Monthly Archives: December 2008
Join the (anti-)social (updated x4)
This is a strange one. Zunes everywhere seem to be locking up at pretty much the same time. Gizmodo has some details, and there may be a fix that requires the case to be opened. Yikes. Of course, this is really not a tragedy. After all there are less than 200 Zunes in the wild.
UPDATE 1: Microsoft has acknowledged the problem and promises info on a fix here.
UPDATE 2: More from Ars Technica. This is a disaster for Microsoft.
UPDATE 3: Microsoft has a solution: let the batteries go dead.
UPDATE 4: Microsoft acknowledges the problem was the way their software handled a leap year. I can almost hear the gales of laughter at the iPod offices in Cupertino.
The fix for the glitch? Patience. The company said the internal clock on the players should reset itself at 7 a.m. Eastern time on Thursday. Microsoft advised Zune owners to drain the battery and then turn the players back on after that time. Those who were hoping to provide the soundtrack to New Year’s Eve parties had no choice but to find a friend with an iPod.
Cheap gas = trouble ahead
Mark Morford highlights the truth. Cheap gas is both a sign of how bad the world economy really is, and will merely delay the inevitable move away from oil as our main source of transportation energy. So its best to take advantage while you can and help the economy at the same time.
It’s one of the more disturbing indicators in recent memory, easily the most ironically depressing sign of doom and downturn you get to see every single day as you careen around the city streets and look at the signs and blink a few times and go, wait wait wait, what year is it again? Are you kidding me? A buck seventy five? For premium? WTF?
It is the frightening rule du jour: the cheaper gas gets right now, the more completely screwed you know we are. At the same time, a cheap tank of gas is one of the few strokes of fiscal relief we have right now, a tiny reprieve from the brutal economic turmoil. What a thing.
Kitten petting
Loss of a pet
The loss of a pet is extremely painful. (No my cat is fine). So I really identified with this post from Peter Nidzgorski’s “This isn’t happiness” blog. By the way, it is a great photo blog.
"Stunningly superficial"
Zbigniew Brzezinski tears into Joe Scarborough.
Scarborough: “You cannot blame what’s going on in Israel on the Bush administration.”
Brzezinski: “You know, you have such a stunningly superficial knowledge of what went on that it’s almost embarrassing to listen to you.”
“Stunningly superficial”
Zbigniew Brzezinski tears into Joe Scarborough.
Scarborough: “You cannot blame what’s going on in Israel on the Bush administration.”
Brzezinski: “You know, you have such a stunningly superficial knowledge of what went on that it’s almost embarrassing to listen to you.”
The year in review, part 1
If you haven’t ever visited The Big Picture, you owe it to yourself to go. It is a large format photoblogging site and part of the Boston Globe. In particular, at this time of the year, be sure to take a look at 2008, the year in pictures, Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.
One (big) step closer to a police state
Be happy. Your civil liberties in the United States are stronger than those in Europe (and based on this story in the Guardian that isn’t saying much). It appears that the UK government is going to authorize a private company to track and record all users’ telephone calls, emails, text messages and Internet use.
… in his strongest criticism yet of the superdatabase, Sir Ken Macdonald, the former director of public prosecutions, who has firsthand experience of working with intelligence and law enforcement agencies, told the Guardian such assurances would prove worthless in the long run and warned it would prove a “hellhouse” of personal private information.
Supposedly to improve security. But of course such a database would be a magnet for hackers and almost certainly would reduce security as a result. In any event, even if security were improved this is a basically total governmental surveillance. What good is safety if you live in a panopticon?
Mega iPod touch coming in 2009?
This sounds pretty nifty to me. Michael Arrington is reporting that Apple currently plans to release a large form factor iPod touch in fall, 2009. It is said to have a screen of up to 9 inches. When coupled with the iTunes app store, this could be the “netbook” that Apple currently lacks. Netbooks are currently a rapidly growing sector of the PC industry.
Top 10 Wingnut posts of the year
Roy Edroso, writing for the Village Voice, picks his top 10 right wing blog stories of the year. Excellent. And here is one from the listing.
#7: And Robin is Tony Blair. “A beam of light flashed into the night sky, the dark symbol of a bat projected onto the surface of the racing clouds… Oh, wait a minute. That’s not a bat, actually. In fact, when you trace the outline with your finger, it looks kind of like . . . a ‘W.’” In the Wall Street Journal Andrew Klavan explained why The Dark Knight is “a paean of praise to the fortitude and moral courage that has been shown by George W. Bush in this time of terror and war… Like W, Batman sometimes has to push the boundaries of civil rights to deal with an emergency.” Maybe that explains why the Joker was more popular. (The Journal unfortunately didn’t run Klavan’s other essay about the Hollywood film that celebrated an earlier phase of Bush’s career, Pineapple Express.)
Franken ahead in latest tally
Al Franken is ahead of Norm Coleman by about 50 votes in the latest (but unofficial) tally in the Minnesota Senate race.
The city where sirens never sleep
The Weekly Standard (of all places) has a very interesting article about the state of Detroit these days. Here is an excerpt:
Somewhere along the way, Detroit became our national ashtray, a safe place for everyone to stub out the butt of their jokes. This was never more evident than at the recent congressional hearings, featuring the heads of the Big Three automakers, now more often called the Detroit Three, as that sounds more synonymous with failure. Yes, they have been feckless and tone-deaf in the past, and now look like stalkers trying to make people love them with desperation moves such as Ford breaking the “Taurus” name out of mothballs, or Chrysler steering a herd of cattle through downtown Detroit for an auto show (some of the longhorns started humping each other in front of reporters, giving new meaning to the “Dodge Ram,” which they were intended to advertise).
The offical announcement
OK, so here is the video of Blogo annointing appointing Roland Burris to take Obama’s former Senate seat. This is truly rich.
UPDATE: Apparently the Secretary of State of Illinois says that the appointment will be voided. And Senate Democrats say they will refuse to seat anyone appointed by Blago.
An ego the size of Alpha Centauri
I am sure you have heard that Blago decided to go ahead and appoint someone to the Senate seat left vacant by Barack Obama. The lucky “winner” is Roland Burris. Turns out he has a a small self-image problem, reflected in his pre-constructed burial crypt. I guess this answers the question as to why anyone would accept an appointment by Blago under the current circumstances.
