Great Looking Skins for your iPod

Skinizi offer some great skins for your iPod, check them out at skinizi.com.

They feature rich vibrant designs for the 2nd generation iPod Nano and 5th gen iPod Video.

UK Apple Stores One Day Event

On Friday1st December all Apple stores in the UK will be putting on a one day event aimed at helping pick out the best Apple Gifts for Chrsitmas.

There will be live musical performances and DJ’s playing at every store, seems like a great opportunity and an excuse to get some great Apple stuff, I unfortunately will not be able to go as I will be at uni, then going straight to work.

But if anyone else is planning on going tell me about it when you’ve been.

Heres a list of all the UK stores:

• London Brent Cross,
• London Regent Street,
• Birmingham Bullring,
•  Kent Bluewater,
• Manchester Arndale Centre,
• Manchester Trafford Centre
• Sheffield Meadowhall.

You can check out the details on the Apple UK site here.

I think my ipod is making me go deaf

I bought my ipod nano in february of this year (2006). Lately I have been having trouble with my right ear. It always seems to end up blocked, I stopped using my ipod for a time and it eventually cleared up, I then started using my ipod again after this and now my right ear has blocked up again. It doesn’t clear for a few days and when I touch it, it hurts.

I do not think there has been any research done to prove this, but I really do believe that mp3 players are making us go deaf. We will be a generation full of hearing problems because of the mp3’s and mobile phones.

Maybe it’s not the actual listening to music, maybe its more the headphones. The headphones that ship with ipods for example are the type of headphones that are being inserted into the ear as opposed to more comfortable headphones that just site on the ear. Maybe it would be worth investing in some headphones that do not go anywhere near my ear canal.
Or maybe it is the volume I listen to my music at, compared to my friend who listens to her ipod at full blast I play mine at whisper level.

Interesting Articles:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4162028.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/5311868.stm

http://www.technewsworld.com/story/51942.html

New Nano and Shuffle

UPDATE: The Gadget Show on channel five featured a review of the new ipod nano, comparing it with the Samsung YP-Z5 and the Sansa e260 from Sandisk, the new nano came out on top, ill try finding the actual review on video but for now you can read the review on the gadget show website.

So Apple have ‘remastered’ their Nano and shuffle ipods. Though some people may be pleased that the new Nanos come in several different colours now, I think they look kinda ugly, maybe its because I think that the ipod mini looked ugly. The shuffle looks kinda neat though, a nice little clip on mp3, very discrete I would assume. (Check out the nano gallery and shuffle gallery) I have to get down to my local Apple store and try these out.

It looks like the new ipod nanos will only come in (puke) green, pink, grey and blue on the 4GB Nano, the 2GB in grey and the 8GB in black (check out the specs).

Apple have also luacned itunes version 7 so don’t forget to check that out!

New ipod Shuffle

New ipod Nanos

Coke and I-tunes = free songs

Coke (the drink) will be giving away 70 million i-tunes songs in the UK as part of a promotion.

You need to get get a code from special packs of coca-cola and Diet Cola and then you can redeemd your free songs, its only five songs per person though.

Coke will also be launching a new music site with intergrated i-tunes based for users in the UK, Germany, Austria and Switezerland with the focus of the store being on new bands.

This seems like a pretty cool opportunity to get some free songs. You can read more about on digitmag.co.uk.

Thanks goes to MJB on Designers Block for finding out about this.

Itunes and Ipods shuffle settings are Crap!

I just had to write something about this, as it really drove me up the wall tonight.
The Shuffle on ITunes and on all IPods are unbelievably crap, when I put my music collection on shuffle, that means I want different songs to play from different bands and albums I do not want the songs to play in their defualt order from the same band all from the same freakin album. What the hell is up with this?

I like all the music in my music collection, but I do not want to listen to them in the same order constantly. Come on Apple, sort it out!

Nike + Apple

Nike and Apple will be collaborating on a new product. The Nike and I-pod Sports Kit.

Here's how it works:

 

 

if the pics to small you can view on the Apple site along with more info about the product.

The Sports Kit is set for release in late June with a retail price of $29 for the sports kit not the Nano.

I love my Nano, and I reckon this might be a good resource for people who like to run with their Nano, but to be honest I'm to scared of getting the damn thing nicked all the time. So the chances of me getting some Nike Shoes to go along with that are about nil.

Desperate Housewives Game

The television series Desperate Housewives is being made into a game. It will let players take on the role of a new housewife in Wistera Lane. You can read more here at bbc.co.uk.

When i saw this i laughed out loud, as personally i think this game will flop big time.

And this would look good with my i-pod nano, an i-pod nano stand but i don't really need it.

Apple News

1)Apple are planning to open two more stores in the UK in Manchester and Southampton, good for them. i still havent been to my local one and that's only about half an hour away from me in the car!

2) Apple are releasing volume control for their I-pods, following concerns about hearing loss. You can read the article on bbc.co.uk here.

3)Apple vs Apple Corps. The Beatles record label Apple Corps has accused Apple Computers of breaking the terms of their agreement that they will not step over into the music industry (I-tunes and  I-pod!). A Big court battle commences. You can read more on the bbc.co.uk website here.

The Streaking Game

Tyler on the Desginers Block Forum, found this game its so much fun. Basically your streak and you have to streak for cash. A lot of fun. http://www.thestreakinggame.com.

And this is class…the future of Google:

http://blog.coolz0r.com/2006/03/28/google-3o/

All Parents fo is nag nag nag + CSS Mastery

That’s what is seems like, ill think everythings fine and then i get “MARIE!” i can’t wait to move out get my own space, i need to get away from my mad brothers and sisters and my nagging parents.

CSS Mastery

Does anyone know where I can buy this book at an online UK store. Im trying to find the cheapest price i can get for it.

Picture Editing

I am really enjoying my I-pod Nano, it’s still in pretty good condition. I have taken a picture of it, but it came out really dark even with the flash, so i fired up Picasa and to see if it can really help me to make my pictures nice, my image editing skills are non existent really. Only one of the images was really improved, ill just post the somewhat ‘improved’ pics of my nano. I need to take some photoshop classes or something!

Serentiy Ordered
I just oreders serentiy from http://www.play.com, so I should get it around tuesday or wednesday.

First Blu-Ray Disc Preview the UK and i signed up to Writely

The UK got their first preview of the blu-ray disc on reghardware.co.uk here. The review wasn’t that good but, its still early days, looks like its going to be expensive though.

Writely sign Up

I got an email from Writely saying i was able to sign up for an account now. So i guess everyone else can as well, im not sure, you can sign up for them to send you an email and then they will send you an invite, well at least now i can see what its all about.   www.writely.com

I-pod Dockable Keyboard

This looks interesting an i-pod docakable keyboard. It will have:

The Pro|Type Multimedia Keyboard also provides a set of media keys for controlling iTunes, along with ten macro command hot keys and a picture zoom in and out control. The keyboard has two USB ports on board for connecting mice and other peripherals. It’s also got line-out audio ports.

There is no word on pricing or anything like that yet, but i rekon it looks kinda chunky.

Am I a genius or what?

Well probably not a genius, but in my house, since we installed the freeveiw box we havent been able to record anything, and no one really knew what to do to get it sorted so i got a lead, can’t remeber what its called and managed to find a way to record off of the TV.

I keep doing stuff like this, i fixed a lamp, a PC, a moblie phone, a VCR and some other random objects. Im pretty cuffed, but my family couldn’t care less!

Blog Added

I added another blog to my blog roll, this is Gaz’s Blog, he is another regular on the Designers Block Forum.