The folks over at Waffle have a humorous translation of the PR-speak-laden NBC-Universal response to Apple yanking their fall lineup from iTunes (in response to NBC not renewing their contract with Apple past January).
Personally, they both look like jackasses, though Apple a little less so because they seem to be sticking up for the consumer.
Here’s a good picture showing how not to add air conditioning to your ride. Still, you have to admire his ghetto engineering prowess. He should really hit eBay for a fake sunroof. Click for larger.
In case it wasn’t bad enough that Dateline NBC has basically turned from a relatively legit television “newsmagazine” into the Parade o’ Pedophiles with Chris Hansen as emcee, I watched portions of a show that aired last week that tracked down those rascals themselves… those who’re lower than the pedophiles Dateline has outed to date… IPOD THIEVES!
Yes… using the hidden camera tricks they’ve honed while doing the “To Catch a Predator” series, Hansen and his merry band of vigilante journalists are now in the biz of outing iPod thieves. Using iPods with specially-modified software on the install discs that phones home when the thief installs iTunes, Hansen confronts the iPod thieves with their crimes. The gravity of the situation is surely not lost on Hansen. I mean, some dude out there isn’t listening to his Britney Spears remixes because someone jacked his iPod. And that, my friends… is a fate worse than death.
I’ve considered going naked, but after the initial feeling of liberation you quickly realize you should probably put your iPhone in a case of some sort. What did you think I was talking about?
When I bought my iPhone second-hand (with two days of use on the clock), it came from the original purchaser with an Incase Molded Rubber Protective Sleeve. I liked it at first. It doesn’t add bulk, it gives the iPhone a nice grippy texture, and it’s not bad looking. The rubberized exterior is probably pretty good at handling some of the shock that your iPhone encounters on a daily basis. That said, there are two fatal flaws with the Incase Rubber Sleeve.
First off, it allows some dirt/pocket link/other abrasive material to slip down along the edge. This has resulted in a number of iPhones that now sport scratched chrome bezels… including mine. Incase blames this on Apple… Apple blames it on Incase. I think if your “protective sleeve” causes damage — no matter whether the chrome trim is “inferior” or not — it’s not much of a protective sleeve. Bad, Incase, bad!
However, the first problem can be mitigated by religiously removing and cleaning the case often. That brings me to the second problem: removal of the case more than five or so times and it starts to stretch. After that, it goes downhill fast until you have a fitted rubber case that fits looser than Calista Flockhart’s sweat pants. Mines so saggy it doesn’t even stay on that well anymore.
I’ll be calling Incase and seeing what they have to say about what’s obviously a flawed product.
I’ve since replaced the rubber with a form-hugging clear plastic case from Power Support they dub the Crystal Jacket. It’s a bit pricey at the standard iPhone case price of $30, but it’s a very well-put-together product. It comes with the case (front and back pieces), a nice belt clip, and a screen protector (I’d already installed a Power Support screen shield, so this was just a spare for me). The case has a couple of benefits I didn’t even think of when I picked it out to replace my Incase: it covers the face of the iPhone a bit on the top and bottom (no ear prints!) and it slides in and out of my pocket a lot smoother than the grippy rubber on the Incase. Of course, the Crystal Jacket set allows unimpeded access to all iPhone controls and you can even hook up the charge/sync cable with the case still on. It does not allow the phone to sit in the dock, however.
Remember the good old days when Sony was the ultimate consumer electronics innovator?
The Sony Trinitron was arguably the best television money could buy – a 19 inch status symbol, if you will. And of course, Sony technology played a good part in the invention of the compact disc and also VCRs and camcorders. Let’s not forget that Sony at one point nearly dominated the high end computer market with ultra desirable and attractive VAIO PCs.
Among even more brilliance, the Walkman, which was in a way the very first predecessor to today’s iPods, was for all practical purposes a modern marvel. Heck, I was practically raised on Sony… my first boom box cassette player was aptly branded “My First Sony.” I spent many summer days sitting on the porch jamming to Michael Jackson’s Thriller album on that favorite red and yellow jam box (yep, I’m a little embarrassed to admit that, but at least I’m honest).
But Sony, what in the world has ever happened to you?
As you release what engadget calls “one of the ugliest devices we’ve seen in years,” I can’t help but agree with them. A high definition video Walkman is a respectable idea, but the GV-HD700E is just not the answer.
While engadget says the device “resembles a decade-old handheld cassette recorder with a seven-inch HD display flanked on top,” it reminds me of a Sony 4-track MiniDisc recorder I used to use to record my garage band’s practices in the mid nineties. Yes, MiniDisc.
Some would say it looks like Sony borrowed the HD Video Walkman’s case from one of their old DAT recorders, pretty sophisticated technology from 1990. And by the way, wasn’t that about the last time recording to tape was still considered innovative?
I can’t wait until the day Sony returns to their inventive roots… you know kind of like Apple these days. Wouldn’t you be embarrassed to promote and release a behemoth like this in the time of the pocket size iPod with an uber-sleek form factor?
Sony, I’m really sorry to say this, but 1997 was over 10 years ago.
A potential flaw in the iPhone….yikes! If you are using Yahoo Mail, you may want to take notice. When the iPhone grabs email from the Yahoo servers, it may not be a secure connection, leaving your information vulnerable. Here is the quote from Wired:
“…if you’re checking Yahoo! Mail over a public WiFi connection, anyone could conceivably tap in to the exchange, grab your sign-in data and have full access to your account. ”
This is extremely scary…my advice: Get a $8 a year domain name and use a POP email address. Much cooler than john1203920389@yahoo.com anyways.
via Wired
It appears that Ducati and SanDisk have teamed up to bring us a flash drive shaped like a MotoGP bike’s rear end. Too bad carrying it makes you look like a horse’s rear end.
Sporting 4GB underneath flashy red paint, the Ducati Corse logo, black trim and a status light where the bike’s tail light would be, the Extreme Ducati Edition flash drive is sure to make all the women in your life fall all over you run away as fast as they can. Yours for only $125.
Seriously, could someone please tell me WHO will actually buy this? Especially given it’s sickly high price compared to more pocketable and less barf-inspiring USB drives.
via Crunchgear
The fine folks over at Ars Technica are reporting that the most hotly-anticipated XBOX 360 launch of the fall may ship without one of it’s most hyped features.
From an interview in EGM with Frank O’Connor from Bungie, it appears the online-cooperative game mode may be on the chopping block because Bungie is having some problems getting it to “work well”. There’s been no official announcement outside of the EGM article, but word from those inside Bungie is good enough for us to assume Halo 3 will be missing the feature.
No word yet on whether or not the feature may be added later as a downloadable patch.
“Nintendo responded to the Sony price cut by confirming that they do not believe it will change anything.”
Considering the huge spike in sales the PS3 had last week…..I wouldn’t count them out. The hard core gamers will eventually get a PS3 once they tire of “Duck Hunt” and “Wii Table Tennis.”
“Michael Straw, 25, and Iana Straw, 23, pleaded guilty to two counts each of child neglect for starving their babies near death while they
obsessively played online video games.”
Apparently, they got so wrapped up in Dungeons and Dragons they failed to feed their kids. One of the kids was found with matted cat urine in their hair and hadn’t showered in over 10 days.
Video game addiction is definitely a problem in the United States, a Harris Poll released in April of 2007 found that 8.5% of “youth gamers” in the United States could be “classified as pathological or clinically ‘addicted’ to games.”
I hope these neglected kids get a new home, one without “nutjob, loon cases” for parents.
via Fox News
