Can't Stop Geeking

Well, the cat is officially out of the bag. Apple announced it’s latest gadget, the iPhone on steroids, the iPad. The only thing this thing doesn’t do is telephone stuff. You can surf the web, stream movies, etc., bascially everything thi iPhone does. You know what I want? I want a way to talk to someone in the next town, state or country and be able to see their faces while I do it. That to me would be breakthrough technology.

Toyota is voluntarily recalling nine models of their vehicles to fix faulty accelerator issues.  The recall will include 2.3 million cars.  If you own a Toyota, take a look at the slideshow in foxnews.com here to see if your Toyota is one of the recalled models.  I know this is not really a IT thing, but I wanted to get the word out to people.

MSNBC today ran a story about overhyped tech products. Not necessarily in the past year, but just the tech world in general. What surprised me was that some of the items they listed have been big sellers. So, when they say overhyped, they just mean the buzz created before or around the items release. You can see the full list here, but here are some of my favorites from the list:

• The Virtual Boy, Nintendo’s early attempt at 3D gaming, if you can call it that
• Windows Vista, ’nuff said

There’s a new study coming Britain that TV and video games may be the cause for a resurgence of rickets in children.  Rickets can lead to developmental abnormalities such bowed legs.  Rickets can occur when a child has chronic vitamin D deficiencies from too many hours out of direct sunlight and/or with poor nutrition.  Healthy exposure to sunlight helps the body produce vitamin D which promotes normal growth and development.

What’s the lesson to be learned here?  Connecting and playing in the cyber-world is fun, but balance your time between virtual reality and reality for healthy mind and body. Read the full story here.

Nasa has released a video on Youtube demonstrating a theoretical personal aircraft equipped with vertical takeoff and landing capabilities.  Now, these are the guys who put a man on the moon, so this concept can work.  The initial cost will probably put this into the reach only of the uber-rich, but given time it might be more available to the public.  This is just a demo video, but I’m already excited for the possibilities.  This will revolutionize daily life like nothing else if this thing goes into mass production.

That’s right.  Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, arguable the richest man in the galaxy, philanthropist extraordinaire, has joined the ranks of tweeters.  So, Bill can let us know what’s going on 145 characters at a time.  Can I ask a question: what is the point of personal Twitter accounts?

I mean, corporate twitter accounts I can understand.  Businesses can tease the public with upcoming product news and release dates.  But what can you share from a personal standpoint?  Is anyone’s life changed forever knowing Bill was working on his foundation letter when he tweeted?  Does getting an update from Ashton saying he and Demi are ordering wine with dinner make your life better?  Can someone tell me what value personal Twitter accounts have?

According to MSNBC.com, Apple is set to unveil its latest creation this month on the 27th, and speculation is running rampant.  What will it be?  A new version of the iPhone? a tablet computer?  Something we’ve never seen before?  What do you think.

Well, to show that I can see what passes for entertainment in Hollywood, I think I might need a pair of polarized sunglasses like these.

photo from tag_mclaren's at flickr.com

Avatar won for Best picture at the Golden Globes last night.  While I haven’t seen the other movies, I would have to give them the edge in terms of story.  But I guess story is secondary as long as you have CGI and 3D effects.

Sorry, but I got to rant on this one.  Good movies have gotten harder and harder to come by.  I’m not talking the art films with imagery so complex there’s no plot, I’m talking about mainstream Hollywood pawning off old stories with CGI dressing as new and exciting.  Well, for some it might be exciting; I find it boring.  Where am I going with this?

I went and saw the latest CGI lovefest Avatar.  I went to see it with my wife and a couple of friends.  This is nothing more than telling the story of Native Americans allegorically and since it’s fantasy, Cameron gets to end it the way he wants.  It shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise how it does end.  At the end of the movie, my friend asked me what I thought of it and I answered with three words, “Dances with Smurfs.”  That’s all this was to me.

Now, I do wish American history concerning Native American treatment was different, but Avatar adds only two things: the CGI and the ending.  I knew how this movie was going to end 5 minutes into it and had to sit through 2 hours and 30+ minutes to get where I knew we were gonna go.  That’s not entertaining for me.  I want a movie to teach me something, a new idea or new way to look at something.  Avatar offers no new perspective, no new idea, just a lot of CGI.  CGI does not a movie make.

Google is set to take down it Chinese search engine due to allegations that the Chinese government’s actions toward human rights activists using gmail to communicate as well as oppressing other companies.  I wonder if  the doomsday clock movement on Thursday has something to do with this.