A New Shrubbery!

I think it was when Thatcher won her second term that I learnt some political realities: pander to reactionary hatreds and get the rich folks who own the media on your side (or at least get them to not be too critical) and you're laughing, even if most of the electorate are crying. I had watched the overnight election coverage at Gis's flat with Woodcraft Folk posters on the wall and we could not believe what had happened after all the terrible things she did to education and the health service and the arts and so on... but she won. Four more years of hopeless depression followed. And now: that post with the photos was my reaction to the Bush victory. I am hopeful, but... the elephant in the corner that everyone is ignoring is whatever new atrocity they are planning, like invading Iraq. This time, regime change has not been leaked in advance.

How much better would things be if Kerry had won? Maybe he could address the US economy and stop spending like Bush, perhaps he could rescue US relations with the rest of the world, but things might not be better for Cuba and Latin America as a book Cuba: a new history by Richard Gott opines. In fact the US could continue bombing people as before. They would probably continue their inflammatory intervention in Colombia.

The next US election might well be Condi vs. Hillary. Condi - the Girl who Cracked the Ice is a long article on Condoleezza Rice, a very interesting person, which only left me puzzled as to why she would support the Iraq invasion. Maybe she should write a book too. Or Hillary vs. Arnie. Save Us.

iPod photo

The iPod is now mainstream, but as Insanely Great reminds us, it's nothing compared to blue jeans, now there's a product. And Mac360 posits that the new iPod photo may be Apple's first iPod mistake? Who cares, it's 60 gig, I could get most of my music on there. The U2 iPod is a mistake for me because I don't care for U2. Perhaps the iPod is too popular for these Mac sites to endorse now it is no longer Mac-only.

I'll tell you what's so great about the iPod: the design, which allows you to hold it in one hand and scroll or scrub and select all the lists and playlists and contacts and the calendar and notes and play the games and pause and power off and change the volume by moving only your thumb on that hand. Brilliant design. A world-beater. The notes are really useful: there are already databases available to tell you where the nearest wi-fi or toilet is. Well, fairly useful.

I'll also tell you this: the iPod is only the hardware component of iTunes. The iTunes Music Store is but a single window in iTunes. The photo functions of the iPod photo need iTunes to sync. And the iPod is nothing compared to Apple's revolutionary product before last: Airport Express and AirTunes - which needs iTunes.

Now some random iPod stories:

I beg to inform you that Podcasting killed the HTML star. It's a big phenomenon and I've just noticed it. Even the BBC has the podcasting bug. It's an RSS feed with audio that you can download to your mp3 player, or listen to on your computer. Brilliant idea, to supplement the thousands of radiostreams, now anyone can be a DJ or pundit on demand without having to worry about supplying a 24 hour feed. As Les Posen says: 'podcasting is less about the method of delivery and more about freedom of choice and democratisation of the spoken word'.

Update: now NetNewsWire supports podcasts, so you can download new stuff automatically to your iPod and listen to it while travelling.

And for those of you who are instant musicians using Apple's amazing GarageBand, or something more exotic, there's a new site MacIdol that gives you 3 GB free to store your music and let others hear it - and stick it on their iPods.

Empty iPod? For those of you with no record collection or musical knowledge: an iPod PlayList book. Links to iMixes on the iTunes Music Store. I haven't seen the playlists so I can't recommend this. By the way, this is my first iMix (iTunes link).

Are you as above, plus wealthy? Maybe the sort of person who buys books by the yard, before Hello magazine visits? Then you need MusicGuru. I found this site hilarious.

Or you could get someone else to rip all your CDs for you at a dollar a disc: the FillPod chappie teaches his customers how to do backups as well, and he doesn't keep copies, he says, which must mean he will be decoding the same CDs over and over, which must mean he has the volume turned right down.

Ballmer's iPod [via Pogue's Posts - always worth a look.]

The iBend is a one-off art piece - this must be one of the few eBay pages with a sound sample - for which bidding has ended.

Now, you can bring the Heavy Metal experience everywhere, the only thing better is being on the stage with your favorite metal band.

The iBend comes with four rocking guitar solos, that you control. Jam out with the radical whammy CENSTRON bend wheel, or rock the extreme pitch knob, you won't be disappointed. You may even get that elusive guitar god gig you have been looking for. Begin your new life, with the iBend.

iPod Socks are real, not something I made up. I think I want some!

We all know we can plug an iPod into a Smart car or a not-so-smart BMW, but how about a portable block party?

This paragraph contains an unmixed metaphor. The iTunes plugin for Audioscrobbler is called iScrobbler and its latest incarnation manages to copy data from my iPod to my Audioscrobbler page if I do things in the right order. As a guide, there is a text file with the plugin called iPod Submission Limitations, something the UK press does not have now. Stay with me. In tonight's Evening Standard (8/12/04) there is a big article on the iPod flash, a rumoured new device. For an old Apple fan like me, this is like seeing Hawkwind's new album win the Mercury prize. But don't they realize that if they spill the beans on Steve Jobs' latest project, he may just can it?

Browser Chrome

Will you look at the size of the chrome on this browser! This is Firefox using tabs with the Web Developer XPI. It's great, you can edit the style sheet en vivo.

New Apple Store on Regent Street

reflective windows of the new Apple Store

Originally uploaded by Tom Coates.

Apple's new shop on Regent Street opens in 53 minutes. People from all over the world have been queuing outside (around the block) for 36 hours.

More Apple Store photos and video at ifoAppleStore from an Apple Store chaser. Meanwhile the BBC's angle is negative in one way, that the shop will not have enough iPods. The Beeb has a video report by Rory-Cellan Jones. The Sunday Times journalist had a tour and decided all the staff are fascists.

What I want to know is: why does this shop have a longer Genius Bar (14 metres!) than their 98 other shops? Do they think we are fick or wot!

Also in town today is MacExpo!

I'm not going to either because I will spend lots of money if I do, not only on the Lucky Bag but also on a PowerBook to replace my old iMac and iBook. I really do want to sell the old ones first this time and not end up with old computers around the place. I can see the great architecture and design of "the most exciting retail experience in Europe" next time I am up west. As the Guardian says: "The shop, with its acres of pale grey Italian stone flooring and soaring glass staircase, has all the scale and splendour of a modern cathedral".

There were 400 people in the queue at 03:00 this morning, according to Stormy's live blog:

8 hours before the opening and I don't feel a bit tired at all. Every couple of minutes I get introduced to a few more people that I don't want to stop talking to, not to mention the passerbys that are awestruck at the sight. The above pretty much sums up why I haven't updated: no time to do it all! I can only imagine how juggling taking pictures and uploading them to the site would be.

To drive this weblog when it is occasionally in motion, I collect scribble on bits of paper, like my old Irish granny, so I need this modeless notes program with great search: Notational Velocity.

Some random Apple links: The Seed of Apple's Innovation.

The True Story of Audion.

New hip Windows PC! ha ha ha

So, a few windows open on the screen. Ever wanted to scribble on the back of them?

Missing Deluxe Paint on the Amiga? Try Pixen 2.

Delicious Library is a good-looking cataloguing application that doesn't require you to buy a barcode scanner - just use your webcam! I wish I'd thought of that. Also Booxter, another stylish cataloguer for books, uses the same idea and claims to be the first so to do.

Clean your speckly pix: Noise Ninja. It prefers uncompressed TIFFs.

HyperEdit is a live HTML/CSS/JavaScript/PHP editor.

An alternative to iMic: UA-20 a USB audio/MIDI interface.

For recording vinyl: Ray Gun. There is also a Pro version.

For backing-up DVDs: Mac the Ripper.

MoreInternet can change helper apps for Internet links.