iBrick Updates Go here for the latest iBrick updates. ZDNet is telling people to avoid the iPhone patch.

"Ringtone Madness" Rafe Coburn: "I already knew Apple was going to charge for ringtones, but seeing how nifty the tool is and then being reminded again that if I want to play a song on my phone when someone calls I have to pay Apple for it twice just makes me want to punch somebody in the face...I like Apple’s products, but I don’t like the way they’re doing business."

Palm Centro Hooray for Palm! They have released a $100 smartphone, called the Palm Centro.

"Show Me Your Papers" Here is an update from Michael Righi, the guy that was arrested at Circuit City for now showing his receipt. All charges have been dropped and his 'record' is going to be expunged.

Good for him. Much like the RIAA, large retailers would like to treat their customers like criminals. How do I feel about it? They can either lose my business or get used to me not allowing them to treat me like a criminal.

We can sum it up as follows...

"Young man, may I see your receipt?"

"Sure, if you'd like to give me a speedy refund for every single item on the receipt."

Demand for High-Def Players Low Good news! BetaNews reports, "In a recent survey of HDTV owners by NPD Group, a full 73% were satisfied with the picture quality provided by upconverted DVDs for them to become too interested in a high-definition disc player of either format."

Why is this good news? It will speed up the inevitable price drop of Blu-ray/HD-DVD players.

Ultimate Extras Shame Here is a very legitimate Vista complaint. SP1 changes the Vista control panel description to seriously downplay Ultimate Extras. I couldn't agree more with the author of this post. At present, one can only conclude that Vista Ultimate has mostly been a con job of epic proportions. I continue to promote Home Premium (OEM, 32-bit) as the flavor of choice. (How's that for 'Fair & Balanced' reporting?)

Amazon MP3 Store "Better Than iTunes"? Salon.com writer Farhad Manjoo says the Amazon MP3 Store is better than iTunes: "From now on when I look for music, I'm going to go to Amazon first. Only if I don't find something there will I think about buying from iTunes. If you value your freedom, I recommend you do the same."

The XP Alternative for Vista PCs ZDNet: "While Microsoft is still pushing Vista hard, the company is quietly allowing PC makers to offer a "downgrade" option to buyers that get machines with the new operating system but want to switch to Windows XP. The program applies only to Windows Vista Business and Ultimate versions, and it is up to PC makers to decide how, if at all, they want to make XP available. Fujitsu has been among the most aggressive, starting last month to include an XP disc in the box with its laptops and tablets."

I don't think that this necessarily reflects a collective vote against Windows Vista. If anything, this is collective vote for Windows XP. Once the FUD surrounding Windows XP died off it became the de facto standard on most business desktops.

Will Windows Vista follow suit? Probably. Will it take longer? Yes. The hardware requirements for Vista are significantly greater than XP. Moving from Windows 2000 to Windows XP was not such a great leap. In many cases, when upgrading from 2000 to XP, the single hardware requirement was more RAM. When upgrading to Vista, your RAM, your CPU and your video card are all extremely important. In fact, the requirements in these three areas can be surprising 'showstoppers' for your existing hardware, necessitating the purchase of a new PC.

I believe that the expense of new hardware, coupled with the current lack of application support for Vista will ensure a slow adoption by many businesses.

UPDATE: You can read some Vista FUD here. Note the "Mac and Linux work" conclusion in the article. One could also add that DOS 3.2 and UNIX work. Dismissing Vista in this way doesn't impress me.

Vista SP1 Review Vista SP1 was released to a small group of beta testers this week, and Brandon LeBlanc has posted a review for us.

iPhone or Brick? Ars Technica: "Apple said today that a firmware update to the iPhone due to be released later this week "will likely result" in SIM-unlocked iPhones turning into very expensive bricks. "Apple has discovered that many of the unauthorized iPhone unlocking programs available on the Internet cause irreparable damage to the iPhone's software, which will likely result in the modified iPhone becoming permanently inoperable when a future Apple-supplied iPhone software update is installed," said Apple in a statement issued this afternoon."

Amazon DRM-Free MP3 Store Amazon has unveiled their new DRM-free MP3 store. I've purchased two tracks and like it! This is what we've been asking for. Now, let's see how long it takes the RIAA to screw it up for Amazon and the customers.

Iran Noah Pollak, commenting on the subject of Iran's threats regarding Israel,

"The Israelis must be having a good laugh at all of this. The only operational Iranian missile that can reach Israel is the Shahab-3, and most estimates place the number those in Iran at under 40 -- not to mention the fact that the Shahab-3 failed most of its flight tests. As for bombers, the Iranian air force is so archaic, and the Israeli air force so advanced, that an Iranian bombing mission would go down in history as one of the most absurdly conceived air campaigns in the history of warfare."

IBM Lotus Symphony If this were the year 1994, this would be a big deal. Well, it's 2007 and that means a free office productivity suite is nothing to get excited about. Don't get me wrong, I think freeware is great. It's just that Microsoft Office has become an essential part of doing business with other companies/organizations.

Office 2003 SP3 SP3 for Office 2003 has been released.

Lennon vs. McCartney BlogCritics: Is it Lennon/McCartney or Lennon vs. McCartney?

I enjoyed this essay and I agree with the author's conclusion: "In the end, though, let’s put this inane rap battle to rest. The Lennon/McCartney partnership was something that has made us all better, more fulfilled people. Choose your favorite if you will, but let’s stop tearing down the one to laud the other. There’s plenty of other crap out there to rail against."

Crocs Attention Croc wearers of the world. Not only do they look stupid, they can be dangerous. Trailer park chic at any price?

Guinness Coaster Photo: Guinness Coaster.

Student Tasered at Kerry Speech By now, you've probably seen the video.

One of the lessons you should take away from this is the following: "Always listen to the big cop armed with the taser." I'm not trying to tell you that the cops are always right. What I am trying to tell you is that your "rights" will not prevent you from getting shot or tasered. Law enforcement officials have to make split-second decisions. In this case, the cops decided that protecting Senator Kerry from a suspicious person was their priority. When this student did not immediately calm down and comply with their orders, they really stuck it to him.

Obviously, this guy can get a lawyer and sort out his civil rights in court. In the meantime, he is an expert at what it feels like to get tasered.

"Coffee is Not Good For You, But OJ Will Kill You" OJ has been arrested on the suspicion of multiple felonies. If he goes to jail, this will no doubt put his plans to "find the real killer" on hold.

Seriously, though, it would be hard to find someone that I would have less sympathy for.

Classic Cars
I've posted photos of classic cars here. I found them on Usenet. Enjoy.

Photo of the Day Today's photo is at Flickr, here. Nice. (Via Tricia.)

Prince to Fight Piracy "Prince is threatening to sue a raft of major websites, including YouTube, eBay and Pirate Bay, as part of a legal initiative to "reclaim the internet" from rampant piracy."

I predict that his campaign will be as successful as the 'War on Poverty'. OK, mabye it won't go quite that well.

Microsoft Mistake Guess what? If your Windows XP or Windows Vista machine is connected to the Internet, Microsoft is fiddling with it, even if you have turned off the Automatic Update feature. How can Microsoft defend this?

DVD Flick Software: "DVD Flick aims to be a simple but at the same time powerful DVD Authoring tool. It can take a number of video files stored on your computer and turn them into a DVD that will play back on your DVD player, Media Center or Home Cinema Set. You can add additional custom audio tracks as well as subtitles of your choice."

OBL Some experts think the latest OBL video is fake.

Quarterlife Quarterlife - "The new Internet series and social network from Marshall Herskovitz and Edward Zwick."

I must admit that the concept of a popular TV show delivered exclusively to the Internet is intriguing. However, television is moving to a high-definition format. I feel that the Internet is currently a poor means of delivering high-definition content because of the size of the files involved. This begs the question: How exciting is a new TV show that cannot be watched "live" in high-definition?

How to Buy a Car This video is a pretty good primer. I used some of these tactics when making my purchase, last year.

Photo of the Day Via Flickr


(Click for larger view.)

Rilo Kiley Recommended Music: The new Rilo Kiley album, Under the Blacklight. It's pop music with a 60's and 80's sound. Some tracks sound like a fusion of ABBA and Modest Mouse. (Photo of the band, here. Folks younger than 26 may recogzine two of the band members as child actors.)

Osama I think he's dead. One grainy video with a fake beard won't convince me oherwise.

Sean Penn on Acting "Directors don't get performances out of actors. Actors give great performances to directors." -- Sean Penn, Toronto, September 9, 2007

I couldn't disagree more. You can read what Sidney Lumet has to say on the subject, in his book, "Making Movies". In the book he recounts the experience of working with Paul Newman while making The Verdict. As the story goes, Newman began reading his lines, etc, and Lumet was not happy at all, as he knew Newman was not capturing the essence of the character. He had a heart-to-heart with Newman and they both slept on it. The next day, Paul Newman showed up in top form, and acting in the manner in which Lumet envisioned the character. The movie was a great critical success, largely due to the fine performance given by Paul Newman...as directed by Sidney Lumet.

I feel that Sean Penn is one of the finest actors working today. Perhaps he thinks that giving credit to directors is somehow a slap to good actors. I don't think this is true at all. Directors and actors can both be great, but great directors have been responsible for many a fine performance, and many humble actors will tell you so.

Photo of the Day Today's photo is found, here, at Flickr.

Apple to Give $100 'Store Credit' OK, is it just me, or is a "$100 Store Credit" a huge win for Apple, not the customer? The Apple Kool-Aid drinkers are saying that this credit is awesome. Personally, I think the bean counters believe that more than 50 percent of the people that receive a store credit will purchase an item well over $100, resulting in a net profit gain for Apple. Is there any better way to get millions of people inside Apple stores, immediately after the release of several new products?

Steve Jobs is one brilliant businessman. I'll give him that. Plus, a "good deal" is a state of mind. You have to admire a business model in which the seller and the buyer are smiling from ear to ear.

Sour Apples CNN: Early Adopter Sour Over iPhone Price Cut.

Remove Junk from Your PC 20 Tools to the Get the Junk Off Your PC - I have not personally tested all of them.

iPhone Price Drop Apple has lowered the price of the iPhone by $200. If you paid full price two months ago, "that's gotta hurt".

Of all the Apple news from yesterday, I'm most interested in this development: The $149 iPod nano. Now we're talking.

My main objection to the portable Apple hardware has always been related to the astronomical asking price. The thought of having a $600 device on my person turns me off. I will lose it/drop it/leave it in a hot car, etc, so I want a device that doesn't break the bank to replace - when it dies. A $149 portable music/video device is a huge step in the right direction. The next step should be selling DRM-free music and video, and adding support for Windows Media files.

Apple is not stupid, they're getting ready for the 'stocking stuffing' season, and the new iPod nano should really make them some serious dough.

UPDATE: More details on the new products, here. (Via Jim.)

Living Will Joke emailed to me this morning...

Last night, my wife and I were sitting in the living room and I said to her, "I never want to live in a vegetative state, dependent on some machine and fluids from a bottle. If that ever happens, just pull the plug."

She got up, unplugged the TV and then threw out my beer.

"Choosing Dual or Quad Core" Jeff Atwood, speaking of quad-core processors: "But for most software, you hit a point of diminishing returns very rapidly after two cores."

He continues, "It's mostly what I would expect-- only rendering and encoding tasks exploit parallelism enough to overcome the 25% speed deficit between the dual and quad core CPUs. Outside of that specific niche, performance will actually suffer for most general purpose software if you choose a slower quad-core over a faster dual-core."

More Vista SP1 Details Paul Thurrott: Windows Vista SP1 FAQ.

"Arrested at Circuit City" Michael Amor Righi: Papers Please: Arrested At Circuit City. (Thanks to Brandon W. for the link.)

I'm interested in seeing how this case turns out, because I too, refuse to show my receipt upon exiting retail stores. I either ignore the request, or offer a simple, "No, Thank You".