Best Weekend Ever

Sorry that I can't make a full post tonight guys, but I have a test at 10AM that I still need to prepare for and I'd like to fit in 4 hours of sleep somehow. This weekend was the happiest weekend I've had to-date with the marriage of my brother and his fiance. Definitely a lot of crying, laughing, drinking, and dancing. I'll replace all the grueling details with the few pictures I took. I was too busy to take more, and the photographer was awesome and took plenty anyway, so I'll share those when I
get them.



My brother and his fiance (at the time, at least) at the Roce ceremony (traditional Manglorian ceremony meant as final blessings for the bride and groom while they're bachelor and bachelorette as well as for any other singles in attendance).



Pretty light fixtures at that hall for the Roce.



A bad shot of me in my kurta, but trust me, it was a hot outfit.



That's my cousin's 4-week old son in his little faux tux.



My dad fixing up my brother's tux. The photographer got a ton of shots of the struggle of getting my tie on right, too bad I didn't have any on my camera to share.



Mr. Gonzales has to give away his beautiful daughter.



Yay! They're married! =)



My cousins and I at the reception. I promise that we looked hotter in real life.



The place-setting at dinner. It just looked so nice! The food was awesome, too!



The happy couple at dinner posing with a very close friend of Selina's and part of how they hooked up initially.



And finally, the money shot: my brother getting down and dirty with two guys (friends of Selina's).

These pictures don't tell nearly of all the fun we had, but I hope to have more pictures to share sometime soon! Now, back to studying ;(

No Post,,,for a few

Guess what? My brother is freaking GETTING MARRIED this weekend! How nuts is that?! I have some NSC stuff tonight, and I drive to Houston tomorrow. Needless to say, I won't be posting the next few days, and I just don't have time tonight. I doubt I'll get a post in before Monday evening, but I'll try to post some pictures before then.

Take care everyone!

The Zune Flops, For Now

It's funny, the only news I had leftover when I closed the articles in technology that I didn't really care to talk about were related to the Zune! So I guess you're going to get a couple of paragraphs about that today. It was released today and guess what? Maybe about ten people cared. Anecdotal reports were rather dismal, and people generally didn't seem to know about it. In fact, I just told a friend that it flopped and she asked me what a Zune was. So first step when trying to take on the iPod, kids, is to actually tell people about it! To be honest, I don't think I would've known about it had it not been for me finding articles on it while blogging. I go to one of the biggest universities in the country, so why wasn't news of the Zune plastered all over the walls? And yet, the Vista team is taking out whole page ads about events they're sponsoring in the Austin area. Does Microsoft just not care if this product fails? I just don't get it. They price it right at the iPod, give it WiFi for the stupidest of reasons, and don't even try to show it as better than the iPod. It has a fresh UI and different colors and FM functionality and all that jazz, but if they don't capitalize on it then why wouldn't it flop? It hasn't failed quite yet, mind you, but without any momentum at its release how will it magically pick up the pace unless it gets a next generation model?

As I hinted at in the title though, not all is lost. Microsoft execs have confirmed that they plan on developing a way to reward people for sharing their music over WiFi with Microsoft Marketplace points, which I believe can go towards buying more stuff. I think it's a cool idea since it could help spread interest in off-beat artists, but isn't there any concern of this being abused purely for the points? Maybe they should institute reward point caps within a certain time period or something. And apparently, they're working on adding video sharing to the Zune as well, intended to share user-created content (though not sure how they'd enforce this just as YouTube can't easily enforce copyright infringement issues). I'm not sure that this would be an easy software upgrade and I'm guessing would be a new model of the Zune. They also decided that they'll release a model of the Zune that doubles as a phone, which is surprisingly straightforward compared to Apple shying away from publicly talking about the possibility of an iPhone. Why would they be so open so early? I just don't get it; they're announcing to their competitors what they're about to do. Lastly, the Zune software sounds pretty decent, and you can get the lowdown on it as compared with iTunes over here.

The brothers Weinstein have struck a deal with the devil, as the saying goes. They're only going to be distributing their movies as rentals to Blockbuster in exchange for preferential advertising of their new releases. I'm sorry but that's stupid and shady. Shame on you, Weinstein Co.! Better news though: AICN has a review of Death of a President and it sounds like a pretty solid fake documentary. He clearly states that not everyone will like it, but that it is handled well and tastefully. Yahoo Movies has the trailer for Rocky Balboa, and it's not very good. The dialogue is so flat and stupid, and I hate that it harps so much on creating the underdog character as even more of an underdog. Oh, and just one more thing, the freaking sweet Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix poster:



Now for a Wednesday Mind Hump:

Tell me what each word makes you think of.

Star Party
Dumb Blonde (I'm so sorry, I love blondes and have several blonde friends, that word honestly stimulates that association on first look though)
Blue Christmas
Stop Sign
Give Get
Hey Ya
Just a Little Bit
Let's Party

Can you tell that I'm ready for the wedding? ;)

PS3 About to Fight Wii

You knew it was coming, the big battle between good and evil. By good and evil I of course mean the battle between the Wii and the PS3, in no particular order though ;) Anyway, the PS3 launch is a couple of days away and the Wii will be just a couple of days after that. In commemoration of the event, 1Up (which has some fun podcasts, by the way) has an article comparing the biggest aspects of the next-gen consoles from downloadable content to game outlook. It's a great read if you know nothing about either console because it shows you how sharply different they can be. What I love about this little battle here is that people buying either console aren't getting the same bloody thing with a few different games and slightly different graphics, but they're getting completely different machines for completely different types of games. You're getting a lot more power with a PS3 and some crazy RPGs and a great media machine since it can play Blu-Ray and DVD discs. With the Wii, you're getting a machine completely and utterly focused on the gameplay, including games from the past couple of decades, for about half the price in the end. One thing I feel it's important that people not do at this point is rank one above the other. I'll admit that I'm biased towards the Wii, but I don't think it's fair to compare it directly the PS3. Rather, appreciate the strong points of both and wait another 6 months before you start passing judgement on what's stronger.

Sorry, but I've got a bunch of Apple articles today to share. They're partnering with some big airlines to offer iPod integration, which sounds cool because then you could watch TV shows or movies on a screen on the back of the seat in front of you and charge your iPod as well. It's kind of ridiculous how widespread the iPod is becoming, and as cool as I think it is I think that Apple runs the risk of alienating the crowd of people who fear the mainstream. But screw them, I'd totally want to watch The Office or Diggnation on like a business trip on a real screen. Unfortunately, iTunes doesn't allow you to re-download purchases, which I believe that Microsoft's Zune Marketplace will allow. On one hand, I think it makes sense that once you buy a song from them that you should be able to download it as many times as you want on authorized PCs since it's not like you can P2P share them or anything, but it really is the responsibility of the consumer to have the brains to back up their data. You can do it while you sleep, it's so easy. So why put the burden of stupidity on Apple? Ars Technica has a review of the new Shuffle, which I'm plugging because they have the best reviews of products (although I think they get just a tad too nit-picky on this one). Lastly, Amanda Congdon of Rocketboom fame has actually gotten a job at ABC hosting a weekly vlog and making appearances on newscasts as well. Not too shabby for an Internet celebrity, and the producer of Rocketboom should be kicking himself for letting her go the way he did for that new chick (who sucks, by the way).

The only movie news I have today is Bond related. AICN's Massawrym got to see Casino Royale and gives as true a review as you'll read on it stating explicitly that this is not the mainstream Bond you've come to know over the years. This is a first Bond movie (a prequel of all the movies, if you well), not just another sequel. Walk into this one understanding that, and maybe you'll enjoy it as much as he did. You can see the intros to all the Bond movies over here. I can't seem to get it to work, but I suspect that it's down at just this moment. When it does work, I'm sure it'll be totally sweet because the Bond intros are really fun.

Now for the Ten on Tuesday meme:

10 Things You're Thankful For
10. A cool service like Blogger for me to keep doing this for free.
9. Having discovered how fun dancing is.
8. Having met the people in CS I've met who I can geek out with and struggle through homework with (it is a heartwarming feeling to see your friends in Taylor basement the night before a big test to study with, I don't know why).
7. Having a handful of friends willing to stand by me when I really need them.
6. Knowing what I want to do for the rest of my life.
5. The strength to pull through and do well even in my harshest classes.
4. Going to school in Austin.
3. My brother finding the love of his life and said person being really awesome.
2. My family, especially both parents still being alive.
1. Being alive! I should've died like 3 times by now (seriously).

Phones for a Few Bucks?

Reuters is reporting the head honcho of Google as claiming that cell phones should become free in the near future, when that's not exactly what he said. Still, at least they were on the right track in reporting it. He believes that phones should become heavily subsidized by way of on-phone adverts (texts and photos), which I have a couple of thoughts on. First of all, how can you make it feasible to transmit pictures to a phone? This satellite Internet crap is slow enough as it is. Second of all, if you're giving away phones that cost hundreds of bucks for even a few bucks, don't you have to show someone a good bit of advertising? Some sites online are bad enough, and I think there's a certain point at which people tire of advertising. With your phone, you want to be able to easily make phone calls, and I think people are willing to pay a premium for reliability and convenience associated with that. That's why the pay model (minus subscription-induced subsidies) works so well. No one would pay to use Google because that'd be annoying and pricey (I'd imagine), and obviously not everyone wants to pay for television (hence antenna-accessible networks) so advertising works there, but I've never heard of someone not getting a phone because it was a bit pricey because they consider it to last them a good while and be extremely useful. The three things you always leave the door with are wallet, keys, and phone, and if the first two don't have ads strapped to them then why should the third? Maybe Schmidt is right, maybe it is the future, but I just don't buy it quite yet.

Think Secret has discovered that the newly released Core 2 Duo laptops from Apple pack a secret feature: 802.11n draft 1.0 compatibility. No word on driver availability for this functionality in the near future, but the factor of 10 speed increase on this new standard would indeed be a delightful surprise to customers if it ends up being unlocked with the proper drivers and support, which isn't guaranteed by a longshot since it's just for a draft of the upcoming standard. I ran into this list of courses that nerds would have fun with, and I thought I'd plug it simply because I've taken a few of these (or heard good things) and they really are great choices for the nerd in you. Google Earth added a neat new feature: historical maps. They're not all that detailed, but fun stuff for World History enthusiasts, I'm sure. Photo editing enthusiasts will really love Pixer, which allows you to edit your pictures via the nifty Web 2.0 application. It's obviously not as feature-rich as something like Photoshop or even Paint .NET, but it's great for the quick things. Lastly, MTV has redone their site and I just wanted to point it out for the sake of what not to do when re-designing a site: moving backwards. I wonder if the designers were thinking that it would be a great idea to make the whole site Flash so that it'd be laggy as Hell, force you to watch videos from startup (and always have it off to the side, mind you, to kick your RAM in the butt), and then pop up an ad whenever you click a link.

In case you didn't catch The Simpsons trailer yesterday, don't worry because you didn't miss much. You can see it over here, but it gives us pretty much nothing. What's much more interesting is this extremely early review of Shrek the Third. The fact that it's good in such an early stage is definitely a good sign, though I'm skeptical as to whether they'll add in enough to make it as good as the first two as the reviewer suggests it's lacking since it's already storyboarded out. An early review of A Night at the Museum wasn't nearly as good though and claims that the movie was pretty disappointing and very much lacking in big laughs.

I thought I'd end here with a rather funny Post Secret postcard that most guys wouldn't own up to, but they know they're guilty of:



Now for some Monday Madness:

1. From ch'i:
If you could only read one blog every day- which one blog would be on your daily list?
Unfortunately, many of my faves have been on a sort of hiatus, so I'll go with Delicious Days (link on right sidebar).

2. From kat:
What do you do to de-stress from a hectic day?
Dance and/or sleep =P

3. From paxil princess:
What is your favorite piece of clothing to wear in the winter?
This nice brown, stretch merino sweater my sis-in-law-to-be got me from Banana Republic a couple of years ago.

4. From sherle:
Do you prefer discussing problems with a sibling, a parent, a significant other, a psychologist, or a total stranger?
None of the above: a close friend.

5. From trista:
How long have you been blogging?
I believe I started in December 2004.

6. From lisa e:
Which side of the bed?
Left side =P Thought I have a twin bed here in Austin.

7. From elton:
How often do you pig out when you eat?
Yay, they used one of my questions! Maybe once a week or so. It depends on the week, but it's usually on the weekend if I do.

8. From karen:
Do you watch the space shuttle launches?
Nope. Astronomy just isn't my bag.

9. From dawn:
What's your favorite leisure-time activity?
Other than sleeping? Probably dancing, I suppose, because it's so social.

10. From sherle:
When is the last time you said, 'I love you' and to whom?
What about hugs? Who is the last person you hugged?
Not sure. I probably said it to my friend Jennyfer in the past few days though. Maybe I said it to my mom yesterday? Last person I hugged was my friend Raquel at TLD practice last night.

The PS3 Hits

In Japan, that is. You can see to the left here what you get in the box, and IGN has a number of articles that should answer your wildest questions regarding the launch of this behemoth. IGN does have a retail unit, but I believe it's another week before you can get one yourself, and if you manage to get one then you'll find a Blu-Ray copy of Talladega Nights inside. It has actually already sold out in Japan, but I think it would be wrong to claim that this implies a successful launch. Low yields on the Cell processor is restricting their supply (just 100,000 units in Japan), and the Japanese gamers are looking forward to the franchises they know will be on the PS3, which is why they're flocking to get one (plus, it's cheaper there than here). Also, their launch title line-up is very Japanese-centric, and it looks like American gamers will only have Call of Duty 3 and Rainbow Six: Vegas to look forward to for now. I'm sure that it'll sell out here from low supply, as well, but I think that you'll have to compare the absolute figures over a few months with the first months of the Xbox 360 and the Wii to get a good idea of people's interest. I, personally, could care less about this launch and was more delighted to see the Nintendo Wii start-up sequence. I love that the controller vibrates when you hover over buttons (see, Sony, we actually like vibration in our controllers). Game sales have been going south more recently though, so let's hope that the next-generation picks up the pace drop-off from the current one.

There's strong speculation that the iTunes music store may soon credit your individual track purchases towards the whole albums they correspond to so that you don't end up paying for the same track multiple times. Now that is a pretty brilliant idea, and would make iTunes even more popular if they pulled it off. Google Checkout has unveiled a couple of neat features: coupon creation and e-mail invoices. Plus, they're waiving transaction fees through the end of the year. I like where they're going with this service, and I'm glad that they're figuring out how to do what PayPal has done wrong (including customer service). A company called BlackArrow has sprung up basing itself around a fantastic idea: showing ads despite DVR forwarding and it looks like they're also aiming to improve the advertising model online. It's not near completion yet, of course, but I'd be real interested to see how people react to seeing ads like that. Lastly, this site is a really fascinating effort to find the most beautiful images in the world by randomly pairing them and having you vote on which you like better. It's fun to play around with if you're bored, and pictures like this are what's always inspired to keep taking pictures regularly. Here's one of my favorites:



I was a little surprised to find Borat at the top of the box office this weekend with $29 million, not only because it's an increase from last weekend (which is extremely rare), but it also doubled the grosses of Will Ferrell's Stranger Than Fiction, which had opened this past weekend. Also, Babel only weighed in at #6, though I suppose there wasn't a whole lot of publicity for it. Anyway, don't expect to see Borat at the top after this coming weekend's release of Casino Royale. The only other movie thing today is the trailer for Fanboys, which I thought was pretty funny. I love all the random Star Wars quotes and scenarios they decided to pepper throughout it. Not a whole lot of Natalie Portman in that trailer though, I'm afraid.

Now for some Unconscious Mutterings:

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

1. Nick :: Fury


2. Focus :: Eye


3. Police :: Man


4. Miles :: Away


5. Earn :: Cash


6. Twice :: a Lady


7. Razor :: Mach 3


8. Personality :: Disorder


9. Dumped :: Girls


10. Reliable :: Car

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

Xbox Steps Up to Digital Distribution

I'm feeling pretty tired right now, so this also won't be a lengthy post. At least it was a fun evening though. Anyway, Microsoft has expanded Xbox Live to allow you to beam television shows and movie rentals right to your console. I'm unclear as to whether this will be subscription based or pay-per-download or what, but I think it's definitely interesting. The biggest problem that I see, however, is that you need to be able to transfer these files on your computer since you're obviously going to get rid of it in a few years. Plus, you would probably trust your computer and a backup HD more with paid content than just your Xbox 360. I'm not saying that this is going to fail or anything like that, I mean it's definitely a good move on their part to try and compete with Apple for the living room here, but they need to make sure that they think it through all the way. If it's too restrictive or complicated, people won't like it. The reason that iTV has a chance from the get-go is because of how easy iTunes is to use and how easy I'm sure Apple will make the iTV to set up, as opposed to a $400 video game console. Again, not to say that Microsoft's program has no chance, but they really have to blow people away to get them excited about this service if they really want to put a dent in Apple's sales.

Yesterday, you'll recall that I was talking about Google entering print ads. Now, they've extended their reign to radio advertising, as well. They won't even start testing this service until the end of the year, and they're still building up a team of people to work out all the logistics, but I presume that they're looking to expand DMarc. I'm not sure what exactly they have up their sleeve here that will be so much better than DMarc is right now, but I trust that they've got enough resources to not blow this. Meanwhile, they're being attacked on the Google Earth front with the launch of Virtual Earth as a more integrated product to compete with Google Earth. It pretty much adds all the features that Google Earth should have without alienating itself from Live Local, the online mapping service. They really need to work on publicity though because 99% of people I know use Google Maps or Yahoo Maps.

That's right, baby, it's a Reno 911 movie! The trailer for Reno 911: Miami is now online and it's pretty funny. Not as impressive as the first Borat trailer, but fans of the show will love this trailer because they're already familiar with how crazy these characters are. I guess the stupid cop angle for comedies never gets old. Also big news: tomorrow night will bring with it the release of the full trailer for Spider-man 3! I'm going to run straight to a computer after my Automata test just to catch this one, and I recommend that you keep an eye out for it, too, because it's sure to be fun to watch. Lastly, Scorcese has signed a deal to keep making movies at Paramount, which is nice because he's often overlooked since his movies are more brilliant than they are blockbusters.

No interest memes to play today, sorry!

Google Moves Into Print

I've definitely been wasting too much time chatting on AIM, but I'm going to give you guys a post anyway because I think I can whip one up pretty fast here. Google has decided to make the transition into print ads, which seems kind of funny in a way. It's almost as if they're working backwards since, theoretically, newspapers should become extinct someday in favor of electronic distribution of news (likely through e-Readers for convenience). I think it's funny that newspapers are agreeing that they suck at offering advertising space to clients and are willing to partner with Google for this. I guess it isn't all that demeaning working with a company like Google, but I feel it would be like Microsoft helping Apple sell iPods and trashing the Zune because they felt that Apple had it right. Of course, the demand is really coming from the advertisers, who have been pleased with AdSense's tracking abilities. They've actually tried this out before, with limited success, and are changing it up now so that advertisers bid on ad space inventory and let the newspapers directly decide what makes sense. Does it sound like anyone else that they're just playing middle man? I'm not terribly optimistic about this venture. This system isn't very creative on Google's part and I just don't think that it'll generate enough interest to sustain itself.

Just crashed Firefox and so I lost what I was going to say here, but I'll try to rebuild it. PC World has really taken a shine to the new iPod Shuffle iteration, and it looks like it hasn't lost ease-of-use in the next generation. It should be readily available now, and I think I saw someone on campus with it the other day. Paul Thurott posted some pictures of Office 2007, and it looks pretty nifty. Dare I say that I'm a tad excited to get my hands on it? Microsoft does pump out neat stuff from time to time, after all. If you find yourself in a situation like I did last week where you only have Linux machines at your disposal to open a .doc you need for class that morning, you'll appreciate Zamzar, which will convert it to another format for you online. Fortunately, I managed to make a clean break from that situation without it, but I may not be so lucky next time! I'm going to end off this paragraph with a sneak peek at Best Buy's Black Friday ad since I know that you'll all be chomping at the bit for these sales in a few weeks to kick off your holiday shopping spree. Don't act like you wouldn't be one of those people who stand in line at like 6 AM in the morning!

Not going to spend much time on movies because I'm still behind on my work for tonight. Borat took the box office this past weekend with over $26 million, but I honestly thought it'd be more given how many people were buzzing about it. Much more surprising is that Santa Clause 3 was #2 because I have no idea what would possess so many people to see it. It's not even Christmas yet! How could it beat out Flushed Away?! Anyway, I also spotted this neat artwork for TMNT and had to share.



To make up for the lack of posting, I'll give you guys some TMI Tuesday action:

1. Would you vote to legalize marijuana? If not marijuana, what drug would you like to see legalized and why?
Yes, because if booze are legal then what's so bad about weed? It's not like it kills people anymore than alcohol does. Why tell people what they can do with their money if it doesn't directly hurt them or others?

2. Would you vote to legalize prostitution?
Probably. If it's going to happen anyway, why not tax it and make a few bucks off of it? Not that I personally support prostitution because I think the idea of sex being casual is weird, but why keep people from doing it? At least have prostitutes checked for STDs.

3. Ever fantasize about a teacher in grade school/high school/college? If not a teacher, was there someone else? Classmate? Secretary? Janitor? Ever act on your fantasy?
I remember having a crush on a 3rd grade teacher, but not so much since then.

4. Do you feel everyone has a soulmate?
I like to think so. It gives me optimism.

5. Do you have a foot obsession? Ever given or received a footjob?
Nope and what does that even mean?

No Post Again

Good news, bad news, and more bad news. The good news is that I got a callback for second/third round interviews with Cerner early tomorrow morning. The bad news is that my mood is a little sullied right now by a girl chase that didn't work out and so I don't have the energy to lose sleep over doing a post right now. I'm 95% sure that I'll be back tomorrow night though! Sorry for the delays everyone, I promise that they haven't been in vain (thanks, Justin).

No Post

Sorry guys, but I have serious work to get done real quick like. Hopefully, I'll be back in action tomorrow. The weekend was fun, but I'm afraid wasn't quite productive enough.

Desktop, Meet the Web

I have a Physics test tomorrow and I haven't even started packing for my trip home tomorrow, so you can imagine that I'm in a hurry to get this post out of the way. I may not even have time tomorrow night o put one up, but I'll be sure to post a notice if that's true. Anyway, Read/Write Web has really been churning out some great editorials lately, so I'd be remiss to not take a moment to reflect on their thoughts on the evolution of personal computing with the Web. They go through specific examples, but I'm going to speak broadly here: we definitely won't see everyone depend solely on the Internet like some have suggested in the past months. It's not feasible to have your life offloaded to some server because it removes your control over it and it will likely slow down your life, especially if your Internet goes out. The smart players need to plan ahead of the trend and realize that it's important to integrate web applications with users' standalone desktops. Even Spiceworks, an Austin startup that actually spoke here at UT again last week, realizes this since they coded it in Ruby on Rails and yet the program runs easily off of a computer's desktop. It talks to their server for ads and upgrades and the like, but the program doesn't break if your Internet does, and I think that's fairly important. Anyway, I'll leave this topic at that, but you should read that blog post if you're interested in this topic. There's definitely much to be said about where personal computing is going, and I'm sure that I'll hit on it regularly.

Microsoft has confirmed that Vista and Office 2007 will be released on November 30 with the catch that it's intended for businesses, not home users. I'm not business-savvy or anything, but does this sound stupid to anyone else? Why would a business want software that's supposedly not safe for consumers but is a-OK for them? It's been a while since I've talked about IP TV, but the sales of IP TV equipment seems to be experiencing very healthy growth. Granted, we aren't seeing mass deployment yet, but we're definitely seeing the base of a market being built up. Lastly, programmers like me who are too lazy to try to navigate through APIs will enjoy gotAPI, which does the legwork for you. It's only slightly better than the one I had mentioned a few months ago.

We now have a trailer for Evan Almighty, and I have to say that it looks pretty bad. The whole Noah's Ark angle just sounds lame. Tom Cruise has found a new home with MGM in its United Artists brand, so I guess that he'll be on a rampage to compete with Paramount now. I'm curious to see how he fares at UA where I'm guessing they'll give him a little more control than Paramount had. Lastly, Rogue Pictures has the rights to make a movie based on the wildly popular old-school Castlevania video game franchise. Not sure if this is good or bad, probably bad, but Castlevania always had a kind of neat storyline.



Now for the 3x Thursday:

1. Are you in to clothes and fashion? Does it matter to you? Why/why not?
I enjoy being fashionable, but I don't predicate my wardrobe on being particularly trendy. I just buy what I think looks hot on me, not what looks good at the time. Like I'd never get a pink shirt (bad color for me) just because it's the in thing to do, and I wouldn't get a shirt with that ugly frayed collar because that's just stupid. However, I make sure I look good when I can.

2. Girls: Do you wear heels? Why/why not? Are they comfortable? Guys: What's your take on dressing up in suits and ties?
I like suits and ties, but not for everyday. I don't like it for on campus interviews either, because it makes my day really uncomfortable.

3. What do you think of these people today who wear their jeans on their asses? You know, boxers sticking 3/4 of the way out...wearing a 40 waist when it should be a 32. Do you think it's becoming? Do you care? Why/why not?
There's a biased question ;) Of course, I agree: it's stupid. I think much lesser of people who wear their underwear like that as if they're retarded.

Bonus Question: Do you like to get dressed up? Why/why not?
Yeah, it's just a lot fun to get gussied up.

The Interweb Strikes Again

On television programming, that is. Apparently, the brilliant, dry comedy The Office was on the verge of getting canceled by NBC until they took a look at the number of iTunes downloads the show garnered. We don't know how many downloads it had to warrant such a drastic decision change, but I imagine that it was pretty big, and this is great for a couple of reasons. Not only does it prove that digital distribution is a good, legitimate market but also that we don't have to rely solely on Neilsen ratings since they can now get a picture of how many people are interested in these shows that can't watch them live. But wait, kids, that's not all! Viacom is actually negotiating with YouTube to get some of their copyrighted content back online, and some actually already is back. No word on what kind of licensing agreement they're looking into here, but something is better than nothing. I wonder if they noticed the shock online to this or if they were already considering striking a deal with YouTube? In any case, the Interweb is indeed still getting tangled up with the boob tube, so stay tuned for more developments.

I'll start out here with the Apple speculation. Apparently, they've forged some sort of deal with Cingular, but it's not clear exactly what kind of "deal" this was. Still, I can't imagine that it wouldn't be related to the iPhone, thought I would've thought that they would've locked on to a carrier much earlier in the development process. We may see Core 2 Duo MacBooks tomorrow, according to random sources, but nothing very conclusive. Oh well, we'll know soon enough. Last.FM has launched four major new features on the site, including a Flash player and free downloads. I stopped using Last FM because I found myself desiring online radio more on campus than at home, so I think that the new online player will help out people like me. Just more great things for a site that I already think is an explosion of neat ideas. Lastly, Engadget got its paws on a real PlayStation 3 and even took a video walkaround of it, though not of the PS3 in action. I may want a Wii more, but I certainly can't say that this thing doesn't look really slick.



Just a couple of quick movie things. The Wachowski Brothers have been confirmed as helming the Speed Racer project and will start shooting next summer. They aim to make the movie family-friendly, but it's not like you can make a cartoon like Speed Racer all that gritty anyway. The other thing is some raw footage from 28 Weeks Later, which looks cool except that I'm afraid that they'll be taking away from the story element that made the original so great as a really great horror movie. Also, I wish they would at least have the original movie's stars in cameo appearances.

Now for a Wednesday Mind Hump:

1. What's your favorite sweet treat? Or your top three, if you're like me and have a gigantic sweet tooth.
You've gotta be kidding me, pick one? I can't even pick 3! Alright, I'll take a stab: tres leche cake, rocky road brownies, and Belgian chocolate ice cream from Amy's!

2. Let's pretend that you're going trick or treating. Your costume must be music-themed. What or who are you?
Matisyahu's front man would be a fun costume. Or, I could go really Austin-like and be Ben Kweller with a tampon in my nose.

3. Again, we're trick or treating. This time, your costume must be a movie or TV character. Who are you?
I was Neo last night, so let's go with that ;)

4. Okay, which one of you TPd my front lawn?

Couldn't have been me, I was either on 6th Street or freaking out about Physics.

Halloween Excitement

I'm a little too tired/busy right now to do a real post, and there's not even much good news out there, which is great because I can instead make this a photo post of my adventures from tonight. Here was my costume:



I went in a group with a bunch of other CS majors. Here's the picture of the president of Turing Scholars because I loved his costume:



My friend Jack was Kilik, so I thought that this was a halfway decent idea for a photo op:



Tina was the banana from this video, and I found nearly everything she did in that costume pretty funny, so here are some choice pictures of her:







Yes, she did do the dance when people noticed her on 6th Street. Of course I had to get my picture with her once we got Downtown, which was ridiculously crowded, by the way:



Soon afterwards we saw some Tetris blocks and had to get a shot with one of them:



And when I saw another Asian Neo, I had to get a picture with him:



And lastly, the picture that I'm most proud of:



My favorite costume was a coked up Big Bird walking around with his friend who was a giant block of weed, but I couldn't get a clean shot of him, sorry! He had fake blood on his beak though and bloodshot eyes and walked around very disoriented. Hope you all had a fun Halloween, too! Now to get some work done.

YouTube Purge

Tonight has been busy for me, so you're going to see a reduced post. Sorry, it's the way things have to be. YouTube has begun purging lots of content from Comedy Central that was quite popular but was clearly copyrighted. It's a funny situation though because on one hand, the people watching these clips are the key demographics for these shows, but, on the other hand, someone has to pay the piper. My crazy solution: why not partner with YouTube? The Motherload is nice, but it's clearly not good enough if people are turning to YouTube. Why not put clips on YouTube instead and stick commercials for those very shows to the end of them? I know I know, advertising on YouTube is evil and blah blah blah. However, this is Comedy Central's material and they have every right to advertise on their own content if they're providing it for free, and it only makes sense that they'd try advertising for other Comedy Central programming. Who knows, they may actually already be considering this option, but for now a lot of people are likely ranting about how they have to actually watch commercial to see these great shows, and the world somehow finds a way to move on.

I like to shy away from talking about random tech products simply because there are too many out there that aren't exciting to most of you, I'm sure, but this one is really neat. It's a USB drive that serves as an FM tuner for your computer for just $20. I definitely wanted the radio while I was at work over the summer because bringing my own CDs got tiresome, and you'd be surprised how many people rely on the radio at work so I think this is a great thing. Plus, it's nice for when you're on the road with your laptop and your iPod battery dies on you. If you haven't heard of MythTV before, it's just a homebrew DVR project, and there's a quick read here on how it's so effective at skipping ads. I just find it fascinating, especially because this feature alone could ruin television as we know. I'm sure it won't because the networks aren't dumb, but just funny how easy it is. GMail may be expanding to 15 GB soon as people are reporting massive increases in their mailbox capacities, but it could just be a bug. Something to keep your eye on though. Lastly, if you haven't jumped on the FoxIt bandwagon, try Adobe's new lighter reader.

Guess what? Halo has been indefinitely postponed, which is another way of saying that it was effectively canned. I'm not too sad about it, but it does sound like it had a chance for being halfway decent. What's more interesting is that Lionsgate has already committed to Saw 4 and having it in theaters next Halloween! This series has to get old at some point, come on people. Lastly, Superman Returns is surprisingly getting a sequel. The receipts on the Singer-directed movie weren't mind-blowing or anything, but I guess it was enough to warrant a sequel with Singer still aboard though with a budget under $200 million. However will he make a movie without an unlimited supply of money?!

Now for some Monday Madness:

1. From bev:
Small town or big city?
Big city, because I like the activity.

2. From turtlemoonwave:
Do you have a favorite childhood memory, and if so, would you share it?
My childhood isn't something I enjoy remembering. If anything though, I had fun visiting my Aunt out in San Antonio though because she pampered me and I had other cousins there also.

3. From cat:
How do you calm down when something has really upset and/or angered you? Do you swallow it? Call a friend and rant? Go in the bathroom and cry? Punch a wall? Walk around muttering to yourself, complete with scary hand gestures?
Mostly cry myself to sleep. Ok, not really, I'll probably throw something that's not breakable (like a pillow) or play a really violent video game for a short while.

4. From dna princess:
What attracts you to memes?'
A chance to be introspective without having a blog that focuses on the minutia of my day-to-day life.

5. From mads:
How reliant are you on computers to get through your day?
Very. I'll leave it at that so as to not embarrass myself.

6. From tizzie:
In a crisis, are you calm or do you panic?
A little of both. If the crisis is really bad (like life/death), I'll probably panic. Usually though, I can calm myself down.

No Post Necessary

Yeah, I'm not doing this post. I was starting to write it, but then I realized that I'd be talking about total crap if I did. Other than Firefox hitting 2 million downloads in 24 hours, there wasn't much in tech news. In the box office this weekend, Saw 3 took a commanding lead with over $34 million and second place was The Departed at $9.8 million. No surprise there though, it was Halloween weekend, after all.

I'll give you some Unconscious Mutterings, too:

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

1. Costume :: Halloween


2. Beg :: Dog


3. Hottie :: Chick


4. Celebrity :: John Travolta


5. Saturday :: Night Fever


6. Buckle :: Seatbelt


7. Doorbell :: Ring


8. Rude :: Awakening


9. Absence :: of God (Rilo Kiley song)


10. Hyper :: Tension

Taking Over Television

Sorry, couldn't think of a much better topic. There's actually not much interesting news out there today, so this should be a relatively brief post. The founders of Skype are looking to develop a legal, ad-supported Internet TV network incorporating professional content from around the world. The thing is though, is there really a demand for this? I don't know that Fireant and Democracy are really growing that quickly, and people seem to be happy with their video podcasts. If they bring some really good content to the table though, it would definitely shake things up. I think there's a much stronger likelihood that bringing the Internet into the living room would find more success, which may make purchasing YouTube a decent idea, and there are a number of players poised to take over Tivo for this purpose. Google is likely the first to pop in most minds because they just acquired YouTube, but they can really afford another hefty purchase in the near future? Yahoo has shown some interest, but how much could they really bring to this market segment? Amazon has Unbox, but it would be a pretty bold decision to make such a bold move with a service that has not yet proven its full worth. I think the acquisition of Tivo by any of these companies with something to gain from digital media would be the biggest takeover in a long time, and some believe that this would lead to the Internet's hostile takeover of our living rooms as people's demand for on-demand content grows. I definitely think that within the next 5 years the network executives will lose a lot of power in deciding when people watch what shows.

People have begun receiving Core 2 Duo MacBook Pros, and it looks like they've come complete with a draft 802.11n wireless card. Plus, it seems that they're running quieter than their predecessors. In other Apple news, they've filed a patent for purchasing music wirelessly via the iPod. This could be more of a preventative feature against the Zune rather than a planned upgrade, but a good strategy nonetheless. I'm actually quite surprised that Microsoft never went for this patent to try and screw over Apple. If you want to know what direction Google is moving into, a paper detailing their goals has been leaked, but mostly pretty predictable stuff. They want to grow their ad revenue, push their communities, spread their tools, and focus on innovation, among other things. It really isn't anything too confidential, in my opinion, but I was hoping to see that they were looking for ways other than AdSense to make money. Lastly, Facebook has implemented social bookmarking, called Shares, that can act as a bookmarklet as well to share URLs and pictures and stuff with your Facebook friends. Out of all their random ideas, this is probably one of the best ones in a long while. It's quite simple and I'd say pretty useful. After all, sharing is caring.

Out of the blue, Yahoo Movies put up a teaser for Hostel: Part II, but it's really little more than a slightly creepy voiceover and a screaming man. We have the trailer for Bridge to Terabithia as well, and I was disappointed by it compared to how awesome the book is. I don't remember if I read it or not when I was little, but I definitely remember hearing great things about it. Will Ferrell is going to be in yet another comedy, this one called Semi-Pro about a washed up basketball player who comes back to coach a struggling team, but I don't see it as being all that great quite yet though. Stereogum has some pretty funny audio from Borat that I'd recommend checking out and maybe putting it on your mp3 player to spice up your next bus ride. Of course, you risk laughing out loud at random moments. Lastly, those crazy bunny animators finally made a Flash movie summing up Fight Club in 30 seconds, and it's quite a good little summary. If you haven't seen the movie though, you definitely should not watch this.

Now for Friday's Feast:

Appetizer
Create a new candle scent.
How about Mint Chocolate Delight?

Soup
Name one way you show affection to others.
Saying "sweet dreams" before they go to sleep. I obviously show affection in more ways than that, but it's different for different people whereas that one is a more general one.

Salad
What is your favorite writing instrument?
I used to like erasable pens, but I'm digging pencils more nowadays.

Main Course
If you were given $25 to spend anywhere online, from which site would you buy?
Definitely Amazon. They regularly have great deals on stuff that I want, especially CDs and DVDs.

Dessert
Are you dressing up for Halloween? If so, what are you going to be?
Yeah, I'm going to be Neo. I wanted to make my own costume, but didn't have the time. I'll come up with something better next year.

Have a great Halloween weekend everyone!

Inside the Mind of an Interviewer

It's funny, I haven't actually used the prefix of my blog name in any other posts (except to explain the origin of it), but I felt that Joel Splosky's latest post of epic proportions warranted such a title. It's the third part in a series about hiring programmers, and this one covers, you guessed it, interviewing. I think it's an awesome read for not only people in high places but also students and the unemployed looking to get a tech job because it gives you some insight into what most responsible interviewers are probably looking for. It definitely helped me reflect on my NI interview and what I could've done much better, other than getting a good night's sleep, of course. Still, I wish they would've asked me more questions that allowed me to show that I can really crack a problem apart or that would reflect how much I've done despite only 3 months of industry experience. Anyway, I definitely buy into the ideas Joel puts forth in how people should be interviewed for a tech job. It is pretty harsh, but hey, the world is harsh! I met people at TI who I don't know how they ever got a job because they either couldn't cope well with emergent problems or just had no idea how to learn and adapt. I think that those things are key, and, as Joel says, an employee has to be smart and be able to get things done. The getting things done part can definitely be trickier than it sounds, even if you're not a lazy person. Anyway, it's a good read, and a great way to try to play the system by being more prepared for your interviews.

I thought it was pretty funny that the IE team over at Microsoft actually sent the Firefox team a cake to celebrate the release of version 2.0. I guess that they were happy because IE7 was downloaded three million times within four days of its release. Now that is just a fraction of their supposed install base upgrading, but I don't think that nearly a million downloads a day is anything to scoff at. Should you be joining the upgrade bandwagon? Well, one blog actually has a nice, concise roundup of the biggest browser players in this generation of the browser wars, and I'd definitely recommend looking there first now that we're at the cornerstone of these new releases and it would be a good time to try out something new. Of course I'm going to personally recommend Firefox, but Flock looks pretty cool. Meanwhile, plans are already afoot for Firefox 3.0, with that Places features that was highly touted in the early beta of version 2.0. They're also looking to move to Cairo for graphics, which I believe is meant to provide better rendering and improved graphical capabilities. Sounds good to me, but it's still really far away. We finally have a breakthrough in speculation for the 6G iPod, and it's on the right side here. According to a patent application from Apple filed today, they're looking to secure a patent for a touch sensitive bezel to surround the display for user input rather than the direct touch-screen we had all been talking about. It sounds like a good enough idea to me, and then no one would have to worry about serious smudging or scratches from your hands. In other Apple news, they may be revealing an 8-core Mac Pro in the very near future with two quad-core Intel Xeon 5300 Clovertown chips. I'm guessing that this would cost in excess of $3000, but the power behind a machine like that almost makes me foam at the mouth. Of course it'd be most useful as a server, not as a consumer PC (though that'd be a pretty intense home computer). Lastly, here are some fancy urinals to gaze at.

Massawyrm over at AICN has seen Stranger Than Fiction and gave it the most glowing review I've seen from him in a good long while. I was just kind of interested in this movie, but now I know that I have to see it. It definitely doesn't sound like your run-of-the-mill comedy, and that's what seems to make it so great. Yahoo Movies has the trailer for Smoking Aces (in a new, prettier presentation, I might add, with more viewing choices), and it was definitely better than I expected from a movie using Ben Affleck and Alicia Keys to help sell itself. It actually has some other great actors as well, including Ray Liotta and Common, and may be an interesting action comedy (like The Big Hit, which wasn't great but was very entertaining). Lastly, Apple has the trailer for Venus, which looks like a charming, mushy film, but I worry that it may become too corny for its own good. Still, it does have Peter O'Toole.

Now for the 3x Thursday meme:

1. Do you like Halloween? Why/why not?
Oh yeah. Free candy and people in costumes? How could you not like that? Ok, so the candy isn't so free anymore, but it's still a fun occasion.

2. What did you do for Halloween as a kid?
My parents didn't like the idea of going door-to-door asking for candy, nor did they feel it was safe (which is why they never gave out candy either), so my dad took me to this church where they had games you'd play for candy. I always enjoyed it, and he would always get some pizza and share it with me and I'd get so much candy! It wasn't like what everyone else did, and my costume was always cheap and crappy, but still good memories. Thanks dad!

3. What's your favorite part of any holiday? Why?
Doing something different! Life can just suck so much out of you sometimes that we all need an outlet, and we all need things to look forward to. Having holidays to look forward to is so important, and Halloween parties are always really awesome in college. Of course this year it isn't Thanksgiving that comes next, but rather my brother's wedding! That feels so weird to say.

Bonus Question: What Halloween activities are you participating in this year?
An alumnus is throwing a costume party on Saturday, so I'm going to that for sure, and I think that TLD is having a party with HBSA somewhere on Saturday, so I'll go to that as well if it happens. I'm wondering if maybe I should go down to Bongo's on Saturday night if the party doesn't happen. Then, on Tuesday, a bunch of ACMers are going downtown in full Halloween garb. Plus, tomorrow is Big Event (big picnic thing in the park with pumpkin carving also).

New Firefox and MacBook Pro

Should I be writing this post right now? Of course not, but I missed a couple of releases yesterday that I can't just go on without briefly talking about them. Firefox 2.0 finally came out and how glorious it is! It stands 8 feet tall and has a massive-alright, you get the point, I'm low on sleep and every little thing is amazing. In all seriousness though, it's a great product. The only thing I don't like is how it automatically uninstalls Tab Mix Plus and the Session Manager add-on isn't compatible yet, so I have to crash Firefox in order to save all my tabs. Anyway, it's still definitely worth the upgrade, and I'm liking the new features that have been included standard. I also missed the release of the Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro line yesterday, and it's slightly more glorious with a 120 GB hard drive, 1GB of RAM, DVI output, FireWire 800, and a 2.16 Ghz Core 2 Duo at the minimum. With a starting price of $2,000 though, they're not exactly cheap, and I'm sure you could get it a good bit cheaper from like Dell, but then it wouldn't have all the bells and whistles and almost assuredly wouldn't be as sexy. I'd say it's a pretty solid notebook, but we'll probably see a MacBook with the same specs for cheaper in just a few months.

One more thing on Apple: did you know that Apple already released an iTV-like product about 10 years ago that they called "Apple Interactive Television Box"? I don't have anything else to say on that, I just thought it was too funny to not link to. Fox is trying to save a couple of failing shows by making them available on MySpace for free for a period of time, but this strategy makes no sense at all. They're clearly scheduling the shows so that they'll get killed and trying to save them by putting episodes on a joke of a site? Fox is so stupid sometimes, especially when there are sites like YouTube and Daily Motion around that work much better. Barenaked Ladies are selling their new album online without all that DRM crap, which I think is a great move. I think we've gotten to the point now where DRM just isn't working and the frustration it causes outweighs the minuscule amount of piracy it precludes. Lastly, I think it's pretty funny that Thompson may be indicted for contempt because of how he reacted when a judge approved Take Two's game Bully for sale. Take Two is clearly being vengeful in trying to get charges pressed against him, and I think it'd be nice for him to get a taste of his own litigious medicine.

I'm not going to spend much time here on movie news. There's a "teaser" trailer for the remake of George Romero's Day of the Dead that isn't bad but I felt bored halfway into it. Maybe it translates better on the big screen than on my computer monitor? Apple has a trailer for Eragon, I've just lost interest in these fantasy movies. Not that this movie looks bad or anything (it looks even better in HD), these fantasy flicks are just starting to blur together for me. Lastly, here's a really random picture from Shrek the Third that I have no idea what to make of:



Now for the Wednesday Mind Hump:

1. What are some of your favorite books, and why?
I'm going to leave it at Catcher in the Rye because it was the first book I read that just absolutely blew me away. There are just so many ways to pull it apart and think about it. I almost feel that there was a Holden Caulfield in me when I was growing up, and that book forced me to examine some of the problems in my life, and I just loved the writing so much.

2. How many books do you read during a typical month?
None! Too much school reading, I'm still working on Carrie.

3. Where do you buy most of your books?
Definitely online, probably more on Amazon (or an Amazon affiliate) than anywhere else, but I use book search engines to get the best deal.

4. Recommend a good book to me (and your readers).
I just got Hackers and Painters by Paul Graham, and it looks pretty stellar. Graham is just such a great essayist, and so I'd recommend the book to anyone with any interest in technology.

Substantiated Apple Rumors?

Hey, it's not my fault that there's a media bias for Apple and it forces me to talk about them a lot. This really is the most interesting news today though. A supposedly well-informed executive at Apple has confirmed a full-screen iPod and an iPhone, to come out in December 2006 and January 2007, respectively. Here to the right is the common rendering for the next-generation iPod, in case you've forgotten. Why is this palatable? He ends with something pretty convincing: Apple needs 3rd party manufacturers ready with add-ons and junk so they can whore out the Apple name for a few bucks, which adds up to big-time revenue for Apple at virtually no cost. Mac OS Ken further confirms the January target release for the iPhone with word that there's supposedly a hiring freeze at Apple to make room for the hundreds of telco managers they'll be needing. That source also claims that we'll see a 50-inch monitor early next year, which does seem a bit extravagant except for the fact that it would match the iTV quite well. So much for my belief that these rumors were all fluff, I genuinely think that we'll be seeing the iPhone early next year, so don't be so pessimistic about it (as many people I've spoken to have been). Apple wouldn't enter this market with a clear plan like when they entered the mp3 player market, so just sit tight and wait for more information about the functionality. In less surprising news, we have word that we'll see Core 2 Duo notebooks next week (at least the Pro model), in all likelihood, along with bigger hard drives, FireWire 800 support (yep, it's back), better graphics cards, and better DVD burners. That sounds like it'll just be a MacBook Pro upgrade to me, but you never know. This is the first time in a while that I've been convinced by Apple rumors though, so I felt that warranted center stage today.

Firefox 2.0 should be coming out tomorrow (I'm holding out on upgrading myself until then rather then getting RC3), and Mozilla Links actually has a really nice, easy-to-follow review of the upgrade for those of you uninformed on what has changed. I haven't seen a better organized rundown of the features before, and it's very visual. I'm still pretty impressed with the upgrade despite many of the features coming from existing add-ons available for download. Google unveiled a new Google Earth layer today that allows you to get a better perspective on candidates in this the upcoming elections across the country in an effort to get more young adults to vote with more information on the candidates. It's actually pretty neat, though only covers Congressional districts so it won't help you for state representatives and such. IBM is suing Amazon for patent infringements on some patents that are so broad I don't even know how they got them. I'm really interested to see how this battle turns out because Amazon really can't afford to lose this battle given what's being questioned. If you're curious as to how far you can push credit card fraud, you'll get a kick out of these real pranks. They'll probably end up making you worried though, which is good because we should all be careful with our plastic. Lastly, Pandora came out with a lite system tray program to stream Pandora music without having to open a web browser.

I only feel like covering a few movie things today. First thing's first: AICN spotted the first four minutes of Borat and some deleted scenes and they are absolutely hilarious. I was laughing long after I finished watching these, and I don't know how I can wait another week to see this film since I'll be going back home next weekend. Yahoo Movies has a couple of clips from Death of a President, which I only mention because I hadn't heard of this movie before but it sounds really interesting. Lastly, what happened with Halo? Universal and Fox simply felt that they were getting screwed on the deal but Microsoft is stingy and doesn't want to budge. Do they think they're crapping gold or something? It's a video game, not an Academy Award contender.

Now for some Monday Madness:

1. From: cassie:
Dramas or comedies?
Usually comedies, but I rewatch dramas more than anything else.

2. From: nutmegnine:
Your neighbor has frequent noisy parties on nights before you need to get up early. Do you confront him directly, call the police, call your landlord, join in the debauchery, or seethe quietly and do nothing?
I'd probably join in the debauchery if they were cool, or else I'd just talk to him politely. I think it's a pissy thing, especially in Austin, to call the cops without confronting them first.

3. From sherle:
Are you more comfortable in big crowds or small groups?
Small groups in general, but I'm not opposed to big crowds really either. I wouldn't be at UT if I were.

4. From zeno:
Do you prefer Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox?
Firefox. Anyone who supports IE is a nutjob (unless they're already on IE 7 and it's really that good).

5. From briar:
They say you learn something new every day. What new thing did you learn today?
I learned that a number of the questions on my sample Probability test are in the book, which is great because he's a jerk and didn't give us the answers.

Firefox Steals IE 7's Thunder

There's very little good news out there today, which is great because I'd like to get a solid 7 hours of shut eye in tonight since I was too busy enjoying the weekend to sleep enough. Club party on Friday could've gone better, but still a great night going out with ACMers, and the LAN Party on Saturday was great also topping it off with a nice lunch today with my cousin and a real fun TLD practice (when are they not fun?). As you can tell, Elton is back to normal again (especially with more parties this weekend). Anyway, IE 7 may be out, but it's only making businesses more supportive of Firefox. Why? Because IE 7 is not guaranteed to be stable on XP, so they're going to hold out for Vista. Instead, they're allowing employees to install Firefox, which could lead to people sticking to it even when IE 7 is allowed. It's kind of surprising that the IE team didn't see this coming. If they did, are they really confident enough that they're not concerned with more Firefox downloads by high-profile customers? This isn't to say that Firefox will rule the corporate world by any means, but if it's getting through to companies that never supported it before, could this be the start of a wider movement against IE? Or will it die off with the release of Vista? Only time will tell (and probably smartass pundits who think they know it all).

Like I said, not much news going on. Roughly Drafted put up an interesting look at why Apple failed before Steve Jobs took the reigns again, and I think it's definitely important for us to recall these failings, especially those of us moving on to work for high-profile technology companies. Apple was not the only company to make many of these mistakes, but hopefully no one else will repeat them. If you're looking for some popular torrents, Torrop is a gradually growing site that aims to be the Digg for torrents. Lastly, a new simpler dating site is out there that I'm mentioned because I think the idea is kind of interesting: it's called yesnomayB. Basically, you vote on who you would, wouldn't, or might date and then sets you up with the people who choose you also. So much easier to understand than eHarmony or any of these other crazy sites, and it just sounds like something so obvious that it would work well.

The weekend box office was ruled by The Prestige with $14.8 million, but I was really hoping it would make more. What was really impressive was that The Departed managed to cling to the #2 spot with just about a million bucks less. Clint Eastwood's Flags of our Fathers only managed to rake in $10.2 million, and Marie Antoinette tanked with just over $5 million. I wonder how Saw 3 will fare this Halloween weekend?

Before I wrap up here, I found a postcard that represents someone I know, who will remain nameless, so well that I just couldn't resist posting it here:



Now for some Unconscious Mutterings:

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

1. Stuff :: Magazine


2. Block :: Jenny from the


3. Ingredient :: Cooking


4. Flagrant :: Foul


5. Dandruff :: Hair


6. Betty :: Boop


7. Tide :: Cheer


8. Judges :: Jury


9. Take it easy :: Dude


10. Chef :: Boyardee

The post wouldn't be complete if I did remark how great it is that Texas actually moved up two spots in the BCS rankings. Woot woot!