Bethany noted an odd iPod story the other day that I kind of found fascinating. Yes, those white iPod earbuds are everywhere these days -- on the bus, in the mall and just about anywhere around town. There is one iPod user who probably never wants to see them again.

While running, a Canadian man was wearing his iPod when lightning struck a nearby tree, throwing him off his feet and burning him with patterns where the iPod's headphones were next to his body. At least he was not listening to his music at deafening levels and not paying attention to the weather outside!

Yes, wires carry electricity and can be involved if lightning strikes nearby, but I'll bet this runner won't be jogging with his tunes an time the weather looks iffy. As always, remember to keep the volume at a decent level or risk potential hearing loss.

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Every once in a while, a technical gadget will be seen as a threat to some established industry or product. This happened long ago in the aviation industry, as cellular phones were thought to possibly interfere with aircraft communication systems. Hence, they were banned from use on airplanes.

What about something as innocent as an iPod? Well, the most popular music gadget going right now is in hot water with some heart specialists, as they say the venerable music product may be interfering with the electromagnetic equipment monitoring the heart.

The problem comes down to electromagnetic interference from the device that could affect pacemakers when help close to the chest. Most likely, the interference was due to the hard drive inside the iPod (which uses a very strong magnet), but I doubt solid-state iPods like the nano and shuffle would cause anything. Of course, researchers did not distinguish between the different types of iPods at all.

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