Over at Philly’s City Paper they have an article about Y100 and their current underground efforts at y100rocks.com. You can read the article here. I’m glad they’re still getting concert billing with bands such as Weezer, even though they’re now only a live 365 station instead of traditional radio.
March Madness Insanity
Well the first round is complete, and what an interesting 2 days. First Pittsburgh loses to Pacific, which anyone who follows Pitt hoops would know that when you saw the starting lineup include McCarrol and Graves, you could see the end looming ahead. The Big East as a whole is still on track to have 50% of their teams in the tournament survive to the Sweet 16 for another year. West Virginia has a tough task ahead battling Wake Forest today, I say bring on the hoops!
Links for 2-9-05
The Lock Busters – An interesting article regarding the Dutch Open Lockpicking Championships.
Start | Ive League Tech Company Job Market – A nice listing of some of the top technology companies and their “perks”.
IndTV Pilot Project – IndTV is an up-and -coming cable network based on independent programming submitted for airplay. A very grassroots / underground project that I think some people I know can contribute to.
Another Apple oriented Post
Well the post MacWorld news, items, and other goodies seem to be flowing pretty well after the big mac Mini announcement. Here’s some interesting items:
Apple Pepsi iTunes Giveaway, Round 2 – Well it looks like Apple is partnering with Pepsi again with the iTunes promotion, which will begin at midnight on January 31st. Seems like we’ll see another Pepsi/Apple commercial for the Super Bowl.
Apple’s Tipping Point: Macs For the Masses – This next item comes from NiXLOG where Paul Nixon created a nice inforgraphic of Apple’s products, with Market Opportunity as the central metric to place the products on the graphic. His “inspiration” was from Malcolm Gladwell, author of The Tipping Point, and the associated article over at Fast Company.
Daring Fireball: Small, Cheap, and Without a Display – John Gruber discusses both the mac Mini, and the iPod shuffle in a lenghty blog post. He begins by quoting David Pogue’s summation of the products for the New York Times:
The iPod Shuffle and the Mac Mini are bold attempts to shatter the common wisdom that Apple makes gorgeous, expensive things. For the first time in its history, Apple has begun to make gorgeous, inexpensive things.
John then delves into the iPod shuffle details, and summarizes that Apple is cashing in some of it’s brand value for a shot to dominate the entire music player spectrum. He then goes into thorough detail on the mac Mini, and comes to a conclusion about why Apple released both the shuffle and mini:
Both the iPod Shuffle and Mac Mini are defined by their price points. What kind of iPod can we do for $99? What kind of Mac for $499?
In both cases, Apple is attempting three things:
1. Gain a foothold in the low end of the market
2. Avoid cannibalizing sales from Apple’s mid- and high-end products
3. Bring in new customers who have never purchased Apple products before
He feels the shuffle hit the mark on all 3, but item number 3 with respect to the mini is a little uncertain. Definitely a good article.
Taking Apart the mac Mini – Over at Smash’s World he stumbled upon a leaked video on how to disassemble the mac Mini. It definitely looks like a Mac Genius product training video for their retail repair staff. It’s interesting how they officially endorse a putty knife as the tool of choice.
Apple releases Mac mini
Well the rumors were pretty darn close, Apple just released the Mac mini, an entry level desktop, living room, anywhere you can put the little bugger system. standing 6.5 inches square and 2 inches high, it packs a G4 processor available at 1.25 or 1.42 GHz, 256MB to 1GB of RAM, 40 or 80GB Ultra ATA Hard drive, Combo DVD-ROM / CD-RW drive, firewire, USB 2.0, built in 10/100 ethernet, 56k modem, audio out, and the ability to upgrade to a DVD±RW drive, 802.11, and bluetooth support.
The coolest part? The base model starts at $499.
Check out more here.
Something must be going on at the MacWorld Keynote
Well since Steve wants to shut out the outside world during his keynote, which should be published later today, the Apple Store is getting ready to sell whatever he’s announcing.
Get ready, something’s definitely brewing.
New Year Catch Up
Well I’m back from a long needed vacation to Pittsburgh / Phoenix. Here’s some news items that caught my eye today, more updates and some trip photos to come!
Tivo, Microsoft announce TiVoToGo extensions for Microsoft software, devices, smart phones
TiVo offers HD CableCard unit by 2006
Microsoft AntiSpyware Beta 1 released – I’ve tried this and it looks VERY similar to CounterSpy by SunBelt Software.
Lawsuit claims Apple violates fair practice with iTunes – Now this one is a little frivolous, since you can in fact play iTunes songs legally on other players, after you burn them to CD as audio and rerip them into the appropriate format. This one Apple will win pretty easily IMHO.
Kid Armed with GameBoy Tazered by Cops
A North Carolina teen refused to stop playing his GameBoy in class, and ended up getting hit with a tazer…. twice!
BCS: A Historical Perspective
Let me first say that my affiliation and alma mater ties have no bearing in what I’m about to post. With that said…
The BCS was created to play 1 vs. 2 and the 4 bowls that were associated with the 6 large conferences at the time wanted a piece of the money pie, agreeing into that. Before the BCS, the respective games were tied (and still are outside of their year of hosting the BCS Championship) with the conferences they contracted with (Rose Bowl (Pac-10, Big 10), Fiesta Bowl (Big 12), Sugar Bowl (SEC), and Orange Bowl (Big East, ACC)). Before the BCS noone whined about their team not making these bowls when they were making almost as much money on a yearly basis. With that said, I think tying in all 4 games as the BCS instead of just the 1 vs. 2 game has clouded some fans / media as to why the other spots exist. They never existed so the best teams period go to the bowls. They existed so the bowls could still guarantee attendance with those historical conference matchups to fill their seats.
Does this mean that people have to like it? No.
Frankly, I think each conference champion should get a BCS spot. It would help fund those mid-major conferences on a yearly basis and add even more competitiveness to the already diverse collegiate football landscape. I know some of you would argue “But that would take away from the meaning of the big bowl!” Well if the only bowl that determines the national championship is the BCS 1 vs. 2, with the occasional outsider in another top bowl, then didn’t they already take away meaning from the other bowls, non Championship BCS bowls included?
RuSPORT announces 2005 Driver Lineup
Today RuSPORT announced that their 2005 Champ Car World Series lineup will consist of AJ Allmendinger and Justin Wilson, each of which finished 1 and 2 respectively in the 2004 Roshfrans Rookie of the Year Standings.
“After having a strong first year, finishing sixth in the overall standings, and winning the Rookie of the Year title, I’m even more excited to get in the car and build on what we as a team have accomplished this year,” said the Autosport Rookie of the Year nominee. “I’m truly living my dream and I know winning pole positions and races is right around the corner. We came into this year knowing we had a lot to learn; now I’m confident we can contend for the championship.”
– AJ Allmendinger
“I’m obviously very excited to be joining RuSPORT,” said the former F1 pilot and Formula 3000 champion. “The atmosphere within in the team is great and there is such a high level of drive and professionalism. I think it’s the best place to be to win races and championships. I’m also really looking forward to having A.J. as a teammate because we see things similarly. We get on well even though every weekend we were battling head to head.”
– Justin Wilson
“I am proud of what we accomplished in 2004; however, I know that I speak for all of RuSPORT when I say we are eager get to the front,” said Carl Russo team owner. “I believe we have what it takes to get there. A.J. and Justin are two young champions who know how to go for it. This is going to be fun!”
– Carl Russo, Team Owner
I liked AJ from his Toyota Atlantic days, and enjoyed Justin’s racing performances this year, so call me an official RuSPORT backer for 2005!
You can read the official release here.