Tao of Sagacious T

Saturday, January 10, 2009

Instruction Manual for Life

I stumbled upon this nifty little allegorical video...and it's quite good. Enjoy

Friday, January 9, 2009

This Is How The iPhone Will Die

For years Palm has been losing users because it's OS is very outdated and it's biggest partner Sprint has been losing subscribers to the iPhone. I have toyed with the idea of jumping ship from my Palm for several years, hell I have been trying out new phones from T-mobile whenever possible, just looking for an opportunity to jump ship to an iPhone killer that I really liked. The problem is nobody makes the perfect phone and as far as I am concerned, Sprint still provides the best service at the best rates. I have described my ideas for the perfect phone to friends, but I often get the usual "just get the iPhone, it does all that. Well actually, it doesn't. For all the nifty bells and whistles on the iPhone, it still doesn't do the top essential things I think any great phone should: have a real textile keyboard that can be used comfortably/easily with one thumb, have the ability to view any webpage (not just those tailored to cellphones), cut/paste editing, a quality 3 megapixel or better camera with LED flash and MMS text messages are higest amung the myriad of things the iPhone doesn't do, or does very poorly.

So I was very excited to learn that Palm is releasing a new phone that meets ALL of my expectations...the Palm Pre'. A few specs & videos are below. Read the full run down at Ars Technica; especially interesting is the new OS/UI which looks to make even Apple's coverflow look antiquated. The video with the most info about the new OS is the last one. Enjoy!

EVDO Rev A. (courtesy of Sprint)
802.11 b/g
GPS
Bluetooth (with stereo out support)
8GB of storage
TI OMAP processor
3.1-inch multitouch screen with 320x480 resolution
Sensors: accelerometer, proximity, ambient light
3MP camera with LED flash
Speaker for speakerphone and music
Replaceable battery
MicroUSB connector for charging, with USB 2.0 support.
3.5mm headphone jack
Phone works with slide-out QWERTY keyboard either open or closed.

Full Palm Pre CES presentation available at Palm.com

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Maybe We Are The Pirates?

I just read an interesting article over at The Independent about those Somali pirates we saw so much dramatic photos and stories of recently. Turns out that while there are certainly some dangerous men patrolling those waters for profit, many of these high seas raiders may be a response to European Nations dumping toxic waste near their beaches and mass fishing their waters illegally. There is always two sides to a story, and this is a good informative read. Enjoy.

Another Reason To Hate Comcast

If the fact that they are raising their prices again in February wasn't enough...It has been confirmed by DLSReports.com that network throttling by Comcast Cable is in effect in all of their markets. I highly recommend looking into FIOS if you can.

Science = Religion?

This one is for Collin and Scott. What great booze induced conversations we have till 7 in the morning...

Free Music Tops 2008 MP3 Sales Charts!?

An article from Ars Technica discusses the how and the why behind music that is legally available for free, outselling music that isn't. The story revolves around Nine Inch Nails - Ghosts I-IV topping the 2008 sales charts at Amazon.com. However they also touch on the misconceptions about Joe musician not being able to be profitable in the same way, without the existing fan base that NIN already has. There is some really good info in there about Creative Commons Licenses, and how they can work for you as an indie label. Definitely a good read. Enjoy!

Amazon.com Widgets

Saturday, January 3, 2009

2008 Darwin Awards

The always entertaining Darwin Awards of 2008 have been finalized. Ranked by number of votes, the winners (or rather, losers) "commemorate those who improve our gene pool, by removing themselves from it".

My personal favorite is Merry Pranksters: The telephone company was replacing above-ground telephone lines with buried lines. In one sparsely populated farming area, if lines crossed a country road they would dig a trench halfway across, so rural traffic could continue through. Then they would fill in the trench, and dig a trench on the other side.

One morning, local farmers called the sheriff to report a smashed-up pickup. Inside were two ranch hands who were last seen the previous night, heading home after last call. You see...

On their way to the bars, the men had decided to play a prank. They stopped their pickup, and moved the flashing warning signs from the trenched side to the good side of the country road. Crime scene analysis later confirmed that they were the culprits who moved the flashing stands. Investigations also revealed that at the time of the accident, they were driving at an excessive speed with an impressive amount of alcohol in their systems.

No crime scene analysis is capable of determining whether the ranch hands forgot their prank, or chose to see what would happen if they hit that trench at a high rate of speed in the middle of the night.

No good prank goes unpunished. Enjoy!