Next!

    Wow, time really does fly.  I have spent the past few months (among other things) catching up on some console games, watching movies and getting in on a few shows that I haven’t seen before and some old ones that are worth a second look.  It never ceases to amaze me how quickly things change and yet remain very much the same.  I have spent hours on games that are far and away superior to stuff that was available even just a few years ago and yet they remain a huge “time suck” that can easily get out of hand.  I spent time watching new and old shows and movies that are not only compelling but also completely unoriginal.

    Video games have been like a haven to me for the better part of thirty years since the Atari 2600.  This Summer, for me, has seen mainly a change from my usual PC gaming to consoles which was partlybrought on by our recent digital conversion and the fact that I have just gotten terribly burned out on PC games, MMORPG’s really.  I’m looking at you WoW.  I have a Wii and an Xbox 360 and most of my time has been spent on the 360.  I have played Oblivion (for the second time and actually finished before I got bored with it this time), Fallout3 – which is an awesome game but I got bored and switched to Oblivion, Fable II – again an awesome game but I’m fat in real life and I’ll be damned if I want to play a game that makes my character fat if it eats anything other than celery.  I have wanted to get some of the addons or other games available on XBL but I refuse to pay those ridiculous prices (a rant /post in the making on that one).

    I have given up watching network television recently.  The over abundance of shows and commercials that pander to the lowest common denominator in society makes my head hurt.  I have been watching stuff on Netflix and Youtube and Hulu along with other sites that offer video feeds of one type or another.  I have also been using Boxee which is a great app but I was very sad to see that it has been infected with pornography if the most recent builds (for a group looking for main stream acceptance, a bad decision IMHO).  Anyway, Dirty Jobs, Deadliest Catch and Mythbusters are still some of my favorite shows along with a new appreciation for the American version of The Office.  I tend to dislike blatant rip offs and shows being redone over again but this time the US version is every bit as good as the UK’s.  The reason?  Chemistry.  The show is populated with writers and cast that work well together.  There is nothing original about the story but the interaction of the characters is compelling.  Penn & Teller: Bullshit! is another show that, although not terribly original, is very compelling none the less (as long as gratuitous nudity doesn’t bother you).  I have been enjoying my Netflix subscription a great deal.  I don’t tend to get many DVD’s but I watch the streaming content on a daily basis.

    I will be finishing my series on my digital conversion soon.  I regret that it has drug on so long after the fact.  I certainly intend to be more consistent in writing in the future, not because I feel some sense of obligation to the three people that read this but because it is interesting to me and if someone else gets something out of it, all the better.

This Week in…

I wish I could come up with a catchy title like TWiT (This Week in Tech)  but Leo Laporte already has most of the acronyms in use on his Netcast Network.  Oh, well guess I’ll have to stick with The Wandering Lunatic.

Lots of stuff going on this week.  First off is a move by the Cell Phone Industry (except Apple) to adopt a universal phone charger based on micro-usb.  If you own a Blackberry or Razr, among others you are already familiar with this kind of connector.   It’s a green initiative coming out of the Mobile World Congress this week.  No more bazillions of chargers floating around the house and not remembering which one is which.  We will have “One charger to power them all…”.  Okay LoTR references aside this is a beautiful thing and I am a bit surprised that an industry is getting together to do something that makes sense.

Michelin comes out with the e-wheel and not that I think this is the end-all-be-all for future drive train replacement but it is a step in the right direction.  The old gear boxes and drive shafts served a purpose but may no longer have relevance in the coming world of electric cars.  I hate to use old Apple marketing slogans but isn’t it time to “Think Different”?  Operating on the status-quo needs to come to a screeching halt.  The automobile industry is one great example.  They (all US car makers collectively) have done very little to innovate and make serious use of new technology or deliver product that makes sense for the changing world and all of the people that live in it.  Oh wait, they did start to use robots to make cars…  30 years ago!  Now the US taxpayer has to spend billions to dig these companies out of the holes they have created.

I can’t find the link for it now nut apparently Verizon is thinking about offering a $5/month inbound only (except 911 and support) service.  How this differs from the “metered” line that they have had for years, I am not sure.  A “metered” (charged for every call) line cost about $8 a month although I’m not sure that Verizon liked people knowing about it.  One day soon consumers will figure out that they don’t need to pay for internet and phone and TV.  All we need is Internet and all the rest is readily available.  I just hope that consumers figure this out before the phone/cable/satellite companies do, so that they don’t have a chance to weasel their way into the equation when they are no longer needed or financially feasible for consumers.

I also have a note here to check out Elisa, the free media player.  I have played with Boxee and I really like it even more than Xbox Media Center (XBMC) even though Boxee is based on XBMC.  Unfortunately Boxee is in an invite only alpha stage right now.