I’m Batman!

No, I’m not really Batman… and neither is the crazy Swedish guy that spent $1 million on building his own replica Batmobile.

That’s right, some Swedish guy’s milkshake tastes better than yours! Even though it’s a replica of the original 1989 film Batmobile that’s still pretty awesome. Apparently this baby was built on the body of a 1973 Lincoln Continental and is packed full of awesome gadgets.

Check out this video.

This Batmobile packs no firepower that we know of but it does have GPS navigation, voice recognition, a DVD player, a plasma TV and rearview cameras.

Still, I think there are better ways to spend $1 million. Didn’t Indonesia lose a few people and buildings recently? Maybe you can hawk the ride and send them some aid or something. Or at least up grade to the Tumbler.

Its not nice to spread rumors

This will be quick and since I am not feeling particularly inspired right now it might suck, but let me tell you why I could care less about these Apple tablet rumors.

Personally I see almost no need for the existence of a tablet Apple or otherwise. The tablets occupied a technology space that is somewhere between a phone and a netbook, basically it would be for things that are a little too hard to do on a cell phone screen but not complex enough to require a netbook.
Most smart phones are capable of GPS, however the small screen on the phone makes it hard to both look at and drive at the same time, so having a larger screen like you could on a tablet could be useful here except there are already a number of cheaper products that exist for the purpose of being GPS devices to use while driving, so even that space is filled.
A tablet is too big to fit in your pocket so it’s not like it would be easy to transport, like a phone is, and if you are going to carry a bag around with you then you might as well put a netbook in that bag. I fail to see anywhere that the tablet would be useful that is not already populated by a better product. The only real use I can think of for a tablet would be to pretend you are in Star Trek; those dudes are always carrying around tablet type devices.
This is the last time I will discuss the Apple Tablet here (Ryan still can, but I just won’t read the post), and for that matter till I see a tablet I would love I will not write any more entries about them (again this only pertains to me, the tablet hater), and I would request the rest of the tech world stop giving press to the Apple tablet until such a time as it actually exists. Didn’t you learn anything as a kid? It’s not nice to spread rumors.

Well... I'm moving to Korea.

I would rather jump off a cliff than depend on my cell phone's camera for taking pictures. Which is unfortunate because I use my BlackBerry Storm for almost everything else. Let's ignore the fact that the BlackBerry Storm is inferior to the iPhone in many ways... yeah yeah yeah, I get it. I can basically use my phone for everything I could need during the day. In addition to using the the web surfing, memo, email, calendar and calculator functions for work, the voice recorder is actually far better than the $40 digital recorder I used to use for taking notes. Plus I can file the recordings on my computer or email them to myself or others.

So two of my most important needs as a journalist are met, mobile web and a recorder. Now if I could just get a decent camera on it, I could carry one device in my pocket all day. And that's why I'm moving to Korea, because this 12 megapixel, 3x optical zoom Samsung phone is only going to be available there.

See ya America, you just do not fulfill my cellphone needs any more. Yeah sure the freedom, culture, entertainment and language are all better suited for me but come on.... it's got three times optical zoom!!!

Here's what this baby also comes tricked out with:
* Wi-Fi
* GPS
* Bluetooth
* 4GB of on board memory
* microSD slot that allows expansion up to 32 GB
* 3.3 inch, 800x480 touchscreen
* 1,280x 720 video

Take a look at that shutter button, those zoom buttons, the flash and shooting mode dial! Throw a little 3G on this baby and I'll think about marrying it. I would still want to see some sample pics before I quit my job and tell the people I work with what I really think... I'm talking to you Gail! The true test for a camera is always the size and quality of the sensor. Case in point, my old Nikon D1H has a 2.1 megapixel sensor in it. My Sanyo Xacti video camera has a 7.1 megapixel still photo sensor in it. The quality difference could not be greater, especially in low light. Nikon wins it hands down there. It ain't all in the megapixels, it's in the sensors. But I would like to think the good people at Samsung Korea have thought of this.


This is something we need to see more of in this country, cameras that incidentally act as phones. I get the feeling that most people don't give a crap about the exact phone they have as long as it performs multiple functions for them and keeps them connected their peeps or tweeps or whatever the hell the kids say these days Anyway, the days of weighted down pockets are through, onward came the cellphones that act as (good) cameras. And if you're interested, there's Wired's list of the five gadgets cell phones killed. Oh and here are seven more. Until next time, An-nyeong Hi-gye-se-yo!

More MMS Fun, this time with law suits

I have a couple of close friends that have the iPhone on AT&T and when I heard the update to allow them access to MMS was available, I pressured them to connect to iTunes and download the update. After each of them had preformed the update, I tried to send them a picture via picture messaging on my non-smart phone. I have seen the screen shots of what the MMS is supposed to look like on the iPhone text messaging layout, and I expected to see the picture of the creepy doll

in between the messages I had already sent. Neither of them got it! I sent it! According to my phone it went out. I waited untill the next day and still it had not shown up. On top of that they didn’t even get the dumb link iPhone users used to get when they received a picture. It just never showed up on the phones. Maybe this is an example of the craptastic service that AT&T is notorious for providing. I knew that the MMS would cause some network issues, but never actually delivering the picture is crazy. On top of that AT&T is actually supposed to be the best provider in Boston (where I live).

Even crazier than the picture not showing up is this article. I guess people are always looking for a quick buck, and suing is a really easy way to do that. But give me a break. Suing AT&T because they rolled out MMS at the end of September rather then the “end of the summer” which depending on who you ask could be several different dates.

I have always held that that the Solstice and the Equinox mark the ends or beginning of new seasons, and according to Wikipedia the equinox for the fall occurred on September 22, which is the Tuesday before the actual release of MMS. For me, Friday is a more dramatic day of the week than Tuesday, so if I was going to release something around September 22nd and I wanted the release to be dramatic I would wait until Friday too, I mean what’s three more days, really when people have been waiting years.

Now a case could be made that the end of summer and the beginning of fall is Labor Day, which this year was on September 7th. September 7th to September 25th is a pretty decent time difference, most of the month, and if you are using Labor Day as the day where summer ends and fall begins then yeah MMS was kinda late. Labor day is the first Monday in September so it does not even fall on a particular date, and as far I care it’s pretty arbitrary to be used as a deadline for anything since it’s something that is set by people. Someone picked it to be the first Monday in September - there is no science or anything like that for why it is that day.

Again, for my money I am going to pick the date that has science behind it, which is the equinox (you can read more about it the link above). The equinox affects everyone on Earth where as Labor Day is a US.. holiday. AT&T is worldwide so why should they be constrained by something that is so regional? If the they are using the equinox as their measure of the “end of summer” than they are on the money and not really late at all. In that case this kid is a jerk, and I hope the judge throws the case out, actually I hope the judge throws the case out either way.

Geek Squad thinks you're stupid and they’re willing to charge you to prove it.

Now, perhaps it is not right to make fun of what Best Buy’s Geek Squad does. After all, there are still a lot of people out there that need help with the simpler things that come with the world of computers and gadgets. I will also take this opportunity to say that as a man who lives in the middle of technological nowhere, Best Buy does offer a good range of stuff at pretty decent prices. However, that doesn’t get them off the hook for a lot of the BS services Geek Squad tries to charge for that are so simple children can do them - and in many households they do.

Exhibit A: Over a year ago, Best Buy got the option to sell the iPhone 3G for standard Apple prices. However, Best Buy needed a way to get at your wallet somehow… what were they to do? How about force you to buy an unnecessary and expensive accessories pack ranging in price from $106-$234. They make you buy that and FOR FREE they’ll activate the phone and setup one e-mail address with it. Read the fine print.

Now, they’re REQUIRED to setup the phone for you and at an Apple store, the e-mail setup is a free courtesy- plus it’s very easy to sync an e-mail account with either an iPhone or iPod touch. So basically for at LEAST $104 you get services that are free elsewhere or easy to do yourself.

Exhibit B: Geek Squad will rip CDs to your computer for only $1 per disc. Ok, it’s not ten years ago. There’s no excuse for not knowing how to rip a CD to your computer. I ripped my entire CD collection to my Dell desktop during my first year of college back in 2002. And I was a technologically illiterate 18-year-old back then. However, I do remember it being an ordeal to upload the tracks and then rename them all. BUT, I was using a computer that is comparatively slow for today’s standards and I was using an ancient version of Windows Media Player to do it. So I decided to conduct a little experiment using today’s technology, the same technology Geek Squad is claiming is too hard for you, a moron, to use.

I found a stray CD and tossed it into the drive on my XPS while iTunes was open. iTunes immediately brought up a prompt asking if I would like to rip it. I clicked one… ONE… button and all 16 tracks were uploaded in 4 minutes. Actually, it may have been less than that because I got up and made a sandwich and when I came back, 4 minutes had elapsed and it was done. If you’re deciding to upload CDs, odds are you want to go digital for use with your MP3 player and that means, odds are, you have iTunes. Do not pay Best Buy for what will take you MAYBE a couple hours depending on the size of your CD library.

Exhibit C: Geek Squad will setup your PlayStation 3 at your home for just under half of what it cost you to buy the base hardware.

That’s right, for only $130, Best Buy will come to your home and plug in three wires, yellow, red and white. Or one wire if you have an HDMI television. But wait, I stand corrected. They will also download and install the latest firmware updates – you know, that thing that happens nearly automatically anyway. And they’ll also setup parental controls and one online gaming account . So they’ll basically follow the on-screen prompts like you would do yourself.A PlayStation 3 costs $300 by the way.

Now, there’s a lot more deranged things Best Buy will try to charge you for so I’ll go quickly through them. For anywhere from $15 to $130 they will show you how to use your MP3 player and/or Bluetooth headset in your car. For anywhere from $50 to $70 they will show you how to use e-mail. Yeah, that’s reasonable. And what do they mean by “connect an existing, active e-mail account to computer”? Are they going to show you how to open an internet browser and go to Google, Yahoo!, Hotmail or AOL or something? Who do they think will fall for that “service”? My grandmother? Ha Ha! Trick question! My grandmother doesn’t even know what a “Best Buy” is! Last but certainly not least is this little gem. For $150 PER HOUR they will come to your house and show you how to do things like use the internet, give you a run down on “digital photo, digital video, digital music”, give you a brief tutorial on how to use your iPod or rip CDs (no word if you have to send them $1 every time you do it on your own).

The best part is they make a point at the bottom to say “Training Services EXCLUDES teaching how to remove viruses or spyware and any other proprietary Geek Squad information.” Basically, they don’t want you to be too independent, because then you wouldn’t pay them shit tons of cash to have them do simple things. I hear the next service they’re going to offer includes hitting you on the head with a ball peen hammer until you forget how to tie your shoes and then they charge you $75 to come into your home and tie them for you. That’s $75 PER SHOE TYING by the way. How to tie your shoes is proprietary Geek Squad information after all.

So technologically impaired people out there (like my Dad who still insists I can melt a hard drive by using a music downloading service) I encourage you all to find some 19-year-old kid on your street - or better yet your grandchild - and pay them $20 to teach you what you want to know. Also, don’t blame/assault the Geek Squad, they do do some good work for people that can’t do it themselves and I’m sure they don’t set the policy. The corporate fat cats do. So blame/assault them.