Who Opened the Windows?

In somewhat of a surprising and considerably bold move, Microsoft has recently announced a new strategy that will place them in a friendlier position in terms of open interoperability. In short, they will be publishing their application programming interfaces (APIs) and communication protocols for their high volume products. These products include Windows Vista, the .NET Framework, Windows Server 2008, SQL Server 2008, Office 2007, Exchange Server 2007, and Office SharePoint Server 2007. Microsoft has also pledged not to sue open-source developers who create noncommercial software based on Microsoft's protocols. With that said, let's take a look at what exactly this means for Microsoft, Open Source, and us, the consumers.


To clarify, Microsoft is opening up their APIs, not their source codes. This means that Open Source developers do not have access to how the programs work, but more so how the applications interact with one another. Examples of what we can see as a result, include Mozilla's Thunderbird communicating more tightly with Microsoft's Exchange Server, and possibly replacing Microsoft Outlook as our mandatory mail client. As Paul Thurrott pointed out on the Windows Weekly podcast, we may now be able to sync Google Calendar appointments to our mobile phones without having to jump through chutes and ladders. Perhaps we can get some Macro support in Open Office?

The reason that this announcement is such a surprising move, is because Microsoft has never made life easy for open source developers. Though there exists industry standards that Microsoft are expected to abide by, Microsoft has a habit of forcing their own standards on consumers. Case in point, is the Open Document Format (.odf) that is standardized throughout non-Microsoft office suites, such as Open Office and Lotus Symphony. Microsoft has never embraced the format, while strongly advocating usage of their proprietary OOXML (.xml) format. Being the near monopoly that Microsoft is, they have the clout to set the standards themselves, while bullying any company that attempts to infringe upon their trademarks. These practices have often gotten Microsoft in hot water with committees such as the European Union, whom has sued Microsoft for abuse of their dominant position in the market.

Though it may seem like Microsoft is seeing the light and evolving with the times, some Open Source programmers remain skeptical. For one, Microsoft's pledge to not sue Open Source companies, only applies to non-commercial usage. Thus Microsoft will only play nice, so long as those companies don't plan on profiting off of the agreement. This may be seen as a blatant method of Microsoft maintaining their foothold on the industry. Some individuals believe that Microsoft is only taking these steps to get the European Union off their back, and are also attempting to ensure that their own formats are standardized. Basically, Microsoft is allowing others to adopt their formats, but not committing to embrace those that are already accepted as standards by the Open Source community. Though it seems as it is Open Source, and the consumers as a whole, that are benefiting from this agreement, it is clearly Microsoft that is the true winner.

Blog Hiatus

I wanted to take the opportunity let my readers know that for the next two/three weeks, I will have to take a bit of a break from blogging. The workload at my place of employment is getting heavier, and I will be utilizing what little free time I have, to study for a certification. As fun as blogging is, until I can do it for a living, it must take a back seat to higher priorities. I may post a blog here and there, but not the three a week that I have been maintaining since I started this site. Thanks for reading! Kthxbai!

Fare Thee Well, HD DVD

Faced with almost unanimous abandonment, Toshiba has finally decided to throw in the towel, and call it quits in the race for dominance over the future of physical High Definition media. They have already begun reducing shipments of HD DVD players, and are aiming for March of 2008 to be the end point for the format. This movement will cause Toshiba to suffer losses in the hundreds of millions, as they cease production and refocus their business. But, what does this mean for the consumers in the long run?

The obvious winner in the format war is Sony, with its Blu Ray technology. However, will the lack of direct competition slow down innovation and neutralize price reductions? Blu Ray was always the more expensive format of the two, and if it had not been for aggressive price cuts from both camps, we would still be paying a much larger premium to indulge in the new technology. With HD DVD gone, Sony may no longer feel that it needs to lower its prices, as there is no where else for consumers to go. On the other side of the fence, one could argue that Sony does have a reputation to maintain, and if the sales of Blu Ray begin to slump, there is no longer a format war to blame it on. Thus if Blu Ray fails to further penetrate the mainstream, only Sony will be held responsible.

Now that there exists only Blu Ray, how will that affect the gaming scene? With the format war over, consumers will not be so hesitant to commit to Blu Ray. Starting with January, the PS3 has already begun to outsell the XBOX 360. Expect that trend to continue, as bigger and better games will also be released for the system. Microsoft has admitted that it is looking into the possibility of releasing a Blu Ray addon for it's gaming console, however, the Playstation 3 remains to be the more appealing solution. One can only imagine that Microsoft will focus more of its efforts on developing the next successor in its XBOX line.

Is Blu Ray officially declared the winner and sole format to lead us into the future? The concept known as digital downloads may not be so quick to agree with that statement. With the ability to almost instantaneously watch whatever we want, whenever we want, becoming easier and more impressive, is it only a matter of time that this method is embraced by the masses. It is almost a given that physical media will one day cease to exist, and with recent innovations in cloud computing, this eventuality may come sooner than we think. However, the concept of digital downloads in terms of media is concerned, is in its infancy and it will still be a matter of time before we, as a whole, are ready to embrace such a medium. While the tech savvy generation may be looking forward to the day that we are surrounded by nothing but 1's and 0's, the old school mentality of owning a physical media collection still exists. And, with the plaguing problem of broadband limitations and digital rights management, who can blame them? In my personal opinion, we are not quite ready to crown digital media our messiah to lead us into the next generation. Perhaps it will be a different story, once the next iteration of physical media, be it Blu Ray or not, has run its course.

AppleTV Take 2

The AppleTV, released in March '07, was Apple's way of extending the iPod/iTunes experience into our living rooms. It was a device that you plug into your television and stream content to, from the various Mac or PC's that you may own. It was also met with much criticism, as it was a device that required a high definition output, yet did not offer any high definition content. That fact, coupled with some considerable annoyances (being dependent on a separate computer, no DVR capabilities, etc.), kept the AppleTV from reaching mainstream success.

As one of the AppleTV's earliest adopters, my heart was saddened to see Apple all but abandon the product. Aside from the addition of a Youtube video player, little was mentioned of the gadget. When asked about the product, Steve Jobs went far enough to call the product a hobby. However, if you asked just about anyone who owned an AppleTV, they would surely testify that it has become an essential part of their home entertainment systems. It has definitely earned a permanent place under my Plasma TV. Thus, enthusiasts expressed a sigh of relief at MacWorld '08, when Uncle Steve unveiled that Apple was going take two with the AppleTV, and offer a downloadable software update. An update that would breathe a much needed new life into the media hub. The following, is my review on the AppleTV Take 2.

The First Impression

I must say, upon firing up the new updated AppleTV for the first time, I was a little disappointed with the new graphical interface. The original software iteration greeted you with three-dimensional rotating icons, that scrolled vertically across your screen as you navigated through the different content options that were available to you. Instead of those icons, you are now exposed to a pretty bland and basic two column menu. One side of the menu lists the same content options as that were originally available, sans pretty icons; the other side contains the sub-options for those categories. To me, this new interface feels a little colder and impersonal. It also loses the artistic appeal that was originally associated with the AppleTV. Furthermore, navigating through the menu options now requires many more button clicks. These added button clicks are sure to cause much frustration, as there were many times during menu navigation that my clicks were not accepted, as the AppleTV must have been playing catchup with the directories. In an interface that requires you to click numerous buttons on the remote to get to your content, I think it is imperative that Apple work on improving the button-click recognition in a future software update.

There is no doubt that the focus of the AppleTV is now geared completely towards the iTunes store that can be accessed from the device. For every category of content, options to access the iTunes store are given first priority, while leaving your own content as a second thought. I think it is great that we can now navigate through the online store, and preview and purchase digital content from the comfort of our couches, however, I don't feel this option should be the main focus of the device. I think it is apparent that Apple is trying to milk this device for what it's worth, and that means shoving the store in your face at every opportunity.

The process of accessing your own content from within the AppleTV, also sees somewhat of an overhaul. As with the first software iteration, you could either sync content to your AppleTV, or stream the data from a stand alone computer. However, before the update, it was very easy to distinguish which content was actually sitting on the hard drive in the AppleTV, and differentiate that from what was sitting on your computer in the other room. With this update, the content synced to your AppleTV is displayed amongst the content files on your primary computer that you have associated with the device. There is no clear way to tell what is local and what is not. There is an option in iTunes on the primary computer that allows you to show only the data that is on the AppleTV, but then you wouldn't be able to access any data from your iTunes library on your computer.

The Store

The defining feature of the new AppleTV update is the ability to purchase content from the iTunes store, without needing a separate computer. As expected, Apple did get it right in terms of making the store accessible with the AppleTV remote. Much of the navigating can be performed (albeit frustratingly) using the navigational buttons. The movies and TV shows are grouped together by various categorization methods to help you easily find what you are looking for. There is a search option that works quite well at predicting what you are looking for as you input characters, though it can be a nightmare as the device has a hard time keeping up with your commands.

After purchasing video content, the downloads occur fairly quickly. You can usually begin watching standard definition content within ten seconds of beginning the download. Of course, the speed of the downloads will also depend on the speed of your internet connection. But, even with my 3 mbps down connection, rarely did I notice any hiccups or buffering. I don't know if it is a confirmed fact, but in my opinion, the standard definition content seems to look noticeably better than past iTunes offerings. I downloaded recent episodes of Lost and Jericho, and they seem to be very near DVD quality.

As expected, High Definition movies do not download nearly as fast as the standard def equivalents. It took over two hours of downloading before I was able to begin watching a movie. If you are planning on spending your Friday night with a couple of HD movies from the iTunes store, make sure to plan and download your movies beforehand, or you will spend your Friday playing the waiting game. One thing I did notice, the AppleTV cannot perform background downloading of HD movies. In other words, if you start downloading an HD movie, then begin watching a TV show, the download will pause until you are finished. As far as quality goes, the general consensus is that the iTunes HD offerings look pretty good, but not quite as good as say, a Blu Ray movie.

As for the music portion of the store, I really don't see myself purchasing any audio music tracks from my AppleTV, so it is somewhat useless to me. Where the music store can shine, however, is in the music videos department. Now that you can purchase and watch music videos on your television with ease, this option suddenly becomes more appealing. Even if you aren't interested in purchasing music videos, you can still find yourself getting trapped in the store for hours, while you preview and reminisce over the old school videos that you grew up with. Silk and Jodeci, anyone?

To me, the biggest benefit of having the iTunes store on the AppleTV, is the podcasts section. As with audio music tracks, I couldn't see using the AppleTV to listen to audio podcasts. However, it now acts as my ultimate video podcast aggregator. Prior to this update, if you wanted video podcasts on your AppleTV, you would have to subscribe to them on your computer, download them, then sync (or stream) them to your AppleTV. That sounds like a lot of work to do to watch an episode of GeekBrief. Now, downloading video podcasts are no longer necessary, as they can be watched straight from the iTunes store. An essential feature is the ability to add podcasts to a list of favorites, so that your favorite shows are all in one place for you. The Amazon store-like recommendations ensure that you will discover new podcasts that you hadn't previously heard of. One caveat, is that you are stuck with the podcasts that iTunes offers, as there is no way to insert an rss feed.

The Rest

The AppleTV update also adds some functionality to the photo aspect. You can now view public pictures from a flickr or .mac account. Unfortunately, the inability to log in to these accounts, means that you will not be able to see your private photos. You can also now sync photos from more than one computer. This may be appealing to you if have your photos scattered throughout different computers in your house.

One virtually unmentioned added feature, is the ability to use your AppleTV as an AirTunes device. This feature has been more commonly associated with the Airport Extreme, and allows you to stream music from your computer to these capable devices. You may ask what's the point, if you can already stream music to your AppleTV. Well, this feature works a little differently. Let's say you have one AppleTV in your living room, one in the basement, and an Airport Extreme in your upstairs bedroom, you can stream your music to all of these devices at once, and have the same song playing throughout your house. Unfortunately, in order to get this to work with the AppleTV (correct me if I'm wrong), you have to be utilizing the digital audio port on the device. I have my AppleTV connected to my plasma via HDMI, and have been unable to get this feature to work. Just make sure you have this setting enabled in your iTunes preferences.

Other unadvertised features come in the form of bug fixes. Prior to the update, my AppleTV froze up quite often. Pretty much every time I awoke it, the device would require a forced reboot. Thankfully, I have not had to restart my AppleTV since applying the update. Reports also indicate that the update may have also fixed connectivity issues when it comes to communicating with multiple computers. Now if they could only fix that flaky response problem...

The Conclusion

This is one device that should appeal to the masses, even if they don't realize it. I would honestly consider purchasing an AppleTV for my computer illiterate mother, just so she can rent movies without making the trip to Blockbuster, as well as be able to browse her family's photos on Flickr. As mentioned, I have always been a major supporter of the AppleTV. I think it is great to be able to take the content from my computer and access it on the big screen in the living room. Though I may have my criticisms when it comes to the refined graphical interface, the AppleTV does still accomplish everything it was set out to do. With the added bonuses of the new features, the AppleTV just becomes more of a must have.

Top Tech Weekly Round Up 4

This week we discuss hostile rejections, coffin carpentry, wireless fidelity, and another Cupertino roundup!

Corporate rejections are always harsh! In a follow up to last week's roundup, Yahoo has formally rejected Microsoft's offer to acquire the company. Executives submitted the rejection, stating that the offer devalues the Yahoo brand, while also hinting to the fact that they would be open to a bigger offer. Expect one to made, as Microsoft is not willing to let up so easily. They have stated that they are still committed to the combination of the two companies. The Yahoo execs can reject all they want, but what it ultimately boils down to, is the shareholders. How much money will it take for them to give in?

Does Microsoft really want Yahoo? Cnet's Don Reisinger doesn't believe so. In his blog, he compares this proposed acquisition to the 1994-95 proposal that Microsoft made to acquire Intuit, the maker of Quicken. Back then, Intuit was giving Microsoft more competition than they could handle. Naturally, Microsoft made them an offer they couldn't refuse. As an anti-monopolistic precaution, the courts stepped in and put a stop to it. However, that was all Microsoft needed in order to perform due diligence, and have a look at Intuits internal books. A year later Microsoft gained the upper hand and pulled far enough away from Intuit, that they could never catch back up. Is Microsoft's proposed acquisition of Yahoo fueled by deceit? It seems far fetched, but I wouldn't put it past them.

I'm not quite sure how many nails it takes to seal a coffin, but it does seem like Count Dracula could sleep in the one built for HD DVD. Earlier this week, Netflix had announced that it is no longer going to be stocking new movies in the HD DVD format. A shame, considering Netflix was one of the few places you could still find HD DVDs, after Blockbuster already made the decision to side with Blu Ray. Meanwhile, Netflix has raised quite a stir with a recent survey that they released, asking consumers if they would be interested in streaming movies to an XBOX 360 or PS3. I know I would be pretty damn interested, but I have a feeling Microsoft and Sony wouldn't.

Anybody whom has ever attempted to transfer an even somewhat large file via bluetooth, knows that it can be a tedious and unreliable process. Things may change for you if you have an 802.11 card sitting next to that bluetooth antenna! The Bluetooth Special Interests Group (BSIG) has announced that bluetooth transfers will soon be able to piggy back off of the signal of wireless 802.11 technology, to achieve must faster and reliable data transfers. I always get a warm and fuzzy feeling when technologies come together and co-exist as one. Unfortunately, we shouldn't expect to see this new spec come to fruition until sometime in 2009.

In other wireless news, fanatics of over-priced coffee now have reason to rejoice. Starbucks has announced that they are switching their in-store wireless carriers from T-mobile to AT&T. What this means for Starbucks card members, is two free hours of wifi goodness, and $4 for an additional two hours. T-Mobile HotSpot customers are still allowed in on the action at no additional cost, through an agreement between T-Mobile and AT&T. With the recent innovations between Starbucks and Apple's iPhone, this was a partnership waiting to happen.

Did somebody mention Apple? The Cupertino based company kicked the week off by releasing a new and more refined version of their photo editing and management tool, Aperature. The following day, they updated OS X to version 10.5.2, which includes many security patches and bug fixes. Then, after being delayed by two weeks, we were blessed with the long awaited AppleTV updated. I will be digging my claws into it this weekend and will post a full review soon. Would Apple dare get back into gaming? After the disaster known as the Pippin, one would hope not! However, suspicions have arose after a trademark was patented by Apple, that sounded more like it came from Nintendo. While this can just be signs of what's to come for the iPhone once the software development kit is released later this month, it may also answer why Apple was looking to hire a game developer a while back.

Tech Tip: Smart Playlsts 2

Earlier in the week, I posted a blog on how to combine multiple smart playlists to create one ultimate playlist. This time, I will take the opportunity to show you some examples of simple smart playlists that can accomplish things that you may not have thought possible with iTunes.

If you are like me, you may have digitized your entire music library. Sure you may save space in your house, but you now have lots of music in your iTunes library that you don't want in your steady rotation. Perhaps you don't want to take the time to weed out the good from the bad. Why not let that selection occur naturally? Let's take this approach...


One thing you may not have known about iTunes, is that it keeps track of how many times you skip a song. You can create a smart playlist, using the conditions, 'Skip Count is less than 3'. You can change the number variable to suit your preferences. I suggest not checking the 'Limit to' box. Essentially, you will start off with a pretty big playlist, containing the majority of your library. As you are listening to your music, and you start skipping the songs you don't want to listen to, they will start to remove themselves from the list. Eventually, you will end up with a playlist that contains only the music that you never skip. If, by accident, a song is removed that you want back in the play list, you can right click the song in iTunes, and select 'reset skip count'.

The playlist method I just described starts you off with a big list, and allows you to narrow down what is available. Another option of achieving the same goal, yet taking a different route, is to create a playlist based on your play count. With this configuration, you will start off with a small amount of music in your playlist. As you listen to music in your main library, whether in iTunes or an iPod, once a song hits a certain amount of plays, it will add itself to your playlist. This playlist method would be the optimal configuration if you want to fill a limited sized playlist for use on an iPod.


One aspect of iTunes that people rarely take advantage of, is the music ratings. As you are listening to your music, you can take the opportunity to rate the song using iTunes' 5 star method. This can be achieved while listening to music on an iPod, by pressing the middle button until you get to the ratings selection. Rating your songs can serve more of a purpose than providing you another way to sort your tracks.


Let's say you are getting tired of the shuffle feature always playing the same songs. Most likely, you have a lot of songs just sitting there, that never get played. Sometimes you forget those songs even existed. You can create a smart playlist that uses conditions based on ratings. In this example, you are creating a playlist with all of your songs that are rated between two and four stars. You can also set your limit to select the 'least often played' items. This will grab any song that you consider average or slightly above average, and only those that rarely get any play. This is a good way of discovering those old tracks that you like, but forgot that you owned.

As always, I encourage you to experiment with iTunes' Smart Playlists, and feel free to share your music concoctions.

Tech Tip: iTunes Smart Playlists

There is no denying that iPod and iTunes have become household names. And with that element, comes the need for playlists. Creating a playlist can be as simple as dragging and dropping music tracks into your playlist folder. However, if you want to get creative, while letting iTunes do all of the post-creation maintenance for you, I suggest learning to utilize the feature known as Smart Playlists. Smart playlists can make life much easier when it comes to listening to your music, and is much easier to manage than a manually created dumb playlist. Here I will share one example of a smart playlist that should work for everyone. It will keep the unwanted music away, while always keeping the tracks you want at your disposal.

The first step is to create a playlist that eliminates the majority of songs that you don't want in your normal rotation when you listen to your music. We all have those songs that we don't want to get rid of, yet we don't want to always listen to them either. We can approach this process of elimination by cutting the Genres that we don't want to appear in our playlist. Let's say, for instance, you don't want to hear any Classical or Country music while you exercise. Seeing as how Christmas has come and gone, we can toss out the Holiday music as well.

First, you define the conditions. For this particular example the conditions would be, 'Genre does not contain Holiday', 'Genre does not contain Classical', and 'Genre does not contain Country'. Make sure that you are matching 'all of the rules', and not 'any of the rules'. This is very important because it states that 'all' conditions must be met in order for a song to appear in your playlist. Whereas if you were matching 'any' of the the rules, a song could make it into the list that does not contain one of those conditions, but still contains one of the other two, thus making the playlist pointless.

If you are limited on space, or you just don't want your playlist to be too huge, you can set a limit. In this particular example, we are limiting the playlist to the 250 most recently added items (tracks). You can also limit by size, as opposed to number of items. For example, say you were trying to fill a 4 GB iPod Nano, you could limit your playlist to 3500 MB (3.5 GB). Make sure you have some space remaining for other data on your iPod. Checking the 'Live updating' box, ensures that your playlist will stay up to date. As you add new music to your collection, the playlist will update for you.

The following picture indicates what the configuration of the smart playlist should look like. As mentioned, some aspects can be changed to suit your needs, but this should give you a general idea. Click the picture for a larger view.


Now, we have a playlist set up that provides you with only the most recent songs that you want to hear, and none of the music that you don't want. However, due to the limitation, whether it be by size or by number of items, you may have cut some of the older works of your favorite artists. Regardless of how long ago the songs were added to your library, you may want them to always show up in your playlist.

To ensure that these songs are always available to you, we can create a second playlist. This time the conditions will specify a list of artists. For this example, we will use the conditions, 'Artist is Paramore', 'Artist is Jay Z', and 'Artist is Linkin Park'. We want to make sure we are matching 'any of the following rules', as it will guarantee us, that in order for a song to appear in this playlist, it must contain any of the artists listed. We also want to un-check the Limit box. This will ensure that every song by each artist is included in the playlist. Keep 'Live updating' checked, so that as you add songs to your library, they will be added to this playlist.


So, now you have two playlists set up. One that defines what Genres to exclude, and one that indicates specific Artists to include. Of course, the concept of having two separate playlists is not very appealing. If only there were a way to take the results of both playlists and merge them together. Actually, this can be accomplished quite easily by creating a third and final smart playlist.

Finally, your goal is to take both playlists and merge them together. This time, define your conditions to state, Playlist is 'Genre Playlist' and Playlist is 'Artist Playlist'. This may vary based on what you named your first two playlists. Also, be sure 'match any of the following rules', and do not set a limitation. Basically what you have here, is a playlist that takes the results of the first two playlists and combines them into one.


There you have, one playlist that should meet all your essential music listening needs. Of course, everyone is different and we all have our own preferences when listening to our music. I highly encourage you to experiment with smart playlists, and see what kind of gems you can create. If you have any suggestions, or would like to share your own smart playlists, please share in the comments.

Top Tech Weekly Round Up 3

This week in tech, we discuss cable cutting, corporate love triangles, a gluttony of gaming, and an old fashioned Cupertino round-up.

We often joke about our internet being made up of a series of tubes. However, sometimes we don't realize how vulnerable our internet really is. This week, South Asia and the Mid East suffered significant service outages, due to undersea fiber optic cables being mysteriously cut. The first incident occurred early in the week, when service was disrupted as two cables were found severed. Reports indicated that the incident may have been caused by a ship dragging its anchor. Since then, three more undersea cables have been cut, causing much speculation. The actual cause has yet to have been determined, however, three of the cables should be repaired by this weekend.

In a move that has many people talking, and many more scratching their heads, Microsoft has commenced a somewhat hostile takeover of internet giant, Yahoo. Earlier in the week Microsoft offered a 44.6 billion dollar bid to Yahoo's board of directors, in an attempt to merge the two companies. Yahoo has the opportunity to analyze and/or reject the bid, however, this could only prompt Microsoft to take more aggressive measures to seal the deal. Never one to keep silent, Google warned Microsoft that a merger of such magnitude seems a tad monopolistic. Microsoft responded back by reminding Google that they are the ones who have a monopolistic hold when it comes to internet territory. Meanwhile talks emerged of a Yahoo/Google partnership. Only the future will reveal the outcome of this love triangle. As I have said in the past, there is only one clear winner in the battle of corporate giants; the consumer.

Speaking of Microsoft, the price of their HD DVD addon for the XBox 360 has been cut to $129.99. Coupled with the existing offer of 6 free movies, it is definitely a purchase that pays for itself. But is there truly any price worth paying for an endangered technology? While you are at it, be sure to check out the three new XBox Originals available on the Marketplace.

Electronic Arts has recently shared its predictions for the 2008 gaming year. According to EA, Sony's PS3 will outsell the XBox by at least a couple million units throughout the US and Europe. Predictions for Japanese sales were not included, but Sony is a sure winner in the east, as the XBox has never really caught on over there. These claims may not be as bold as they seem, considering that it is only natural for Microsoft's sales to plateau eventually. It should be noted that EA did place both systems behind the Nintendo Wii.

As for the Wii, it seems as if Nintendo had a little case of patent fever. A number of patents that Nintendo filed back in May of 2006 have recently surfaced. These patents predate the launch of the Nintendo Wii, but they do show what Nintendo had in mind when it came to the Wiimote. Some of the designs are a bit odd, such as a bicycle with a Wiimote as a petal, or a skateboard with the controller lodged in one of the wheels. Even more strange is one diagram containing a teddy bear with the Wiimote submerged in his stomach. One can only hope that Nintendo patented these ideas so that nobody else could release such products and sully the gaming console. The original patent can be found here.

Shelled out an extra $1,300 for the solid state drive for your MacBook Air? Seems to be money well wasted. Reports show that there is almost no speed or battery life boosts when using the more expensive storage solution. Speaking of storage, Apple has released new versions of the iPhone and iPod Touch, with 16 and 32 GB hard drives, respectively. Both retail for $499. The appleTV update still has not been released, but it looks as if Apple is already thinking ahead with the product. Though Apple has the tendency to file patents that never see the light of day, these particular upgrades for the appleTV, including iChat, Widgets, amongst others, are sure hoped to come to fruition. Could Apple be planning their own version of an ebook reader? According to Steve Jobs, people don't read books anymore. Extremetech.com uses the power of reverse psychology to find hidden meaning in the words of the wise one. I'll believe it when I see it.

DVD Review: King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters

Just recently (as my Netflix Queue began to clear up), I was given the opportunity to experience the movie, King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters. This independent documentary was released to small audiences in early 2007. It chronicle's the trials and tribulations of an unknown Steven Wiebe, as he attempts to break the world record high score in Nintendo's Donkey Kong. A road block stands in his way, in the form of the reigning record holder, and respected gaming veteran, Billy Mitchell. Billy had spent years making a name for himself in the gaming scene, as he holds recognized accomplishments in other classic arcade games, such as Centipede and Pac-Man. As expected, he is not willing to let his high score be relinquished so easily. The quest soon becomes a game of cat and mouse for Wiebe, as his challenge becomes more about earning his respect amongst the gaming community.

This movie takes you into an environment that few of us know existed. An environment where a whole community of old school videogame hobbyists thrive off of the competition that is brought forth by these classic arcade games. The sport is taken very serious, and there is much involved in topping an accomplished high score. An example of such, as shown in the movie, is when Steve Wiebe's home is invaded and his personal Donkey Kong arcade machine is dismantled so that the circuit boards can be inspected for foul play. This movie also does well to document the time and energy one must commit to mastering these challenging titles. To accomplish such a task, requires much timing perfection and pattern recognition. These games were created with the mindset that nobody would get past the first few levels. Thus when a dedicated gamer does reach far enough into the game, the console runs out of memory, and the character suddenly dies. This is what is referred to in the movie, as the very rare Kill Screen.

As the description may lead you to discover, this movie is not going to be enjoyed by everyone. Some may find it disturbing that there exists such a cult of grown men whom are bonded to the videogame scene in such a religious manner. However, if you have an interest in the videogame industry that goes beyond the XBox in your living room, this DVD is worth at least a rental. If anything, pick it up for the 8bit art and music collage that is thrown in as an extra feature. This movie is entertaining at best, however, don't expect any life-altering experiences to submerge.
I give this movie two m's out of four.

Out With The Old, In With The...Classic?

There comes a time that occurs all too often in life. A time where every man has to make those life altering decisions. Sometimes those decisions contradict all common logic. Often times, these decisions will be met with criticism and slander. However, deep down, you know these decisions are right, and the results will serve for the betterment of mankind. Alright, perhaps that is an exaggeration, but at least you know you will benefit from the outcome.

Take me for instance. Just recently, I was faced with an incredibly difficult decision that tore me straight down the middle. See, in today's tech world, it is imperative that us tech-heads must stay on top of the latest and most cutting edge of technologies. We must be in possession of those devices that are the shiniest and slimmest. However, it is also important that we must know when to those weigh those seductive urges, and balance them against the benefits of functionality and sensibility. After weeks of struggling with my inner-demons, I did the unthinkable. I decided to trade in my iPod Touch for an iPod Classic.

Though both the iPod Touch and iPod Classic were unveiled on the same day, this decision to switch from the former to the latter, may be considered a technological step back. The iPod Touch has the elegant wide screen touch interface, internet access via 802.11, and all of the other features of the iPhone, sans phone calls. And the iPod Classic is well, an iPod. With a click wheel. And no touch screen. No internet.

So why the switch? Though the iPod Classic lacks some of those cool features that makes the iPod Touch such a treat, it is the simplicity of the Classic that makes it right for me. Sure it is nice to be able to scroll through coverflow with a swipe of your finger, or resize your pictures with a pinch of your thumb and forefingers. It is, however, not a treat to have to constantly pull that microfiber cloth out of your pocket to wipe away those smudges. If you have ever been in the situation, where you were listening to music on an iPod Touch and had someone come up to you and start conversating, then I am sure you are aware of the frustration of having to pause the player. Tap the home button to wake up the Touch, tap the home button twice more to bring up the play/pause options; oh wait, it didn't take that time, tap the home button two more times to successfully call the menu up, then look down at the screen to find the position of the pause button and perform one more tap. As opposed to a tradition click-wheel iPod, where you can reach in your pocket and hit pause button without even looking. Don't get me started on skipping songs. And, though the Touch's solid state drive may be more suitable for physical activities, such as working out at the gym, the touchscreen makes it almost unusable in those situations.

Which then brings me to the storage capacity. Now, I'm completely fine with having only 8 or 16GB of hard drive space. I think the concept of limited storage forces upon you, ways to tap into your creative side and come up with some really intelligent smart-playlists. However, where the Classic really shines is at times like when you are at a friends house and you just need them to hear a song to settle a dispute. Or to put your friends on to an artist that they may be missing out on. You know that you own that song, but darn, it didn't make its way into the playlist on your iPod. Another example of needing ample storage space, is for people like me that like to listen to the iPod while driving a car, via an Auxiliary or USB port on your radio. It is very inconvenient to be limited to a select amount of songs during your road trip. I am also not a fan of being able to have only two or three movies available, since it shares that storage space with everything else on your iPod. That would not be feasible for a trip that may last more than a couple of days.

What about all the other cool features of the iPod Touch? Yes, it is very nice to have a wifi enabled web browser in the palm of your hands. However, unlike the iPhone, the iPod Touch is not powered by the all encompassing Edge network. Thus, to browse the internet, you must be in range of an 802.11 wireless access point. I can't speak for everyone, but 99% of the time I am in an area with wifi access, I also have access to a computer of some sort. Perhaps if the Touch took advantage of the wireless capabilities in creative ways, like the Zune (wireless syncing, music sharing) for example, then I would consider the Touch a must have. As for contact and calendar syncing, it is often overlooked, but the iPod Classic, as well as many of the older generations of iPods, have that feature built in.

As a previous iPod 5G user, I must say that the iPod Classic is a nice upgrade from the older players. The interface is slick and intuitive. It is a neat feature to see previews of cover art or photos as you are browsing through the different directories. The new search feature comes quite in handy for those times that you can remember the name of a song, but not the artist. The video quality is exceptional as usual, and I can't wait to try out the games that are available for the Classic.

Though I may be out of 'touch' with the latest technologies, I feel the benefits and simplicity of the iPod Classic outweighs the elegance of the iPod Touch.