This is going to be the first of a few posts centered around gadgets. I should provide a little background before I begin.
I’m not sure when my love of gadgets started. Probably back even before I was touring HAM radio fests with my dad, looking for good deals on electronic throw-offs. I remember the piles of Macintosh and Commodore computers at the fests - ah, the good old days.
I loaded a couple of audio books into Berta’s iPod for our Johnstown trip this past weekend. I’ve learned a couple of important things regarding audiobook playback - and playback in general - on the iPod.
First, I really dislike that you can’t safely feel the interface on the iPod. It makes it virtually impossible to control the device while you are trying to drive. For those that aren’t aware, the iPod controls are touch-sensitive, not pressure sensitive. It’s hard to describe how it works if you’re not familiar with it, but it works exactly like the touchpad now integrated into notebook computers instead of a mouse, and somewhat like those lamps that you can touch to turn on. Since the mere touch of a button activates it, you can’t search for buttons with your fingers without actually pressing the buttons as you go.
I find it’s reasonably safe to locate the device visually in the car, but not being able to feel the buttons without activating them is a real hindrance. Most times I just wanted to pause the playback or restart it so I could converse with the passengers without missing the story. This was a real pain and something I would consider a design flaw.
The iPod also doesn’t store the last paused location for an audio file. This is of particular interest in audio books. If you leave the book and try to come back to it later, you have no idea where you left off unless you remember the time code. I did remember the time code of the book from when I switched playback, but I ran into another problem that I suppose is mostly user error.
Doctorow’s new book is online, and is possibly shorter than the “why this hippie gives away his books online” and other licensing crap that preceeds it.
I’m going to give AdBrite a go and see how it works out. Anyone can advertise on this site, which is currently listed as one of the top 60,000 visited sites in Alexa. If my content is a good target for your advertising, click the link and see what you can get.
If AdBrite doesn’t work out, I may switch back to Google. I’ll be sure to report on the success or failure either way.
Sitting among all of Berta’s siblings and their husbands (none of her brothers are married), it ocurrs to me that the only other persson here besides me that is a father is Berta’s dad.
Father’s Day is a weird holiday anyway. How do you celebrate it? I don’t know if there’s any traditional method of celebration, but I don’t recall doing anything specific every year.