New Kindles next month

Two new Kindles are coming next month.  Note how the newest one will fit comfortably in your hand.  I do a lot of eReading and this is a MUST.  I'd prefer it even being smaller, its best when it fits in the palm of your hand but this is pretty close to perfect.

This model is priced at $139... I think the sweet spot will be $99 - they will sell like hot cakes if they can get that price down to there.  I predict that they will hit that price point in 6 months.

EQ2 experiments with free to play

Its free minus some classes and minus the last expansion.  It also features are larger marketplace that allows for people to buy gear (nothing too fancy) and other nice to have spot items.  The servers will also be completely separate from the regular subscription folks.

Notice how EQ1 is still running yet its not going to free to play?  Does that mean EQ1 is doing good still and EQ2 isn't?  I'm really not sure what to make of that.

Wal-Mart to add RFID to clothing

I've been thinking for years that radio smart tagging (RFID) would be in every store in the lands "any day now".  Yet it hasn't done much of anything.  Imagine filling up your cart and walking right out the front door of the store with out stopping at a register.  Today you would be stealing but in the RFID world you would have checked out the second you walked out the front door.  Everything would give off a unique radio signal that would allow for the contents of your cart to be read just by walking through a scanner.  Then your mobile phone would give off a different signal that would allow for the store to know who just paid for those goods.

It might be expensive to get up and running but it would quickly save you money in reduced man power costs.  No more inventory.  No more check out clerks.  Seemed like a win-win to me (unless your a store clerk).

This Wal-Mart article points out all sorts of privacy issues that I hadn't considered....however I think those issues will not be able to stand in the way of progress despite their best efforts.  Its serving to slow it all down right now which is why its not spread to every store yet but I'm here to tell you that the technology to do all of the things I described are ready today.  This first step out of Wal-Mart is a big one and I think its all going to change from here.

Raw foods

There is a growing interest in raw foods (unpasteurized dairy, untreated nuts, zero processed foods, etc).  Raw milk being the one that is drawing most of the fire as the powerful dairy groups force the government to uphold existing laws.

Statistically speaking these foods are no more dangerous then eating a salad (more dangerous then you might think) and mostly as long as the animals are in carefully considered environments, as in not packed into an industrial farm, there is no more risk then with anything you eat.  Meaning eating anything is a risk....a thought I try to keep out of my head....

One would like to think that you should be able to control what your eating but at the same time these laws are in place to protect( as law should ).  I think this is a very tough debate.  However if the debate ever goes into favor of the raw food supporters then I might take to the streets to debate seat belt laws....

I doubt I could bring myself to eat any of these foods. I'm seeing a lot of research  as to why not to drink milk ever after a certain age.  A lot of those same powerful dairy coalitions have remade milk into a health food after a couple of decades of work through extensive marketing.  It paid off as people believe that to be the truth.  But is it?

Watch us fight ourselves, bring popcorn

These 90,000 exposed military documents do a good job of showing how we are fighting ourselves in Afghanistan.  As we continue to send funds to Pakistan which in turn is writing checks to the people we are fighting in Afghanistan....this would mean we are fighting ourselves right?  Or at the very least funding both sides of our war?

Magic Trackpad

Apple has put a multi-touch Bluetooth track pad on the Apple Store.  Works much like the Mac Pro touch pads gestures.

I think that's pretty neat but Apple really needs to ditch this whole "magic" thing they are putting into their products.  Disney they aint.

Mac only $69.

Beer news

Today I have two beer related stories of note:

Homeless man breaks into a bar and opens it back up for business.  Starting off with a 6-pack of beer, that this homeless guy bought at a nearby liquor store, he did a tidy bit of business up till a cop recognized him as a homeless guy. On the bright side he at least has a cell to call home now.

The End Of History Ale is a beer that's bottled in the husk of a dead animal.  Tasty buddy?

Lord Vader, the bank robber

This is how new Death Stars get funded.

Slate of the Union

Here's a good wrap up article detailing all of the Slate-style(iPad) machines that will be out before the year is over.

Bonus:  India's $35 tablet computer

MS giving all employees Win7 phones

Well that's one way to jump start your new phone platform, have 90,000+ employees and give them all one of them.  I hope, for their sake, that it doesn't suck....I'd hate to lose my job because I didn't keep the company phone heh.

Bonus read:  Microsoft up 22% last quarter.

You must be a criminal tax

There is a fee attached to all blank CD's that goes back to "content creators" with the logic that blank CD's are used to steal things with.  I've always despised this law as it assumes everyone is a criminal because they are buying blank CDs.

Well blank CD sales are dropping off because people just aren't burning CD's anymore.  Hell I don't even have a CD burner in my PC anymore.  This has caused an income loss to these "content creators"  so now they are out marching that phones, hard drives, USB drives, Internet connections, etc all need this same tax.

This is in Sweden but I wouldn't be surprise to hear it pick up steam in the US soon as well.  Because everyone knows its easier to have money given to you then to have to work for it ;)

New Scientist explores all the reasons stopping meat eating isn't a good thing

Being a vegetarian doesn't really help the planet and New Scientist shows us all the reasons why.  This is a long read but it has some useful points like:

 If everyone opted to give up meat there would be significant costs, too. It is true that most livestock today are fed grain that people could otherwise eat, but it doesn't have to be so. For most of human history, cattle, sheep and goats grazed on land that wasn't suitable for ploughing, and in doing so they converted inedible grass into edible meat and milk. Even today, a flock of sheep or goats can be the most efficient way to get food from marginal land. In a world where more than a billion people don't have enough to eat, taking such land out of production would only contribute to food insecurity. Moreover, for semi-arid or hilly land, modest levels of grazing may cause much less ecological damage than growing crops.

Strong Verizon rumor: Switching to AT&T like data caps

First I want to remind everyone that both Verizon and the former AT&T data plans were NOT unlimited.  I don't know why they are allowed to call 5gb plans unlimited but they are.

Rumor has it that July 29th is going to be the day that Vzw drops the bomb on "unlimited" data plans.  Details are yet unknown but its a solid guess that it will be much like AT&T.  None of this is a big deal unless you stream audio and/or video while you work...then its a massive deal as 2gb will not cut it.

Starcraft 2: Over $100 million to make

Not counting marketing, Starcraft 2 reportedly cost more then $100 million to create.  I'm searching my head and I think Grand Theft Auto 4 was the only other game to ever break $100 million.

A Game of Thrones: Genesis

No release date, appears to be just concept art so it could easily vapor out.  Will it be out before book 5?

I'm not sure if its an RTS or a TBS but here's the description:

A Game of Thrones: Genesis plunges you into the heart of the battles and intrigues between the Families that shaped the Kingdom of Westeros. Peacefully or forcefully annex surrounding territories, besiege enemy castles, send spies to infiltrate behind enemy lines, assassinate trouble-making officers or capture them to ask for a ransom... When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die. There is no middle ground.

Microsoft fun facts

This is a good (and quick) read.  I was going to pull an excerpt out but I couldn't pick just one that I liked the best.

Old Spice Guy answers Cliffy B

On Twitter, Cliff Bleszinski wrote "@OldSpice Do you do everything with your shirt off? Like, drive to the supermarket? Because I usually do."

Video: UFO Over Chinese Airport

Check out this great MSN Video: UFO Over Chinese Airport
Strange!

Use of real names online movement

Anxious to lift an outright ban on comments, The Attleboro (Mass.) Sun-Chronicle has begun requiring two things of online readers who want to leave their thoughts on stories: 99 cents and their real names.

The 99 cents is to verify that your actually whom you say you are, not to make money or save newspapers.


I'm really starting to think this is a good trend.  I was a little skeptical about Blizzard doing it with RealID but it does seem like something needs to be done.  The quality of nearly every message board online has fallen to nearly useless.  Where as I think if people actually had their John Hancock showing up next to their rant the Internet would be a whole lot better place (and vastly more useful).


Of course I'd have a WHOLE lot less to say... I THINK, but am not certain, I would be willing to pay that price for a major online clean up but I'm not sure.   It's not that I have issue with putting my name on my statements for all the world to see...my concern is how something I say could easily come back to haunt me 30 years from now when I'm running for President.  Like a bunch of Native Americans protesters....


Either way its becoming clear that many people are starting to agree with me.

Mobile news roundup

RIM, Google, and Apple all bid for Palm which HP eventually walked away with.  What ever did Apple want with Palm?  Rumor has it their bid was "serious" (unlike Google's).

HP Droid Tablet now rumored as dead with more rumors that the replacement may be based on the Palm WebOS that they just bought.  I think we are going to see a lot of announcements like this as everyone wants to capture the iPad market but realizes they need to come strong.

Blackberry Bold 9800 photos show with a physical keyboard and a virtual one.

DroidX will self destruct itself if its tampered with.  Using technology called eFuse to detect certain modifications, the process bricks the unit upon power up.

Console news roundup

Overall game sales fell 6% in June except for Xbox 360, which surged forward due to the slim redesign and Xbox Live points cards.  Red Dead(360) won the game sales top spot at nearly 600k units sold.

One respected hacker proclaims PS3 just too darn hard to crack.  This due mainly to the way they disabled alternate OSes on the system.  Though what one hacker fails to do another one can with ease....

Microsoft: No third season of 1 vs 100.  They say it did well and they learned a lot but yet they discontinued it?  Must not have done that well.

Brammo‘s electric motorcycle

These still have quite aways to go before they are ready for general use.  The best one has a 100-mile range and a top speed of 100mph.  Though the cheapest one only has a 40-mile range.  It takes 6 to 8 hours to recharge the bike at your outlet.

On the plus side it less then a dollar to "fill it up" and you don't have engine tuning or oil changes to worry about.  Given another 10 years these are likely to be pretty darn cool.

The Empulse Trio will cost $9,995 for the 6.0, $11,995 for the 8.0 and $13,995 for the 10.0 model with a 100 mile range. All three are eligible for federal and state tax incentives.

Mac Steam

I was reading this article that asked if Steam Mac was really a game changer.  To which it mostly said "not really" and "maybe someday".  But I think its a bigger impact then the author makes it out to be and I also think it was an excellent business move for Steam.

A under utilized market just opened for them.  With Steam as a likely uncontested leader.  It also gives teams a decent path for non-AAA titles to publish to that platform that wasn't available before now.  I think its a growth avenue that's going to take off very quick and may very well change the Mac into a real gaming platform.

Now if Steam would just take a page from Apple on UI design... I often think the last big Steam face lift made it worse.

Iroquois Lacrosse team passports

I was a little upset a few days ago when I saw this story about the Iroquois Lacrosse team that Britain wasn't recognizing their passports as official.  You know...because they aren't a country.

I'm upset because they refuse to be American yet they willingly take part in public services (and then some).  I find that completely offensive.

I have a message for these Iroquois:

Iroquois got their asses kicked a few hundred years back by "the white man".  I'm not sorry, that's history and its filled with all sort of bad things that happened to otherwise good people.  Including yours.


You need to move on.  That's right, get over it.  For some silly reason those "white men" eventually gave you equal rights in their nation which seemed rather nice thing for them to do.  As they kicked your ass they don't actually owe you a thing...that's what happens when you get your ass kicked.


If you don't want to be an American you have the option to go conquer your own land and build a actual Iroquois Nation.... I really don't care if don't think you can't take over much of anything, that's your problem, not mine.  You could still try....die like a real Brave....

*****end message

We  have coddled these people for too long all its done is made them feel more entitled and given them more reasons to continue this foolish shit as they know its part of the gravy train.  It needs to stop.

Shaffer says ActiBliz boss is now not a dick

I was surprised to see Double Fines Tim Shaffer (Brutal Legend and Grim Fandango creator) call Activisions CEO a dick (among other names).  Seems like that would be a bad bridge to burn these days as you would be leaving yourself with only EA to publish through or going with the lesser publishers for sub-par deals.  I just know I'd keep my feeling to myself if I had so few options...

Appears Tim realized after the fact that he should have kept his pie hole closed as he's back a day later crying about how it was an accident.  Seriously....you may as well have just left it out there and stood behind it because this weak ass accident line isn't going to put that genie back in the bottle.

By the way, if you ever see a good price on Brutal Legend used, its well worth the experience.

Gamestop survives on used games

GameStop is already feeling the impact of digital distribution, as they claim they would have to exit the retail business completely if it weren't for used game sales.  They also see their eventual end in their crystal ball.

New or used, physical media always had a fixed shelf life. It'll soon be another artifact of the early twenty-first century. Whether replaced by "gaming in the cloud" or en masse via digital downloads hardly matters. Given that safe, unspectacular assumption, it's equally safe (and unspectacular) to assume that physical media retailers like GameStop--who "would have to exit the games business" without used games--have a fixed shelf life too.

Bathroom at my next house

I really think this would be a good plan for my new bathroom.  Effective use of space, no?

Ultrasonic! Lead back in your pencil.

This article is about the wonders of using an ultrasonic blaster to cure men of impotence.


This sounds like a good time...for everyone... oh, I guess it works also.

During treatment, shockwaves from a hand-held device were fired at five areas of the penis and perineum. 

In a 20-minute session, each target area had 300 shocks - 1,500 in total in each session. The men had two treatment sessions a week for three weeks. No local anaesthetic was used, and no pain was reported during or after the treatment.

Disciples III demo out

I got my fingers crossed that this ends up being a decent turn based game and you can find out now if you download the demo.  I will remain hopeful but not optimistic.

Supposedly the full game is to be released tomorrow (July 13th) but as its an overseas title it could be another week before it actually shows up in a store.  Though it is on GamersGate but not on Steam.  The $36 price point continues to make me think I'd be wise to read many reviews before jumping in.

Dragon Age 2 to be dumbed down

All indications now appear that BioWare appears to be planning to dumb down DA2 much like they did with Mass Effect 2.  To start there will be no more character creation...

I guess ME2 proved that it worked or something.... I know I'll never buy ME3 or DA2....