u l t r a m o o k i e

Here’s the super secret iPhone 2.0 strategy.  I got it from Steve* himself.
Promise all sorts of new features before iPhone 2.0 software is available.  Fanboys go wild.
Rush iPhone 2.0 software out the door, when it is really not ready — it’s buggy as hell, crashes, and is slow.  People have to reboot their iPhones every [...]

Here’s the super secret iPhone 2.0 strategy.  I got it from Steve* himself.

Promise all sorts of new features before iPhone 2.0 software is available.  Fanboys go wild.

Rush iPhone 2.0 software out the door, when it is really not ready — it’s buggy as hell, crashes, and is slow.  People have to reboot their iPhones every day to keep it running — hey, just like Windows.  Fanboys rejoice as they have new software.  Fanboys go out and defend this shitty software because…well, they are Apple fanboys and Steve Jobs is their diety…and they must defend their diety.

Every few weeks bump the revision number of the software, but really don’t fix anything.  In the release notes, be as vague as possible — say something like, “Bug Fixes”.  Fanboys install, get the placebo effect, and go wild.  Fanboys cheer and are happy that Apple “fixed” something — when secretly, all Apple did was bump the VERSION_NUMBER constant in one of the header files and recompile the whole thing.

Meanwhile, try as hard as possible to fix the iPhone 2.0 software and get what would have been the real release out the door — you know, like any respectable software developer would:  Release a tested and fixed software sans any major bugs.

Thanks Apple for your backasswards way of releasing the iPhone 2.0 software.  I really wish I had stuck with 1.1.4 and waited things out.  Apple you’re becoming more and more like Microsoft.  With the iPhone 2.0 software, I kept thinking to myself:  “Crap, I should have waited for Service Pack 1 before I upgraded.“  Ironic, huh?

*Steve “Mookie” Kong, that is.

Are you really serious President Bush?  Are you really?  You want to lift the ban on off-shore drilling, but you will say…
“I readily concede it won’t produce a barrel of oil tomorrow, but it will reverse the psychology,” Bush told a White House news conference.
Hey, how about this sir:  Just tell the American public that [...]

Are you really serious President Bush?  Are you really?  You want to lift the ban on off-shore drilling, but you will say…

“I readily concede it won’t produce a barrel of oil tomorrow, but it will reverse the psychology,” Bush told a White House news conference.

Hey, how about this sir:  Just tell the American public that you’ll be spinning up the printing presses at the US Federal Reserve and that you will be handing out millions of dollars to each American citizen.

That money won’t really get out to the American public; but,  you know, “it will reverse the psychology” and help Americans spend more during this economic downturn.

That would be a better way about going at it than opening up for off-shore drilling, which will not help anyone.  And could potentially destroy our environment.  Stop trying to help your oil drilling buddies President, try helping the environment instead.

I don’t know what this says about what President Bush this about the American public.  Does he think that the American public is dumb enough to buy into this “off-shore drilling will lower the price at the pump” deal?  Or is the American public really dumb enough to believe that bunch of shit?

Sheesh.

So, this whole steroids thing is just plain stupid — I am not going to use the term “Human Growth Hormone” or HGH, because it is what it is: Steroids. Check out Andy Pettitte who came out and “apologized” this weekend. Here’s what he said:
“I didn’t do it to try to get [...]

So, this whole steroids thing is just plain stupid — I am not going to use the term “Human Growth Hormone” or HGH, because it is what it is: Steroids. Check out Andy Pettitte who came out and “apologized” this weekend. Here’s what he said:

“I didn’t do it to try to get an edge on anyone, I didn’t do it to try to get stronger, faster or to throw harder.”

Really? So, why did you take steroids?

“I did it because I was told that it might be able to help me.”

So, let me get this straight. You took steroids to help yourself. But, you didn’t take them to help yourself get the edge on anyone. Nor did you take them to help yourself get stronger, faster or to throw harder. So, why the hell did you take the steroids? What were you looking for the steroids to help you do? Fly like Superman? Leap over tall buildings? Did you take the steroids to help your health decline? Oh, I know, you took the steroids to help you become a better person!

No, actually, he took steroids because he thought it would help him heal faster from his injuries.  Isn’t that trying “to get an edge” on other players?  I mean, if your fellow player is injured, he sits his ass out of the game until he heals.  You sought a way to get an edge on him by using steroids to heal faster.  What a sad excuse.

Cripes! If you’re going to apologize, then do it right! Admit it: You, Andy Pettitte, took steroids so that you could get the edge on other players. You, Andy Pettitte, took steroids so that you could get stronger, faster or to throw harder. Stop being such a dumb-ass. And, please don’t think that people are stupid as you are — we can see through your act.  Apology not accepted.

Update: Disregard this post. Sony BMG has come to their senses and are going to be offering their non-DRM music through Amazon’s MP3 Store.
In what maybe the biggest backasswards way of selling digital music, Sony BMG detailed their plans on how they will sell DRM-free music: In retail stores only. What [...]

Update: Disregard this post. Sony BMG has come to their senses and are going to be offering their non-DRM music through Amazon’s MP3 Store.

In what maybe the biggest backasswards way of selling digital music, Sony BMG detailed their plans on how they will sell DRM-free music: In retail stores only. What the hell?

So, it is really possible that Sony BMG will be able to “sell out” of MP3s! Wow! That is just brilliant. Here’s how Sony BMG wants to sell digital music:

1. You decide you want to buy a Sony BMG album
2. You get in your car
3. Drive to Best Buy
4. Buy a $12.99 “Platinum Music Pass”
5. Drive Home
6. Log into the Sony website
7. Punch in the code from your card
8. Download music

That has got to be the most idiotic way of selling digital music ever. People buy digital music because it is convenient and easy to get (not to mention makes for an excellent impulse buy). By inserting steps 2-7, Sony has just eliminated the convenience and easy of digital music. And on top of that, they are charging a lot more per digital album than either Amazon or iTunes. Someone’s ass needs to get kicked for putting together such a “brilliant” plan.

Sony BMG feels “strongly that there’s a group that will enjoy carrying the imagery of an artist they love around with them, or sharing it with their friends.” Yea, you know what Sony BMG? With gas prices so high, I’d rather not buy your music than to pay $12.99 and gas to get a digital download. I could care less about “carrying the imagery of an artist I love around with me. Thanks, but no thanks.

Lets not forget about the unnecessary damage that is caused to the environment because of this scheme:

• The trees cut down to print the card backings
• The plastic cards that contain codes which are going to be tossed in the trash
• The fuel needed for the trucks to bring all this stuff to the stores
• The fuel needed for a consumer to drive to and from a store to buy a card

If only the management at Sony BMG “got it”…

I was reading this posting from JR about Netflix and their streaming video service Watch Now. JR was seemingly replying to this posting where the dude is encouraging people to kill trees in order to shout silently at a company. The dude wants people to print out little protest notices and stuff them [...]

I was reading this posting from JR about Netflix and their streaming video service Watch Now. JR was seemingly replying to this posting where the dude is encouraging people to kill trees in order to shout silently at a company. The dude wants people to print out little protest notices and stuff them into the Netflix return envelopes in order to “start a conversation in the company from the distribution centers all the way up through the management chain.” Uh, yea whatever dude. That’s like going to Wal-Mart and telling the working-on-minimum-wage cashier that you are digusted by the fact that walmart.com uses DRM. You how far that will get you? No where.  The same is true with these little printed protest notices.  You’ll get no where and you’ll end up killing trees to get there.

I complained in my earlier posting about the same issue: The DRM that Netflix uses makes the Watch Now service unusable for those of us who use Macs and Linux boxes. I was then reminded by a buddy of mine, Mike that this was not Netflix’s choice. Netflix has a business to run and they want to stream movies as part of the business.  But, if they are to stream movies, it is the movie industry that dictates just how the movies can be streamed. Don’t want to use DRM? Then you don’t get to stream movies. It’s like blaming Yahoo! Music or Napster for using DRM. If it were up to Yahoo! or Napster, they probably would not want to use DRM — why make things so complicated? But, it is the stupid RIAA that forces businesses to use DRM.

Dude from defectivebydesign:  Your logic is flawed and…well…defective by design. First, don’t encourage people to kill trees in an effort that will go no where. The people (or as I might guess, sorting machines) at Netflix will toss the little flyers without notice. Second, aim for the correct people. If you don’t like DRM: Blame the movie studios. Blame the music studios. They are the ones forcing businesses to do this. Get it right or shut up.

Now, if you really do want to let Netflix know about how they could be doing better…let me suggest a more environmentally conservative way of letting them know. Make a suggestion. Nudge Netflix to work with the movie studios to get rid of the DRM. Netflix runs a 24 hour customer service line (which they brag about). Give them a call. 1-888-638-3549. Ask why the service doesn’t work on your Mac or Linux box. Ask if you can get a part of your subscription cost back because you’re not using that streaming service. Ask if Netflix can work something out with the studios so that you can watch movies on your Mac or Linux box.  See?  You won’t be killing trees.  You’ll for sure get someone to talk with.  And, as with all customer call centers, your complaint about Watch Now not working on a Mac or Linux box will be noted.  When Netflix goes and reviews the problems being called in to customer support, they will take notice — why?  Because it costs Netflix money to staff csutomer support centers.  It costs Netflix to be taking all those calls.  If Netflix does not have to take a call, they save some money.  Let Netflix know, nicely that using DRM is going to cost them money.  That will definitely light up some conversations in the company.

If you like that bottled water, you have been ripped off.
Pepsi’s Aquafina and Coke’s Desani brands of bottled water are: Tap water — the bottles are filled using “purified water sourced from public reservoir” (ie. the same thing you’ll get if you go and buy a Brita pitcher/filter and fill it up using tap [...]

If you like that bottled water, you have been ripped off.

Pepsi’s Aquafina and Coke’s Desani brands of bottled water are: Tap water — the bottles are filled using “purified water sourced from public reservoir” (ie. the same thing you’ll get if you go and buy a Brita pitcher/filter and fill it up using tap water.) Yay, so not only are you paying for water for your household use, but you’re paying an extra premium to get the same water to drink. Now, Pepsi is going to be labelling the source of water that goes into bottles. Coke will be more coy about it and only tell people about it on their website.

Bottled water hurts the environment and for no good reason. It takes a lot of energy to bottle and ship water around. It also takes a lot of landfill space because of all the discarded plastic bottles. Why hurt the environment when the water coming out of your tap is the same as the water in those bottles? Think again next time you’re going to get ripped off paying pay for bottled water.

How much water is sold? “U.S. consumers spent about $15 billion on bottled water last year.” Yikes! And it is not really for health or taste reasons, apparently, it’s for “convenience” — in other words: People are too frakking lazy to fill up a reusable bottle with water before heading out. Sigh.

It is summer time and now is the lull of television. But, there are still some shows that are worth watching and up until last night, the Food Network Star was one of them. Then, they turned out the most horrific and staged episode ever, leaving a really bad taste in my mouth. [...]

It is summer time and now is the lull of television. But, there are still some shows that are worth watching and up until last night, the Food Network Star was one of them. Then, they turned out the most horrific and staged episode ever, leaving a really bad taste in my mouth. If you are a viewer of the show and have not watched last night’s episode, don’t read any further, there are spoilers.

So, everything was going great last night with the final three: Amy, Rory and Jag. Amy was doing exceptionally well and finished both her challenges with what I thought were flying colors (I’m not the only one, Eileen and Bruce also thought that Amy did fantastic). Rory had a big screw up at the XM radio challenge and then botched her Rachel Ray appearance. Jag, whom I never liked, botched his radio challenge and did OK with Rachel Ray.

As the three headed into the judging room, I figured it was going to be Amy and Jag as the two finalist of the show — based solely on the XM radio and Rachel Ray competitions. When the judges announced that Rory was staying, I immediately thought, “Bye Jag!” But then the judges said that Jag was staying! WTF!?  I knew that there was something wrong.

The screen faded to black and then there were words about how Jag lied about going to Afghanastan and graduating from culinary school. Then there was a totally staged “admission of guilt” by Jag to the two food network judges: Bob and Sue. Then, Amy is brought back on as some sort of “surprise”.

Does Food Network really think that their viewers are stupid? The whole Jag thing was completely staged for more drama. Come on, no one can start a job without a full background check! Much less be in a high visibility competition!  Does Food Network really think that we’d believe that they did not do a background check on each and everyone of the contestants before starting off this season? The liabilities of letting just anyone onto the show are huge, of course the Food Network ran background checks!

I am guessing that Food Network had screened each contestant. When they found out that Jag had lied to them, they decided to use that little morsel of information for later. Then, as the contest continued, the judges continued to nudge Jag through the competition — Jag was not that great of a contestant anyways, he had streaks of anger, his personality sucked, his presentation skills were really lacking, and his recipes too dificult. They kept moving Jag on through the show knowing that at the end, they could find out “by surprise” that Jag had lied on his resume. Gasp!  The drama!  The surprise!  The totally transparent fakery of it all!

Food Network, this little stunt has really soured your image. I’ll continue to watch your established shows like Iron Chef America. But, I will be leary to watch Food Network Star ever again.  What you did in the last episode was rotten.