/dev/null/kevin

Unlike many of my coworker who are suffering comment spam, I have the opposite problem: I can't post a comment to my own blog. I invite you to try and leave a comment here.
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December 16, 2004 08:58 PM PST Permalink | Comments [3] |

Always one to "stay the course," HP is committing $3 billion to the Itanic chip. This money will be used to bribe, uh, I mean, encourage software vendors to develop on Itanic. Seriously, I want to hear this sales pitch.

HP: Here's a wad of cash, please port your warez to Itanium.
Vendor: OK, great! So, how many Itanium workstations is HP shipping now?
HP: Uh, none. We stopped doing that in September.
Vendor: Oh, uh, so how's the chip development going?
HP: Oh, we don't do that any more, either. We gave it all back to Intel.
Vendor: Hmmmm, but Intel is fully committed to Itanium, yes?
HP: Eh, not so much. They may kill it.
Vendor: I see. So the $3 billion is, what, exactly?
HP: Oh, it's a face-saving move. And if Intel drops Itanium soon, then we don't have to spend all of the money.
Vendor: Are you sure you don't need this wad of cash back?

As they say, "Good luck with that."

Disclaimer: The preceding dialogue is all just the imaginings of a deranged mind.
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December 16, 2004 01:25 AM PST Permalink | |

Here is a list of shows that my TiVo will never record:

1. Any show with the words "Wife" or "Swap" in the title.
2. Any show where the letters W, W and E appear in that order. The word "Smack" is also taboo.
3. Any NHL hockey game (sadly, not by choice).
4. Any show where a billionaire gives away money.
5. Any show hosted by Amanda Byram.
6. Any NBC remake of a BBC comedy.
7. Abolutely any televised evangelist.
8. Any show hosted by someone named Jerry, Montel, Jenny, Ricki, Maury , Sally or Tony Danza.
9. Likewise, any show where the host has the title of Judge.
10. Any awards show where the winners know ahead of time that they won. Yes, I'm talking to you, Blockbuster and Teen Choice Awards!

Anyone know how to program my TiVo wishlist with this info? :)
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December 15, 2004 10:20 AM PST Permalink | |

If you're like me and now own all three Platinum versions of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, then you might want the new Lord of the Rings DVD Slipbox to hold all three extended movies. It's only $3 (the shipping cost), so if you've already spend $60 - $90 on the set, it's not really that much more.

Sorry, the offer only seems to be valid in the US.
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December 14, 2004 08:13 PM PST Permalink | |

Today is a big day! One of my favorite things is coming to pass: the release of the extended version of Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.

As I said before, the last two extended versions were even better than the theatrical release. The extra footage and re-editing really make the film better. I was able to get a copy this morning at Fry's for $20.99.

This was almost my fate.
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December 14, 2004 12:40 PM PST Permalink | Comments [1] |

Here are two TiVo tips, courtesy of Weaknees.

• Enable 30 second skip
  Want to skip ahead 30 seconds like some other PVRs? Tivo can if you want. I tried this feature, and it does work. However, I found that I preferred the fast-forward method. I also like to use the advance button to skip ahead 15 minutes sometimes and you lose that ability when you reprogram it as the 30 second skip button. Fortunately, the feature is easily disabled by entering "00" insetad if "30" in the instructions.

• Sort Playlist
  Series 2 TiVo users already have this feature, but if you have a Series 1 unit, now you can sort your playlist one of three ways: Newest (default), Expire Date, or Alphabetical (the most useful). I like this feature because it groups all of the same shows together. With the baby, we do fall behind, and it's nice to not have to search for the first airing of a show. I added a second disk drive to my TiVo and the playlist can be really long these days (like 8-10 pages worth).

What's nice about the sort feature is that once it's enabled, you don't have to remember the key codes to resort. It's now a accessible by pressing "Display" when viewing the playlist (new text at the bottom will tell you this).
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December 10, 2004 05:05 PM PST Permalink | |

Hey Santa, here's what I want for Christmas! The folks at Trek Aerospace have developed personal hovercrafts. On the left is the encosed Dragonfly, which is capable of flying with a pilot, or being flown remotely. On the right is the Springtail, for those who prefer the wind in your hair (really!).

These guys are located in Los Altos, California, which is very close to Sun's Santa Clara campus (about 10 miles, as the personal hovercraft flys). Don't be surprised if Scooter shows up at a trade show in one of these.
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December 09, 2004 02:27 PM PST Permalink | |

To balance out the thing I am looking forward to, here are the things that I am dreading.

• Buying a new car - Sure, having a new car is great, but the process of buying one really sucks. Your choices are (1) be a sucker and pay too much, or (2) endure hours of hell to knock of a few bucks. I just can't stand the games that these people play. Writing down numbers, consulting with the boss back in some hidden office, all of their polished and phoney lines, these things just make me sick.

• More lip-synching - There is a plague of bad lip-synching going around these days and it seems to be making a comeback. After nothing but lip-synching in the 70s and 80s, the 90s revived the true live performance, and it was nice. Now in the 2000s, we're sliding backwards. Songs are returning to that over-produced sound of the 80s and singers have to be dancers, too. The results are Ashlee Simpson, Lindsey Lohan, Hilary Duff, and of course, Britney Spears, all pretending that they can sing. I've seen better lip-synching from the characters on a parade float than from these chicks. And why is it that most of these lip-synchers are women? Either the men are better singers, or just better lip-synchers, but I just don't notice them as much.

• American Idle 4 / Survivor 10 - Are these dumb shows going to be around forever? Why can't they burn out like Who Wants to be a Millionaire? And please, no more CSI or Law & Order shows! I like the originals, but there can do too much of a good thing. And while I'm on the subject, please, no Lost: The Next Generation or Desparate Husbands ripoff shows. Let the originals succeed without milking them to death.

• More Religious Intolerance - There really is a holy war brewing. I'm seeing it everywhere. Christians vs Muslims, Atheists vs Christians, Evangelical Christians vs Non-Evangelical Christians. Oh, and Jews vs Everyone, but that's normal (kidding!). Seriously, there is a mind war going on and it's subtle and scary. This is much more than red states vs blue states, it's an attack from within, disguised as moral values. If you can't see it, look for the hypocrisy. Just be on the lookout for false prophets folks.

• Groundhog Day - This event, and others, really doesn't change from year to year. The movie Groundhog Day is so named just for this reason. Other 'Hog Day news stories: The day after Thanksgiving shopping, day after Christmas returns, first snow of the year, interviews with winning and losing coaches and players from the Superbowl (or any sporting event), how to get those Oscar night fashions at bargin prices, and year end "best of" and "worst of" lists (stay tuned for mine!)

Here are the new Homeland Security color codes, as named by the newly appointed director, Bernard Kerik.

According to geekandproud.net the current level is:

Update! Apparently, Kerik is out of the running for the job. The reasons are fuzzy, but they have something to do with Oscar being an illegal alien and Kerik not paying Elmo's taxes. He may have also had affairs with Big Bird and the Cookie Monster.

The new appointee for the job is Count Von Count (aka "The Count") who will personally find and count every terrorist at home and abroad.

With the holiday season comes holiday depression. To keep my spirits up, I need something to look forward to. Here is my list, in chronological order:

• Dec 13, 2004 - Legend of Earthsea on the SCIFI channel. Thanks to the success of The Lord of the Rings, other SciFi books are making it into filmed versions. The SCIFI channel has a mixed history of delivering both good and crap movies, so let's hope this is more Farscape and less Raptor Island.

• Dec 14, 2004 - Even if Earthsea sucks, it's just one day until the DVD release of the extended version of Return of the King. The extended versions of The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers were superior to their respective theatrical (and early DVD) releases, so I have high hopes for this one as well.

• Jan 5, 2005 - The return of Alias. After sitting on the bench for the first half of the season, Alias finally returns, but on a new night (since Desperate Housewives hijacked its time slot). Its new night will be Wednesdays at 9pm (P/E), following Lost (another good show). This show changes itself as much as Sydney does, so who knows what this season will be like.

• Jan 9, 2005 - The return of Fox's 24. It will premiere on Sunday the 9th, and then move to its new night, Mondays, on the 10th. I think this is a good move for Fox. 24 will now air all of the episodes with minimal breaks and no reruns. This will keep the pacing of the show up where it needs to be. Rumor has is that Jack's worthless daughter will have a much smaller role. Yeah!

• Jan 14, 2005 - The new Battlestar Galactica premieres. It will have been over a year since the reimagined mini series aired back in January 2004 as a test run/pilot episode. Fans of the original series had a little adjusting to do, but overall, the new mini-series was pretty good. The new series should be just as good, maybe better. I personally don't care that Starbuck is now a woman. The old show was fun, but cheesy. The new show removes the cheese.

• Jan 21, 2005 - The return of Stargate SG1 and Stargate Atlantis. After a long break of reruns, both shows return with new episodes. Sure, Stargate jumped the shark a bit, mainly due to MacGyver's choice to work less, but it's still fun. Atlantis is also a pleasant surprise. The show has a lot of promise and is doing the most with its first season. Both shows have already been renewed for yet another season, so more things to look forward to.

• Feb, 2005 - The PC release of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, the Sith Lords, aka KOTOR II. The first KOTOR was an awesome game. Finally, a really good Star Wars game, unlike some disappointing attempts in the past. If they made KOTOR I into a movie, it would probably be the third best of all of the Star Wars movies, right behind the original Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back. It would certainly be better than any of the two prequels so far. What's that? The XBOX version comes out in December? Why wait for the PC version in February? Well, I'm not going to buy an XBOX just to play this one game (Kevin, Halo 2 is out...) and the PC version of KOTOR I was bigger and better than the XBOX version, so I'm willing to wait.