Last week, Apple hosted an event to show off their new music stuff. This included a new version of iTunes, a range of new iPods, and new software for iPhone and iPod Touch. I didn’t get up a 5am like the last event to see what Apple was announcing, I could wait till later because I don’t need an iPod and also a lot of the announcements were already rumored around the internet, mainly due to a Kevin Rose inside source.

To sum up everything in a paragraph, new version of iTunes, 8.0. Adds grid album art view and Genius which makes playlists from songs similar to the one chosen. New iPod Nano, old slim design, accelerometer and Genius plus also a gimmicky (useless) feature, shake to shuffle. New iPod Touch, same as old one, slight design changes, Nike+ built in, volume on side. 2.1 software for iPhone/iPod Touch, fixes the bugs in 2.0 and adds Genius. The only things that interest me is the iTunes 8.0 update and the 2.1 software.

I installed iTunes straight away and I have noticed that it works better than 7.7 did in Vista. It still isn’t perfect but I guess the only way to make iTunes work perfectly is to get a Mac. As you know, I prefer to play my music by album so the album art grid view is great for me. It allows me to select an album to play pretty quickly. I also had a quick play with genius. I was happy with the selection it made, although it could probably have made better choices here and there, but I’m sure it’s playlist selections will get better as time goes on. I think Genius is a great way to find similar songs that go together in your library in a quick and easy way. It also allows to rediscover some of the music that has been buried in your library for a while. I think it is great alternative over Party Shuffle in iTunes and definitely the shuffle mode.

I have yet to upgrade my iPhone to 2.1 but I am really looking forward to being able to. Genius on it is going to be great, although I am a bit worried about how well it would work with only one third of my music collection on it. In saying that, it has most of the songs, well albums, I enjoy listening to anyway. Also the bug fixes to the keyboard lag, random app crashes and long sync/backup time will be greatly appreciated. I’m just waiting for QuickPwn for Windows to get released and I’m on the bandwagon. I need the unofficial third party apps as much as I need the official ones, that is why I haven’t gone through with the upgrade already.

So the event was prety dull. I think it would have been more exciting if the products hadn’t been rumored in such great detail beforehand. It kind of ruined the anticipation of the announcements. Although I wasn’t expecting any new computers (MacBook please!) to be announced, that will be the thing I am looking forward to the most. I think I am turning towards the Apple side!

A couple of days ago, when I was browsing the deep space of Tumblr, I stumbled across an interesting post. I thought it seemed pretty cool so I gave it a try to see what results I would get and here is is as follows. If you would also like to try it out, and maybe post it on my blog or tumblelog or whatever, the instructions are also below. If you do, please pingback or leave a comment so I can see your results.

Type your answer to the questions into flickr search
-Using only the first page, pick an image
-Copy and paste each of the urls in the Mosaic Maker

1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What high school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. What is your favorite drink?
7. What is your dream vacation?
8. What is your favorite dessert?
9. What do you want to do when you grow up?
10. Who / what do you love most in life?
11. Choose one word that describes you?
12. What is your Flickr name?

1. Jonathan Coulton’s GlaDOS Rock Band, 2. Melting Chocolate, 3. Robotic Lego, 4. Berlin blues, 5. Masi Oka and Hayden Panettiere – Interview (1), 6. Raspberry Coke, 7. Berlin, Germany, 8. Miniature Cakes, 9. My Computer, 10. Internet!!!, 11. ultimate geek nook, 12. Leopard

Last week, the small group of us doing the Polytech computing course finished our second unit, which was on Operating Systems. For this we looked at two different operating systems, the first one being DOS (where we actually used Command Prompt because most of the commands are the same) and Linux (Kubuntu if you need to know the distro.) The reason we looked at these two is because for the standard, we are required to look at a single user and multi user operating system.

The first section involved a bit of research and learning the terminology of how Operating Systems work. We weren’t tested on any of this stuff. Then we were messing around with basic commands in cmd. Then we were trying out some basic commands in the Linux console. For this we used a Kubuntu Live CD. We didn’t get into anything that technical, basically only file manipulation stuff, and this was mainly due to the time limits. For example, we only had 5 hours on Linux, 4 if you exclude the test week, 3 if you exclude the week everyone was away/sick. It’s very difficult to learn anything advanced in that short amount of time.

The unit seemed shorter than the first one but I think it was because it was broken up into sections, so it seemed like we weren’t working on it for long. Anyway, now we move onto our final unit, System Programming. For this we were given Atmel AVR Butterfly’s, which we get to keep, for programming. I’m not really sure what we are going to be making the things do but they seem like pretty sweet gizmos. Can’t wait to get into it!

As you may have noticed, the last blog post I have made here was exactly a month ago, on the 25th of July. Why has it been so long since I have posted? Well the main reason is the idea well run dry (thanks for all your suggestions, all who emailed in.) Now I have gathered up some ideas and have some new things to blog about after this break. I do think that this was a perfect time to have a break, right before my first milestone, more about that on the date.

So, what has happened to me since I have been away. Well first I got sick and had a week off school. I got sick on the Saturday, which was a week before the school Formal. I went to the doctors and he gave me medication to take but I wasn’t getting any better so I returned to the doctor on Wednesday who though it could potentially be appendicitis and sent me to the emergency department to get test taken. This was a scary thought as I hate hospitals and the thought of having surgery.

When I got there, I waited for a bit and then later got check out, where the stuck a thing in my arm, took some blood and then put me on a drip. I waited for about 3 or 4 hours before the results came back, which showed nothing so I got let go. I had KFC for dinner at 8:30pm which was getting late but I only ate half a burger because I really didn’t feel like eating.

After that I started feeling better but I took the next day of resting, and then on the Friday, although I would have preferred another days rest, and could have used it, I needed to go to school to pick up my Formal ticket for the next day. I already had payed $90 or however much it cost and already had a suit hired for the event.

So the next day, I went to the school Formal. This is a big deal for a lot of people, but for me, it was just meh. I thought I had better go because this would be my only opportunity to ever go to one so I needed to see what it was all about. It is really weird seeing everyone dressed formally. I am not used to seeing people like this. And the event, it was average, but nothing I would have missed if I didn’t go. Oh, also I have to mention how crappy the food was, I wish I had eaten beforehand. There was also an afterparty, but I don’t think I’ll go into that.

Other than that, I have had assessments and have been doing other stuff (iPhone *cough*) as well as the usual. Still have a few things to get sorted out but by the holidays, my todo list should be clear. I still have to start that damn reading log so I can get the English credit I need for University. I did plan on finishing it this month, which is now over, so I doubt that will be happening. It’s a shame because I was hoping to have this of my plate for when the Fall TV shows start their new seasons. Despite my workload, I will be trying to keep this blog updated like I had before my break.

Last Friday afternoon, a package arrived to my home. In this, contained Peppery’s old iPhone. I wasn’t that eager to open it and start playing with it, so I eventually got round to having a look, and taking pictures of the re-unboxing. The first thing you notice about the iPhone, is that the box is gorgeous! Then when you get inside, you have in front of you, a shiny device. You wouldn’t know the device is a phone, if it wasn’t called the iPhone.

Now that I have had a play with it for a week, you would think I’d have something to say about it. Yes, I do, but the thing is, everything has already been said, over the past year of its release. The iPhone is an amazing device. It does everything well. I could go into detail about what I love about this phone, but go Google “iPhone Reviews” and pretty much everything is covered in there.

I could go on and get into specifics, but I don’t want to, I don’t need to. If you haven’t already experienced an iPhone, you are really missing out on something. This device offers so much, and every iPhone owner wouldn’t be disappointed by their investment. I got this for a more than reasonable price and I absolutely love this phone. I’m sorry if you expected a review or something, but you really have to use this product, instead of reading about all of it’s features. Now I’m going off to play with it, my precious!

…for now.

Today is the start of the mid year holidays. I won’t be doing anything these holidays. I won’t be travelling or doing anything special. I wouldn’t mind going to Auckland, Wellington or Christchurch to wait in line for the iPhone but I can barely afford the iPhone, let alone a trip there to get it at 12:01am on July 11th. So I will probably be on my computer for the next 2 weeks and surfing the net and watching some TV shows.

Being the middle of the year, I got my mid-year school report on Friday and it was pretty good. There were a few errors in it though, such as an incorrect grade and 2 of the same report, both with a slight error in the comment. You would think that someone would check through and make sure they are alright before giving them out. Oh well.

While still on the subject of school, just as I was about to relax on Saturday afternoon, a red letter from school arrived. A red letter is a naughty note, in simple terms. The reason the note was sent was for not submitting my Geography Report (and don’t say anything Stephanie!) I’m surprised I got one without knowing. I’m not too worried about it because I don’t really need the credits for UE. Also it’s my first red letter in 6 and a half years I’ve been there, so I like to think I’ve done well.

So basically I am going to waste away my holidays again. When I return next term, I’m going to have a fair bit to do, including submitting a Reading Log, doing difficult Electronic component physics assessments, as well as many other things. Not long to go before I’m done for good. It’s going to be 2009 before I know it.