Yay! In time for Valentines, Apple have introduced a colour range to the iPod Shuffle.
They're lovely aren't they? I already have the silver original, which I love. It has a pink silicon cover now too. I really like these new colours, but I'd have to buy one of each as I can't decide which I like best. Maybe one for each genre of music I like...hmmm... now there's an idea....
They're lovely aren't they? I already have the silver original, which I love. It has a pink silicon cover now too. I really like these new colours, but I'd have to buy one of each as I can't decide which I like best. Maybe one for each genre of music I like...hmmm... now there's an idea....
Last year I discovered Psy Trance. Yes I know, I'm a bit slow. I've always been more of a grunge/indie/thrash guitar type. I'm not into clubbing or raves, I'm a bit old for all that, but the one thing I love it for is working out.
This album is a double, with a Sundown and a Sunrise disc. Up to now I have always favoured Sundown better, it's a bit more chilled and that's usually how I like it. But I've been trying to fill up my Shuffle with music suitable for fitness motivation and the Sunrise half of this mix absolutely does it for me. The gap between tunes is tiny, it feels just like a skipped beat and then onto the next one, so there's no dead air with me having to slow down rhythm of my training.
With this and my Smart Trainer (see below) I feel like I've got everything I need for success. Just to prove it I did an impromptu training session last night that wasn't in my schedule. How's that for motivation?
This album is a double, with a Sundown and a Sunrise disc. Up to now I have always favoured Sundown better, it's a bit more chilled and that's usually how I like it. But I've been trying to fill up my Shuffle with music suitable for fitness motivation and the Sunrise half of this mix absolutely does it for me. The gap between tunes is tiny, it feels just like a skipped beat and then onto the next one, so there's no dead air with me having to slow down rhythm of my training.
With this and my Smart Trainer (see below) I feel like I've got everything I need for success. Just to prove it I did an impromptu training session last night that wasn't in my schedule. How's that for motivation?
A few years ago I embarked on a weight loss programme. I was determined I did not want to be 'Fat & 40', so at 38 and a bit I joined a gym and ate a low-fat diet. Within 3 months I had lost 3 stone and I was delighted! The gym was very hard work and I attended three times a week. At the time I was working from home and it completely suited my lifestyle (obviously).
After about 3 years, I gave it up. Just like that. I'd become bored and unmotivated and soon after I stopped working from home. The time factor became more of a problem and I decided I was disciplined enough to maintain my weight.
How wrong I was.
Within 6 months I had piled it all back on and I just could not motivate myself to start again.
Well, enough time has elapsed and I have reached my heaviest weight ever. I went to the pharmacy and weighed myself today and it was quite a shock. I've been training on a cross trainer for a couple of weeks, but without a constant heart monitor I found that I was probably not training properly.
A couple of years ago I managed to purchase the Oregon Scientific Smart Trainer at a closing down sale and I have just worked out how to use it! I've only used it once, but it's made a huge difference to my training. This morning I managed a much more effective workout, burned more calories and was able to keep a much safer heat rate range. It's made me really look forward to my next session and that's saying something.
I know my training is much more serious this time. I've made a chart!
After about 3 years, I gave it up. Just like that. I'd become bored and unmotivated and soon after I stopped working from home. The time factor became more of a problem and I decided I was disciplined enough to maintain my weight.
How wrong I was.
Within 6 months I had piled it all back on and I just could not motivate myself to start again.
Well, enough time has elapsed and I have reached my heaviest weight ever. I went to the pharmacy and weighed myself today and it was quite a shock. I've been training on a cross trainer for a couple of weeks, but without a constant heart monitor I found that I was probably not training properly.
A couple of years ago I managed to purchase the Oregon Scientific Smart Trainer at a closing down sale and I have just worked out how to use it! I've only used it once, but it's made a huge difference to my training. This morning I managed a much more effective workout, burned more calories and was able to keep a much safer heat rate range. It's made me really look forward to my next session and that's saying something.
I know my training is much more serious this time. I've made a chart!
As I drove to work today I listened to my favourite tech podcast MacBreak Weekly. The guys were discussing the Superbowl advert that Apple are showing and making predictions on what the contents of the ad would be. Everyone who has seen the Keynote speech from this year's MacWorld Expo has a pretty good idea that The Beatles will, at last, be available on the iTunes Store. Nobody announced it, but the Sgt. Pepper album cover was featured heavily in the iPhone presentation. It would appear that all the legal stuff concerning Apple Corps. (Beatles label) and Apple Inc. has been resolved and we can expect a Big Announcement soon.
Merlin Mann on MacBreak Weekly suggested (on a bit of a whim) that Apple Inc. would announce a Special Edition iPod featuring The Beatles, much like the U2 version. Leo Laporte immediately came on board with that suggestion, being more enthusiastic about the idea than Merlin was himself when he suggested it and I have to say I wholeheartedly back that prediction.
I would be hard pressed to buy that iPod, (I already have two) but I think it would bring the idea of digital music to a whole new set of folk who haven't really explored that avenue. It's hard to believe sometimes that there are people out there who don't own an mp3 player. There are obviously loads, especially the over 40 's. But plenty of them will be Beatles fans from their childhood. This could just be the push they need to introduce them to the iPod that already contains their favourite music.
I think it's a FAB idea and I'm running with it!
Merlin Mann on MacBreak Weekly suggested (on a bit of a whim) that Apple Inc. would announce a Special Edition iPod featuring The Beatles, much like the U2 version. Leo Laporte immediately came on board with that suggestion, being more enthusiastic about the idea than Merlin was himself when he suggested it and I have to say I wholeheartedly back that prediction.
I would be hard pressed to buy that iPod, (I already have two) but I think it would bring the idea of digital music to a whole new set of folk who haven't really explored that avenue. It's hard to believe sometimes that there are people out there who don't own an mp3 player. There are obviously loads, especially the over 40 's. But plenty of them will be Beatles fans from their childhood. This could just be the push they need to introduce them to the iPod that already contains their favourite music.
I think it's a FAB idea and I'm running with it!
I went to my local supermarket yesterday to do our weekly shop and when I returned to my car, this is what had parked beside me. It's Plymouth Fury.
We don't often see cars like this in the UK. Next to my super small MX5 it looked huge. Our car parks aren't really designed for vehicles of that size and it took me quite a while to get out of the space and past it.
I did think my car looked extra cute by comparison though!
We don't often see cars like this in the UK. Next to my super small MX5 it looked huge. Our car parks aren't really designed for vehicles of that size and it took me quite a while to get out of the space and past it.
I did think my car looked extra cute by comparison though!
It's a great idea! I do love the themes that Vox provide, they're so much nicer than any of the other blog services out there, but having the opportunity to make you're own is really neat.
However, read the whole tutorial before you made the same mistake that I did. I spent a while colour matching my custom banner with the other details in the theme I have been using (snowfall) only to find that to use a custom banner you need to choose another style altogether, otherwise your custom banner will not display.
Oh well, lesson learned!
My (only) gigging buddy has got us tickets to see Kristin Hersh in March and I cannot wait!
We went to see her a few years ago and she was fantastic. Weird, sung like a goldfish, but fantastic!
I have a huge amount of respect for her. She's a brilliant songwriter and singer and still manages to maintain, what I understand is a large family, through serious psychological problems. It's obviously what makes her who she is and I cannot praise her enough.
That was a bit over-the-top. But I'm excited ok?
We went to see her a few years ago and she was fantastic. Weird, sung like a goldfish, but fantastic!
I have a huge amount of respect for her. She's a brilliant songwriter and singer and still manages to maintain, what I understand is a large family, through serious psychological problems. It's obviously what makes her who she is and I cannot praise her enough.
That was a bit over-the-top. But I'm excited ok?
Yesterday, we went to our nearest big town to do some shopping. We hadn't been there since last summer. We are not good shoppers. We're great at buying tech toys, but clothes, stuff for the house, shoe shopping etc. is not really our thing.
We need a toaster, we'd been given store coupons for Christmas, it was the perfect excuse. Buying without buying, or should I say buying without spending?
Actually, it's not the spending we object to and here's the proof.
We also had a £20 store coupon for HMV which was a couple of years old and determined to spend it we went into the shop. At the door there was a big sign that said 'Wii in stock now'. I, almost jokingly, said "Let's get one". Knowing how difficult they are to find at the moment I thought how cool it would be to actually have one to play on, (they look such fun!) Our only game console is a PlayStation One (before they were called One) which is now nine years old!
Ok, it was a bit of a shock for my partner but gradually he came around to the idea and we decided we would see if they were selling them in the store we had coupons for (our coupons would have paid for nearly half a Wii). They didn't. They told us they had 14 units before Christmas and they'd gone in 5 seconds. So we went back to HMV to grab a piece of gold-dust and you've guessed it, they'd sold out!
This morning I looked on eBay for Wii's and found four in our local area, newly listed, which had HMV receipts attached. Damn!
Our new toaster is very nice. We haven't thrown it through the TV screen yet.
We need a toaster, we'd been given store coupons for Christmas, it was the perfect excuse. Buying without buying, or should I say buying without spending?
Actually, it's not the spending we object to and here's the proof.
We also had a £20 store coupon for HMV which was a couple of years old and determined to spend it we went into the shop. At the door there was a big sign that said 'Wii in stock now'. I, almost jokingly, said "Let's get one". Knowing how difficult they are to find at the moment I thought how cool it would be to actually have one to play on, (they look such fun!) Our only game console is a PlayStation One (before they were called One) which is now nine years old!
Ok, it was a bit of a shock for my partner but gradually he came around to the idea and we decided we would see if they were selling them in the store we had coupons for (our coupons would have paid for nearly half a Wii). They didn't. They told us they had 14 units before Christmas and they'd gone in 5 seconds. So we went back to HMV to grab a piece of gold-dust and you've guessed it, they'd sold out!
This morning I looked on eBay for Wii's and found four in our local area, newly listed, which had HMV receipts attached. Damn!
Our new toaster is very nice. We haven't thrown it through the TV screen yet.
I found these very cute little japanese dolls on the internet and bought a couple to give to friends as Christmas gifts. They don't just look cute, they do cute.
You ask them a question that has a yes or no answer, and they will nod or shake their head, depending on what they think. A double nod or shake adds an 'absolutely' to the answer.
Can you imagine anything so cute?
Needless to say I fell in love with them immediately.
I did manage to actually give the two dolls as gifts, but soon after Christmas I noticed that on another site they were reduced in price and I was forced to buy some more unazukin. Well, six actually. Since doing some research I have found that these dolls have been/are available in many themes, some discontinued, thus making them very collectable for those with a desire for ultra cuteness. I bought the dolls in the Flower theme and chose Violet for myself as I love purple!
All the unazukin are very, very cute and for a while I will be gifting these little beauties to my girlie friends!
You ask them a question that has a yes or no answer, and they will nod or shake their head, depending on what they think. A double nod or shake adds an 'absolutely' to the answer.
Can you imagine anything so cute?
Needless to say I fell in love with them immediately.
I did manage to actually give the two dolls as gifts, but soon after Christmas I noticed that on another site they were reduced in price and I was forced to buy some more unazukin. Well, six actually. Since doing some research I have found that these dolls have been/are available in many themes, some discontinued, thus making them very collectable for those with a desire for ultra cuteness. I bought the dolls in the Flower theme and chose Violet for myself as I love purple!
All the unazukin are very, very cute and for a while I will be gifting these little beauties to my girlie friends!
I've waited for this time forever. Well ok, not forever, since about 1991.
That was the year I bought my first Macintosh and before that I had bought the past few months issues of MacUser which came out every two weeks and buzzed myself into a frenzy.
That Mac was my first ever computer. I'd never even used Windows and at the time it was Windows 3.1. My brother was a big computer guy, a real geek, and I mean that in the nicest possible sense. But he built computers. In his room. He used DOS and then graduated to Windows 3.1 just around the time that I bought my first Mac.
Gradually as time went by, I realised that this computer was a fantastic bit of kit (and if you're really lucky I'll post the spec at a future date). I'm now on my 5th Mac, although I did buy a MacPlus but just for novelty value (and I still have it!)
For years I have been a Mac evangelist and have introduced many people to the machines, even purchasing second hand models from eBay for them (and then being there for tons of support!). Lots of people aren't even aware of the existence of a computer that doesn't run Windows (or Linux etc.) and when I've looked surprised at them and shown them the light, they've just looked at me as if I was wasting my time using such an unpoplular Operating System.
For years I've spouted on about what an innovative company Apple is and believe me, before Steve Jobs came back to Apple, it had some dire times. I used to compare Windows and Macintosh and wonder why anybody would struggle with Micro$oft when Apple did it so much more intuitively. It's been hard. It really has. Sometimes I felt I was shouting into a strong wind and no-one actually heard my words.
But now, well now is completely different. MacWorld SF, biggest Apple event in the calendar, everyone is hanging on the keynote speech so that Steve can introduce some futuristic bit of kit that we daren't even dream about.
Everyone wants to know. Everyone is interested. Everyone is talking about it. Everyone.
And it's great! I've been reading loads of stuff on the internets and listening to podcasts, watching vidcasts and the buzz is brilliant! The iPhone has caused so much interest in what used to be the most unlikely places (British press) that I know Apple has, at last arrived.
What I'm really trying to say is:
"I told you so!"
