Made a quick stop at
BestBuy today (to get some
a little strange, but good, game to test out full potential of NDS--still wondering how can I play it in public and not look stupid, literally having to blow wind [by mouth] into the NDS for one of its games ^^; ...anyway...) ...on the way out, while waiting at the extremely long line of old people (no idea why there were so many at once) I saw The Shawshank Redemption trailer and felt that I have to watch it again. ^^ This quote together with
Morgan Freeman's voice (and 10s of screens hanging from the ceiling) caught my attention:
"Remember, hope is a good thing, maybe the best thing. And no good thing ever dies."-The Shawshank Redemption
I had to stop at Blockbuster to rent it out (btw, I got the
10th year anniversary version... It's been 10 years already? Time flys, doesn't it?) I just love movie quotes... Isn't it cool when someone can recite quotes and know where they are from? Ok, a little bit geeky, I supposed... But for me I always
have to look it up no matter how much I like a lot of those great meaningful quotes...
btw, sorry for all-over-the-place-off-tangent-ideas post... skip this post if you are so confused (I think I would be too, if I re-read it)... I promise there won't be too many of the boring personal posts like this :P or will there? we'll see... ...Now let's see if I can find time to actually watch it...lol... with all the work I've got, I'm lucky that's it's a 1-week rental :D
2 news about fast-forwarding... one interesting, and one totally absurd:
Let's start with the interesting one first, shall we? Regardless of
how TiVo feels about people fast-forwarding through ads,
CBS is releasing a study which shows that people actually pay more attention to ads when they are fast forwarding... When you think about it, it makes sense. When you fast forward through something, you need to keep an eye on what is played and when to stop. And if there's something interesting we often rewind and have a look at it. It's not that people don't like ads... look at things like Super Bowl, where cool
30-sec ads are part of the culture and people just can't stop talking about it. Today advertisers are just not using enough of their brain cells to think about ads that are cool, innovative and fun. I, as well as a lot of people I know, can guarantee you; if you have good ad people will watch it.
And talking about doing it the wrong way;
there's a new bill before Congress that wants to make it illegal for people to fast-foward! Yea, your next DVD player, TiVo, etc could have only Play and Stop botton... That's stupidest idea I ever heard to get people to look at ads. This really shows that some people are not using their head right. Instead of looking at themselves for why there are a lot of shitty boring ads around that people don't like, now they want to force-feed us and control how we consume even the things we own.
Anyway, enough rant for the day...
via
Engadget podcast and
PVRblog
Doug Kaye has posted a great discussion asking
how can IT Conversations become financially self-sustaining.
A number of good models are discussed. If you are interested in podcasting, you might want to have a look and see what might be the future business view of (some) podcasting. I doubt every podcast is going to have, or need, bussiness model (since the majority of podcasters today does it because of their passion and love in creating their own content, and not for mainly money, just like blogging) but surely if things grow as big as IT Conversations, They(he?) need(s) to find a way to keep things running smoothly somehow. (And he really earns it since a lot of them are Doug's personal work of going places to record them himslef)
"As is true for other podcasters (if you can call IT Conversations a podcast) this is virgin territory. No one really knows what will work and what won't. But if any business model is to be successful it's got to meet the needs of the listeners without whom there would be no business to model."
-
Doug Kaye
via:
Scripting News
"Current number of blogs is now over 8 times bigger than [what was] measured in June, 2003. ...a new
weblog is created every 5.8 seconds. That roughly translates into 15,000 new
blogs every day."
Blogosphere By the Numbers
The
spikes of the traffic when "web-communicable events occur" (what ever that means :rolleyes: [what events are not "web-communicable"?] ) really show how information travels these day. (We saw good example of its effect before and during
the election.) No doubt, we are really becoming the
Generation-C.
Ever wonder why people can't just drive on the same side of the road worldwide?
(image by: Nicholas Hodder)
(image from:
Brian Lucas)
I never knew this big vast majority drive on the right o_O
anyway, reasons why people drive on the
left :
-Knights passed on each other's right (walk on the left) to ensure that their protective sword arm was between self and potential opponent.
-Right-handed person finds it easier to mount a horse from the left side of the horse. It would be very difficult if one wears a sword (which would be worn on the left) to mount and dismount in the middle of traffic way...
Check out the links if you are so interested, I believe there are more info than one would care...lol
"Why do British drive on the left?"
"Why does Japan drive on the left?"
Brian Lucas: "...I think that the role of the sword has been exaggerated."
via:
Michael Lehman's blog
Wow, podcast is really catching on, isn't it... I just found a Podcast Review site today:
The New, New Podcast Review
and with it, I discovered that iPodlounge is debuting their first podcast episode:
iPodlounge debuts Podcast - recorded via iPod (
direct download |
RSS feed)
I haven't listen to it yet but sure soon will...
If you haven't notice, I'm an addicted podcast listener (see side bar, lol)... anyway,
the culture show on BBC2 has just aired a segment on Podcast. Check it out, it's pretty great... couldn't ask for a better segment, i guess
http://denouden.info/CultureShowPodcasting.mp4.torrent
Sorry it's a BitTorrent file and it's 101 MB video mp4 quality... I'll surely give this post an update if I can find any smaller direct download one, for those that prefer... If you don't know much about BitTorrent, it's just another way to download file. Check out:
BitTorrent Official Download. You just need to install a small software extension so that you computer know what bittorrent is, and can download it properly.
And btw, you can play "mp4" file using
QuickTime Player (and maybe the new Windows Media Player?...I'm not sure, I'm not so much of a microsoft fan :P )
via: Baron's comment on
live.curry.com
update 12/2/04: for those that prefer video mpeg file, another bittorrent can be found here:
http://torrent.youceff.com/torrents/CultureShowPodcasting.MPG.torrent
via:
DSC-2004-11-29's show note
Come fly with me, let's fly, let's fly away...
Anyone else flying this holiday? It's after thanksgiving, so the holiday spirit is in the air ^^ Anyway, here are some sites that you might want to have a look at before spending time high above:
SeatGuru.com
Airline Meals.net
Flight Tracker
and for those who want cheap flights and/or hotel to stay, check out sites like
JohnnyJet.com where it can get info from all the bargain travel sites around... ;)
As a reply to Mayor Lois Frankel humorous messages, meant to make light of ongoing construction delays (such as "I Am Mad Too! - Lois."); someone has typed this 3-word message that Frankel thinks was aimed at her for Tuesday morning commuters to see. Obviously the pic is pixelated, but I'm sure you can make it out what is said :)
pic from:
NBC6
more link:
PalmBeach Post
via:
Engadget
Ridiculous things people sell on eBay
ok, u see this topic on a lot of places these day (Leno's show, webboards, dang there're even groups on different communities about this) but here are just a few that I was able to find to see for myself:
air guitar
Eminem Used Condom WRAPPER
Britney Spears Discarded Cheetos Wrapper
RARE drawing of iPod prototype sketch SO COOOL!
2 invitations to a wedding I don't want to go to
4PPL3 S4UC3 (lmao at this one,
[for those that don't know 1337] )
enough for today >.< can't bother looking for more :P
Over the light(or should I say "darkness") of TiVo wanting to force you to see banner ads while you fast-forwarding,
Phillip Torrone has created a great BroadCatching how-to. You should check it out if you like watching TV shows and have broadband connection... As well as it being a free TiVo; since it's internet, you can pretty much find TV shows from all around the world!
link:
How-To: BroadCatching - Engadget.com
update: I guess this thing caught on, more links I found:
plastic bugs
pealco.net
Everything you print from your laser printer and/or copier may be used to trace back to you! Don't assume that it's anonymous just because the data is not digital...
Government claims that it is a tool to fight counterfeiting. Think carefully before you print your next threatening letter cuz it could be traced back to you...
so far they claim it's only for color laser printers and color copiers... since it uses
small, scattered yellow dots coded for mechine's serial number in every printout.
link:
PCWorld.com
There is now a trojan that deactivates all links to Symbian system applications and replaces the icon images with images of skulls
Good news for Norton and McAfee, i guess? ...Not anymore it is ridiculous to talk about antivirus on cell phones
link:
InfoWorld
update: to make it clear,
technically it's boarderline between malware and trojan, since it's still require your part to install it (and it doesn't spread itself so it's technically
not a virus)... but surely we can see a trend here, cell phones are targets to script/code/virus writers and it's just a matter of time till someone find a hole to get in (and unlike computers, it's rather hard to "update" firmware on cell phones these day)
They just keep coming and coming... more reasons than ever to switch to
Firefox
There is a code on website now that can
bypass the browser warning and download things to your PC without warning.
from:
News.com
Ever wonder why you don't have a girlfriend? (or boyfriend for that matter, well... i guess it's relatively the same, if not easier :P )
Here's a real proof for it:
"Why I Will Never Have A Girlfriend"
link: nothingisreal.com
Oprah Celebrates 20,000th Pound Lost
so if she hadn't been on the diets, she would have been 20,000 pound by now? :D :P
btw, nice way to celebrate with a huge cake :D ... makes me hungry now...
Interesting facts:
"According to her spokesman, Winfrey has been on 674 diets, embarked on 255 fitness routines, and weighed herself 4,349,571 times during her 30-year career in broadcasting and film."
From:
The Onion
no wonder she lost so much... think about how much calories do u lose just for weighing yourself 4,349,571 times >.<
This is fun... and can be productive too... if u have something to sell ;)
Surrealist's Advertising Slogan Generator
Ever got pull over for a DUI test, or wonder how it is done?
video of a drunk getting pulled over by a police officer
it's hilarious :D
trackback to:
AlexAlbrecht.com
wanna know where the internet ends?
The End of the Internet
"
RoboDump is a robot. Sort of. And it poops. Sort of."
o_O!
It's been out for a while now, but I guess it's still in season. If you don't know what you are gonna give someone this holiday, have a look at
iPod and this
buyers' guide. iPodlounge.com forums are
the places to go if you have an ipod or have question about it... check it out if you don't know the site already.
iPod is great since you can't go wrong giving it to someone. Everybody likes music (well, as far as I know). It's a good fall back gift if you go blank on what to give someone (maybe a little pricey, but that's what makes it different and not like other mp3 players that one might go "eww" after looking at it)
I wish the buyers' guide comes in print too tho >.< I never like reading this kind of stuff on screen, especially in pdf. I would think they could afford it in print since there's a good number of ads in there... but again they aren't publisher so it might be harder/more work for them to mail out flyers like it.
update: just got an email from apple... more links
"iPod gift list"
"Mac gift list"
and I just walked into an apple store today... first encounter with
iPod Photo and new iMac... I love the iPod Photo, only it's dang too expensive. I wish I have spare money to spend... For the time being I'm back to my Gen 3 20GB iPod >.<;
an interesting experiment done by
Kirk Anderson
There are 5 pages... so make sure you click "Continue to Page 2" at the bottom of the page and not get confused like me for why it only ends on page 1 ^^; (there's too much blank spage on the page... lol)
an interesting
venn diagram... I'm guessing there's something in itself more than just a random diagram... but, who knows... tell me if really "get it"
link:
the space in between
update: sorry I couldn't link pic directly... it's too big to be displayed here >.< I wish there's an easy way for me to edit and host pics.
There's a
rumor going around that users with illegal email attachments are getting their account terminated. We all know Gmail emails are scanned by bots to match you with google ads on side bars... but do they look at attachments as well? Who knows... but still, it's bad that you can get account terminated by that... but I guess it's free after all.
link:
SPDrivers.Net
this is new, but not that surprising to me.
virtual world = adult clubs. yea... could have guessed it, right? :P
link:
The Convocational
"[It's sold] around $125 million in
one day. This puts it right up there with blockbuster movie openings... including “Spider-Man 2”, “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” and “The Matrix Reloaded”...
In addition, “Halo 2” surpassed this past weekend’s box office favorite, “The Incredibles,” which grossed $70.5 million (U.S.) in
three days."
Taken from:
joystiq
more info also here:
News.Com
if you’re a web addict, check this out:
http://del.icio.us/
it's an free online bookmarking website, for you to bookmark things on the net (IE calls it "Favorites" obviously) and take it with you anywhere. But the site is a lot more than that.
"del.icio.us has been described as Google in reverse"
how so? check out this great article by
plastic bugs
New X-ray machine at London's Heathrow airport has been installed and it can see through passengers' clothes o_O!
Obviously not everyone likes this idea...
More info:
http://www.cnn.com/2004/TRAVEL/11/09/bt.xray.reut/index.html
Electronic message board in a Manhattan subway station showed strange sign yesterday:
Transit Authority spokesman said that they are still investigating
whether it is an inside job or the system was hacked.
(The reason why I wanted to install TrackBack is because I wanted to point out this article and use TrackBack like others and maybe someone will come to this blog through TrackBack^^ :P well, i guess it'll have to wait till I figure out how to put it on the site here.)
Anyway, just some updates on Halo 2...
as well as being able to
share your stat on webpage,
you can even use RSS too...
(
here's my stat btw :P I'll point to it since it's up there anyway)
if you don't know about RSS, check out the link on my side bar for "
RSS basics"
What has happened to TSS? I know it sucks since Comcast bought it(TechTV) but why cutting people so suddenly? I didn't watch the show today so I don't know whether anything happened on the show or not. I saw it briefly yesterday (I think, or the day before) and everthing seemed fine. But from Alex's comment ("We were rounded up today at 11am and told to be out of the office at 3pm...")
it seems like the show would have changed today or they would have had to do a re-run of old show cuz the show airs live at 4pm. The show was on re-run today.
.
"Well I've officially been let go... along with a bunch of other people from TSS and three other shows."
-
AlexAlbrecht.com
I hope those that were "let go" aren't the ones that had to move from SF to LA... it would be a big bum if you move to LA for a job and then get fired.
------------------
update: one of the "three other shows"
seems to be "Unscrewed with Martin Sargent."
"we lost Alex, Dan, Yoshi, and several behind the scene producers"
"I’ve been told there are going to be more darktips, and that the show will still have a tech focus. That’s about it. The new show[TSS] will continue after the Thanksgiving break."
-
KevinRose.com
more threads about it on
G4TechTV own webboards.
update 12/16/04: ok, I don't want to make another post on it since I'm not sure how many readers here actually know what TechTV is. But anyway, I found an interesting site with, at least, good intro page:
AntiG4Ttv.com
And more over, at this time, it's pretty safe to say "TechTV as you know it is GONE!" Too bad we had to lose it... if you are a fan like me and miss it, a number of casts crew are alive on blogs ("
Joey the Intern," "
DanHuard.com") Leo is also still on "
Call For Help 2.0" in Canada... though they are seeking carrier(s) to have the show on US and other countries, they have yet to find one. Meanwhile you can download the shows with BitTorrent here.
Haloscan commenting and trackback have been added to this blog.
or NOT!... (above was an automated message posted by HaloScan auto install)
i just deleted it... anyone knows how to add trackback manually to blogger.com blog? please feel free to leave it in comment or email me(iblogg-at-gmail.com) for where to add the code in the template or how i might need to edit the code to fit. I've tried everything and it still doesn't work. I nearly have tried putting the code on nearly every single lines near the comment area and the link just won't appear. I don't want to use the "auto install" because it adds Haloscan comment which I don't want (don't like the small ads and since we already have it here, why change?). But I want TrackBack >.<
Interesting Articles on Podcast
Ok, since my "article list" on podcast has grown so big that it won't nicely fit on my sidebar anymore, I decided to make a post on it and have everything linked to here instead.
This is by no means a complete list of every articles that's ever published about podcast, they are just
my own collection of articles that "I" think interesting. I started collecting them for my own personal reference (to point them to someone when I try to explain what podcast is and how big it has grown.) Most of them were found via daily updates of
Adam Curry's and
Dave Winer's blog, so all credits really go to them; especially for working so hard in getting podcast and RSS to work. The articles are in (
roughly) decending chronological order (newest first) [or at least the order of which how I personally have found them.] Anyways, here is the list:
CBS News: Podcasts Alarm Traditional RadioForbes: Podcasting: Making WavesMP3.com: Howard Stern vs. Adam CurryReuters: PluggedIn:Homespun "podcasts" explore universe of topicsInformationWeek: Podcasting Proves Popularwith
54 related articles from
Google NewsPew Internet: Podcasting catches onCNN: Tuning in to new radio trendBBC: 'Podcasters' look to net moneySydney Morning Herald: Austereo gets serious about podcastingScience@NASA: A new "podcast" [...] in your pocket MP3 playerForbes: Podcasting The Night AwaySan Francisco Chronicle: Homespun shows find big audience
Do-it-yourself podcasters turn their living rooms, basements into studiosSan Francisco Chronicle: Podcasting gives voice to amateurs
Although it's not as easy as blogging, it's still worth the effortNY Times: For a Start-Up, Visions of Profit in PodcastingNY Times: Tired of TiVo? Beyond Blogs? Podcasts Are HereNew Scientist: 'Podcasters' deliver radio-on-demandJS Online: MiPod or yours?USA Today: Radio to the MP3 degree: Podcasting (Pic)USA Today: Podcasting: It's all over the dialAP: 'Podcasting' Lets Masses Do Radio Shows (2)The Mercury News: Podcasting powerThe Mercury News: My very own radio station has transformed my listening habits(usr: cypherpunk, pwd: cypherpunk)
Playlist: Podcasting - Hear What the Buzz Is AboutFortune: Podcasting - From MTV to MP3MTV: 'Podcasting' Allows Anyone To Become An Instant International DJMIT Technology Review: Get Ready for PodcastingThe Fresno Bee: Pod peopleWired: You, Too, Can Be a PodcasterBBC: Podcasts bring DIY radio to the webThe Boston Phoenix: Feed your headThe World: Adam Curry podcasting reportTimes Online - Britain: For listeners with no time, the radio show that records itselfThe Boston Globe: Computer, microphone, iPod make broadcasting personal (
fact corrections)
Digital-Lifestyles.info: Podcasting Primed, BBC Radio MP3 download successNewsweek: The Alpha BloggersThe Christian Science Monitor: 'Podcast' your worldCNN: Invasion of the podcasting people?The Independent: The people's radioNewsweek: Tivo for your iPodRadio X-Factor: Podcasting UniversityAustralian IT: Podcasting takes offThe Times: The Next Big ThingBusiness 2.0: Here Come the PodcastersNBC4: 'Podcasting' Brings Personalized Audio Programs To Your Media Playeri love radio.org: How Podcasting Will Save RadioThe Laporte Report: Podcaster Feed is Up[this last one isn't really an article but it's where I first learn about podcast from Leo]
(this post is
NOT any more actively maintained, it was last updated on: 04/27/05)
It seems like this exists for quite a while now; but if you guys don't know about it...there's a Russian site that offer mp3s (or other popular formats, if u prefer) for 4 cents a song...well, it doesn't charge you "per song" but rather the traffic (file size) you download.
AllOfMP3
What makes it "safe" for you? It's because the site accepts
PayPal so you can avoid the link between their site and your bank/credit card account and use paypal as a buffer in between you and them.
What makes it even better is that you can choose the compression rate yourself from 128-320 kbps(relatively equals to cd quality)... And what makes this legal? It seems that Russian law is different and they can legally sell songs that are ripped on the fly. Check it out if you have limited amount of money to spend on $1 per song, and/or don't want the hassle of searching blindfolded for good quality songs on P2P(which is illegal! so don't do it)
-all credits go to Phillip Torrone and his great
podcasts #6 for pointing me out to the site.
Speaking about Nintendo DS, it seems like early-bird reviewers are starting to get their hands on...
Unpacking the Nintendo DS
by Engadget.com
(a number of good pics posted, I'll let u click the link(s) so they can take the credit ;)
Also:
"the DS comes with a thumbstrap to allow players to use the touchscreen without greasing it up."
From another
Engadget post :)
or follow this
direct link to IGN page
Can't wait! seems like it's $US 149.99 after all :) Nov. 21, of course
... 11 days away
No spam, please!
Spammers. We all hate them. I particularly hate the way they use robots to crawl around the Web, “harvesting” e-mail addresses from web pages.
You got to this page because JavaScript isn’t enabled in your browser.To send me an email my address is
iblogg -at- gmail [dot] combut replace the
-at- with "@", and
[dot] with "."
If you’d like to find out how to protect yourself against evil “spambots”, take a look at this how-to:
Obfuscating e-mail addressesvia:
December14.net
Face transplants are not anymore just science fiction:
http://www.cnn.com/2004/HEALTH/11/01/face.transplant.ap/
more info with
Google Search
have u seen the movie "Face Off"? >.<
this is scary. can u imagine face not being a way to recognize someone?
u may think, "what's the big deal? we changed people's faces for how long now with surgery?" But this is no surgery! it's taking someone's(technically, "donor's") face and put it on someone's... umm... face.
who, in their right mind, would want to be a donor? >.<
Yes! Halo2 is out... It's Nov.9 and the long waited game is now in store... I got my copy last last night at 12.30am since one of the game stores in my area had midnight event so i was lucky to get my copy early ^^ ...No, i didn't get in line early like a number of pple did. I went there around 12.15am hoping that pple might have clear up and there would be some copies left :) And lucky enough i got the 2nd last Collector's Edition :)
I played about 2 hours last night and it was pretty good. I won't say much for now but I got to give credits to the graphic and voice acting. Till I play more, check out some
review if u want more info ;)
-Don't u hate it when it's near holiday and games r coming out so many at the same time? I've been bored for like 2 months cuz there was no good games (that worth my money) coming out... And now they are pouring... I have yet to get into any GTA and now Halo is out... Nintendo DS is coming out 11/21 and i don't know how many games i'm gonna get for it... lol
update: oh! also, how could i forget about NFSU2 (11/15)... how am i supposed to play 3-4 games+ at the same time? >.<
more
review...
Please post comment
there's a steep hill in blogging, isn't it? at the start it seem like no one would read what we post... so if anyone actually read any of the post, please post up a short comment so that I know someone's actually reading what I type and so I would post more ^^
I know when u click "Post Comment" it brings you to a log in page for Blogger, but if you don't have an account (not not feel like signing in) there's a small link in the middle of the page-- [Sign in]"
Or Post Anonymously"
I just put up a counter and it doesn't really help since I'm still wonder whether the number is going up because of webcrawlers or something like that or not ^^ :P
Ok, let's start blogging... shall we? ^^
first of, engadget.com is doing a promo this week (Mon-Fri, Nov 8-12)... just be the first to reply particular post with the right special code-word... and you can get the MP3 player and/or free audio book. just like that ^^
maybe not as easy as it seem. there are a lot of people waiting out, refreshing page every so often, already >.< href="http://www.engadget.com/entry/4227881678055324/" target="_blank">
http://www.engadget.com/entry/4227881678055324/
update for today gaveaway:
http://www.engadget.com/entry/8277407751784728/
congrats to Jason and Kyle
First Post!
Hello world! this is my first testing post.
This is a test link to my own page.
