Monday, March 24, 2008
Friday, March 21, 2008
This morning Gary requested a video ichat with me. So my video preview window came up and this is what I looked like. I had no idea my hair was so wild. Haha. Gary couldn't stop laughing.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
It had rained all day Saturday and was predicted to rain all day Sunday, but we lucked out and didn't get a drop. Of course this meant driving with the top down all day long!
Sunday:
Lunch with my cousins at The Metreon (they were going to WonderCon at Moscone)
Alamo Square
The Fillmore to get a Black Forest at The Coffee Bean. I LOVE the Coffee Bean. Also, The Fillmore area has so many awesome coffee shops. I'm totally jealous.
Walked/shopped in the Haight. Very cool stores there.
Castro
The Mission. Got a burrito at Taqueria Cancun, of course! Was the mission always this ghetto and scary?
Up to Twin Peaks for the view
Tea at the St Regis Hotel before our flight back
Bart to SFO!
Sunday:
Lunch with my cousins at The Metreon (they were going to WonderCon at Moscone)
Alamo Square
The Fillmore to get a Black Forest at The Coffee Bean. I LOVE the Coffee Bean. Also, The Fillmore area has so many awesome coffee shops. I'm totally jealous.
Walked/shopped in the Haight. Very cool stores there.
Castro
The Mission. Got a burrito at Taqueria Cancun, of course! Was the mission always this ghetto and scary?
Up to Twin Peaks for the view
Tea at the St Regis Hotel before our flight back
Bart to SFO!
Thursday, March 20, 2008
When I was in San Francisco last month, Kate and I spent the weekend doing touristy things. I never did this when I lived in San Francisco. I was lazy and thought I would get to them later. It was great to drive and walk around the whole city. I really felt like I could navigate SF for the first time ever.
Saturday:
Brunch at The Butler and the Chef (SoMa)
Lombard Street
Golden Gate Bridge
Ghiradelli Square (damn those sundaes are amazing)
Rogue Brewery in North Beach
Grace Cathedral
Dinner at Tres Agaves in SoMa
Drinks at Rye, my favorite bar
Then we stumbled into Ha-Ra Club in the Tenderloin. Dive bar with a drunk bartender. It was totally awesome.
Saturday:
Brunch at The Butler and the Chef (SoMa)
Lombard Street
Golden Gate Bridge
Ghiradelli Square (damn those sundaes are amazing)
Rogue Brewery in North Beach
Grace Cathedral
Dinner at Tres Agaves in SoMa
Drinks at Rye, my favorite bar
Then we stumbled into Ha-Ra Club in the Tenderloin. Dive bar with a drunk bartender. It was totally awesome.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
This is an incredible deal, much better than my employee discount. If you weren't sure about getting one because of cost, this is $150 off.
Click here for ATT
Whenever you sync your phone with itunes, it backs up your whole phone. So if anything were to go wrong with your refurbished iPhone, just walk into an Apple store, get a new one, then resync with iTunes and it's like nothing happened.
Update: I've been letting Roy use my spare iPhone because I knew I could get him hooked. He was previously using a crappy HTC Windows phone for a while that kept breaking. I pointed him to this ATT deal since I might want my iPhone back at some point.
"Not sure I can give it up at this point. I think I would be tempted to do it if you do want yours back before the new ones come out."
Victory! If people think their Blackberry, Treo, or Windows phone is as good as an iPhone, they are smoking something.
Click here for ATT
Whenever you sync your phone with itunes, it backs up your whole phone. So if anything were to go wrong with your refurbished iPhone, just walk into an Apple store, get a new one, then resync with iTunes and it's like nothing happened.
Update: I've been letting Roy use my spare iPhone because I knew I could get him hooked. He was previously using a crappy HTC Windows phone for a while that kept breaking. I pointed him to this ATT deal since I might want my iPhone back at some point.
"Not sure I can give it up at this point. I think I would be tempted to do it if you do want yours back before the new ones come out."
Victory! If people think their Blackberry, Treo, or Windows phone is as good as an iPhone, they are smoking something.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
NBC, Fox, and others have launched Hulu.com where you can watch TV and movies for free, with limited commercials. I must say, it's very well done. The first time anyone (besides Apple) has done a good job with online media distribution. And since this is "free" I'm sure it will do very well. It's greatest flaw is no TV solution. This is fine for college students and whatnot, but normal adults do not watch TV on a computer screen.
I'm always annoyed when companies copy Apple rather than coming up with their own design or marketing. Adidias has just launched miCoach which is some online tracking system. We know the "i" is being overused everywhere. Shit, it's even in my website url, but mine is in credit of Apple.
The front page of hulu.com is a complete rip off of the Apple TV intro movie, a screen of tiled TV shows. Such a blatant copy. It's sad.
I'm always annoyed when companies copy Apple rather than coming up with their own design or marketing. Adidias has just launched miCoach which is some online tracking system. We know the "i" is being overused everywhere. Shit, it's even in my website url, but mine is in credit of Apple.
The front page of hulu.com is a complete rip off of the Apple TV intro movie, a screen of tiled TV shows. Such a blatant copy. It's sad.
You can see the Apple TV intro movie here:
Sunday, March 16, 2008
This song was played in the series finally of Six Feet Under. Incredible!
Click here to download the song:
03_Breathe_Me.mp3
To play mp3s in your browser, you will need to have Javascript turned on and have Flash Player 9 or better installed.
Click here to download the song:
03_Breathe_Me.mp3
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
My mom needed a new TV so I ordered her an all new home theater system. There was a huge sale on these items at Amazon a couple weeks ago and I got everything for over $1000 less than today's prices. I had to take the risk of having it all delivered to her while I'm in New York, hoping I can talk her through all the wiring. It's all HDMI now, should be simple, right? Well, let's see.
Since I'm not in LA and I have not seen/used any of these pieces in person, these reviews are for the setup of the products.
What can I say, it's a TV. Well, really they should just call it a monitor. We're not using the input switcher, not using the speakers, not using the remote. Really, I would prefer if we could just lock it on HDMI input 1 and turn the sound off. Maybe you can. For now, I've told my mom to just hide the remote. TV? Check!
Installation was a breeze. 1 HDMI cable from the Apple TV to the receiver and we were all set. My mom entered in the wireless info on the TV screen, and then set it to sync from within iTunes, just like an iPod. My mom LOVES her Apple TV. She says she's using it constantly everyday. This is what I'm most jealous about. How great is it to be playing your music on your HDTV, album art and all. I've already shown my mom how to rent movies, and she will totally be doing that soon also.
Yep, it's a DVD player. Single HDMI cable to the receiver and it works. Can't complain. Receiver remote controls it fine also.
This has been a nightmare from the start. From the first time I saw the Scientific-Atlanta interface I loved it. I would even say it's better than TiVo. But we've been having installation issues. Before the Time Warner guy showed up with the box, I had my mom plug an HDMI cable into the receiver and leave the other end free for the box. The guy just needed to plug in the single cable. But no, he decides to use 3 component and 2 RCA cables instead, and hook them up directly to the TV. Argh. So I tell my mom to unplug them all and just plug in the HDMI cable. Simple. Except now we need to go through setup to switch the settings. So many settings. Output settings. 480p, 1080p. Dolby, HDMI. Argh. No way I can talk my mom through this. Neither can Time Warner.
At this point, we realize her internet isn't working. It isn't until a few days later that Verizon comes out and see that the Time Warner guy snipped their wire. Shit. Assholes.
Time Warner guy shows up following week. All he has to do is change settings and it all works. Great! I try to talk to him on the phone to make sure he doesn't screw shit up. The guy can barely speak english. Argh, so frustrating. My mom sees the TV flash. Oh boy. I tell the guy I read on the internet that some people complain this model DVR sometimes cuts in and out. He goes off about how people on the internet can't be trusted and they are really competitors talking trash about Time Warner.
Anyway, after lots of hassles, Time Warner HDTV seems to be working! Discovery HD is gorgeous (or so I hear).
Another piece that can be complicated, but I was crossing my fingers and hoping it would be simple because of HDMI. Sure enough, fairly straight forward. Use the 3 HDMI inputs for the 3 devices, use the single HDMI output to the TV. Total of FOUR WIRES FOR THE WHOLE SYSTEM. So it was hooked up, and it worked. So what do all the buttons do? Why are there 50 buttons and 200 settings? What are all the flashing lights and weird modes? "Mom, just use Video 1/2/3 to switch between your 3 devices, and the volume control. IGNORE EVERYTHING ELSE." Why can't Sony come up with components that are as easy to use as an Apple TV? Why can't they make simple remotes at least? Literally an Apple TV like remote would suffice for my mom here. Input switcher, volume, power.
Plug all 5 speaker outputs from the receiver into this one monster and get simulated surround sound. Reviews are great. I wasn't going to run new cables for rear speakers. We haven't hooked this up yet.
Got this for free because of a special going on with the surroundbar. Not hooked up yet, I'm sure it will shake the house.
I can't wait to go back to LA and play with all this stuff. I've always wanted to have a great home theater system and I'm incredibly jealous. A couple days ago I was watching Planet Earth on SD DVD. One of the coolest shows I've ever seen. It was made in HD and I could tell I was really missing out by watching it in standard def.
So overall, not a bad experience! There were definitely some tough times on the phone, but at the end of it all it works and my mom is happy. With the Apple TV more than anything (she and I both listen to music for many hours per day). Hopefully she'll learn to use the DVR and watch some of her favorite TV shows. She is home so little that normally TV would not be worth it for her, but I hope after I setup some recurring recordings for her, she'll get to watch some quality TV anytime she's at home.
Since high school I've felt the theater movie going experience has been weak. I rarely go to see movies in theaters, and I definitely wouldn't choose to go myself. Why pay more money for a worse seat, worse sound, heads in your way, and salty expensive popcorn? Yeah, the screen is big, but that's about it. If I had a system like my mom's, I might never leave the house.
Thursday, March 06, 2008
From Valleywag:
Some whiners say that the iPhone provides isn't the real Internet, because it lacks Flash. No kidding, donkeys: It's way better. Thank you, Steve Jobs, for saving us from Flash websites -- the 2008 version of the <BLINK> tag.
I completely agree.
Some whiners say that the iPhone provides isn't the real Internet, because it lacks Flash. No kidding, donkeys: It's way better. Thank you, Steve Jobs, for saving us from Flash websites -- the 2008 version of the <BLINK> tag.
I completely agree.
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
After a weekend in LA, I was in the Bay Area for a week at Apple. I got a lot of work done, and had a fun every night. Somehow (I don't know how it happened), people really wanted to go out. It was too bad I got a hotel in Cupertino and had to drive to the city to party. But I'm not complaining. Except the torrential rain was a bit scary on the 280.
Monday night we had dinner at Oola and then drinks at the St Regis
Tuesday night hung out at Al's place, played Guitar Hero, had pizza and drinks
Wednesday was South Bay fun. Dinner at Gordon Biersche and drinks at Palantir (no, it's not a new bar)
Thursday went to The Duke of Edinburgh after work and had lots of beer
It was great to see everyone! I also took Bruce in for a physical (took my Miata in for an inspection) and he came out with a (mostly) clean bill of health! The mechanic couldn't believe the car is 17 years old. I can't believe it either. It was so great to drive.
Aki:
Monday night we had dinner at Oola and then drinks at the St Regis
Tuesday night hung out at Al's place, played Guitar Hero, had pizza and drinks
Wednesday was South Bay fun. Dinner at Gordon Biersche and drinks at Palantir (no, it's not a new bar)
Thursday went to The Duke of Edinburgh after work and had lots of beer
It was great to see everyone! I also took Bruce in for a physical (took my Miata in for an inspection) and he came out with a (mostly) clean bill of health! The mechanic couldn't believe the car is 17 years old. I can't believe it either. It was so great to drive.
Aki:
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
Gary is in Shanghai. I'm in New York but using iChat video effects to make it look like I'm in New Zealand with sheep around me. It works very well (it uses a Difference Matte, in case you care).
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
I was in LA a couple weeks ago for a weekend and Michelle happened to be there at the same time. I've never really gone out much in LA since I was in high school at the time so I was really excited to go out and party with Michelle and Diedre.
We had dinner at The Ivy which was surprisingly good. I had a tostada that was the size of my head. But it was so good I actually finished it. After that we had drinks at Jones Bar. Very cool place, I felt like I was in Swingers or Entourage. For the first time I would actually consider living in LA again, just not in Torrance :).
All LA pictures are here
We had dinner at The Ivy which was surprisingly good. I had a tostada that was the size of my head. But it was so good I actually finished it. After that we had drinks at Jones Bar. Very cool place, I felt like I was in Swingers or Entourage. For the first time I would actually consider living in LA again, just not in Torrance :).
All LA pictures are here
Taking these photos I'm sitting on a couch, looking straight up. There's a small shelf behind me where our drinks are sitting. So the photos are of the ceiling, glasses and bottles, and a ceiling fan spinning.
