PS3 Sneak Peek

I went to the ACM retreat this weekend, and it was pretty fun. It was almost like an extended party, replete with board games, burgers & hot dogs, GameCube, and fun drinks (though no one got all that trashed). One of the guys was a punk and moved a bed onto my stuff, so I had to sleep on a rug without any sheets, or my normal clothes, or my toothbrush, etc. Other than that though (and getting up too early because most of us were on the living room and kitchen floors), it was cool and I even got to see some impromptu cow herding (there's a story behind this, but I won't tell it here). Anyway, what I really wanted to talk about was that Kikizo snuck into some gave development studios where they got to check out the final development kits and see what the PS3 is made of. And the verdict? Not a whole lot more thrilling than the Xbox 360, and it doesn't even support 1080p (only 720p)! However, all doubts and minor gripes aside, the little details in environments and hair and such sound really amazing. I guess it'd be sad of 100 billion shaders a second weren't enough for near-realistic backgrounds. Another thing that the PS3 has going for it is that it's really in it for the long haul. While its true potential won't be exploited in its first year, and probably won't be much better than the Xbox 360, over time its games have much more room to grow and experiment than its formidable opponent. Only time will tell though, and hopefully we'll know more about whether or not we should be worried by E3.

Half my tech news is Apple-related, so I'd better get that stuff out of the way. A patent has surfaced almost explicitly showing a full-screen iPod (i.e. no click wheel, just a big screen) , and while those pictures may look doctored, they're just like what you would see in a patent application so I wouldn't doubt their authenticity so much. There's also some suggesting that the touch trend may extend into other popular Apple applications, and it may be a big revelation for their 30th anniversary. I learned from the MacCast that the person to download the 1 billionth song on iTunes will get a crapload of free stuff from Apple, so this would be a great time for an mp3 shopping spree. Back to the iPod itself: some are speculating that a larger screen could mean higher resolution videos on iTunes, which would make a whole lot of sense if they want to stay one step ahead of the pack. If you've never seen a Steve Jobs keynote, you can catch some past ones over here. Most of them are rather entertaining. Intel is bragging that they'll have quad-core chips out by early next year, which may sound crazy for people like you or me, but a godsend for people who have to run servers. I really wish they'd stop upping the power and start revamping their ISA. Gmail is making the transition into mail services for domains, and currently has a beta going on if you're an interested webmaster. Lastly, keep your eyes on the Internet neutrality debate, because things are starting to get hairy.

I just blew a lot of time dealing with my laundry because, apparently, the washing machine I used decided to not give my clothes a spin cycle. Hence, I'm going to be brief with the movie news. The big winner the box office was The Pink Panther, which managed to get over $21 million. In fact, the four big openers took the top four spots, and I don't know why so many people ran out to see Final Destination 3, which was #2. If you've considered using Netflix, you may want to reconsider because they actually give you lower priority for movie deliveries if you rent a lot out! I can kind of understand that you want to people who get less movies to have a higher priority, but it's still uneven given that the pricing is the same. I just have a couple of trailers left. Keifer Sutherland is being his regular bad self in The Sentinel, but throwing Eva Longoria in the mix as another agent really throws me off. Will Ferrell is back to his normal gig playing a stupid person in Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, and the trailer is actually quite entertaining. If the title sounds similar to Anchorman in structure, it's because it's the same director, writers, and producer.

I might as well post a sad postcard to start off the week since I'm obviously not going to have a fun Valentine's Day and I have definitely found myself in a similar situation to this:



Now for some Unconscious Mutterings:

I say ... and you think ... ?

1. Unorthodox::Church


2. Skate::Roller


3. Hold on::Tight


4. Europe::Britain


5. Reminder::Post-It


6. Gold::Medal


7. Calcium::Vitamins


8. Rated R::movie


9. Saturday night::Live


10. Tell::Bank