Looks like I'm moving...

It's been a REALLY long time since my last post, and I feel pretty bad for that. However, I have been doing a considerable amount of work rigging up a NEW site, technoheads.org. I'd REALLY appreciate it if anyone who still reads my blog would take a peek over there and check out what I've been doing. To start myself off, I'm going to end up posting a few reruns (sorry!), but I'll try to keep it updated with new content. I added a nice forum and chat to compliment the blog. Biggest thing, though is that users can now contribute to the blog! If you have an idea for something that should be front-and-center, just make an account and submit an article. it's really simple.

Once again, thanks in advance for following, and I hope to see you on Technoheads.org!

Magnets?

Recently I received an iPod Touch case and really liked it. It was a leather portfolio case; to be precise, it was Griffin's Elan Convertible. It was creative, well-fit, and came with a screen protector and a nice cloth. However, after about a week of using it, my iPod would regularly crash or close out of whatever I was doing and return to the main menu. Although there is no way to prove this, I think it may be caused by the fact that the case has magnets in it. You may be thinking, "You immature narcissist, magnets don't do anything to solid-state drives, such as the one the iPod Touch sports." However, there are more components to an iPod touch than flash memory. Its possible that one of these components were affected by the case's mgnets. Secondly, I'm not the only person who's experienced these problems; just look at the MacRumor's forum dedicated solely to the topic. There have been many counts of similar errors, and several were from the exact same case as mine.

So, I wrote an email to Griffin's customer support, telling them my problem and pointing them to the forum. They responded (in a remarkably short time... well done Griffin) that I was not the first person to bring them this issue. They said that since they could not replicate the issue at their facilities, they assume that it is an issue with specific iPod Touches. Other responses say that some cases may have had stronger magnets than others.

My response from Griffin is as follows:

We have also heard the reports of this happening, but have never been able to reproduce the issue with any of the cases customers have sent us. The conclusion seems to be that problem will only occur with specific iPod Touch's. Because this happens with your iPod Touch, a replacement Elan Convertible would probably encounter the same issue. Your case does have a one year warranty, however, and if you would like, we would be more than happy to exchange your case for any iPod Touch case we make.

My iPod has crashed less after taking it out of the case, but it still crashes from time to time. I think I'm going to see if I can get in contact with someone from Apple to see what they say about this... And if worse comes to worst, I may be in for a new iPod Touch (thank God its still under warranty).

RadioTracker

I have been wowed. I just made a rather hefty music library comprised of new artists who fit my tastes, and all for free. A simple program called "RadioTracker" recorded my interests, favorite artists, and favorite songs and, using internet radio stations, downloaded music that fit my tastes. In addition, it was recently awarded one of MaximumPC's Softy Awards for being so amazing. You can have RadioTracker look for specific songs to download, or you can have it search for general artists or genres. Its great, easy, and best yet, legal. You can get all this music for free (after purchasing RadioTracker for $40). For those who don't like spending money, it also has a nice demo that you can check out. Don't take my word for it, try it out yourself at radiotracker.com.


Now, I get to rant. I made the mistake of setting the music type to "Alternative" and then accidentally leaving it on overnight. I'm a big fan of alternative music, don't get me wrong, but some of the more... violent songs aren't my thing (i.e. deathmetal). So, upon waking up the next day, I checked my computer and found that I had about 45 MB of disk space left and that I had just smashed 14 gigs of music (a good 8 of which were deathmetal) on my laptop. So, although this software is great, BE CAREFUL with it. Another thing that gets annoying is the fact that you will sometimes get station identification audio at the end of a song. I was abruptly jerked out of a Red Hot Chili Peppers song by some guy screaming about his radio station. Just be careful of that.

Back!

Well, its been almost an entire month since my last post, and I really feel bad about this. The end-of-quarter assignments at school have left me working too much and I've had almost no time to blog. That being said, I'm going to post an update of everything that's happened since I've been gone.

Instant Action
Instant Action is finally out of public beta, so you can sign up yourself from here on out without need for a key or an invite. They also released a 3rd person 2D space shooter called "Zap," which I must say is an intensely addictive game. Lastly, they have started a private beta of their 3D Fps which, in my oppinion, looks absolutely awesome. To get in, you must invite more friends than anyone else in Instant Action (which will probably lead to mass-spamming) and will end by the end of this month. So, if you want to play, ask me and I'll send you an invitation.

Music
Panic! at the Disco's latest album, "Pretty Odd" was released on Tuesday, much to the delight of their thousands of fans (usually of the feminine persuasion). Although I don't have the album yet, I'm planning on buying it or at least listening to clips of it and doing a quick review of it at some time.
Death Cab for Cutie is also planning on releasing their latest album, "Narrow Stairs," on May 13. Although this is a long time to wait, I'll just have to wait it out. As soon as its released, though, you can bet on a review.

Gaming
Team Fortress 2 now has a new map: Badlands. The map is a port of a map of the same time from the original Team Fortress, but with a more western look and feel that has become so common in Team Fortress 2 maps. They are also in the process of creating another map, called Goldrush, which will introduce a whole new mode of gameplay in which a team must get their minecart to the other side of the map before the enemy does the same. Lastly, the rumor of new weapons for each of the classes, as well as new much-needed goals and achievements have kept a lot of Orange Box gamers on their toes. I personally can't wait.

iPod Touch.
An update wouldn't be an update without a quick overview of all the new iPod Touch news, would it? The SDK is officially released, but only to big corporations (such as Adobe, who will hopefully work on a flash plugin for MobileSafari). The 1.1.4 firmware has been released and jailbroken (already), and according to rumor, the 1.2.0 firmware, scheduled to come out this summer with the App Store, has already been jailbroken.

Last but not Least,
Harvard's student database has been hacked, and the hacker was quick to post the entire database available for Bittorrent Downloads. Oops.

Blog Updates...

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Chekwolf: Its finally back!

Checkwolf is a crimefighting organization, a group of talented vigilantes who have come together to battle corruption in their own way.

About 2 years ago, I got hooked on an audiobook podcast called "Checkwolf," depicting a modern-day rogue crime fighting group. I was very attentive and followed the series almost religiously. So, of course, when month after month went by without an update, it was pretty upsetting. So, being the curious person I am, I wrote the author, Remy Gibson, an email asking him what was up. He told me that he wanted to re-record all the episodes in a higher quality format. So, recently, he emailed me back and told me that he had successfully put his audiobook on podiobooks.com under a creative commons license. So, once more, I can look forward to listening to the intrepid adventures of my favorite fictional crime-fighting league.
Check out the Checkwolf Website
or go to the Checkwolf Podiobooks page.


Thanks, Remy!

Instant Action Beta!

I was recently accepted into the Instant Action beta and I must say, it's quite amazing. It is a website that, with the help of a group of programmers, has made four up-and-running 3D games that play directly in your browser. Right now, the only four games are simple puzzle games or 3rd person vehicle shooters such as "Marble Blast" or "Think Tanks," both of which have been released and have been played for a year or so prior to the website's release. The website also has a cool "Party" feature, letting you play with a group of people. You can even change party games on the fly and chat with friends in-game.

Right now, the only way to play is to sign up for the Beta or be invited by someone in the Private Beta. However, being a member of the private beta, I can invite people.

If you send me an email, I will be more than happy to send you an invite, although I'm not sure how many I can send.

Lol?

No, I prefer "Haha"

Personally, I try to stray away from using terms such as "lol,""imho," and "w00t" because I think it makes it look like I have a typing deficiency or am missing several fingers and refuse to type that many words. I had a very interesting conversation with a close friend of mine that I thought was rather insightful... take a look.

me: lol
ugh... i try to stop myself from doing that
"lol"

my friend: it's hard
you'd think the new gen of computer geeks would have come up with something better

me: rofl, ^^, and :D have become more popular :D

my friend: rofl?

me: rolling on floor laughing
that one took a while for me :D

my friend: oh my god...really?

me: really

my friend: and ^^?

me: as in ^.^
like a smiley face

my friend: i feel old

me: whats funny is that this gen of computer nerds has split in 2: the ones that like to talk think and the ones that brutally play computer games
while "^.^" would be acceptable in a chat room,
it wouldn't fly in a videogame chat box
same with w00t, but the other way around

my friend: shudder

me: its scary, if you think about it

my friend: i don't like it

me: me neither
i enjoy words

my friend: i spell out every word in text messages, too

me: amen
unless I'm getting near my 160 character limit

my friend: ha - right

me: and it took me a full 3 years to learn that w00t meant "We owned the other team" because it is never used in that context.

my friend: wait - that's what it stands for?

me: exactly

my friend: oh my

me: "haha. halo 8 is coming out this week"
"w00t"

my friend: maybe i shouldn't go down this rabbit hole

me: haha
trust me, words are way better.

my friend: uh… rofl?

Google + Phone = Amazing

Great news... you can send me voicemails or comments with your phone. Just click the "Call Me" button and enter your phone number and name. I used a new feature from Google called "GrandCentral." It assigned me a new number (which I'm not about to post), and then showed me a huge amount of features I had access to. I can record incoming calls, view my call inbox online, and a whole myriad of other things. So please, give me a call. I can't promise I'll pick up, but you can always leave me a voice message. Right now, GrandCentral is in private beta, but if you leave me a message, I'd be happy to send you an invite (unless, of course, I run out).

In addition, on the right hand side of my blog, there is a link to a new page I mentioned a few days ago: As part of a few updates I'm making to my blog, I made an external site to manage all of my external... stuff. I started with a page with the soul purpose of displaying my Youtube videos. A permanent link to it is http://trichiliad.googlepages.com/youtubevideos.

Enjoy.

Thank You, Internet.

Thanks to the internet (and the diligent watch of a few friends), I found a whole bunch of web apps (and some downloadable programs) that make media, socializing, and a whole bunch of other things a lot easier. Check them out, and give me some feedback.

DoubleTwist
This is really easy; DoubleTwist lets you oranize all your media, sync it to your phone, PSP, or other mobile device, and even share it with your friends. What I like about it is that it integrates rather nicely into Facebook. Its also really simple to set up: it downloads in seconds, installs quickly, and works seamlessly.

SkyDrive Windows Live's latest feature, SkyDrive is an online storage/backup system. You can save up to 5 gigs of information, with a 50 mb filesize limit. You can also organize them into folders, choose to make some open to the public or private, and keep track of others whose SkyDrive you've accessed recently. Because its a Live feature, it works well with Live Spaces, Photos, and Friends. And best yet, its free.

OpenID Tired of making a new account for every website you want to access? With OpenID, you can easily sign in to almost any website with one account. There's an ever-growing list of websites that support OpenID, including Blogger, Attachr, and a whole list of OpenID Software, mainly for web developers.

Lifestrea.ms
Ever wonder about an easy way of keeping in touch with your world? With a new "breed" of internet tools called "Open Aggrigators," staying in touch with whats new in both the digital and real world becomes excruciatingly easy. But, instead of stopping there, it also involves you in the world: you can appear to different audiences, socialize, keep in touch with friends, or whatever else you'd like to do. You can choose who see's what as well... for instance, you can appear to one group as a professional programmer who makes a living designing inventive software. On the other hand, you can appear to a completely different group of people from a more social standpoint, such as a 20-something bachelor who enjoys walks on the beach. Right now, Lifestrea.ms is in beta, and you have to request it via email if you'd like it. They have a public demo page that you can visit here. Check it out... I hope I get accepted into the beta.

Web Updates

I am currently in the process of registering my blog with a website called http://www.freedomains.co.nr. They provide free "domains" for websites, so (hopefully) you will soon be able to access my blog at www.bichiliad.co.nr.

In addition, I want to create a website for all the content I want to remain stationary: for example, I want a page that has a player, hosting all my youtube videos. Since I can't really (easily) put this in my blog, it will be a lot easier to make a new website. Since someone already took bichiliad.googlepages.com (grr... I tried to make my title as unique as possible), I will be hosting all my extraneous pages under trichiliad.googlepages.com. Not to worry though: any page you will ever want to see on that site will have a link on my blog.

Hopefully, all this new updating will be smooth sailing, and I really hope its not as confusing once you see it.

Thoughts on the "Protect America Act"

No more wire tapping? Although the concept of wiretapping is a bit unnerving, at least it's "working." But without it? Wireless and cyber terrorism has become more and more dangerous over the past few years, and an inability to intercept potential threats is akin to not giving Britney Spears random drug tests: Who knows what could happen without them?

The Protect America Act expired on Febuary 16th.

New Youtube Video!

Finally, after a lot of talk, and not much to show for it, I finally shoved my latest video into one of Youtube's thousands of servers and, after waiting for a bit, got a result: my 2ND (well, it's technically my 3rd, but my 1st didn't really count) Youtube video ever.

The video is about setting up a system of software that will allow you to access all the music on one of your computers anywhere else (from any computer, iPhone, or iPod Touch that has internet) in the world. I really like using it: I'm no longer confined to a 16 gig memory limit :)

If you want to get embedded code for it, or if you want to watch it on youtube.com, you could just click here to view my video in all its youtube-ness. Check it out: I'll be watching my view count!

From Algebra to Art: Creating Mathmatical Masterpieces.

Mathematicians often rhapsodize about the austere elegance of a well-wrought proof. But math also has a simpler sort of beauty that is perhaps easier to appreciate: It can be used to create objects that are just plain pretty—and fascinating to boot.

While not everyone enjoys math, I think one would be a little bit more strained to find someone who would not enjoy the images created from it. Dynamic systems, or a simple rule used to describe how a point moves across a plane, can be used to create beautiful works of art such as the one seen at right, called "coral star". Michael Field, a mathematics professor at the University of Houston has developed a very simple, yet unique way to create art:

Field uses an equation that takes any point on a piece of paper and moves it to a different spot. Field repeats this process over and over again—around 5 billion times—and keeps track of how often each pixel-sized spot in the plane gets landed on. The more often a pixel gets hit, the deeper the shade Field colors it.

To view more of his art, as well as the art of several other "mathematical artists," click on the picture and read the full article. There are works from Robert Bosch, Robert Fathauer, and Andrew Pike, who use very different methods to create their art.

Why?

"KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — A suicide bomber blew himself up in a large crowd gathered at a dog-fighting event just outside this city in southern Afghanistan, killing about 80 people and wounding more than 90 others in the country’s worst single bombing since 2001."

Hasn't there been enough violence already?

Sorry... things like this get to me.

The Foo Fighters at the Grammy's

As I talked about a few weeks ago, there was a competition to find a talented musician that would play with the Foo Fighters live at the Grammy Awards. Well, their concert was uploaded to Youtube on the 10th, and has since received over 17000 hits per day. During the concert, they announced the winner, who performed with the Foo Fighters in their song, "The Pretender." I was a little upset, though, that you could not hear the violinist who won, Ann Marie Calhoun, very well. Overall, however, it was a great performance. You can see the top 3 finalists, the 15 semifinalists, and all other little bits of information that you may have wondered about the competition. Congratulations to all the finalists and to Ann Marie.

Out of the Frying Pan...

"Echostorm writes with word that Windows Vista SP1, which began rolling out via Automatic Update, has left some users' machines unbootable."

*sigh* I was hoping for an easy fix that would make Vista a little bit more manageable... Apparently, numerous reports of computers looping between the "Configuring Updates" screen, the "shutting down" screen, and upon restarting your computer, the "Configuring Updates" screen again. This would get exceedingly frustrating especially since, so far, there has been no word from Microsoft on a fix for the bug. Apparently, there were hints of this problem in the service pack's beta, but it seems as though nothing has been done to fix the problem.

On a brighter note, as Microsoft hasn't released the updates to the general public, there may still be a fix before it gets sent to users like you via "Windows Update". The service pack waves a handful of updates at users, including faster copying times, full support for the latest 802.11 n wireless adapters, and faster update times. For a full list of updates, check their changelog. It makes one wonder if these differences will be noticeable, helpful, or enough to make Vista likable. For my sake, I hope they update their compatibility with nVidia graphics cards, because the ones right now make me want to cry.

"An end to Hollywood’s long and bitter writers’ strike appears all but assured, as the governing boards of the unions representing 12,000 movie and television writers on Sunday unanimously approved a tentative three-year deal with production companies."

As I sat today in a large comfy chair by a fire (its really cold today) I couldn't help wonder about what exactly is going on with the writer's strike. And, lo and behold, as I looked up at the TV, NBC was doing a special on it. Apparently, both sides of the argument were unsatisfied with the proposed 3 year contract, but, as several people quoted, that's what makes it such a good contract. Many writers as well as producers do not want to see the Grammy Awards pass by uneventfully: that would be very bad. In the end, I really hope that the strike comes to a close: I will be really upset if they start cutting back on LOST.

On another off-hand note, my latest vid is going a bit slowly... i have had preoccupations recently that have... stunted its production. However, as soon as I get the end credits finished, I just have to slap on some music and call it a day. I hope...

Digsby!

"IM, Email, and Social Networks in one easy to use application."

A friend of mine commented that she kept 18 AIM screen names alone (what a ridiculous idea). I, on the other hand, have 2, comprising of a single AIM account and another Gmail account. What would be great, though, would be a program that managed all of your contacts and email accounts. I have been toying with Pidgin for a while, and although I like it, it has a way of being annoying (like flashing every time you get an email). However, recently, I found a program (through a friend, who may in fact soon be a guest contributer to this blog) that allows you to manage your email, instant messaging, and social network accounts from one window. Its called Digsby, and it promises to be a huge step forward on the simplicity scale. Unlike previous instant messengers, it allows you to customize its appearance greatly by giving you various style options. It incorporates your Facebook or Myspace account and gives you news updates or new messages. It is also less intrusive: when you get a new message, it pops up as a mini chat box in the corner of your screen, where you can reply directly to a chat before going back to whatever it is you were doing. I really like it, and I can't wait until the public beta is released so I can see how popular it becomes. It is currently in private beta, but if you would like to try it out, ArsTechnica is offering 5,000 free registration keys. It is on a first-come first-serve basis, so I'd hurry up and click here to read their review of Digsby and get your own activation key.

Pangaea Day

"Pangea Day taps the power of film to strengthen tolerance and compassion while uniting millions of people to build a better future."

I love the fact that recently, more than ever, there have been efforts to make the world come together a little bit more, such as the Davos Question I talked about a few days ago. In "Pangea Day," which is held around the world live on March 10th (see their website for more details), videos from around the world will be displayed. Their idea around this is simply "if you could share one video with everyone in the world, what would it be?"

There are high hopes that this video will ease racial tension around the world as well as help to draw people farther away closer together. The videos will be shown around the world, either at special "Pangea Day" screenings, at public theaters and parks, or at private, invitation-only screenings.

Videos can still be submitted. As they put it:

"We're looking for films that will make us laugh, cry, and gasp. They can be fiction, non-fiction, real-life, animation, or your own unique mixture. But they should hold our attention for every second. And above all, they should tell a story that someone else on the other side of the world will be able to relate to."

I personally can't wait to see all the amazing videos that will stream in and be shown on the 10th. If you read this and post a video, leave a comment and let me know. They also have a trailer which I think is pretty amazing. Check it out on youtube.

Happy pangea day.

People like this skip math in highschool.

Wow. I got this video in an email recently and was amazed at the amazing and complicated mathematic equations that this man could compute in his head. He was able to square 3 digit numbers before a pane of people armed with calculators could finish typing the numbers in. But what makes this presentation unique is that he uses words in place of numbers to help him keep his thoughts together. If he gets to a large number, he simply replaces it with a word. I find it funny how people like him work like computers. Or maybe computers work like people like him...

Worth chartering a space shuttle for...

"If you’re out there in deep space, you’ll want to be tuning in at 7 p.m. Eastern time on Monday, Feb. 4 (plus however long it takes electromagnetic radiation to reach you from Earth doing the 186,000-miles-a-second speed limit)."

To start off, I'd like to say "Happy Birthday, NASA." Now, on with the story... also regarding NASA's birthday. Being the 50th anniversary of NASA's first shuttle launch, NASA will be using their huge system of antennas to beam the song "Across the Universe" by the Beatles into deep space. The beam, heading in the general direction of the North Star, or Polaris, is also being used to commemorate the antenna system it's being sent from: The Deep Space Network was created 45 years ago. It is also the 2nd outgoing signal sent from Earth, the first being sent in 1974. And as the NYT says, "No reply, at least so far."

It makes one wonder if there is, in fact, life out there. Many say that the universe, being what it is, should have some sort of life out there. Others, namely scientists, don't think so: they have found countless planet, few of which have even the slightest chance of hosting some sort of life. Even more say that the universe isn't the infinite realm of nothingness that we've imagined it: apparently, it is doughnut-shaped. Regardless, we may find that in a few hundred thousand years, we get a response. Until then, we shall wait.

And my next Youtube video is almost finished... media fans and iPod fans alike will enjoy this one.

Well said.

Very well put. Now, how do we do that?

The Davos Question, and information about it, can be seen here.

The general gist of it: If you had an idea on how to make the world a better place, and it could be viewed by some of the world's greatest thinkers, what would you say? The World Economic Forum invites these thinkers to talk about how the world could potentially be a better place, among other topics.

And of course, the results came flying in like lottery tickets. There were 121 videos posted on the channel "TheDavosQuestion" on youtube, and thousands more that weren't. Click here to see the channel "TheDavosQuestion."

It is also interesting to note the responses to some of the videos. While some critiqued the videos or praised them, others gave their own ideas. Users like higreentj commented that expanded communication through mediums such as widespread (or even national) wireless hotspots, could help the world, and its people, communicate easier. Another personal favorite of mine was a post from nigelhenry0. He says that sharing information of all sorts with everyone through all means, regardless of what the information is.

"Knowledge is power, [so] lets empower ourselves as global citizens by sharing the little bit we know."

I loved his response, as well as all the responses I read (except the racially ignorant ones that said that a white male supremacy would make the world a better place, to which I refuse to post links).

The videos have already been received, but look at Davos Conversation and WEForum to see the videos, their responses, and the results of the Word Economic Forum.

Sweeney's waiting...

"You'll be twisted, manipulated and repulsed, but always entertained. You might also find yourself uttering "God, That's Good."

At the request of my friends, I decided to finally buy a ticket and see the infamous "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street," who's title's length rivals that of "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan" directed by Tim Burton and starring (who else?) Johnny Depp. By this point, Johnny Depp's appearance in any of Tim Burton's movies is a forehead-slapping "duh," but he really did manage to surprise me by not just singing, but singing well. I was thoroughly impressed, seeing as he's never sang on screen before (and of course, his blistering billions of teenage girls now think he's dreamier then ever). There was also an appearance by Sacha Baron Cohen, a.k.a. Borat, who played a novice barber impersonating an Italian. Of course, he had a total movie time of about 5 minutes, as all minor characters are killed eventually in this movie. Which reminds me, I'd like to say a little about the movie's gore. If "Bambi" was a 1 and "The Passion of the Christ" were a 10, this movie would rank a solid 11, right up there with "Saw." The whole motion behind the story is that a barber, wrongly accused of some terrible crime, is sent away only to find that he has nothing to return to and wants revenge, so he goes on a throat-slitting spree. I lost count about halfway through the movie, but by then I'd already gotten to something obscene like 20 or something... What makes the movie even creepier is that sometimes you actually feel glad that this guy is killing some of these people. The movie goes pretty in-depth with background information, providing a nice hit list for "Mr. Todd" to slaughter. What makes it worse is that all these dead people are chopped, ground, and baked into pies, which people eat. Ew. I would not recommend this movie for people who hate blood or cannibalisms, especially that of the accidental sort. However, the plot was beautiful and the setting was very dark (even in this nice scene where everything is sunny and Sweeney is enjoying a nice picnic), but in a good way, thanks to the efforts of Mr. Burton. All in all, the amount of gore in the movie detracted somewhat from the overall experience.

Just a note, the soundtrack is beautiful.

Another note, the official DevTeam 1.1.3 jailbreak was released sometime over the past couple of days.

It was only a matter of time...

"Using this method you can update your 1.1.1/1.1.2 jailbroken iPod Touch to a 1.1.3 Jailbroken iPod Touch WITHOUT USING IBRICKR, with NO GLITCHES and ALL THE NEW APPLE APPLICATIONS AND FEATURES ENABLED."

Well, it took a full 3 days since the release of the iPod Touch's 1.1.3 firmware jailbreak, and already someone found out how to add all of apple's $20 apps and features. This has certantly been a busy week for the iPod Touch user. I must caution you, the method linked to above is by no means legal and by no means 100% safe, but if you have purchased the apps and want to have a jailbroken iPod Touch at the same time, this method certainly works. Personally, I'm getting tired of devoting so much blogspace to the iPod touch, so I hope this is the end of it...

Google and Youtube are now my heros.

Not to appear as though I have raging mood swings, but now to praise Google for telling me exactly where in the world people are visiting my blog from. The picture on the left is a link to their online analytical applications. Here's how things stack up so far:


41 hits from Pennsylvania (my state)
24 hits from West Virginia
4 hits from New York
1 hit from Maryland, Delaware, Florida, Ohio, Illinois, Wisconsin, Colorado, New Mexico, California, and Oregon.

I also find it funny to note that I have 2 hits from Canada, so I'm hoping that my blog is finally blossoming. In addition, my "iPod VNC Viewer video has had 12 hits so far today, and the "Hillbilly Power Windows" has a total of 32 hits in about 2 days... I think this calls for a
Rule of Sociology!
In my oppinion, the best way to get noticed in the world is to post a Youtube video with your name on it.

If you would like to see any of my youtube videos, just go to youtube and search "Bichiliad," or visit my youtube page at http://youtube.com/user/Pulse120.
Now that that's off my chest, I'd like to work on another video... I do pride myself in my knowledge on computers. Maybe something on listening to your entire music library anywhere for free...

Youtube first, then Apple after.

Very happy was I to complete this video, and even happier was I to find that I had no less than 6 views in the last 10 minutes... although they might be mine (hopefully not). Regardless, the video above is an exact copy of the one I made and uploaded to youtube... but I've been asking (read: begging) for an excuse to use Blogger.com's video upload tool. So, all ye good readers, please tell me what you think by posting a comment on this article, whether it be anonymous or not. Thank you all for watching, reading, and listening to everything I do. Now , onto bigger and better things...

So today in one of my classes, I decided to spend my time drafting up a new blog post, as I had some free time given to me while the rest of the class checked their papers... what a slacker I am. Regardless, after putting my pencil down, it read something like this:

"In regards to the never-ending Mac vs. PC argument, I am beginning to think... rather, I have been thinking for some time now that Mac has been violently beating itself to a bloody pulp with its latest hardware and software displays at its fancy "MacWorld" press release. The Macbook Air (I have been ranting a bit too much about it recently, haven't I?) was introduced and, within the week, became a complete waste of time the instant Toshiba announced its nearly-as-thin, faster, cheaper laptop with a replaceable battery. As for software, the announcement that iPhone apps would now be available on the iPod touch meant absolutely null, seeing as though 93.8% of everyone has (or can have) the same software for the great price of free thanks to jailbreak (which was released for 1.1.3 yesterday).

gasp

Anyways, on with my rant. What apple needs to keep them from eventually committing economic suicide at some point is to get some sort of peons, henchmen, or something similar. All apple currently has to speak of (as of now) is your typical chain of vendors, ranging from BestBuy to CompUSA. Then again, these chain stores all work for the "Crime Bosses" of technology, namely HP, Dell, Toshiba, Acer, Asus, CyberPowerPC, Gateway (sorry, Gateway no longer exists... its part of Acer), Alienware, Voodoo, eMachines, Compaq (owned by HP), and a whole myriad of other 3rd party "I- just -left -college -and -can -build -PCs -I -should -start -a -business" vendors. This makes it hard to find a place that sells Macs as violently as their own Apple stores (which apparently hire people, such as local actors, to come into their stores and gawk at their products). This lack of hardware designers leaves Apple in the dark, forcing them to think for themselves. This usually turns out nasty results, such as the eyesore "Macbook Air" (oh fine, it's not an eyesore. It does make for a very sexy laptop, but thats about it. And I promise to stop talking about it now). Regardless, if you had a huge amount of companies making hardware for your OS, you would be making far more money over a longer period of time. And besides, the average "what's a computer?" user doesn't care how simple "Mac OSX TIGER!" is if they end up paying an arm and a leg to get a computer that runs it."

Although Mac isn't bad, it has made some very bad marketing choices. And yes, so has Microsoft, but not as recently as Apple. So today, it was their turn to feel the full force of my billy club of cynicism. Some of you may ask, "Salem, you ignorant cud, who are you to judge Apple for their design choices? They probably made a lot of sense at the time." Well, I'm a consumer. Its my job.

Redneck Power Windows

I wanted to share a funny clip with you, but not because its funny. It is also my very first youtube video ever. Expect more to come: I'm working on a video to show you how to remotely access your desktop using your iPod Touch or iPhone.

Is HD-DVD soon to be gone for good?

"Over six thousand HD DVD supporters have signed an online petition urging Warner Home Entertainment to reconsider its decision to abandon the HD DVD format."

"I'm giving a very politically incorrect answer. I think the battle is over. I think Blu-ray has won."

This has me rather upset: last Christmas... no, I take that back. The Christmas before last Christmas, we were lucky enough to receive an HD-DVD player from an amazing cousin of ours. With the player came an offer to send us 6 free HD-DVD's with our order, which we took them up on (The DVD's came in about 4 months. But they were free, so i'm happy.) And now, I get an article that tells me that Warner, the company that started the whole HD "War" between the current two HD media disks: HD-DVD and Blu-Ray. Even Joseph Taylor, Executive Vice President of Panasonic's North American branch, made a very politically incorrect comment:

"I'm giving a very politically incorrect answer. I think the battle is over. I think Blu-ray has won."

Then again, Panasonic is the premiere Blu-Ray producer and developer, producing the first 100gb Blu-Ray Disk, which comprised of 4 25 gig layers (Panasonic was later smashed by Hitachi which created a 100gb disk without the need to buy a new Blu-Ray Player). But that's besides the point. The fact that they are removing the HD-DVD off the market makes me mad: HD-DVD started the whole "Hmm, maybe I can fit more data by tripple layering my disks" idea and has some really great features. Personally, I have nothing against Blu-Ray, and I think that it has a cool name, but for this brawl, I sided with HD-DVD (mainly because I'm scared of buying a Blu-Ray player... and my laptop reads HD-DVD's). So, I urge you to participate in an online petition called "Save HD-DVD!" There are quite a few people in the petition that have made personal promises to never buy from Warner again if they do in fact take the HD-DVD off the market. And yes, to be politically incorrect, I'll add a link to the counter-petition, "Let HD-DVD Die!" I wonder if these big-wig companies pay any attention to these petitions, or better yet, these blogs...

Apple's latest

"With the introduction of the MacBook Air, Mac users now have a three-pound laptop to call their own."

I've been feeling rather deprived recently, seeing as though I've been forcing good reviews of various CD's down the throats of my few but steadfast readers. So, I thought a bit of change is in order, and I have been brooding over the complete lack of thought (or the presence of LSD) that went into the designing of the new Macbook Air, announced at a press release by Steve Jobs himeslf (interesting to note, after this speech, Apple's stock suffered its largest keynote loss since 1998). Apple's only claim to fame with their new "thin-as-your-pencil" design is that the Air is thin: .76 inches at its largest, to be exact. However, this still doesn't beat any records: it was bested by a 1997 laptop (whoa, apple) called the Mitsubishi Pedion. In addition to this, Apple apparently threw out almost everything seen in a common laptop with, by their standards, questionable usefulness. So, it appears as though they've thrown out the optical drive as well as everything but one USB port. AND the laptop has no docking features, making it another one of Apple's famous one-trick ponies. The only good thing I've seen in this, if you could call it good, is that it has a decent, 35 watt-hour battery. However, the (quite clearly high) designers thought it would be easier to prevent users from replacing their laptop's batteries. So, like with their iPods and their iPhones, they made it impossible to get to the laptop's battery. Its not even for those Apple media junkies that have popped up over the last decade or so: the computer has 1 speaker to speak of (pardon the pun). So, with a full-featured laptop, containing 80 gigs of hard-drive space, 2 gigs of ram, one speaker, and a dual core processor, comes to $3,000. WHAT? Apple's pricetag, as always, leaves something to be desired. I'm not trying to rant again'st Apple, I'm just ranting against their new laptop thing (I mean, it can't call itself a laptop withouth a cd drive... *sigh*). At least it doesn't look as bad as the Powerbook Duo, which committed bloody suicide after struggling to push the same frontier as the Air.

In the same press release that brought the announcement of the Macbook Air came the announcements that several programs, originally iPhone only, would be released for the iPod Touch at an inconvenience of only $20. Although I hate to say it, many people already jailbroke their iPod Touches and have been running most these programs rather happily anyways, so releasing these addons serves no real purpose but to let people feel happy for paying Apple for legit Apple stuff.

(ranting is now over.)

Just a quick blog update, over to the right of the screen (this direction ===>>) I added a box that shows my twitter feed... read it if you get bored, because its where I post stuff when I get bored.

Oh, and my appologies for the huge picture at the top of this post... it was the best one I could find, so cut me some slack, ok?

CD Review: Wincing the Night Away

For a few weeks now I've promised that I'd review the Shins album I've been listening to (called Wincing the Night Away, as I hope you've gathered from this post's title) and I must say its an amazing album. Really, I had a great time listening to this album... and I don't know what it is, but this album seems to have depth, something that a lot of modern artists lack. The CD takes you places (although it seems to talk a lot about the ocean, including songs like 'sea legs' and 'girl sailor') and the singer's voice is enticing, so its fun to listen to this album (unlike artists like Amon Tobin, which can be compared to taking medicine: its good for you, but its not always easy). The music itself is light and airy... almost like what the Beatles would sound like in this day and age. I highly recommend this album to people who liked Death Cab for Cutie, or just like alternative music. It is very easy to like, as it is very unique.

Oh, I got a haircut. Not sure if I like it yet, but its nice. In addition, Cute with Chris has rather grown on me... I've found myself flipping through his videos.

One last thing: Last.fm isn't letting me embed audioclips anymore, so if you want to hear them you'll have to go to www.last.fm yourself. My two favorites have to be 'Split Needles' and 'Sea Legs'.

The Foo Fighters want YOU!

"Be one of the top 20 that plays with the Foo Fighters onstage at the Grammys February 10th in Los Angeles"

It seems as though the Grammy-nominated band "Foo Fighters" is in need of an orchestra to accompany them for their Grammy performance of "The Pretender" (which has a pretty interesting music video, might I add). As soon as I heard about this I thought I should post it: after all, the deadline is the 20th. There are already tons of people who have uploaded videos of themselves playing cello (my favorite), trumpet, violin, and a whole myriad of other instruments. So please, if you think this would be cool, upload a video of yourself playing this song, if just for the constructive (or destructive) criticism. Oh, and post a link to your vid via a comment.

Chris recites T-Pain

Gorillaz have a new album: D-Sides

"The long wait for a new Gorillaz release is over: D-Sides is officially out now! The 2-disc set of rarities, unreleased tracks and remixes is full of amazing goodies..."

Gorillaz – 68 State
Gorillaz – Feel Good Inc (Stanton Warriors Remix)
Gorillaz – We Are Happy Landfill

Although its name is entirely unoriginal (one of their previous albums was titled "G-Sides"), the album's content is anything but. Gorillaz, specializing in a neat crossbreed of alternative, dance, and punk. It has been interesting following their success over the years: they are now listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the most successful animated band ever (although, as far as I know, they are the only animated band that is actually largely known), giving them some pretty sweet music videos. This new addition to an ever-growing library of Gorillaz music has thrown in not one, but two CD's. One is comprised of original music, and another is crammed full of remixes of their previous album, Demon Days. They also casually sneak in some recycled music in their "original cd" (the song "People" sounds strangely like the song "Dare" from Demon Days." Some of my favorites right now is their new acoustic-only "68-State," their "Feel Good Inc [Stanton Warrior's Remix]," and "We Are Happy Landfill" (click the links for Youtube vids containing the full songs). Yes, the names are awkward, but it reflects their different music (which, if you are adventurous, is worth a taste). In that sense, their music is very different, almost to the point of pain, so to speak. I wouldn't recommend it to people who aren't used to different music... try some more casual alternative music like "Death Cab for Cutie" or "The Shins" (who's new album, "Wincing the Night Away" I will be taking a look at). I am still chewing my way through their rather large installment of music, which is keeping me pretty happy for now. Personally, I still like "Demon Days" for their more natural music, but D-Sides is definitely helping broaden my musical palate.

JibJabbing

In 2007 | Funny Jokes at JibJab

After seeing all of the great politically incorrect videos on Jibjab.com, I couldn't not post any of their pitch-black humor. Although its not something I'd show to little kids, its great to check out if you get bored or have a lot of time to kill. And besides, it helps all those poor people out there who forget to watch/read the news because their heads are grafted to their computer monitors. Speaking of killing time, I've been killing time and having a great time doing it by listening to a variety of new music I've received over the holidays, from "Wincing the Night Away" by the Shins, "D-Sides" by the Gorillaz, and "Reset EP" by Mutemath... you all can expect lengthy reviews soon. For now, here's some Last.fm clips to wet your appeties.
Mute Math – Typical (Album Version)
The Shins – Sleeping Lessons
The Shins – Black Wave
Gorillaz – 68 State

P.S. Lifehacker has posted a nice "top 20 iPod Touch apps," one of which is a nice Mobile Scrobbling program that lets you "scrobble" as well as listen to your favorite Last.fm radio stations... there's a whole bunch of other amazing apps for you if you're interested.

Jailbreaking the iPod Touch

It's a snap to enable third party applications on your iPhone or iPod Touch running the 1.1.1 firmware
Ahh... had a nice long break the past week or so, and it feels good to be blogging again. Now then: for Christmas, I received the highly-anticipated and well-publicized iPod Touch and was amazed with Apple's ability to make such a simple, yet successful one trick pony. Thats right: although its great to have a portable device that serves as a diluted laptop, it comes nowhere near the usefulness of, say, an ultra-portable computer. In my opinion, Apple has taken a large step backwards by taking out its ever-popular "disk mode" feature and not including any games (I had become quite fond of playing Parachute). On a plus, it includes a decent web browser that allows you to play media online with its built in Quicktime plugin. Although this does get annoying (downloading any sort of file becomes somewhat impossible) it also has its pros: There are a wide assortment of online apps for the iPod Touch and iPhone alike. Lastly, Apple seems rather impressed with itself for including a native Youtube application, letting all those Youtube-inhaling addicts out there watch their vids whenever they are inside a nice, unsecure Wifi hotspot, which are becoming more and more available these days. All this said, the iPod Touch is pretty handy (it also plays your music and video rather nicely, and as Apple has loved showing everyone, it has Coverflow on it as well), but it does leave something to be desired. So, I did what a huge majority of iPod Touch owners did and "Jailbroke" mine a day or two after receiving it.

Jailbreaking is not as evil as it sounds: on the contrary, it is quite benign and easy to install. It is a simple and small TIFF exploit that is used to install iPhone applications onto your iPod Touch (For all you interested in seeing its code, check it out here, kindly dug up by my good friend Alex). Its only requirement is that you are running its 1.1.1 firmware. To check, simply hit "settings" or "preferences" on your iPod's screen and then tap "general." After that, jut hit "about" to display all of your iPod's technical specs. If your iPod reads something like "1.1.1 (xxxxx)" across from "Version" then you're set. HOWEVER, don't attempt to jailbreak your iPod if you're using 1.1.2 or have somehow found a copy of 1.1.3 which has only been rumored about. Sadly, as of now, there has not been a way to "jailbreak" these editions, but keep reading if you want to find out how to downgrade your iPod to version 1.1.1. Now then, installing the exploit is incredibly simple: you don't even need a computer to do any of this (unlike the notorious iPod linux that so many installed on their older iPods). Simply go to jailbreakme.com on your iPod's internet browser (yes, it's called Safari, and yes, you should know that) and scroll down to "Install AppSnapp." Thats it. Thats all you have to do. It may take a few minutes, but Safari should close out and you should see installation progress on your iPod's screen. After the installation, you should notice a new icon on your desktop that reads "installer." This is the first application you receive after installing the exploit and it is the "holy graile" of 3rd party applications. Simply start it up, and it will spew out a huge list of applications for you to install on your iPod (neatly organised, of course). Installing an app is simple: click the app and then hit "install" in the upper right hand corner of the screen. It will ask for a confirmation, show you a "downloading" and "installing" bar, and then take you back to the Installer home page. Its that simple. After closing installer, you will be prompted to unlock your iPod and, if you have one, enter a password. And thats it. Thats how easy it is to get 3rd party apps. If you want recommendations, check this site out for their list of the top 10 third party iPod touch apps.

Downgrading your iPod is rather simple... even jailbreakme.com is willing to tell you how (along with innumerable other websites). To do this, you must restore your iPod, though, so make sure you have all your music in a safe spot. First things first: download 1.1.1 from apple's website. Then hook up your iPod to your computer, go to the iPod screen on iTunes, hold down shift (or option on a mac) and hit Restore. A window will pop up and ask you for a file from which to restore your iPod: simply go to the 1.1.1 file you downloaded before and click ok. Its that easy... your iPod will then be installed with the 1.1.1 firmware and your iPod is free to jailbreak. Now, as with anything and everything, this may not work 100% of the time, so don't get .frustrated if it doesn't work. Just try it again and everything should be smooth sailing.