Sorry, Bill

If this is true, Bill Clinton can kiss my ass.

Shame.

From an inspirational, if flawed, presidential success story to a pathetic loser.

Classic NYC moment

"Look at that guy, stuck in gridlock while people walk all around his car and prevent him from getting out of the interesection. I'm just going to hold back for a second and let him pass. Come on, people... Screw it, I'm crossing."

The pace of iPhone development

John Gruber has a post that contains this astute observation on the pace of Apple's iPhone development in comparison to the iPod:

"In short, if you want to know what to expect from the iPhone product platform going forward, consider the iPod. Given how successful the iPod has been, I can’t see any reason why Apple shouldn’t follow a similar timeline with the iPhone.

The original iPod shipped in October 2001. The second generation model came the next summer, and the only signficant difference was that it switched from a moving click wheel to a touch-sensitive one. Most notably, Apple didn’t expand to a second form factor until January 2004 with the iPod Mini. Photo support in the fall of 2004, video support in 2005. One new thing at a time.

In one year with the iPhone, we’re getting three: 3G, GPS, and a full-fledged third-party SDK. The iTunes Music Store didn’t appear until April 2003, and it didn’t support Windows users until October 2003, two full years after the debut of the original iPod. So with the App Store coming just one year in, if anything, the iPhone platform is moving faster than the iPod did.

So, patience. "

He brings up good points and I think he's fundamentally right. However, there is one crucial difference between the iPhone and the iPod: the iPod was in a league of its own when it launched, with little to no competition. The iPhone is playing in an intensely competitive market where Apple cannot afford to move at the same pace it has in the past.

Done

Just finished "A Feast for Crows", the fourth (and last published) book in George R.R. Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" series.

The first four books tally 3,882 paperback pages. There are three more books expected in the series; the next- already several years late- expected possibly this fall.

To call this work an epic is an understatement.

More to come on this in the future, but if you're interested in epic fantasy/adventure/whatever you want to call it, this is the stuff.

Return of the Jedi cut scene

See more funny videos at CollegeHumor

Two more instant classics

Both courtesy Mike.


Guy in Wheelchair Vs. Escalator - Watch more free videos


High Speed Treadmill Disaster - Watch more free videos

Disappointing culinary optical illusions

"Hey, look- chocolate chip cookies! No, wait- raisin cookies."

"A bowl of Cheeze Doodles! Oh- carrot sticks."

"Shredded cheddar cheese in that salad! Wait a minute- those are carrot shavings."

"Sliced eggs in that salad! Nope- onions."

Violet Hill

It's still way too early for me to render an opinion about Coldplay's
new album. But what's easy to say is that the album's first single-
"Violet Hill", available for weeks prior to yesterday's official album
release- is a phenomenal single.

A song in that position plays a tough role: the first taste of the
"new" stuff, coming (in Coldplay's case) three years after the release
of a phenomenal album ("X&Y").

"Violet Hill" more than rises to the occasion.

"Can you please let me out?"

Link courtesy Mike.

Snow Leopard

Nice post that sums up what's so cool about the concept of Snow Leopard: http://macdaddyworld.com/2008/06/15/wwdc-the-line/.

Obama's Father's Day Speech

A must-see:



At the beginning of the speech, I thought to myself how funny it would be to do a parody where he launched into Chris Rock's infamous "supposed to" routine. And then he actually did it (and expanded on it, in a laugh out loud manner, with regard to eighth grade graduation parties).

It's amazing: we are dealing with some of the most important issues in the history of our country, including what to do about Iraq, our economy, the environment, education, our standing in the world- it goes on and on.

But the issues that Barack Obama addressed head-on in this speech are in a way even more pressing, even more prevalent, and even more difficult for all of us as Americans to address- and he is the first person EVER that truly has the opportunity to ascend to the presidency to help our country deal with these most challenging issues of our own internal and awkward weaknesses and divides.

Faith in Tim Russert

Tim Russert's sudden and unexpected death shocked me.

I am really into politics and watch at least an hour of MSNBC every night (way more during the big nights this primary season), as well as several shows on Sunday morning- with Meet The Press being far and away the most important.

To me, Tim Russert was like water. He was an organic part of the experience of watching politics for me, and he was pure- not a controversial screamer or a self-indulgent self-promoter, like many of his "peers". I also took him for granted- of course he'd be there, of course he'd be wise, of course...

The outpouring of public sadness, support, and fond remembrances of Tim that have been blossoming all over TV since he died feel completely genuine and truly heartfelt- people are not going through the motions.

A lot of the appreciation people who knew him express focus on his deep love for family, his keen and genuine interest in other people, and his deeply held faith.

I think the faith issue is one that is worth singling out for a moment. At a time when it's unfashionable to cling strongly to a religious faith, Tim Russert is a perfect parable of the good that can come from religion.

No one can doubt that Tim Russert clearly lead a life worth learning from. I think the faith angle is one particularly worth noting.

Tim Russert

Wow, I am shocked and saddened by his sudden departure. Wow.

The iPhone 3 gee, I don't know...

Caveats: the new iPhone 3G looks like an impressive device, and a nice evolutionary update to the original iPhone. It's surely an engineering marvel. But today's announcements were way out of line with the rumors and conjecture put forth by people who follow Apple.

I think the 1.5 years that have passed since the iPhone's introduction- combined with Apple's history of surpassing expectations, the intense competition in the mobile space and Steve Jobs' personal interest in the iPhone, and Apple's total radio silence on the issue- lead to expectations that Apple would re-invent the iPhone today, or at least take a few big steps toward getting there.

That was my expectation.

What was announced was essentially iPhone 1.5- everything you love about the original, with the expected upgrades in the areas that people expected, and a price to help move these things into the hands of everyone who wants one. This is what I thought we'd get for the holidays last year.

Here are my initial thoughts:

<> The most revolutionary part of the iPhone 3G is its price.
<> I like the tapered edges, but the 3G is slightly wider and thicker than the original. I'm very surprised by that. I suspect it might have a nicer feel than the original, and it's slightly lighter, but I was hoping for something more along the lines of the iPod touch. Based on a spec comparison, the new iPhone is 1.1mm wider and .7mm thicker than the original (though 2 grams lighter- possibly because of cheaper plastics being used on the back, as opposed to metals in the original- though this is just speculation).
<> No major new software features announced as part of the 2.0 update- not even copy and paste.
<> July 11 release date (and "early July" release for 2.0 software) comes as a surprise, given how Apple had originally said late June for 2.0 software and reports had posited a possible iPhone release today or within the next couple of weeks. Something's fishy about the timing- sounds like some of those supply problem rumors were correct. Having no iPhones available from the time they ran out several weeks ago through July 11 could not have been the plan all along.
<> I'm surprised the 3G looks almost identical to the original iPhone head-on.
<> No front-facing camera for video chat.
<> No camera upgrade (still 2 megapixels).
<> No new iTunes announcements (such as over-the-air podcast updating).
<> High-end capacity tops off at 16GB- so no new capacity offered over current iPhone.
<> Sounds like they fixed the recessed headphone jack- that's nice.
<> GPS included. I'll bet it's the GPS that's adding the additional size!
<> No mention of any improvements to the keyboard (no haptics, no mention of landscape mode keyboard support).
<> Is there an upgrade path for current iPhone owners? No mention at all of this.

WWDC is a developer event, and the keynote was very clearly aimed at providing information targeted at developers. So forthcoming announcements prior to launch could certainly address a lot of the software-related points above.

I haven't seen the keynote video yet (looking forward to watching it on my Apple TV tonight), so it's tough to know for sure how the keynote played out.

But, there's definitely a very tenuous and rushed feel to a lot of this. It's hard to pin down, but it kind of feels like at some point fairly recently, some major problems were encountered with the "real" iPhone 2.0, causing Apple to rush back to the drawing board and whip up something evolutionary to release at this time of the year. I wouldn't be surprised at all if the next iPhone is dramatically different from the iPhone 3G, and if the original plan had been to release that version at this time.

Anyway, wow. I feel like I was dealt a good, solid dose of reality today. Perhaps I need to get out a little more? ;)

Apple's WWDC event

1.5 hours to go to Steve Jobs' keynote at the 2008 WWDC (Worldwide Developer Conference).

I expect big things today.

The excitement and anticipation for events like this is very similar to sitting down in a theater for a long awaited movie. Being an Apple fan is fun in the way it's fun to be a fan of a director or writer. I can't think of any other company who's mastered the audience/fan relationship with its customers like Apple has- not even close.

Context

Currently reading:

"What Happened" by Scott McLellan
"A Feast for Crows" (A Song of Ice and Fire, Book 4) by George R.R. Martin
"Duma Key" by Stephen King
"Dreams from My Father" by Barack Obama

Podcasts I listen to:

MacBreak Weekly
This Week in Tech
The Talk Show
You Look Nice Today
stackoverflow
The Gillmor Gang
Core Intuition
FLOSS Weekly
No Agenda
MacBreak Tech
American Copywriter

Websites I visit frequently:

Digg / News
Daring Fireball
Surfin’ Safari
Paul Thurrott's Internet Nexus - A technology blog
Paul's SuperSite blog
Scobleizer - Tech Geek Blogger
Channel 9
Windows Vista Team Blog
Scripting News
CURRY.COM
Chris Pirillo
Dvorak Uncensored
Windows-Now.com - Blogs
The Old New Thing
flow|state
Silicon Valley Sleuth
Techmeme
Mozilla Developer News
Buggin' My Life Away
Schwieb
Mac Mojo: The Office for Mac Team Blog
David Weiss
Jensen Harris: An Office User Interface Blog
Living Photoshop - Scott Byer's Blog
/dev/blog
Musings from Mars »
Mac OS X Internals: The Blog
Unixjunkie Blog
Rands In Repose
cabel.name
stevenf.com
Michael Tsai - Blog
Red Sweater Blog
The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs
bbum’s weblog-o-mat
Call Me Fishmeal.
inessential.com: Weblog
[unsanity] Weblog - Unsanity - Makers of Haxies, small useful utilities that enhance and redefine how Mac OS X works.
Joel on Software
Coding Horror
Calendar Swamp
Sucking less, on a budget
| The Apple Core | ZDNet.com
FatBits: John Siracusa's Journal
Recording Artist
Applepeels
rentzsch.com: tales from the red shed
DrunkenBlog
Shirt Pocket Watch
Enterprise Mac | InfoWorld
Official Google Mac Blog
Loud Thinking by David Heinemeier Hansson
AndrewEscobar.com
Hawk Wings
The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)
Andy Ihnatko’s Celestial Waste of Bandwidth (BETA)
Robservatory
bit-tech.net | Home
bramcohen's Journal
The TNL.net weblog
Techcrunch
CrunchNotes
Valleywag, Silicon Valley's Tech Gossip Rag
The Jason Calacanis Weblog
GigaOM
ongoing
Micro Persuasion
Jaffe Juice
timbl's blog | Decentralized Information Group (DIG) Breadcrumbs
43 Folders
defective yeti
Jonathan Coulton
Lifehacker, the Productivity and Software Guide
My Uninstalled Life
Experience Manifesto
ThinkMac Software - Blog
Buzz Andersen - Vox
TWiT Live - Live Video from the TWiT Netcast Network with Leo Laporte
Roger Ebert's Journal
The Cleverest.com
Jeff_Solomon.blog
loonyblog. - random thoughts on games, art, geek culture and living in new york.
forrestforrest - who framed forrestforrest...?
Friends of Davey Jones
Nazario Scenario
A Caveman In A Spaceship.
mwoo's Xanga Site
Office Gifts Blog
George R.R. Martin
Supervert
Apple
MacSurfer's Headline News™
The Mac Observer - You’ll get your Mac news here from now on!
Mac,Macintosh,Mac tips,Mac hardware,Mac software,Mac printers,Mac help,Mac storage,Mac hard drives,Mac digital cameras,iLife,iLife tips, iLife help- MacLife
Macworld: Apple, Mac, and iPod News, Reviews, Help, and Discussion
MacNN | Apple, Macintosh and iPod news
MacSlash: A daily dose of Macintosh News and Discussion
Slashdot: News for nerds, stuff that matters
macosxhints.com - OS X tips and tricks!
MacFixIt - Troubleshooting Solution for the Macintosh
LeopardTracker - There's a new cat in town.
Think Secret - Apple Mac Insider News
O'Grady's PowerPage - Your Mobile Technology Destination
AppleInsider | Apple Insider News and Rumors
Mac Rumors: Apple Mac Rumors and News You Care About
MacRumors' iPhone Blog: iPhone News, Rumors, Apps and More...
9 to 5 Mac | Apple Intelligence
The Macalope: An Apple blog - CNET Blogs
The Apple Phone Show
Hardmac.com : Le "Macbidouille" in English
Infinite Loop
TidBITS Electronic Publishing
Welcome to MetroMac
Spanning Sync Blog
Macenstein
The Linux Kernel Archives
Engadget
Gizmodo, the Gadget Guide
ActiveWin.com - The Most Activated Windows Resource
Ars Technica
InfoWorld - Information Technology & Software News, Business Intelligence
| All about Microsoft | ZDNet.com
eWEEK.com - Enterprise Technology News and Reviews
Linux Magazine
Linux Journal |
CNET News.com -- Technology news and business reports
OSNews.com
PalmInfocenter.com
Slashdot: News for nerds, stuff that matters
Paul Thurrott's SuperSite for Windows: It's the future of Windows ... Today!
WinInfo Top Stories
The Register: Sci/Tech News for the World
Ain't It Cool News
NY1: NY 1 To Go
BBC NEWS | News Front Page | World Edition
NPR : National Public Radio : News, Arts, World, US.
New York Times
CNN.com
Los Angeles Times
MSNBC
New York Daily News
New York Post
FOXNews.com
PopSci.com
Salon.com
Slate
The Onion
The Straight Dope
USA TODAY
washingtonpost.com - News Front
Politico
International - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News
Wired News
DRUDGE REPORT
The Huffington Post
Talking Points Memo
Daily Kos :: Political Analysis and other daily rants on the state of the nation.
ANN COULTER
Eschaton
PAT BUCHANAN
BILL BUCKLEY
TONY BLANKLEY
KRAUTHAMMER
PEGGY NOONAN
Air America Radio
RushLimbaugh.com Home
www.AndrewSullivan.com - Daily Dish
Commentary
David Frum's Diary on National Review Online
DickMorris.com
Instapundit.com
Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog
Airliners.net
Air Travel... Flying Safely on the Boeing 777
AirDisaster.Com
Airline Safety Home Page
Aviation Safety Network
The Boeing Company
Airbus - Aircraft families - indexh
Randy's Journal

Music I'm listening to:

"Voices" (album) by Matchbook Romance

The Empire Strikes Barack

Wiimbledon 2008 video

Nice video recap of the event.

Wiimbledon 2008

I had a great time at Wiimbledon today. Thanks to everyone for your support- especially Clara, Mike, and Jordan, who came out to watch the action live.

Here's the rundown:

I won my first match 2 games to 0.

I won my second match 2 games to 0.

I won my third match 2 games to 0.

I won my fourth match 3 games to 1.

At this point, I'd make it to the quarter-finals (along with seven other people out of a total of 128).

For some reason, the person I was paired with in the quarter-final match didn't show up for the match, so I automatically advanced to the semis.

I lost my fifth match, the semifinal, 3 games to 0, to the guy who went on to win it all.

Here's a photo gallery from my brother, Mike.

Looking forward to Wiimbledon 2009.

Wiimbledon update

My match is scheduled for 11:15AM tomorrow.

http://wiimbledon.net/

Wiimbledon prep continues

Wiimbledon nears.

Got some good sparring in tonight, using practice Miis at different skill levels (not sure if that matters). Did some one-on-one and vs.-computer play. My theory is that the match(es) are going to come down to my ability to get the super serve as quickly as possible. Every system is a little bit different, and a lot of my practicing has been focused on trying to simulate different play environments to force myself to probe for and find the super serve efficiently.

I'm going to have an open practice session/party at my place on Friday night. Please let me know if you're interested in coming.

Mac OS X "Snow Leopard"

Today brought the first rumors about the next version of Mac OS X, rumored to be called "Snow Leopard" and presumably to be numbered 10.6.

The gist is that it's going to be a refinement release, focusing on making Mac OS X more stable, efficient, and secure, without adding major new features.

I love the sound of this. It represents what a lot of OS fans have always dreamed of in an OS release- the opportunity to have their system tuned and sculpted and refined into an even more perfect tool, without the addition of bloat or cruft.

We'll know more next week at WWDC.

"Moderately talented people."

Link courtesy Mike.

Yes!

Sex and the City cut scene

Nah, but far more interesting:


Jack Dorsey Presents Twitter from biz stone on Vimeo.

The Unhuggables

Cute campaign by Coke:

http://creativity-online.com/work/view?seed=a7b95846

Courtesy co-worker Rich Solomon (no relation- that we're aware of).

Now is the time

A few years back, while being filleted by the White House press corps on his sudden refusal to discuss matters relating to the Plame affair- after having previously vouched for the innocence of Rove and Libby- Scott McLellan said, "...at some point, I look forward to talking about it..."

I remember that moment clearly when it happened, and I'm currently reading "What Happened". Interesting book; I reserve final judgement until I'm done, but I think he's a commendable guy for doing what he did. Was he a hypocrite for not leaving back then? Perhaps, but he also comes across as a loyal true believer, slightly naive, who probably came around to his current position only after much reflection, and genuinely believed the core of what he was supporting at the time.

Great theater:

Wiimbledon 2008

I MADE IT AND WILL BE PLAYING THIS YEAR!

Info on Wiimbledon here: http://www.wiimbledon.net/.

I'll be posting more info about my participation on the blog as we get closer.

Food for thought

http://www.ny1.com/ny1/content/index.jsp?stid=1&aid=82256

He beat his previous record by one bite.

The popular vote

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2008/president/democratic_vote_count.html

There are a number of ways to count the number of people who have "voted" in the 2008 Democratic primary. Some of those ways result in a slight advantage for Barack Obama. Some result in a slight advantage for Hillary Clinton. Essentially, it's a tie.

The fact that Hillary Clinton is using an assertion that she won the popular vote is another example of why she is turning so many people off (including me). There are two problems with her assertion: 1) it's truthfulness is debateable, but she presents it as simple fact; 2) it is but another changed goal-post for her rationale that she should be the nominee.

With Hillary, it's always something. Take the popular vote away and she'd find another metric. In a sense, her zero-sum competitiveness is admirable, and commendable in an age when Democrats have traditionally walked away from tough fights. But more than that, it reeks of the Bush Administration- particularly their changing rationale for the Iraq war.

Hillary and Obama are both great candidates with their share of strengths and weaknesses. Obama won. Hillary needs to show some class.