Better Options In Downloading Mobile Phone Ring Tones and Mobile Phone Logos
Over a few years, mobile tones, cheap ring tones, mobile phone logo and downloadable game for mobile phones have become very popular among a large cross-section of mobile phone users in different parts of UK as well as other parts of the globe. A number of online providers of mobile phone logos, mobile tones as well as downloadable game for mobile phones have evolved and there is tremendous competition among them to make their presence felt in the telecom market. Many among them are enticing mobile phone users with offers that involve a lot of “small print.” Many of these offers do not respect the right of the mobile phone users to get what they are entitled to when they pay money for downloading of different types of mobile content in the form of mobile tones, mobile phone logo, cheap ring tones, other types of ring tones or those who are engaged in game downloads in their mobiles.
To protect the interests of consumers in this environment becomes all the more necessary. In this context, a number of rules have been devised to protect the rights of mobile phone users in UK for game downloads in their mobiles or in the instances of downloading of cheap ring tones, funny ring tones or a mobile phone logo. All firms that want to sell mobile phone content have to strictly follow these set of rules. These rules have been drafted by the Mobile Entertainment Forum and the UK’s phone firms.
Under the tenets of the new rules, the online firms must be transparent in their operations. They must provide all information to the end-consumers. The consumers must know what type of mobile tones or mobile phone logos they are expected to get for their money and also how they could discontinue the services of the online providers, offering the same, if they are dissatisfied with their services. The advertisements of these firms must speak in detail about the prices and time periods of the various offers in mobile tones, cheap ring tones, funny ring tones, mobile phone logos and downloadable games for mobile phones that are on offer.
Mobile phone users as consumers of the services of online retailers and providers of mobile content have a right to know what they are actually getting into, when they make a purchase of a mobile tone, mobile phone logo or game downloads for their mobiles. These rules would greatly improve the market dynamics of this sector of the mobility marketplace and would give more reasons for mobile phone users to make their online purchases of mobile phone logos, funny ring tones, Nokia ring tones, downloadable games for mobile phones, mobile tones and other forms of mobile phone content, with some degree of confidence.
Body Fat Distribution Factors
Most men and women put on weight differently. But on what makes fat settle in a preferential way, there is little evidence.
Scientists ascertained that the specific body shapes are: the android shape, or apple shape, common among men (fat deposits on the middle section of the body, mostly on the abdomen) and the gynoid, or pear shape, more common among women (fat deposited on hips and bottom). There is also the third type of body shape: the ovoid shape, not differentiating between men and women. With this type we can speak of an over-all general coverage of bodyfat.
Thinking of many cases of exceptions, I try to find out in what follows if there is a strict specific fat pattern distribution for men and women and what are the factors influencing fat distribution. And I find this interesting not in as much as the aesthetic side is concerned but from the health perspective.
Being overweight or underweight are characteristics depending on many factors: you are genetically overweight if you have a family history of overweight parents/relatives. Also, the nervous system plays an important role in balancing the body weight: serotonin and endorphins send signals to the brain that induce the need to eat or on the contrary. There is also the CCK hormone which transmits the brain signals on the state of satiety – it decreases hunger.
While generally, body weight is influenced genetically, hormonally and by the body maintenance condition (the activity routine), it seems that the fat distribution is influenced by age, genetic inheritance, race, but to a greater extent by gender specific hormones. They are responsible for the distribution of fat in certain zones of our bodies: thus, estrogens which are responsible of the typical female sexual characteristics will influence the fat deposition in the pear format, favouring its laying on the hips, thighs, and belly, while testosterone will “lead” fat mostly towards tummy and upper body.
Latest studies show that men’s tendency towards the gynoid format has increased in the past 30 years (one study shows a growth of 2 inches in men’s hips in the past 30 years). According to researches as John R. Lee, M.D (specialist in natural progesterone therapy), Dr. Jesse Hanley and Dr. Peter Eckhart, it seems that modern life exposes people to increased amounts of estrogen and estrogen-like substances (xenoestrogens or foreign estrogens). Sources of these substances can be plastics, plastic drinking bottles, commercially raised beef, chicken and pork, personal care products, pesticides, herbicides, birth control pills, spermacide, detergent, canned foods and lacquers. The problem is that increased estrogen levels in men not only make their hips fatten but are the main risk factor for disease such as prostate enlargement and cancer.
Also, for women, the android pattern fat distribution should raise questions with regard to hormonal imbalances, such situations being a potential cause for health problems such as polycystic ovary syndrome.
We’ve seen how health related problems can affect body fat, now let’s take a look at how fat can induce health problems.
It is clear that increased body fat affects health, the news is that its distribution on the body influences the state of health of specific organs.
According to its placement, fat can be subcutaneous (under the skin) or visceral (around organs). The greatest concern is generated by visceral fat that can interfere with the good functioning of vital organs. There is a relationship between overall fat deposits and specific fat deposits: fat around the body middle section is associated with visceral fat, so, abdominal fat is the most serious health risk.
The waist to hip ratio is a method of determining whether there are excessive amounts of upper body fat. It is obtained by dividing the waist measurement by the hip measurement. The upper limits are:.95 for men and .80 for women. Any exceeding values should be alarming.
Apple-shaped fat individuals are exposed to a greater risk of developing obesity-related diseases, as the fat is intra-abdominal and distributed around their stomach and chest. They risk:
Cardiovascular diseases and hypertension
Type 2 diabetes
Respiratory diseases (sleep apnea syndrome)
Some cancers
Osteoarthritis
The pear-shaped overweight persons are at greater risk of mechanical problems, as most of their body fat is distributed around their hips, thighs and bottom.
Both apple-shaped and pear-shaped obese persons are likely to develop psychological problems and alteration of the quality of life.
In any case, extra-weight cannot create but problems. Fact is that the main role in acquiring extra-fat is the food intake that the body cannot burn for various reasons (such as a decreased metabolic rate, low activity level or the physical condition), and, consequently, it creates fat deposits. The solution is a classic one: diet and exercise.
However, in shedding extra weight there are men-women differences. The process appears to be harder for women.
The total mass of the body is made up of fat mass and fat-free mass. The fat mass can be of two types: essential and excess. Essential fat is found in bone marrow, in various organs, and throughout the nervous system.
Women are at a disadvantage, as their physiological processes (childbearing and hormone functions) require a plus of essential fat, the “sex-specific fat”. Thus the total percentage of body fat is higher, moreover, this part of essential fat is hard to dislodge. Secondly, women have less calorie burning muscle than men, which makes it more more demanding for the female to achieve a trimmer figure. Now, girls, don’t use it as an excuse!
Convert your DVD movies to play on an iPod
Most iPods, besides their music features, offer high quality video capabilities; it’s one of the reasons they are one of the most versatile gadgets on the market. We all enjoy watching movies to relax and unwind, so why not convert your own DVDs to the iPod format and watch them whenever you want, wherever you are?
Transferring your DVD movies to play on your iPod, iPhone, Touch, or Nano can be simple, or in some cases, time-consuming and difficult. There are many iPod converters available, but only a few are worth purchasing: some are too expensive, some are hard to use, and many aren’t reliable (they mess up sound and/or picture, or they can’t convert new movies). A good iPod converter must meet the following conditions:
• User-friendly interface – the program must be easy to use.
• Fast encoding – the program must be able to encode fast so that the entire process will be finished fast.
• Versatile – the Converter should be able to output video for all iPod Video formats: Classic, Nano, Touch, and iPhone.
• Quality – the converted movie must offer excellent sound and picture quality.
• Error Processing – the program must be able fix any problems that appear during the converting process.
• Features – the program must have popular options implemented, such as picture quality, subtitles, different languages, etc.
It’s also helpful if the program has a tutorial/help section where the user can learn how to take advantage of extra features. Another important thing regarding conversion from a DVD to an iPod is the ability to zoom from widescreen to full screen. A good converter should have this feature implemented in order to allow for a clean transition.
The program should allow inexperienced as well as advanced users a satisfactory experience. For novice users, a good converter should have an option for automatically adjusting settings to achieve the best results. For advanced users, there should be the ability to manually adjust a wide variety of parameters. A good iPod converter should also allow converting from both NTSC and PAL DVD movies.
Excellent iPod converters can be found for around $40.00, and they’ll do everything, and often more, than some of the more expensive programs. You can try and go the inexpensive route, using two or three free programs in combination (Videora, DVD Shrink, Handbrake, etc.), but I found that the free programs involved a large number of steps, produced mixed results, and wouldn’t convert many new DVD movies (those produced over the past four years). Don’t get me wrong, I’m a thrifty guy, and if there’s a cheap way to do things, I‘m usually on-board, but in this case, the hassle just wasn’t worth it. The advantages offered by a good converting program far outweighed the trial and error hassles I found using outdated free programs.
Converting your DVD movies to play on an iPod allows one to watch their favorite movies and T.V. programs while on the bus or subway, on airplanes or long drives, or whenever you have a few free moments. DVD conversion software is getting more and more popular, as they facilitate the perfect transition from the ‘big screen’ to the ‘little screen’.
Taking a Page from Richard Thalheimer’s Book
While large specialty retailers and department stores have the liberty of offering huge sales, discount items, and unbelievable warranties, there is something lost in the homogenous consumer experience. Employees are often unknowledgeable, un-invested and are willing to sell you anything, so long as it translates to a sizeable commission. The days of the corner store are over, but a former specialty retail mogul wants to bring them back. Richard Thalheimer, the creator and founder of The Sharper Image, founded RichardSolo.com in 2007 after his departure from the specialty retailer. RichardSolo.com is a new online store where you can find the latest gadgets, unique gifts and luxury items. This online boutique also specializes in unparalleled customer service with your every purchase.
Thalheimer broke into merchandising in 1977 with a startup that began as a part-time office supply business. Soon, he began to sell more consumer-oriented items, including his breakthrough product — a runner’s watch. In time, this small office supply business would become what The Sharper Image is today — a 190-store, 2,600-employee giant. After his departure from the company in 2006, Thalheimer went to work on RichardSolo.com. He started the site with one goal in mind: to create an alternative to the electronic and gadget giants by offering his customers a more personal experience, as well as rekindling the relationship between vendor and consumer.
The unique merchandise at RichardSolo.com is hand-selected by Richard Thalheimer himself. He visits consumer electronic shows around the world in search of the latest and greatest tools to make life easier. So far, the site has a wide range of products, including everything from celestial wristwatches to motorized scooters, working slot machines to GPS navigation devices, kitchen tools, emergency radios, language translators and many other unusual, specialty items. The site also offers a great selection of iPod speakers, and is even a leading seller of the VersTM, handcrafted, wood iPod sound system. For those of you with an iPhone, Thalheimer has pioneered the need for extended battery life with his self-branded RichardSolo Smart Backup Battery; a rechargeable lithium-ion battery made specifically for Apple iPhone and iPod players.
Aside from its great selection of products, RichardSolo.com is known for its responsive and attentive customer service. The driving force behind the company is its offer of personal experience that larger electronics and gadget retailers lack. Consumer inquiries are answered almost immediately and problems are resolved quickly. A 30-day money back guarantee is applied to each of its products in order to make your satisfaction its number one priority, as it should be.
For an experience unlike Brookstone, unlike Best Buy, and even unlike his first brainchild, The Sharper Image, visit Richard Thalheimer’s RichardSolo.com. The service is nothing short of amazing, and the product lineup is qualified by his years of experience in the gadget industry and a passion for merchandising quality products. There’s a greater sense of sincerity about boutique shops, whether they’re online or brick-and-mortar stores. There’s something to be said about high-quality products, but a memorable consumer experience is invaluable.
– Ben Anton, 2008
The Search For Cheap Stocks
Dear Fellow-Investor.
Whenever the stock markets have consolidated and broken down significantly, thousands of bargain hunters are on their way to try and find the one dirt cheap stock in the hope of cashing in large profits once it goes up again!
But when exactly is a stock cheap? For many investors a stock is only cheap when the price-earnings ratio (P/E ratio) is low. So the lower the price-earnings ratio the better it is for them on speculations that it will go to where it was before the stock dropped, if it goes up again.
To recap. A price-earnings ratio shows the multiple of earnings at which a stock sells. Determined by dividing current stock price by current earnings per share (adjusted for stock splits). A higher multiple means investors have higher expectations for future growth, and have bid up the stock’s price.
The thing about P/E ratios is that conservative investors should avoid stocks with a high P/E ratio because if these corporations disappoint with their earnings and don’t meet market expectations, the stock will drop dramatically like Whole Foods did dropping more than $20 at the beginning of November 2006.
If a stock has a low P/E ratio, where expectations aren’t that high, the reaction is far less dramatic if earnings and performance expectations aren’t met.
But if trading and investing in the stock market was that easy, everybody would just buy stocks with a low P/E ratio. To bad so sad that no one would have then had Starbucks in their portfoilo. A stock that shot up sky high in the past. A low P/E ratio doesn’t exist in Starbucks vocabulary!
If you disregard individual stocks that have dropped sharply and take a look at the broad market, you’ll surprisingly notice that a P/E ratio tells you absolutely nothing about whether a stock is going to go up or down in the future! Not only stocks with a high P/E ratio can drop, but also stocks with a lower one can.
A good example of the above is the following:
Within the last 4 years the Dutch financial company ING, having a low P/E ratio, climbed to the skies from $10 to over $40. That’s over 300% profits, whereas AIG (American International Group), also having a low P/E ratio, was virtually dead in comparison.
On the other hand, Starbucks and the German cosmetic company Beiersdorf kept on going up although both companies had a high P/E ratio whereas Whole Foods, also having a high P/E ratio, dropped from $80 all the way down to $40 in 2006, and EMC² is still hovering around $15 and hasn’t recovered yet since 2000 where the stock was trading at just over $100.
So as you can see, there are no rules whether a stock with a high or low P/E ratio is good or bad!
Why doesn’t this strategy work?
The problems already start at the very beginning. Which earnings should one take into account? The reported earnings from the previous year; the expected ones for the current year or even the forecasted earnings for the next year?
Because the stock market mainly looks at future performance and earnings, the future P/E ratio plays a more important role. But even the expected earnings of the current year can only be estimated let alone the one for next year. It all boils down to estimation and speculation which is quite common in the stock market. But if these estimates are wrong and market expectations aren’t met, investors are then commonly very disappointed and the stock or even the whole market goes down. And this happens every year somewhere along the line.
And this is not the only reason why a P/E ratio is not a good formula for success. The furure performance of a corporation depends on so many factors. A future stock price doesn’t only depend on earnings from the current year or the next. It also depends largely on how well the management does it’s job, whether the company has a strong product line or which possible problems the company may face.
An example of this is Apple (AAPL). When CEO Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone in Jan. 07, AAPL shot up by over $10 in two days. But then Cisco Systems (CSCO) claimed that they had the rights to the name iPhone and were contemplating to sue AAPL if they were to continue using the name iPhone. Well. Guess what happened? AAPL went down the following days losing it’s entire $10 gain.
So once again you can see that a P/E ratio, whether high or low, says way too little to base an investment decision on!
Conclusion
At the end of the day, P/E ratios or any other ratios are absolutely irrelevant. What matters most importantly in the long run are earnings and the overall performance and future outlook of a company! Short-term factors like oil prices, political turmoil etc. can influence the markets and they will more often than not! But in the end these factors are secondary and negledgible for long-term investments.
Yours In Successful Trading!
Ricky Schmidt
Apple iPod Classic
The iPod Classic is Apple’s take on portable media players. It measures around the size of a thin cigarette box, which is around 4.1” (height) x 2.4” (width) x.41” (depth) and has a weight of around 4.9 ounces. With such qualities, it appears to be much shorter and lighter than its predecessor, the iPod Video. The iPod Classic has a display screen of around 2.5 inch diagonally with color LCD and LED backlight. Opening the menu, the iPod Classic’s interface looks quite familiar at it has almost the same UI to that of the traditional menus from the older models of the iPod, only that it has a split screen capacity.
The iPod Classic does not have the touchscreen features which the earlier iPod Touch and iPhone already offers. Just like the older models of the iPod, the menus are accessible through the external buttons from the hold switch and the click wheel.
In terms of capacity, the iPod Classic runs on 160 GB hard drive, thus it can hold around 40,000 songs, 25,000 iPod-viewable photos and can play around 200 hours of video. The power comes from a built-in rechargeable lithium-ion battery. Users can enjoy around 36 hours for music playback time and around 6 hours of video playback time on fully-loaded battery. Charging the device takes about two to four hours. Included in the box are the iPod Classic, earphones, dock connector to USB cable and a manual guide. Adaptor used for charging can be bought separately.
Positives
• The iPod Classic excels at music playback with its capacity to hold around 4,000 songs at the most. Transferring music from Mac is fairly faster compared to the older models of the iPod given that the devices use the same USB-storage system.
• The iPod Classic offers advanced features such as calendar and contact syncing from the device to the computer. Game applications are already preloaded to the device, but users are still given the liberty to download their favorite games from the iTunes Store. There are also other functions such as an additional photo gallery for storage and display.
• The battery life of the iPod Classic is considered to be one of the best there is in the line of iPods.
• The price is quite competitive when compared to other media player devices available in the market.
Negatives
• Although the video playback is quite a revolutionary move for the iPod Classic, it defeats the purpose of watching movies and videos due to its small screen.
• Productivity tools and extra features are still quite limited on the iPod Classic since users can avail of the other features with easier-to-read screens by opting for the iPod Touch or an iPhone.
• The iPod Classic has no internet connectivity, FM tuner and touchscreen features.
Conclusion
For music lovers who just want to carry with them a slim, portable media player with excellent storage capacity and an even more impressive playback time, then the iPod Classic is definitely a great solution.
Environmental Status ReportBonus Features
Setting Up Your Bluetooth Network
If you are unfamiliar with the term Personal Area Network, it simply refers to your computer and the devices it is connected to. Normally, this could include devices like a PDA, a cell phone, a digital camera, and maybe a scanner and a printer if you are not connected to a larger network. Your keyboard and your mouse are also on your PAN. Basically, it is everything in and around your desk that you connect to your computer.
Add to this the fact that you may need to add a USB hub into the equation and you are looking at a pretty messy workspace. In fact, it will probably look like a spaghetti junction of wires and cables by the time you get everything connected.
So, if it is all getting too much for you it may be time to think about setting up a Bluetooth Personal Area Network. For a little extra you can buy the equipment you need so that your workspace is completely free of wires and your peripherals connect easily with your computer and with each other without the need to plug anything in.
If you are setting up a Personal Area Network from scratch you may may want to set up a fully Bluetooth-enabled workspace. If you already have a workspace, you probably just want to introduce Bluetooth devices as and when they are needed.
Either way, the first thing you need is a computer with Bluetooth capabilities. By now, most new computers will come with built in Bluetooth so make sure of this if you are buying new. If you have an older computer you may have to invest in a Bluetooth dongle. However, these are available for as little as $20 so it doesn’t cost that much to get started.
Now that you have a Bluetooth-enabled computer, you can start to think about about what Bluetooth peripherals you will want to use on your Personal Area Network.
Keyboard and mouse
The two essentials of any Personal Area Network. Without these you won’t be getting too much done. These will be permanent fixtures on your desk so Bluetooth options mainly offer the advantage of reducing clutter by cutting out cables. Bluetooth keyboards start around the $50 mark while a Bluetooth mouse will cost $30 and up.
If you spend a lot of time on the road these are an excellent option as they can allow you to work quickly and easily on your PDA. You can also get Bluetooth folding keyboards to take with you on the road.
Cell phones and PDAs
For many people, this is where a Bluetooth Personal Area Network will really come into its own. If you work out of the office a lot you will gather contacts, arrange meetings and gather other data on the go. If your network is Bluetooth enabled, you can synch your cell phone or PDA with your computer so that you can update your calendar and address book at the touch of a button, or even automatically. These are just some basic capabilities. New technologies such as the iPhone are taking this to a much higher level.
Headsets
A Bluetooth headset is almost an essential these days, especially if you spend a lot of time in the car. Simply hook it up to your cell phone to keep your hands free. This is also handy if you use VoIP at the office or at home as you can take and make calls and still wander around the room freely. Good Bluetooth headsets are available for about $50.
Other peripherals
There are any number of other gadgets and peripherals you can add to your Bluetooth network. You may want to check out a Bluetooth MP3 player or camera. Although bear in mind that transfer speeds remain limited so you could be waiting a long time for high res photos to transfer from one device to another. However, this is improving.
There are also plenty of weird and wonderful Bluetooth peripherals for you gadget fans. For example, you can get a Bluetooth watch that tells you about incoming calls on your mobile phone when it’s out of reach. Hardly essential, but kind of cool all the same.
So, whether you want to boost your productivity and improve your working environment, or you just want to play with some fun gadgets, Bluetooth is the way to go.
How to Extend the Life of Outsourced Articles
Are you a webmaster who outsources your article writing projects? If so, you may buy an article, post it to your website and then move on. Yes, this approach is okay, but did you know that you can extend the life of your outsourced articles? You can.
Before focusing on how you can extend the life of your outsourced articles, know why you should. Doing so gets you a better value for your money. An article that has a shelf life of a year or more is a better value than one that won’t be helpful to readers in another week.
Extending the life of your outsourced articles can also help you generate income for weeks, months, or years to come. This ties in with getting the best value for your money. If you make money through the use of affiliate programs or with the selling of a product, traffic is important. When you extend the life of an outsourced article, that article should keep on generating traffic for you overtime. It won’t just provide you with a sudden burst of visitors.
As for how you can extend the life of your outsourced articles, rewrite them. You can do this yourself or outsource the work. For article rewrites, hire someone who specializes in them. Rewriters tend to charge less than writers who only write original articles from scratch.
Rewriting your outsourced articles or hiring someone else allows you to get multiple uses out of your purchased articles. You can do so without receiving a penalty from the search engines, which tend to dislike duplicate content. With rewriting, you do not have to create a completely new article. Often times, rewording every other sentence and changing a few paragraphs works. You can also add length or shorten them.
Since you paid full price to have the original articles outsourced, add these articles to your website. They tend to be of better quality than rewritten articles. As for the rewrites, distribute them online. You can get started with article directories, which are great traffic generators. Be sure to include a link back to your website with each article submitted.
Rewritten articles can also be added to your blog. In fact, are you using a blog as marketing tool? Although a good percentage of your focus should be placed on your website, as it will provide you with the most earnings, a blog can be an effective marketing tool. Use your rewritten articles as blog postings. You can shorten them or divide the articles into different segments. To generate traffic for your website, be sure to link back to it.
Most importantly, choose your outsourced topics wisely. Some article topics have a longer shelf life than others. For example, the Apple iPhone is popular in 2008, but that doesn’t mean it will be in 2010. As for the original outsourced article, paying for quality is important, but don’t pay too much for an article you can only use for a short period of time.
On that same note, remember rewriting. If you want an article on the Apple iPhone in 2008, have your hired writer do so. They can write an introductory article outlining what the phone is, how to buy it, the benefits of doing so, and what features are available. You can spin that article so that a new version focuses on making use of the phone’s features. This article will be useful to readers and iPhone owners later down the road, even after the popularity for this product has worn off.
As highlighted above, there are a number of ways that you can extend the life of an outsourced article. Doing so is optional, but why not try it? If you can rewrite your own articles or find a cheaper rewriter to do so for you, you have nothing to lose. Your readers will love seeing a professionally written article on your website, while you may enjoy seeing the traffic those reworked articles generate.
Ipod As The Most Popular Mp3 Mp4 Player
This is an mp3 / mp4 player that music lovers acknowledge the most in the modern time. US-based Apple, one among the largest producers of computers, notebooks and computer hardware and software, introduced iPod in 2001 with a single model for the international music market. Apple kept on introducing new iPods for each generation. The latest one is the iPod 5G. Apple also came up with two different variants: the iPod Shuffle (without digital display), the iPod Nano (the smaller version of iPod). Recently, Apple came up with the new-generation of iPod, the iPhone that integrates the conventional MP3 and video player with an internet ready mobile phone.
This article compares each iPod by its special features. One of the most popular model is the iPod 5G that comes with 30 or 80 GB storage capacity. It is not just an mp3 / mp4 player, you can store, view and share complete music videos, movies, podcasts, play games, share photos, playback music and videos, connect to a video output device, and much more. It can play your favorite music for up to 20 hours as this iPod boasts of higher battery life.
The iPod Nano has many of the same features as the full-size iPod, but with much lesser storage capacity. It comes in 2 GB, 4 GB and 8 GB models. It has up to 24 hours of battery life and is comparatively lighter and smaller. It also suffers from some limitations; the iPod Nano doesn’t support voice recording and media storage via third-party peripherals. iPod Nano is a great mp3 player for people who would just like to listen to audio files.
Apple’s most-pocket friendly iPod is iPod Shuffle. It offers a host of advantages: it’s affordable for everyone; its sound quality is as good as that of any other iPod; it has flash memory rather than a hard drive; and it’s really portable. However, the disadvantage is that it doesn’t include a screen for steering up to specific songs. It has a limited storage capacity, 512 MB to maximum 1 GB. So it’s good for those who want to be in fashion, yet can compromise on memory space. But the size of this mp3 player is so small that you can easily clip it to your clothes.
With digital music being in-vogue, many portable jukeboxes hit the market, since Apple kick-started the music revolution of our time. Other portable MP3 and MP4 players, besides iPod, are available in the entertainment world of mp3 / mp4 players. There are many Chinese, Korean and Japanese brands manufacturing low cost players in bulk. These are much cheaper, but have their own set of advantages and disadvantages. The fact remains that iPods are the most popular among all, and hold the biggest share of this market. There are enough iPod users in the market and a lot of new things are getting developed around iPods.
Some people just can’t do without their iPods, from jogging time to bed time. It sticks to their ears. Obviously, the battery drains out of the device. The latest buzz is that Andrew Schneider, a student from New York University, is exploring a solar-powered bikini that can charge iPods. Yes, it is true! The bikini will soak up the sun rays thru photovoltaic film strips. That means, while the iPod user is getting a sun tan, his mp3 / mp4 player is also getting a charge of 6.5 volts of solar power.
iPod has become a very desired mp3 / mp4 player around the world. iPod player just seems to be ahead of its competitors. Not just by delivering good quality products, but also in providing new solutions for eager electronic consumers. Let’s just wait what will be next in the iPod revolution.
Stock Research – Apple Computer Rocks World With New Phone
It is extremely rare in the business world to find a corporation that starts a revolution, and then the very same company leads another revolution. Steve Jobs who runs Apple Computer successfully stood the computer world on its high legs, and then shook its foundation when he created with his associates the very first personal computer. Yes, there were others before him, but they were nothing in comparison to the Apple. The operating system that Apple uses is still acknowledged to be vastly superior to anything that giant Microsoft has ever come out with.
Jobs did make one mistake however, and this mistake cost him his only opportunity to become the richest man in the world. Several decades ago, Apple had the opportunity to license the operating system to other personal computer manufacturers. Jobs made the mistake of believing that it was ABOUT THE HARDWARE. In reality, it was about the software.
Apple never licensed the software, and Microsoft did, which allowed the inferior Microsoft system to become the industry standard, which it still remains today. Gates became the richest man in the world, while Jobs had to settle for selling Apple personal computers with the software embedded into the hardware.
As an aside, the best investment Jobs ever made was probably the 10 million he put up to buy half of Pixar films. Disney passed on that $10 million deal, instead choosing to pay $4 billion plus for the same $10 million dollar investment that Jobs made, only it was several years later.
Jobs’ creation of the iPod revolutionized the music industry, which has experienced no growth for years until Apple came along and sold a 100,000,000 iPods that required music and its associated royalty fees. The music industry should give an award ceremony just for Apple.
Now Steve Jobs and Apple Computer, soon to become Apple Inc. are at it again. This time Jobs and company have created a cell phone device that threatens to create hegemony over the entire cell phone industry. The problem today with sophisticated cell phones is that they are too difficult to operate. The buttons on the blackberry require that you use a stylus to trigger them. Another cell phone, the Treo is not that much better in terms of operational design features.
What Jobs has done for this industry is take it to the next level, and what a level it is. It really shouldn’t be called an iPhone. The phone features of this device are probably the least interesting. I have spoken to two technology mavens that have access to this new device, and their features startled both. This is the equivalent of going from silent films to the talking movie era.
Imagine yourself struggling with the Blackberry small buttons or the Sony Treo? Now along comes the iPhone. There are practically no buttons on the device. It’s got a very large screen, which dominates the front of the device, and it is a touch screen. You operate it by finger alone. It scrolls the various listing almost like a roulette wheel. It slows down, and zeros in on the item you want. As it is slowing down, you have the opportunity to re-engage the scroller. It’s almost as if it has artificial intelligence built into it – that’s how good the user interface is.
This flicking or scrolling feature also applies to iTunes software and your photo collection, address book, videos, and podcasts. With a 3.5 inch screen, movies are far superior to previous Apple products, and there’s real time e-mail delivery similar to a corporate Blackberry but without the extra fees involved.
Now without the small keys that I have on my Blackberry, you have to touch the screen of the Apple to send messages. It is clearly not as precise as the tactile response of a Blackberry, but the software wildly overcomes that deficit. The Apple software has spelling correction software built into it, so if you hit the wrong key the device corrects it.
Browsing the web with this device is a mindblower due to what is called the “Pinch feature”. You can take a Web page that you are looking at, and with your thumb and forefinger pinch the picture wider or narrower, higher or lower. The real beauty here is the simplicity of the entire device.
Most products that are designed by engineers are created with an added level of complexity built into it. It’s like a writer that wants to use words that very few people understand. Why do people design like this? It’s because they want to impress themselves, and others with their brainpower. What is more interesting is how such designs survive to become marketed products.
The American car market self-destructed when for 20 years, the companies were run by financial / accounting types, not people who LOVED CARS. Apple has clearly developed a corporate culture that puts functional design first, and engineers, and software geeks second. From the PC to the iPod, and now the iPhone, we have a history of fabulous, sterling products coming out of this American design factory.
These guys even put the speaker on the bottom front edge of the product . I have a Motorola Razor that when I put down in the car, I can’t hear it when it rings, the speaker is on the back. You will notice that Motorola stock took a hit to the downside this week with the unveiling of the iPhone. Apple’s new product is not cheap. It will sell between $500 and $600 per phone depending upon storage capability. Cingular will be the only carrier at the moment.
So the real question is at this price point how much of the market can the iPhone capture. My firm’s answer is plenty. Apple is looking to ship 10 million phones by the end of 2008. This equals about 1 percent of annual worldwide cell phone sales. We think that the sales goal is easily achievable.
You can buy a Blackberry, Treo, or Razor cell phone for $200 to $300. You still need an iPod if you are into music. The iPod sells for a couple of hundred dollars by itself. At some point Cingular, or other cell phone companies will be kicking in part of the cost in order to get subscribers. That amount is usually up to $100 per phone. We see people standing on line to get this product. Will you be one of them, I will?
People pay big bucks for snob appeal and status, and this product qualifies for the ultimate status definition. Status is buying things you don’t need, with money you don’t have, to impress people you don’t know. Stay tune for more.
Goodbye and Good Luck
Richard Stoyeck