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Mostly Everything

Man screws magnets on arms to mount iPod

How far would you go to integrate your gear with your daily life? This man bolted four tiny magnets into his arm so that he could use it to mount his iPod (or any gadget with opposing poles). Crazy. But crazy awesome.

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Mostly Everything

What a GENIUS this iTunes 8!

So along with the hot iPods, iTunes released the new Genius feature for iTunes 8.0 that does two things. First, the new version allows you to make on-the-fly playlists based on one song that you choose. The choice is heavily dependent on the genre, artist and I even think it has something to do with the cadence of the song. iTunes chooses similar beat counts for that playlist.

The second part of Genius is the iTunes recommendations sidebar, which is their monetization model. When you’re playing songs, iTunes can recommend songs from their library which you can click to purchase. It isn’t available in the Philippines, sadly (see first image).

The Genius concept is not new. Online services such as Last.FM and Pandora have implemented this related playlist scheme for quite some time. Of course, sometimes you get really off recommendations.

I tried a few playlist creations based on KENNY LOGGINS, JAMIROQUAI and RICK ASTLEY and got pretty good results (hmm there are one or two out of place songs, but hey, sometimes Geniuses make mistakes too!). The first song in the 25 song countdown is where all the songs are based from.

Share your Genius Playlist Mix? 🙂

P.S. And yes, I listen to BARRY MANILOW, OK? Mandy, FTW.

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Mostly Everything

RUN the DAY the ENTIRE WORLD RUNS. 8.31.08

The Nike+ Virtual Human Race. Clock 10K on 8.31.08.

Slowly, I’ve been trying to get back into the groove of running after my food poisoning bout last month. So I’m well again and fast gaining weight from the carbs I’ve been eating to keep my stomach in check for the last 3 weeks. So now it’s time to burn these carbs again!

August 31 2008 is the date of the Nike+ Human Race, where the entire world will be clocking in a 10k race in 24 hours. And now I’m inviting you all to join me run. The beauty of the Nike+ kit is that you don’t need to be physically present in the 25 cities that will be doing a physical run. All you need to do is run a total of 10 kilometers between 12 midnight to 11:59 PM on August 31 2008 clocked using the Nike+ Sports Kit attached to your iPod or the Nike+ Sports Band.

THE PRIZE: A Nike+ Finisher Bracelet for the first 250 Filipino participants to log their 10km on to the Nike+ website by 11:59pm at August 31, 2008.

There are rumors of a physical race in Manila on 8.31.08 but I have yet to receive information on the details. This is to be confirmed.

How can I sign up for the virtual race?
Participants merely have to register to join the virtual race with Nike+

Step 1: Ensure that you have a Nike+ SportKit or Nike+ SportBand to track your miles. Both can be purchased from any Nike retail outlets.
Step 2: Select to join the race with Nike+
Step 3: Train for race day with Nike+
Step 4: Race and sync your 10k run on 31.8.2008

Run for charity!
Vote With Your Feet (VWYF) allows all virtual runners to log their miles from the day they register themselves on the website. Once the participant signs up for the virtual race, he can choose one of the three global charities to donate to. The cumulative miles run for the individual charities will result in what the allocation of Nike’s contribution will be among the three charities September 1, 2008. [Release]

And yes, a raffle!
To celebrate the start of training for the 10K race (LOL we should have been running long before, but oh well!), I’m going to be giving away three 15% discount coupons for the Nike+ Sports Kit or the Nike+ Sports Band. To join this raffle, all you need to do is leave a comment answering “Why Do I Run?” and I’ll raffle off the 3 discount coupons through a random draw. This contest is open to residents of the Philippines only. NOTE that the raffle winners MUST JOIN the virtual race on 8.31.08.

LET’S RUN!