Innertubing

CBS has launched it's own streaming video content website called innertube. The site will feature replays of CBS shows and some original content.

Predictions Of The Future

"The Macintosh uses an experimental pointing device called a 'mouse.' There is no evidence that people want to use these things."

-- John C. Dvorak, San Francisco Examiner, 19-02-1984

ASCII Maps

Sure, Google Maps is a cool thing but now we have the ability to view the maps as ASCII art. This harkens back to the days when people would make pictures out of letters.

Check out ASCII Maps for more of what I'm talking about.

Original Star Wars On DVD

Way back when, record engineer Glyn Johns helped make The Beatles' "Let It Be" album. The project got shelved and for some reason, Capitol brought in Phil Spector to re-produce the album. Johns over the years said that Spector came in, took what he did and simply puked all over it. Listen to the originally released version of "Let It Be" and the recently released Glyn Johns version, "Let It Be: Naked," and you'll hear what we're talking about.

George Lucas pretty much did the same thing but with his own original Star Wars trilogy. Rather than simply transfer the movies to DVD, he redid many scenes and special effects. Die-hard fans viewed the re-working as garbage.

Rant no longer ye Star Wars fans for great joy is at hand! For a limited time only, September 12 through December 31, you will be able to purchase two disc sets of the theatrical release versions of the original three movies (Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi). The first disc contains the theatrical release while the second one contains the re-tooled version.

SOURCE

No Place To Go With An iPod

I read at TUAW.com a report about two trapped miners in Tasmania. While they have been stuck down there for eight days, thankfully, rescue efforts are going well and the miners should be out in roughly 48 hours. In the meantime, rescue crews used a PVC pipe to send in food, blankets and clothes along with several iPods to help the trapped miners while away the hours.

"They remain in good health and have now received iPods so they can listen to their favourite music."

A digital camera was also sent down so the miners could take pictures to show their surroundings and what is going on.

So instead of wondering what songs or albums you'd want to be stuck with on a deserted island, it's all about being stuck 3 miles under the Earth. Hopefully they got iPods that can play video.

Let Your Fingers Do The Walking

In last night's episode of The Sopranos, titled "Johnny Cakes," Vito, who was hiding from Tony's gang, stole a cell phone belonging to a guest in the bed and breakfast he was staying at in New Hampshire to call his wife back in New Jersey.

Why steal a cell phone rather than using a public telephone? With cell phones anymore, there is no such thing as a long distance call. Of course, if Vito had a calling card, using the public telephone would not have been an issue. Nonetheless, this was yet another sign of the technological times.

So far, part one of the final season of The Sopranos has been excellent. Once again, HBO shines over most mainstream media programming. Exceptions, in my opinion, would be Battlestar Galactica and Law & Order (Law & Order: Special Victims Unit is besting the original series, Criminal Intent and Conviction right now).

CNN Late To The Story

"Viruses catch up to the Mac" declared the CNN.com story about "what security experts call the first virus for Mac OS X." Only problem is, the reporter of this story was asleep at the wheel on several counts.

First, according to TUAW.com, the unnamed virus was the Ooma-Loompa virus that was first reported back in February. Second, the Ooma-Loompa virus was a proof-of-concept that a security leak existed, which has since been shored up. Third, the story only mentioned two people being affected by the virus, hardly newsworthy and sounding more like a couple of guys hanging around the house looking for a story to write to fill a quota of sorts.

This is yet another example of how the general news media (CNN and other broadcast networks as well as many newspapers) messes up computer related news stories.

Another example. There was a headline which talked about the Ipod. Uhhh, it's an iPod. Another story wrote about a computer company called Apple Computers. A little bit of research at http://www.apple.com would show that the company's name is Apple Computer, Inc. It's right at the bottom of the main page.

Indeed, grammatical and spelling errors occur. I'm guilty of them myself. But to see something of a pattern in regard to regular news media versus news media related to computers...argh!

TurboTax Blog

The Tax Man has come and gone this year but it's never too late to start planning for 2006 taxes. The Intuit folks have set up a pretty darn informative weblog for TurboTax that is seriously worth checking out.

If you have Quicken and TurboTax but haven't really delved into setting up all the various categories for transactions, now is also a good time to do so and tag all your transactions to help speed up the tax form process. TurboTax can import Quicken data. I've never done this before so that's definitely a project for me this Summer, aside from maybe trying to dig into the Lord of the Ring trilogy.

Killing The Revolution

Nintendo has been working on a new videogame system which has gone by the name of "Revolution." Today, they announced the product's release name....Wii.

Yeah, that's what I said too.

Wii as in We, not Wee or Why. Why? Because we like it...not. Revolution was a better name.

Trust me, the online discussion boards are ripping this apart and coming up with phrases to show this was a really bad idea. Some are simply too naughty to print here.

Best. Cereal. Toy. Prize. Ever.

When I was a kid, we'd buy cereal based on what the cool toy prize was inside. Based on that, I should be eating Cheerios, Cookie Crisp, Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Lucky Charms. For a limited time, iTunes Gift Certificates will be included in specially-marked boxes. This is all part of General Mills' Big Groove promotion. (source)

Too bad I'm cutting down on sugar.

One should probably chalk this up to yet another sign of the times and another indicator that the iPod has reached commonality.

Another sign o' the times? Apple is warning of counterfeit iPods. (source 1) (source 2)

3-Iron

While channel surfing the other night, I stopped on one of the movie channels showing a scene in which a guy was picking a lock to a house in the proper manor (not in the usual movie fashion of using one lock picking "knife", You actually use several.) Intrigued, I contined watching.

The movie, a Korean film with English subtitles, is called "Bin-jip" and known as "3 Iron" or "Empty Houses" overseas.

The guy breaks into the house and stays there for a few days, while the occupants are away on vacation. He makes meals, fixes things, keeps the place clean but steals nothing. He does this several more times during the film.

During one break-in, he stumbles upon a woman, sitting and crying. She has bruises on her face. During their encounter, not a word is spoken. In point of fact, not a word was spoken in the film up to this point, that I had been watching. The guy befriends the woman, helps to cheer her up and she eventually joins him on his breaking-and-entry spree until he ultimately gets caught and sent to prison.

At first look, it is a very quirky film. On deeper viewing, it is very intriguing with a very sad and touchy romantic story. Readers at the Internet Movie Database, gave the movie an 8 out of 10. I definitely concur.

The last non-English film I watched was "Dark Blue World" about a Czech pilot flying for the RAF during WWII. Both are great movies and worthy of viewing, even if you have to do a lot of English subtitle reading.

What's In A Name? Everything!

I am of the mindset that when you name your kids, you have to put some serious, serious thought behind it. Put it this way, look at the names of some of the famous people out there: Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchill, Oprah Winfrey, Susan B. Anthony, Georges Seurat.

General William Tecumseh Sherman's middle name comes from the name of a famous Native American chief and it's so strong that it's worthy to have the great general's name completely spelled out.

So what the heck is up with Hollywood folks? Tom Cruise and his wife gave birth to a girl and named her Suri. Brooke Shields gave birth, hours before Tom and Katie, to a boy named Grier Hammond, which sounds a bit more realistic than Suri.

I wonder if Dweezil or Moon Unit have second thoughts about the names their late father, Frank Zappa gave them.

Sure, it's probably all that creativity stuff but hey, if you're going to throw caution to the wind with naming the child, why not go for something like Ocean, Boat or even Disney?

UPDATE - From Tom and Katie's prepared statement..."Both mother and daughter are doing well The name Suri has its origins in Hebrew, meaning “princess,” or in Persian, meaning 'red rose.'"

I suppose the meaning is OK but I can only imagine Suri Cruise going through life known as Surly Cruise or Sordid Cruise. Ocean or Boat might have been better. Seriously.

BSG & HSB

Ron Moore, producer of SciFi Channel's Battlestar Galactica, has been answering viewer questions in his blog. Here's an interesting one:

"Ron, on another board we've been having a discussion about the comparisons between Galactica and Hill Street Blues, which just came out on DVD (Season One). How much of a conscious foundation is HSB for BG?"

Hill Street Blues was definitely something of an archetype we looked to for developing the structure of the series. I made explicit reference to the show in our series bible and talked about how we would strive to emulate their structure as much as possible. That structure was, basically, to have a self-contained A-Story that would begin and end each week, with smaller character-centered B-Stories that would take place over a few episodes, and finally long-running C-Stories that would arc throughout the season. It was a starting place for a lot of story discussions and script meetings, but we didn't strictly adhere to the form, as you can see from the experimentation we did throughout the first season. The first seven episodes of season two roughly follow this format, but then we varied again from that structure for the rest of the season. Why didn't we hew more closely to the Hill Street format? Partly it's a result of not wanting the show to get so serialized as to be inaccessible to new viewers, and partly it's a result of continually wanting to try new things on the show and mix up the story-telling.

Hill Street Blues was an incredibly innovative television series and can probably stand as one of the five best American television series. I bought the season 1 DVD set and found it remarkable as to how well the show stands up to today, except for maybe the 1980s hairstyles.

Is the new Battlestar Galactica amongst the 10 best ever? Hard to say but it is, of the current shows on television, in my opinion, one of the top 10.

I Didn't Say That Or It Was Out Of Context

I love it when politicians and celebrities blab and say something they really shouldn't have and then fall over themselves as they offer excuses whilst pulling that foot out of the mouth. Truly embarassing. Best example to date is when Michael Douglas said this to GQ magazine about Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's romance:

“leaving that beautiful woman (Jennifer Aniston) to go hold orphans for Angelina. I mean how long is that going to last?”

Now, of course, Douglas claims he never said that.

“I didn’t say it,” he told Entertainment Tonight. “I spent a number of hours in that interview, a lot of it on tape and when I asked the reporter … to play back the tape for me, I was told the tape was turned off, and it was something that was written down, and I just don’t buy that.”

Yeah, whatever. Take some lessons from Pat Robertson or any of our various elected officials like Hillary.

Whatever happened to the good old days when you got in front of a microphone and instinctively knew that certain statements or thoughts were simply not for public consumption?

More iPod Good Stuff: Virgin Atlantic Podcasts

In the previous post, I discussed walk tours of Dublin that you can download to your iPod. While traveling to St. Louis in February, I read that Virgin Atlantic has several podcast tours of cities like Cape Town, Johannesburg, London and New York, along with several more.

Check them out here.

Great iPod Uses: Walking Tour O' Dublin

Going to Dublin this Summer? Have an iPod? Then download some audio walking tours of Dublin.

Walks are podcast audio guides to Dublin from Dublin Tourism. These convenient guides tell the story of Dublin as spoken by their author, historian and artist, Pat Liddy. There are eleven themes covering many fascinating aspects of the city. You can download the guides and use them as free walking tour guides to the city, or you can just listen to them to discover the fascinating story of Dublin.

Get them at the Dublin Tourism iWalks site or from iTunes.

DeLay Threatens Ethics Charges Against McKinney

According to a story at Outsidethebeltway.com, Tom DeLay (R.-Texas) is quoted as saying that if no one else does it, he will file ethics charges against Cynthia McKinney (D.-Georgia).

Oh, the irony, if that were happen.

Frequent Flyer Miles or Frequent Sleeper Points?

For my last trip to St. Louis, I used some of my frequent flyer miles from South African Airways to obtain a Delta Airlines ticket. The problem was, there were so many restrictions on what flights I could get or what airports I could fly out of. Not only that, when I was traveling home, I got put on some sort of double-secret standby seating assignment list in Atlanta.

I asked the customer service rep what was up, didn't get a direct answer. I saw a flat screen monitor which provided details regarding the flight and saw there was still a spot open in first class. I told him that I was definitely on that flight, even if it meant putting me in business or first class. I obtained those tickets at least a month before the flight and was told seating was available.

My mood was heightened by the fact that I really hadn't eaten dinner and the smell of steak sandwiches from the restaurant next door didn't help. Luckily, he found a seat in economy class for me. I ended up sort of babysitting two girls who were traveling without their parents.

I have come to the conclusion, after my two recent visits to St. Louis on US Airways and Delta, that if you are in First or Business Class, you get special treatment. If you are in Economy, you get decent treatment. Using Frequent Flyer miles in Economy/Coach? You may have a heartbeat but you are dead to the airline.

So really, what's the value in frequent flyer miles if you have so many hurdles to getting a flight, which will probably be a red-eye flight?

Timing was perfect as I saw at CNN.com, a Fortune magazine article about Best Travel Reward Cards.

Their advice gels with my thinking about frequent flyer miles:

It's because they give you little bang for your buck and limit your options. Airlines are flying fewer planes with cheaper fares, while a record number of people are accumulating countless frequent flyer miles. That translates to fewer available reward tickets that are worth less and less. Plus by earning miles on one airline, you're severely limiting your options for your next vacation.

Instead, the article reports, turn your attention to credit cards or reward programs that give you points toward free hotel stay.

'For some reason, people seem to forget they spend more on an average hotel stay than they do on their airline fare to get there,' says Randy Peterson, editor of Inside Flyer Magazine. 'It just makes more sense to be invested in a hotel rewards program.'

Not only would you really be saving money, the hotel reward programs are a bit more flexible than air mile reward programs.

But while hotel rates are setting record highs, they're also relatively easy to find free. At Starwood (Research), the parent company for such brands as Westin, W, Sheraton, St. Regis and Le Meridian, you can use Starwood Preferred Guest points for any available room. (It's also pretty easy with the other big chains like Marriott, Hyatt or Hilton, but many have minor restrictions.)

[...]

That's because not only will accumulated Starpoints work for any of the more than 800 Starwood hotels, they can also be transferred to 30 different airlines. And best of all, for every 20,000 points transferred to an airline's frequent flyer account, you get a 5,000-mile bonus. 'It's as close to the Swiss Army Knife of rewards cards as it gets,' says Tim Winship who publishes FrequentFlier.com. 'It all comes down to simple math.'

I remember my stay at the Westin Bonaventure in Loss Angeles back in May of 1996. What a great hotel. So yeah, count me in. Too bad none of the hotels at Cape May offer frequent sleeper rewards. Then again, maybe that's not such a bad thing. One of Cape May's best qualities is that there aren't any hotel or restaurant chains.

State Of TV

Here's a run-down of what I think of the shows I watch on television (mostly on the weekend thanks to my lovely DVR):

ER - Stagnating. This show could go on and on but I think the scripts have been very lacking. I'm still trying to decide when this show "Jumped the Shark." Probably after George Clooney and Anthony Edwards left.

Law & Order - While still top notch, it's sister show, Special Victims Unit (SVU), has been getting better twists in the storyline. It's moving through the water nicely.

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit - Good scripts, great cast. Definitely on the quality level of Hill Street Blues.

The Office - Brilliant. It has been a long time since we've had a really good comedy on the level of Seinfeld, Friends, The Mary Tyler Moore Show or The Dick Van Dyke Show. Rarely have I seen a TV series where each episode is better than the previous one.

Battlestar Galactica - The season finale for season 2.5 really solidified this series as being one of the best things on TV right now. As I've said before, I'm not a huge Science Fiction fan but this series is more than SciFi, very character-driven, which is what I like.

McLeod's Daughters - This is one of the top-rated dramas in Australia, about two sisters who run a ranch in South Australia. An honor that is very much deserved. The ensemble cast is probably one of the best I've seen and the stories are very positive. Not the usual nastiness you'd see on a regular soap opera. What I also like is the fact that the ranch the show is filmed on is actually owned by the network. They have a real station hand managing all the animals that live on the property. The series has been broadcast here in the States on Women's Entertainment Network (WE). Unfortunately, WE has decided not to bring any new episodes to our side of the ocean, cancelling the show. Instead, they'd rather show stupid stuff like "Bridezilla" or John Edwards' psychic talk show. Hopefully another network will see that this is definitely quality TV and add McLeod's Daughters to their list.

Couric to CBS?

Talk is rampant as Katie Couric's contract with NBC nears expiration. The big guess is that Couric will leave NBC and the Today Show and become the Evening News anchor at CBS.

This is more of a gamble than one would think. Couric is great as a co-host of a morning news show but as a evening news anchor? Since Bob Schieffer took over the anchor position from Dan Rather, ratings for The CBS Evening news have gone up. Schieffer, 69, however, has indicated that he does not want to keep the anchor job.

My guess is that since Couric is not a news anchor in the traditional sense, it seems that CBS may be wanting to change the format of the CBS Evening News, break away from the other two mainstream media broadcast networks and offer something oriented to a younger audience.

Right now, I watch the Fox Report with Shepard Smith. His style is not as dour as that of the regular broadcast network news. Sure, it's a little flashy but at least it's upbeat.