Although I have temporarily given up on the iPod, (see rant below for an explanation) the recent announcement by BMW that iPod integration will be standard on all models beginning in July 2006 has made me very excited. Two things that get me excited, the iPod and BMW will be easier to enjoy as one! Yes, the iPod integration kit has been available on BMW models as an additional option for a while, but making it standard really cements what a “lifestyle item” the iPod has become.

I have neither a BMW nor an iPod but I am accepting gifts! 🙂 So if you are feeling generous write a comment and let me know! Here’s my wish list for both the iPod and BMW

iPod
Black 4GB Nano – $249
and/or (it’s a wish list, after all. Why not ask for both?)
Black or white 60 GB iPod – $399

BMW
325Ci (Monaco Blue Metallic, Sparkling Graphite Metallic, Silver Grey Metallic)
Black with leather upholstery interior
Heated seats
(plus many more options, my dream car is about $44,000, not including taxes. Ouch! Guess that’s why it’s still a dream!)

iPod Rant:
Four failed hard drives in 12 months and finally they wouldn’t replace my iPod because it was “out of warranty”. Tangent alert! While I may understand that, I offered them my frustration at a product that had failed on my four times within a year. How was I supposed to trust and a company that had consistently failed my expectations, multiple times. All they (the guys at the Genius Bar) had to say was “the technology is improving and the next generation Ipods are much better”. Or I could replace my hard drive myself, by looking online for instructions and a new hard drive. Neither answer was what I was looking for. So although I loved the portability of carrying every song in my music collection with me on my 60 GB iPod, I have seriously downgraded to a 128 MB flash MP3 player. I’d really like a black Nano for the gym and maybe a video iPod for it’s storage and nice color screen, but I’m waiting. Maybe my confidence in Apple and the iPod will return and I’ll venture to an Apple Store to get my fix.

(Via Gizmodo)

Although I have temporarily given up on the iPod, (see rant below for an explanation) the recent announcement by BMW that iPod integration will be standard on all models beginning in July 2006 has made me very excited. Two things that get me excited, the iPod and BMW will be easier to enjoy as one! Yes, the iPod integration kit has been available on BMW models as an additional option for a while, but making it standard really cements what a “lifestyle item” the iPod has become.

I have neither a BMW nor an iPod but I am accepting gifts! 🙂 So if you are feeling generous write a comment and let me know! Here’s my wish list for both the iPod and BMW

iPod
Black 4GB Nano – $249
and/or (it’s a wish list, after all. Why not ask for both?)
Black or white 60 GB iPod – $399

BMW
325Ci (Monaco Blue Metallic, Sparkling Graphite Metallic, Silver Grey Metallic)
Black with leather upholstery interior
Heated seats
(plus many more options, my dream car is about $44,000, not including taxes. Ouch! Guess that’s why it’s still a dream!)

iPod Rant:
Four failed hard drives in 12 months and finally they wouldn’t replace my iPod because it was “out of warranty”. Tangent alert! While I may understand that, I offered them my frustration at a product that had failed on my four times within a year. How was I supposed to trust and a company that had consistently failed my expectations, multiple times. All they (the guys at the Genius Bar) had to say was “the technology is improving and the next generation Ipods are much better”. Or I could replace my hard drive myself, by looking online for instructions and a new hard drive. Neither answer was what I was looking for. So although I loved the portability of carrying every song in my music collection with me on my 60 GB iPod, I have seriously downgraded to a 128 MB flash MP3 player. I’d really like a black Nano for the gym and maybe a video iPod for it’s storage and nice color screen, but I’m waiting. Maybe my confidence in Apple and the iPod will return and I’ll venture to an Apple Store to get my fix.

(Via Gizmodo)

A fun tetris-like twist on the common kitchen timer, the Amanda kitchen timer provides a standard count-down timer or a display of tetris-like blocks. When the blocks fill up the screen, the time is up. I think the novelty of the display filling up with blocks to indicate your time is up is a fun and modern take on the traditional hourglass.

Available in either black or white for about $42.

(Via Gizmodo)

Kimberly Williamson Butler, a mayoral candidate in New Orleans, is running a campaign photo (seen as a header on her website) of her standing in what appears to be the French Quarter. However, upon closer inspection, the photo seems to be the simulated French Quarter in Disneyland’s New Orleans Square.

Blending images with Adobe’s Photoshop and other photo editing programs are popular and easy to do, but isn’t using a picture of the French Quarter in Disneyland a little bit of a stretch? If you’re going to use the Disneyland picture, at least remove the obvious trash can! We’re all used to politicians stretching the truth and often times doing anything to get elected to office, but didn’t see or her campaign manager think that somebody might notice that Kimberly wasn’t posing in the New Orleans that she was running for election in?

(Via Boing Boing and Wonkette)

A fun tetris-like twist on the common kitchen timer, the Amanda kitchen timer provides a standard count-down timer or a display of tetris-like blocks. When the blocks fill up the screen, the time is up. I think the novelty of the display filling up with blocks to indicate your time is up is a fun and modern take on the traditional hourglass.

Available in either black or white for about $42.

(Via Gizmodo)

Kimberly Williamson Butler, a mayoral candidate in New Orleans, is running a campaign photo (seen as a header on her website) of her standing in what appears to be the French Quarter. However, upon closer inspection, the photo seems to be the simulated French Quarter in Disneyland’s New Orleans Square.

Blending images with Adobe’s Photoshop and other photo editing programs are popular and easy to do, but isn’t using a picture of the French Quarter in Disneyland a little bit of a stretch? If you’re going to use the Disneyland picture, at least remove the obvious trash can! We’re all used to politicians stretching the truth and often times doing anything to get elected to office, but didn’t see or her campaign manager think that somebody might notice that Kimberly wasn’t posing in the New Orleans that she was running for election in?

(Via Boing Boing and Wonkette)

Here’s a cool blog that profiles the different mashups that users have created using Google Maps, improving their functionality and offerings. There are some really cool ones that people have developed!

Here’s a neat site that combines Google Maps with the information from the most recent (2000) U.S. Census. It gives you average and demographic information based upon any address you input and provides three levels of information in a 1, 3, and 5 mile radius. You can also zoom around on the map and click an area with your cursor and the census information will also display.

If you’re looking for straight-up Census information (direct from the source) go here.

(Via Digg)

What happened this week in history? Below are just some notable events from this week throughout the ages.

April 10, 1849 – The safety pin was patented by Walter Hunt in New York City. Hunt was a mechanic from New York, whose other inventions include a knife sharpener, streetcar bell, and many others. The safety pin was invented while Hunt was twisting a piece of wire, trying to think of something that would help him pay off a $15 debt. Hunt thought little of his safety pin and soon sold the patent for $400.

April 9, 1859 – Samuel Langhorne Clemens received his steamboat pilot’s license. Clemens operated boats until the Civil War. He then returned to writing, using as a pen name a term used on the Mississippi River. “Mark Twain” meant the water was only two fathoms deep (12 feet), the minimum needed for safe passage.

April 12, 1961 – Aboard the Vostok 1, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin becomes the first human to travel into space. The spacecraft was launched from the Baikonur launch pad in Kazakhstan in what was then part of Soviet central Asia. Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin orbited the Earth for 108 minuttravelinging at more than 17,000 miles per hour (27,0kilometersres per hour) before returning safely to Earth.

April 15, 1912 – Former frontierswoman Molly Brown survives the Titanic disaster to become an international heroine known as the “unsinkable Mrs. Brown.

Here’s a cool blog that profiles the different mashups that users have created using Google Maps, improving their functionality and offerings. There are some really cool ones that people have developed!