longwing

The debate over the need for a new gadget is a significant thing within the mind of a geek. Or perhaps it's just me, my mind. Within my own skull, it is a psychological battle of epic proportions. Paradigms, like nations, rise and fall on the backs of innocent ideas. Mindfields lie scattered with the corpses of young thoughts, fresh and idealistic only moments before.

Enough hyperbole, let's talk iPods.

I heard about the iPod linux project quite a while back, but they never really had bullet point to sell them until now. Recently, some bored coders manufactured a port of a certain famous piece of software, successfully compiling and playing iDoom. the photographs of this border on comedy, as the tiny screen attempts to reproduce Doom's environment on the tiny iPod screens. This, to me, would be the primary motivator to buying an iPod. Music is all well and good, videos are cool too, but old school hardcore gaming? Sign me up.

In other news, the suspiciously "me too" branded iCel might be of interest to anyone who's ever needed some extra battery life. Small battery manufacturer Lithium House, is offering the iCel as a solution to the frequently demanding consumer needs for long lasting batteries. Despite the obvious target audience implied in the name, the device also comes in a non-apple style. Basically, the iCel is a lithium battery attached to a USB cord. The iCel functions as a portable charger for any device that gets its juice through USB. They promise up-to 20 hours of extra life (read, 8 to 10 hours). Their laptop-style models are particularly interesting, with modern laptops having run times under 4 hours, this could be a way to breathe a little extra life into a short-running system.