A Perfect Shadow

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?

Part of me really dislikes the idea of the Apple EcoSystem and what it means to the freedom of my content. *cough* DRM *cough* My music has freedom to roam, but TV Shows and Movies are trapped in there once purchased from Apple. They can roam around Apple products with my account and it’s a good user experience, but they are barred from playing on anything else.

I can go through the trouble of converting my purchased DVDs to a friendly format, but if it’s a Blu-Ray disc the poor HD content is trapped on the disc (Stupid DRM!).

I think about the other options I have, but don’t want to mess with them. I have devices that play well together and I don’t have to worry about an awkward experience that requires a lot of work. So I will continue gathering my media into iTunes and streaming it to an Apple TV and watching on my iPhone.

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.

I love reading and my little collection of books and comics I haven’t caught up on are stealing lots of brain cycles from me lately. So I’ve been reading a lot and writing down ideas for some the dungeons and dragons game I run with some friends. There is something satisfying about finishing an issue of a comic and sealing it up in the bag.

Read, Bag, Tape and Done!

Goal tonight is to scrape time to catch up on another series. Probably Scalped. We will see.

Running CoconutBattery has not only informed me my batteries maximum charge is 90% of what it was when new, but also I am using a 30 month old laptop. Wow. Way to go little notebook.

Another interesting thing is I could buy a new one from an app on my iPhone. Which is an example of software and service being the shit when it comes to cool factors. Also my notebook keeps saying “When I was a young nobody purchased notebooks from a phone.”

I watched the awesome Green Lantern movie on Saturday and want to see it again, but have been busy reading me some Green Lantern comics. I think it’s the vastness of the setting which is the entire universe with space travel, the green ring which allows for such a variety of awesome powers and a good overall themes of will vs. fear. All the other superheros just run around cities and defeat a few bad guys. Green Lanterns seem to be all saving the universe, planets or other super-great feats.

Photo of Trade Paperbacks of Green Lantern: Rebirth and Green Lantern: No Fear

A little research lead me to discover that Green Lantern had a “reboot” of sorts in 2005 and the trade paperback Green Lantern: Rebirth is the start of that. Which lead to “Sweet, I have somewhere to start.” and the purchase of the first two trades and finally some Green Lantern to read.
I’m about a quarter of the way into rebirth and am really enjoying it so far. A lot is happening pretty quickly which is a change from the slower pace of some Vertigo titles I’m used to reading. I guess superhero comics need to run at a faster pace since there are so many bad guys to defeat.

This all leads me to a comic book industry that really fails in helping new readers know what they should be reading when something catches our eye. The Green Lantern has been around since July 1940. That is a lot to read if you start from the beginning (which nobody ever does, except that one guy, but he’s a bit strange) and it’s hard to know where to start. Especially when so many of comics branch off from their main series. A lot of comics don’t list where it is at in the story. Is this issue 2 of 5, a one-shot issue perfect for someone new to the franchise or a good spot to jump onto a new series. Most just have the issue number (68) and the fear that now I need to catch up on 67 issues to enjoy this interesting looking comic. I’ve since learned how to navigate most of this, but I cannot do so easily while standing in front of the comics in my local comic shop. I need to research this stuff on the web or chat with my local comic shop guys (who are very helpful most of the time).

My ask would be to have a little help with knowing what to get. The Green Lantern trades are nice, but there are no freaking numbers to know where to start. Perhaps “Green Lantern: Rebirth (1)”, “Green Lantern: No Fear (2)” would be a great start. I’m thinking how Manga always have numbers on their series so I have an idea of what to buy.

OK. My rant is done. Back to reading me some comics.

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!

Long story short. MacBook Pro needed a reinstall of Snow Leopard and since it hasn’t been my week for technology it hit a few bumps, ran over a digital deer and fell into a crater. The availability of the Lion (OS X 10.7) really makes me want to run that on my notebook, but that is really asking for trouble since it’s months away from release.

The testing I’ve done so far with Lion has revealed a couple of necessary apps I use everyday are not functional yet. Which makes me sad as I’m such a upgrade junkie when it comes to updates and especially major versions. I wish Apple would make some improvements to freshen up Finder. Maybe 10.8 will be “We’ve done it again. This time Finder has been upgraded to stupid awesome.”

Update 3/24/2011: MacBook Pro has been revived with a new hard drive and a migration from my old drive.