Archive for the 'Gadgets' Category
The other day I blogged about changing my iPod’s file system to Macintosh. Since then my iPod has seemed much more responsive and I was very happy with the results. Anyway, I made another iPod switch last night.
No, I didn’t reformat my iPod with a Windows file system. I bumped up to an 80GB Video iPod. A good friend of mine, Jason, called me up asking if I knew of anyone interested in selling a 30GB Video iPod. I have been wanting to get an 80GB for quite sometime now as my 30GB iPod was nearing its capacity. I told him I would sell him mine and he was in. We negotiated the price and it was a done deal.
I went to Best Buy last night and got my new 80GB Video iPod. It is a bit beefier than the 30GB version but still small enough to amaze you that there is an 80GB drive in there, plus a LCD screen and click-wheel. Unfortunately, there are not really any other enhancements over the 30GB other than the search feature that the 80GB has to offer. I haven’t used it yet, but Chris, another good friend of mine, uses his search feature on his 80GB iPod and says it comes in quite handy.
I look forward to my 80GB iPod experiences and hope to completely load it up with music and videos someday. I am at about 27GB to 28GB of music, videos, and album art right now, so I have a little way to go. 80GB is a lot of data, no matter what the data is. And, putting that much data on a device that is 4.1 inches high, 2.4 inches wide, just over a half of an inch deep, and weighing in at 5.5 ounces is quite impressive! If you don’t have an iPod, get on!
Until next time…
I have had my 30 GB Video iPod for a while and have been using my MacBook since late 2006. I bought my iPod at WalMart and it came formatted for a Windows machine. This was fine and all when I used a Windows machine and FreeBSD because I could read and write to the iPod with no problems as well as update the iPod via my Windows PC (yes, I have one… I’m sorry…). However, since I have been using my MacBook full time I haven’t been able to update my iPod’s software from 1.2 to 1.2.1 because it was formatted for Windows, I was too lazy to boot up my Windows machine, and I was honestly a little afraid to click on the “Restore” button within iTunes for fear of hosing my iPod.
Today, while working at a remote disaster recovery location, I had a few minutes to spare while a server booted up and recognized some new tape drives to press that “Restore” button within iTunes. I was scared, yes, but I did it. I clicked it! As soon as I did, iTunes told me that all of my music would be deleted from the iPod and the iPod would be returned to the factory settings. I accepted this and told iTunes to continue with the restore. As it was wiping my iPod it also upgraded my iPod to the latest version of the iPod software, version 1.2.1, and obviously, formatted the iPod with a Macintosh file system.
Now, as software updates are released for the iPod I don’t have to feel left behind due to laziness and fear any longer. I always use my Mac and can just update it inside iTunes at the click of a button. I’m glad I “made the switch” to Macintosh, both in my normal computing environment (i.e. my laptop) and in my iPod file system.
Until next time…
I stumbled upon this article the other day when I was reading through some of the blogs I monitor in Bloglines. The article is from O’Reilly’s MacDevCenter.com site and is about a patent filed by Apple in August of 1982 and granted in December of 1985 for a flip phone in the shape of an apple with a bite taken out of it. In other words, the phone is in the shape of the Apple logo.
If you review the patent through some nifty patent interface provided by Google, you’ll see 13 drawings (Fig. 1 - Fig. 13) of what the proposed phone would have looked like. This is pretty cool to know that Apple had an idea for a phone over 20 years ago. I am also very glad that this phone didn’t make it to market and that the iPhone will be their first cellular phone offering. If they had released this flip-phone back in the late 80’s or early 90s, they may not be around today to give us phone addicts the iPhone.
Until next time…
I am totally sold on hands-free communication when using a cell phone. I can not stand to hold a phone up to my dome and talk on it. It makes me feel all yucky inside. So, ever since I got my first Bluetooth® enabled phone, the Motorola RAZR V3, I have been sporting a Bluetooth® headset along with it. Before I go on about my latest adventure, let me give you a little history of where I’ve been.
Lately, I have been using a Plantronics Voyager 510 and a Motorola H700. Both of these headsets have their pros and cons, in my opinion. I have written a little bit of what I like and dislike about both of these units below.
With the ever increasing release of Bluetooth® enabled cell phones and good friends like Troyz R Us, nothing is impossible… Well, almost nothing. Some things are still impossible but you know what I mean.
This morning I called Troy extension-to-extension and asked him if he had any ring tones that I might be interested in. Troy sent me “Throw Some D’s” by Rich Boy through the wall. Troy’s on one side of the wall, I’m on the other in a different office, and we still were able to send files via Bluetooth®.
What a great technology for close range (20-30 feet) networking and file transfers. Bluetooth® can communicate through walls, trees, people, small children, furry woodland creatures, professional recording studios, across buildings, car-to-car, rooftop-to-rooftop, house-to-house, whatever. As long as you’re in range, you’re good to go! Nice!
Until next time…
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