A Perfect Shadow

Tonight is bad movie night. First it was Troll 2 at the Nerdery and now it’s The Tribe on Netflix.

Star Trek and pretty much every sci-fi show and game depicts those handheld computers as learning tools, voice memoirs and portable physicians. I look at the iPad I use so much and see a lot of games. I think a lot of people have a lot of games. I love games, but I feel this is somehow backwards. It should be filled with the worlds knowledge. Everything within moments of being brought forth. Why are the better apps all games.

Back to reading an ebook.

I enjoy having options, but also really enjoy when technology just works. Apple has the “just works” approach down even if it limits choices and options. If you like the way Apple handles technology and you don’t mind how they block apps, Adobe Flash and much in the way of customization they are great.

“Thank you Sir. May I have another.”

I’ve written up papers on a variety of tablet computers including the Motorola XOOM and Android 3.x being the main topic. I mainly use an iPad for my daily tablet tapping experiences and usage. Android 3.x has combined Apps, Books and Video rentals into the Market. It’s then I realized I really like the one stop shot to get everything done.

What I’d like to have is an option to combine different options into one marketplace. Imagine if we could choose our video rental service among the options and have them show up. I’d love to be able to say “Napster for music”, “Whoever has HD non-drm movies, tv’s etc” (especially since they are not always available on all the services), “Nook for ebooks” (but search others if not available and let me know it’s available there or cheaper) and the app store for the device Market or iOS App Store.

I know I can get the different apps, but it’s a pain in the ass to swap between different apps and find what I’m looking for. Isn’t this kinda what Google TV is trying to do. Isn’t this why everyone keeps blocking them. The content holders and makers of all they money are deathly terrified of losing their grip and giving us true options and letting the best technology win. It may not be them.

As an example Netflix is awesome on the Xbox 360, but other devices have a slightly crappier version. Browsing seasons of TV shows is just not as good and the damn thing needs an Xbox Gold account which is a subscription on top of the subscription on top of the Internet subscription, on top of the Power bill on top of Rent to get access to the damn thing.

Just give us our digital media without the controlling grip of fear you have on your content.

Please?

Just sitting here cleaning up my music collection in iTunes. Importing some CD’s that between OS upgrades and hard drive crashes are no longer in my stuff I can listen to list. I’m really enjoying the “When you insert a CD: Import CD and Eject” which is followed by a nice little audible sound to remind me to swap the CD.

I wonder if everyone else has the same problem of not having all their music available to them when they are a notebook or desktop computer. Maybe it’s a silent problem of digital confusion, lost files and wondering where that song has gone to.

This is the beginning of once and for all clearing up my digital music collection. Wish me luck!

I’m excited about attending PAX Prime in Seattle, WA again this year. Gaming, Seattle and friends. It’ll be great.

Simple app that lets you use a single mouse and keyboard across multiple computers. I’m in the process of getting it setup. Wish me luck.

update:
I have it up and running.

Thanks to the following sites I found via Google:

http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/how-to-configure-synergy-in-six-steps/

Why I’m happy to see mobile devices getting faster and faster CPUs? Apps that haven’t been written or those that could really use a boost.

I’m thinking apps that can translate spoken language while it’s being spoken. They work pretty good, but tend to only be able to capture and handle small chunks of data before pausing, processing and displaying the results. It would be great for our little portable devices to be able to just translate a real conversation in real time and display the results.

Make it So!

I’ve got a pretty good collection of photos I’ve collected and am noticing it’ll take a bit of time to go through them. Went through my music collection a while ago, but It’s amazing what we manage to collect.

Desktop computer is finally connected and powered up again. Needs some software setup again, but it’s a good start to have it powered up again.

Spin little fans. Spin!

When we purchase some items they end up costing us more than the purchase price. There is a cost we haven’t yet paid in the time to use it.

An example is a game that will cost $35 – $60 and probably consume somewhere between 20 and 80 hours. More if it’s some sort of MMORPG that slowly consumes your life. A younger version of me had a lot more time to spend on the things I purchased and didn’t always have the money to purchase them. Now that I’m older I have more money, but not as much time.

I look at the books on my bookshelf and there is a lot of time if I were to go and read everything I meant to read and haven’t. A couple of games I still haven’t finished. All unfinished business begging for future and present time. Which will get some time and which won’t. What will I let go of and reduce my time debt I’ve accrued.