This cycling event is held each fall and this year it is bigger than ever. This year I am only one of three hundred riders who will be riding on that day. I am very excited to see the number of cyclists growing with each passing year. I am also thankful to see the awareness and the rising support for refugees being served through the heartfelt organization, International Teams Canada

Last year’s ride was tough; it rained, sleeted, snowed and hailed over the course of the ride. There was 35km of head wind on the ride out, one inch of snow on the road and at times not more that 50ft of visibility. But with all that said; this ride still dwarfs in comparison of the challenges faced by a refugee.

The following link is a video put together from interviews and video shots taken during last year’s ride. From this you will get a sense of what the conditions were like.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qM37Ibdb_0s

http://www.rideforrefugees.com/gallery.php

This year’s event goal is to raise $250,000 and I am looking to raise my share of that goal. This year my personal goal is to raise $2,500 and any amount you give will help reach or exceed it. Please help me reach my goal and help these people, in giving you too will be riding with me on that day.

Would you sponsor me?

There are over 35,000,000 refugees in the world. Many come to Canada and they need our support as they adjust to our Canadian way of life. Imagine snow for the first time. Imagine if the letters all ran backwards to what you were familiar with reading. Imagine being alienated from your friends and family. They need our support and International Teams (www.iteams.ca) has been serving refugees for over 25 years.

Don’t hesitate to sponsor me today!

You can go directly to my personal page to sponsor me by clicking on the link below;
https://secure.e2rm.com/registrant/personalPage.aspx?EventID=11888&LangPref=en-CA&RegistrationID=327098

You can also go online to http://www.rideforrefugees.com/ and click on sponsor a rider. Once there you can donate with any credit card to my personal fundraising goal. This site also contains a ton of information about the ride and the cause we are riding for.

Thank you so much for your support and God bless

The free iPod tutorial explains the differences between the iPod models. It also deciphers the technical jargon used on websites to explain the iPods various features and functions.

The iPod tutorial includes screenshots to assist users in setting up the basics, from the date and time, to their contacts. The iPod tutorial is designed to even help advanced iPod users to take advantage of the iPods more advanced and complex features.

The free iPod tutorial can be accessed at:
http://www.feedforall.com/ipod-tutorial.pdf

The iPod tutorial is made available by NotePage, Inc.’s FeedForAll and RecordForAll divisions. FeedForAll software enables webmasters to create, edit and publish RSS feeds. RecordForAll is a desktop audio recording and editing application popular with podcasters.

http://www.pr.com/press-release/29913

This Shuffle is water resistant for depths up to 10 feet which makes it safe for showering, bathing or swimming as long as you keep it relatively shallow. SwimMan, the originator of the modified waterproof Shuffle, also has waterproof headphones to go along with it for your underwater listening enjoyment.

The iPod Shuffle with applied waterproofing is available now, and $250 gets you the 1GB Shuffle, the waterproofing technology and a set of waterproof headphones along with a limited warranty (Apple’s warranty is most likely void with this).

http://www.slipperybrick.com/2007/02/waterproof-ipod-shuffle/

This Shuffle is water resistant for depths up to 10 feet which makes it safe for showering, bathing or swimming as long as you keep it relatively shallow. SwimMan, the originator of the modified waterproof Shuffle, also has waterproof headphones to go along with it for your underwater listening enjoyment.

The iPod Shuffle with applied waterproofing is available now, and $250 gets you the 1GB Shuffle, the waterproofing technology and a set of waterproof headphones along with a limited warranty (Apple’s warranty is most likely void with this).

http://www.slipperybrick.com/2007/02/waterproof-ipod-shuffle/

This Shuffle is water resistant for depths up to 10 feet which makes it safe for showering, bathing or swimming as long as you keep it relatively shallow. SwimMan, the originator of the modified waterproof Shuffle, also has waterproof headphones to go along with it for your underwater listening enjoyment.

The iPod Shuffle with applied waterproofing is available now, and $250 gets you the 1GB Shuffle, the waterproofing technology and a set of waterproof headphones along with a limited warranty (Apple’s warranty is most likely void with this).

http://www.slipperybrick.com/2007/02/waterproof-ipod-shuffle/

The survey asked 2,000 Americans to rate 14 items as necessities or luxuries. While it may not be surprising that the necessities list included more than primal needs, the survey showed many of us are wedded to a host of appliances, tools and gadgets.

Indeed, fully 5% of respondents view having a top-of-the-line TV as a necessity, while 3% can’t imagine life without an iPod.

The list of modern conveniences-turned necessities keeps changing, too. In a 1996 survey, just under a third of Americans thought they had to have a microwave, and half as many as now needed a computer.

Pew considered cell phones “so exotic in 1996 they weren’t even placed on the survey.” Today, 49% must have one.

The survey found that young people were quicker to call gadgets necessities, though older respondents were more likely to say they “needed” home appliances.

Cary Leahey, an economist at Decision Economics, said the current economic outlook makes luxuries look like essentials.

“But if the unemployment rate climbed to 6% or higher, versus the current 4.5%, people’s attitude toward needing products like iPods will change,” Leahey said.

http://www.nydailynews.com/business/story/494718p-416781c.html

I never really thought 80GB of space was very large in an iPod but let me tell you, it is a lot of space. I was able to drop my entire CD music collection on the iPod and did not even hit 100MB. I have a long way to go.

One thing I have been really discovering is the world of video Podcasts. The first video Podcasts I downloaded was Photoshop TV. These guys are great and since I am a long time user of Photoshop, this topic is definitely relevant.

The other really cool thing was to allow me to store more audio Podcasts. So now, I can keep a better list of my favorite Podcasts, Shoemoney, Webmaster Radio, etc..

As my technical curiosity go the best of me, I when up to Apple and checked out the specs on my new device. I decided to post some of the more relevant specs here.

Size and weight (80GB)
Height: 4.1 inches
Width: 2.4 inches
Depth: 0.55 inch
Weight: 5.5 ounces

In the box
iPod
Earphones
USB 2.0 cable
Dock adapter for use with Universal Dock
Case
Quick Start guide

Capacity
30GB or 80GB hard drive1
Holds up to 20,000 songs (80GB) in 128-Kbps AAC format2
Holds up to 25,000 iPod-viewable photos3
Holds up to 100 hours (80GB) of video4
Stores data via USB hard drive

Display
2.5-inch (diagonal) QVGA transflective, over 65,000-color liquid crystal display with white LED backlight
320 by 240 pixel resolution, .156-mm dot pitch
Support for display of multiple languages and characters simultaneously

Audio
Frequency response: 20Hz to 20,000Hz
Audio formats supported: AAC (16 to 320 Kbps), Protected AAC (from iTunes Store), MP3 (16 to 320 Kbps), MP3 VBR, Audible (formats 2, 3 and 4), Apple Lossless, AIFF and WAV
User-configurable maximum volume limit

Video
Video formats supported: H.264 video, up to 1.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per sec., Low-Complexity version of the H.264 Baseline Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48 kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; H.264 video, up to 768 Kbps, 320 by 240 pixels, 30 frames per sec., Baseline Profile up to Level 1.3 with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48 kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; MPEG-4 video, up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per sec., Simple Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48 kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats

Headphones
Earphones
Frequency response: 20Hz to 20,000Hz
Impedance: 32 ohms

Windows system requirements
PC with USB 2.0
Windows 2000 with Service Pack 4 or later, or Windows XP Home or Professional with Service Pack 2 or later
iTunes 7 or later5

Environmental requirements
Operating temperature: 32° to 95° F (0° to 35° C)
Nonoperating temperature: -4° to 113° F (-20° to 45° C)
Relative humidity: 5% to 95% noncondensing
Maximum operating altitude: 10,000 feet (3000 m)

Input and output
iPod
Dock connector
3.5-mm stereo headphone minijack

iPod Universal Dock
Dock connector
Audio and composite video output
S-video output

Power and battery6
Built-in rechargeable lithium ion battery
Playback time (80GB model)
Music playback time: Up to 20 hours when fully charged
Photo slideshow with music viewing time: Up to 6 hours when fully charged
Video playback time: Up to 6.5 hours when fully charged
Charging via USB or FireWire to computer system or power adapter (sold separately)
Fast-charge time: about 2 hours (charges up to 80% of battery capacity)
Full-charge time: about 4 hours

I really love my new iPod. I would recommend this model to anyone who seriously demands a lot out of a media device.

Stay tuned, as with every new technical toy you need iPod accessories. I will post my reviews about the iPod accessories I have purchased.

Jax features configurable visualizers and the ability to manage lyrics and search libraries by specific phrases and words. It manages album art and enables users to research artists.

Jax can download information from the internet, such as point-to-point directions, current weather forecasts, stock quotes, cinema listings and local petrol prices. Likewise, it can load news feeds, emails and documents, as well as QuickTime movies or video from YouTube or Google Video.

Jax will be available in early February. Prosoft hasn’t set a price yet.

http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/news/index.cfm?newsid=8116

“iPhone is a revolutionary and magical product that is literally five years ahead of any other mobile phone,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “We are all born with the ultimate pointing device—our fingers—and iPhone uses them to create the most revolutionary user interface since the mouse.”
The iPhone features WiFi support and integration with iTunes, which could make it the ultimate device for enjoying audio and video podcasts.

iPhone As A Mobile Phone

iPhone lets users make calls by simply pointing at a name or number. iPhone syncs your contacts from your PC, Mac or Internet service such as Yahoo!, so that you always have your full list of up-to-date contacts with you. In addition, you can easily construct a favorites list for your most frequently made calls, and easily merge calls together to create conference calls.

iPhone’s Visual Voicemail, an industry first, lets users look at a listing of their voicemails, decide which messages to listen to, then go directly to those messages without listening to the prior messages. Just like email, iPhone’s Visual Voicemail enables users to immediately randomly access those messages that interest them most.

iPhone includes an SMS application with a full QWERTY soft keyboard to easily send and receive SMS messages in multiple sessions. When users need to type, iPhone presents them with a touch keyboard which is predictive to prevent and correct mistakes, making it easier and more efficient to use than the small plastic keyboards on many smartphones. iPhone also includes a calendar application that allows calendars to be automatically synced with your PC or Mac.

iPhone features a 2 megapixel camera and a photo management application that is far beyond anything on a phone today. Users can browse their photo library, which can be easily synced from their PC or Mac.

iPhone is a quad-band GSM phone which also features EDGE and Wi-Fi wireless technologies for data networking. Apple has chosen Cingular, the best and most popular carrier in the US with over 58 million subscribers, to be Apple’s exclusive carrier partner for iPhone in the US.

iPhone As An Widescreen iPod

iPhone is a widescreen iPod with touch controls that lets users “touch” their music by easily scrolling through entire lists of songs, artists, albums and playlists with just a flick of a finger. Album artwork is presented on iPhone’s large and vibrant display.

iPhone also features Cover Flow, Apple’s way to browse your music library by album cover artwork, for the first time on an iPod. When navigating your music library on iPhone, you are automatically switched into Cover Flow by simply rotating iPhone into its landscape position.

iPhone’s 3.5-inch widescreen display lets users watch TV shows and movies on a pocketable device, with touch controls for play-pause, chapter forward-backward and volume. iPhone plays the same videos purchased from the online iTunes Store.

iPhone lets users enjoy all their iPod content, including music, audiobooks, audio podcasts, video podcasts, music videos, television shows and movies. iPhone syncs content from a user’s iTunes library on their PC or Mac, and can play any music or video content they have purchased from the online iTunes store.

iPhone As An Internet Communications Device

iPhone features a rich HTML email client which fetches your email in the background from most POP3 or IMAP mail services and displays photos and graphics right along with the text. iPhone is fully multi-tasking, so you can be reading a web page while downloading your email in the background.

Yahoo! Mail, the world’s largest email service with over 250 million users, is offering a new free “push” IMAP email service to all iPhone users that automatically pushes new email to a user’s iPhone, and can be set up by simply entering your Yahoo! name and password. iPhone will also work with most industry standard IMAP and POP based email services, such as Microsoft Exchange, Apple .Mac Mail, AOL Mail, Google Gmail and most ISP mail services.

iPhone also features the most advanced and fun-to-use web browser on a portable device with a version of its award-winning Safari™ web browser for iPhone. Users can see any web page the way it was designed to be seen, and then easily zoom in to expand any section by simply tapping on iPhone’s multi-touch display with their finger. Users can surf the web from just about anywhere over Wi-Fi or EDGE, and can automatically sync their bookmarks from their PC or Mac. iPhone’s Safari web browser also includes built-in Google Search and Yahoo! Search so users can instantly search for information on their iPhone just like they do on their computer.

iPhone also includes Google Maps, featuring Google’s groundbreaking maps service and iPhone’s amazing maps application, offering the best maps experience by far on any pocket device. Users can view maps, satellite images, traffic information and get directions, all from iPhone’s remarkable and easy-to-use touch interface.

iPhone’s Advanced Sensors

iPhone employs advanced built-in sensors—an accelerometer, a proximity sensor and an ambient light sensor—that automatically enhance the user experience and extend battery life. iPhone’s built-in accelerometer detects when the user has rotated the device from portrait to landscape, then automatically changes the contents of the display accordingly, with users immediately seeing the entire width of a web page, or a photo in its proper landscape aspect ratio.

iPhone’s built-in proximity sensor detects when you lift iPhone to your ear and immediately turns off the display to save power and prevent inadvertent touches until iPhone is moved away. iPhone’s built-in ambient light sensor automatically adjusts the display’s brightness to the appropriate level for the current ambient light, thereby enhancing the user experience and saving power at the same time.

Pricing & Availability

iPhone will be available in the US in June 2007, Europe in late 2007, and Asia in 2008, in a 4GB model for $499 (US) and an 8GB model for $599 (US), and will work with either a PC or Mac. iPhone will be sold in the US through Apple’s retail and online stores, and through Cingular’s retail and online stores. Several iPhone accessories will also be available in June, including Apple’s new remarkably compact Bluetooth headset.

iPhone includes support for quad-band GSM, EDGE, 802.11b/g Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.0 EDR wireless technologies.

iPhone requires a Mac with a USB 2.0 port, Mac OS® X v10.4.8 or later and iTunes 7; or a Windows PC with a USB 2.0 port and Windows 2000 (Service Pack 4), Windows XP Home or Professional (Service Pack 2). Internet access is required and a broadband connection is recommended. Apple and Cingular will announce service plans for iPhone before it begins shipping in June.

http://www.synthtopia.com/news/07_01/iPod-Phone.html

SAN FRANCISCO - Apple Computer CEO Steve Jobs on Tuesday made the company’s long-awaited jump into the mobile phone business and renamed the company to just “Apple Inc.,” reflecting its increasing focus on consumer electronics.

The iPhone, which starts at $499, is controlled by touch, plays music, surfs the Internet and runs the Macintosh computer operating system. Jobs said it will “reinvent” the telecommunications sector and “leapfrog” past the current generation of hard-to-use smart phones.

“Every once in a while a revolutionary product comes along that changes everything,” he said during his keynote address at the annual Macworld Conference and Expo. “It’s very fortunate if you can work on just one of these in your career. . . . Apple’s been very fortunate in that it’s introduced a few of these.”

He said the name change is meant to reflect the fact that Apple has matured from a computer manufacturer to a full-fledged consumer electronics company.

“I didn’t sleep a wink last night,” he said. “I was so excited.”

Jobs also unveiled a TV set-top box that allows people to send video from their computers and announced the number of songs sold on its iTunes Music Store has topped 2 billion.

Apple shares jumped more than 8 percent on the announcements, while the stock of rival smart-phone makers plunged. The run on Apple stock created about $6 billion in shareholder wealth.

Jobs demonstrated the iPhone’s music capabilities by playing “Lovely Rita, Meter Maid,” from the Beatles’ “Sergeant Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band,” as the album’s psychedelic album art graced a wide-screen monitor.

IPhone uses a patented touch-screen technology Apple is calling “multi-touch.”

“We’re going to use a pointing device that we’re all born with,” Jobs said. “It works like magic. . . . It’s far more accurate than any touch display ever shipped. It ignores unintended touches. It’s super smart.”

The phone automatically synchs your media — movies, music, photos — through Apple’s iTunes Music Store.

The device also synchs e-mail content, Web bookmarks and nearly any type of digital content stored on your computer.

“It’s just like an iPod,” Jobs said, “charge and synch.”

The phones, which will operate exclusively on AT&T Inc.’s Cingular wireless network, will start shipping in June. A 4-gigabyte model will cost $499, while an 8-gigabyte iPhone will be $599, Jobs said.

IPhone is less than a half-inch thin — less than almost any phone on the market today.

It comes with a 2-megapixel digital camera built into the back, as well as a slot for headphones and a SIM card.

In a demonstration Tuesday, Jobs slid his finger across the display to reveal a home screen and then scrolled through a list of songs.

To make a call, users can tap out the number on an onscreen keypad or scroll through their contacts and dial with a single touch.

Apple is also introducing what it calls “visual voicemail,” so users can jump to the most important messages rather than have to listen to all of them in order.

The phone supports Wi-Fi and Bluetooth wireless technology and can detect location from Global Positioning System satellites. It also can send and display e-mail and text messages. Apple is partnering with Yahoo Inc. on Web-based e-mail and Google Inc. on maps.

With a few finger taps, Jobs demonstrated how to pull up a Google Maps site and find the closest Starbucks to the Moscone Center. He then prank-called the cafe and ordered 4,000 lattes to go before quickly hanging up.

“My initial reaction is that this product actually lives up to the extensive hype, and I’m not easily impressed,” said Avi Greengart, mobile device analyst for the research firm Current Analysis.

Also Tuesday, Jobs said Apple will begin taking orders immediately for the $299 video box called Apple TV. It will ship next month.

The gadget is designed to bridge computers and television sets so users can more easily watch their downloaded movies on a big screen. A prototype of the gadget was displayed by Jobs in September when Apple announced it would sell TV shows and movies through its iTunes online store.

The product could be as revolutionary to digital movies as Apple’s iPod music player was to digital music. Both devices liberate media from the computer, allowing people to enjoy digital files without being chained to a desktop or laptop.

“It’s really, really easy to use,” Jobs told the crowd at San Francisco’s Moscone Center before demonstrating the system with a video clip of “The Good Shepherd.” “It’s got the processing horsepower to do the kinds of things we like to do.”

Apple TV will come with a 40-gigabyte hard drive that stores up to 50 hours of video. It features an Intel Corp. microprocessor and can handle videos, photos and music streamed from up to five computers within the wireless range.

Jobs also said Apple has sold more than 2 billion songs on its popular iTunes music download service, catapulting the company into the top ranks of music sellers worldwide.

Apple, which sells 58 songs per second, or 5 million songs a day, sells more songs than Amazon.com and ranks behind only Wal-Mart, Best Buy and Target as a music retailer.

“We couldn’t be happier with the growth rate of iTunes,” Jobs said.

He said Apple will sell digital movies from Paramount. Apple has partnered with Disney for several months, offering about 100 movies on iTunes. With Paramount’s selection, it will have 250 movies available for downloading on the site.

With Tuesday’s launches, it remains to be seen whether the leading seller of digital music players will find it as easy to jump into the phone business.

Apple could use a megahit along the lines of its iconic iPod to divert investors’ attention from the stock options-backdating scandal that has tainted its reputation.

The backdating of stock options, which has been widespread among Silicon Valley companies, involves pegging stock options to favorable grant dates in the past to boost the recipients’ award.

It isn’t necessarily illegal, but securities laws require companies to properly disclose the practice in their accounting and settle any charges that may result.

In a December filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Apple said Jobs was aware of, or recommended the selection of, some favorable grant dates but he neither benefited financially from them nor “appreciated the accounting implications.”

Apple shares jumped $7.10 to close at $92.57 on the Nasdaq Stock Market. The stock has traded in a 52-week range of $50.16 to $93.16.Nearly 120 million Apple shares were traded on Tuesday, more than four times the average daily volume.

Meanwhile, shares of other smart-phone makers slid: Treo-maker Palm dropped 5.7 percent, BlackBerry’s Research In Motion Ltd. lost 7.9 percent and Motorola Inc. shed 1.8 percent.