Sonos Sounds Cool

As you can see, I've upgraded my layout to one that plays nicer with the new Blogger, so please do let me know if you like/dislike it by commenting. If you're a Blogger user then I recommend doing the same because it's really awesome (and free), and if you're not but looking for a home for your blog then I'd also strongly recommend Blogger now that it has finally come up with this long-awaited update. The only thing it's missing is integration with Google Analytics, which I was disappointed about. Anyway, I'm a little tired and lazy right now (though I didn't party since I danced enough last night), so I thought I'd piggyback on another Joel Spolsky post. I had heard of Sonos before, but his description of it makes it sound much better than I ever imagined it was. If you're in a house or large apartment, the issue of music can definitely be interesting, especially when most of your music is digital or when you don't have time to shuffle through CDs, and even more so when you have guests over. This system allows you to have Sonos setups in each room (up to 32) integrated with each other and your computers quite painlessly and controllable over a sleek little remote. I had to give a shout out to it because it embodies what I want to do with my life: stuff that works without having to worry about it. With the growing complexity of technology nowadays, why aren't we hiding more details from users? Why give them options they're never going to use? Why have manuals that are longer than the works of Tolstoy? And when it comes to music, it has been made clear by what has done well in the past few years that convenience is extremely important to consumers. I feel that it's really neat that Sonos hit on all those things, I just wish they would get the word out better because I'm pretty sure that it's only well-known in nerd and audiophile circles.

Disney has sold almost half a million copies of its 75 iTunes-offered movies, and I'm sure that Apple will try tooting this horn in the direction of other studios. That's quite a bit of business to do on a piece of media that costs much more than a song or a television show, so the people buying it must be really interested. Mac Rumors announced the winners of its mock ad contest, and I thought I'd mention it real quick because I loved the winning entries. The videos were especially creative, and the Generations one actually looked like something Apple would put out. If you're tempted to spring for a 1080p compatible television set, then this article may change your mind. It's a topic that I've almost assuredly brought up before, and that is that 1080i really isn't much worse. Don't fall for the hype or a perpetual need for the latest-and-greatest, just be sensible. Lastly, I've found another site with Black Friday ad leaks except that this one has the sales papers themselves scanned in high resolution. Some of these deals look way too sweet for me to pass up in a couple of weeks.

In case you missed it yesterday: the Spider-man 3 trailer is still around online and is still freaking awesome. I just watched it again in 480p and it totally blew me away. I'm really really really looking forward to seeing this one, but I'm afraid that no sequel could possibly surpass the Venom storyline. We'll be seeing a new The Simpsons movie trailer on Sunday during the show's normal airing time, so be sure to keep an eye on that (though I personally don't care much for the storyline as it sounds thus far). The only other stuff I have is rumors. The sequel to Superman Returns may end up being called Superman: The Man of Steel, which almost sounds unbelievable since it's too in parallel with The Dark Knight for the Batman Begins sequel. The other rumor is of two more Godfather sequels based on newer, officially sanctioned books centered around Mario Puzo's now famous characters. I think it'll be tricky getting support for sequels to a franchise that is already a classic and that people probably don't want messed with. I don't see how you can possibly assemble a cast to look similar to the originals and be nearly as good, which means that it'd be heavily criticized in comparison to the originals.

Since Friday's Feast is on hiatus, I decided to go with the Friday Fiver meme this week:

Tell us your favorite songs / types of music for...

1. Getting in the mood to party:
Anything from my collection of Merengue songs or my underground hip hop artists.

2. When you're depressed:
Staind and 3 Doors Down

3. When you're in lust:
Boyz II Men and Musiq

4. Exercising:
Red Hot Chili Peppers and Mos Def

5. Driving / riding in the car:
Aerosmith and Audioslave