portable media
The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) has begun a giant undertaking. Realizing the annoyance of multiple docking stations we're forced to use when confronted with all of our different portable electronics, these good people have decided to work out a standard docking connector that would work in vehicles as well as in our homes.
"It is important for the industry to create an open, industry-wide standard for docking connectors that will give consumers greater access to the digital entertainment they have stored on devices," says Jai Jaisimha, lead program manager of the Windows Digital Media Division at Microsoft Corp. "The proposed standard will allow consumers to select and play content stored on a portable device using entertainment controls in their cars and homes."
I dig it, Jai! And to make sure we know he's serious, the group has enlisted the help of aftermarket electronics providers, OEM integration kit providers, chipset providers and portable device manufacturers. There doesn't seem to be a road map to when we'll actually see this miracle enacted, but if you want more info, check out www.ce.org/standards.
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Gizmodo
Reader Olivier came up with this pretty interesting design for a form-fitting MacBook cooler that attaches to the bottom of your laptop and provides card readers, more USB ports and a gigantic fan to cool it. It might not look as slick as the Zefyr, but it's pretty damn functional despite being called the "iCool". On the other hand, Olivier's just some dude with Photoshop, so don't expect this to be coming out anytime soon. [Thanks Olivier!]
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