Tale of Two Typewriters

When my wife mentioned she wanted an antique typewriter, I didn't really get it. She explained to me how she liked the connection to the authors of yore and that it is an instrument of skill and precision (something I can respect even though I already erased a dozen words in this entry). It's not for business and, as someone who grew up with a car enthusiast father, I do understand the lure of classic machinery. And now that its here, I admit it does radiate an impression of class.

Contrast that to the electric typewriter my work buddy Amine is tapping on. Yes, sadly this is for work and doubly sadly Amine is a bigger gadget junkie than I am. When he asked how to delete, Bruce wound up spilling his drink on himself as he tried to contain his laughter. On the plus side, the situation justifies my decision to not transfer to that department; Amine accepted a job I passed up. If I was sitting at that typewriter, there'd be a lot more profanity in this blog post.

As Mentioned on MobileTechRoundup

Hop over to the MobileTechRoundup site and download episode 28 to hear Kevin (not 2.0) Tofel's mention my response to his mobile phone poll (copied below).

The Apple Tablet Rules!

Olga at Tabletology links to Engadget's contest for mock-ups of future Apple products. Leading the pack is a tiny notebook that is, for some reason, called a tablet. But among the other offerings are a few slates and convertibles, including a couple of iPads (despite what MadTV did to that name). Cool stuff!

Wireless iPod Speculation

In another instance of news trailing behind blogs, the CEO of Qualcomm is quoted as say iPods need wireless connectivity. Good idea, except he thinks they need phone connectivity for some reason or another, while I think they should, I don't know, add Bluetooth and make them more interoperable with their computers. Makes sense to me.

Remember when news was new?

Surfing through the most popular news stories on Yahoo! today, I noticed that the six flavors of Vista and speculation on Origami were up there. Interesting seeing as how I learned about the Vista scheme a while ago and Kevin Tofel (not to be confused with his blog Kevin 2.0) unfolded the mystery of Origami yesterday. Anyone who thinks blogs aren't changing how we get our news hasn't been reading many blogs.

Syrup is not sugar

Well, at least according to outdated laws written well before the invention of high fructose corn syrup in the 1970s. Thus, HFCS is not subject to the sugar tariffs that double the cost of a pound of sugar. As a result, all of our major soft drinks are loaded with artificial sweeteners, such as HFCS, instead of sugar because sugar is artificially expensive. On the flip side of that, corn is artificially cheap because the government subsidizes the cost, allowing growers to sell a lot for very little.

Ethanol and Carbon Dioxide

Did you know that even though Ethanol burns cleaner than gasoline, its production generates a lot of carbon dioxide? Fortunately, this CO2 can be collected for use elsewhere, unlike the CO2 pumped out by your car. Of course, if the CO2 were just let loose, like the way it spews out of a carbonated beverage sweetened with high fructose corn syrup, then there would be no difference between the two, except for the money made on the collected CO2.

Low Carbs vs High Fructose

The recent spate of low carb craziness has hit the refiners of high fructose corn syrup hard. After all, if carbs are bad and refined carbs are worse, then a double-refined carb, like sugar refined from cornstarch, must be the Hitler of carbs. If only they could drive their product in another direction, take advantage of another source of demand, receive government subsidies to do so and demand more money for their product. No chance of that happening, right?

FlexFuel Vehicles

Noticed that GM is starting to market their FlexFuel vehicles, cars and trucks that can run on gasoline or an 85/15 blend of ethanol/gas. Saw the ad in Wired this month. Last month there was an article on how GM was skipping gas-electric hybrids in favor of fuel cell vehicles. And this just after President Bush admitted we need to get off our addiction to oil. It's so fortunate that ethanol is as easy to produce as high fructose corn syrup. Lucky indeed.

GottaBeMobile with TEO 3.0 Preview

News within news: Rob Bushway and Dennis Rice have teamed up to say we GottaBeMobile, and among their blog posts is a series of video demos of Tablet Enhancements for Outlook 3.0. I have been looking forward to this ever since Josh Einstein dropped the first mentions of the new features. The preview does not disappoint. I just wish I knew when it was coming.

Origami Unfolded

If general consensus is to be trusted, it appears that Kevin 2.0 (the blogger formerly known as Kevin Tofel) has unfolded the mystery of the Origami Project. Hop over to his blog to learn the full story, but short form: Microsoft's ultra mobile PCs have been visualized. Very cool stuff.

Cleaner Fuel and Sweeter Syrup

Did you know the first two steps in refining cornstarch into high fructose corn syrup are identical to the first two steps in refining cornstarch into ethyl alcohol aka ethanol?

Did you know HFCS has the same effect on your liver as alcohol? Makes sense given the answer to the previous question is "yes". Interesting that a fuel of the future is so close to the liquid sweetener of today.

Ignorance is Bliss

http://tinyurl.com/qg23h
Apparently the best way to fight criticism is to plead ignorance. Every time something bad happens, the President's first response is "I didn't know," or "nobody could nave foreseen this," or "we had bad intelligence." Now, it's become "none of us knew." Well, why the hell not? Does nobody tell you anything? Do you not ask any questions? Or are you just not paying attention to anything?

Iran Supports Democracy

President Bush's vision of bringing democracy to the Middle East took another step forward when Iran offered to help support the newly elected leaders of the Palestinian Authority. Their willingness to aid a fledgling democracy, such as the PA, is just another sign of the impact we have had in the region. I'm sure we will see much more of this partnership between Iran and the PA led by Hamas.

Bush Stands Against Racial Profiling

Many people seem to think letting a business owned by the United Arab Emirates is a bad idea. Why? Because they have ties to two of the 911 hijackers? Because they may have helped smuggle nuclear components to terrorist states? No, because they are Arab! It's right there in their name. Well shame on you, you anti-Arab racists and kudos to you President Bush for standing by a decision you claim was made by your cabinet without your knowledge and is in no way related to your appointment of a former executive of that company to head the Maritime Administration of the Transportation Department. What better way to break our practice of profiling Arab men than to open our ports to a group of them. May the naysayers fall beneath your as yet unused veto power!

Fade to Bluegrass Volume 2

More Metallica tribute band news: I just learned that Iron Horse has released a follow-up to their bluegrass tribute to Metallica. Includes songs from Master of Puppets, which were sadly missing from the first volume. Just ordered a copy from their online store. Hope to be enjoying it soon.

Four Things Meme - Tag, I'm It!

Got tagged by Warner Crocker in the Four Things Meme game (which sucks because I don't think I know four other bloggers). But enough whining: here come the fours!

Four jobs I've had
-Senior copywriter for a comic book catalog and online retailer. Every other job I've had sucks by comparison)
-Research analyst for an international arms dealer (really!)
-Teacher and tutor (second best)
-Delivery driver for Pizza Hut (where I met my wife)

Four movies I can watch over and over me
-Jackie Brown (Quentin Tarantino's most refined work)
-Office Space (of course)
-Rush Hour (1 and 2, not really by choice but I always watch it when it is on TBS)
-Star Wars (I still remember watching it at the drive-in when I was 2)

Four TV shows I love to watch
-The Office (absolutely hilarious)
-Lost (I'm hooked, but I'm not hung up on trying to spot every little clue)
-CSI (regular and Miami, New York is kind of bland)
-the Maclaughlin Group (I just love to watch them argue)

Four places I've been on vacation
-Japan, Aichi Prefecture for fair world Expo last year
-Maui, twice, once with my sweetie
-California, family vacation to Disneyland and others
-Big Island of Hawaii, to visit my grandmother, a bunch of times.

Four favorite dishes
-Shrimp curry, which I used to make all the time until my darling wife went veggie
-Butter Mochi, my favorite dessert of all time.
-Crispy orange Beef with Broccoli, made using faux veggie beef at Chopsticks House
-Sushi, no one in particular, with sushi it's all about variety

Four websites I visit daily
-Tablet PC Buzz, gotta check the goings-on in the community
-Life On the Wicked Stage, whole lot of updates on everything
-jkOnTheRun, grandmaster of mobile devices
-Yahoo! Gotta do it.

Four places I'd rather be in
-Lounging poolside at my mansion
-a sushi buffet
-Mars
-Iceland, the leader in geothermal energy and # 3 on my volcanic island list

Four bloggers I'm tagging
-Ann Sumimoto (no relation, unless you count "sister")
-Zach Bush (Exalted gamemaster)
-This Space Intentionally left Blank
-This one too

Meet the Beatallicas

Stumbled across a band calling themselves Beatallica. In a nutshell, they perform songs in the style of Metallica, but the songs are mashed-up versions of Beatles songs cross-bred with Metallica songs. The results are excellent, if you like the Might Met, and they are available for free from their website and Myspace.

Baby Scribbles on my Scribbles

Quick! Open this link (in the text) in Internet Explorer! (Doesn't work in Firefox.) You'll see this page, so it will seem pointless, but wait a few seconds and a baby will crawl across the page and scribble on it. That's right: a baby scribbling on my Scribbles. This is the handiwork of Netdisaster, a site that lets you overlay a "disaster" on your favorite (or most hated) website. They have a variety of disasters to choose from but the scribbling baby was too appropriate to pass up. Props to Warner Crocker for pointing out the site.

Why iPod is King

I just taught my wife how to add photos and playlist to her iPod. Twice, I answered the question, "Then what?" with "Then nothing." Even on her Windows PC, her Apple iPod "just works". Meanwhile, I can't get my Windows Mobile device to reliably sync music with my Windows Tablet PC using Windows Media Player. Hail to the king!

Go Get Some Cherry Kit Kat!

If you can find it (I've only seen it at Food Lion), go to the clearance aisle and load up on Cherry Kit Kat. Totally delicious!

Toshiba R15 for $1000

Been meaning to post something about this deal from Office Depot. Pretty sweet price. Sale ends Saturday

Shooting (not hunting) Accident

Lot of talk (and jokes) about VP Cheney's recent incident where he shot a friend with a shotgun. Everyone's calling it a hunting accident but let's be real: shooting pen-raised flightless binds is not hunting. Calling it hunting is an insult to actual hunters who possess skill. They drove up in a car, got out, and shot at a group of birds on a ranch. That's like scooping fish out of an aquarium and calling it "fishing."

Poundcake - Valentine's Day Edition

In Japan, women give men chocolates for Valentine's Day. This year, I got poundcake. The loaf is from Whole Foods, same make and model as others I've tried, but this one somehow came out perfect. No hint of cornmeal or graininess. Soft, smooth, and dense. It is exactly what poundcake should be. A very nice surprise for V-day. Thanks, gal! xoxo

Phreakin' Phishers

It's bad enough they're trying to rip me off, but these phishers are insulting my intelligence too. They must think I'm as stupid as they are.

New Scribbler Announced!

Electrovaya just started selling their newest Scribbler - SC 3100. Not much of an upgrade from the SC 3000. Slightly faster processor but the notable upgrade is the 180°-viewable screen. And, of course, it still packs a 75-whr battery.

Gateway's Latest Deal

Just got this offer in my email. Thought I'd share it in case anyone was interested in a total Tablet Convertible system.

Busier Than Ever

Too busy to blog, too busy to get sick, yet I still managed to do both today. Feeling queasy and lethargic but nothing else seems to be wrong. Might just be stress as I have been busier than ever. Heading into an even thicker patch the next six weeks. As much as I will need the occasional breaks, expect the blog posts to be few and far between.

Google, Dell, and Crapware

The announcement that Dell and Google are teaming up to install Googleware on Dell computers has already raised the CRAPWARE alarm. I disagree.

My assumption is this pre-installed software will consist of Google's line of apps: Google Earth, Picasa, etc. Granted, these apps do add bloat, but they also seem to "just work". Plug in your camera and Picasa will add your photos to your PC. Need to find a file? Google Desktop will get it. For the casual user, Google's brand of apps make the computing experience considerably easier.

Now consider that Apple is now playing on level ground with other PC makers since they switched to Intel processors. Apple is in position to take a bigger bite out of a market of which Dell holds the biggest piece and has the most to lose. Dell no longer has the advantage of Intel hardware, nor can they assume Windows Vista will trump Mac OS X, unless Apple stops refining their software. Dell needs another edge to maintain their status and I believe they think Google is the key.

iKitty for iPod Nano

As if I need any more gadgets, Speck Products is offering this highly compelling reason for me to buy an iPod Nano- a protective case shaped like a cat. How fun and cute is that?