Hands on (and in) the iPod nano 6th generation reveals hints of video playback support: Erica Sadun digs into the new iPod nano. While it may not (technically) be running iOS, it seems like many iOS bits have been recycled into Apple's smallest screen-based iPod.

Loony Tunes: I'm also not liking the new iTunes icon, but for a slightly different reason. It seems like my \"visual memory\" equates a CD with iTunes. I have found several instances where I go to the dock to switch to iTunes, and it seems like it \"isn't there\". It takes my brain awhile to hunt down the new icon. I suppose that I'll get used to it, but retraining is clearly required.

iPad cannibalizing whole notebook PC industry: Some more follow-up from a link that I posted a few weeks ago. I think that when it comes to laptops, there are really two kinds: sub \$1000 machines that are mainly used for content consumption, and above \$1000 machines that are used for \"real\" work. I can see how the iPad, even in it's current form, could be causing troubles for sellers of cheap laptops.

A Special Message from AT&T: Dear AT&T,

I'm still not buying it.

Your unfortunately-loyal customer,

-Andy.

iTunes Store: TV episode rental frequently asked questions (FAQ): One weird thing: if you rent a TV show on your computer, you can transfer it to your portable (iOS 4.1) device. However, if you rent on your portable device, you cannot transfer the show to your computer.

Arrington is completely wrong about women in technology: Interesting blog post. This bit, in particular, merits some thought:\n\n

\"Here's how it happens: if a woman engineer starts talking, men will wait until she says something notably clever before they start taking her seriously. Men on the other hand are taken seriously by default, and only get dismissed if they say something notably dumb. That, multiplied by thousands of conversations every day, is all it takes to enforce huge cultural bias against women in Silicon Valley and tech at large. I know this is true because, even though I try very hard not to, I've done this myself.\"

Why iTunes song samples are still only 30 seconds: Music licensing is such a mess — and it's not clear how this system could be streamlined.

Beware of Greeks Bearing Bonds: Michael Lewis has a great piece in Vanity Fair on the Greek debt crisis. The whole thing is worth a read, but this pretty much gets at the nut of it:\n\n

\"Everyone is pretty sure everyone is cheating on his taxes, or bribing politicians, or taking bribes, or lying about the value of his real estate. And this total absence of faith in one another is self-reinforcing. The epidemic of lying and cheating and stealing makes any sort of civic life impossible; the collapse of civic life only encourages more lying, cheating, and stealing. Lacking faith in one another, they fall back on themselves and their families.\n\nThe structure of the Greek economy is collectivist, but the country, in spirit, is the opposite of a collective. Its real structure is every man for himself. Into this system investors had poured hundreds of billions of dollars. And the credit boom had pushed the country over the edge, into total moral collapse.\"