Gabbin' About Unbox

The amount of news today was really weak, and I have to delay my trip to see 300 because the weather here blows. Oh well, the sun will definitely come up tomorrow, of that I am certain! Anyway, let's go back to the topic of Amazon Unbox, a subject I don't think I've touched on since I criticized its initial release. I did not know that Unbox will now let you download shows/movies to your TiVo until now, and SmugBlog has some nice, concise impressions of it. In my mind, this drastically increases the viability of Unbox compared with Netflix and iTunes and the like since TiVo is far more pervasive than a home theater PC (ala the Apple TV). Now it makes sense to rent movies online from Amazon because it sounds like it's pretty easy to watch it on your TV if you have TiVo. I know, that's kind of a catch-22, but I think it's enough to give them a competitive edge. Even cooler is that you can re-download the content. However, why do they not have HD offerings? Also, it sounds like they're still working out kinks in the UI, and they definitely need to figure out how to let you download stuff directly from your living room (though I'm not sure how feasible this would be, it would give them an even bigger edge). I think they're doing much better now than when they first released this thing, but they still have a ways to go. The only thing that they absolutely need now to succeed (the things I listed above are just things to give them an edge) is to massively expand their selection. If you make it convenient, the people will come. And as Wal-mart tells us, if you have a ridiculous amount of stuff, people will also come.

Analysts believe that the multi-touch technology that Apple had showcased for the iPhone will spread to more products within the next few years, dubbing it a "Mega-Platform". For some reason, I just don't buy into this. For one thing, if it's going to happen, it'll happen now. If they wait as long as 3 years, this technology won't be as fresh and they won't be able to capitalize on it very well. After all, would people really care about a touchscreen iMac?

In other Apple news, this guy is ranting about how iTunes can't re-download all of your music in the case that you somehow lose it. Songs that are removed from the store obviously cannot be re-downloaded, and I guess it's debatable as to whether or not this is fair. Apple never promises that your music is safe should your hard drive get fried, but on the other hand, what if your place burns down and you even lose your backups? I don't think it's unfair that they don't provide an easy way to re-download right now, but I think it would be a good idea and would make people much more secure about buying their music online.

Google stated today that they're going to start making server logs that have been around for more than 18-24 months anonymous in an effort to help improve privacy. While I appreciate their sentiment, I just don't think it's enough. 2 years is a long time to keep that kind of information available on demand, and I think it's reasonable to feel uncomfortable about it, but I wonder how much they could really appease privacy concerns before the government starts getting pissed? Or are they not as "not evil" as they claim?



Isn't that a really pretty hotel pool area? It's one of HotelChatter's best geek hotels in the world, and the wait staff will bring you the gear to charge your tech toys when you're chilling out pool side. Another one of the hotels is fashioned like a hobbit hole in the Lord of the Rings, and another has rooms outfitted with tons of Apple gear. It's a fun read, if you have a few minutes.

This is interesting, in a sad way. Iran is actually banning 300 because it paints Persians in a bad light. Guess what, Iran? The Battle of Thermopylae actually freaking happened! This movie depicts, albeit in a cartoonish manner (for entertainment value), an extremely important event in the history of the world, and Iran doesn't want to acknowledge it? Not only that, but it doesn't even directly attack Iranians.

Lo and behold, we have some good trailers today. The first is for a movie called Waitress, of which I'm not entirely sure of the plot, but it does have Andy Griffith and Keri Russell. I know, that's not saying much, but the trailer kind of caught my attention for whatever reason. The trailer for the Highlander: The Anime is also interesting, but only for those of you who like anime. Even though I'm not a big fan of anime, I still kind of appreciate the art style. Oh, and Yahoo Movies has the Shrek the Third one in HD.

The creators of the classic movie The Usual Suspects (Bryan Singer and Christopher McQuarrie) are teaming up for the first time since, well, The Usual Suspects! Details are scarce, but the movie will be a WWII thriller along the lines of The Usual Suspects. No idea what that means, but I am excited to see what these two heads cook up together.

Lastly, JoBlo dug up some pretty good Spider-man 3 shots, but there aren't very many of them. Most notable is just seeing Gwen Stacy in them.

This week's Wednesday Mind Hump is a bit more challenging than usual:

Tell me who you think is a genius . . .

Movie director
Quentin Tarantino, no contest. I just love his taste, for some reason.

Author
Stephen King, just because his books are so amazingly entertaining (which is as good a reason as any).

Musician
Tough, but I'll go with Tom Morello. He's just come up with such great riffs over so many albums with Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave, and he's managed to adapt to these different styles of music.

Historical figure
Again, very hard. I feel obligated to say Jesus, because he's a pretty freaking amazing historical figure, after all. I don't know why, but that seems like an unfair answer. I'll stick with Jesus, because of the insane amount of influence his presence had on history, but for a less religious second historical figure: I'll go with FDR. I think the way he stuck to his guns was pretty genius, and he didn't single-handedly bring us out of the Great Depression, but he sure did a Hell of a lot for this country.

Oh, I won't be posting tomorrow night. I have plans =D Have a great Thursday though and I should be back on Friday!