So the iPod, or more to the point, the digital music player, was invented by a now unemployed furniture salesman.

Kane Kramer, took out a worldwide patent in 1979 when he was in his late 20’s for a media player that looked (at a stretch) similar to today’s iPod. Kramer theorised that the concept player could store only 3.5 minutes of music using the day’s technology. He dubbed it the IXI and planned to expand its capacity as technology advanced.

Jobs and Co have acknowledged Kramer’s achievement only in that they used him as a witness and consultant after patent holding company Burst sued Apple, claiming the iPod infringed on its own patents. As Kramer registered the original patent in 1979 he was proved to be the iPod’s inventor and Burst’s case was found to be groundless.

To date Kramer has only been paid for his consultancy fees during the Burst court case. As he allowed the patent to expire in the 80s due to his lack of funds to renew it, Kramer now has no legal claim over the iPod patent.

Lets not forget that Leonardo Da Vinci invented the tank, the mechanical clock, the helicopter and the aeroplane long before the Wrights got fixed wing flying machines off the ground. The man was thinking way beyond his time, and there is no doubting that he was extraordinarily talented, but he didn’t build these contraptions. The technology of the time wasn’t as advanced as his ideas.

Taking something from a concept and making it real is the big achievement. I wonder who it was that said, if the technology isn’t there yet, perhaps we need to get it there.

Who builds the building blocks so that people can not just conceive these ideas, but actually realise them?

For example, who invented flash memory or the hard drive? These are the real pioneers.

It’s been a while since anyone wrote a (good) post.

I guess it has been an uneventful few months:

Rudd toppled the tyrant with Mandarin, Corey Worthington impressed the world with his intelligence and good teeth, Rob Mitchell officially contests the McEwen result, two relatively unknown tennis players compete in the Australian Open final, Federer was a bad sport, free porn on your mobile phone, Heath Ledger died, Oz gave up smoking again, Britney Spears is mental, Owen Wilson attempted suicide, James Packer is a Scientologist, Nicole is pregnant, David Hicks isn’t in the news, bogans misbehave at the Big Day Out, Terry Gilliam has had another movie disaster, Obama is ahead in the polls, everyone I know is getting married, the Biggest Loser is coming back to TV and Lost is coming back for yet another season.

Also, the other night at dinner I had a waitress whose name is Oneness.

So much gold!

What a bunch of slack asses.

We all know the old saying: One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.

We’ve had the dude who traded a paper clip for a house, another guy who sold his speeding ticket on an online auction house for $NZ52. Faulty laptops, non existent laptops! Kieren Dyer, but who would want him anyway! And who could forget the whole “Jesus Toast” escapades! In the age of E-Bay, securing another man’s trash has become even easier.

Which brings us to Ozheek (not to be confused to our own Oz). Now it seems that Ozheek’s recycle bin on his computer was getting a little large. Now rather than empty the recycle bin, he thought WTF… I’ll try and sell it on E-Bay. I’ve included the link, here, for the auction in case you think that I’m having a lend! 14 bids later and Ozheek is $US50 richer. For the winner; music videos, cellphone “stuff” and yes, porn, is their treasure! As for me, I’m searching around my house for crap to sell right now…

Thanks to a BEEZHOUSE reader, Michael Philippe, for passing this one along.