A Little Tech Talk

--Nintendo's new gaming system, Wii (pronounced 'we'), will be out later this year. There have been reports that it will be on shelves as early as September, but the money says it will most likely be October or later. I really can't wait to get my hands on one--just have to see how it works. It is an interesting concept, but I'm not too sure how I will like it. Part of the controller is a wireless, motion-sensitive remote. It just might be too steep of a learning curve for this old broad to figure out. Don't know, will have to see. The best part of the whole system, though, is that it is backwards compatible with the Gamecube games. Yippee!

--A teen was listening to his iPod while mowing the lawn in Colorado when he was struck by lightening. His wounds followed the line of the iPod wire from his ears to his hip pocket where the player was. His hair was singed, his ears were burned on the inside, he has lost some hearing, and he has welts on his body along the line where the wire was. He and his mother believe it was the iPod that attracted the lightening--other experts disagree. Here is the story.

Now, here is what gets me, the website Endgadget reported this story in a rather straight-forward way. That's fine, but from the comments the article got, you would think someone was accusing Steve Jobs of being the anti-Christ and Apple and the iPod as being the devil's instruments! I couldn't believe how riled up so many people got about a poor kid who got hit by lightening while listening to his music player! I'm sure the reason it was reported that the music player was an iPod (aside from the fact that that is, indeed, what it was) and not a DAP, digital audio player, MP3 player, etc, is because most people think of 'those kind' of music players as 'iPods.' It is along the same lines as calling all PDAs (personal digital assistants) Palm Pilots: most people don't know WHAT a PDA is, or an iPaq, or a handheld device. Can't understand why these geeks got so hot under the collar!

--And finally, TechEBlog posted a listed of their Top 10 "Top 10." The Top 10 strangest luxury gadgets is unbelievably ridiculous. And the Top 10 strangest Japanese gadgets and accessories are just plain weird.