iPod Hifi, Mini

After more than a week of rumors and hearsays, Apple finally unveiled its new products this morning. First off was the new Mac mini with the Intel processors. These new Minis are mediacentric, meaning that Steve Jobs want these to be the center of your living room. I wouldn't mind having one of these babies next to my setup.


Next off was the iPod Hi-fi. Now, these is a product that is worth considering. If its performance is as good as the initial reviews from those invited to the announcement, then this will be very popular. Although personally I have no use for this (I connect my iPod directly to the A/V receiver and then to a 7.1 JBL surround sound setup), this will be a welcome addition to a small apartment, loft or bathroom.

I am somewhat disappointed that they still have not announced an iBook with an Intel processor.

On a totally unrelated subject, Microsoft will announce a new gadget dubbed "Origami" this Thursday. It is said to be a small, affordable tablet PC. Is this the iPod killer people are worried about? It is said that Microsoft will sell a portable media center for next to nothing to convince people to switch from iPod and its very profitable iTunes store to Microsoft and its crappy wmas? Let's see this Thursday.

Canon has also announced a new DSLR, the EOS 30D. And to think that I had just bought the EOS 20D. Crap!

Apple and its big announcement

Apple is set to announce a new exciting product in less than an hour and I am so excited to see what they are to put forward. Personally, I hope that it is not another new iPod but instead a new consumer electronic product - maybe a cellphone?

I'll be back shortly to see if Apple makes all the excitement worth it. Though they have never failed to whet a person's appetite to spend loads of cash before. :P

"Once it hits your lips, it's so good!"

Named as the Greatest Movie Drinkers in this month's Maxim Magazine. Frank the Tank surely is someone to look up to.

Why I love Grey's Anatomy

Grey's Anatomy is one of those rarities - a series brought in last season to replace a flop mid-season and somehow made it big. No big names were in the cast (Do you consider Patrick Dempsey a big name?) and to me, just a hodgepodge of characters put in a hectic environment trying to cope with every day life problems while at the same time saving peoples' lives. So what could go wrong - or right?

I love watching this show which I just stumbled upon while watching Desperate Housewives (Yes, I also watch that) and quickly became hooked to it. Watching these two shows have become sort of a Sunday night ritual to both KC and me.

I dare you to watch an episode. And believe me, you'll also become a fan.

RIAAsses

Lifted this from gizmodo.com. Sigh... When will they ever learn...


The RIAA seems to be changing its annoying tune these days, saying that ripping a CD that is lawfully yours to your own MP3 player is no longer fair game. During the US Supreme Court Grokster case, the RIAA made sure to tell us that this was OK and that they loved us. However, they’re currently arguing that it’s illegal and should stay that way forever and ever. I have a feeling this isn’t going to stick, but it’s not against this association’s history to try to destroy anything that might help the consumer when it comes to digital rights. More on this when we get it.


What this actually means is that you cannot copy music, which you legally bought in the first place, to your portable music player. So, I guess for those who want to be straight with the law, it's back to lugging that huge collection of CDs and reinstalling that 12-disc CD changer in your car.

Zero Below

Temparature this past few days have been well below freezing, going as low as -7 degress C. It was so cold out the bottle of water we had in the car froze.

Think different

At least there is still a company with a sense of humor. Eat that Sony Music!

Your karma check for today:
There once was a user that whined
his existing OS was so blind
he'd do better to pirate
an OS that ran great
but found his hardware declined.
Please don't steal Mac OS!
Really, that's way uncool.
(C) Apple Computer, Inc.

This poem is embedded to copies of Mac OS X to try and thwart pirates. Although I believe that this karma check would do little to stop the piracy, at least people who do pirate the software will have a laugh.

I am in no way supporting piracy.

/Seriously.

Let us pray for all those affected by the Leyte landslide.

I have NBA League Pass recently activated so that I can watch all the good NBA games that local TV don't broadcast. It was a good deal considering that I have signed up for the rest of the season for a little over a hundred bucks. One the the reasons I suscribed was to see all of Houston Rockets' games. Although they played poorly in the first half of the season, I have reason to believe that they can still make the playoffs.

They have been on a pretty good streak lately, winning 6 of their last 7 games (losing only to the Lakers) and is now in the process of losing to the Phoenix Suns. I was excited to watch this game but when in the second quarter they were down by 20-something, I know that it's best to just turn off the TV and wait for their next game.

I think I found out what's wrong with this team. Nope, it's not about their age (Houston players has the oldest average age of any team in the NBA) nor about talent (Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady are both All-Star starters) but it is about the coaching. FIRE JEFF VAN GUNDY!!!

OK, that may be blaming all the team woes into a single person which is not fair but let me cite these points:

• He has always relied on defense to win ball games ever since his Knicks' tenure. But he knows jack shit about offense. T-Mac is one of the league's most explosive scorer and he has to do everything on his own giving opponents the chance to double team him while the other four guys are just looking and waiting to see what he will do. For God's sakes, run offensive plays!!!
• He sucks at rotating players. Key players are not given enough rest during the first half so those players are dead tired when it comes to the crucial part of the game.
  
• He does not know when to call timeouts. Just for the record, when your team is down by 2 then suddenly your opponent strings up 10 consecutive points, call a timeout! You don't need to save timeouts when in the end you are down by 20 because you won't need it.

I'm just glad the All Star Break is coming.

Babylog

All baby related posts are now at http://cmdtan.blogspot.com. Please bookmark that page in order to get all information regarding Christopher Matthew.

It came, it went, and still we're waiting

I had a banner up in this website since around August that counted down to Valentine's Day 2006. It is not because I am a hopeless romantic but today is the due date for our baby. Well, I guess the stork express is not as efficient as DHL because as of 1:08am PST, the baby is still tucked comfortably inside KC's tummy.

These next few days will go on very slowly for us, as the "Will he or won't he" game wears on. We hope that Christopher Matthew will come out sooner rather than later. We are very excited to meet him now.

My new toy

I got a new toy!!! I got a Canon EOS 20d yesterday and I'm loving it! Can't wait to go out and take some pictures with it. I got the camera with the basic lens kit (18-55mm lens) and am just waiting for the others lens that I ordered (a Tamron 75-300mm) to arrive.

Now I'm really bummed that I didn't take that photography class in college. But I have invested in a few books to learn a few tricks with my toy. I will post pictures as soon as I get the chance to take some.

Bud Light Superbowl ads

Here are a couple of ads from the Superbowl that I really enjoyed. I put up links for the ads in my Multiply videos page and you can download them from there. Both ads are taken from www.budlight.com. These are really funny ones especially "Save Yourself". But "Secret Fridge" is like every man's dream (that doesn't involve women). See for yourselves.

To download all 49 Superbowl adverts. Use Bittorrent to open this torrent file. I haven't checked the file personally and not sure about its actual content so take the usual precautions.

Bummer!

Seahawks lost the Superbowl. 21-10. Crap!