I snuck out to Best Buy today after summer school (taking Government I) and got Audioslave's Out of Exile and Coldplay's X&Y, which was on sale for $10 since this is the release week. Listening to both albums tonight was a very gratifying experience and I highly reccomend both of them if you at all like those artists because this is them doing what they do best. Oh, and don't forget to watch Storytellers: Coldplay tomorrow night on VH1 at 9:00 P.M. CST. The main topic of interest for me today was this man's tale of leaving his job at Bell Labs and accepting less money over at Google. Why? For the same reason I want to work there: it's an awesome place. The whole workplace is built to satiate the kid at heart (they have a pool with an artificial current!) while the culture of the office is to get things moving quickly. Most big companies have a lot of bureaucracy and middle men, but it would seem that Google cuts out that crap and encourages employees to get their ideas online and also pushes them to give it their all. I think that's really cool and usually something you only see at small companies. Anyway, the article is a good read if anyone is interested.
There's still plenty of techie news leftover. In an attempt to salvage their desperate photo labs, CVS is unveiling disposable digital camcorders that will sell for $30 and hold 20 minutes of video. The DVDs of the footage will be $13, and the whole thing sounds a bit steep for just 20 minutes. In an ironic turn of events, it would appear that now India will have to outsource for employees that can speak European languages. Maybe now people will stop bitching about how bad and evil American outsourcing is. India's neighbor, China, is going to start policing Chinese chat rooms, blogs, and forums to keep the web clean for its citizens. Apparently, it'll be impossible for independent bloggers to get permission to blog and it's sad how controlling that government is. According to a recent study, iTunes is now more popular than most P2P programs (except WinMX) and while it looks like a victory I think a lot of that is because so many P2Pers are too scared to share. I'd use iTunes myself though if I had an iPod. Apple's next challenge now is a smooth transition for software to Intel chips since some code does rely on chipset functionality. There's an editorial here about a great failure of Apple's rival, Microsoft. The article praises how Microsoft dealt with the security problems of Windows 2000, but I kind of think it's biased. Lastly, Linux is experiencing a temporary slowdown due to the cost of hiring programmers and such for the OS, but I'm sure things will pick up again.
The movie news today is pretty good. Once again, I've gotta start with the Batman. In addition to the best Batman Begins review yet, there's an interview with Alfred (Michael Caine) and Rachel (Katie Holmes) over at IGN that reveals how much they enjoyed making the film. It seems like all the key players are willing to make a sequel eventually so let's keep our fingers crossed. There is some bad comic movie news to counter that stuff thought: the most likely candidate for X3 looks to be Brett Ratner, who I just can't see as being the right guy for the job. If you think that's a bad idea though, there's actually a Simpsons movie in the works! Given the crappiness of the recent episodes I can't imagine the writing being good. Due to acquistion complications, Sony has pushed back the release of The Pink Panther (featuring Steve Martin) to February 2006. It's making people skeptical, but they haven't shown enough of the movie to tell. We will see a teaser of Peter Jackson's King Kong by the end of the month though with War of the Worlds so that's something closer to look forward to. Lastly, Microsoft is trying to find a home for its $1 million script for Halo (written by Alex Garland) by dancing around in Master Chief uniforms and making insane demands. They're just trying to protect the integrity of the franchise, but who will buy it?
I'm not eligible for this week's Ten on Tuesday so instead I'm indulging in the Tuesday Twosome meme:
1. How many hours of sleep do you get and is it enough?
Usually about 8 hours. I'll probably get less next month due to my 10:00 A.M. Government II class, but I consider 7-8 hours to be ideal. I feel pretty refreshed every day and I usually only nap because I sit down an read for a long time (C++ and for class).
2. How many times do you get angry/upset and is it too much?
I don't get seriously angry all that often because it's just not worth it. I'll curse people on the road, but I'm not actually that pissed at them but rather I'm just critical of their poor driving skills. Why don't people use turn signals?!
3. How often do you drink caffeine and is it too much?
Very rarely. I don't drink coffee or sodas (except with alcohol). I do like Bawls Guarana, but that's about it. And I don't drink that often because that much caffeine can't be healthy.
4. How often do you use your cell phone and does it distract from your responsibilities?
I use it a few times a day but it's not really much of a distraction since I'm not popular enough to get a lot of calls. I get more calls during the school year probably, but I'm more connected to AIM.
5. How much time do you spend on the internet and is it too much?
I don't know how to gauge that. I periodically glance at my computer throughout the day. I'm usually actually sitting in front of it doing stuff or chatting for a few hours a day. If it was too much time then I wouldn't get anything else done, and yet I think I'm having a rather productive summer so far.
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