mindplunge

The new iPod Nano + iTunes 8

Today Steve Jobs revealed the new iPod nano (8BG and 16GB) and a new version of iTunes. A new feature is ‘Genius’.

Say you’re listening to a song you really like and want to hear other tracks that go great with it. The Genius feature finds the songs in your music library that go great together and makes a Genius Playlist for you. It’s like having your own highly intelligent, personal DJ.

iTunes 8 is not yet available as a Software Update but you can download it directly from the Apple’s website.

Blogging from the backyard

The summer of ’08 comes to an end and the last two weeks are simply gorgeous. True, heat waves are usually not that fun but we are fortunate enough to be close to the ocean so it cools off significantly during the night. I brought out my nearly dead iBook and figured out how to bypass the corrupted hard drive.

I installed Mac OS 10.4 on my old 4G iPod (once again thanks bro’ for this awesome gift back in ’04!) and using it as my start-up drive. All I need for surfing the web and posting blogs is Firefox and MarsEdit, my preferred stand alone blogging tool. Images and other related stuff I can pull of my 2 GHz iMac using a local network. It’s so easy to set up on a Mac!

Ah… the wine bottle reminds me to get another one for dinner. Isn’t life great?

Episode 1 C25K Podcast is on its way

I found the voice-over for my C25K podcasts! Hopefully Mel McMurrin has some time this weekend to provide me with some sound bites. More about the talented Mel McMurrin:

A veteran jingle singer in the San Francisco Bay area, Mel has recorded commercials for Nations Hamburgers, Sun Microsystems, Luckys, Glidden, Harvey’s Casinos and others in studios like, Green Street Music, Michael Boyd Music, Ed Bogus Productions and Bongo Bob Productions.

His malleable voice has found it’s way on to a number of video/computer games including Sony’s Twisted Metal, and Cool Borders, Konami’s NHL:Blades of Steel, Lucas Arts’ Mortimer and the Riddles of the Medallion (for which he also co-wrote the music) and Brøderbund’s Where in Time is Carman San Diego?

He has done commercial voice-over for Schwab, Novell, Gallo, Lincoln-Mercury, Siemens and dozens of others and was a morning-drive radio host for then country-gospel format, KASA in Phoenix.

Couch to 5K (C25K)

Wow, a whole new world opened this week: Running. To get back in shape and loose some pounds I decided to go with the C25K (Couch to 5K) program. It will prepare you to run 5 kilometers in 9 weeks.

The original people who came up with the program can be found here. Since I’m a gadget freak and I love my stats I decided to buy the Nike + iPod sports kit. I already own an iPod nano so I was thrilled to found out the possibilities with the kit! Nike+ will give you feedback on how you’re running, while you’re running – hear your pace, distance and calories burned with your iPod nano.

After the run you upload the data to nikeplus.com and you can track your progress, runs and training schedule. You can connect with other runners, compete etc. The website and the kit are a real motivator!

As of today I will log my runs and share it as well. Just to add another motivator to my program. Today will be my W1D1 (Week 1, Day 1). Training will be three times a week and I’m using DJ Steveboy’s Podrunner Intervals podcasts.

There is a great community for C25K runners here:

1. C25K forum
2. Cool Running Forum
3. Runners World Forum

Be sure to check out the story of Christian Torresluna. Christian had a treadmill, trouble was he was using it to walk the dog. Then one day he discovered C25K. Read Christian’s incredible story: from couch potato to 5k runner.

Losing weight the web 2.0 way

I’m desperatly need to loose some weight. I want to drop back from 205lbs to 175lbs. So I signed up with this nifty online tool web 2.0 style. Got an iPod nano and downloaded the podrunner interval podcast similair to couch to 5K. That’s one of my goals. Run the 5K within three months. Could be ambitious but I think it’s a reachable goal.

So today was Day 1 for the running part: Brisk five-minute warmup walk. Then alternate 60 seconds of jogging and 90 seconds of walking for a total of 20 minutes. This routine will be done for 3 days a week. Complete schedule can be viewed here. I’ll be posting my progress!