Monday, August 9, 2010

I am currently in Taiwan doing field research for my upcoming granule book, so I?m going to do a series of blogs on various local trends in Chinese medicine. Today?s blog will look at some of the trends in Chinese medical devices in Taiwan. A variety of interesting things fit into this category, such as customized granule packaging machines and decoction-steam delivery devices, which direct steam from a decoction to an affected site on the body (Dell XPS M1210 Battery) .

Follow up:

Over the next several days, I will be blogging about other local Chinese medical trends, such as the influence of herbal medicine in Taiwanese cuisine, the integration of Chinese medicine into the Taiwanese healthcare system, Taiwanese research trends in Chinese medicine, and other prominent local herbal trends like the consumption of tea and bing lang (betel nut) (Dell Latitude X200 Battery) .

When I go to Hong Kong and mainland China over the next few weeks, I will make similar posts about trends in their herbal marketplaces and other regional features.

Acupuncture Needles

In terms of acupuncture needles, Taiwanese doctors tend to use the traditional Chinese needles that most of us are familiar with. The needles are generally average to slightly thick by American standards; 32 and 30 gauge needles are the most common and gauges 34 and thinner are very rarely seen (Dell Latitude XT2 Tablet PC Battery) .

Clean needle technique (i.e., no handling of the shaft) and swabbing of points with alcohol is the norm. Acupuncture needles in Taiwan are nearly exclusively disposable, single-use needles. I have only ever seen autoclaved reusable needles used by one doctor in Taiwan; this particular doctor was a specialist in eye diseases and used specially blunted needles to reduce the risk of bleeding when needling into the orbital cavity (Dell Precision M70 Battery) .

Unlike in mainland China, where guide tubes are almost never seen, some Taiwanese acupuncturists do use guide tubes. In my experience, the majority of Taiwanese doctors still use freehand needling rather than guide tubes, but there is not a strong bias against the use of guide tubes (Dell XPS M1330 Battery) .

To a certain extent, the acceptance of guide tubes in Taiwan likely reflects the fact that Taiwan is typically more pro-Japanese than mainland China, so the Japanese influence of guide tubes has become more readily integrated into the local practice of acupuncture. (Some of my previous blog posts discuss how Japanese Kampo has influenced the Taiwanese granule world (Dell TT485 Battery) .

Another difference in acupuncture technology between Taiwan and the mainland is the lack of zhen dao (acutomic needles or ?knife needles?) in Taiwan. A zhen dao is a new type of needle that has created a lot of buzz in modern China; zhen dao are a cross between a needle and a scalpel, a bit like a very thick needle that has a tip like a sharpened tiny flat-headed screwdriver (Dell XT832 Battery) .

These new devices are used to treat stubborn musculoskeletal disorders that do not respond to normal acupuncture and tui na, and have recently been researched for internal medicine conditions as well. Typically, anesthetic is administered and the ?knife needles? are used to cut adhesions within the muscle fibers, with the theory being that the micro-trauma promotes a strong healing response. This new acupuncture device has spawned hundreds of research papers in mainland China, but hasn?t reached Taiwan in any prominent way yet (Dell 451-10528 Battery) .

Moxa

Moxa use is fairly straightforward in Taiwan. I have seen a variety of different handheld applicators, but not nearly as many different applicator styles as one can see in mainland China. Pole moxa and warm needling remain the most common types of moxa delivery, and infrared lamps are used as well (Dell 312-0660 Battery) .

While Taiwan does not appear to have quite as many different devices for shaping moxa cakes and applying moxa as we see in the mainland, there is a very unique type of ?heavenly moxibustion? that is used seasonally in Taiwan. Heavenly moxibustion refers to using medicinals to stimulate the skin without the use of mugwort and fire. Typically heavenly moxibustion uses irritating substances such as garlic or white mustard seed (bai jie zi) to cause the skin to blister (Hp 520 battery) .

The type of heavenly moxa that is particularly distinct to Taiwan is applied once per year, during one specific period of several weeks in a particular season. A large bolus of a special herbal paste is applied to the skin on the back of the hand, towards the wrist over the first and second metacarpal bones. The bolus is held in place with gauze, and it is removed after the irritating sensation becomes too much to bear (IBM ThinkPad X41 Tablet battery) .

Apparently the resulting blister lasts for nearly a month and is quite painful. This technique is supposed to provide good health throughout the year. Some of the young resident doctors at the hospital introduced me to it, since it is an interesting traditional thing. I must admit that I removed the bolus nearly as soon as the irritating sensation started becoming intense, so I didn?t go for the whole blister experience (I could tell within minutes that it would REALLY hurt to leave that thing on my hand) (Acer Extensa 500 battery) .

A bit off topic from moxa but still in the realm of warm things? Taiwan also has hundreds of hot springs, which are often attributed various healing properties. Typically the signs promoting the various health benefits of the water composition at any given spring are somewhat exaggerated, but nonetheless soaking in warm mineral-rich water is a part of the holistic approach in Taiwan (Dell Studio 1737 battery ) .

The hot springs are typically in beautiful locations and there is tremendous variety in mineral composition from one region to the next. Massage and various hydrotherapy techniques are commonly seen in hot springs as well (Dell RM791 battery) .

Granule Delivery Systems

As I?ve written about in previous blogs, there are major differences in the manufacturing process and clinical application of granules between Taiwan and China. As far as medical devices go, one of the most prominent trends in Taiwan revolves around the use of dispensing machines that package granules for patients in clinics and hospitals (Dell Latitude E6400 battery) .

In Taiwan, granules are weighed and mixed together as a loose powder, often with small electric mixing machines. They are then put into a machine that dispenses them in individual plastic sachets, one sachet per dose. One can program in the amount of powder to be dispensed in each sachet, and the machine divides the whole powder batch into convenient little pouches (Dell inspiron 1501 battery) .

The plastic packaging is often customized for each hospital and clinic. These machines have recently started to appear in the U.S. as well, but I?ve never seen them in use in an American clinic .

Beyond granules, Korean extraction machines are found in Taiwan as well. However, these extractors are not nearly as prominent in Taiwan as they are in Korea and China (Dell Vostro 1000 battery) .

The hospital that I studied at had about 15 extractors and my former teacher Feng Ye has a few in his clinic, but ultimately they are not that commonly seen. Granules are by far the most common method of using herbal medicine in Taiwan when convenience is desired. As I?ve mentioned before in prior blog articles, granules in Taiwan are nearly always used as whole formulas with single herb additions (Dell Inspiron E1505 battery) .

Pai Sha

Pai Sha is a method of rhythmically striking the body with a special instrument. The object used is often a long bundle of thin pieces of wood (think of a narrow broom end with thin pieces of wood instead of straw). The instrument hits the body with strength but the blow is rapidly diffused by the natural give of the bundle of wood. For smaller parts of the body, the pai sha tool can be a simple stick or other blunt device with a handle (Acer Aspire One battery) .

Pai sha is similar to gua sha and cupping in that it promotes bruising in a measured way. Pai sha can be a bit uncomfortable, and it is similar to gua sha in the sense that it is a folk practice rather than a formal medical practice. In other words, gua sha and pai sha are never really given by doctors or seen in hospitals, but they are very common methods of self-healing among the general population. The basic theory is that raising bruises in a consistent and modest way encourages blood circulation and clears up old static blood (ACER Aspire 5020 Battery) .

Herbal Steamers

Steam-directing machines are another common Chinese medical device seen in Taiwan. These steamers are essentially self-contained glass machines that decoct herbs and funnel the steam at a local area via a firm hose. They are particularly common in clinics that treat a lot of impediment patterns (bi syndrome) and other joint diseases (Acer AS07B72 battery) .

When the medicinals cook, the steam that issues forth warms the affected joints and directs the effect of the medicinals to the local area. This technique is referred to as steam-washing (zheng xi) in Chinese medicine. The fragrance and essential oils that disperse with the steam are thought to help to treat skin diseases and impediment patterns (Dell XPS M2010 battery) .

This is just a short survey of some of the unique Chinese medical devices that are prevalent in Taiwan. Come back to our blog again to read the continuation in the series, when we discuss medicinal cookery in Taiwan, as well as local herbs, Chinese medical healthcare, and research trends. From there, we?ll go on to trends in Hong Kong and Guangzhou, then up north to Beijing (Dell Latitude C400 Battery) .

Saturday, August 7, 2010

How electricity changes daily life in Zanzibar

How does everyday life change when electricity becomes available to people in a village in Zanzibar, East Africa, for the first time? Anthropologist Tanja Winther answers this question in her new book The Impact of Electricity. Development, Desires and Dilemmas (Sony VGN-FZ150E battery) .

The book is based on her doctoral dissertation and was also published in Swahili. “I think it would be a good thing if phd-budgets in general included the important step of making results accessible to the people under study", she says in an email-interview with me (Sony VGP-BPS8 battery) .

“Electricity is a social phenomenon, and I hope that many anthropologists will join this fascinating field", she adds.

Here is the interview:

So what has changed after the introduction of electricity (Dell Studio 1737 battery) ?

What was most striking to me was the tremendous effect electricity has had on people’s time management. With electric light the day in theory has 24 hours instead of 12. People must make new choices as to what to do when. In consequence, time is speeding up and practices change: Women cook only two meals each day and not three as they used to (they now serve leftovers for the third meal). This is also linked to their wish to watch television in the evening and their opportunity to earn money during daytime (Sony VGP-BPL9 battery) .

Relations change in the process; the man has ‘entered the home’ in a new way. In the evenings, men and women now sit together in the same room, together with neighbours and the extended family. The electric light provide transparency and purity and the television programme is in focus. The paradox, although a phenomenon also observed in many other places, is that the spouses new opportunity to spend more time together actually provides less time for marital (?) intimacy. Sexual patterns change due to electricity (Sony VGP-BPL11 battery) .

Because of this and also electricity’s high cost and rapid normalisation, there are signs that the birth rate is on the decrease. This was exemplified when men complained to me that due to the need for electricity, it is becoming too expensive to have more than one wife, or even get married at all (Sony VGN-FZ460E battery) .

People’s relationship to spirits also change; electric light is said to make space safer. Elderly, Swahili-speaking people would therefore refer to the new technology as ’security light’.

Health wise, electrified water pumps and improvements in the health services (ex light at night time at the local clinic when a woman is in labour) has had a direct positive effect in development terms (Toshiba PA3399U-2BAS Battery) .

The arrival of water taps in the village implies that girls do not have to spend long hours fetching water from wells. Instead they are sent to school to the same extent as boys. Children, also girls, attend night classes before important exams and sleep in the school building. This surprised me, because parents in this Muslim context pay considerable attention to controlling girls’ whereabouts (Dell Inspiron E1505 Battery) .

I guess they have faith in the teachers looking properly after their children. But this also speaks of the tremendous importance people put on education in rural Zanzibar these days.

What are your thoughts about these changes (Apple A1281 battery) ?

When I started this study I was determined not to expect that electricity would bring ‘development’ to the countryside in Zanzibar. Overall, however, I am convinced that people’s new access to electricity has been a change to the better. Electricity is so fundamental when it comes to people’s access to information, to public services and to making the hard life in this region less physically demanding (IBM ThinkPad T40 Battery) .

The notion of development in Swahili (maendeleo) is all about getting new ideas and new things that make you move forward. Following a grounded, entitlement-based approach to development one may even conclude that it should be a human right to have access to electricity. What they use electricity for must of course be left to the people in question to decide (ASUS Eee PC 1000HE Battery) .

There are also problems, however, one challenge in Zanzibar being linked to the unequal structures that were also at work before electricity was introduced. In particular, I would highlight women’s lack of rights to inheritance and the fact that the divorce rate is high and easily obtained by men. Most women in rural Zanzibar do not own houses. They do not become electricity customers nor owners of appliances (Dell Inspiron 6400 battery) .

Yet, they contribute substantially to financing the family’s high cost of electricity. This constitutes a problem the day their husbands want a divorce, when they are left with extremely little material wealth. Electricity may in this way have made women even more dependent on men than before (HP PAVILION DV9700t Battery) .

In everyday life, there is also a concern among some people that electricity’s high costs may negatively affect the family’s food security. Perhaps the reduction in cooked meals implies that people eat less than before? (this has not been investigated from a detailed, nutritional point of view) (HP Pavilion dv9000 battery) .

At the same time, the alternative, to buy expensive kerosene for lighting and batteries for the radio, is also a financially risky business. In 1991, it would take a family 9 years to pay back their investment in electricity for light and radio as compared to the use of kerosene and batteries. (Thus after 9 years it would become cheaper to use electricity than the alternative fuels). In 2005, due to a rise in the kerosene price, the pay back time had been reduced to 4 years (Dell Studio 1737 battery) .

Information Project: People from Uroa (working for the Information Project) explaining the use and dangers of electricity during a public meeting in Uzi Village, 2005.

It seems that people sleep less than before. Those without electricity at home sometimes complain that their neighbours are tired after having watched television until midnight and therefore quarrel more than before. Many parents are concerned that children, especially boys who are freer to stay out late at night, are too tired to learn properly at school (Dell XPS M2010 battery) .

But in the larger picture, such effects are considered as details. The coming of tourists, however, is seen as a greater challenge. The foreigners are often considered to have an improper conduct that could affect new generations in unfortunate ways (alcohol, drugs, clothing etc). If tourism provided people with jobs, this would have balanced the picture, but so far, rural Zanzibaris mostly experience the negative side of this growing business (SONY VAIO VGN-FZ4000 Battery) .

Still, people are strikingly warm and welcoming towards foreigners. Knowing the social and moral cost of the tourists’ presence in the neighbourhood, this attitude surprised me again and again.

What are the implications of your findings (Sony VGP-BPL15 battery) ?

I hope to have demonstrated that asking and realising the question of “how” is just as important as “what” (e.g., electricity). My main case, electrification in Uroa village, was atypical in the sense that they were not included in project plans but ended up with the highest number of electricity customers and the only village in Zanzibar with street lights (ASUS Eee PC 1000HE Battery) .

I try to show that the success of Uroa was not random, but a direct result of their own initiative and contribution in the process, including the use of magic remedies. People in the village are very proud of what they achieved. They demonstrated in practice what participation is about. Such involvement is possible despite the “heavy” and apparently predetermined nature of infrastructure projects (Dell Latitude XT2 Tablet PC Battery) .

On another level, the study revealed that ordinary customers have not been properly informed about how the accounting system works. As a result, the think they are being cheated by the utility and their own morality regarding illegal use becomes affected (Dell RM791 battery) .

In response to these findings, Norad (The Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation) agreed to finance an information project in Zanzibar where we put emphasis on electricity’s possibilities but also difficulties. Two teams (both genders, people from town and people from villages experienced with electricity) travelled around the islands for two months and held fabulous speeches (IBM ThinkPad X41 Tablet battery) :

- Do you think the ocean is dangerous? (Yes)

- We still go out fishing, don’t we? (Yes)

- It is the same with electricity. You just have to know how to deal with the danger…

I have received feedback from management in the World Bank’s evaluation group that the study is interesting also from their point of view. If the experiences from Uroa can be useful to people working and living elsewhere, nothing would be better (Acer Aspire One battery) .

In anthropology, I think there is a need for more studies on electricity and energy. Economists and engineers have had a claim to this field for a long time and there is renewed focus on energy these days.

This was exciting to study, I suppose? You’ve been there during the first years with electricity (Dell Latitude E6400 battery) ?

Yes, I arrived in Uroa village in 1991, one year after village electrification. When I came back for the main fieldwork in 2000, they had 10 years of experience with the new technology; more appliances, more households connected. I had expected to find many women cooking food with electricity (what people in 1991 said they expected would be the case). But very few did (Dell RU030 Battery) .

I thus learned the old lesson that people do not necessarily do what they say they want to do. There are many reasons why, but it is interesting to try to understand such discrepancies. I have also returned to Zanzibar in later years as a consultant. People’s use of electricity, as any practices, change in a fascinatingly rapid manner.

What was it like turning the doctoral dissertation into a book? A long process (Dell Precision M70 Battery) ?

It took about one year to get the process started and then 1 1/2 years in production, so yes, it was a long process. Berghahn’s external reader had some very useful comments on an overall level that I have tried to respond to. Otherwise, I felt quite on my own in the process - the luxury of having a splendid supervisor (Aud Talle in my case), was gone. But when writing the thesis I had kept in mind Unni Wikan’s advice to think about the thesis as a book. To a great extent, I could keep to the same structure (Dell Latitude X300 Battery) .

Why did you translate the book into Swahili?

The idea was initiated by one of my friends in Uroa during fieldwork. He does not speak or read English. He told me enthusiastically that he was thrilled about the thought of knowing that other people in East Africa would read the story from Uroa - and learn about electrification. Thus he was concerned about sharing the material with other groups (Dell XPS M1730 Battery) .

I was just as concerned about making this man (and his co-villagers) have access to their own story. The Norwegian Embassy later kindly agreed to finance the translation of a shorter version of the material and have a book produced in 500 copies. This would perhaps not have been the case had I chosen another, less ‘relevant’ topic in their eyes (Dell XPS M140 Battery) .

But I think it would be a good thing if phd-budgets in general included the important step of making results accessible to the people under study. The book was recently distributed to 35 households in Uroa and schools across Zanzibar.

By the way, I remember Pat Caplan, the main opponent during the defence of the thesis, asking me what reactions I would expect from people in Uroa if they had access to the written material. I said that they would be likely to be proud and agree with most parts, but also surprised and perhaps even disturbed regarding other parts (Dell XPS M1330 Battery) .

In particular, the critical analysis of women’s position and the social exclusion of people in opposition to the government, could produce some reactions. I did not leave these aspects out in the published book, which is entitled Umeme: Faida na Athari Zake. Uzoefu Kutoka Kijiji cha Uroa. (Electricity: Its benefits and challenges. Experiences from Uroa Village). So far, I have not heard any reactions from the village, but of course, I am quite exited (Sony Vaio VGN-FZ18M battery) .

What are doing right now?

I am with the Centre for Development and the Environment (SUM) at the University of Oslo, who have hosted me since I first came in 1999 as an engineer wanting to learn and do anthropology. As member and secretary for a reference group of a trust fund in the World Bank (TFESSD), I discover that the Bank has come quite far in analytical work that integrate work on social development, gender and infrastructure (Sony VGN-FZ21M battery ) .

The link between gender equality and energy continue to be one of my main interests, and I also currently work on a little piece called Why do poor people steal electricity?

Electricity is a social phenomenon, and I hope that many anthropologists will join this fascinating field. I think we are both needed and appreciated (Sony VGP-BPS9 battery) .

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Portable Apps

I never bothered playing with portable apps. I didn’t (don’t) really have a big need for them. But, I saw a write up on LiberKey the other day, and I bookmarked it. Since then I’ve gone back and given it a little spin and I must say I’m rather impressed. It just may have sparked my latest love…or my latest computer fetish - call it what you will (Sony VGN-FZ150E battery) .

I had a few dollars on an Office Depot rewards card (recycling ink cartridges from work does pay off eventually, and it’s the right thing to do). So I headed up to the store to grab a couple spare flash drives. They had a nice little micro no-name (actually it has a name - Ativa) on sale - 4GB for $14.99, can’t beat that - so I grabbed a couple (Sony VGP-BPS8 battery) .

(For the record - one is for a V.P. at work and the other for the portable apps most likely getting most of their use at work - so I don’t feel guilty at all playing with them this way. Besides - I’m the one that takes the time to actually go and drop off the dead and dying ink cartridges, so I think they can allow me the indulgence of a simple little flash drive that I will also use for work purposes don’t you (Dell Studio 1737 battery) ?)

Being as I’ve never played with portable apps before, here’s what I’ve found. Download the LiberKey installer package to your computer and then specify the USB drive for the actual install. Otherwise, it eats up precious space you may or may not have on your flash drive (Sony VGP-BPL9 battery) .

You can skip the desktop icon (unless you plan on actually installing the apps on your computer - which you can do if you want, but why clutter it up when you can install them on a USB??) Now, you’re all set. There’s really nothing else to do. You can run the apps right from the flash drive - no hard drive install required (Sony VGP-BPL11 battery) .

The Ultimate version took about 5 minutes to download and another 5 minutes or so to install on the flash drive. It didn’t need any interaction from me once the install started so it was really no big deal - just a little longer than we get used to these days is all (Sony VGN-FZ460E battery) .

(And might I add, no annoying boxes to uncheck to avoid any extra software being put anywhere - kudos to the developers for being user friendly and free!!) However, the number of programs needing updates after initial install was significant and took a little longer, although it was really very painless. Just don’t expect to be downloaded and ready to go 5 minutes before you want to head out the door with it (Toshiba PA3399U-2BAS Battery) .

They have 3 simple installers - Basic, Standard and Ultimate (depending on the size of your flash drive). The Ultimate boasts a fairly comprehensive and well organized list of 202 applications. From my count there are another 50 or so not included in these packages, but still available on the site you can add any/all of them if you choose (Dell Inspiron E1505 Battery) .

(Of course my OCD dictates that I will be adding them all just to see how much space they really take up on my drive - hence (I just adore the word hence) the reason I went for the 4GB drive.) But you can use any old spare flash drive you have handy and customize what you want to put on it (Apple A1281 battery) .

The download items do not have to be run from the LiberKey application, there is an independent download option - it just makes it a little easier to work with them from within the app. If you have a small (ancient) 64mb drive you could easily install just one or 2 apps on it that someone might need (IBM ThinkPad T40 Battery) .

These could make for great giveaway items if (unlike me) you happen to have lots of spare flash drives, or it occurs to me from a tightwad standpoint - these could make nice Christmas or birthday presents for cheap. At $14.99 for a 4GB drive (and the prices continue to drop) you could give someone a gift they’d probably use and appreciate (ASUS Eee PC 1000HE Battery) .

You can grab a 2GB flash for $6.99 at Office Depot which could do equally as well. How many times have you told a friend or family member about some piece of free software you use. This might be a great way to make it all available to them. Another nice feature, is from within the LiberKey menu there is a folder for "MyApps" where you can install your own portable apps you find elsewhere (Dell Inspiron 6400 battery) .

I did put a few others onto my drive so we’ll see how that works out. There’s also a folder for "MyDocuments" making it a very versatile organizer as far as USB drives go (HP PAVILION DV9700t Battery) .

Only time will tell how worth it this little foray into portable apps will pay off for me. If I never use them, I can always erase them. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. I may find I absolutely love using some of these little guys - stranger things have happened. I mean, after all, just a few years ago I had an irrational fear of multiple browsers, and now I use 3 of them (HP Pavilion dv9000 battery) .

It’s also a nice way to become familiar with applications you might not otherwise try out. (By the way, after installing & updating everything, and adding 7 additional apps I wanted - I used about 2.10GB of space, leaving around 1.62GB free for other stuff. And yes, I realize that only adds up to 3.72GB..where does that last .28GB go? Did the GB gremlins eat it (Dell Studio 1737 battery) ??

App-Stick, Nedwolf, Pendriveapps and USBSpace all have more to offer in the way of additional software for your USB flash drive. I found App-stick and Penndriveapps were the best two of the lot. It’s also worth mentioning that many software sites offer a portable version, or instructions on how to make an application portable. If there’s software you like - don’t hesitate to do a little searching on how to make it portable (Dell XPS M2010 battery) .

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

What's up with iPod?

With my Macworld Senior Editor cap firmly in place, I’d like to say that I couldn’t have been happier when Apple shifted focus from the iPod to the Intel Macs and the next version of Mac OS X, Leopard (Sony VGP-BPL15 battery) .

iPod, iTunes, a trillion songs in your pocket, Pago Pago has been added to the line up of iTunes Music Stores, iTunes is now offering the complete works of Chad and Jeremy plus a pre-order on their new album, Old Sourdough reruns can be had for $1.99, oh look, there’s Bono on a blue background again… (Sony VGP-BPS8 battery) .

Enough already.

But doffing that cap and replacing it with the sportier Playlist Senior Editor headgear, I push thoughts of Apple’s computer division aside and ponder, What’s Up With the iPod (Sony Vaio VGN-FZ battery) ?

As Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference winds down and anticipation of the High Holidays winds up, Apple will turn its attention to its most gift-appropriate wares—the iPod and its accompanying accessories. Yet the landscape’s changed since the last revision of the iPod. How will this Second (or Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth) Coming of the iPod play out (Sony VGN-FZ150E battery)?

Follow up:

What’s needed

Despite Steve Jobs’ previous protestations to the contrary, people do want to watch video on their iPod. Considering the size of its screen, the 5G iPod does a reasonable job of playing that video in a viewable form. But it could be better (Dell Studio 1737 battery) .

As in wide-screen better.

The 6G iPod needs that wide screen and so we’re looking at an iPod that can be viewed on its side. There has been endless speculation about how such a device might be designed—the most popular of which places a virtual click wheel as an overlay on the display. Seems smudgy to me, but perhaps Apple has found a display that dispels oil and crud (Ibm ThinkPad X41 Tablet battery) .

Once you’ve got that wide-screen iPod you’ll need to feed it. The TV content offered by Apple is all well and good, but wide-screen cries out for movies. There’s no way in hell that Apple’s going to provide the tools necessary to rip DVD movies for the iPod—it doesn’t need that kind of headache from the MPAA—but it’s done its part by not actively interrupting the activities of those third-parties that offer such tools (Sony Vaio VGN-FZ battery) .

No, for Apple it’s The Store and The Store only. One hopes that the delay in the release of a new high-end iPod is tied to content deals that finally bring full-length movies to the iTunes Music Store (SONY VGP-BPS8 battery,Sony VGP-BPL9 battery) .

What’s desirable

For most of us, wide-screen will be enough, but Apple could do more. Untethering the iPod from the headphone cord would be high on my list of things to do. But it offers challenges, the largest being its toll on battery power. There’s no free lunch in regard to Bluetooth or Wi-Fi so power management would have to be rejiggered in a serious way to make these capabilities possible (Sony Vaio VGN-FZ battery) .

And then there’s the issue of size. Granted, you can pack any number of miracles onto a chip the size of a fingernail paring, but free space in the interior of an iPod is a rare commodity (some have suggested that the desire for a slimmer device contributed to the death of FireWire compatibility in late-model iPods). If Apple chooses to go wireless, it may do so with the addition of an optional dongle that attaches to the dock connector rather than risk bulking up the iPod with more internal components (Sony VGP-BPL11 battery) .

New challengers

To this point, the umpteen “iPod Killers” have proven to be anything but. Microsoft’s Zune, however, may give Apple pause.

No, not because Microsoft has a history of designing dynamite products or because its hardware/software solution is likely to immediately rival Apple’s offerings. Rather, Microsoft has the means (and, perhaps, will) to play the long game (Sony VGN-FZ460E battery) .

With the XBox Microsoft has demonstrated that it’s willing to get in and stay in a market new to it for as long as it takes to make a dent. If, unlike most of the iPod competitors you see today, Microsoft plugs steadfastly ahead, releasing a capable Zune 1, 2, and 3 over the course of years (and keeps content flowing at a similar pace) and tying the Zune to its upcoming operating system, Vista, in attractive ways, it could make a difference (SONY VAIO VGN-FZ4000 Battery) .

There’s also this: As was made clear in Steve Jobs’ recent WWDC keynote presentation, Apple’s got a thing about Microsoft.

The rest of the world could give a damn about what OS X features “inspired” similar features in Vista. During the keynote presentation Jobs and other Apple executives took pains to bring it up time and again. Sure, it’s meat for the Mac faithful, but beyond The Faithful, who cares (Sony VGP-BPL9 battery) ?

Apple, apparently.

And my sense is that if Microsoft is serious about eating Apple’s digital music lunch, Apple will be just as serious about combatting those attempts by doing Zune one (or many more) better (Sony VGP-BPL11 battery) .

And that makes me optimistic. Just look at what Apple’s done with its digital media business when no serious competitor has risen up to challenge the iPod’s dominance. Imagine what iPod/iTunes might be given Apple’s concerted effort to crush and humiliate the work of such a high profile competitor (Sony VGP-BPS13 battery) .