Music feeds the sould and drains the wallet

http://www.lifehacker.com/software/pda/12-killer-apps-for-palm-pdas-210731.php

Something caught my eye in these "killer" apps-- a deluxe version of the media player that ships with Palms. It costs $34.95, just so you can play PlaysForSure DRM'ed music. So... you pay $5 a month for Yahoo music (will this play on Zune?), and $34.95 to listen to it on your Palm? How nickel-and-dime is that? It's like a bully shaking you down for lunch money.

I'm still dying to get a PC (or convert this VAIO) set up to digitalize my old analog collection. Really I want a total analog-to-digital converter, something I've lusted after for years. I've cobbled together dozens of cheap attempts. Something like a Plusdeck for cassettes, preamp for vinyl (plus a sweet table, but that's a dream, eh?), video inputs, etc... It's gotta be cheap to do this now, but a few years ago it was outrageous.

Operate Your Own Tokamak Reactor!

Aka: The Internet as Plasma

OK, I stumbled upon this cool Tokamak Reactor sim that lets you play scientist, trying to make plasma (as in, physics plasma, not the blood type). And I was thinking of the internet as a plasma.

"Plasmas are conductive assemblies of charged particles, neutrals and fields that exhibit collective effects. Further, plasmas carry electrical currents and generate magnetic fields." --Perspectives on Plasmas from plasmas.org

Internet phenoms like Google are steady-state hotspots, a little cyclical, but trending upwards right now. Like a hotspot on the Sun. Still, there's a lot of matter there in the Sun, that big ball of plasma, but it's so big and energized, good luck keeping it all straight (like our slow friend Solid matter).

Does that mean finally understanding chaos will enable us to predict the success of poor Ginger, out there, alone as a little ball of energized electrons? I hope so.

Fsck you Sony!

Wow. I was jazzed about possibly being able to somehow justify a Nintendo DS. I don't have video iPod, so I was going to get the Lik-Sang distributed MPEG player for Nintendo gear... Until Sony-EFFIN-Stupidco ruined it. Their heavy-handed tactics (all in the name of "good for the consumer" naturally) has put Lik-Sang out of business.

Here I hated Sony bad enough. To take such a wonderful company down such a terrible path these last few years has been bad. But to piss, shit, throw gas on us and light us all on fire like this? WOW. I haven't seen this kind of arrogance from a company-- EVER. Microsoft looks like Bare Bones software, and McArthy looks like Jerry Brown compared to Sony. Just unbelievable.

Here's hoping we won't ever hear from them again. BOOOO!

http://www.engadget.com/2006/10/24/lik-sang-com-shut-down-by-sony-lawsuits/

http://games.slashdot.org/games/06/10/24/1453233.shtml

Armchair Evil Scientist

This makes total sense:
http://www.engadget.com/2006/10/23/inventors-claim-to-turn-300-microwaves-into-megawatt-energy-weap/

If you know anything about how microwaves work, and a little physics, you'll be slapping your forhead, like DUH! Why didn't I think of that? Brilliant. The comments are funny too!

Another day, another site with invites-only participation

Lame lame lame lame lame lame lame. This will probably bar me from ever being able to comment on Lifehacker, but I just went over to comment on their Halloween post (which I found on Netscape, BTW), and gues what? They've been Voxed. Yep, now you have to be "invited" to comment. WTF? Doesn't that defeat the purpose of blog comments? I understand moderating, or some way of filtering the crap, but invites? They make the excuse that they don't want to spend their lives moderating comments on their FAQ, but I gotta call bullshit on that one. I mean, that is your damn job!... Well, that and creating great content, which Lifehacker certainly does.

Anyway, the post was about making a cool Haunted House, and I tried to submit that I'd posted something similar a year ago on Download Squad. Since DLS kinda competes, I highly doubt it'll make it to the comments...

Woz at Microsoft

I'm reading David Weiss's blog (he's a developer with MS's MacBU) and he has some quick notes from hearing Woz speak at Microsoft... One thing caught my attention, how Woz says he could "build anything for free." Back in those days, you literally could replicate chips yourself, using transistors and breadboard kits, because there were so few transistors on the chips!

Funnier still, it makes me think of Bill and Paul, slogging away with that Intel manual, building it themselves too (software this time, of course)... All those guys wanted their own computers too, and conspired to make it happen.

Their drive and sense of fun and wonder is what made them successful. Well, timing didn't hurt. But I tried to impart this to my students. Many came from difficult backgrounds-- either poverty, family issues, personal problems, whatever. Despite this, many made it through, and the common factor? Those same qualities: drive, curiosity, and a sense of fun. Cuz it's all a game folks. ;-)

Woz at Microsoft

I'm reading David Weiss's blog (he's a developer with MS's MacBU) and he has some quick notes from hearing Woz speak at Microsoft... One thing caught my attention, how Woz says he could "build anything for free." Back in those days, you literally could replicate chips yourself, using transistors and breadboard kits, because there were so few transistors on the chips!

Funnier still, it makes me think of Bill and Paul, slogging away with that Intel manual, building it themselves too (software this time, of course)... All those guys wanted their own computers too, and conspired to make it happen.

Their drive and sense of fun and wonder is what made them successful. Well, timing didn't hurt. But I tried to impart this to my students. Many came from difficult backgrounds-- either poverty, family issues, personal problems, whatever. Despite this, many made it through, and the common factor? Those same qualities: drive, curiosity, and a sense of fun. Cuz it's all a game folks. ;-)

Digital distro

You know, it amazes me. Digital distribution of media is totally viable. Yet we're still chopping down trees to make tech mags. Hopefully the new ebook readers coming out this season (or the next, I'm eternally optimistic) will help with that. Of course, in typical fashion, I'm sure the library of MEDIA isn't lined up.

In other words, Sony and others will magically appear with these readers, there will be content for them, but it won't be like the iTunes store... it'll feature 200% more suck, and never be open in any real form. Sure, people like Torrone will hack it, force-feeding it hand-wrought XML to display RSS feeds or video (snicker), but the average jackass won't buy into them. Yet.

Now, if these boneheads would go out and forge some REAL connections in the industry, as Apple did when they launched iTMS, then you'd see some traction. WSK, NYT, etc. will be available, sure, but what about the latest romance novels or Weekly World News? You offer those, the masses will appear in droves. Seriously.

Behold the power of ebay!

I truly believe ebay is being crushed by its own weight. Not Myspace problems, like bad code propogating among crappy servers, or digg problems, like trolls, but popularity problems and the issue of too much choice. Case in point: a man sold an xmas gift for only $450...

The "gift" in question? One of those TMX Elmo's, delivered by Santa himself. Well, the guy dressed as Santa. The bids were supposed to cover travel expenses, but unless he can catch a train, I'd say he's screwed. WTF? $450 for a personal visit by Santa to deliver the hottest toy of the year?

Try selling something basic on ebay. You're likely to not even get any bids at all. We were early adopters of the whole ebay thing, and have sold everything from toys, clothes, a Canon XL1, and even a Ford Galaxie... and yes, there is still opportunity and capability in ebay. Unfortunately, for the average dork, it's still a crap shoot. How is this not online gambling?

30 Rock's oven

'30 Rock' is my favorite show of the new season. My wife has been recording a bunch of new stuff, slowly filtering through it ('The Nine' just got cancelled by us)... but I've only got time to squeeze in Adult Swim's newest (which is terribly difficult), 'Lost', and one comedy... I've been trying to follow others, like the walk-n-talk latest from Sorkin, but really wanted a nice 30-min. comedy that DIDN'T conflict with 'Lost.'

So 30 Rock is the winner, and not just because, like every erudite male within 1,000 miles of a coastline, I have a crush on Tina Fey. No, 30 is a fantastic blend of comic book, 60's sitcom, and witty inside joke. Many shows, Sorkin's included, have tried this matter. I happened to like the one Jay Mohr was in a few years ago, but average viewers find it too Hollywood. Tina and her team have done a great job of balancing the writing, and creating a stable of wonderful characters. Having a top-notch cast doesn't hurt, either. Tracy Morgan is one of my favorites.

Anyway, Adjab pointed out there was an odd sort of product placement in the premiere. The foil, Alec Baldwin, makes a big deal of this oven he's created-- one that uses 3 types of heat to cook. When I first watched, I thought it was a joke. Microwaves in an oven? Would that cause fires with metal baking pans? But apparently some markets then got a commercial for the Trivecta... I just looked, and the damn thing is called Trivection, it's a tech, not really a particular oven. Hell, they even have a tiny plug for 30 Rock on their Triveciton page! Wow. I'd heard this was coming, embedding ads within a show, but wow.

And you know what? I'm OK with this. Years ago I would have probably been incensed. But this was well-done, almost tongue-in-cheek. It is a cool technology, and GE knows that 30's audience skews college-educated and upwardly-mobile. Let's face it, this IS the future. Google, and everyone else, are poised to really start monetizing all these internet video deals. If that means more targeted ads for things I might use, I'm OK with that too.

Or perhaps it doesn't seem so bad when Tina does it? Anyway, this little scene sets up a lot of the action, but it gets much better once Tracy shows up.

Fried mac and cheese

Just saw an ad for TGI Friday's... did I just see someone opening a ball of fried macaroni and cheese? Good gravy. My kids would LOVE that. So would I. But then, I could eat an entire jar of peanut butter...

I've always thought an entire restaurant of fried stuff would do well. But then, like Baskin and Robbins, I'd end up in rich man's hell.

Please help

Robert Anton Wilson, author of 'Cosmic Trigger' and the 'Illuminatus Trilogy' is ailing, and needs rent money to stay under a roof. Sad days when we treat brilliant minds like this, but writing is hard, thankless work (I wouldn't know anything about that). Robert certainly helped imbue me with a sense of wonder and mystery about technology and the mind, people and society. Never mind his humor and vision.

Here's the story, with a link to the Paypal where you can donate.

Robert Anton Wilson Needs Our Help

Lego iPod stand

IMG_0917.JPG
Originally uploaded by superpixel.

I forgot just how awesome Lego's are. My kids are too young to play with the "big kid" version, and I'm unable to build anything useful with Duplo. So here's what I did with a Star Wars set-- one of the cheapo ones, very few bricks. I can't wait to actually build something cool with them... Going to download that app that'll let me design a proper dock, and order a custom set.