You are currently browsing the daily archive for April 29th, 2007.
Tech News:
Another Apple Store in Manhanttan at the end of the year
It seems that Apple is really growing by leaps and bounds. Apple will be opening a third store in Manhattan in the Meatpacking district. From the Apple Insider this will be a pretty large store and a pricey store as well. R.K. Futterman & Associates who manage the the story, 52,000 square-foot corner property. To open an third store in Manhattan, this company must be doing okay.
One For The Consumers
This article from CNet News really speak volumes to many. Many power users have been doing this for years when it comes to wiping their hard drives clean and installing a fresh copy of Windows on their machines. Businesses always do this and now consumers are doing the same thing. The latest Apple computer commercial (Stuffed) showing the PC “bloated” with unnecessary software which has always bogged down the system and most of the times consumers do not know what is on their systems. To me PC has become the NASCAR of the computing world. Dell and Gateway gives consumers the option to order just the Windows OS to install on your system and hopefully more companies will follow suit.
elhood and vostu.com
A couple of Hispanic social networks are making head way which goes to show that whether if it’s the us, china, spain, we are connected together via internet. elhood looks like a myspace for musicians and for people to get to know one another. It’s really cool that everyday I am on the web and everyday I learn something new. Other sites are popping up pretty soon many older people are really going to realize that we truly “are on one highway”.
other sites:
MiGente.com
Hi5.com
A New Phone That Has caught Me Eye
I am in search of a “one piece phone”…what do I mean by that? I’m tired of the flip phones…period. I want a nice phone that is slender, I do not need an mp3 player/camera phone/pda phone. It’s weird, some gadgets I don’t mind multiple function and others I need them just to focus on what it should do and this for me is for a phone to be a “phone”. This new Motorola cell phone I believe has these “extra” functions” I can do without but the Motorola RIZR Z8 has a cool little thing I like…it curves and it’s about time. Maybe other cell phones may have this feature but as long as it is not a flip phone I’m cool with it. Now the big question…will this phone be released in the US? We will see.
Here We Go Again
After just taking my digital cable box/DVR back to my cable company seeing this makes me wonder, “why do I really care?” I buy DVDs, I never have liked “Movies On Demand”. My geek brother Luis uses Netflix and is really pleased with it so I may try this later down the road. But for right now give me DVDs and a DVD recorder and I am a happy camper. Why again on commenting on this? Maybe my other geek brothers and sisters may be interested in the new Vudu and who knows, I may change my mind about it…anything is possible.
Battery Issues…Again
Just when we thought we made it past the battery laptop issues Apple comes out to say there may be more issues with battery performances with the MacBook and MacBook Pro machines. I really like Apple but why do America companies continue to push out inadequate machines and then wonder why we as Americans may begin to look at and buy machines oversees. Keep it up Apple, Dell and other American Computer companies, pretty soon you will end up like the automotive companies here in the states.
Yikes AOL
I hope I can find out more about this story but this makes me wonder…do teens go out and play outside anymore? To be able to hack into a major company’s database, plant a bot and be able to phish 60 accounts out of AOL employees and subcontractor…you got skillz kid. But in all seriousness, I have said this time and time again, we as parents have to begin teaching our youth that things do not always go our way in life and you have deal with bad as well as the good. Now the young lad is looking at fines over a $500,000.
Dan Rather Speaks
This interview with Dan Rather from Kyle Monson talks about how some bloggers scoop stories and even get the facts straight when the main stream news do not. I believe with 24/7 news companies, the facts sometimes fall by the wayside. Mr. Rather also says and I agree that we have to be careful as bloggers because with the capability of getting news right away, bloggers may sometimes, like the main news groups, may want to “cut corners” when reporting some stories. I learned this first hand when the Don Imus and Virginia Tech Shooting stories broke. I chose not to write about them until the end of the week. I wanted to wait until much more information came out.
other stories from this past week:
Dog Owners: Be on the look out for this menace:
this is a span from yesterday (Saturday night and this morning)
Right now I am watching “The Fifth Element“. I haven’t sat down and watched this movie in a very long time and it’s one of my favorites. I think the rest of the night I will make this my “Saturday Matinee” night. After this I may throw in “Captain Sky and the World of Tomorrow“, “The Extraordinary Gentlemen” and maybe a Star Wars movie.
Yesterday I took our digital cable box and dvr back to the cable company. The channels here in St. Louis when it comes to digital cable really suck and not to mention the price tag (we had digital cable/dvr+internet+phone service= about $175 a month) that’s ridiculous and the killing part we did not get classic VH1, BET Jazz, classic Country Music. I’m going to invest in a dvd recorder. My geek brother, Luis has two of them and he tells me they record really well. We never really watch the movie channels and to be honest the choice of digital channels wasn’t really it. So our bill will go from $175 to $98….big difference. As long as we get Trinity Broadcast Network, HGTV, The Travel Channel, the Weather Channel we are cool and of course you know I kept our internet service (but of course ^_~ ).
It’s really sad how these companies (cable, cell companies) are really getting over the average consumer. These companies have outsourced customer service, you can barely understand them, they try and sell everything under the sun…very tiresome. I to be honest, I really need to begin reading more books. I have many books that own me (I say this because until I have read these books they own me…not the other way around). Today will I was at the library studying I checked out about 15 cds.
This is something I had been planning for the longest but either haven’t had the time or I have been too lazy. These cds I will rip to my computer, make a data cd and begin posting them on my blog. I found some jazz and easy listening music (aka new age) but I also found some music I have heard since back in the day: The Police, Styx(I’m kinda hyped about this one…, Paul McCartney and Wings, Stevie Wonder, Prince (I think “312″ is his latest LP). I also found a CD by Joan Osborne . I think I will try and rip most of them to the computer tonight, burn them to cd(s) tomorrow and this way I will be able to upload them either from home or from work.
the next day…
I feel pretty good this morning…spent time with God (my post this morning), finally found the cd artwork I wanted to load on my iPod. I have decided to use my 20GB iPod just for my podcast and maybe some music (and I do mean some) and my 80GB iPod for my video podcast and music…this way I can see the cd artwork as well. I’m a audio geek and I can admit that proudly. I love reading the liner notes, which musicians played on the album, who produced it, where it was recorded.
I really enjoy information like this, I enjoy cds more so than downloads. I really only download when it comes to some pop songs because there is no way I’m spending 17-18 bucks for today’s music (unless it’s jazz, ambient, world music). I am finding more and more music at our local library and another cool place to go for cds are used cds shops. Even if it’s a pop cd you get it for half the price …not a bad deal. Right now I’m downloading my music to the larger iPod (artwork and all) and it’s been a long task I would not wish on anyone. Tips for you…
- when finding CD artwork use Amazon.com, Google image, Google web search
- Use a browser with tabs, this way you can have several options (i.e. when you can’t find it on Amazon you just click to the other tab for Google)
- make a CD Artwork folder…this will make it easier for you to locate your pictures
- when you first get a track or cd…get the photo right away!!! don’t do like me and get many cds and then decide to look for the artwork…LOL
- iTunes is okay but there are other music applications to use…mediamonkey, musicmatch and a cool site that my geek brother Northerngeek gave me…allcovers.com
- copy and paste the artist’s name and the album save you time when it comes to searching
I will have more homework today but I don’t mind and more cds to rip…hopefully I will finish that today so I can burn them to a couple of data cds. Life as a geek…man I love my life. 
