When I received an email form Apple on January 7 informing me that my replacement iPod nano had shipped there was a new serial number for the replacement iPod nano included in the correspondence. I checked the serial number at that time to confirm and it appeared to be a 6th generation iPod nano.

Now that I have the new iPod and I never used the old one I’m using this new nano as a stylish watch. I already use the iPhone for pretty much everything media based on the go. I use bluetooth headphones and the wifi on the iPhone. There doesn’t seem like much appeal to the nano other than a watch. The nano doesn’t have bluetooth or wifi and it can’t play videos back, which is most of what I use on my portable gadgets. I have an iPod shuffle for summer workouts and whatnot, but I still prefer the bluetooth headphones w/ the iPhone vs. the wire flopping around while I’m working out with the headphones on the shuffle.

So I headed to the Apple store to see if they had the Hex vision watch band in stock to purchase for my new iPod nano. If so then I may end up having a pretty cool watch for next to nothing. Turns out they did have the band I was looking for in stock. It was $69.95 for the band but it’s really nice and I like it a lot. It’s made with premium stainless steel. There are additional links included for the band and you can go to any jeweler to have them fit it for you in just a few minutes for a couple dollars if you need to. Mine was a little loose so I sent to a jeweler in the mall and paid them $5 to have them fit the watch for me. The iPod nano clips into the base of the watchband and holds the device securely. It fits nicely and all of the connections are still accessible as well. It looks like something I could wear either with jeans and a t-shirt or a suit and tie.

The timeline of sending out the original replacement request to the time of receiving the new 6th generation iPod nano at my door is as follows:

December 21 – service requested
December 23 – received box to send original iPod back to Apple
December 27 – sent original iPod back to Apple
December 31 – Apple received my original iPod nano
January 6 – Apple shipped 6th gen. iPod nano to me
January 10 – I received the 6th gen. iPod nano

It seems like a pretty quick turnaround. Others on the Apple discussion forums have been stating much longer turnaround times since the iPod nano replacement program went into effect starting November 11, 2011. At first Apple sent out replacement 1st generation iPod nanos. Apparently there were many more replacement requests than Apple anticipated, and speculation beginning around December 20 suggested that Apple began sending out 6th generation iPod nanos as replacements to compensate the additional requests.

So it might be a good idea to replace your 1st generation iPod nano if you have one. Even if you don’t want to replace it with the new 6th generation iPod nano you should still get rid of your 1st generation iPod nano. The risk of the device exploding and starting a fire is too great. Better safe than sorry.

The song is titled A Page That Was Torn. The song is a single track that I wrote around 2004 about two people that have parted ways and several years later one of them reconnects with the other and explains the circumstances of the events that led up to their original departure.

I originally released the song on the iTunes Music Store on March 13, 2007 through Tunecore.com but then I decided to cease the annual renewal on Tunecore and I removed the song from iTunes. I have decided to re-release the single track with availability beginning on January 1, 2012.

A Page That Was Torn is available on iTunes for $.99

The import of the analog footage is in realtime. I have several hours of old home movies to convert so it will take a while to get everything imported into the computer. You can’t edit anything else while the footage is importing and I need to babysit it to make sure the import doesn’t crash or anything. I also like to stop the import sometimes to break the clips up into different scenes. That makes it easier to find clips you’re looking for later.

It’s a good idea to convert your old footage to digital format as soon as possible because those old VHS tapes may be damaged by improper storage and become moldy or something. Tapes can get caught in the head of the VCR and become damaged or any number of things can happen to damage old VHS tapes. If you have old home movies then I recommend that you convert them over to digital format as soon as possible. My old home movies have been in good storage and I just got them from family to convert them over. Some of the VHS tapes are close to 30 years old.

After I convert them to digital format I will back the files up on a separate hard drive. It’s always a good idea to back your files up whenever you can. Another method of backing up files is to transfer them to digital tape, but I prefer to back files up on a separate hard drive. That way you preserve your precious memories and you do not have to worry about ever losing or damaging your old home movies.

I did a marathon study for the FCPX exam for about a week before I took the exam. I passed that exam with %90+ percentile. I knew I had to complete the Motion exam before January 3. There is a chance to take the exam once and if you fail then you can re-take the exam a week later. The deadline for recertification is January 3 so I decided to take the exam on Dec 23. Prometric is on a different timezone than I am so when I took the exam at 6PM on Dec. 23 it was actually 1:30AM on Dec 24 according to Prometric’s system. I wanted my certification to be issued on my birthday so I chose Dec. 23 around 6pm as my target timeframe for taking the exam.

The Motion 5 exam seemed very similar to the Motion 4 exam. I would say that more than %90 of the M5 exam questions were similar, if not identical, to the M4 exam questions. Regardless I passed the exam. Now I am officially an Apple Certified Trainer for the current versions of Final Cut Pro x and Motion 5. I have retained the Apple Certified Trainer credential for the respective applications for over 3 years.

I can not even begin to describe the feeling that occurs before, during, and after taking the certification exam. Needless to say the experience is very thrilling. The moment after knowing the test results is very exhilarating. The knowledge that you have passed the exam and are now an Apple Certified Trainer is a feeling that can only be experienced, not described. I am very happy and fortunate to be among the few to sequentially possess these highly coveted credentials.

The iPhone version of JasperThayer.com was originally created in April using iwebkit at http://snippetspace.com. I was looking into methods of creating a mobile version of my website at that time. After a few weeks of working on the project I finally had a version that only loaded for iOS visitors. I used a combination of php server side scripting to force iOS users to be redirected to the iPhone version and also .htaccess on Apache to redirect the dynamic links for visitors. The app worked great. There was an area for info about me and pages for music and photos.

There were a few problems though. The image gallery was a little buggy. You couldn’t see some of the images all the way and it was missing features like slideshow, swipe to advance, captions, etc. I didn’t like the music page either because when you tapped on a song to play it there was little indication that the song was actually loading to play. So you’d sit there for 10 seconds or more before the song started playing. Most would leave before that. Also the music player before lacked the ability to scrub through the song or see how long the song was.

I added html5 music player to this new version to fix all of that, and I added an entire new gallery for the images. There’s also a new video page and a lot of new videos have been added to the iPhone app. Another thing I did with this new update is create a contact form page. In the last version the email link opened up the mail app on the iPhone. I wanted to keep visitors on my web app so I created a contact form so users could complete the form to send me an email.

It seems like a yearly tradition to update my website around Christmas time. I look forward to the changes in development that come next year.

Fast forward to Dec. 2011 when I found out that Apple was offering a new replacement program for the 1st gen. iPod nano. The deal was something about the battery overheating on the iPod. So you just had to send them the serial number of the 1st gen. iPod nano and they would ship you a new replacement. I had to use a screwdriver to get the iPod nano off my desk. It’s got a lot of war wounds on the backside of it. Plus the case is all messed up from back in the day when I tore it apart. I figured that maybe since so much time has passed that perhaps Apple could give me a break this time. We’ll see.

Anyway, I managed to salvage the serial number to initiate the replacement with Apple. They sent me an email informing me that they will send me a shipping box to ship my original iPod nano to them. The email says that once they receive the iPod then they will process the exchange and ship me a new iPod. Recent reports have suggested that Apple is now delivering the current iPod model to users that ship them the original iPod nano. Speculation has suggested that Apple may be out of supply for the 1st generation iPod nano, so they’re compensating by shipping out the current model iPod nano as a replacement. Since the original iPod that I purchased used off Craigslist never worked to begin with I am excited for the prospect of exchanging it for a new current model iPod nano.

I already received an iPod nano a year ago for my one year anniversary bonus at the company that I previously worked for. I ended up returning that iPod to Apple for credit towards purchase of an iPhone 4. I didn’t like the current iPod nano because it didn’t have video playback capabilities. Also it didn’t support wifi or even bluetooth. If I can’t watch a video and listen to audio through bluetooth then there’s really no reason to use the device. I’d just use the iPhone 4. We’ll see how this exchange plays out. If I end up getting a new iPod nano then I might keep it was a wrist watch. Anyway, we’ll see. I’ll keep everyone updated on the outcome.

I’ve been trying to cope with ridiculous alternatives while looking for a permanent solution. I even had to bust out the old corded mighty mouse. I could track freely with that mouse, but the problem with the mighty mouse is that little scroll ball that gets dirty over time. So the mighty mouse was unable to scroll.

After the whole dongle debacle I looked around for another solution. The alternative method I tried after that was to get an extension cord for the bluetooth antennae. The cord I got was an extension cord that plugged into the bluetooth chip and on the other end there’s a pigtail with a threaded connection to connect an antennae. Then I got an antennae to connect to the end of that. I had to drill a hole into the end of the pci cover plate to get the antennae connection to fit outside of the computer. Then I connected the antennae and fired up the machine. Results are that the mouse seems to be working perfectly now. Hopefully this concludes the problems that were involved with the mouse reception.

This past year has had a few changes for me. I decided to quit my job in order to pursue a new business opportunity. I ended up working as a web develop and video editor for a doctor office for the majority of the year. Because I worked with a dentist I was able to get a lot of work done on my teeth. I had one of my teeth pulled and replaced with a dental implant. I also had all of my metal fillings replaced with composite fillings so it looks like I’ve never even had a cavity. I also had some chips repaired on my two front teeth.

I also did some freelance work this year that allowed me to make some extra purchases. I bought all updated versions of software and plugins including Adobe Master Collection CS5.5, Logic Studio 9, Trapcode Suite 11, Plexus, Newton, Reason, Dragon stop motion, and everything else. So now I am all dialed in software-wise. I also bought a new lens that should be arriving in a few days. I plan on taking some macro photos soon with this new thousand dollar lens.

Unfortunately I got laid off a few times this year. First time was in September. The doctor kept me on the payroll though and I received direct deposit for two months even though I wasn’t working. Then the doctor called me back and asked me to edit some additional videos. I was doing that for the past month but now I have finished the work so I got laid off again. I hope to use this extra time to work on some of my own projects. I recently got certified as an Apple Certified Trainer for Final Cut Pro X. I would also like to get certified for Motion 5 and start producing a training series for those programs. I want to start blogging some more and I want to start taking some more photos. I hope to post at least once a week and take at least one new picture every week.

There’s some other project ideas that are floating around but I still need to work on nailing down what I really want to focus on right now. I am the type that doesn’t like to announce that I will do something and then it turns out that I never end up doing it. I will say what I want to do though, which is slightly different than announcing that I will do something. Anyway, I will do something this next year. We’ll see what exactly that is, but I hope it will be something amazing! You should be seeing some posts before the new year though if I stay on track with my goals of keeping an active blog going from now on. Stay tuned!