There is an interesting report on SlashDot noting that Apple will *NOT* be released on this wednesday. The reason is that Apple has not reached an agreement with the movie studios for distribution of content online, rather than for technical reasons. Rather interesting if you ask me.

Really the major issue with a video iPod is battery power for the backlight. And I do not see how it is really possible to save too much on that. Unless you reduce the size of the HDD and add more battery. But I do not think you can really add the sort of battery life you need for backlight without some serious HDD miniturization. Maybe with the perpendicular recording HDD’s at 1.8″ we might see it but I would not hold my breath…

I did some more programming on the PIC this evening, and the more I spend working on it, the more I have two thoughts… Firstly I think that the speed of the device is too slow. Secondly, and probably more importantly, my code has some serious optimization needed. I have some ideas where to start – but I suspect that I will have to get some outside help. Thankfully I know where to get that sort of help too…