With the growing popularity of the ipod, so have the number of accessories grown exponentially, with a new item almost daily, ranging from the ridiculous; ipod socks; to the sublime; the iTrip. Today, I`ll try to cover some of the more coveted accessories for ipod owners.
For drivers that own ipods but no longer have cassette players in their cars, there is the iTrip. The iTrip is an FM transmitter that plugs directly into the ipod and broadcasts through the radio in your car on any available FM frequency, it also pulls power from any ipod, thus requiring no extra cables. The iTrip retails for US$35 and is manufactured by Griffin Technology. Griffin also manufactures the US$40 iTalk; which turns the ipod into a voice recorder and the RoadTrip, which adds to the functionality of the iTrip with the addition of a charger, cradle and buttons to change your broadcast channels,
recommended retail price; $80.
For ipod users on the go, there are no less than 84 cases listed at Apple`s online ipod store from the patently ridiculous Apple branded isocks; which require users to slide the ipod in and out to change playlists or dock; to the more practical Belkin Leather iPod Case. However with four generations of ipods, not counting the mini, shoppers would be advised to find out which model the prospective receiver owns before purchasing anything, because some cases are not compatible with some models, for example the Belkin Leather Case does not support the ipod mini or ipod with click wheel.
For audiophiles dissatisfied with the quality of sound from headphones there are a number of speaker solutions starting with the US$299 Bose SoundDock Digital Music System. Bose long known for bringing professional quality audio to home users has done it again with this speaker/docking station combination with an infra-red remote, making enjoying the music on your ipod as simple as plugging it into a cradle. Also available is the JBL On Stage – iPod Speakers; suggested retail, US$199; which also features a small footprint and docking station for your ipod. Renowned computer speaker manufacture Altec Lansing also offer ipod speaker dock solutions with their iM3 and iMMini for standard and mini ipods respectively, prices are US$180 and US$130.
If none of these catch your eye, here are a couple more neat and budget conscious toys from Griffin, geared towards ipod owners; the iBeam; US$19.99; is a snap on laser pointer and flashlight for your ipod as well as the podpod; US$9.99, a cradle that sits in car cup holders holding the ipod at a visible and accessible angle with room inside for the docking cable.
This is by no means is a definitive collection of ipod accessories, but a guide to help you get started on gift ideas for your favourite ipod owner. The popularity of the ipod ensures that there are a plethora of products available and if you don`t get one this year, there`s always next year.
i loathe banks. if i could survive in this country sticking my money under my mattress i would.
without getting into too much detail, let just say our bank has screwed us over for the third time in as many months and it`s all about how they credit balances, every time you talk to them it`s a different story. we`re sick and tired of it.
we need a new bank, although i`m not sure any of them are going to be any better. it`s all about taking your money, however they can. we`re living credit card free. it`s about what we earn and living with that, so to be paying charges on money that`s there because of changes in banking practices just makes my blood boil. and the customer service reps are so facetious, like they`re doing you a favour by mismanaging your money.
we`re thinking about moving to a credit union or swallowing the marketing ploy of Bank of America. The credit union and our current bankers are both regional, so theoretically we should get better service where they know your name as opposed to the large faceless national bank? i just don`t know, i`m unhappy with this bank, but wondering if it`s worth all the stress and hassle. are we going to be jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire?
we put up or Christmas tree this weekend. it may be early for some people, but Christmas is a big deal for Vic and the boychick, there is a lot of pomp and ceremony, including a new ornament for the tree. vic got me my first ornament on Friday and for the first time in a really long time i really am looking forward to this holiday season.
the other reason the tree went up this weekend, it`s the first and last weekend in an incredibly long time that we had nothing to do. this week is packed with travelling, guests and vic officially begins her hobby with pay and then a trip to the family thanksgiving on Saturday in Kingston and then back to Nashville on Sunday for vic to get to work. there is a lot of driving in my future and i`m looking forward to it.
i`m loosing weight. not in a spectacular; 10 pounds in 10 days kind of way, but a gradual erosion of the weight i`ve packed on over the last eight years and more specifically the 30 or 40 pounds i put on this year alone.
when i got here in March i was close to 315 lbs, which was my heaviest weight ever, granted i`d been living on complete and utter garbage for at least a month before i arrived but i wasn`t happy with my weight, no matter how well i carried it.
diabetes doesn`t run in my family, but hypertension does, so it behoves me to monitor my weight. my magic number is somewhere between 240 and 250 and i`m hoping to meet that goal by my next birthday, it`s not impossible, i`m currently in the 280 pound vicinity. to put this in some sort of perspective at age 25 i weighed 180 pounds, soaking wet. i was tall and thin and had a metabolism that allowed me to eat any and everything without a care in the world and then it stopped and i gained a pound here; my stomach; and a pound there; my hips until i became the man i am today.
so far i haven`t started on any workout regime, other than the occasional walk around the neighbourhood and at least four trips up and down the stairs at my office. i`m hoping Santa gets me bicycle for Christmas so i can ride to work and get some real exercise without distressing my knees too much. i am however eating a lot better and i have a partner in vic. together we`re working on being healthier and extending our lives together.
through judicious shopping we`ve pretty much cut high frutose corn syrup and hydrogenated oils; partially and otherwise from our home cooked diet. we`re not food nazis and sometimes it is better not to read the label, you really don`t want to know.
Republican lawmakers plan to reintroduce a bill to suspend the sale of RU-486, the abortion pill, and probe the process surrounding its approval now that three U.S. deaths have been linked to the drug.
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for a little bit of perspective, according to a UNESO study, the maternal death rate in the US is 9 in 100,000.
snagged off MEFI
for the first time in half a lifetime, i`m looking forward to Christmas. i`m actually looking forward to the massive family gathering that is Thanksgiving with vic`s family.
i grew up an only child, so large family gatherings fascinate me, i think i live vicariously through them. i`m not by nature a social person, but i`m also not the sort to sit sullenly by. vic`s family is very welcoming and engaging so Thanksgiving, celebrated the Saturday following this year should be great fun.
we`ve also put fruits to soak for a traditional Caribbean black cake as passed onto me by my grandmother. this is also going to be my first Christmas with Vic and completely away from my girls, so this is going to be bittersweet to say the least.
i`m trying to swing a press pass for MacWorld SF, next January and one of the qualifications is an industry related story published in the last six months. i completely forgot that i promised an editor in Trinidad that they`d have a piece today, so i`m actually writing it here first to get all the kinks out and then sending it on.
There are quite a number of portable music players on the market, but none as recognisable as Apple Computer`s iPod. For the last three years this has been the must have gift, for everyone. This Christmas is not going to be any different and with three standard models and a limited special edition version, the choices have become; if anything; more difficult.
The three standard editions are the iPod Mini; which comes with a 4Gb hard drive and six colour choices; the iPod; which comes in either 20 or 40Gb versions and the iPod Photo; which boasts a colour LCD display with a choice of 40 or 60Gb drives. Apple also introduced a special black and red U2 edition of the iPod with a 20Gb drive.
According to Apple, the iPod Mini allows you to carry 1,000 songs. This figure is based on an assumption that all songs are all four minutes long and encoded at 128Kbs; which produces fairly decent sound quality. If you have a small to average music collection and not necessarily looking bang for your buck this may be the iPod for you. The Mini; as the name implies is the smallest of the iPods; is a little smaller than a pack of cigarettes and comes in silver, gold, blue, green and pink. Apple`s recommended retail price is US$249.
However with an extra US$50 ($299) you can get five times the music with the standard 20Gb iPod. The 20Gb iPod is the ideal balance of price and storage capabilities. Put in perspective, 2OGb of music would allow you to listen to a different song, all day, everyday for approximately two weeks without hearing a repeat. if you have the money to burn and truly want to be different you could shell out the US$349 for special edition U2 iPod, which is just a marketing gimmick. You`re basically paying $50 more than the standard iPod for a black and red iPod autographed by U2, not particularly worth the extra expense in my book.
If you`re an audiophile and believe you can discern between MP3 and AAC encoding and can tell the difference between files encoded at 128Kbs and 320Kbs, I would recommend the 40Gb iPod. Solely so you can have some of your music to go. The 40Gb iPod retails for US$399.
the new iPod Photos, in my humble estimation, are geared toward the technophiles that must have the newest, latest, shiniest toys. I think the colour screen is cute, but see no need to upload photos to my iPod. I do however appreciate the possibilities inherent in 60Gb of storage space. My current digital audio collection is close to 50Gb and the ability to have all of it, in one place makes me drool. The prices are however a little steep, running US$499 and $599 for 40 and 60Gb models respectively.
All versions of the iPod work on both Macintosh and computers running Windows with Firewire or USB 2.0 ports
friday night was great fun, actually the whole weekend was lovely, good friends and good food.
my father`s side of my family are alcoholics; i`m not sure this is because it`s damn near impossible to get us drunk and hung over or we like to drink so much that we`re born with alcohol in our bloodstream.
i`ve known my limits or lack of for a very long time, so i feel no need to prove myself every time i have a drink but the times i do over-indulge tend to be epic. friday night was no exception; sometime between 7pm and 3am i managed to consume the better part of a half bottle of Jack Daniels and still remain almost completely sober and much to the chagrin of one of the players; unfazed the following morning after all that epic drinking.
that binge on friday means there will be no mass consumption of anything alcoholic for some time to come, i rather like my liver and i`d like to have the continued use of it.
i`m sleeping alone for the first time in the six months and ten days since i`ve been here. albeit, at three a.m. i`m not doing much sleeping.
vic is at the Scorpio girls` slumber party. vic, cajunscorpiogirl, ms te and their other college roommate, all have birthdays within a two week period, culminating CSG`s on Nov 12. so they had a fondue party tonight with a masseuse, while the significant others gathered at our apartment for a night of Texas Hold `Em and drinking.
thankfully my paternal constitution enabled me to at least make the buy-in for the game. i manage to stay the course by attrition, not skill. all the men folk are spending the night, far to inebriated to even think about getting behind the wheel.
which brings me to my post in the middle of the night, i should be in bed asleep, but like that police song goes; the bed is too big without you. the pillows and the sheets smell of vic but she`s not there and i miss her.
it`s only three and a half hours until the sun comes up, if i get in the bed now, i can drift off for a little while before i realise i`m alone in the bed again.
