I came across this Japanese iPod + iTunes ad featuring Sazae-san, the Japanese equivalent to “The Partridge Family”.
[ Watch Movie ] – 2.5MB
Month: August 2004
Baker Beach
We went out to Baker Beach on Sunday for a couple of hours to give Emmitt some time out of the house. We had a nice walk. The beach is dog friendly, but you have to keep them on a leash. I want to go back on a sunny day to get a good view of the Golden Gate Bridge.
The far end of the beach (towards the bridge) is the nude area. Apparently it isn’t officially nude, it’s just sort of tollerated. Maybe we’ll have to check that out sometime. :)
Pentax Optio X
Cool new camera. I like the design…
from dpreview.com…
“Pentax has today announced its first swivel lens compact in the shape of the stylish Optio X which echoes Nikon’s early design of the 900 series. The right hand side rotates 180 degrees upwards and 90 degrees downwards. Manfactured from aluminium alloy and resin coating, the Optio X boasts five megapixels and is the slimmest camera in the range at 18mm. It will be available in October.” more…
iTrip Amplifier
binaryelysium.com has a great how-to tutorial for building an iTrip amplifier. I haven’t actually built one myself… keep in mind, use of the finished device is prohibited, at least in the US and Canada.
Visionary designs in transportation engineering
from engadget.com…
“Flying cars, Super-Sonic Jets, Personal Underwater Transport, and Monorails – what do all these have in common besides being part of our unfulfilled childhood dreams of what our 21st century lives would be like? They’re all part of a Berkeley Exhibit at the Bernice Layne Brown Gallery installation in Doe Library, which runs until September 30th.”
New Apple G5 iMac
As expected, Apple unveiled the new G5 iMac today at the Paris Mac Expo. It is similar in design to Apple’s new cinema displays. 17 and 20 inch models are available. The 17-inch models come with either a 1.8 GHz PowerPC G5 processor and a SuperDrive, or a 1.6 GHz PowerPC G5 processor and a Combo CD/DVD drive. The 20-inch model has a 1.8 GHz PowerPC G5 processor and a SuperDrive. Among the new design features are quiet operation (less than 25 dB), a two-inch thick profile, and an orderly, stacked set of ports on the rear right side.
The iMac G5 offers up to a 600 MHz front-side bus, 400 MHz DDR memory expandable to 2GB, AGP 8X graphics and 7200 rpm Serial ATA drives up to 250GB. It also offers a total of five USB ports (three USB 2.0) and two FireWire 400 ports There is an optional internal Bluetooth module and a built-in antenna and card slot to support an optional AirPort Extreme Card. The new iMac G5 also includes built-in 10/100BASE-T Ethernet and a 56K V.92 modem.
The new iMac G5 line will begin shipping worldwide in mid-September.
HP introduces re-branded iPod
After announcing that it would do so several months ago, Hewlett Packard has introduced its own re-branded version of Apple’s iPod. The HP iPod appears very similar in size, shape, and color to Apple’s version, and should be immediately available. One interesting feature that HP is promoting: “New HP Printable Tattoos allow consumers to personalize the look of their iPod with album cover art from top bands and recording artists, as well as to create their own personalized artwork and photos printed on Tattoo media via an HP color printer.” more…
Microsoft’s iTunes challenge
The Associated Press has some further details on Microsoft’s anticipated Thursday launch of an iTunes Music Store competitor. “Microsoft has a formidable foe in market leader Apple, which boasts both the popular iTunes music store and the iPod music player. The landscape also is dotted with plenty of smaller services, including RealNetworks’ Rhapsody, Roxio Inc.’s Napster and offerings from companies like Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Sony Corp. But none of those has managed to capture hearts and minds like Apple.” more…
Danny Deckchair
Last night we saw Danny Deckchair. It was pretty good. I thought it had some fairly big jumps, and holes in the story, but if you can ignore them, it’s a pretty funny and entertaining movie. It’s worth seeing.
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Last night we saw Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998) at the Parkway Theater. The movie is Hunter S. Thompson’s classic account of a drug-addled trip to Las Vegas. It stars Johhny Depp and Benicio Del Toro.
I had seen this movie when it first came out, but I guess I didn’t really remember just how bad it really was. Although it had some nice performances by Johnn Depp and Benicio Del Toro, they weren’t enought to save the movie. We both hated it. I think it would have been a really nice short film (like 5-10 minutes), but not a full legnth feature film.
I do recommend the Parkway Theater though. It’s a great place to see a movie. The theater has couches, chairs and table instead of rows of seats. You can order pizza, sandwiches, beer, or wine from the snack bar and they will deliver it to you in the movie.