How Bad is Flash?

I saw this blog post a few days ago, but it has taken me a bit to respond to it. It largely claims that Flash sucks, and a part of me agrees but a part of me is nostalgic of first playing around with Flash 4 (or maybe it was 3, whatever was out in 1999). Way back then, it was this revolution for the web because Java applets looked gaudy and the support for Javascript wasn't nearly as widespread as it is now. That blogger hates the navigation Flash-based sites provide, but I think that's too harsh. For small sites, namely movie sites, Flash can be great. It lets you have a little fun, which is what you're there for in the first place. No serious business should have an entirely Flash-based site, mind you, but it can still have its uses for multimedia, especially when you want to make it harder to download the content in question. I know, proprietary formats are bad, all that jazz, but sometimes they really are necessary. You can't write off proprietary formats just because they get big; why does Adobe need to give away what they've worked hard on? What's in it for them to give people carte blanche access to their formats? My two biggest gripes with Flash though are really that it's lagging behind in 64-bit support, and Flash-based advertisements are ridiculously annoying, and they just feel like a breeding ground for viruses, whether or not that's true. I believe Flash already has safeguards to prevent such things, but it seems too flashy (no pun intended) to be 100% safe. I don't think it's going away anytime soon, especially since people were pissed that the iPhone wouldn't support Flash, which means their brand recognition must be amazing, but I am curious to see what advantages Silverlight will come up with (the fact that it has a toolbar for IE but not Firefox is discouraging).

I actually got an e-mail about Amazon Flexible Payments Service on Friday but I totally didn't know that it was going into public beta that same day. The message sounded like it was an internal beta, but I guess not. Anyhow, it's basically an API that Amazon Web Services (about 4 floors above my office) is providing to add an easy, affordable payments system to small businesses' websites. It sounds pretty huge and extensible, but will it be able to take over what Paypal provides? That's very hard to say, but Amazon's brand recognition likely surpasses Paypal, and is maybe even more trusted (I have nothing to back this up other than anecdotal bad press for Paypal), so it definitely has a chance. After all, remember how S3 really took off?

I neglected to report on this a while back, but AT&T had hidden away in its terms that it had a $10 DSL plan, which it was obligated to offer as a result of losing some lawsuit, and now they're covering it up by saying that there was no demand for it. Do these people take us for total nimrods? No duh there's no demand, it's hard to demand something when you don't know it exists. Are people really happy to pay them for overpriced, low-quality Internet service?

If you're stuck without a TV, like me, then you may be entertained by LikeVid. It provides totally legal television channels available online, some of which are Internet-only, and it's a fun way to kill some time when you don't want to do anything but sit back and absorb.

Lastly, if you know nothing about torrents, you may find some value in this article explaining all about it. I'd say that it's a worthwhile read if you don't know what that word means seeing as how it has become a rather important idea to understand.

In the box office this weekend it should be no surprise that the big winner was The Bourne Supremacy at over $70 million, which is nearly 3 times as much as the opening weekend for the first movie in the series. I thought it was impressive that The Simpsons Movie managed $25.6 million, which is a pretty heavy drop, but it's in 2nd place and I'm sure it cost much less than $128 million to make so I think they'll be doing just fine. It's also amazing that Transformer, despite being a month old, is still #8. Passing $300 million in a little over a month is pretty crazy.

It looks like the World of Warcraft movie got a greenlight from Legendary Pictures, which is interesting because I have no idea what they're going to come up with for a plot. It's obviously just a cash cow, but the fans will go and see it so it's really probably a brilliant move.

Now for a bit of bad news: neither of the Grind House film DVDs will include the interstitial trailers. How greedy is that? Obviously, they're pre-planning a double dip, which is a bit cruel considering that you're not just keeping special features from the fans but you're actually tearing away a vital part of the experience. For shame, Weinstein Company.

The trailers for Superbad had me interested, but this clip on YouTube has me even more determined to see this movie. It's sure to be crude, but as long as it's as funny as this clip I really don't mind.

Now to close out with a couple of trailers. The first is for Lions for Lambs, which looks like a thinly veiled critique of Bush's politics. I'm not happy about the war, but a fictional movie about it isn't going to change anything, and it sounds too preachy to be received well. The other is much better: We Own the Night. It's Joaquin Phoenix and Mark Wahlberg playing two brothers, club owner and a cop, who ally together to stop some bad dudes. I can't really explain it without it sounding lame, so you're going to have to just watch the trailer to understand why I like this movie so far.

Yesterday was the Amazon.com Company Picnic, so here's a couple of pictures from that:




And now, it's finally time for some Unconscious Mutterings:

I say ... and you think ... ?

1. Voices :: Hearing


2. Have to :: Eat


3. Machine :: Maniac


4. Seventh grade :: Sucked


5. Beach :: Ball


6. Roommate :: Apartment


7. Cyclone :: Twister


8. Theater :: Movie


9. Pregnant :: Baby


10. Phoebe :: Buffay

The WWDC Keynote

There's really not a whole lot to talk about today besides the WWDC keynote from Apple, so I guess I'll just go right into that. Of course, if you're really hardcore then you can get the full video feed over here. I wouldn't bother watching it unless you're really excited about Leopard. The coolest additions to OS X were probably Stacks, the new menu bar thing that makes it easy to access your favorite programs quickly, and the quick look thing to preview files before you open them. His iChat demo looked pretty neat, too, where you can actually drag other movies onto your video chat and have a blue screen effect going on. Totally useless, mind you, but nifty. They rehashed old features of Leopard, too, like Spaces and Time Machine. Not a good sign for an exciting keynote, but the WWDC one rarely is. Leopard will sell for $129, and they rightfully took a jab at the many versions of Vista there are. I agree that that's a totally stupid idea. Anyhow, the next thing he menioned was that Safari would now be on Windows, which is totally meaningless to Windows users since we already use Firefox or the stupider ones use Internet Explorer. The thing he mentioned last was kind of interesting. He puts out this banner of a solution for developers to develop for the iPhone, but what he meant was web applications. If you create a cool site, that can run in Safari on the iPhone, but you can't use the touchscreen functionality to do anything cool, or anything else useful on the iPhone. Great. That's not much better than their no third party development stance from last keynote. All in all, a drab WWDC keynote, but at least he hit hard on the strengths of Leopard and I'm sure that Mac heads were happy about that.

By the way, Apple also revamped their site a bit. Same basic design theme, just rearranged a bit.

If you use Google Analytics, like me, then you probably enjoyed your recent, free upgrade to their fancy shmancy stuff. However, there is a lot to take in there, and this blog post offers a bit more guidance on how to use everything by adding stuff to your codebase here and there. I found it pretty educational and this is the kind of stuff that you usually have to employ some premium service to get.

Vitamin is running a wonderful article on the most prominent layout styles ever. I know I'm a sucker for the minimalist and the futurism. I know, they're kind of opposing concepts, but eye candy nonetheless. That whole article is actually eye candy in case you haven't seen anything pretty today (I know it's hard on college guys who can't scope out the number of foxy ladies they can during the long session in the summer; of course, I'm only missing one foxy lady).

In a very strange move, Weinstein Co. has decided to release Death Proof on DVD this September without its Planet Terror counterpart. Do they just like Tarantino better or something? My guess is that they're splitting up Grindhouse so that they can sell one in September, one a month later, and then a boxed set in time for Christmas. Supposedly, the 4-disc set Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair will also come out that month, but I just read that on a fan site and couldn't find any real evidence behind it other than my fingers being crossed.

In the world of animation, it looks like Toy Story 3 is on track for a 2010 release. They've only recently started on the script, but it's being penned by the writer of Little Miss Sunshine so I expect something worthwhile rather than a money grubbing sequel. Oh, and Quint at AICN has seen Ratatouille and really liked it. He praises the pacing and the animation, and I was always interested in it so now I'm actually looking forward to it.

Another movie getting underway is Indiana Jones 4 which is in the middle of an open casting call for extras willing to have their hair cut in true 50s style. That'd be a scary requirement for me, I think, but it'd be worth it to be in an Indiana Jones flick!

Lastly, Moviefone has a couple of decent clips from <Die Hard 4 (that's right, I said the proper title!).

Since we were a bit low on the tech news today, here's those pictures that I promised from yesterday from the recently opened Olympic Sculpture Park in Belltown:








Now for some Monday Madness:

1. Do you listen to the radio, or a CD, when you're driving in your car/truck/SUV?
I listen to the radio, but I switch to whatever is in the CD player if there's nothing good on, and then rinse and repeat when that track is over.
2. Do you have one of those GPS systems in your vehicle?
Nope. Too expensive! I'm a cheap Indian dude here!
3. About how many miles do you put on your vehicle in a month?
Not really sure about that. I'd guess about 400 miles if I make a trip to Houston each month (obviously not counting this summer).
4. Do you have your oil changed regularly?
Yeah, my dad is cool enough to handle that for me.
5. Do you take your vehicle to a car wash or do you wash it at home?
Wash it at home. I hate those automatic things because they leave spots and they're not thorough enough.
6. How often do you have the inside of your vehicle cleaned? Do you do it yourself or do you pay someone to do it?
I do it myself, once or twice a semester.
7. What is the color of your vehicle?
I'd say maroon, but it's generally referred to as red.

Parents Gone Awry

First of all, I just saw the 2007 ACL lineup and I'm totally pumped for it! If you plan on going, definitely let me go. If you look in my September 2005 archives, you'll notice that The Decemberists, Bloc Party, and Arcade Fire were among the top 5 acts that year. Anyway, the Number Theory final this morning was about as hard as I expected, and Business Law was harder than expected, but I think I did well enough on both, and now I just have Programming Languages left (next Tuesday) as I had already secured my As in Object Oriented Programming and Accounting (woot). Before I get to the real post, I'll share a few pictures:

This was Chris's Mii at our Cinco de Mayo Wii party. (I have a sweet video from them playing Super Monkey Ball, but Bethany would kill me if I posted it)


That's the plate I put together at the Mongolian Grill for NSC exec dinner on Sunday before being cooked...


and here's the after!


NSC Boat Party was on Monday, and there's a good pose from Henro and me.

Ok, so the topic today is parenting in our modern society because I like how Will over at Suicide Girls brought up the topic. I think what's really scary about today's world aside from our current geopolitical situation is that our future isn't really assured. I see more and more kids lost in a dizzying array of the convenience of modern comforts such as television and video games. What's funny is that this happens about every decade and everyone who's older believes it to be a huge tragedy because it's not how they were brought up. However, I think there's a real concern now because we're actually seeing the detriment to these kids. We're seeing kids becoming physically unhealthy and socially awkward, two things that I loathed being when I was growing up. Though I loved video games, both of those were brought on more or less by my own personal issues. Nowadays though, I think we're seeing families with more professionals at the head where their job never stops so they don't have time for quality time with their kids. I often see two extremes. One is where the kid gets everything he wants (not literally, usually, but more than most of our parents would've allowed) and the other is where the kid is sheltered. Both approaches are wrong. If the kid always gets what he wants he'll never learn to make due when things don't work out, and if he's hidden from something then he'll only want to rebel and get at it more. What I wish more parents would do is actually discipline their children and teach them moderation. All technology is wonderful in moderation, as goes with work, time with friends, food, etc. I honestly think that if parents really stuck to this concept of moderation, we'd have a lot more kids growing up normally. I have absolutely nothing to back that up, but don't you think it would be at least a step up?

Another great editorial to read is Joe Dolson's post about redesign being more conceptual than visual if it's done right. I totally agree with him. I think that a layout change should definitely come with interface improvements and such, but I don't think that modifying the usability of a site or adding to it necessitates changing its look, and I believe that it plays second fiddle to the long-term goals of keeping the site convenient.

Let me just pool together all the Google news here. They've overhauled the Google Analytics interface in an effort to probably entice more advertisers to trust them and determine how best to market themselves. Though I've been using the normal Google Analytics (still am until the migration is complete), I've actually noticed that I often have to guess at what to click to get what I want, so I'm glad they've fixed it (I use it anyway because I like the visuals better than Statcounter). Supposedly, Google is considering acquiring a job search site called Simply Hired that aims at the long tail of the market through widgets, though I think the service really isn't anything groundbreaking at first glance, personally.

Joost has taken on some more high-profile clients, and it's worth noting that this is still largely vintage content. It's not like you get new episodes of The Daily Show or anything, but I still say that it's amazing that they're able to attract networks faster than even Apple initially was with iTunes. This bodes very well for free, streaming television because I'm sure we'll see more valuable stuff if it works out. I still have unlimited free invites if anyone wants Joost, by the way.

Couple of one-liners now. Intel has unleashed its Santa Rosa chipset to be the Centrino of Core 2 Duo processors (i.e. optimized for laptops, especially on power consumption). It looks quite pricey, but I'll wait on unbiased benchmarks before passing judgement here. I've been using xplorer2 for a while now rather than Windows Explorer and love it. If you still use Windows Explorer (and are running Windows, of course), you should totally check out this article on the amazing things xplorer2 does.

I'm really tired, so I'm only going to run through some quick movie items. A mediocre clip from Transformers aired on the Ellen Degeneres Show. Yeah, we saw a decepticon, but only for like 3 seconds. The trailer for You Kill Me isn't much better video fodder either. Why is Ben Kingsley doing a movie like this? The mobster comedy angle is getting old, Hollywood. If you want videos to watch, check out HappySlip on YouTube; I just discovered her channel today because of the Buzz Out Loud podcast (which I can listen to now on the bus because of my Sansa). This is funny, too.

Would you watch a continuous video feed of Natalie Portman's life? If so, you're scary, but apparently Natalie wants you to do just that. I'm still confused as to how this would work, I just wanted to remark on how stupid I think this is (largely because most reality television sounds like this and already sucks).

Apparently, we may see a sequel to Grindhouse. Dimension is apparently interested, but I think they'd have to get the movie down to two hours, and I wonder if Tarantino is really willing to work on something like this sooner than the end of next year, if even then. I think I remember him having another project (a Kung Fu movie remake) to do after Inglorious Bastards, and I doubt that Robert Rodriguez would do a sequel without Tarantino.

Masswyrm is usually a pretty harsh reviewer, but he really enjoyed 28 Weeks Later, which definitely offsets my skepticism. Maybe this is another actually great horror film after all?

Now for a Wednesday Mind Hump:

1. What is your favorite song with "Thank You" or "Thanks" in the title?
Probably the song "Thank You" by Boyz II Men.

2. Who do you want to thank, and why?
I'd have to say God, for bringing so much joy in my life more recently through one particular thing.

Tsk Tsk, OU

No, this time it's not about the Sooners. It's the other OU. That's right, Ohio University: you're on notice. They decided to ban all P2P activity on their network. This may sound reasonable, but note that it also encompasses legal P2P, as in for buying stuff from BitTorrent. It's a freaking university, since when did it become the RIAA's stooge? What happened to the rights and freedoms of your students? The solution to helping stop piracy is not to hit it with a gigantic mallet, despite popular belief nowadays. I don't know what pisses me off, the fact that a place of education and supposed open-mindedness is doing this, or that the RIAA so readily exploits college students, who are already dirt poor and obviously can't usually afford the appropriate legal advice. I much prefer the idea of ads in P2P clients like Limewire that would gain you legal copies of the music you were trying to pirate. Now there's a positive solution, and I think we're screwed if we don't explore more of those. If more universities follow this policy, it could spell doom for further research into the legit uses of such technologies and for students to make use of it, and that would truly be the travesty. Still, I don't think that'll happen, because P2P is too big already to be squashed like that.

YouTube is looking to start making itself more worthwhile to Google: they're going to try ads after certain videos this summer. I imagine that they'll start this out with content professionally produced by companies (television networks, movie studios, etc) and then propagate to more premium contributors if that works. Should be interesting to see how the community reacts.

Once again, Steve Jobs is insisting that they will not turn to the subscription-based model despite rumors and pressure from the industry. I actually agree with him that people would prefer to own their music, but he often does stuff like this to throw us off the scent (like for the iPhone). If you look at their profit margins, they'd likely be able to afford a subscription-based model, but the problem is that I presume it would mean doing away with the current pay-to-own model, which would suck. Unless they could get them to work side-by-side, I'd prefer them to not allow subscriptions, either.

Do you hate calling tech support? Well, then you may sympathize with this phone call recorded by a firm researching people's opinions on tech support. This call was to HP, and I humorously (or sadly) enough had almost an exact scenario a couple of weeks ago when my Internet was acting up. I literally dealt with them for 30 minutes, largely because I was being redirected in loops to people who couldn't solve my problem and kept asking me for the same information. Do companies not realize that people are getting pissed off about this? People remember bad tech support, and tend to talk about it with friends. Outsourcing really doesn't work for this stuff either.

People are starting to see a recent Google facelift adding news hits to searches, as well. You can see shots of this here.



Doesn't that look cool? I think it should be the future of keys. It's dubbed Keyport and would hold several keys in that one rectangular box there. Plus, it may include RFID capabilities and alarm remote functionality, as well as a flashlight. How nify would all that be? I hate dealing with my keychain, especially since two of my keys look the damn same!

Jack Valenti, creator of the MPAA, has passed away at the ripe age of 85. Yeah, he was definitely pretty old, and a lot of people definitely don't like the MPAA, but he definitely did a huge thing to help the film industry in creating the MPAA. It may not be perfect, but I don't think it was a flawed idea. Anyway, I'm sure his name will live on forever for his political fame and status in entertainment.

Quentin Tarantino spoke to a British magazine about the financial failure of Grindhouse but that he's still proud of it. Apprently, he'll tack on 30 minutes to his movie, Death Proof, for its individual release in the UK, and that version will also be shown at Cannes. I feel ashamed that I've heard all these great things and still haven't seen it! I just don't want go alone for it. Anyone want to come with, this weekend?

Lastly, I just think it's funny that Lucy Liu has subjected herself to the lead role in a vampire movie, one named Rise: Blood Hunter no less. Honestly, what was she thinking?

Now for the 3x Thursday meme:

What are your 3 favorite types of music? Why?
Rock/Alternative, Hip Hop, and Salsa. I just love the energy in Hip Hop, Salsa is ridiculously fun to dance to, and Rock/Alternative is great when you're just chilling out.

Free Apple TV and iPhone Updates

Before I get started here, I wanted to make one more comment on yesterday's main topic (the Jobs vs. Gates thing). I finished watching Pirates of Silicon Valley today and I realized that I neglected to point out the irony in how people perceive these two guys. Bill Gates is seen as evil and Steve Jobs as a hero, when in reality it's Gates who's the awesome philanthropist and Jobs who's often just a jerk (the illegitimate child, the anecdote of not hiring the virgin job applicant, etc). Just goes to show, being judgmental is often the wrong way to go. Anyway, the most interesting topic for today was honestly just that Apple is planning on releasing free software updates for the Apple TV and for the iPhone after its release. Correct me if I'm wrong, but this is the first time they've done something like this. These aren't just firmware updates or bug patches or something, they're actual feature add-ons. I'm curious as to why they decided to do this. Is it because of Internet chatter that both products were lacking? Is it just a new trend within the company? Or did they always know that they wouldn't have enough time to squeeze out the software they wanted? Anyway, I don't really have anything bad to say about it, I think it's a great idea. I'd rather have to get an update for a product then get a rushed, crappy version.

Another thing from Cuppertino: Apple is working on a deal with Gracenote (a byproduct of a huge "illegal" lyrical database from back in the day) to distribute lyrics with iTunes music. Yahoo Music actually recently brokered a similar deal, but I didn't comment on it because I figure that no one cares about Yahoo Music (sorry, Yahoo, the truth hurts). Could this mean that iPods would start showing lyrics, as well? Would iTunes retroactively fetch lyrics for you? This shall be interesting.

Samsung is projecting that Solid State Drives (SSD) won't overtake conventional hard disk drives anytime soon in pricing. Even its latest price drop makes it 5 times as expensive, but I think people will still be willing to pay a premium when they start to realize that iPods break so easily partially because they're backed by a dinky hard disk drive, which is subject to shock damage quite readily as opposed to the durability of Flash memory.

Google has offered code improvements to the popular open source database MySQL completely free of charge, and now the company is considering additions, which is impressive since they've been closed off about it in recent years. Still, when Google is giving you free code, I think you should probably take it.

I want to talk about a couple of fun products here. The first is a portable grill, which is largely useless but still cool. I guess if you live in an apartment and can't grill on your patio then this may actually make sense. Regardless, it looks damn cool. Also, at the risk of looking like a boozehound, I just think that this booze belt is too cool. So now you can take Jager, Tequila, and shot glasses with you to all your Saturday night party excursions and be the object of all the ladies' desires (for alcohol, that is; not for you).



Lastly, Nissan is working on a car that would cost under $3000, which I think is an awesome idea. What a great thing for low-income families and college students who really need a car (for cities like Houston and San Antonio and such) but can't afford even a decent used car. I think this race to build cheaper cars is a great idea, and will help take back some of the used car market for them.

Grindhouse appears to be on hold for the UK while the Weinsteins figure out how to best sell it to British audiences. The movie bombing stateside was a huge shock, and I'm sure that now they're just scrambling to make back at least their budget. I still have no idea what went wrong, unless it was just the length of the movie and its inside-joke campiness value.

We have strong rumors that Eric Roberts, of "Heroes" fame, was cast as the mob boss villain this time around in The Dark Knight. Not much else to say about that, but he really is a good actor who is just not appreciated much.

AICN got another 28 Weeks Later review, and it sounds like it's a worthwhile watch. It's no 28 Days Later, but sounds better than the average horror flick.

Lastly, we have a final one-sheet for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, which I think is a bit early. The movie doesn't come out until mid-June, do we need the final poster right now? Anyway, it looks very much in the style of the previous movie posters, so it's pretty good, but nothing especially amazing (unlike the trailer, which was badass as I had remarked last night).

Now for a Wednesday Mind Hump:

Today's topic isn't very useable, so we'll just do some word association:

Blue
Green
Gritty
Grits (oatmeal)
Star
Power
Girl
Friend
My
Girl
Let's
Party
Hey
Ya

Scrap the Internet?

I'm so sorry to have missed so many posts, everyone. I'll admit right now that I'm not going to be able to keep up with a 6 day a week schedule until my summer starts, but this blog is far from dead. I just have something greater than this blog in my life, so I've just been re-balancing out my life, so obviously this will take a lower priority. I'll make up for it with some pictures. We played Broomball on Thursday night, followed by IHOP, and that was fun:



Friday was ACM Big Event (big bbq thing at Eastwood Park), and I got to mount Jack. It was everything I thought it would be, and more:


Last night, we saw Kung Fu Mahjong at Bethany's, and she made some awesome stir fry:

Ok, everyone happy? See, I have just been busy. Back to the real stuff now: the Interweb. It sounds pretty nutso to just scrap the Internet, but there's actually more to it than that. It doesn't take a genius to realize that the Internet has serious issues because everyone is afraid of spam, hackers, viruses, identity theft, etc. What's the solution? Researchers believe that it's to start fresh with a new protocol, and Vinton Cerf (credited with the invention of TCP/IP) agrees, as well. The fact of the matter is that the Internet was just a DARPA experiment that enjoyed a ridiculous amount of unexpected commercial success when it was really meant to be a trusted network of sorts. Not only does the current architecture stifle performance, but it burdens everyone to invest so much in security that it causes further complications and slowdowns, and we're pushing it past its original intention. To stay with the status quo would be like establishing a country's constitution and saying that it can never be amended. Change will take time, and be difficult, but I think it's important to recognize the need to explore solutions.

Bloomberg has an interesting little blurb about Google: that Google is looking for "crazy ideas." Obviously, they're taking that out of context in the headline. What their director of corporate development says is still important though: it's the crazy ideas that bring the most success. I think we often get so lost in being comfortable that we forget how crazy risks can yield great things for us and for others. It's always fun when business concepts transfer so nicely to our personal lives. A lot of startups do fail, but I think many of them just kind of have middle-of-the-way ideas. If you're not bringing something really fresh that fulfills a need, why should anyone care?

The rumors about Apple have returned: now they're apparently going to turn to a subscription-based model for iTunes. It's hard to swallow that, especially given that the per-song model is working so well for them, but I don't think that Apple's denials should ever be taken especially seriously. I wonder if a two-tiered approach would work to have both per-song and subscription? Probably not, I guess, but my simple mind just figures that that'd please everyone, whether or not it's feasible.

One more thing about Apple: they've been crippling the Apple TV's HD capabilities. I know, sounds crazy, huh? But Engadget hacked it up and managed to get it to play HD content quite well on the weak hardware it's packing, it's just not available right out of the box. Is Apple just being a video snob about supporting other formats? Were there royalty issues? The world may never know.

Here's a one-liner: Google Earth has added hiking trails. I think that's awesome because in this modern day of coffee shops and MMORPGs, people forget that many places have great things to do outdoors (including Austin).

One more one-liner: this is an interesting little read about how European P2P users are getting found out. It's quite a sneaky, almost scary approach. I personally find it a little ridiculous.

I'm going to keep the movie news brief. The box office shocked me again this week when Disturbia took the top spot at $23 million. I guess all those preteen girls in love with Shia Labeouf came out in herds because it made Perfect Stranger open in 4th place! To add insult to injury, Grind House dropped to the bottom with less than $5 million. Ouch. Meanwhile, 300 passed the $200 million mark, and people continue to quote it way too much. No, this is not, in fact, Sparta. Just deal with it.

The ShoWest trailer for Hairspray actually turned me off from seeing the movie anymore. It has a pretty good cast (including Christopher Walken), but I just have no desire whatsoever to see it.

Yahoo Movies also got a clip from Rush Hour 3, but it's not very impressive either, to be honest. Is this supposed to entice us into anticipating the movie? Because if so, they need to fire their marketing staff.

I like the new poster for 28 Weeks Later, though still no idea how this movie will be. It could go either way, in my opinion.

And now, for some Unconscious Mutterings:

I say ... and you think ... ?

1. Freeze :: Mr. Freeze


2. Naturally :: Blonde


3. Painting :: That painter from The Simpsons


4. Merits :: Honor


5. Ironic :: Dramatic


6. Survival :: of the Fittest


7. Cow :: Beef


8. Anchor :: Man


9. Sisters :: Brothers


10. 70 :: 80s

Just Say "No"...to Pretext

I'd like to get to bed in the next 30 minutes so that maybe my mind can wrap itself around the 15-Puzzle tomorrow. Clearly, however IDA* is supposed to work here is lost on me (drop me a line if you have tips). I don't know if anyone will get my topic, but I meant it to plan on the old campaigns to get kids to say no to drugs. No? No takers? Hey, it's been a long Tuesday! Anyway, the MPAA and RIAA are fighting to amend a bill in California that strengthens federal regulations again pretexting, or lying to obtain information about someone, from phone records to all kinds of personal information, including stuff vital to your identity and your financial records. I know we're not in California, but this is still an important topic. What you have to wonder now is how many piracy cases have been won by these guys through information obtained by dishonesty. Even if it wasn't illegal at the time, I'd still call that pretty despicable. It's not like you're lying to catch a killer or a child molester or anything like that, but rather you're lying to appease your own greed. They should be forced to go through lawful channels to honestly get the information they need, otherwise they kind of get an unfair advantage. Not only that, but if their amendment is tacked on there it would give any copyright holder complete access to all your information since they could say they're Jesus Christ or something and that'd be ok, even if it's something like your Social Security number. Doesn't this scare anyone else? Maybe if they narrow their amendment a bit, it would be something we can reasonably debate because they could argue that there's certain information that they may have a right to get to much like an undercover cop would (not that I agree with that logic, but just playing devil's advocate), but they should not get a free pass to our identities. Again, it's California, not national, but that doesn't mean that this shouldn't be a concern because it just means that we're already vulnerable in the other 49 states. Kind of creepy, no?

Apple has now sold 100 million iPods in 5 and a half years, which is right up there with the PS2 and Walkman. It's a pretty big feat, and it makes you wonder when the iPod will lose steam. This streak can't possibly last forever, so what will be the nail in the coffin? I guess it'll stop being a hot item when their new generations become expensive and/or burdensome in features. It just seems like every iteration of any product has more junk you can do with it, and people eventually get tired of that. Or maybe people will get tired of having to replace the whole damn thing when the battery or hard drive fails. Maybe they should just quit while they're ahead and design an insulin pump instead. I must say, that's kind of an interesting concept. What if Apple stopped being selfish (no, product [Red] doesn't count as being altruistic, sorry) and tried putting its powers to good to help with a product that benefits the good of humanity, like a better insulin pump? Who knows, maybe Steve Jobs will eventually grow the heart Bill Gates has.

We have an actual insider rumor regarding the next Zune, or rather several small bits of information. There's to be a new Zune and a Flash Zune, both with the doubleshot design, video functionality, and WiFi capabilities. If the price is right, Microsoft could end up giving the Nano a run for its money. It's not that special, after all. It's just a cutesy, expensive iPod.

Back to Apple real quick: their first Apple TV television spot is out, and it's slightly less creative than what I would've expected. It's very literal, which is nice, but does it really make anyone want an Apple TV? It's like they're saying, "Yes, we now have a product that will let you watch movies on your television! Isn't that stellar?!"

Wired interviewed Eric Schmidt about Google and the whole "Internet operating system" gossip that has gone around for the past several months, and I like his thoughts on everything. He sounds very genuine. I like that referring to server-based computing has having information "stored in the clouds" has now become technical jargon; it sounds like something a tech blogger inadvertently invented.

One-liner: there's an awesome list of online converters here. Some of them are random and kind of useless, but there's a lot of awesome ones, like for PDFs and images.

If the visual effects in Grindhouse look cool to you, you'll enjoy this article on the pre-viz process. A lot goes into making the film so clean and yet so vintage grainy at the same time, so it's fun to see concept art become reality and how.

The UK trailer for Live Free or Die Hard (again, it's called Die Hard 4.0 there like is in every freaking country except here) is a lot better than ours in that it actually tells you what the premise is. Obviously, I have to criticize that premise as being totally far-fetched because it makes it sound way too easy to bring down the country's technological infrastructure. Granted, things like RSA encryption can technically be compromised, but that doesn't mean that all Hell breaks lose all at once. With action movies though, suspended disbelief is a necessity, so I'll forgive them.

Lastly, basically the same team that brought you Da Vinci Code (including Tom Hanks) is coming back together again for Angels and Demons, that other Dan Brown book that every other person has read. I can't say much because I haven't read it myself, but it sounds like they just want another cash cow, in my opinion. Let's hope the movie quality doesn't suffer (I personally enjoyed Da Vinci Code, actually).

I'm going to do Ten on Tuesday this week:

10 Highschool Memories
10. The pep rallies that never got anyone pepped up, just happy get out of class.
9. Going to Bellaire Broiler Burger for awesome milkshakes.
8. Being in a ton of clubs, most of which did nothing.
7. Worrying about AP exams and college like constantly!
6. Stupid crushes.
5. Playing guitar nearly every night.
4. Being accused of cheating and burned at the stake for it.
3. Sleeping about 5 hours a night.
2. Prom sucking, like hardcore.
1. GRADUATING! Thank God it's over!

DRM Ranting, Yet Again

So every time I see a rant about DRM that gets popular, I have to join the choir. It's just in my nature with a topic as huge as this. Mark Shuttleworth, of Ubuntu fame, has a little editorial on his blog about how ridiculous DRM is and why it doesn't work. I think he makes his points quite eloquently. I don't know how these people don't understand that these DRM techniques that they've come up with are stupid. That's right, you people (the copyright mongers, I mean, not you, my readers ;) are idiots. Offline keys aren't tricky for someone who knows what they're doing (not me, unfortunately) to break, streaming content can easily be hacked to be saved (remember the glory days of ASF Recorder?), and once one person cracks your system it'll be on Digg and Slashdot and tons of other nerd sites and the technology is then compromised beyond saving. These cracks appear all the freaking time, by the way. You know your system is bad when people have to exploit loopholes to get what they want (like burning CDs in iTunes and then ripping them to extract the mp3s from the AAC encoding), because that means that your customers are not satisfied with your product. It's much like how we have all these IM alternatives to AIM/MSN etc, and how browser alternatives sprouted from discontent with IE. Rebellion is natural, and it's only a matter of time before backlash to DRM catches up with everyone. That's why Microsoft is so bent on telling everyone about how they're striking this deal with EMI and other labels as well to sell DRM-free music. They see the danger, and they're being smart. Will others follow suit?

I've got quite a bit of humor to share this Monday. I'm a sucker for these lists of ridiculous things we see technology do in movies and TV shows that make no sense, so here's one of 27 things that computers can do in movies. It's really freaking funny, because it's so true. I think my favorite is the "upload virus" one; it reminds me of Office Space. Almost as funny is a clever write-up this guy did comparing the Doom difficulty levels with his relationship with his SO. Anyone who was a loser as a child and played Doom a lot will likely roll over laughing, basking in the nostalgia; the rest of you, I think, will at least chuckle. This last one should just be called "What were they thinking?"


After a drawn-out, furtive legal battle with AOL, Gaim has managed to stay around by changing its name to Pidgin. I don't think they have a version out yet with this new name (I couldn't find one), but I'm sure it's soon to come. It sounds like AOL is being pretty childish with how they've been dealing with the situation. I think they're just jealous that a bunch of guys with a little too much free time can best their paid programmers.

One-liner: if you're browsing a video site and you want to download the content, you should try this web application. I'm sure the legality of it is very questionable, but it's a nifty little hack.

The box office this weekend was really, really shocking. First of all, the top two movies were two old family films: Blades of Glory ($23 million) and Meet the Robinsons ($17 million), but more importantly was the fact that Grindhouse came in 4th places (behind Are We Done Yet?, even) at a measly $12 million as compared with its over $67 million budget. Everyone is talking about this, but I personally believe that it was a combination of it being Easter weekend (can't really take the family out to see horror and destruction), it being such a niche film (you have to know something about it before going in the theater), and being really freaking long. I was always concerned about it being over 3 hours long. The Weinstein brothers are now considering splitting up the movies for a re-release in a few weeks, and will definitely be doing that internationally. I feel bad for them: it had great buzz, many good reviews, and two directors who usually don't fail to boot, but it totally flopped on them, and now they're a little shaken up. I hope they get somewhere near making back their budget (oh, and tack on another $30 million for advertising that apparently didn't work).

The only other movie news is a nifty Fantastic Four: The Rise of the Silver Surfer poster. I think it makes them look a little bit too touched up though.

No new Monday Madness, so let's try Manic Monday:

What flavor of ice cream best describes your personality?
That's tough. I guess I'll go with Moo-llennium Crunch, because I'm exciting and delicious and full of lots of random good stuff, I guess. *shrugs* Kind of a weird question to answer about one's self =P

If your life was a weather vane, which direction would it be pointing right now?
Probably towards my bed, because I'm sure more sleep would be to my benefit. Oh well, some things (very few, mind you) are better than sleep! =)

What is one field or profession that you have never pursued, but that you think you would most likely have been quite good at?
Besides computer science, probably musician. It'd be interesting to be a classical guitarist/guitar teacher.

Television Should Be On Demand

Something interesting has been brewing in the world of television: young adults are actually responding to television shows being on iTunes. The shows that are at the top of the Neilsen ratings (which I personally don't put much faith in since it's merely a survey) don't match what's at the top in iTunes. What we're seeing here is that the audiences for these shows don't want to mold their schedule around weekly time slots and prefer to just watch their television programming on demand by purchasing it on iTunes. Of course, this doesn't even count the rampant piracy from people who use YouTube alternatives to get their boob tube fix. I firmly believe that a huge change is brewing for these television networks. I wonder how long it is before they realize that Neilsen ratings aren't going to cut it anymore. How many more shows have to become huge successes on DVD and iTunes past their cancellations and induce cult followings before they realize that the current model is inherently flawed and wasteful. They would make so much more money if they gave people more choice for how and when they watch their television. The Internet is a great medium to do that, and yet it seems quite available for more options and programming and such, especially with devices like the Apple TV and Windows Media Center machines becoming more well-known. I personally believe that IP TV will catch on before long, and it will be the nail in the coffin of broadcast television as we know it today. Let's see how things develop though, because that's a rather bold statement.

It turns out that the 3 week increase in Daylight Savings Time was completely useless, as was predicted beforehand. Actually, it did accomplish one thing: pissing off a lot of programmers who had to write patches so that server clocks and device clocks would adjust appropriately. I wonder how much time congressmen waste on this crap.

Have you ever thought about what makes a logo appealing to you? I actually hadn't until I read this article, and it's amazingly true. I didn't realize how unimportant color should be for a logo but scalability is huge. Plus, of course, it must be memorable. One of the comments pointed out that uniqueness can be important, and I'd agree with that as well.

It looks like airplanes are getting outfitted for WiFi now thanks to a company called AirCell that purchased a radio frequency from the FCC on which to broadcast Internet access and will provide it to consumers at no more than $10 a day. Sounds like a good price considering how expensive the equipment and frequency is, but I have no idea why they're restricting VoIP on it.

There's a new Mac Pro on the market with 8 freaking cores. You could take over a small country with that kind of power. Ok, maybe not, but at $2500 it's obviously focused more towards research and server usage (and nerds even more hard core than me).

I know that I posted about a similar list a few months ago, but here's another list of the top tech flops. I like that they remembered Microsoft Bob and Internet currency, but they totally forgot about that stupid audio format that Sony had invented for their Walkmans. I'm honestly amazed that Sony manages to stay in business with all the missteps they've had in the past decade.

Nearly all the movie news I have to day is related to Grind House, what with its release being this weekend at all. Too bad I probably won't get to see it this weekend though! Anyway, if you're confused as to its origins, IGN has a list of some great movies to look into to understand the inspiration. Yahoo Movies picked up another clip from the film, and actually has some cast interviews as well that I didn't notice before. Rose McGowan looks like she's really going to stand out in this film. In fact, she already stands out on the new cover of Rolling Stone with Rosario Dawson. That's probably the raciest cover they've had in a good while, in my opinion. Rose McGowan hasn't been in many good movies (probably why Tarantino picked her), but I love Rosario Dawson as an actress, for some reason.

The only other thing is that a sequel to Spider-man 3 may not be out of the question as previously assumed. It turns out that Kirsten Dunst and Toby Maguire could both be reeled in with a worthwhile storyline, so I hope that Sam Raimi will chose to revisit the series in a couple of years if they can bang out a good script. There is plenty of material in the series, after all.

Now for a Wednesday Mind Hump:

Name your favorite citrus fruits and your favorite dishes, drinks, desserts, etc. using citrus.
I guess I really like oranges and limes. Oranges are just so sweet and awesome, and limes go great in Coronas. Nothing is better in the summer for relaxing than laying outside, poolside, drinking a Corona that has a lime soaking in it. As far as favorite drinks: Tequila Sunrises are good as are Screwdrivers. I'm sorry, but plain old orange juice is just boring. Desert wise, I'm not really sure? Chiffon is pretty good stuff.

Bit Torrent Brings in Ads

I logged in today to Blogger only to discover that yesterday's post was my first, and last, evil one:


Oh well, it was bound to happen eventually (click on it if you can't read it)! There was so little news today that I actually did another sweep to see if I could procure more, but to no avail. That's probably a good thing, I need to get some more sleep tonight. Anyway, I figure I'd talk a bit about BitTorrent's pilot program to attach ads to programming for G4. I tried downloading one of these programs and it turns out that the videos that are currently ad-supported from G4 are quite short and I wouldn't pay for anyway, so I don't see how this is indicative of what they'll do for more worthwhile programs. Oh, I downloaded an Attack of the Show about digital cameras and it was really dumb. Come on G4, you used to be respectable. Anyway, I think that since they can't force you to watch the ad(s) it will be hard to sell to their content providers. However, I personally watched the game ad for this video because I like watching video game footage, so I think it may be more effective on tech geeks for tech-related programming than that would suggest.

In an extremely interesting move, Facebook has released the instrumental code they use to build a lot of stuff on their site. Apparently, it incorporates Java, Python, Ruby, and PHP, among other things. For the first time in God knows how long, I have to pat Facebook on the back here. I think every time a developer gives away his code a nerd angel gets its wings. Anyway, this is actually pretty much a compiler of sorts in that it takes a definition file and uses it to generate code for you. I'd play around with it more if I didn't already have two programming projects to worry about (one being a super calculator parser and the other being Conway's Game of Life using mad polymorphism).

How cool are those pillows? They're one of several pillows on the market that will play your digital music for you when you feel like literally lazing around and listening to music. Oh how I miss the days when I'd literally just lay on my bed and listen to music. I know of a certain someone, who I hope is reading this, who could probably benefit from one of these.

Speaking of music, you can read more from Steve Jobs's press conference with EMI over here. They talk a little more about DRM and iTunes and such, but it is quite a bit lengthier than what was summarized in the article cited yesterday.

One-liner: if you're like me and hate channel surfing, you should check out one of these television listing sites. I used to use tvguide.com, but maybe I'll switch to AOL Television now. It actually feels much better.

Wouldn't it be awesome if your computer could organize your photos for you? There's research actually being done in just this area that analyzes pictures and tags them based on a very smart algorithm, which also learns more as it gets more experienced. Very cool idea here, but I warn you that the article I cited is very lengthy.

IGN dug up one of the trailers to be featured within Grind House called Thanksgiving from Eli Roth. I thought the explicit warning was just fluff for the first half of the trailer, and then things got nuts. The trailer is awesomely campy, but also very VERY explicit and it actually made me cringe more than once, so be forewarned. They also have an interview with Michael Parks, who I loved in Kill Bill despite how small his part was, and it sounds like he almost reprises it in Grind House.

Meanwhile, Yahoo Movies has the trailer for Live Free or Die Hard in HD. I liked the trailer, but I really think that they're trying to push this patriotism too hard in the domestic trailers whereas I believe the movie will just be straight up action. I could be wrong, maybe there is some huge underlying theme that relates to the U.S. title, but that'd make it corny. It's amazing how Bruce Willis doesn't look like he's past 50, but he is.

Lastly, some quad posters for Spider-man 3 have sprung online for those who are interested.

Now for a Tuesday Twosome:

1. What two things are necessary for you to respect someone?
That they are respectful to me and that they are loyal to friends/family.

2. What two things do you think people respect you for?
I'd hope for my dedication to practically everything I vest myself in, and my willingness to help when I can. Maybe that's a little optimistic though? It's kind of hard question to answer without sounding like a jerk =P

3. Who are two people you respect the most and why?
Currently living? Probably my father and my brother. My father because he always put his family first in his life and has made a lot of sacrifices for us. My brother because I almost feel like he's paved the path for me for how to get what you want in this country since our parents' have struggled with that without an American education and he had more issues than I did dealing with living under Indian societal rules within an American society, if that makes any sense. Anyway, I guess I'm just impressed that he turned out the way he did because I know he faced very different challenges from what I've faced.

4. What two things can cause you to lose respect for someone?
I suppose turning your back on friends/family or purposefully treating a woman badly.

5. Is respect important to you? Why or why not?
Yeah, because I kind of think it's what makes the world go round besides love and trust. I think the business world often operates a lot on mutual respect, but that's just my simple-minded view of things.

Pigs Fly: Apple is Selling DRM-Free Music

Lost a friend tonight...kind of disappointing and disheartening in a lot of ways. I'm glad that I have something else in my life that's great that I haven't screwed up, and I hope that I don't screw up. Anyway, back to the topic at hand: no, amazingly enough it is not an April Fool's Joke. I definitely thought it was and almost didn't even read the article, but it's true. Yeah, this is kind of an intense move, but so far it's kind of a pilot program with EMI. You can either buy the DRM-laden tracks with lower quality at $1 a pop, or pay an extra 30 cents to remove the DRM and get higher quality. What I'm curious about is why Apple is doing this. Of course to nerds, this is awesome. We've all been clamoring for an end to DRM and all that good stuff. I guess Apple is banking on the current dominance of the iPod and their perceived superiority of iTunes. I wonder if other labels will follow suit, and if this will actually work. Yeah, there are a couple of other services that sell DRM-free music, but mostly for small-time artists and indie labels, and this could be a huge deal. I think they're just testing the waters for now, but I hope that the response is positive, lest we all be shown as being liars when we've cried out that DRM is the devil. Should be interesting, nonetheless.

Staying on that musical track (no pun intended), looks like we'll be seeing legal guitar tabs back on the web very soon in the wake of the big OLGA takedown. Musicnotes is trying to launch a service that would provide the tablature with advertising, and that revenue would then go to the copyright holders. I think it's kind of funny since people are coming up with these tabs based on their ears, so it really doesn't warrant royalties for the artists unless they can prove that the transcriptions are perfect, but that's just my opinion.

I missed a lot of April Fool's Pranks because of how packed my Sunday was, but you can see some of the top ones here. I personally always love the ThinkGeek goodies, and this year I like the WiiHelm best.

It has now been announced that the iPhone will be released on June 11. Not much else to say about that, but I felt that it's noteworthy because I'm sure we'll be seeing a deluge of even more editorials revolving around this date.

Circuit City is laying off 3,400 employees and outsourcing some of their IT employees. Plus, they're closing 60 stores. Anyone else think that they're digging a hole for bankruptcy?

One more one-liner: if you're interesting in buying an HD set then you should totally read this article and learn more about the different kinds. Definitely very basic information that's not commonly known at all, but it's very concise.

Blades of Glory took center stage this weekend in the box office with $33 million, which I thought was a bit low for the comedy suited for most ages, but is still a strong opener with Meet the Robinsons only $8 million behind and 300 holding less than half that at #3. Most notable though was TMNT's enormous dip to under $10 million. Ouch, so much for turtle power.

I missed a couple of trailers. Yahoo Movies has an entertaining trailer for Ocean's Thirteen (if they make another and call it "Ocean's Fourteen", I will boycott it), though I didn't really laugh during it. Still, I think it's a better plot than the second movie, and they don't seem to be trying to hard to bring back Julia Roberts this time. If you can stand the MTV site for four minutes, they have a decent trailer for Hostel 2. It doesn't make it look much different from the first, but I'm sure that it'll be very disturbing all the same.

It looks like Quentin Tarantino has been working on the script for Inglorious Bastards and is using the time off he's taking to promote Grind House to also finish up on writing Inglorious Bastards. I think it's supposed to be a cool, WWII ensemble movie, and I'm really interested to see what Tarantino does with it. Can't wait for a script review!

Lastly, Dreamworks is doing a Shrek the Halls Holiday special for this winter, presumably to help promote Shrek the Third. Oh, and there are already plans for a fourth film. Can we say "milking a new animated franchise way too much"? I think that we're going to see a drastic reduction in quality if they just keep pumping out these movies.

Now for some Monday Madness:

1. Where did you go on your last vacation?
Vacation? I don't have time for vacations! =P More seriously: Canada with my parents like two years ago. Unless you count my extended trip to Seattle in January to do interviews with Microsoft a vacation? It was fun, exciting, and slightly relaxing.
2. Would you go there again? Why or why not?
Canada: probably, but more for the skiing than the sightseeing. I'm sure I'll do a trip to Vancouver this summer. As for Seattle: I'll be there this summer, so yeah ;)
3. How many vacations do you take in one year?
1 at the most. I plan on taking more when I graduate, but it's just a lot of money to spend while I'm still in school.
4. Where would you REALLY like to go on your next vacation, if money was no issue, and how long would you stay?
Probably London. I hear good things and I haven't been to Europe practically at all. My cousin is stationed in Germany, I'd be interested to check that out as well. Another place I'd love to visit is Tokyo, but that'd be a much more challenging trip, I'd imagine.
5. Do you put a little money aside each week (or month) to save up for your vacation?
Nope. I'm Indian, I save enough as it is! No need to make a special travel fund.

Blogging, Sponsored by ______ ?

So it looks like not posting yesterday set me back a bit, and now there's all this crap to talk about. As it seems like is often the case nowadays though, it was used very wisely with someone special, so all is well. Anyway, what I figured I'd make the headline today is this new form of advertising from Google called Pay-Per-Action (PPA) where you're not paid by the click, but rather by the user doing something at the site on click-through. Also, rather than the box on the side like how AdSense is, it can be incorporated directly into normal text (presumably, via automatic, smart searching of your text). This isn't a new concept, but other people who have tried it kind of do it in an obtrusive and irritating way. It looks like they're handling it a little better, though being JavaScript can prove to be less than ideal, especially for RSS aggregators. What you have to wonder though, is whether this lowers the credibility of bloggers utilizing the text link ad format, because maybe they'll try to speak in a certain way to divert readers to those sites so they can get money. Paying bloggers who solely say good stuff about your products or bribery aren't unheard of, just usually quickly found out and excommunicated from blog readers. So I guess theoretically then, such a problem would iron itself out. It still feels weird though. With AdSense, it's like having a banner ad: you're not imposing anything on the reader, it's just there for when their eyes wander. With text links though, you're definitely getting a better chance at targeting an audience, but you compromise their trust in your site, even if you're not purposely trying to direct promote such advertising. Given that this blog is for fun, I would never do something like that. I prefer for everyone to realize that my opinions truly are my own without any doubt, but it's just an interesting ethical issue to ponder.

Speaking of Google, Ars Technica got its hands on their new mobile search, and it definitely sounds much more intelligent than before. Their thoughts are almost too positive, and I was hoping to see some flaws in it, but maybe it is just that awesome? They do have a knack for usability, after all (much more so than attractive UIs, ugh). YouTube is actually going to be launching a mobile site of their own this summer (I guess Google has really turned its attention to mobile applications now, I wonder if it has anything to do with that non-existent Google Phone?). June is when their deal with VCast expires, so that's why they have to wait. I question how easily people will be able to find videos on YouTube on their phone, if they'll really want it, and if it'll be worth whatever it costs them to access the Internet at incredibly slow speeds on their phone?

Meanwhile, poor Yahoo is still kind of straggling. In what I consider an off color move, they've decided to Hell with their premium mail service and are now giving everyone unlimited storage. That's exciting and all, but I find it annoying that people still can't forward from Yahoo Mail, and it still doesn't support Pop3 access. Combine that with fact that its interface is little more than a tab-based version of Outlook Express, and you have an inferior product. Sorry Yahoo, more space just isn't enough. Why not work on making things faster and more robust? You have a decent UI, just run with it farther, and optimize.

I guess everyone has seen their fair share of lukewarm receptions of the Apple TV, but because Ars Technica put theirs up I just have to plug it. It's the most comprehensive look you'll see around, and balances the good with the bad very well. Some sites are even going so far as to recommend the Mac Mini instead. Just be forewarned that rigging that up will take extra effort, so in that case you might as well just get a Windows Media Center machine instead.

One more quick thing with Apple: even the New York Times is supporting that rumor we heard a long while back that they may subsidize the purchase of albums for which you've already bought songs from, just within a certain time period. Maybe we'll hear official word soon, then?

So Microsoft is releasing their Xbox 360 Elite thing tomorrow, and I just had to remark at how stupid this is. You're paying $480 for an Xbox 360 in black with an HDMI cable and a 120 GB hard drive. The best part is that the hard drive costs $180 separately. Why don't they just take your first born child? I'm glad I don't have time for video games so much anymore, or else I'd be totally broke by now.

Surprisingly enough, Robert Rodriguez has already started talking a little bit about Sin City 3 and how Johnny Depp may even be in it. That sounds like it'd be a freaking cool movie, especially around the "Hell and Black" storyline.

I'm a little ashamed to say that I actually laughed during the trailer for I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry. I'm afraid it'll be a movie full of flat jokes, but I do hope that it does end up being funnier than usual for a romantic comedy because I like Kevin James and Adam Sandler. On the opposite end of the genre spectrum is the trailer for 28 Weeks Later, which is much better than I would've expected, though I think it follows a more typical zombie movie storyline this time around. It probably won't be as fresh as the original was.

Lastly, there are pictures up from the premiere of Grind House of its leading ladies. It's weird to see them now all dressed up and outside the context of their characters in the trailers.

Before I close up, I'm going to leave you a picture from my scavenger hunt this weekend for the ACM scavenger hunt. Apparently, the girls were less than willing in publicly trying to pull me back by the shirt, so we decided on the next funniest thing for the word "Axe"



I know, scary....

So I can't mind hump this week because I don't own any cats, so let's go with Loaded Questions instead:

Hypotheticals: If you could be a character in any novel, who would you be?
Ok, that's extremely hard. The point of a lot of novels are to really deconstruct characters, and so there aren't often characters who you'd love to be. I guess if I had to be anyone though, I'd be the main character in The Dead Zone. He's sort of a tragic character, but he gives up his life for something noble, and I dig that.

Anything Goes: What outdoor activity do you consider the most dangerous?
Probably mountain climbing. Rock climbing is hard enough as it is, how the Hell do you safely scale a mountain?!

No-Brainers: What is your favorite genre of movies?
Probably dramas. I like dramas that incorporate a fair amount of dry/dark humor though (hence my obsessions for Kill Bill and Pulp Fiction).

Personals: How good is your long-term memory, on a scale of one to ten?
I'll go with a 6, maybe a 7 if I'm being generous. I'll remember random stuff, but not always the most important stuff.

Fair warning: I'm not going to be able to post tomorrow night because I will be going to Copa.