Apple announces .. Nothing! Ta Da.

Nothing fun or new as far as I am concerned. First of all we all knew that there was going to be some new iPod music box, hell everyone from President Bush to Nostradamus was talking about that.

What we did not know is how flippin ugly it would be. Ok it cool to have a sleek little iPod but the form does not translate in to this home (supposed) stereo replacement. My god it looks like an igloo building block. If they make it in black it could double as the monolith from 2001.

And a $100.00 plain old leather iPod sleeve? You are joking right Jobs?

More mini mac’s blah blah blah blah…

Where is the video Ipod? New uber tablet that would revolutionize portable computing? Come I know you can do it I know you can.

Here is some advise… stop worrying about the money you are loosing on iPod accessories and crap like boom boxes and start being the apple you used to be. Make a product everyone has to have because its better than everything else in its class.

Sony Ericsson k790… OMFG I Am In Love

OK here is the deal. I don’t even have this phone in my hands yet and I am just going to go out on a limb and tell you …. This is the best phone ever, hands down, no exception.

This baby will be out soon (Q2) and in several different flavors but supposedly there is one set for the States (k790a) that is tri-band with edge (850, 1800,1900) and the specs just keep coming:

3.2 mega-pixel
Fm radio with rds
Rss reader
Bluetooth
Second vga camera for video calls.
2.0-inch QVGA 262K TFT display

Only one caveat that I can find… it has Sony’s new Memory Stick Micro M2. Come on Sony, prices were just falling on your 2gb memory stick duo… give me a break.

Say what you will about the candy bar styling …. This phone has the goods.

All in all, I think I am in trouble, I can see myself with this phone soon.

Thank you engadget for this sighting... www.engadget.com

A Little Snow Goes A Long Way

Today a little snow went a long way as this dusting managed to shut down rush hour traffic by causing several accidents, and throwing the area freeway system into utter chaos.

Come on people, we live in the mid-west. We are supposed to be accustomed to the snow. Sure a little global warming has given us a less then typical winter season, but really give me a break….

If you are going to let a little of the frozen stuff get to you we might as well all move to south and retire.

Best sarcastic site award... The Onion

In a folow up to my Chaney post

http://vaporlife.blogspot.com/2006/02/chaney-leaves-his-mark.html

Leave it to the Onion (www.theonion.com) my second favorite news Source after Jon Stewart’s Daily show to break this news.

WASHINGTON, DC—Government documents declassified today reveal that President Bush was briefed last summer of "a substantial risk" that Vice President Dick Cheney would shoot an elderly male in the face sometime in the next several months.

In a Presidential Daily Briefing given to Bush in August 2005, the CIA warned that the vice president was a potent threat to the senior population at large, and in particular "possessed the capabilities and intentions to spray a senior citizen with projectiles fired from a shotgun or other weapon." A second brief identified the population at risk as those "between 70 and 80 years of age," and warned that the vice president posed the greatest threat to "seniors in close proximity to the vice president when he is armed."...

999,999,999 iTunes Download

Found at:

www.crazyapplerumors.com/

Q: Oh, man!
A: What? What?
Q: Oh, man, that is bullshit!
A: What is? What is it?
Q: I just heard that I bought the 999,999,999th song on the iTunes Music Store! And do you know what I got? Do you know what I got?!
A: Um… a grim sense of irony?
Q: Wha…? No! No! I got nothing! Nothing!
A: Well, how do you know it was you? I mean, how could you possibly know that?
Q: They sent me an email!
A: Oh. Oh. That’s just rude.
Q: Yeah! And it’s… got all these little… emoticons…
A: Oooh.
Q: Little… tongue sticking out…
A: You know… does Apple ever… I dunno… strike you as a little strange?
Q: Hmm…

Wind 220 @ 22 gust 25

Wind 220 @ 22 gust 25

You Want Bad Ass? I Will Give You Bad Ass!

From Popular Science:

http://www.popsci.com/popsci/

The Navy’s Swimming Spy Plane
It floats, it flies, it eliminates enemy targets—meet the water-launched unmanned enforcer

By Bill Sweetman February 2006

Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works, famed for the U-2 and Blackbird spy planes that flew higher than anything else in the world in their day, is trying for a different altitude record: an airplane that starts and ends its mission 150 feet underwater. The Cormorant, a stealthy, jet-powered, autonomous aircraft that could be outfitted with either short-range weapons or surveillance equipment, is designed to launch out of the Trident missile tubes in some of the U.S. Navy’s gigantic Cold War–era Ohio-class submarines. These formerly nuke-toting subs have become less useful in a military climate evolved to favor surgical strikes over nuclear stalemates, but the Cormorant could use their now-vacant tubes to provide another unmanned option for spying on or destroying targets near the coast…

…The Skunk Works’s answer is a four-ton airplane with gull wings that hinge around its body to fit inside the missile tube. The craft is made of titanium to resist corrosion, and any empty spaces are filled with plastic foam to resist crushing. The rest of the body is pressurized with inert gas. Inflatable seals keep the weapon-bay doors, engine inlet and exhaust covers watertight.

The Cormorant does not shoot out of its tube like a missile. Instead an arm-like docking “saddle” guides the craft out, sending it floating to the surface while the sub slips away. As the drone pops out of the water, the rocket boosters fire and the Cormorant takes off. After completing its mission, the plane flies to the rendezvous coordinates it receives from the sub and lands in the sea. The sub then launches a robotic underwater vehicle to fetch the floating drone…

United Arab Emirates To Buy Interest In US Ports

Ok I understand, everyone is upset that the Bush Administration approved the sale of several major port operations on the east coast and the gulf to the United Arab Emirates.

Although they are technically allies, they do seem dubious at best but lest stand back and take a look at this why don’t we?

Does anyone remember the 90’s the everyone was freaking out when the Japanese corporations were buying all that American property?

Look what happened, we learned some Japanese words started eating Sushi, and now its business as usual.

I mean wasn’t Sinbad just and Arabian Sailor? Look how good that turned out, well at least in the Disney version. Although I guess being in charge of port operations is slightly different than a swashbuckling cartoon.

I am sure there is more to the deal then we know, but how bad could it be? (insert mental image of USS Cole)

OK no matter how I slice it, it just leaves a bad taste in my mouth? I guess some things should just stay in domestic hands.

My Next Cessna

Citation Mustang Preliminary Specifications

Cruise Speed340 KTAS (630 km/hr) at 35,000 ft (10,668 m)
Ceiling41,000 ft (12,497 m) maximum certified

The new Citation Mustang is a breakthrough combination of power, speed and true jet affordability. State-of-the-art Pratt & Whitney engines, rated at 1,350 pounds of thrust each, deliver speeds of up to 340 kts (391 mph) and climbs to 41,000 feet, where turboprops simply cannot follow.

Comming soon from Cessna price? TBD. Check it out here at http://mustang.cessna.com/site.chtml

No Shit?

Toilet MP3

From www.akihabaranews.com

Japanese toilets are something very special. Everything is raised automatically, the seat is heated and there's even a small Karcher at 180bar (ok, maybe not 180, but it's powerful) for the more intimate parts. And now there is an SD slot and an MP3 player!!! Fear not, it's not integrated into the seat but rather in the control system/computer of the toilet that is situated on the wall! Nice one Toto (the Japanese manufacturer)!now it's up to you to play crap music in the toilet!

Seriously, I Cound Not Make This Up If I Tried

www.gizmodo.com

Now here’s something that’s sure to create a little bit of controversy. They’re called Brincos, and they’re shoes designed to help illegal immigrants cross the U.S.-Mexican border. Designed by Argentinean artist Judi Werthein, these shoes feature an array of items designed to make the dangerous trip across the border a little less so. There’s a built-in compass, a pouch inside the tongue used to store aspirin and a map of popular routes going from Tijuana to San Diego on the insole. An Aztec eagle adorns the heel, while the shoes’ red, white, and green colors remind you that, yes, the shoes were designed with Mexican nationals in mind. The Brincos (the name derives from the Spanish verb brincar, “to jump,” as in, to jump the border) were handed out for free to migrants, while so-called hip stores in San Diego were spotted selling them for $215. Please don’t tell Pat Buchanan.

Tanner Ready For Bed

I guess sleeping 16 hours a day makes a dog tired. Here she is board that I am on the laptop and not paying attention to her.

Reality TV... Not For Me.

Is it me or should we be worried about this reality TV thing.

All I am saying is it seems that a lot of people are really into this American Idol, Bachelor, Average Joe, Nanny 911, The Biggest Looser, Wife Swap, Fear Factor TV thing.

I watch TV to get away from reality, not to watch it. Come on now, face it sometimes reality sucks… taxes, bills, work… all things I want to get away from. Personally I don’t get it so I don’t watch.

But that does not stop others as you know.

Here is the deal, we are no longer trying to get away from reality, the American public is trying feel better by seeing that other people’s reality sucks worse than our own. Why else would we watch that train wreck? How sad is that. Have we have become the guy that feels better by running down others? I hope not.

Do other parts of the world have this obsession? I don't think so.

What I really hope is that we come to our senses soon, and get back the good old sitcom standard, with the occasional movie. As it stands now, Sweden could invade America and take us over if they just did it during a good episode of “The Simple Life”.

Presidential No-Fly Zone

Whenever the President is in town, its like the Super Bowl…. There is a no fly zone enacted

Today, in Michigan this was the case.

At 4:35 pm my friend Ron called to let me know that he was watching some moron in s Cessna being engaged by F16 over us 23 and I96. This genius apparently did not get his flight briefing before deciding to go up today. Or, and maybe worse “wandered into” the no fly zone.

Good job buddy, in a post 911 world just break the rules. They are really more like guidelines really? I mean I am sure they wont shoot you down or nothing…
(see my post http://vaporlife.blogspot.com/2006/02/yikes.html)

Stop huffin the AV fuel dude, and get your head out of your ass.

Besides its not like it makes the rest of us responsible pilots look like morons, now does it. Good job guy (or girl), I love to hear stories like that.

Best part, my friend was watching it live telling me that the bone headed biscuit brain was not responding to the fighter jets engagement. Meaning he did not appear to be acknowledging the f16 clear signals to follow him to. I mean there are specific steps to let the jet know you will comply so you don’t get shot down…

(from the AOPA.org)

Q: What are the exact procedures published in the Aeronautical Information Manual that pilots are to follow if intercepted?

An aircraft which is intercepted by another aircraft shall immediately:

Follow the instructions given by the intercepting aircraft, interpreting and responding to the visual signals….

…A pilot who enters prohibited or restricted airspace and does not comply with the military intercept procedures could be shot down as a last resort.

Sony DSC-H2? Could It Be True?

Of course it could, be true and likely it is.
According to gadget site

http://www.endgadget.com/

here's the skinny on the above models as we understand it: the DSC-H2 has a six megapixel CCD, 12x optical zoom, Steady Shot OIS (optical image stabilization), 1000 ISO mode, 3-inch display, and VGA 30fps video recording; the DSC-H5 appears to be the same device, but with a seven megapixel sensor (both available in May)

All the stuff we loved about the DSC-H1 and more…

No wonder the H1 just went down in price.

I know, I know,why skip the H3 and go to H5 maybe they don’t want to get confused with Hummer?

Todays lunch

Smoke House turkey wrap from Roly Poly Ann Arbor... yum. Posted so Barb Could see what I had for luch. Sorry little enjoyment factor for other readers.

Mondays Suck

Computers crash

Transmissions break

Dog shed

Coffee Spills

Work bites

Mondays Suck











Photo courtesy of www.illwillpress.com please check them out.

Apple - Why I Love to hate you.

Your itunes music policies are stingy… but your interface is nice.

Your computers are expensive… but your form factor is right on.

Your ipods don’t play well with others… but they play with just about everyone’s format.

You are a greedy mega-giant corp… u were started in a garage and went to the top and almost went out of business only to return as a huge player again.

What am I to do with you, you bastard child of the computer age. I just bought a nano as gift for Barb G, there are you happy now?

Damn of the thing isn’t about the sexiest player around…

Dear Jackhole On The Horn Behind Me

Thank you so much for alerting me that you think its time for me to pull into the intersection with your “double tap” on the ol’ horn there.

The fact that you can not even see around my vehicle while you are driving you 2.5 kids to advanced placement pre-soccer registration in that foreign moss-covered, three-handled family credenza mobile does not even play into your thinking does it. I mean of course you know better than I how I should drive my vehicle; I bow to your wisdom.

And that little “beep beep” is the perfect delivery method for that information you are trying to convey to me, thank you so much… what would I ever do without you.

I don’t know what I was thinking not plunging right into the fray, I mean those 30 extra seconds you wasted behind me could have been spent at home with your spouse trying to make the best of you loveless marriage, and getting your microwave frozen dinner onto your Ikea table into time to watch American Idol and laugh at the idiots who you think have it worse than you. At least those people are giving life a shot, genius, what have you done lately?

I mean besides that whole “toot toot” thing you got going, that’s worth something for sure. I have to go now petition the Nobel people for to add a stupid jackhole driver category just I can nominate your horn honking ass. You have to be the best I have ever heard.

Thank you again, so much I know that I am now a better driver because of you and more importantly, a better listener.

SONY DSC-H1

What is the problems with 99% of most point and shoot cameras? You do not have enough zoom.

Here is a great solution.

Ok I am not in cahoots with Sony, but I like this camera.

I had a chance to play with this one as well and I have to saw, pretty awesome.

Here is what cnet had to say:

The good: 12X image-stabilized zoom; 2.5-inch LCD; speedy performance; full feature set; nice selection of accessories.

The bad: Slightly soft images; lack of fine detail; larger and heavier than the competition.

The bottom line: This is a capable megazoom camera that can hold its own against much of the competition.

Here is my thinking:

I am a pretty high end kind of guy but this affordable (I saw it in the wild for $359.00 at my local Best Buy) 5.1 MP mega-zoom with image stabilization… very nice. Just make sure you buy some rechargeable li-on batteries or you will have to by stock in energizer.

Chaney Leaves His Mark

I was really just going to leave this one alone. I have been going back and forth all week about this, I mean to take a SHOT at the VP would be to easy of a TARGET.

I mean OBVIOUSLY this was an accident how can you possibly mistake a 78 year old lawyer for a game bird. Further more, no one in there right mind would shoot a lawyer with bird shot, you’d use a slug.

Besides I think that Whittington guy was asking for it, dressing up in that bird suit and hopping round like that. Besides, walking around with arguably the most dangerous man in the world with a firearm… why don’t you just jump in the lions den why don’t ya?

Bottom line, we may never know what really happened, I mean Whittington probably reached for a shell and Chaney mistook it for an uranium enrichment program, and had to just stop him then and there. Sometimes you just can’t stop and wait for good intelligence, you just have to jump in and start shooting.

Navigation

Yesterday I had a chance to fly again, it never gets old. It stuck me though as I hurdled through the air two things:

1) I love a world where your only speed limit is the performance of your machine (under 250 kts if your going faster than that we need to talk)
2) Navigation has come a long way.

Picture one, you have your sextant, where a knowledgeable navigator could recon himself a pretty good idea of where he was plus or minus a hectare.

Picture two the Garmin 1000 glass panel in the Cessna. With this one screen I can see where I am within feet, where I am going, air traffic in the area, live updated satellite weather (and radio) including but not limited to lightning, precipitation (see the snow), winds at each 1000 feet of elevation above the ground, exact conditions at every airport in north America, all while … keeping track of my fuel flow temperature in each of the 6 cylinders, oil temp, and well…. You get the idea.

I would say we have come a long way.

Happy Valentines Day Everyone

2006 Winter Olympic Snoozefest

Dear NBC big shots, lots of people are talking about your coverage of the Olympics.

Want to know what the talk around the water cooler is about?

Everyone enjoys the “Joy of victory” stuff you are blasting out on the airwaves, What’s missing… Hmmm. Where is “The agony of defeat”? I mean its cool to see the winner and all but we want to see the guy with a lot of promise that totally screws the pooch and has a yard sale of ski equipment on the north slope.

Or the guy that looses his footing and drops the girl on her ass after totally missing the queue as they slide across the ice.

Or the bobsled that finishes the last 20 yards dragging the last man out.

We don’t want to see anyone get hurt per se we just want to see that not every athlete is perfect and you know how America loves its bloopers.


Come on now…. Take a page from ABC’s playbook and show us some stuff we can say “oh dammmnnn” about, as we sit our American butts on the couch and watch the winter games.

Danish Muslim Cartoon

Before we decide to pass judgment on the Muslim world for the violence that ensued in response to those Danish cartoons we should stop and think.

I mean until we, as a nation, can tolerate cartoon images of our religious leaders without burning down an embassy or two we should not be so quick to assume we would know how it feels,

Er, I mean, Um…

Ok how would we tolerate less than flattering images of our religious icons…

I mean that would surly incite violence in the streets I mean even we here could not value freedom of speech so much that we could put up with…

OK never mind.

Will & Grace, hating on Canada?

Ok I am not one to judge or anything but...

Last night on Will & Grace (Barb makes me watch it OK) the new guy said…

“… have you ever been to Canada? It’s like Michigan without the culture.”

Heeeeey wait, was that a rip on Michigan? I’m not sure but those Canadian viewers sure are not going to be happy.

I admit in the past I may have been a little hard on our neighbors to the north, but don’t piss them off. I mean come on now…what’s that aboot?

Today at the park

Someone has been busy, building one this elaborate TP in the pine woods next to the Rec. Center.

Tanner and I see it all the time, but its pretty amazing so I thought I would post it.

Click on the picture to se the detail.

I have no idea who constructed it.

BRRRRRRR

I was just getting used to the warm winter and this cold just wont cut it any more.

Highs in the 20's this weekend? You have to be joking!

The good news is I am leaving work early today….

Top Ten reasons I am not going to by the Sony PSP

1) I don’t care how cool and sexy and just downright gadgerific it is I just don’t need one. (practical)

2) OKOKOK, I have any XBOX I barely have time to play, why would I waste the money (frugally)

3) Sure it plays terrific games, movies, music allows web browsing wirelessly over my home and work network, has tons of cool hacks… but can it cook (sarcastically)

4) My dog would be jealous (silly)

5) My girlfriend would be jealous (realistically)

6) I’m still mad with Sony about that whole DRM thing. (on principle)

7) My Sony Ericsson phone rocks , just thought Id throw that in there (distractingly)

8) I’m pretty sure that I have more reasons but I keep looking at the picture and forgetting them (truthfully)

9) I would not have enough time left to blog (just plan crazy)

10) I will not give into the voices again… (its only a matter of time)

What? There is more than one Starbucks?

Oh by the way winter is back. We have not really got the snow but it is ass cold around here.

The perfect time to discover you are at the wrong Starbucks and now you have to walk 6 blocks to the right one that turns out to be the wrong one again.

And just because its not snowing does not mean you won’t get wet, really really wet.

Good news third coffee slingerie later… your at the right one.

Vaporware on Vaporlife

As some of you true geeks know, Vaporware is a promised product or service that almost seems to good to be true. Its highly touted and never really materializes. (much like Vaporlife, right?)

Leave it to the good people at Wired to come up with a list of the top Vaporware awards of 2005. Caution: extra geeky.

http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,70143-0.html?tw=wn_index_1

And The Winner Is...

The Super Bowl is over, the Steelers have won. After some questionable calls (I’d be pissed if I were from Seattle) the fan fair is over the bus is in the garage and all is well.

The real winner, however, is Detroit. Not only did they show the world that they could host a world class event besides the Auto Show, they did it with style and grace. The winter fest the drew over 5 million, yes million, people to downtown was actually extended for hours on Sunday to accommodate the large crowds.

Congratulations, Steelers for being at the top of your game.

Same to you Detroit.

Yikes!

From AOPA.ORG

AIR FORCE SAYS IT WILL SHOOT SUPER BOWL TFR VIOLATORS.

No doubt about it, they're serious about security around this Sunday's Super Bowl in Detroit. Some 10,000 security officers will be carefully watching 67,000 spectators at the game. Radiation and explosives detectors will be deployed at all of the approaches to Ford Field. And the super security includes the air. Both the United States and Canada have issued presidential-sized TFRs encircling the stadium out to 30 nautical miles and up to 18,000 feet. Inside that is a 10 nm no-fly zone that will be patrolled by Air Force fighters. "We're the last line of defense," Lt. Col. Bill Hargrove told ABC News Wednesday. When correspondent Pierre Thomas asked if he was prepared to take the order to shoot down a non-responsive civilian aircraft entering the inner ring, he answered, "Absolutely!" AOPA urges pilots to exercise extreme caution.

Why Barb should not get the new Slvr...Yet.

Why the new Sliver is not worth the upgrade from your Razor…yet.

(review from cnet.com)


The good: The Motorola Slvr L7 has an attractive overall design. It also comes with an integrated iTunes player, Bluetooth, a sharp display, a TransFlash card slot, and a speakerphone, as well as solid call and music-audio quality.

The bad: The Motorola Slvr L7's iTunes player is sluggish, and it's burdened with too many usage restrictions. The phone is further hampered by a low-resolution VGA camera, a lack of support for EDGE, tricky controls, no FM radio or stereo speakers, and little integrated memory.

The bottom line: Motorola's Slvr L7 puts a prettier face on the iTunes phone, but its midrange features, its sluggish music-player performance, and the limitations on the iTunes usability are big distractions.

Where is my mega pixel camera? Music restricions? I’m sticking with my K750i, Sony Ericsson still does it best.

Winter?

It rained last night, and this morning a little. Has not felt like winter around here for quite a while. I thought in the beginning of the season we were going to get blasted.

I hear, however, we are supposed to get some snow for the weekend and the big game.

I say bring it on, the snow plow is getting rusty.

The Safest Place on Earth This Sunday? Detroit?

Or the most dangerous place, or some where in-between. According to a “local” news channels broadcast, the dept of homeland security is dropping a two million dollar check for local and state authorities to purchase hi tech equipment for Sundays game. Here is a direct quote: “… and the best thing is after the game, we get to keep all the goodies.”

Sweeeet pull Detroit!

What are they buying? According to the story: new equipment for squad cars, including high tech touch screen in dash computer system, but also BLACKBERRY’S for the people on foot that they all but touted as “indispensable”. That’s great but don’t they know soon they might become expensive paperweights of that patent infringement case goes through? I guess if it keeps us safe… its worth it no matter the cost right?

How about this… today in engadget ( engadget.com) and about a million other sites they are even touting other hi-tech gadgety items that would make James Bond drool including but not limited to : LifeVision3D holographic technology.

What is this? You might ask. Well according to one source:

“The applications range from face-recognition to underwater detection. They are based on three-dimensional full-motion holography. Two light streams, discrete left eye and right eye signals, are transmitted into Intrepid's platform that projects on a holographic screen.”- Digital Tech News.

Whoo–eeee that’s some bad ass stuff from a little manufacture in Birmingham I might add. The best part of this super top secret thingy do-hickey… its all over the net. Really look it up.

Here are some links for you:

Digital Tech News article about that Who-Who Dilly:
http://www.digitaltechnews.com/news/2006/02/holographic_sec.html

Engadget’s take on the same (with photo!)
http://www.engadget.com/2006/02/02/big-brother-in-full-effect-at-super-bowl-xl/

More from the shop

Here is a quick preview of the book case project that I am working on in the shop. Among other things. This one is going to be for Barb G but its turning out so good I’m going to have to make myself one. *click on the picture for a closer view*

The Vapor on Yahoo.

Finally some recognition…

Today I took a second and searched for Vaporlife on Yahoo and look what the number one response was.

You know you hit the big time when Yahoo recognizes your site!

Seconds later, same search, no result. Oh well. I am just glad to be on the radar somewhere.