I like the video camera, but I can’t see myself using it much except in those situations where I find myself needing a middling quality video camera.  On the other hand, I’ve got a middling quality video camera in my tiny music and video player.

The pedometer is interesting although I will probably not use it much.  I know my route every day and I’ll maybe turn it on for special occasions.

The screen is fantastic looking and I’m thinking about moving some videos over, perhaps the first few episodes of TV that people have recommended to me but I haven’t had the time to watch.  It is a small screen, but the image quality is very high so maybe it’ll even out.  Then again, I watched video on the GameBoy Micro screen (thank you Play-Yan adapter) so my tolerances are probably pretty high.

There’s a voice recorder.  So yeah, I guess that means I’m carrying two of them around since I have one on my phone.  Which I have used in the past.

Oh, and it plays music.

Simply:

Sitting in Michael’s office.
2:48 PM Apr 11th, 2007 via web

One star – Delete

There is something wrong with this file.  It’s broken in some way, either there’s clipping or it cuts off, or is mislabeled.  Or I could just really hate the song and what the hell is it doing in my library?  Also, podcasts from 2005 are typically one starred.

Two stars – Meh

Pieces of incidental music that I don’t feel, and that’s their problem.  (Typically tracks from soundtracks, although Vangelis is a notable exception.)  Also songs from albums that I just ripped in their entirety that I don’t care too much for.

Three stars – Well maybe

Audit.  These are songs that need listening in order to see how I feel about them.   There is a smart playlist in iTunes for this and it fills up with 25 songs.  I try to get through them during the workday, giving them a full listen while I’m at my desk and the iPod is easily at hand.

Four stars – Pretty good

These are songs that I will listen to in their entirety, depending on my mood.  Typically an easy decision to make, I just four star music that I enjoy.

Five stars -

I am physically unable to skip these songs.  It is a physiological impossibility.

How this works:

I search for one star songs in my library and delete them.  Then, comes some iTunes configuration.  Specifically, three smart playlists that are synchronized to the iPod.

1. First, a smart playlist that is automatically filled with music that is rated four stars or above.  This way, I’ll always have something I want to listen to.
2. Then another smart playlist for songs rated three stars, but limited to 50 songs.  This list is typically listened to at work, while the iPod is close at hand on my desk.  As I go through the list, I make sure to rate songs that I enjoy at least four stars, while some songs I leave at three stars for another listen.  Some songs go down to one or two stars and those never come back to the iPod.
3. Finally, a smart playlist that’s filled with songs that are unrated.  This is another list that I go through at work.

In this way, I hope to be through my iTunes music library with a better idea of what I like and don’t like.

There is a quiet dignity in service, and Roomba-kun was in all ways, a true gentleman.  He may have been loud at times, and at times may have been a bit bumbling, but he was a loyal servant, never wavering in his prescribed task.  And he excelled at that.

Near the end he labored with great difficulty to complete his tasks, but still he performed without complaint, save for telltale descending scale tones.

It is with great reluctance that I let him go.   May your batteries be always charged, and your dust bin always empty, forevermore.

With the 75mm, what I’m capturing is a lot smaller.  I know exactly how much of what I can see is going to be recorded to the sensor.  In this case, if I extend my arms directly in front of my shoulders and make a frame with my thumb and forefinger on each hand, that’s how much the D70 is going to capture.

It’s kind of amusing.  All this time I thought people were just being pretentious when they did that.  Now I know they were just seeing how much they could get with an 80mm lens.

Specifically, with my D70 I’ve learned a couple of things.

1. My filter tends to create green ghosts of light on the frame directly opposite the location of the light source.  If I remove the filter for indoor shooting, the ghosts do not show up.
2. At 1600 ISO all of my low light shots tend to look like I’ve shot them and then post processed them as sepia toned images.  (Too “warm.”)  Correcting the white balance in post can sometimes fix this.
3. The battery I have can keep the camera on for an average of eight hours a day for about three weeks, shooting an average of six or seven shots a day.
4. I’ve used the on camera flash to illuminate a subject a total of zero times.  On the other hand, I’ve used it as a flash commander for the self portrait juggling shots indoors.
5. The remote timer setting only lasts five seconds, regardless of whether or not I’ve set it to twenty seconds in the menu.
6. Walking creates the opportunities I need to take photographs.  Staying at home and working in my office do not.
7. No pictures of people, surprisingly.

I had used them before, but not as the primary method of getting my dishes clean.  In fact, other than the nonstick pots and pans I use, it’s the primary method.

I never used them at home, possibly because my parents had the dishwasher dilemma.  The dishwasher at home was a glorified dish rack.  I remember its one knob, broken from heartbreak or being ignored.  I remember washing dishes when I was younger and in high school and hating it.  I hated the feeling of the rubber gloves so my hands were always in poor shape by the time dishes were done.  When I got to college of course, I had to do my own dishes in the lounge, but it was one dish and pot at a time—not overwhelming at all.  Now I have my own place and I and I only do the bare minimum in terms of dishwashing.

I’m trying to decide how the dishwasher took some time to warm up to, while I embraced the roomba wholeheartedly.  It was a very easy habit to pick up.  Putting dirty dishes in the dishwasher and running it.  I usually start it when I leave, and when I get back home from work there are clean dishes.  My usage pattern is about two loads a week, and I only have place settings for four, so that makes sense with a seven day week.  More if I entertain, but that hasn’t happened in a while.

I look at the one in my kitchen right now, and I worry about it giving up the ghost at the most inconvenient time.  I’d hate to have to start washing dishes again.

Twas the night before Apple, and all ’round the net,
All the rumors were flying, but no real news yet.
Speculations were read, with the utmost of care,
With the hopes that the keynote, soon would be aired.

Apple faithful were restless, their iPhones held steady,
In hopes that Cupertino soon would be ready
To announce a new tablet, for which they’d been fawning,
Ever since Newton left consumers, well. . . wanting.

A capacitive screen, is a definite must.
Since fans of multi touch gestures are us
A size 10″ screen is most likely, “Yes.”
But a front facing camera, perhaps GPS?

Wifi is a given, and the app store is too,
As for syncing iLife, well now that’s nothing new.
Perhaps unlocked iPhones, for non AT&T folks
Since that network’s the butt of quite a few jokes.

Then fanboys will come from within every city
To post about how Apple’s business is shitty.
More rabid than wolves, to the forums, they’ll fly
And tear apart lie after lie after lie.

So iPad, iSlate,
or whatever you’re called.
(I’ll admit that these names
have me somewhat appalled.)
On the web I will read
and on printed news too,
“Apple tablet is out!
It’s brand spanking new!”

So tomorrow I’ll find, on my usual sites
News about Apple with included soundbites.
I’ll witness his Steveness, his demeanor quite proud
About Apple solutions, he’ll talk to the crowd.

But then he’ll announce, how much it will cost
As banks everywhere groan from cash reserves lost.
But there’s always a point, in my ears it will ring,
“Thank you all for coming. But there’s just one more thing.”

Specifically, in this case, Borderlands.

In order to start a multiplayer game of Borderlands on the PC.  I had to remember my GameSpy account.  And that was a pain.  Then there was something that I had to do on my end, either placing my game machine temporarily in the DMZ or port forwarding.  Then there was the bit where I had to double check windows firewall rules and it still didn’t work.  Eventually we figured it was the GameSpy network itself, because a couple of hours later, it was working.

I know it’s not the same, but the ability to send an invite in game and then just have the other person pop in is worth the $50 a year to me.  When I want to start playing a game with my friends, I don’t necessarily want to spend a half hour troubleshooting connectivity issues before we even get started. That’s what makes the xbox live work so well is the drop in and drop out functionality.  When you send an invite, it’s the same method for each and every game you play.  You hit the jewel, see if your friend is online and send the invitation.  They accept it.

I remember when that half hour troubleshooting was the first part of playing video games with your friends.  The half hour was spent was setting up the computers and configuring them to use the same network.  Additionally, they were all in the same room you were playing in.  None of this headset stuff, you just yelled at them for camping the spawn.

Or better yet, actually walked over and threatened bodily harm.

Ah, the good old days.

I’ve gone over to cable from DSL, and while the speed varies from time to time, it’s still about four to five times than what I was getting with my old provider.  And there was nothing wrong with my old provider, other than they were unable to give me the good price to bandwidth ratio that cable is providing.

At fifty percent of the cost and seven times the bandwidth, it’s kind of a no brainer.

But I didn’t realize how much I was streaming.  Before, I was waiting for videos, pausing them and doing something in another window until enough had buffered so that I could watch it all the way through.  Now, I can pick the highest quality and watch right from the get go.  My digital purchases happen in minutes instead of overnight.  My Netflix streaming is the highest quality and it starts so much quicker.

I’m not going to say that it’s made a difference in my life, but I’m saving money and getting better service (which in turn improves my other internet related services) at the same time.