The new iPod nano with FM radio

Apple had their now-annual Rock and Roll event yesterday to premier some of the new products and software they’ve been cooking up in California.

Steve Jobs (he’s back!) talked a great deal about the iPod touch. Who can blame him? Apple has sold over 20 million of them! But the little gadget I was the most excited to see was the new iPod nano.

Apple’s added some great new features to it.  Most notably, a video camera.  My first thought was that a video camera would be a little useless when you have a digital camera that takes videos. But when you compare the size of the two, it’s no competition. The nano is much thinner and more portable.

Of course, my personal favorite feature is the new FM radio. I’m so glad to see this included. As someone who uses the radio frequently, I had all but resigned myself to listening only in the car or at home. Portable radios are just hard to come by these days! They are great for finding new music, listening to your favorite shows and, most importantly, are fantastic for listening to the big game if you’re nowhere near a TV.

The radio displays the name of the station and song and comes with an awesome “tagging” feature that lets you mark songs you hear and like, and keeps a running list in a notes section.  As someone who carries around a small notebook so I can write song names down, this is probably the coolest thing I’ve heard of in a while. It’s the one feature that might actually convince me to upgrade my first generation iPod mini…yes, I still have one of those.

Best of all, they’ve paid attention to environmental aspects in the new nano too.  Apple used arsenic-free glass and made it highly recyclable. The new nano will also be BFR, Mercury and PVC-free.

Since this is the first iPod that may have convinced me to retire my old turquoise work horse,  I have to recommend it highly.


Check out the new commercial here:

The internet is a-buzz over the latest Apple rumor leak that apparently came a day too early.

In a now-removed article on Skynews, Yoko Ono apparently announced that the whole of the Beatles back catalog will be made available to buy on iTunes.

The breaking news came late this afternoon one day before Apple’s annual Rock and Roll event. The event is held to announce new devices and Apple updates.

There have been predictions and rumors over what kind of announcements Apple plans to make tomorrow. Many blogs predict the premier of iPods with cameras and changes to iTunes.

The bigger predictions include the announcement of the Apple tablet and the release of the Beatles catalog. However, most blogs dismissed both as rumors and concluded the announcement as unlikely. That is, until Yoko Ono let the cat out of the bag.
Since the Skynews article has been removed, there is no telling if the story has any truth. Apple could have asked that they remove it, or it could have been proved false.

So it looks like we’re back where we started, a bunch of rumors. But it’s really excited to see that Beatles rumor back on! It definitely makes the event much more exciting since most of the other announcements about iTunes updates and new iPods seem pretty standard and boring. Honestly, a new iPod comes out annually so announcing it is like saying Christmas is coming again this year.

Many websites and blogs will be reporting live at the event, so it looks like we will have to wait and see!

Did you know that Amazon.com has a green store?

I didn’t! And when I was recently browsing the internet for energy efficient televisions and gadgets, I stumbled across their green page. It’s fantastic!

All the green products they can offer are in one place, making shopping easy and quick. It can be a great place to buy products directly from Amazon.com or you can use the page to research which products to buy on your next shopping trip.

Here at YouRenew, we particularly like the green electronics page. All of the devices in their green electronics section have been awarded the Energy Star seal of efficiency. Personally, I would have liked to see more stringent standards, like an EPEAT rating in addition to the Energy Star seal. But, I’m glad Amazon has gotten customers thinking about buying consciously.

Looking at the Amazon page got me thinking, what’s better for the planet? Buying electronics online or buying them in the store?
Surely, the energy spent to ship the item would be more than driving 10 minutes to a local mall? Right?

To answer my question, I found an article from TreeHugger that examines this very issue. The conclusion: “it depends on the variables.”

“According to the Center for Energy & Climate Solutions, shipping two 20 pound packages by overnight air — the most energy-intensive delivery mode — still uses 40 percent less fuel than driving 20 miles round-trip to the mall or store or wherever you’re going,” said TreeHugger “Ground shipping — which is much more efficient than overnight air — checks in at just one-tenth the energy used driving yourself.”

However, TreeHugger notes that shopping online results in 2.5 times more packaging than shopping in stores. In addition, if you don’t need to drive to the store or live in an urban area, it may make more sense to walk to a store and buy the device yourself.

Either way, it’s good to weigh the pros and cons of each purchasing outlet before buying an item. If you live in a suburban area and would need to drive more than 8 miles to pick up the device, shopping online is your best bet. Alternatively, if you live close to the store, taking a walk, bike ride or public transit to the store is a better environmental choice.

We’re glad Amazon has taken the time to provide easy access to green products. Now that they’ve educated consumers, we just have to do our part to shop consciously!