Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Friday, September 19, 2008
Ads
Microsoft has got new ads out - the Seinfeld & Gates ads and the spoof "I'm a PC" apple ads.
First off, I think that the Seinfeld & Gates ads are really funny. They aren't laugh out loud funny, they aren't stupid stuff happening on MTV funny, but they are funny. Probably they are closer to English Office funny. Hey, most americans don't like the English Office.
In the "I'm a PC" there are only two funny parts:
This guy:
and the guy who sells fish:
Obviously, the point of the ad is to show people that PC users are not all "boring suits." But I think that the ad is a little too high brow and it can't really stand up to the Apple Ads.
The ad that does out manuever apple is the I don't wear a suit ad: It is short, sweet, and its got a guy from NASA which obviously makes it legit:
Follow this link over to gizmodo to watch the ads.
Probably Microsoft should ask me next time they start an ad campaign.
First off, I think that the Seinfeld & Gates ads are really funny. They aren't laugh out loud funny, they aren't stupid stuff happening on MTV funny, but they are funny. Probably they are closer to English Office funny. Hey, most americans don't like the English Office.
In the "I'm a PC" there are only two funny parts:
This guy:
and the guy who sells fish:
Obviously, the point of the ad is to show people that PC users are not all "boring suits." But I think that the ad is a little too high brow and it can't really stand up to the Apple Ads.
The ad that does out manuever apple is the I don't wear a suit ad: It is short, sweet, and its got a guy from NASA which obviously makes it legit:
Follow this link over to gizmodo to watch the ads.
Probably Microsoft should ask me next time they start an ad campaign.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Evolution
I've already mentioned that I think that the inclusion of magnetosphere as the new itunes visualizer is brilliant - but I've used itunes 8.0 a bit more and I've got some more comments.
Oftentimes apple's updates don't have a ton of visual implications for the user. Much of what is changed is "under the hood" so to speak and while there are new features, they don't compose the dominating bulk of the update.
Itunes 8.0 moves in a different direction. I feel that this is a true evolution of itunes, the genius feature is going to revolutionize music listening in the same way that the itunes store did. I've never felt that coverflow was really that great and I think the new implementation is also really nice.
I'm still exploring 8.0 but I'm finding listening to music with the new itunes to be a new experience compared to the old itunes, especially when you use the visualizer.
I've got a two screen setup and my left monitor is almost always set to show the visualizer now. Its just that good.
Oftentimes apple's updates don't have a ton of visual implications for the user. Much of what is changed is "under the hood" so to speak and while there are new features, they don't compose the dominating bulk of the update.
Itunes 8.0 moves in a different direction. I feel that this is a true evolution of itunes, the genius feature is going to revolutionize music listening in the same way that the itunes store did. I've never felt that coverflow was really that great and I think the new implementation is also really nice.
I'm still exploring 8.0 but I'm finding listening to music with the new itunes to be a new experience compared to the old itunes, especially when you use the visualizer.
I've got a two screen setup and my left monitor is almost always set to show the visualizer now. Its just that good.
T-mobile?
Most of the geeks amongst us carry some sort of snazzy cellphone these days. Whether its an iphone, blackberry, an LG enV2, so on an so forth, we've all got one. But the true geeks amongst us now have a tough decision to consider. Even though T-Mobile sucks, maybe we should switch?
On Sept. 23, Google, in partnership with T-Mobile is going to release their new phone running on the Android system. We've heard a lot about Android, the Google phone, and we don't really know much about it. But it will be cool. Google is a company with a near spotless track record of only producing cool and well functioning software and I'm sure Android won't be any different.
When the iphone came out on AT&T the big detractor was the network. But AT&T has improved and I'm sure that is in no small part because of the iphone. T-Mobile isn't known to be a stellar network (apparently in Hawaii though they are the only choice), but perhaps it will start moving along.
All in all, I'm tired of a cellular marketplace dominated by Verizon. Maybe in a few weeks I'll have a sweet phone and a crappy network. And in a few months, maybe the network won't be so bad.
On Sept. 23, Google, in partnership with T-Mobile is going to release their new phone running on the Android system. We've heard a lot about Android, the Google phone, and we don't really know much about it. But it will be cool. Google is a company with a near spotless track record of only producing cool and well functioning software and I'm sure Android won't be any different.
When the iphone came out on AT&T the big detractor was the network. But AT&T has improved and I'm sure that is in no small part because of the iphone. T-Mobile isn't known to be a stellar network (apparently in Hawaii though they are the only choice), but perhaps it will start moving along.
All in all, I'm tired of a cellular marketplace dominated by Verizon. Maybe in a few weeks I'll have a sweet phone and a crappy network. And in a few months, maybe the network won't be so bad.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Productivity goes down
One of the great things about apple is that they are constantly innovating in the world of design. But thats not to say that when they see someone else putting something truly amazing together that they don't recognize it. The visualizer in iTunes 8 is one of those examples. It was developed by a software group called The Barbarian Group and although they no longer maintain it, apple has it.
If you select itunes visualizer in the visualizer menu, accessible through the view section in the toolbar you will be blown away by the seriously remarkable graphics. It was hard for me to even write this blog post. Combine the visualizer with the new genius function and prepared to be blown away.
If you select itunes visualizer in the visualizer menu, accessible through the view section in the toolbar you will be blown away by the seriously remarkable graphics. It was hard for me to even write this blog post. Combine the visualizer with the new genius function and prepared to be blown away.
Monday, September 08, 2008
First Day
So some would say this was my first day of school! While I've definately taught before, I've never been a full year long classroom teacher. Things went pretty well I think - we have a lot of support at Bank Street.
Check out the school. It really is a wonderful institution.
Check out the school. It really is a wonderful institution.
Thursday, September 04, 2008
Vista
Lila got a new computer, an HP slimline, with an AMD 2.8ghz processor. Its got 4 gigs of RAM, a 500 gb hard drive, a decent graphics card and naturally it comes with Vista. Ignoring the possibility for a cheap joke here, the version of Vista it has is the best home version, not vista ultimate. We paired it with a 22" Acer LCD and picked up Office Student edition cheap, all from Newegg.
Got to give Newegg props, everything got here really really fast.
Vista is not so bad, I've decided. Running on a comp that is built for it, with a screen that is built for it, it runs quite nicely. Sure, I think we could squeeze a little more speed out of the system, but out of the box, it was ok. True, its not as easy a setup as a mac, nor as fast, but I found it acceptable.
I'm going to post anything I notice about it over the next few weeks or so. I figure a bunch of you people out there aren't ever going to switch (see the ad, Off the Air at the mac ads site) so you might be interested in what Vista's like from the perspective of a home user.
Got to give Newegg props, everything got here really really fast.
Vista is not so bad, I've decided. Running on a comp that is built for it, with a screen that is built for it, it runs quite nicely. Sure, I think we could squeeze a little more speed out of the system, but out of the box, it was ok. True, its not as easy a setup as a mac, nor as fast, but I found it acceptable.
I'm going to post anything I notice about it over the next few weeks or so. I figure a bunch of you people out there aren't ever going to switch (see the ad, Off the Air at the mac ads site) so you might be interested in what Vista's like from the perspective of a home user.
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