Author: luken7

My gosh, breaking out the anointing oil already? I would be jumping on the iTV bandwagon too except that I’m restricted to what I would purchase in iTunes. To date, I have purchased three albums from iTunes, and now it mainly serves as my podcast manager. For one thing, I can’t see buying TV programs when they air for free, or the fact that I’m already paying confiscatory cable rates. I also question the video quality of programming, will programming be in HD? For those with home theaters, that simply won’t do. But I do expect for this to fly off the shelves for people who like to toss $10 at a time.

Apple TV Projected To Surpass TiVo And Netflix – Hardware Technology News by InformationWeek Apple TV Projected To Surpass TiVo And Netflix Mixing Apple TV with iTunes could become a disruptive technology to legacy video purchase-and-consumption behavior, according to ThinkEquity Partners. It may not quite have the cachet of the iPhone, but Apple TV has the potential to alter the media landscape and substantially improve Apple’s value as a company, or so says one financial analyst. Apple’s forthcoming wireless set-top box, expected any day now, is designed to bring video acquired from the iTunes Store into the living room and put it on TV. ThinkEquity Partners financial analyst Jonathan Hoopes foresees some 25% to 70% of the 22 million Mac users, and many more PC users, buying the device in the next five years, enough to eclipse both set-top box maker TiVo (4.4 million subscribers) and DVD mail service Netflix (8.8 million subscribers).

Wayman Tisdale and his song Way Up! is playing again on XM channel 70 again, and again, and again. While I like the song, I can now literally identify it within two seconds as soon as it starts. Sometimes I can tell it’s the next song just from the white space before it.

Now why am I saying this? I think this is an example of the extortion of the RIAA, probably limiting XM to what they can play based on outrageous license fees. You can bet that’s what it is, limiting XM to a fraction of what’s out there.

Bush to as for patience…Americans ask for truth…..

ABC News: Bush to Ask for Patience in Iraq War President Bush marked the fourth anniversary of the war in Iraq on Monday as the White House tried to counter Democratic attempts to force a withdrawal of U.S. troops. Bush was expected to issue a plea for more patience in the war, which has stretched longer with higher costs than the White House ever anticipated. The president was to make a statement in the Roosevelt Room.

NOw this is funny, only from Microsoft. Regarding Office 2008 for the Mac, MS announces it’s intent to deliver a product. Not that there is a product or that they will release one, just an intent. I intend to take a crap later this evening, or maybe not, depending on my mood.

Inside Microsoft Office 2008 for Macintosh: Q&A: From Macworld Conference & Expo 2007, the head of Microsoft’s Mac Business Unit discusses the story behind the next generation of Microsoft’s productivity software suite for the Mac. Roz Ho: This year we are thrilled to announce our intent to deliver the first Universal version of Office for Mac – Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac. The new version of our productivity suite is designed to work seamlessly for users on either Intel-based Macs or PowerPCs. Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac is expected to be available in the second half of 2007, and will provide Mac users with tools designed to be simple, intuitive and easily discovered – to help them work smarter and more efficiently. We are excited to get this next version out as another example of our team’s dedication to building leading-edge products for the Mac platform.

Enough with this nonsense already. Ben Stein is right. The sub-prime market is a whopping 1% of the overall outstanding mortgages in the U.S. Banks will sell those forclosed properties at 50 cents on the dollar and even those losses are insured. So what’s the problem? Why is the market so whacky? Big time money managers and big wigs manipulating the market, driving down prices for a big buy-up. I’m in. My 401k, IRA’s and other funds will bounce back by the fall, and I’m steadily buying under-valued companies.

Will you be hurt by the subprime mortgage fallout? – The Boston Globe With headlines proclaiming a crisis in the subprime mortgage market, lots of homeowners are trying to figure out if they should worry. Many experts view the meltdown as a return to sanity in real estate lending. Still, there are lots of ways people could get hurt by the fallout. So here’s a look at current mortgage-market woes, including what’s happening, why people should care, and what they can do about it.

Well, after years of talking about it and experimenting with it, I’ve taken the plunge into the Apple world. I definitely think Macs are here to stay and from what I’ve seen, will grow ever more popular. Now I’m not going to get on a Microsoft bashing festival or anything but after years of Windows, I just want more..or less.

So I’ve been evaluating Windows Vista Ultimate for the last four or so months and I’ve come to a simple conclusion. There is absolutely nothing that I’ve found in Vista that I would need that was not already in XP, or could be done on a Mac. Vista has DirectX 10, but so what, I’m not a gamer. No value there. Now all OS’s have their moments, Mac included, but these last four months with Vista were just buggy. Explorer hangups and the like.

What I want is that when I turn on my machine, it boots up and runs. When I shut it down, I want it to shut down. When I’m using it, I want it to be usable and simple. Oh, the other main point, I just want to be a user of a computer now, not an operator or administrator. I shouldn’t have to perform admin like tasks to use a system. I feel that with Vista, Microsoft put so much effort into the eye candy and their concept of usability, that’s it’s just not an enjoyable experience.

So now on to the Mac. My first thing was to ask myself what exactly do I do with my computer? What apps do I run? And what cannot run on the Mac? With having Core2 Duos in my Macs, I have enough horsepower to run XP on Parallels for those apps that are not made for Macs. Mainly, Newsleecher and Microsoft Onenote. My other app is Picasa, but I’ll try iPhoto.

Notice that I said Macs, yes, bought two. A Macbook Pro 15" for myself and the 24" iMac for the family. It pretty much comes complete with everything and well integrated. For myself, my Macbook is were I will be moving my life to, work and personal. Because my professional field is storage networking, specifically in engineering, I’ve got the Macbook Pro’s Unix underlying which integrates for work. And the personal side of life, I have Garage Band. I’m a drummer and Garage Band allows me to create music tracks for me to play along with, no need to buy any more play-along CD’s. Just mix, save as mp3, and drop into iTunes/iPod. Perfect.

With the built-in iSight, I’m at work, the family is at home, and we can chat with video, kids love that. Since we home school, it’s the best way for me to check in with them, especially with a math question.

Oh, photos. So I have a Fuji S5200 camera that I shoot lots of photos with. I plug it into Vista, I need to download a driver from Fuji for it to see it, which won’t install properly. But Iget the pictures off anyway. Now here’s the funny thing. I know of a friend that installed OSX on a Dell GX620 so I connect my camera to his "iDell" and it just worked…just worked….just worked….

So, Apple World, here we are. As far as my Vista workstation, yeah, after the move, I’m wiping it and putting Linux back on it to dork around on when I have a geek relapse.

Well, I know where I’m puttiny my new money…

Mike Whitney: Is Cheney Betting on Economic Collapse? Wouldn’t you like to know where Dick Cheney puts his money? Then you’d know whether his "deficits don’t matter" claim is just baloney or not. Well, as it turns out, Kiplinger Magazine ran an article based on Cheney’s financial disclosure statement and, sure enough, found out that the VP is lying to the American people for the umpteenth time. Deficits do matter and Cheney has invested his money accordingly. The article is called "Cheney’s betting on bad news" and provides an account of where Cheney has socked away more than $25 million. While the figures may be estimates, the investments are not. According to Tom Blackburn of the Palm Beach Post, Cheney has invested heavily in "a fund that specializes in short-term municipal bonds, a tax-exempt money market fund and an inflation protected securities fund. The first two hold up if interest rates rise with inflation. The third is protected against inflation." Cheney has dumped another (estimated) $10 to $25 million in a European bond fund which tells us that he is counting on a steadily weakening dollar. So, while working class Americans are loosing ground to inflation and rising energy costs, Darth Cheney will be enhancing his wealth in "Old Europe". As Blackburn sagely notes, "Not all bad news’ is bad for everybody."

Ford to Sell Aston Martin to Group Led by Ex-Racer – New York Times The Ford Motor Company will raise $848 million toward its overhaul plan by selling Aston Martin, its British luxury sports car brand, the automaker said Monday. The principal buyer is David Richards, a former British racing champion who described the transaction as beginning “a new era, perhaps a new chapter in this extraordinary story of Aston Martin,” a 94-year-old nameplate best known as the preferred ride of James Bond.

All I can say is … Thank God !!!!  Aston Martin, one of the worlds greatest luxury sports car brands didn’t need the weight of being owned by Ford. It will soon have it’s dignity back.

Cheney: Congress anti-war efforts undermine troops – USATODAY.com Anti-war lawmakers in Congress are undermining U.S. troops in Iraq by trying to limit President Bush’s spending requests for military operations, Vice President Cheney said Monday. His remarks came as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid scheduled a Wednesday test vote on a resolution that calls for combat troops to leave Iraq by March 2008.

Well, he’s babbling again. Look Mr. Vice President, congress isn’t undermining the troops in Iraq. If anything, they are more supportive than your administration is. They’re not the ones sending troops with PTSD back into combat. They’re not the ones sending troops without adequate training and resources. They’re not the ones extending tours because you lacked an effective plan. they’re not the ones who neglected to properly fund the total cost of the war, being the medical care of our veterans upon returning home. They’re not the ones …..

EU leaders to make Europe change lightbulbs | News | Regulatory News | Reuters European homes, offices and streets will have to use energy-efficient lighting by the end of the decade, EU leaders decided on Friday. The decision to order a massive switchover that will affect the lives of all the European Union’s 490 million citizens came at a summit of the 27-nation bloc as part of an ambitious green energy policy to fight climate change.

Hmm..we are so falling behind the rest of the industrialized world when it comes to leadership. Here we have 27 nations, 27, coming together for a proper cause, and where are we? Oh, green initiatives are distracting us from God, so we’ll stay red. Thanks Pat Roberts…