“The U.S. military went into Iraq with few troops able to speak Arabic. Now they can use their iPods to do the talking for them. A new software product, VCommunicator Mobile, and a speaker than plugs into where the ear buds go, enables troops to quickly access a library of phrases. There is also a set of protective covers for the iPod and speaker, with Velcro straps so that you can attach both to your arm,” James Dunnigan reports for StrategyPage.
“If all this sounds very soldier-friendly, that’s because the product was designed with the help of troops from the 10th Mountain division, who have been using 260 of these specially equipped iPods for the last year. This cost the army $800,000, and included language modules for Iraqi Arabic (it’s a distinct dialect) and Kurdish (an Indo-European language spoken in the north). There are also modules for languages spoken in Afghanistan (Dari and Pushto). Over 700 troops are using the device in Iraq and Afghanistan,” Dunnigan reports.
“The army has also provided a solar recharger for the iPods of troops spending a lot of time out in the hills of Afghanistan,” Dunnigan reports.
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “BigMac” for the heads up.]
God Bless our troops!
But once I have all that language crap on my iPod, is there room for my Van Halen collection?
God Bless our troops! Ditto.
I hope they have sand colored earbuds.
So, there really is a mission accomplished. Nice.
“The surge isn’t going to work either tactically or strategically.” – Joe Biden on President Bush’s Iraq troop surge plan, June 22, 2007, Boston Globe
The Iraqi troop surge has turned out to be wildly successful.
McCain should use Biden’s quote daily until the election.
“McCain should use Biden’s quote daily until the election.”
Take it somewhere else.
But the language packs are crazy expensive, like $2000/language PER iPOD. It doesn’t take much to reach that $800,000 value.
The military version of the iPod is available at the Apple store for $1.5 million (U.S. Store only)
Obama Biden 2008 = Obama Bin Laden 2008
Hey, I set my house on fire and sort of put the fire out with Water. They said it wouldn’t work!!!
The new water surge is wildly successful! … at putting out a house fire that I started. oops.
Is there no end to the usefulness of Apple’s iPod?
what a stupid sh!t
Wordsmith,
Bend over while I punt, dweeb.
dirt bag smears only get you so far. Obama was right on the war. Iraq had nothing to do with 911. A trillion $$ and hundred of thousands of INNOCENT human lives lost. Great job W. POS. Where is BinLaden ? Oh yeah we are still smokin him out you CONservative nut sacks.
Wordsmith would vote for bush again if he could, oh wait, he can. McCain=four more years of bush bull. Bite it boy.
Iraq had nothing to do with 911. A trillion $$ and hundred of thousands of INNOCENT human lives lost.
Where do you get your info? Rosie O’Dingbat?
Yeesh, it’s like there is zero brains left in Americans
hundred of thousands of INNOCENT human lives
that would be who exactly?
Wouldn’t this VCommunicator Mobile be a LOT more useful on the iPhone (if it isn’t available already)?
You idiots and your ‘blinkered philistine pig ignorance” make me sick.
Excellent!
And to Macromancer: STUFF IT where the sun doesn’t shine!
(Obama is another democrat liar; he’s the .07 version)
Yeah, sure great Biden quote. How about you stick it up your ass with this McCain quote:
“I believe that the success [in Iraq] will be fairly easy.” Oct. 2002.
Or how about:
“Our technology, particularly air-to-ground technology, is vastly improved,” McCain told CNN’s Larry King on Dec. 9, 2002. “I don’t think you’re going to have to see the scale of numbers of troops that we saw, nor the length of the buildup, obviously, that we had back in 1991.
Or how about:
“I have no qualms about our strategic plans,” he told the Hartford Courant in a March 5 article, just before the invasion. “I thought we were very successful in Afghanistan.”
Or from June 2003:
“I have said a long time that reconstruction of Iraq would be a long, long, difficult process,” he told Fox News on June 11. “But the conflict, the major conflict is over … The regime change is accomplished.”
Personally I’ll stick with the guy at the top of Biden’s ticket, who stated in October 2002:
I know that even a successful war against Iraq will require a US occupation of undetermined length, at undetermined cost, with undetermined consequences. I know that an invasion of Iraq without a clear rationale and without strong international support will only fan the flames of the Middle East, and encourage the worst, rather than best, impulses of the Arab world, and strengthen the recruitment arm of al-Qaeda.
I am not opposed to all wars. I’m opposed to dumb wars.
So tell me, who was the most on target when it mattered–BEFORE we put undermannned, underequipped troops in harm’s way? Yeah, that’s right–the black guy.
On CNN, the DNC convention panel, all have Dells (OF COURSE), except Carl Bernstein.
Looks like a G4 powerbook?
No- I think it’s a macbook pro.
Wow, McCain is going down.
80k, soon to be 90k people in the mile-high stadium.
I wonder what the RNC’s convention will look like.
Probably not as many people, as the facility will obviously have to be able to accommodate a massive amount of wheelchairs.
DNC had Cheryl Crow and Stevie Wonder.
I “wonder” who the RNC will get?
Ooohh! I know.
I’ll bet ENGLEBERT HUMPERDINCT.
@OpJ,
Ouch.
wow… you guys are in rare form tonight! we have become sooo much more polarized thanks to Rush and Papa Bear…
as with most things the truth is somewhere in the middle…
a war led by an evangelical Christian could only be seen by the Sons of Mohamed as another Crusade… on the other hand, if the entire ‘civilized’ world took a strong stand maybe the militants (and everyone else) would Moderate their behavior… hello? UN?…
(note to diplomats: more fixy World thingy, less Rock star!)
(note to republicans: if you are worth less than $20m you are NOT in the Club…. Tools!)
We honor and respect those in harms way…
but also know there’s room on there iPod for the language software and one more thing:
http://www.dailytunes.com/songs/20031029162331.html