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Hmm, now, how did I put it? “…a form factor so slim it just begs to be snapped in half in your back pocket.” Apparently, more than a few folks are having problems with easily scratched and broken displays. There is even a web site dedicated to sharing information.
One of my favorite podcasts is the HDTV Podcast with the HT Guys. I’m nowhere near the point of being able to afford any kind of HDTV setup, but I enjoy listening to information about hi-def so that when the magic day comes, I’ll know what I’m talking about.
In a recent podcast, the HT Guys visited a home theater setup in San Diego that is just over the top. Check out some of the pictures and give a listen to the interview.
I’ve been closely watching home media appliances, and a new one has hit the market. Musica by Olive is essentially a standalone audio jukebox with a CD-R drive and an internal hard drive. You store all your audio right on the device and never have to handle a CD again. It can also stream audio from the Internet or any UPnP AV device in the house. You can do the same thing with an off-the-shelf PC and some free software, but you can’t beat the size, looks, and ready-to-go aspects of this box. At $1099, it’s not cheap, but some people will find the price worth it.
Apple has announced their newest digital media player, the iPod Nano. A cross between the Shuffle and the Mini (which appears to be discontinued since I can’t find it on their site), the Nano sports 2 or 4 GB of memory, a color screen, and a form factor so slim it just begs to be snapped in half in your back pocket. Of course, you still need iTunes to manage its content, and it uses Apple’s DRM-laden AAC format. It’s quite sexy, but I’ll stick to MP3s on my SanDisk player so I can simply drag and drop files to it.
Several years ago, the Connecticut DOT installed dozens of cameras on the interstates in and around the Hartford area. I’ve been waiting patiently for them to finally come on-line, and I’ve just discovered that day is here. Now I can check the Hartford area cameras before leaving in the morning to see if I might run into any delays.
The other night, we decided spur of the moment to go catch a movie at the drive-in. We’d been having dinner about ten minutes away from our favorite local theater, and a quick call to their hotline revealed that “March of the Penguins” and “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” were playing on one of the screens. We moved several of the van’s seats out onto the ground and sat under a clear, cloudless sky watching the movies.
My gaze wandered up every now and then, and I was struck by the fact that at any given time, I could pick out at least one, and sometimes up to four, airplanes flying over. Most were at the usual 35,000-foot cruising altitude, but they were still easy to spot with their flashing beacons and straight-line movement. Most were also flying generally northeast, so I figure we were under a common corridor to Boston.
Isn’t it remarkable how commonplace and even necessary air travel has become? Less than 100 years ago, the thought of flying at all was almost ludicrous. I recall the eerie silence in the days after 9/11 when all planes were grounded. There is an almost imperceptable rumble of background noise outside due to overflying aircraft. We don’t notice it in our day-to-day life, but certainly miss it when it’s not there.
Another byproduct of our technological society is light polution. I could see only a fraction of the stars in the sky that I know were up there. Perhaps we’ll have a large-scale blackout some evening and we’ll be able to step out our back door and see the sky anew as our ancestors once saw it.
I also caught four shooting stars that evening, one streaking across the sky just above the screen. It made for some excited chatter among the kids who have never really seen one.
By the way, “March of the Penguins” was fascinating, holding the attention of everyone in the family from start to finish. “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” just stunk. It was one of the worst movies Cindy and I have ever seen. That’s one DVD that won’t be coming into our house.
NPR has updated their site with more podcasts, and it just keeps getting better. They explain in their FAQ why you can’t download full shows such as Morning Edition and All Things Considered, and I agree with their reasoning. However, I’m still waiting to be able to get a handful of hour-long shows such as Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me and Speaking of Faith. With 132 shows listed on their site, why is it I can’t get these two?