We knew it had to happen

The Setting: Currently, you can go to Hulu.com and watch clips and entire episodes of TV shows and some full-length movies. For free.

The videos include ads at the beginning and sprinkled throughout, if they're more than just a clip. Apparently, those ads are not generating enough income for Hulu, because they are considering going to a "fee-based business model" starting next year. That means we would have to pay a subscription fee if we want to watch.

Based on the comments after this blog posting about it, it appears most people have no intention of continuing to use Hulu if the site starts charging, although some people realize there are always costs involved and they are willing to pay for the conveniece Hulu offers. And some people bring up an interesting point: would you rather watch for free but also have to deal with ads or pay a subscription fee and have no ads? Actually, I'm really not sure if Hulu will still have ads after they start charging. Hmm...

Hulu provides the convenience of watching content from various TV stations in one place, but you can typically go to a network's specifc site and watch shows there for free. Well, we'll see next year if viewers are willing to pay for convenience.

This is flippin' crazy!

The Setting: I won a Flip Video camera at a social learning conference. Woot! I've been eyeing the ads and debating whether to get one, so this is great.

Here is the official Flip Video site. The one I won is the Ultra. It includes 4 GB of memory and records up to 120 minutes. It's small (around 4"x2"x1"), very easy to use, and includes a 2-inch display so you can see what you're recording. It claims to allow easy upload of videos to YouTube, Facebook, and MySpace.

I've created a few very unexciting videos of my family room and other areas of the house, which I don't think you wanna see. It has an interesting feature where it brightens the view so the video was actually brighter than the room was.

Yesterday, I did some video of the halloween festivities at work. When I played the video on my laptop, the quality was actually very good on the larger screen. It didn't pick up voices if someone was speaking in a low voice or was too far away, but it did fine with people who were closer and talking at regular speaking levels.

The Flip is very convenient but obviously doesn't have the same features as a more robust video camera. For example, the zoom is only 2X but, hey, whadda ya want? For the cost and convenience, it's very nice. After recording video, just plug the flip out USB arm into your PC. Very easy. Great for someone who just wants to record at a party, while on vacation, whatever event, and upload video without a lot of work involved.

I haven't used the editing features yet so I don't how easy they are to use. As I use the camera and learn the features, I'll report back. Maybe I'll even add some music and cool features to my family room video and post it here. Or not.

CNN's Apps of the week

The Setting: Speaking of digital books, there are many apps available for you to read books on your smart phone.

These apps could be really helpful to you if you're stuck somewhere for a long time, traveling, sitting a the DMV, etc. Some of the available apps include Amazon's Kindle, Barnes & Noble's reader app, Mobipocket, and Stanza.

The good news is that many of the apps are free. The potential bad news is that it could be tiring on the hands to have to continually "turn" the page. Also, some people may not be able to stomach reading off of such a small screen, although some readers will allow you to change text size.

More info about theses apps is available at CNN's Apps of the week page.

Barnes & Noble's E-reader

The Setting: Barnes and Noble offers a competitor to Amazon's popular Kindle wireless reading device called the Nook.

The Nook costs $260. B&N offers more than one million books, magazines, and newspapers in its eBook store. With the 2GB of memory, the Nook can hold up to 1500 books, and it includes a microSD slot if you want to add more. The Nook does not have a web browser, it connects to the B&N eBook store using a free 3G AT&T connection. It also offers a WiFi radio customers can use at B&N locations and 600 college stores. Barnes and Noble will start shipping the Nook in November. You can view the features of and/or pre-order the Nook on B&N's site.

Here's an article about the Nook that provides more info.

Google Wave for the iPhone

The Setting: Google Wave may already work on the iPhone.

What is Google Wave? A new application from Google that, "..combines the elements of e-mail, chat, Wikis, blogs, and photo sharing sites to create a form of Internet communication called a hosted conversation or a wave."

The Tech Crunch blog provides for anyone interested in setting up Google Wave on their iPhone. Remember, Google Wave is still in beta test.

Easily see your new Twitter followers

The Setting: Tweetdeck is a Twitter application that allows you to more easily manage your tweets by separating them into various columns. So you could have columns for your new tweet messages, your mentions, your direct messages. You could also have columns for Facebook and MySpace updates, but that's a different story.

Tweetdeck now allows you to easily see your 100 most recent Twitter followers in a separate column called New Followers. From there, you can click someone's name to view their profile and/or click to follow them, if desired. It's very cool and easy.

All you have to do is click the New Twitter Column icon in the upper left of your Tweetdeck screen and select New Followers. Oh, you must have v0.31 of Tweetdeck or higher to use this feature.

You can download Tweetdeck here.

Three movies I want to see

The Setting: Here are some upcoming movies that I'm looking forward to seeing. Click the movie titles for previews.

Precious
Release date: Limited release Nov. 6; wide release Nov. 20, 2009
Director: Lee Daniels
Starring: Mo'Nique, Gabourey Sidibe, Paula Patton, Mariah Carey, Lenny Kravitz
Plot: Precious is a pregnant sixteen-year-old who can neither read nor write. She is emotionally and physically abused by her mother and deals with constant bullying at school. Precious remains hopeful of a better future and when she transfers to an alternative high school, she believes she has found her way. This one will be tough to watch. I did not read the novel Push by Sapphire, which this movie is based on, but I'm assuming (and hoping) there will be a happy ending.

2012
Release date: November 13, 2009
Director: Roland Emmerich
Starring: John Cusack, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Amanda Peet, Oliver Platt, Thandie Newton
Plot: December 2012 is the timeframe when many cultures and religions say something major will happen to change the world as we know it. We just don't know what the something is. This movie seems to be taking the approach that the world will end then. Yet, there are survivors. Hmm... already inconsistent. But what the hell - great special effects, so I'm there. Also, I really dig their official site: games, iPhone apps - it appeals to my inner geek.

Avatar
Release date: Dec. 18, 2009 (worldwide)
Director: James Cameron
Starring: Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Michelle Rodriguez, Giovanni Ribisi
Plot: Description from the official site: "On the distant moon Pandora, a reluctant hero embarks on a journey of redemption and discovery as he leads a heroic battle to save a cililization." This movie could absolutely suck and I would give it three out of five Slurpees just based on the amazing special effects. That's what I say now, but stay tuned for my review sometime in December.

Calling all Twitter users

The Setting: Phone calling is coming to Twitter.

Using a third-party tool from Jajah, Twitter users will be able to make phone calls to each other through their twitter accounts. The person receiving the call must be a followerr of the person making the call and both must have Jajah accounts.

The service is expected to work on any Twitter-enabled device, from PCs to smart phones. During the beta period, the calls will be limited to two minutes which, according to Jajah, will be the "verbal equivalent of a tweet."

Why not just make a phone call? One of the features of this tool will allegedly be the ability to make the voice calls while keeping your cell phone number private from the people you chat with on Twitter. Hmm... we'll see.

Read the article about phone calling coming to Twitter here.

Voice chat coming to Facebook

The Setting: So does this mean I will be able to talk to other gangsters right before I kill them in Mob Wars? Woot!

Using a plug-in from Vivox, Facebook users will soon be able to voice chat one-on-one or hold large group discusions with anyone on their friends list. Vivox is the company that provides integrated voice service for virtual worlds Second Life and EVE Online. I occasionally use the voice feature within Second Life and the quality is very good. Non-Facebook users will be able to call in to existing conversations using free dial-in numbers.

I'm curious to see how people will use this feature in Facebook. I'm envisioning that instead of just using the text chat feature to communicate with my niece who's in college on the other side of the country, we could switch to the voice feature and have an actual conversation. For free, without cutting into precious cell phone minutes. Pretty cool. According to the article, the voice can also be integrated into any of the third-party Facebook applications, such as games.

When this feature becomes available, I'll definitely check it out. Click here to read the article about this upcoming feature.

Tweetdeck adds Facebook and MySpace

The Setting: Tweetdeck is a free client that helps you more easily filter your Twitter messages. It's one of the many tools out there that makes Twitter a lot more manageable.

Tweetdeck has been updated to allow it to work more smoothly with Facebook and MySpace. I don't use MySpace but the Facebook feature is really cool. You can now see more than just your friends' status updates. You can see their Likes and Comments, you can click Like, make comments, and write on someone's wall, all from within Facebook.

The updated Tweetdeck makes it easy to drag photos and links to the composing window. It then automatically shortens the URLs for you. I'm still discovering all the features, but I really like it so far. I'll let you know about any other cool things I learn.

Here's where you can download Tweetdeck for free. Here's some more information about updated Tweetdeck.

Cool iPhone Apps

The Setting: One of the reasons I want an iPhone is because of the cool apps. I'm a geek, you see.

Here are some favorite iPhone apps from some tech enthusiasts. I've heard of Bump and I think it's pretty cool. I've also heard of Geocaching, although I don't fully understand it. Yet.

REVIEW: Laura Izibor - Let the Truth Be Told

The Setting: It's very rare that I enjoy an opening act at a concert enough to go out and buy their album, but that's exactly what I did after seeing Laura Izibor's performance.

I saw Laura Izibor when she opened for Maxwell in June 2009 in Phoenix. Not only did she sound amazing, she was personable, funny, and obviously belonged on that stage. She performed a few songs with only an accompanying guitar and played along on piano on a few others. She told great stories describing how she came to write each song. Each time she finished performing a song, I would hear someone around me in the theatre saying, "She's good." I was thinking the same thing and I wondered why I had never heard of her and why she was not already huge. I also knew it was just a matter of time.

So on to the Let the Truth Be Told album: I'll just start off by saying this is my favorite album of 2009 (yes, I know the year is not yet over). Laura Izibor has a strong, soulful voice, expressing great emotion as she performs these highly personal songs. Laura wrote all songs and played piano on all tracks. She will be compared to India Arie for her positive strength and to Alicia Keys as a soulful singer, songwriter, pianist. For me, this is one of those albums you put on and let play all the way through, no fast-forwarding through the "filler" songs.

The album begins with the bouncy, bubbly, poppy Shine. Great song to listen to while trying to find your motivation on your way to work. I'm a sucker for strings and there are plenty on this album. Most notably on Perfect World, which is what I call a perfect song: wonderful lyrics, excellent singing, beautiful music, great production. Perfect. It's not about your clothes, what you have, keep ya money. Laura sings, "Baby don't you know you're all I need." This is my favorite song on the album.

A close second is Yes (I'll Be Your Baby). Laura's voice has a slight reggae feel on this. Great head-bobbing drum and bassline. Listen closely for the scratchy guitar. Funky! Also, this song is just screaming to be on someone's movie soundtrack. During her concert, Laura described writing The Worst is Over to a friend who was in a bad relationship, but would/could not leave it. This is a completely relatable song; I think we have all been there. Again with the strings and Laura takes it to church on this tune. Beautiful. I Don't Want You Back is soulful, mournful and tells the story of realizing that sometimes the best thing to do is let someone go.

Laura is opening for John Legend on some of his 2009 shows. Interestingly, I would describe her voice on a few songs as sounding like a female version of Legend. If you have a chance, go check out a show. In the meantime, get this album!

The AC Chronicles

The Setting: August in Phoenix and the air conditioner goes out. Let's chronicle how long it takes to get it fixed.

When I went to bed last night, I noticed it was a little warmer than usual, but not that bad.

6:30 AM - It is clear that something has gone horribly wrong. The air conditioner upstairs is blowing air; only one problem - it's hot air. The unit outside is humming and straining but not kicking on.

7:25 AM - I had looked up some AC companies online, even checked the Better Business Bureau, and narrowed it down to three. The first company I called said they could have a technician to the house between the hours of (drum roll please) 8 and 11 AM. Great. It won't be too hot before they come.

10:51 AM - Starting to get a little warm. The customer service rep calls and says the previous customer decided to buy a new AC unit so the tech is "filling out paperwork." They'll call back when he's on his way. Good.

11:09 AM - CSR calls back - the tech is on his way. Yay!

11:20 AM - Tech is here. Yay, part II!

12:05 PM - Unit is repaired, tech is gone (along with my $607.80), upstairs is starting to cool off.

Whew. The unit was fixed quickly and it really didn't cost that much. This could have been a lot worse than it was. Also, the customer service rep was helpful and friendly, and the technician was very friendly, professional, and funny. Wow, imagine that - great customer service.

Forward this e-mail and rainbows will appear

The Setting: I just received another one of those hoax e-mails. In related news, I'm really starting to enjoy looking up stories on Snopes.com

The latest e-mail a friend sent me is this story about a girl who had been badly burned in a fire at a Wal-Mart. At the end of the sad story, the reader is told to forward the e-mail because every time you do, Yahoo will donate $2 to the family's hospital bill. Depending on who started the e-mail chain, you can replace Yahoo with AOL, MySpace, whatever. It's not true in any case.

About three weeks ago, I received an e-mail about how dialing #77 on your cell phone gives you direct access to a dispatcher who can verify state trooper information. That way, you don't have to take the chance that the cop who's attempting to get you to pull your car over is really an ax murderer who's ready to take a swing at you. According to Snopes, there are actually some states in which dialing #77 on your cell phone will immediately connect you with that state's highway patrol, but it doesn't work in most states.

A novel idea, one tweet at a time

The Setting: Author Matt Stewart is posting his entire novel via posts on Twitter, one tweet at a time.

A friend of his created a tool that automates the tweets and sends them out in 140-character chunks. Stewart estimates that it will take 3700 tweets to transmit the entire novel. The book is also available via Stewart's web site, and on the Kindle.

You can read the article here.

Five jobs for Facebook addicts

The Setting: Are you a Facebook guru and/or an expert in Twitter and LinkedIn?

New job roles are being developed as a result of the growth of all these social media tools. However, there's really not a lot of these jobs available yet, so get ready for some competition.

Here is an article that describes five jobs to consider in your next job search if you feel you are a social media / networking expert.

Evolution of Blogging

Here is an interesting article, written by Dan Fletcher, on the evolution of blogging:

http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1912249,00.html

A tiger, a chicken, and a dog go to Vegas...

The Setting: Don't worry: they were not harmed and they're doing just fine.

I gave a review of the movie The Hangover back in June. I thought it was a great movie and I recommend it. In case you were wondering, no animals were harmed during the filming of the movie. I found this site that explains the "featured animal action." You can read about how the animals were treated and how the scenes were filmed.

Also, check out the American Humane site. I had no idea this existed...

Yaaayyy!! Slurpees!!

The Setting: This Saturday, July 11 is 7-Eleven Day (it's 7/11 - get it?), the day 7-Eleven celebrates its 82nd birthday.

Y'all know how much I love me some Slurpees, right? Well, guess what! As part of the celebration, 7-Eleven is giving away free Slurpees! There will also be some free cash prizes. Go to the 7-Eleven site for all the details. Get there early because they are only giving away 5 million Slurpees on Saturday. Woot!

Michael Jackson's Baby Daddy

The Setting: The latest rumor is that dermalogist Dr. Arnie Klein is the biological father of Michael's two oldest children.

When asked about that rumor by Larry King, Klein stated that he had donated sperm at some point, although not to Michael Jackson. And he made this statement on Good Morning America:

"I can't say anything about it, but ... to the best of my knowledge, I am not the father of these children," he told Diane Sawyer. "I can't answer it in any other way. I don't want to feed any of this insanity that is going around."

To the best of your knowledge? Hmm...

Allegedly, Debbie Rowe may now want custody of the two oldest kids. Now some people are saying that they may not even be HER biological kids. If the dermatologist is the father, here we go with a whole bunch of other worms.

Well, Debbie and Arnie, if you want all this speculation to end, just take a DNA test. People typically only hesitate to have the test because they're unsure or afraid of what the results might be. Unfortunately, depending on the results, the kids could be the ones who end up suffering.

Celebrity Death Watch

The Setting: It seems a lot of celebrities have died over the past couple of weeks. Weird...

Once several celebrities had died, rumors quickly started spreading online about a whole bunch of others dying. I heard the rumors about Jeff Goldblum and I seem to recall something about Natalie Portman, but I had not heard the rumors about Harrison Ford, George Clooney, and Britney Spears.
There's some dude named Rich Hoover who has a site called fakeawish.com, that "allows users to input celebrity names into five false news templates with outlandish stories about their deaths." Apparently, after Michael Jackson died, people used this site to generate false stories about other celebrities. Some people then read the stories and reposted links to them on their Twitter and Facebook pages without reading the "small disclaimer" that said the stories were not true. Others then jumped on the bandwagon and reposted / retweeted the fake stories themselves.

Hoover said, "I'm absolutely flabbergasted by the success of this and the impact these social networks have on communication -- and the communication of misinformation."

Well, that's the thing. All this social media is great for quickly spreading information. Only problem is, it may not be true. Hell, you don't even know if what I just said is true. Here's a link to the article about celebrity death rumors.

Sarah Palin Resigning

The Setting: Sarah Palin said she will stop down as Governor of Alaska by the end of this month and will not run for a second term in 2010.

Palin gave a press conference where she didn't really provide a clear reason why she is resigning but she did say:

"Once I decided not to run for re-election, I also felt that to embrace the conventional lame duck status in this particular climate would just be another dose of politics as usual, something I campaigned against and will always oppose."

One annoymous source feels that Palin's "book deal and other issues" were "causing a lot of friction" in her home state. Here are Mark Halperin's 10 Possible Reasons for Palin's Decision. I think the main reason is #10 - she's stepping down so she can start the process for becoming the Republican party's 2012 presidential nominee. We'll see...

Michael Joseph Jackson

1958 - 2009

Photos: myspaceantics.com and bordersmedia.com

"There's a tiger in the bathroom!"

The Setting: I really like seeing movies when I don't know too much about them. As I mentioned in a previous post, previews give way too much of the movie away.

I must not have seen more than a couple previews for The Hangover, because I only had a vague idea of what it was about. But I needed some comedy in my life today so I decided to go check it out, and I am SO glad I went.

Four friends hit Las Vegas for a bachelor party before Doug's wedding. The next day, Doug is missing. Not only do his friends not know where he is, they have no idea what happened last night or why there's a tiger in the bathroom. The movie is about the guys using the few clues they have to piece the story together, find Doug, and get him to the church on time. It is a great ride as the story unfolds. I laughed out loud more times than I can remember. Along the way they meet a baby, the menacing Mr. Chow, and (yikes) Mike Tyson.

A la Trading Places and Coming to America, this movie has lots of great lines that people like me will amuse ourselves quoting every chance we get. One of my favorites: when asked directions somewhere, Dr. Valsh replies, "Yeah, it's on the corner of 'get a map' and 'fuck off'."

The movie stars Justin Bartha as Doug; Bradley Cooper as his married thrill seeking buddy, Phil; Ed Helms as straight-laced, henpecked dentist, Stu; and Zach Galifianakis as the bumbling but well-meaning brother-in-law to be, Alan. You won't hear me say this very often, but I give The Hangover four Slurpees out of five. It may not win any Oscars, but I highly recommend that you go see it if you just want to laugh your ass off.

"I need access to the Vatican Archives"

The Setting: Spoken by Robert Langdon in the movie Angels and Demons.

Angels and Demons is actually the prequel to the Da Vinci Code. I liked the Angels and Demons book more than the Da Vinci Code so I was looking forward to this movie.

The Pope has died and all cardinals are gathered at the papal conclave in Vatican City to elect a new pope. Four cardinals are kidnapped and a message is received that the four cardinals will be killed, one by one. Not just any cardinals; these four are the Preferiti - one of them is most likely to be voted by his peers as the new pope.

The kidnappers have also stolen and hidden a canister of antimatter which, if allowed to expode, would completely destroy Vatican City along with its priceless art, documents, architecture. Get it? Science vs religion. Symbologist Robert Langdon and physicist Vittoria Vetra are in a race against the clock to locate the kidnapped cardinals before they are killed. So the mystery this time is Langdon and friends trying to determine the locations where each cardinal will be killed and save them, while at the same time trying to figure out where the antimatter is hidden.

The storyline of the movie does not stick exactly to the book but the gist of it is still intact. Expect lots of scenes of Robert and Vittoria staring at old documents for clues, lots of cars racing through the streets, and actually, lots of action. There are moments that are not very believeable or feasible, but hey, it's Hollywood. It has enough action and plot twists to keep it interesting. Several times from where I was sitting in the theatre, I could see people literally sitting on the edges of their seats. All this time, I thought that was a cliche.

The movie stars Tom Hanks and Ayelet Zurer. I give it three thick Slurpees.

I scream for iPhone

The Setting: After thinking about it and thinking about it, I'm going to take the leap. Yes, I decided that I'm finally going to get a Smartphone.

My next decision is which one to get. I'm analytical so I must do my research. I asked friends their opinions about phones they've used. They let me try them out. I searched on the Internet for info; there's all kinds of comparisons charts out there. I gravitate towards the Blackberry and the iPhone. They're both obviously very cool and offer a bunch of features. Ultimately, it comes down to whether I care about being able to receive work e-mail on my phone, because the iPhone is not supported for that where I work (is it anywhere?).

I really just wanna be able to do a wide variety of things, most of which do not involve work in any way. I'm sure that time is coming, but it's not here yet, so... I am 95% sure at this point that I'm getting an iPhone. I was all ready to run to the Apple store to grab one but a new version is coming out in July. Depending on which site you read, that could be in 2009 or 2010. I'm hoping it's actually 2009 'cause I'll wait for it if I go with iPhone. Til then I have several weeks to go to the stores and try different phones out further and ask whatever questions I have, so I could change my mind before July (doubtful). I'll let ya know what happens.

Here's one of many sites that discusses the features that the Next Gen iPhone is rumored to have.

Who are you and what have you done with my mom?

The Setting: Don't tell anyone, but I'm an American Idol fan. My mom and I are both like Adam Lambert.

I watched the season finale with my mom and here are my three favorites moments of the night:

1. I saw a commercial for the Sims 3, which will be released on June 2. I haven't played the Sims in a couple of years, and I'm curious to see what improvements they've made.
2. I saw a preview for a Jerry Bruckheimer movie called G-Force that my friend Theresa helped animate. She is amazing!
3. When Adam started singing with KISS, my mom (who, BTW, is in her 70s) yelled, "Alright!" I turned to see her clapping her hands and jamming down on the couch. I asked, "Do you even know who KISS is?" She said, "Yes. I don't particularly care for their makeup, but I like them." As I stood there thinking "WTF?!" she added, "but I like U2 more." Party on, mom.

Who you callin' a Tweeter?

The Setting: I figured it was about time I learned more about Twitter, since I use it and everything.

Yesterday, I was Googling and found this great Twitter Resource. It provides a plethora of information including Twitter basics, a glossary, apps and services... the list goes on and on. Check it out.

News about my 200.5K plan

The Setting: After several months of denial, disappointment, and despair, I finally broke down and checked my 401K.

It actually wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Still bad, mind you, just not quite as bad as the devastation I felt around the end of last year. My funds have actually made some gains this year.

At this rate, I might actually be able to retire around... I don't know... say, 12 years after I die. Yaaaay!

Here's a related article on CNN Money.

Live Long and Prosper

The Setting: Yep, I went and saw Star Trek.

I really liked this movie. It was a great prequel to the TV series and does a good job of explaining how the characters came together. The casting was great. Spock, played by Zachary Quinto, was my favorite.

The movie has Titantic syndrome (you show the ship's gonna sink in the end); meaning, you know none of the main characters are going to die because it then wouldn't be possible for them to later exist in the series. But it has enough great action to keep it interesting, cool special effects, and things blowing up, and I'm a big fan of all of those things. Especially when there's popcorn involved.

There is this time travel thing going on, which is just a little illogical, but that's another story. It's Star Trek - just go with it. Also, certain parts of the storyline were a bit of a stretch, but overall I thought it was well done.

I give this movie three Slurpees out of five.

I'm glad I finally did it

The Setting: My friend Cindy gave me a very cool birthday gift - a gift certificate from Kiva.org.

Kiva describes itself like this:

Kiva is the world's first person-to-person micro-lending website, empowering individuals to lend directly to unique entrepreneurs around the globe.

Basically, Kiva allows you to make a small loan ($25-$50) to an individual who is attempting to get a business started in their community. For example, someone might be trying to start up a restaurant or open a store but she just doesn't have the money to get things going. With your loan and loans from others, she can get the business started and eventually pay you your money back. After she pays you back, you can then loan the money to someone else to help them get their business started.

I think it's a great idea. A few friends had told me about Kiva before but I admit that receiving the gift certificate made me take a closer look and actually get involved.

Brack Alabama?

The Setting: Amazon's Kindle device can't pronounced Barack Obama's name. Apparently, it says it like Brack (rhymes with black) Alabama.

Nuance Communications, the company that licenses its text-to-speech engine to Amazon for the Kindle, has added the correct pronunciation to the dictionary and plans to push a wireless update to Kindle devices. You can read the whole article here.

Oh, and by the way, Amazon is set to release the new Kindle DX device, which has a 9.7" diagonal screen and "boasts 16 shades of gray for clear text and sharp images". Sixteen shades?! Whoop whoop!! When I went to Amazon.com, the home page has a letter to customers about the Kindle from Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon. You can pre-order one for shipment sometime this summer for a mere $489. I still haven't decided if I want one or not since my posting back on February 4, 2009, although those 16 shades of gray just might do it for me.

And just for kicks, way back from November 12, 2004, here is David Letterman's Top Ten Ways to Mispronounce Barack Obama. I think number 5 is my favorite.

"This is better than a baby"

The Setting: This is what my brother's friend told him about walking through the mall carrying a Nintendo Wii Fit. Women flocked to him, oohing and ahhing his Wii Fit. It seemed to draw as much attention as if he had been carrying a cute baby.

My family got me a Wii Fit for my birthday (at my request - don't think they were trying to tell me something). I've played games on my friend's Wii before and absolutely loved it. People I know who have the Fit have nothing but good things to say about it. They say it's a good workout and you can actually have fun doing it.

I'll be the judge of that.

I'm hoping that it will be more fun than riding my stationary bike. Fast forward to Monday morning: "Hi, I won't be coming to work today. Umm... because I can't move."

In related news, here's an article called, Troubled times for the Wii?

Press Send and...Oops!

The Setting: Finally, a little bit of help for those of us who wish we could take it back.

Way back in October 2008 I wrote about the awkward situation of sending an e-mail to the wrong person or saying something stupid in your e-mail that you wish you could take back.

Google's e-mail has introduced an email tool that allows you to undo an embarrassing e-mail you sent by mistake. The catches are it only works with Gmail accounts and you only have five seconds to undo the send. Here is the article about the undo send tool.

The Ego Massage Generation

The Setting: Do you feel obligated to accept someone’s friendship request on Facebook just because they offered it?

Or connect with someone on LinkedIn because they sent a request? Or follow someone on Twitter because they’re following you? Or connect with anyone on any other social networking tool out there, just because they asked?

I have had this conversation with a few of my friends and many are having these same thoughts. For some people, it really is about quantity and not necessarily about quality. It's a competition – who can get the most connections. Is it just massaging your ego if you have more friends, connections, links, followers, minions than anyone else? Is it about connecting with as many people as possible, is it about the networking?

Speaking specifically about Facebook, I admit I have accepted friend requests from people who are friends of my brother (I at least knew who they were), people I don't really know but we belong to the same organization or professional group, and people who are friends of friends.

I have three friends requests on my Facebook account right now. One is a friend suggestion from someone who thought I might know the person. I don’t. One is from someone I went to high school with whose name sounds vaguely familiar but I know she was not someone I hung out with. The last is from someone I did know in high school and although we were not enemies, I don’t have the best memories of our relationship. Why is it so important for them to be friends with me? Because I am so amazing? Perhaps. Who can blame them, really? I'll keep ya posted.

Social Media Last Will and Testament

The Setting: So what happens when an online gamer dies? How will his online gaming buddies know about it? Will they think he just abandoned them? Do we care?

I read an interesting article about family members searching down their dead gamer relative's passwords to online sites and then logging on to contact the gamer's friends to let them know what happened. Some gamers are actually leaving their log in / password details where family members can find them so that if they should die, their family members can log on to the various sites and communicate their demise.

There is a site called Deathswitch where members pay $20 a year and set up to 30 e-mails. If they don't check in at regular intervals, the e-mails are automatically sent to whomever the member specified. Another site called Slightlymorbid, whose byline says "Notify your online friends if something happens to you," is similar to Deathswitch. The difference is that the member does not need to check in at regular times; instead, their family member contacts the company if something happens to the member to start the "notification process." The Legacy Locker site plans to launch in April. It will require a death certificate before releasing any information.

With the popularity of online games and social media, I imagine we'll see more and more companies like these popping up. Click here to view the Death of gamers article.

"I always knew this day would come."

The Setting: Our good friend Bernard Madoff was kind enough to plead guilty to charges that he ran a ponzi scheme, swindling billions from investers. He faces up to 150 years in prison when he's sentenced on June 16.

Some of the investors have lost everything. We can make all the judgments we want to about them putting all their eggs in Bernie's basket, but he truly swindled them. Worse, many of the people he ripped off, were friends of his.

Madoff said in court, "I am ashamed for these criminal acts. I always knew this day would come." Well, you should be. And, yep, the day has come.

Don't worry Bernie. Maybe you'll only get, say, 50 years. You'll only be 120 years old when you get out.

Hmm... I'm sensing a new band name

Topic: Ladies and Gentlemen! Put your hands together! And now, coming to the stage....Shoe-throwing Journalist!

Remember that Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at then-President George W. Bush during a news conference in Baghdad? When the Secret Service had apparently run out to Starbucks? Well, he was sentenced to three years in prison Thursday by an Iraqi court. Journalist Muntadher Al-Zaidi was seen as a hero by many in Iraq and his sentencing sparked protests in the streets. Oh, and he had 17 lawyers. Seventeen! If you have that many lawyers, shouldn't you win your case? That's another story, I guess.

Anyway, just so you know: the world is safe again.

Are these for real?

The Setting: Those were my first words after reading this ad from Costco.

My friend Terri sent me this link to an ad for electronic cigarettes. e-Cigarettes – are you kidding me?! Perhaps we've taken this whole "e" thing a little too far. So if you smoke these, do you smell like e-smoke, e-Jones for a smoke, and get e-smoking-related illnesses?

But wait, there's more!! Extra battery and charger are included!!

Oh well, I guess smoking these are better for your health than smoking the real thing. But I love that the product recommendations include a tooth whitening system. Do these things actually e-stain your teeth? Kids, smoking is so not cool...

Just to prove I'm not making this up, click to view the NPRO Starter Kit ad.

Do I Want One of these or Not? Hmm...

The Setting: I seem to recall Oprah talking about how wonderful it is. As of this writing, it is sold out on Amazon.com.

Coincidence? Perhaps. But every time Oprah holds something up and says, "Get this," millions of women flock to the store, web site, wherever, to do just that.

What is this amazing thing I'm talking about? Drumroll please... The Kindle, Amazon's wireless reading device. I keep hearing more and more about the Kindle. I was over a friend's house a couple weeks ago and finally saw one up close. She had nothing but good things to say about it.

I don't know... I'm a reader and there's nothing like holding a book, feeling the pages. Books even smell cool. This is some cold, metal electronic device. A $359 electronic device. Of course, you can have the electronic versions of books sent to you wirelessly for only $9.99. You can also download newspapers and blogs, and it includes a great search feature and a built-in dictionary. You can read all about the features of the Kindle plus reviews and discussions on Amazon.com.

According to Amazon's site, they will not ship it to customers outside of the United States. Hmm, maybe I can make a few bucks running the Kindle overseas blackmarket cartel. I'll have to think about it. Buying a Kindle, I mean, not running the cartel.

Who am I kidding? I know it's just a matter of time before I break down and get one. According to Amazon, that time will be 3 to 5 weeks - if I buy it today. If you have a Kindle, or something like it, what do you think about it?

Facebook Turns Five

The Setting: The social networking site Facebook is five years old today.

It was started in 2004 by then 19-year-old Mark Zuckerberg, and now he's a millionaire. Oh wait, I meant billionaire. Although, according to this article, no one's really sure how Facebook is making money, other than through advertising. Really doesn't matter. Dude's rich.

I resisted signing up for the longest time. My impression was that it was something like MySpace, which I thought of as a site for a bunch of 13 year olds and a bunch of pervs pretending to be 13 years old. I thought of Facebook as something for college students, but my brother convinced me to sign up after I looked at his FB page. That was back in August 2008. Since then, I have connected with a bunch of friends, including a couple from high school; I have found (and been found by) old co-workers; and I am FB friends with many current co-workers. I have friends and family all over the place who, I admit, I don't see or talk to on the phone as often as I would like but it is very easy and fast to communicate with them on a regular basis using FB.

Some people use the site for business, although most I know use it to stay connected with friends and family. Some people post their statuses so often, you feel like a fly on the wall of their lives, watching the whole thing unfold. FB works really well for posting photos and creating albums, which is one of the main things people with kids do so their families living elsewhere can see pics of the kiddies. There are countless applications you can add to your page (I like Sudoku), altough many people choose not to add any apps.

Put Away Your Jackets, Hell is Hot Again

The Setting: The Arizona Cardinals vs the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl 43. Steelers win 27-23.

The Cardinals came out smoking in the first half, but fell apart the beginning of the second half. Then they got it together and everything was looking up. Then the Steelers got a touchdown with something like 30 seconds left. Heavy sigh... Actually, it was a very good game, the kind you want to see for the Super Bowl: the lead goes back and forth, it's suspenseful, and it's not a blowout.

In related news, Bruce Springsteen did a good job in the half-time show. And was it just me or were the Super Bowl commercials not as great as they are usually? I heard some companies decided not to spend as much as usual because of the state of the economy.

Congratulations to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Woot

President Barack Hussein Obama

Hell Has, In Fact, Frozen Over

The Setting: The NFL NFC Championship Playoffs today beween the Arizona Cardinals and the Philadelphia Eagles.

What can I say? I am definitely one of those people who never thought the day would come when the Arizona Cardinals would be in any kind of a playoff game, let alone the NFC Championship. Do you know what that means? The winner of this game will play the winner of the AFC Championship. The Cardinals are one game away from the Super Bowl. What?!

Some people think the Cards just got lucky, that their playoff wins so far were flukes, even miracles. Whatever. They're in it and I will be rooting for them. I've already placed my advanced order with Pizza Hut, so I'm ready. Let's hope the Cards are ready, too. Maybe, by some luck, fluke, miracle, or even talent, hell will be getting a few more inches of snow tonight.

Photo by Arizona Cardinals.

"They said I was gonna die soon, but maybe not."

The Setting: Spoken by Brad Pitt's character to Daisy in The Curtious Case of Benjamin Button.

Benjamin Button is the fourth movie I've seen on my list of movies to see. It is a classic love story done in a very unusual way. Brad Pitt plays the main character who is born around 86 years old and grows younger over time. Picture a baby with arthritis and an otherwise healthy pre-teen with dementia.

This film reminded me of Forest Gump many times. Not the plot nor the characters, but the way that the story unfolds - via flashbacks and around-the-world journeys. Although this movie is not quite as whimsical as Forest Gump, it has that same feel.

Is it just me, or does Brad Pitt look more and more like Robert Redford as he ages? I meant in real life, but you see it at certain points in this movie, also. The picture was directed by David Fincher and it also stars a mesmerizingly beautiful Cate Blanchett, plus Taraji P. Henson, Julia Ormond, and Tilda Swinton.

If you can allow yourself to believe the premise of this almost three-hour movie, I recommend that you see it. I give Benjamin Buttons four out of five Slurpees. Based on the movies I saw last year, if Slumdog Millionaire does not win picture of the year, this one will.

Best picture of the year goes to...

The Setting: Because of the hype surrounding it and just because I can't think of any other movie that I've seen this year that is better, I will go out on a limb right now and say that Slumdog Millionaire will win the Oscar for best picture of the year. It's not a stretch for me to say that; it's what many so-called professional movie critics are also saying.

This movie wasn't even on my list of movies to see, but I've heard so much about it - all positive - that I decided I would just go see it and find out for myself. I'm glad I did.

Slumdog Millionaire takes place in Mumbai, India and follows the story of a young man who is on the verge of winning millions in the Indian version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire. The story cleverly unfolds, using flashbacks of Jamal's life to show how, through his experiences, he is able to know the answers to most of the questions in the game.

The movie manages to capture the beauty of Mumbai, the culture, and the people in the midst of the corruption, over-population, poverty, and anguish. Be prepared: there are many heart-breaking scenes.

I admit I haven't previously heard of any of the actors, but the picture stars Dev Patel, Madhur Mittal, Freida Pinto, and Anil Kapoor. Danny Boyle directed the picture. This picture also has a great music soundtrack. Stay and watch the dance during the closing credits.

I definitely recommend this movie and give it four and a quarter out of five Slurpees. Yes, a quarter. I just think it's a little better than a four. Go see it.