Where are the people when the cameras are off?

I saw this quote today here (a decent read too):

Democracy requires of its citizens qualities that it cannot provide. Politicians can conjure an exalted vision of a prosperous, healthy, free society, but no government can supply the qualities of honesty, compassion, and personal responsibility that must underlie this vision.

Jürgen Habermas, German philosopher

It made me think about a recent episode of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (don't worry I'll connect the dots) about a woman with 14 kids to take care of. I think it was the season premiere and I only saw part of the show. It was a heartbreaking situation this woman was in. Regardless of all the details, I think most would agree it was tough for the woman to raise 14 kids on her own. Add to the fact that she was trying to do it from three hotel rooms and it just gets tougher.

Watching the show, it became pretty apparent that a great deal of people new of this woman's plight. It seems quite a shame that a game show of all things has to step in to help out a family like this.

Where were all the volunteers and people that came on this show to help BEFORE they were chosen by Extreme Makeover? For some reason, it always seems to take a natural disaster of some magnitude to get neighbors to help each other.

I guess the reason the quote reminded me of this is we can't expect the government to take care of everyone. We can't expect for miracles like this game show to rescue people either. We can, I would hope, expect that a community would lend a hand where needed to help others who are struggling. Are we losing those qualities such as compassion?

Where are the strings Mr. Paulson?

If you ever wanted to know why we're in this financial mess all you need to do is listen to Henry Paulson's testimony yesterday in front of the Senate Banking Committee. He flat out says, "we can't have too many strings attached to this money or the companies might not take the offer from the government."

Are you kidding me?

That isn't a direct quote since I can't seem to find a real transcript online. But he quite clearly isn't in favor of doing anything to fix this mess and only desires to throw more money at the problem. Are we really that stupid that we're going to hand over all this money with nothing in return? NOTHING! Come on.

The only strings I think Mr. Paulson is familiar with are the ones attached to him being pulled from afar by the organizations he's proposing giving all this money to. The executives of these firms must be salivating just listening to him speak.

We'll have to see if our legislature has any brains at all but if they give this money away, the state of our US Government is much sorrier than I could have ever imagined.

The Trillion Dollar Bill

A few months ago, I did the most amazing thing. I printed out a green piece of paper with the numbers $1,000,000,000,000 stamped on it. (For those having trouble counting zeroes, that's One Trillion Dollars.) It looked just like a genuine trillion dollar bill.

In fact, it was so good, all the area banks agreed too that it was just like a genuine trillion dollar bill. I asked for a loan against it and all of the banks were more than happy to oblige. They were practically falling over each other to loan me money.

Of course, the interest payments were huge! To help make the payments, I loaned some of the money I got from the banks to others.

I had so much money I needed to loan that I just gave it out without a whole lot of thought. I hired a ton of people to help me loan the money out and didn't give them a whole lot of instruction except that I'd give bonuses to the people who loaned the most, I didn't care how. They gave it to people I didn't know very well. They even went so far as to talk people into taking a loan when they didn't even need it. Most of these people, just to make sure they were good for it, gave us some green slips of paper too so I could use it as collateral. The slips of paper looked OK and my loan agents said they were fine so I knew they were good. They were about the same as my trillion dollar bill with just a few less zeroes in it. It was all legit. I even compared their bills to mine and wow, the similarities were amazing. It was almost as if they got them the same way I did.

The whole thing was a win-win situation. I was making money, other people were making money, the banks were making money. The economy in the area was boosted significantly of course. A trillion dollars is a lot of dough. The influx of capital was doing wonderful things. Even the CEO's of the banks were getting rich. Most of them took some of the payments I was making and bought really nice homes and cars and other expensive baubles. It was a lot of fun!

Some of the people I loaned the money to decided to upgrade their houses. Wow, it was amazing. The houses were selling like crazy. There were so many people with so much extra money in the area (which I'd given them as loans), that the houses that were selling for $100K before were now selling for $400K and $500K. The economy was screaming. Real Estate values shot up into the stratosphere. People were coming from all over to get loans and buy houses.

Some of the people that bought houses early got more loans against the equity in their houses and bought more stuff and in some cases, another home. Spending was rampant. There was just so much money around it was insane.

Then something happened. Some of these people who bought these homes and took out loans ran out of money. Some of them couldn't make the payments on the loans they had. When those people couldn't make payments to me. I became really strapped for cash.

I had no choice but to take the green slips of paper with the numbers from the borrowers and cash them in. Some people took them and that helped. After a while though, those places stopped taking them and then others stopped. Pretty soon, no one would take them from me. Even the houses these people had weren't worth what the loans were for so I couldn't even use those. Now even I couldn't make my own interest payments to the banks.

I had no choice, I took my crispy trillion dollar bill to the banks and gave it to them. They tried to use it and some, for a short time, took it. Someone spread a rumor that it wasn't worth anything and so the banks stopped taking it. The other banks got nervous and wanted their money but all these banks had was the crispy bill I'd given them and the other banks wouldn't take them. They panicked and started contemplating closing their doors. The local economy was in a shambles. Everything started to come crashing down.

Thankfully, the government thought this economy was special. They couldn't allow a TRILLION dollar economy to just evaporate. There were thousands of jobs alone in this economy that did nothing but handle these crispy green slips of paper I got from all the other people that I loaned money to. What would these people do? Hundreds if not thousands of other jobs were there buying and selling all the real estate. There were even more people that worked to help keep track of my crispy trillion dollar bill. The jobs couldn't just go away. Imagine the ramifications?

So, to help things out, the CEO's of all the major banks got together and hand delivered the crispy trillion dollar bill I gave them. Amazingly, the government cashed it. They didn't think it was as crispy as it should be and the shade of green was a bit off but the risk to the economy was just too great so they cashed it. The government gave a trillion dollars to the banks in exchange for my loan, the loans I made, and all the loans on the houses. The funny thing is, no one can make the loan payments still.

The CEO's were initially concerned but the government didn't seem to bring up their extravagant lifestyles. They didn't even give them a course in detecting counterfeit bills. The government just asked them politely to not make the same mistake again. They said they'd check back in about 50 years to make sure they didn't have any more crispy trillion dollar bills.

I guess they didn't want to burden them with too many rules. It's a free market they said. It worked before, it works now, it should still work. Why mess with something that works they said? The healthcare system has done it for years and it seems to be fine so why mess with the banks?

Sadly, the crispy bill really isn't worth that much. The government kind of knew that though. They have lots of these types of bills. They've even made up a few of their own. With millions and millions of people in the country, its only a few extra dollars in taxes per person so it isn't a big deal.

So, while the CEO's sat around on the beaches of their private islands printing up some bills of their own and reminiscing about how they almost lost it all, the government posted the crispy trillion dollar bill on eBay.

Bidding starts at a dollar. Any takers?

Pangea, the iPhone, and Customer Service

Evidently, Brian Greenstone of Pangea Software doesn't appreciate the value of word of mouth, goodwill, or anything else that might help promote their product. I asked a simple question regarding their new iPhone game called Billy Frontier and was basically given the finger. Whatever! A simple Yes or No would have been sufficient.

If he wants to treat potential customers as worthless crap then that is his prerogative just as much as it is mine to blog about it.

All I can say is, "Good luck Brian!"

Here is the very brief exchange:

Initial Message:

Can the blood/gore be turned off in this game? It looked interesting and the price was right but if it has the blood and gore, I won't be buying it.

Reply from Brian Greenstone:

You're joking, right?

My Reply:

Never mind. I was going to buy Enigmo and Billy Frontier for the iPhone and had contemplated purchasing Enigmo for the Mac but your snide remark fixed that.

Reply from Brian Greenstone:

You're joking, right?

I won't even get into the whole issue about blood and gore in video games except to say that this is basically a carnival shooting game. A switch to turn off the unnecessary blood and gore would have been nice. Of course, I'm assuming this game does have the blood and gore but only from the descriptions I've seen and a screenshot. It would be funny if it didn't even have it at all.

The only reason I wanted to turn it off is I have young ones in the house who like to pick up my iPhone and play it and I'd rather not have them have the blood and gore if they inadvertently make their way into this game. (yeah, I could lock the phone but I don't feel like hassling with it)

Are we really that stupid?

Further proof that we're a bunch of dumb retards (probably a more appropriate word should go here).

Can we really not stand up to these companies? Are we really going to let them roll over us like this? We must be the laughing stock of the world. Look at how much we're paying for SMS messaging at AT&T. This isn't much different from the rest of the cell phone companies. It is insane.

On top of that, I get to pay for SMS Spam? I don't use SMS messaging if at all possible and neither does my wife. I've had a number of instances where SMS messages obviously not for either of us yet I get the pleasure of paying for it on our bill. Just the shear fact that we have to pay for incoming messages and incoming calls defies comprehension. Particularly with regards to the SMS messages is it so incomprehensible since the cost to the carrier is so low.

Now you might say I should block unauthorized numbers. Well, Verizon is kind enough to allow me to do that so I don't get charged $.20 a pop but only if I sign up for the control/security plan for $4.99/month. I'm being fleeced. Fortunately, I won't be with Verizon much longer on this phone.

Text messaging and cell phone costs are ridiculous. Internet access is expensive and starting to be limited. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac go belly up and have to be bailed out. Most of our debt is owned by foreign countries. The list goes on and on.

And the best one of them all, we have the absolute worst election system in the whole world. (excluding fixed elections by "dictators" of course...) When will this whole process be fixed?

When will we take a stand?

Remembering 9/11

I'm sure there will be tens of thousands if not millions of posts today about remembering 9/11. This is like a drop of water in the ocean I'm sure.

Either way, I truly hope everyone in the US will pay their respects to those that died that day in 2001.

Unfortunately, the sad state of affairs in rebuilding at Ground Zero is perhaps the biggest failure the US could have in respecting those that died. The Empire State Building was built decades ago in only a few years. Yet, seven years after 9/11, we can't even get a memorial built? How has it come to this.

The US needs to get its crap together and fast. The delays and squabbles and inability to act at Ground Zero is the manifestation of so many problems in the US and it makes me sad.

So I say lets get 'er done! Let's make those that died and their families proud by getting the US back on its feet again. The first step is right there on the tiny island of Manhattan where the world is watching...and waiting.

Bad luck strikes again at Microsoft

First the Seinfeld advertisement and now a new snafu for Microsoft. Is it possible for them to stop stepping in poop?

In what is an incredible stroke of bad luck and a monumental fiasco with dire consequences, Microsoft has unwittingly unleashed a horror of horrors upon their potential customers. Recently, as stated here, Microsoft had intentions of mimicking the success of Apple's Genius support system throughout a number of Best Buy and Circuit City stores. Unfortunately, the memo and official agreements signed by Microsoft and the corresponding consumer electronics stores contained a terrible mistake.

While Microsoft intended to supply "Gurus" to all the stores to help sell and promote Vista on the PC platform, they instead ended up supplying "Grues" to all the stores. Most of the stores first discovered this terrible error when the last person out of the store turned out the lights and the poor soul was eaten. Most recently, a power outage at night in a Best Buy was the scene of a terrible massacre with all the shoppers and employees disappearing in a bloody feast for the grues.

Just when you thought Microsoft's public relations nightmare couldn't be any worse, Microsoft outdoes itself once again.

Thanks to Microsoft, shopping at Best Buy and Circuit City will never be the same again. The best advice is to keep the iPhone flashlight app ready at all times.

Rumor: Betty Crocker and Microsoft Teaming Up

It appears the rumors are circling now that Microsoft is poised to make a major announcement next week. News on the street is Microsoft will be pairing up with Betty Crocker to produce a new version of a Vista PC that is "moist and chewy like cake so we can just eat them while we're working."

As messed up as the Seinfeld/Gates ad is, it would appear it is right on the mark. The new versions of Vista rumored for release later this week are:

• Vista Carrot Cake Edition
• Vista Devil's Food Cake Edition
• Vista Vanilla Edition

Betty Crocker is expected to be catapulted into the top PC producer position as a result of this new product announcement. Other editions and flavors of Vista are being worked on and are expected before the end of the year.

The "Right" Microsoft Ad

I think Microsoft shouldn't have beat around the bush with their latest ad with Seinfeld. If they really wanted to play to the previous generation, they should have just pulled out all the stops and done it right by making a much stronger reference to an era gone by.

Here's how it would go:

Sting Enters a Room Full of CD/DVD Duplication Machines

Sting: Hey, Richard.

Richmeister: [ looks up from desk, smiles ] Stiiiiing! Der Stingelhoffer! Making copies! The McStingster! Stingatola! Stiiiiiiing!! [ pause ] Sting-a-ling-a-ding-ding-ding-dong!

Sting: [ gesturing to the copiers and showing the disk in his hand] I'm just here to make some copies.

Richmeister: [nodding head] Alright, the Stingernator! Making some copies. The Stingolator making copies.

Sting: That Apple crap is selling way too well so I'm here to flood the market with bootlegs of Vista to bring up market share.

Richmeister: [using hands to make like an explosion] The Macinator, blowing Vista out of the water. Stingdupulator not a happy camper. Vistola being crushed. [crushes soda can on desk]

Sting: It's not being crushed. People just don't appreciate the finer points of configuring a PC for a truely cutting edge OS.

Richmeister: [nodding head] Vistipula needing to much RAM'o. Programmators at Micromeister writing the bloatware!

Sting: [waving hands like to stop] Your making a lot of nothing. RAM, CPU, Graphics Cards...they're all cheap commodity items now. Programmers don't need to be efficient any longer.

Richmeister: [in a voice like a pirates parrot] Aye Matey, so the Stingalita becomes a pirate. Stingo the Pirate'O! Sqwawk!

Sting: If you love something, you have to set it free!

Richmeister: Stingerator...making the references to his old songs...Stinger the Singer.

Sting: Stop turning every breath I take and every move I make against me.

Richmeister: Oooh, the Stingernator, recycling the old material. The Recyler recycling.

Sting: The bottom line is, we need more copies of Vista out there in order to have more fields of gold for Microsoft. No matter what it takes.

Richmeister: The Captain Stinger, running out of the time just like the Microsofty.

In comes Mike Myers as Wayne from Wayne's World

Wayne: I heard there were some most excellent bootlegs here. Party On!

The end...

Sorry you've reached your cap, please tune to cable Channel 13 and watch crap instead!

If you think downloadable content is the future of home entertainment, read this first!

As long as there are hard caps on downloading content, no matter how high they are, the days of downloading your favorite movie or watching a show anytime you feel like are going to be short lived. All Comcast wants to do here is set a precedent and then they'll gradually lower the cap, little by little, just like my half-gallon of ice cream is now 3/4 of a 1/2 gallon.

People are going to miss the point if they let this slide through. 250GB per month, 2500GB/month, 25GB/month? It doesn't matter. Just the setting of a limit is enough. Once it starts, good luck stopping it. It'll be just like the cell phone industry and phone company. Every little feature will be charged for.

Oddly, just when the phone companies are figuring unlimited use is a good thing, the cable companies are going the other direction.

Hopefully Google, Apple, Netflix, and anyone else doing downloadable content will have a thing or two to say about this. FiOS might actually be a good deal by the time it rolls through my neighborhood. (that'll be in 2020 probably but who knows...)

Clearly AT&T has some work to do

As reported here, it seems pretty obvious that AT&T has some work to do. While it is not a scientifically based survey of any sort, it is clear that AT&T's 3G network needs to be beefed up a bit in certain places. It is also apparent that Apple isn't going to have a magic bullet for the 3G complaints.

If there is one thing people do frequently, that is underestimate the popularity of an Apple device. It is also one of those "duh!" moments where the carrier has to realize that the iPhone is more than a phone! (now the DUH!) The iPhone is probably the first and only product that really stresses the 3G network because people can actually use the thing for more than just email and texting.

The sad part is that while AT&T deals with these issues on their 3G network here in the US, other phone vendors are going to benefit from the build out of these networks when they introduce their new products. When they come out with their product that uses 3G, they are going to be pointing at the iPhone and saying, "See how much better my performance is than when the iPhone 3G came out!"

Let's not forget this when the time comes!

Insanity - no mass delete

I'm going to go crazy as I sit here and try to delete about 50 SMS messages on my iPhone, one blessed individual message a time. Where is the check box or mass delete? If I don't ever post again its because I've turned into a lunatic or broke my finger pressing the little minus and delete button one too many times on my iPhone.

Apple - pull up your shorts

It's time for Apple to pull up its shorts and stop shying away from full disclosure on issues and what is and isn't being fixed when patches are released. The last iPhone update to 2.0.2 has "bug fixes" listed as the reason. Bug Fixes? Come on, what heck is it that is being fixed? (I know they've admitted now it is supposed to be a 3G fix perhaps but is that it, what happened in the 2.0.1 update as it said the same thing??) And it happens with iTunes and iPod updates all the time too .

Is Apple really that insecure?

My iPhone - observations and gripes

I finally got my iPhone. I love it. There is no doubt this is the future of the phone. As I mentioned before though, when you have something that is so nearly perfect but is marred by what I perceive as easily addressed (or could have been addressed) issues, it tarnishes the product a bit. Whatever I say doesn't change my opinion of the phone though, it is far and away a fantastic phone and easily beats the competitors hands down.

First, and a lot has been written about this, is the battery. I know, you need to charge it every night. That I can live with. What I can't live with is having to make excuses for what is an otherwise spectacular product and having to recharge my phone part way through the day.

There is no single reason I can think of short of Job's insistence that this phone doesn't have a replaceable battery. I understand why it isn't bigger. I understand battery technology isn't where it should be for this computer in your pocket. But come on, I should be able to replace the battery. Somehow, some way, Apple should have figured this out and made it work.

The alternatives now are things like this Mophie Juice Pack. These are at best balky clumsy fixes.

The battery problem is now something that is impossible to fix without another phone design. That'll be at least a year away and if I know Jobs, he'll still be a pain in the rear and won't add a replaceable battery again.

The other feature issues are below. I hope Apple can address these with software updates:

• Need a period on the alpha keyboard or some sort of punctuation. I really can't stand switching back and forth to end a sentence. Worse, you can't rotate the phone while typing an email and get a bigger better version of the keyboard with the punctuation. Please fix this, it is frustrating.
  
  
• Application updates and deletes in iTunes and on the iPhone need to be handled a bit better. It should know that if I delete an app on the phone, I don't want it synced back over to the phone when I reattach to iTunes. To delete an App, you almost need to delete it in both places at once in a coordinated effort.
  
  
• Why in the heck can't I change the sounds for anything other than ringing on my phone. I absolutely hate the new mail sound. Can't change it! This is really inexcusable. For that matter, not being able to turn any sound into a ringtone is ridiculous. I understand the economics behind it but it sucks.
  
  
• Switching between multiple email accounts needs to be a whole lot easier. I should be able to toggle between multiple accounts from the inbox of each account.
  
  
• Folders in email should be collapsible.
  
  
• Recent call list should show which phone the call was made from if it matches in your contact list. When someone calls, I like to know was it their home, office, or cell. I have to click and look at the details for the name in the recent call list to see this now.
  
  
• The mail icon on the home screen should have the option to have more than one number displayed for email. Perhaps four (one in each corner) and each would be a different color. I'd really like to know if the new mail I've got is for my work account or my home account without having to drill down into my email. Worse, because switching accounts is a bit of a pain, it is a more tedious process than necessary.

I'm done griping now. You might ask, what DO you like? Well, the list is too long. There are plenty of positive reviews out there and the good things are all spelled out in those. I just felt these points above needed reiterating.

Out of all the things, I'm mostly disappointed in the battery life. I knew this going into it I just wish I didn't have to make excuses for what is such a fantastic product. I feel like I did when I had the old Mac with the 9" screen and it was black and white. I was always telling people how great the Mac was but then making excuses for the stupidely small screen and the lack of color. If the battery were a real obscure problem it wouldn't be a big deal. But it isn't, it is a glaringly obvious problem and could have easily been addressed.

Russian Marketing Lesson for China

The Chinese hopefully aren't paying attention to the Russians when it comes to their latest marketing lesson. China has poured Billions (capital B is appropriate here) into the Olympics as a way to garner the attention of the world. Can you imagine how pissed they must be that after spending all this money, for a few million in ammo and bombs, the Russians managed to steal the spotlight in Georgia?

Hopefully they aren't paying much attention to this because we certainly don't need two really large countries acting like retards in the world. (well, besides the stupid things we do of course...)

Unless of course the Chinese think they want to teach the Russians a lesson or two.

Where is MobileMe for iTunes?

Is it just me or doesn't it seem like there should be a MobileMe for iTunes?

It seems ridiculous to have all these downloads in various places that come from iTunes and/or other places and not have them automatically backed up and available from anywhere. If a system is authorized, I should be able to play back my iTunes songs and other material from anywhere.

I thought of this today as I was monkeying with the new iTunes U and some podcasts on my laptop. I later was sitting at my desktop PC and I wanted to look at something and guess what, it isn't on my PC, it's on my laptop in iTunes. Now granted, it probably wouldn't have been backed up by now but I should have a mirror image of my iTunes data available from all my PC's.

The best part is that since iTunes already has a great deal of the data stored on their servers that you probably have in your personal iTunes database, it doesn't technically need to be backed up. It should just be there. Of course, they already have this ability but don't allow you to use it. If you download a DRM'd piece of music from iTunes and lose it, you can't download it again for free. This never made sense to me.

Here is how I think the MobileMe for iTunes should work:

• Each PC, every day during the day has its iTunes data sync'd with a database on the Internet. This includes all files and all playlists. Since a lot a data exists on Apple's servers already in the same form it is on your PC (they already have a lot of the songs you have and so do other customers), it takes no time to do the backup.
  
• When you select a file to playback, it'll check your system, if it isn't there, it verifies the account is authorized and then downloads the file in the background perhaps streaming it while playback begins.
  
• This data is sync'd with your other devices too such as your Apply TV, iPhone, iPod Touch, etc. Perhaps you have the option to designate some playlists as priorities.

Of course, this wouldn't be free, it could be charged for or be an add-on to MobileMe.

Personally, I'm tired of having iTunes stuff spread all over. I don't have a centrally located shared disk that is on all the time right now. I want access to this stuff I've put into iTunes and/or bought through iTunes available everywhere I am even if I'm not home. I wan't the "internet cloud" to serve me.

I'm sure this is a pie-in-the-sky dream since the DRM issues and studios probably won't allow it. If that's the case, it is one more ding against the ridiculous copy protection that is DRM.

Hopefully, one day this dream of mine will become a reality.

Dell inflicted with ADHD, loses focus

Is it just me or is Dell having trouble focusing? I mean isn't this crazy?

First they buy EqualLogic for an ungodly sum of money (great move for them I'm sure). So, after this big purchase, let's do the next logical thing, let's start trying to create a line of MP3 players? Uh, what? I suppose now if you buy two MP3 players and link them together they'll join together as a RAID 1 (or zero) stripped set of MP3 Players. Perhaps they'll sell a nice little multi-port dock to go with it.

Apple has iTunes to drive sales of the iPod and of course, it now is pervasive and involved in the entire line of products Apple makes. Dell has, well, they have, wait...I'm thinking...nothing! Yeah, nothing. Could they have picked a harder market to break into? I think if you are the brunt of a bunch of jokes about a product announcement, that's probably a good indication it is a bad idea. If this were April 1st, I'd have thought it was an April Fool's joke.

Owning stock in Dell has got to be the roller coaster ride of the decade. Good luck with that Michael!

Apple - A higher standard

I'm not necessarily an Apple fanboy but I do appreciate what the company is doing and has done up to this point. The quality and attention to detail in most of their products is second to none. They screw up too. Every company does it at some point.

It continues to amaze me though how much the media and people in general just love to hate Apple. Apple is scrutinized to a level of detail that no other company ever has. Any product they release is just hammered when the smallest of flaws show or the one feature is missing. I've been guilty of it myself unfortunately too.

The reason why is that people love to hate what they can't achieve or what they can't have. It is a fact that has been proven over and over again in tests conducted all over. If you had a choice between:

a) getting $1,000,000 but to get it you had to give $10,000,000 to the other guy or
b) getting $750,000 and the other guy gets $750,000

Most people will take the $750K. They simply can't bare the thought of someone getting more. Of course, this is grossly oversimplified but this type of problem exhibits itself over and over again at work, in our government, and at home.

The criticism of Apple over the imperfections of the latest iPhone and the launch of the MobileMe service are just manifestations of this in a more complicated form. The iPhone, despite having 100's of things done right, is criticized for the one thing it does wrong. Usually, this criticism is by a Blackberry user who can't get an iPhone or finds out his company won't support it I'm sure. Of course, there are the multitudes of reviewers who need to sensationalize everything and bad Apple products get a lot of hits.

Same goes for MobileMe although this is a bit more complicated. The media just loves to jump all over Apple whenever it gets a chance. The amount of press Google or MSN (Live...yeah, crappy name), or Yahoo gets when something goes wrong is no where near what Apple sees. Apple should and could have done a better job with this, especially communicating with users. They are hardly the evil jokers that everyone has made them out to be however. Somewhere, something went wrong. They've got it fixed now. Let it go.

I know all this has been gone over before and rehashed ad naseum but I couldn't help myself. Some of the ridiculous complaints I hear just make me want to scream.

Sorry Blackberry users, I've used the Blackberry and now the iPhone. There are some functions out there that I can do on a Blackberry that I certainly don't have on the iPhone (yet) but anyone who uses both and thinks the interface on the Blackberry is superior has their head so far up their rears that their vision has to be tinted a dark shade of brown. The future is and will be the touchscreen interface as implemented by Apple. Anything else now is either a wannabe or is missing the boat entirely (see the new Blackberry competitor to the iPhone as an example of missing the boat).

So if you want what Apple has, go get it. If not, stop telling me what Apple is doing wrong and start telling me what your company/product/gadget is doing right.

Smell the armpit - 8-8-08

Come on world, smell the armpit!

Are we all glad the Summer Olympics are being held in one of the finest places on earth this year? Beijing

I'm sure this is much better than Toronto or Paris.

And I always thought cans of air and the plot in Spaceballs was a joke. Someone stands to make a fortune on this idea now.

I think when you start handing out breathing masks to athletes and visitors, this is a clue that there is trouble ahead.

In keeping with the theme, the IOC is now planning to have the Winter Olympics in 2020 held on top of a heaping pile of bat dung in the middle of a garbage dump.

World likes Action Only - I hope they are wrong

In an interview today on Talk of the Nation, A. O. Scott, the movie critic, says that big budget movies can only pander to the action movie goers. I hope they are wrong. He thinks deeper stories have no place in big budget movies because they can't make the money back worldwide. Most of his interview appears to be the result of an article he published in the NY Times about the Super Hero Genre being at the end of its rope.

I can only hope Tony Scott is wrong. Is the world wide movie going audience really that stupid? Are we really so much smarter than everyone else? Personally, I think it is insulting to think that other movie watchers in the rest of the world can't appreciate a good story. I think his opinion actually represents the type of thinking that has gotten us in so much hot water in the past with the rest of the world.

What do you think?