True Stories: Talking Heads

If you want to experience a bit of David Byrne in 1986, get your hands on a copy of "True Stories: Talking Heads" (the movie). If you have Netflix, it's in the Watch Instantly selection. If you are uneasy about humanity today, just imagine feeling that way since '86. It is written in a musical style that I really like, a sad love story, and great commentary from David Byrne himself. Needless to say, this movie is already one of my favorites of all time. Watch it. Let me know what you think.

Welcome to the South

I'm not sure about you, but this just doesn't look like justice. I guess if this guy wasn't "retarded" he could have stood trial. Instead, he has just sat in jail for 14 years. So much for the pursuit of happiness.

The "Completed" Media Center

As you know from previous posts, and the overall buzz of this on the internet, Apple gave me $100 dollars to spend on more Apple stuff. I guess that was enough to push me to invest in another mac. Now there is a Mac mini connected to the 1080p HDTV in the livingroom. And boy is it awesome. I'll answer the first question that I wanted to know for a while. Does this thing play 1080p H.264 video? The answer. Yes. But keep in mind we got the 2.0GHz Core 2 Duo model with 2GB of RAM. It is now the heart of my entertainment center, pretty much does everything I needed, records my vinyl collection, holds the lossless music for the livingroom, streams my large library of mp3's from the den (which is managed separately for my iPod, and iPhone). Also, I am running XP on the mini, so I can watch instantly with Netflix. I don't have a tuner to turn it into a DVR yet, but I haven't been too tempted by any shows on OTA HD to really care to record it. But I have heard good things about Elgato's stuff. Maybe I'll turn into a TV fan someday, but for now, Netflix fits the bill.

There is a pretty decent selection of 720p and 1080p free video available for download now, especially since Apple doesn't force you to wait for quicktime to download the movie while you wait with the app open anymore. If you navigate to the iTunes music store "movies" section, scroll down to "Theatrical Trailers" in on the bottom left pane. Image below for better clarity of my description.









They have a good selection of HD trailers that download as Video Podcasts, and I like it.

Another good video aggregator (actually way better in my opinion as far as video for viewing on your PC) is Miro. Great interface, easy to manage media (aside from how separated it is from Front Row, maybe a different post though), and a great selection of RSS feeds with tons of great content. HD content is easily browsable from the Miro Guide, unlike iTunes where I feel like they don't really want people to find the HD stuff.

To conclude, Linux is out of my house, not because I don't like it, just because it doesn't do what I need to do. I have a few old computers that could be used for single tasks with linux, but that's about it.

Leave a comment if you have any ideas/suggestions or things you do with your own.

Old, bald and M$FT

I am having trouble thinking of anyone in such a high paid, cushy position as this dude in the photo above. With enough cash at hand to choke China, and with as little brains as a donkey, this guy is hanging by a thread. He even predicted the failure of the iPhone. I haven't heard much from him since this interview. Ugh, old dudes in the tech industry, get a clue.

How I feel.

I hate Mike Love. It's just every once in a while I get upset about his influence on music, and tonight is one of them. Every time I think about what the world could have been like if SMiLE had been released in the 1960s rather than the 2000s, I just get dissapointed. Oh well.

If I ever hear Kokomo, I bawl my eyes out.

iPod Touch Review

The iPod Touch is here, and for some, exactly what they were waiting for. From my perspective, it is a bit of a let down though, especially compared to the iPhone. Ok, for starters, 16GB is small. Not bad. Just small. A HDD version? The iPod classic is a large device, and really lacks any appeal other than a huge HDD. But this isn't really the big problem with the Touch.

The big problem with the iPod Touch is the lack of an external speaker. Seriously, wtf. Yeah, maybe the device would have been 1mm thicker, or whatever the reason, this is a HUGE shortcoming. You have YouTube, Music, Videos in your pocket and the only way to show them to someone is to let them jam your earbuds into their ears. Gross. Lame. I'm sure this will probably be fixed in future models, but maybe not. Maybe iPod's were never meant to have speakers. Maybe iPod isn't meant to be used by people who want to share with others. I can't even tell you how often I have pulled up a video, song or whatever to show someone or let them HEAR something on my iPhone.

This shortcoming, along with the small storage capacity and no tactile volume controls, makes the iPod Touch a crappy choice between holding ALL of your music and video with a small screen to watch it on, or a small peared down version of your music and video with a beautiful screen that ONLY YOU can really enjoy (unless you carry large headphones everywhere with you, or don't mind other people's earwax).

Just a disclaimer to anyone who might take this seriously, I have yet to touch the Touch.

Apple is crazy, and awesome.

Unbelievably, Apple listened to all the whiny complaints from iPhone early adopters such as myself. Apparently, they didn't take my explicit advice, but actually surpassed it. $100 Apple dollars. I cannot think of another occasion in the tech industry where this has happened. Prices always go down. But as I said previously, there seemed to be no incentives to early adoption, especially since so much was promised to be delivered in future software updates.

In other iPhone news: there has been a lot of buzz about free ringtones. Its true, and friggin easy to get them on your phone. Engadget has covered it the best here. Apple even patched iTunes in the last 24 hours to do what seemed like stop this workaround, but its been worked around again. All I have to do is make 100 free ringtones, and I have made the rest of my early adopter tax back. WOOHOO.

iPhone Story

This is the letter I left with Apple today, when I saw their "Share your iPhone Story" section on apple.com

I purchased the iPhone on the day it was launched: I was very excited. Above all, it has been the best cell phone, internet device, PDA, iPod that I have ever owned. I was also very interested in what would be next as far as new features and applications delivered through iTunes software updates.

However, I am a bit disappointed now that the only real new features (iTunes Wifi Store, and Ringtones) have been announced only to a $200 price drop! As far as I see it, I have had the privilege to use this fantastic device for the past 69 days, but it seems a rather stiff "early adopter tax" granted that no new apps or features were delivered until this announcement. I understand Apple stands to make a profit on the products they sell, but this seems a bit out of the ordinary. It seems even Wall Street took this price drop the wrong way (AAPL is -5.13% in the wake of this announcement), even though the sales figures tell a much different story.

As a long term customer, I am accustomed to product refreshes, and price drops (I purchased the iMac G5 iSight only to see the iMac Core Duo released soon after), but this feels different. Even seeing this "iPhone Story" section today, rather than yesterday, prompted me to write a complaint, rather than a glowing review and even an insightful story about the devices functionality that would improve the product.

My thoughts of what a fair "gift" to iPhone early adopters are probably out of place, but I have planned to own my iPhone through the 2 year service contract with AT&T (as I'm sure is echoed by most of us early adopters). In light of that, I feel that giving a complementary Apple Care Plan to early adopters would be the best gift. I feel it is a win-win from both sides. I have my perfect phone for 2 years worry free, and it remains in the public eye (free advertising) for Apple for those 2 years. Additionally, this could be done silently or publicly by Apple, and would be communicated by word of mouth by the users who received this "gift".

Please feel free to contact me about my story, I would like to discuss.