Amazon released a web services API recently and a couple of interesting applications popped up. Amazon Lite is actually useful. At first it looked like Google, but, according to notes on the page, Google pointed its lawyers at A-L. Check notes on the page for how it was done - the most important piece is that Amazon opened their catalog.
http://www.kokogiak.com/amazon/default.asp
One of the important rules of audio is that speakers are probably the most important feature of any sound system. The only major frustration I have with my iPod is that the earbuds aren't up to the rest of the machine. A few months ago I moved to a pair of inexpensive ($20 street) Sony earbuds. The sound quality was slightly better, but the fit was slightly worse.
Recently I've been playing with other transducers. First up was a pair of Koss Sporta-Pro headphones that have a street price of about $30. They are external, light and sound much better than any earbud I've used.
Unfortunately another iPod user let me try his Etymotic ER-4P headphones.
oh my gosh!!
I have listened to some fine headphones in my day, including $3000 electrostatics, but this was as good or better than any of them. I moved it to the iPod using 320kbps mp3 and was still very impressed. My iPod, with Etymotics, is amazing for such a portable machine. Using very familiar music I am hearing detail that I only recover with good electrostatic headphones.
The trick is that Etymotic seals off your ear canal (they have some nice looking earplugs on their webpage that might be just the ticket for flyers), giving something like 25db of isolation.
Sadly they sell for about $330, which is more than I can justify at the moment. Of course Apple appears to be close to releasing aac for the iPod and iTunes. For those of you who aren't familiar with the alphabet soup of audio codecs, aac (advanced audio coding) is the primo choice. Most people find it "transparent" with source compact discs at around 128kbps and most golden ears are fooled at 160kbps (both stereo).
Other than the price, my only complaint is that the noise produced by the headphone cable rubbing against your clothing is transferred to your ear.
Etymotic offers a lower priced model that lets in a bit of external noise probably making it a bit safer for walking.
Oc course I had to return the ER-4Ps ... sigh.
http://www.etymotic.com
Fernando has mentioned his frustration about waiting for aac from Apple. It is currently part of QuickTime 6 and I have tested it with the Etymotic headphones with great success. Soon it should appear on the iPod and the great iTunes organization/compression software. At that point I give up on mp3 as aac at 160kbps is overkill for digitizing our home library of over 1000 compact discs. The 500 or so LPs are somewhat more complicated and will take real work to digitize.
http://www.aac-audio.com/
http://www.apple.com/mpeg4/aac/
http://www.apple.com/itunes/
Recently I managed to imply that Twinkies might be a food. A few of you wrote claiming that this is not true and that I need to do penance.
Epicurious is the web presence of Gourmet magazine complete with a searchable recipe database. The search tool leaves something to be desired and the browsing functionality is just OK, but there are good recipes here. A search on vegetarian turned up over 1500 entries, but a closer inspection reveals that chocolate dishes are considered vegetarian. While chocolate is good, the average vegetarian user is probably looking for something else.
An interesting feature has reviews from Jane and Michael Stern (the self proclaimed king and queen of roadfood) offering commentary on "the 10 best ..." This month's entry is sure to inspire controversy.
http://eat.epicurious.com/gourmet/
Building more efficient transportation in North America is a non-trivial task as suburban areas essentially demand the use of an automobile and the consuming public demands huge and inefficient vehicles. A huge spike in the price of oil might force people to think about alternative modes, but raising fleet mileage and/or decreasing pollution are probably slow and difficult.
Julia and I were chatting about god's own gift of tamales from an earlier note. I love to serve them with black beans and good salsas. My current favorite non-homemade salsas come from the Santa Barbara Olive Company. You can find there products in upscale markets or order them online or by phone. There was a period a few years ago when they were close to being dependents on our income tax forms.
http://www.sbolive.com/
Some auto makers have been hedging their bets experimenting with alternative engine platforms and unusual designs. Earlier this year VW showed a workable (at least in Europe) vehicle that exceeds 100km per liter of fuel (over 240mpg) while carrying a driver and passenger at realistic speeds.
http://www.vwvortex.com/news/index_1L.html
The design isn't that far out, but some of the materials are not cheap (lots of carbon fiber for example). It would probably be ridiculously expensive to build something like this, but I wager a version that "only" gets 150mpg could be done for the price of a high end motorcycle or average car. I would also bet that there is a niche market - the anti-SUV folks (I'm one) - that might use something like this as a second car.
In any event there is some great engineering here and it is an excellent showcase of VW's prowess. My guess is that it is a much more satisfying project than designing a massive box that mounts several leather seats, a dvd player and a dozen cupholders to a twenty year old truck chassis.
And finally, a bit of commentary. In the ninth grade I discovered Ambrose Bierce - the quintessential sardonic author of the late 19th century. He wasn't a particularly nice person and much of what he said would be politically incorrect, but he did have a gift for expression. Look up "riches" in the Devils Dictionary and see if it applies today... (I wish I had recalled the definition - it was mentioned in the press recently)
http://www.alcyone.com/max/lit/devils/
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