Steve Jobs is Back

Steve Jobs is Back and He Brought New iPods

Steve Jobs himself showed up today to deliver the news about new iPods in Apple land. He looked healthy, happy, and he had plenty of good news for iPod users. Almost everything got a bump of some sort, and iTunes itself became a bit more useful. For me, it was a good day. My wife had a great day, because the iPod Nano refresh means that she gets a new iPod for her anniversary.

Firstly, iTunes 9 hit and it has sone nice features. The new iTunes LP tries to bring MP3s back to the days of records with album art, liner notes, and fan information. The albums that support the new LP features will have plenty of info that will sync to your iPod of choice. iTunes also includes support for Facebook and Twitter, which allows you to share your passions or obsessions with the world. The new Genius play list feature will play on, and on, and on which is handy because you can now sync and share your iTunes libraries between Bonjour enabled machines (Macs or Windows machines with Bonjour) throughout your house. Overall, the new iTunes is a big plus. Personally, I noticed that it is both faster and less resource hungry on my Snow Leopard machines.

Next, the iPod touch dropped its price an upped its capacity. You can get an 8GB iPod touch for a mere $199 now, and a fully stacked 64GB Touch will set you back $399. The iPod Touch received much of the speed increases that the iPhone 3GS did earier this summer. Specifically, the Touch now supports OpenGL which makes 3D gaming a smoother experience. Combined with the 3.1 iPhone and iPod Touch upgrade, the iPod touch is a gaming and application running monster.

The iPod Nano was not left out. In fact, I think it received the best bump of all. The Nano now features a video camera that is capable of capturing some pretty good video. The video can be tweaked with filters and then displayed on the new, larger display. The base Nano now has 8GB of storage and only costs $149. In comparison to most low-end video cameras like the Flip, the iPod Nano represens a pretty complete package. The 16GB model is only $179. The camera is in addition to a radio with live pause, a pedometer, and a speed bump. Based on what I have seen from the video camera, the 16GB iPod Nano is a steal. I know my wife is looking forward to getting hers next week.

Lastly, the shuffle received a sale price, so for $59 you get a 2GB shuffle. For $79, you can have a 4GB shuffle. The suffle also comes in colors including a stainless steel limited edition. Overall, the iPod Shuffle was the least exciting announcement, but if you need a green or pink ultra-small MP3 player, the Shuffle might excite you.

It was a good day for Steve Jobs and for Apple. This Christmas, there are going to be a ton of iGifts.

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More Ways to Save Money

More Ways to Save Money While in School

© Paul Keleher
Everyone knows that college is becoming more expensive every year. This means that money is becoming tighter and ways to save money need to be found. Here are some more ways you can save money while you are in school.


Take Distance Learning Courses

If you have a job where you are you may want to think about taking your courses online. Jobs are hard enough to find right now and you appears to be able to keep the one you have - along with job security. If you move and start afresh while you are going to school, you will be at the bottom of the list - and the first to go if there is a layoff.

Distance learning courses enable you to get the same quality of training - if it is an accredited college - and it can save you moving costs and job hunt time. This would save you thousands of dollars - and you get to keep on working, too. You will need to research and find out, however, if you think you would do well in a distance learning situation. It will take a little more self-discipline.

Consider Your School Loans Wisely

I mentioned yesterday that you should get all the scholarships you can. If you still do not have enough, though, then you may have to get a college loan. Use wisdom here, and do not take the first loan offer you get. Consider that an interest percentage of a couple of points can make a large difference over a long period of time.

Look to get government loans first, such as Stafford or Perkins loans. These loans have the lowest interest on the market - and can be consolidated later. You cannot, however, consolidate government and private loans together.

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The financial meltdown

The financial meltdown and tell-tale emails

Should UBS be held accountable for selling toxic collateralised debt obligations? The Wall Street Journal reports that UBS staff knew these debt securities were bad and sent off emails making that point quite clear. "OK still have this vomit?" one email said. Another email was just as pithy, saying they had sold "more crap".

As Reuters blogger Matthew Goldstein points out, the damning part about the evidence now coming out in legal proceedings is the allegation that ratings agency Moody's shared information with UBS which makes it very close to insider trading. That's bad news for other investment banks. "It's doubtful that this sharing of information between a rating agency and a Wall Street bank was an isolated event," Goldstein writes.

The Huffington Post backs this up with its report showing these damning emails were being fired off by so a number of in Wall Street. The implication: Wall Street traders knew they were selling junk but were still intent on ripping off the public. Expect more lawsuits.

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Appetizing Architecture

image credit

Buildings shaped like food became hugely popular in the 1930s when the idea of road tripping was relatively new. Business owners along the Lincoln Highway, the first coast-to-coast highway in the U.S. were looking for a creative way to entice road trippers to stop for a bite.

Today, a number of of these structures are lovingly maintained, while others sit abandoned. Still, new ones occasionally pop up. So next time you"re on a road trip, take some time to look out the window and smell the donuts, or the coffee, or the watermelons.

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Toothpaste Caps

Getting the kids to brush their teeth everyday can be a bit of a chore, but there is a simple and easy solution to it by Spread Heads - Toothpaste Heads/Caps. These encourage kids to brush their teeth. As the name implies, these caps can be kept on the usual sized toothpaste tubes, replacing the standard cap that it came with. There are two to choose from - Pete the dog, and Oscar the cat. These work with most of the toothpastes. Once you fix it on your toothpaste, the toothpaste flows easily through their mouths. Once you are done, there is a paw that closes their mouth so that the cap gets closed. With these, getting the kids to brush their teeth becomes a lot easier and is more fun.

(Image credit: perpetualkid).

(Image credit: urbanoutfitters).

(Image credit: perpetualkid).

Watch the "Toothpaste Heads/Caps" Video on Youtube
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Alessi Rondo Toothpaste Caps:

(Image credit: ipejournal).
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Spread Heads Mustard Marvin and Ketchup Charlie: Ketchup Charlie and Mustard Marvin replaces the cap of your regular mustard sauce bottle and ketchup top. When pressed, ketchup runs out of Charlie"s nose, and mustard flows out of Marvin"s mouth.

(Image credit: perpetualkid).

(Image credit: perpetualkid).

Watch the "Spread Heads Mustard Marvin and Ketchup Charlie" Video on Youtube
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Bottle Clip: Creation of designer Mattias Ries, it lets you carry a standard bottle of water on your bike.

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Solar Powered Water Bottle Cap: This cap can be fixed on standard 2"-mouth water bottles (such as Nalgene, Camelbak and more) and transforms it into a solar-powered lantern.

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Creative Advertisement

Creative Advertisement Campaigns Promoting Weight Loss

If you have a family member or a friend who is overweight, ask him/her what makes them choose a weight loss program? It"s the advertisement campaigns that suggests weight loss; helps one keep fit and have an attractive and beautiful body. Here we have a few interesting and creative weight loss promotion advertisements that we are sure will make one think of their weight.

Sport Batel Gym - Elevator This advertisement campaign was created keeping businessmen and women in view; stickers were placed in elevators of commercial buildings which made the floor panel work like a weighing scale, with the floor numbers now converted into the kilograms going up and down. Apart from the weight unit (kg), the sticker had a message about the benefits of working out.

MyBody Gym: "It"s time to join MyBody Gym". This one is really cute; the baby elephant is following the overweight lady instead of his/her elephant mom.

Fitness First - Bus Stop: Another beautiful and creative concept; this campaign was created by N=5 for Fitness First. A bus stop bench was converted into a scale that will display the weight of people sitting on it, or reminding overweight people its time to join the gym.

Weight Watchers - Long Bus: "Watch yourself change."

Fitness Company - Elevator:

Special K - Weight Stretch: Another beautiful concept; stretch posters were attached to the back of weight machines; when the lines of the weights were stretched the woman in the poster slimmed up.

Weight Watchers - Bus:

Weight Watchers - Entrance/Exit doors: An interesting concept which speaks aloud about self with the logo of Weight Watchers in between the doors are labeled entrance and exit.

AnnaNas Beauty and Slim Centre: "This kilo has been lost thanks to our weight loss program. Even you can lose weight at AnnaNas".

No diet, No ….: In this advertisement campaign, beautiful wedding cakes were prominently displayed at popular cake shops. And the groom figurine atop the cake was overweight and the bride was missing. It was to drive home the message that a fit body increases one"s attraction quotient. Or that reminding overweight people that they"re unattractive & will never marry.

Pepsi light:

Active Life Movement - Superhero: "Keep obesity away from your child."

Active Life Movement -Barbie:

Fit Light Dairy - Sharon Stone: "Forget about it. Men"s preference will never change. Fit Light Yogurt."

Weight Watchers - Slim screen:

Slimming centre - Transition:

Weight Watchers - Weight Loss Boomerang: This boomerang was handed to people in the street.

Weight Watchers - Elevator:

Palladium Fitness Center - Entrance/Exit doors:

Guarana Antarctica Diet - Stop growing:

Diet Shake And Coca-Cola Light:

Sportplausch Wider And Metropolis Gym:

Antarctica Diet Guarana And Laemthong Low Fat Milk:

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Play Your Child

Play Your Child a Lullaby with Lullabelly

The Prenatal Music Belt wraps comfortably around pregnant bellies and has a front pocket to store your mp3 player or other accessories. Simply plug your player into the Lullabelly into the built in speaker and let the concert begin. You can play soothing sounds or read your unborn child a story via an audio book. There"s also a dual adapter included in the deluxe edition so mommy and baby can both listen as well as a speaker volume control so you can protect baby"s sensitive ears.As per the site, the highest decibel Lullabelly can reach is the equivalent of a telephone ringing.

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iLuv presents the kooky iMM183

iLuv presents the kooky iMM183

iLuv appear to have created a product for a really oddly specific niche; couples who both own iPhones/iPod touches. The er, creatively named iMM183 features a dual dock system for charging and playing of your tunes, as well as being an alarm clock with the ability to set seperate alarms for either player. Er, it also tells you the weather? Some of the press pictures show it with a big ol "TORNADO WARNING" written on it. I don"t think I"d like to be woken up by a clock telling me I am set to be swept away.

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Fastest Growing Social Game

Cafe World: Fastest Growing Social Game in History

One day my newsfeed in Facebook waccording tofectly normal. The next day it was covered up in stuff about some cafe - and people were wanting to hire my wife and me to work in their little restaurants. At least it seemed that way.

VentureBeat describes it this way:When Cafe World debuted on Facebook on Sept. 30, it lit up the social network immediately. The title, a simple simulation where you make food and run a restaurant, took off faster than any other social game in history.At the end of week one it had eight million users. After two weeks it had 15 million users.

Zynga, the company that created Cafe World, seems to have Facebook users figured out. Its other big game, FarmVille, has 56 million players (I just made level 32 there).

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