NoBuntu.

The old Maxtor gave up the ghost. Looks like I'll just have
to get a new HDD. Sigh.

Ubuntu!

My freebie Ubuntu CDs arrived today (Courtesy of Cannonical. Any freebie is a good freebie!), in x86, amd64 and PPC flavours.






Very snazzy. My second HDD, currently the abode of *coughOSX86cough*,
will be secrificed to the altar of Open Source. Succes will bring a flood of forced OS changes upon an unsuspecting household. Failure will result in a short period of sulking, slight rage, and forum inquiries.

AntisocialPhones

My new canalphones arrived; ER-6Is. While I can't compare them directly to my old E2Cs (due to them being stolen, which is a not- very long and fairly boring story, and better suited for a LiveJournal) they seem to have less punchy bass (though not so far as to describe them as 'limp'. It's not quite a seal issue, the bass is there, it's just a little underwhelming. More on this in later), but more high-end detail. The included plastic buds (the 3-flange ones) are far more comfortable than the ones included with the E2Cs, but as my ear canals are oddly large, fit too far in and the largest flange's edge - try saying that three times fast - sits inside the ear rather uncomfortably. The foam buds however are very nice. They are longer but thinner than the (medium) foam buds for the E2C, and have a sealed rather than open cell (so don't discolour/pick up wax nearly as easily).
On the downside, the aforementioned giant canal problem means even fully expanded they are a little loose, which is what I assume accounts for the lackluster bass response, even with the best possible seal they can provide. Etymotic provide larger foam buds on their site, but at nearly £8 a pop (not including shipping from the US) it's not really worth it just to bea able to blow my eardrums out without an EQ.

Invisible Shield

Well, the Invisible Shield arrived. Application was a little tedious (sticking one side flap down invariably unsticks the opposite side). Then comes this part:

"Let the iPod sit for a couple of hours [...] do not turn the iPod on for 24 hours"


>_<

Poor Man's nano Case

Well, I finally got a nano. While I don't know exactly how easy it is to scratch, I'm taking no chances. Whilst I've ordered an InvisibleSHIELD, what am I to do in the meantime? Surely not surrender it's pristine finish to the rigours of my pocket? Why, turn the packaging into the Poor Man's nano Case of course! (Or the PMC^-09 in Standard form)

How exactly is this marval of nanotechnology produced you may ask? With a pair of scissors and some spare time (i.e. an unproductive computing lesson).


Step 1:
Rub off the white lettering on the plastic case the nano was packaged in (What, you threw it away? Too bad. At least you kept the stick-on sheet on the front on, right? Right?) It rubs off easily with your fingernail, and any kind of cloth will remove the residue with a little moisture. I used a sleeve, you might want to go a fancier route with a paper towel or a dry polishing cloth.


Step 2:
Flatten the lower edge of the case, and snip out a notch. This will allow the headphone jack to plug in without bending up the edge of the plastic. Being a bodge-job at the time, I overestimated and cut a rather large bit off, but if you have the patience you can measure the jack socket and find out how much material you need to remove. An x-acto knife would probably produce a better cut than a pair of scissors, but again, bodge-job.


Step 3 (optional):
Cut a slot out of the top for the hold switch. This is optional if you don't need the hold switch, or if you're happy to slide it though the plastic (It has enough give to allow you to slide it on easily, but sliding it off again requires you to gather up a little material over it or stretch the corner fold, potentially weakening it). Again i used a pair of scissors and over-estimated the cut, leavinmg the material around the swich partially exposed, but with a more precise cutting tool and a little patience you can produce an exact slot.


Step 4:
Insert the nano, and admire your handywork. Beautiful, isn't it?

(oddly, those microscratches are invisible to the naked eye and incredibly vivid on a badly focusd camera. Ah, the wonders of optics!)



I've had this on for a week, and stored it in my pocket with a leather wallet, and haven't gotten a single scratch on the front. The back is slightly scored as you have to remove the case to sync it (I decided not to cut a hole for the data cable as it would almost certainly remove too much material for the bottom edge to hold together) but they could easilly be removed with some Brasso, though personally I'm inclined to brush the back.


Additionally, the included iTunes CD makes a wonderful coaster!

Email!

Whilst I don't want to turn this into a link-a-day blog, this is one of the funnist things I've seen for a while.


On a slightly darker note; ebay has failed me once again. That's it, I'm off the sauce.



Oooh, cheapie canalphones...

DAMNIT!

Nah nah, nah-nah-nah nah nah naaaah...

Minna Daisuki Katamari Damashii (That's We Love Katamari to you) has been released in the US, in a language slightly more understandable than it's native moonspeak. And by the internet corollary (all release dates are now worldwide) I have had a brief foray into the Cosmos.

I can't comment on the translation (is that ma, or bent leg?), but all the charm is still there, from dancing pandas to operatic storyline.


Anger......fading.......love....returning....

Shouldn't have ticked that box...

Picture the scene:
"Ah, lovely. all my MP3's, OGGs and FLACs are all organised by album and series (in the case of sountracks, which are in the majority), making it easy to find anything. Now I just have to add them to iTunes, aaaaand done.

Wait a minute.

They're now sorted by artist?!"


Yes, iTunes has decided that it can organise my music better than I can, and went ahead and did.
Thus, the last 2 hours have been spent re-sorting everything. now, to open iTunes once more, and hope that unticking that persnickety checkbox did the job.

::EDIT:: And wouldn't you have guessed it, I now need to re-import everything again. Joy!

iSoldout

Well, that's the end of my iPod hating elitism, I've caved in and bought a nano. Via ebay of course, being the cheapskate that I am.


Now to buy some HiFi headphones and complain that my lossy-encoded music sounds bad.