Judge owns iPod
Heh. The judge in the matter of Apple Computer versus Apple Corp. is an iPod owner.
mini iPod hand on.
I got a chance today to inspect the iPod mini at the Atlanta Apple Store. It was even smaller than I thought it would be. For me, it wouldn't really fill a practical place in my tech arsenal, I already have a 40 Gb regular iPod. I was, however, impressed with it. Afterwards, out of curiousity, I took a run over to my local CompUSA to look at the other music players that are in the same price/size class. There are larger players that are quite a bit bigger, have more storage, and are only a bit more than the mini, but there really aren't any other players that are in the same class in terms of the overall size and storage capacity of the device. It feels well made, and somehow more durable than the other small players. The controls and display are what I have come to expect from Apple's music players, usable and readable, and this is one area where many of their competitors have constantly fallen down in design. I would say that, if you have a need for a music player that is the right size for the gym or running, and 4 Gb is enough space for you for your day to day music needs, then the mini is not a bad solution. iPodlounge took one apart.
Dylan Greene dot com - XML button created via CSS
The ubiquitous XML button created via CSS. Cool.
FactCheck.org is da bomb
Got facts? If you are at all interested in politics, arguing about politics, or just being generally well informed about politics, FactCheck.org is the bomb place for debunking material.
More Net than Cable tipping point
More houses have Net access than cable. That, my friends, should be a wake up call. This Internet thing has a lot of potential we haven't realized yet. So get to work.
My boy Nate Dom-in-Nates
Nathan kicked some serious ass in the most recent Veer Lightboxing fight.
Nader to Liberals: Fuck You
Nader to Liberals: Fuck You. Yawn. I don't think that old Ralphy boy will have much of an impact this time around. Personally, I don't think of him as a leader or having leadership level character, so I could never vote for him. Last time, I think a lot of folks more liberal than myself were voting for him because they were either attempting to make some sort of statement to the Democratic party or they liked the bandwagon(they wouldn't admit though). Doubt those folks will be doing either this time.
Grey Tuesday
Grey Tuesday. A "Free the Grey Album" protest organized by Downhill Battle. See my earlier post on the issues for my opinion on this matter.
Finally, Pepsi contest Pepsi bottles appear
After looking somewhat seriously for a couple of weeks now, I discovered iTunes contest Pepsi bottles at a pharmacy near my house, and in one of the places in the food court where I work. So far, I have won two out of four times. The tough part is actually picking songs. So many to choose from, and only one free one. I think this promotion is going to work out well for all involved. With my first free song, I chose You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine by Lou Rawls.(iTMS link) I wanted to pick something that I wouldn't normally buy for myself.
SXSW vs. the 2004 Coachella Valley Music Festival
I spent some time yesterday compiling my requested time off for the next six months. Once our busy season starts(mid-June), it's virtually impossible to get any time off. I had a family vacation already planned for March, so it became unlikely that I could go to SXSW this year. Instead, I've decided to visit a good friend who recently moved to San Diego and, at the same time, attend the 2004 Coachella Valley Music Festival. The artists performing at this festival read like a listing of my iTunes library. I figured that it would actually be cheaper to attend this festival than to attempt to see all of the acts I would want to see elsewhere. Also, a chance to see the Pixies again is hard to turn down, they were one of my favorite bands for a very long time. If you've ever been and have tips on attending, I'd love to hear them, and I will post them here. Thanks.
A-Rod to the Bronx
So, take that you Red Sox fans. Yep, that's right, we got A-Rod. Remember? The guy you wanted to get so much that you were willing to get rid of No-mar and Manny? Yeah, him. Take a look at our lineup now. Seriously. The series between the bosox and the yanks this year are going to be off the chain.
Apple - RSS Information
Cool page on Apple's site with all of their RSS Information. (via Scripting News)
Old Wired T-Shirt
I keep seeing eTech posts about this great old Wired T-shirt. I have one, and have worn it to the point of it falling apart. For a few years, it was my favorite t-shirt, bought during Wired's heyday. I wish there was some way to repair or replace it.
13 Reasons To Use Firefox Over IE
13 Reasons To Use Firefox Over IE I switched, a couple of days ago after Firefox was released, my default browser to Firefox from Safari on my Mac OS X laptop. For the most part, I like Firefox better right now. The most striking of these to me are command-up arrow and command-down arrow. The biggest advantage, in my opinion, of Firefox is the extensibility, I love Chris Pederick's Web Developer toolbar especially, and have played with some of the other extensions that are available.
Atom beta of NetNewsWire
NetNewswire beta with Atom support posted.
Unreal Tournament 2004 Demo
The peecee Unreal Tournament 2004 Demo is available. BOOM!
Maurice Clarett singlehandedly destroys college football
Well, it looks like it is certain now that Maurice Clarett will be in this year's NFL draft. Quick background for you non-football folks. This guy was a pretty impressive talent his freshman year at Ohio State. Since then, he has gotten into all sorts of trouble, and been kicked off their team. By the NFL's current rules, he was still too young to enter the draft, but he sued, and won, based on antitrust rules. This is bad for the NFL, and for college football, as it opens the door for more underclassmen to enter the draft. An excellent example of how this could gut college football can currently be found in the college basketball arena. NBA teams now draft players based on potential, even if they are not currently ready to play at the NBA level. The college basketball landscape is virtually devoid of stars now, because players are going to the NBA straight out of high school. The NFL will almost surely suffer the same fate over time. This will be complicated by the small size of the NFL roster and the amount of injuries that occur in a season. NFL teams cannot generally afford to have roster spots being taken up by players not yet ready to play at the NFL level.
In essence, Clarett had nowhere else to go, and no other choice but to sue the NFL, but he has opened up a pandora's box tha the NFL has managed to keep closed for a very long time. I despise the long term effects his actions will have. I hope that no NFL team drafts him, although I know that that will not happen. I will not attend a game in which he plays, nor will I watch one, or even the highlights of one, on TV. I may decide, also, to boycott whichever franchise drafts him. I can't really have my say in this matter in any other way.
Falcons raise prices
The Falcons, who were a very mediocre 5-11 last season, and looked even worse than that record might imply for most of the season, raised ticket prices today. Mr. Blank, if you were going to raise ticket prices, you should have done it last year when spirits were high about the team, and you had good will to spare. You burned through a lot of that good will last season, and the team looked like crap for the most part, and now you want us to pay more for the product? I'm guessing that this won't go over well.
Technical Jiggery Pokery: Pinstripe Thunderbird: First Look
Thunderbird is getting a Mac OS X makeover to match Firefox. Hooray!!
Producer Of The Grey Album, Jay-Z/ Beatles Mash-Up, Gets Served
Producer Of The Grey Album, Jay-Z/ Beatles Mash-Up, Gets Served (via the always linkalicious waxy.org)
Web Standards Award for PGA.com team
Hey, our site for the 2003 PGA Championship won a Web Standards Award. That's cool.
For me to poop on.
I very much enjoyed Heather's post birth redesign, and her post about pooping.
Boxes and Arrows: Managing the Complexity of Content Management
Boxes and Arrows has a great article on Content Management. I'll add my comments to this post later, not enought time right now.
Safari 1.2 changes list
David Hyatt has a list of stuff in Safari 1.2 up on his blog type thing today. In the future, I will only be referring to blog type things, and no longer directly to blogs because, after over six years of my own blog type thing, I don't rightly know what a blog is.
Gibson in Atlanta this Friday.
Just a reminder that William Gibson be in Atlanta on Friday.
Thunderbird Updated
Thunderbird, the Mozilla based stand-alone mail client, has been updated to 0.5.
Google as a coupon aggregator
Here's a tip that worked for me today, and it is probably pretty obvious, but since it worked so well, I figured I would point it out. When purchasing a piece of software online today, I noticed, on the checkout page, that there was a form field for a coupon code. So, I did a quick Google search on the name of the software company and the word coupon. Voila, a coupon code for a 40 percent discount presented itself in the first result, and it worked, saving me almost thirty dollars. So, when in doubt, if there is a coupon field, search for a coupon.
Electoral College Sportswear & Accessories
Heh, was looking through some of the archives on this site, and I found that you can still purchase Electoral College Shirts, just in time for the new election year.
Take Control of Sharing Files in Panther
Glenn Fleishman has released Take Control of Sharing Files in Panther a $10 ebook that covers quite a lot of ground. I'd love to see more of this type of publishing.
Grey Album/Gray Area
I've been grooving on the Grey Album for the last couple of days. (This post from Mathowie reminded me to look for it. I had heard about the project about a month before that, but hadn't thought to look for it where Matt found it.) The concept is pretty simple, Danger Mouse remixed Jay-Z's Black Album with only samples from The Beatles White Album. The resulting full cd of music is a phenomenal combination of the two, and I would say that it is greater than the sum of its parts, but I have too much respect for the original works. The more familiar with The White Album you are, the more nuggets of listening goodness there seem to be for you. It really is pretty amazing what Danger Mouse managed to create.
Now, having said that, there is a point I would love to make about this. This work cannot be released through normal music distribution channels. The samples would never be cleared, or the sheer cost of licensing them would make it impossible to released. Danger Mouse has taken two pieces of art, and combined them into a new beautifully crafted piece of art which stands out in it's own right. Increasingly, I have been seeking out these types of musical quiltworks. People like Z-Trip and Reset are creating phenomenal pieces of work that is purely derived from source material they could never get clearance for through legal channels. I am forced to wonder how many of these pieces of art that our current music sampling and copyright laws are costing us. There is a capitalistic governor on artistic creations of this kind. It's truly a shame. It is a stark example of what Mr. Lessig has been railing and fighting against for years, and it makes me realize just how important the ability to create derivative works can be.
Kerry is a Bosox fan
Is it a bad thing that the fact that Kerry is a Red Sox fan makes me not want to vote for him?
Sold Out? No Way.
Since last summer, I have become somewhat addicted to reading Y The Last Man every month. I, for years, collected and read comics, and got away from it over the last few years. I'm not certain what drew me to this particular book, but it is quite good. Unfortunately, when I arrived at the store after work today to pick up this month's issue, it was sold out. I'm guessing that means I'm not the only one who has noticed how good this particular book is. There hasn't been a single bad issue yet. Frankly, it would make a fantastic movie as well, so I'm waiting to hear that it will be one.
Heh. I posted the above post, and then went looking on Google for more information about the comic. I found this page, which explains that the book has been optioned by New Line Cinema.
Rookie season hailed, but 'Playmakers' sacked
In the grand tradition of the many quality television shows that I have enjoyed, but were then cancelled after their first season, ESPN has decided not to make a second season of 'Playmakers'.
Sony Ericsson P900
I want! You can now order the P900.