Some miscellaneous links

Wired has some awesome stuff every time. A case of Chicken soup for the environmentalist soul, I think.

Then there’s this article that talks about design. I followed the links in that one, and mind you they’re too good. Number27, the design firm is doing an amazing job with their wordcount and 10x10. Even their site for Oral Fixation is a masterpiece. I would certainly have bought a box… I think I’d already have had a few had I known it existed.

The flash intro on their earlier website is worth checking out.

Meanwhile, also check out gigapxl and its story.

Moving on, seems radio listening is undergoing radical changes. (It had to…) This old article on wired was just a precursor. Their latest post on the subject (not latest exactly, but considering their link was broken yesterday…. Yeah, I did tell them about it) is surely an iOpener (sorry, couldn’t resist that one). It’s a big article and if you don’t bother with nice fonts and CSS, you could do what I did and go to their printer friendly version where you can read the whole article.

If you are impatient, just see HD Radio at a glance and On-Demand Radio at a Glance.

A nice gadget for radio fans from pogoproducts is also featured.

And finally, Adam Curry has done a great job linking iPod to radio (as I am trying to do here… were you sure that for once, this was not related to iPod?).

Detailed story on Wired.

I missed out on yesterday’s rumour that Apple is unveiling new iPods soon.

Think Secret’s website said that they had this news from “reliable resources” and that they had reported this as early as Friday, 18^th. (Source: CNET)

So we might expect new minis with colour screens and an improved 6GB capacity.

Meanwhile I am waiting for a new 2GB iPod Shuffle!! (1GB is passé…too less capacity ;))

There has been quite a furor in the blogging world. (Source: Steve Rubel)

Apparently, Google, rather, their new updated toolbar, is the latest in the news after its controversial Autofill feature for supposed world domination.

After this dies down, Google might give in, it might not. But what do the masses (read: technologically challenged) care? Millions will download and install the toolbar and most probably think it’s ‘really neat’ the way Google renders maps and all that. (See my earlier post). Most won’t even know that they have been manipulated.

And supposing if they do change the feature, this won’t stop others from creating similar features in their own toolbars.

Frankly, even I don’t care. I don’t like toolbars and I don’t like any clutter on my already sparse desktop real estate. Installing any of Google Tools, or for that matter, any of the utility tools that run incessantly in the background is a strain on the CPU and memory. Already, the antivirus software eats up most of the processor and I won’t want any additional drain.

So until they come up with a tool that is truly useful, I won’t install it. I would rather spend some extra time doing the things I want in the traditional way.

Genuinely, what is it that you can’t do without these gimmicks?

An update:

Was checking out Microsoft.com/potential, since I was intrigued by their much publicised ad.

There, they have this amazing flash demo that imagines some scenarios in the future where their products would be used. (The tablet PC looks really cool…)

I was surprised to see the Creative’s Portable Media Player that I mentioned in my prev. post in one of those videos. In fact, I even found a video (good one, this too) that features this player quite extensively.

I guess MS guys have some kind of a tie up with the Creative folks.

That also might explain how Gates happens to use their portable music player. (Source: Article on Brij’s link blog).

It certainly is a small world.