Apple's Tiger Debacles

It's been a bad few weeks for Apple during their “Tiger” release. Let's recap:

• Tiger was delivered early via some retailers, causing Apple and the retailers to ask those that received Tiger to return it.
• Tiger Direct sues Apple on the basis that the name of the OS dilutes their brand name.

Wow, maybe this will help Apple see some of their own crap in a new light. Tiger Direct's claim is almost as stupid as Marvel vs. City of Heroes.

TV Goes "Totally" Digital

Stephen Speicher, of Engadget writes a weekly column called The Clicker. This week's column paints a clear picture of the whole TV goes digital deadline that is on everyone's mind.

More Expensive Geek (ultimate geek) Stuff on Ebay

Like a life-sized model of a Star Wars X-wing, fresh off display of the FAO Schwartz toy store in Orlando, Florida. It's currently hanging out in Dayton Ohio waiting for a buyer.

The auction has a starting price of $40K, with a Buy it Now of $85K. With two days left, there's no bids.

By the time you read this the auction may be over (and/or the listing removed from history), so I'll include a snapshot of the listing I pulled.

Sharper Image vs. Consumer Reports

(Thanks to Plague for the lead on this.)

Seems that The Shaper Image had a bone to pick with two separate articles (actually roundups) Consumer Reports published that included the Shaper Image Quadra.

I haven't read the articles, but I understand that ol' CR didn't think too much of the SI flagship product. It wasn't given a very good rating and concerns about ozone levels were raised. After the first article appeared SI filed a complaint saying that the Quadra wasn't given a fair shake. So, CR redid the tests and reported the exact same findings in the second article. When that article surfaced SI filed suit.

Back in November 2004 the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California dismissed the lawsuit.

Too bad for SI. But I can only feel so bad given the quality of their latest products.

Michael Moore on Michael Moore and Fahrenheit 9/11

Via Brain Terminal, this ambush interview of Moore is quite enlightening. At least it was to me.

(No, I haven't seen Fahrenheit 9/11, nor do I have any desire to submit myself to any of Moore's “documentaries.” I do think those that flocked to the film and saw the “truth” embedded in it should dose up on the counterpoints presented by BT and others. But that would kinda defeat the whole purpose now, wouldn't it?)

Home Theater Meets Vegas, er, Glitz?

Some people have written Steve Jenkins and called his Home Theater cheesy, tacky, and over the top. His reply, “That's the point!”

It's not the way I'd envision my dream HT, but hey, it's his.

Genetics Professor = Agent X?

Jasper Rine, a genetics professor at Berkeley had his laptop stolen. Said professor then delivered a lecture to the class outlining why the thief was in deep doo-doo:

• The built-in transponder that told authorities where the laptop was
• The Windows code sent to Redmond telling Microsoft where the laptop was
• The information regarding a 100M lawsuit stored on the laptop
• Lots of other bogus scare-tactic BS

Of course, in today's information age the lecture is all over the net. Presented for your amusement, find it below.

Lesbian GNU/Linux

Those of you who actually know me are familiar with my “more than passing relationship” with Debian [GNU/]Linux.

Well, I didn't know about the Debian derivative, Lesbian GNU/Linux.

Those that are very Debian aware will get the most out of the inside jokes (and might tell me that this is old news), those that aren't Debian aware probably shouldn't even bother clicking the link.

Two DVD Players for Every Home!

I don't know if anyone else is following the hubbub over the next DVD standard, but it promises to create a mess for consumers. Read on gentle reader, read on.

On one side we have the Blu-ray DVD standard. On the other side of the fence we have the HD-DVD standard. Prominent DVD player and disc manufacturers are split pretty evenly between supporting the two standards--as are the movie studios.

What does that mean for us lowly consumers? A replay of the VHS vs. Beta war--if you want to be able to watch any next-gen DVD you will need a player for each standards (they are reasonably mechanically incompatible). What fun.

(Thanks to Engadget for the ongoing coverage.)

Innovative Engineering - Battery-less Remote Switches

En-Ocean debuted a battery-free, wireless light switch at the Lightfair International 2005 trade show this week in New York.

Very boring, no? No. The switch snaps up every available bit of energy from it being used and recycles the energy into sending the RF signal to the light. In short, it does an excellent job of converting physical energy to usable wireless energy. Very cool. We need more products like this.

Band of Brothers on History Channel

(My apologies, by the time you read this it will be the last night BoB airs on HIST...)

For those that missed it on HBO, the Hanks/Spielberg epic is replaying every night this week on The History Channel.

Band of Brothers tells the story of Easy Company, 506th Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division, U.S. Army--following them from their basic training through dropping behind the lines in Normandy and on through to capturing Germany. The mini-series is very faithful to the Stephen E. Ambrose novel, adding actual interviews by the survivors of Easy Company.

If you get the chance, it's well worth your time. (I'm betting it will rerun on HIST over the next few months.)

Non-smoking Sections

It occurred to me a few days ago that with all the smoking bans restaurant are now free to re-zone their smoking sections. Here's some recommendations for them:

• Cellphone or non-cellphone?
• Bratty, out of control, screaming child (BooCSC) or non-BooCSC?
• Friendly, knowledgeable service (FKS) or non-FKS?

Add your recommendations below.

Eyes - Week 2

Just watched the latest (2nd week) “Eyes”. As a reminder, I mentioned “Eyes” last week.

The second episode has me hooked (as though I wasn't already). However, here's some tidbits I've realized:

• John McNamara, the writer/creator has also done some of my other favorite shows, like:
  • Fastlane
  • Profit
  • The Fugitive
  • Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman
  • The Adventures of Brisco County Jr.
• Speaking of 90210 alumni (see Fastlane, above), the lovely Laura Leighton plays a prominent role in Eyes.
• Another favorite actor, Mitch Pileggi, is a guest star in Episode 2. More great guests in the Episodes ahead.
• ABC is on a full-court media press for the show--the actors are on the night show tour circuit and being covered in prominent news.

So what are you waiting for? Give it a chance already.

Fry's Electronics Open in Indy!

Woot!

Seems Fry's opened yesterday (4/5/05) under my radar. Their grand opening is this weekend (4/8 - 10/05), right before tax day. (swell)

I did a bit of recon work on the way home tonight and am way beyond impressed--the store is huge! Yeah, Incredible Universe was big, but this behemoth is 2-3x the size of the biggest Best Buy in town. They have everything from hobby kits (RC mostly), networking hardware (like racks, cabling, etc), appliances (large and small), to just about everything you can think of for computers.

One really nice surprise was a large software area--no 1 row of PC titles for this PC store!

Join the celebration this weekend and buy a thing or two so they will stick around for at least a few months.

Tsk, tsk Wachowski Bros -- It Wasn't Even Your Story!

According to the reports I shouldn't be surprised that I hadn't heard of this before. Huh.

Seems last year black, sci-fi author Sophia Stewart won a large copyright infringement settlement in a suit against the likes of the Wachowski brothers, Joel Silver, Warner Brothers, 20th Century Fox, James Cameron, and more.

The gist of the case is this: Stewart penned both the Matrix and Terminator scripts but received no credit, compensation, or even notice that her work was being used. I won't give you all the sordid details here since the links below offer plenty of info.

(She should sue the Wachowski's for totally screwing the last two films!)

Stacked - New Pam Anderson Series

No matter what you may think of Pamela Anderson, she is awfully good at one thing--parodying herself. Pam is quite aware of her, ah, assets and the affect they've had on her success.

If you have never seen an episode of VIP or Stripperella, you don't know what you are missing! Pam is a smart, talented, and enormously funny woman and her endeavors are entertaining. She's a mainstay on my radar.

Her latest series, Stacked, premiers next Wednesday (April 13th). Give it a shot, you might be surprised.

(You know what would rock? Get Pam and the other king of self-parody--William Shatner--together on the same show...)

Voice Controlled TV Remote

The Promptu is the first voice controlled remote control (seems redundant) for your TV. According to the Web site you can use your voice to do things like:

• Change the channel
• Surf categories
• Search by sports team or favorite actors

Anyone who has ever used a universal remote knows that the power isn't in how you use it's features, it's the feature set itself, and most universal remotes are extremely lacking in that area. Sure, if you want to change the channel or the volume they got you covered. However, if you want to change the picture-in-picture position or other features your TV supports you are forced to find your original remote(s). Still, this could be the brass ring of remotes...we will keep the radar on it.

Hitachi Says 20GB Micro or 1TB (as in Tera) 3.5" Drives by 2007

(With thanks to Engadget.)

Hitachi released a press announcement today saying they have the technology to squeeze “230 gigabit per square inch data density on perpendicular recording devices.” Using this technology Hitachi says they can produce “20-gigabyte(a) Microdrive or a one terabyte 3.5-inch hard drive” by 2007.

I'm old enough to remember my first 500M (as in megabyte) drive--costing a sweet $500. Such is progress.

Previews Seen Before Sin City

Two caught my eye:

“Domino” -- Keira Knightley plays Domino Harvey, the Ford Model who turned her back on fame and privilege to become a bounty hunter. Hot chick, guns, action, and direction by Tony Scott. I'm there. (8/12/05)

“Mindhunters” -- A group of FBI profiler trainees against a serial killer that might be one of thier own. Christian Slater, check. Val Kilmer, check. Direction by Renny Harlin, check. Movie finished in 2004 and sitting on shelf for ~2 years, means movie is probably crap. Damn. (5/6/2005, maybe)

Sin City

Saw it tonight. Well worth the trip IMO.

Take one part graphic novel, mix in a healthy portion of film noir, age with Philip Marlowe and Sam Spade, and throw in a pinch of Tarantino. That's Sin City.

Your reaction to the movie will depend largely on your reaction to dialog like:

The wind rises electric. She's soft and warm and almost weightless. Her perfume is sweet promise that brings tears to my eyes. I tell her that everything will be all right; that I'll save her from whatever she's scared and take her far far away. I tell her that I love her.

Yeah it's full of cheese, but in this movie it works and it works well. Do yourself a favor, buy a ticket, take a load off, and escape for the 126 minutes that is Frank Miller's Sin City.

To PSP or Not to PSP?

Over the last week I've had several people ask me about the PSP. (This, by the way, brought me back to my senses--this site isn't about funny Flash presentations, it's about the new games, devices, and things we use for fun. Thanks Rolf and Jeff, I'll try to stay more on track.)

Here's the basics on Sony's Portable PlayStation (PSP), which released in the US on 3/24/05:

• It retails for $250
• It has an integrated, 4.3 inch, 16:9 Wide screen TFT LCD capable of resolutions of 480 x 272 pixels, and 16.77 million colors
• It comes with 32MB of internal RAM
• It has built in 802.11b wireless, infrared, and USB 2.0 for connectivity
• It utilizes two proprietary Sony technologies--Memory Stick and optical Universal Media Disc (UMD) drive--for media (the UMD is read-only)
• It has typical Sony PlayStation controls, including: four buttons, a directional pad, an analog stick, and shoulder buttons
• It has a removable (nice touch, Sony) Lithium-ion battery rated for ~4-6 hours of playtime (more like ~3 hours for typical usage)
• It is quite probably the sexiest handheld device on the market (see shot above)

The PSP plays games (see link below), MP3s, and movies. It has wireless connectivity which allows head-2-head game play, but no Internet connectivity (no Web browser, email, etc). So, it falls squarely into the category of portable entertainment device--no PDA functionality here. The PSP titles are pretty slick--lots of depth and plenty of visual bling.

So, do I want one? Hell yeah. It's a sexy beast of a device and I'm all about that. Will I buy one? Nope. Not at the current price point anyway. I don't have much of a need for what the PSP provides (mobile entertainment) and can't justify the expense (remember to add $50 per game, $20 per UMD movie, and ~$100 for a Memory Stick big enough to be useful). Although my Zodiac 2 was ~$100 more, I get a lot more use out of it day-to-day and can do enough media and gaming to sate my need for mobile entertainment.

Should you buy one? That depends. I'd recommend it to anyone who has $250-400 to spend and wants a dedicated, portable gaming/media device. For those that don't have that kind of disposable income, look at the Nintendo DS ($150) or Game Boy Advanced ($80). However those devices don't have the high-end graphical and deep games of the PSP (which might not be your cup-o-tea anyway).

(If the PSP is interesting to you, wait until after the Summer. With the disappointing launch of the PSP Sony is bound to drop the price before next Xmas.)