Zune: Because you hate Leslie Fiest
Microsoft introduced the new Zune 2, or its version of an iPod. It’s cheaper ($199, as opposed to apple’s $299-$399 pricetag), and I think the Brazilian singer C?u is to Zune as Fiest is to iPod. Unfortunately, I have been spending all of my money on DVD late fines at IC’s library, so I can’t provide a review. But Gizmodo can ? 6 of ‘em.
This is all you need to see to make an educated purchase. Gates vs. Jobs in a battle royale. Whose side are you on?
Eee! A super-small and super-unnecessary PC!
I know that when I have an extra $400, I’m not looking to take a trip or save or anything ? I wanna spend! If you’re in the same boat, maybe you’d like to buy a super small computer, that looks like a MacBook but isn’t? It’s also only got 4GB of space, but you know, it’s cute. Check out the company’s site here. Although my favorite quotes come from that NYmag feature:
“It?s so damn cute that everyone I?ve shown it to wants one. If you swoon at the idea of a low-cost, two-pound computer that?ll fit in a handbag, my advice is to check it out in person…”
And from Wikipedia:
“The Eee PC is an ultra-portable laptop designed by Intel and ASUSTeK, aimed at the consumer market.” (emphasis mine.)
Oh, to be young and obbsessed with spending money on pointless, but “damn cute” technology.
Digital division
I spent much of my Fall break researching media access and edutainment in Sierra Leone and South Africa, which made this article from the BBC really interesting to me. Intel’s trying to bridge the digital divide, which is good, but also seems like it might get a bit risky. I mean, are they really altruistic?
Intel has produced a rugged laptop designed for the developing world, called the Classmate PC.
The firm is also backing other efforts, such as the One Laptop Per Child XO machine and the Asus EEE PC.
There’s such a thing as a “rugged laptop designed for the developing world”? Clearly, the digital divide is an important issue to be addressed ? in a “globalized” world, if a country doesn’t have access, they’re all but hopeless to get into the “global village” and contribute heavily to global discourse. (global, global, global.) But is there (or should there be) a hierarchy of needs in Africa? Is the digital divide the biggest problem ? or if Intel were truly altruistic, would they be more concerned with HIV and AIDS prevention, poverty, civil war and hunger? If people aren’t alive to use the laptops and the technology … isn’t it kind of pointless?
Thoughts welcome!
Watch your back
Well guess what? The U.S. government isn’t the only entity after your information. Apparently, the MPAA hired a hacker named Robert Anderson to grab the goods on TorrentSpy, the BitTorrent search site. Among other interesting information Anderson offered to Wired? That the MPAA wanted to set up a fake Torrent site to gather “names, address books, contact information and banking information” of other Torrent sites. Sneaky sneaky, though the MPAA denies the thing, and says it’s not their fault Anderson was a creep.
The MPAA does not dispute it paid Anderson for the sensitive information, but insists that it had no idea that Anderson stole the data. “The MPAA obtains information from third parties only if it believes the evidence has been collected legally,” says MPAA spokeswoman Elizabeth Kaltman.
To the MPAA I say two things:
1. Thanks for nothing, you’ve really been letting me down lately. You okay-ed a remake of The Birds? Really? And why isn’t The Darjeeling Limited playing in Ithaca, N.Y. yet?
2. You hang with creeps, you hire creeps, you’re gonna get creeped.
PEACE AND LOVE
Brink.
Avatar superstar
Brink loves Brink. But if it didn’t … then it could make an avatar to fulfill its wildest identity-shifting fantasies. And to make virtual life easier, the BBC reports that now your avatar can span across virtual cliques. That is, your Second Life character could also be your … Wii character. Or other virtual world character/ facsimile. (Love that word, by the by. Use it sparingly, but wisely, and your life will be richer.)
Anyway, this could be useful, considering that your workplace orientation will probably be taking place online. So you can judge a person by his avatar after all. Hmm. Well, Brink Google-imaged (and created a verb) “liz avatar” to test that statement. Let’s take a look:
And if that isn’t Brink in a nutshell, then I don’t know what.
Plug it in … NEVER!
Imagine a perfect world, where you could sit at the Internet for 30 years without ever having to recharge your laptop battery. Perfect, indeed. And it’s closer than you think! In two to three years, we may all spend the next 30 years of our lives online.
No, this won’t be annoying at all
Here’s the thing: People need to learn how to assert their identities without annoying me. Okay? Honestly, guys! I love Facebook, I’m okay with MySpace, I’ll even deal with your stupid ring tone (kind of funny when it goes off and embarrasses you, actually.) But if people start walking around with a f-cking personalized music button on their figurative lapels, they may as well invest in this teeshirt.? Mmmm… midis.
Seriously, guys. Why can’t we form identities without the aid of technology? Why?
Moneybook.com: One blogger says, “Mark, call me!”
I never wanted to marry Mark Zuckerberg for his money, I was always strictly interested in the power. But Facebook, his baby and one I wouldn’t mind treating like my own, is now worth oh, 10 to 15 billion dollars. Give or take. Anyway, I don’t know why he’s even selling 5% of the company to Microsoft. I guess to pay off that Harvard education, eh? Am I right?
Best thing about that page … scroll down to user sample032’s comment about how much our souls are worth. Niiiiice.
I want one, too
Look at how happy those kids are! I think this idea is really cool. I loved that the concern was that American children wouldn’t want the laptops they would, presumably, be getting as gifts for Christmas (is that even P.C. to say?)
“Staff members of the laptop project were concerned that American children might try the pared-down machines and find them lacking compared to their Apple, Hewlett-Packard or Dell laptops. Then, in this era of immediate global communications, they might post their criticisms on Web sites and blogs read around the world, damaging the reputation of the XO Laptop, the project staff worried.”
How snotty can you get? Anyway, I hope it goes well. Every child deserves the internets, if only for Facebook!
Rasslin’ with ringles.
Ringle. That’s a legit marketing solution. “Ringle.”
Apparently, Sony BMG’s brilliant idea is to sell CD singles with a ring tone attached. Woo-hoo! What’s terrible about this technological solution to a really bad music market is that it’s simply going to proliferate the production of really dumb music. And I say this because pop music does NOT have to be dumb, it can be funny and clever and dance-able (*Justin Timberlake and Timbaland prove this*).
But, there you have it, we’re already in the ring tone era of pop music. It’s everywhere. Songs are produced with ringtone-ality in mind, which usually means they sound eerily like a midi file, are hypnotic and repetitive. Mims, this is why you’re hot.
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