Nubs say the darndest things!

It’s been a while and things are building up.  Heck, many of them have built up and long since escaped me.  This time, it’s TV…

#1. Stargate Universe

Before it came out, I was heavily against it.  I was upset that they’d cancelled Atlantis, which was possibly one of the best sci-fi shows in a long time.  In the end though, I was willing to give it a chance.  There’s too little good sci-fi on TV to not give it that much.

Sadly, I was right in the first place.  This iteration of the franchise has been retooled (good word, vaguely implies the creators are tools) to appeal to an audience it’s not supposed to appeal to.  Who’s that?  Well, they’re going after the younger demographic and I think they’re trying to pull in more chicks as well.  Sad.

In the end, what did we get?  Well, it’s a show based on a space ship.  One that can’t be controlled by our cast and is usually out of something (power, water, ideas, plots, etc).  Most of the characters are boring sacks of skin who are more interested in the petty concept that they can’t get back home rather than the life that is in front of them, or the million year old ship that surrounds them.  Rush (played by Robert Carlyle) is the only truly interesting character. 

We’ve got a replacement character for David MacKay from Atlantis in Eli Wallace (played by David Blue).  He comes off more as a “Seth Rogen in space” but without the fun.  He also can’t really seem to figure much of anything.  Instead, he’s constantly hanging around with the shipboard slut, Chloe Armstrong.  There’s some major crushing going on there.  Occasionally he’s thinking about her, while she’s off somewhere else in the ship fucking some guy in a closet.  It’s kinda sad.  According to Wikipedia, he’s supposed to be “Matt Damon’s character from Good Will Hunting with a little Jack Black thrown in.”  Except that those characters get the girl.

Which sort of brings me to the indiscriminate love scenes that are peppered around various episodes.  No rhyme or reason, no relevance to the plot.. they just pop up occasionally for no apparent reason.  They’re not particularly hot either.

Add all of this together with the fact that they rarely turn the lights on, the cameraman is the same noob they had for BSG who can’t seem to hold the camera still and that we’re 9 episodes in now and haven’t met (or even heard a passing mention of) a single alien or race – and what have you got?  Well, not much.  Stargate Universe.  Congrats, you’ve escaped science fiction and now you’re left with… just fiction.

I wish that the creators of the show and the people at SyFy would just come to grips with their lot in life and accept it.  You can’t have a sci-fi show with the numbers of Gossip Girl.  You’re a specialty channel.  That means specializing, not generalizing.  If you want to make boring, tedious soapy teen melodrama – GO WORK SOMEWHERE ELSE.

PS. Lou Diamond Phillips – you were much more likable at the tables of the World Series of Poker than you are on this show.

#2. Defying Gravity

Sadly, this show has been cancelled.  It was great though, trust me.  And Peter from Office Space made a good “guy-in-charge” spaceman.  It’s funny, because before the show came out, someone called it “Greys Anatomy in Space” (presumably because the creators worked on that show, and they said this was a character drama that just happened to be set in space).  In the end though, this show was 10x more sci-fi in it’s first 9 episodes than SGU has managed.  The acting was stellar, the effects were great and it wasn’t boring.

#3. Eastwick

Also cancelled.  Yet, the show airing before it, the truly sub-par Cougars with Courtney Cox was picked up.  Eastwick was an excellent TV adaptation of the movie/book and the acting was great.  The three actresses they picked for the women were stellar in the roles (including Rebecca Romjin) and Paul Gross was intriguing as Darryl Van Horne.  Gross didn’t ham it up too much, and wasn’t over the top given the previous iteration portrayed by (the always over-the-top) Jack Nicholson.

#4. Dollhouse

Cancelled.  I didn’t watch it, but given the large body of truly pedestrian crap that Joss Whedon has bestowed upon us in the past, I’m not surprised.  Frankly, the only surprising thing is that it lasted into a second season.  I’ll never forgive him for that hot mess he called Buffy the TV series, nor the truly ghastly script he wrote for Alien 4 that pretty much put the final nail the franchise’s proverbial coffin.

#5. Fringe

This is getting to be the best sci-fi that TV has to offer, at least, until JJ Abrams other vehicle, Lost, pulls into the lot.  It meanders a bit here and there, but overall the script quality is high, the acting and effects are good.  Did I mention it has Spock?  Sorry – yeah, it’s got Spock!  He lives in another dimension, but that doesn’t diminish the coolness.  Watch this show.

#6. Sanctuary

For a show done on a shoestring budget with all virtual sets, they’re not doing bad at all.  Some of the things they’ve done seemed a bit odd, but in the end, most worked out well.  They killed off a major character in S2, a good one too – I’m still up in the air about that one.  It was abrupt and seemingly pointless.  Overall, it’s a great little show.  Kudos, Amanda Tapping.

#7. South Park

Up to season what, 45?  Still funny, still irreverent and relevant.  Amazing.

So, first the first time in my history of going to Polaris, I actually felt the need to see the guests on-stage (and beyond..).  I missed both Michelle Forbes and Claudia Black, but luckily they were lower on my priority list.

I did see David Hewlett (Rodney McKay, SGA), David Nykl (Dr. Radek Zalenka, SGA), Michael Hogan (Col. Saul Tigh, BSG) and Matt Frewer (Max Headroom). 

Since day one, Rodney McKay was my favorite character on Atlantis, so it was great to see him in person.  Before his appearance, I had him autograph the box on my McKay action figure.  He’s very friendly and amusing in person, and he pointed out that I was lucky and didn’t get one of the figures that made him look like he’d just eaten a blueberry pie.  What I found most interesting though, was the minimal divide between his character and his actual personality.  Many times you see a character on a show (at least I do) and think to yourself that the person is cool and would be interesting to meet – then you realize it’s just a character and the actual actor/actress is probably very little like the character they play.  After his on-stage appearance, I realized that this is most definitely NOT the case for David Hewlett – which is very cool.

David Nykl, who basically played McKay’s sidekick on the show was on right after Hewlett, and I guess it was decided by all at some point that the two should be on-stage together for at least half of each others time.  This made for some great back-and-forth banter, the best I’ve ever seen at a con.

Before we went, I’d mused to some friends that I’d hoped that David’s sister Kate would be there as well (she lives in Toronto, so.. why not?).  There had been no announcements (even internally) that she would be present, so it was pretty much a pipedream.  For those of you who don’t know, she was a guest star on Atlantis, playing Rodney McKay’s sister, Jeannie Miller.  The chemistry between the two was of course excellent, and what you’d expect from a real life brother/sister playing the same on-screen.

As luck would have it, she was there.  She lined up in the question line before going on-stage and I recognized her the second she got into line.  After asking her question about who the best actor was, she joined her brother and Nykl on stage for the rest of the time.  It was a hilarious, insightful two hours and it flew by before we even knew what happened.

Afterwards, Kate signed autographs.  Here’s one of the pics I snapped while waiting in line.

Seeing Matt Frewer was awesome too, since I’ve always been a fan.  It was also a rare opportunity, as this is the first time Matt has ever done a con.  Hilariously, his demeanor and mode of speech is very similar to some on-screen personas, such as his character Berlingoff Rasmussen in the ST:TNG episode, “A Matter Of Time”.  He also had many insights into the Max Headroom TV show, and the reasons for it’s cancellation.  Apparently, in their quest to be groundbreaking, they also burned many bridges.  Specifically, during the run of the show, they made frequent fun of network television personalities (newscasters in particular) who didn’t appreciate it much, and had friends in high places.  Really cool guy though.

The final appearance was Michael Hogan, who played Saul Tigh on the re-imagined Galactica series.  As anyone who knows me can attest, I wasn’t the biggest fan of the new series.  While I appreciated the fine acting that many of the cast members put forth (especially Hogan) it was still too grim a re-imagining of a light, fluffy staple of my childhood television diet.  His chat was great, and he covered much of his history on television and in movies (which is substantial to say the least).  You could tell he loved his character as he’d occasionally blurt out “Frakkin’ Toasters!” in that oh-so-Tigh way.

After all the festivities were over was when the coolest part happened though.  I was outside the front of the hotel having a smoke, and when I turned around, I was face to face with Michael Hogan.  He introduced himself and we chatted over a couple of smokes.  Awesome guy, and so incredibly down to earth that I’m still blown away.  When I mentioned how rare it was for celebrity guests to hang out with the fans, he was shocked.  He basically said he assumed all of the celebrities did that, as it was the best part of the fan circuit (he just started doing these a while ago).  He actually couldn’t figure out why the other celebrities would hide from the fans. 

Frankly, for the most part, neither can I.  I mean, if they’re anti-social,  I can understand.  But most aren’t, and sci-fi fans, generally are among the meekest fans of anything.  Anyway, cool experience… shame I was driving, or I would’ve headed back to the bar and bought him a drink or twelve.

The other thing that made Polaris 23 the best one I’ve been to was the location.  They finally put it in an easily-accessible location.  Until now, the show has always been held at airport hotels with their minimal, painful and overpriced parking and limited transit access.  This year it was held at the Sheraton at Leslie & Hwy 7, which had plenty of free parking and was easy to get to by transit for those who needed it.

Very amusing!  Read about it here on Ars Technica.  Google is basically planning a slimmed-down OS that boots right into Chrome.  Sounds good for a simple device.  Chrome is a great browser*, I use it everywhere.

As per usual, the comments are where the story is most interesting.  There seems to be a divide between people who think this is a great idea, the next big thing, etc and those who are taking a more rational viewpoint.  “ZOMG!  MICRO$OFT IS DEAD NOW!”  Yeah, okay.  Heard that one before, where’s the moron that said it last time?  Hiding, I’m sure.

I don’t think it’ll be the next ‘big thing’, but I’m sure it’ll find itself a place in the ecosystem.  A computing platform that only browses the web still has it’s place.  For example, I can’t wait for the CrunchPad.  Sleek, sexy and functional… I’ll buy one the first day I can.

Interestingly, the comments also went in another direction: netbooks.  The usual array of completely uninformed comments are present as well.  Most notably the “netbooks are slow” argument.  This is simply untrue.  They boot quickly, they run Office and browser tasks quite decently.  No delays running applications, nor are the apps themselves slow.  Some things need to be experienced before one can render a valid opinion on them (unlike say… oh, I dunno… any Apple product).

My final post on the comments was that we already have PC’s equivalent to what Google is proposing.  They’re called netbooks with Linux on them.  Boot up, go into Firefox, tada… just ignore the OS and everything that comes with it.  It’s not like you paid anything for it.

It should be noted the number of people that believe that everything will ‘shift to the cloud’ is relatively low.  Many more vehemently state the complete opposite.  I think the truth lies somewhere in the middle.  Some applications will lend themselves to a web-only paradigm whereas many will not. 

A couple of commenters also pointed out the perfectly rational fear of leaving your data on a server located god-knows-where rather than on your own PC.  With the recent and rather lengthy outages, I think the last couple of months have clearly demonstrated why you don’t want your data and apps hosted by Google.  You may not be able to get to them when you need them.  This doesn’t just go for Google either, it goes for any web-based application.  Any poorly hosted app is vulnerable… for example, the app may be hosted by amateurs -- and you won’t know to be wary until it’s down.

* My only gripes about Chrome are the same as those for IE and Opera – memory and CPU usage.  Figure this out guys.  There shouldn’t be a reason why having 6 tabs open causes 250MB of memory usage.  CPU time... if I’m not looking at the tab, please suspend it.  Don’t let it continue running slow, bloated JavaScript feces in the background.

Since you haven’t been reading this blog for a while, I’ve got some updates for ya.

I’ve been watching the original Twilight Zone again.  I’d forgotten what an awesomely well-written show it was, and how effectively it could deliver thought-provoking stories with a minimal budget.  There is just something about those old episodes..  in any case, I found this great list of the top 10 TZ episodes.

I don’t know if you’ve noticed lately, but the soft drink companies (Coca Cola primarily, and Pepsi to a lesser extent) have been gouging the market bigtime.  2 liter bottles of pop are up to $2.29 in most Canadian stores, and even at Costco, where a 30 pack could be had for $8.99 at this time last year, the price is now $10.49 for Pepsi and $11.99 for Coke products.  Ridiculous.  Coca Cola blames the price hike on their bottlers, whom they should just fire and bottle their own product.  Unsurprisingly, Cott shares are surging on better than ever sales figures.  Gee, I wonder why… maybe because a 2L bottle of Cott Cola is $0.99.  Get with the program Coke – unlike Apple, I don’t think you’ll be able to conjure up enough of an RDF to keep the #1 spot forever.  Especially when your product is 100% more expensive than it should be.

A report from the Ontario Public School Boards Association shows that students who are subjected to pen and paper exercises instead of computer-based learning are tuning out.  I’m so shocked.  Wait, I’m not, that was sarcasm.  When I was in school, I too tuned out due to the lack of technology, and that was years before the Internet.  "Many students feel that when they come into school they have to 'power down' to fit into an environment that offers fewer options for learning than are available in the life they live outside of the school. This can erode students' perceptions of the relevance of education as they experience it in many schools today." That describes exactly how I felt, and why I didn’t bother going.

The Arctic icecap is twice is thick as had been assumed by environmental nutjobs.  Remember, I’m basically an environmentalist, I’m just sick and tired of people exaggerating, putting forth assumptions as fact, etc.

In order to counter the bewildering success of the Wii, and the upcoming release of motion-sensitive controllers by Sony, Microsoft will be releasing a sensor bar of sorts soon for the 360.  Unlike the Wii however, the technology won’t rely on woefully inaccurate and infuriating Piimotes, but rather three cameras that capture real human motion.  Apparently, from those who’ve seen the technology from 3DV that it’s based on (not just this article) the technology works perfectly and exactly as one would imagine it ideally should.  Hopefully Microsofts developers (developers, developers) can come up with some games that not only demonstrate the technology effectively, but are also fun to play (unlike ALL games for Wii).

Oracle bought Sun.  Many people I know told me they wanted Sun for the server hardware, so that Oracle could be an integrated company from end-to-end.  I never understood that reasoning, since as we all know, hardware isn’t a big money maker (unless you can trick people into paying a tax for the privilege of buying your products) – but software sure is, and Oracle is after all, a software company.  Except of course that Oracle’s initial offer for Sun was solely for the software assets (primarily Java, but Solaris as well) and the only reason it turned into a complete buyout was because Sun wasn’t willing to piece out the company.

Netbooks are burning up the sales charts.  Not at all surprising if you think about it.  If you ever were in the market for a laptop before, and you wanted something small and light, yet capable… you were in for a shock.  The ultra-portable notebooks were all $2000+ and of course, unless you’re travelling for business – all the time – there was no way any sane person could justify the expense.  Netbooks blend the best of both worlds.  Small form factor, decent battery life and low cost.  My wife has an Acer AspireOne, as does my boss and they both love them for different reasons.  But for web surfing, word processing, spreadsheets, email, etc – it’s a perfect product.  The thing I found most fascinating is that Acer has really pwned the market with the AspireOne (30% of the netbook market, which is now 20% of the overall notebook market).  It’s odd, since ASUS was first to market with them, and I know people who have non-ASUS netbooks and still refer to them as Eee PCs.

The Intel Atom processor is at the heart of all of these netbooks, and it’s a surprisingly capable little chip.  An Atom based machine doesn’t feel sluggish, in fact it’s rather fast, at least in XP.  I’m currently building embedded PC’s for the company I work for, and we’re putting together machines with 1GB of RAM, 4GB of Flash, a custom-made case, power supply and Windows Embedded Standard (XPe 2009) for under $225CDN per unit.

Another great story about Windows 7, and how Apple will respond to it.  Particularly how the new taskbar puts the OSX dock to shame.  Very interesting.  Also amusing is the lineup of retarded Mac fanboys in the comments thread.  Another group of fanatical loony-tunes who value form over function, and wouldn’t know anything about UI design if it were a living, toothy entity that could physically bite them in the ass.  Got Douchebag? 

A great article about being a critical person, and why you don’t have to self-flagellate, but instead can revel in your criticism.  To me, people who criticize nothing are non-people.  Whether they’re simply too simple-minded to formulate opinions, or are haplessly extroverted to the point where they ponder nothing… it’s still a non-person thing in my view.  He talks for a small bit about how he feels Steve Jobs is a prime example of the critical personality type, and how he’s managed to parlay it into huge success.  I agree to certain extent that is the case, although just as with Bill Gates, a large dollop of PFL* sure helped.

The MagUnSafe power adapter, which up until now served no function – finally is serving a function!  As a target for a class action lawsuit against the incompetent ‘computer’ manufacturer.  I always found this product hilarious.  Anyone so stupid that they’d trip over the power cord for their laptop is… oh wait, an Apple user for sure.  I forgot.  My bad. 

Two of the top three smartphones sold in Q1 ‘09 are Blackberries (and that would include the #1 spot, by the way).  PS – if you’re Canadian, you should own a Blackberry and not that other lame smartphone imitator from the US (the #2 phone, BTW).

Linksys has discontinued their line of Media Center Extender products.  Not shocking, since I know of almost nobody who has one.  Considering; the cost of these devices, the fact that the Xbox 360 includes this functionality, limited advertising to educate the public on what they can do and truly pathetic user interfaces it is entirely unsurprising that they’ve made this move.  Sadly, many of the people who’ve tried these products have found that the video stutters (a lot).  This is of course due to the fact that the devices are specced out with hype.  Almost every one includes wireless support.  This is the root of the problem.  Wireless just doesn’t work.  After having done several site surveys with advanced WiFi spectrum analyzers, the amazing thing about WiFi is that it works anywhere at all.  The spectrum is so jumbled up with crappy cordless phones, poorly made WiFi devices that clutter up the spectrum and cellphones constantly looking for open networks that it’s almost impossible for it to reach it’s potential.  Standard a/b/g is insufficient for any video, and n is barely capable of SD.  What Linksys and other companies SHOULD HAVE DONE was to omit the wireless feature and tell people they have to run a cable.  Nothing wrong with that.  Too lazy to do it?  Oh well, watch your crappy cable television or sit in front of your computer.  You ain’t streaming HD over wireless, not for some time to come.

I’m sure you’ve heard of the case of the RIAA vs Tenenbaum.  A poor guy who just wanted some music, and who is now facing the wrath of an industry drowning in its own shortsightedness.  Luckily, to the rescue comes Harvard Law professor Charles Nesson.  He is about to argue that file-sharing is covered by Fair Use.  To my (and most Canadian legal experts) understanding of the concept as long as you are copying for noncommercial reasons, it is fair use.  From what I gather, things aren’t as clean-cut in the US and fair use does not extend this far.  Hopefully his argument holds water, as I firmly believe that sharing for noncommercial purposes is fair and always has been.  More details here.

And one last thing, a public service announcement if you will.  I’m tired of people who bandy about figures based on completely bogus data, scientific or in this case, marketing wise.  Two numbers I take serious issue with…

1. PC market share based on number of units shipped.  These numbers are always held against how many units Dell, HP, Acer, etc shipped.  The problem is that there are a great many computers being shipped from companies that aren’t tracked by the companies who compile these numbers.  A great many are put together by distributors, local computer shops, buddies who ‘know about computers’, tier 2/3 vendors etc.

2. The prolificity of a platform based on web browser responses.  For example, these constant ridiculous stories I read about how XX% of mobile web traffic comes from iPhones due to the Safari tag.  It’s no biggie to report the information, but they’ll go on to say that Blackberry users only account for 1/4 of that amount of traffic.  I don’t buy this, and the reason I don’t buy it is simple; if you leave the browser ID on your Blackberry set to “Blackberry” you end up getting saddled with WAP versions of sites where there is limited content at best, and the site looks like shit.  I set my BB to respond with “Internet Explorer” so that I don’t get a crappy web experience.  The BB has no problem displaying 99% of the websites I’ve visited in their full form.  As a result, I’ll bet that a majority of BB users are responding as IE when in fact they are not.  iPhone users don’t have to do this, because websites don’t seem to feel the need to saddle them with a subpar web experience for no reason whatsoever.

My fingers hurt.  I’ll be writing sometime later this week about my experiences with PHP and C#.

* Pure Fucking Luck

... you unthinking, mindless Apple automatons.  Check out this tidbit.  It's about an interview with Steve Ballmer in which, according to the poorly written article, he "predictably calls Macs too expensive".  Predictably?  Really?  REALLY?  Sad, sad Ars Technica, run by the Mactard elite..  I do believe the word you were searching for was "correctly".

Echoing the sentiments of anyone with an IQ over 75, Ballmer says "Paying an extra $500 for a computer in this environment—same piece of hardware—paying $500 more to get a logo on it? I think that's a more challenging proposition for the average person than it used to be".  Indeed!

Hilariously though, the author of the Apple-sponsored piece erroneously states at the bottom of the article "That still doesn't take into account the fact that Macs are not "the same piece of hardware," despite being architecturally similar."  Sorry, dude, it's the same fucking hardware.  There is a reason why a company like Psystar can so easily sell "Mac clones" -- they aren't clones, it is exactly the same hardware.  You just aren't paying $500 extra for a useless logo.

I'd go into the comments, but I'm sure you've all heard Mactards drone on and on, demonstrating their sheer ignorance.  Amusingly, many of them launch into tirades and call Ballmer a moron, an idiot, a fat bastard (I particularly enjoyed this one, seems just so appropriate coming from a Mactard).  They also reiterate many common misconceptions, stating that by using OS X they're immune to viruses and exploits.  In reality, OS X and Safari are merely a giant block of Swiss cheese from a security perspective.  Which browser/OS fell first during the recent Pwn2Own competition (in seconds, nonetheless)?  Yep.  Safari running on OS X.

It's funny.  The more I hear from these people, the it would seem that Mactards are the computer equivalent of people who love Bose audio products (Bose-o's).  It's well-known in the audiophile community that Bose products are overpriced, underperforming pieces of trash.  But people think because they're paying $3500 for something that's worth $400 at best that they're getting value.  And Bose markets in a very similar style to Apple, it's how they got to where they are today.  It's substandard equipment that looks really slick, and is marketed almost exclusively from a 'lifestyle' point-of-view.  Many of their products even have that word as part of their name. 

On various forums, even when faced with overwhelming criticism about their choice, they'll defend Bose to their dying breath (or at least, their dying keystroke before their forum account is deleted).  Just like Apple users.  Bose wasn't always as bad as it is today, and they do have a couple of great products.  But you won't see them pushing them, and you won't see them in Bose stores.  The Bose 901 series loudspeaker, introduced in the late 60's, is a piece of art and sounds great.  They still sell it today, if you can find it.

Oddly, Ars doesn't get everything wrong.  For example, check out this article, entitled "Wii Play becomes first bad game to sell 10 million".  Although, I suppose this could be attributed to the fact that the Wii is not an Apple product, in which case they'd no doubt have at least 5,000 words on why it is great because it is bad.

... by the ever-increasing inability of Mac zealots to comprehend basic concepts.  A classic case in point from The Pre-Eminent Mac Zealotry site on the 'net, this article.  In it, they discuss the reasons why Apple may or may not release a netbook.

The reasons they describe about why Apple is about to release a netbook make perfect sense.  On the other hand, their arguments on "why we'll never see an Apple-branded netbook" are complete and utter nonsense.  I've known schizophrenics and Alzheimers patients who have a firmer grasp on reality.

First they start off with "Apple doesn't compete in the cheap crap market".  Really?  What the fuck is the iPod Shuffle?  You'd have to be a complete fucking imbecile to buy a shuffle, when there are mp3 players for $20 that outperform it in every conceivable way. 

Next up, they state "As we explained in January, the iPhone and iPod touch may already fill the space that would be occupied by an Apple netbook."  This only serves to demonstrate that either Ars Technica are the worst kind of Apple zealots or that they have zero understanding of why netbooks are appealing.

They seem to be under the impression that low cost is the only appealing factor of a netbook.  While a low price certainly does go a long way towards encouraging adoption, the form factor is at least equally appealing, if not moreso.  A small, easily portable computer with great battery life that doesn't cost much.  Sounds good.

"The iPhone is a highly mobile device that lets you stay connected on the go, offering news, e-mail, the Web, and digital media, much like most netbooks."

Actually, netbooks offer something much more than these items: utility.  You can do all of those things, and you can also do word processing, spreadsheets, etc -- the mainstay of most PC users.  You can't do that on an iWhatever.  The screen is too small, and on-screen keyboards suck, period.  Why would you want to waste any sizable percentage of your screen real estate (especially on such a small device) on a keyboard that should be separate?  Only a mindless Apple zealot is capable of the high degree of self-delusion required to think otherwise.

CNet also has a similar article.  In this article, they claim that the new netbook will be a touch-screen device with no keyboard.  Really?  So they've decided people don't need to type anymore?  What next, we don't need a display either?  Teh OS will be so advanced it'll just know what we want done and do it without us having to know about it?

One of the comments sums it up best, "When I type, I always hold my keyboard in front of my monitor in order to hide half my screen with it. It's how I like my clean usable UI that make my computing experience such a charm; only using half what I can for twice the price."

I do however find it gratifying to occasionally find Apple users who are more level-headed (I actually met one recently!), "I won't buy it if it doesn't have a keyboard. Typing on my iPhone is torture enough for me. (It probably won't have cut and paste, either! :-) I'm very happy with my MacBook Air, although I admit they are over-priced." 

And finally... "No, they won't do copy/paste.  They'll do iCut and iPaste. It's where you personally switch back and forth between the two pages and write the information down yourself."

PS - typing long messages on a Blackberry is slightly better, but not much. 

NDP Leader Jack Layton: "We have a new coalition now on Parliament Hill: It's a coalition between Mr. Harper and Mr. Ignatieff ... Today we have learned that you can't trust Mr. Ignatieff to oppose Mr. Harper. If you oppose Mr. Harper and you want a new government, I urge you to support the NDP."

LONG LIVE THE COALITION!  Poor sad Jack Layton.  We don't want a new government.  NOBODY DID.  What we wanted was a FUNCTIONING government, which is what we now appear to have.

He never understood, never had the foresight to see just a little into the future.  He must suck at chess.  The coalition was a threat, a fantasy from inception.  There is no way a coalition government with Stephane Dion at the helm would have ever taken power in this country.  Just wasn't going to happen.  Given the outcome of most polls (the AG would have to take popular opinion into account when deciding on a coalition vs. election) the result would've been an election.  With Dion at the helm, the Liberals would've been decimated and there wouldn't be enough of anyone left for a coalition government.

Enter Michael Ignatieff, who for the sake of the Liberal party is much smarter than his predecessor.  Knowing that popular opinion was against the coalition he made the right decision -- to wait and see what the budget held before arbitrarily torpedoing it.  Layton didn't care what was in it -- it wasn't a matter of confidence, it was an old man grasping at his last chance to see any power in his lifetime.  Don't get me wrong, before this whole debacle, I rather liked Jack.  He seemed like a nice guy, a bit too far too the crazy-hippie side for me politically, but it seemed like his heart was in the right place.

The other important factor that Ignatieff included in his calculations was public opinion over torpedoing the budget itself.  Things to consider;

1. The budget accomplished much of what the Liberals wanted to see.
2. The economy is swirling down the toilet much faster than many expected.
3. The general opinion is that significant stimulus is needed as soon as possible, eg. now.

All of these factors combined would've provided significant ammo to the Conservatives in an election scenario.  "Hard working Canadians need help now.  Our proud Canadian cities need help now.  What have the Liberals done to help?  They voted against a budget that achieved what they wanted, triggered an election, and made all Canadians wait months before any sort of help could be expected."

The optics are incredibly bad in that scenario.  It would have looked like they sunk it just to grab power.  With a wild-eyed Jack Layton riding their backs all the way to Ottawa screaming "yahoo!" there would be little to dissuade people from coming to the obvious conclusion.

Ignatieff is a very smart guy.  He may not have risen to power in the traditional way, but the Liberals got who they needed this time, rather than the choice least objectionable to everyone.

As I'm sure all of you have experienced at one time or another, most consumer routers suck.  If you do a search for reviews on pretty much any router out there, you'll see people bitching that it sucks for various reasons.  No vendor is immune, either -- you'll see it for Linksys, D-Link, Netgear and even Apple.

Surprisingly, the hardware in most of these routers is fairly standardized.  There are a few chipsets everyone uses, and the hardware functionality is usually very similar.  Most of them run a stripped down version of Linux.

The most common problem of all is rebooting.  Many routers after a week (some more, some less) lock up or slow down to a point where they are unusable.  Many exhibit extremely unpredictable behavior before crapping out entirely -- certain port forwards don't work, DHCP doesn't work properly, some pages won't load, etc.

My previous router, a Netgear WPNT834 was touted as being one of the best routers around at the time.  The benchmarks all said it was fast, and P2P sites said it supported up to 180 simultaneous TCP connections.  It does -- but once you get past that, it doesn't let you know, and I have a feeling it just starts randomly overwriting it's internal memory with the info for connections above 180.

And it gets worse, not only did the router have lockup problems in that way, but sometimes you'd not be able to access the web interface for it.  And on rare occasions, it would forget you'd ever set it up in the first place.  It still had the settings and still worked, but if you went into the web interface you were greeted with the "stupid persons easy setup wizard" instead of the actual interface.  The only way to get it working normally again would be to clear the NVRAM and reboot the modem, meaning I had to reconfigure the entire thing from scratch.

Now, you may say, "Woah! I don't have nearly that many connections, EVER."  If you said that, there is a strong possibility you are wrong.  That's what I thought as well, that only BitTorrent or something similar would ever push you up that high.  With the new router I'm using, I've discovered that my desktop, which has nothing heavy running on it all (the only app I thought might be heavy was MSN) had over 130 active connections.  That left 50 for BT (running on a separate machine) which is practically useless.  Apparently, overall, I average 300-400 connections across all the devices on my LAN.

Doing research to find a replacement router that wouldn't mess up with large numbers of connections, I found myself at an impasse.  Every router I researched had a 40-50% rating from users, all complaining of the usual ailments.  There were a group of people who reported little to no problems of this kind -- and they were running Linksys models with third-party firmware.  I'm not a fan of Linksys in general, so I decided to do a little research, and found there were many alternatives.

In the end, I ended up going with an ASUS WL-500G Premium V2 and firmware from dd-wrt.com.  The reason was that it was cheap (around $100), third-party firmware-friendly, had 32MB of RAM (so it could handle a large number of connections) and 8MB of Flash for the firmware (which enables me to run the mega version of DD-WRT which has the most features).  DD-WRT usually supports everything the routers original firmware did, and more.  In this case, it still supports USB attached storage, and even adds BT support into the router (so it can download torrents and store them on the local USB HD).  Plus the port forwarding, QoS, VPN, DHCP, access control and bandwidth control options are greatly expanded.

Installation was _very_ simple, just unpack the router, install the ASUS Recovery Utility, upload the latest DD-WRT firmware into it, reboot and configure.  I never even looked at the original ASUS interface or connected to it before upgrading it.

So far, everything has worked infinitely better than with the old Netgear.  My FTP port forwarding now works reliably (before, some of my customers could connect to it, and some could not -- for no apparent reason), the user interface on the router is fast as hell and just works, I upped BitTorrent to use 500 connections max and the router is handling it swimmingly.  Wireless now works reliably and clients aren't disconnected randomly.

Normally, I'm not up for this kind of "hacking" type stuff, but in this case, it all paid off and really wasn't that much work.  If you need a new router and aren't interested in yet another crappy consumer router -- I highly recommend DD-WRT.  It works with hundreds of different routers from different manufacturers, the web interface is incredible and is usually very easy to install (check their list of supported devices to be sure it'll work, and that it's not too hard to install on that device.)

Apple's latest patent...  on a perverse glove.  Check the bottom of the page.  Yes, now you can use your iPhone when you're too much of a wuss to take off your gloves (or get a phone with real, actual buttons.)

A video game based on Grey's Anatomy?  Sure, why not.  If you look at the massive amounts of shovelware coming out each week for Wii and DS, it's not surprising this title is for Wii, DS and PC.  I've always wanted a game where I could perform a very shallow simulation of surgery on someone, and then proceed to fuck everyone in the operating room (now that's romance!).

Even though it's ancient news, the stories coming out of Carleton University about their student union dumping Cystic Fibrosis as a charity because the disease didn't affect anyone but white men were quite amusing.  I mean, what the hell difference does it make who the disease affects?  Rex Murphy had a great take on it in this Globe article.  I love Rex, and here's a quote:

"Well, shiver my multicultural timbers. Next time I catch a flu, I'm not going to the doctor. I'm going to ask to see its papers. If my poor hack fit is not at the very least polyethnic in origin, bisexual in tendency, and unless I'm sneezing in at least three languages other than English, then I'll know this is just that damn white man's cough and just shut up about it."

Not that I'm entirely surprised at their decision.  After all, the university life and curriculum has an unfortunate tendency to brainwash students into the stupidly liberal category (which isn't surprising, as voter data from the recent US election clearly shows, the younger you are, the more liberal you are).  They get so PC-crazed they can't even think straight -- which leads to the inevitable conclusion of them humiliating themselves publicly in a dazzling show of idiocy.

Whilst upsetting to many, the keynote was interesting from a couple of perspectives.  Many seem perturbed at the lack of hardware introductions (specifically the absence of a Mac Mini update, which I agree is looong overdue), although as the comments at the end of this Ars Technica article indicate, the more rabid Mac Fanboys are more easily impressed.  (ps. I love the cartoon someone posted in the comments: "Too bad.  I bet Apple was excited about unveiling the thinnest, lightest CEO in the industry.")

Analysts called the keynote "underwhelming" and "not eventful."  Indeed.  A bunch of boring, minor updates to Apples versions of Microsoft Works apps.  Oh, and a 17" MBP which uses new battery technology already in use by other companies, but of course, now re-invented by Apple (they don't reuse technology, they only invent it.)  Also, the final nail in Firewires coffin as well, as the new MBP sports a whopping zero ports.  Personally, I found Firewire to be a useless standard that just cost me extra money when I had the original iPod.  Not that USB is any better, I despise that "standard" for a multitude of other reasons I won't get into.

Personally, I think the lack of significant announcements is a good thing, at least for Apple.  People who love Apple won't really care, it won't affect their buying patterns (a classic example, “I’ll buy just about anything if it’s shiny and made by Apple,” from the hilarious MacBook Wheel video).  More importantly though, this will give them time to clean up existing products, and perhaps take more time and care with the new products they are working on.  Lately, I've seen a lot of comments from disgruntled ex- or soon to be ex-Apple users about the declining quality of the products.  This is bound to happen in a company of any size that releases new products on a fixed schedule -- think about the gaming industry, when asked when a release will be available, the good companies always respond with, "when it's done." 

It'll also be better for Apple's bottom line, as they won't have people waiting to purchase items announced at fixed times.  They won't know when to buy, so many will end up buying a dead-ended product just before the replacement is announced.

And then there is the matter of the letter from Steve Jobs regarding his health.  A "hormone imbalance"?  It took sophisticated blood tests to reveal a problem obvious to anyone with eyes, ears and a brain?  The guy has had this hormonal imbalance since the early 80's.

It is also quite clear from the wording of the letter that they are being deliberately vague about the actual problem, as was confirmed by Scientific Americans health experts.  Beyond that, Apple spokespeople says no further information is forthcoming.  This is not only unfortunate, but also unwise.  Some stupid people will say that Steve Jobs health is of no concern to anyone but himself, but sadly, these people are after all, stupid.

There is a price premium on Apples shares of 15-25% solely because Jobs is CEO.  Were something to happen to him, Apple would shed billions of dollars in market cap in a very, very short period of time.  As such, Jobs health is materially relevant to all Apple stockholders, and must be disclosed.

Now, you could say that they've done that, but there are two important points to consider; 1. The letter is vague at best, and doesn't outline any possible future outcome, and 2. Apple has lied in the past, when they said it was "just a bug."  The latter is most important, as it may be enough ammo for the SEC to declare that Apple has breached disclosure rules.

And the last bit is just a funny observation from the MacWorld photos and user comments; the first comment states "Delicious Monster's booth is genius."  I find that hilarious, since the booth clearly depicts the reasons that their user interface is pointless (hint: it is not an efficient use of space to display books on a shelf side by side, front forward.)  Of course, the whole application itself is pointless, so I guess I shouldn't really be surprised.  Also not surprising: more employees in the booth than customers.

PS. I'll be releasing my new world-shattering software shortly, here's a hint, it's called "Insipid Bookcase."

In response to the recent banning of yet another iPhone ad in the UK, Apple has basically come out and said that anyone who believed what they saw in the ad was an idiot.

“Plaintiff's claims, and those of the purported class, are barred by the fact that the alleged deceptive statements were such that no reasonable person in Plaintiff's position could have reasonably relied on or misunderstood Apple's statements as claims of fact.”

Yes, people see someone in an ad using an iPhone and quickly surfing multiple webpages couldn’t possibly or reasonably believe that was the actual performance of the phone.  Right.  Why would I think that what I’m seeing is an accurate representation of the product?  Silly me for thinking there were laws against false advertising.

It makes me wonder why Apple hasn’t learned yet.  This is the second time with the iPhone, and the third time (that I’m aware of) overall.  The first one was the “Power” Mac G5 in which they claimed it was the “worlds fastest personal computer”, which of course was completely false as there were always faster PCs available than any comparable Mac. 

The only people who defended Apple at the time were brain-dead artsy types who claimed that Mac was better for artistic endeavors such as Photoshop.  They wanted to think that they could have their cake and eat it too – eg. have a device that was simplistic enough for their tiny minds to grasp, yet somehow magically more powerful than a real computer.  To set things straight, we did benchmarks at that time for a computer supplement we were doing for Southam (20+ newspapers across Canada) comparing the Mac G5 and the P4 3.2GHz. In Photoshop we found that the P4 was on average 10-15% faster in nearly ever test we tried. 

This whole coalition thing is completely unbelievable. 

The common argument I keep seeing thrown around is that the majority of Canadians didn’t vote for the Conservatives.  This is of course the dumbest, most specious argument I’ve heard.  Anyone who uses that argument has immediately gone tard in my books.

We don’t have a system of proportional representation in Canada.  The closest I’ve seen us get was a mixed-member proportional proposal here in Ontario, which was shot down on voting day by the mostly Liberal and NDP voters of Ontario.  Voters didn’t want it, so don’t be a moron and use the vote percentage argument.  That feeling you have is just the big hand of hindsight slapping you in the face.

Canadians voted for the Conservatives, and gave them a mandate – and sent a clear message to Stephane Dion: you’re a milquetoast bozo and we want no part of you.  That message was as clear as crystal, as we know, the Liberals had their worst showing in an election since confederation.  Good job guys, follow that up with a power grab whose optics make concrete look transparent.

I’m not going to argue that this proposal by the opposition is illegal, because it isn’t.  It is however, tantamount to a coup.  Perhaps not by strict definition, but most definitely by intent.  There have been murmurs that Jack Layton has been planning this since the day after the election (I won’t argue this point, as I heard it on the CBC – so who knows if it’s true or not).

I would hope that any Canadian with more than half of a functioning brain (and I mean the traditional left-side plus some of the right – but I’m not writing a treatise on the psychological lateralization of brain function) will realize that, at least at this point – this is about nothing other than revenge and seizing power.  While it may be true that provocation was proffered in the form of the cuts to party subsidies, etc those portions of the budget were redacted.  Now it’s about nothing more than bruised pride and a desire to reverse the democratic decision of Canadians.

Jack Layton is so eager to seize this opportunity, he’s practically shaking when he’s on camera.  Stephane Dion knows he’s history, but he also knows the internally perceived legacy of the Liberal party: entitlement.  Liberals always know better than you do, and they should be the only ones allowed to run the country.  Like many Liberals, he doesn’t really care who’s running things, as long as their stripe reflects the same wavelengths as his.

Hopefully we don’t end up with an unelected government comprised of a party that will do anything to seize what they believe is their manifest destiny, another composed of inexperienced communists whose governing track record is, put nicely, lackluster – and of course with veto power being held by a third party whose reason for existing is the dismantling of this great country.

With any luck, the Governor General will call an election.  With a little more luck, it’ll end up paralleling the non-confidence motion that the NDP and Progressive Conservatives passed in 1974 – which resulted in a majority comeback for the incumbent Liberals under Trudeau.  The added value in that equation was the NDP losing half its seats – one of which belonged to their leader, David Lewis.

In the end, you can look at this any way you want.  It’ll turn out however fate sees fit.   At the very least, hopefully Harper will learn a lesson about provoking the opposition, although I think he’s learned that lesson no matter how this turns out.

Apparently, some of the track packs for GH:WT won’t be available as DLC for the Wii version.  Actually, NO track packs will be available, because for some bizarre reason the Wii can’t handle bundled songs, only individual tracks.  I can’t imagine why, but that’s how it is.  Apparently the Rock Band extra tracks were released as a separate title, so this isn’t an Activision thing.

I just love a couple of the comments on this article though;

“Ah, the Wii. Smashing console sales across the board with a sub-par, underwhelming gaming experience.  God bless you, Nintendo, you lower the bar daily.” -- Very nice – I couldn’t have put it better myself!

“Those God damn motherfuckign cocksuckers. Sure, the Wii, will support DLC. It won't be like our previous fuckups. More details?  Silence...  Then this.  Nevermind.  Fuckers. Guess it's time to get a 360 finally.” -- Finally?  Should’ve started there, dude.  Why get a tiny pink bike with a flower-shaped bell and training wheels when you could ride a Harley?  Duh!

I do find it puzzling though that Wii Music hasn’t sold more than it has.  Judging from the (mostly negative) reviews, it would seem like a natural fit for the console – and one that should make fans of non-games like Wii Sports and Wii Fit drool in anticipation.  The most fitting comment was the first one;

“Add the game to musical education? How is that possible? All you do is shake your hands like your hailing a cab, for most instruments. How are kids going to learn from that? Nintendo has their heads too far up their asses to see that this game is basically a flop, and has NO educational merit either.”

Educational merit aside, most of the reviews I’ve read indicate this is a typical Wii non-game.  You wave the controller around randomly and win.  Wow.  Fun.  Sounds to me like the videogame equivalent of the prevailing sentiment in education these days – which is that teachers should never fail a child because it’s detrimental to their mental health.  Yeah, and letting stupid kids grow into stupid adults and graduate when they don’t know anything – that’s really going to help them maintain their mental hygiene in the real world.  But I digress.

In this particular case, those who criticized Vista for DRM-related reasons.  I don’t know if you remember, but when Vista was released, one of the things people were most harsh about was the new DRM, primarily the protected video path and HDCP.  Everyone swore they wouldn’t use Vista for this reason, some even went clinically insane and bought a Mac.

There were quite obviously those who believed that they’d not be able to play any video files without buying an HDCP-enabled monitor and video card.  Of course, this assumption was completely erroneous.  It was also unfair to blame Microsoft for this, as I’m sure they’d much rather allocate programming resources elsewhere than useless DRM.  If those early critics wanted to blame someone, they should blame the content producers.

Apple users are now feeling that biting feeling in the assal region, with articles like this one (and this one).  The comments are interesting, and mostly a regurgitation of the same things that people were spewing around the Vista launch.  They blame Apple for the content protection, not realizing that it’s the content vendors who are mandating this garbage.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy to see Apple get a bad rap from it’s own users, but at the same time, I laugh at the stupid fucks who are complaining.  Honestly, that’s what you get for being a dumbass who buys that low quality iTunes garbage.  Haven’t you people learned yet?  How long will it take? 

As the great Clare Boothe Luce said: No good deed goes unpunished.  Words to live by, my friends.  By buying legitimate movies, television shows, music and software you are screaming a clear message to those content producers: I LOVE DRM!  Is that the message you want to send?  Do you want to spend your life figuring out which devices can play the media you’ve purchased?  You must.  You must enjoy finding about that Company X has decided to stop running their licensing server and all the media you bought from them is now worthless.  Or perhaps you’ve decided on a portable media player from a company other than your current one – only to find out it’s time to rebuild your entire collection of foolishly purchased DRM laden music (at god knows what cost).

The moral of the story is: the only people that suffer as a result of DRM are those who pay for media.  The pirates can get whatever they want, whenever they want it, in whatever format they like and play it anywhere at any time.  On Vista, on a Mac, on any portable media player.

Send the right message, quit feeding the beast.  Eventually, they’ll realize their mistake and give up on the DRM thing.  The music and game industries are finally beginning to realize this, and it won’t be long before Hollywood follows suit.

… is awesome.  I’ve had it for a few days now, and contrary to much of the negative press, it’s working flawlessly.  The game itself is extremely entertaining, although, of course, I would’ve included more classic rock songs and less modern detritus.

The drums are a blast, and if there still are problems with them, mine are working perfectly.  In some ways, playing the drums is easier than the guitar as you can more easily get into ‘the rhythm of the song’.  With the addition of the cymbals, it’s also a much better approximation of the real experience than the guitar is.  Plus, I’d be willing to bet that being good at the drums in this game is a skill that might actually translate to the real thing (at least, moreso than with the guitar).

The new guitar is nice too, and the fact that all this stuff is wireless and works with the built-in wireless of the 360 is a great bonus too.  And I don’t need to stuff my useless white presentation pointer into them to make them work either.  The touchpad on the guitar is great fun when you’re presented with ‘slider notes’. 

The vocals portion of the game is also a lot of fun for people who aren’t me.  For some reason, I’m always off by about a half a note and just can’t seem to ‘lock on’ as it were.

Most of the songs are tons of fun, although it seems to me that in some cases the note layouts were designed by different people with entirely different mindsets on how it should be.  Some songs (at the same difficulty) are nice and easy, and occasionally you get one that makes it seem as though you accidentally picked the highest difficulty.  Case in point: the Tool songs.  I love Tool, and so I was looking forward to these.  Two out of three of them were absurdly hard, and the other one was a piece of cake.  Bizarrely inconsistent, but I suppose it’s good to have a built-in break.

Coming from the PS2 version of GH3, I’d have to say (not surprisingly) that the graphics in this one are light years ahead.  There still doesn’t seem to be an option to turn off all the background crap and pop-up messages that constantly distract me from what I’m trying to accomplish, but I’m getting used to it (again).

Check out this hilarious short news tidbit on FiringSquad, and the source article. 

The comments are insightful and amusing (on FS, nobody cares enough on the original site to comment apparently).  Basically, this douchebag VP at Apple claims that “PSP and DS are ‘in the past’” and that the iPhone is the new big thing in gaming.  Now, for people who don’t care about the game having any usable controls (perhaps Wii owners for example) I’m sure it has some appeals.  But for real gamers who actually want to be able to control what is going on in the game, and not just be present while the experience unfolds – it’s not going to happen.

He claims that the big selling point here is electronic distribution of games.  On the iPhone, the selling points are lower due to reduced distribution and licensing costs.  While this might be true, the quality of the games are usually much lower as well.  Typically speaking, a port is often impossible as well due to the iPhones extremely limited input capabilities.

One big point that is missed is cost.  The iPhone is substantially more expensive than either the PSP or the DS.  I pity any child whose parents are so stupid that they’d buy their child an iPhone (and a 3 year commitment to said phone).  Why do I pity the child?  Because said parents are probably just below the intelligence threshold required to remember to feed that child.  Most kids I know these days are getting the cheapest phone around, and if they have an mp3 player, it’s usually some $50 (or less) cheapie that is damned near disposable.  Kids/teens are not compatible with the iPhone or even the iPod for that matter, as they are routinely lost or stolen and most parents can’t afford a new $200+ device for their kids every other week.  In many schools these days, a device like that paints a nice crosshair target on the kids forehead and makes them fodder for bullies.  (Oh, and even if the parents DID buy their child an iPhone, are they really going to just set the kid loose in the App Store with their credit card?  I think not.)

The other big point that all the commenters seem to miss, as do the writers of the articles, and the Apple douchebag – the battery life.  If you’re playing any game that even remotely taxes the hardware (not hard from what I’ve read/heard) your battery life is going down the toilet.  Considering that someone may replace their GPS, phone, mp3 player and game unit all with a single device whose battery can’t be swapped out, you may end up half way to another province/state with none of the above available to you.

Some of the choice comments;

“Obviously this guy has never tried actually playing games on an iPhone. I have to use one (my dept. was assigned them) and between the cluttered interface, unresponsive touchscreen, constant dropped calls, and lack of any real IT-related use, it is a hot iron in my side to have to carry it around.”

“Apple: For people who don't like making their own decisions.”

“Apple obviously doesn't read up on their competition. The PSP can get games downloaded via the PlayStation store, and the new DS-i has a built-in SD expansion slot that can save games from Nintendo's new online games store. Both of them have Skype capabilities, and both can now play MP3's. I'm just tired of Apple bashing anything that isn't their products. I won't ever buy an Apple product based on their Douchebag attitude.”

Note: I didn’t cherry pick these comments.  There really were no positive comments.  I speculate this is because gamers aren’t sheep.  Typically, Apple users are like an clueless chick in Mystery’s headlights.  Except of course, for this performance, Mystery is portrayed by Steve Jobs.

There are a few things about GH:WT that I need to say.

1. I want it now.
2. Stores don’t seem to be restocking very quickly.  (And I’m certainly NOT going to pay some dickweed on craigslist $300, that guy can rot with his crap until the stores are flooded with product and then sell it at a loss – the price you pay for being the lowest form of life.  Go back to concert tickets, asshole.)
3. I hope they’ve corrected all the problems with drum sensitivity in the next shipment.  The number of people I’m seeing complaining about their drums not working properly is very concerning considering the exorbitant cost of the bundle (over $200.00 CDN).
4. A corollary to #1, it looks fucking fantastic. 

I’m so eager for it that for some inexplicable reason I’m almost tempted to buy Rock Band 2.  I’m not sure why… since RB2 is inferior IMNSHO.  No music creation mode and the drums aren’t as good (as actually working GH:WT drums ;).   Don’t get me started on the guitar either, it’s a total deal-breaker if it’s anything as assy as that piece of shit that came with RB1.

In another not-at-all-a-surprise, the new MacBook is suffering problems with it’s new buttonless trackpad.  Apparently, the device locks up and refuses to accept any clicks for minutes at a time.  Shame there’s no button to fall back to.  I can’t imagine even trying to use any sort of click-intensive application in this way (photo editing, desktop publishing).

Why anyone would be surprised by this (as many media outlets seem to be) is beyond me.  Apple has a history of pushing products that are clearly still beta (recently, iPhone and MBA come to mind – although the iPhone is more alpha – no cut & paste?  Did they fall through a time vortex to 1979?) to the market.  And of course, on any blog posting this sort of thing, there are just as many shills apologizing for Apple as there are people who are critical of their behavior.  Oddly, those shills would instantly turn to critics if the products were from Microsoft, or just about any other company.

Many users are also dissatisfied with Apple’s unilateral decision that people don’t need buttons anymore.  What’s next, Steve?  Gonna decide that people don’t need a screen either?  I suppose that’d make sense… the Mac is so easy to use, why would you need to actually SEE what’s going on?  Just trust in Steve that the correct things are happening behind the scenes (or screens).

PS. Someone in the comments on this article declares the new trackpad is actually a clickpad – but they’re wrong.  It’s primary purpose is still tracking. 

Just in case you’re wondering, and you probably aren’t, some of my posts may have comments disabled.  This is to head off a problem I’ve had with shills trolling the comments.

A shill, according to Wikipedia:

A shill is an associate of a person selling goods or services or a political group, who pretends no association to the seller/group and assumes the air of an enthusiastic customer […] Shills are often employed by confidence artists.

--OR--

"Shill" can also be used pejoratively to describe a critic who appears either all-too-eager to heap glowing praise upon mediocre offerings, or who acts as an apologist for glaring flaws.

You can choose the definition you prefer.

A great article on DailyTech about the iPhone.  The comments are especially insightful.  It’s taken a while, but [smart] people are finally beginning to wake up to the fact that the phone is not the panacea they were once brainwashed into believing it is.

Sites like PleaseFixTheiPhone are pushing the agenda as well.

Sadly though, what these users fail to realize is that their screams fall upon deaf ears.  Steve Jobs doesn’t care what you want from his products, as teh Decider, he will let you know what you need and only provide you with that much. 

Bluetooth that works with devices from companies other than Apple?  Or with stereo headphones?  Or in-car hands-free systems? Bah, that’s old school, that’s what everyone else does.  You don’t want to be like them do you?  No, you’re too smart for that.  You’d much rather be the clueless douchebag slacker from the Apple ads who is totally mesmerized by Apple.  Of course… he’s getting paid to be that guy.  By you.