Creative Zen Stone Plus with Speakers - Did the New Shuffle Turn You Off?

The new iPod Shuffle has got me thinking. It's got me thinking about other mp3 alternatives.

It is because of the remote on the cord thing and while looking through the other mp3 players, I noticed that the Creative Zen Stone Plus had built in speakers. This is not new, but the fact that the Zen Stone is tiny and to have tiny speakers is a great novelty.

Just playing it in the car, the shower, the.... well it's pretty neat. That was until I realized I already have the equipment. The player in the car already plays mp3, the showerproof CD player can play mp3 and so there is no real reason to use the Zen Stone speakers.

Aside from the speakers, it did have one thing that I found cute and missing on the shuffle. The tiny screen.

The screen has always been missing on the iPod shuffles, but the latest one made me wonder about other features it's missing, but available on other players. Radio, stopwatches, games and voice recording. They aren't must have, but they are nice to have and people will use them if they are built in.

Apple has done a good job in trying to lock everyone into iTunes so people will buy their great mp3 players. But for me and because of the new iPod Shuffle, I'm looking at alternatives to Apple.

It's a refreshing change.

New iPod Shuffle - While the Boss is Away... Let's See How Much Damage We Can .... Like the Ugly Little On and Off Switch.

New Apple iPod Shuffle looks really nice as usual, but it's starting to get to the point where 'simple' is starting to look 'bland'.

Although I was thinking of getting a blue one, which is not available, the iPod touch has practically killed any idea of me getting an iPod or the shuffle.

Still, the shuffle's tiny design is cute and the useful clip is great. But what's not so great is the fact that the controls are now embedded on the earphone cords.

If you can barely afford to buy the shuffle, just so you can be a part of Apple, your probably not going to care about other headphones that are not made by Apple.

If you can afford decent headphones, you can afford a better iPod. Of course, you know Apple will be announcing a 'bring your own headphone' adapter soon, at a pinch of a price.

The voice feature sounds hilarious! It's a subtle feature that allows you to choose the next song without stopping the current one.

The voice is different if you sync it with a mac or a PC. The PC voice sounds intentionally horrid, while the Mac voice, although is a lot better, it still not amazing.

Still, I hope there is a way to turn it off, especially with songs that have long names.

If you think long and hard about the voice over, it's an unnecessary obstructing gimmick. But if you use the word 'cool' often and thinking gives you a headache, you'll love it.

Sony NWZ-X1060 - iPod Touch Killer-ish.

I really think it's great that there is an alternative to the iPod Touch. Not that there is anything wrong with it.

It's just that there are people out there who just want to be different from the crowd. It's pretty depressing where everywhere you go and everyone and anyone has an iPhone.

The latest Sony NWZ-1060 is a contender to the iPod Touch. It's thicker, probably more expensive and understandably Windows only.

It does everything that the iPod can do except the addition of apps.

What sets it apart of course is the OLED display, the black marble design and the noise canceling feature.

I want one because it's different. But is it better than the iPod Touch? It's a no brainer.

Asus does the Spectrum thing. Imagine Apple doing the Amstrad thing.

The days when you build a computer or buy a desktop it's because of it's expandability and customization. Since the price difference is not what it used to be, all in one computers have been making a convenient come back.

Apple and Asus have done what Nintendo has done with the Wii and DS. Bringing the computers to the casual users who just want to use the internet without the fuss of graphics cards, memory and rpm hard drives.

This reminds of the old days when computers, like the computers from the UK, where the keyboard and media drives were all combined beautifully in one complete package.

Now Asus is going to bring that 'magical moment in time' back. The all in one computer with a built in keyboard. It even comes with a gimmicky but ultra fun touch screen side panel.

I wonder if Apple is going to introduce something like that for their aluminum keyboard and iphone docking combo.

Asus - Eee Ai Guru! - Skype Videophone for your Grandma.

Asus Eee Ai Guru is apparently the world's PC free Skype videophone.

Weird names are how to catch the media's attention and a strange name it's got. Who doesn't remember when the Wii came out.

This would be a perfect gift for Grandma and Grandpa. You still have to set up the wifi for them though, and probably have to go through the online registration.

It's cheap'ish too.

Mac OSX - Space Invaders

Again I am in the position to use a macbook pro temporarily for work. The excitement was quickly dulled by the fact that it was needed for work and not for personal use.

Since it was for work, I don't care how superduper a computer is, it's still going to be dull. Nice aluminium casing, though.

Spaces on the Mac is not new. But it's aesthetically pleasing and since work is boring, anything that makes it slightly interesting is a plus.

When I have lots of time on hand and have to do boring work, I separate my work into the following categories.

Space 1 - Quick Access to Info.

Excel, iCal, Safari

Space 2 - Project.

Mail, Final Cut

Spaces 3 - Gotta have music.

iTunes

Spaces 4 - Any other cr*p.

Preview, iPhoto

Everything is all good until I suddenly get a new project that co-exists with the current one, then the whole spaces thing breaks down.

Sometimes I need the Excel with the Final Cut, or the iPhoto with the Safari, or the Final Cut with the Excel.

Still, I like the design and the aluminum casing. That's why people buy the mac, right?

Increase Your Battery Life - Reduce Your Productivity?

Who doesn't want to squeeze every last juice out of their notebook/netbook battery?

Problem is, there always seems to be a cost involved.

Reducing brightness - Trying to convince myself it's bright enough at the lower settings. Then getting headaches and eye strain afterwards and blaming it on fatigue.

Power Settings - Maximum battery setting means I have to adjust my power patience setting to maximum too.

Turn off unnecessary ports - What? The inbuilt camera uses power when I'm not using it? Is this some sick joke?

Turn off pretty features on the OS - But they make unimportant work just a tiny bit bearable.

Hate to admit it.

There's no two ways about it.

Just buy that clunky, oversize, protruding, 'I'm going to convince myself it doesn't look ugly' extra long life battery and be done with it.

Unless you have a macbook air.

Gateway AIO ZX2300 - One for All, and All for Acer

I'm all for all in one PC's. They look nicer and it's great just to have one cable to plug in.

Acer has announced a new all in one. I like Acer, they are cheap and cheerful machines.

Acer will launch the ZX2300 and it will be sold through Gateway. It's like the Asus Eee Top 1602, but larger and more powerful and comes with the missing DVD drive.

What's not to like? It's only available in certain countries and although it seems to have a nice flat, thin profile, it has that awesomely obnoxious side speaker that sits at the bottom.

Hope it sounds good.

iPod - Buy one, Get Carling Cup Free

Incredible how the iPod has so many uses. From music, to games, to reading books. One wonders how else it could be used.

Well, Manchester United, an English soccer team, recently won the Carling Cup. All down to the goal keeping coach who showed a few video clips to his goal keeper on how to save penalties on his iPod. It worked and the goal keeper won the match.

Now, reporters are waiting with baited breath to see if the iPod is going to save the world economy.

Kindle 2 - Rip your Books?

I wish I could get my head around people who love to read novels or lengthy books on electronic mediums.

Reading on a PDA is frivolously fun at first, but the eyestrain and tiny screen makes it tiresome.

Reading on a computer is great if you know what your looking for. But reading so you can absorb yourself into the author's world is a bit difficult when you have distractions such as your notifiers, messengers and especially your wallpaper background.

The Kindle 2 is a great idea.

Slow page turning to discourage you from skimming and skipping, allowing you to curb your temptations and absorb every word and page.

A big 'turn the page' button is great. Who wants to hunt for the turn page icon or even the page down/turn the page key/button.

A long battery life that runs for a week is great! Don't want to even think about charging.

3G service so you can buy and download books on the fly is just great. Not in this current economy, but superb if your pockets are full of lottery money.

Charging via the USB is kind of convenient, but I have a funny feeling that traditional book readers won't be swapping their paper backs any time soon.

Thin body and nice-ish is necessary because it doesn't have the cool covers to entice you back to the book.

Shame about the E-Ink which doesn't come with a completely white background. But it's a lot better than any backlit LED for getting that 'reading a book feel.'

The screen is just about the right size for a few quick reads. But a bigger screen would be better for lengthy trawls.

The text to speech is a non starter for people who are not visually challenged. The voice is the main concern.

Always like technology that motivates or entices people to read books.