USB adapters for the evil 2 Gen Apple iPod Shuffle

The 2nd generation iPod shuffle uses yet another proprietary apple connector (YAPAC). Yes, another dongle on the desktop, another usb port taken, another thing to lose, another device to carry when traveling.

Sure Apple could have used a mini-B USB interface instead (the original shuffle used a full-sized USB connector, the original iPod used a standard firewire connector), but that would have been insufficiently greedy (aka unfair to Apple shareholders and stakeholders). Apple makes a zillion dollars off their ownership of the full sized iPod interface. They needed another proprietary connector for devices that are too small for the current iPod connector.

Grrrrrrr. This alone is reason enough to buy a Shuffle alternative -- if anyone would make one that played AAC encoded music. (Apple does not own AAC, they own FairPlay. Most iTunes users with any sense do not rely on FairPlay encoded music.)

Those of us who bit (I had a $50 certificate burning a hole in my pocket) really want a mini-USB adapter that would permanently sit on the base of the Shuffle. It would extend the Shuffle about 1 cm and would include both a mini-B connector, a insertion point for the earphones, and a small ring for string, chain, etc. Ideally it would let one charge the Shuffle and listen to it at the same time (if the Shuffle would allow that).

Maybe Griffin will make one for us -- if Apple lets them! I'm sure to do this legally one has to pay a license to Apple. For now (until Apple shuts them down?) there's a big honking full-sized USB connector from Incipio. The $6 price is right, but it is too big and too ugly for longterm use:

IncipioBud - USB adapter for the 2 Gen Apple iPod Shuffle

Ken Tidwell (via Macintouch)
http://myincipio.com/product/IP-300
If Apple shuts out any US manufacturer (Griffin?) of the device we want, then maybe we'll see a lbac
Works for me - says the product is out of stock*, but the page/link, with images, etc. loads right up. However, using their search for 'IP-300' fails, as it does for other items that are also currently listed as OOS.

IncipioBud - USB adapter for the 2 Gen Apple iPod Shuffle

The IncipioBud allows you to easily connect a iPod Shuffle to any USB port without having to use the relatively large iPod Shuffle Dock (included with your iPod Shuffle)... The IncipioBud is the perfect travel companion, taking up virtually no space in a bag or pocket. No need to haul around the Dock and cables that came with your iPod Shuffle, just pack the IncipioBud and a user all set. The IncipioBud also comes with a convenient lanyard loop on the side so you can attach it to backpack or laptop case.

This tiny adapter weighs in at only 5.6 grams and measures a mere 47mm X 16mm!

* Small
* No Cables or Clumsy Cradle to take with you
* Works with Both Mac and PC
* Allows you to Charge off of one of our USB charging solutions

This Google search phrase '2g shuffle usb dongle' returns several by other outfits..., including an endgadget article for one from a vendor by the name of 'Thought Out', which discusses how Apple legal wolves were after them over something iPod related back in 2005.

If Apple shuts out any US manufacturer (Griffin?) of the device we want, then maybe we'll see a black market in a future mini-B version. I'll buy this one for now!

kw: adapter, converter, dongle, USB, mini-B, iPod Shuffle, 2G, 2nd generation, 2gen

The mysteries of Microsoft Access: Built-In Functions

I rag on Microsoft all the time, but my dark secret is I'm a power-user of many of their products. Only a true geek can know the darkness at the heart of Microsoft software.

The darkness varies. Word is bad to the bone. Outlook is a complex mix of hacks and insights, kludges and cleverness, a slouching beast with thwarted aspirations to nobility. Excel has kept its pure Mac heart in the company of demons. PowerPoint is simply dumb. And then there's Microsoft Access ....

Access is the most complex of all, a broken veteran of too many wars, too many gunfights, too many shady deals, too many dark betrayals ... and yet ...

Access can still do yeoman's work. If you learn its twisted paths, where to go and where to fear, it can chew through gigabytes of data, transforming strings, exposing relationships ... There's a fierce engine behind a tinsel town facade. It is also very strangely documented -- not the least because it's a house of cards and mirrors built upon a half-dozen dead "strategic" technologies. There are vast amounts of information buried in the peculiar not-quite standard help files, but it's all piecemeal. The web resources are often little better.

Take Access Built-In Functions for example. You can write some very fast and powerful tranformations of text strings using these, none of my 3 books on Microsoft Access discuss them in any detail. A web search turns up a few references, but nothing definitive. Microsoft's site has almost nothing.

Almost, but not quite nothing. Here, at long last, is the Alphabetic List of Microsoft Access 2003 Build-in Functions. Here's the list by category. Here's a discussion in the context of expressions.

BlogJet 2 - don't upgrade yet

BlogJet 2 is now available with some nice improvements on the prior version:

Post Management and Searching

BlogJet now stores your posts in the cache, so you can access thousands of your posts in a blink of an eye (even with no connection). Finding posts is now easier because of the instant search, which shows results as you type.

Alas, it's NOT ready. I upgraded based on past experience and it through an access violation within minutes of my using it. That's bad coding.

I'd give it another 2-3 months before upgrading.

Update 3/21/07: The latest release is 2.0.0.9 and it didn't work with Blogger correctly a few weeks ago. I'm going to try Microsoft Live Writer for a while.

The new blogger: One HUGE fix

It's been a long time since I had anything kind to say about Google's blogger. It's been a long painful slog since Pyra sold out. One of the first things Google did was make the blog title a part of a post URL, so editing a title typo broke links. It was downhill from there.

Into this dark morass shines a wee bit of light. The new blogger editor search works. What? You thought it worked before? Wrong. The old search was "phrase search" only, so "paradox fermi" would not find "fermi paradox". The new search is, at a minimum, implied-boolean word search -- it may be even smarter than that. Hallelujah.

I love the tags of course, and I'll be making extensive use of them to tie posts together. I'll also be gradually migrating to the new template editor.

Gosh, it's good to have something nice to say about blogger. Maybe Google will even fix the URLs one day.

The secret and tortuous path to submitting a blogger bug report

Google makes it almost impossible to submit a bug report. This page tries to help:

The Real Blogger Status: It's Called Blogger Support - Not Blogger Mindreaders

In my case they lost one of my 15 blogs when I migrated from Blogger old to Blogger new. I did something wrong, there was a bug in the old blogger, and the conversion makes it impossible to correct either bug. Getting help from Google/Blogger is a matter of tricking the bot into moving the request up the ladder. It's not easy ...

Bose QuietComfort 2 Noise Cancelling Headphones - product defect is causing sidearms to crack

I was a wee bit surprised tonight to see that a chunk of plastic had fallen off one arm of my Bose QuietComfort 2 Noise Cancelling Headphones - Headphones and Headsets. On closer inspection there are cracks along both sides of the headphone arms.

Turns out this is a manufacturing defect. Bose will send me a new set (though I’ll be paying shipping one way). Annoying, since I’ll miss ‘em.

If you know someone with a pair, suggest they look for significant cracks.

Update 2/22/07: Bose sent me a new kit, it took about 2-3 weeks for the exchange. I'm glad to have them back, and pleased with Bose service. I wonder if Minnesota weather might have played a role in their demise; I'll avoid freeze-thaw cycles in the future. Since Bose did well with this one, I'm going to look at buying their new earbud headset ...

My iPod shuffle impressions: the cradle from heck

Last year I modified a first generation iPod Shuffle for my mother. I've been pleased by how it worked. This year, a $50 Apple settlement check burned through my pocket and I bought myself a 2nd generation shuffle. Alas, I missed the new ones by a day, so I got the crummy old ear buds.

As usual, I'll update this review as I work with it. Comments:

• lovely packaging
• I hate the cradle. It's another stupid proprietary connector to clutter my desktop. The device is too small for a full iPod connector, but Apple could have put a mini-B USB connector in it. That would have been a compassionate act of great good karma, but instead Apple stuck us. It's enough to make me think fondly of Vista.
• Did I mention I despise the cradle? There's no audio out. The only thing worse than sticking me with YAC (yet another cradle/connector) is omitting the audio out. So you can't charge and play.
• nice decals
• I failed the IQ test. I assume that's what the cryptic directions are. "Red dot: on while any button is pressed when hold is off".
• It plays music.
• It mounts on my desktop so I can, in theory, use it as a thumb drive. If I carried the stupid cradle.
• Miserable cradle.
  

Using Amazon S3 and Jungle Disk to backup an Aperture vault

Backing Up Aperture With Amazon’s S3 - O'Reilly Digital Media Blog. 10Gb one time upload and store would be about $20/year, so use as an image library backup would realistically cost $20-$50 a year. Competitive!

Airport Extreme 802.11n: integrating with 802.11b

Tidbits has an excellent summary of the Airport Extreme. The best part is the discussion of integration with an older WLAN and the Bluetooth issues (emphases mine):

TidBITS - Apple Ships 802.11n Base Station, Software Upgrade

... All Macs with Intel Core 2 Duo processors (except the 17-inch 1.83 GHz iMac) or Xeon processors can be updated to 802.11n, including Mac Pro desktops that had the AirPort Extreme option added. Apple isn't offering 802.11n options for any older Macs; third-party adapters will be required...

...AirPort Extreme with N can work in either the 2.4 gigahertz (GHz) band, in which 802.11b (AirPort) and 802.11g (AirPort Extreme) operate, as well as in the 5 GHz band, which is less occupied and has greater available frequencies... Moody said that the greater range of 802.11n should obviate the need for WDS connections in the home.

In 2.4 GHz, Apple won't allow 40 MHz "wide" channels that, in the absence of other Wi-Fi network signals, could double throughput.... Allowing 40 MHz wide channels in 2.4 GHz would have severely constrained Bluetooth. Starting with version 1.2 of Bluetooth, that short-range networking standard actively avoids frequencies that are in use by Wi-Fi.

Jai Chulani, senior product manager at Apple, suggested that many users would be better served by preserving a legacy 2.4 GHz network for 802.11b/g devices with an existing base station, and plugging that older base station into an Ethernet port on the new AirPort Extreme, which would then operate to its best advantage in 5 GHz.

... an advanced settings option would allow 5 GHz channel selection. This could be important, because four of the nine channels in 5 GHz that Apple is offering are restricted to a low-power mode...

I have an existing Airport Extreme and I have an Airport Express. Since my primary laptop will run 802.11n, and my creaky still-living G3 iBook is 802.11b, I might well end up buying the AExtN, putting the old AExt in legacy mode, and putting the AExp in my luggage as a travel router/WLAN...

Two concerns. Our phones are 5.8 GHz, and I wonder what the relative power and cpu price is for running 802.11n ...

Shuffle: how to spot the good ones

I just used my iPod battery settlement check to buy a shuffle from the online Apple store. So then Apple releases the new line with better ear buds ...

Five Key Facts on Apple’s Colored iPod shuffles | iLounge: "

.... (2) How do I tell old and new metal shuffles apart? If you’re buying a green, pink, blue, or orange iPod shuffle, you’re guaranteed to find the new earphones inside. But if you’re buying a silver iPod shuffle, look for a package with gray print alongside the shuffle, rather than green print. The gray print indicates that new earphones are inside; the green print indicates that you’re getting the older ones...

If I get the old box I might try exchanging it at the local Apple store ...

Update 2/1/07: Drat! I got the old earphones, now suitable only for decorating fish. I also fell for the 'free engraving' scam (my reasoning made sense at the time), so I can't return them and get the better buds.

Use a generic cheapo webcam with a Mac - iChatUSBCam

from TUAW:

iChatUSBCam hits version 2.2 - The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)

... atUSBCam, which allows you to plug a USB webcam into your Mac and use it in iChat, ...

Creating google machines: the google code page

Google Code - Google's Developer Network has every API, service and integration feature in one place. There's stuff here for just about every ambition and skill level.

Backpack synchronization: PackRat is 1.0

I'll give this a try and report back on my thoughts.

PackRat goes 1.0 - The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)

... PackRat, the killer syncing and offline Backpack client that does even more than Backpack itself, has reached an official 1.0 status. After more than a year in the oven, developer Rod Schmidt posted an understandably excited announcement on his company's blog, complete with some new features that round out PackRat's abilities. ...."

Keyword Manager for iPhoto

I am very happy with Keyword Assistant (free, but I'd be happy to pay for it). Still, it's nice to know there's an alternative: Keyword Manager 1.1 adds major keyword management features, more - The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)

Run Parallels, get root access

I've been running Windows 2000 in OS X Parallels. I don't use it much, but it's nice when I need it. I have, however discovered a slight dark. The new beta allows me to browse my entire machine. Forget access control, I could browse every folder.

It's worth noting that if you have Parallels installed, that anyone using it can bypass the usual OS X permissions controls. (Sure, physical control of a computer means security is minimal, but this requires no skill at all.

Makes me wonder what kinds of security holes are created by running Parallels.