With the Macworld Conference taking place in San Francisco this week Apple has released some very cool products.

Their newest MP3 player is the iPod shuffle. It is a flash media player that connects through a USB port and the 1GB model can hold up to 240 songs, perfect for those trips to the gym. There is no screen to view the current song or playlists on the shuffle, so you will need to upload a playlist that you want to listen to and know its order (if you want to skip songs).

The next piece of news, and probably biggest, is Apple’s announcement of the Mac mini. At $499 the mini is a great alternative to a Dell or Gateway.

To me, the mini looks like a great entry solution for those who are looking to get started with a Mac but do not want to spend the money. $499 is cheap and a decent monitor does not cost too much. You’d basically be paying the same for a lower end Dell.

Anyway, it is just some exciting news out of Cupertino, California.

I still do not feel well, though I am feeling better than I was this time last week. With school starting tomorrow I just wish I felt great and ready to get into the new semester right. Hopefully by tonight my body will agree with me and start feeling normal again.

I probably become annoyed and frustrated too easily by small things but professors not replying to somewhat urgent e-mails really gets me. Granted, school is not in session yet but I know the professor is in his office, all I need is a short little e-mail answering a few questions. How long does that take? 5 minutes, maybe, if he types slowly.

I try to reply to e-mails as soon as possible or if there are a lot, set aside some time to reply. It is just the courteous thing to do.