Ahh, to be wealthy. Isn’t it great to have enough money to buy whatever you want without worry? No, really, is it? I have no idea, because like millions of people around the globe, I’m BROKE!*
Because I am a really nice guy, I have decided to share with all of you my secrets to being a bargain bin Geek.
First and foremost let me introduce you to Meritline.com This place is great for all sorts of supplies. From flash memory to squirt guns they have kept my lust for gadgets sated. I am sure that you will find something that you need. If not, I would question your Geekocity and even possably your manhood (or womanhood).
* I mean really broke. If you want to help, send donations via Geek-Vs-Life. Minimum Donation $10,000. (Geek toys are expensive)
Oh yeah, by the way, you folks at Meritline, we can always use some SWAG down here… (Begging is a good trait to have for a bargain bin Geek.)
As the impending iPhone release looms over the world, it’s good to reflect upon Apple’s place in the world. Specifically, I’m speaking about their impact upon style and culture.
Can we imagine a world without iPods? That world existed, it can be confirmed. People had mp3 players previous to the iPod. But did anybody care? Not really. Was the mp3 player the stylistic commodity that it is today? Hardly. They were big, they were ugly. Then came along the sleek, and ever increasingly smaller iPod, and the whole world now owns mp3 players.
The iPod made the market, and it made the market cool.
Think about Apple’s website. Did you know that Apple was the first company to allow you to order your own customized computer from their website? Can you imagine a world where you couldn’t order exactly what you wanted from a computer maker’s site?
Their advertising campaigns are on a whole ‘nother level. Do you remember the last Microsoft ad campaign?
Neither do I.
But I can easily recall Apple ads. Remember when the original iMac came out? How about the “Think Different” campaign? My roomate, who uses a PC, has his own iPod dance in mockery of the highly graphic and memorable iPod commercials. Needless do we need to remind you about the ubiquitous Mac vs PC commercials.
So that brings us to the iPhone.
And you’re dang right I want to get one.
But I’m a Mac nerd to begin with. How about my friend Nathan who absolutely hates Macs?
“Man, I hate Macs, but that iPhone looks sweet.”
The dumb thing hasn’t even come out yet, and people are already proclaiming it the greatest phone ever. Can we imagine a world without iPhones? That world exists, it can be confirmed. But it’s hard to imagine that world come July/August.
So what does all of this mean? It’s all about culture and style. Apple has it. Microsoft doesn’t. Plain und Simple. The funny thing is, is that it has always been that way. Steve Jobs mentioned it a long time ago:
It’s only now that the entire playing field of the world of computers has leveled out that people are starting to notice or care.
The needs of most computer users haven’t changed much in the past 5 or so years. Processor speeds have leveled out. Graphics needs, outside of extreme gamers, has leveled out. People just don’t need that much more performance to be happy.
What they need now is style and culture. And living in this culture-less era, this cesspool of regurgitated ideas and half-baked schemes, I for one thank Apple for at least having the nerve to do something different. You might not like Apple for whatever valid reason you may have, but you’ve got to respect them for at least trying.
I always hate it when I get home around 12 in the morning, to find that I forgot my keys, and Mom decided to move the spare to a new and all the more obscure hiding place. But trolling around the newspapers again I found something that could be an answer to both bedroom invasion by small children and getting into the house late at night without keys. A biometric deadbolt by Kwikset makes it so you just have to swipe your fingerprint and the system will lock or unlock according to what you want it to do.
The lock, called SmartScan, is made by Kwikset of Lake Forest, Calif. ($199). The device is powered by four AA batteries and requires no wiring. It works by emitting radio waves that detect distances between the ridges and valleys of a finger just below the surface of the skin, said Michael Maridakis, the chief electronic engineer for the hardware and home improvement group of Black & Decker, which owns the Kwikset brand.
Because the scanner reads subdermally, it is not affected by dirt or oil on the fingertips. “It will even work for fingers that have minor cuts and scratches,” Mr. Maridakis said.
He said the lock’s batteries would last about a year if you used it about 20 times a day. The deadbolt also works with standard keys that accompany it.
The SmartScan can also be programmed to grant temporary access — for someone to enter your home from 8 to 10 a.m. on a particular day, for instance, to take the dog for a walk. The lock holds about 50 different fingerprints.
Alright, I mentioned once I’d post occasionally about nifty technology I’d come accross. I thought it’s about time I did.
InPhase technologies has recently developed a gel-like film that has allowed it make the first publicly available Holographic Drive, with a storage capacity of 300GB. That’s 6 times the size of a dual-layer Blu-ray disc, and this is only the first version. By 2010 InPhase expects to have Holographic disks that can hold 1.6TB of data. That’s enough space for approximately 400,000 songs, or 37 hours of HD video. Also, with a write speed of 960Mbits/sec it will create those massive disks at about 30 times the speed of current technologies.
Unfortunately for us, with a price tag for the drive of $18,000 and another $180 per disk, this technology isn’t all that available to most of us. Hopefully more consumer friendly prices can be expected in another 2-3 years though. For more information about the technology check out InPhase’s website.
Ok, so maybe I gave too much credit to the porn industry. What am I left with for an indicator to what the future will have? Evidently, it’s Walmart. The scary, scary corporation. What are they picking? HD DVD. Yup. Another one against Sony. How are they doing it? By contracting a really cheap (less than $300) player.
In an effort to try to push sales of their media, to pull people away from the series of tubes known as the internet, they’re viewing HD as the draw to get people into their doors. We shall see how this turns out, and whether or not I have to make another retraction.
