9 iPad cases made to get attention

I only got my iPad a few short weeks ago and when I used it in public at coffee shops or while driving down the highway, eating a sandwich and talking on my cell phone, I turned heads.

“Ooooh!! Is that the new iPad?” they asked excitedly.

Now, the iPad is already old hat. If anything it seems it’s played out.

“Jeez, is that another freakin’ iPad…pffft!” they say to each other as if I can’t hear.

Well, I’ll show them. We can all show them! With the iPad cases I’m about to show you, you will once again have people’s attention as you pull out your technology in public.

il fullxfull.136179438 150x150 9 iPad cases made to get attentioniPad Bacon Case – Let’s start this off with the obligatory mention of bacon. The iPad Bacon Case sells of Etsy for US$59 and is handmade by @filzstueck of wool felt. It, along with the next item on our list has garnered much press for the creativity in its design. I can only hope that part of the process of making the Bacon Case involves adding that rich hickory-smoked aroma. Maybe  that can be offered as an option at time of purchase!

il fullxfull.137364333 150x150 9 iPad cases made to get attentioniMaxi – We all knew this was coming. The iPad/Sanitary Pad jokes started even before the device was officially announced, so once the name was uttered by Steve and entered into the Book of iDevices, we knew somewhere someone was scrambling to make an iPad case that would further imprint those maxi-pad jokes on the minds of the tech using public. That case exists and it is called the iMaxi and sells for US$30.

Screen shot 2010 07 07 at 6.59.15 PM 150x150 9 iPad cases made to get attentioniBallz – Though it’s not exactly a case, the makers of the US$19.95 iBallz 9 iPad cases made to get attention do promise it will protect your iPad from spills, sticky surfaces and drops “without adding weight, blocking buttons and adapters or sacrificing style.” The four balls of the iBallz are placed on the corners of your iPad and the cord running through them is cinched and locked to keep them in place. With practice, iBallz may also double as a set of bolas for capturing prey if thrown just right. They come in six colors and can be repurposed to protect other devices.

94 GelaSkins KeepCalm 500 white 150x150 9 iPad cases made to get attentionGelaSkins – Again, not strictly speaking a “case”, GelaSkins are extremely eye-catching and do protect your iPad from minor scratches and dings. You can choose from a vast selection of styles selling for US$29.95 or you can choose make your own for US$—simply upload your own images or choose something from one of GeleSkins’ many collaberators.

temple leather ipad case110X 150x150 9 iPad cases made to get attentionTemple Bags iPad case“Throw me the iPad! I’ll throw you the whip!” If that phrase doesn’t bring up images of Indiana Jones, the iPad case from Temple Bags certainly should. It’s not cheap at US$149, but it looks beautiful. It’s a brown leather & military re-purposed iPad case that features both vertical and horizontal viewing stand options, a padded shoulder strap, and an internal pocket.

This is the iPad case I’d expect Dr. Jones to use… though I just can’t imagine him using an iPad.

a 150x150 9 iPad cases made to get attentionSwitchEasy RibCage – This H. R. Gigeresque sleeve is made from faux leather1 and looks morbid and creepifying for a modest US$34.99. The SwitchEasy RibCage is available in either black or white and its shock dissipating ribcage design protects the iPad’s screen while also drawing curious looks from everyone around you.

book 150x150 9 iPad cases made to get attentionBOOK for iPad – Our next two cases were designed to look like books and this one is simply named just that: BOOK for iPad. BOOK is a hand made hard cover book jacket on the outside, with an iPad sleeve on the inside. When you’re ready to put away your iPad, simply shelve it! BOOK sells for US$89 and you can even add custom text for and additional $15 or custom text and a logo for another $25.

lgphoto05 150x150 9 iPad cases made to get attentionDODOcase — This is the first iPad case I bought… and I’m still waiting for it. To me, the DODOcase looks like a large Moleskine notebook. I happen to be a little addicted to Moleskine notebooks, so the purchase was unavoidable. Made from faux leather and constructed using traditional book binding techniques, DODOcase covers are designed to fold back so you can stand your iPad. An elastic strap keeps your iPad sealed tight when you are on the go. The DODOcase will set you back US$59.952

Important update: Since posting this story, my DODOcase arrived in the mail. The level of quality is not what you see in the photos and videos on the DODOcase website; the corners are poorly covered (sharply angled and not rounded), the piece has rubber cement and who knows what else all over it, the little “dedicated to” label inside was peeling off when I first opened it and worse, get this, it doesn’t hold the iPad!! In the video» Patrick at DODOcase shows the case being shaken upside down and the iPad being held firm. My case can’t even be turned sideways without the iPad falling out.

962f44f4fb06b7221a8e408ceb9d8e8138e3a38a0 150x150 9 iPad cases made to get attentionClamCase – I’m not sure if the ClamCase is really for those of us who want to show off our tech or not—it makes your iPad look like a laptop! It may work better as a form of camouflage in a busy café dotted with people working on laptops. It sports a built in Bluetooth keyboard and the ability to twist the screen backwards and close the case. It basically makes your iPad act as a tablet PC. Nifty idea… but there is one catch right now.

The ClamCase isn’t even available yet3 but is promised to arrive in the fall of 2010. They haven’t even set a price point yet, but they did post a nifty video showing a CGI version twirling around looking awesome.

There you have it…

So that’s my list of attention-grabbing iPad cases. Any one of these should get you a few interested looks as you’re out iPadding around town. What do you think? Was there one I missed? Let me know in the comments.

  1. I guess I should have mentioned that the Bacon Case was made from faux bacon []
  2. though those of us who ordered the first edition paid a bit less—ouch!! []
  3. some say it will never make it to market []

Your New Yearís iCal

Pump up your iCal for the coming year with great freeware.

iCal World

Okay, the first step youíll want to take in bulking up your iCal is to visit the (fairly) new website iCal World to find and download your iCals of choice. Submit one of you own and have a chance at winning an iPod!

icalshare.com Sherlock Plugin

Didnít find what you were looking for at iCal World? Download the icalshare.com Sherlock plugin and search their archive of iCals with Sherlock!

iCal Sidekick

Every good iCal needs a sidekick, whether it be an iPod or a Palm. If your iCalís sidekick happens to be a Sidekick (from T-Mobile) then this app will help keep them in sync.

NOTE: At press time the download link was acting a bit shifty. You may have to try back for this one.

MiCal

What better way to ready to your iCal for the new year than to make it more accessible. MiCal gives you a fabulous menu bar item that lest you check your upcoming schedule without opening iCal. Still in its 0.9 beta form, this app has plenty of promise in the coming year.

Donít let your iCal hit 2003 without the coolest in free enhancements.

Brian

Superior Ad Blocking on OS X

I love surfing the web. I have DSL and I get pretty good download speeds (compared to 56K modems, insane download speeds). Even though I have a good connection, I still hate downloading obtrusive ads. You know those huge “skyscraper” ads, or those pesky Flash ads that seem to take forever to download? Even more annoying are the pop-up ads that show up on a surprising amount of sites considering everyone hates them with a passion (except evil marketing types). I’m about to show you how to block almost all of the aforementioned ads in ANY browser in OS X. If you don’t want to be bothered with pop-ups use a program or browser that disables them. My method only stops the ads from loading, not the window from popping. Chimera has a killer pop-up blocker installed by default (haven’t seen one so far).

Some people may say that it isn’t right to block ads… That’s how sites stay free. That’s true, and that’s exactly why I’m only giving directions to block the big boys that have no concern at all for your privacy (can we say doubleclick?). This will not block ads on MacMerc, MacMinute, MacUpdate or any other well run site. My goal by blocking ads is to speed up surfing. Only graphical ads are blocked… Text ads are let through. If you really like a site and you’re afraid that they will lose income when you block its ads, look around on that site and most likely there are other ways you can support it. Most webmasters would rather all their visitors gave $10 a year than have to run ads. I know MacMerc would :P . If you can’t find anything just email someone there and ask where you can send a donation. It will be appreciated.

The following is a list of the “Big Boys” in the adserving market that many sites use to outsource ads:

doubleclick.net

linkexchange.com

adsmart.net

admonitor.net

msn.com (not an outsource service but gobs of ads come out of ads.msn.com)

smartclicks.com

focalink.com

bravenet.com

bfast.com

sextracker.com (You’d be surprised)

hitbox.com

valueclick.com

fastclick.net

realmedia.com (these ads are hugely huge)

And there are several more. If you do a lot of “source hunting” you’ll soon notice that 90% of ads come from less than 100 locations.. Should be easy to block right? Well, in OS X it’s a piece of cake.

Open the terminal by going to /Applications/Utilities/ and opening Terminal. You may not have ever used the Terminal before but do not worry, this won’t be hard. Type:

sudo pico /private/etc/hosts

When prompted, enter in your administrator password (if you’re the only user of your computer, it’s just your regular password). When you type nothing will appear on screen (not even *’s). This is a security mechanism. When you finish your password just press enter. You’ll be taken to a screen that should look something like below:

pico1 Superior Ad Blocking on OS X

Pico is a simple text editor for Unix. It’s commands are a little funny for Mac users since it uses control instead of command, but it’s otherwise really easy to learn. The ^ key signifies control for any interested souls out there :P . What this file does is associate hosts. The first line means when a request for localhost comes in send it to 127.0.0.1 (almost the universal address for the local-computer). What we’re going to do is insert some well known ad servers into the right hand column, and send them to 127.0.0.1 in the left hand column. For extra points we’re going to set up a custom 404 error page to keep blocked ads looking pretty. Here is a list I compiled of the most popular/annoying ad servers along with the 127.0.0.1 forwarding address. Copy and paste this list into pico (select the text and press Control-C, in pico use the arrow keys to highlight an area below the last line with text on it and press command-v). Once you successfully copied the addresses press Control-o and hit enter once you see the message asking for a file name. Then hit Control-x. Keep the terminal open for the 404 message step (not a real message that shows in the Terminal, but you need to keep it open for the step that prevents nasty errors to be shown).

Now you need to turn on your personal web server. If you don’t, you’ll have to click through warning messages about every 2 seconds for most every page you visit. To do so just open up the System Preferences by going to the Apple Menu and choosing “System Prefrences…”. Once the preference pane opens, choose Sharing. In the sharing pane, check the persona web sharing box. The pane should look like this before you click the check box:

sysprefs Superior Ad Blocking on OS X

If you were to restart your computer now, and started browsing the web, you’d notice a lot fewer ads. But, you’d also notice really weird looking error messages. Here’s a picture I took of my browser at Tucows.com:

tucows Superior Ad Blocking on OS X

I think having the ads in place might look better… But the load times without them are much nicer. To fix this, we’re going to make a custom error message. All that text means is that the ads can’t be found on your computer… Of course they can’t… We’re trying to get rid of them! Get back in the Terminal and type:

sudo pico /etc/httpd/httpd.conf

You’ll be greeted with the now familiar Pico interface but now with a lot more text. No worries, this is a down and dirty task. Press Control-w and type (or paste):

ErrorDocument

Look for the following text:

# ErrorDocument 404 /missing.html

Move your cursor with the arrow keys until it’s one character to the right of the #. Hit delete. This “un-comments” the line. We’re telling Apache that when there is a missing page, use missing.html instead of the error message. If you run a web server (like I do) you can get more tricky and throw it to a script that dynamically decides if you’re trying to block an ad or if someone found a broken link on your web server (I’ll save that for part 2). To save this file hit control-o and then control-X. You can close the Terminal. Now just download this file and place it in /Library/Webserver/Documents/.

Go ahead and restart your computer. When you next start your web browser, head over to a large site like CNN or TuCows and notice the difference. I’d suggest using Chimera to get the best effect… no pop windows and no large sive ads. If you go back to TuCows you’ll see a nice ad free version like this:

tucows2 Superior Ad Blocking on OS X

If you find this saves you time, please consider supporting MacMerc by donating through PayPal below or by purchasing through our MacMerc.com Store. By offering you this tutorial we are effectively removing this site’s only source of income. We love every aspect of this site except the hosting bill.

Don’t forget to support the sites you like if you block their ads!

UPDATE (10/23/08 – 19:02 PT): Thanks to a MacMerc.com reader who submitted this tip to update this tutorial for Mac OS X 10.5:

Just wanted to let you guys know that I recently figured out how to get the Superior Ad Blocking walkthru to work in 10.5. Instead of editting the /private/etc/hosts file (which actually changes the correct one in 10.5) it’s easier to change the /etc/hosts as it will also apply to other users on the computer. Second the httpd.conf has moved from /etc/httpd/httpd.conf to /etc/apache2/httpd.conf. Just trying to help out! Cheers and Good Luck!

Our readers are the best!

–Rick

 Superior Ad Blocking on OS X

Metadata In The Finder

By: Jon Gales

To submit a trick/topic for PowerUser Monday just email it to Jon Gales. Jon
welcomes feedback, don’t be shy.

Power users are all about making things quicker. Here’s how to display useful
metadata right in the finder:

  1. While on the Desktop, press Command-j to bring up “View Options”. Once
    in the dialog check the Show Item Info box. Don’t close the box yet
  2. Open a new Finder window and click on the info window that you opened in
    the last step. It should update with a few more options. Check both the Show
    Item Info box and the “All Windows” radio button. It should look something
    like this.
  3. Now you’ll notice that when you’re browsing around in icon view, you’ll
    see handy nuggets of metadata. For instance, dimensions of photos, times
    of movies and songs, number of items in folders, and remaining disk space
    for drives. Here’s a screen shot:

    window Metadata In The Finder

    Nifty eh? As an added trick you can check the right radio button under the
    “Label Position” header and you’ll see the information show up on the side.
    Some people like it :) .

Speed up your computing with easy metadata!. Check back
next Monday!

Web Serving Made Easy Part 4

By: Jon Gales

Alright. By now you’ve got PHP running and know how to do CGI scripts. If
you’ve forgotten, check last
week’s
column. There is some good and bad news this week. The good news
is that this is a pretty darn long/good/amazing article. The bad news is that
it’s the end of the series. if you’ve enjoyed or even just followed this series
I’d like to hear from you. PowerUser Monday
isn’t going away–just the web serving series. Also, if you’ve gotten a website
set up from this I’d like to get your link so I
can
add them
to the bottom of this page (hopefully
get you some traffic as well).

Now we’re going to install MySQL. It’s the most popular open source database
in the world and it just rocks. It’s often used with PHP and web applications
because:

  • It’s free
  • It kicks serious butt
  • It runs on Windows, *nix and OS X

Instead of downloading source code and having the joys of learning how to
compile it, we’re going to cheat and use a package made by the MySQL people.
This is new to version 4.0 (just came out) and it rocks. Visit this
page
and
download the file. Be nice and give them your info–they aren’t spammers. They
have given a good chunk of their lives for this software… Give them honest
answers. It’s a 7.1 meg download which isn’t bad for what you get.

You’ll find the downloaded file in your default downloads folder called, “mysql-standard-4.0.12.dmg“.
Just double click on it like any other DMG. Inside you’ll find a package (yep,
that’s what that those box icon thingies are)–double click it. The installer
is self explanatory.

Since it’s unix software you won’t see a GUI application. To start it up you
must delve into the terminal. If you feel inclined (you should) install a
script by Marc
Liyanage
that boots MySQL at startup. To start it without having to restart
your computer just pop open the terminal and type the following:

shell> cd /usr/local/mysql
shell> sudo ./bin/mysqld_safe
(Enter your password)
(Press CTRL+Z)
shell> bg
(Press CTRL+D to exit the shell)

If you have problems, refer to MySQL’s
OS X installation guide
. It sums it
all up well.

Now, you need to set your password. Enter the terminal again and type:

mysqladmin -u root password YOURNEWPASSWORD

Try to make this secure, you won’t need to type it in much and it’s important.

Now, we want to do something with our newfound database. You can download
a great Cocoa app called YourSQL that will log in for you and let you muck
around a little easier than in the Terminal. It’s free and I use it all the
time. However, the remainder of this app will focus on setting up a CMS that
uses MySQL, not MySQL (that’s another week folks).

Weblogs are hot right now and a lot of people either have or want to have
one. If you’re one in the second category wish no longer. Go to pMachine.com and
download a copy (it’s free). I use it and love it. There are lots of other
great free Content Management Systems like MovableType, PHP Nuke, and B2 but
pMachine is just plain easy (and the programmer is a big Mac guy).

Go to /Library/WebServer/Documents/ and drag all of the files
from the pMachineFree2.2.1
folder to it. Once that’s done point your browser to http://localhost/pm/install.php
and follow the on screen directions. Below are some pointers.

It will probably say you have to mess with config.php. Just open it up (it’s
in the pm directory) in a text editor and make the following changes:

$hostname = "localhost";

$dbusername = "root";

$dbpassword = "YOURNEWPASSWORD";

Obviously YOURNEWPASSWORD is what you entered prior in the MySQL installation.
If all goes well you should see some green when you refresh step two. The rest
of the installer is self explanatory. When you get to the part where it asks
for the domain make sure you don’t leave it as localhost if you’ve registered
a domain. if you need help on this, check part
2
.

You’ve now got a dynamic database powered weblog hosted off your computer!
You can administer things via http://localhost/pm/.

If you don’t like the template, feel free to change it. All it takes is a
text editor (yes, Dreamweaver or GoLive will work) and mess with the files
in /Library/WebServer/Documents/. For instance, weblog.php is the main
page. It’s pretty easy hacking. My weblog is powered by pMachine if you want an example of what can be done (don’t use mine as a high bar, it sucks :P ).

Again, let me know how it goes. I love
feedback.Many thanks to Marc for the great
reference
he’s got. Check it out–he’s
a God send.

User submitted sites:

Colin Lochhead

Eject a Stubborn CD

Brought to you by: James

There’s more than one way to eject a CD. Sure, dragging it to the trash is the safest way, but it doesn’t always work. What are the other options? Five are listed below, and I highly recommend that you try them in the order presented.

1. Boot your computer while holding the mouse button.

2. Restart into Open Firmware by holding command-option-O-F and enter eject-cd.

3. Open the Terminal and enter drutil tray eject.

4. If #3 doesn’t work, you probably have more than one removable device connected. Enter drutil list to see a list of the connected removable devices. Find your CD in the list. Assuming that your CD is #5, enter drutil tray eject 5.

5. If the above options fail, you’ll have to take an unfolded paper clip to that little round hole on your CD drive. Insert the paper clip, and press gently until the CD ejects. If you can’t find your drive’s eject hole, you may want to look through Apple’s Knowledge Base.

If the CD hasn’t come out yet, you’ll probably have to see an authorized Apple repair center.

AirPOOT Express Remote Control Fart Machine

I’m sure most of you have seen or been pranked by the Remote Control Fart Machine. It’s a two piece toy that consists of a transmitter about the size of a car alarm key fob and a receiver unit that you turn on and hide somewhere in the vicinity of your intended victim. Then you simply wait for the right moment, press the button on the transmitter and the speaker plays a pre-recorded fart sound effect. Juvenile and amusing. I’m sure if Apple made a fart machine, it would be something to behold…

AirPOOT Fart Machine Reinvented

Here’s how to make your own overpriced and overproduced, Apple-styled remote control fart machine. The tools you will need are as follows:

category 01 AirPOOT Express Remote Control Fart Machine category 02 AirPOOT Express Remote Control Fart Machine category 03 AirPOOT Express Remote Control Fart Machine
category 04 AirPOOT Express Remote Control Fart Machine 1 AirPort Express Base Station with AirTunes (USD$129)

1 Macally PodWave (IP-A111) Portable Stereo Speakers (USD$39.99)

Mac OS X v10.3 or later (USD$129)

1 AirPort or AirPort Extreme-enabled computer (

iTunes version 4.6 or later (FREE)

category 06 AirPOOT Express Remote Control Fart Machine
category 07 AirPOOT Express Remote Control Fart Machine category 08 AirPOOT Express Remote Control Fart Machine category 09 AirPOOT Express Remote Control Fart Machine
AirPOOT

All totaled, this almost entirely Apple produced remote control fart machine will set you back at least USD$896.99. That’s almost as competitive in the fart machine market as the Apple Leather Case for iPod is in the iPod accessory market!!

Before you use the AirPOOT to toot your own flatulent horn, you will also need at least one “fart” sound effect in an audio format compatible with iTunes. There are many ways you might go about acquiring such sounds:

  • You could visit CreateFarts.com and tailor-make an air brick for the occasion and have it emailed to you.
  • There are sound effects CDs available AirPOOT Express Remote Control Fart Machine with high quality, lowbrow effects on them. Get some and rip one off into iTunes.
  • You could employ the use of iFart… yes, there is actually already a freeware application in release for the sole purpose of composing fart-like noises.
  • Or, if you have no shame and nowhere else to turn, you could record your own “bottom blast” using Garage Band and a microphone you will never use again …ever.

In any case, you will need at least one such sound effect. More is better, as it will afford you the option of choosing the right sound for the right occasion and will also allow the sounds to vary from poot to poot.

The Set-Up:

  1. airtunes AirPOOT Express Remote Control Fart MachineLoad the AA battery into the Macally PodWave.
  2. Connect the Macally PodWave to the AirPort Express using the stereo mini-jack on the base station.
  3. Turn on the Macally PodWave.
  4. Plug the AirPort Express into an appropriate wall outlet that is concealed, near your intended victim and within wireless signal range of the Mac you will be using to trigger the “sound effects”.
  5. Use the AirPort Admin Utility to create a new network. (consult your manual for details)
  6. Open iTunes on your computer and choose your AirPOOT from the speakers pop-up menu in the lower right of the iTunes window.

Now, you need only wait until your victim is near the AirPOOT and the focus of attention, and then simply play one of your “fart” sound effects from iTunes. Don’t be in too much of a rush though. The element of surprise is as important as any other part of a prank like this. You don’t want to come crawling out from behind the filing cabinet where you’ve hidden the AirPOOT, then run to your MacBook Pro across the office and then cut the digital cheese all at once–it’s too suspicious–you have to be subtle. Set up the AirPOOT and let it lie in wait for a while. Then spring the trap later in the day.

TIPS:

Set up the AirPOOT in the Airport Admin Utility at home, in private, and then unplug the unit and bring it to the prank location and plug it in. It will remember its settings.

You might want to set up the Airport Express with Password protection on just to prevent anyone else using the “AirPOOT” before its time has come to make itself known. It is also wise to note that once the prank is played, this USD$300 Fart Machine receiver unit may easily fall into the hands of your victim. Putting password protection in place may not ensure its return to you, it may not even prevent the unit from being used against you in the same manner, but it may just delay the retaliation, giving you opportunity to snatch the unit back.

As the PodWave was designed for use with the iPod, it was assumed that one would adjust the audio volume via the iPod’s click wheel. So, for use with the AirPOOT, you will control the loudness of the flatulence via the volume control in iTunes. You may want to practice at home to establish the perfect volume setting for your prank.

You don’t have to plug it directly into a wall outlet, you can use an extension cord if that helps the subterfuge.

Airport Admin
 

VoIP Call-in for Free

Voice chat over the internet isn’t much of a novelty. VoIP doesn’t get cool until you connect it to telephone networks. So in this week’s Freeloader, I’ve got a brief run-down of the top three providers of free “call in” numbers that will all ring to your Mac. Now, unless you are lucky enough to live in one of these select area codes, the numbers will be long distance. But, with VoIP and cell phones, that is really not much of an issue anymore.

Area775 from CallWave

Get a free Nevada area code number with voicemail. Area775 works with your Gizmo/SIPphone account. Calls go to an answering service which you can screen on your Mac with Gizmo Project. Press 2 to answer the call. Voicemail gets emailed to you as a WAV.

IPKall

IPKall offers free Washington State area codes. You can set your number up to ring to any SIP-compatible service you have, including Gizmo Project. Inbound calls ring to your SIP client. In unanswered, they go to voicemail. Messages are emailed to you as a WAV file.

Sip Number by FreeDigits

This service provides you with a free non-local number (with, like Area775, the option ot upgrade to a local number). The site and support info is a little vague compared to the previous two. The service works with a FreeDigits SIP account (free) but can be set to forward to another SIP account. Voicemail is available to download from your account as an mp3, and comes to your email as well.

Skypecast with Skype.

No, there are no free call-in numbers for Skype. But there is an interesting new feature called Skypecasts.
And contrary to popular belief, the Mac version of Skype works perfectly with Skypecasting (provided you are on version 1.4). So, chat it up.

This week AOL announced free inbound numbers for AIM, but I doubt that will come to the Mac for a while. In the mean time, thanks to standards like SIP we can enjoy free numbers now.

Brian

New talking iPod shuffle released. Talks funny to PC users and annoys Apple earbud haters.

09ipodshuffle hand 20090311 191536 New talking iPod shuffle released. Talks funny to PC users and annoys Apple earbud haters.

Apple announced its newly designed iPod shuffle today. It’s nearly half of the size of the previous model and now it talks to you. The same VoiceOver technology found in Mac OS X now enables the iPod shuffle to speak your song titles, artists and playlist names (oh, yeah, you can have multiple playlists now!!).

This is now the third generation iPod shuffle and you’ll find all of its controls have moved from the device to the earphone cord. This means, with the press of a button on the supplied Apple earbuds, you can play, pause, adjust volume, switch playlists and hear the name of the song and artist. It also means if you’re one of the multitude of people that prefer not to use Apple earbuds with your iPod, you’re out of luck when it comes to the shuffle until third party adapters come along:

Apple says there will also be third-party adapters that will let you add a remote to your favorite headphones.

The new iPod shuffle comes in silver or black at a capacity of 4GB selling for USD$79. The new iPod shuffle requires a Mac with a USB 2.0 port, Mac OS X v10.4.11 or later and iTunes 8.1 or later; or a Windows PC with a USB 2.0 port and Windows Vista, Windows XP Home or Professional (Service Pack 3) or later and iTunes 8.1.

As this is a Mac website, I don’t usually list Windows PC requirements in the posts I make here, but thought I would this time since I’m going to talk about an interesting difference in using the 3rd Gen iPod shuffle on a PC than on a Mac: it talks funny on a PC. Watch this guided tour and at about 3 minutes and 24 seconds in you’ll hear what VoiceOver sounds like for PC users.

You might have noticed the mention of iTunes 8.1 in the shuffle’s requirements. iTunes 8.1 was released today as well. Here’s its list of added features:

  • Supports syncing with iPod shuffle (3rd generation).
  • Allows friends to request songs for iTunes DJ.
  • Adds Genius sidebar for your Movies and TV Shows.
  • Improves performance when downloading iTunes Plus songs.
  • Provides AutoFill for manually managed iPods.
  • Allows CDs to be imported at the same sound quality as iTunes Plus.
  • Includes many accessibility improvements.
  • Allows iTunes U and the iTunes Store to be disabled separately using Parental Controls.

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Mister Retro releases Permanent Press for Photoshop….give your projects that ”crappy printing” look on purpose

permpress 20080813 152639 Mister Retro releases Permanent Press for Photoshop....give your projects that crappy printing look on purposeI have been a fan of Mister Retro’s Machine Wash Photoshop Filters for a long while now. Today, the company released a new plug-in called Permanent Press.

With this new filter set you can simulate authentic looking rubber stamp, offset and letterpress printing effects with that vintage tactile look that previously could only be achieved by shoddy production work, under maintained machinery and disgruntled pressman. Now you can have the whole shebang for USD$99 and you’ll be set to make convincing looking antique comic books, advertising, packaging, matchbooks, etc.

Using the filters is simple: experiment! The interfaces for Mister Retro’s filters have always been one of the most pleasurable parts of using them. They encourage “play” and maintain the vintage theme that helps you transport yourself as well as your artwork to those olden days you are trying to emulate.

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