Custom Car Builder

Today while searching the internet, I came across a new site that I believe will benifit you ( My Readers). This site is devoted to providing Custom Car Building / Muscle Car Restoration!

They have a 2000+ photo tour of their facility, anyone looking to have a custom car built needs to check out this website!

Thank you once again to all my readers!

The site is at Custom Car Builder

Georgia Driver Education

The reason I am posting this post is because I wanted to inform you on Georgia Driver Education. My son will be driving soon. So I decided I would go check out the requirements. I found out that one of the things he needed was to take a driver ed course.

I looked around everywhere to find the best one, I looked at so many sites that it isn't even funny. I think the best one I found was at this site: http://www.drivereducationonline.us/georgia-driver-education.html. It was very informative. I think I am going to sign up. It looked like the one so far. I'll keep you updated. :)

http://www.drivereducationonline.us/georgia-driver-education.html

Real Life Forensics

We’ve all seen the huge growth in crime and detection related entertainment programmes on the television lately. I guess that has a lot to do with the fact that we like to try and understand the criminal’s mind as much as seeing the “good guys” bring them down.

However, much of what you see on your television screen is dumbed down, sometimes by necessity to fit the content into the allotted timescale, sometimes purely to make it seem more interesting.

In reality though, crime fighting is a hugely diverse field. Take a popular show like CSI for example – this focuses mainly on forensics, but did you know that this field can be further broken down into many specialized areas?

Forensic science covers the obvious, such as DNA testing and anthropology, yet also goes much wider into the realms of accounting, computing, ballistics, psychology and many other areas.

There is a huge amount to be learned in each of these areas, from the theory behind them to the scientific techniques and also the types of crimes they have been used to solve. Forensics FAQ is a resource site that aims to find out everything there is to learn about this fascinating subject, presenting the findings in quick overview format and detailed analysis.

iPod Pilot A Teacher's Pet!

A VICTORIAN secondary college has joined schools in Britain, China and the US in evaluating the use of portable multimedia players to engage students - and even their parents - more fully in the learning process.

Learning curve: Michael Fitzgerald with a video iPod Picture: David Geraghty

Teachers and students at Heathmont College in Melbourne's eastern suburbs have been given 60GB video iPods as part of a trial of the use of such devices in the classroom.

It joins Kingswood school in Britain, Gracemont High School in Scotland, the West Academy in Beijing and Empire High School in the US in the project to see if children can find more educational uses for devices that they normally use for entertainment.

Heathmont assistant principal Michael Fitzgerald, who oversees years seven to nine, says Apple gave the school five notebook computers and 30 iPods to participate in the test program. "We have so many kids with iPods, my question was, with all these kids bringing iPods to school, how do we use a piece of electronic equipment in an educational way and benefit both the student and us?

"It certainly engages students I know that. They're enthusiastic."

Students in the program have to make the most of their free iPod, as they only have it for one 10-week term. The gear is then passed on to another class.

Participating students are assessed at the beginning and end of their time in the program.

Fitzgerald's time as a media studies teacher showed him the video element of the iPod would be a handy teaching tool.

"You get kids to make movies and edit them. The next process is to burn it to a DVD or put it on a little hard drive so they can take it home," he says. "They're very excited and proud. IPods are a way of taking home the videos they make in class, the same day."

Article Source: Click Here.

The iPod Shuffle No In 5 Colors!

Apple today announced that its digital music player is now available in five brilliant colors: blue, pink, green, orange and the original silver. A hit with customers since its initial shipment three months ago, iPod shuffle is just half a cubic inch in volume, weighs just half an ounce and features an aluminum design with a built-in clip. Based on Apple's pioneering shuffle feature which lets music fans enjoy a continuous mix of their favorite songs anywhere they go, iPod shuffle contains one gigabyte of flash memory, holds up to 240 songs and is available in all five colors for US$79.

Article Source: http://www.macminute.com/2007/01/30/ipod-shuffle/ .

Russia Agrees To US Request To Shut Down AllofMP3.com

An official document posted to Digg today summarizes an agreement between the U.S. and Russia in which Russia has agreed to close down AllofMP3.com, and any sites that “permit illegal distribution of music and other copyright works.”

The agreement is dated November 19 and posted to the Web site for the Office of the United States Trade Representative. It summarizes the joint efforts of the two countries to fight content piracy, an issue known to be centered in Russia and Eastern Europe.

“This agreement sets the stage for further progress on IPR issues in Russia through the next phase of multilateral negotiations, during which the United States and other WTO members will examine Russia’s IPR regime,” states the document.

The document specifically names AllofMP3.com as an example of the types of Web sites that they will shut down. We contacted AllofMP3.com and the company sent us an official statement stating their legality. It says that the company has offered to remove illegal music at the copyright holders’ requests.

“For months, AllofMP3 has stated the company will comply with the request from any copyright holder to remove any music from the site. However, the company has not heard from the Russian Licensing Societies or the record labels. Perhaps, opt-out requests are not being made because the record labels can’t clear the rights.”

Still, the company is being made an example of for all to see. Russia is instructed to terminate leases for companies that facilitate online piracy, as well as inspect plants regularly, and take criminal action where there is evidence of commercial sale piracy. The government will be expected to begin complying by June 1, 2007.

Click Here To see the first of the trade agreement

Click Here To see the Second of the trade agreement

Article Source: TechCrunch

Japan Does The Shuffle: iPod Tops in Japan Too

Steven Towns submits: Over the weekend Barry Ritholtz posted a short piece on Apple (AAPL) showing how dominant the iPod is in Amazon (AMZN) sales, using the latter's hourly top seller ranking feature. I did the same search for Japan, and although the iPod doesn't control as much of the top-10 or top-25, it is the top player nonetheless.

As of 8am EST Monday morning, Apple had five of the top-10 spots in Amazon Japan's best seller ranking for portable digital audio players. At #1 it had the iPod shuffle and it also took spots 5 --> 8 with 30GB iPods and the 2GB nano. The only other iPod to make the list was the 4GB nano at #19.

Unlike in the U.S. Amazon ranking, Apple does face competition from a number of firms including South Korea's iriver by Reigncom Ltd., Toshiba (TOSBF.PK), Creative (CREAF) and AVC Technology Japan. Reigncom's iriver players took #2, 3, 16, 24 and 25. Toshiba had #11, 12 and 18. Creative had #15 and 21. AVC Tech had #4, 20 and 23.

Note SanDisk (SNDK) only had one placing at #10 and there was a similar lack of presence for Sony (SNE), with only one ranking at #22.

Separately, BCN, a Japanese consumer electronics research firm reported last week that Apple's iPods commanded all ten of the top-10 sales ranking for the week ended Nov. 12th (latest published). The 1GB shuffle took 12.5% of sales and various versions of the nano accounted for nearly 30% of the market. Combined, iPod's top-10 performance accounted for 48.9% of sales for that week. At the current foreign exchange rate, Apple charges about $5 more per shuffle sold in Japan than it does in the U.S.

Disclosure: The author does not own shares of any companies mentioned in this article.

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Article Source: http://ce.seekingalpha.com/article/21228

Beatles: only on iPod?

After years of refusing to make the move to MP3, the Beatles may give Steve Jobs' iTunes an exclusive, reports Fortune's Tim Arango.

By Tim Arango, Fortune writer

November 27 2006: 11:58 AM EST

NEW YORK (Fortune) -- Click on the iTunes music store and punch in "Beatles" under artist search. More than 50 albums will pop up, including Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops Play the Beatles, but none are the real deal. Fans wishing to download the actual Fab Four in MP3 format have to search peer-to-peer sites like Limewire for unlicensed songs they can listen to free.

But that may be about to change. While details remain to be worked out, Fortune has learned that iTunes is close to a deal to bring the Beatles catalog online. Apple Computer (Charts) is said to be angling to become the exclusive online music store for the Beatles for a limited window of time. Other music stores, such as Microsoft's (Charts) MSN and Rhapsody, have courted the Beatles over the years to no avail, but it appears Apple is close to getting first dibs on the band's hits.

When reached by Fortune, an Apple spokesman responded that the company does not comment on "rumor and speculation." If the deal goes through, it will mark a Nixon-Brezhnev-worthy truce - with the band's record label, Britain's EMI Group, serving as a peacemaker - between Apple Computer's Steve Jobs and Neil Aspinall, the onetime Beatles road manager who is now guardian of the band's business interests under the rubric Apple Corps.

Zune vs. iPod: the battle begins

At a recent industry conference, David Munns, head of EMI North America, said the Beatles would be available online "soon." The parties were hoping to make a splashy announcement to coincide with the Nov. 21 release by EMI's Capitol Records of "Love," a mashup of Beatles songs that serves as a soundtrack to a Las Vegas Cirque du Soleil production. That didn't happen. Apple Corps declined to comment.

As Fortune went to press, numerous deal points were still being hammered out. According to a music industry executive apprised of the talks, the parties were discussing how lengthy a window of exclusivity iTunes might get and how many tens of millions of dollars Jobs - who is said to be personally involved in the discussions - will commit to an advance for the band and marketing costs.

Also being discussed is whether the band would be willing to take two steps at the same time and endorse the iPod by allowing its music to be used in a commercial. Another scenario making the rounds is the prospect of the Beatles following U2's example with a branded iPod. "If the Beatles were in an iPod ad, that would be humongous," this executive said.

The deal could well fall apart for any number of reasons, including the long-running legal feud between Apple Corps and Apple Computer over both their names and the similarities between the Granny Smith that appears on the label's LPs and the half-eaten apple that is Jobs' corporate logo.

Apple Corps has been in and out of courtrooms with Jobs' Apple for more than 20 years. In the latest incarnation last May, a London judge ruled in favor of Jobs - saying that the iTunes service did not violate a 1991 deal in which Jobs was allowed to keep doing business under the Apple name as long as he agreed not to enter the music business. The Beatles have lodged an appeal, which is slated to be heard next February (clearly, if the two Apples wind up in business together, the matter is likely to be dropped).

The 1987 "Revolution" Nike (Charts) commercial was the first time a Beatles song was used in a TV ad, and the sneaker maker wound up discontinuing the spot after being sued by the Beatles. (Nike thought it had obtained the proper license for the song, only to find itself in the middle of a legal battle between EMI and Apple Corps.)

"The Beatles' position is that they don't sing jingles to peddle sneakers, beer, pantyhose, or anything else," a lawyer for the band told the Associated Press at the time. Notice he didn't say iPods.

__________________________

Fortune's Peter Lewis gives the new Microsoft Zune the iPod challenge.

Zune: Music industry's new BFF

__________________________

Article source: http://money.cnn.com/2006/11/22/technology/apple_beatles_ipod.fortune/index.htm?postversion=2006112708

iPhone: ‘Cannibalistic’ of iPod

Analyst says Apple iPod sales could face a rival close to home.
November 24, 2006

Apple Computer, increasingly under siege from rivals seeking a slice of the iPod’s multibillion-dollar digital music action, may soon have an unexpected rival: itself.



The Cupertino, California-based Mac maker is widely expected to announce an iPhone, an event some analysts have said could come as early as January at Macworld (see Two Apple iPhones Coming).



Most industry experts have focused on the possibility of two phones coming, a smart phone and a slimmer iPod nano-like phone, but have so far not taken bold stances on the possible effect on iPod sales (see Apple iPhone to iChat).



“We believe the iPhone will be largely cannibalistic rather than incremental to the iPod franchise,” Bernstein Research analyst Toni Sacconaghi wrote Wednesday in a report.



Bernstein Research also pointed out that Apple’s iPod, which has fueled the company’s resurgence, will likely see a decline in its 70 percent position in the market as competitors move into the lucrative market for portable media players.



‘We believe the iPhone will be largely cannibalistic rather than incremental to the iPod franchise.’

-Toni Sacconaghi,

Bernstein Research



Microsoft, for one, has entered the iPod market, pledging to commit hundreds of millions of dollars in a multiyear effort to break into the business, much as it has done with Xbox in game consoles (see Zune Player Enters iPod Market and Red Hots to Rock the Zune).



Also bad for Apple, Bernstein noted, is a trend toward flash memory-based players and serving the international market. These two areas are ones in which “Apple’s position is relatively weaker,” Mr. Sacconaghi noted.



Apple’s full-year 2006 sales overall totaled $19.3 billion. The Mac maker’s fiscal full-year iPod sales hit $7.67 billion for 2006, representing 40 percent of its business.



In 2006 alone, it sold 39.4 million iPods, an increase of 75 percent over last year’s sales.



Apple’s iPod revenue growth pace, however, is seen as slowing. For full-year 2007, it’s expected to reach $8.7 billion in iPod sales, and in full-year 2008 it’s expected to make it to $10 billion. Rocketing sales have brought a number of recent copycats of its success in melding iTunes to iPod.



Microsoft Calling

The most recent example is Microsoft’s Zune, paired with its Zune Marketplace music service that offers over 2 million songs. Also, Nokia has jumped into the action with pumped-up Nseries music-playing phones and the launch of its Music Recommenders digital music service.



Microsoft has not ruled out entering the cell phone market either. In September, the Redmond giant indicated at a press event that its Zune player could be a contender (see Microsoft: Zune Phone?).



Most are doubtful the software giant will experience the kind of success that Apple has enjoyed with iTunes. But Apple’s iTunes grip on people’s music player choice may not be as tight as conventionally thought, the Bernstein analyst noted.



“The ‘lock-in’ effect of iTunes and Apple’s FairPlay digital rights management system is weaker than many people think,” wrote Mr. Sacconaghi.



Shares of Apple rose $1.32 to $91.63 in recent trading.



Premium Apples

More challenging is that Apple wares are typically positioned as premium products against their more commoditized rivals. That strategy could spell trouble in the highly subsidized cell phone market where low-cost phones rule.



The analyst noted that Apple will likely target the $300-plus segment of the handset market, which represents only 5 percent of units sold.



Also, the world’s largest phone maker, Nokia, and No. 2 Motorola have already got a considerable grip on the phone market and have a significant lead time in efforts in music-playing phones.



Bernstein Research expects the portable media player market overall to slow in the next two to three years, going from 48 percent in 2006 to 22 percent in 2008 and to 16 percent in 2009.

Contact the writer: SMartin@RedHerring.com

Article found at: RedHerring.com

The iPod: A Love Story Between Man, Machine

By Jose Antonio Vargas
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, August 17, 2005; Page C01

Whenever Jason Berkowitz listens to "You're the Best" on his iPod, he recalls that 1984 summer vacation in Fort Lauderdale and seeing "The Karate Kid" for the first time. ("I thought it was the best song ever . I still kinda do and I don't care what people say," says the 29-year-old.) Whenever he listens to Zero 7's song "Destiny," which he first heard at London's Heathrow Airport four years ago, he thinks about meeting his wife, Bethany.

The thing about the iPod is, it's what you bring to it.


"It becomes an extension of you. It's like a window to your soul," says Jason Berkowitz of his iPod. When he hears "Destiny," he thinks of meeting his wife. (By Lucian Perkins -- The Washington Post)


"If a song represents a memory in your head, then you listen to your life's memories -- faster than a mixed CD, definitely faster than a mixed tape -- as you listen to your iPod," says the affable, fast-talking Berkowitz, a project manager for a software company, as he sits in his downtown Washington office.

"It becomes an extension of you," he says. "It's like a window to your soul."

Everywhere, at all times, it's with you, this personal narrative of who you are and what you've been. While shopping for Cocoa Puffs at Harris Teeter. While dozing off on the MARC train. While doing leg extensions at Gold's Gym. It takes you back to that first dance ("When Will I Be Loved" by Linda Ronstadt) and last dance ("I'm in You" by Peter Frampton) at your senior prom; that birthday party where you sang like Rick James so loudly ("Superfreak! Superfreak!") that the neighbors almost called the cops; that Whitney Houston breakup anthem that reminds you of you-know-who over and over again. It's an obsession, an addiction, a love affair, really, between a man and a machine.

To the iPodders around the world, the irresistible, indispensable, irreplaceable iPod is a personal memory bank.

"The iPod is a very powerful identity technology," says Sherry Turkle, director of the Initiative on Technology and the Self at MIT, where she teaches the psychology of the relationship between people and machines. The iPod, to be sure, isn't the only digital music player around, but it's without a doubt the most popular. With nearly 22 million sold, three-quarters of the U.S. market, "the iPod is just one more technology that uses the computer as the second self -- a reflection of who we are as people, a way of seeing ourselves in the mirror of the machine," she says.

Fatima Ayub, wearing a white chiffon hijab that matches her iPod's white earphones, is walking briskly on R Street in Northwest Washington on her way to work. You'd hardly ever see her, she says, without her 15-gigabyte iPod, which has more than 1,300 songs on it.

"Your taste in music is something very personal, very emotional. So when you have an iPod and you've got all your music on it, you're trying to say something about yourself," says Ayub, 22, an associate for the Asia division of Human Rights Watch and a graduate student at Johns Hopkins University. She's listening to "A Perfect Sonnet" by the indie rock group Bright Eyes as she sits on a curb near 18th and R streets. Her boyfriend, Imran, learned to play that song on his guitar for her, she says, cracking a shy smile. "You're making a little collection of emotions and memories for yourself and you stick them all in this little machine and you carry it around with you wherever."

In the upcoming book "iPod, Therefore I Am," part memoir, part valentine, the English journalist Dylan Jones writes: "The big thing about the iPod, I thought, was the way in which it forces you to listen to your life in a different way."

"When I started just monotonously, relentlessly downloading and uploading my record collection onto this machine, it was only after awhile that I began to realize why it was taking me so long. It wasn't supposed to take you that long. But I started going off on these weird tangents, going backwards, to my youth, when I was 15 or 20 or 30," Jones, a 45-year-old father of two girls, says in a phone interview from his London home.

His iPod has more than 6,000 songs. "That's when I began thinking there was something bigger to this whole iPod thing. Every time I download a song to it, and every time I listened to that song, it forced me to go back somewhere where I haven't been to for a while."

Everyone who loves music -- and who doesn't? -- has hundreds, if not thousands, of records, Jones says. When was the last time you played everything in your music collection? he asks. Then Jones, in a pitch-perfect tenor, sings a few lines from "Wichita Lineman" ( "I know I need a small vacation, but it don't look like rain. . . . I am a lineman for the county, and I drive the main road, searching . . . ). It's a song he first heard when he was 12, "one of those songs that remains a secret," he says, "because it was never trendy enough."

In the middle of her typical 7:30 p.m. workout at Washington Sports Club in Clarendon, with her iPod clipped to her hot pink shorts, Kate Danser is listening to "Times Like These" by Jack Johnson, a surfer-cum-songwriter with a distinctive folksy, reggae-rock sound. Not exactly the upbeat, fast-paced, high adrenaline rush that is "Bootylicious," by the R&B group Destiny's Child. That song, in very high volume, can be heard from the iPod of a woman dressed in a matching gray halter-top and very short shorts who's doing sit-ups a few feet away. But "Times Like These," the 24-year-old Danser says, reminds her of her friend Casey, her student-teacher partner whom she met at the College of New Jersey. Casey introduced her to Jack Johnson a few years back.

"It kinda soothes me, relaxes me, calms me down," says Danser, putting her iPod back on, sitting on the leg extension station, about to do her third rep, with the Jack Johnson song and the memory of her friend Casey in the background.