Ultra Portable Music With iPod Shuffle Accessories

By: Michael Hehn

For the ultra portable media player enthusiast, one of the most popular products on the market right now is the Apple iPod Shuffle, a miniature version of their impressively popular iPod. The retail bundle that comes with the iPod Shuffle is more than good enough to make your experience on the go very enjoyable, but there are many other iPod Shuffle accessories available that can further enhance your time spent listening to music.

Headphones, Headphones, Headphones

Without a doubt, one of the most popular accessories for the iPod Shuffle comes in the form of headphones, integral to the portability of the iPod. Do you want traditional headphones which cover the ears or do you want different types of ear buds? Sometimes, headphones break and you need replacements, so you'll find no lack of a selection when trying to find some headphones to replace broken ones or trying to find ones which deliver crisper audio than the ones you currently have. They're also pretty cheap, usually under $10 a pair, so you needn't worry that you'll be paying $50 or higher for them.

Other popular iPod Shuffle accessories include car chargers, which plug into your car's lighter to deliver power to your iPod Shuffle. That way, you won't have to worry about your iPod running out of juice while you're on the go. You can also get interface connectors or cables so you can play your iPod on your car's stereo system to listen to beautiful music while you drive without having to worry about missing a cell phone call because you had your headphones on.

There are many other iPod Shuffle accessories you can check out. If you want to listen to music without having your headphones on, you can always check out speaker systems which plug into your iPod Shuffle. These speakers deliver crisp, powerful sound fidelity, the kind that make audiophiles' mouths water, and you'll pay a fraction of what you pay for high end speakers from popular audio companies.

Ultimately, the value that you get out of your iPod Shuffle is up to you. The Shuffle by itself is a very good value, but you can get so much more if you're willing to spend just a little more on various iPod Shuffle accessories. Because the iPod Shuffle is designed to just play music, you don't have to worry about other accessories to play video or give more protection so the video screen doesn't get scratched. In the end, the entire suit of iPod Shuffle accessories will help you listen to music the way you want to listen to it.

By Jonathan Amos Science reporter, BBC News, Kourou

The launch pad was swept by wind and rain on Friday morning

The UK is due to continue the upgrade to its military satellite communications system with the launch of a new spacecraft on Friday.

The Skynet 5B platform will ride into orbit atop an Ariane 5 rocket from the Kourou spaceport, in French Guiana.

It will join the 5A satellite lofted successfully in March and which is already handling secure traffic for UK forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The £3.6bn Skynet project represents the UK's single biggest space venture.

The investment includes replacing and updating control centres, and the major antennas and terminals used by military ships, land vehicles and planes to communicate through the satellites.

The 5B spacecraft is waiting on the launch pad in Kourou for a flight timed to start at 1904 local time (2204 GMT).

"We've had an incredibly smooth launch campaign so far, and now we're in the final stages," said Patrick Wood, who has led the development of both spacecraft for manufacturer EADS Astrium.

"There are a series of umbilical connections and we communicate with 5B night and day. We're doing final battery charging, making sure it is optimised for launch," he told BBC News.

Laser protected

Skynet 5 will allow the Army, Royal Navy and RAF to pass much more data, faster between command centres.

See how Skynet 5 is being deployed

The bandwidth capacity is two-and-a-half times that of the previous satellite constellation, Skynet 4.

Although they look much like any of the other modern commercial telecommunications spacecraft launched from Kourou, the 5s incorporate new technologies specially prepared for military use.

Skynet 5B will be put in a position over the Indian Ocean Enlarge Image

Four steerable antennas give them the ability to focus bandwidth onto particular locations where it is most needed - where British forces are engaged in operations.

The spacecraft have also been "hardened" to withstand any interference - attempts to disable or take control of the satellites - and any efforts to eavesdrop on their sensitive communications.

They each have advanced receive antennas that enable the spacecraft to selectively listen to signals and filter out attempts to "jam" them.

They will also resist attempts to disrupt them with high-powered lasers.

"Hardened doesn't mean armour-plated, because the cost of launching a spacecraft like that would be phenomenal and the amount of useable payload in it would be very small," explained Mr Wood.

"But Skynet 5 does incorporate electronic - and some physical - protection that will help the spacecraft in some types of adverse environment."

Information battle

The benefits of the upgrade should become evident when the UK starts using Predator unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to support troops in Afghanistan.

These aircraft will stream real-time video of Taleban activity and, with the capacity of Skynet 5, those pictures can be fed back to the UK quickly for further analysis, if necessary.

The Skynet system brings an increase in power and bandwidth Enlarge Image

The UK military increasingly talks about NEC - Network Enabled Capability. It describes modern commanders taking rapid decisions based on superior information - enabling them to deploy equipment and personnel far more effectively than has been possible in the past.

The abundance of information has to be managed, however.

Tony Skinner, from Jane's Defence Weekly, said British commanders had admitted they were still learning how best to handle what is becoming a flood of information.

"As some of these new systems are coming online, and the communication bearers increase capacity, the armed forces have to work out the human processes, standards and protocols needed to use the information efficiently," Mr Skinner explained.

"Also, your systems have to be interoperable, especially working in a coalition environment. It's all very well taking a video stream from a drone but can you share that with friendly forces, other bases and even back to the UK?"

Complex deal

The cost of the Skynet project has raised eyebrows, not least because it has been financed through a private company with City money.

Paradigm Secure Communications won a contract with the Ministry of Defence to supply satellite services to UK forces.

The contract called for two new spacecraft and, because of the way the financing deal was put together, will allow for an in-orbit spare, Skynet 5C to be launched next year.

The MoD is currently struggling to tie down the details of another major PFI (Private Finance Initiative) to overhaul the RAF's mid-air re-fuelling tankers, but Paradigm managing director, Malcolm Peto, is in no doubt the novel procurement route is good value.

"This is the way to do it," he said.

"Other European militaries and procurement agencies have been sceptical that we could put this satcom network and services together.

"But with one satellite already in orbit, people are starting to take notice. With two in orbit we will have nothing left to prove."

Skynet 5A looks over the Atlantic Ocean. 5B will occupy a position above the Indian Ocean. Together, they will provide coverage from the eastern US seaboard to east of China.

Friday's Ariane rocket will also loft a Brazilian telecommunications spacecraft.

1. Skynet 5 overhauls satellite communications for UK forces 2. The largely autonomous satellites talk to two UK ground stations 3. Skynet 5 supports high-bandwidth applications, such as UAV video 4. Antennas and terminals are upgraded to make best use of Skynet 5. New battlefield networks, such as Cormorant, feed into the system 6. System gives commanders access to more information, faster The satellites are 'hardened' against interference. A special receive antenna (1) can resist attempts at jamming Each spacecraft has four steerable antennas (2) that can concentrate bandwidth onto particular regions The system gives near-global coverage (3), providing 2.5 times the capacity afforded by the previous system Each spacecraft (4) is a 3x4x4.5m box and weighs just under 5 tonnes; the solar wings once unfurled measure 34m tip to tip Improved technologies, including a solar 'sail' (5), lengthen the platforms' operational lives to at least 15 years

Skynet military launch is delayed

The launch of the UK's Skynet 5B military communications satellite from French Guiana has been delayed. The spacecraft's Ariane rocket has developed an electronic problem in one of its solid fuel boosters and will be rolled back to an inspection shed. The flight, originally timed for Friday night, is not now expected to take place until Monday at the earliest. The £3.6bn Skynet project is designed to give British commanders access to more information, much faster. "We tried to understand what's going on [in the electronic equipment] but unfortunately we did not succeed," explained Jean-Yves Le Gall from Arianespace, the company which runs the Kourou spaceport in French Guiana. "We are now taking the launch vehicle back to the Final Assembly Building where we will investigate the equipment and replace it." The countdown was stopped six hours, two minutes and 34 seconds before the scheduled lift-off. Video demand The Skynet 5B platform is set to join in orbit the 5A satellite, which was lofted successfully in March and is already handling secure traffic for UK forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. The spacecraft, which have been developed by EADS Astrium in Stevenage and Portsmouth, provide-two-and-a-half times the bandwidth capacity of their predecessors, the Skynet 4 satellites. Controllers take no risks with a launch The greater performance is necessary because military commanders are starting to use information-rich applications, such as video, in their operations. Only today, the Ministry of Defence announced it had started flying its new Reaper Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) in Afghanistan. The planes will gather intelligence on Taliban activities and their pictures can be fed back to the UK via Skynet 5A for further analysis, if necessary. The problem with the Ariane rocket also delays the launch of Skynet 5B's co-passenger - a Brazilian satellite called Star One C1 which will deliver broadband internet services to consumers in South America. Delays to launches are not uncommon. Officials constantly monitor the rocket and its payload and if there is the slightest doubt, the flight is stood down. Skynet 5A was itself held on the ground for 24 hours when a fault developed in the launch table. "This is the price for total quality; we do not want to take any risks, and this is why we replace equipment anytime we could have a problem," said Mr Le Gall. The technical teams responsible for the satellites will continue to monitor their systems over the weekend. Umbilical connections to the Ariane allow engineers to talk to the spacecraft even though they are closed inside the top of the rocket. "At this stage, the thing we worry about is the battery [in 5B]," explained Patrick Wood, the Skynet programme chief at Astrium. "The team will be monitoring the charge on the lithium ion battery, and checking it is on external power. Once we've got a resumed launch time, we will go with our standard test sequence," he told BBC News. The RAF is now using Reaper, which was formerly known as Predator B