Steve Ballmer's Chuckle

It's really weird to see people walking around with umbrellas when it's not raining. The trees all around Austin seemed to be causing rain as ice fell down on us as well as its liquid form. Made for a very interesting first day of class. I learned that my Business Foundations classes will be a breeze though. Anyway, on to more interesting things. So we all know that Steve Ballmer is a little nutty, right? Going along with that trend, when asked what he first thought of the iPhone he laughed in ridicule of the price, which I know is a lie because the price is the last thing Jobs mentioned in the keynote. In the whole video he totally played down the device without showing any respect at all for what it could be. I think that when one of your biggest competitors comes out with a product that competes with one of your products, you should examine all possibilities and figure out how to tackle it, not laugh at it. I'll admit, Jobs is unprofessional about Microsoft as well, but if he disregarded what they do then Apple wouldn't be where it is today. I hope that Ballmer's reaction isn't indicative of Microsoft as a whole, because whether or not it's going to be a huge success is immaterial: they need to be prepared for the worst here. If they aren't, then they're in deep, but I have a feeling that they are. It doesn't bode well for them that the Chicago Sun Times has had some time with it and is praising it as being just as easy to use as it looks and the keyboard as being easier to use than many critics presumed. There's no doubt that the price is rather high, but we'll see how high it really is by how many units they sell this June.

While I'm on the topic of cell phones, it's worth noting that fresh rumors have emerged of the magical Googlephone that supposedly is also a touchscreen and integrates GPS so that Google Maps is more seamless than ever. It sounds all too fluffy to be real, in my opinion, and plus there are all those patents that Apple filed on their iPhone technology, but I guess you never know. As you may know, the Democrats in Congress have been pushing through some interesting stuff now that they're in power, and they've also re-ignited the fight for Net Neutrality, so there may be hope yet! What I didn't know is that part of the deal to buy BellSouth was that AT&T preserve Net Neutrality for two years, which sounds meager but I think it may mean more in principle than meets the eye. We'll see what comes of all this soon enough, I'm sure. Gizmodo got its hands on the new Netflix streaming service, and it sounds pretty neat and fair. We can only hope that the movie selection gets better and induces more optimism for digital distribution of movies. Lastly, if you like Sprint, you may change your mind after reading about how they refused to discontinue the service of a guy who died. Could they get any greedier?

There was honestly no good movie news worth talking about, so on to the 3x Thursday meme:

1. Favorite TV show?
In case you guys hadn't figured it out: 24. It's the most compelling show I've ever watched and I just love the production values. From the writing to the acting, it's just so well-executed. I haven't seen any show that's as consistently excellent. Some runner-ups: Seinfeld and Family Guy.

2. Seen any good movies lately? If so, what?
Pan's Labyrinth =) There have been very few good movies to see, but I do still need to see Children of Men.

3. Favorite album? What are you really in to right now?
That's way too hard because I have no idea what my favorite album is. If I had to take a shot in the dark though, I'd probably say Coldplay's X & Y. I find myself coming back to it time and time again and I really love listening to it at any time. I don't have to be in any kind of mood to enjoy it.