What's on My iPod (Touch)

As this otherwise worthless post indicated, I do not have a new iPhone, but I do have a new iPod touch. Like the rest of you (the sane ones, that is) I covet an iPhone, but both options available to me at the moment are really non-starters:

1. Buy a US iPhone and 'unlock' it.

It's simply too much money for a device that could be rendered useless with a firmware upgrade, and frankly, as much as I love the command line, it's all a bit too much work for me.

2. Pick up the UK iPhone on o2 when released in November.

A. 35 quid a month is steep for someone who NEVER uses his phone and who currently pays less than £8/month.

B. The UK and Europe moved their networks from 2g to 3g. The US didn't, really, but instead upgraded to '2.5G' in the form of adding EDGE to the 2G network. The iPhone, as we all know, is not 3g; it's an EDGE device. There are reasons that that sucks, but putting those aside, here's the dealbreaker: there is no viable EDGE network in the UK. o2 is 'bragging' that they have been putting EDGE in place and will have 35% coverage at release. 35% is not a typo; it is, however, unacceptable.

But o2 has done something right compared with AT&T. They have bundled wifi hotspot coverage into their package deal. Even better, the hotspot provider, The Cloud, will give you unlimited access for your iPod touch for less than a fiver a month!

So, until I can experience the glory of the iPhone I picked up an iPod Touch (purchased in dollars - which are worthless, by the way - of course). This gives me a chance to check out the new UI without spending lots of money. And yes, it is all it is hyped to be. And more.

So what's on my iPod Touch?

• a random selection of about 35 albums from my collection
  
• all my contacts and calendars
  
• a bunch of youtube bookmarks
  
• Battlestar Galactica Episode
  
• Deadwood Episode
  
• Brian Manzella's Confessions of a Former Flipper
  
• Radiohead's 'In Rainbows' (the subject of my next blog)
  

misanthrope

I signed up for facebook. I was curious, I suppose. it reveals more deeply than ever that I really don't so much like the people. I'll find people I used to know and I think: huh, s/he looks good. good for them. but contact? ha! no way.

and: it's eerie how happy everyone is in their little pictures. eerie and wrong. it has a sort of uncanniness to it. I'm sure some grad student is working on this busily in some cultural studies department somewhere in the midwest right now. does not detract from the fact that facebook: uncanny. and me: misanthrope. this facebook thing may not work for me. we'll see. here's my uncanny pic.

The iBrick

Just so you all know that I can maintain a sense of humour even concerning those things that I typically treat with religious reverence - I thought this was very funny:

blogging from my iPod

nothing else to say!!!

busy and big month

not that this has prevented me from blogging, but the big news is that my sister has just given birth to our first nephew (or niece for that matter--the first of the next generation, more or less, I should say). Welcome to the world Alexander!

the busy bit of the month has simply been the beginning of term usual chaos. on-line content for your teaching seemed such a good idea when we started this years ago and yet it takes an insane amount of management and time. so I find myself updating tutorial sign-up sheets, creating groups for students to meet on-line and collaborate through, uploading slides from the lectures, coordinating the readings and reading questions, and all the rest.

we had a lovely visit from Kristin and Mark last week, which was great. I was in the last sentence going to classify them as our 'denver friends' because that's where they live, but that doesn't quite do it. we know many many people in Denver. And Kristin and I really met at a series of weddings, so perhaps they are 'wedding friends'--you know those people you see once/year for about 3-5 years when every one of your mutual friends gets married and as a result you gain lifelong friends. very cool. but there are earlier connections for fronesis--high school, to be specific. And we are now more than wedding friends. So there you are. uncharacterisable, all-encompassing friends. the best kind. Great to see y'all.

will keep blogging soon.

My Other Excuse(s)

Coming to a bookshop near you in January:

but is it?

first week of teaching over here, bit chaotic. this made me laugh.