While the cost is minimal, the protection that is offered is, well, priceless. In addition they also offer a lifetime warranty.

I have been using the invisibleSHIELD to protect my current iPhone display for a long time now, and have used them in the past on various iPod’s as well. They are pretty simple to apply, and with just a little time, they can be applied nicely, and without any bubbles.

By far this is my favorite way to protect the displays on my devices.

So the time has come once again for another purchase, well actually two. July 11 is coming near and I want to have the invisibleSHIELD ready for the morning I get my phone so I can apply it as soon as it comes out of the box. The full coverage shield for the iPhone 3G is $24.95 with a front only for $14.95 and a bad only for $18.95. I can understand why you would want to protect the front only, but the back only sounds a little strange to me. It is nice though to at least have the option.

But perhaps, best of all if you pre-order the invisibleSHIELD for the iPhone 3G then you will save 20%.

I have also recently purchased a Zune 80 and although the screen is pretty scratch resistant, I figure I may as well get some extra protection. Just in case. For the Zune 80 the front only screen is $11.95 and the full coverage option is $24.95.

Total price for me, $21.52 with a savings of $5.38. Well worth not having to worry about scratches.

I did go with the free shipping though, so I will have to keep my fingers crossed and hope it arrives in time. But it looks like I waited a little to late. I could have paid extra for quicker shipping, but I am feeling cheap.

I have recently purchased a Microsoft Zune and since then have really enjoyed using it. It has also taught me something very important, something that should have been obvious, yet is never bothered me before.

DRM is bad and possibly even evil.

I currently have (and use) an iPhone and iPod Shuffle on a regular basis, and I have used and purchased music from iTunes since it first launched, I was also always more than happy and content using it and did not care about the included DRM, because I am a Mac user, and it was never an issue. I had been an Mac user before iTunes and its likely that I will continue to be a Mac user long into the future. Of course I also never thought I would buy (and enjoy a Zune) so switching back to a PC at some time is a possibility.

However, moving back to the DRM, it never seemed to matter or bother me because I had always just assumed that I would never use a portable player besides an iPod.

But now I have the Zune and the Zune Card, which I have downloaded quite a bit of music for and use my Zune Card daily when listening to music while I work and also use the Zune in my car. However I still want to purchase some music because my wife still uses her iPod and I still use an iPod Shuffle to run with and I still also use my iPhone as a media/music player.

This means DRM or the lack of DRM is now very important to me. I do not want to be able to share it with everyone, but just so I can actually use it, (in a manner that I consider fair-use) on both my Apple product and my Zune.

Enter the Amazon MP3 store…

I first used Amazon MP3 yesterday, they have a nice download tool for the Mac as well as Windows and Linux. It enables one-click album purchases and even adds them to iTunes automatically, assuming you are on a Mac or Windows machine. Which solves my issue, I still can use these tracks with iTunes and my Apple products and now I can also drag the MP3’s to a CD or portable drive and move them over to my PC for use with my Zune.

The DRM-free tracks are fairly priced and they come in MP3 format at 256kbps. I already had an Amazon account for book purchases which means that the MP3 purchases are tied to the same account. So the initial download was quick and easy. The downloads are also fast.

Its safe to say that at this time my future music purchases will be via the Amazon MP3 store, its also safe to say that I will also continue to use (and enjoy) my Zune as well as iPod Shuffle and iPhone. If you have not already I would highly suggest giving the Amazon MP3 store a try.

[Amazon MP3 Store]

Trent Reznor has once again offered up some free music, this time its a five track sampler for their upcoming “Lights In The Sky - Over North America 2008 Tour.”

The little sample, as per the post on NIN, was to allow the fans to get familiar with his new band lineup, which includes Robin Finck, Alessandro Cortini, Josh Freese and Justin Meldal-Johnson.

I had been disappointed that they still have no Tampa (or Florida for that matter) date listed, but after reading the latest statement from Trent, it makes me wish even more that they will still add one. He is claiming that this new band is “unquestionably the strongest lineup I’ve EVER had.” Having been fortunate to see them a few times in the past, this just makes me want to get a ticket even more.

Oh well, enjoy the free MP3’s, I know I will.

[NIN]

Well I sat down today and made my commitments to a handful of endurance events for the remainder of the year. I have four confirmed and still have some hope to get a fifth in.

I am now signed up for and committed to the Central Florida Triathlon Series, which is a three race event. They take place over the summer, each about a month apart, the first event is just a few weeks away on June 22, then July 20 and finally August 17 and each consist of a .25 mile swim, 8 mile bike and 3 mile run. If you are from the Florida area and into triathlons I am sure you have heard just how nice it is to race in Clermont. I am a little nervous, I have done numerous triathlons in the past ranging from a short sprint distance all the way up to Ironman distance events, however I had strayed away from triathlons in favor of running events and this will be my first in a while. It should be a great series though.

Then after these triathlon events are wrapped up I am also signed up and committed to the John Holmes 50k (about 31 mile) trail run, that is done here where I live in Brooksville and takes place on October 11. I had a really good event the year before, (that is where the above pic was taken, that was about the half way mark), then last year had a horrible day and ended up pulling myself from the race due to severe dehyration at about the 29.5 mile mark. Sadly I could not even stand long enough without getting dizzy to even walk (or crawl) the remaining 1.5 miles. So this year I have something to prove.

Otherwise I have once again signed up for the NYC Marathon lottery with hopes of getting lucky. Should I get picked that should prove to be an interesting event as it takes place on November 2, just a few short weeks after my 50k trail run. Oh well, it will make for a good mental test.

Moving into next year, I have hopes to move into an early season Half Ironman sometime around May, where they typically have an event in Orlando Florida, but will have to see how the training goes before I commit to that. I am also hoping to get another full Ironman and a full 50 mile trail run under my belt within the next 1-2 years.

A while back Darren over at ProBlogger had asked his readers that purchased his book to take a photo with it, and sadly its taken me way longer than it should have to even take the picture. Based on that you can imagine I have yet to start reading it either. I am kind of bummed about that but it comes with good reason. I am in the process of finishing up some work contracts and have recently picked up some additional blogging opportunities. If all goes well I expect to be able to blog near 100% in the not to distant future!

While I am VERY far from making the 6 figures that Darren’s book covers, I still feel some accomplishment of being able to do what many dream of doing.

So, with that, I promise I will read the book soon, and also promise to post a review once completed.

[ProBlogger.net]

I placed my order a little but after the announcement, on May 20 and just went with the standard shipping. I was feeling cheap and hoping for the best. Well sadly, on the 21st I got the dreaded email to let me know that it was being delayed. Kind of sucks but I can deal and what makes it even sweeter is that that hoped to have it shipped by the 23rd, which really was only two days of a delay and to top it off they are upgrading me to overnight shipping.

It’s always nice when a company stands behind what they are doing, and Aliph has done just that! Keep reading to check out the nice, polite and generous email that was sent. Now to keep my fingers crossed and hope there are not any further delays, and to Aliph — Thanks!

Dear Robert,

Due to much higher than anticipated demand, we are temporarily backordered on the new Jawbone. Unfortunately, your order was affected. We expect to be able to ship your order by 5/23 and we will ship it overnight for next business day delivery at our expense. If you have paid for shipping, those charges will credited.

We apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your business.

Sincerely

The Jawbone Team

With my renewed effort to not only keep this site going, but also growing I have added a new way to subscribe to the content. While I know that most who read and follow along are getting it via an RSS feed, I also wanted to have the option to subscribe by email as well.

The email is actually nice, it comes in the form of a daily summary, which gives the previous days posts all in one nice email, so far it has been arriving early in the morning (EST), usually around 7am or 8am.

As for anyone interested in doing the same for your site, it was very, very easy to set up. It took longer to post the code in my sidebar than anything. And for anyone who has edited a theme should know, that is pretty simple.

I am using FeedBlitz for my list management, and the setup process was done using Feedburner, although you can also do it directly from them by visiting their site. If you are a Feedburner user the setup took just a few seconds, once logged into your account, click on the feed that you want the email list setup for and then from there just click on the “Publicize” tab, then on the left hand side click “Email Subscriptions.”

Once there, you will have a few options of service to choose from. Quick and easy! There were three total services to use, I first tried the Feedburner option to manage my list, but got an error, so just went to the next on the list (FeedBlitz), which turns out was a good choice.

Enjoy and feel free to “Subscribe By Email”

Beginning with the obvious first:

Firefox: Firefox 3 RC1. What else can be said here, a must have for web browsing. Within Firefox is generally Google Reader along with my blogging pages (Expression Engine and Wordpress).

Apple Mail: Standard Mail application for the Mac, while it may not be perfect it works well for my needs. I am not a fan of checking my mail within the browser and use IMAP for my many email accounts. I also store the important emails locally on my Mac, just in case.

Adium: In my opinion the best multiple chat program for the Mac, I have a few Google Chat accounts set up as well as a lightly used AIM account.

Skype: The standard for computer based VOIP calling, although I hesitate to call this daily as I am not always logged in, I tend to jump on to make a call and then disconnect after the call is over.

Twitterific: With an addiction to Twitter a dedicated app is necessary, however Twitterific is slowly being replaced by twhirl, which helps me follow the traffic on FriendFeed a little easier.

TextEdit: Basic bare bones text document creator. I do all my blogging with this and then copy and paste the post into either Expression Engine or Wordpress. I find that TextEdit is far less likely to crash then Firefox, this way I do not have to worry as much about any loss of work, while I am in the writing process.

Pixelmator: I used Photoshop Elements for so long and was comfortable and hesitant to switch, but I am so glad that I finally went ahead. Pixelmator is a wonderful tool, especially for those without the need for anything crazy like the full version of Photoshop.

TimeOut: A great app that simply reminds me when to take a break, its nice and customizable and allows you to schedule the frequency of full and micro breaks. Sometimes when I get into writing and editing posts or even checking my RSS feeds time can fly by without me even realizing. This is a life, well actually eye saver for me.

Snackr: A recent addition, I actually just installed this today and have it running up the left hand side of my second monitor. I am not 100% certain on if this will last as it may become more of a time waster than a useful app for me. Meaning it may distract me from getting my work done, time will tell on this, but first impressions is that its pretty cool. Of course being an RSS junkie I had to set it to display only feeds from the current day.

iTunes: I am a Mac user and this is iTunes, what more can I say, I have way more GB’s of music than I really need and I am subscribed to all of my podcasts using it also. I have however been listening to my Zune Marketplace tracks a lot more than my iTunes collection lately.

Zune Marketplace: Another recent edition, this one is just about a week old, and after some initial frustrations with Windows DRM issues, I am loving the Zune and wish I had picked one up sooner. The subscription model is great, I can listen to all kinds of cool tracks that I love and just do not want to have to pay for, I have been downloading all kinds of cool stuff that I used to listen to years ago. Sadly this is running on a second computer, a basic Compaq desktop PC running Windows XP, but to make me feel better about using Windows everyday, I prefer to call it a music player instead of a computer.

Well, those were my daily use apps, but like I mentioned I have and use lots more on a fairly regular basis. So whats your list looking like?

I guess, being it is “The Social” I should share my Zune web address, just in case you wanted to see what I have been listeing to.

http://social.zune.net/member/areyouageek

Now, moving on, I was able to get my Windows DRM issues resolved and transferred my Zune setup from the temporary setup on my Mini-Note to the desktop computer where I plan to use it on a regular basis.

The fix was not hard, and quite honestly I am more aggravated at tech support for not being able to resolve it or at least point me in a better direction, because after some online research this seems to be a fairly common issue, both with the Zune Marketplace as well as some other Windows DRM based music services.

The fix required me to…

Open a Windows folder and go to Tools > Folder Options. Once there I had to click on the View tab and check the circle for “Show hidden files and folders,” I also had to un-check the box just below that for “Hide protected operating system files.”

By doing this it allowed me to navigate to “C:\” then “Documents and Settings” then “All Users.” Once in All Users I was able to see my DRM folder, which simply had to be renamed to DRMbackup. After that I did a quick restart and everything was back and able to be downloaded and played, just like magic.

Of course I still feel that Windows DRM sucks, but remember I am a Mac guy.

So since I have begun to the Zune I can honestly say that I truly like it. Both as a player and also as a subscription service.

I have always had an interest in a subscription based service and used Napster for a while, but always felt that paying for the subscription was a waste of money and preferred buying and owning my music. However I just recently came to realization that I already pay for a subscription service and have no option of what I listen to. Its called satellite radio, I am, and have been a Sirius subscriber for years now and never minded paying for that, so what is the difference with the Marketplace? In my opinion — nothing, at least this way I get to listen to and choose a little more specifically what I listen to. First good, positive point for me.

Moving on I want to touch on the headphones, the ones that ship with the Zune 80 are “Premium” and honestly I have no idea what makes them premium, but can say that they are really nice. As compared to the Apple earbuds they are much more comfortable and in my personal opinion have a much better sound quality also. My only disappointment with them is that I cannot use them in my iPhone without a special adapter, but that is just an iPhone issue and nothing that is wrong with the headphones themselves. The magnet that holds to two earbuds together is also (albeit really useless) but still a neat little option. Second good, positive point for me.

Well I have rambled enough for now, more Zune thoughts on the player itself and Marketplace to follow shortly.

Something that really bugs me is having to wear a seat belt, well actually its the fact that I am told without any choice that I MUST wear one. Without getting into any argument over just how much safer you are with a seat belt, we can save that for another day. However I will say that I know someone first hand who was in a horrible crash without a seat belt and walked out with minor scratches because they were not wearing one (the roof above their head collapsed down to the steering wheel and had they been buckled in they would have had their head crushed). While I fully admit that scenario is most likely the minority, I just want to be given the option to choose my fate.

My rationalization for this is that (as a Florida resident) I am given the choice, as long as I meet certain requirements to go without a helmet on a motorcycle. I must ask…Which seems safer, a motorcycle without a helmet or a car without a seat belt? Also keep in mind I am in favor and support Florida’s helmet laws, I believe it should be the riders choice.

You see Florida law allows me to choose not to wear a helmet as long as I am “over 21 years of age” and also have “an insurance policy providing for at least $10,000 in medical benefits.”

“a person over 21 years of age may operate or ride upon a motorcycle without wearing protective headgear securely fastened upon his or her head if such person is covered by an insurance policy providing for at least $10,000 in medical benefits for injuries incurred as a result of a crash while operating or riding on a motorcycle.”

To make my point simple and clear, I am required to have insurance on my car, whether or not I choose to wear a seat belt, all I am asking is that I be given the option to choose whether or not I wear a seat belt. It should ultimately be my decision.