Apple is adding feed syndication podcatcher capability to iTunes. This served as a central theme for the return of the Gillmor Gang on May 28th. As a tangent to the converstaion, the Gang discussed the ability - or lack thereof - of the Apple iPod to take full advantage of RSSv1, RSSv2 and Atom feed syndication. Of course, the iPod has no OS/API/applications to do this.

"Looking at other implications of the iTunes announcement. Doesn't this also mean that with RSS, that the iPod is much further along in it's being the total multipurpose device? You know... What's to say that you wouldn't be able to, on the disk, have all the things that you might subscribe to via RSS, in that device and you might then plug into headphones or into a TV screen? Well..."

-- Steve Gillmor, Jon Udell, Dana Gardner, Mike Vizard, and Doc Searls, with guest Adam Curry and Executive Producer Doug Kaye Gillmor Gang Rides Again 33m:44s - 35m:06s

No doubt the iPod is great, but its main job is to play m4p files. If you want the ability to grab your feeds no matter the media, how about the Palm Lifedrive or one of these from the Daily Wireless article "WiFi MP3 Players". So, forget the iPod and get a machine that let's you get to all your feeds, podcast, songs, blogs, vlogs, news, and whatever comes next.

Finally, Palm has come out with a device that has both Bluetooth and WiFi, the LifeDrive. I'm very excited about this device. They also squeezed in a 4GB hard drive. Only 16MB of ROM though, so I imagine that not just "all your important files" but software must go onto that hard drive. I wonder how that will affect performace of those apps?

I may just have to find out via Amazon.

Update: From PalmOne LifeDrive Mobile Manager: Is it cool or too big for today's comsumer tastes? by Todd Ogasawara -- PalmOne's LifeDrive PDA is the first PDA I know of with an integrated microdrive (4GB large). It also has integrated Bluetooth and 802.11b WiFi capabilities. So, is the world ready with an open wallet for this intersection of a Palm PDA and iPod mini?

I'm a diehard Palm fan, and have been since my first Palm Pilot in 1996. Many of the points made by Todd Ogasawara are well taken. I do want to get rid of my cell phone, but I don't find the screens on smart phones, even the Treo, to be adequate. I think my ideal PDA would take from the Treo650. TungstenT-5, LifeDrive and Tapwave Zodiac: the large screen [with rotation between portrait and landscape modes], built-in WiFi [though give me a/g not just b], bluetooth and cellular [GSM or CDMA based options with latest data protocols], 256MB RAM/ROM, and two expansion card slots [either both SD/SDIO or one SD & one CF], and, of course, running the latest PalmOS. I don't really want the keyboard of the Treo; I've been using grafitti for so long that I my handwriting is now illegible.

As an update to our post replying to Chris Lindquist's article on the Verizon implementation of the Motorola V710, comes a class action lawsuit.

Slashdot is reporting, as are others like engadget, that California law firm Kirtland & Packard has filed a Class Action Lawsuit against Verizon and Motorola for crippling the bluetooth on the device.

Maybe CDMA phone manufacturers and carriers will come out of their network centric mobile and wireless world and join GSM vendors with more customer friendly connectivity options.

I have truly come to enjoy reading story books novels on my Palm using the Palm Digital eReader. Now, I haven't stopped buying good, old fashioned hard bound books. But eBooks allow me to enjoy the content without actually cracking open the book, endangering it with coffee droplets or spilled brandy.

Of course, the disaster of dropping my Tungsten into the tub is far and away more devastating than dropping the book.

Right now, I'm reading the last novel in Robin Hobb's series that started with the Farseer trilogy, went to the Liveship Traders trilogy, and is ending with the Tawny Man trilogy. She is a magnificent author. It is very rare that an author can make me so empathetic with her characters. And that each character is so richly filled-out and distinct from every other character.

And of course, I wasn't reading the story in this meeting, nor blogging on my Palm. I'm taking notes. Mobile and wireless tools make things much more interesting.

Pepper Computer is showing off their Pepper Wireless Pad at CES. It looks like an interesting addition to the tool kit of those leading the TeleInterActive Lifestyle and others wanting to web surf from the couch while using the Pepper to channel surf at the same time. However, their approach to software is reminiscent of the defunct 3Com Audrey, as described by C|Net.

Here is the Pepper, linked to their specifications page...

The Audrey was a great wiki(Internet appliance). And it was the tool I used to get my parents, both in their 70's, onto the Internet, so that they could stay in touch with family and friends when they moved to SF from Pennsylvania.

One reason that the Audrey failed, and one reason for misgivings about the Pepper, is locked-in software. The Pepper is a linux based tablet, slate or pad computer. [They call it a "Pad", others might like the term "tablet" or the older term "slate".] They've written their apps in Java, using the Mozilla framework (a.k.a. Gecko Runtime Environment). The Pepper is not due until the Spring 2005, so we can't be certain until then, but from their web site, it appears that...

• There seems to be no way to install additional software [unless downloaded from Pepper] nor any command-line interface or GUI to the underlying OS. (MontaVista ™ CEE 3.1.1) The spec sheet contradicts the marketing in that a "Customizable & extensible user experience available" is promised. Let's hope so, as the Audrey also only allowed new software from 3Com downloads.
• The Pepper Desktop 2.0 (interestingly enough also available for MS Windows) seems to provide standard and enhanced web-browsing, email, IM (AOL only) and media tools.
• The collaboration software, available for download in the spring with more in the summer 2005, appear to allow for collaboration primarily with other Pepper users.

Why use open software to build a closed system?

Hopefully, the above is more marketing than reality, and Pepper will provide a more open approach to user add-ons and customizations. Otherwise, I fear that this neat looking device will fall into the same pit of disuse as the Audrey, and other Internet appliances.

Engadget recently posetd their impressions of this Pepper, and had also posted earlier about the Pepper Pad 2, which is not on the Pepper website. The only difference between the two seems to be that the 2 has 802.11g, while the Pepper has 802.11b WiFi. The Pepper 2 was promised for "around $800" when announced, the Pepper is $899. Perhaps, just speculating, the fall from 802.11g to 802.11b is for price reasons.

BTW, my parents still use the Internet - through a laptop now. The mouse and the touch pad gives them problems both physically and intuitively. If I can add Y!M rather than AIM to the Pepper, it might be the next device I try for them. A touchscreen is much more intuitive than a mouse.