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.