Ah, the wonderment that is MySpace. No, I do not have a page there (yet), but I have done some trolling around. You can find all kinds of people from your past there. People who were skinny are now fat. People who were cute are… well.. not so cute, etc.
Its a place to have fun. See how many kids the person you hated in high school now has. You can see what happened to that person who dumped you… rejoice in the fact that your life is better than theirs. That might even be worth sending them a message. Heck, that alone makes me want to sign up.

Well, gotta go, I guess I have some gloating to do.

So I saw a guy smoking today and thought, “people still do that?” I thought that stopped being cool years ago. I mean, really, whats good about cigarettes? They cause cancer, make your teeth yellow, make your breath stink, make your skin look old, and they are expensive. They are more expensive that gas! (I think)

The whole state of California did it right… its illegal to smoke anywhere else but inside your own little cancer bubble (basically). I hope others will follow in suit ’cause I dont want your cancer, Camel Joe.

I guess back in the day, it was sexy for women to smoke. Well, not any more. Its a huge turn off for me. I kissed a smoker once in college… most disgusting kiss ever. While I have never actually licked an ash tray, I imagine that must be what its like.

Then there is the male smoker. Come on, dude, there is no way to look masculine holding a dainty little cigarette between two fingers. When I saw the guy today, I wanted to laugh out loud. I think he was actually exhaling a little bit testosterone with each buff of smoke blown out. Watch out, man boobs are just around the corner.

I know its kind of hypocritical, I must admit, I went through a phase where I liked cigars. While I can’t say I will never smoke one again, I can say the occasions are few and far between. Maybe once or twice a year. Kind of a special occasion thing. You know, weddings, babies, that kind of thing. Yea, I know, its just an excuse, but hey, at least its not crack.

Looks like Apple is in descussion with several airlines for plans to make planes iPod friendly. The plan is to put docks at every seat so the iPod can be seamlessly integrated with the in-flight entertainment system. The passenger will be able to power the iPod, and even watch their video content on the seatback display.

As if Microsoft’s Zune was not having a rough enough debut week already (with various news shows slamming in on opening day and disappointing sales), now this. Sorry Bill.

So I came across this article claiming that HD-DVD and BluRay are already obsolete. It claims that the internet, OnDemand movies, new (and expensive) hardware necessary, and the increasing popularity of hard drives are the main reasons they will not succeed. While the article was interesting, once I thought about it, I decided I think its a bunch of BS.

The article claims that the internet will soon allow for streaming and downloading movies like it does for music now. The problem with this is that the quality of downloaded content tends to be of a lesser quality than that on physical discs. For music, people probably do not mind the slight degradation in quality, but for video, its all about higher definition and high qulaity audio. This will result in larger files, and much longer download times. It will be a while before ISPs are able to provide connection speeds that will make this convinient. In a world of “now”, no one will want to wait hours for something to download like they did years ago.

Now, suppose the ISPs upgrade their infrastructure to allow the speeds needed for easy downloading of movies, the movies will have to be stored somewhere. Sure, hard drives are getting cheaper, but if a HD movie were to average 5GB in size, and the average movie watcher/collector has at least 150 movies, you would need a 750GB hard drive. Look to spend several hundred dollars just for the drive, and that doesnt include any movies. I hope it never crashes….

OnDemand? Seriously? Sure, its good to watch a movie once, but the reality is, its not yours. OnDemand is just a more convinient Blockbuster, not a replacement for purchasing movies.

The cost argument is just as weak as the rest. People who like technology don’t mind paying for new technology. Technology will inevetably become outdated and need to be replaced… but that is known upfront and embraced. Its not a valid excuse.

I dont think those little 5″ plastic discs are going anywhere anytime soon…. I am more concerned which format will be the VHS, and which will be the BetaMax. Wait, did I mention the dual format players slated to come out in 2007? Looks like that may not matter either. Happy movie watching.

Nissan has launched a new ad campaign for the Sentra with a guy claiming to live in his car for a week. During one of the commercials, they highlight a few of the options available, including integrated Bluetooth and an iPod hookup for the radio. The iPod connection seems cool, but I was surprised by the Bluetooth. Just a few years ago, that was an option reserved only for high-end luxury vehicles, and now it is available in smaller, less expensive cars.

Nissan is not the only car company doing this, though. Honda offers navigation in the Civic, and you can get xenon headlights on your Mazda 3. These companies are also increasing the power of their small cars, they are not just street legal go-karts anymore. The gap between standard and luxury seems to be starting to blur.

I suppose Lexus is on the right track with their car that can park itself. I imagine more companies will start having to come out with features that will set them apart from the norm. The Jetsons age may be closer than we think.

Yes, seriously. I just read that some scientists recently created a cloaking device. Yes, a cloaking device. You know, a doohicky that makes things invisible. Well, the one they made only works on microwaves, but they are working on that. I am sure it wont take too long until they get it working on visible light… and thats kinda scary.

Something else I read about is license plate readers. There is a device that is about the size of a can of soup, and can be mounted on the dashboard of cars to read license plates. The initial uses will be by the police and they will have them connected to databases that will be able to compare the plates to predefinied lists, like those with outstanding parking tickets. Another use that was mentioned was to make sure sexual predators are not in the vicinity of schools. Both are valid, but I think the malicious possibilities far outweigh the benefits.

If enough of these things are out there and networked together, they can be used to track the movements of individual’s cars. Imagine if they were outfitted in cabs, they will be able to tell when you go to places like the gorcery store, the bank, and the mall. No more sneaking to the strip club after work.

This sounds like a stalkers dream. They wont even have to hide around corners… they can just sit in their dingy apartment, eating pork rinds, tracking your movements on their porn filled laptop.

As far as the sexual predator angle, well, it may not be all that effective. All the perv has to do is get a hold of one of those cloaking devices and walk to the play ground. No kid can resist a piece of candy floating in mid air. “Hey, where did Billy go?” He got snached by the perv and is now invisible inside his cloak. Did I mention they want to make these devices sound proof? “No use screaming, Billy. No one can hear you.”
As cool as technology is, some things are just better left in science-fiction movies. If you want something cool, geta Playstation 3, or a Archos 604. Billy will thank you.