iPod Car Solutions

     This is a comparative analysis of solutions for playing iPod music through a car stereo.
     There are three primary way of transferring the audio from an iPod to the speakers. These methods are dependent upon factors such as: iPod model and compatibility, the car's audio head unit capability and the budget and preferences of the listener.
     The first, most cost effective solution is use of a cassette tape adapter. These usually sell for $15-20 and plug into the headphone jack of the iPod.
     The second is by way of FM radio transmission. Depending on the features involved, these units generally sell starting at $40 and don't go for much more than $90. These units plug into the 30-pin dock connector at the bottom of the iPod and send a radio signal to your car's antenna. The downside to using these is that it tends to take a while to find an empty frequency. Also, when traveling from city to city, some re-tuning may be required. There is no wire between the iPod and the car, unless the unit also offers charging capability. If there is no charging feature on the transmitter, this method will drain the iPod's battery fastest.
     The third way of playing iPod music through a car stereo is by USB connection. Unless the car is of a newer model and already includes a USB capable head unit, an aftermarket head unit is required. These range in price from about $70 to over $1000. Most often, the iPod is controlled by the head unit, so changing songs and other operations would be done through the head unit's interface, not that of the iPod. The iPod would be charged by the car.

Steam for Mac, Finally.

Ever since 2004, Steam, the popular game management software was available solely to Windows users. Playing VALVE's world-class games was a joy when using a 22 inch screen backed by an NVIDIA GeForce 8500 GT 512MB graphics card, however, if I ever wanted to use my MacBook, I would have to either reboot into Windows with Boot Camp or run VMware Fusion or some other virtual machine software. Such a maneuver proved quite incapacitating and processor-consuming. Even sporting 4 GB of RAM and a 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, my MacBook would display the atypical beach-ball and tense up for spells of time never before experienced. In spite of having completed the first level of Portal on scores of occasions natively on a PC, it had taken upwards of 20 minutes to finish while running on my MacBook. I could try to play Team Fortress 2, but it would eventually crash, and after my first try, I scarcely even considered running Half Life 2 or any of its pantheon of trailing episodes.

Much to my surprise, Steam released an edition of their program specifically for Macintosh users. This is quite a relief for me (and many other gamers who happen to fancy the Mac operating system) in that I can now run Steam natively on my MacBook without the aid of a virtual machine software. Granted, my graphics processor is the Intel GMA X3100 chipset, so the image quality is tainted, but playing Portal is such a breeze, it compensates for any lack of definition. I'm excited about Steam for Mac and I am eager to play more games as they are released for the platform. Thank you Steam for broadening your horizons and allowing a greater audience to join the gaming community.

Western Digital Scorpio Black: 320GB, 7200 RPM, 2.5" Internal HDD

The Good: Faster, more capacity, allegedly less energy usage than Hitachi 160GB 5400RPM. It loads Snow Leopard significantly faster than the previous disk. The yellow piece of plastic at the lower-right of the disk is essentially a parking spot for the read/write head. It prevents scratching of the disk and maintains the integrity of the head and arm by storing the head off to the side while not in use.


The Not-so-Good: Sounds like another fan. Vibration under the right palm rest. It may be considered annoying, but will become less noticeable over time.

     This drive was installed in an Early 2008, 13" White MacBook 2.4GHz with 4GB RAM. It was easy to insert and remove, but the silver cover must be transferred from the old HDD to the new one. It may be difficult to find a proper bit for the screws, but careful improvisation of needle-nosed pliers may be considered. 
     After replacing the disk, the old hard drive (Hitachi) must be used to boot the system externally (through USB or FireWire 400) using an external enclosure. Upon restart, the Erase feature of Disk Utility can be used to format the WD as an OS X Journaled. Then unplug the Hitachi, reboot again, insert the OS X Install Disk, and use a Time Machine backup disk for a System Restore. This will take nearly 3 hours to transfer 147GB through FireWire 400.