BY DUSTIN DOW | DDOW@ENQUIRER.COM
Lauren Hartwig plans to break the rules in Sunday's Flying Pig Marathon.
Hartwig will be running to the soundtrack supplied by her iPod, which might play inspirational tracks by U2 or the Killers to help her through the half-marathon.
"The music gets my mind off running long distances," Hartwig, 24, of Hyde Park, said. "But anytime a slow song comes on, I change it. Slow songs make me run slower."
Regardless of the beat, Hartwig will be violating race rules enacted to protect her. A controversial headphone/earbud prohibition in marathons nationwide has turned iPod-toting runners such as Hartwig into scofflaws.
"Really, they're not allowed?" Hartwig's friend Elizabeth Yoke asked last Saturday before a training run, a look of anxiety suddenly transforming her face. "I don't think I'll be able to run without my iPod."
Fear not, iPod addicts: Race officials won't be policing for ear buds Sunday. Runners aren't going to be disqualified for strapping a nano to their bicep or a shuffle on their waist.
"We're just going to discourage people from using them," Flying Pig executive director Iris Simpson-Bush said. "But we're not going to be pulling people off the course or making them remove their iPods before the race."
The iPod issue has become so controversial that the rule, which was put in place in the fall of 2006, will be reviewed by the USA Track and Field long distance executive committee next month.
The USATF sanctions many American marathons, including the Flying Pig, and is responsible for accrediting courses as qualifiers for the prestigious Boston Marathon. Individual marathons are then bound by USATF rules, which include the unevenly enforced headphone ban.
"It's almost become an unenforceable rule," said Fred Finke, chairman of the long-distance board.
"So it would be a failure of my leadership if we don't address this in the next month or two because right now it's a rule that's just not working. Still, it's a safety issue because if you have headphones in, you can't hear directions from a course monitor if there's an emergency."
The USATF has three options, Finke said. Rescind the rule, keep it as is, or rescind it but recommend that races not allow headphones.
No official action can be taken until December at the USATF annual convention. But even the hint of removal is encouraging for Flying Pig officials who have heatedly debated in board meetings over whether or not to enforce the rule.
"If they rescinded the rule, it would be a lot easier for us," Simpson-Bush said. "We don't feel it's appropriate to put ourselves in a position of policing this."
The Flying Pig's policy of discouragement without enforcement aligns with most marathons but is at odds with the Twin Cities Marathon in Minneapolis, where 176 runners were disqualified in October. Ten pairs of volunteers were stationed throughout the course to watch for runners with iPods.
"I thought there would be more enforcement by other marathons," Twin Cities director Virginia Brophy Achman said. "When you're training all those weeks on trails or open roads, it's dangerous to have headphones on."
In Cincinnati, the marathon might be forced into a "sticky situation," Simpson-Bush said, especially if a race winner or top finisher wears an iPod. That would prompt Flying Pig officials to disqualify a champion in order to comply with USATF rules.
But such a scenario is unlikely, because serious runners don't wear headphones in either training sessions or races.
"When you run faster, the headphones tend to be uncomfortable," Finke said. "Slower runners don't notice them as much. So we see most iPods in the half-marathons or with about 50 percent of the people in the back half of marathons."
Mark Dobrozsi of Sedamsville will run in his first half-marathon Sunday, but is so serious about preparing for the race that he abhors the idea of running with an iPod.
"I tried wearing one, but I found myself playing with it and breaking stride and momentum," Dobrozsi said. "Part of running is being able to focus on how you're feeling. The iPod brings in so many distractions to that process."
Those distractions are exactly why Woodlawn's Joe Gast will be wearing an iPod in the half-marathon, running with encouragement from Eminem and Pearl Jam.
"I want to be distracted," Gast said. "I find running to be boring, and without an iPod, it hurts a lot."
Michael Fecher will consider both sides of the argument Sunday when he is running the full marathon, listening to artists such as Big & Rich as well as passing traffic.
"I've got two ears," Fecher said. "But I'm only going to have headphones in one of them."
by Ina Fried
Last week, I got a sales pitch e-mail from Buy.com touting a recertified 4GB iPod Nano for $99. I lost my iPod Touch last December and one of my older iPods had just given up the ghost, so I decided to go for it.
The iPod came in just a couple of days--but as soon as I unwrapped it and connected it to my Mac at home I got an ominous alert from my usually quiet antivirus software. The iPod, it informed me, contained some virus known as AdobeR.exe.
As I dug into the problem, I learned something I probably should have realized before I ordered. The "recertified" iPod wasn't recertified by Apple, but instead through some third party.
Apple sells its own Apple-certified refurbished products via its Web site, with said devices also coming with a one-year warranty. A 4GB from Apple's site would have set me back $129 and come with a $15 iTunes card, while a new model would have cost $149. (So yes, perhaps the lesson is simply that Ina should be less of a skinflint.)
That said, as a customer, Buy.com treated me right, shipping out a brand new iPod and apologizing for the inconvenience.
That doesn't answer the question, however, of how the virus got on a supposedly "recertified iPod." I spoke Monday with Buy.com's VP of operations, Fred Martin, who promised to contact the Illinois company that supplies Buy.com with the refurbished iPods.
My usually dormant Mac antivirus software sprang to life when I tried to connect the refurbished iPod Nano I bought from Buy.com
On Tuesday, he reported back to me to say that after checking with the company, it did not appear that the problem was widespread.
"Our opinion is that this is not a significant problem that is happening with any frequency at all," Martin said. Martin noted that the company does wipe off any user data from the iPods it ships out as recertified. That process might involve a PC or Mac that could theoretically be infected with a virus, though I don't know that to be the case for sure.
Apple itself had a problem with a Windows virus getting on to some new iPods back in October 2006. It said it traced the problem to a single infected Windows machine used at a contract manufacturer.
The company said it had put steps in place to make sure this wouldn't happen again. To my knowledge, it hasn't happened since then.
Nor is the issue limited to iPods. Best Buy had an issue earlier this year where it was forced to warn customers that some of its Insignia photo frames shipped with a virus.
Has anyone else ordered a refurbished iPod from someone other than Apple and gotten more than they bargained for?
by Christopher Breen, Macworld.com
An open letter to Peter Cohen
Dear Peter,
As you know, I once penned Macworld’s Game Room column. And, now blessed with that beat, you may be starting to feel the way I did once I passed the column along to Andy Ihnatko—if you ever see another computer game, it will be too soon. The once unrelenting joy of vaporizing one cootie after another became a terrible grind.
Having had nearly a decade-long break from the column, my interest in gaming has started to return. Sure, it’s only been resurrected to the point where I’ve purchased the reissue of Return to Dark Castle and LittleWing’s Monster Fair (so sue me, I’ve got a nostalgic streak and I’m still a sucker for pinball), but at least there’s some spark.
What rekindled my once-dead romance with gaming may surprise you. It was my iPhone. I’ve jailbroken the thing since just about Day 1 and when I have a spare couple of minutes, it’s not unusual to find me banging away on Mahjong 2.
I mention this game specifically because I noticed that the iTunes Store now offers updated versions of iPod games that were pulled from the Store’s shelves because they weren’t compatible with the 3G iPod nano and iPod classic. Among those games is Electronic Arts’ Mahjong.
Given that I’ve had recent experience with the iPhone’s version of the game, I thought I’d give the Apple-sanctioned Mahjong a spin (quite literally, thanks to the iPod’s clickwheel). Having done so I was prompted to write to you because you, more than anyone I know, might have an informed answer to this question:
iPod gaming kind of sucks, right?
And I suggest that for these reasons:
* An iPod’s screen—even a 5G or iPod classic—is awfully small for someone who doesn’t have 14-year-old eyes.
* The clickwheel is great for quickly moving through lists but as a game controller, ick.
* The eye candy on some of these things is nice enough, but try playing these games without sound (as you do with games on jailbroken phones). Maybe it’s just me, but without the accompanying noise some of these games don’t stand up very well.
I admit it, I was among those crying out for more iPod games, but having seen what’s possible on the iPhone and iPod touch (also jailbroken)—larger screen, acceleration, touch-interface—it’s hard for me to return to a “traditional” iPod and gain much pleasure from spinning a wheel and clicking a button. And I have to think that it will be just as hard for those who own both an iPhone/iPod touch and a clickwheel iPod when third-party games come to the iPhone and touch this summer.
Will the iPhone 2.0 software and the games that will pour in with it spell the end for gaming on traditional iPods? You now bear the master’s mantle, please set me straight.
Your friend and colleague,
Chris
Starting Monday, a day without Idol on television universe, the eager fans can preorder the newly minted Top 24's vocal performance with iTunes.
The sale will go down to iTunes Idol new store at Monday.
"We believe that the American Idol viewers are going to love the opportunity to buy and download iTunes Idol performance," Eddy Cue, Apple iTunes, which oversees the iTunes.
Chikezie is one of the Idol Top 24, as was announced last week. He will take the stage with 11 other men. The 12 women earn their turns on the microphone Wednesday.
The iTunes download, on the other hand, has probably begun. The word probably comes into play because, unlike the rest of iTunes, which shows and songs are sorted by popularity, the site is not releasing any information on sales.
The iPod is literally a great portable media player, it is also a style accessory and icon style. The stylish iPod could emerge as an unlikely savior of the American economy.
With approximately $ 60 billion is expected to pour into shopping malls in June and July, Americans rush to pass tax breaks provided to them by Washington, which are intended to revive the ailing economy.
George W. Bush and Henry Paulson, has unveiled a series of proposed tax abatements worth about $ 150bn.
The initiative was designed to stimulate consumer demand - a major engine of American growth - and to help provide the largest in the world economy away from the brink of a recession.
Green is the trend nowadays, renewable and cheap energy something that become really interesting. With iSol you can tap the largest inexhaustible energy available to us, the sun itself.
Not only that, this device can also recharge wide array of gadgets. The compact size really great for any travelers who go outdoors a lot. However 6-8 hours needed for full recharge may seem a bit slow for many people.
Specs:
Size: 168×108x28mm
Power Output: 1W
Voltage: 7-8V
Charging Current (Peak): 110mA
Can be used for all iPod models (USB ports)
6-8 hours needed to fully recharge
Built in 5 AAA battery charger (batteries included)
plug and play setup
Resilient design
