This post is brought to you by the letter “H”.

“H” is for hiatus. It’s been awhile since I’ve posted and for that, I apologize. My last couple weeks have been busy with about 42.4% of that time spent calling every Apple store in the Los Angeles area daily for iPhone 3G availability. I’ve just never seen a product like this so hard to keep on shelves. I know that tech product shortages are nothing new, but everything about the iPhone makes it an odd device to still have 3 hour lines two weeks after launch.
Continue reading You’re Welcome, Steve Jobs.

Filed under: Phones — Roy @ 9:25 pm

Girl Talk’s new album dropped today. But don’t go looking for it at your local record store; it is only available on the interwebs (until September 23rd, that is). Following the footsteps of Radiohead, Nine Inch Nails and a few others, Girl Talk is making the album available for a price of your choosing. There is, however, an incentive (other than the salvation of your mortal soul) to paying for the album. A $5 contribution nets you the sweet, sweet nectar of the album in lossless FLAC format and the whole album in one, unbroken file (Those familiar with Girl Talk know this to be a desirable item). A $10 contribution gets you all the above and the physical CD package when it hits brick and mortar stores on the 23rd day of September.

For those not paying, you still have access to 320kbps MP3 audio, albeit after some careful questioning regarding the ostensible music theft in progress.

For the unfamiliar, Girl Talk is a mash-up artist who takes samples from literally dozens of songs and remixes them into one song. A Girl Talk album will easily have hundreds of samples on it, laying track over track for some very unexpected successes. Imagine Notorious B.I.G.’s first verse from Juicy over the music to Elton John’s Tiny Dancer. Or Three 6 Mafia’s Stay Fly over Fleetwood Mac’s Little Lies. It’s kind of like the Matrix, you have to experience it.

Go get the album. You can always pick it up, listen to it and go back and pay what you think is appropriate. Can’t really beat that.

Also, previous albums are on Amazon. Night Ripper is the place to start. It’s hot.

Filed under: Music — Roy @ 9:25 pm

I’m all about breaking records, especially when they involve not choosing Internet Explorer. Tomorrow is Firefox Download Day. They’re releasing version 3.0 of the FF browser and want to break the Guinness World Record for ‘Most Software Downloaded in 24 Hours’. Firefox is a great browser; I switch between it and Safari and I’d like to think my browser situation is pretty well-covered. Anyway, pick it up tomorrow. Unlike most stuff on this site, it’s free. And you’ll be part of history. Just think, years from now, you can tell your grandkids that you and 1,460,148 friends helped break the world record for… Yeah, nevermind, your grandkids will have probably left the room by now.

Link

Filed under: Computers — Roy @ 9:11 pm

I told you there’d be more about this thing and I do not lie. Except when it is convenient for me.

So the hysteria has died down and more details are coming out and its no surprise that Steve Jobs didn’t kick off the keynote with these golden nuggets of info. Far from my initial high at around 10:45am on Monday, three things have me kind of bummed about Apple’s new toy.

1. You cannot activate the new iPhone 3G at home, it must be done in store.
2. The data plan is now $30 as opposed to the $20 price point of the year past.
3. The $199 price announced with much fanfare and applause is with new two year contract. Which makes recent AT&T converts, like myself, most likely ineligible for crazy Steve’s new low prices.

The first point is a letdown because I really hate having AT&T employees putting their hands and fingerprints all over my new phone before I even get to make a call on it. The second point is a letdown because I hardly have any money as it is. The third point is a letdown because I (and a lot of other second generation iPhone holdouts) will end up having to pay some higher unsubsidized price. (reference the previous sentence for why this is an issue)

In the end, I’m a sucker and I’ll probably end up jumping through whatever hoops I need to in order to get this thing. I just wish it weren’t so much trouble. No one talks to me anyway.

Filed under: Phones — Roy @ 9:46 pm

Sorry about the title, it’s been a good morning. Apple’s WWDC keynote was this morning and the news is cause for rejoicing. Right now, inside my heart, it’s like the end scene from Return of the Jedi. Only, instead of Ewoks celebrating a victory in a violent forest battle against a ruthless imperial force, I’m just really happy about the new iPhone. Or should I say, iPhone 3G. That’s right, Apple has finally brought 3G to the iPhone, along with GPS, longer battery life, some cool new apps and the new 2.0 firmware. Oh and best of all, it’s now only $199. Yeah, one hundred ninety-nine dollars. Just for a point of reference: the RAZR2 launched for more than that. The Blackberry Curve used to cost that much not so long ago. Really, once you remove the subsized mail-in rebate, almost every phone carried by one of the big four carriers cost more than $199. For God’s sake, the iPod Touch of the same 8GB capacity is $100 more and it is, most assuredly, not even a phone.

I’ve got more to say on the subject, but I’ll give everyone (myself included) some time to calm down. I keep trying to breathe slowly into a paper bag, but I’ve already tore through six hyperventilating.

Filed under: Phones — Roy @ 12:52 pm

I really wish my car ran on disappointment. I was on my way to the Beverly Center in LA with the intention of spending my graduation cash as irresponsibly as the good people at Banana Republic would allow when I passed the above gas station. At this point, I’m starting to welcome a Mad Max-esque scenario where I can become the road warrior.

Source prolonged war + poor leadership + global warming

Filed under: Cars | Transportation — Roy @ 1:14 am

So I saw Iron Man last weekend and it’s awesome, but that is not the focus of this text. The segway, however, will be elegant and subtle, like Samuel L. Jackson. There’s a commercial out there for Verizon where clips from Iron Man are mixed in with some terrible acting and the end result is Iron Man dropping his cell phone after getting hit by a missile at 30,000 feet with two teens picking it up on the ground below. “It” being an LG Voyager. My problems with this are twofold. First, my experience with Verizon tells me none of their phones are that durable nor is their customer service equipped to handle such a claim. Second, if I were a billionaire-industrialist-turned-superhero. Sorry, scratch that. When I am a billionaire-industrialist-turned-superhero, I will sure as hell not get caught with a LG Voyager. No, no, no. This is the phone a billionaire industrialist talks on. The Blackberry Bold. Now, I’ve never liked cellphones with names; model numbers do just fine for me (I will be correctly referring to this phone as the 9000 henceforth). But something about this one sticks with me. Maybe it’s that the name is a good match for the phone’s design. Maybe the marketing student in me appreciates that most mere mortals can’t remember model numbers. Or maybe, just maybe, it’s that this phone has every piece of kit in it you could imagine, expect or want from RIM. There’s no price or release date yet, but with 3G HSDPA, GPS, WiFi, 1GB internal flash and microSD all in a svelte 0.55 inch package, the wise have already begun cracking other peoples piggy banks and raiding neighbors’ couch cushions.

Oh and best of all, it’s on AT&T, so that’s one fewer ETF I have to pay.

Source & Image Engadget

Filed under: Phones — Roy @ 8:24 am

By now everyone and their mother has seen Iron Man and probably told you how cool it was. Well, just in case you are neither someone nor someone’s mother nor any permutation of the two, here it is: Iron Man is cool. It’s kick-ass fighting robot suit on robot suit action for the whole family (Unless someone in your family has epilepsy. Leave them at home, it’s for their own good). I’ve always been an Iron Man fan; I used to watch the mid 90′s cartoon religiously. I had serious fears that this film would ruin that (like Hollywood’s last try at the Hulk) but this movie is faithful and entertaining. It’s packed with references that only the true fan will recognize (did anyone else catch that the terrorist organization is called the Ten Rings?) but is still fun for the uninitiated. And make sure you stay through the credits. I won’t spoil it but I’ll give you two words: Sam Jackson.

Filed under: Movies — Roy @ 8:14 pm

Max gave a pretty good rundown of what we saw Saturday and Santi actually knows what he’s talking about, so I’ll keep it short. I spend a lot of time in my car (like most people in Los Angeles) and I think I can say from my brief exposure that I wouldn’t mind spending most of that time in the Tesla Roadster. It’s a simple car by all accounts, unless you count the big expensive battery hogging up all the trunk space. For its price tag, it’s not particularly fast or powerful (this from a guy who hasn’t actually driven one) but there are a lot of options for the interior. Max made an interesting discovery after looking at one model that was raised off the ground: the bottom of the car is almost completely flat. You know, like a video game car. I am by no means a car genius, but I always figured all that stuff under my car was there for a reason. This leads me to the only logical conclusion: the Tesla Roadster runs on magic.

Continue reading I Want One VII: Tesla Roadster

Filed under: Cars | Transportation — Roy @ 1:30 am

Max is dead-on about the Justice CD; I’ve been bumping it since last July and it still makes it into my morning commute on a regular basis. My favorites are Genesis, Phantom Pt. I & Pt. II. You might recognize Genesis from one of those Cadillac commercials (hopefully that doesn’t ruin the song for you).

If you’re into to Justice, you’d probably enjoy Ratatat as well: They’ve got two LP’s, both of them awesome, and two remix mixtapes, the most recent of which is available on their website for approximately $0. Plus tax. I really want to give you the highlights, but it’s all hot. If you really want a starting point, Wildcat is as good as any other but you should really be listening to the whole thing. Take my word for it.

Filed under: Music — Roy @ 1:22 am