The Wii's Peaceful Release

Man, getting back to real life after a wedding sucks! I spent half the day thinking about the weekend, and I'm just glad that I only have 4.5 hours of class left before I go home to a barbecue tomorrow. Fortunately, it doesn't seem like I missed a whole lot over the weekend. The news I felt drawn to the most today was about the Wii, so let's start with that. It sold out handily over the weekend in North America without any reported violence, and Nintendo made a promise I have an easy time believing: four million units before the year is up. It'd be a miracle if we saw very many more PS3s before 2007, so don't get your hopes up. The Wii doesn't seem to be reselling quite as well on eBay (at least not with the same sex appeal), but I can definitely see the Wii going into the new year with a more positive buzz. Not all the first impressions are quite so rosy though, I've seen several complaints about the speed of the internet service, lacking component cables, and just overall problems with the virtual console (for playing older Nintendo titles). I wouldn't be too concerned though because I don't know of a console launch that has gone off without a hitch. The important thing is that they address these shortcomings sooner than later so that they can really get a leg up on the competition. Also, good to know that they haven't been indirectly responsible for people getting physically hurt yet.

Bill Gates is being quoted as praising the iPod still and claiming that the Zune really isn't so much a rival as a catalyst to get people to subscribe to the whole "sharing is caring" after school special. I could believe that given how much they push the WiFi feature over everything else, but they still handled the Zune release inexcusably sloppily. Meanwhile, Apple is preparing for their Black Friday sale and have assembled a handy holiday guide. I'm only plugging this because I didn't realize that the Apple store actually did a Black Friday sale with some pretty decent discounts. If you're a computer scientist (or one in training), or even a general math nerd, you'll love this pdf cheat sheet detailing stuff that I've spent many a time digging through old notes for or Googling for. I'm going to have to snuggle with this puppy late at night before big tests. Lastly, as an avid DRM hater, I like to plug articles like this criticizing the stupidity of DRM. I totally understand that piracy is wrong and all that, and I don't endorse it at all, but to alienate your customers to make a few more bucks (it really is just a few, in the end, when you think about it) is annoying.



Harry is just a little excited about the release of the teaser trailer for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. It was a pretty good teaser, though I personally preferred the last movie's teaser. Anyway, it has some pretty good scenes in it, so it's worth checking out. In a surprising turn of events, the winner of the box office this past weekend was Happy Feet edging out Casino Royale, which I've heard was the better movie, by just a couple million bucks. Oh, and Borat managed to hang on to the number 3 spot. Not much new this coming weekend though that's notable except for the low-key movie The Fountain, so I'm curious to see what happens. Peter Jackson is officially off the project to bring The Hobbit to the big screen. I wasn't the biggest fan of the LOTR movies, but I don't see how anyone but him could make this one. Lastly, a pretty good trailer for Curse of the Golden Flower is online (featuring Gong Li and Chow-Yun Fat), but I was a little insulted by the obviously westernized background music they chose (you may recall it from Spider-man promotional materials).

Now for some Monday Madness:

1. In order to protect my computer from viruses, I use _______.
Zone Alarm and Claim-Free
2. I also use _______ for protection from spyware.
Spybot SnD
3. I don't spend nearly enough time _______.
playing guitar
4. The first person I usually talk to in the morning is _______.
myself (I don't talk to someone consistently in the morning)
5. It takes me about _______ to get ready in the morning.
30-40 minutes (including eating)
6. I keep all my appointments in/on _______.
my school planner
7. It takes me about _______ to fall asleep at night.
5-10 minutes