Monday, August 13, 2007

Traveling Geek Girl and Murphy's Law

Hi blog buds!

I am SOOOO excited right now. First off, so many of you have sent in questions over the last 2 weeks, and I promise(!) I will personally answer each and every one of them! However, I just had to let you all know that not only am I leaving the country for a 2 week vacation today (I plan to do a special on-the-road video podcast from Italy, so keep checking back this week!), but my trusty old G4 laptop finally died on me last week, and that's why I haven't responded to you all as promptly as I usually do. Of course, it had to happen RIGHT before I left for holiday (that's Murphy's Law, right?) but at least I got a cool new MacBook out of it!


Anyhow, I did lose a few emails from you all, however I think it was only 3-5 in total...I do have the rest saved and plan on writing responses while waiting at airports and train stations in Europe. :) So if you sent me an email early last week or the week before that, can you please re-send it to me just to make sure I get to your question? And I happen to think that a special video podcast will be a nice consolation prize, given that I can get decent internet connections while on the road! The topic will be totally impromptu (I just had the idea this morning), there won't be the usual Geek Girl backdrop or glasses(!), and I think it's going to be very useful for those of you who travel!



Lastly, before I sign off this airport and go to the real kind I wanted to say how great it is to see you all posting suggestions and answering each others' questions in the comment section here on my little 'ol blog when I can't get to them soon enough. It's really great to see a little Geek and Geek-in-Training community forming here, and I hope you guys can help each other out while I am on holiday (though I promise to have something for you guys, even though I'll technically be on vacation!)


To email me your questions, or even video questions for a chance to be featured in a future podcast, email me at geek.girl@earthlink.net.

To check out my YouTube Channel, click HERE.
To check out my MySpace and become my friend, click HERE.
And make sure to subscribe to my videos on iTunes...they are FREE and the quality on iTunes is way better than on YouTube. Plus, you can take me with you on your iPod. :) See you all in Cyberspace soon!



Arrivederchi
and cheers,

Geek Girl

Saturday, August 4, 2007

You Asked, I Answer! iPod on the Radio: Transmitters

Hello web friends!!

So many of you have been emailing me over the last two days about the iPod transmitter that I recommended to Ross "the Intern" Mathews after he mentioned it on his blog (click HERE to check it out), that I decided to post a whole blog about it. Also, Episode 3 of my Video Podcast, which is coming up soon, is going to feature all of my favorite gadgets, and I will be including this transmitter in that video as well.

First things first, in case you missed it, here's Episode 2 of my Geek Girl Podcast:




Ok, now, for the piece de resitance...




Before I tell you all about this transmitter and where to find it, I have to give you all a quick brief about how these things work. Lots of people have emailed in about problems with transmitters and the static and interference and plain non-functionality of the devices that they have bought. What you need to know is that there isn't a device (yet) that is external (plugs INTO your car as opposed to having it wired inside of your car radio, which I had done and I LOVE) which will cut out ALL of the static from the airwaves. The way that these transmitters work is like this:
  • your car cigarette lighter acts as the power source for the transmitter.
  • you plug the transmitter into your iPod (which also, as a bonus, charges your iPod via the cigarette lighter)
  • you turn on your car radio and scan for a station that is nothing but static...in this case, the more static the better
  • you program this station on your car stereo, and then you turn on the transmitter and program that same station on it as well (the transmitter that I'm recommending actually has 3 channel pre-set buttons, so that's a plus, because you can have different stations for different areas you drive in)
  • you turn on your iPod and play it, and the transmitter actually transmits what your iPod is playing via the preset station you have selected, and your car radio receiver picks it up. It's like your own mini-broadcast radio station in your car!
But here's the drawback: no matter how good a transmitter you get, you are still dealing with radio waves. Radio waves, even on the best, biggest stations cut out when you are out of the area (i.e. when you go on road trips and there are long stretches of road where you can't get ANY reception). Lots of environmental factors also influence radio waves, such as weather and clouds (random fact: did you know that at night, if the cloud coverage and temperature are just right, you can pick up AM stations over the radio that you couldn't pick up normally? The radio waves actually bounce off the clouds and reflect back down to earth in places they wouldn't normally transmit. Neat, right? Actually, if anyone reading this knows more about that phenomenon, please post about it in the COMMENT section below...I'd love to hear more about it!).

Anyhow, the moral of the story is that you will never get perfect reception with a transmitter. But the one that I show you above has some advantages that help minimize the interfering factors. It's a
Kensington Digital FM Transmitter/Auto Charger, and you can buy it at the Apple store HERE. The advantages are:
  1. It is digital, which transmits a clearer signal
  2. It has 3 programmable stations, which allow you to switch stations depending on the area you are in
  3. And it has a Patented Aerielle wireless technology, which enhances noise reduction and stereo separation.
So there you go, blog buddies. Everything you wanted to know about the transmitter. I personally think it's also worth it, if you have the money and a car that will allow for this type of hook up, that you have your iPod cord installed in your car. Then you just plug in your iPod like you would to your computer, and control it via your car CD control buttons, as opposed to the radio. If you do it this way, there is absolutely no radio interference because the car stereo treats the iPod input like a CD, as opposed to a radio wave.

Lastly, a few of you have asked about an iPod cassette adapter. I've found one HERE, however can't personally vouch for it's effectiveness since I don't have a tape deck. Make sure you check out the specs, because you have to have a front loading tape deck, etc. The reviews for this one look pretty good, but make sure to always do some online investigating before you buy any electronics products. Or, check with me. :)

Ok fellow geeks and geeks-in-training...that's all for now! To email me your questions, or even video questions for a chance to be featured in a future podcast, email me at geek.girl@earthlink.net.

To check out my YouTube Channel, click HERE.
To check out my MySpace and become my friend, click HERE.
And make sure to subscribe to my videos on iTunes...they are FREE and the quality on iTunes is way better than on YouTube. Plus, you can take me with you on your iPod. :)

Cheers!

Geek Girl