I would like to offer a possible solution to the freemium model that many of us don’t like. Rebrand the freemium model into something that includes the first level with 10 stages. Not a timed demo or limited first level, but give me the first full level with all the perks for free. And if I love the game I will pay $0.99 for Level 2 (10 stages), and I will pay $0.99 for level 3 (10 stages). No one wants to buy health or guns or mushrooms. We want a full experience; not to be given the opportunity to spend $50 on these games. The freemium model kept me from spending $10 on TouchPets (which is what I expected it to cost) when it came out because the freemium model cripples the game. Sure you can get to the end, but expect it to take longer. That’s not fun.

One thing my freemium model allows you to do is build the first two levels of more games; give away the first level; one month later release level 2 for $0.99. If you have 30 games on the market you know which ones to continue to develop for because those are the ones that are selling levels. So instead of developing 5 or 10 games with all their levels and charging for items, develop more games with a higher diversity and make more game play available as that game pays for itself.

My daughter was very excited about TouchPets, until it came out and she was required to buy dog food. Before I could even tell her that she’s not to make in-app purchases she said she didn’t want to play the game because it made her wait. Now ngmoco could argue that I could have bought her some food, but where does it end? In the article they even mention the Black Market. Really, you’re going to convince me that your model works because another game has a Black Market? We don’t like an open-ended payment scale for these games. We want a flat fee for unlimited play, even if we’re only buying it one level at a time. But each level will be unlimited to me.

I hear plenty of whiners complain about the price of $2 games and those people must be ignored. I’ve paid $10 for many iPhone games and more than $30 for a couple utilities. If people wait a week for a game price to drop it’s because they’ve been trained that’s what will happen. And as much as this country is a democracy we don’t want to be told we’re paying to support the people who weren’t willing to pay for the game.

I suppose they already know this and are just trying the pay-for-food-and-health model to see if it makes them more money than the other models. However, it has made many of us leery of their games because we don’t know what they cost. And don’t tell me that they’re free.

2. Demo of iPhone 4.0
Wrong (enter gong sound here)

3. New iPhone hardware, possibly iPhone 3GS2 or iPhone 3GSx.
Wrong

4. New iLife 2010, no demo.
Wrong

5. Apple’s new tablet computer name will be iBook.
Wrong

6. AT&T will be on stage announcing tethering and claiming new performance improvements.
Wrong

7. Apple will announce deals to have college text books on their tablet computer.
Wrong

8. New iPhone specs, 5MP camera, higher res OLED display, forward facing camera, faster processor and a new home screen.
Wrong

9. Apple will announce deals to have full color comic books, and when you turn the tablet horizontally you will be able to view your comics full spread because some comics are drawn that way.
Wrong

10. Music guest will be someone made famous by American Idol.
Wrong

After the keynote I’ll update this article to see which ones I got right.

Update, I did very poorly as did anyone else who thought Apple would mention the iPhone.

Apple can easy use the iBook name again since they stopped selling iBooks in May 2006 when the MacBook replaced it and all AppleCare (3 year) warrantees for iBooks ended in 2009.

Tomorrow we will see if Apple actually has a tablet like product to even release and even though everything looks like they will I’ve seen this exact same scenario end in disappointment for many speculators.

Update: After watching the Keynote I now understand why Apple chose iPad for the tablets name. I assumed the ebooks would be part of the iTunes Store (which they may on your computer), however, on the iPad it will be it’s own app. The iPhone and iPod has The iTunes Store, App Store and the iPad has the iBook Store.

Strengths All My Clients Count On
Honesty. I have no interest in selling you anything you don’t need.
Flexibility. If I’m not with a client when you need me you’ll have my undivided attention.
Patients. I’m willing to discuss your needs until I fully understand your workflow.
Problem Solving. If I don’t have an immediate answer I’m dedicated to educating myself.

Product Research
Don’t know where to start or what’s available? My goal is to provide you with all the answers to your needs.

iPhone and Mobile Devices
Whether you have an iPhone, iPod, Blackberry, PDA or other mobile device, I can set it up to sync with your computer.

Upgrading to a new Mac or Upgrading to a new Mac OS?
I can safely transfer all of your files from your old Mac to you new Mac. I can upgrade your computer to the newest operating system from any previous version and provide training on any new features.

Solving problems for Creative Professionals
From TrueType and PostScript typefaces, I have the expertise to help you get the most out of your hardware and software upgrades. Including your inkjet and laser printers and all of the creative applications that run them.

Office and Home Networking
Wireless Networking. Do you need a network with a shared internet connection but don’t want the expense of having cabling installed, I can install and setup a wireless router that will provide coverage for your entire office or home.

Wired Networking. I can provide answers if your existing wired network needs to be more efficient or have better routing.

I already know I’m going to like the new Magic Mouse because I too won’t miss cleaning the scroll ball out of the Mighty Mouse.

I’m not the only one to predict a touch based mouse I’m just surprised it took Apple 2.5 years from my own article to release one.

Once Karen got home, we headed over to the Urgent Care Center, where of course Urgent doesn’t actually mean Urgent. They called me back after around 30 minutes. The nurse weighed me and took my blood pressure (187 over 131). Then she took my blood pressure on the other arm (190 over 131). The nurse said my blood pressure was super high and I need to go to the Emergency Room at the hospital right away. A doctor came in and said my blood pressure was super high (which made me laugh) and that I need to go to the Emergency Room at the hospital right away. An aide came in with a baby aspirin for me and I said, “What’s this for?” Karen responded with, “They don’t want you to pass out here!” and we all laughed because it was funny.

We headed over to the hospital but dropped Allyson off at a friend’s house first. We arrived at the hospital Emergency Room and signed in, where of course Emergency doesn’t actually mean Emergency. They called me back after around 30 minutes. A nurse took my blood pressure (167 over 124) and asked if I had a history of high blood pressure, to which I answered, “I don’t know because I haven’t seen a doctor for a decade.” I do know that when in the Army, one of their nurses told my I had high blood pressure but said it was probably a soda I had recently. Then I was wheeled back to an actual emergency room.

It wasn’t long before they started to bring me stuff like this beautiful hospital gown.

They took my blood pressure again (181 over 121). It seems to be all over the place. Then they provided me with an awesome IV. Have I mentioned how much I dislike needles? Just writing about them makes me quiver. There on the floor, that appears to be my blood.

You can see from the following video Karen was enjoying herself a little too much, maybe not.

Even while I was laying there I couldn’t help but use my new iPhone 3GS to check my email, take some photos, shoot some video, provide support to a client (seriously), and Tweet. I’m addicted to technology and the iPhone allows me to do so many things on a single device. Since I was sick, I had a reduced appetite and hadn’t eaten in 15 hours. Les, an ER person, brought me some apple sauce and a fruit cup. No Jell-O because I’m a vegetarian. Neither was organic and the main ingredient in the fruit cup was high fructose corn syrup. Les put a nitroglycerin patch on my chest. I made a joke about being a stick of dynamite.

Still residing in the Emergency Room, they take me for my first chest X-RAY. Karen and I sat for a while. They made Karen leave because they were changing the person who was in the next area. I checked my email, did some web surfing. The doctor came in and talked with me. I figured he wanted to talk about my flu symptoms (which is why I went to the Urgent Health Center) or my high blood pressure (which everyone else seemed to be worried about). Nope. He wanted to talk about the pressure in my chest. He wasn’t convinced it was related to the my sickness and said I should stay the night for observation and have a heart stress test done in the morning. After asking a few questions, I agreed I would stay.

It’s important that you realize the only reason I went to the hospital was for Karen and Allyson. Had I been alone when told about the high blood pressure I would have asked for some antibiotics and went home. However, it wouldn’t have been right to make them worry, so I did it for them. Which is why I also chose to stay the night and have the test.

Karen was still in a waiting room waiting for me to tell her when she could come back in. She sent me this picture of what food was available to her. In my naivety I would have thought a hospital would be a shining beacon of proper nutrition. It turns out that I may have been mistaken about that. As an up and coming food snob this was very disappointing. A short time later I told Karen she could return to the emergency room. She came back and visited for a little while and then said she was going to get Allyson so she could see me before the day was over. I was moved to a room while she was gone.

An aide came into my new room and took my blood pressure (120 over 80) and attached a wireless heart monitor. Karen and Allyson returned and brought me a few things I asked for – iPhone adapter, iPhone cable, USB extension cable, organic snack bars and Allyson thought it would be funny to bring my gnome. The doctor came in and asked how I was doing. I mentioned my headache and a shooting pain down the right side of my neck. He got a little more information and said he would see me tomorrow. Karen, Allyson and I visited for a little while longer before they left. Around midnight I started watching Tokyo Drift but couldn’t remain focused, so I tried to sleep. The nurse came in almost immediately and said she needed to get some throat and nose swabs. It ended up being 2am before I could fall asleep. Unfortunately, I had a headache (pain level 3). At 4am I was awoken up by some young guy who said he needed to take some blood, so I extended my arm with the IV. He said, “I can’t take it from there. I’m going to have to get it from the other arm.” I said, “WHAT?” Just the idea of another needle going in me was enough to make queasy. I extended my right arm and lied there just trying not to think about it. By the time he was done and left, my headache (pain level 4) was keeping me awake. I called the nurse and the aide showed and asked what I needed. I said I had a headache and couldn’t go to sleep. She said she would tell the nurse. The nurse came in about 20 minutes later and removed my nitro patch and left before I realized she never mentioned my headache. Apparently, a side effect of the nitro patch was headaches. I waited about 5 minutes and called the nurse again. The aide returned and I explained that the nurse never mentioned my headache and I couldn’t go to sleep. The nurse returned 5 minutes later and said the doctor didn’t leave a prescription order so they didn’t know what they were allowed to give me. They were waiting for a return call from the doctor before giving me anything. About 10 minutes later I couldn’t lie in bed anymore so I sat in the chair for a few minutes. Then I walked out in the hall and leaned against the wall. The nurse came around the corner with two Tylonol and a little water. I took them and they were gross (uncoated). Then I asked the nurse if I could pace the hall while I waited for the headache to go down. She didn’t have a problem with it.

I spent the next 20 minutes pacing the halls as my headache went down. At the opposite end of the hall was one of those little maps that says, “You are here.” 18 years ago I worked for an architecture firm and one of my jobs was to measure this hospital and put it into the computer. I recognized the map and was quite certain that I had drawn it 18 years ago. While pacing I also ran into Starbucks Debbie. That’s what I call her because she manages the Starbucks in Target and saw me many times a week before I gave up specialty coffees. Do you know how weird it is to run into someone you know while pacing the hall of a hospital at 5am?

At 6:30am I was awoken by a lady who was going to take me to get a CAT scan. I got the CAT scan and was returned to my room. I proceeded to fall asleep many times in between aides bringing things in the room like a fresh gown, bathroom stuff, changing trash bags and checking other miscellaneous stuff.

At around 8am they brought me some breakfast. I took the lid off of it and thought to myself, “You have got to be joking?” At no point did anyone document that I was a vegetarian but even the non-meat products weren’t food I would eat. I very reluctantly ate half of the eggs, most of the biscuit and had a drink of milk. There was no real butter, just butter spread and the jelly was high fructose corn syrup. The milk wasn’t organic which meant it was BGH milk. Are you telling me that hospitals have no idea that this crap is bad for people?

From this point forward, I mostly remained in a sleepy state, where I would sleep for 30 minutes, wake up and sleep for another 30 minutes. My chest pressure had not returned.

At around 1:30pm someone came to take me to get my heart stress test. Once we got in that area, I saw a woman get something from a room that was labeled, Radioactive, and exit that room with some for me. She said she was going to insert it thorough my IV and let it circulate for the heart X-RAYs. Before that started I was taken to a woman who gave me an echocardiogram.

Then I was returned to the room where they were to start the heart stress test which started with me explaining to the person there why he should get the new iPhone 3GS. He put me into a machine that took X-RAYs of my heart. Then I was moved into the next room where I was hooked up to a 12 lead monitor for the treadmill part of the test. That guy got out a needle and injected something into my IV which required me to lie down for 5 minutes because it made me queasy. A doctor came in and got me started on the treadmill. The needle guy said he was going to to have to inject me again and to not look. The treadmill test lasted for about 8 minutes. It winded me but wasn’t hard. Then I was returned to the previous room where they took more X-RAYs to compare to the previous X-RAYs.

I was returned to my room around 3pm and surprised to see Karen and Allyson there with a delicious organic sweet iced tea from Coffee Crossing. The doctor came in a little later to see how I was doing and I said I was ready to get out of there. He said he was waiting on some test results and would release me when everything turned out negative. So Karen, Allyson and I waited for 3 hours before they told me all my tests were negative and I was being released, which is good because I was getting agitated.

An aide came in 10 minutes later and removed my heart monitor. The nurse came in 10 minutes after that and removed my IV and had me sign some papers and gave me prescriptions for blood pressure, antibiotics and stomach pain. They told me to wait until the transporter got to my room so they could wheel me out. After 5 minutes I told Karen and Allyson to go on down. 5 minutes later the nurse said the transporter should be there soon even though she looked surprised to still see me in the room. After waiting another 5 minutes I just got up and walked out. I met Karen in the lobby and we left.

I fell asleep around 11pm and slept 13 hours uninterrupted. I got up, took a shower, drank some tea and Karen returned with the antibiotics which is the only one I was going to take to help get rid of my flu-like symptoms. I took my first antibiotic around 1:30pm. As of the writing of this article I still have flu-like symptoms. Most noticeably is my cough. I’m glad my sore throat is gone.

In April of 2006 one of my clients was married and they were transferring their wedding photos and videos to their laptop as often as they could. Shortly after the wedding she called me and said her PC laptop wouldn’t boot. I picked up the laptop and did my best to get it to boot but it wouldn’t. I had determined that the hard drive had failed on some level and wouldn’t mount. I reluctantly informed my client of the bad news.

She decided to buy MacBook which I helped her setup and I recovered her iTunes Library from her iPod to her MacBook.

A few months later I decided to try again. I put the drive into a laptop and attempted to run Check Disk. This time the drive simply clicked over and over again never getting anywhere in the boot process.

On December 20th 2007 I purchased SpinRite, a new utility that I thought might repair her hard drive, unfortunately when booting the PC the utility couldn’t see that the drive was connected. And again I shelved the drive.

This month (May 2009) I borrowed a friends PC tower to run SpinRite on my TiVo hard drive because my TiVo was crashing every hour. SpinRite ran for less that 12 hours and repaired some sector problems on the drive. After reassembling my TiVo and putting it back into use I haven’t had a single problem with it. This made me think it was time again to try SpinRite on my clients hard drive.

On Saturday morning May the 16th 2009 I was in my work area and decided to put the hard drive in a laptop and run SpinRite. You can imagine my surprise when SpinRite saw the drive even though it was clicking repeatedly. I told SpinRite to Recover the data. I was quite excited to see that SpinRite was trying to repair the drive. I kept going to my work area to check it’s progress.

After 12 hours it had finally gotten through about 4 areas of damage or less than 1% of the drive. On Sunday I was excited to tell my wife that it was at 54% and it was actually repairing some of the drive while marking other areas unrecoverable. I was thinking that by Monday I would be able to try and recover the data from the drive after the repair.

However, Monday came and went still at 54%. Tuesday got us to 58%. Wednesday was an all 64% day as was Thursday. Friday came and moved us to 65%. One week later, on Saturday we saw 68%. Sunday was the day we saw 69%. Monday came and went without a single change. Tuesday, well Tuesday was the JackPot.

I checked on the progress of the drive repair Tuesday morning May 26th 2009. To my surprise SpinRite was finished. Some areas were marked in Red (red is bad) and some areas were marked in Green (green is good) while most areas were undamaged. I removed the drive from the PC laptop and mounted it on my MacBook. And there it was. It would occasionally click when covering a bad area but it would get over it and report an error. Then I was able to move on.

I meticulously went through every photo and video attempting to copy them over to my drive. There were the important wedding photos and videos as well as hundreds of other photo and videos. Many times the hard drive would start clicking, I had to wait until it was done about a minute later then move on. After several hours of grabbing hundreds of images and dozens of videos one by one I recovered all but a couple videos a few pictures because they were corrupt.

Now I’m going to publish this article and send my client a link so she can read that I recovered her wedding photos and videos from the laptop drive she gave me 3 years ago.

Response from Amie, “Yeah Rob it’s Amie, just checked my email and I think That’s pretty incredible.”

I’m still surprised to hear that kids I know don’t know what Twitter is. I stay on the bleeding edge of technology but these are kids that don’t know what the hottest service is.

This site is a combination of personal and business information. So my articles can be about anything and so can my Tweets http://twitter.com/themacjedi

So have you other Twitter users noticed that your blog posts have been reduced due to your Twitter use?

However, I’ve discovered that with the market down turn many web designers have reduced their design and programming rates to increase their clientele or to allow their clientele to keep web design in the budget. I have not lost any clients since my web design rates increased. The economy has kept me from gaining any new clients as ad budgets have been slashed or eliminated.

My position has always been to provide my clients with the best service I’m capable of while keeping the invoices efficient. With all things being considered I’ve decided it’s in the best interest of myself and my clients to reduce my web design rates. While this is obviously not something that I have to do, it is something that I want to do. I’m comfortable with the reduced profit so my clients may receive an affordable rate in this economy.

Effective April 1st 2009 all Web Design work will be done at a rate of $125 per hour. This rate matches my rates for training and tech support.

Existing clients will notice an immediate reduction in web design invoice totals. I will continue to provide invoice discounts when appropriate.

Thank you for your continued business. If you ever have questions or problems please do not hesitate to contact me. I will do my best to satisfy you.

You can read all about it everywhere but I suggest you watch the video.

Yesterday Franna was sick and acting very weird so we took her to the Vet. They said she was indeed very sick and put her on an I.V. We called before they closed to check on her and they said she had sat up which was good because she couldn’t hours earlier. On Karen and Allyson’s way to check on her this morning (Feb. 18th 2009) the Vet called and said Franna died at 10am.

Most of these photos were taken in 2006 by Allyson after dressing up Franna. They loved each other.

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I ended up canceling my appointment with Insight because my internet came back the following day without anything changing on my end. I saw one of the Insight trucks in my neighborhood repairing a problem. My following posts shows that I was back to normal speeds. I’m quite happy with the support and service from Insight. Of course I never like being without internet.

I’ve decided that with the release WordPress 2.7 I have no need for a desktop client. The new layout and look of the interface is very pleasing. I’m willing to only post when i have an internet connection or from my iPhone.

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I would like to be able to pick one or the other for full time WordPress blogging. Make sure when making comments you indicate what service (WordPress) you use with either of these two apps.

They both have good looking interfaces and functionality appears to be similar. So you power users let me and everyone else know what you think.

Please be clear about which app you speak of and if you have comparison stories share those as well.

As you can see from the pick above my internet is an OK speed.

As I edit this post I see that Ecto is very clever. I like the way it works.

As you can see from the pick above my internet is an OK speed.

As I edit this post I see that MarsEdit is very clever. I like the way it works.

Hours later I had re-downloaded all my apps except one, NetShare, why? Because it wasn’t available anymore. Apple had for the second time pulled the app from the store. Only they removed my ability to download it even though I bought it.

After sending iTunes Support a message that I was unable to re-download NetShare they sent me this reply on 8/4/2008.

Dear Rob,

Eric
iTunes Store Customer Support

Their reply being completely unacceptable I replied back with this message today (8/16/2008 8:09 PM).

Your reply is unacceptable. The reply is basically saying “Thank you for buying from the App Store but you can’t have what you paid for.”

Thanks

Within 5 minutes of sending that message I received this email (8/16/2008 8:14 PM).

Dear Rob Jones,

Amount: $10.69 USD

At first I didn’t think that I could have received a refund that quickly from a message that was 5 minutes old until I received this message from Apple (8/16/2008 8:31 PM)

Dear Rob,

Eric
iTunes Store Customer Support

Wow, his analogy is so wrong I don’t even know where to begin. Apple did exactly what I said I didn’t want which was give me a refund and didn’t do what I asked for which was re-download NetShare.

I’m still learning my way around WordPress but I’m very impressed.

Now I can get back to making regular posts.

I certainly won’t be able to rebuilt any (RapidWeaver) form heavy clients sites soon but the prospect is there.

Right now the hardest part is waiting for theme developers to update their themes to be compatible with WordPress 2.6. A few free themes work and look great while others are broken and that makes it difficult to choose. I think I changed my theme today 10 times.

Themes is an area where RapidWeaver is currently ahead. Most WordPress themes have a single color, the same theme in a different color is completely seperate file and appears as a separate theme. RapidWeaver solved that problem a couple years ago when they incorporated the ability to modify most of the colors for any new theme.

Some WordPress themes have settings thay can be changed but nowhere near the level of RapidWeaver. I’ll just work around that until both WordPress and its theme developers catch up.

Once I have a good grasp of most aspects of WordPress then I only have to convert my other blog, my daughter’s blog, my other daughter’s blog and my wife’s blog.

The main drawback to a RW blog is that it’s machine dependent, meaning which ever machine your RW project file is on is the only one that can update the site or blog. In some cases, changes to the RW project require it to republish the entire blog (hundreds of posts). There are options and plugins that allow for some of the functionality to be added to RW but I finally decided I wanted a more flexible solution.

WordPress, after spending some time online looking for database driven sites I concluded WordPress was best for my needs. Since yesterday I’ve replicated the majority of the layout options I had before and I’m very satisfied.

More importantly than the layout is the ability to post to my blog from just about anywhere. For instance this post is being created from my iPhone while I sit outside with my dog. However, I could post from almost any computer on the internet, that’s the flexibility I was looking for.

I’m going to take the time to manually port all of my RW blog posts to my new WP blog. There isn’t a tool to import directly from RW. I’m OK with that, it will give me the opportunity to make sure they are correctly input.

So far I’ve made sure that my homepage is current, only a few hundred old posts to port.

The Apple Store had a couple employees walk by asking if we had any questions and passing out water. The guy in front of me sat down on the fountain and I jokingly said, “Ohhh come on, we just got here, you can’t be tired already”. The people in front of us (10 people up) were sitting down in the chairs at the Starbucks cafe which was dangerously close to the line. And then they proceeded to scoot those chairs along as the line moved.

2008-07-11 10:45 AM A woman approached me asking if we worked at the Mall. It was an odd question since I was standing in line. After saying no she proceeded to explain that she had just purchased something from Sharper Image (who’s going out of business) and they didn’t have anyone to carry it to her car. She offered pay two of us $15 each to help her. I said, “Sorry, no, but I’m sure you can find help from someone who isn’t standing in line”. The guy in front of me said, “I didn’t know what to say to her.” I said, “She obviously used the least amount of effort to find someone to help her since we were standing outside Sharper Image. She can find someone else.”

2008-07-11 10:32 AM

You can see in this photo a Starbucks chair in the line and further up my client in a green shirt and khakis pants.

2008-07-11 11:15 AM Mall security came along and told everyone they had to put their chairs back. Even the guy with a cast. However, they did get him a wheel chair. I finally finished my coffee. Occasionally chatting with the people in front of me and the kid in a wheelchair behind me.

2008-07-11 11:53 AM

In 1.5 hours we had only moved to where the chair is from the previous picture.

2008-07-11 12:03 PM In line for the iPhone 3G, they are telling people they have plenty but the wait could be 5 hours because AT&T servers are down. Sad face

After hearing the AT&T server went down I expected more people to get out of line, but they didn’t. Apple employees still walking around answering questions and passing out water.

2008-07-11 12:05 PM I’m in the Oxmoor Mall in Louisville, KY. iPhone 3G, I can wait. Line is still moving. And I have 2.0 on my current iPhone. SuperMonkeyBall

2008-07-11 12:12 PM I’ve already been in line for 2 hours. My feet hurt a little, which is sad since I used to run the Mini Marathon (13 miles) in under 2 hours

2008-07-11 12:17 PM Twitterrific on the iPhone works very well, while I wait in line for the iPhone 3G. Easy to read and post. I like it a lot. Happy face ;-)

2008-07-11 01:12 PM 3 hours now waiting in line for the iPhone 3G. Gary did you block me? You listed me in that tweet. Thinking about sitting down

Other than my feet hurting I was still standing without a sit down or restroom break.

2008-07-11 02:04 PM 4 hours and waiting for the iPhone 3G. I’m 50 feet from the Apple Store entrance. I’m going to be quite hungry after I get it.

I’ve already sat down on the floor letting my feet relax. A lady who was sitting up against a wall was asked not to.

2008-07-11 03:02 PM 5 hours now waiting for the iPhone 3G. 20 feet from the Apple Store entrance. Could be done by 4 or dinner time which ever comes first.

2008-07-11 03:05 PM

2008-07-11 03:24 PM My client who waited more than 6.5 hours just left, they could not activate his new iPhone 3G. He has a ticket to come back. Ouch :-(

His problem was he was on a business account and the transfer did not go through as expected.

2008-07-11 03:27 PM I’m standing in the Apple Store foyer, next to the security guard. They can only let so many people in at one time. Need food.

I laughed out loud when I realized there was a line inside the store.

2008-07-11 03:30 PM

I was just let into the store.

2008-07-11 03:48 PM Almost 6 hours of waiting for the iPhone 3G so far and my current iPhone battery is almost dead. I’m close to the middle of the store. ;-)

As I passed the AppleTV display I tuned it to one of my Flickr Sets.

2008-07-11 04:08 PM Finished the purchase of my iPhone, now off to set it up with another Apple employee. As I was switching employees my client had returned to the store to see if they could get him setup now. I told him I would check up on him before I left. After getting setup I went back to check on my client, he was not happy, he wasn’t going to get his iphone 3G today. Not only did he also wait in line 6 hours to get it but he’s 72.

2008-07-11 04:35 PM I just walked out of the Apple Store with my new White iPhone 3G. Time for something to eat.

After 6 hours of standing without a restroom break or food, all of the sudden a restroom break was the only thing I could think about. Follow that up with a soda and some pretzels and I was ready to head home. Several time while carrying my new iphone in a bag I could feel it vibrate, missed calls.

As I was walking towards my car I passed the same guy who was in front of me in line all day. He said he was having a problem getting his phone activated and I said “Let me guess, business line” he said yes.

After getting home I rewarded my daughter, Allyson, with my replaced iPhone, she was so excited it actually surprised me.

They unanamously picked this one.

I want to point out that MobileMe is a rebranding and update of DotMac, which was a rebranding and update of iTools.

When Steve Jobs first announced the switch from iTools to DotMac he made referrence to the fact that Miscrosoft was even sure what their own DotNet service was for. While these two services weren’t anything alike that didn’t matter, DotMac was touted as Apple’s way of knowing how to implement a service Microsoft had started. So Apple used Microsofts own marketing to it’s benifit. DotMac was not competition for DotNet, it just adopted the naming convention.

When Phil Schiller was finished touting all of the features of MobileMe over DotMac he refered to it as “Exchange for the rest of us”. Yes, Exchange would be another Microsoft technolgy. Still not a direct competitor but certainly much closer than before. MobileMe and Exchange do many of the same things.

This would be the second time Apple used a Mirosoft technolgy to promote it’s own. Clever Apple, you can’t fool us, we know you don’t invent everything, just the really good stuff.

I couldn’t remember it, I hadn’t just come back from vacation or anything I used it the day before. Someone let me in and later that day I requested my number because I still couldn’t remember it. When the number was given to me, same number I had always used, it didn’t look familiar. It didn’t spark any memories of “Ohh yeah that’s it”, it was completely gone. I even went back and asked “Are you sure you gave me the same number?” They had.

About 3 years ago I was at Sam’s Club and forgot my business card PIN. Exact same scenario, I called my wife who could find it at the time. I had to leave without making a purchase, I got home and found the paper with my PIN on it and it did not look familiar. To this day I’m confused by it. It’s as if the day I looked it up after forgetting it was the very first memory of it.

It happened again today. I was helping my wife with her RapidWeaver project and showed her how to do something. She asked if there was an easier way to do that, I was certain there was so I took the time to figure it out. And figure it out I did. I showed her how it worked and what settings to select which are not the default settings. I decided to update up my own project files with the newly learned knowledge. So I opened my main project file and went to the Page Inspector and the settings was already selected, not on just that page but every page on all my projects.

Had I not gone back to update my pages I might not have noticed that I had at one time already figured out how to do this and would not know that I had even forgotten it.

I think the really important question is “What have I forgotten that I don’t know I forgot?”

P.S. I regularly brag about my memory because it’s way above average, but I think I may have a synapse or two that need replacing.

I’ve read the rumors, I’ve watched DotMac go down, I’ve heard AT&T coverage plans and there is a lot to be excited about on Monday. Steve will give a keynote presentation and talk about all the things going on with iPhone, Macs and DotMac. This is the first time I’m more excited about announcements that aren’t related to the Mac.

Come Monday at 1:00 PM (EDT), I’ll be ready with 52oz of tea and a bag of chips. Interuptions during keynote time are inexcusable.

My day (5/29/2008) started out much earlier than it usually does. I got up at 7 AM, took a shower, got dressed and left by 8 AM. I stopped at the bank and withdrew $200 and then on my way to Louisville I stopped and got me a coffee from Starbucks. I reached downtown at 8:45 AM and had to pay $6 to park. I was in the courthouse by 8:50 AM and was waiting outside the courtroom with a couple hundred people. They started letting people in the courtroom at 9 AM, as I entered the courtroom people had already bunched up at the beginning of the smallest bench isles I’ve ever seen. I walked around and stepped over a 30” wall to get a seat when the bailiff said “Don’t do that, that’s not a bar” I was already over so I just sat down and didn’t say anything. Then a short time later I was asked to move down to allow more people in. These benches were ridiculously narrow, like the backseat of a Porsche. I was somewhat nervous from just being in the position of waiting to defend myself and could feel it in my stomach.

At 9:10 AM the judge (Kevin W. Delahanty) entered the courtroom, everyone was asked to rise, a few words were said and everyone sat down. I saw one of my clients (Derwin Webb) in the courtroom who is an attorney, it looked as if he was there defending other people, I handle his website hosting and email. There were people already in the courtroom asking the scheduled visitors if they were going to plea innocent or guilty, then they had them sit down again. It was hard for me to hear (I don’t hear that well) with all of the commotion in the courtroom. At 9:15 AM the courtroom got quiet while the judge addressed everyone about the rules of the courtroom and what their options are when approaching the podium. Then it got loud again. Anyone who was not on the docket was asked to leave the courtroom to make room for more people. The judge began to call names to the podium and two other people who had already been calling names the whole time were still calling names.

At 9:40 AM my name was called by one of the people handling pre-judgment information. The gentlemen asked me how do I plea as I’m standing next to him and I said “Innocent”, he asked if I wanted to do community service or go to trial, I said “Are those my only two options?”. He said they were so I said “Go to trial”, he said OK and got up and said “I’m going to get your police officer and make sure he’s here for the trial”, the gentlemen walked passed me and headed out of the courtroom and I said “Do I just wait here?” he said “No have a seat your trial will be about 12:30”. So I sat down and waited. Lots of people were shuffled through the judge and the pre-judgment people, every time someone had to pass you, you had to compress yourself into your seat so they could get by.

I saw the officer who ticked me and Derwin Webb a couple of times in and out of the court room. As the courtroom thinned slightly we were asked to move again, so we all moved to the back of the courtroom. Then a short time later asked to move again. At 10:45 AM I need to use the restroom, while the judge was busy with other people I exited the courtroom to use the restroom, while in the hallway I saw Derwin again and I said “I saw you in 102” he asked what I was doing in there and I said “defending myself against a speeding ticket” he said “Do you need me in there, cause I’ll help you out?” I said “No, I got this one, I have plenty of evidence” he said “OK, well let me know if you need anything I’ll take care of you and call me about my site” I said “OK, thanks, talk to you later”. Back in the courtroom I was again waiting and listening to all of the other people approach the podium. From this point forward the officer who ticketed me was in the courtroom waiting like I was. Not once did he make eye contact with me, he couldn’t have missed me I was wearing my “Tech Support” t-shirt.

At 11:00 AM the judge took a break and the pre-judgement people were still working with people. At 11:25 AM I needed to use the restroom again (it was a large coffee), I was nervous if I left they wouldn’t let me back in or they would call my name and I would miss it but I went anyway and made it back 2 minutes before the judge came back into the court room. Everyone rose again and sat down. At 11:35 AM the judge called my name and as I rose to approach the podium he said “Have a seat Mr. Jones we’re going to move you to the end of the docket”.

The judge finally called me to the podium at 11:50 AM. I approached the podium as did the officer and the prosecuting attorney. He started by saying “Do you swear to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you God?” we both said yes. He asked the officer to present his statement, the officer stated his name his position he mentioned the calibration of the radar gun, the judge asked him about the ticket, he said that he observed me traveling at a high rate of speed when he got me on the radar and again observed me through his mirror. The judge asked about the conditions and the officer said there were no other cars around and that nothing had obstructed his view of me. The prosecuting attorney asked if the officer or I knew each other or if we had any grudges against one another and we both said no.

Then the judge turned to me and asked if I had any question for the officer, I said no. He instructed me to proceed with my statement, I started out by indicating I had an illustration of the incident and I handed one to the prosecuting attorney and one to the bailiff for the judge. The illustration I handed them was three pages, the last page was the incident written down as I remembered it, the second page was an illustration of positions 3 and 4, the first page was the important one that contained position 1 and 2.

I began to explain that Position 1 was the last point in which the officer could have got a reading of 51MPH from one of the cars in front of me because I was not doing 51. I explained that from that position the officer who was approximately 500 ft away could not have gotten an accurate read from my car because even if he had been using a more accurate Lidar gun instead of Radar gun the the beam at the distance is 2 ft wide and needs to be pointed at the facing part of the vehicle which the officer could not have possibly seem. I expected the officer to have video of the incident because on the ticket it says “Radar” and “In-Car-Camera”. His video would confirm what I was saying and would have shown all three cars passing him closely together, but he didn’t have his video, just his testimony. I was also wondering if the judge noticed just a few minutes earlier the officer indicated there were no cars around me yet I’m claiming there were with detail to their make and color.

At this point the prosecuting attorney said “I object to this document, it’s not an actual picture of the incident he placed these cars in these positions.” I became nervous because I went to all this trouble to accurately depict the situation and it never dawned on me that the judge might dismiss my illustration. The judge looked at me and said “This is a satellite image of the area and you have placed the cars in these positions?” I said “That is correct” The judge said “What does land look like here, is there a hill?” I said “There is a slight dip and that’s all” the judge asked me “Is this an accurate representation of all vehicles?” I said “Yes judge, It couldn’t be more accurate”. The judge looked at the prosecuting attorney and said “I’ll allow it”.

Then the prosecuting attorney and the officer began to look at my illustration while the judge asked me if I had anything else. I said “The red line indicates the line-of-site for the officer and he couldn’t see enough of my car to get a reading” I also pointed out that the vehicles in front of me were larger than my car. The judge asked if I had anything else, I said “The reason my speed is listed as Possibly 35 MPH is because I hadn’t yet looked at my speedometer. As I passed the parked police car there is a 35 MPH sign directly in front of his car which is when I confirmed I was doing 35 MPH. The prosecuting attorney said “Because you caught up to the other cars you must have been driving faster than 35 MPH” I said “No, the reason I closed on them was because when they saw the police car they slowed down abruptly closing the gap between us, I never slowed down.” The judge asked me if I had anything else, I said “I wasn’t driving over 35 MPH, the radar reading the officer received could not have been from my car, nor could he have received an accurate reading from my car at that distance with those two cars in front of me.”

The judge asked me if I had anything else, I said “No judge I don’t.” The judge asked the prosecuting attorney if they had anything else, he said “No we don’t”

The judge said something and the officer began to leave the courtroom, I looked at the judge and said “What just happened?” the judge looked at me and said “You won”, I looked at the prosecuting attorney who was smiling real big at me and then I looked at the bailiff who was also smiling at me, I looked at the judge and said “That’s it?” he said “That’s it” I said “Do I need to sign anything?” he said “No, your free to go.” I smiled real big and exited the courtroom. I assume what I didn’t hear the judge say was “Judgement is for the defendant”.

Several days later I asked Derwin how likely it was that I would win my trial, he said, “Congratulations! It is EXTREMELY RARE that someone wins a bench trial pro se. Hats off to you!”

I literally feel excited, I can’t wait for it to start, I prepare with food and drink so I won’t have to get up.

Now I read the updates from about 4 sites at one time, previously I watched it Live when they did that.

I’ve never been to one but hopefully I won’t have to wait much longer.

It’s almost here, less than two weeks away.

I’ve even tried to finish a GTA4 mission without killing cops, I did however shoot them in the leg (Terminator style). The game didn’t let me, no problem, I kill them all and escape. Maybe I could have knocked them out or something else but I didn’t try. I assume the mission was designed to have me kill them, in the game to police aren’t that respectable.

I don’t mind the violence, I still attempt to make a decent decision. It’s just a game and the majority of it fun, that which isn’t fun is just neutral (doesn’t affect me either way).

In the middle of one of the threads someone posted “TRY A DIFFERENT USB PORT”. I wanted to blast them for wasting my time and posting such a simple fix to the problem. But then I remembered one of my clients was having trouble with their USB modem adapter and the solution was to use the USB port closest to the front of the MacBook. I paused for moment, looked to see which USB port I was using, it was the one furthest from the front of my MacBook. It couldn’t possibly be that simple, I unplugged the USB cable and moved it to the USB port closest to the front of the MacBook. Hello iPhoto, it popped up and was ready to import my photos. I couldn’t believe it, not because it worked but because I has inadvertently used the rear USB every time without even thinking about it.

That leads to a hardware question. What’s wrong with the rear USB port on the MacBook?

This is a list of games that are on their fourth version and also the first time I’ve ever played them. GTA4 is amazing, I had also never played a GTA game before. It’s so much better than games that are similar. COD4 is awesome, I had never played COD before this one and I’ve invested more time in it than Halo 3. MGS, another game I’ve never played but MGS4 is going to make me buy a PS3. With DualShock3 of course.

Look at the dates between my second tweet and my third tweet. Now that’s commitment to a joke. I wanted to tweet several times before that but resisted. Then I forgot about twitter, then I wanted tweet again. I almost forgot to post again on the same day. Now I’ll be using it all the time.

About the server, it seems as though it forgot who it was. So Time Machine (and about hour of time) reminded it and we were back in business. Thank you Time Machine, you kept me from having to rebuild the server.

The funny card from my wife.

The site was very funny. Karen and I got a huge laugh out of it. So last night I decided to send an email to the person who registered the site and tell them how much we enjoyed it.

Today at 4:28PM my iPhone rang and the display said “Blocked”. I never get Blocked calls so I decided to see who it was. To my surprise is was Carl MacLaren one of the show’s producers and the person the show’s bar is named after “MacLaren’s Bar”. How awesome is that? He thanked me for my kind words and appreciated the fact that I went to the trouble to let them know I enjoyed the website. Then, and this is even funnier, because it’s obvious to anyone who reads my email signature that I’m in IT, Carl MacLaren asked me for tech support. Now that’s cool. Since I am very familiar with the question he was asking I was able to answer it quickly.

Carl MacLaren, I want to thank you for giving me a story that no one will ever believe because of what day it is.

Neither 13 years ago nor today was I driving in a reckless manner, nor was I driving in a way that endangered other drivers’ lives. In today’s case I was driving behind a couple of cars at a slower speed. The tickets issued (13 years ago and today) were not the product of an officer protecting the lives of a tax payer. The tickets were a way for the city to generate revenue, in my opinion. Is that why we have police officers? The officers are paid from our tax money. The officers pull us over to generate revenue. Why do we have officers generating revenue for a job in which they are already paid? It’s like he’s being paid by me to fine me.

Sidebar: I’m only talking about when officers are instructed to ticket people (speed traps) for money, which is not what they were hired for. I’m not talking about an officer risking his life or protecting mine, which is what they’re hired for.

But can you blame the officer? I don’t really think we can. As an employee (the officer) of an agency he doesn’t own, he can neither make rules or change them. For the most part, he simply follows the rules that have been laid out before him. He and I are alike in the sense that we are working to feed our families. I would think to an officer this would be one part of the job they would find most embarrassing.

The entire incident:
It was noon and I had just left Indian Hills neighborhood in Louisville, KY after doing a support job. Instead of taking a left and heading towards the highway (North East) I thought I would roll down my window and head right on Brownsboro Rd. (South West) towards Zorn Ave. and get a little fresh air because it’s 65 degrees and a very nice, sunny day. Less than a quarter mile from Indian Hills I was listening to a podcast and traveling behind a grey van and a black Acura when all of the sudden the Acura slowed down abruptly, I don’t remember having to even tap my brakes since I was driving slower and slightly further behind them. After the Acura slowed down I saw a police car parked in the right emergency lane. His car was facing the same direction we were traveling as was the police officer. After all three of us passed the parked police car, he turned his lights on, pulled out right behind me and followed me for about a half block. As he got closer I looked in my review mirror and pointed at myself to see if he wanted me to pull over or get out of the way. His hand gesture indicated he wanted me to pull over, which actually surprised me. I pulled over between a couple mailboxes and put my car in park. My window was already down. As the officer approached my window I asked, “How can I help you?” He said, “May I see your license please?” I said, “Yes.” I then removed it from my wallet and handed it to him. He proceeded to ask, “Is the address on your license correct?” I said, “Yes.” The officer asked, “Do you know what the speed limit is?” I said, “No, I don’t normally go this way.” He said, “You were doing 51 in a 35.” I didn’t respond (it’s unlikely that he actually targeted my car at 51 since I didn’t even see his car until after the Acura slowed down. Both the van and the Acura blocked my view of the police car. He said, “I’ll be right back.” I said, “OK.” After about 4 or 5 minutes he returned with my license and a piece of paper. I put my license away and looked at the paper. It was a Uniform Citation. I quickly glanced and saw $161. I said to the officer, “Does that say $161?” He said, “Let me see, yes it does.” I replied, “I barely made more than that to come over here.” He replied “Then it wasn’t worth it.” He then said, “Thank you.” and turned and walked away. As he pulled away from me he did a U-turn; I would assume to return to his position in the emergency lane.

By no means am I saying the officer is lying. I don’t know if the officer radared the van or the Acura that were in front of me. However, it’s obvious to me that he is mistaken and he did not witness or radar me at any speed.

I kind of picture the whole situation like the officer was The Lion and I was The Gazelle at the back of the herd.

I will be reporting to court at said date. The only thing on my mind will be “Not Guilty.” I may have some diagrams as well.

These are some illustrations I’ll taking with me to show that the officer would not have been able to get a read off my car. I’ve done my homework, I hope the judge will see that.

I don’t currently own an Apple TV but I do own an Xbox 360. And as it turns out the Xbox is one hell of a good video device. I have a 500GB external USB hard drive formatted as FAT32. It must be FAT32 for you to be able to connect it to your Xbox 360. Once connected to your Xbox 360 over USB you can watch many video types. I’ve been using Handbrake to convert my DVD movies to M4V video files. I’m using Handbrake’s Apple TV Take 2 settings with 2-Pass. Then I transfer the video files to the Movie folder on the external hard drive.

I can easily select the hard drive from the Xbox 360 menu and play any movie or TV Show (Firefly) I have on it. And they look fantastic. You can also put image files on the drive and view them from the Xbox. I plan on getting a PS3 (maybe) by the end of this or beginning of next. The PS3 will also read this same drive connected over USB and play the same video files or view image files.

The Apple TV has been out for a year now and it’s one USB port currently serves no purpose. When I get an Apple TV I want to be able to connect my pre-existing 500GB external USB hard drive to it. And have it play the movie files I’ve already encoded. I am making sure to select Apple TV specific settings.

Why does it matter. Because I really like the idea of all my movies accessible from one location. This is taking time and effort to setup. It would be nice not to lose the effort when it comes to the Apple TV. If the Apple TV never supports external storage, the drive will remain connected to the Xbox 360 and will continue to be my main source for video content. I already rent more movies from Xbox Live than iTunes or TiVo.

“Apple, by the time I get an Apple TV could you enable external storage through the USB port? And make sure it can read FAT32 so I don’t have to reformat and transfer all of my video files.”

I believe that Apple can have a plan to start a subscription based service for music. But unlike all of the comments about how people don’t want to rent music, this is more like XM Radio. Imagine paying a small monthly fee to Apple in exchange for unlimited listening to many channels of music. I don’t think the service will work if Apple doesn’t automatically make channels get music for their particular genre. Nearly identical to the way that XM has an 80’s channel. It would need to be similar to a radio station.

Apple would need to differentiate between renting music and a music station with many different channels. All songs are purchasable, the channels only play songs that you can buy. Unlike radio where you listen to what they want to play, with The iTunes Station you pick the channels you want to listen to and you may even have options to filter it specifically to your tastes. For instance, I like 80’s music, but only from about 84-89.

Apple probably already had something like this in mind and the newest iPods and iPhone are fully capable of playing music channels from The iTunes Station.

I would certainly consider trying it to see or hear rather some new music. Since I listen to mostly my own music instead a radio stations I’m sure I miss out on songs I would buy.

You can take this a step further and Apple could provide The iTunes Station for free with advertisements between songs just like a regular radio station. They could also provide this service over the internet as an internet radio station. There would be a ticker tape that could be clicked on taking you to the iTunes track in the iTunes Store for purchasing. How would they benefit? They would focus on playing music you don’t already own (when local to your machine). This way if you hear something you want to buy, click a Buy button while the song is playing from The iTunes Station and you own it. There are several models that could be used for this type of service, I describe just two of them.

The key for Apple is to remove the perception of renting music. Presenting it as a radio station (WAPL The Apple) will accomplish that.

I had originally bought my Airport Extreme with the idea that I would be able to connect a HD to it and use Time Machine to backup. Unfortunately that feature didn’t make it into Time Machine or an Airport Extreme update, leaving myself and few others slightly disappointed. I’m not going to claim to know why it didn’t make it into the feature set. No big deal, I’ve sold the Airport Extreme and have what I want, wireless backups. Time Capsule is that solution.

I’ve had it for several days now and it appears to work effortlessly. I could have connected my computer directly to the Time Capsule so my first backup would have run very fast but I wanted to see how well it would do wirelessly. My MacBook doesn’t have 802.11N so I was backing up over 802.11G. I have approximately 160GB of data to backup. My wife has a MacBook with 802.11N and she had 80GB of data to backup. If you option-click the Airport icon in your Menu Bar you will see your Transmit Rate. Mine was 54 while Karen’s was 130. Karen’s computer took 8 hours to do it’s initial backup of 80GB. My computer took 36 hours to do it’s initial backup of 160GB.

The hardest part was not taking my computer anywhere for a whole day while it backed up. Now that the backups are done, incremental backups happen without me even noticing. Karen’s Transmit Rate would have been 300 if I didn’t have 802.11B/G items connected to the Time Capsule. Even at a reduced rate of 130, her MacBook was backing up more than twice as fast as mine.

The Apple Time Capsule works exactly the same way the Apple Airport Extreme with a hard drive connected does, except you can’t use Time Machine with the Airport Extreme to backup. That so far is the one feature that makes it better. And that one feature works very well.

My recommendation is to go with the Time Capsule for your wireless Time Machine backups. I went with the Time Capsule 1TB model but there is also the Time Capsule 500GB model if you don’t need the extra space.

UPDATE 03-19-2008: It appears as though several updates released today by Apple brings the aforementioned backup feature to Airport Extreme. That means you can use an Airport Extreme with a connected USB hard drive to backup your computer with Time Machine. Thanks for the updates Apple.

“Someone ever tries to kill you, you try to kill em’ right back.”

The other day I was at a restaurant and as I moved to the right out of someone’s way I hit the screen of my iPhone against the very sharp edge of a chair. I immediately knew I caused damage because of how hard I hit the chair. I looked down to confirm the damage and I was correct.

Below are two images to show the damage caused. I hit the chair so hard it bounced and hit the screen twice.

Later on that evening I lifted up the corner of the “POWER SUPPORT” crystal film static cling to see what kind of damage the actual glass received. To my surprise the glass was completely undamaged. The static cling took all of the damage. So I went out and bought another set of the “POWER SUPPORT” crystal film static cling and replaced the damaged one on my iPhone.

I can easily recommend purchasing the “POWER SUPPORT” static cling (crystal or anti-glare) for your iPhone, especially if the screen is exposed.

Visit www.powersupportusa.com or pick them up from your local Apple Store like I did.

I’m the only person I know that didn’t know Arnold was a good guy in T2. That’s why it was so great. I hate it when that feeling is ruined.

But sometimes some things just come to me. I recently saw the promos for the new episodes of LOST.

If you can remember, all of the LOST episodes were suppose to be from 2004, except for one. That one episode was from the future, but what future.

This got me thinking last night that the new season will show the characters not from 2004 but from 2008 (or what’s considered to be now).

This means that some of the characters got off of the island for 3 years and now plan to go back. It also means that those who stayed will have 3 years of back-story on the island.

This is an awesome concept. It makes me wonder if the future episode was from 2007 and they are back on the island now or if it’s from now and they want to get beck on the island.

This will also explain why Walt is so tall and older. It could mean that Sun’s baby is 2 years old and Claire’s baby is 3 years old.

I’m seriously looking forward to the new season.

Today I had my first early morning appointment which I hope will help to get me back on schedule.

Of course even my normal schedule had me up till 2AM.

First and foremost the movies will be rented from the iTunes Store. So you can watch it on your computer.

But how do you watch it on your TV? A couple of ways, first would be the Apple TV. It connects to your TV and you can tell it to download all new content on your computer.
The second way would be if you have and new iPhone, iPod touch, iPod nano or iPod classic. You would sync your movie rentals to one of these devices and with the use of a special $50 Apple Composite AV Cable or Apple Component AV Cable you can connect all of these devices your your television. You can even buy a special Universal Dock if you want to control the playback with the Apple Remote.

I have an iPhone, the Composite AV Cable and the Universal Dock for watching content from my iPhone on my TV. I looks quite good with the videos I’ve tried.

My predictions for the January 15th 2008 MacWorld Expo Keynote presentation by Steve Jobs:
1. New less expensive Apple TV, I’m guessing around $150. This hasn’t been in the rumors at all it just makes sense to me.
2. New hi-end Apple TV with 1080p output and 5.1 audio, DVD (Blu-Ray upgradable). Possible combining of the Mac mini and Apple TV.
3. Movie Rentals.
4. New MacBook Pros. Redesigned.
5. New MacBook Pro to replace the un-replaced 12″ PowerBook.
6. New Apple Universal Remote.
7. New MacBook that has built-in 3G network from AT&T, that way it’s connected from everywhere.
8. New Apple displays with HDMI. Easily connect to Apple TV
9. New iTunes 8 after the show.
10. iPhone update with new features never been announced.

We’ll probably hear about Starbucks, Microsoft Office 2K8 with Roz Ho, AT&T Pres about 3G and the show will end with musical talent (possibly a black male).

But iPhones can’t run Flash, I know. Also revealing about the article is that Quicken Online will be released exactly one week before Steve Jobs will give the MacWorld Expo Keynote.

My assumption is that Steve and Co. will announce Flash for the iPhone. Perfectly logical, I know.

If you forward into the episode, the scene after the commercial break starts out with a Winter scene of a street.

When Karen saw this she said “That’s the same street from Groundhog Day”. Upon further investigation it wasn’t just the street, it was the exact scene from Groundhog Day. There is someone shoveling snow on the left side of the street and someone walking down the sidewalk on the right side of the street. The Pushing Daisies scene has the walker just past the yellow house while the Groundhog Day scene has the walker at the end of the block farther away.

At 28 minutes 10 seconds (without commercials) the image below was captured from the 2007 Pushing Daisies episode Corpsicle.
The clip doesn’t have any relevance to the show except for the snow.

At 1 hour 36 minutes and 05 Seconds the image below was captured from the 1993 movie Groundhog Day.
This clip is in front of the actual Bed and Breakfast used in the Movie.

I wonder how many other people noticed? Pushing Daisies Forum Post.

I signed up with the gamertag “thexboxjedi”. I found that referring to myself as an Xbox Jedi gave people the impression I was good. It made me a target which didn’t help because I wasn’t that good, but I love to play. So I changed it to “themacjedi” shortly after the Xbox 360 came out.

My 5 year experience with Xbox Live has been awesome. I have a few friends on Live that joined because of me. I played games online with my Mac before I had Live but it wasn’t no where near as cool. Being able to talk to all of the players is a fantastic thing. There are always going to be people who you don’t want to hear and Live handles that.

The new Live with the 360 is a significant improvement. I enjoy it every day.

Digby is Ned’s dog and the first living thing Ned ever brought back to life. Ned at the age of 9 years, 27 weeks, 6 days and 3 minutes old learned that touching something dead once equals life, touch it again and it’s back to being dead.

Ned was fortunate to have learned this before touching Digby a second time. Therefore Digby is alive and well in Ned’s adult life now 19 years, 34 weeks, 1 day, 59 minutes later. He just can’t touch him.

The plot of the show is based around Ned’s love for someone he made alive again. That someone is Chuck and they can never touch. Or can they?

Theory #1
My first theory is that at the end of season one Digby and Ned will touch accidentally but Digby will not die (Season One Cliffhanger). The end of season one will put Ned and Digby at over 20 years from the first touch. This will lead Ned to wonder how long after he touches something can he touch it again and it not return to being dead. Wanting to know how long before he and Chuck can touch again he will probably setup an experiment with many dead insects, choosing those with the longest life span. Using predetermined times to touch the insects again, after an hour, a day, a week and a year bringing us all the way to the end of the second season (Season Two Cliffhanger).

Is 20 years the magic number? Will it be 20 years before Ned and Chuck can touch?

Theory #2
My second theory is based on Digby being a Golden Retriever. The average lifespan of a Golden Retriever is 13 years. Digby was 3 years, 2 weeks, 6 days, 5 hours and 9 minutes old when he died so today he would be over 22 years old. That leads us to the conclusion that Ned’s first touch of life alters the natural life span of whatever he touched. This could lead Ned into another experiment. Only this time Ned gathers some insects with very short lifespans. After touching them and bringing them back to life he waits to see how much longer they live past their natural lifespan.

I gave a brief explanation of the permission I had received and once they confirm that information I’m sure they will move on to real unauthorized users.

Let’s start with the Chatpad Positives:
To go from having to use the virtual keyboard to an actual keyboard is fantastic. When pressing keys you get audible feedback from the TV. All of the keys that would need are there, including a few you may never use. It fix snugly onto your controller and feels very solid. It has a headset jack on the front to plug your new headset into. The keys light up for dark room use.

Now the Chatpad Negatives:
The Chatpad is designed with the white controller in mind. Therefore when attaching it to the new Black, Blue, Pink or Halo controller it looks very poorly thought out. For example, with such a small keyboard footprint they should have designed the casing with the grey color most of the controllers have and made the keyboard white or shiny (like the Guide button) with black letters. This would have increased the contrast significantly. I find I have to focus on the keyboard more than normal because of the current contract. It’s difficult to read and I have 20/15 vision.

Chatpad Wrapup:
It’s great to have a keyboard. I’m looking forward to the next version that might be a neutral color with a high contrast keyboard.

Additional Thoughts:
I believe the Chatpad was designed for an upcoming Xbox 360 Web Browser. They are marketing it as a Messenger solution but I can’t find people who use Messenger.

My previous article is about the iPhone connecting to my TV. This would give me the ability to watch TV shows and Movies from the iTunes store on my television.

But why not take it one step further? Apple has already given iTunes similar functionality to that of Sony’s LocationFree. With an Apple TV you can connect to different iTunes enabled computers to stream audio and video. And you can stream audio from iTunes to different Airport Express (Airtunes) routers. That indicates that data flow can be both directions. Apple TV pulls data from your iTunes enabled computers and iTunes pushes data to the Airport Express.

Apple, give me the ability to browse iTunes media on my local network with my iPhone and the iPod touch.

Let’s say that I have an iPhone (and I do) or iPod touch and I want to view something on an iTunes enabled computer. I wake my iPhone or iPod touch and click the SHARED button (Apple already uses the SHARED directory in iTunes when it detects other iTunes on the same network). After pressing the SHARED button I would be presented with a list of all iTunes enabled computers. Upon selecting one I would be presented with the options to choose between the different types of media: Music, Movies, TV Shows, Podcasts and so on.

I think this is similar in functionality to the way a PSP can view media from LocationFree or a PS3.

This would give me the ability to watch or listen to anything on any of my iTunes enabled computers on my local network. This would work the same way if I was at a friend’s house and he was sharing from iTunes.

Or what about the new deal with Starbucks. Imagine going into Starbucks and being able to listen in full to the same music that’s being played instead of 30 second clips of the previously played songs.

I doubt I’m suggesting something that those Apple Ninjas haven’t already thought of but I want to go ahead and say I want it. Apple likes to claim they think of stuff we want before we even know we want it. Most of the time they really do give me something I hadn’t thought of or knew I needed but when I have it I can’t do without it.

This time I want something before Apple told me I wanted it.

Possibly today Apple removed the iPhone from the list. Why? Maybe the iPhone was only included because the AV Cable came with a USB power adapter. Or they accidentally revealed something that had not yet been announced.

I hope the AV Cables do work with the iPhone when they are finally released. This would allow me to watch TV Shows, Movies and upcoming iTunes Movie rentals on my TV with the iPhone.

As shown from left to right, iPod touch, iPod classic, iPod nano and the iPod shuffle.

Below is my email to her.

START
My question is “Do I have to use the word ‘the’ twice”? For instance, if I ask a friend “Have you heard the ‘Ghost’ soundtrack”?

Now change the name of the soundtrack to a movie that starts with the word “the”. Such as The Fast and The Furious.

Have you heard the The Fast and The Furious soundtrack?

It certainly doesn’t sound correct when you say it, but logically it makes sense to say it twice.

What’s your take on the “The” issue. I just did it again.

Thanks
END

Good question I know. Listen to her answer on her website or in iTunes.

This got me thinking, maybe she’s right, maybe artificial intelligence will never be human-like until it incorporates artificial ignorance.

AI&I (Artificial Intelligence & Ignorance). I know characters can make several right decisions, but what about wrong decisions. Like running for it when they should have stayed still. What about shooting at their buddies when they come around a corner and get startled? What about forgetting to reload after each battle and running out of ammo in the next battle?

I want to see an enemy run towards me, start shooting and run out of ammo after 2 shots. Then I beat them down while they’re reloading.

I look forward to the influx of Apple products in the Kentuckiana Area (Louisville, KY and Southern, IN) in which I focus my Macintosh Tech Support business.

The pics below indicate the location of the store and my daughter Allyson standing in front of the construction wall.

I look forward to not having to drive to Indianapolis, IN anymore. Which I did for my iPhone.

But that afternoon we had our anniversary party. That is of course if you consider partying inviting girls for a sleep over with your daughter while you update your website.

That evening my wife and I went out for a nice anniversary dinner. That is of course if your consider dinner sharing a bag of jalapeno chips while watching a movie on TiVo.

While it might not have been a celebratory day, it was significant. It’s my understanding that a lot of small businesses like mine never make it to year two.

I love working on computers, so spending my two year anniversary doing what I enjoy is a huge plus.

Thank you to all of my clients who put your trust in me to keep your computers running and have helped me to be a success.

My MacBook’s hard drive died (7/3/2007) two days after getting my iPhone. Fortunately, I had synced my calendars, contacts, bookmarks, some pictures, music and movies to my iPhone. Because of the timing with the holiday and weekend, I went a full week without my computer waiting for a new hard drive from Apple. Some people would have panicked, but I saw it as an opportunity to put the iPhone through it’s paces. So that’s what I did.

Can you live for a week without your computer and only an iPhone? Yes. But, expect some catching up when you get your computer back up and running. For instance, invoicing, something you can’t do with your iPhone. As a tech support person I took my wife’s computer with me (just in case) on two different jobs and only needed it once and was done within one minute.

Activation:
I got my iPhone 2 days after they were released and I did have activation problems. After 3 or 4 phone calls and 9 hours my iPhone was working as expected. I recently activated a client’s iPhone in 4 minutes with no problems. It looks to me as though AT&T has worked through the problems they were having.

Safari:
You’ve heard Steve Jobs say that the iPhone isn’t the watered down web but a full web browser. I can confirm that it’s certainly not the watered down web, but it’s not the complete web either. Flash playback is missing. That’s probably the biggest omission that most people will notice when surfing. It’s possible that Flash playback just wasn’t ready by the release date of the iPhone and will be added later. Downloading audio and video files directly into the iPod or available memory is something I’m looking forward to in a possible future update.

Hardware:
iPhone 1.0 hardware seems very impressive. It’s like Apple built the best piece of hardware they could, knowing they would be building on it through software updates for some time. Software can greatly improve the device; anything missing will be added later. Problems with be corrected through updates. The iPhone that was released on July 29th won’t be the same iPhone we’re using 6 months or a year from now. After a few updates it will receive fixes and new features. I love devices that can be updated with new features. I wrote an article about gaming consoles and how they change through software updates. A year and a half after I bought my Xbox 360 they added H.264 and MPEG-4 video playback which allows me to stream videos from my Mac to my Xbox 360. That’s awesome.

It’s nice to no longer have a need to carry multiple devices around. Before I had my phone, iPod and computer. Now in many cases I can get away with just having my iPhone. And the camera is nice to have since I never had a camera with me before.

Applications:
The built-in applications are the only ones you’re going to be able to use for a while. Apple will add more later and may even let 3rd parties in the future. There are those web based apps you may have heard about but if you’re in Airplane mode (no internet connection) you won’t be able to use them. This doesn’t bother me because I know Apple wants the iPhone to be as stable as possible.

Syncing:
Using iTunes to get all your data makes perfect sense. I haven’t had any problems. It’s very easy to add what you want.

Keyboard:
I love it. I don’t even realize how often it corrects my typing. Only one application allows for horizontal use; expect an update to add horizontal keyboard use to other apps. I took all of the notes for this article on my iPhone while I was without my computer.

Apple, please include the same spell correcting the iPhone has into Leopard. I like the corrected spelling hovering below the word I’m typing and the space bar activation. This is brilliant. It will help me on my desktop and laptop Macs as well.

Wireless Networks:
Unlike a lot of the tech articles you may have read online where the reviewer blasts the EDGE network for being slow, Edge network is acceptable when Wi-Fi is not available. Especially to those of us users who went from the cheapest mobile phone with no data plan at all directly to the iPhone.
Wi-Fi works great. It’s always going to be faster than EDGE, so use Wi-Fi when it’s available.

Address Book:
It’s easy to find what you need, but it can be slow if you have 600 addresses in your Address Book like I do. A little work needs to be done for some quick searching, but it’s the first time I’ve ever had my entire Address Book with me.

Calendars:
Calendars do not sync without a computer. So even if you have a dotmac account the iPhone won’t update your calendar through the internet like your Mac does. This is probably to keep feature parity with Windows users. While I appreciate having YouTube on my iPhone I’ve used the calendar far more.

Calendar combines all checked calendars into one. I’ve confirmed that it actually stores them separately. Maybe a future update will allow viewing calendars separately on the iPhone.

Camera:
Camera works well. You need to hold it steady and the subject must be well lit. Video recording – I believe the hardware can support it so it’s just a matter of a software update.

Email:
It works the same as your computer’s email. I have no complaints. It’s easy to use and works well. No more traveling from one job to another wondering what email I might have missed while my MacBook was in it’s case without an internet connection.

Touch Screen:
Finger wiping becomes a requirement. I will wipe the tip of my index finger on my sleeve or pants before using my iPhone. This removes that tiny bit of finger oil that would have otherwise ended up on my iPhone screen. So I don’t have to clean my screen as often. The screen itself is brilliant, even if I had to clean the screen 10 times a day, I would still prefer it. I currently only clean the screen twice a day. Use the cloth that came with the iPhone or a microfiber cloth and your breath to get the best clean without any potential for scratching.

Calculator:
Just that and nothing more.

SMS:
Never used it. With email I have no need for it.

Phone:
It works well, and the headphones add to it’s clarity. I have no complaints about the phone. It’s very cool to be listening to music or a podcast and have them pause and fade to the background while you answer the call, then un-pause and fade back in when the call is over.

Time Shift:
From useless time to productive or entertaining time.There’s nothing like being stuck at Sam’s Club and grabbing a soda, sitting down in the food court, surfing the web and answering emails, while they rotate your tires. Now the most boring places (doctors offices, tire store and any place that you’re required to wait) can be like your office by simply getting out your iPhone and doing some work or having some fun.

There are things on the iPhone that I didn’t address, simply because they are there, they work well and as expected.

Since this is the first iPod with a speaker I was able to sit on my deck with my wife and enjoy the cool breeze while playing a little 80’s music that we could both hear.

Final Thoughts: I believe the iPhone is a Trojan Horse for Apple. It puts a Mac in the hands of people who simply thought they were buying a cool phone. Should you get an iPhone? I certainly recommend it. If you’re in need of both a new iPod and mobile phone it becomes more reasonable. For me it was a must, I was at the point of needing something that would allow me to take notes and create calendar events while talking on the phone. The iPhone has literally made me a better tech support person. Now I just need to get my wife one.

So many people on the internet use their anonymity to say what they want with no regard to the recipient. Like Marks comments many of them are rude and sarcastic. Can I handle rude and sarcastic, yes of course I can. As a matter of fact, there is very little anyone can say that will actually bother me. Part of the problem I have with these types of comments is they are a waste of my time. They are not trying to engage me in an intellectual conversation, they are simply hiding behind the internet so they can be rude and mouth off.

Like Mark, I call him Mark because that’s the name he left in the comments section of my article, so many people will not provide a name and or last name (in Mark’s case) or an email address with their comments. Why, my best answer would be because they would never do that in person and therefore don’t want take credit for being so rude.

If a person has a legitimate disagreement with something I’ve said or written I am more than happy to hear them out because I’m aware I might learn something. I’m also willing to agree to disagree when a middle ground isn’t in sight. Always being polite and respectful to the person I’m conversing with.

I turned off most Comments in my YouTube page because people say the meanest things for no reason.

One of my favorite games of all time is Fable for the original Xbox. I loved the atmosphere of the game, the music, the mystery. It might not have been everything they originally intended it to be but that didn’t concern me. The game is very much an Action RPG. Since I don’t care for your typical RPG I was surprised how much I like it.

So a couple months ago I picked up Crackdown for the same reason most people picked it up. What I didn’t know was that Crackdown was an Action RPG. But not any Action RPG, an Action RPG that was separated at birth from Fable.

There are so many similarities that I can’t believe no one has written about them. So let me provide a few similarities and differences.

Similarities:
1. Central hub of the world, (F) The Guild, (CD) The Keep.
2. Several cities to explore, with different missions for each.
2. Killing enemies releases glowing experience orbs that follow you and are used to level up.
3. As your character levels up they physically change in size.
4. Attacking Guards or Peace Keepers will have all of them attacking you.
5. Use Cullis Gates and Supply Points to move from one locations to another.
6. You level up several major areas of your strength, skill, agility and will.

Additional Similarities:
First – In both Crackdown and Fable, your character never had a definitive persona to him. Roughly speaking, neither of them carried an actual “name,” but instead were referred to as the “Hero” (Fable) or “Agent” (Crackdown). In addition, although each character shared the exact same personality or skills as every other “character,” you could alter their appearance without changing overall gameplay or story.

Second – There were a variety of mini-games that despite not adding or subtracting to the game’s storyline, they offered a larger scope to overall gameplay that aided in boosting your stats to make progression through the game easier or quicker.

Third – Both characters neither talk nor show a certain degree of individuality among the environment and other characters (NPCs), more so in Crackdown than in Fable.

Let’s discuss the differences:
First – In Fable, there were several NPCs and essential characters that furthered the story and provided a deeper involvement in the overall gameplay, common in the RPG genre. However, in Crackdown, there was little to no association with any NPC or other character that contributed to the plot.

Second – In Fable, you could choose a path to follow that changed the scope of the game in either a hero or villain fashion depending on your general choices throughout the game as a person. However, in Crackdown you had no choice as to what path to follow, but were confined to a more linear gameplay, in which you played the “bad cop” or “antihero.”

Third – In Fable, you had a two-weapon scheme, in which you carried one melee weapon and one long range weapon, albeit their are more archaic variations to more modern armaments. In Crackdown, you still retain a two-weapon scheme, but are not limited as to what should be carried and, thus, more modern weapons are utilized with a more long range combat tone to the overall gameplay.

Well there you have it, these games actually have a lot in common. I would like to thank Stephen Jenkins for his help on the Similarities and Differences. Since we both played each game a lot I knew he would be able to provide accurate info.

If you have any additional Similarities and Differences please send them through my contact form.

It focuses on an IT directors point of view on the iPhone. The problem with this article is the title. Companies are not Hanging Up on Apple’s iPhone, lazy IT departments are.

The article is misleading because they’re not asking the people who run the companies.

When any company President says he wants an iPhone to work with the company email, the IT department will have no choice but to figure out how to make it work.

I’ve worked with small minded IT people like this, they think they can dictate the direction of change in the company. When in reality they don’t have any power when an executive wants something.

Think about the fact that Steve Jobs (Apple), Eric Schmidt (Google) and Jerry Yang (Yahoo), the CEOs for some of the most important companies on the planet will be using their iPhones with their companies email.

Dixie, if you remember was a surprise to me and apparently only me.

So I can open my blogging app on my MacBook and type this post but it isn’t going anywhere til my Internet comes back up.

Here’s a list of things that you realize became more difficult without power:

1 Opening the garage door.
2 Getting ice from the ice machine.
3 Getting the flashlights from your basement.
4 Going to the restroom.
5 Reading a book.
6 Tucking your kid back into bed.

Why is it when you’re without power you feel the need to do something that requires it?

A few months ago I came up with a game to entertain my daughter when she gets bored. Or you can start a game if they’re whining or annoying you.

It’s called The Apple Sticker Game.

All they have to do is find a automobile with an Apple sticker on it.

The Rules:
1. You must be in an automobile with the engine running. Stickers can’t be pointed out when engine is not running. If stickers are called out from outside the automobile or when the engine is off those stickers become void and can not be used in the game. Automobiles with stickers do not need to be moving or with their engine running. Any automobile with an Apple sticker is in play.
2. Can’t be an Apple sticker that’s been used in any other game. You know, my car, neighbors cars and such.
3. They have to be able to prove it. You know, point it out and such, honor system can be used if on highway.
4. Multiple stickers on a car are multiple opportunities. If an automobile has 3 stickers, one kid can win three dollars if they call them all.
5. If a parent notices an Apple sticker on a automobile and points it out, that automobile becomes void and can not be used in the game. I’ve never used this rule but I might if I lived in Cupertino.
6. This is The Apple Sticker Game, no other Apple logos are valid such as store signs, billboards or Apple stickers not on an automobile.

The Rewards:
1. Find an Apple sticker on an automobile and win a dollar.
2. Find an old multi-colored apple sticker on an automobile and win five dollars.
3. Find an Apple sticker placed on the inside of the car and therefore looks backwards from your point of view and win five dollars.

Check them out here http://achievementjunkie.com/ and the forums here http://achievementjunkie.com/forums/

You can also subscribe to their iTunes podcast here.

Look for themacjedi in the forums, I’m there regularly.

When I was done with the toothpick I flicked it into the yard next to us. Which is for sale and the yard is covered in straw. Karen asked why I flicked it in the yard because the puppy could get it.

I said “That’s why I flicked it way over there, so she wouldn’t find it in our yard and choke on it”. About 4 minutes later here comes Dixie with the toothpick in her mouth.

I busted out laughing wondering how in the world she found my toothpick in all that straw? Maybe my scent was on it, regardless I was very surprised.

Starting with the PSP, Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and Nintendo Wii that all changed. I had a PSP from launch day and the cool thing about it was you were able to download updates that not only fixed problems but added new features. Some new features were minor in scope to others then there’s the major feature like a web browser. That’s a significant addition to a console that didn’t ship with a web browser.

I’ve had my Xbox 360 from launch day and it has certainly has changed in the 16 months I’ve had it. Twice a year they update the Dashboard. The Dashboard is the hub of the 360, it gives you access to different parts of the system and has since included web access for TV and Movie downloads. Things that were not available when the console shipped. I believe we will soon have a web browser on the Xbox as well.

The ability to update consoles in this way makes them more like a computer. I mean that in the way you can update a computer and do new things that you couldn’t do before. This is very exciting because it’s one of the ways that computers keep from getting boring in the way they evolve and take over the aspects of other devices.

Think about all of the devices computers can now emulate and replace. TV, DVD player, CD player, radio, board games, puzzles and card games, older game consoles, letters, video conference, etc. Now think about how many of these things an Xbox 360 can do. All but a few, we are still waiting for Podcasts (that ones for you Major Nelson) and IP TV.

The entertainment of a game console is no longer limited to the games themselves.

To me this means searching the house for her purse because you thought you knew where it was. Then looking for it in the regular drop zones.

Success, I’ve found the purse. But it’s empty because she’s changed purses again.

Diet Pepsi Jazz Caramel Cream. Yes this product from Pepsi is almost identical in flavor to Coca-Cola Blak.

Honestly, I prefer drinking from a cold glass bottle that Coca-Cola Blak comes in. Coca-Cola Blak also has a hint of coffee.

But if you’re not drinking them side by side I’m confident you won’t know the difference.

It was actually an original idea with good acting and nice level of suspense. This show definitely was worth a full season.

But FOX canceled it after 4 shows aired. I really think something is wrong over at FOX.

24 which is the same boring show every year gets top billing but an original idea like Drive gets cut before it was given a chance.

And I’m sure that fact that this is another canceled FOX show isn’t lost on Nathan Fillion (reference to Firefly).

Can someone please fire the person at FOX that decided Drive should be canceled and hire someone that will let a show spread it’s wings.

PUT DRIVE BACK ON THE AIR AND GIVE IT A CHANCE

As Microsoft announced the Spring Dashboard Update they also introduced the TID. Because one of the main features of the upcoming dashboard update is text messaging with Windows Live users. We all know what a pain it can be to input text using the controller alone. Now with the TID text entry will be easy.

But this is isn’t the real reason we are getting the TID. Yes, I know it ties in nicely with the Live IM network and it’s all very plausible. But there is a more valid reason for this device.

The upcoming Xbox Live Browser. They probably will not refer to it as a stripped down IE for good reason. Too many negative comments and references about spyware and viruses.

Very few people are going to get the TID because of text messaging. But shortly after the TID is in the market for sale the browser will be announced. The browser will probably be tied to the Fall Dashboard Update. Will you have to pay for the browser? I doubt it, but expect to be told about the $19.99 TID repeatedly.

Like many of you I will not get it for text messaging. But give me a browser and that thing is mine. YouTube on my TV here I come. And hopefully the Xbox Live Browser will have the newest version of Flash unlike the Wii Browser which is running Flash 7. I also expect the browser to not have every feature that my computers browsers have.

The Xbox and Live Network are extremely secure and I don’t want any damn browser that will change that. Neither does Microsoft.

So is Major Nelson sporting betas of the Xbox Live Browser on his Xbox? It’s quite possible but even he isn’t privy to everything. And if he does have it he has done a great job of not accidently spilling the beans.

SIDEBAR: The Spring Dashboard update is going to be awesome. Why you ask? Because of MPEG-4 and H.264 video support. As a Mac user I use Connect360 to play Music, Movies and Pictures on my 360. With the new Dashboard update and Connect360 Update I’ll be able to play 90% of the videos on my computer through the 360 without conversion. Good Times, Good Times.

Microsoft just introduced Silverlight, which is suppose to complete with Flash and QuickTime. They are positioning it as a Mac and PC plugin for your browser with superior video capabilities. With the pending release of streaming video on your Xbox360 it seams to me that Silverlight is the heart of that technology. Especially since it’s capable of 720p.

Xbox Live Streaming Video or IP TV will greatly increase the content available through your Xbox. I think it’s safe to say that Microsoft will use the Zune as a testbed for the technology and the upcoming Xbox handheld. Silverlight may even be the OS that runs the Xbox Handheld.

This happens to me regularly. I visit MacUpdate and see the word Rapid and get excited until I realize it has nothing to do with RapidWeaver.

I love the Themes and Plugins being developed for this application. I even buy the ones I don’t currently have a use for yet. Cause I want to play with them.

You see, season 1 of Prison Break dealt with the escape. Season 2 dealt with the money, the truth and the run. At the end of Season 2 Lincoln is given a full pardon after the truth came out and the brothers have the money. So that wraps the show right? It’s over, they escaped, Lincoln is a free man and they have a ton of money to live happily ever after, right? Wrong.

Prison Break season 3 will take the show in a whole new direction. There were plenty of clues to the new direction.

Season 2, Episode 14 was named John Doe. A funny pun since Lincoln Burrows (Dominic Purcell) played the lead character on John Doe.

Another slight but significant clue is the secret agency the General works for. If you watched John Doe, then you know of the Phoenix Organization.

The Phoenix Organization had a character (Trenchcoat) that didn’t speak even though he could. Prison Break season 2 introduced a character (The General) that doesn’t speak even though he can.

The General works for a secret organization much like The Phoenix Organization that positions people in scenarios to see the resulting outcome.

I believe that Prison Break season 3 will also be more like LOST in the fact that every episode will be half what’s happening now and half what happened in the past. Every episode will have flashback elements. Why, you ask? Because we are going to find out that the General has been pulling strings since before Lincoln was targeted.

Much like LOST uses flashbacks to show us previous characters that have since died, Prison Break season 3 will flashback to the prison allowing dead characters to reprise their rolls as we find out the General’s involvement in character placement.

You may have noticed that T-Bag was directed to go to Panama, as well as the scene where Bullock got shot. T-Bag was a pawn to get the brothers to Panama. Who was pulling the strings? I believe it’s the General.

In the penultimate scene of the season finale, it became obvious that the only brother that is wanted or needed is Michael Scofield.

My biggest prediction is that the General targeted Michael Scofield from the very beginning. He may have chosen Michael because he verges on savant and knew his capability and his drive to break his brother out of prison. But for him to try as hard as he did, his brother, Lincoln Burrows, would have to be innocent. Does that mean that the General was part of the setup to frame Lincoln? Yes, I believe it does. But, I also believe that those people are unaware they are part of a much larger conspiracy.

I think season 3 will reveal the General’s involvement in many of the previous season’s scenarios that lead the brothers to where they are now.

Why? What purpose would the General have to drive Scofield to get put in prison then break out? It could simply be to find the strengths and weaknesses of the prison or the man. We may also find out that Michael Scofield is not an isolated case. There may be many other people being driven unknowingly by the General to accomplish similar tasks

It’s great because we can see each other and that makes the whole game experience warm.

In the middle of our game my wife invites me to a video chat with iChat on her MacBook from Galveston, TX where her and the Allyson are taking a road trip.

I was able to see Karen and Allyson and tell them good night and make them miss me just a little less.

If there is a better time then right now it’s going to be in the future because I Love what we can do today.

One large blended caramel latte, skin milk, no whip cream.

What can I say, it’s that good, you should try it.

So if it’s so great what’s the problem. Dirt, yes dirt. Get the slightest piece of dirt on or under the scroll ball and scrolling becomes extremely frustrating. I keep a can of compressed air near my Mighty Mouse so I can blow it out when it starts acting up. Which is about once a day.

I would rather clean it more than once a day than do without it. It’s that good.

So why would Apple introduce a new one if the current one works so well? Eliminate mechanics with electronics, that’s why. Remember what they did with the first iPod? It has a physical wheel, then was replaced with a faux wheel. None of the functionality was lost. Look at the iPhone, one button, the rest is touch sensitive.

What does this mean for the Mighty Mouse? It means the scroll ball will be replaced with something that resembles the scroll ball exactly in size, shape, height and placement. What will be replacing it will be similar in functionality to that of the track pad. They will even place a switch under the new scroll ball for clicking. None of the functionality will be lost. Since the new scroll ball will be stationary it will lose it’s tactile feel and become very smooth for easy finger movement. The only movement of the new scroll ball will be the downward click. The click could be replaced with a tapping function on the faux scroll ball eliminating the need for the click switch.

There is also the possibility (my preferred option) during development of the new scroll ball that Apple will simply incorporate the scrolling feature on to the new Mighty Mouse invisibly. Meaning they will add scrolling the same way they enable the right click. You can’t see the right click button but it’s there. Another example of electronics replacing mechanics. The new scroll ball could be invisible to the eye but functional to the finger with finger tapping to replace clicking. This would make the new Mighty Mouse look like Apple’s previous wireless mouse. Only this one would have right and left click with scrolling.

Which will Apple choose? I can see the reasons why they would choose to use the faux scroll ball but in the end the invisible scroll ball will win because it also eliminates the click with a tap. It also eliminates parts. Do I think I could use a Mighty Mouse with no visible buttons or scroll ball. Yes, it all becomes second nature.

Steve Jobs and Apple do a great job of making stuff I didn’t know I needed or wanted. This time I’m beating them to the punch. They may have designed the Might Mouse but I know what I want from the Mighty Mouse 2.0. There was a seemingly long time between the release of the Mighty Mouse and the wireless Mighty Mouse. Hopefully this new design won’t take as long to come to market.

It’s one of those stores that run a flea market all of the time in an old grocery store. Though I don’t think that explains why the place smelled like fresh cut potatoes.

Anyway, walking through places like this always remind me of my childhood because of the old crap that’s always for sale.

Until the iPod I spent more time listening to the Pop stations than listening to my CDs. This led to hearing a lot of new music regardless of the type. So in the past all of the music I heard was from the Pop stations or movies.

I only buy an entire album from my favorite artists, like Richard Marx, Tracy Chapman, Bon Jovi and most recently John Mayer. Most of my favorite music is from the Pop stations. I don’t mind turning on the Pop stations and letting them play but with the iPod I spend more time listening to my own music than the Pop Stations.

Songs are like little keys to my past. I can be listening to my music, close my eyes, sit very still and transport myself in my mind back to a point in time that the song reminds me of. Along with the point in time is the surroundings such as where I was, what I was doing, who I was doing it with and the little details. I can slowly rebuild an entire scene in my head of that point in time including even the smallest details.

Some of my favorite music (memories) comes from the late 80’s when I was High School. Most recently the music from The Fast and The Furious Tokyo Drift has struck a note with me. There is something about the movie that makes me feel good or young, whatever it is I associate certain songs in the movie with those feelings. Songs that I know I would have never listened to otherwise. Once a song is associated with a memory it doesn’t matter how many times I listen to it, it always reminds me of the original memory.

I listen to music for the memories. I even organize my music by the dates in which they remind me. My Playlists are titled like so “1988-06 GrandMother’s (Hanson)”, “1988-07 Dorothy’s (C.L.V.)” and “1988-08_1989-05 Senior (Cherry Creek)”. I was just listening to a song that reminded me the two summers (87 and 88) that I spent away from home my family moved.

There is a song that I like because it reminds me of my Granddad and how the song made me literally thank him for being there for me. That same song reminds my wife of a bad memory, not the same way I associate memories to songs but certainly a point in time. I choose not to listen to it for that reason. I avoid any song that’s associated to a bad memory, mine or hers.

If I’m ever in a comma I want some tests to be run on my brain activity. I know for a fact that certain songs trigger memories for me so if I’m in a comma I would bet money playing those songs will modify my brain activity. Even if it doesn’t, play the songs for me anyway (the ones organized by date and checked in iTunes).

I could already tell that he may a tele-marketer or someone from church wanting Karen to volunteer for something.

He asked if Karen was available. I asked what company he worked for and he said “TheMacJedi”.

I started laughing out loud and looked at Karen who was on the couch next to me. I told Karen the guy on the phone said he worked for TheMacJedi and she started laughing.

I asked the gentlemen his name “Warren” he said. I asked Warren if he knew he was talking to Rob Jones and he said “I thought I might be”.

After telling Warren that I don’t remember seeing him around the office (jokingly) I asked why he was calling. He said that he was calling about Karen’s domain (Fresh Hot Coffee).

That’s when I realized that I knew who I was talking too. As I’m a reseller of many products I realized that Warren actually does work for me.

Warren works for me as part of my web hosting company. It surprised me because I don’t remember being notified about them making calls.
I’m not bothered by it, I wish other companies would try to increase my income.

After asking him a few more questions and having a good laugh I let him get back to work.

I made it half was down the ramp before realizing that the highway was at a complete stand still.

I pulled as far to the right as I could, thought about how long I would stuck (45 minutes). I put the car in Reverse, turned on my hazard lights and started backing up slowly.

After making it all the way back up (using the shoulder) I put it in Drive and maneuvered my way back onto road.

I then proceeded to tell 4 other cars that were in line to get on the highway no to go that way. All of them went a different direction.

As it would turn out I did the Backup Maneuver again the following day without hesitation. When I saw I would be stuck in traffic on the highway for an extended period of time.

I honestly don’t know if it’s illegal to do The Backup Maneuver but I’m going to keep doing it (cautiously of course).

About a mile from the clients house I had to slow to about 20 mph. The fog was so bad it was like there was a 40 ft shield around the car and I couldn’t see out of it.
Even house and street lights were only visible at about a few hundred feet. I made it to the clients house and worked for a couple hours.

When I left there I had an hour long drive home. I thought it would make sense to get to the highway first even thought it lengthened my trip.

Before making it to the highway a couple times I came to a complete stop on the road. When the lines of paint ended at an intersection it was impossible to see anything.
I didn’t know if the road curved at the intersection or what and I couldn’t see the road just the paint.

I made it to the highway and it wasn’t any better. I drove at a maximum 40 mph until I found a Semi that was bright enough to follow.
Even after driving all the way home I couldn’t see the Taco Bell sign until I was 300 ft from it.

It was the worst fog that I had ever experienced. I hear some schools even had a delay the next morning because of it.

We’ve lived in this house for almost 4 years now and when we had the brick mailbox built I decided to not put a flag on it. Being a geek, my wife and I try to pay everything online. Anything that can’t be paid online I take to the nearest USPS Mailbox.

Before we moved in I already knew of the possibility of this type of identity and check theft so I decided it wasn’t worth the risk. It’s only slightly inconvient, as I’m always passing the USPS Mailbox and we mail so few things anyway.

If you put things in your mailbox for the mailman to pickup you are taking the risk of having your identity or checks stolen. Either way, you can avoid the whole thing by just not doing it. Fins the nearest USPS Mailbox and drive past it regularly to drop off your out-going mail. It’s a small inconvenience compared to the victims of the recent thefts.

Tonight I was in the Taco Bell drive thru and saw a couple inside the store. I thought to myself “They look familiar”. Normally when this happens I try to determine if I know from my Senior year of High School from either McDonald’s or Architecture class. You would be surprised how many times it’s one of these two options for me.

After a couple seconds I had gone through the normal stuff and no match. Now I was on to the one of many jobs I’ve ever had. About that time their kids walked up next to them. The smallest girl was recognizable. Why, because she plays with my daughter (of the same name) occasionally. You see, these people that I couldn’t make out were my neighbors.

As sad as that sounds, I only know a few of my neighbors and most of them are because their kids come to my house and play.

So neighbors, If you’re reading this I apologize.

The show dwindled because of Marissa and Volchok (it was an unentertaining story line), and then they started the new season out about Marrisa’s murder and Volchok.

So what does Fox do when they have a good thing going (FireFly)? They cancel it.

The show is immensely better with Taylor as a lead actress. Of course last nights episode of Kirsten being pregnant was a Jump the shark moment.

Maybe a bunch of us fans will keep it going with a petition.

START:
Dear Roman Ross:

I sent this information to the CompUSA Customer Support website almost two weeks ago and received no response.

I have a client who regularly buys her Mac equipment and software from your Hurstbourne Parkway store #359 in Louisville KY.

She took a 250GB Lacie external firewire drive (purchased from this store) used for editing movies into this store to have it looked at because the fan was making noise. There weren’t any signs that the drive was failing, just the fan. The drive contained 110GB of movie files. She didn’t want to lose any files in case the fan failed and the drive overheated.

When she picked up the hard drive the external case was missing. She was told the case had to be broken off and could not be repaired. She was told there were no files on the drive. She was told they could send the drive off to have her files recovered for approximately $800.

She declined their offer because they had already done enough damage and may have caused her to lose the files on the drive.

She asked me to recover the files from the drive. I purchased a new drive to recover the files to. The new drive is a My Book 500GB triple interface ($279). I had to repair the Lacie drive (drive utilities) before being able to recover the files (7 Hours). I recovered all 110GB of the movie files. Invoice TOTAL including drive $979.

I told my client that she could reimburse me after CompUSA paid her for the recovery; Store #359 declined my Invoice #10061.

I was not with her during the incident in the store so that information is provided by her. There may be a few details not included because I am unaware of them, but I am certain I spent my time recovering those files. I would appreciate CompUSA reimbursing me for the recovery time. It was something they were going to do for her anyway.

Thank you for your time.
STOP:

I went ahead and changed the the name of my client to “her” throughout the letter but Ross knows who “her” is. As for what was done to the drive by CompUSA employees, it had to be an accident or mistake or something like that. I doubt any maliciousness was involved.

Update My client had two separate recent issues relating to CompUSA:
1. Work provided on 8/17/2006, The issue listed above about the external hard drive and the damage they caused to the drive and my recovering the files. My invoice only relates to this issue.
2. Work provided on 11/13/2006, Where her house got hit by lightning and killed the firewire ports on her G5. She called me to look at the problem first. I discovered the damage and suggested installing a new firewire card or taking it to CompUSA for warranty work. She took it to CompUSA for warranty repair and a service person told her she shouldn’t have to pay me for my time since it’s warranty work. This is not accurate because I charge per hour rate regardless of the work I’m doing. The service person was just confused about my involvement in the process. This second issue has absolutely nothing to do with the letter to Roman Ross and my invoice.

I’ll update this post after I receive a response from Ross or CompUSA.

11/4/2006 I sent the first email to CompUSA Customer Service.

11/16/2006 I mailed the first letter today to their President.

12/04/2006 Nearly 3 weeks since I mailed the letter with no response, kinda disappointing.

12/15/2006 Still no response so I’m sending the letter again to a different ZIP Code. It would be nice to get it before Christmas.

1/8/2007 Still no response so I resubmitted the issue through the Customer Service website.

Update

1/12/2007 (1:56 PM EST) I received an email today from CompUSA Customer Service customer_service@compusa.com indicating that the link I included to this article was broken. The link wasn’t broken, their email wrapped the link to a second line and they didn’t try to copy and paste the whole thing into their web browser. I replied with that information.

1/12/2007 (2:53 PM EST) I received a call today from CompUSA Headquarters (972) 982-4000, Kevin Hain who works out of Roman Ross’ office (CompUSA President), another company with an unavailable President. The gentlemen wasn’t rude but he wasn’t pleasant either. He started by explaining that they were not going to pay the invoice and that they had received my previous letters and emails. It also means that they were just ignoring me for more than a month. So I asked some questions. He said they were in contact with my client but he mentioned the G5 and that wasn’t even related to this issue or invoice, my client was confused by their call and was talking about a separate G5 issue not the external hard drive issue. Which means he called me without even getting his facts straight. So he was telling me that they were not legally responsible to pay the invoice because they did not contract with me to do so. You have to remember he didn’t even have his facts straight so he was declining something else that wasn’t related to work I provided on the invoice.

I don’t really even understand their misunderstanding. I never mentioned the G5 in my letter or my invoice and the issues are three months apart. So why was the G5 even being brought up?

This is very disappointing. Yes, I’m completely aware that they have no legal obligation to pay the invoice but sometimes you do something because it’s the right thing to do. I did fixed their mistake.

1/13/2007 I’m sending another email to CompUSA customer service. If I’m going to be declined, I at least want it to be from someone who understands the entire situation and not someone just pointing out CompUSA’s legal obligations or lack thereof.

Update

1/15/2007 (1:28 PM EST) I received another call from the same gentlemen that called me previously, Kevin Hain who works out of Roman Ross’ office (CompUSA President). He started by saying he fully understood the issue and that CompUSA has no legal responsibility to pay my invoice because they did not contract with me. This is completely accurate, I was not contracted by CompUSA for any work. I wanted to make sure he completely understood the situation so I asked a couple questions. His immediate response about the G5 indicated that he still did not understand because he mentioned a separate issue with my client not her external hard drive. But after a few minutes of elaborating I believe that he understood enough of the situation to confidently decline my invoice. Maybe he got up to speed before calling me back. He also indicated that my issue went through their legal department. He mentioned my website, so knew anything he said would be posted online.

So am I satisfied? Yes and No. I’m thankful to you Mr Kevin Hain for returning my call so quickly this time. He also took the time to answer my questions and assure me that he completely understood the situation, albeit slightly reluctantly.

But in the end they stuck with their legal responsibilities. It’s probably because if they paid my invoice for fixing a problem they caused then they would be hit by all kinds of yahoos trying to milk them for misc. garbage.

Maybe they just don’t have the money.

So instead of there being a post on the internet from my client talking about how CompUSA destroyed more than 10 hours of her personal videos there’s just this one.

The green one was Allyson’s and the Graphite I bought for myself the day they were introduced. Shortly after installing 10.4 on each of them they died.

They would no longer start and I then proceeded to scavenge them. I pretty much took anything that was useful.

Today I threw away one Dell and two Macs. The Dell didn’t bother me but the Macs did, I kept wondering if I should try to keep the Apple logos or something.

Well I did it any way. I’ve thrown away a Mac.

15 years later I’m watching TV and writing this on my new MacBook. I’m also downloading a movie rental from the Xbox Live Video Marketplace.

I’m only 35, so many people are surprised when they hear how long I’ve been married, me too sometimes. But I have a really good life and family.

Have a great and happy New Year everybody.

12/28/2006 A couple months ago I received an email from someone wanting to know my experience with Cosmo Model & Talent. I gave an honest answer that got me thinking about my own experience with Cosmo. The same person emailed me a few weeks later to let me know they decided not to join after meeting with Tammy, they did not say why.

Below is my honest and factual opinion of Cosmo Model & Talent. It’s from my own experiences.

I think we fell into that easy target category because I own my own business and my daughter is home-schooled. Cosmo convinces you that home-schooled kids will have better availability for appointments because their schedules aren’t dictated by the school system.

My first impressions of Cosmo Model & Talent. The first thing I noticed was that they are in a small section of a business building. The hallway to Cosmo had an unpleasant odor on more than one occasion. I was surprised that hey didn’t have their own dressing rooms, they use the office buildings restrooms. Overall I was very unimpressed. The second thing I noticed was they didn’t have computers for communication like email and such. They had a computer or two for printing invoices but no over-all cohesive computer system or network. Mike, the photographer, had an old Mac and a new Mac but their office had no high speed internet. Mike had a laser printer which most comps were printed on at the time. When you were given something to sign it looked like it was a copy of a copy of a copy. Their office was run like they were back in the early 80’s. I didn’t hold their lack of technology against them because I was not familiar with the modeling world and what they considered acceptable.

Their website was bad. Click this link to see what it looked like through most of 2006. I mocked up a new website for them in 2005 and showed it to the owner, Dona Downing, but she said when she was ready she was going to spent 20K and do it right. That’s not the direction the site took but it looks much better. Only a couple months ago did they change the site. Click this link to see the new sites progress.

This is a chronological order of events through the our Cosmo experience.
7/30/2005 My daughter tried to get into an American Girl show in the summer of 2005. She didn’t meet some specific height and clothing criteria but Cosmo was waiting outside for anyone who might be interested in modeling. The American Girl show and Cosmo are not related.

8/1/2005 We stopped and got some information. It all seemed harmless and Allyson was interested. Most little girls are. Anyway, we went and met with Tammy Moore who signs up new models for Cosmo. No promises were made about any real work. It was more like we were given the impression that work was a given and it would’nt be long after her classes that she would have her first gig.

8/2/2005 Tammy asked if I was interested. Of course I laughed, but she said they always need men. After letting that sink in for a day I went back and talked with her more. It seemed like since they needed men as she suggested that work would be easier for me to get than Allyson. I decided it was obviously an easy way to earn some extra income so I did it.

Most of the classes were taught by former employees or Cosmo models and some classes are taught by the same person who answers the phone. The employees themselves were very nice and professional at all times.

We paid for Allyson’s classes up front and her comp cards later, children are expected to update their comp cards every year. I paid for part of mine and was told the remaining balance would be deducted from the jobs I would get. After a couple months of no calls I received a payment plan from Cosmo for the remainder of my balance. I called and asked why it was sent to me when I hadn’t even received any jobs yet. Tammy’s response was that they never guaranteed I could get a job soon and that the balance was due. I was obligated to pay the balance because I signed the papers of my own free will. So I paid it.

7/6/2006 Now the wait for a phone call. One year after Allyson signed up she was asked to come in for a preliminary interview. She didn’t get it. I have never been called. I’ve listed the expenses of being associated with Cosmo. It does not take into account all the other expenses like fashion magazines, time out of our schedule, makeup, new clothes for photo shoots, etc.

The photography of the models is great, however the printed comp cards are completely generic. They are printed on a color laser printer not photographic paper, but maybe that’s what all model agencies do, I don’t know. The comp cards price seemed high for what you were getting, but as I say “It costs what it costs”.

From my current point of view (1.5 years after signing with Cosmo) not one penny I spent with Cosmo was worth it. Because they didn’t provide services that we paid for.

I don’t feel that I’m being impatient. I actually felt like I waited some time after my patients ran out before posting this article.

Does Cosmo actually have models getting jobs? Yes, they do, but I would speculate it’s small percent of the total applicants they sign. That means you’re probably not getting a call, ever. Consider yourself lucky (I suppose) is you ever heard from Cosmo again.

Do I feel foolish for getting ripped off by Cosmo, Yes. I think everyone feels foolish when they get ripped off and then they don’t want to admit it because it’s embarrassing. I’m willing to forego my own embarrassment if this information helps others.

List of expenses to Cosmo for Allyson.
$500 8/1/05, modeling classes
$40, 9/12/05, modeling portfolio
$125, 10/28/05, half of the photo shoot payment
$125, 1/20/06, balance of the photo shoot payment
$60, 1/20/06, 25 comp cards and 1 8×10
$850 TOTAL

List of expenses to Cosmo for Rob.
$275 8/2/05, partial payment for modeling classes
$60 11/3/05, 25 comp cards and 1 laser print
$100 1/20/06, payment 1 of 5 for balance of modeling classes
$100 2/14/06, payment 2 of 5 for balance of modeling classes
$100 3/23/06, payment 3 of 5 for balance of modeling classes
$100 4/20/06, payment 4 of 5 for balance of modeling classes
$100 5/23/06, payment 5 of 5 for balance of modeling classes
$835 TOTAL

$1685 TOTAL PAID to Cosmo for Allyson and Rob

You can contact Cosmo Model & Talent at:
808 Lyndon Lane, Suite 211
Louisville, KY 40222
502-425-8000

COMPLAINT PROGRESS:
2/7/2007 Today I’m emailing this information to Cosmo per the suggestions of the Better Business Bureau.

2/23/2007 Today I filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau, my complaint number is 4758922.
I never received a response from Dona or Tammy, both were sent an email about my pending complaint.

My complaint has been received (2/23/2007) and is being handled by my local BBB.
The Better Business Bureau, Inc. (Louisville, KY)
844 S. 4th Street
Louisville , KY 40203-2186
Phone: (502)583-6546
Fax: (502)589-9940
Email: info@ky-in.bbb.org
Web: http://www.ky-in.bbb.org

3/2/2007 I received a call this morning (10 AM) from Craig at Cosmo. I immediately assumed he was calling about my complaint. He said there was a trade show looking to do a spoof on Deal or no Deal. He wanted to know if I was interested in playing the part of the host. I replied “I’m sorry, I’m not available”. He mentioned it was $350 per day, I repeated that I wasn’t available. Seeing as this is the one and only call from Cosmo I’ve ever received for work and the fact that it came after I filed a complaint, you can see why I turned it down. And you can’t deny the ironic timing of this job offer.

3/3/2007 I received a call from Dona Downing today (1 PM) about my complaint. She wanted to make sure that I understood today (3/3/2007) was the first time she was aware that I had a complaint with Cosmo. She received a letter from the BBB but never received my previous email. She wanted me to be aware that Craig had no knowledge of my complaint when he called me about the job offer the day before. From her point of view she felt as though she need to defend herself. Some of the things she mentioned on the phone about this article I have removed because they were irrelevant to my overall experience. She mentioned repeatedly that they are not some scam company and that she’s been doing her job for 30 years. She pointed out that her company has booked “Millions (with and S)” of dollars worth of jobs throughout their history. She pointed out somethings that I would have never known, again I can only give my point of view.

She mentioned that if this article hurts her business she would take legal action. I would expect no less, I would do the same.

She said she didn’t think refunding my money would make me happy, actually it would. Like I said earlier they can’t make everyone happy and I’m one of those people. But receiving a full refund would actually make me feel good that I wasn’t out any money on this whole experience. Dona also pointed out that I wasn’t charged the full price in the first place, so apparently I received a discount. My wife and I decided months ago to no longer proceed with modeling for myself or my daughter, so that’s not an option.

Dona, I want to thank you for the phone call and I appreciate your professionalism about my complaint. I genuinely felt as though you were hurt by some of the things in this article. And others you knew were lacking in information. The only thing I tried to impress upon you was that this was my actual experience with Cosmo. Running my own company I can understand that you must feel disappointed with my experience as your client. I would never want one of my clients to be disappointed with my service. And if they ever were I would fix it. And if they posted an article about it that would bother me too.

Dona, I apologize for some of the irrelevant items that I had in this article. Being a computer person I tend to over detail things (partly because I have such a good memory) and my point can be lost. I can’t change my overall experience with your company but I can make sure this article only represents my experience sans emotion and excessive detail. You will be receiving an email about my changes to this article.

3/3/2007 After speaking with Dona Downing today I felt is was my responsibility to review my entire post and make sure that I have in no way fabricated anything or speculated. If this post previously had my own speculation then I removed it. A few other things were removed because I decided they were irrelevant even thought they were not made up. That’s not what this post was suppose to be about. It’s simply suppose to represent my experience, nothing more.

3/14/2007 The BBB has yet to receive a response from Cosmo.

3/26/2007 I received a response from BBB today. Apparently Cosmo responded with the same info I’ve already posted about above. They made no offer to reimburse me. I’m continuing my complaint.

There seems to be some confusion about my complaint. So let be very clear, it has nothing to do with the computers that Cosmo has or their website, those were merely observations.
My complaint is only about the nearly $1700 I spent for services that they did not provide.
As for two jobs Cosmo claims I turned down.
1. The first was not formally offered to me, when I stopped in to get something for Allyson, Craig said that he included my Comp Card for a commercial where I would have to dress up like a fairy. He then said to me “But I didn’t think you take it because of you other business” I replied “You are correct”. That was the end of that conversation.
2. The Second job Craig called me for is the listed above, after I had already filed my complaint with the BBB.

4/2/2007 I received a response today from the BBB indicating they regret thier efforts were not been successful in resolving the matter to my satisfaction.
I’m seriously confused by this because they didn’t really do anything yet they’re closing the case.

4/2/2007 I sent an email to the BBB indicating that I don’t understand how the case could be closed. I received no response.

4/10/2007 I sent another email to the BBB indicating that I don’t understand how the case could be closed. I received no response.

4/30/2007 I sent another email to a different person at the BBB and they replied the case had been closed and there was nothing more the Bureau could do to resolve this complaint. From my point of view this is all the BBB did. I filed a complaint, they sent the complaint to the business, the bsuiness issued a bogus response, the BBB closed the case.

It’s no wonder Dona made fun of the fact that I filed a complaint with the BBB. And she called it a silly club that costs her about $500 a year. It’s no wonder she gave the response that she did, she must think the BBB is a joke. I don’t know if she has settled in the past but I’m guessing she hasn’t.

If this is how most of the BBB cases are handled I can’t say that I would recommend people even bother with using the BBB. I guess since this is my first use of the BBB I expected more. It’s not their fault, my expectations were too high. I figured Cosmo would put more value into a bad or unresolved case. I figured wrong.

7/15/2007 I’ve been completely ignored by Cosmo and was never offered a refund of any kind. My best recommendation to anyone looking for modeling info for themselves or their kids is to look past Cosmo. I wouldn’t be in business If I ever had a disappointed client and treated them the way Cosmo has treated me.

2008/01/28 Today I’m filing a new complaint with the Better Business Bureau (ID 5992301). In my original conversation with Dona Downing (3/3/2007) she informed me that my daughter’s comp photo would be removed from their website. As of today (nearly 11 months later) her picture remains listed. I’m requesting my daughter’s picture be removed and a full refund ($1685) for services they never provided.

I think the fact that they never removed my daughter’s photo (even after my first complaint), goes a long way to show that I was told by Cosmo what I needed to hear to either get my money or shut me up, then they never followed through with the services or the removal. The image below was taken today (2008/01/28) to show that Cosmo has not made good on anything they’ve said so far. My daughter is the main image holding the sun glasses.

They finally took down her picture but only after the BBB contacted them again. The BBB was again unable to satisfy my request for a refund.

2008/05/25 After receiving a few comments on my article I decided to add back some previous details that I removed.

So how did I play DVDs? Let’s start with the list.
1. 1999 iMac with built in DVD player, no remote. First DVD, The Matrix.
2. 2000 PowerBook with S-video out to my TV, no remote.
2. 2001 Playstation 2 with 3rd party remote.
3. 2002-2005 Xbox with DVD remote.
4. 2006-current Xbox 360 with extended remote.

So what’s next? Well as long as my game systems play DVDs I won’t need one.

I plan on getting a Wii which doesn’t play DVDs, but that’s OK since I’m not giving up my 360.

As we walked a car near the ladies honked it’s horn and startled one of the ladies. It’s was hard to tell where the honk came from.

As I passed the same car the horn honked again, the ladies turned around to see why someone was honking there horn.

About that time were all started laughing, she pointed into a van I was standing in front of.

There was a large brown labrador retriever sitting in the drivers seat and every time someone would walk in front of the van he would honk the horn.

I watched him honk the horn at two other couples.

Very funny.

I hate to say it but it did bring a smile to my face. Not the thought of people losing their jobs because they will but more that’s what you get.

You see, that company (and when I say company I’m referring to the CEO and anyone who might be considered his monkey boys) let me go back in 2005. I don’t have to explain, you’ve heard the story, I was told one thing and another was done or I was given the OK to do something then it was used against me. It happens in corporate America everyday, it happened to me and the company responsible has bleed employees ever since because the same few people are making those decisions.

It was reported several days ago but I only heard today mostly because I don’t really care what’s going on with them. I’m busy doing my own thing.

A couple years ago the stock holders had an opportunity to make a big change in the company and declined. I bet they are sorry they stuck with the current management.

Even though I’m posting this, what that company does has no effect on me now.

Also, if something tragic were to happen to me I didn’t want my James Kim article to be the last I wrote.

CNET article

SFGate article | SFGate timeline | Bootnetworks maps | Local News Coverage

Like James I’m 35, we were born in 1971, we graduated in 1989, I have one daughter (he has 2) and a wife, we were raised in the Louisville, KY area and we spend our days helping others with technology issues. I didn’t know James personally, but I know we would have had a lot in common.

You’re going to hear the experts talk about knowing the terrain and the weather conditions. It doesn’t matter, after waiting for someone to find me for several days I would have left for help as well. The problem is I don’t think he should be dead. He’s smart, I’m smart, we can figure things out and make things work.

I don’t know why he died. But it certainly makes me think that my own intuition to go find help would have killed me as well. Would this stop me, knowing what I know now? No, I don’t think it would. I would stop waiting and take on the responsibility myself just like James did. Like James I’m not the type of person to wait for someone to do something for me, I will do it myself.

There are a lot of things I worry about in my life and one of the most important is making sure Karen and Allyson have a Husband and Father to grow up with. So now I learn doing exactly what I know I would have done would leave Allyson Fatherless. He knowingly risked his life to help his family and died for it.

My wife has informed me that I’m required to stay with them and we will all die together, I am not allowed to leave. But I don’t know that I could.

What really gets me is that if he had stayed with them, they would all be safe now. But the problem is he did stay, for a week. How long are you suppose to wait?

People die all of the time, but for some reason his death has had a huge effect on me.

Kati, if you ever read this, I don’t think I could have stayed either, and I know you had your objections, so I’m very very sorry.

Update: I’ve been somewhat obsessed with this story and all the related stories. I’ve actually learned a lot about cold weather survival. I now have to say that I would stay with the car for many weeks before heading out.

So when his order was ready the guy at the register brought his order to counter and yelled through the store “Two Spicy Breasts”.

LOL, it was pretty damn funny.

I keep going through my house yelling (with an Italian accent for some reason) “Two Spicy Breasts”.

Click here to see the evolution of Darth BSOD. I will be adding this image to some products on my store very soon.

Click the ON button to go where no mammal has gone before.

There have already been some good responses denouncing his article.

One thing that isn’t mentioned is that this guy is probably some kind of PC guru. So why slam the Mac? Job security.

Maybe he receives really good commissions from the sale of PCs or recommending them. It could also be his ignorance about the Mac and inability to properly advise his clients on them.

Either way, I see it as a money issue.

He probably created this false article because his clients are wanting to know more about this Mac thing which hurts his bottom line.

He’s counting on all the Mac flaming so he can use it to refer to Mac users as fanatics and somehow discredit us to his clients.

The problem I see is if only one of his clients reads his article and sees that he is full of crap then he has lost work.

I can honestly say I would never hire (or continue working with) someone who so simply misrepresented him or herself.

To all of his clients, he is not looking out for your best interest.

I can’t seem to put it together and figure out the story line. But it was a time when having cable television meant no commercials.

I watched the movie dozens of times.

If anybody knows where I can get the Galaxy Express movie (not TV show) that played on Showtime or HBO in the early 80’s please forward that info.

This one deals with the new show Kyle XY and the 2002/2003 TV show John Doe.

I watched all of the first season of Kyle XY. And John Doe reruns just recently started playing.

Here is a list of the similarities between Kyle XY/John Doe.

I’m not going to list when occurrences happen, which episode or in any particular order. I’m only listing the things that are remarkably similar.
(k) = Kyle XY, (j) = John Doe

1. (k/j) The series is named after the lead character.

2. (k/j) The series starts with the main character waking up naked in a clearing in the woods (wet/fetal position) with no memory of who he is.

3. (k/j) He’s befriended by someone (Tom Foss/Digger) who is obviously a member of the organization responsible for his condition.

4. (k/j) He struggles to find out who he is and why he has no past memories.

5. (k/j) The show was set in Seattle Washington.

6. (k/j) The show is actually filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia.

7. (k/j) The show’s tag line was “Who is Kyle XY?”/”Who is John Doe?”

8. (k/j) He has unexplained body marks. Kyle has no belly button/John has an unknown symbolic scar.

9. (k/j) He says “Who am I?”

10. (k/j) Mysterious circular symbols are used. Both shows have one episode devoted to the search for the origin of the symbol.

11. (k/j) His name was made up because he isn’t aware of any previous name.

12. (k/j) He is being watched by a secret organization (unknown/Phoenix Organization).

13. (k/j) He provides narration for each show.

14. (k/j) He has discovered a 30 year old photo of someone who looked like he does now.

I know some information was released after John Doe was canceled, but I’m not sure I believe what was said.
Yes, it was from the creator. But, he had a good idea. I doubt he was just going to give it away. Especially if he thought it could be brought back in another form later.

My Theory:
I think both Kyle and John are clones that were designed for a specific purpose. That purpose is the transfer of someone’s consciousness from a stored database to a new host body. John Doe had an episode that dealt with this. Kyle XY hasn’t yet.

I believe John Doe had all factual information uploaded to his brain before any consciousness was transfered to him. Then he either escaped or was broken out and left in the woods. I believe Kyle XY was broken out before any information could be uploaded to his brain. Then he was left in the woods.

I’ll add more as it comes to light for me.

As I get more time I’ll research the similarities between the two.

Well, it looks like the show only lasted a few episodes.

Therefore I’m not going to pursue the connections between the two shows.

OK, maybe a few easy ones.

1. Both shows have a main character and their spouse disappears.

2. On both shows the character that disappeared was erased from record, identification, pictures, references, things like that.

3. There appeared to be some type of government conspiracy behind the disappearance.

Yeah, they might still be using it. But, none of the original companies are still supporting it. I’m supporting it, but it’s getting more difficult.

I’m talking about Mac OS 9. And why do I still have to mess with SCSI? It happens.

Steve Jobs said Mac OS 9 was dead in 2002, so apparantly I’m kicking a dead horse.

Don’t get me started on fax machines. Really, do we still need those things? Put VCRs in that same category.

Let’s get the MacBook Cons out of the way:

1. Staining. Yes I got one of the first models with the staining problem. But it didn’t happen at first, as a matter of fact it took it a couple months. I remember being asked by many people what I though of the MacBook and I would mention the staining as being one of the most talked about problems. At the time mine wasn’t stained.

Then almost overnight the stains showed up. My stains are more orange than yellow and they look more like something that received sun bleaching in reverse.

Here is a pic of my stained MacBook.

2. Hard Drive Clicking. I notice this mostly when I’m surfing quietly in my family room. It’s been reported on Apple Discussion Boards and here a few different times. It’s very annoying, like a ticking clock only in 15 second intervals. It happens when my MacBook is perfectly still so it’s not the SMS (Sudden Motion Sensor), unless of course there is a flaw with the SMS.

3. Case Separation. Before Apple released the MacBook firmware update my computer would get seriously hot. And I believe that heat began to cause the plastics to expand and separate. It’s only on the side the processor is on. The edge of the LCD has begun to shift outward leaving a space. Notice the gap between the plastic above the ports and the palm rest plastic. My MacBook spends most of it’s time on my lap so I always use it on the cutting board shown in the photos to assure air flow for the bottom of the machine. And yes my MacBook still gets very hot and warms the cutting board pretty good too.

Here is a pic of the case separation.

4. MacBook Bleeding. This was a random occurrence of something that happened after turning the MacBook on. I pressed the Power button and after the chime the screen bleed colors. Normally I would have restarted and never seen the problem again. So I restarted and it happened again, that’s when I decided to get it on video. The video of the screen bleed was the third time it happened. After that I shut the machine down, removed the battery, waited a minute, reinstalled the battery and restarted the machine. The machine started normally and I haven’t the screen again.

The pic I used above to show the staining on my MacBook was taken during the screen bleed.

AppleCare
I called AppleCare on 9/15/06 and talked with a very nice girl who took down all of my information. She said that the staining was definitely covered but I would have to send it in. She said the separation may be corrected when the stained plastics are replaced. But she said the HD clicking was not recognized and probably normal. As far as the video bleed she had me zap the PRAM even thought I told her it had not occurred again. I know they have to follow certain steps so I went along.

She informed me that all MacBooks for several months have used the new non-stainable plastics.

I’m not in a position to be without my machine so that was out of the question. Sending it in being my only option it will just have to wait. Since I purchased it on 5/19/06 I have plenty of time to send it in. My serial is 4H6201WMU9E and AppleCare gave me this Case #68173038.

I’m going to try and buy two new MacBook Pros, one for me and one for my wife (with glossy screens because they rock). Our business is starting to require a little more power than we currently have. If I’m able to get these new machines I will be able to send in the MacBook for repair.

I without question still completely recommend the MacBook.

Let’s get to the MacBook Pros:

1. Screen. Today is the first day I’ve been outside with my MacBook and I was surprised that I can see the screen without squinting. I normally sit in the garage while Allyson plays and rides her bike. My old PowerBook (the last 15″ PB made) wasn’t bright enough for me to see without squinting especially when it’s sunny. Right now it’s sunny, I’m not squinting, I’m in my garage and I an having no problems seeing my screen. The Glossy screen is a new requirement of mine. The resolution is a huge improvement over the previous iBook screens. After using a MacBook you will see the difference.

2. iSight. I don’t get a lot of opportunities to use it but when I need it, it has been invaluable. I had the old iSight but it was a pain to use even though it worked very well.

3. Keyboard. The feel of the new keyboard is awesome. I like the separation of the buttons. I’m going to miss this keyboard when I upgrade to a MacBook Pro.

4. Trackpad. It’s wider and that’s a huge plus making it easier to use. Two finger scrolling, it makes you hate having to use other peoples machine. Two finger right click is genius.

5. MagSafe. As advertised this thing keeps you from damaging your computer. Mine has been pulled loose a dozen times saving my machine from possible damage.

6. Magnetic Closure. Unlike the original clamshell iBook this computer doesn’t use springs or pressure to close it uses magnets. As much as you might think it doesn’t matter it’s a very nice feature. The machine will never accidentally open.

7. Superdrive. If you buy a computer that can not burn DVDs you are wasting your money.

That’s it, the good and the bad as I’ve seen it with my MacBook.

UPDATE:
On Thursday November 2nd I sent my MacBook into Apple for repair. It was returned to me on Monday November 6th and the bezel around the screen, the top case (palm rest) and my hard drive were replaced. My MacBook now looks brand new and I no longer have to worry about the clicking hard drive. Thanks Apple.

When I’m alone, I sing a lot and talk to myself. And it’s not even songs that I sing, it’s whatever I’m doing at the time.

For example on the way down stairs I’m singing “I like going down the stairs, yes I do, yes I do. I like getting to the bottom.”

If someone had pointed it out before today I would have said “No I don’t” right before saying “Yes, yes I do, yes I do”.

As an AABA I have the same access to training videos and sales materials as Apple employees and Apple Authorized Resellers.

My daughter (Allyson) had two Winnie the Pooh bears, a large one and a small one. Whenever we would leave she would always grab the small one because she wanted to hold it while in the car. After a few times of that happening the phrase “Travel Pooh” was coined.

From that point forward we would say don’t forget your travel Pooh.

It’s funny, I probably used that phrase every day for a couple years and then all of the sudden it’s been a couple years since I had even heard it.

Sometimes I’m annoyed because I know I’ve forgotten stuff that meant a lot to me. And I have no idea what they are.

My ad says 10 years Mac support but as of last month it was actually 11 years. I’ll get that changed in the next issue.

Here’s to hoping this campaign increases my local business.

But this is just one in a long line of things I’ve done to generate income. I know my persistence will payoff.

In 1990 when we dating we had two cars but by the time we were married in 1991 we were down to one car. In 1994-95 we had two cars for about 10 months unil the second car had a cracked block. In 1999 we had a Toyota that lasted about 2 months before the engine blew. In 2003 we bought a second car and after 3 months someone totaled it. We are not hard on cars, seriously, our last two cars (1980 Malibu and currently 1999 Corolla) never gave us any serious problems.

Honestly I don’t know anyone else that has just one car, we’ve just always been able to make it work. We had one car when we worked a few miles apart in two different states.

When I worked a regular job Karen would take me to work and pick me up. But now with all of the driving I do for my business it’s getting more difficult.

My daughter may be homeschooled but she has gymnastics and other things that are getting more difficult to work around.

I’ve spent enough advertising my company to buy a second car. But then I would have a second car and fewer clients.

So what is going to make this second car last longer than those of the past? Hell I don’t know, I hesitant just based on my luck in the past.

So what am I looking for? Well, I want a small 2 door Acura or Honda, preferrably black with and automatic tranmission. I’m not that concerned about how old it is as long as it’s been taken care of.

My last Honda was a nice car and I’m looking for something like that again. Wish me luck.

Thanks again to all my clients for this past year, as well as the year ahead. Thank you for your business.

She does a good job of holding her emotions but I think it’s obvious she’s upset.

And it was only a few weeks ago that she wore my shirt on the show.

Best of luck Amanda, not that you need it.

http://amandaunboomed.blogspot.com/

http://amandacongdon.com/

The Sony Hype Machine is more powerful than any PS3 will ever be. Come on people, they’re lying about stuff that a child could figure out. The latest is that they have been working on a motion sensing controller for 2 years and weren’t able to include rumble, total BS. It’s no coincidence that they introduce this feature only after Nintendo. Remember how they added a hard drive and ethernet to the PS2 after Microsoft said it would be built in to every Xbox? Even a PS3 game developer said they had been working with PS3 dev kits that included rumble.

They say that they can’t get the rumble in the controller and motion sensing. This has more to do with their disagreements with Immersion than any real problem.

In this article from Engadget you’ll see that the Wii controller has motion sensor and rumble.

Below is a video that really puts the screws to Sony and makes everything they’ve said sound ridiculous.

I believe that a handheld Xbox will incorporate the exact same XLA (Xbox Live Arcade) games that you can currently get through your 360. What’s cooler is that you will probably be able to browse and download demos directly to the handheld. These will be the exact same games and since the handheld will probably be wide screen you will get the benefit of the wider games.

Think about this, Geometry Wars Retro Evolved in your hand. Sounds damn sweet.

They will release a handheld with the benefit of dozens of games that it can already play. If you bought it on your 360 you can play it on either system because it will log into the internet to confirm your account. You should also be able to buy from the handheld and then play it on your 360.

XLA is an awesome platform that they are going to take advantage of, think of the fighting game about to come to XLA.

Like the 360 the handheld will probably also include a similar blade like interface and yearly updates. I think it’s safe to assume it will play music but if they tout it as an iPod killer it will die.

Will it play movies? Yes, but what kind? Definitely MOVs, WMVs and those types but what about Hollywood Movies? Probably but don’t expect another proprietary format like the UMD (bad move Sony). They may be working on a downloadable format similar to what Apple is rumored to be doing right now.

What’s in a name? I’ve said in the past (and I was correct) that the Xbox name would be like Nintendo in the fact that it precede the device name (ei. Nintendo DS, Xbox 360).
With that kind of logic we can assume that it will start with Xbox and end with it’s own name. Examples, Xbox Orbit, Xbox Orbiter, Xbox Satellite, Xbox Comet, Xbox Radar, Xbox Nucleus (my favorite), Xbox Portable, Xbox OTG (on the go), Xbox TriPod (just kidding), Xbox Hero, Xbox Gauntlet, Xbox Matrix, Xbox Hugo (handheld unlimited gaming online), Xbox UHGO (pronounced “you go” (unlimited handheld gaming online), Xbox Punch, Xbox Sandbox, Xbox Icon, Xbox Thunderbird, Xbox Caffeine, Xbox Micro, Xbox Jammer, Xbox Carbon, OK that’s enough.

Robby Bach, if you pick one of my names I get a free handheld, only fair.

Will it browse the web and check your email, probably. Will it have a touch screen, probably not but I think it would be cool if it did or at least a keyboard or virtual keyboard. Anyone who has used the PSP to browse the internet knows what a pain it is without a keyboard.

Will it survive with Arcade games only, not a change. So what else will this thing do? They will give it an awesome gaming engine but i imagine they will through every other feature possible at it to make it compete with the DS, PSP and iPod.

How big will it be? I think it will have a very similar looking screen to the PSP but the device will not be as tall or wide. Mostly due to the lack of a disk drive like the UMD. It could have a removable hard drive though.

If I’m only a little close to some of the specs it will rock. Handheld Halo anyone.

My wife and daughter got me a cool (pun intended) drink fridge for my office. It can hold 125 cans of soda.

It has a nice glass door so you can see what you want before opening it.

I actually received it earlier in the week since we had guests over. Apparently it required sacrifices as it took two Big Reds to the frozen beyond then they exploded.

The characters are good but the story is about the racing so the plot is a little thin. I enjoyed it a lot, I didn’t try to figure out what was going to happen next or what movie a particular scene resembled. I just sat back and watched some awesome race scenes, beautiful scenery and a look at Tokyo that makes me want to go there.

The thing about this movie I like the most is it makes me feel young. There’s something about the music and the racing combined that lift me up.

The producers think that we must see domestic vehicles in the movies which I think is unnecessary. Lots of base and hi-revving cars, plus the soundtrack is pretty cool. I enjoyed it a lot and will see it again when it’s released on DVD.

You can see the trailer here http://www.apple.com/trailers/universal/thefastandthefurioustokyodrift/

Or visit the official website http://www.thefastandthefurious.com/

Updated 01-21-2008, I bought the movie the day it was released on DVD and have watched it dozens of times. It’s on my MacBook and my iPhone.

I’ve been waiting for some time to see myself on Rocketboom, and there I am. Sweet!!!

You can see Amanda Congdon wearing themacjedi.com shirt in the Rocketboom episode about Jimmy Wales of Wikipedia being under attack from lazy college students.

My main prediction for Leopard or Mac OS X 10.5 is that the operating system will include built-in virtualization.

What does that mean? It means it will have something very similar to Parallels built-in to the OS for the ability to run nearly any current OS on your Mac.

Why do I think this? Who would have ever thought Apple would openly allow Windows like they have with Boot Camp? Very few.
I think Boot Camp is nothing more than a test bed for a much larger function in Leopard.

We shall find out very soon, WWDC.

Please, someone bid. My anxiety level is through the roof. I’m not kidding, pit of my stomach.

Hopefully my next post will be a relief.

My previous prediction that the iBook would be re-dubbed the MacBook was right on.

This thing is awesome, I continue to read peoples initial thoughts on it but I think overall people are forgetting one major aspect.

I’ve read several times about someone deciding to keep or stick with their PowerBook over the new MacBook. To me this just doesn’t make sense unless they have to use Adobe applications. We are in out first year of the Intel processor, the OS will continue to take better advantage of it as the PowerPC falls back. Imagine how the new OS is going to be able to use these Dual Cores. The new MacBook uses SATA drives which will become standard. These new MacBooks (including the Pros) have a built in iSight. I had an iSight and sold it, it was a great camera but a pain to use, and it was one of the easiest to use.

I’m actually going to be selling my PowerBook 1.67GHz DL to fund this MacBook. It’s funny to see people compare this MacBook to other notebooks and talk down about its graphics because they are integrated. The graphics on this thing are far superior to the graphics of a many PowerBook last year. Meaning, people would have paid big bucks for these capabilities last year, but this year when compared to the MacBook Pro they are rated so so.

The keyboard is a keyboard, no problems. The screen have the same width of 19″ displays I setup a few years ago, pretty awesome. The magnetic latch, you can’t see it but it works.

I’m going to like this MacBook a lot. I was never a big fan of the iBook because of it’s limitations but those things don’t exist here in MacBook world.

Usually the only thing you can do to help is inform them of their problem. Send them an email say hey “You forgot to attach the document to the email again”.

Attachment Deficit Disorder, they don’t know if you don’t tell them.

May 22nd 2009, you will find my list below published (pages 18-20) in today’s Telefilm Central Fanzine Number 4 May 2009.
http://www.telefilm-central.org/fanzine

Here are a list of the similarities between Earth 2 and Lost. Even with an exhaustive list of similarities below I would not say Lost is a rip-off of Earth 2, it is, however, no coincidence. I only have a few Lost theories or Earth 2 theories about the similarities.

I’m not going to list when occurances happen, which episode or in any particular order, just things that are remarkably similar.
(e) = Earth 2, (l) = Lost

All similarities below reference both shows or Earth 2 first then Lost.

1. They are called the Eden Project/Dharma Initiative.

2. They crash landed on the planet (G889)/island (origin unknown).

Both first episodes were 2 hours long about the crash, each following episode is related to a particular character. Both shows have a large main cast. Both with less than 50 survivors. We know that the Eden Project was crashed on purpose, many people think that the Plane crash from Lost was also on purpose.

3. There are people who live on the planet/island called Terrians/Others. Terrians/Others appear the be much stronger than humans. Terrians/Others have great ability to be stealthy.

Did you notice that when the others were first introduced that they were extremely strong. Now they appear to have been regular people. I don’t think they came up with a good reason for them being strong and dropped that characteristic.

4. Pilot Seth Norris/Cmdr. Broderick O’Neill is killed within a few days of the crash.

5. The planet/island healed Ulysses Adair/John Locke who couldn’t walk.

6. Ulysses Adair/Walt Lloyd has a connection with the planet/island. Both boys exhibit powers. The Terrians want Ulysses Adair, the Others want Walt Lloyd. Ulysses Adair/Walt Lloyd would not be the first child the Terrians/Others have taken.

7. We continue to learn about each characters past through flashbacks.

8. There are a few regular characters that receive little to no lines and very little screen time.

9. They live at the crash site for only a short time, then move on.

10. They crashed landed with single parent families.

11. The survivors have strange dreams and hallucinations. These dreams/hallucinations communicate different information to the person.

12. They met up with people that crash landed on a different part of the planet/island (married couple/tailees).

13. They meet a crazy person who has been on the planet for about 15 years with long frizzy hair (Gaal/Danielle Rousseau). Both of these characters killed everyone that was with them. Both characters attempt to abduct one of the survivors children.

14. James “Sawyer” Ford/Morgan Martin is seeing boars/grendlers that no one else is seeing and it’s making them think their going crazy. Added 1/6/2008

15. Yale/Claire Littleton are without memories of who they were (Yale’s were suppressed as part of the Yale program, Claire Littleton lost hers while with the others). Yale/Claire Littleton reclaim the memories of who they were within a few weeks.

16. They found a dome left image/station right image. The dome in Earth 2 is a geodesic dome and the station from Lost is underground and contains a geodesic dome of approximately the same size.

17. The dome left images/station right image has a special logo. The first image Yale had in his database and the second image was on the dome itself, both containing the image of a dome. In Earth 2 the logo may stand for the Federal Agreement of Science. The Lost Swan station logo is in the shape of a dome from above. Added 2008/03/30

18. Jack Shephard/Devon Adair has visions of a person who is dead.

19. They find a message from a woman Dell Curry/Danielle Rousseau that has been looping for more than a decade.

20. They found the bones of a man and a woman where they setup camp in the dome/cave. I think John Locke on Lost called them Adam and Eve. Reminder, the Earth 2 group is called the Eden Project.

21. We met a girl (Mary/Alex) who was raised by the Terrians/Others and is now a young adult. Mary is the daughter of the couple from the dome, Alex is the daughter of Danielle Rousseau. Both of these girls helped someone escape the punishment of the Terrians/Others.

22. There is a married couple (Bess Martin and Morgan Martin/Sun Kwon and Jin Kwon) that argue a lot. Both shows have one episode devoted to the marital problems of the couple. The husband is one class and the wife is another. The husband has relationship problems with his father-in-law.

23. Martin/James “Sawyer” Ford is always annoying and looking for the percentage in things. Both of these characters are weasels.

24. Shephard/Desmond Hume sends a message to Devon Adair/Penny Widmore through space/time to save the life of Ulysses Adair/Desmond Hume in the future. Added 3/30/2008

25. John Danziger/Sayid Jarrah is electronic handyman with curly hair.

26. Javier Grillo-Marxuach (writer/producer).

27. Terry O’Quinn played a character on the show (Reilly left image/John Locke right image).

John Locke, after whom the character John Locke is named, was a famous social contract philosopher who dealt with the relationship between nature and civilization.

This is an interesting name choice as both shows deal with the relationship between the island/planet and the people that crashed there.

I have to think that Terry O’Quinn is aware of the similarities between the two shows, he may have been chosen for this reason in an unexplained way.

28. Clancy Brown played a character on the show (regular cast member John Danziger left image/Joe Inman right image, is a C.I.A. agent in the episode “One of them, 2006″).

29. Clancy Brown played a character on the show (regular cast member John Danziger left image/Kelvin Inman right image, is ex-C.I.A. Spook in the episode “Live Together, Die Alone, 2006″).

30. Devon Adair and John Danziger/Jack Shephar and Kate Austen are trapped by vines/net next to one another and the female reaches in a compromising position to get the knife/gun that the male character has near his belt which is used to escape.

31. The name Rom was going to be used in Season 2 of Earth 2 for a mischievous cyborg, that name was used for Ethan Rom, an other than pretended to be a survivor.

32. Cmdr. Broderick O’Neill/Nikki Fernandez and Paulo were thought to have been dead after being stung/bitten and were buried alive. Added 6/5/2007

33. Dr. Julia Heller/Dr. Juliet Burke are spies and suppose to find out what they can about the survivors and report back. Dr. Julia Heller reports to Reilly (Terry O’Quinn) and Dr. Juliet Burke reports back to Ben. Both doctor characters abandon who they are suppose to report to and join the group they were reporting on. Added 3/27/2008

34. Both shows have temples with stone steps down into pools of water that have magical qualities. Added 2/8/2010

35. There is an area on the planet/island with an extreme magnetic pull. Added 2/10/2010

36. The planet/island have areas that allow for teleportation. Added 2/10/2010

37. There are spiders on the planet/island that make grendlers/people sleepy. Added 2/10/2011

With so many similarities why did Earth 2 end after 1 season and Lost is one of the top shows on television? I think it has to do with the Science Fiction element, Lost removed any part of the story that related to space, space ships, other planets and aliens leaving us with fiction drama that appeals to a much wider audience.

It’s nearly impossible to find legitimate information online about the connection between the two shows, but they know we know. I think they knew it was a good story 12 years ago and tweaked it for todays audience.

WEIRD BUT TRUE, last week (5/7/06) I had a dream that I worked with Terry O’Quinn in an office and asked him to do an interview for my blog. I got turned down by the Terry O’Quinn in my dream, he said he didn’t think it would be right, damn that sucks. I would have posted it too.

Terry, if you ever read this please contact me, hopefully the real Terry O’Quinn won’t turn me down for an interview.

Earth 2 DVD. It appears as though when the DVD for this show was produced they didn’t do their homework to list the episodes in their production order and laid out the DVD in the same order the shows aired on TV, which is incorrect.

2007/03/26 So where are we today? Well I think for the most part the similarities have ended. Lost has lasted far longer than Earth 2 and it appears that any similarities to Earth 2 have been exhausted. I look forward to seeing a few more actors from Earth 2 making there way into Lost.

2008/03/29 I’m watching Earth 2 again and more similarities are coming out. I guess the writers for Lost have a few more pages of Earth 2 to go through.

I know it sounds odd but I really do forget, sometimes I have to do the math just to make sure. Unlike the year (2006) you’re nor constantly writing it down and it just doesn’t come up that often for me.

Anyway, I’ve already received my gifts, being the geek that I am everything I wanted is tax deductible because it’s computer stuff. My wife got me a new 300GB firewire drive for editing video, maxed out my PowerBooks ram to 2GB. I got a flash drive which I needed for work. For me that’s a pretty good stash for me.

In some ways I feel older and in others I still feel young. Based on average life span I only half way there.

Karen and Allyson are taking me to dinner tonight, I’m on Atkins so I get the pork-chops and green-beans. I don’t have a problem with it since I’ve lost over 10lbs in less than two weeks.

I just received a Happy Birthday email from the Tivo Forums, how geeky is that?

UPDATE: They surprised me at dinner with a 1GB iPod Shuffle. Just what I needed for cutting the grass.

With that mindset I have been avoiding self-propelled altogether. My yard is flat and small, why do I need a SPM?

Last week I needed to cut the grass for the first time this year and with that I needed a new mower.

Knowing I wanted a push mower with a Honda engine I set out to find my new mower. Several stores later I realized that the regular push mower is fading away.

I decided to get a Honda mower instead of a mower with a Honda engine, only self-propelled were available.

What did I learn from using my first SPM? Well for starters I realized half way through my yard the muscles in my back weren’t tightened.
Normally with a push mower you lean or hunch forward to push the mower through the grass. With the self-propelled mower I was able to walk upright behind the mower.

I wasn’t expecting that and I have to say it was a much better experience and I recommend self-propelled to anyone with back pain.

What else, the propelled wheels on my new mower are on the back. Being on the back I never lost traction, regardless of how often I raised the front end, I imagine a front propelled would constantly lose traction due to lifting the front end repeatedly.

The mower is very well balanced, the front end doesn’t feel heavy making it easy to turn and maneuver.

Allyson always likes to sit in the center row up front. When others began to arrive, they grabbed a couple drinks and sat down. A woman Karen’s knows from church was sitting at the table behind us and began talking to her. Karen was turned around and didn’t notice when the seats across the table from Allyson and hers were taken. When Karen finished talking with the woman, she turned around to find Allyson talking with the gentleman that sat across from her.

He was in his late 50’s and well dressed. He didn’t appear to be with family. Allyson didn’t have a clue who he was. Karen introduced herself and extended her hand, which he shook, but he didn’t tell her his name. He told her he had been having quite the conversation with Allyson. He mentioned they talked about homeschool and he thought she was very mature and ladylike.

We were interrupted by the blessing prayer and everyone was invited to the buffet tables. Allyson and Karen went for something to eat and brought it back to our table. During dinner, the man continued to talk to Allyson. He showed her his cufflinks which were a gift from our current president. He explained to her that he was just with George W. on March 23rd giving his opinion on immigration. That’s the kind of thing he does.

Promptly after dinner, the man was introduced from the podium as the keynote speaker for the evening, Richard Land, President of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission.

One of the last things Atari did before it died (the first time) was sue Sega over the 9-pin controller port and they ended up getting something like 99 million.

Like Atari the only thing Apple Corps has left to it is the ability to sue people. It’s probably how they finance the next lawsuit.

All of you judges out there please tell Apple Corps to give up. It’s not like they have a legitimate reason to sue, they sue because they can.

Here are my thoughts and a few questions I recently posed to Major Nelson and Ross Erickson.

Now that Xbox Live has been fleshed out into something that can evolve and grow I think we (the Xbox Live gamers) should get some notion that our purchases are not tied to the Xbox 360. I completely understand why games purchased for the original Xbox Live Arcade did not transfer over. From this point forward please allow me to play all purchased games in the Arcade on future versions of the Xbox. If I buy Bejeweled today on the Xbox 360 Arcade I want to be able to play it on all future Xbox consoles. This also promotes the backward compatible model.

I would like to be able to play the arcade games that I’ve bought for the 360 on the 720 when it comes out. I’m hesitant to spend too much money on Arcade games if I’m really only getting a few years of play out of them. Because we all know that what rocks about the Arcade games is that it’s mostly time wasters and simple gameplay fun. These are the type of games that people play forever. They are simple, pretty and accomplish nothing. I think I’ve spent about $80 so on arcade games. These are the kind of games I want to keep, not upgrade every year.

Now that Arcade is all online (no disk required) and all arcades (future Xbox) from this point forward will follow a similar model I don’t think it’s to much to ask especially since a lot of these games can be played for free (PC) online.

Answers provided by Ross Erickson, Games Portfolio Manager (Xbox Live Arcade/MSN Games.com).

Q 1. Will I be able to play Xbox Live Arcade games I buy now on future Xbox consoles?

A 1. Given that we just barely shipped the 360 into the marketplace just 5 months ago, and that traditional console lifecycles are 5+ years, it’s a bit premature to start planning and making guarantees about any future console so far in advance, especially in light of the fact that digital distribution of entertainment content is still in its infancy. Our intention is to always provide customers value and new entertainment experiences on any platform like Xbox 360

Q 2. Will I be able to play Xbox Live Arcade games I buy now on future Xbox consoles for free or will I have to pay for an upgrade?

A 2. We haven’t announced (nor would we even discuss for many years) any new console beyond the 360 so this is entirely premature.

Q 3. Will I have to transfer them from my 360 or will I be able to download them?

A 3. Again, you’re getting way ahead of yourself on this. Enjoy the games you bought today for what their worth (mostly $5 and $10).

I know my questions are a bit premature, but they will come up again in the future so I want to thank Ross for taking the time to answer them now.

MY GAMERTAG THEMACJEDI

Gaming Consoles: Microsoft, the underdog is doing a good job of making a name for themselves (I love my 360 and loved my Xbox) in the gaming arena. Even with all of their muscle they are still number two, with Sony retaining the number 1 spot. In the current (Next Gen) battle MS has come out of the gate with an awesome showing. How does Sony respond to the lead MS is getting, they don’t. They act as most monopolies do, they act as if they aren’t worried about MS and pretend to not do things their competitors are doing. Some people think Sony will still win the next console war even thought MS will have had a full year head start. Which is what Sony had during the last console wars.

Operating Systems: Apple, the underdog has a fantastic OS and continues to push the envelope (most of my computers are Macs). Apple will have had the opportunity to release about 5 OS upgrades in the same space MS announced Longhorn renamed it Vista and delayed it until 2007. In the OS market MS is the monopoly they behave the same way Sony behaves in the console market. There Vista OS will come out with many of the features Mac users have been using for years. The same goes for the next Sony console, Sony will come out with feature that Xbox users have been using for years.

Music Players: This would be Apple’s monopoly, I think they have about the same market share in this category as Sony had in the previous consoles. So does Apple act different with their monopoly than the other companies, not really. They refuse to open their DRM for other companies and release products on their own timeline as if other companies aren’t even competing. MS who has the largest share of OSes installed still can’t find a way to use that power to take control of the Music market. In many ways this market should belong to Sony, but they are a monopoly in more ways than one and they were sitting on their hands. So is Sony number 2, nope, that’s how bad they messed up.

Now what’s really weird is that is that all of these companies work together. Whether is be parts, OSes, Music or technology in general.

My personal bests, I prefer Apple computers, iPods, Xbox 360s and Sony TV’s.

April 1st is Apple’s 30th birthday (April 14th is my 35th) and I think we may see a huge product release that day.

I would like to see Apple ditch the 12″ PB and come out with a 13″ widescreen MacBook (not Pro) to replace all iBooks and then release a 17″ MacBook Pro.

I sent Leo an email yesterday informing him of my Mac stuff.

He replied “I’ll let people know! Good Luck.”

Short, yes, but if he really does take the opportunity to share my stuff with other Macs user that would be awesome.

Thanks Leo

I would love to believe them, but they haven’t really come through for me. I was there, camping the night the PS2 came out, I sold it less than a year later to fund getting an Xbox. I was very happy with my Xbox. Then I got the PSP, cool for a while but no games and $15-$20 Movie prices were crazy. I sold it less than a year later to fund getting my Xbox 360.

It’s funny me being a Mac guy and all that when it comes to Consoles MS is getting a lot right. I will spend money for the better product.

I’m being cautious about the Sony Hype Machine because I don’t think it has ever delivered. I can’t say that I’m not hopeful, because I am.

I could see her on American Idol some day, for now, it’s the one show the entire family watches together.

Unfortunately I’ve also been extremely sick. My new themacjedi is almost finished and will be in the store soon.

So hopefully somewhere between my random naps and blowing my nose I can get everything ready.

How cool is that? Thanks amanda.

What’s funny is that the old man that parked in the handicapped space walked around the mall for at least the half hour I waited for the stores to open. If that man is a mall walker then why does he need a handicapped space?

I thinks funny when regular people spend 5 minutes trying to find the closest possible parking space to a store or mall, then proceed to walk around that store for hours. If you’re going to be walking for hours anyway why can’t they just park further away as soon as they get there?

I was willing to join a group of people pushing to make changes in Walmart but other than websites, the movie and some flash comedy there is no apparent movement.

So as of now I officially don’t care. If something changes in the future I may actually consider taking part but right now it doesn’t even seem that Walmart employees are willing to push for change. I am of course assuming change is needed. If it’s not needed then this is a dead subject.

I decided to stop and ask him some questions about why he was there. I started by explaining about the Walmart movie I just recently saw.

He told me that Meijer paid for or subsidized him being there. He said it was their policy to have a cop at each store Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 8PM to 3AM.

I told him I was asking because of the number of muggings and car jackings reported in Walmarts parking lots by the movie.

He followed with that fact that he thought Meijer was going to increase their security, he said they already have full camera view of the entire parking lot and surrounding area with monitored surveillance.

I can honestly say that I have never seen a cop car in a Walmart parking lot. I’m not saying they have never been there, just that I’ve never seen one.

Last night my wife and I watched this movie.

I typically don’t shop at Wal-Mart anyway, I just don’t like the look and feel of their stores. After watching this movie I have even less to like about this company.

I’m not saying that I’ve never shopped at Wal-Mart but the few times I’ve gone to Wal-Mart they never have what I’m looking for anyway.

I started making jokes with my wife last year that Wal-Mart and Kroger are the devil. Since I don’t usually shop there anyway does this affect me?

Yes it does because I’m a Sam’s Club Business Member. I’m going to let the info in the movie sink into my brain and do a little research of my own. If I can’t find where this movie is nothing more than Union Propaganda then I will be canceling my Sam’s Club membership. Does one person canceling their membership make a difference, no, but it will remove me from being part of the problem.

I don’t recommend anyone take my word for it, watch the movie http://www.walmartmovie.com/, do the research and make up your own mind.

I rented this movie from Blockbuster so you don’t have to buy it to see it. But I recommend you see it, if the movie is as accurate as it appears to be Wal-Mart has ruined a lot of towns.

This movie is as moving and educational as Morgan Spurlock’s Super Size Me. Which I recommend you also rent.

This afternoon I went to Big-O to have my tires rotated and balanced. When I got there the guy said it would be about an hour and a half. I said no problem and I grabbed my computer and gave him my keys. I got a soda and sat down at the counter, opened my computer and plugged in my headphones. Two minutes later the the same guy said “Mr. Jones your car is ready”. Thinking he was mistaken I looked to see if it was my car they just pulled out and it was.

I looked at him and said “You said an hour and a half” he said “It just worked out that way”. I grabbed my keys said thank and took off.

It’s the closest that any commercial has ever come to real life for me.

It’s not that far of a stretch. These were the first Dual-Core processors used in Macs and had the typical benefits over the previous processor.

So why didn’t Apple call it the G6, I think that they did not want to create a brand that would soon be eclipsed by Intel. And it would have been.
And why create a new brand that wouldn’t make into all of the products anyway.

Questions and answers about the Intel chips.

I need big batteries for everything.

Which leads me to the PowerMac. Since Apple is dropping the Power then that would rename the PowerMac to MacTower Pro.
They could go with TowerMac Pro but TowerMac is too close to PowerMac to be different. And Mac need to be first.

iMac, well, it looks like the iMac was good enough to leave alone.

Those are my predictions for this year.

Last night we went on a little shopping spree, for whatever we wanted.

Tonight we have dinner reservations and are going to a friends party.

Next year, Disney World.

I’m a huge advocate of TiVo, if you have any questions let me know.

Then use my email address (robjones at mac.com) when you sign up for TiVo service and are asked you referred you.

Thanks.

TiVo has changed the way we watch TV so much that It’s like being without a microwave or refrigerator.

Watching live TV sucks, really bad.

At 5:45 a.m. I went down and looked at the height of the water in the well. It was about 6 inches from the top. I attempted to go back to sleep thinking that the electricity would come back on soon. After lying there for nearly 10 minutes, I went back down to have a look and the water was all the way to the top, only a half inch away from pouring over onto the floor. Our basement is still used like a basement, concrete walls, carpet remnants but not carpeted, some exercise equipment and a lot of plastic and cardboard boxes.

The mood of this entire event was casual, as if it’s happening and I’m just dealing with it calmly, no panic whatsoever.

I decided that if I didn’t do something now everything on the basement floor would get ruined so I grabbed a plastic trash can and began filling it up half way, carrying it upstairs, pouring it down the toilet and repeating. I probably did that about a dozen times before the noise I was making woke my wife and she asked how she could help. At first I had her filling the other trash cans and I would run them to the toilet. After about a dozen of those I realized we couldn’t keep up. I told her to get anything off of the floor that she didn’t want ruined.

You must realize that throughout this entire event we were both having to carry a flashlight because it was early in the morning and pitch black in the basement.

While she’s moving stuff up off the floor, I’m still carrying water upstairs. The well finally poured over and we focused on getting everything moved to higher ground. Fortunately I got some cubicles from an old office. I now have (14) 4′ x 3′ desk areas about 3′ off the floor that I didn’t have two months ago. This kept us from having to carry everything upstairs because before I setup the cubicles we only had one 4′ x 8′ table in the basement. Everything else was on the floor.

Just before getting some of the last pieces moved higher, the water was as deep as 2″ in some areas of the basement and completely dry in others. This showed me just how uneven the basement floor is. We were both barefoot and the water was cold.

We finished at about 7:15 and went to the living room to relax. I went back down about 30 minutes later to see if it had gotten any worse. There weren’t any dry areas on the basement floor anymore. The water appeared to have stopped rising. Once the water on the basement floor creates a pressure equal to that on the outside it stops rising. And that turned out to be about 3″. Not 3″ everywhere. Just in the deepest areas.

The electricity came back on at 9:11 a.m. and the sump pump has since removed the flooding, although the floor is still wet.

In the end what have we lost? Empty boxes and carpet remnants, that’s it. We’ve lived here 2.5 years now and this is the first time we’ve had to experience this. It won’t happen again because I will be having a water pressure based backup sump pump installed.

I’m on my way now to Meijer to purchase a mop and some bleach to clean the basement floor.

I waited behind a kid who was playing the Battlefield 2 demo for about 4 minutes before saying “You almost finished?”
He said “Yes” so I waited patiently. 6 minutes later I said “OK, time to let someone else play.” He said “OK” and walked off.

The screen was a nice LCD display but it was 8ft high, so I had to practically look straight up to play and the controller was to low making it uncomfortable to hold.

I checked out some of the menus, games demos and movies before being struck with an instant headache from to position of my neck. I just had to leave.

So there you have it, Walmart ruined the Xbox 360 first impression.

I’m sure I’ll be more impressed with my own 360 on the 22nd.

It’s kinda funny, even people that dress nice don’t dress like this or wear this much makeup.
It’s all about what the camera sees.

Allyson’s (my daughter) photo shoot is today, it’s fun to watch what they put her in.

Doe Anderson has been in business since 1915. Several employees have been working there for more than 20 years and even more have been there for more than 10 years. I don’t think it would have surprised anyone if I had worked there for more than 20 years. I was there for 6.5 very quick years. Kris has been there since he started (16 years), Nick was there, left and came back (8years), Matt (7 years) has been there since he started. Rich Glasser was fired when they lost Winston then later rehired (4 years).

I bragged about my flexibility. I could take the day off with little or no notice. Nobody in the department really cared because they knew if they needed me they could just radio me. No one was surprised when I took the day off when Halo2 came out (11/9/2004). Nor were they surprised when I sent an email saying I wouldn’t be in after seeing the midnight opening of Star Wars Episode 3 (5/19/2005). It had become a habit for employees in the IT Department to send an email at the last minute saying they would be leaving early for one reason or another. Or you would get the early morning email saying they would be out the next day or that day. Nobody cared because everybody did their job.

Allyson (my daughter) has been running around the halls of Doe Anderson since she was 3 years old and a lot of the ladies there would give her candy or gum. Most of the ladies and few men on the fourth floor (where I worked) knew Allyson and were familiar with her running around the hall. Even the cleaning people knew Allyson. Even though I would never let Allyson run around before Doe closed at 5:15pm she got regular chances to run around since I was regularly there after 5:15pm.

In 2000 when the PS2 was released, Rich, Nick, Matt and I all camped out at Target with about 50 other people from midnight until they opened the next morning to get our PS2’s. I was the first at Target that night and the first inline to get my PS2 the next morning.

In 2003 Rich, Nick and I all ran the Rhodes City Run. They ran other Triple Crown races without me, because I lost interest.

I even spent about 20 hours a few years ago creating a movie for Kris of his trip to Disney World. The last time his wife Carol mentioned it, she said their daughter still watches it. I was constantly being asked to help with personal projects by people in the department.

Rich and Matt were great to work with but Nick was the person that I had the closest relationship with. We lost weight at the same time, and lots of it. We had our Lasik eye surgery done on the same day by the same doctor. I’ll miss Nick the most.

I have in my personal digital photo library more than 500 photos and movies of various things that relate to Doe Anderson over the last 6.5 years. X-mas parties, picnics, birthday parties, a cookout at Rich’s house, a cookout at Nick’s house, my 30th birthday party with all co-workers in my department, Allyson at Doe as a toddler, the time Karen kept Rich’s girls for a week, the Halloween contest, the pumpkin carving contest, me testing Doe’s new digital camera, all of the work that went into the iPod Xmas and random pics of my office. And most recently was Doe Anderson’s 90th Anniversary picnic.

Here is a list of the people I have invited to Doe Anderson just to show them where I work: Shawn Wright (one of my freelance clients), Karen and Allyson (my wife and daughter), Jack Stopher (my Dad), Sheila Stopher (my Mom), my nephews Phillip and Stephen, and a friend (my childhood friend). My friend, a friend (whom I hadn’t seen in ten years) came to the States to visit me after being in Korea for 7 years. We got together and one of the things I wanted him to see was where I worked (6/2/2005) before he left for Iraq.

Karen would regularly get me candles for my office because knew how much I enjoyed burning them and Allyson would make me things that were just for my office.

The IT Department was a funny group. At one point we all laughed at the fact that we all had the same electric toothbrush. I was very influential when it came to electronics. Rich currently owns a personal digital camera that I picked out for him. Matt asked for a TiVo for X-mas after I bragged about mine so much. Nick owns a personal scanner that I helped him pick out as well as his new TiVo. As a matter of fact employees throughout the entire agency would call me asking for personal advice about electronics, computers or personal projects. In December of 2004 118 Doe Anderson employees were walking around with iPods that I picked out. Doe could have saved $6000 by choosing a different model but I recommended against it and Jim White decided to go with my suggestion.

I was blown away and honored when Jim White came to me last year to handle the purchasing, branding and distribution of what would be considered the best Doe X-mas party ever (12/2/2004). Every employee received an iPod as a X-mas gift but only a handful of people even knew about it before it was announced at the party because it was a huge secret. This is why all of 120 iPods ($33,000 worth) were shipped to my house where they were prepared and stayed until the night of the party.

I was even part of the X-mas party presentation (12/2/2004) where they made fun of me for wearing shorts. Everyone knows I wear shorts even in the winter. I was in the Company Meeting presentation (12/7/2004) where it was pointed out what a good job I did with the iPods. And most recently I was in a Company Meeting presentation early this year where I congratulated for a very good idea about bad weather call-in number.

One aspect of my personality is telling it like I see. I don’t hold back and never pull my punches. Anyone who has ever gotten to know me will tell you that I tell the truth.

After six and a half years of cookouts, playing video games, birthdays, PS2 campouts, meetings, Triple Crown races, pictures, movies and parties all those friendships ended the day I was let go (June 2005). Not the typical co-worker friendship taper off, a complete and sudden end. Of all the friends and acquaintances I made in my years at Doe, none that still work there ever contact me. Many former employees have echoed my sentiments exactly. Working in IT I experienced many let-goes and layoffs and it wasn’t always this way. What has changed? Has a fear been created that associating with a former employee could make you a former employee? And what would cause such a fear?

You can do your own google searches for Doe Anderson to see all of the business they have lost since 2000, examples such as R.J. Reynolds, National City, Shoney’s and Valvoline. As listed on their website they currently have 85 employees. At the end of 2004 they had 118 employees. I always knew the number of employees because of my responsibilities of managing the phone system. They have laid-off nearly half of their employees since 2000 and approximately 30 in 2005 alone. They are also making interesting choices of letting people go then asking them back the same week, sometimes only part-time or freelance.

I was quite naive about the political processes. Especially when it came from the very top. You know that phrase “It’s going to get worse before it gets better.” I think Doe may continue to decline and may require replacements in it’s decision making executives before they see improvements.

I’ve been running my own tech support business for 10 years and now it’s full time. Nothing compares to working for yourself.

I am still doing what I love to do, but now it’s on my terms.

Now you can get your smokes and a ride to your final resting place.

If you’re not familiar with FireFly then checkout the movie Serenity. And then when you want more go buy the DVD set of Firefly.

I’m a fanboy of the series because it’s that good. While the first two weeks indicate that this movie is not a Spider-Man blockbuster. It could very easily be a sleeper hit as people continue to review how good it is and new viewers are going to see it every week.

The more people that see the better all our chances are of seeing sequels.

GO SEE THIS MOVIE, NOW.

When they were all in the car only seconds from leaving my daughter said “Momma, can I bring my computer?” I just started laughing. I’m so proud.

I’m at the point now where every client will make a difference, hopefully by the end of the year I’ll be way past that.

If you haven’t seen it, go, go now.

He will going to Purdue University at the beginning of the new school year.

Great work Phillip, thanks.

I use the comments in iPhoto to tag everything, I was surprised when Spotlight was not finding photos based on their comments in iPhoto.

Here’s what you do if you’re having the same problem.

Open iPhoto, select your Library, select all photos (I have 6866), do a batch change to the comments (I just entered a comma, select append), let it finish and don’t do anything else (don’t click on Spotlight, don’t change Albums) just leave it alone and wait a couple of minutes, then click Undo and close iPhoto.

Now you should be able to find photos based on their iPhoto comments.

One of the things in our yard sale was Dave’s new Financial Peace book, my wife had already read it and we took the 13 week class in 2003.

A lady came into our garage checking stuff out and saw the book, “Did you all do this” she asked? “Yes we did and it really helped us”.

While we weren’t one of those families that paid everything off very quickly we learned what we doing wrong and that has made a huge difference in the way we live.

The lady said “I was thinking about getting this, so I might as well get it at a yard sale”, my wife said “That’ll be $4″.

So there you go Dave, your course made a difference for us, we made money selling your book and some lady who is on her way to Financial Piece saved $20 on her very first step to getting there.

We were riding together on Monday and I noticed she didn’t have good riding shoes, the ones she was wearing were too slick so I suggested we would get some the next day.

I forgot.

So yesterday when she was riding she stood up on her peddles and her left foot slipped off. She then proceeded to fall to the left on the side of her knee and spraining her thumb. Her thumb turned blue and her knee is scrapped pretty good. Her bike has some scratches but it’s a bike, who cares.

So when I got home yesterday we went and got her some new shoes and she was back on that bike within minutes, standing up and everything.

It’ll take her knee about two weeks to heal but I’m annoyed with myself, if I had taken care of the shoes when I noticed I could have at least avoided this from happening.

I picked it from Toys-R-Us yesterday and assembled it after Allyson (my 8 year old daughter) had gone to sleep. No one makes a decent girls bike so I bought her a boys 20″ freestyle bike.

Consideration for the Mongoose and Schwinn stopped not because they were 50% more expensive but because they were heavier.

The bike was easy for me to assemble (I have a history with freestyle bikes), what took the longest was removing all of the stickers of barbwire it had on it. And it was a lot.

The bike specs: Dynacraft-Rhino single speed BMX bike (not normally my first brand choice but had lots of good reviews at Amazon), 20″ Aluminum frame (only a few pounds heavier than her 16″ bike), freewheel (this is when you can’t use the peddles to brake like on a 10-speed), stem rotor (for spinning your handle bars all the around). I was impressed for $100 and knew that she would probably never push the bike to the breaking point.

2005-04-23_12-35-allyson-riding-new-bike

She really likes it and doesn’t seem disappointed that the bike has no feminine attributes. I was showing her how to spin the bars while riding, I don’t think she’s ready for that yet.

Wednesday night (4/13/2005) my wife (Karen) gave me a nice piece of framed artwork made from Chinese Stars I had as a boy (more than 20 years ago). It’s very cool looking, I had forgotten about them.

Thursday Morning (4/14/2005) Karen and Allyson bought me my favorite coffee.
Thursday afternoon Allyson gave me a gift, this framed heart of her an I (which is now on my desk).

Thursday night Karen and Allyson took me to TGI Fridays for dinner. Then we went home and I saw this on my sidewalk, very nice.

At home I received more gifts, the soundtrack to The Last Dragon (one of my favorite childhood movies next to RAD), cologne, iTunes music card (used for Bon Jovi) and a card and cash from my Mom (spent on Wipeout Pure for my PSP).

Friday afternoon (4/15/2005, after Karen and I completed our taxes online) they took me to see Robots. Followed by great weather and a great weekend.

Very good birthday.

This is a great contest… For me to poop on. LOL

Here is why I should be the Xbox.com Apprentice.

Because I’m your Mother and I said so.
Because I’m the only person that can get Gary Coleman to say “Whatchu talkin bout TriXie”.
Because Cliffy B needs a pounding for that Pimp Daddy suit.
Because I want to show Bill Gates my new iPod Shuffle.
Because someone needs to tell J. Allard to get lasik.
Because I got some sort of rash from making in the bushes.
Because I want to kick Reggie’s ass and take his name.
Because my birthday is April 14th and taxes suck.
Because I want to get Trip Hawkins to sign my 3DO, NOT.
Because I want to meet Nolan Bushnell, that one’s for real.

Because my Mom’s in the hospital and needs a transplant.
Because I’ve fallen and I can’t get up.
Because I want to travel across the US in a soda can with wings.
Because that which does not kill you, makes you wish you were dead.
Because I have a special hat I want to give to Adam Sessler.
Because Steve Jobs never invites me to MacWorld
Because this will be the best damn E3 ever, with me there.
Because I Love You.
Because of Winn-Dixie.
Just because.
Because you’re worth it.
Because I’m beautiful.
Because of possible health risk.
Because my nephew (Stephen) is evolved and beats my ass at Halo every damn time.

My wife (Karen) made this cake for Stephen’s 13th birthday, 01/26/2002.

And finally, How many pancakes does it take to cover a doghouse?
None, because there are no bones in ice cream.

Thank you.

How are going to know if someone doesn’t tell you.

PSP Memory Stick management software.
I’ve tried them all and the only one that works and works well is PSPWare, you can try the others but you’ll come back to PSPWare. I’m talking music from iTunes, photos from iPhoto, movie conversion, game data backups and restores, this software is awesome.
http://www.nullriver.com/

Earbuds don’t like me. iPod or PSP
I got these headphones at Wal-Mart for $9 and I’m impressed, they sound good and are comfortable. They never feel like their going to fall off.
Panasonic Headphones

USB 2.0 cable that fits in the case.
If you already have the proper USB cable you may not want to buy another one but if you’re like me you want something that fits in the case easily, well here it is.
http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&product%5Fid=26-708

Almost identical to each another but one of these nylon cases is better than the other.

Pelican branded case above.
http://www.pelicanacc.com/psp/psp_spec_sheet/116.htm
http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/sr=1-10/qid=1112281019/ref=sr_1_10/602-4629871-0227831?%5Fencoding=UTF8&asin=B0007Z7XVM

Pelican PSP case rebranded for Gamestop above.
http://www.gamestop.com/product.asp?product%5Fid=801934

ALS Game Stuff brand above.

ALS Case Quick review, the ALS case is roughly the same size as the Pelican case but the compartments feel smaller and cramped.
The ALS does not have a hardened layer between the middle section and the back section where the PSP goes, so when you cram (because that’s the only way to get them in) your power cable and or USB cable into the middle section it somewhat protrudes into the rear area. This did not make me feel like my PSP was protected.
The front compartment was too small and held only a few items. I did really like the carry strap and clip on this case.

Pelican Case Quick Review, the two case at the top (Pelican and Gamestop) are the same case.
The Pelican feels plenty roomy without being bulky, there is a hardened layer between the middle section and the back section where the PSP goes. The middle compartment is large enough to hold several games, earbuds, compact USB cable and your cleaning cloth. The front section is for the power supply, it’s tight but check out what I did to make it fit better below.

I Recommend the Pelican Case, it protected the PSP better, is a better design and had more room.

Make that Power Supply take up less room in your case.
If you have a PowerBook adapter (the in-wall piece) that you’re not using, then it can be just what you need
to make the power supply take up less room in your new PSP case. The four pictures below are self explanatory.

I just finished reading this article http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000210035724/ and I think he is confused about the music industry.

Subscribing to a music service is a seriously small niche market and Apple knows this. That won’t keep Apple from taking that niche though.

When I refer to the renting of movies I’m including going to the theatre, you have a limited amount of time to view the movie but at the theatre you’re on their schedule. And many people only after renting lots of movies will purchase their favorites. This is vastly different than listening to music.

Things you can do while listening to music include cleaning, reading, running, biking, lifting, playing, driving, relaxing, working (lots of verbs) you get the idea. How many of these can you do while watching a movie? Few if any, why, because watching a movie is a verb itself unlike listening to music which is usually secondary to what else you’re doing.

I’ve heard Steve Jobs say that “You may watch your favorite movie a few times but you listen to your favorite music hundreds if not thousands of times” and I totally agree. So what sense does it make to subscribe to something that you’re going to use so much, It doesn’t. Subscribing to a music service is no different than satellite radio, once you stop paying for the service it’s gone.

Services, how does music become a service, if you’re getting married and need a DJ. But casual listening to music will never be a service. Subscription based music is an attempt to turn listening to music into a service. Examples of services, electric company, Xbox Live, .mac, internet provider, trash pickup you get the idea. How does renting music fit into services, I don’t think that it does.

What will Apple do to rain on the other companies subscription service? Several articles online indicate that Apple is already looking to take over the renting of music. I have an idea that truly differentiates subscribing to a music service and renting music.

Renting Music my way, imagine not just paying a flat fee every month but instead paying a single rental fee per song or album. Think about it, you go to the iTunes Music Store and see the O.C. album, well you know the music you hear on the O.C. is cool, but you don’t know if it’s cool enough to buy. So just rent the album for a month for a one time fee of $1. At the end of the month you have the option to buy that album and get $1 off the price since you already paid that to rent it. This approach gives you opportunity to actually demo full songs for a fee and If you buy it you’re not out any additional money, if you don’t buy it or don’t like it, it only cost you $1 to find that out.

How is this different than the subscription service that the others have, it doesn’t tie you into a monthly fee (Napster $15 per month). People hate monthly fees and companies love them because it generate regular revenue. The plan I outlined gives you the ability to listen to music for a certain amount of time before deciding if you want to pay full price, and the fee is one time not recurring.

My plan puts renting music almost on par with renting movies. Small fee to check it out for limited amount of time. My plan differentiates subscribing to a music service and truly renting music.

If Apple takes this type of approach to renting music I believe they could easily kill off companies like Napster.

The clip really shows it’s age simply from the music playing and listed, It’s a fun reminder.

All of my favorite music came out of the late 80’s so it’s no surprise that I really enjoy this clip, now you can too.

Air Popper vs Air Popper

In this review I compare the two most recent popcorn poppers I’ve owned.
The Toastmaster Air Popper and the Presto Air Popper (Orville Redenbacher branded)

First let me get the taste out of the way, both of these units made popcorn the same way (hot air) and in each case they tasted exactly the same.
All popped popcorn from both of these poppers was light and fluffy. I only added popcorn salt (finer than table salt) and real butter. Delicious.

Both units have an inexpensive plastic feel and look to them with the Presto looking slightly nicer than the Toastmaster.

Toastmaster Air Popper:

I think my Mom had this exact model back in the 80’s.

This unit was purchased from Target.
The unit is nice and small, it takes up very little space for those who would keep it out on their countertop.
The units lid did not fit into the groove in the top of the unit so the slightest bump would knock it off.
You can plug this unit in and then turn it on with it’s built-in switch. Nice because I almost always make two bowls of popcorn.
It has a 1/2 cup removable measuring and butter melting cup on top of the lid.

I could live with all of this if the unit had done a better job on the popcorn, it only pops about half what you put in.
What happens is, as it begins to pop the popcorn it kicks out as many unpopped kernels as it does popped.
So out of the 1/2 cup of popcorn you put into the unit you will only get 1/4 of popped corn.
On one occasion this popper burnt the popcorn because popped popcorn got stuck in the bottom of the unit.

Presto Air Popper:

I don’t know how new this model is but I don’t think it’s new to the market.

This unit was purchased from Kohl’s.
The unit is nice and small but slightly larger than the Toastmaster, it takes up very little space for those who would keep it out on their countertop.
The lid fits perfectly into the grooves on the top of the unit.
This unit does not have a built-in switch so it comes on once it’s plugged in. Not a big inconvenience but I almost never make just one bowl of popcorn.
It has a 1/2 cup removable measuring and butter melting cup on top of the lid.
This unit has not yet burnt any popcorn.

Popping, this is where this unit really shines, I’ve made dozens of bowls of popcorn with this thing and it leaves me with less than a dozen unpopped kernel per bowl.
The units design is only slightly different than the Toastmaster but it apparently makes all the difference.

On a scale of 1-10 (10 being the best)

(5) Toastmaster air Popper: Disappointing lid fit and poor popping performance indicates you should stay away from this model

(9) Presto air Popper: This units ability to pop more kernels than I can pop the oil-in-a-pan way is impressive. Would have got a 10 if it had an on/off switch.

Recommendation:
If you want light fluffy popcorn that’s easier to make than the oil-in-a-pan way my choice is the Presto Air Popper. I’ve made more popcorn in this popper in the last month than I made the oil-in-a-pan way for the last 6 months because it’s so easy and the popcorn is consistently good.

I’ve been scanning the world (everything), it’s nice to have a scanner that can do negatives as well. The problem is that once you start scanning you can’t stop because you’re that much closer to having all of the memories on your computer.

And having them on your computer (for me at least) is the only way I really want to keep them. I can’t wait till I can have all of my movies on my computer as well.