Posts Tagged ‘iPod’

I migrated our the last of our clients’ sites onto the new server this morning, so now that’s out of the way I hope to find the time to finish off World of Badger very, very soon ( as handy as this spell-check-as-you-type feature in Firefox 2 is, it’s not very self-aware - it’s offering me ‘Firebox’ and ‘Fire fox’).

Although work’s incredibly busy at the moment, Rob and I did take yesterday afternoon off to pop along to the Mac Expo at Olympia. There was definitely more of interest there this year, although admittedly of a personal rather than professional nature. Google had a big stand there, but as we have no particular interest in putting our content on Google Earth, we gave their presentation a miss. Also new this year was iStockPhoto; we had a brief chat with a photographer on their stand (she’s making money from it, which is good to hear, and was kind enough to let us have a pile of free credits) before went to have a play at the Wacom stand. My Wacom graphics tablet is 9 years old and showing its age, so I’m tempted to replace it (sadly I think the £255 Intuos3 A5 Wide is more realistic than the rather impressive Cintiq 21UX at £2116).

Last year’s ‘gadget of the show’ was definitely the Solio solar powered iPod/phone charger. This year two products stood out: the iTango dock and the GEAR4 BluEye.

The great thing about the iTango range of docks for iPods and nanos is that they’re designed to allow you to dock your iPod without removing it from any silicone or hard case you may have it in (Apple’s docks are too snug a fit). Arguably the curved iTango docks look nicer than Apple’s own, plus they let you store unneeded cable inside it. Unfortunately they were launching the iTango at the Expo, and didn’t actually have them on sale. Think the chap said they’d cost about £14 though.

The other product that caught our eye(s) was the GEAR4 BluEye, another gadget for iPods. It looks and works very much like the standard Apple iPod remote, but in addition to volume and playback controls, it features an FM radio and can be used to make and receive calls using your iPod, via a Bluetooth connection to your mobile. The remote has a built in microphone, and will pause your music when you make or receive a call. Caller ID is displayed on your iPod screen, as are recent numbers for when you want to make an outgoing call (or you can voice-dial). So, keep your phone in your pocket or bag, and not have to worry about missing any calls when you’re nodding along to the Best of Wings. Yours for about £50.

After the ‘all work and no play’ nature of the last month, I decided to treat myself to an 8 gig iPod nano. Bloomin’ lovely it is too. I actually bought it from John Lewis rather than Apple, having stumbled across Hot UK Deals’s voucher and discount codes page (yes, I know it sounds like the sort of site which is one notch up from Viagra on the spam-o-meter, but it is worth bookmarking), which got me £15 off my purchase over £75 thanks to a Telegraph promotion.

Naturally half of my weekend was taken up with deciding what to put on the nano; initially I planned only to put on things I’d listened to in the last year, but I kept uncovering CDs I’d completely forgotten about or just not bothered listening to for a few years (e.g. Lou Reed - Transformer, My Bloody Valentine - Isn’t Anything). Now a stroll to the shops is an exciting voyage of rediscovery and reunions.

I am already starting to wonder whether putting My Way - The Best of Frank Sinatra on there was a mistake though, as I keep finding myself singing along without realising. OK at home, but walking down Regent’s Street yesterday I must have sounded like some sort of deranged care in the community karaoke crooner.

Rob and I popped along to the Mac Expo at Olympia today, hoping to tinker with some shiny new gadgets and software. You know, expensive toys that we could convince ourselves would change our lives for the better. Unfortunately we left disappointed by the show; half the stands seemed to be selling iPod covers and other related tat, and after about an hour we’d pretty much run out of things to look at. At the MacUser stand we were given a carrier containing a free copy of a magazine - great, we thought, until we opened the bag on the tube only to discover that the magazine was an issue of “Poker Room”. Rather summed up the whole event.

Adobe were doing some demos on their stand, but unfortunately there was no sign of Macromedia’s new releases. Apple were also showing off Aperture, which has a great interface and looks like it could be pretty useful.

I did finally get my hands on an iPod nano, but it didn’t do anything to allay my concerns about the scratching issue; after a day and half on display, the nanos on the Apple stand seemed pretty badly scratched. I think I’ll wait for the second generation nano instead.

For us, the highlight of the show was definitely the Solio - a solar powered charger and battery for iPods, mobile phones and PDAs, which the inventor’s charming sister demonstrated for us. It’s such a great bit of design, with 3 solar panels that fan out when needed, and it’s made from recycled and recyclable materials. Would have been perfect for Glastonbury this year.

On the way back through Victoria we were sad to see the last of the Routemasters running on the 38 route. After today, the only remaining Routemasters will be on the 159 run, and they’ll be stopping on the 9th of December. Seems such a shame that a solution couldn’t be found to their accessibility problems.