CES: Not all gadgets use batteries

Some of the most interesting items at CES don't use electricity.  We found several accessories that enhance the electronic lifestyle, while made entirely out of non-technical materials.


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CES: Earbuds Aplenty and more cool CES stuff for iPod or iPhone!

CES is chock full of iPhone accessory products, and I would like to promote some of the smaller vendors out here at the show. By the way, if you are attending CES, just about all the cool iPhone related stuff like this is located in the North Hall (including our own booth at 4642). It would take a while to post on each indivdual product, so I 'm going to have to lump them together. In this post, I'll talk about several iPhone accessory products (earbuds, cases, a solar charger, etc.) you might want to check out. I'll swing round later and review a few of them more fully. The first 2 are earbud headphones for your touch or iPhone. Read on for the details...


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Getting the Most Out of iTunes

Use these desktop add-ons to automatically download cover art and lyrics

The desktop version of iTunes is a great application, with features that I’m still learning to use. In addition, there’s a world of add-ons and programs out there that make iTunes even better! I’ve just begun exploring these and wanted to share my comments about some of the best. Some of them are available for both the Mac and Windows PC; others are available for one platform only. Some are freeware and others commercial apps.


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Shake & shuffle your music

Issue: 

Even the music in your favorites list can get old after a few months. If you want to skip a song you’ve heard too many times, you can always tap on the Next button in iPod’s Now Playing screen. But with OS 3.0, it’s even easier. Simply shake your iPhone or iPod touch while you are listening to music and the iPod app will skip to the next song. This feature also works with videos and audiobooks.

Note that you must be in the iPod app for this feature to work. You can’t be listening to music in the background while you’re using another app.

Everything you'll ever need to know about listening to radio on the iPhone - Part I


The iPhone is an ideal platform for listening to online radio stations. In this article, I explain everything you’ll ever need to know about all this. You’ll learn how radio stations can be listened to on even non-jailbroken iPhones, without any hacks to play stations in the background; I also present a very thorough comparison of currently available third-party radio software.

First and foremost, let’s take a closer look at the built-in, out-of-the-box radio support.

1. Built-in capabilities: QuickTime

All versions of the iPhone (and, of course, the iPod Touch – from now on, I refer to all these as “iPhone”), under OS3, already have support for playing back some (not all!) possible radio stream types.


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Set timer to stop playing music

Issue: 

 It’s easy to fall asleep while listening to music or watching a video late at night. If you find yourself doing this a lot, you can set a sleep timer that will stop playing music or video, and close any other open app after a specific period of time. Here’s how you do it:

No sound on iPhone or iPod touch?

Issue: 

 Note that the iPod touch 2G has built-in speakers, but the first generation Touch does not. You must use the earphones that came with the device. If you can’t hear any sound coming from your device, check out the obvious things first:

Control music playback from headphones

Issue: 

The headphones that came with your iPhone also let you control music playback from the button on the microphone.

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Lifelong Learning and Concatenating audio files

 If you love to learn, have I got a URL for you! The Teaching Company gathers top university professors from around the country. These great teachers lecture on topics ranging from Quantum Mechanics to Biblical Wisdom to the History of Ancient Egypt to the Fundamentals of Music to Building Great Sentences and so much more. There are both audio and video courses, many of which are on sale throughout the year.


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