The New iPod Shuffle

The new iPod Shuffle is pretty cool–it’s extremely small, but it’s very attractive (almost delicious!) and definitely in line with Apple’s minimalism.

It has a new feature called “VoiceOver” in which the iPod Shuffle reads aloud the names of songs and playlists.

I wonder if this would be good for the blind…

It’s also very cheap ($79 for 4 GB!).  Technology progresses so quickly (I remember the good old days when $60 got you a 256 MB flash drive.  I now have a 16 GB flash drive for $20…)!

I wonder if Apple’s going anywhere with the new advertisement design:

For comparison, here’s the album cover for U2’s newest album, No Line on the Horizon:

Is it just me, or does Apple’s ad resemble the album cover?

Wikipedia on your iPod

As you know, I will be going to CTY soon, which means that I won’t have access to a computer more than three times a week. However, having Wikipedia to consult various thing is very very very very useful. So how can one bring Wikipedia to CTY without bringing a computer?

The answer: iPodLinux.

iPodLinux (As of Saturday, June 21, 2008, the webpage is down in a physical move of the website’s server to a nearby location, as I found out on IRC) is basically an alternative firmware to the Apple iPod firmware. However, it only works on iPod Minis, iPods up to the iPod Video (i.e. no iPod classic), and the iPod nano first generation (the one that scratches a lot). It is modular, and one installation method allows you to download Wikipedia onto your iPod and read it from there. All you have to do is unzip either ZeroSlackr-stable-snapshot-2008-04-28.7z or ZeroSlackr-stable-snapshot-2008-04-28.tar.gz to the root of your iPod’s directory, then run the appropriate executable/shell script/etc., and download this file (a dump of Wikipedia) to the right location. You can also customize iPodLinux with themes, games, text editing, and the like.

In essence: iPodLinux allows you to turn your iPod into a quasicomputer.

Note: installation is slightly complicated (if that link is down, try this one). iPodLinux is not recommended for n00bs, although newbs will work well with it.

How to rip a Hulu movie to your iPod…

…because Google searches to my site demanded this.

First, a few prerequisites.

1. You must be willing to keep the Hulu window on top for however long it takes to play the movie.

2. You must be willing to spend the same amount of time ripping it as watching it.

3. You must have a computer.

If you don’t meet all of the requirements, you should just watch the movie.

However, if you’re going on an errand, etc., you may want to try this method!

First, download a sceencast/recording tool. A free one I like is CamStudio. Then figure out how to record. My instructions will be with CamStudio.

1. Make sure your volume is not set to mute.

2. Play with the options until you get the desired ones.

3. Go to the “Region” menu. Click on “fixed region”.

4. Go to the Hulu movie you wish to record.

5. In the “fixed region” window, click “Select”

6. Draw a rectangle (using the cursor).

7. Press the record button in the main CamStudio window.

8. Start playing the Hulu movie.

9. When the movie finishes, press the stop button in the main CamStudio window and save the movie.

10. Import this to iTunes and have it convert the movie to a format for the iPod.

If you actually did this, you have problems.

DISCLAIMER: I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANYTHING THAT COMES OUT OF THIS. THIS IS PURELY FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES AND IS NOT ENDORSED BY ANYONE, WHICH MEANS THAT YOU LAWYERS CAN’T SUE ME. ESPECIALLY THE MPAA.

YBTC!!! (again)

Yay!  First place in Regional YBTC (again)!!!

Yay!  Brand new iPod (again)!!! (But this one’s a Classic instead of a Video.  Steve Jobs has answered my prayers wishes to have a new model of iPod to win.)

Yay!  I’m going to States (again)!!!

Yay!  Large acrylic trophy!!!

Yay! (again)

I had better start studying for States.  I refuse to not make it to Nationals.

I sold you the laptop. Do you want a right mouse button for $20?

Special edition (I’m making up for my Terms of Uselessness business).
I just found out about the iPod touch upgrade (All new itouches are basically iPhones without Edge networking or phone service. Old itouches can be made into new itouches by giving Apple $20). So I would like to make an analogy.

I am a (insert generic software company here) and you bought one of my products. Adding a few useful features is as simple as adding some code and recompiling the program. Let’s say the program didn’t have a redo feature, even though it had an undo feature. I am selling you the redo feature for $10, while new customers get it for free.

I am Apple and you bought the iPod touch. There was no stocks, mail, maps, weather, or notes functionality. You have had to rely on homebrew apps for these. I am selling you these features for $20 in a software update, while new customers get them for free.
(of course, someone’s going to hack the features into the iPod touch)

See how unreasonable this is?
(and don’t even get me started on the iPhone early adopter tax)
Wow. I’m glad I didn’t get the iPod touch yet.

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Installing Ubuntu, Intro to Linux Part 2

See Part 1

So why am I installing iPodlinux?

1. Rockbox is nice and all, especially for music playback, but it’s not great, especially the games on it. And the MIDI playback is messed up for the iPod (update: not anymore). However, if you have a different mp3 player that is supported, you’re in luck. And the user interface can get hard on the eyes.

2. iPodLinux is way cooler (IMHO). While it’s music playback can get messed up, it’s programs are great. Its user interface is like that of the normal one, but I can use it more like a computer

If you read the website thoroughly, but not too thoroughly, you will find that installing iPodlinux requires reformatting the hard drive, so you lose all your music, etc.

However, there is a way to install it on iPod videos without losing all your music.

There is also a way to install it from Windows (at the bottom of the page), but you may have trouble installing modules from inside Windows.

Apparently, iPodLinux doesn’t recognize the enter signs in Windows.

So why not just install the whole thing from inside Linux?

Installing Ubuntu, Intro to Linux Part 1

I’m installing Linux today in my ever-increasingly rare spare time.

So what is Linux?

Linux is another operating system, like with Windows or Mac, although there are many different versions (called “distros”).

Linux is free and open-source, meaning that all the code is open. Linux is not necessarily free (like with Red Hat Enterprise Linux, SuSe Linux, and some others), although most distros are free.

Linux has had the stereotype of being command-line (like DOS–In mac, it’s like the terminal, while in windows, it’s in your accessories folder in the programs menu, called MS-DOS). It can get sort of scary. But now, it’s much more accessible. For example, Ubuntu is aimed at the Linux beginner. It uses a desktop environment (like the Aqua in Mac, the XP Luna thing, or the Vista Aero) called Gnome (here’s a screenshot gallery).

There are two major desktop environments: Gnome and KDE

There’s a big debate (read: flame war) about which desktop environment is the best. They are basically equivalent for the end user. The only differences (to the end user) are the layout (which can be customized) and the programs (though they’re equivalent and can be installed on any desktop environment with the right base programs) I personally prefer Gnome because it’s neater and less glossy, but it’s just a matter of opinion.

Another major hurdle to installing and using Linux is that fact that you have to wipe out your existing operating system, including your documents, files, and settings. However, if you just want to try out Linux, you can just download a file, burn it to CD, and restart. This does not affect your computer AT ALL. It just runs from your computer’s RAM, which is wiped every time you shut down. In fact, you can run a linux livecd without a hard drive. I recommend Ubuntu (see link above) as a starter.

Okay, so now that I have linux up and running, for what am I using it?

1. To put an old, obsolete HP Pavilion E735 to good use because it would otherwise be sitting in a corner as a footrest

2. To learn Linux, and all the command line stuff (yes, the scary keyboard-only thing)

3. To install iPodLinux on my iPod.

Okay, so what the heck am I installing iPodLinux for?

to be continued…

Lego iPod Dock!

UPDATE: This post is now deprecated.  I’m making a new, improved one, which is more Apple-y.  Please note that putting the universal dock thing in the lego enclosure will put enough stress to give cracks and eventually break the universal dock thing.  I stopped when I saw a crack.  I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGE TO PROPERTY, ETC.  USE THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK UNTIL I CAN FIND A BETTER SOLUTION.

Today, I designed my first (yes, I’m going to build improved versions) Lego iPod dock (which is why I have been so busy that I haven’t written another post).
Overview, front:

iPod

50 Fun Things to Do with your iPod

Eight Great iPod Hacks, Mods, and Tricks

Notable ones in the first link, with my comments:

#6: Store photos on the go. Theoretically, if you get a double usb port plug thing, you can do the same thing at a much lower cost. So you have camera-(usb cable)->>(usb double-port)<<-(apple docking cable)-iPod.

#17: Get mugged. I’m not sure if this is fun, but…

#20: Murder someone. Don’t try this at home, kids…

#25: Make a RAID array. Basically, you put some iPods together in a USB hub. Then you can use special software to use it as one hard disk instead of 4, or 3, or however many iPods you have. Very expensive, so this is sort of an oxymoron.

(You can also run a Beowulf cluster if you have multiple iPods running iPodlinux, but that’s just silly)

#27: Run Linux on it. Or Rockbox.

iPod

On Friday, I went to a regional “You Be the Chemist Challenge”. Basically Spelling Bee style, but for chemistry facts. I won first place, and so I got an iPod video and I will go to the state competition a few weeks from now.

In my obsession over this interesting piece of technology, I discovered many things.

There’s a podcast, Best of Youtube, which has some pretty funny/entertaining videos.

Then there are all those classical music podcasts with which I’m going to fill up my 30 GB space.

Then there’s Linux for iPod.

I’ll talk more about Linux later.