rickshangle.com

I just bought an Apple Mighty Mouse. It works as advertised. I really like the scroll ball; it is incredibly smooth and responsive, with none of the sort of soft “clicks” present in the Microsoft BT mouse I once used.

The top-button action is a little tight for my taste, but I’m sure I’ll get used to it / burn 4 extra calories a day in the process.

Really, though: Why did I buy this?

For the simple reason that I’ve wanted Apple to come out with Bluetooth version of the MM for a while, and in buying one today, I’m assuring that Apple will announce said BT version on Tuesday.

“… you will find it is not the spoon that bends, but yourself.” -Boy

rds

Such BS. where am i going to get my required dose of extreme profanity now…Big Love?

What could creator David Milch possibly be working on that’s more meaningful than DW? I know the obvious answer is this “John from Cincinatti”, but unless it’s about an autistic killing machine, with an eye patch, wooden leg and chain gun that’s constantly jamming, I fear for the future.

Coxxxxxxer… use the back door, Wu.

In the industry, this is what’s known as a clean transfer.

chris - i know you’re not one of the five people who reads this blog, but anyway: take this job.
rds

Search, build in, eventually live in Google’s Metaverse. You knew it was coming, and it’s just the beginning, is the end, is the beginning.
I look forward to SketchUp landing on OS X, so I can render the 60 year-old building I live in, and complete my transition into cyberspace.

The Arts

Practical objects

The halls of commerce

wtf?

rds

Wow. McPhever chokes twice, amidst relatively strong performances by Taylor (1), Chris (1.5) and Elliot (1.5… the first performance was a little too much of a GoatMan/Fawn-from-Lion/Witch/Wardrobe session). Where’s the gratuitous panty shot when you really need it?

McPhever’s 2nd, “I Can’t Help Falling In Love With You” could have been the atom bomb if she just delivered it straight-up like six o’clock. Instead, I was left wondering if she wasn’t the subject of And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead’s “Caterwaul”.

One path of logic would suggest that as of next week we’ll have three guys, and three guys only, going toe-to-toe for the final throwdown, but can it be? What would the producers have them sing, the collected works of Henry Rollins? Helmet? Metallica? Would Ryan Seacrest think he died and went to heaven with that many guys on stage? I’m really not a homophobe (I guess you’ll have to trust me on that…), but I have to wonder if even I can handle that much man-singing in one straight shot.

We’ll see tomorrow, because unless a Star Chamber conviened tonight and decided to save Katherine, she’s leaving the island… not that it’s the end of her world, for I’m confident within moments of said ejection all Fox programming will be interrupted for a special message from Tommy Matolla, announcing the coronation of Katherine McPhee as his New Queen/eighth wife. Here’s your crown, yer majesty!
rds

Or, I finally give last.fm a full-on try. My iTunes Library is backed up.

… read the following with the acknowledgement that I don’t really understand exactly what last.fm does for me… stay tuned and I’ll let you know. Because I’ve never let my complete lack of understanding surrounding a technology stop me from early and rapid adoption, often with associated destruction of my or someone else’s data/hard disk.
Last.fm, at least it has a cool name.
I stumbled onto it last (haha!) November, but multiple threads on various discussion boards indicated that iScrabble or iScrivener or iScabby or whatever the OS X what-music-you’re-playing-brain-sucker-client is called wasn’t quite ready for prime time kept me from locking in full-metal. Specifically the references to iMiniverShevy eating the iTunes Library file left me feeling sick and dry.

Well… by all appearances it’s still not quite ready for prime time (iScripeneyer been going out to lunch on my G5 PowerMac nearly constantly since I loaded it), but it wakes up from its coma on rare occasion and appears to do something. With what reliability still remains to be seen.

Sometimes when I reload my blog page containing my “last.fm now playing links!” they render… and sometimes they don’t! At the moment I write this it does render, but appears to be about 1-2 hours behind in my playlist. Whether this is due to the rendering, something puking in iShatner (which has been “red note” as opposed to “green note” for at least an hour) or the ubiqutous Other Cause is unknown. I’m not in Troubleshooting Mode at the moment; I’m in Let This Run Overnight And See If It’s Still Beating In the Morning Mode. And yes, I have backups.

And about half an hour ago, the last.fm site was unavailable… for about half an hour.

These are all to be expected, though. We’re just getting the party started.

Beyond the social/good-of-music-taste[1] humanity networking elements of last.fm, the primarily selfish motivation of getting rid of Now Playing, which went from sort-of-reliable to completely useless in about two releases (and whose developer hasn’t done new OS X versions recently).

So… I’ve read it takes about 300 songs of brain-sucking before the power really starts to kick in. Allright, God, let me have it!

rds

rds @ last.fm

ps. ok, I’m a simple creature… ditching Now Playing was half my motivation for finally trying last.fm… and the fact that Malloreigh Suicide[Girl] is part of why-don’t-you-sign-up? marketing kit was probably the other half. Good work, somebody. Check it!

[1] Way too many people (or robots) here apparantly hold Coldplay in way too high regard.

Slashdot reports on ThinkSecret reporting on expected Intel-based replacements for the iBooks, next Tuesday.

I’ve enjoyed the power of a 17″ G4 PowerBook for the last few years. However, Kelley’s in need of a speedbump off her G3 iBook, and if Apple does come through with a) CoreDuo and b) widescreen 13″ for sub-$2000, I think I’ll lock in (despite the horrors associated with the Apple Gen 1 product curse) and pass Kelley the G4 PowerBook.

However, that’s wishful thinking - I can’t foresee a CoreDuo on the MacBook line. Hope I’m wrong.

rds

At last. From
The Korea Times

I’ll forgo the obvious / base things I could say regarding this… and save them for a future bit about a more advanced female android.

I just wanted to point out this bit, which makes me laugh every time I read it:

Only Japan was faster than Baeg’s team in making an android as the country developed a life-size female robot in 2003, dubbed ACTROID. It cannot move because it is glued to the floor.

rds

What a huge relief… considering I normally buy every available console for any given generation, which led to a lot of lost sleep when deciding whether to pick up Karaoke Revolution Party for Xbox or PS2.

Meanwhile, Nintendo’s next gen is going for the “so underpowered we’re somehow hoping for the retro-future play”, with the ace-in-the-hole being the Revolution controller, which seems destined to be a complete failure or… truly revolutionary. Hopefully Nintendo will employ Criss “Mindfreak” Angel for marketing support, so Nintendo will sell enough of these in the U.S. to continue to deploy consoles here.

Although, when I really think about it, why should Nintendo continue to function as a console-maker, when they could focus on good games (Zelda) and virtual Pikachu?

image source

rds

Stuff On My Cat + Snakes On A Plane = The Ultimate Strategic Alliance

Gold. From Neil.

rds