Erix Clix

Top-level summary:  Very Entertaining…unfortunately, not much more to summarize, I wish I could have used phrases like “Spielberg’s best!” or “they’ve outdone themselves this time!”…but I can’t.

Aside from a few action scenes that were not only hard to believe but actually even looked as fake as they actually were (not Spielberg’s usual M.O.), the movie was fun and interesting.

Have blockbusters from this production crew been so successful in the past that our expectations are set so astronomically high they can never again be met by the same filmmakers?

Or did this movie fall short for many because of an overcooked storyline due to the fact that Indy’s aging and they wanted to squeeze too much of an “end-all” storyline into what is likely his last adventure? (referring to Harrison Ford’s character of course.)

Finally, I think it’s great to go to a real movie theater and see a new Indiana Jones flick.  That was probably worth the price of the ticket just for the nostalgia.

Internet Movie Database link to this movie: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0367882/

The Phoenix Mars Lander has landed!  Another successful arrival on Mars by NASA.  We here at Erix Clix think 3D and Space Missions to other planets go together like chocolate and peanut butter.  So, since NASA released 2 black and white images from the stereo imager, we thought we’d process them (correctly) for Anaglyphic stereo 3D viewing (Red-blue glasses).  So here you go!  Enjoy!  We sure did.  Step back a little from your monitor and let your eyes adjust.  When it comes in clear it’s amazing.  This was taken minutes after it touched down!  Click to see full size.

The Phoenix Lander web site is here:  http://fawkes4.lpl.arizona.edu/index.php

I believe as a culture, we Americans have one thing backwards…sex or violence…which is worse?

It looks like Washington state has bikini wearing baristas at a few of the local cafes.  And it’s causing all kinds of raucous.  So what’s the big deal?  Go to the beach, and see the same thing, right?

I’m watching a video clip about this story.  And a woman complains about pulling up to a drive-thru with her kids (at one of these coffee places) and the next thing she hears is “mommy, look there’s a naked lady” (or something to that effect) from the back seat.  She looked up to see the barista wearing pasties on top and nothing else (she had bottoms on).  Of course as moral, conservative, decent Americans we are shocked!  The mother continued to explain how wrong it was that her child was subjected to this and that she should have been warned by some kind of signage or “Adults Only” warning.

Adults Only?  As in, inappropriate for young viewers?  Meanwhile, most American parents (and possibly that same woman) will go home tonight, sit in front of the television and watch whatever violent crime drama is on with their children sitting nearby, most-likely watching as well.  Someone getting stabbed, shot or raped most likely opens the show.

Now this is what I think is backward…  Is it more inappropriate for a child to see something completely natural (a woman’s breast), created by God and part of the human body?  Or is it more inappropriate for a child to see one human being committing violent crimes against another?  Blood and guts are ok, but a nipple is the end of the world.  Now I’ve seen some sexy nipples in my day, but nothing that I think would disturb a normal child, raised with decency, respect and family values.

Europeans figured at least this ONE THING out a long time ago.  And it’s our society that has a higher instance of violent crimes (including sex crimes).

Maybe it’s time to call up webster and change the American moral definition of the word ”Inappropriate.”

So the U.S. Government actually has the technology now to know precisely when, in the future, a major Middle Eastern cultural paradigm will shift? Amazing!  I should file this article under “Technology” instead of “Politics”. I’m so excited to hear this now since this political party has been proven to be so right about so many things resulting in the virtually unstoppable upward momentum our country has achieved in the last nearly 8 years.

Ok. Done with the sarcasm. Only one point here:  Where the hell does he get off saying such a thing? Doesn’t making such a prematurely certain statement of assured success guarantee us failure? Has everyone forgotten “Mission Accomplished” already?

I don’t want to do another 4 years of this.  How about you?

So great to have discovered that our favorite media server and player VLC from VideoLan will be getting DLNA/UPnP media server capabilities.  On this blog entry made by Mirsal Ennaime, funded by Google’s Summer of Code 2008 program, he will be assisting VideoLan with the addition of these new server features.

Finally those of us with PlayStation 3’s can have a complete solution for our media libraries.

I know I will be on the edge of my seat waiting for this one!

Property values dropping, inflation, our dollar increasingly less valuable and fuel costs rising. You know what’s happening all around you.  And unless you’re earning in the top 1%, you’re feeling it.  How much more can our great country withstand?  Rome finally did fall, but only when the Romans started believing that it never could.

Recently, I saw an interview with Barack Obama on a popular Cable News Network.  The interviewer confronted the Democratic Presidential candidate with a video clip of a Republican candidate (who has since dropped out of the race).  The Republican ex-candidate reiterated a concern that Obama’s experience in foreign affairs and government is limited.  He has no proven track record.  The former candidate continued with the assertion that the office of the President of the United States is not a an “Internship” position, and that voters should not elect someone that will be gaining their only experience while in office.

Let’s get something straight…as American voters, have we been looking at the candidates’ track records before we decide to back them?  Are we really looking at their histories?  Are we truly making our decisions on past performance and experience?

If we have been, then as a Human Resources department, attempting to qualify the best candidate for a high-level position, we should be fired! Our current, sitting President actually did have one of the most disappointing resumes compared to any of the candidates (Republican or Democrat) that he was running against.  Not so much a lack of experience but what truly is a succession of failed companies and leadership endeavors.  And this information was quite apparent long before half of us elected to hire him for the job.

Why didn’t we look so closely at this candidate’s experience here?  I’m not giving credence to the commentor’s political rhetoric, but the issue behind the remark is a legitimate one.

Surely, if we had based our votes on past performance there would have been no contest in 2000.  Why are were we so bad at hiring the right person for such an important position?  I think it’s simple…

Since the birth of Democracy, most of us have primarily chosen our leaders based on ideals we share with a candidate, not based on raw experience…let alone their overall intelligence or common sense. Religious beliefs and a no-nonsense outlook on world views are all good qualities from which to choose a leader. But aren’t intelligence, common-sense and ability to manage expectations also important for the world’s most powerful leader?

Our current President, although a ‘nice guy,’ just ran our country for nearly 8 years exactly the way his resume told us he would.  There are no surprises here.  At least, you certainly had the fore-knowledge.

So, I ask one thing of you this November:  Take a Leap of Faith.  Try not to be consumed by prejudices, fears, and labels and choose your next president on based on his ideals.  The same way you elected our current President except this time you’re going to READ HIS RESUME!  He may be on the other side of ‘your fence’ this time…but you may actually like what you see.

Currently I own an HTC 8525, it works. It has 3G and its platform is more or less "open". There are so many security holes you can’t count them. However, I can download any app and run it on my phone. And developers can make what they want. No platform is perfect, I believe for the iPhone to really become the de-facto standard smartphone it MUST be open…and soon! And it must have 3G.

I can’t wait to start plugging away in Python on my 3G iPhone. Too much to hope for? I don’t think so as rumors are already flying about AT&T (Cingular) preparing to upgrade their 3G to EV-DO speeds.

I am a fairly happy AT&T Customer and a very happy Apple customer. If I can use an iPhone to wirelessly feed my MacBook Pro with a broadband data connection via Bluetooth (as I am currently doing with my 8525) I am a 100% certain buyer. Get to it Apple! I’m waiting…patiently…to sign over my paycheck to you!

Amazing everyone says “don’t buy 1st generation.” For me, I needed 3G. I use it regularly for business. So I don’t have an iPhone.

So everybody bought 1st generation, now they’re upset at typicial 1st generation problems (i.e. price drops, technology woes, licensing issues). Sounds like 2004 election results blues to me. Didn’t you know who you were voting for while you were standing in line?

About “unlocked, free” phones…I switched a couple years ago from Verizon to Cingular (AT&T) because Verizon (like Alltel) has a contract with “GetItNow” a rip-off service that REQUIRES those providers LOCK features of some great phones. This is still an issue with those carriers. And they have suffered legal action because of it, where are those headlines?

Now, Apple comes out with (even locked) the best phone we’ve ever seen, AND gives most people their “early adopter” money back…AND we STILL complain?

Where was all of this “informed consumerism” with Microsoft? They were found guilty in the Supreme Court of abusing their monopoly and Bush’s first presidential act in 2000 was to “pardon” the prescribed punishment. Where were all of the “technically informed consumers” on that one?

Why is Apple the red-headed step-child?

Here we go again…another mis-informed industry giant making a mistake that will save them cash in the short term and cost ALL OF US money today. Paramount’s decision recently to drop support of the Blu-ray High-def format is one of the most backward business decisions I have seen in recent years.

I will not be buying any HD DVDs. Blu-ray is clearly superior technology. More studios back it (still) than HD DVD and counting Playstation 3’s there are more Blu-ray players by multitudes in American homes than there are HD DVD players.

Retailers count two-for-one sales figures of Blu-ray over HD DVD content purchases. Target stores announced they will only carry Blu-ray High-def products. Blockbuster video announced they will only carry Blu-ray High-def movies for rent.

Surely, this is a short-sighted move. It costs a bit more to produce a Blu-ray disc. And the players are a bit more expensive. Sounds like the big guy saves a buck at the expense of the consumer…sound familiar?

Have we not learned from betamax? Sorry, I am not ‘buying’ into this one. And I will not cave into owning both platforms, only so one can die out. Anyone reading this article should do the same. When will the consumer stand up, and show who knows better?

I am one of those PS3/Blu-ray owners. HD DVD proponents did their own research to find that most people who bought into high-def for video gaming were less likely to buy movies, than people who bought stand-alone players. Really???

Well, I own 6 Blu-ray movies and 1 PS3 game. I can’t be that rare a breed can I?

Well, Paramount, one giant leap backward for mankind…thank you. I really wanted to own Transformers when it came available…too bad for me and too bad for Paramount…lost sales for them, lost entertainment for me. Bummer.

C’mon everyone, let’s show them which platform is superior…don’t listen to me…do your own real research…once informed, you’ll know what to do.

Well, Microsoft obviously didn’t care much for it…It’s been nearly 10 years since the first web browser offered organized, clean-desktop oriented, tabbed browsing. Yes! 10 years! (I couldn’t believe it myself) And many of us since have switched away to Netscape, Mozilla, and lately Firefox for this reason, amongst others.

Notice I referred to IE as the ‘most common’ browser, not necessarily the ‘most popular.’ The most popular browser would be the one that’s not laser-etched into every orifice of your operating system, one you may have had to download and install, and preferred over the ‘embedded browser.’

Redmond’s tech and innovation leader had to lose another 10% of their browser share before seeing a business need to add a single feature that was clearly a powerful ‘move away’ factor.

However, I think they’re too late. Waiting almost 10 years before witnessing a noticeable trend in technology and user interface is too long, an eternity in this industry. This is enough of a message to your user base that you don’t really care what your users ACTUALLY want. You only care about what you think they _should_ want. Do I hear Marx turning in his grave?

Now we have Safari for Windows and Mac, yet another web browser that’s had tabs for years and even on the Mac, Safari is not etched into every crevasse of the OS.

I ditched “the people’s web browser” quite a few years ago…

Go Firefox and Safari!