In the Beginning

And Gates said, "Let your OS be obsolete" : and there was Vista.

And the Consumer saw Vista, that it was expensive and possibly unnecessary.

And the Gamer rejoiced, "Glory be unto DirectX 10 and it's unified driver model!"

And the Couch Jockey cried out, "With PC's on Live, we won't stand a chance against the mouse and keyboard!"

And God blessed them all, and said unto them, "You're all so cute with your toys."

And Jesus threw up the horns.

Baked Goods

Ah technology marches onward. Is there no mountain we cannot climb? Is there no sea we cannot cross? We have arrived at a new beach head in our societies evolution. Behold!!!

The Caffeinated Doughnut!!



Robert Bohannon, a molecular scientist, has developed a method of infusing baked goods with caffeine without the bitter taste. Each pastry is about 150 milligrams of caffeine. That means a caffeinated doughnut is equal to about 2 cans of Red Bull.

Eat at your own risk.

Greatest Toy Ever

If it were real, it would make millions...

Scariest Accident

A buddy sent me these pictures of a pretty crazy accident. As you can see, the truck left the road on the right side of the picture and somehow made it over the drainage pipe.



But the truly scary thing is when you pull back and look at the big picture.

World's Tallest Building

The world's tallest structure is currently the KVLY TV mast in North Dakota. This uninspired metal rod clock's in at 2,063 ft. That's compared to say the Sears Tower which is a measly 1,729 ft if you count the antenna on top. One of my faithful readers pointed this out to me.

Apparently Dubai is not only in the business of building artificial islands, but they are also constructing the world's tallest structure. The Burj Dubai's finished height is being kept a secret due to a number of competitors eyeing the title of tallest. The Freedom Tower, Shanghai World Financial Center, Port Tower and Chicago's Spire are all in the running, but the Burj Dubai is the only one that is actually under construction. The theoretically height guessed by independent architects places the Burj Dubai at around 3,000 ft, but it's currently less than half done at 1,291 ft.

Once finished, the Burj Dubai will be a luxury hotel where I'm sure they will put Dramamine on your pillow instead of mints.

Is HD Worth It?

The hype surrounding HD continues at a fevered pitch. Today LG released their combo Blu-ray/HD-DVD player to the general public. You can pick yours up for only $1200 or not.

The question that comes to mind is whether it's worth the time and effort to get High Def movies. I mean, DVD's are crisp enough. Well seeing is believing, so some guy took screen captures of The Fellowship of the Ring from both formats. He reduced the resolution of the HD captures to the same level as the DVD captures to make an easier comparison.

Here is the first DVD shot from his page. Hold your mouse pointer over the image to see the HD version. Click to see the full size images.



The difference is quite amazing. Going back from HD to DVD is so blurry that I unconsciously squint. After seeing these differences I'm actually a little excited about moving beyond DVD. Hit up his site for a number of other captures.

Human Slingshot

So what do you think, "highly stupid and dangerous" or "I desperatly need to try that."

The Soul Still Burns... Or is Burning...

World of Warcraft continues to be completely out of control. Blizzard announced that they have reached over 8 million active accounts. There are more WoW players in the world than Swiss.

Burning Crusade, the expansion to WoW, just dropped. It's arrival will not doubt signal a spike in renewals. I'm sure we will see 10 million WoW accounts before the end of summer.

One of the faithful millions decided to see how quickly he could hit the max level in the new expansion. He slept from 2pm to 10pm the day before launch, procured the expansion, and played the game non-stop for 28 hours to ding level 70.

Congratulations Gullerbone on your "achievement".

Look At What We Have Created!

If you've ever flipped passed the travel channel you know that they are building an artificial group of islands off the coast of Dubai. (That's near the entrance to the Persian Gulf) The question that often comes up is, how do you build an artificial island? Well, apparently you spray sand into the ocean from a giant cannon.



Just to give some scale to the enormity of the task here is the zoomed out version.



I say time well spent!

iPhone

Well, Apple finally pulled the trigger and released their iPhone. It's one hell of a cool device.

• It's a Wide Screen Video iPod running the latest iTunes, so you get the cool 'Cover Flow' browser and video playback.
• It's a phone with everything you've come to expect from a modern mobile phone. One thing it does better is the 'Add Call' feature that allows for quick and easy three way calling.
• It's a portable browser. It runs Safari with a neat zoom feature that seems to get around the problem of looking at web sites on a smaller screen.
• The nicest thing is the whole interface is built around a touch screen. They have essentially added the benefits of a mouse to your little phone.

All of these things are very nice, and I'm sure Apple will sell millions of them. However, there are a few things that really distract me.

• It's huge. The wide screen is nice, but you're phone is now 5.5 inches long. Add a protective case to that and it's a solid half foot in your pocket.
• Speaking of protective cases, every phone I've ever owned has been scratched up after a year of use. Now I don't use a protective cover, so that will probably help. I just hope the cover they provide doesn't mess up the touch screen.
• And finally the price. The 4 gig model is 500 bucks and the 8 gig is 600. You had better use every feature of that thing everyday in order to make it worth that kind of cash.

Warner Offers Peace

The end of the format war is on the horizon at least from the consumer's standpoint. The New York Times reports that Warner Brothers has developed a DVD disc that can hold both HD and Blu-Ray simultaneously. NEC and LG have already developed a player that is capable of playing both formats, but Warner's True HD solution is much better.

Eventually one of the formats will win out. Once that happens the dual players will no longer be available, and all of the old discs you have will become worthless. However, with Warner's True HD discs it doesn’t matter who comes out on top. Your old True HD discs will still play.

Of course HD, Blu-Ray, and True HD will all become obsolete when HVD hits the market. Holographic Versatile Discs are suppose to hold 160 times the data of Blu-Ray. They are rumored to hit the consumer market in 2011.

Yay! I’m back!

Well, I haven't technically been gone, but I certainly haven't been posting since before Christmas. Kansas has photographic documentation of the good times had by all. I suggest perusing it if you're into watching other people have fun.


One thing I wanted to expound upon is the idea of the Christmas list. This can be a controversial subject for some since it effects such a hallowed event, Christmas morning. Personally I am a strong believer in the Christmas list. I'm such a strong believer that I actually keep a list year round. Why are Christmas lists so important? I'll tell you.

The number one reason Christmas lists are so important is quite simple. By making a list you are actually thinking about what you WANT. If you cannot come up with a list of things you desire, how can you expect anyone else to think of anything? You should be able to drop down a list of 10+ items that you would enjoy getting for Christmas. Failing that, you should start a new hobby because you are obviously watching entirely too much TV.

Number two should appeal to anyone who has taken a stupid internet quiz. By filling out a Christmas list you are writing down a small glimpse of your life. These are the things that you like. These are your music, movie, fashion, and hobby interests. The people who read this list, the people who are close to you, will get an introduction to your world. Your kindergarten teacher would call this 'sharing'. It's an advanced concept for people over the age of 6, but I believe you can do it.

Protecting the greatest day on earth is the third reason for the list. Christmas morning is a sacred time when we all get to act like kids. You got candy, pajamas, a giant paper mess, new toys, and your family. No other holiday delivers on so many basic levels. The quickest way to ruin this day is a bad gift. It lets you down, and the person who got it for you.

Commence Awkward Moment.

Don't let this happen, make a list.

The final reason I'm going to put on the table is all about shopping, specifically online shopping. Even with a Christmas list shopping is hard. A lot of people live for the thrill of the hunt. Excellent! Go out there and fight the crowds and the lines for that perfect kill... Err gift. The rest of us prefer the unlimited selection of Amazon! Behold its power!


Of course, online shopping is virtually impossible without a list.

Help save the Merch. Make a List.