Second compilation of pesky old posts
Welcome to the second edition of this post. Without much further ado, let us proceed as before. However, this time around, the message redirect is as follows:
[Please see "Second compilation of pesky old posts" for the full text of the 'missing' sponsored post, if you are really interested. Thank you.]
iGot my iPod!
Wow – the iPod Touch! A gem of a device designed in California and presented in a classy jewelry box.
Product packaging
Revealed, after lifting off the box cover, was the seemingly slumbering mirrored face of the Apple iPod Touch, just raring to come alive in living colors once powered up – just like the image on the box cover.
The following composite picture compares the color image on the box cover with my new iPod Touch – unpacked and unpowered, yet:
So flat and yet weighty enough not to be called flimsy, there is still much more to be discovered inside the svelte containing box.
Inside the box
There was the pocket envelope with the petite Important Product Information Guide – one-year warranty and addresses of service centers worldwide – and the foldout Quick Start – got down the basics of setting up, synchronizing, and charging within an hour.
Two white Apple stick-on logos, a velvety black iPod Touch pad, and a sealed white pouch underneath completed the extra standard accessories.
The white pouch contained the USB 2.0 cables, earphones, and two other molded plastic pieces – I am sure that the iPod Features Guide would tell me exactly what both are to be used for. Of course, old hands at using the iPod already know that troubleshooting solutions are available but just humor me, please.
Thank God for Apple: I don’t have to look for an appropriate USB 2.0 compliant cable at the hardware store! Amazing – the USB cable is marked at both ends for easy identification of which side is up!
Hooking up the iPod Touch
Hmmm…. I have to unplug either my Internet access or the printer cable before I can connect the iPod Touch for charging – my laptop has only two USB 2.0 ports. I guess the printer would have to go offline, for now.
Really? Once connected to my laptop USB port, the iPod Touch can be charged with laptop battery power? Indeed, so it was: the iPod Touch came alive briefly to show three icons – the battery, iTunes logo, and the iPod side of the USB cable – and to indicate that all was well so far.
Then, my Adobe Photoshop Starter Edition came up on screen to announce that there were no pictures to display from my Apple iPod. Well, that’s not really my fault: I haven’t put in any yet, have I? But, I promise I’ll get round to doing just that later on.
Downloading iTunes software suite
Oh, Oh. Now I wish I had wireless broadband Internet access! You guessed it; all of the 51.81 MB of iTunes 7.5 would take my dial-up connection through the various stages of downloading at 3.2 KB/sec for five hours, 1.3 KB/sec for eight hours, and 0.7 KB/sec for fifteen hours….
After that, I’d have to download QuickTime 7.3? Oh good – there is a download available that combines iTunes with QuickTime and Safari in one fell swoop. Wow, that would save me a lot of time.
Well, actually, it took me just under four hours to download the entire 51.81 Megabytes of the iTunes combination pack at an average speed of 3.7 kilobits per second – the opportunity cost was not doing anything else on my laptop for the entire time on a lazy Sunday evening. It was really worth it in the end just seeing the iTunes message: “Congratulations…”
A little touch of iPod rant
However, I just wish Apple had loaded the latest version of iTunes with the iPod Touch. That way, downloading songs, movies and music videos or surfing the Net would be literally straight out of the pack – after unpacking.
And, after product registration online, any subsequent iTunes updates can be downloaded online as an automatic or optional download for everyone. It would certainly make the iPod a uniquely new-wave plug-and-play device.
Hands-on the iPod Touch
By the way, the sleep/wake button on the iPod Touch is on the left-hand side, when holding the device facing up: just press and hold the button in for a few seconds and follow the simple on screen prompt/message.
The iPod Touch is really that: touch the icon on the screen to access any function, touch and slide the slider to power off or unlock the portable device, and see the brilliant color changes as you navigate the wonderful options by a light finger touch alone.
If you are operating it in a Wi-Fi zone, the iPod Touch should connect automatically to the iTunes Music Store through the downloaded Safari Web browser.
However, I could not get a Wi-Fi network or hotspot around my home in order to access the iTunes Store, so I have been unable to use my iPod Touch for music, videos, or some other downloads related to the Music Store. I went just as far as the following in enjoying my iPod Touch:
Oh well, I can still dream about all the fantastic things that I will be able to do with my iPod Touch one day, when I have access to a local Wi-Fi network!
Meanwhile, the iTunes website is pretty cool. I can just tap any Top 10 song or album and hear a preview of it? Incredible! I can download the Safari browser for PC or Mac, QuickTime 7.3, and iTunes 7.5 for free and QuickTime Pro 7 is the only download I have to pay for, unless I want to download a song?
Unbelievable! The iPod Touch capacity allows me up to 7.26 GB of free RAM space – that is a whopping twenty percent of my laptop memory capacity – just to store /view ‘documents’ from My Pictures, and lets me surf the Web and jam to music videos and CD vibes on the go – and, all mutually non-exclusively, too.
Talk about tap dancing being given a whole new meaning – just remember to double-tap to zoom in or out of the Web pages you visit.
Now I have a pretty good idea of why young Floridian Sean Kingston got a Summer hit singing about how easily beautiful girls can make a guy suicidal – he was probably whining about how frustratingly great Cover Flow software is at preventing Shakira, Fergie, and other great female stars from lying down on a pillow, no matter how slowly he reclined the iPod touch? Just kidding!
Shazam! I’ve got to hand it to those Apple guys, they really just think of everything in a plug-and-go-play portable device. Making a peace sign with my fingers enlarges the picture of my Three Musketeers.
WOMEN AS EXPLAINED BY ENGINEERS
Have you ever wondered about the way men view women sometimes? A good friend sent me an e-mail recently on the subject matter. I must confess that I found it very amusing.
How and where do people get these ideas from? Hope you enjoy the following treatise on women, in general:
[WOMEN AS EXPLAINED BY ENGINEERS
Part I
Part II
Part III
Part IV
Part V
Forward this to all the guys for a good laugh, and to all the ladies who have a good sense of humor]
Going to the Land Down Under?
I am talking about Australia, the land of Men At Work, Crocodile Dundee, and Rupert Murdoch! Yes, that exciting southern continent and island with the Great Barrier Reef, kangaroos, and koala bears.
Many of my blog readers come from Australia. Never been there but I would love the opportunity to go over there some day on DialAFlight. Costs and time may be a problem for me right now but, if you are ready for Australia Flights, there are available cheap flights to Brisbane.
A little something to hold on to till the month ends
Living from one pay check to the next is certainly better than being on the dole, living on welfare, or remaining unemployed. With a job, your salary or wages are an inherently invaluable collateral.
Reliable collateral is essential for anyone to fulfill various personal needs and obligations as and when they fall due.
It is heartening to know that anyone with such a steady means of repayment can rely on a short term loan to get ahead in life, an opportunity especially provided by Payday Loans.
Do you have insurance?
You learn a lot in school, from both the curricular and extra-curricular activities. My trips to and fro holiday trips in between semesters taught me about the vital importance of travel insurance, which I could get easily by going to the machine at the airport before boarding any aircraft.
I was not morbid in my thoughts or anything. I was just thinking that insurance was just a solid way of ensuring that, even when you know you have chosen the best airline to travel on or you have taken all precautions humanly possible, you would have something to fall back on or to leave for your loved ones if you make a mistake in judgment or your plans go awry.
Home insurance is definitely the next major concern of anyone with something to lose when the house is gone for some unforeseen reason. I remember urging my Dad to take one out on our holiday home, even though it was used just less than thrice annually.
Of course, if you want to forget renewing any of your other vehicle particulars, you just can not include Car insurance in that lot. It would probably be the first thing to flash through your mind in a near miss!
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