The Prelude

I certainly won't criticize The President for honoring soldiers and agents that paid the ultimate price for our freedom but why now? I don't recall him attending one of these ceremonies before now so there must be a specific reason for this event. My guess is that he's made his decision on Afghanistan and this is a prelude to that announcement....

So will he commit the troops that the military is screaming for or is he about to pull the plug? I don't think he's going to go all in on this, IMHO.

You can't beat free

Google announced today that they would be providing free turn by turn navigation on smartphones running their Android operating system. Talk about a game changer.

First off it's a really bad day to be a stand alone GPS manufacturer like TomTom or Garmin. As a matter of fact TomTom's stock is down over 20% TODAY as of the time I write this. These GPS manufacturers have been charging big bucks for dedicated hardware, map updates and traffic services for years but here comes Google and says that a connected 3G smartphone can do all that for no extra cost.

Second, what does this mean for the current tension between Apple and Google? Did Apple go out and buy that mapping company knowing full well that this was coming from Google? If Google decides to make this service/application exclusive to the Android phone community and NOT the iPhone it could end up being a killer app for Android. There's no technical reason that it couldn't work on the iPhone.

I'm sure glad that I didn't spend $99 on the TomTom app for my iPhone because you can't beat free.

Boeing's Woes

The Boeing 787 "Dreamliner" is officially in development hell. The program is two years overdue with massive cost overruns and no real promise that Boeing doesn't have even more production issues left undiscovered. Has Boeing over reached its own grasp? Maybe they should rename the plane to the PipeDreamliner.

For years Boeing flirted with returning to the supersonic arena with a successor to the much missed Concord but they always said that it was too complex of a problem to tackle. Seems like they were right given the issues they've had engineering something far more mundane.

What did I just watch?

What's 40% Kill Bill, 40% Speed Racer and 20% The Matrix? Watch this trailer for a movie coming out in 2010 titled The Cup of Tears....it looks SWEET!!

The Cup of Tears film trailer. Dir. Gary Shore from Gary Shore on Vimeo.

Welcome to 1861

Wow....the RNC is really out to lunch these days.

A cold wind is a blowin'

The Obama era FCC has shown that they are not afraid to take on broadband internet providers. I applaud the FCC for actually stepping up and realizing that Net Neutrality is absolutely essential to the continued growth of the Internet. However, broadband providers are not going to take this laying down and several CEOs have already come out saying that if they can't regulate their networks then Internet access will either get more scarce or more expensive.

The providers are going to try to screw you out of as much money has possible. I have no problem paying more for the Internet because I DO use far more bandwidth than the average user. But I have NO FAITH in them pricing the bandwidth in a fair way. They have consistently oversold and under-expanded their networks and now they want to squeeze their user base for every last nickel.

Maybe the Government will just decide to do what Finland did and make Broadband a legal right to all its citizens....that would really screw up their business model.

I'm in a box

Balloon Boy parodies have officially gone viral, they are all over YouTube. Here's my favorite...

Gadget Porn

I enjoy reading books on my Kindle 2 but as a device it disappoints on many levels. The interface is pretty clunky and Amazon's closed off book selling nature has made reading ANYTHING but books bought from Amazon nearly impossible. While the Kindle supports MP3 and other audio formats it was clearly an afterthought...and so is web browsing.

I looked at the Sony eBook reader and it was tempting but it's lack of wireless connectivity was a deal breaker IMHO. Well here comes what I think will be a real Kindle killer, the Nook from Barnes & Noble. I never would have guessed that B&N could bring out a device superior to the Kindle but just look at this thing.

Donations accepted.

If any wants to make me a very happy boy then I'll take a new 27" iMac. For the first time in my life I'm looking at Apple computers and trying to justify that $2400 really isn't too much money for a desktop PC. Let's see just how cheaply I could "build" my own version of the 27" iMac.

Let's compare:

• 27" iMac
• 2.8Ghz quad core i7 cpu
• 8GB of 1066 DDR3 RAM
• 1TB HD
• ATI 4850/512MB video card
• That's $2400 total

Newegg built PC with very similar specs.

• 27" Acer monitor (slightly lower resolution than the iMac)
• 2.8Ghz quad core i7 CPU
• 6GB of 1333 DDR3 RAM (runs triple channel, 3 DIMMS)
• 1TB HD
• ATI 4850/1GB video Card
• Antec P183 case
  
• Windows 7 Ultimate
• I also threw in the other stuff the Mac includes like wifi, bluetooth, a webcam, a wireless mouse/keyboard and DVD burner.
• That's $1885 with shipping.

So I'm paying a $500 premium for the OSX operating system and form factor....that's pretty excessive. Not to mention that I could buy and install a faster video card or bigger HD in the PC if I wanted. Fucking Apple...you are so lucky that you've got great marketing.

Gulp.

Has the world's largest car manufacturer finally built something wonderful? The new Lexus (Toyota) LFA was announced at the Tokyo Motor Show and it is a sight to behold. Of course for $400,000 it better be nothing short of spectacular. While I'm impressed with the effort I can't help but feel outright stunned by that price tag, why aim to such a slim hypercar segment in these dire economic times? Where is my sub $50,000 replacement for the Supra, it's been ten years since there was a Toyota badge on a decent sports car.

Here's a video of the LFA doing it's thing....the sound this thing makes is nearly orgasmic.

Way to go spaz.

HSN and QVC have been providing hours of entertainment to shut-ins around this country for years. Obviously these poor lonely souls haven't discovered Amazon.com but overpaying for common household items is worth it when you get to see hilarity such as this little clip. Fast forward to the 5:00 minute mark....comedy gold.

Vacation

Took a week off and somehow I managed to stay completely away from the blog. I'm not even sure how I did that.

So there was only a few things last week that were really that interesting. The only thing I really want to comment on is that whole "balloon boy" event. All I have to say is any adult that thinks a 6 year old is going to back up their batshit crazy publicity stunt needs to be institutionalized.

To parody or not to parody

This may be my favorite Stephen Colbert piece yet this year.

Shocked?

I would say that President Obama wining the the Nobel Peace Peace Prize came as quite a surprise to most people....actually everyone. At first I was a little pissed because quite frankly he doesn't deserve it, at least not yet. Also, this will most likely cause an groundswell of anti-Obama rants from the radical right and help to shift some of the right leaning people in the middle to go back to drinking the Republican Koolaid.

Personally, I think what this award really represents is an affirmation from the International community that he has their support. I think we, as a country, lost a lot of our international standing in the debacles that Bush created. Everyone in the world has a vested interest in America regaining it's status both economically and ethically.

It's just like the Olympics bullshit. People that hate Obama will jeer this as unbelievable and he doesn't deserve it when the reality is that the leader of our Nation just received the most prestigious international award that a person can win.

How fancy.

Toyota is probably the world's largest automaker now. They recently had to launch one of the largest recalls in the history of the US auto industry to solve an issue with floor mats causing the accelerator to get stuck resulting in crashes and deaths.

So being the awesome company that they are how do you think Toyota has decided to address this potentially fatal flaw with your extremely expensive luxury automobile? Are they replacing the offending mats? Are they adding a new attachment point to keep that mat from moving? No, their fix is to use Zip ties. So you've spent $50K + on a Lexus ES350 and there is now a fucking zip tie holding the floor mat in place.....that's sweet.

Of course if it was BMW or Audi there would be some elaborate metal holder milled from a single piece of metal...it would be breathtaking. And it would cost $500.

Fair and balanced

There's a lot of dogmatic Republican crap on Fox News but every once in a while something prophetic sneaks out. This bit with Shep Smith is like the polar opposite of that video I posted a few weeks ago about Glenn Beck's two year reversal on our terrible/wonderful health care system.

The Walled World

Check out this Infographic. Pretty shocking to see the world's distribution of wealth isn't it. This one image should make you think of a whole host of cultural, sociological, and religious implications....it did for me.

Dollars to donuts

There's a lot of buzz this week about the rumors that oil producing nations are going to stop pricing oil in US Dollars. The rumor is that the Gulf States are going to create some kind of "basket" or index of international currencies to try and make the price of oil more of a global concern. I won't pretend to understand all of the implications of this scenario but would it really be that bad for America? This article at least addresses some of the reasons why having the US Dollar as the defacto world currency has had both good and bad effects on US citizens.

Shhh...

Here's a compilation of Stephen Colbert's best segments regarding Don't Ask, Don't Tell.

Just write your own!

The Conservative Bible Project.


Seriously? I almost wish that I was a religious person so that this would offend me even more than it does. Talk about the ultimate example of revisionist history.

It's Growing

Watch the new Trump Tower in Chicago go from 0 to 92 stories in 2 minutes.

Word of the day

Today's word is: Pariah

I may despise Glenn Beck but I will give him credit for being a successful business person. Between his propaganda show on Fox News, radio addresses from his Berlin bunker and his manifesto quality books he has made a rather tidy fortune over the last few years. His TV and radio ratings are frighteningly good considering the vitriolic nature of his shows. That being said it should stand to reason that it is a publicists dream to get a unsolicited plug on one of his programs....or is it? Apparently the awesome rock band Muse didn't take to kindly to Beck's endorsement of their latest album titled The Resistance. Be sure to listen to the audio clip.

I love how Beck just laughs of the slight....deep down I think he knows how sad that really was. Even Lindsay Graham doesn't like Glenn's performances.

I promise...no more Glenn Beck posts today. I wonder what old Sarah Palin's up to?

Best URL ever.

This web site has the best URL ever!

http://twoyoutubevideosandamotherfuckingcrossfader.com/

I need to be a bureaucrat!

Apparently, Federal employees are overpaid. I need to get me a Government job!