Tech

First, just to state the obvious, I’m still alive. And now the news:

Microsoft started offering downloads of HD and standard-def content late last week on its XBox 360 console to a mixture of success and problems. The problems now seem to be getting sorted but now they just need more HD content. I don’t really want to wait 2 hours to download episodes of The Nine.

CBR has the latest edition of its weekly talk with writers from the hit NBC show Heroes. Sadly, i didn’t contribute this week but I think I do next week so check back then. In the meantime, enjoy these exclusive insights into the show.

The Spirit Award Nominations were announced this week with Little Miss Sunshine and Half Nelson getting the most noms. Nope, I’m not nominated this year either.

Copying DVDs to your iPod (and other devices — whatever they might be) was rejected by the US Copyright Office. So, no more ripping your store-bought movies or those DVDs you rent from Netflix because that’s officially a no-no. The Copyright Office did have some good news though for you and me — cell phone owners can now take their handsets with them to other providers instead of being locked into one carrier forever. So, one step back and one step forward. I guess you can’t have everything.

You will soon be able to watch videos from YouTube on your cell phone. That is, if you’re a Verizon customer. Great, just what I need — more TV.

If you’ve ever wanted to know where your tax dollars go, this guy has it figured out for you. Interesting. Makes me want to move to Monaco.

If you happen to be in LA (that’s Los Angeles not Louisiana) and are in need of some free Wi-Fi love then this site is for you.

Britney Spears has some trouble keeping it in her pants (Note: This link is definitely NSFW). As they say at the other site: “Oh, the humanity!” I think that pretty much covers it.

Oh, and one more thing. I decided to go a little more green and replaced my SUV with a shiny new Toyota Prius Hybrid. For those keeping score at home its a 2007 model in Magnetic Grey Metallic with Package 5 options (Navigation, iPod Connector, Bluetooth, JBL Stereo etc.).

As I’ve only had the car for a short time, a full-blown analysis is not possible at present. However, on first observation and short use, I have a few notes:

1. I like the exterior color and interior color very much. That’s it there in the photo.

2. The car is very quiet except for certain times when the smaller tires and proximity to the ground make it seem a little louder.

3. I love the way the computer interface is designed including the touch screen for controlling most everything from the AC to the GPS to the Radio.

4. I don’t love the way the touch screen gets dirty from my fingers after only a few days. Kinda annoying.

5. The car is pretty roomy inside even for a man of my stature. And, the seats are not as bad as some people said they were. Although, no long trips yet but as I plan on taking the car to San Francisco for Macworld in January, I’ll find out for sure about that.

6. The backup camera, while somewhat useful, is pretty much unnecessary (at least for me). Plus, the annoying beep that sounds while you are backing up is, well, annoying. Although, I plan on hacking the car to turn that off soon.

That’s it for now. Eventually, I will have more on the car. In the meantime, for all your Prius needs, check out Prius Chat.

apparently, there is some sort of event going on in las vegas called the consumer electronics show (aka CES). at the show, the major and minor electronics companies duke it out with press confrences to announce that they have developed similar products to each other that while new and exciting are not really that new or exciting. what a sad state of affairs indeed.

if you want everything in all of its glorious detail, point your browsers to the big tech blogs engadget and gizmodo. they are doing in-depth coverage of what’s hot, what’s not and what really stinks (including the backed-up toilets at the convention center). for my money, the more interesting announcements should come next week at mac world expo. perhaps on tuesday of next week to be exact.

however, if i must pick some things from CES that look interesting (and i must, for i am a writer who picks things) here they are:

tivo offers up a new box. the series 3. will this be the end all be all and finally replace all of my other boxes? mmm, doesn’t seem like it. in fact, it looks like us directv people are going to be left out in the cold with this one. cable card slots only from the look of it and no provision for satellite?

hopefully, that’s just because i don’t have more info at the moment. fingers crossed as i really, really want to keep using a tivo device and not have to switch over to some bastard child designed by the room of monkeys at directv. tivo knows something about simple and useable interface design. directv not so much.

google announces a video store. gee, what a great idea. they will be selling content from cbs and other sources as well as letting you download stuff for free. no prices yet but more content available online (legally online that is. yes, i’ve heard of bittorrent thanks) should be a good thing.

sony announced its first blu-ray dvd player. its got all the big time features and looks like a monster as well. and toshiba announced it’s HD-DVD players as well which also look pretty good.

now, if all the kids could just get together and agree on one format, that would be great. what it will come down to will be the programming. as in, what movies will be available on each format. in fact, here’s a list of release titles for blu-ray and hd-dvd(at least for now).

sony also announced a few other things including bigger memory stick pro duo cards (finally) as well as new phones and the sony reader for reading ebooks.

verizon offers up their new v cast wireless music downloads. you can download music to your verizon cell phone for two bucks each and listen to it on your phone. you can also transfer it to your computer via usb. could be interesting. sprint also has a similar offering only theirs includes video. wireless is the new black i guess.

this would be a great gaming rig (or allow you to keep yourself warm in winter) that is, if you are a person who uses a windows pc. not that there’s anything wrong with that.

last but not least, fuji is using my friend nick’s pictures in their booth at CES. so, if you are there, drop over and tell them how great the pictures look. nick would appreciate it.

oh, one more thing. there was also another event going on in vegas this week at the same time as CES. it gets less publicity but it is no less important. its the adult entertainment expo which climaxes (sorry, had to do it) with the AVN awards.

that’s it for CES. tune in next week for even more important announcements from my favorite company, apple. predictions? well, i think we might see one or two new laptops with brand new intel chips. and maybe a mac mini or imac with intel as well. perhaps some new ipod variation and hopefully, a mac-mini like device that can be put in the living room to record television content and play it back to my hd tv. too much to ask? come on apple, make it happen.

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as a side note, i really wrote this for LAist but if you read carefully, i have tailored it for this site. see what i do for you.

even though they seem like they are trying to do the right thing. it appears that greed trumps innovation yet again. i’ll let om tell it like it is.

all i have to say about this is that the apple business model seems to make more sense to me. i think you should be able to record content and time and place shift it at your convnience, as i have said before.

also, in case you missed it, sony has been up to no good selling cd’s that install a rootkit on your windows machine. what does this mean? well, its an attempt by sony to monitor and control in what way you can use their content. here’s a more “tech” explanation.

i don’t like it when sony (or anyone) installs something on my machine that i don’t want and didn’t agree to. or even did agree to but didn’t know exactly what i was getting. that’s not very nice. good thing i use a mac. also, here’s a partial list of the cd’s that have this problem. can you say boycott?

and finally, good old steve ballmer, ceo of microsoft, on why apple computer is seen as “good” and microsoft is seen as “bad”. interesting read and with good play-by-play from mac daily news.