Mac in my pocket” as I travel – I sometimes just pop into an Apple retail store, a friends’ Mac, even in some coffee shops, and cybercafes, wherever there’s a Mac, boot off my iPod and – BANG – there’s my personal Mac! It is just beautiful to be a Mac user!
I was able to do this on Windows a long time ago. Face it, Macs are toast. I am the ruler of the universe.
Billie Jean,
What did you use to make that happen on Windows?
Fscking Windows still can’t even get Sleep and Instant On right. It never works. On my PowerBook, though, I just close the lid and the thing sleeps in two seconds. Open the lid and it comes on in one second. Everytime. Never fails. Uptime: months (would be years if I didn’t update the OS, I suspect.)
WINDOWS SUCKS. WAKE UP PEOPLE!
I also have used my iPod to boot up – it works great.
Painful –
Actually, an alarming number of people (myself included) have had trouble w/ the G4 Powerbooks and the very feature you’re talking about. It goes to sleep, but doesn’t come back.
If you want to be effective, you should probably criticize MS on the things that DO work on the Mac, not the things that don’t.
Mike,
How do you boot off of your iPod? I’m very interested in doing something like this because I would find it very useful. Thanks
Im far to territorial and paranoid about germs to use most public computers. Thats why I usually just bring my PB with me.
WINDOWS SUCKS. WAKE UP PEOPLE!
You are a dumbass..We like windows…everything you do on your mac can be done just as well on windows…Your PC doesnt wakup most likely from settings…My G5 doesnt wake up sometimes either…
I Use my pocket drive (firewire) to boot my pc on almost any machine…I cant do it on Dulls though…
I too have done this for years on my pc…
I was able to do this on Windows a long time ago. Face it, Macs are toast. I am the ruler of the universe.
Haha…LOL..Good one…Billie Joe
Some people say that the iPod isn’t built to take the heat associated with constant operation necessary to perform as a boot drive and/or Home folder, and that using it like this can cause it to fail. Just a heads up.
Just because we can do it from an iPod now doesnt make it new, we have been able to boot from a Firewire drive for years. to use the iPod for just an external HDD is a waste. What we need is full iPod funtionality (music, photos, contacts, etc.) and then just plug in monitor and their is your computer. It wouldnt replace a powerbook, but the average Windows user who e-mails, web surfs, reads and writes text docs, plays solitair; its all their. All apple needs is a version of simple text on there.
just need 1gig RAM in there
Here is my ipod photo 60 gig
http://homepage.mac.com/harry17a3/PhotoAlbum6.html
I have issues with using an iPod as your sole device for storing your data. I’ve read and actually seen too many iPods who’s hard drive decided to up and die on them to trust the iPod. My trust becomes much more solidified when there is a syncing process going on where there is a duplicate of the data somewhere else. Home on the iPod anyone?
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As it stands Nope. I don’t think so. But its a moot point for me anyways. All my puters are PC.
PS- Yah also the original article suggests that the entire system will be on the iPod. This isn’t a new concept. IBM has been playing with this for years and OQO is shipping their device this month. The diff is size. There, currently, is no device that delivers the whole computing package, sans monitor keyboard mouse, in a device the size of the iPod. While OQO and the like are hammering away at trying to create a complete device. Apple in the next couple of years could sneek an iPod sized deivce into the market.
IBM’s original concept was that you would have a core device about the size of a deck of cards that would “plug into” other devices. So:
PDA shell, tablet shell, notebook shell, desktop shell, etc. IBM’s was a Proof of concept and never actually made the device.
Here’s hoping Apple steps up to the plate in the next few years.
NoMacForYou:
I find this to be slightly exagerated as most PC’s I come across do not have IEEE 1394/FireWire built into the system. Many newer machines today may be starting to include this port today with the advent of video editing, but most PC users I know do not have this port by default, where as all Macs (after a specific manufacturing date) come with at least one. I suppose the same could be said for PC’s but I have yet to see that port come standard with the majority of motherboards.
Harry, thanks for the slideshow. Man, even Apple’s packaging is beautiful.
your welcome. All Hail Steve Jobs. He is God. Apple’s marketshare will go up immediately.
I think there is an issue with using the iPod as a boot drive. The HD itself is capable of this kind of use but as it is locked inside the iPod with no ventilation it might overheat depending on how much disk activity is going on.
John,
I was thinking the same thing. Heavy HD use on the iPod could cause issues. Sounds like a great idea, but I don’t know if I’d do it often. I wonder what Apple’s stand is on this type of usage.
Maybe some kind of Home folder sync would be better.
Apple’s marketshare will go up immediately… from 2.8% to 2.9% LOL
Ya, charging up an iPod and using it as a bootable drive can make it pretty darn hot.
I did it on my iPod G2 but I havent done it on my iPod G3 yet. So, it might make it’s life shorter, but still its incredibly convenient to get on some random Mac and boot up with your own programs, setting, and files. Just carrying around your files without turning it into a bootable drive is the great thing about an iPod.
Harry,
The iPod Photo looks good.
I hope that was your ugly twin brother holding it. Poor guy.
Harry please smile more – you just got an iPod!
My Mac used to boot up from a floppy disk. No kidding, a little 3″ square and only 1/8″ thick!