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teresting developments can be a rich sourceof ideas. For example, I was excited whenI first encountered the helpful digital dis-plays in Hong Kong’s subway; these arenow finding their way into Western transitsystems. Even if a development isn’t di-rectly applicable to your problem, you mayglean some novel and feasible concepts.And when you encounter a new technology,ask yourself: “How will this change myability to solve this problem, do this better,or seize an opportunity?”

In addition to boosting your own creativ-ity, you can also encourage others to welcomenew ideas—or at least not stifle them. We allknow the engineer who, when pitched a newidea, instinctively rattles off all the reasonsit won’t work—“We tried that before and itfailed.” Maybe you do a little of that yourself;I know I sometimes do. The reasons may re-flect legitimate issues, a desire to stick withthe status quo, or the prideful “not inventedhere” mentality. Unfortunately, these reasonsserve as an excuse for not seriously consid-ering the suggestion.

So the next time you’re presented with anidea that at first blush sounds outlandish orimpractical, try one of these responses:“What made you think of that?” or “Whatare you trying to accomplish by doing that?”You’ll get the person to explain how he or shearrived at the idea, and determine if thethinking process was sound. The person, inturn, will feel encouraged, and the discussionthat ensues may even lead to other ideas.

With some simple steps like these, we en-gineers can become more creative and workto develop fresh ideas for improving theproducts we design and build.

This is the 10th installment in Carl Selin-ger’s professional development series foryounger engineers, “Stuff You Don’t Learn inEngineering School.” The series is available on-line at http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/careers.

TO PROBE FURTHER:Michael J. Gelb’s How to Think LikeLeonardo da Vinci: Seven Steps toGenius Every Day (Delacorte Press, NewYork, 1998) draws on Leonardo’s note-books, inventions, and works of art to offerseven principles for thinking more cre-atively.

Robert J. Kriegel and Louis Patler’s If It Ain’t Broke…Break It!: And OtherUnconventional Wisdom for aChanging Business World (WarnerBooks, New York, 1991) shows how busi-ness people today have to turn the old

iPOD A GO-GODon’t leave home without the right accessoryBY STEPHEN CASS

MORE THAN A PLAYER:

The iPod music player

[top center, with screen]

can be enhanced with

these gizmos: [clockwise

from top right] naviPod

remote, naviPod adapter,

Voice Recorder,

Universal Microphone

Adapter, iTrip,

Media Reader,

and iTalk.

I joined the ranks of iPod ownerslast year, motivated by the desireto have enough musical variety tolast a five-hour plane trip withouthaving to fiddle with a carryingcase full of CDs. About the size ofa deck of cards, the white-and-silver iPod can store and playenough music to last severaldays, thanks to its built-in hard

disk—as large as 40 gigabytes,depending on the model.

But I soon discovered that the iPod,made by Apple Computer Inc., Cupertino,Calif., has other uses. In particular, it candouble as a removable hard disk. Apartfrom transferring large files, sometechnically savvy users boot their homeand office computers from their iPods,ensuring that all their files and settingsare with them wherever they go. (Thistrick requires putting a copy of your

operating system of choice on the iPodand using a computer that will supportbooting from a FireWire drive.)

Now, a crop of gadgets aim to makethe iPod even handier, so I went lookingfor some must-have iPod add-ons.

First, I tried out three recorders thatlet you record sound directly onto theiPod’s disk: the Voice Recorder and theUniversal Microphone Adapter, bothfrom Belkin Corp. in Compton, Calif.,and the iTalk from Griffin Technologiesin Nashville, Tenn.

Like many of the gadgets I tested, therecorders are designed for the latestgeneration of full-scale iPods and do notwork with either the new line of iPodMinis or older generations of iPods.

Belkin’s Voice Recorder (US $60)comes equipped with a condensermicrophone and a tiny loudspeaker. Youplug the recorder into the top of the iPod,

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and Apple’s uncluttered and intuitivestandard sound-recording interface popsup on the iPod’s 41-by-33-millimeterscreen. Recordings are automaticallylabeled with date and time and can beplayed back through the Voice Recorder’sspeaker or the iPod’s earphones ortransferred to a desktop computer.

The quality of the recording, however,is poor. I wasn’t expecting much—at asample rate of 8 kilohertz, the bestrecording is going to sound only aboutas good as a telephone conversation—but even though I tried varying therecorder’s distance from me as I spoke,loud crackles pervaded my recordingsunless I spoke very softly.

Belkin’s Universal MicrophoneAdapter ($40) fared much better.Although it lacks a speaker forplayback, the adapter comes with athree-level volume control and alight-emitting diode that changescolor from green through yellow tored in response to recording volume.Since it has no internal condensermicrophone, I had to plug in amicrophone (one that I use for Webconferencing). The improvement insound quality over the VoiceRecorder was dramatic, especially

with the LED’s assistance in settingthe appropriate volume level.

Griffin’s iTalk ($40) comes with both abuilt-in condenser microphone and a jackfor an external microphone, as well as asmall speaker. As with the VoiceRecorder, the condenser microphone pro-duced a poor recording, but with my ownmicrophone, the sound improved greatly.

The iTalk beats Belkin’s recorders onfeatures, but some users might preferthe recording volume control offered bythe Universal Microphone Adapter.

Moving beyond sound recorders,Belkin does have a winner on its handswith its Media Reader ($110). This unitcan read several types of storage mediacards used in digital cameras. Eventhough these removable cards canoften store dozens of high-resolutionimages, a snap-happy road-tripper caneasily run out of space in a day or two.

Using the Media Reader, you can freeup that space by copying photographsto your iPod: pop the camera’s card intothe Media Reader and plug the deviceinto the iPod’s dock connector. Aneasy-to-use interface lets you copyyour pictures to the iPod’s hard disk.Although you have to transfer theimages to a Mac or PC to view them, the

RESOURCES

50 IEEE Spectrum | August 2004 | NA

Is open-source software developmenteverything its proponents say it is?Researchers in Canada, Italy, and theUnited Arab Emirates discovered thatthe answer is: not quite. They devel-oped a set of metrics and used them togauge whether open-source develop-ment really fosters faster systemgrowth, leads to more creativity, pro-duces less complex code, results infewer bugs, and makes more modularsoftware. They analyzed three well-known open-source projects and threeclosed-source projects (which theyhad to keep confidential).

The researchers found evidence tosupport only two of the five claims.The open-source projects do seem tofoster more creativity and usually yieldfewer bugs. The evidence suggeststhat the other three beliefs are not

true. Open-source software may, infact, actually be more complex andless modular.

An Empirical Study of Open-Source

and Closed-Source Software Products,by James W. Paulson et al., IEEE Transactions on SoftwareEngineering, April 2004, pp.

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Media Reader fills an obvious need andis simple to use. Belkin also wins extrapoints for including the AAA batteriesneeded to power the unit.

Griffin offers another gadget thatroad-trippers will like, which is alsoavailable in a version suitable for olderiPods: the iTrip ($35). It is a radiotransmitter that plugs into an iPod andbroadcasts its output as an FM signalon one of 100 frequencies selectableby the user. (Readers in the UnitedKingdom should be warned, though:because of spectrum licensing, it’sillegal to operate the iTrip there.) Therange is no more than a few meters,and FM quality isn’t as good as theiPod’s direct output, but car driversand passengers should find that theiTrip makes a nice alternative tohunting for an acceptable radio stationwhile on the road.

Of course, iPod owners don’t have apurely mobile existence, and with a decentset of speakers, the iPod can make apretty good home jukebox. Altec LansingTechnologies Inc., in Milford, Pa., offers a

portable set (in white, of course) speciallydesigned for the iPod, but I haven’t tried itmyself—my regular Altec Lansing homedesktop speakers work just fine.

Ten Technology, in Pacific Palisades,Calif., also makes a nifty accessory, the$50 naviPod (available for older iPods,

too). Once fitted to the iPod, thenaviPod lets you control the player witha stylish infrared remote control fromthe comfort of your couch. The naviPodalso comes with a stand that props theiPod upright for those without Apple’sown iPod dock. �

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