If you feel like you missed out on the beginnings of the MP3 revolution, here's your chance to be an early adopter for the coming MP4 one (and I do mean early adopter).

PoGo Products Flipster

"We've been waiting for a device that does for portable video what the MP3 player did for portable audio, especially now that so many video files are being traded online. Watching reruns on the bus would be great, and the PoGo Products Flipster is one of the first devices we've seen that is dedicated to such a pursuit....

While its main selling point is the ability to play video files, the Flipster, which features a 206MHz 32-bit RISC processor and Windows CE at its core, also makes a great MP3 player (AAC and WMA audio files also supported). After all, what other MP3 player has a full-color onscreen spectral analysis? And forget about carrying photos around in your wallet, because the Flipster also displays most standard image formats, even if they do sometimes appear a bit distorted after being condensed to fit its 160 x134-pixel display. Another plus: You can record WAV memos that can be uploaded to your computer, then played back or e-mailed. And in the future, PoGo Products says that it will offer such accessories as a digital-camera module, a TV tuner, and wireless connectivity....

In the end, while the Flipster is a groundbreaking product of sorts and is clearly a work in progress, it doesn't have quite enough merits to justify its fairly lofty price tag ($400 for this 64MB model or $450 for the 128MB version). We liked its design and strong MP3-playback skills, but its video capabilities are undercut by the lack of available content. That said, it's unclear why someone would purchase this device instead of a Pocket PC, which not only offers similar features but adds additional functionality. Panasonic also sells a similar device, the SV-AV10, that also adds recording capability. We hope that PoGo Products figures out a way to make this device more compelling, but as it stands, we're not quite ready to give it our blessing." [Electronics.cnet.com]

There are other problems with the device, too, but I thought I'd highlight it to show that yes indeedy, companies are thinking about portable video devices. Visit PoGo's web site and read other reviews from EdgeReview and TechTV for more information. I wonder if the next generation of this device will include a video camera, which would make "taping" movies in theaters that much easier.

Counting down to the MPAA lawsuit - 5... 4... 3...

"Toshiba is claiming a world first - a large, flexible liquid crystal display which "opens the way to the display on curved screens". The display can be flexed in all directions and bent to form a curve with a radius of curvature as high as 20cm, Tosh says.

The new flexible LCD is a full colour active-matrix TFT-LCD, and it supports SVGA. It measures 8.4in in diameter, it's super-slim, less than 0.4mm deep, and weighs less than 20g. This is 20-25 per cent the weight of other similar-sized screens built using low-temperature polysilicon, the material used for this screen....

Tosh's new technology is a stepping stone towards to foldable LCDs, a long-term goal, the company says.

The curved LCD gets its first outing in Boston this week at the Society for Information Display 2002. But it's not expected to go into mass production until after financial year 2004 - Toshiba has to develop the production technology first.

And what about applications? Toshiba names just two: TVs with curved screens which can mounted in public; and information displays in trains and buses." [The Register]

Fits right in with last week's France Telecom announcement of Communicating Clothes, and it could make ebooks more interesting.