An app for copying your ipod songs and playlists back to itunes!! this thing ROCKS!!! I didn't know we couldn't do that, until I lost my itunes library :(
Read this :P

International relations are rarely good for a laugh, but one Israeli blogger is having some fun.

Pinchas Orbach of Kumah reports:

“So… Fateh, of Yasser Arafat fame, set up a website called Fateh.net and they opened it up to anybody that wants to post a blog. Hmm… well someone posted this blog there called “Am Yisrael Chai” (The Nation of Israel Lives!)”

(Screenshot sourced from Kumah.org, with thanks)

Subtitled “Israel rocks Fateh.net,” the Am Yisrael Chai! blogger's recent entries include “Jew-cooties” and “Nah! They're not Anti-Semitic,” as well as a calendar that counts kassam rockets landing in Israel from Gaza, similar to the one found here.

The blogger's “About” page reads:

“This is mostly a joke page just because I saw that anyone could create a blog on Fateh.net. The posts here are a very small selection of posts from the Elder of Ziyon blog.”

If you would like to join Am Yisrael Chai! on Fateh.net, you can do so by clicking on their homepage, which reads:

“You can start to create your FREE blog here www.fateh.net/
انشئ مدونة صÙحتك الخاصة مجانا”

Blogs are based on a Wordpress platform. No other information is available about the blog (in English) from its homepage, other than the fact that bloggers are welcome to write in English, Arabic, Spanish, or French.

divimg alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/60409?ns=guardianpageName=World+news%3A+Israeli+forces+evict+settlers+from+disputed+Hebron+homech=World+newsc3=guardian.co.ukc4=Israel+and+the+Palestinian+territories+%28News%29%2CWorld+newsc5=Not+commercially+usefulc6=Rory+McCarthy%2CPeter+Walkerc7=2008_12_04c8=1128924c9=articlec10=GUc11=World+newsc12=Israel+and+the+Palestinian+territoriesc13=c14=h2=GU%2FWorld+news%2FIsrael+and+the+Palestinian+territories" width="1" height="1" //divpIsraeli riot police today dragged hundreds of militant Jewish settlers from a disputed house in the city of Hebron, in the first major such eviction on the West Bank for more than two years./ppSecurity forces used teargas as they surrounded the three-storey property set on a hillside in a Palestinian district of Hebron. The settlers responded by throwing rocks and eggs./ppIt took the police about an hour to carry the more than 200 settlers from the house, each dragged away by teams of four officers. Around 20 people were injured, ambulance staff said, although most were not seriously hurt./ppThe house, located near the Jewish settler community of Kiryat Arba, has become an important symbol for settler groups since around a dozen families occupied it in March 2007. Such groups believe all occupied Palestinian territories should be subsumed into a greater Israel./ppThe families said they bought it legally from the Palestinian owner, who denied the claim. Israel's supreme court ordered last month that the house should be cleared./ppSince then, many other settlers have come to live in the home, covered with posters in Hebrew displaying slogans including "This land is our land" and "Human rights for Jews in Hebron"./ppThe mayor of Kiryat Arba, Malichi Levinger, warned that the families would attempt to return. "I think we come back to this house. That is our goal for now," he said./ppNadia Matar, one of the leaders of those inside the house, who was among the last dragged out, said: "Shame on the government for using this force against us."/ppToday's action was the first major West Bank evacuation since Israeli security forces cleared parts of the Amona settlement in February 2006. Dozens of people were injured when riot police battled settlers./pdiv style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"ullia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/israelandthepalestinians"Israel and the Palestinian territories/a/li/ul/diva href="http://www.guardian.co.uk"guardian.co.uk/a copy; Guardian News Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html"Terms Conditions/a | a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html"More Feeds/a pa href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/EaIZ3h00lNwwFLACDx_jIJMnP_c/a"img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/EaIZ3h00lNwwFLACDx_jIJMnP_c/i" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/p

pFiled under: a href="http://www.joystiq.com/category/peripherals/" rel="tag"Peripherals/a/pdiv align="center"a href="http://www.joystiq.com/photos/nyko-metal-pedal/1202469/full/"img width="490" vspace="4" hspace="0" height="302" border="0" align="middle" alt="" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2008/12/nyko-metal-pedal-490.jpg" //asmallembr /click to enlarge/em/smallbr //div br /If that incurable case of lead foot has emled to /emmore speeding tickets and broken Rock Band (and now, Guitar Hero World Tour) pedals than you care to admit, it may be time to consider a change. Not anything surgical - you're perfect just the way you are - but rather a quick $20 band-aid over the larger issue. Introducing the Metal Pedal, a emmetal pedal /emthat's compatible "with all standard drum controllers for emRock Band 1/em and em2/em and emGuitar Hero: World Tour/em on all platforms." Unfortunately, if you're in need of just such a fix, you're emess oh ell/em until January. Or, you could opt for the DIY eBay alternative, a href="http://www.joystiq.com/2007/12/26/fix-or-prevent-a-broken-rock-band-drum-pedal/"the Pedal Metal/a. Where do they come up with these names? br /div class="postgallery"pstrongGallery: a href="%GalleryURL%"Nyko Metal Pedal/a/strong/pa href="/gallery/nyko-metal-pedal/1202470/"img src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2008/12/83067-metal-pedal-1024_thumbnail.jpg" alt="" title="" //aa href="/gallery/nyko-metal-pedal/1202469/"img src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2008/12/83067-metal-pedal-4-1024_thumbnail.jpg" alt="" title="" //aa href="/gallery/nyko-metal-pedal/1202468/"img src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2008/12/83067-metal-pedal-pak_thumbnail.jpg" alt="" title="" //aa href="/gallery/nyko-metal-pedal/1202467/"img src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2008/12/83067-metal-pedal-2-1024_thumbnail.jpg" alt="" title="" //a/divp style="padding:5px;background:#ddd;border:1px solid #ccc;clear:both;"a href="http://www.joystiq.com/2008/12/04/nykos-20-metal-pedal-helps-rb2-and-ghwt-get-the-ped-out/"Nyko's $20 'Metal Pedal' helps RB2 and GHWT get the ped out/a originally appeared on a href="http://www.joystiq.com"Joystiq/a on Thu, 04 Dec 2008 09:23:00 EST. Please see our a href="http://www.weblogsinc.com/feed-terms/"terms for use of feeds/a./pp style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"nbsp;/ppa href=http://www.verticalwire.com/releases/1107-nyko-technologies-rocks-out-with-metal-pedal-Read/anbsp;|nbsp;a href="http://www.joystiq.com/2008/12/04/nykos-20-metal-pedal-helps-rb2-and-ghwt-get-the-ped-out/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry"Permalink/anbsp;|nbsp;a href="http://www.joystiq.com/forward/1391146/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email"Email this/anbsp;|nbsp;a href="http://www.joystiq.com/2008/12/04/nykos-20-metal-pedal-helps-rb2-and-ghwt-get-the-ped-out/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry"Comments/a/p pa href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/9MgyiLqGHf5oaUDj6xwOeg2AFMg/a"img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/9MgyiLqGHf5oaUDj6xwOeg2AFMg/i" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/pdiv class="feedflare" a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/weblogsinc/joystiq?a=g7qGrjgn"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/weblogsinc/joystiq?i=g7qGrjgn" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/weblogsinc/joystiq?a=t5BeNUuV"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/weblogsinc/joystiq?i=t5BeNUuV" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/weblogsinc/joystiq/~4/AeqqwtObXPA" height="1" width="1"/

In a previous discussion I was trying to decide what TV Tuner is right for me.

I have decided on the eyeTV hybrid and now have a few questions on it.

1. I have a set top box (Virgin Cable Box), that i intend to connect to the tuner so I can watch all of them channels on my mac. Can i still record these onto my mac even though it isnt coming from its own tuner?

2. Can I watch my set top box and record the tuner?

3. I have read some bad reviews about the hybrid saying the connection is not great. What is the problem with it?


Thanks
and
Best Regards

:apple:Rocks!!

wow this came out crappy...

Auteur : asiandrea
Tags : Scott Edward Rocks
Envoyé : 04 décembre 2008
Note :0.0
Votes :0

I have recently bought a 24" iMac and am going to be opening it at christmas. I am looking into time machine.

My questions with time machine are as follows:

1. What can I bck up to, I have thought of a External Hard Drive and also a Hard Drive enclsure with a hard drive in it.

2. Is it possible to back up to a hard drive on a different comuter (WINDOWS computer)

3. On Apples Time Machine it says any HFS+ formated hard drive. What is HFS+ formated and how do i tell if a hard drive is HFS+ formated.?

4. What would be an ideal hrd drive for me? My new mac (first mac) has a 500GB hard drive in it.

Thanks and Best Regards

:apple: Rocks!!!

Continuing from yesterday’s entry - here’s more of the high and lows of Marvel Premiere:

Jumping ahead to issue #43, we find Paladin, the rather intriguing mercenary who first popped up in Daredevil. I was re-reading this book not too long ago, having skipped the credits page and it didn’t take me long to realize that it was written by Don McGregor, the archenemy of the typewriter. Ugh, what a wordy mess! Now, I normally loooooove Tom Sutton’s artwork, but it just doesn’t work here. Perhaps it’s the color job or just the shoddy production, but everything gets blurred together and it’s extremely difficult to follow. In the right hands, this could have worked out as a decent story. As it stands, I can only recommend that you avoid it at all costs.

If I’ve been sounding a bit negative in discussing the last few issues, get ready for a change of tone because I totally love the Scott Lang Ant-Man that pops up here for a couple of issues. These are two fine, fine issues written by one of my all-time favourites, Dave Michelinie. I met Dave last year, but got so wrapped up in telling him how much I loved his Unknown Soldier that I forgot to mention that I loved how he brought back Ant-Man. These issues also feature absolutely beautiful artwork by Byrne and Layton. This is very good stuff – compelling storytelling and imaginative art. It’s definitely some of the best comics of this whole series.

Skipping ahead to the three issue Black Panther arc, Ed Hannigan tried to tie up the loose ends from Don McGregor’s KKK storyline in Jungle Action, all but ignoring all of the craziness (and I mean that in a good way) that we saw in the Kirby series. Hannigan does a pretty good job but, much like McGregor, his scripts are far too wordy. It can be exhausting trying to trudge through some of the dialogue, but the overall concepts are good and it’s a shame that the execution wasn’t better. I feel much the same about Jerry Bingham’s pencils – sometimes they look ok, but other times they look like they are straight out of 1981 issue of Charlton Bullseye (and I don’t mean that in a good way). One of these issues has a great letter from Jim Oswley (Christopher Priest) commenting on the portrayal of Harlem and black stereotypes in the Falcon issues. That’s the kind of stuff you miss in trades.

Gene Day absolutely rocks in the Caleb Hammer issue, with help from Tony DeZ. The first new western character introduce at Marvel in a decade. He’s rough and tumble Pinkerton agent with a tragic past who resembles Clint Eastwood even more than Jonah Hex. There’s not all that much new here, but it is a wonderfully delivered western story and a nice change from the revolving door of second stringers. It’s quite incredible how much background is crammed in here without really interfering with the action. It’s truly too bad that westerns had fallen out of favor as I really think that Peter Gillis and Gene Day were onto something here.

We talked a lot about Howard Chaykin creations and artwork in the earlier issues, and he now returns with Dominic Fortune. Fortune is a character who, for all intents and purposes originated at Atlas-Seaboard as the Scorpion. He’s a fun old school adventurer who first joined the Marvel Universe in the mid-70s with infrequent appearances. This is a very, very fun issue with Chaykin’s layouts beautifully finished by Terry Austin. What a treat it is to see Austin’s work in all its glory. For those of you who’ve met him, you know that Terry Austin is just about the nicest guy you’ll ever meet. This is a superb single issue story – keep an eye out for it.

Finally, I’m going to leave you with Doctor Who. Aside from catching the occasional episode on the Buffalo PBS station back in the early 80s, I have next to no background with the good Doctor. These four books, which reprint the UK weeklies, are a lot of fun but the real treat is to gaze at Dave Gibbons’ beautiful artwork. As an added bonus, there is some new, US material by Dave Cockrum and Walt Simonson. Every time I see Cockrum artwork these days, I kick myself for not fully recognizing how awesome he was while he was alive. For some reason, one of these books throws in a Werewolf By Night story – I love those oddities. I’d imagine that these are a must have for any Doctor Who fanatic.

So that’s a look at Marvel Premiere. I haven’t hit them all, but this should give you a taste of what to expect. These books are permanent residents of dollar bins around the world, so you can cherry pick the best of the lot without taking much of a financial hit.

For more classic comic talk – visit my blog Seduction of the Indifferent

If you have any questions or comments – don’t hesitate dropping me a line at scottshouldbegood at yahoo.ca.

3 Comments

• At December 3, 2008, tk. wrote:

  I don't know if I ever actually read it, but I've always loved that Dominic Fortune cover. I wonder ...

• At December 3, 2008, Hannibal wrote:

  I used to love Marvel Premiere and had every one of the issues you mention, in fact I still have ...

• At December 3, 2008, Nick Marino wrote:

  agreed. the ant-man issues are awesome with some incredible scripting and art.

Thank you for rating/commenting/faving/subscribing! YAY! Comment questions of the day: 1. I am thinking of a number 1-10! GUESS (answer is in the bonus video) http://www.buckhollywood.com/im-thinking-of-a-number-1-10 2. Rocks, Paper, Scissors? SHOOT! 3. What do you think of Brit's latest performances and her new album Circus? Or just wish her HAPPY BIRTHDAY! LOL LINK ME BABY ONE MORE TIME! My site: http://buckhollywood.com My Personal Channel! Please Subscribe! http://youtube.com/peron75 Be my friend! http://myspace.com/buckthehustler Follow me! Loves it!! Update all day! http://twitter.com/buckhollywood LIVE SHOWS! SUN AND WED 10pm EST! Please subscribe for email updates! Come early! Stay late! It's so much fun! LIVE WED! TONIGHT 10pm http://www.buckhollywoodlive.com You all know I love Britney but she needs to step it up and dance! :-)

Author: WHATTHEBUCKSHOW Keywords: Britney Spears For The Record Good Morning America Happy Birthday Womanizer What the Buck entertainment news web series Added: December 3, 2008

p style="text-align: center;"a href="http://img.qj.net/uploads/articles_module/126985/GS 20resize_qjgenth.png?577295" rel="lightbox[article126985]" title="Goku 20Scape 20v1 20- 20Image 201 20 26nbsp 3B 20 20 26nbsp 3B 20 3Ca 20href 3D 22http 3A//img.qj.net/uploads/articles_module/126985/GS 20resize.png 3F577295 22 20target 3D 22_blank 22 3E 3Cimg 20src 3D 22/img/newwindow.png 22 20title 3D 22Open 20in 20new 20window 22 20border 3D 220 22 3E 3C/a 3E"img style="margin: 3px;" alt="Goku Scape v1 - Image 1" title="Goku Scape v1 - Image 1" src="http://img.qj.net/uploads/articles_module/126985/GS 20resize_qjgenth.png?577295" align="" border="0"/anbsp;br/pbrHere's a little game for of fans of the immortal Dragon Ball Z series.brbrGoku Scape v1 was created by developer adrian-SAYA. The object of the game is to move Goku around in the hopes of avoiding the rocks hurtling toward him (which we deduce are probably quite painful even to a Sayan). Progress is marked by points and gaining 300 points allows players to progress to the next level where they'll be met by even faster rocks. I know it sounds really simple, but it's surprisingly fun to just veg out playing this game.brbrIf you run into any problems with the game, feel free to visit adrian-SAYA's Goku Scape page in the source link below.brbrDownload: span style="font-weight: bold;"a title="Goku Scape v1" href="http://dl.qj.net/Goku-Scape-v1-PSP-Homebrew-Games/pg/12/fid/25141/catid/195"Goku Scape v1/abrbr/spanhr style="width: 100 ; height: 2px;"brspan style="font-weight: bold;"Related Articles:br/spanullia style="font-style: italic;" title="Dragon Ball Quizz v2 - new questions and modifiers added" href="http://www.qj.net/Dragon-Ball-Quizz-v2-new-questions-and-modifiers-added/pg/49/aid/123482"Dragon Ball Quizz v2 - new questions and modifiers added/abr/li/ulspan style="font-weight: bold;"/spanbrbrdiv class="feedflare" a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/QJ/PSP?a=Jy9rHK0O"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/QJ/PSP?d=41" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/QJ/PSP?a=ZkIcTkQF"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/QJ/PSP?d=50" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/QJ/PSP?a=An1rg65L"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/QJ/PSP?d=43" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/QJ/PSP/~4/d6xM3cTeQOo" height="1" width="1"/

HANOI ROCKS frontman Michael Monroe and Jyrki 69 (vocals) and Jussi 69 (drums) from THE 69 EYES will take part in a signing session on December 4 at Nokia Store (Aleksanterinkatu 46) in Helsinki, Finland.

!-- [DocumentBodyStart:c0af1b8e-6859-4a24-af63-882a70b6e76a] --div class='jive-rendered-content'pI am really pleased about the Flex support in the latest official IDEA release, my coding productivity improved greatly. There are still a few quirks here and there, but I noticed quite some activity from the developer(s) - which is welcome for further improvements -  and I just keep filing JIRA requests :-) Good bye, Flex Builder./pp style="min-height: 8pt; height: 8pt; padding: 0px;"nbsp;/ppThanks,/ppPeter/p/div!-- [DocumentBodyEnd:c0af1b8e-6859-4a24-af63-882a70b6e76a] --

!-- [DocumentBodyStart:c0af1b8e-6859-4a24-af63-882a70b6e76a] --div class='jive-rendered-content'pI am really pleased about the Flex support in the latest official IDEA release, my coding productivity improved greatly. There are still a few quirks here and there, but I noticed quite some activity from the developer(s) - which is welcome for further improvements -  and I just keep filing JIRA requests :-) Good bye, Flex Builder./pp style="min-height: 8pt; height: 8pt; padding: 0px;"nbsp;/ppThanks,/ppPeter/p/div!-- [DocumentBodyEnd:c0af1b8e-6859-4a24-af63-882a70b6e76a] --

br / bAuthor:/b a href='http://forum.newsbin.com/profile.php?mode=viewprofileu=41593'uncletim/abr /br / bPosted:/b Wed Dec 03, 2008 12:11 pmbr /br / br /br / Hi all,br / br / Seems my internet connection itself was the culprit here, not Newsbin. While Newsbin does pause a bit while starting up, it still rocks!br / br / Thanks for all the help and suggestions, I really appreciate it.br / br / uncletim

Category: Education
Released: Nov 30, 2008
Price: $4.99

Description:
A COURSE in an APP! Over 600 questions and answers written by certified teachers and college professors with a focus on exam preparation. Highlights the essential earth science and geology facts and concepts you need to know to test well. Prepare for quizzes, tests, GED, PRAXIS II, CLEP, ASVAB. Examine study cards one by one in sequence, and eliminate them from your stack once you've learned them. Topics: Calculations, Earth's Origin, Save Our Planet, Minerals, Rocks, Weathering, Groundwater, Running Water, Wind and Glaciers, The Living Crust, Oceans, Maps, Atmosphere, Wind, Weather Patterns, Astronomy CUSTOMER PRAISE Really helped me prepare for my exams. ----Kristian Paras, Senior, Bergenfield, N.J. Hi-thank goodness for your flash cards because I had forgotten a lot. Now that my mind has been refreshed, I can continue and I'm learning so much more. Thanks. ----Sarah Thomas, Student, Seattle, WA Exambusters really helps students. ----John Johnson, teacher, St.Paul, MN This is the best way to master a subject, and it really works! Thanks a lot for all of your help. ----James Shaw, Navy, Sulphur Springs, Texas A real time saver, great for cramming. ----Joe McCarthy, Senior, State College, PA These cards helped my daughter through a very demanding exam period. I will recommend them to my friends. ----Lisa Yumibe, Indianapolis, Indiana Thank you for introducing us to your product. They are a winner. ----Preston Young, President, Learning Dynamics Tutoring, Hackensack, N.J. These study cards are a perfect supplement to any textbook. ----Barbara Silber, Science Department Chair, The Fieldston School, Riverdale, New York Exambusters really do the job! ----Alex Tushinsky, Instructor, Rutgers University, Newark, New Jersey



Note: The description above is the official one supplied by the application developer and does not necessarily represent the views or opinions of this site or its staff.


Get it on iTunes: AA+ Earth Science Study Cards (Exambusters)

Danls92 Reviews: CoreCases Aluminum Slider


Introduction:
What I'm going to be reviewing is the Core Cases Aluminum Slider iPod Touch 1st generation case. It is an aluminum, two piece case that lock together to protect the iPod Touch.

How I Review: This review is broken up into 3 major categories (Design Overview, Protection Supplied, and Misc. Comments) with a final wrap-up at the end.

I have never liked the method of reviewing involved the arbitrary assigning of numbers to quantitatively express a feeling because it is so subjective. Due to this, I will not be giving my opinions a numerical value, instead I will be using the words excellent, good, neutral, bad, and horrible. For a brief description of what each means:

Excellent- Either perfect or just barely missing it. Something will receive an excellent rating if it is the best it could possibly be.
Good- Possible to improve, but by no means bad. This is the verdict I would give something that is good for what it is, but has several things holding it back.
Neutral- Neither good nor bad, I don't have any strong feelings. If I feel ambiguous about something it would receive this rating.
Bad- The unfavorable outweighs the favorable aspects. If something is not well designed, or poorly implemented this is what I would rate it.
Horrible- Unacceptably poor. If something impedes the thing it is meant to assist, or is completely useless I would say this about it.

With that being said, let's start the review.

1) Design Overview
Core Cases is a fairly prominent case maker for the Apple line-up, specializing primarily in aluminum models. Their long experience making cases is evident when you try this case out.

It is a two piece case, a front portion which covers all but the screen itself and the home button, and a back portion which covers everything except the Wi-Fi antenna. The front piece also has a cut out for the ambient light detector. The first thing that you'll notice when you remove the case from its packaging is how light it is. Being an aluminum case, I had expected something a bit heavier and bulkier so I was pleasantly surprised. Another nice feature was that the inside is lined with EVA foam, which prevents the case from scratching either side of the case. It fits the iPod securely enough though, that you won't have to worry about the iPod shifting throughout a normal day.

The nice thing about the sliding design is that the case does not have to suffer the additional bulk of a hinge or connector, as is generally the case with metal cases. The front piece slides over the bottom piece and clicks into place on two small buttons on either side. The one downside to this design is that if you hold the front piece only (which wraps around to the sides of the iPod) and push down firmly on the power button, the front portion of the case will slide off. I never experienced this during normal use and luckily it was easy enough to avoid once I became aware of it, but it is inconvenient. I would probably regard this more disapprovingly if I hadn't discovered it while testing it out upon initially receiving it, but it is the sort of thing where once you are aware of it the danger is minimal.

The entire bottom of the iPod is exposed, so it should connect easily enough to any device that requires the bottom jack, but I'm not sure how well it would work with docks as I don't have one to test it on. The two pieces clip together on the top of the case, but on either side the Power button and Wi-Fi antenna are exposed. This is a thoughtful touch, as aluminum could hamper the iPod's connectivity. It does take some getting used to that the antenna is completely exposed, and I probably would have preferred it to be covered by some sort of clear plastic, but I'm not sure about the feasability of such a change.

The only small problems that I encountered were mostly cosmetic. The Aluminum looks very sleek, but it also attracts finger prints like no other. Also, the front piece is very snug on the iPod, but has just enough room between the edges and the foam for dust and lint to get stuck. If you don't mind wiping it off once in a while, these shouldn't be a problem, especially as the back part covers the scratch magnet of the iPod's chassis.

Rating- Good
Generally speaking, this case is an extremely attractive option to somebody looking for a good basic case to keep their iPod protected. The few small cosmetic grievances that I had, along with the problem with the power button's depression causing the case to slide apart are all holding this case back from the excellent category. If you are presented with this case, and don't mind a no frills design, I would definitely recommend this case.




2) Protection Supplied
This is truly a solid case. For it's light weight design, it seems suprisingly strongly built and could definitely absorb a good deal of shock from a fall or being knocked against something else. If I weren't so cautious about my iPod, I would have supreme confidence that my iPod equipped with this case could stand a fall of several feet onto concrete with only my quiet whimpers as evidence that something had happened. I'm not sure how well the case itself would fare, as just normal use in my pocket with a collection of mildly sharp objects of the pen and key variety has caused a small collection of scratches, but I can't envision the damage being any more than cosmetic.

The case features the more or less standard design of extending a millimeter or so from the iPod's most valuable asset, the screen, so that if dropped face down there is a diminished chance of a crack. It also covers all except the screen and home button, meaning that the edges of the screen are completely covered. It would be nice if Core Cases included something to cover the bottom ports when not in use, but this isn't a standard accessory so it can't be held against them.

The one somewhat surprising exclusion is a screen protector, which most companies gladly throw in with a case like this. It seems that the 2nd generation case, which will be released 12/15/08 includes one, but us legacy iPod Touch users are left without one. Still, a screen protector is something of a convenience so I'm not going to hold the lack of one against them.

Rating- Excellent
Out of all of my cases, I would probably vote this one most likely to take a hit and keep going. The thing but durable make lends itself to people who handle their iPod roughly or want to be extra secure. The iPod is held firmly in place, and the inner foam lining keeps the aluminum from scratching the iPod's case. The buttom ports, and Wi-Fi antenna are left exposed, but only for the obvious reasons of compatibility and superior signal respectively.


3) Misc. Comments
I don't have much to add here on the product itself, but I'd like to give my opinion in regards to the company itself. I would like to thank Corey for all of his help in making this review happen, and CoreCases itself for providing what would be my first review unit. What I found to be most remarkable was when the case itself came, and I found not only the case but also a small bag of pop-rocks. At first I was confused, thinking that they must have fallen in from somewhere between my openning of the box and my removal of the case. Realizing that the box was in the middle of my desk with no jumping point for a curious bag.

I contacted Corey, and he told me that in every online purchase a small suprise is included so that the consumer has a little something special to look forward too along with the case. You can take what you will from this, but I personally thought it was a brilliant sentiment and a strong statement about CoreCases' loyalty to their customers.

Also, this is directly from their website rather than any corespondance, but I thought this was a good place to mention that if you put the code THEMANTLE in when purchasing a case, it will give you an additional $5 off.

4) Overall
Rating: Good- Excellent

I debated over this one for a while, but I finally decided to put it squarely between a good and an excellent. I know that this slightly contradicts my scale of rating above, but I figure that it's my review so I might as well go for it!

Simply put, there it isn't perfect enough for an excellent nor mediocore enough for a good. There's a lot going well for this case, but there are just a few small but important things holding it back. As I said above, if you're presented with this case and don't mind a slightly simplistic case this is pure gold. If you're looking for more frills, you'd best look elsewhere. What you get with this case is exactly what is advertised, a sleek and protective case.

For it's price point, it is a serious contender for anybody looking to protect their iPod.

pEditors note: Marine geophysicist Robin Bell is leading an expedition to Antarctica to explore a mysterious mountain range beneath the ice sheet. Following is the sixth of her updates on the effort as part of ScientificAmerican.coms in-depth report on the quot;Future of the Poles.quot;/ppMcMURDO STATION, ANTARCTICA-- For a geologist, Antarctica can be a very frustrating continent.nbsp; Stepping off an aircraft onto the ice, one is greeted by a 12,000-foot smoking volcano on one side and a mountain range rising about 14,000 feet on the other.nbsp; This would appear to be a geologists dream.nbsp; The problem is the ice. Only 1 percentnbsp; of the rock on the continent is free from the veil of ice.nbsp; The rest is hidden from prying scientists.nbsp; We are forced to rely on remote sensing techniques to tell us about the types of rocks beneath the ice sheet.nbsp; Our team uses radar, gravity and magnetics. Other scientists shoot off small explosives or release pressurized air to record the echoes from different layers of hidden rock. a href=http://www.sciam.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=dispatches-from-the-bottom-of-the-e-2008-12-02[More]/a