Get Your Life In Sync With PocketMac

If you use Microsoft’s popular Entourage program, or even Apple’s Mail app, to keep in touch with work associates, family, and friends, you now have a way to keep up-to-date while on the go — with PocketMac iPod Edition. It turns your iPod into a PDA.

With PocketMac, you can apparently sync your iPod with all of your Entourage & Mail goodies, including: Contacts, Calendar, Tasks, Notes, and even your unread Email. It’ll even let you reformat and copy PDF, Word, Text and Rich Text docs right to your iPod for viewing while you’re out and about.

Looks pretty cool… I mean, who couldn’t use access to their files while on the go? And PocketMac is compatible with both Macs & PCs.

Wow… does anyone know what the heck happened to MacSkinz? I just stopped by their website to see what new designs they had in store for me, only to discover a notice dated July 14th, 2006, that they don’t have any skins for sale?!

Uggh!

In case you missed it, MacSkinz (until recently) has been producing very, very hot limited edition iPod cases by some incredible artists, including this beauty by lowbrow artist Joe Chiodo, not to mention skinz for your iBook or PowerBook.

Coop, Frank Kozik, and H.R. Giger we’re just a few of the greats whose artwork graced the cases at MacSkinz. Oh well… I’ll drop them an e-mail and let you know what I find out. Keep your fingers crossed that this is just a temporary set back.

I guess I may as well admit it… I‘m a dyed in the wool tree hugger, so I’m more than excited to see people going out on a limb to buy eco-friendly products, even if they’re just doing it because they need juice-on-the-go for their beloved iPods and other electronic devices

One product I’m seeing more and more of is the new batch of solar backpacks, daypacks, purses & messenger bags. In fact, as a would-be globe traveler (heck, I’ve got a trip to Hawaii coming up soon!) I’m starting to consider purchasing one of these daypacks from Voltaic.

The way I see it I’ve got two iPods, two digital cameras, and of course a cell phone that I need to keep powered up, and what better way to do that than through the renewable power of the sun?

According to Voltaic’s website the daypack––

• Includes a 2,200mAh Li-Ion battery pack with 3 voltage settings to store solar power
• When not in the sun, the battery can be charged using the AC travel charger or DC car charger
• Comes with 11 standard adaptors including a car charger socket and USB adaptor so you can always use a standard charger for your device
• Includes adaptor plugs in universal sizes and for common cell phones, which eliminate the need to use a car charger for common devices

Weighs in at 3.5 lbs including battery and solar panels. Not meant for charging laptops, but will charge cell-phones, PDAs, GPSs, iPods, digital cameras and the like.

Wow… if you’re a guitar player and an iPod freak like me you might want to take a look at iRocker––a downloadable guitar workshop that packs 200 guitar chord diagrams, a scale library, digital tuning reference (recorded from a perfectly tuned guitar,) a metronome, and even some jam-along chord progressions right onto your iPod.

According to the website iRocker’s dictionary of chords includes “major, minor, suspended, diminished, and many more,” while the digital tuner allows for Standard, Drop D, Half-Step Down and other tunings. The metronome supports ten different speeds, and iRocker also comes with five chord progressions for practicing scales over.

Brought to you by Talking Panda, the folks who make the iLingo Translation program for the iPod, iRocker sells for $29.95 as a download. See the manufacturer’s iRocker page for compatibility requirements.

Wow, there’s just been a ton of great developments in iPod accessories since I last blogged here, so it’s going to take a while to catch up.

XtremeMac, makers of a whole slew of popular after-market iPod products, including the AirPlay2 wireless FM Transmitter and the Tango Sound System, busted out with a new iPod Dock/Clock Radio called the Luna, and it looks to be yet another winner fro the company.

According to XtremeMac’s website the device features—

• Wake up to iPod, radio, or buzzer with gradually increasing volume
• Outstanding audio from two full-range speakers and powerful two-channel amplifier
• User-friendly menu system controlled by multi-function knobs
• Easy-to-read display with variable brightness control
• Wireless remote with advanced functions
• Time and alarm backup with two AA batteries (included)
• Universal dock well with three inserts

I really love the idea of waking up to something I actually want to hear—instead of the crud that passes for music on the radio these days—and I’m absolutely entranced by the option to control Luna’s brightness, including turning the light off completely.

Other stand-outs include individual Treble & Bass controls, dual alarms—each with their own source & volume controls— and the option to apply gradual increase/decrease in volume level for waking and going to sleep.

Well, after a long year of working hard on other projects (not to mention taking better care of my health,) and basically letting this blog fall into a sad state of disrepair, as of tomorrow, the first day of 2007, Church of the iPod will be back in business

I hope you all had a good 2006, and I’m sure that the new year has much to offer us diehard iPod Power Users… I can hardly wait.

All the best,
–Cary

Quick post: if you’re looking for something a little different in the way of iPod cases you won’t want to miss these cute new NanoMonsters cases.

According to their press release, the NanoMonsters were created by designer Jamie Mathis––who’s done work for Fender, and Lucky 13 among others––and at launch the iPod cases are available in eight different designs for the iPod nano, with 8 more expected soon for the 30GB & 60GB iPods as well.

Current cases include Chuckles (shown here,) Skully (the skeleton,) Lucha-Drew (the Mexican Lucha Libre Wrestler,) T-Bone (the pirate,) Mitts (the bunny,) Lunch Box (the little green alien,) Ta-Foey (the sailor,) and El Momo (the patch-eyed red devil.

Cute stuff. Check ‘em out!

OK, so it’s been basically like forever since I posted on this blog, but I just had to come out of hiding for this.

Today Apple released its much anticipated new iPod Shuffle (aff.), which is now so freakin’ small that it almost makes Saturday Night Live’s famous iPod skit seem downright prescient (ooh, I’m busting out the big words now!)

The new iPod Shuffle––weighing in at just over half an ounce, and measuring just 1.62“ wide––sports a full gigabyte of flash RAM, making it capable of holding 240 songs… all without putting the squeeze on your pocketbook: it sells for just $79.

As Apple say on their website, the tiny new iPod Shuffle is ready to wear––

Clip it to your coin pocket. Clip it to your bag. No matter where you clip your skip-free iPod shuffle, you’ll have instant access to music. And iPod shuffle’s anodized aluminum enclosure goes with absolutely everything. Put it on, turn it up, and turn some heads.

And just in time for Christmas, too ; )

Funny, ever since being diagnosed with high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and pre-diabetes, well, let’s just say I’ve been getting a whole lot more exercise – which means I’ve been using my iPod a whole lot more, too.

There are only two real downsides I’ve come across while working-out with my iPod: that little problem with where to put your iPod & cable, and of course the fact that your earbuds will work their way right out of your ears if you’re exercising hard enough. Apparently I’ve been exercising hard enough!

Anyways, I’m considering picking up iLuv’s cool new i201 iPod Ear Clips. I really, really prefer the fit and feel of ear clips over earbuds, and the i201s are supposed to be very light-weight & comfortable. Plus, according to iLuv they feature–

High-performance speakers for extended frequency range, lower distortion, and high power handling

Who can argue with that? I’d be interested to know if any of you have tried these ear clips before, though I think I’m willing to pick up a pair just based on iLuv’s reputation – their products seem to be getting good reviews across the board.

Serious audiophiles have been complaining about the less than optimal quality of many mp3 files these days, and I can’t blame them – many people thought the switch from vinyl to CD brought a loss of warmth to music reproduction, but that’s nothing compared to what has happened with highly compressed audio.

Of course, if you’re burning your own CDs for use on your iPod you have full control of compression levels, but when you buy your music off of iTunes you’re pretty much stuck with what you get – until now…

The Boostaroo Revolution is a small electronic audio device that takes the music coming out of your iPod or other mp3 player and scrubs it up good before sending it to your headphones – in fact, it increases the volume of your audio files by four times! According to the manufacturer–

The Revolution will give your audio an expansive 400% volume increase, while at the same time providing high definition sound. Our patented circuit breaks apart compressed audio signals into three seperate audio channels. This effect not only produces a highly defined sound, but creates imaged surround sound as well.

The Boostaroo Revolution uses two AAAA batteries (20 hours of use,) and is just over 4-inches long and less than an inch thick. It even splits your headphone signal so you can share your ipod tunes with a friend!

Via [The Gadgets Weblog – And They Said mp3s Couldn’t Sound Good…]