Anniversary Celebrations Just on Hold?

I promised pictures of my infestation so there they are! The left picture is what my bathroom mirror looked like (most of those flies are still alive), and the picture on the right is what my most successful vinegar trap looks like now (after just two and a half days). So if you have fruit flies, use cider vinegar traps! I think I did pretty well on my Computer Architecture test this morning, which is good because I really needed to. Moving along though, one thing has unified nerds in confusion recently: why didn't Apple do anything at all for its anniversary? ThinkSecret has word that Apple had problems with the screen for the touchscreen iPod, and that Jobs has had issues negotiating with the studios. Obviously he wouldn't come right out and say all this, and I'm sure that he didn't want to have an event without something as cool as this stuff. Their sources claim that a new iPod should be ready by Q4, but they do have to do some revamping of the display for the next generation iPod. Also, as I had previously speculated, they're not willing to roll this out without movies on iTunes. The problem is that the studios want a subscription service, not ala carte downloads (I'm sure for pirated distribution reasons). So does that mean we'll be celebrating 30 years of Apple in December when this is all sorted out? I'm sure that Jobs will have another event before then, but it looks like the new products we would've been celebrating are just on hold.

It's now common knowledge that Apple Corps (the Beatles' label) is suing Apple for use of the Apple logo in iTunes, but what's funny is that they're remastering old Beatles tracks to be distributed on iTunes. Is this not the definition of irony? Google has finally released the beta for their Calendar service, and it looks rather spiffy. You need a Google account to use it (easy to get), and it's very simple and intuitive, and I've heard that it links up with iCal. It could use more features though (like exporting and printing). CNet has a little article about how free Internet TV could threaten the cable television model, and I actually partially agree. I think it'll be a few years yet before people actually use media PCs in their living rooms, and I think this may happen because it's cheaper to get HD that way and could prove easier to record shows and such. I guess we'll just wait and see. Microsoft is going to be limiting the Aero UI in Vista to members of their Genuine Advantage program, which isn't too bad (but kind of useless), except that they have complicated system requirements (that I actually understand only because I just studied memory systems last night for my test) to use Aero, and certain versions don't even have it. This is very stupid and where Mac OS X upstages them: they're making things too complicated and alienating their users and it's going to come back to haunt them. Duke Nukem Forever may actually reach completion in the near future as Take Two pressures 3D Realms to follow up on their investment, but this time they're not going to start marketing it until they're actually done, which I think will go a long way in restoring fans' faith. Lastly, you may think that flash memory can't get any smaller, but apparently it can actually be as small as a quarter. I think that making them too small would make them too fragile, and it probably wouldn't be worth the price jump.

There's very little movie news today. JoBlo managed to dig up some new clips from Hard Candy, and they look just as good as they always did. They also discovered a real trailer for The Omen from Russia, and it's pretty damn crazy. I'm actually looking forward to this horror film now that I've seen all that footage. Lastly, the creators of the Scary Movie franchise are going to work on a superhero movies spoof, but I just can't see them doing all that much with it. They're really not nearly as campy as some of the horror movies out there, and definitely not quite as plentiful.

Now I shall try my hand at the Thursday Threesome:

Onesome: I am-- When you state "I am", what do you state that you are?
A person? An American? An Indian guy? A nerd? Not sure what you mean, but I think I qualify as all of those.

Twosome: the King-- Are you the king (or queen) of something? The remote? The household? Or is there something else you master?
I wouldn't consider myself a master of anything. I'm pretty good at studying, but that's about it. Not that I don't have hobbies. I love guitar, but I'm not quite a master of that. I'm a decent programmer, but far from mastering that (that's more of a lifetime goal). I enjoy dancing, but it's not like I can breakdance. And I don't think you can master working out.

Threesome: of Wishful Thinking-- What have you been wishful for lately?
Keeping my grades up this semester! I guess that I just want all As because I like the idea of having my choice of jobs when I graduate, and of internships next summer. If I maintain my current GPA and do well this summer at TI, I can't see why a company wouldn't want me, and that's my ultimate goal: to be able to work where I really want to work, not just whatever I can get.