Sunday, February 29, 2004

DIY iPod Battery Pack

Drew Perry has a step-by-step with pictures for turning a standard case for a deck of cards into a DIY iPod Battery Pack. He reports getting an extra 11 hours of play time from this little hack. Nice. Saw this link on MobileWhack.

Friday, February 27, 2004

Hack your 3G iPod's battery display...

Found this hack mentioned on both Mac OS X Hints and MobileWhack:

If you'd rather have your (third generation only) iPod display an actual value for its battery state (instead of the disappearing battery bar graph), just open the Terminal (with the iPod docked and available as a hard drive) and type:

touch /Volumes/your_iPod's_name/iPod_Control/Device/_show_voltage

Replace your_iPod's_name with the name of the iPod as shown in the Finder. Now eject, disconnect, and restart your iPod, and you should see a number in the top right corner of the screen -- on a full charge, mine was showing 474; I believe the maximum is 500.

Coolness!

Thursday, February 26, 2004

Take that Music Industry!


Thank you, Mr. Spitzer!

I got me a check. I think I'll buy some music with this money...

x-posted on 3650 and a 12-inch...

Wednesday, February 25, 2004

Wired Interview with Dr. Michael Bull

Wired has an interview with Dr. Michael Bull, who is, according to the New York Times: ""the world's leading—perhaps only—expert on the social impact of personal stereo devices." It's an interesting read about the social function of technology like the walkman and the iPod. I particularly liked this comment:

It's also very cinematic. The music allows you to construct narratives about what's going on. Or you use it to control thoughts. A lot of people don't like to be alone with their thoughts.

Interesting. Go check it out.

Monday, February 23, 2004

The Rise of the Lost: the Email of the Answer

I received a reply to my emailed question to the developers, who report that their game will work on all versions of the iPod (including the mini).

The Rise of the Lost: the Question of the Missing Requirements

A choose-your-own-adventure for the iPod is a really innovative idea, and I'm much impressed by the ingenuity of the developers, XO Play (though I'm less impressed by the spelling and grammatical errors on their site). From your comments, C.K., I'd guess they're still searching for the right price point. What I'm searching for is some sort of system requirements. Will this work on all versions of the iPod OS? Do I need to have a 3rd gen iPod? For $9.99, I'm not going to experiment. How about a demo? Time to write to the developers.

Saturday, February 21, 2004

The Rise of the Lost

The Rise of the Lost is a choose-your-own-adventure type game for your iPod. $29.99 sounds a bit expensive for such a thing to me. I mean the old choose your own adventure books only cost about $5 a pop. UPDATE: Don't know if they read my post, but the price has dropped to $9.99 a pop now. Much more reasonable. Here's the story-line for those of you who are interested.

Wednesday, February 18, 2004

Cheat at iTunes/Pepsi Giveaway...

Here's how to cheat at the iTMS/Pepsi Giveaway:

How to get free iTunes from Pepsi with every bottle


If you tilt a sealed, new Pepsi bottle at 25 degrees and squint at the underside of the cap, you can tell whether it's a winning free-iTunes-track bottle or a try-again bottle.

Link

(via Futurismic)

[Boing Boing Blog]

Now if I could only find the friggin' bottles somewhere! It's been 3 weeks and still not seen one...

Sunday, February 15, 2004

iPod Zombie

MobileWhack reports on the iPod Zombie phenomenon as noted in this NYT article:

"It's `I'm listening to my music — don't bother me,' " said Douglas Ladendorf, 40, a Webmaster who got his iPod in December and uses it to listen to Sting and Seal on his daily commute in Manhattan. "Someone stops you, and they ask for money or any number of guilt-trip-type things — everyone is trying to avoid those situations. Having an iPod makes people pass over you. It's too much effort to get your attention."

Michael Gitlitz, an iPod-wearing art dealer walking down Fifth Avenue on Wednesday, put it another way: "It's the next best thing to being transported from place to place in a pneumatic tube."

I am of the iPod Zombie nation as of late. I like these views of the public privacy that the iPod affords you. It might come off as rude in some situations, but not nearly as rude as the people intruding on my life daily to ask if I need help, if I can spare some change for their next drink, or trying to hand me a pamphlet.

Very much like living with my own personal, and somewhat random, soundtrack.

The Grey Album on your iPod?


Wired has an article highlighting the recent controversy over the Grey Album. DJ DangerMouse put out this mix of Jay-Z's Black Album over the Beatles' White Album. If you haven't heard it yet, you might want to search around the net and download it before EMI effectively locks it down and squashes it. But, you also might want to download it from a masked IP or risk getting sued.

Thursday, February 12, 2004

How to Convert a Mac iPod to a Windoze iPod

This is pretty cool. I'm copying the entry in its entirety b/c there are no permalinks on the site:

Converting a Mac iPod to a Windows iPod
I recently got a Mac-formatted 20GB iPod as a present, and quickly found out that you can't mount it as a FireWire device on a Windows PC.  After a bit of exploring on Yahoo! Search, I figured out how to convert the iPod to Windows (FAT32) format, but still use it with iTunes on the PowerBook.  Here's how:  First, I made sure to pull any files off of my iPod that I wanted to keep (except for music synchronized from iTunes).  Then, I ran the latest iPod Software Update on a Windows PC with a FireWire port, connected the iPod, and chose the Reformat option.  I had to wait a while - my 20GB took about 40 minutes.  Then, when it was done, I reconnected it to the PowerBook and sat back while iTunes put all of the music back.  Pros: can use iPod as both a music device and an external cross-platform hard drive.  Cons: seems to be a bit slower, and can no longer be used as a bootable Apple disk.
Posted on Thursday, December 18, 2003

This info courtesy of utilware.

Tuesday, February 10, 2004

iSkin eXo2: Belt Clip...

The iSkin eXo2 is a nice case for your iPod, but I have to warn against using the included belt clip. I've only been using this thing for a little over a week, and for the second time in two days my iPod dropped off of my belt as I was getting out of my car. Yesterday, when this happened it was because the belt-clip had stretched, causing the entire thing to fly off my belt and crash to the ground. Fortunately, the eXo2 effectively protected my iPod from damage. I could see this first incident as being caused by me being too rough with the belt clip, stretching it out in my week of usage (although one would hope that it would stand up to user abuse for a little more than a week). This second time, however, it was clearly a hardware malfunction. The clip, although still in its locked position, managed to pop off of the back of the eXo2 case, off the back of my iPod. Fortunately, I caught the iPod as it dangled from my headphones which were wrapped around some bit of my coat that prevented the fall from ripping them out of my ears. Unfortunately, since the wrist strap attaches to the belt clip, I have to recommend that you not use either. Two iPod drops in less than fourteen days of use is two iPod drops too many.

Monday, February 09, 2004

Dropped my iPod....

Well, my new iPod has been dropped for the first time. Knocked the eXo2 belt clip off of my waist while getting out of my car today. Fortunately everything still functions fine and the iSkin eXo2 kept my iPod form getting scratched, dented, or otherwise marred (although I partially blame the eXo2 belt-clip for the incident in the first place; see below).

Sunday, February 08, 2004

iSkin eXo2 in the Flesh: A Week of Usage...

Well, I've been using the iSkin eXo2 for a little over a week now, and I have to say, it's really cool. See here for my initial review of this product. I never thought I would like an iPod case. I considered my self a purist who would prefer to just walk around with my iPod in my pocket, but having a belt clip makes has definite advantages. As the rubber casing is slightly raised, you can reach down to your belt and change songs, turn up the volume, play or pause all by touch, which is really nice. There only three slight downsides to this case: 1. I cannot attach the Belkin Voice Recorder to the iPod with the case on (although there is plenty of room for the headphones with the remote control to be plugged in). 2. The little plastic face plate for the display tends to slide out of place whenever you grab the iPod in the wrong way. Fortunately, it is easily removable, and I am now using the case without it. 3. After only about 3 days of use, the belt clip had permanently stretched out. The bottom edge of the clip used to touch flat against the back of the iPod, but after a couple of times putting it on and pulling it off of my belt, it had stretched to about a fourth of an inch away from the iPod (see picture). This makes the iPod sit a little more loosely on the belt, but really doesn't effect performance in any way.

Bottom Line: The iSkin eXo2 is a good case for your iPod. Get it.

Saturday, February 07, 2004

Color and protect your iPod

On Friday's episode of TechTV's "The Screen Savers," Yoshi reviewed a new process to get a protective paint job for your gaming console, and in the process showed off his bright red iPod that he had previously had painted. The company, ColorWare, also paints iBooks and PowerBooks. The iPod looked pretty sweet, and apparently the layer of paint is very durable--a clear protective layer is also applied to the iPod screen. There are a ton of colors, and you can either buy a pre-painted pod or send in your own for $49.

Thursday, February 05, 2004

the caffeinated music count

Today's bottle cap non-winner puts me right on statistical target.
The count: 1/3

the caffeinated music count

With my first winning bottle cap yesterday, I decided the most appropriate purchase would be the very song Apple and Pepsi used in their Superbowl commercial announcing the giveaway: "I Fought the Law" as covered by Green Day. I started the download over my slow dial-up at home just before bed last night, so I haven't heard it yet (and I missed the commercial)--I'm just crossing my fingers that it will be a decent song. As it's the number one song on the iTunes "Today's Top Songs" chart, I'm guessing it's a popular choice among bottle cap winners.
The redemption procedure was very simple, beginning with clicking a banner at the top of the iTunes Music Store (though I would have thought there would also be a text link in the box on the top left that directs people to other parts of the store like gift certificates and allowances). As you can see in this picture, Apple makes it very clear that you've gotten your credit for a free song (and you can see that in addition to the song, I have some money left from a gift certificate--thanks, C.K.!). I like the use of the "1 Song" term for the prize, instead of dealing with messy numbers like $0.99; it effectively ends any speculation that you could save up winning codes and buy a $9.99 album. All together a very slick experience.

Wednesday, February 04, 2004

the caffeinated music count

On my second try I've hit pay-sugar-water: my cap reads "##### ##### one free song." w00t!
The count: 1/2

Tuesday, February 03, 2004

the caffeinated music count: Pepsi iTunes Music Giveaway

On my first try, no luck: my Diet Pepsi cap says, "please play again." Rats. I had to walk several blocks in the cold to get my soda at Walgreen's because the little store in the Hancock doesn't have the Pepsi bottles with yellow caps.
The count: 0/1.

Monday, February 02, 2004

No purchase necessary on Pepsi / iTunes Music Store Promo

From the Official Rules page at Apple:

To receive one free game piece and a copy of Official Rules, while supplies last, send a self-addressed, stamped envelope postmarked on or before 3/31/04 to: Pepsi iTunes Game Piece, P.O. Box 9205, Young America, MN 55558-9205. Residents of the state of VT may omit return postage. Limit one free game piece per request per stamped outer envelope. Pepsi-Cola Company (“Sponsor”) assumes no liability for lost, late, stolen, illegible, misdirected, mutilated, incomplete or postage-due mail or requests.

If any of you want a chance to win, but find Pepsi itself reprehensible, this is another option. For me, Diet Pepsi just became my new water.

Sunday, February 01, 2004

Erik Swedlund

I've asked my good friend, Erik Swedlund, of HipSmart to join my iPod blog as a regular contributor. Let's hope he posts more often than Jay Savage...

TuneRecycler: I just want to note...

If you haven't heard about TuneRecylcer, check this out:

TuneRecycler takes unwanted winning iTunes/Pepsi codes
When the big iTunes/Pepsi promo kicks off on Sunday during the Super Bowl, indie music advocacy group Downhill Battle will launch a promotion of their own, one aimed at taking some of Pepsi's dollars away from the major music labels. They're calling it Tune Recycler; Downhill Battle will use it to take some of the unwanted winning codes from among the 100 million being given away and use them to buy "quality music from honest independent labels," according to group member Holmes Wilson. [MacCentral]

I just want to note that I too will accept any unused / unwanted winning iTunes/Pepsi codes. This will benefit no artists. It will benefit me and my fiance. Our music collection could use some additions. Feel free to email codes to c k s 3 at mac dot com. Cheers!

Cross posted on 3650 and a 12-inch...