I have been busy the last couple of weeks and have some catching up to do. Let’s get right to it:
BP has ruined the Gulf of Mexico for all time. Don’t boycott BP. If BP fails Americans get left holding the bag for their screw up. Make them pay, dearly. Oh, and maybe it’s time to look for a new CEO. I would say that destroying such a significant chunk of the world’s oceanic ecosystem calls for a public display of contrition and humility. Instead, this ass wants us to leave him alone. Incredible.
The BP story is huge, and no one can keep their mouth shut about it. America’s fascist darling Sarah Palin couldn’t help herself, and spouted that environmentalists were to blame for the disaster. The extremely frightening thing here is not what comes out of her mouth, but that the voting public in this country may very well put her in office next election. Retiring as an expat in Malaysia is sounding better and better every day.
Sprint and HTC’s Evo 4G Android handset is here. It sports a 4.3″ screen and eats a battery like no other. It’s a nice Android phone (with a kickstand?), but that’s all it is. Apple will be announcing their new baby any minute now, and Motorola has some cool phones on the horizon. The crown for heavyweight champion smartphone is something that lasts about a month any more. On the plus side for Android fans, Palm’s Matias Duarte, lead brain behind Palm’s webOS user interface, has jumped ship and now works for Google.
Apple’s iPad has met with solid initial success as people embrace Cupertino’s $500 tablet, which virtually has no competition. The one I’ve been really looking forward to, the Notion Ink Adam, has the stuff to be an iPad and a Kindle killer. This in no small part to its Pixel Qi display, which does everything you like about both conventional LCD and E-Ink with its non-backlit, highly reflective mode. Unfortunately the Adam may never get its chance to shine as it has now been delayed til November, opening the door for the flood of cheap Android tablets that is headed our way. Better technology doesn’t always win guys, but I still hope that this pioneering gadget will win enough fans to make it a success.
HP CEO Mark Hurd blathered that HP didn’t buy Palm to enter the smartphone business. As a webOS advocate I kind of took this one personally. I guess the whole point was to leverage webOS as an interface for HP printers and toaster ovens, or whatever devices it is they make besides PCs and laptops. Let me tell you something, if you don’t build webOS as a smartphone platform, no one is going to give a damn about it running on tablets, printers, toaster ovens or whatever. You can just turn the lights off and send everyone home if that is the case. Save yourself the money, and quit jerking the webOS faithful, albeit a small group, around. Listen up you big dummies: you are on the brink of owning the BEST smartphone platform that currently exists. It needs a lot of money thrown at it to be what it can be. You already made this commitment, don’t waffle now. If you paid 1.2 billion for Palm’s IP, you should all be out looking for a job because you’re idiots. Palm backpedalled a couple days later saying that smartphones were part of their vision for webOS after all.
China shuts down Foursquare users checking in at Tiananmen Square on the anniversary of the protests. It may be a defeat for freedom of speech and expression, but it also shows that even totalitarian regimes like the People’s Republic recognize the utter lameness of location-based social networking.
The Amiga X1000 workstation is supposed to start shipping this summer. I am all goosebumpy over this, despite the fact that it runs on a dead architecture (PowerPC), with a relatively slow processor speed (1.8 GHz), and will not initially have an operating system that supports multiple core or 64 bit operation. Throw in the fact that it is likely to cost as much as my 8 core Mac Pro, and it is sadly unlikely that I will get to join this club. Nevertheless, the X1000 is my current Holy Grail, and if someone would like to send me one to beta test I would be more than happy to oblige. Better still if I could have the good guy deal and just keep it. Whatever it takes, short of blowing sailors at the pier. If anyone involved with Hyperion is reading this, my email is ADMIN AT AVENTHUSIAST DOT COM. I’m your guy.
3D movies. I get it. More people go to the theater. It sells more home theater gear. Can’t say that I appreciate it. It isn’t how the human eye sees the world, making it the black light poster of this generation. Hollywood: please don’t forget what is really important in the midst of all this gimmickery: story and acting. Oh and for God’s sake, feel free to make a movie or two that aren’t sequels or remakes.
Speaking of movies, I hope you aren’t downloading anything that is playing in theaters. 5000 people are about to learn that lesson the hard way after downloading torrents of The Hurt Locker. It’s despicable that some scumbag attorneys, and let’s face it, they’re all scumbags, figured out a sure fire money making legal scheme by splitting lawsuit proceeds with movie and recording studios by targetting filesharers in legal actions. Remember the woman the RIAA got for 192 million? Incidentally they have a point. Stealing is stealing. Anyway, moral of the story is, just wait til it hits Netflix, ok? Iron Man 2 is NOT worth paying $4000 for in an out of court settlement.
On the bright side, summer is here. The storms of late spring are soon to give way to steamy hot swimming weather. I think I have grilled meat maybe 15 of the last 16 evenings. This has the added benefit of making my two sons linger at the dinner table (they value a good steak as much as their father), and this time of year the family always seems closer. Hope you all have a great summer!
