according to this appleinsider article, new ipods will have a housing similar to that of apple minis:

In an effort to reduce the player’s susceptibility to scratches, Apple has been experimenting with aluminum anodized enclosures similar to those used in the company’s iPod mini digital music players, sources familiar with the company’s music plans have said.

initially, the nano had major issues with the screen cracks, which only happened with a small number of units. this issue was resolved pretty quickly as Apple was willing to offer free replacements. as far as the scratch issue goes, i personally thought that the lawsuit case was a bit over the top. it’s clear that the nano will get a lot of scratches; it’s got a shiny scratch-prone surface. the purchaser should really take the responsibility of taking enough care to protect the machine’s visual well-being by getting a case or a nano-sock, for example.

ok, the discolouration problem with the new white macbooks is a different matter. it happens/ed even with the shieldzone protector (as you can see here).

(view the full image and the story in this flickr post)

i’m an owner of a black ipod nano 2G and a white macbook (on its way; can’t wait). i’ve been pretty happy with my nano except for its limited data storage size. but i was fully aware of this when i bought it, so it’s ok. but after using it for almost a year now, i wouldn’t recommend this to others, especially if they’re interested in podcast subscription or simply a person of a wide range of musical tastes. the new (possibly metallic) one will have 8G, apparently. we’ll have to wait and see but i’ll be very interested - i’m definitely in need of an ipod upgrade. i do feel slightly uncomfortable when i think about the file format issues, but i’m yet to deepen my knowlege in this issue, so i’ll make a proper decision later on. anyway, in the mean time, i’ll see how i go with my new soon-to-come (two weeks to go now, i think) macbook :)

i’ve had ups and downs since i got back from chenrezig. although it wasn’t much about “zen,” what we would normally call the “unzenning process” was a bit more tumultuous than expected - well, on the second thought, it’s “unzenning” after all… silly me - and as soon as i got back, i was faced with an ostensibly endless to-do-list, so i haven’t really been able to sit down and try to write anything. well, i’m happy to announce, experience, and rejoice the end of the marking agony today, and found a little news article on naver about this new gadget from samsung, so i thought i’d write a short post.

samsung introduced this digital photo frame at CeBIT 2006 earlier this year; finally, they’re out on the market in korea. it’s called SDP-07 (i always wonder how they come up with model names. ok, sdp may be an acronym for samsung digital photos or something, but how can we have 07 when we haven’t even seen 01??). with a 7-inch TFT-LCD screen and 800×480 resolution, the frame seems to have a decent display capacity. it’s 209 x 149 x 78mm in dimensions and weighs approximately 0.7kg, so i think it should be portable enough - though i’m not quite sure about its power supply situation - to carry around to view images, videos, and play music, which can be stored in the frame itself and/or shared with people/sites via the net.

(photo: naver)

what’s really interesting about this new product is its interconnection with non other than cyworld. yes, good old cyworld. my honours research topic, which continues to grow and continues to fascinate me. it’s a must for the korean youth to have a cyworld mini-hompy. one of the most interesting findings of my research, for me personally, was not the technological integration of cyworld within the korean youth culture, but how the concept of cyworld “naturally” exists as an opaque form of the augmented self in every day life. people carry their digital cameras (or mobile phones with photo functions that are almost equally as good as any conventional clicker, if not better), “just in case” and/or because they are “socially pressured” to do so. and when a memorable moment comes, people photograph that moment mostly with an intention to “share” - most likely through cyworld. people don’t seem to take boring group pictures full of smiling faces anymore, as they ARE boring. to make their mini-hompy more entertaining, photos need to be entertaining. for this reason, a lot of people take what’s called “set-up” photos. you set the scene to be photographed. you know that people will know, and you admit it, but there’s much fun in that the practice of fake scene setting/photographing and viewing such photos.

anyway, through sk telecom network (the largest mobile services provider in korea which has been the owner since 2003), users can transmit media with their mobile phones and cyworld-related applications like the n@teOn messenger. samsung, the technology power house of korea - i’m sorry LG, but still, without samsung, korea wouldn’t have a chance in thie viciously competitive technology-driven capitalist world :( - has done it again. alright, personally, i don’t think this particular photo frame gadget is going to take off. who’s going to pay over A$400 for something like this? but samsung’s success shines through its vision for the future (market) - it’s very impressive how the company recognised the enormous potential of the techno-social convergence/s that are specific to the country, but can be applied and practiced in other geographical and cultural sets. this one may not be all that successful, but soon enough, they will come up with something that’s going to be spot on, and change our everyday life - at least in korea anyway. it’s a scary idea. but i think it’s definitely coming…

anyway, i’m going to stop here. i’ve been distanced from a lot of necessary critical thinking recently; i should also talk about the recent brisScience event sometime soon and check and really process the fantastic info mitchell sent me (thank you again, mitchell!). reading hundreds of essays - mostly on similar topics surrounding issues such as “detrimental effects” of digitisation of music or violent games on society …. without any adequate depth of analysis or thinking - seems to have had detrimental effects on my life. ok. some of them were really good and promptly brightened up my day/night.

anyway, i’m hoping to get a lot of work done for micheal before he comes back, and i’m really hoping to go somewhere quiet and READ, THINK, and ENJOY.