Storm Large (http://www.stormlarge.com/) is officially my favorite contestant from Rockstar: Supernova (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_Star:_Supernova), and her new album, Ladylike, Side One (http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?playListId=258308956), is my favorite recent music purchase (tap on the iPod Nano icon above to see others).
Anyway. I found more photos shot for the album by Laura Domela (http://www.domela.com/) and thought I'd assign each song its own art. Looks good on my pod and in the iTunes Now Playing screen, but iTunes Cover Flow only shows the art assigned to the first track, presumably because this should be the album art.
But given the current ability to download songs regardless of whether you get the album and organize them however we want, it occurs to me that the concept of album art might need an update. I mean, how useful is it to display album art when I've never seen the album? Doesn't it make sense for each song to have its own art associated with it by default?
I think I'll experiment with this some more and see how far it can go. Certainly I'd like to customize my Storm Large collection further, maybe add some ink to the mix.
Alright, to be fair, I can't pin this on IM, and I'm just riffing off my previous entry (http://sumocat.blogspot.com/2007/10/im-so-glad-i-hate-instant-messaging.html), to which this is an update.
So following Thursday's incident with a series of unsavory IM transcripts emailed to everyone in the office, the IT department was ordered to clamp down, removing unauthorized apps and instituting new security measures.
The only apps I'd installed on my work computer are Firefox (http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/), Outlook on the Desktop (http://www.michaelscrivo.com/projects/outlookdesktop/), and the Zune theme (http://www.zune.net/en-us/meetzune/software.htm). The former two were left alone, but to the pain of my eyes, my Zune theme was removed. Fortunately, that was quickly rectified and the soothing black and red color scheme is back in place. Still, I was pretty annoyed at the time.
Of course, I am inconvenienced by the web filtering. Any non-work-related site, including personal email and most blogs, have been blocked... on the work network. Fortunately, the office also has open wifi for the convenience of visitors. My office, however, is outside signal range, so I'm going to start eating lunch in the lunchroom to take care of email and catch-up with GBM, jk, etc.
It's a minor obstacle to be sure and if I really wanted access from my office, I could buy or build a cantenna (or wait until the new 802.11n router is installed -- sitting in the conference room but not set up yet). For now, I'll enjoy the change of scenery.
"Hate" might be too strong a word. Let's just say I never got into it. Anyway, my glee is prompted by an anonymous email sent to everyone in my office that contained a series of IMs between two of our co-workers. Needless to say, the conversations raised some eyebrows. Nasty things were written about people in the office. The workplace was abuzz. Yep, glad I never got into IM.
Made it out to Annapolis MD for the Renaissance Festival (http://www.rennfest.com/) this weekend. Managed to catch some jousting, a couple of comedy shows and a wedding in full medieval attire. Posted some photos as a web album via Picasa (http://picasaweb.google.com/sumocat666/Rennfest2007).
The Apple fanboys, both unwavering and reborn (http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/apple/steve-jobs-iphone-sdk-in-dev-hands-february-08-311881.php), are in a tizzy over news (http://www.apple.com/hotnews/) that an iPhone (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iphone)SDK (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sdk) is coming in February. This is really exciting news... unless you were waiting for Apple to work out the iPhone bugs before releasing an SDK. If you were smart enough to see it coming (http://sumocat.blogspot.com/2007/08/time-for-that-iphone-sdk.html), then the only news here is the date.
And anyone who was really paying attention would realize the announcement coincides with the release of the new version of Mac OS X, Leopard (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac_OS_X_v10.5). With that "cat" out of the bag, their developers can switch focus to the iPhone SDK. So while some see this as a reversal, I see a reallocation of resources.
Ah, Paris. Not the City of Lights, Chris Paris (http://www.gottabemobile.com/HowToBlogInInkUsingWord2007.aspx), the Tablet PC enthusiast. He wrote up a demo on blogging in ink from Microsoft Word 2007 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Office_2007#Microsoft_Office_Word) and had it published at GottaBeMobile.com (http://www.gottabemobile.com/HowToBlogInInkUsingWord2007.aspx). The system does not provide Links in Ink (http://sumocat.blogspot.com/search?q=%22links+in+ink%22) like mine does (as Chris kindly points out), but inking and blogging from one application is considerably easier than what I do and thus more accessible to the masses, which will help to pull in more ink bloggers. It's an excellent write-up and well worth a look-see. Great job, Mr. Paris.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nancy_Pelosi) was recently credited with saying this about protesters camped out in front of her home:
Some people took offense at that. I, however, see a great idea: turn the homeless into activists.
Activists, here's how it works: You hand out shirts and blankets with your message printed on them to the homeless. Guide them to the home of an elected official and drop off food and drink for them there. While they keep your message ever-present, you'll be free to raise money and awareness elsewhere. It's a win-win situation for you and the homeless, courtesy of Nancy Pelosi.
It's funny how life works. AI Gore, the man who should have been President (assuming the person with the most votes should win an election), just won the Nobel Peace Prize for promoting the idea of responsible stewardship of our climate. Contrast that against the accomplishments of the guy who got the job instead. Makes me feel that much more confident that most of us voted for the right person in 2000. Congratulations, sir.
Have the day off, so I'm taking advantage to run some errands, like getting new tires for thw Prius, getting my hair cut, and cleaning the dust out from under my Tablet PC screen.
I documented the process via photos I've uploaded to a Picasa web album (http://picasaweb.google.com/sumocat666/TabletPCScreenCleaning), along with details in the captions. Not very exciting but I thought it'd be useful to share.
Ink blogging dynamo Silver (http://silverhuang.com/) maintains an ink blog. Within that blog is a separate blog called a Sideblog (http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/sideblog/) for additional commentary and short notes. In that sideblog, she's posted a couple of inked entries from her Pocket PC (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pocket_PC). This is freakin' awesome for a few reasons.
First, it's an ink blog within an ink blog. Second, it's ink blogging from a Pocket PC, which puts a new spin on the format. Third, I love that the Pocket PC ink is in the sideblog next to the Tablet PC ink in the main blog - it's fun yet logical.
Silver posted a how-to video (http://silverhuang.com/2007/10/04/mobile-ink-blogging-video-demo/) on her ink blog. Fairly lengthy and there's no text conversion, but I wouldn't consider that a priority for a sideblog. Check it out here (http://silverhuang.com/2007/10/04/mobile-ink-blogging-video-demo/).
I've been really disappointed with Microsoft's interfaces for small screen devices. Windows Mobile is clearly desktop-inspired, and all they did for UMPCs was slap another interface over the standard one (adding more application overhead in the process). Thus, I was startled, even shocked, when I saw the new Zune (http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/zune/zune-80gb-hands+on-ui-video-306738.php) interface. It looks really good, not just aesthetically, but utility-wise as well. I am very impressed and would go as far as to say it looks easier to use than the "classic" iPod interface.
Unfortunately, this only deepens my disappointment with what they've done (or haven't done) with their mobile computing interfaces. C'mon Microsoft, if you can build a worthwhile interface for Zune, surely you can deliver better small screen support for your hardware partners.
Not a month after her triumphant return to ink blogging, Silver (http://silverhuang.com/) has not only added a text blog within her ink blog (been pondering something similar for all the blog comments I leave), but she's also rolled out two more ink blogs with her beau.
One is the spiritual blog she shares with her man David called Wake Up Your Idea (http://wakeupyouridea.com/). The other is David's Controlled Folly (http://davidtng.com/), which is his personal blog. If only I could convince my wife to switch to digital ink, I'd join you in the couples blog scene.
A questionable news story made the rounds yesterday about a betavoltaic battery (http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/power-breakthrough/betavoltaic-battery-could-power-your-laptop-for-thirty-years-305971.php) that could power a laptop (or Tablet PC) for up to 30 years. Impressive, but ignoring for a moment whether this is close to fruition or not, who would even want a 30-year battery for their mobile computer?
About 10 years ago, Apple rolled out their Powerbook G3 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PowerBook_G3) advertised as the fastest notebook available. Today, its specs wouldn't be impressive in a Pocket PC. And that's only ten years ago. Laptops from twenty years are nearly useless by today's standards. So while a 30-year battery sounds cool, I really don't see the use of having 30 years of battery power in a device that will be absolutely obsolete well before then.
