What iPod software to use?

My wife recently got an iPod. She already hates the iTunes interface. Is there good software for managing music and playlists on the iPod? I recently found Musik Cube and intend to try it, but wonder if there are other good tools out there. Comments don’t requires accounts, so please leave a comment with any software recommendations you have.

[tags]What software to manage iPod?[/tags]

Eye Candy – more freaky chick pics

I have a thing for freaky looking chicks. And to me, that’s a term of deep admiration, not an insult. Lately, the freaky chick I’ve been paying attention to is Amy Lee from the band Evanescence. She’s very pretty, and into the goth freaky look.

amy_lee.jpg

evanescence_amylee_175.jpg

See? Pretty. Freaky. Mmmmmm.  I looooove those boots.
[tags]Amy Lee, Evanescence, Freaky hot chicks, Eye candy[/tags]

An iPhone view from PC World

Like so many other organizations aimed at the tech and near-tech folks who surf for their information, PC World is taking a look at the iPhone and giving a short review of the ups and downs of this new gadget.

Want an iPhone? Of course you do. It looks sexy, it’s innovative, and–for a while at least–it’ll be the ultimate status symbol.

OK, they almost lost my reading time with this. No, I don’t want an iPhone. It’s a first gen tech toy. It’s an underperforming MP3 player. It’s an oversized phone (but I think that about most phones that are more than phones). It’s an under-functioning web tool (in fact, in more ways than one). It is apparently sometimes difficult to activate (and none of its features work until the entire phone is activated). It has a non-replaceable (by the end user) battery. Oh, and if you want a better functioning gadget for anything the iPhone does (which won’t be too hard to find, given the compromises necessary for this all-in-one functionality), you either carry another gadget, upgrade your iPhone if a better one is available and has the gadget improvement you want, or do without. Still, I kept reading.

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Scary news shows why Real ID won’t help security

I do apologize to all harmed in this cowardly attack in in Scotland for using it to illustrate something. I felt it necessary to point out this example of why knowing who someone is does nothing for security because it in no way shows what that person plans to do.

msn_070630_glasgow_jeep_2ph2.jpgBritish security sources tell NBC News that two of the five suspects in custody in connection with three recent terror incidents in Scotland and London are medical doctors and one may have assembled the bombs. Authorities also said they believe that most, if not all, of the suspects come from Middle Eastern countries, including one from Iraq.

. . .

Britain’s top-selling Sun newspaper identified one of those detained as an Iranian doctor who worked at North Staffordshire Hospital in central England. A spokeswoman at the hospital declined to comment on the case and police would not identify those detained.


I find it very difficult to imagine that being able to identify this doctor very precisely via RFID enabled federally mandated ID would have done anything to predict this attack on the airport prior to the act. Of course, that’s because knowing who someone is doesn’t indicate what that person plans to do. I keep repeating that when discussing the horribly useless Real ID because it seems to be a point that policy makers can’t understand even though it is excessively clear to security folks. Not that any policy workers waste their time here, but perhaps someone who knows a high-level policy maker reads my musings and could pass them along.

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Today in history – first commercial television station starts broadcasting

On this day, 66 years ago, the first commercial television station began broadcasting. Now known as WNBC, this New York station was originally broadcast as WNBT television station, operating under license from the FCC issued originally as W2XBS. The station was one of 10 authorized commercial television stations granted license by the FCC, and the first to go live.

NewsChannel 4 signed on the air as WNBT on July 1, 1941, at 1:29 p.m. This historic event was the beginning of commercial television in the United States.

At 2:30 p.m. the same day, WNBT again made history when 4,000 television sets were tuned to the station’s first telecast, a game at Ebbets Field between Brooklyn and Philadelphia, followed by the P&G sponsored “Truth or Consequences” and “Uncle Jim’s Questions Bee.”

Signing-On
The telecast also brought the first sponsor to the air. The Bulova clock filled the lower right hand quadrant of the test pattern and an announcer read the time. Bulova paid $4 for the first commercial and $5 for the use of facilities. And, America saw its first pair of televised dishpan hands — those of Irene Hubbard, the original star of the Ivory soap commercials. Operating out of Studio 3H, the first simulcast of a news program featured Lowell Thomas, in a Sunoco sponsored 15-minute report at 6:45 p.m. WNBT actually evolved from W2XBS, a pioneer RCA television lab and experimental station. W2XBS began in 1928, when RCA started operating from a transmitter in Van Cortlandt Park. On January 16, 1930, a television program originating from NBC’s Fifth Avenue studios was transmitted onto a six-foot screen for an audience at the Proctor Theater on Third Avenue and 58th Streets. NBC assumed control of the operation of W2XBS from RCA on July 30, 1930.

Also of note on this date, in reference to television, is the first commercial television station news telecast on WCBW, now known as CBS. This 15 minute broadcast started at 2:30 PM.

Note that these dates are for the first commercial television stations. There were television stations operating prior to this date, but they were considered experimental broadcasts by the FCC through the periods leading up to July 1st, 1941.

[tags]Today in history – first commercial television[/tags]