Category: gadgets

i-whatever

Is anyone else tired of hearing about the iphone?  Whoopee, so what you are buying a 2nd generation phone that should have been a 1st generation phone.  I’ll grant you it’s ‘purdy.  It still only does half the shit my Wing does. [1]Shhhh, don’t tell Adam, they went out and got one each today.  I was absolutely shocked (read tickled pink) when I read today Apple deliberately limited sales thru shitty Cingular  ‘the new AT&T’ stores.  For a company that totes their iphone as "the best new invention of the millennium", they sure are going to a lot of effort.  One would think a product that good would sell itself.  I’m just sayin’.

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The 4-day weekend is coming to a close.  I didn’t do a thing.  Probably a good thing as I wasn’t overly chipper at wasting a long weekend.  Surprisingly, all of my other friends were busy. (Doesn’t it always work out that way? lol)

Friday was a blur.  I did get a few chores done.  Beyond that, most of the day was spent catching up on Tivo and playing Darkness on the 360. 

Saturday, I drug myself out of the house to go see Hellboy II.  Overall, I enjoyed it.  The CGI and cinematography was excellent.  I ended up running into roblog, Chuck and their friend Jeff.  They, like fools, sat with me.  The movie started late so we amused ourselves by geeking out and torturing Chuck in the process.  Anyway, if you liked the first one you’ll like this one.  The only part I didn’t like was the comedic banter.  They added a tad too much in my opinion.  It took away from the plot development. 

Today, I expected to wait around most of the day waiting on Comcast again. [2]They had to come back out to fix the problem they were supposed to fix last time. Imagine my surprise when they showed up on time.  I made it to the gym and got a good arm workout in.  The only other noteworthy occurrence was a hottie who normally ignores me said hello.  It was kinda odd.  The guy almost always seems to avoid me.  Of course, afterwards I wondered what exactly had changed.  Drove me nuts. 

Tomorrow, I’m supposed to meet w/the tattoo guy to talk about my new tattoo.  I’m almost finished with the design.  I need some ideas from him for filler hence, the meeting.  This guy is probably fed up with me by now but he hides it well. lol 

How was your weekend?

References

References
↑1 Shhhh, don’t tell Adam, they went out and got one each today.
↑2 They had to come back out to fix the problem they were supposed to fix last time.

Geek Out

I had a chance to use the Amazon Kindle the other day and I was pleasantly surprised. [1]I was reminded after writing a commentary on one of the geek sites I follow  The "e-ink" or display was amazing.  It was better than reading print as the clarity was stunning.  There was no screen buzz or flicker that comes w/most electronic display devices, which often leads to eye strain.  The font size is adjustable too.  Surprisingly, there was no backlight feature either.  I sort of expect that however, after some thought, this makes sense.  A backlight can cause text to wash out at times for people w/poor eyesight.

Figuring out the features and function was pretty straight forward.  It was obvious considerable effort was put into usability.  However, the page forward/back buttons were a tad too convenient.  I kept bumping them every time I moved the device around.  I also found the overall feel of the device a bit clunky.  It was light but took some getting use to.  I expected the screen size to be bigger too.  The actual screen was probably about the same size as your average paperback. 

The biggest downer is the price.  It was ridiculously over-priced.  Being a geek, there are some devices that I just consider a "must have" and will rush right out and buy.  Not so in this case.  It is more of a convenience than anything else.  I also think the average user won’t be a technophile like myself.  Hence, the price will be a big turn off to the book worm crowd.  I know for myself it will need come down in price significantly before I make the switch.  For power readers, it might sense however, I only read on average about 5-7 books a year. 

I’m a big supporter of e-books as it will allow us to ween ourselves off our dependence on paper. [2]We are destroying our rainforests  Plus being able to carry 200 books around with you is pretty damn appealing.  Barring portability and flexibility issues on copies, I think overall the industry is off to a good start.

References

References
↑1 I was reminded after writing a commentary on one of the geek sites I follow
↑2 We are destroying our rainforests

Weekend In Review IV

What did I do this weekend? [1]besides being a pig.   I ended up playing Uno w/Brettcajun on the Xbox.  I can advise Brett is just as competitive at playing Uno as is at tennis. lol  He was determined to play till he got a couple wins under his belt.  He did finally.  I introduced him to a couple of my XBL [2]Xbox Live buddies.  One, from the UK and one from Boston.  It was fun.  I love Uno and playing with friends is even better.  Most of all, I loved watching Brett squirm.  I also knocked off a few games w/my buddy kristaki.  He got served on Call of Duty 4.  heehee

I also caught up on a lot of Tivo. [3]Oh yes, I was very productive  New stuff, I had 5 Battlestar Galactica, 3 Dr Who, and 5 South Park episodes.  Reruns, I had 5 ST: Voyager and 4 Stargate: Atlantis episodes.  BG is good but a bit extreme if you ask me.  They are really trying to go out with a bang.  Dr Who is constantly evolving.  I don’t like the new sidekick as much but she is growing on me.  I hope they bring Rose back.  South Park was, well South Park. lol

I was a dirty pig more than a few times to say the least.  Details forthcoming.

TFA isn’t feeling so well this week.  He had a crown replaced and had some severe pain afterwards.  Of course, the dentist office was closed over the weekend.  I felt so bad for him having to fly all over creation with a sore tooth.  Seems he is a bit better today if not a little worn out.  He always teases me because I always say my weekends are "uneventful".  lol 

Oh, I also moved all my pics over from picasa to flickr.  flickr has become just so damn handy, I couldn’t resist.  I inadvertently left some safety settings open though and got an stern scolding email.  Ooops.  All the tweaking, sorting, and labeling was a bit tedious but would been regardless of what I was using.  I didn’t realize how many damn pics I had to sort thru.  I’ve only uploaded a fraction so far.  Overall, I’m happy w/flickr but I still don’t like the idea of someone else controlling my data.  I can always delete’em if I don’t like it. 

Tomorrow, I have to be up at daylight thirty as I’m teaching again this week.  Thankfully, I had a hard ass workout today and feeling a bit sleepy.  I’m still gonna be dead on my feet come 1700 hours.  Oy!

References

References
↑1 besides being a pig.
↑2 Xbox Live
↑3 Oh yes, I was very productive

Micro-Hell!

If you missed my twitter update, my Xbox 360 promptly died again yesterday. Needless to say I was furious. I spent 45 minutes on the phone this morning chewing MS a new asshole. The first rep had the audacity to sound annoyed that I wasn’t willing to wait 3-4 more weeks to ship it back again.

After promptly reminding him how much I spent on the console and the lack of service, I asked for his supervisor. Said person was equally unhelpful. Another 20 minutes later, he tells me they will send me a new one but only after I wait for them to ship me a return box for the old one. I’m leary of that happening however, with no other recourse, I’m stuck waiting. He did say he entered an official complaint to MS at my request. I doubt that will go anywhere.

MS got huge points for their XBL [1]Xbox live service however, their tech support rivals that of Sony. Unproductive, uncaring, and a flat out waste of time. If it weren’t for so many games jumping over to the MS camp, I’d probably give it up after my experience today.

I got unlucky enough to get one of the defective batches. MS has already corrected the error in newer models however, it does nothing to make me a return customer.

References

References
↑1 Xbox live