So, have you recovered from your tryptophan-induced incapacitation? If you have no idea of what I’m talking about, tryptophan is an amino acid found in turkey meat. Tryptophan helps the body produce the B-vitamin niacin, which helps the body produce seratonin, a chemical that acts as a calming agent in the brain and makes you sleepy. So, some people think all the turkey consumed at Thanksgiving makes you sleepy.

While tryptophan does have some effect, it’s possible that the pounds (not grams) of carbohydrates in stuffing, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie, and those adult beverages, might have something to do with your Turkey Day afternoon nap as well. Just some food for thought.

Christmas has come early to the Zimowski household, as the fetching Mrs. Z got me a new 60GB iPod. (hugs and smooches, sweetie!). So, I figured I’d knock out one of those “first-look”, “hands-on” articles popular among tech journalists. Here goes.

As the above title infers, the new iPod (also available in a 30GB version) is first and foremost a great new iPod that just happens to play video as well. It’ll hold around 15,000 songs, and display the album art (if you purchased the music from the iTunes Music Store or took the time to put the album art into iTunes yourself for music you acquired in other ways).

It’ll also hold thousands of photos, easily imported from your iPhoto Library. The bigger 2.5-inch color display is sharp and clear, making the thumbnails bigger than on earlier “photo” iPods, and the full size photos more, well, full-size. The best way to see the photos on your iPod is to attach it to a TV with the optional A/V cable – then your photos fill the TV screen (and the music from your iPod can be your slideshow soundtrack).

And, yes, the new iPod does video. Again, the sharp, bright screen makes for a surprisingly pleasant viewing experience. With that same optional A/V cable you can watch video on any TV that can receive the standard RCA (red, white, and yellow) connectors. Picture quality on a small-to-mid-sized TV is quite good (certainly not DVD quality), but you do see some “ghosting” and color banding when attempting the feat on a big-screen TV. Playing video, because it requires the hard drive to spin almost constantly, reduces battery life from the advertised twelve hours to more like three.

© 2005 Peter F. Zimowski