Monday, August 11, 2008 |
06:35 - My hovercraft is full of playlists
http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htintel/articles/20080806.aspx
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This is pretty cool:
August 6, 2008: 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.
There's nothing super-high-tech about the software—it's just audio and video clips you stick on your iPod—but it's fun to see how creative app developers can get just within the restrictive hierarchical navigation scheme of the basic iPod. This isn't even talking about App Store apps for the iPhone or iPod touch—and just imagine what they could do with that.
Not that it would be cost-effective. I think the most interesting aspect of stories like this is how the plummeting cost of high-tech gadgets like basic iPods has met the rising buying power of the rank-and-file soldier, to the point where iPods represent an infrastructure as well developed and reliable as the ability to drive. Everybody's got one he bought with his own money and brought to the battlefield. In fact, in a way it's the flip side of terrorists using cheap cell phones as triggers for IEDs: it's high tech that's so universal it's stupid not to use it. So why not take advantage of it?
Via JMH.
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