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iPod computers

Nike and Apple will soon be marketing a Nike shoe with a sensor that talks to an iPod. There's a wireless receiver that lets the iPod get data from the shoe. The iPod can then tell the runner how fast they are running, how many calories they have burned etc.

Personally I think running is a horrible form of exercise for most people. It can wreak havoc on your leg joints, your hips, and if you are out on the street with automobiles you are breathing a lot of polluted air. However, some people enjoy it, and for the $29.00 price this will cost (well, plus $100.00 for the special Nike shoes), I'm sure they'll sell a few.

Which brings me to my point. There are a lot of iPods out in the world, but probably very few of their owners realize that they are actually carrying around a little computer with a pretty fair sized hard drive. It's not a useless computer, either: you can actually run Linux on some models.

This is the future.

Imagine a slightly more powerful iPod with even more interesting accessories and a more powerful general purpose OS already built in. Wireless internet access, voice control, of course. Keyboard accessory, bluetooth, firewire, all that. Smart enough to do everything your computer does now and more. Cell phone? Of course. If it's near to its fast local storage, it will use that. Otherwise it will try to access that drive through the internet. Failing that, it will have already cached as much of your most recently accessed content as it can, plus everything you deem as "must always have available". Voice recognition is a given, but no doubt you'll carry a little fold-out keyboard too. Or maybe you won't: maybe it will project its keyboard and watch you type.

This stuff is coming. I'm buying more Apple stock.

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