Apple may be up-sampling some QVGA videos on the iTunes Store to the new, larger 640×480 resolution instead of re-encoding from the original source. “You might be paying through the nose for a file that doubles the pixels and megabytes, but severely lessens the general quality of the picture,” reports Engadget.
Apple will reportedly use Inventec for the majority of its fifth-generation iPod orders rather than using both Inventec and Quanta Computer equally.
In the fourth quarter, Inventec is scheduled to ship one million 5G iPods a month while Quanta is expected to ship 300,000-400,000 units a month.
The New York Times’ David Pogue thinks Apple will “probably never” come out with an iPhone. “The problem is that when you build a cellphone, the carriers (Verizon, Cingular, etc.) have veto power over EVERY move you make,” Pogue says. “You have to fight, wheedle, cajole, beg, demo, refine, lather, rinse, repeat…all in hopes that the carriers will accept your design–and stock your phone.
I cannot imagine Apple giving veto power to ANYONE over its software design. It just ain’t gonna happen.”
Podcasts are being listened to on computers much more often than they are on iPods, according to research cited by Marketwatch. “More people are listening to podcasts on their PCs than ever, says Dave Van Dyke of Bridge Ratings, a speaker scheduled to appear at this weekend’s Portable Media and Podcast Expo.
