Sometimes when I hear a song for the very first time, I can tell in 15 seconds I already love it – and immediately want to buy it! And I’ve gotten really good at predicting which ones are soon to be chart toppers. But sometimes liking a song takes a while…

Like one day, someone asked me, “Have you heard that song (insert song title here)? It’s pretty good.” I hadn’t heard it, so I gave it a shot and, the first time, I was like, eh. I listened to it again and, the second time, I was like, eh. The third time I heard it on the radio, I was like, eh. But the fourth time? No, still, eh. Later, I heard it for the fifth time and I was like, eh… … But then, like on the 37th time, I was like ooohh yeeeaaaAAH! And now I love it!

Here are some more wallpapers for the iPhone. Just right click each image and SAVE AS.

How to download the above images and save them as your iPhone wallpaper.

1) Click each image to open up
2) Right click on image and click SAVE AS
3) Save the image to your pictures folder that you are syncing with the iPhone in iTunes
4) Next time you sync your iPhone the image should copy across to your iPhone
5) You should now see your custom wallpaper on the iPhone’s start-up screen as well as for incoming calls that do not have a contact assigned to them

Here are some more wallpapers for the iPhone. Just right click each image and SAVE AS.

How to download the above images and save them as your iPhone wallpaper.

1) Click each image to open up
2) Right click on image and click SAVE AS
3) Save the image to your pictures folder that you are syncing with the iPhone in iTunes
4) Next time you sync your iPhone the image should copy across to your iPhone
5) You should now see your custom wallpaper on the iPhone’s start-up screen as well as for incoming calls that do not have a contact assigned to them

My lecturer today was trying to give a “real world example of aperiodic signals”. Which was:
“Remember in the movie Independence Day, when the aliens were sending the signal to Earth?”
Going to stop you there professor…not really a real world example is it? A, It’s a movie. B, they’re aliens. If that’s really the best example you can give…why are we learning it? Are we going to learn about any of the other technology the aliens used in the ‘96 Sci-Fi adventure?

I hate losing stuff, or that sensation and moment of panic when something isn’t where you think it’s supposed to be. I’m a fan of the quick pocket tap, left pocket wallet, right pocket phone. The iPod can get me, because it really doesn’t have a loyalty to any pocket, so the sudden panic when I realise it’s not in my left pocket, is quickly alleviated when I tap and feel it in the right. Sometimes it can be tricky, its flat so can sometimes pair up with the phone or the wallet, and just feel like one item is in each pocket; which is then followed by the panic stricken; “oh my god where is it?”
There is usually 3 seconds of chaos, frantically checking pockets, thinking where it could have fallen out of my pocket, checking bag, looking at the path behind me desperately hoping that I’ve continently happened to drop it in the last 10 steps. After 3 seconds I stop and compose myself.
“Relax Steve, there is music playing in your ears. Just calmly trace the cord from your earphones, to the iPod in your pocket. Crisis averted.

…
Yeah, I’m weak. Apple is now selling the 5G iPod nano refurbished, and I just couldn’t resist getting one. Although I actually hardly use my iPods anymore ever since I bought the iPhone, the 5G nano is actually very interesting, espcially its capability to capture video and the cyborg special effect. Here’s a sample:

Pretty cool huh.

I treated myself to an iPod Touch recently. And it’s great. For the most part. (Well, having the iPod, I can now extrapolate to why the iPad might be a very interesting device – but more on that later.)

But the point of this post is not to laud Apple, and sing songs of its glory, but to point at some chinks in the iPod instead. So, here we go:

1. Why can I not create playlists on the iPod? If everything can be synced between the iPod and my computer, so can playlists! It’s really no big deal, is it?

2. Why can there not be a song queue? Again, the iPod has enough memory to keep a simple list of songs to play. Should be a no brainer – but apparently not.

3. Why can I not play all the songs returned by a search criterion? For example, I have songs sung by “Sonu Nigam”, as well as, say “Sonu Nigam and Shreya Ghoshal”. These two entries are shown as two separate artists (understandably). Now if I want to play all Sonu Nigam songs, I should be able to just search for Sonu Nigam, and play every song in the search result. But no, I cannot do this.

4. How hard is it to put arrow keys on the virtual keyboard? You know, you mistype, you realize the typo at the end of the sentence… and you don’t have an arrow key to move the cursor back. It’s almost impossible to get the cursor to a point in the middle of a text field – the usual AI response is to take the cursor either to the beginning or to the end of the text field. Do Apple engineers never make typos that they discover four words later?

These peeves seem to me to be very minor issues that should be really simple to implement / get bugs out of… and yet, here’s Apple, with it’s reputation for things that “just work”, not doing the implementation.

Can’t you do better, Mr Steve Jobs?

Tomorrow is an out-of-uniform day for Addy and Avery at school.  They can either wear school spirit wear (shirts with the school logo or school colors) or they can wear a shirt with a picture of something they can’t live without.  I didn’t want any big drama in the morning so I had the girls get their clothes together before bed.  Of course, I’m thinking they are going to go with spirit wear.  We don’t have any t-shirts advertising TV or cell phones or computers or iPods…all of the things that come to my mind.  So Avery goes up to her room to take a look and comes back with a purple t-shirt that has a little heart in the bottom corner.  I’m thinking that’s actually pretty smart…we can’t live without our heart, can we?  I was impressed that she went beyond the material possessions that I had been thinking about, but when I said that to her, she said, “No mommy, it says love, we can’t live without love.”

Wow…I was speechless.  We think it is our job to teach them, but they teach us so much, don’t they.  That beautiful, innocent, perfect little  six-year old soul understood that assignment in a way I hadn’t even considered.  She gave me a whole new perspective and I was humbled.  After all, she was right, there couldn’t have been a better answer.

Until later…

Daily, while absorbed in studying, I do my best to explore the listening landscape and share some of my favorites with you.

Great Video!