Dahon Releases MP3 Charger for Your Bicycle

Most of my memories of bicycle generators from my youth are not fond ones.  They added considerable friction to your ride, made biking up a small hill difficult, and barely put out enough wattage to light up 10 feet in front of you.  But technology moves on and now Dahon has announced a new-and-improved bicycle generator capable of powering your MP3 player.  The key enhancement (besides what is hopefully a better overall generator) is a module between your generator and the MP3 player that smoothes out spikes and valleys in the generation of power on the ride.  It is unlikely to be enough to recharge your iPhone while biking to the market, but it may be enough to keep things running and not lose power on that hour-long ride.

Posted via email from The Bike Nomad

I've seen a lot of this recently

More Music Now Sold In MP3 Format

Warner Music has joined EMI and Universal by allowing Amazon to sell its entire catalog in MP3 format. (EMI and Universal, I believe, only offer some of their catalog.) What's more, Warner music does not watermark their MP3's. While I don't care so much about the watermarking, some consider it a privacy concern. Sony/BMG is now the only one of the four major music labels not selling their music in MP3 format.

Update 1: My bad, it's all of their digitized catalog. Oh well, that's still something.

Transformers enter the Age of the iPod

I am not sure how many of our readers are fans of the original Transformers toys, but it was a central part of my childhood. The transforming robots were always close at hand for me, whether the others around me wanted to play GI Joe, Star Wars, Mask, or any of the other major toy lines. It was amazing how easily giant robots mesh with action figures. Anyway, it has tickled me to see that the Transformers are entering the MP3 age with a new version of Soundwave (a transformer who used to transform into a Walkman - tape player) which plays MP3! Or if you'd prefer to have an autobot on hand for your MP3s, that also offer iPod Optimus Prime!.