From the Why Didn’t I Think Of This Before Department … today I decided to resurrect my cute little clip-on iPod shuffle and take it to the gym with me. What a difference it made! I’d totally forgotten about it after putting it on a shelf when I came home from my first operation. It was actually while I was putting new music on my “nero” iPod the other day that I remembered about the shuffle and so I also added some of my favourites to it (with just 1GB I have to be more selective).

Anyhow … wonderful! It not only blocked out the crappy shit they play on the stereo system at the gym, but I also couldn’t hear the pilates social club idiots yakking away … bonus! I also went a bit faster and farther on The Bike today. Well, who wouldn’t when listening to such fabulously energetic stuff as this…

Hey, does this also count as a T-shirt Friday pic?

This round is all about the extras that are included with both of these free programs. For this post, I am going to take a look at some of the extras included with Google’s Picasa, and then do a later post about the extras included with Live Photo Gallery. To say that both of these programs are completely free to use, they both include some fantastic extras for you to make use of. I am going to concentrate on the ones that I feel are likely to be the most useful to  new users.

Name Tags.

The new version of Picasa now includes name tags, and this feature is very useful because its such a time saver.  As soon as you have installed Picasa and it has finished  loading in all of your photos stored on your computer, it begins to scan all of them for peoples faces. You can add a name to a persons photo and then Picasa will find all other instances of that named person and ask you to verify if those photos are of the same person or not  You can confirm them all or individually.  I  personally love this feature and it really works well, saving you the trouble of sifting through all of your photo collection to name individuals included in them.  However, do note here that Picasa will find every person’s face in every photo that you have stored! Luckily you can choose to tell it to ignore any that are superfluous.

Creating a Collage. 

Another useful feature included in Picasa is the ability to create a collage of a collection of your photographs.  To create a collage, you simply select some photos or pictures and then click on the Collage icon at the bottom of the viewing area.  You can scramble and shuffle the pictures, change the background to either a plain one or have one of the pictures as a background. Each picture included can have a frame or not, and you have complete control over the finished  size of the Collage.

Geotagging in Picasa.

Another very useful included feature is geotagging which is made so easy to do in the new version. If you have a photo that was taken at a particular place or spot, just click on the Places icon and a world map will load on the right hand side of the viewing screen. You can then move and click until you arrive at the town/city or area where the photo was taken. Then all you do is just drag and drop the chosen photo into the map to geotag it. You can add as many shots of that area/building etc as you want just by dragging them to the map area. Each photo geotagged is then assigned a small red ‘flag’ on the right hand lower side to denote that it has been geotagged. Its so easy!  Again, I love this feature.

Making a Movie

You can take a collection of pictures and easily create a movie out of them inside Picasa.  This feature is ideal for a collection of photos of a trip that you made or a day out for example,or as in my demo a theme.   You can add some music to the movie from your music files, decide on the title and the fonts used for it, choose the transitions between each photograph, play it through and then edit it until you are satisfied with the result. You can also add some captions to individual photos when you edit it.

Unfortunately I have not been able to  include the completed video in this post  to show you as  I had  lot’s of problems trying to get my video file uploaded to YouTube, in fact I had to give up trying in the end as I do not have unlimited uploads/downloads. This uploading videos area  definitely needs sorting out by the Picasa bods as it appears that I am not the only one who has experienced difficulty in this area.  Let’s hope that I have better luck in my next post when I’ll be taking a look at the extra features available in Live Photo Gallery.

TG EDIT. Have now managed to get the video uploaded to YouTube by cheating and using Windows Live Movie Maker instead. So the enclosed video is made with Picasa but uploaded with Movie Maker. I have not altered it in any way.

I’m sure you have heard about this. Apple has released the i7 iMacs. Yes, you heard me correctly. i7, perhaps one of the fastest chips known to date. After running several tests, MacWorld’s Jason Snell confirmed via Twitter update that the 27 inch iMac was the fastest stock mac they have tested to date, IE, the iMac is faster than the current Mac Pro.

Problem? Not necessarily, but to does raise some questions.

One of these questions is: “If the iMac is better than the Mac Pro right now, then doesn’t that mean Apple will upgrade the Mac Pro in the future?” I have an answer to this question, and I believe it is yes. But just because I am answering yes doesn’t mean I think that’s the best thing to do.

If you follow my Twitter updates you may remember a specific one which I suggested that Apple drop the iPod Shuffle from it’s line. I suggest this because it is simply irrelevant. I can’t imagine anyone buying it unless they are completely clueless about MP3 players or they simply want to have proof to back up them saying “I own an iPod”. It’s too cheap, and frankly, too usless (but not completely, I have to give Apple that.)

This may be the case for the Mac Pro now. I do understand that there are “super” people who need to pimp out with Mac Pro with 32GB of RAM and 8-core 3.2 Ghz Processors, and I do understand there are some people that need 4TB of HDD space, but with the iMac screen getting larger, and it being an all-in-one machine after all, don’t you see those possibilities within the near future?

Yes, I am suggesting that the Mac Pro be dropped, but not soon, not soon at all. I’m saying that the iMac is up there in terms of speed with the Mac Pro, and it only makes sense that you upgrade the Mac Pro, get rid of it if the iMac is testing faster than it.

But, I do know that Apple will update the Mac Pro, and this post is nonetheless, a thought.

NOTE: While I was writing this blog post Mark Jardine, a fantastic designer updated Twitter saying that the iMac i7 does slow as you use it more, here is the direct link.

Thanks to everybody who commented on my last blog post! I really appreciate you sharing your playlists with everyone and introducing us to some great new music!

As I was responding to your comments, something hit me. You guys have shown us an incredible ammount of support over the last few years. You’ve called your local DJs to request our music. You’ve come to our shows and purchased our CDs. And your votes have caused us to win more contests and get onto more playlists than I could count. Each of you has helped make what we do possible.

Last week was really cool because we had twenty people contribute to our post! But, our anlaytics show that hundreds of people read it. Why is that? I’m not sure. But I feel that it is – at least in some part – due to the fact that so often the creation and delivery of art is a one way street. I want to change that; so I’d like to invite you to take a moment to do three things:

1. Visit atris.wordpress.com (This will be more fun if everyone goes to the same page.)
2. Scroll down to the comment box and introduce yourself. Write a few words about anything you’d like. How did you first hear our music? What city are you from? What are your favorite movies? Pretend we just met at a coffee shop. If you’d like share your blog address, Twitter ID or someplace where we and other people can learn more about you that would be great too!
3. Check the box that says Notify me of follow-up comments via email.

Please don’t do this for us, do this for yourself and for everyone. It takes a certain amount of bravery to put yourself out there; but it’s worth it. We love to get to know people with similar interests, ideas, and opinions. And it’s really cool when group discussions are started. If you have something in common with someone who posts, let him or her know! It makes me feel great to see people responding to my comments, and I love to chime back in to share my thoughts.

Looking forward to meeting you!

-Mason

Днес случайно ми попадна една рекламна брошурка. Поразгледах я и попаднах на два интересни продукта.Ооо, доста евтин плеър…Изненада! Това на картинката не е това което е описано вдясно. За незапознатите- това на картинката е iPod Shuffle 4G, продукт на Apple. Или това е поредния трик да си закупите плеъра, или просто плеъра на DIVA изглежда по същия начин.

Следващият продукт е:Звучи доста добре, нали? Камера, високоговорител, меню на български, FM радио, 1000 вградени игри… Pretty impressive!Я! Изглежда познато нали? Само че има един проблем… Ако си закупите това нещо, ще получите това от картинката, а не това което си мислите че е… За неразбралите- това на картинката изключително много прилича на PSP classic… Дори и аз се залъгах за момент. Най- лесният начин за проверка- ясно си личи, че под екрана го няма надписа ‘PSP’. Очевадно е също, че и цената е почти наполовина по- малка отколкото струва един PSP. Никъде не пише кой произвежда тази чудесия, следователно може и да идва от някой гараж в Китай. Ако си купите това нещо, то или няма да изглежда по този начин, или ще изглежда, но пак няма да е PSP.

Извод: Когато пазарувате, било то онлайн или на място в магазина, винаги си отваряйте очите! А ако вече знаете какво искате да си купите, проверете ‘предполагаемия’ продукт дали всъщност е искания от Вас.

П.П. Много мои приятели вече изгоряха с подобни продукти. Подлъгани от цената, те се озоваваха с коренно различни продукти.

TREY SONGZ.
she aint my girl.

the little notes him and sammie hits at the end is a KILLA.real talk.

Ah, the wonders of shuffle mode on an iPod. Today, for instance, the song “Y.M.C.A.” by the Village People popped up. This has the distinction for me of being the first song i ever bought – or rather the first i ever got my mum to buy for me. I was ten years old and we were holding a concert at school, or maybe it was a talent contest; i can’t remember now. At any rate, everyone was being encouraged to join in, so i got together with another kid, C, and we decided to do a dance routine. “Y.M.C.A.” was our soundtrack. What a dance routine it was: all high kicks, claps and those other ‘groovy’ moves: drop to the floor, turn around, make a funny little circle gesture with your arms*. We thought were it!

The song itself, i didn’t really understand. I vaguely imagined the “Y.M.C.A.” was some sort of American version of a youth hostel. Not that i’d been to a youth hostel, but there was one on the main road that led to my Nan’s, so i knew they were big old houses that hikers stayed at. Who knew why anyone would write a song about one and quite honestly who cared? The main thing was that it was catchy as hell and one of the guys in the group wore a “Red Indian” costume. How i loved that costume.

Gay references? What did ‘gay’ mean? Mind you, to be fair, i didn’t know what ‘straight’ meant either. I quite naively believed that sex – which i was aware of in an anatomically incorrect sort of a way – was something married people did. Nor do i remember anyone worrying about the political correctness of spoofing a Native American (or whatever the current term is). It was all about fun and energy. AIDS was just round the corner, about to bring with it a different, darker image of homosexuality – at least in the short term; but also an increased openness. So that these days most school kids know what it is to be gay – or at least think they do, which is much the same thing when you’re ten.

Anyway, back to that concert (or talent show, whichever it was). Only as an adult could i appreciate how painful it must have been for the assembled parents to watch us. Or rather mothers, because back then it wasn’t yet the done thing for men to take time out for their kids, at least not in Britain. Children are so innocently self-centred that the idea that their audience might not be enjoying watching them as much as they’re enjoying being watched doesn’t really occur to them. And if it does, it doesn’t cause them much guilt. Yet it must have been torture: dance routines (ours wasn’t the only one, oh no), songs, magic tricks, ‘comedy’… even juggling i think. Everyone had to have their spot in the limelight. ‘That’s what you get for not using birth control,’ i thought to myself smugly when i looked back at the scene.

And yet… when my own son went to school and entered upon his own round of nativity plays and concerts i made an interesting discovery. Other people’s children are indeed tiresome, but your own are wonderful. Bona fide talents no less. His Jimi Hendrix routine was marvellous (no cheesy disco for him!), his leading role in the anti-smoking polemic which prefaced it no less so. And as for his interpretation of Shepherd #1 (or possibly #2 or #3, i’m not entirely sure) paying homage to the infant Jesus in the school nativity play… well, words fail me. Unfortunately, the camera failed me too, so i have no pictures of that one.

So, maybe my mum did enjoy the imaginatively choreographed dance that C and I performed to the song “Y.M.C.A.”. Or maybe she too was wondering why someone had written a song about a hostel.

*A bit like demonstrating how a wheel works while wearing a muff**
**As in ‘handwarmer’!

Apple’s Upper West Side Apple Store has been monitored in great detail before it opened until yesterday. Waiting with excitement, the fourth Apple store in NYC opened with a warmth in the air. Hundreds? of employees all sporting red t-shirts welcomed people into the new glass heaven. For no reason at all, applause would break out every so often. When I asked one of the jolly employees what the just happened, he replied with “We just like clapping!” I grilled him on if they were clapping randomly all day and he said yes. My first thought was someone was the one millionth customer and won something like an Apple product or something. Guess not.

The spyshots that revealed the store made the retail look much larger and higher than it is in reality. While the glass roof is relatively high, the actual feel of the space inside seems rather cramped. The tubular staircase seems a little stuffed into the left corner of the store as soon as you walk in.

iPods, iPhones, iMacs and MacBooks fill the ground floor, while heading downstairs reveals the Genius Bar (kind of small), software selection, iPod/iPhone/Mac accessories and kiddie iMac/education tables.

To be frank, the store is nothing to write about. There are a lot more MacBook Pros scattered across the two floors, but face it, it’s just giving more Wi-Fi freeloaders a space to hang. Now all the kids from the nearby Martin Luther King High School have a place to bum when they cut class.

Apple continues to grow Apple stores in NYC, but the last two have been a let down (Upper West Side and Meatpacking District/West 14th St). Next time Apple, please bring something new to the table that will really get us all excited. Multi-touch kiosks or big screens or something!

The visit to the new Apple store wasn’t a total bust though. I got to check out the new aluminum Apple remote and it is BIG. I like the old one better although the new one does have a more solid feel to it.

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EDIT; I won this! yay! kinda cheap kinda expensive AUD$0.11, i was the only bidder.

My mate has the 3rd Gen shuffle and i thought since I’m such a great mate I’d get some cheap HongKong silicone cases for her. I doubt she’ll use them but its all about principle, now she will need to get me something in the near future to make up for my friendly gesture. ( ;

(ebay seller flygold1994 description)

I often thought about buying an iPod, but the price was always a pause. When Apple dropped the price of the iPod Shuffle, I took it. But I did fork over a little more and get the 2GB version. You know, for $ 20 more, is not it?

The iPod shuffle comes with all the accessories you need the box. You get the equipment itself, equipment, headphones, earphones, and docking. You use the Dock to connect your iPod to your computer. Duringanchored, you can download songs from iTunes and charge the Shuffle.

And that is why we are one of faults of the device (and Apple provides in general). You can load songs sound to a music player. Ideally, each download iTunes from Apple could be free, so no problem. But it would be nice if it was compatible with other programs. You also have the docking computer to load.

Charging the Shuffle with songs is fairly simple. You can create a playlist for themLoad or you can download songs at random.

The Shuffle is compact and lightweight. But what I like is the built-in clip you, so you can attach to your clothes. It is ideal for practice, and I bought specifically for this purpose. With a weight of half an ounce, you do not notice and can almost forget when it is connected.

The control interface is well designed and straightforward to use.

My main concern is a complaint that I knew I had before I evenpurchase. If you have a song on your iPod that you really want to hear, it can be quite difficult to find because there is no screen. He can play on your playlist, or it may be in random order, but you have a lot here on a particular song.

The battery life is approximately 12 hours, then, with about 500 songs, it would be more than 30 hours of music. However, the only time there is a right of charging after you turn it on, so if you feel not so fasthow to activate it, it might be easy to remember that it was the battery at a time without being too low.

You must decide to pay the additional storage of 2 GB Shuffle is for you, but just listen to a few of your favorite songs while you spend your time with anything else, this model is ideal for filling.

My Ipod contains over 5,400 songs, so anytime I hit “Shuffle Songs” it is interesting to see what comes up. Because of the nature of my work, I am able to listen to music through headphones most of the time, so naturally I do so and I thought I would share with you what came up when I “shuffled” today. Enjoy.

Pixies – U-Mass
Sonic Youth – JC
Bright Eyes – Devil in the Details
The Hold Steady – First Night (live)
The Notorious B.I.G. – Everyday Struggle
Bob Dylan – Tonight I’ll be Staying Here with You
The Flaming Lips – Race for the Prize
Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit – Streetlights
Beck – Dark Star
Dean Martin – In the Misty Moonlight
Son Volt – Catching On
Radiohead – Just
Bonnie Prince Billy – Master and Everyone
Bruce Springsteen – She’s the One
Pearl Jam – Spin the Black Circle
The Stone Roses – Made of Stone
The Jayhawks – Martin’s Song
Grateful Dead – St. Stephen
Tom Petty – Time to Move On
The Gaslight Anthem – Meet Me by the River’s Edge

I’ve whipped out my trusty ‘I’m sorry. Are you speaking? Can’t you see these buds shoved deep in my ear canals signifying my total lack of interest in anything you might have to say unless you can do so in song and with cowbell o’plenty’ iPod.  Since my pants could use some excitement, I am whoring them out to a random smattering of tunes.  alejna, paramour of pants, posted a catchy little meme a while back wherein you shuffle your tunes and slap down the first however many song titles with “in my pants” tagged on the end.  It’s the fortune cookie of memes.

To add to the realism of this meme, I’m actually wearing pants.  I never wear pants this hour of the day.  All for you, sweets.  Now, let’s see what’s a happenin’ in my pants.

1. Waiting in Vain in my pants – Bob Marley and the Wailers
2. Cry in my pants – Johnnie Ray and the Four Lads
3. Everybody Loves a Carnival in my pants – Fatboy Slim
4. I’m Only Sleeping in my pants – The Beatles
5. Can’t Go Back to Jersey in my pants – G. Love
6. Ebony Eyes in my pants – Stevie Wonder
7. Freedom Flight in my pants – Shuggie Otis
8. Less Than You Think in my pants – Wilco
9. Don’t Let the Man Get You Down in my pants – Fatboy Slim
10. Body Language in my pants – Queen
11. So Say I in my pants – The Shins
12. Love For Sale in my pants – Fine Young Cannibals
13. Verb: That’s What’s Happening in my pants – Moby
14. Fool’s Hall of Fame in my pants – Johnny Cash
15. Smile in my pants – Lyle Lovett
16. Some Unholy War in my pants – Amy Winehouse
17. Never Coming Home in my pants – Sting
18. The Losing in my pants – The Pretenders
19. Lay My Burden Down in my pants – Larry Sparks
20. Little Girl in my pants – Vic Damone
21. Get Up (I Feel Like Being A) Sex Machine in my pants – James Brown

I could play this game all night and day.  However, I think that’s a perfect place to end my pants shenanigans.  Normally, I’d wax on about each of those results, but I’ll leave the analysis up to you.  I will say my iPod is quite insightful.  In fact, I’m debating on turning this blog writing hobby over to the iPod, crafty devil that he is.

(don’t let the man get you down in my pants ::snicker:: )

(ooh, and consider yourself lucky Prince never came up in the shuffle…the very next song after getting America’s post title…Prince’s Soft and Wet…uhhh yeh)

Hey everyone,

What bands are you listening to? I thought it would be fun for us to get to know each other’s musical tastes. If you have a moment and an MP3 player, follow these three steps and drop me a comment with what you get!

1. Turn on your MP3 Player.
2. Navigate to SHUFFLE songs mode.
3. Write down the artist and song title of the 1st 10 songs that come up.

Here’s what I got. If you’d like to listen to/purchase any of these tunes just click their title to be directed to the iTunes music store.

David Bowie – Thursday’s Child
Bill Evans – Peri’s Scope
Tegan and Sara – Hop a Plane
Jimmy Eat World – Your House
Sufjan Stevens – Let’s Hear That String Part Again, Beacause I don’t Think They Heard It All the Way Out In Bushnell
Coldplay – Amsterdam
Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton – Reading In Bed
Belle & Sebastian – Get Me Away From Here, I’m Dying
Keane – Atlantic
Michael Stipe – In the Sun

Thanks to Pat Donahue, from 107.7 WACC’s Notes from the Underground for this idea!

-Mason

Hey everyone,

What bands are you listening to? I thought it would be fun for us to get to know each other’s musical tastes. If you have a moment and an MP3 player, follow these three steps and drop me a comment with what you get!

1. Turn on your MP3 Player.

2. Navigate to SHUFFLE songs mode.

3. Write down the artist and song title of the 1st 10 songs that come up.

Here’s what I got. If you’d like to listen to/purchase any of these tunes just click their title to be directed to the iTunes music store.

David Bowie – Thursday’s Child
Bill Evans – Peri’s Scope
Tegan and Sara – Hop a Plane
Jimmy Eat World – Your House
Sufjan Stevens – Let’s Hear That String Part Again, Beacause I don’t Think They Heard It All the Way Out In Bushnell
Coldplay – Amsterdam
Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton – Reading In Bed
Belle & Sebastian – Get Me Away From Here, I’m Dying
Keane – Atlantic
Michael Stipe – In the Sun

Thanks to Pat Donahue, from 107.7 WACC’s Notes from the Underground for this idea!

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