Anyways, here’s this weeks edition of the Weekend Roundup. Hope you guys like it!

Blogging

• Jeff Chandler writes about a new WordPress plugin that takes WordPress widgets to another level. This plugin is called the Widget Context developed by Kaspars Dambis. via BloggingTips.
• If your blogs posts are mostly links to other sites and you would like your readers to be brought directly to the source site, this helpful tip will let you change a post’s RSS permalink using custom fields. via WPCandy
• If you’re experiencing write errors with your Google Sitemaps WordPress plugin after upgrading to WordPress 2.7, QuickOnlineTips has a short tutorial on how to fix it.
• Having a hard time looking for a nice new theme for your WordPress blog? Kyle Eslick of HackWordPress has compiled 150+ well designed Free and Premium WordPress themes.

Technology

• WIRED has a list of the Top 10 Technology Breakthroughs of 2008. Among the list are USB 3.0, Google Android and the memory transistor or memristor.
• In this age of technology, one of the most important resources is information. Countries like the US do their best to protect their information from attacks. What do they do to prepare for such type of info attacks? Cyberwargames!.
• Farewell VHS! After three decades of existence, the VHS tape era is winding down. Distribution Video Audio Inc, the last major supplier of VHS tapes rolled out the final truckload last week. Any remaining units in the warehouse would either be given away or thrown away.
• Do you want to know where the largest share of the world’s malware is coming from? According to Sophos, the Top 10 malware-hosting countries are: Thailand, Czech Republic, Turkey, United Kingdom, Ukraine, South Korea, Germany, Russia, China and the US at the top spot.

Gadgets

• Are you a fan of the Nintendo 64 game console? Check out this cool portable N64 called the Nintendo Sixtyfree Lite-R created by modder SifuF. Features include dual 3D sticks, D-Pad, L button, headphone socket and expansion pack! via Engadget
• If you’re an Apple fanboy or you like reading Tech related news the past week, I’m sure you’ve read or heard about the rumored iPhone Nano. In Thailand, you’ll see a lot of these iPhone Nanos for sale. Unfortunately, all of these are fake.
• The Nintendo Wii game console is the most popular gaming console right now and I’m sure its gonna be more popular with these new features. Wii owners in Japan will soon be able to order food and watch videos via the game console.
• What if you create a phone that looks like HTC, sounds like RIM, smells like Microsoft and tastes like Google? You’ll end up with China’s HKC Pearl. A dual-OS phone that can run on Windows Mobile or Android.

Pinoy Blogs

• If you’re new or just visiting Manila and are looking to buy a new mobile phone with bargain prices, Melo has a list of places where to buy mobile phones in Manila.
• In case you don’t know, Google now includes thumbnails for WordPress blogs in its search results. However, Google still needs to do some work on it because it still has a lot of bugs like associating different names/photos to some bloggers. Mike Abundo, shares how Google thinks he’s someone else.
• Brother Ambo of PinoyAmbisyoso is giving away a domain name for one year to one lucky voter. If you’re interested, head on over to his blog for further details.
• Looking for another way to track and follow your favorite blogs without having to subscribe to the RSS feed or newsletter? Jhay recommends Trackthis by Yotify. Trackthis sends links instead of full blog posts via email. You can also filter the content using tags or keywords.

JaypeeOnline Weekly Recap

• Griffin Technology iTrip Auto FM Transmitter – a good FM transmitter for your iPod.
• WordPress Schwag – got some cool WordPress pencils, stickers and pins last week.

For those of you who aren’t aware or haven’t heard of my Christmas Giveaway, I’m giving away $1,000+ worth of prizes (premium WordPress themes and plugins). You still have 2 more days to join and submit your entries before the deadline on Dec 30th.

If you have any questions, comments, suggestions or want your article to be featured in the next Weekend Roundup, feel free to leave a comment or send me a message via the contact page.

Thank you for your time and hope you guys have a great week!

Last month, I bought my wife a 3rd generation iPod Nano for her birthday and since she wanted to play songs in the car, she also asked me to find a FM transmitter for it. What we needed was a simple FM transmitter that doubles as a car charger and of course one that has good sound quality and transmission. I browsed through Amazon and decided to get the Griffin iTrip Auto FM Transmitter and Auto Charger.

Technical Specifications:

• Width: 0.49″ (12.5 mm)
• Length: 2.84″ (72 mm)
• Total length: 33.47″ (85 cm)
• Weight: 0.6 oz
• Antenna: Built-in
• Power: Provided by cigarette lighter or 12 volt power outlet (no batteries required)
• Modulation: FM Stereo
• Frequencies: US (88.1 -107.9 MHz)
• Oscillator: High stability crystal oscillator, phase-lock loop control
• Frequency response: 50 Hz to 15 kHz
• Operating range: 10-30 ft
• FCC Compliance: PAV9501

Since I have an Amazon Prime account, I got 2 day shipping for free and got the package 3 days after I placed the order.

The moment it arrived, I tried it right away to see if it works or not. Since the Griffin iTrip Auto FM Transmitter is also a car charger, you need to plug it into the cigarette lighter power adapter. This thing works right off the box. Just plug it to the cigarette lighter power adapter, turn on your car radio, choose the frequency, turn on your iPod and you’re good to go!

Most people who buy the Griffin iTrip Auto FM Transmitter and Auto Charger, don’t know that they can set the frequency to 87.9 and are stuck on the lowest default frequency which is 88.1. To be able to get the 87.9 frequency (still a legal frequency in the US), you’ll need to set the unit to International mode. To do that, just press on the PRESET button for about 10-15 seconds. First option you’ll see is switching LX to DX, continue pressing until you see the US/INTL mode. If you see the US mode blinking, just click on the +/- button to switch to INTL (vice versa). After that, it will just go back to the main screen. Now your Griffin Technology iTrip Auto FM Transmitter can transmit at 87.9 frequency.

Pros:

• Works out of the box.
• Plugs directly to the dock connector and has a constant line-out volume level and is not affected by the iPod’s volume dial setting.
• Starts instantly when car is started and iPod is auto-paused when car is stopped. Doesn’t require warming up unlike other previous Griffin FM transmitters.
• You can tune to 87.9 FM, turn off your car or unplug iTrip, turn it back on and resume use of the channel immediately.
• Since it also works as a car charger, this unit charges the iPod while you’re using it. You don’t have to get a separate iPod car charger and you don’t have to worry about your iPod losing power.

Cons:

• The FM transmitter power is quite weak.
• Volume transmitted is a little bit soft so you’ll have to increase your car radio’s volume.
• The LCD unit is wired to the connector and located in between the cigarette lighter plug and the dock connector. It can be an issue if you use your cigarette lighter power adapter for something else like a GPS unit.
• Static can be strong and annoying depending on your location.

Bottom line, if your car doesn’t have a tape deck, Bluetooth or an in-line jack and are looking for a simple and affordable way to an iPod on your car, then the Griffin iTrip Auto FM Transmitter and Auto Chargeris something you would consider buying. The overall quality is not as good as listening with headphones, using a cassette deck adapter, Bluetooth or in-line jack but the sound is good enough. What I needed was a simple FM transmitter that worked so I got what I needed and for the price, I can’t really complain about it coz I got it for less than $30.

DISCLAIMER: JaypeeOnline is an affiliate of Amazon.com