iPOD nano

Well, I suppose it is time for me to review that iPOD that I bought in... March...
It was, in almost all ways, a vast improvement over my sansa. The nano is smaller, has more storage capacity, and is much easier to organise. iTunes is slow but easy to navigate, a major plus for this lazy, computer-illiterate person. It did take me a bit to get used to it (it's quite a switch from Windows Media Player), but now that I am used to it... It would be hard to go back.
So that's the "basic iPOD stuff." Now on to the "fourth-generation iPOD nano stuff."
As a woman, I have to say it... It's so pretty! All nice, shiny, and black... The glass screen is very pretty, and the size is a definite bonus. With a decent case (cheap online clearance!), I have no fear of breaking it when I bump into a counter at work, and it fits neatly in even my smallest, most impractical pockets. The case and the "hold" button (slider, really) conspire to make it impossible for me to mess things up while it's in my jacket pocket (provided, of corpse, that I actually put it on hold... Nothing is truly "foolproof," as us fools are so darn ingenious).
I was a bit leary of the shake-to-shuffle feature, but it turns out that I had nothing to fear... I only use this feature when I'm alone, since I look, I'm sure, like an idiot. It takes quite a bit of shaking to make it shuffle, thus the iPOD user must flail around violently with complete abandon to make the thing work.
Coverflow is a wonderful thing, provided one has album art. For the most part, I do. But, unfortunately, I still have some kinks to work out in iTunes from the file transfer that took place without my knowledge when I installed iTunes on my computer (it's a Dell... What can I say?). I had a bunch of duplicate files, files that appeared magically in iTunes from a "saved" folder that I did not know existed, and albums on which the album art refuses to show, despite repeated successful "get album art" endeavours.
The games were fascinating to me. The sansa did not have games, and I'm really not much of a gamer- a game of solitaire is good enough for me. Unfortunately, I despise the "draw three" feature of the iPOD solitaire (called "Klondike"), so that one is out. On the other hand, the marble maze game was a blast. I'm still in tutorials (I do have a job, you know...), but it's fun. Vortex, however, was a bit out of my realm. I can play that sort of game online... where the game holds still and has nothing to do with the exact position of my fingers.
Movies... Still working on that. I wanted to put Dune on it for a trip I took a few weeks ago, but oh, no, no free software for microsoft winduhs... Well, there is free software, but it kind of sucked... So movies might just have to wait for my macbook.
That, however, is not the fault of my iPOD. Stupid Dell...
In essence, I like my iPOD :)

Where Is Serena Butler When We Need Her?

Those of us who believe that the machines will develop artificial intelligence and become "thinking machines" now have proof. They are taking over the world... one defenceless old lady at a time. It's not just our computers that are planning to take over the world, torture all humans, and enslave those who survive, it's the so-called "helpful" machines as well.
And it's not just Frank Herbert that foresaw this menace, Battlestar Galactica shares his suspicions. This article proves that their fears are not unfounded! We need Serena Butler, the heroine of the Butlerian Jihad. She inspired humanity to rebel against the thinking machines, to fight them despite the overwhelming odds against them.
I think that I'll smash my computer tonight. It's not worth the risk.
Or I would, if I wasn't addicted to solitaire. There's nothing quite like getting beat by a computer at a game that is designed to match your wits against a deck of (usually poorly shuffled) cards. The euphoria brought on by "beating" the sadistic thinking machine is worth the risk of having such a dangerous thing in my home.
And besides being addicted to solitaire, I'm a fan of wasting time online. How could I do that without a computer?
Serena would be disappointed, but she's a work of fiction. My solitaire games and I should be safe from the jihad.