May 2007 Contents

May 2007 Contents

From first post to last –

May 2007 subhead: Digging My Own Grave (Almost) Daily

April 2007 Contents

I Start The Day (And Month!) Bitching (Did You Expect Anything Else?)
Cringely Goes Off The Fucking Deep End
Fag Beasts And Bloody Flags
Sony Reader Is Gaining Ground
Overclock Your Mind
Ah, Bamford’s In London Now
Kenneth Che-Tew Eng Evil Video Is On YouTube Again
I Have Blog Fatigue Today
Ah. What Might Have Been!
Ah. What Wonders There Would Have Been!
No Blogging Today
Offline Until Monday
H.T. Chen & Dancers: May 3-6 2007 In NYC
Cringely Is A Link Nazi
Go On. Kick Me.
Beemageddon: See? It’s Serious.
More Good Neighbors On YouTube!
Japanese Dorama On YouTube!
Congratulations To Author John Straley!
Hmmm… A Reverse Switcher
Gerry Anderson: Origins On Google Video
Samsung Prices New Q1U To Kill Competitors!
The Future Is FAB!
Bah. You Disappoint Me. As Usual.
Samsung Intros The Q1U In NYC And Blows It: Doesn’t Invite Me!
What The $800 Samsung Q1U Will Lack
Warren Ellis Has Too Much Fun
Supergirl Express
Junkiness Always Has Too Much Fun!
P2P Like 4Evah
tnkgrl Could Teach Even Supergirl Some Things!
Well Then I’m Somebody. Gee, Thanks Google. Now Have My Baby. And Keep It!
Reference: Converting Video For Apple TV
Yo, France. Wut Up?
Today’s Delicious Rant
It’s Mourning In America
The World Is Filled With Madness
The China Syndrome
A Sad Anniversary: Spring Without Bandini
Samsung Q1U Fondle
LifeDrive Notes: One Step Closer!
Go See This Fantastic Animation Video!
No More Blogging Today. Blame Author Ken Bruen!
Anniversary Day Of Note: John Brown’s Birthday
Blogless Day
3:52 PM Today, Lower Manhattan: Gas Bomb?
Mother’s Day Gift Recommendation
Samsung: You Didn’t Set A Blog Record Here
How Many Times Must I Bang Upon Your Numb Skulls?
This Is Not Dissent. This Is Just Stupid.
Oy. Apple Backsided iPod Idea Gives Me Sony CLIE Creeps.
You Suckers. I Told You And Told You And Told You.
Ken: Not As Clever As The Barbies
Samsung Q1U Hardware Topped
The Nokia 770 Is Not Dead Yet: Except To Me
Excellent Samsung Q1 Classic Video Demo
Some Pictures Of That Gorgeous US700 UMPC Design
Samsung Q1U Simulation Video
OK, Intel, I’m Almost Slightly Impressed
What Happens When Eejits Think They Can Improve Perfection
NEE! NEE! Me! Me!
Ah! A Numbers Post!
Blogroll Additions: Warren Ellis & Sinfest
You’re Two Years Too Late, You Eejits!!
It All Seems So … Quaint Now
Very Rare Movie On YouTube: Privilege
Mrs. Peel, Steed, You’re Still Needed
Kenneth Eng’s Ass Is In Jail! Yeah, Baby! Thank You, Jesus!
Beemageddon: Organic Bees Not Disappearing
Reference: Free Legal Advice
To Win The War Is Easy. Possession = Death. Period. No Exceptions. No Excuses. Buh-Bye!
Of Course, I Will Now Burn For That Last Post
“I’m A Human Being, God Damn It! My Life Has Value!”
I Was There. Now You Can Be Too.
More Star Cops On YouTube!
Just Read & Now Reading
A Part Of The Web Is Being Killed
Writers Guild Of America: Strike! Strike! Strike!
Reference: Mac OS X Utilities
Huh. No Posters For Longevity Or Prosperity!
“B Is The New C”
Mickey Mouse: A Real Terrorist!
The Creative Bankruptcy Of Hollywood
ITC: When British TV Ruled The World
YouTube: Chukotka Documentary
Thunderbirds: Origins On Google Video
Sylvia Anderson Has A New Book
The Bloodletting On Radio Continues…
The Human Spirit
Scribez Blog Changes
Another Radio Firing…
Les Moonves: Eejit
Nah, It Can’t Be. Can It?!!?
Kill Me Now, Kill Me Now, Kill Me Now
This Blog 101
Reference: The Zeitgeist
Reference: Surveillance Vids
Very Interesting Blog: Seb’s Raw Takes
Damn. So That’s Why My Romantic Overtures Never Work!
Someone Else Fondled The Samsung Q1U
The Book That Would Defeat The Sony Reader
Bamford Provides Today’s Laugh
I Put A Hate On Email Like This
Yeah, That HBO. It Ain’t Never Had No Future, Neither! Droool.
Now I Know Why Analyst Starts With Those Four Letters
Oh Wow. Color Photos Of America.
Legalize Drugs? Yeah, Right.
The Lighting War Opens A New Front
Compassionate Conservatism My Goddam Ass!
Quote: Colin Wilson
Just Read & Now Reading
Quote: Charles Baudelaire
Quote: Dolly Parton
Quote: Elias Canetti
Quote: George Bernard Shaw
So This Is The Future? I Don’t Think So!
There Had Better Be A Huge Outrage Over This!
Bakka
Murder By Degrees
Fall 2007 Headline: Where Have All The TV Viewers Gone?
Reference: Business 101
Yahoo Email Goes Unlimited!
Ah, This Is Just Brilliant!
Like You Think Adults Who Eagerly Volunteer To Wear Pinstripes Daily Would Understand?
Tyranny In My Lifetime!
Reference: Video Sites
More Re: The Tyranny
YouTube: Three New Gerry Anderson Vids
Death, Do Your Duty!
Cheap Is As Cheap Does, So Don’t Buy Cheap!
Damn. I Wish I’d Thought Of It!
I’m Beginning To Think There Isn’t A Single Tech Site That Can Be Trusted
Blogroll Changes: Tech Sites Removed
After Two Grim Posts, I Turn To Bamford For A Laugh And Get One!
Oh, So You Lot Who Write Tech Don’t Know Truth? Here’s What It Looks Like.
Offline Now
18 October 2004: The Day TV Died
Hypercasting & Hyperdistribution
Jim Henson Pre-Icky Fame YouTube Video
Another Reminder Why I Don’t Have Comments Here
Peter Beagle: Nebula Award Win
YouTube: Review Of Sony’s iPod Contender
Junkiness: Evil Laugh Of The Day
How Long Before Nielsen Sticks Its Snout In This?
Warren Ellis Speaks Truth!
Just Read & Now Reading
Today Is The Anniversary Of The Birth Of Dennis Potter
Remind Me To Kill You For Sending Me This Link!
And Those Other Two Better Not Be Clones!
Now You Know Why The Chosen Are Few
Blogroll Addition: Serph
Some Dennis Potter Links
Twilight Zone Mashup
This Is How Bad TV Was In The 1970s!
In Japan, TV In The 1970s Wasn’t Much Better!
Rod Serling Interviewed By Mike Wallace
The Absolute Nadir Of 1970s TV
Heather: Is Something Up?
Heather: She Speaks!
Heather: She Set A Search Record Here!
Heather: GMA Interview Now On YouTube, Plus A Slideshow!
Samsung Q1U With Vista: I Wouldn’t Want It For Free!
Reference: Asian DVD Rentals ala NetFlix
Hero, Japanese Drama On YouTube
Heather: Blog Reactions
Heather: You Did Fine On GMA
Heather: One More Thing
My Gripes About Tech And The Internet
Uh-Oh. Yet One More Imus Post.
If You Sell Yourself Short, Why Shouldn’t Everyone Else?
Junkiness: Today’s Bellylaugh
Even After Reading This, I Still Wonder. They Are All Over Manhattan!
When Your Child Dies, Remember To Thank Your Republican-Voting God For The Free Market!
Yippee! A Numbers Post!
Disney: Our Terrorist Mouse Is Better Than Their Terrorist Mouse Anyway
Hey, Mickey Mouse Will Lobby For It!
You Always Do These Things Behind My Back!
How About Free At Last, Free At Last, Thank God Almighty It’s All Free At last?
LifeDrive Notes: New Palm Bluetooth Keyboard
If She Does Not Become A Writer, It Will Be A Crime!
LifeDrive Notes: Mac OS X & Drive Mode
David Bamford Cracks Me Up!
The Loneliest Being On Planet Earth
The Day Will Come When The Suits Will Hang For Their Many Money-Grubbing Sins
Barbie Bandits: Ashley Miller Update
They Are Determined To Hijack Your PC!
Yeah, Baby! Time For Cane To Get His Passport!
Yesterday Was Doomsday. Today Is Doomsday. Tomorrow Is Doomsday.
In France, It’s Always Doomsday
Reference: Google Hot Trends
Hey, Thanks Again, Republicans For Neutering Our Regulatory Agencies
3-D Usually Gets A D From Me
Litvinenko Is Not Forgotten Here
Today’s Bellylaugh: Stock Photos
Don’t Give Money To Restore Old Movies!
Oh My God, Toto! We’re Back In Fucking Kansas!
Thank You, You Liberal Pot-Smoking Scum Of The 1960s! You Will Hang Some Day!
Just Read & Now Reading
YouTube: Afterworld
YouTube: JDrama And Two Movies
YouTube: The Other TV
Reference: More Video Sites
YouTube: The Equalizer
YouTube: Batman Returns
Kenneth Che-Tew Eng’s Sorry Ass Is In Jail Once Again!
Kenneth Che-Tew Eng Is Pimping An Asian Mein Kampf Book Proposal!
Kenneth Che-Tew Eng Still Lives With Mommy!
Blogroll Addition: Wired’s Table Of Malcontents Blog
YouTube: Recovery 2007 UK TV Movie Starring David Tennant
YouTube: The Scarlet Avenger!
YouTube: Cupid
YouTube: Batman OnStar TV Ads
YouTube: The Champions 1960s Classic British TV
YouTube: Cop Rock
YouTube: Space Precinct
YouTube: V
LifeDrive Notes: The Kobayashi Maru Solution (Part One)
LifeDrive Notes: The Kobayashi Maru Solution (Part Two)
LifeDrive Notes: The Kobayashi Maru Solution (Part Three)
Heather: You’re Babe Of The Week!
The New YahooMail
Tip Of The Day
YouTube: Bukowski
YouTube Vs. P2P: YouTube Wins?
LifeDrive Notes: Playing Video
Resistance Is Futile: The Borg Stole It From Gerry Anderson!
LifeDrive Notes: Two Quick Erases!
LifeDrive Notes: Open Thread For Comments!
Dell Tech Force: Gerry Anderson Via Team America
LifeDrive Notes: What Did It Do Overnight?
LifeDrive Notes: TCPMP Vs CorePlayer
LifeDrive Notes: Graffiti 1 On A LifeDrive?
Reference: Unofficial YouTube Blog
LifeDrive Notes: Typed On A LifeDrive
LifeDrive Notes: Memos Or Bust!
LifeDrive Notes: Where’d That @#$%ing Backup Go?
Lack Of Backup Files Spreads Worldwide!!!
LifeDrive Notes: It Slept Well
Things I Never Heard Of Before And Wish I’d Never Heard Of Now
The Man Likes Free When It’s Your Free
Keep Watching The Skies!
I Don’t Know Where To Link So Just Go And Scroll Down
I Never Saw This Mentioned In Predictions Of The 21st Century
AppleTV Gets Trashed, iPhone Next?
LifeDrive Notes: Memos Or Bust! Day Two.
Reference: Gerry Anderson TV
Gerry Anderson’s New Captain Scarlet: Yikes!
OK, I Really Must Get To My Fekkin CD-Rs Now!
My Reaction To Palm’s New Foleo Device
LifeDrive Notes: PTSD Is Beginning…
On A Day When Palm Gets Everything Wrong, Apple Gets It Right
Another Record Blog Day
LifeDrive Notes: I Put A Hate On My MicroDrive
A Picture Of Two Tech Devices That Should Have Never Been Released
Palm’s Flopeo, Uh, Foleo: Best Other Name For It
Microsoft’s Surface: Best Headline Evah
Blogroll Additions: FSJ and Utube Blog
Reference: YouTube Statistics
Spam King Busted: Just Give Him To Me!
As Usual, People Are The Problem, Not Technology
Reference: More HD Video Confusion
Reference: Audio Compression
Here Come The News CopyNazis!
Mikala Is Hawaiian For Mike
May’s Contents Will Be Late
Speaking Of Plan 9…
Raon Digital Announces Vega Successor
RealNetworks Tries For Relevancy Again. Might Succeed.
LifeDrive Notes: ~100MB Videos In LifeDrive

Heather Johnston entries:
Heather: Is Something Up?
Heather: She Speaks!
Heather: She Set A Search Record Here!
Heather: GMA Interview Now On YouTube, Plus A Slideshow!
Heather: Blog Reactions
Heather: You Did Fine On GMA
Heather: One More Thing
Heather: You’re Babe Of The Week!

LifeDrive Notes: ~100MB Videos In LifeDrive

Once I discovered TCPMP could indeed see the LifeDrive partition, I spent two hours last night viewing and renaming video clips ripped from YouTube that I wanted to take up permanent residency in the LifeDrive itself.

After that bit, I decided to be stupid (I won’t let myself off by saving I was being adventurous; it was stupid!). I used Filez (not the built-in Files) to Move (right: Move, not Copy!) the vids from the SD to the innards of the LifeDrive.

Some of you are already laughing.

It took eleven minutes!

Eleven minutes that I wondered how much of the battery was being chewed up. Eleven minutes during which I had no idea if it’d take three, five, or thirty minutes to accomplish. This time element is important because I was not home and not near AC!

Surprisingly, the battery did not seem to take a big hit!

But next time I will use Copy. Then Delete.

Playing them from inside the LifeDrive, the orange light blinks a few seconds, then stops. If I recall correctly, with the MicroDrive the orange light blinks the entire length of a video.

WordPress is hiccuping while I do this. Better publish it while I can!

RealNetworks Tries For Relevancy Again. Might Succeed.

Oy, the techvoid is buzzing with news Real just delivered: a new player that will allow video ripping from sites.

Like YouTube.

Well, I already use Download Helper. It’s integrated into Firefox via plug-in. It works very well.

And I can play the clips in vlc just fine. And vlc loads fast. And vlc has a reputation of not reporting what I play to some goddammed unknown server for unknown reasons — as Real’s (now-prior) player seemed to do.

What might make the Real software a must-have is if it can really get into the news sites that gave me problems when I was gathering video clips about Heather. If it can help me bypass having to go through that torment again, I’ll use it and report about it.

NewTeeVee’s coverage.

Raon Digital Announces Vega Successor

It’s got a lot of buttons. I’ll say that for it.

JK on the Run coverage
Uber Tablet coverage
Raon Digital website

Previously in this blog:
Cheap Is As Cheap Does, So Don’t Buy Cheap!
Lust Lust Lust Device!
It’s Time To Stop Looking At Cheap Devices!
I Blame Him For The Lack Of An Updated Vega
Tech prOn: Digital Cube’s i-Station G43 UMPC
I Ask Myself: Why Not Get A Frikkin Mac?
Vega Gets Another Review
Tech Lust Pains
Vega Gets A Shrug
Hey Microsoft! “Bribe” ME! Puhleeze!! (Those pussies never replied! Pussies!)
TV Is So Dead, Really!
Lusty Vega Gets Anti-Lusted
Finally! Lusty Vega Gets A Blog!
Lust object

Speaking Of Plan 9…

Oh, man, this is the freakiest combination I could ever imagine!

Ed Wood’s Plan 9 From Outer Space combined with Deltron 3030’s 3030 (the music of which was the basis for the theme to the late and lamented CBS-TV series Robbery Homicide Division).

Plan 9 from Outer Space mixed with Deltron

Man, this is genius!!

Update: OMG! How I love YouTube! Here’s the title sequence to Robbery Homicide Division!

Update: June 25, 2007: Somehow I lost the link to the video when editing the post! But now it’s back in here.

May’s Contents Will Be Late

I usually set aside a good chunk of the last day of the month to put together the Table of Contents post for that month.

Well, I’ve been distracted by the Net today, having my head spin as I wonder where the bloody hell my MemosDB backup is (and, no, I’ve avoided the remaining 1/3rd of the CD-Rs…), and generally being a slacker when it comes to getting to the Contents post.

No way will I try to tackle the Contents the rest of today.

I will do it tomorrow and make it the first post. It’s usually the last post on the last day of the month.

I’ll make sure I schedule things better the end of next month (by the then I should have found my damned MemosDB or gone at the current one with a hatchet so it will fit in the LifeDrive or executed Plan 9).

Mikala Is Hawaiian For Mike

Mahalo Is Hawaiian for Useless

Mahalo is a “human powered search engine”. Translated from Web 2.0 speak, this means “Wikipedia with less content and Google results”. Jason Calacanis dropped this deuce into the world’s toilet bowl yesterday, and I gotta tell ya, I’m fucking glad he did. Otherwise, I’d have to keep looking at Google search results from the boring old white-background google.com. But now, I can see the exact same search results surrounded by green flowers and a bunch of other irrelevant shit! What a time to be alive.

Let’s get our facts straight here. Mahalo is a search engine whereby the results are generated by hand by employees. So far, 40 of these employees have made 4,000 results pages. When you search for something on Mahalo, if there’s a manmade search result for your query, you’ll see it. Otherwise, you’ll see Google search results for the query. What. The. Fuck.

So alright, let’s see if we can find anything useful on Mahalo. I’d like to learn a bit about Lagrange multipliers. Mahalo results are:

1. Intel (related page result from Mahalo…what the shit?)
2. List of Google search results for “lagrange multipliers”

If I wanted the Google search results, guess where I would have searched?

Oh, that is so funny!

I tried it earlier this morning.

So, OK, I do my vanity search first. Right, no results.

OK, so I do Heather Johnston. No results. Not even Google results. What. The. Fuck?

Then I do the generic Barbie Bandits. Same no results!

And, no, I didn’t ask to be notified when they deign to find the small number of results I expect them to post (unless they use this blog as their starting point!).

Aloha.

Here Come The News CopyNazis!

AP steps up online copyright protection

“What we are trying to say is that if someone wants to use our news, they have to pay for it,” Kasi said in an interview.

Yeah, well, line me up against the wall to get shot first.

I have many (well, OK, then: many, many, many, many!!!) photos of Heather here taken by other sources. I believe that in every instance I have linked back to the original source.

As for my taken-by-me original photos here, I will kill the AP if they copy them for free!

That’s a joke, son.

This is the Internet, dammit. As long as someone isn’t taking something to profit from it, let the linking and copying flow and keep Fair Use alive. I mean, really, how many of the copies do you think will be around in three years? Five years? Ten? Only the original sources will remain.

All of which reminds me that I must put in my will that this blog gets deleted upon my death. (That’s right, baby. I found a way to take it with me after all! See y’all in Hell!)

Reference: Audio Compression

Where’s the Other Half of Your Music File?

Apart from bitrate, the sound quality of digital music is also affected by its format, which is determined by the software used to compress it, known as a codec. MP3 is one of the older techniques for compressing audio and is not widely used by online stores. Apple has chosen a newer format called Advanced Audio Coding (AAC), which plays on iPods and some other devices. Most other online stores use the similarly modern Windows Media Audio, or WMA, which does not play on iPods.

All three of these formats are “lossy,” meaning the encoding software surgically trims out audio information that is not easy to hear, because it is covered up by other sound or is situated at the highest and lowest ranges of human hearing. The Norah Jones track “Come Away With Me” is 33.4 megabytes when stored in an uncompressed format; the lossy compression methods bring that down to 6.1 megabytes at 256 kbps, or 3.1 megabytes at 128 kbps, regardless of the codec used. (When turning your CDs into song files on your PC, you can choose the bitrate you want in the settings of iTunes or Windows Media Player.)

What kills me in this article:

Last fall, Dr. Naresh Patel, a physician in Fort Wayne, Ind., moved into a home he designed with his wife, Valerie. It has a home theater, complete with projector, surround-sound speakers and a high-end amplification system. The sonic centerpiece is two Bowers & Wilkins loudspeakers that cost Dr. Patel $12,000 “with a discount.”

Emphasis added by me.

So, I guess I’m missing out on something using my jWin MP3 player and $3 earbuds? (Dr. Patel runs from his PC screaming in horror!)

Previously in this blog:
How To Buy An MP3 Player

Reference: More HD Video Confusion

Why HD movie downloads are a big lie

Oh sure they might call it HD because it happens to be 1280×720 resolution which sounds awfully high, but you’re talking about an audio/video stream that’s 1.3 mbps (megabits per second) at best. You can call it whatever you like and you can even claim it meets the minimum definition of HD because it’s 720p (1280×720) resolution but it ISN’T HD for the simple reason that the bit rate isn’t enough. A regular 480i DVD is either 2, 5, or 8 mbps and most modern dual-layer 8 GB DVD releases are at least 5 mbps but more likely 8 mbps. A typical DVD movie is approximately 6 GBs of data while a typical “HD” movie you download is only about 1.5 GBs of data. Do you honestly believe you’re getting more image information in that 1.5 GB so-called HD movie you downloaded versus that 6 GB DVD movie?

Yeah, I suspected that was the case. But I’m not a video pro so it was only a gut feeling.

This is the paragraph that just kills me:

But truthfully speaking, the whole BlueRay versus HD-DVD format war is silly because a regular dual-layer DVD can easily store 93 minutes of 12 mbps 1080i or 1080p H.264 or VC-1 encoded video with bare minimum HD quality that looks much better than normal MPEG-2 480i DVDs. This format would have been extremely easy to produce and the players could have cost less than $100. The only thing that HD-DVD gets you is that you can either store 3 hours of that same quality video or 100 hours of good quality 20 mbps H.264 or VC-1 video. BlueRay players for some reason decided to forego the more advanced video codecs like H.264 or VC-1 and they’re using the old MPEG-2 encoding scheme which neutralized the capacity advantage of BlueRay media. But instead, we have a format war where no one is really winning since Sony decided to cede their market in the next generation console wars with the PS3 to salvage the BlueRay format.

Emphasis added by me.

Well, fuck you, Sony. I won’t touch a Blu-Ray player now. You deserve your doom for pulling that kind of shit.

As for HDTV, no matter how many times I see it, no matter what brand or size of set, I can always, always see the compression artifacts. And it drives me up the wall. For the amount of money they want, I shouldn’t have to get “digital grit” in my picture. I’ll put up with outright pixelation on my LifeDrive videos ripped from YouTube, but that’s not costing me several frikkin thousand dollars!

Previously in this blog:
Reference: HDTV And 1080p