Happy Birthday to Me!
Actually my birthday was on the 12th. Good times indeed. Doesn’t feel all that different from my 24th birthday. You can read about more about the festivities on my girlfriend’s site. She’s a little better at writing about everyday stuff. Me? I just try to stick with nerd stuff that nobody really wants to read.
My mom got me a gold Ipod Mini. Thank you, Mom. Apple really put some effort into the manufacturing. It just screams “high quality”. There are no visible screws. The main body is probably cast aluminum, then anodized. The electric components are probably on a little one piece sled, and slide right into the cavity of the body. The wheel probably then snaps on, and along with a dab of glue probably holds the sled in place. The unit is mounted, ROM read for serial number, and the serial number laser engraved on the back side. The mini, has no problem passing any sort of “squeek/squeeze” testing, because it’s solid as a rock. It just feels awesome in your hands. Another design win is the “wheel”. It’s fun to play with and easy to use. Hell sometimes I just pull it out to “spin” it around. Putting the puttons underneath the wheel was also a stroke of genius. No need to stretch your thumb, everything is within easy reach right under your thumb. All gadgets should feel this good. Though I guess all metal cell phones would probably have reception issues.
What’s not so hot: 8 hour battery life. Not the end of the world. Not really all that bad either, but wish it were better. Four gigabytes of storage. Yeah I could have gotten a 15 gigger, but I’m not going to complain about my gift to my mom. The 15 gig one wouldn’t be as small, and I think the Mini’s have a better interface.