All I said was...

More Trek trailer and new Xbox Live Experience

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Huberd) — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 01:46:00 +0000

So, here are some more thoughts about the Star Trek trailer... In case you haven't seen it yet...

Not too shabby... However, this thing is a whole bundle of cannon violations. Let's start with...

Young Teen Dream Kirk motoring up to the Enterprise construction yards. I'm not going to whine about the Enterprise being constructed on Earth. It's the location on Earth that irritates me. The dedication plaque on the bridge said the ship was constructed in San Francisco. It's implied in the trailer that this is Kirk's home state of Iowa based on some similar support type structures on the horizon in the opening shots of the trailer when Anakin Kirk is racing the Corvette with the police hot on his tail.

Let's talk about the construction of the Enterprise in general and Captain Christopher Pike. This is where the water gets muddy. Yes, Christopher Pike was the captain in The Cage, followed by Kirk. So in theory this story would take place between The Cage and Where No Man Has Gone Before. However, it is strongly implied, believed by some, and stated in one episode of the animated series that the first captain of the Enterprise was Robert April, then Pike, then Kirk. This movie doesn't seem to allow for that.

Then we have our crew...which includes Dr. McCoy, Sulu, Chekov, Uhura and Scotty. Chekov was introduced in the second season, Sulu's first appearance was in the second pilot, as was Scotty's. Uhura joined the cast when the first season started as did Dr. McCoy who was not in either pilot and in fact both pilots had two separate ship's doctors.

So, really, continuity-wise, this is going to be a mess. But they, the filmmakers, may not care, truth be told. There have been several stories told in the past how the Enterprise crew came together. This will join the ranks of such stories. We'll see how the movie as a whole stands up in May.

Meanwhile...I updated my Xbox 360 last night as did most every other Xbox 360 owner with the new Xbox 360 Experience update. So I of course made my avatar:

I didn't have much time to play around with it much after that, but it is a silky smooth experience moving from section to section as the screens slide by on the TV for you to work with, and they are using their own version of the crossbar it seems from the PS3. So I guess they took a little from column Wii and a little from column PS3, smushed them together nice and good, put it in the oven and out popped this little bit of goodness. Actually, it's more like getting chocolate in your peanut butter, it's that good. So far.

I make no efforts to hide what a fanboy I am...

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Huberd) — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 04:02:00 +0000

I got a new t-shirt in the mail today...

I can't imagine the horror of being mundane...

The Star Trek trailer is live...

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Huberd) — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 20:31:00 +0000

Yeah...I'm so totally in for this movie it isn't even funny now... I'm already in line...

GO NOW!

USB 3.0 is on the horizon

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Huberd) — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 05:25:00 +0000

In between not working on the MySQL project today I watched the latest GeekBrief with the effervescent Cali Lewis. It looks like on Monday we'll have the formal announcement of USB 3.0 with speeds that could start to put Firewire out of its misery.

Not that I hate Firewire by any stretch. In fact, I'm quite the fan. But I saw the writing on the wall with the introduction of the new Macbooks earlier in the month. No Firewire except on the high end models. I expect once USB 3.0 becomes widespread we'll probably see Firewire fade away eventually on the Pro models as well. Sure, Apple has provided Firewire 800 as a considerable speed bump from the original Firewire 400 spec that has served us all so well over the years. However, let's not forget that Chairman Steve is all about the Zen simplicity and functionality. Right now shipping systems with both USB and Firewire connections for peripherals is like a 21st Century version of serial and parallel ports from the 1980s. Just more compact and easier to deal with. It doesn't change the fact that it's still multiple ports on the desktop or laptop.

With a USB only setup, it wouldn't matter what you had to plug in, it would just go into the one USB port. Kinda the whole point behind USB in the first place. Of course, USB 1.0 was nightmarish for any real data transfers. USB 2.0 is better of course, but in sustained transfer speeds, Firewire still owns USB hands down. But USB 3.0 could trump everything unless Apple has something up their sleeve. But I suspect they don't and may not actually wish to try to compete with Intel on this.

Yes, Firewire is an amazing high speed data transfer connection and it did indeed deserve the accolades from the film industry for providing a great way to transfer video from digital camcorders to desktop computers to help revolutionize the workflow for desktop video editing. I'm using it right now for my external hard drives for my iTunes data and Time Machine backups. But, if a future system has only USB 3.0 connections, I won't fret much (it doesn't hurt also knowing that my drive cases have USB ports along with Firewire to help with the transition). Firewire is probably going to be around for some time in the high end video arena. But it's clear that its days for the consumer to mid-range desktop systems are numbered. Oh, well.

Now the only question that remains is what is to become of booting your Macintosh in target mode? A very handy feature that requires Firewire. The same could be said of the Mac's nifty ability to migrate your data from your old system to your new system which also requires the old Mac to be booted into Target mode. If Firewire is truly going the way of the dodo, I would hope that some form of Target mode is going to be available on future systems using USB 3.0. But time will tell...

A few changes today...

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Huberd) — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 02:22:00 +0000

So, the site is now no longer a free-hosted site, but I'm using a paid hosting solution now. That will eliminate the ads at the top of the page for GoDaddy. I also changed the main page as well with a new image and links to all the social network sites I belong too that I can remember (is that a bad thing?) offhand.

I'm also considering switching from Blogger to Wordpress. I've done some installs of Wordpress and I'm fairly impressed with it. The importing of the old data would be helpful so I don't lose anything of course. I'll have to give it a shot and hope I don't wreck everything. Not this weekend of course...gotta save something to do in the future after all.

There is nothing wrong with Blogger of course, and really if it weren't for the iPhone, I probably wouldn't even consider it. However, I did try one blog entry when I was down in San Diego for Comic Con and that was a nightmare. Wordpress provides a clever little iPhone native app to make entries. Right now, Google doesn't provide a similar Blogger app themselves for the iPhone. Thus, it's pretty tricky making entries on the run.

Today was running errands and trying to get things done (with a rather nice constitutional in the afternoon). This evening was getting dinner ready and letting it marinate in the refrigerator while I made some GoDaddy account adjustments. Tonight I'm working on the MySQL project again so I can finish that up ASAP. I've let it slip the past couple weeks and I need to button this up so we can put it into production at the comic shop and see how it works under a live stress test.

The Star Trek trailer...

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Huberd) — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 00:38:00 +0000

Looks like it won't be out until Monday on the Internet...hopefully it'll be available via my AppleTV so I can check it out in HD.

Meanwhile, here's the last video game I'd ever consider purchasing. I'm sure a good deal of very hard work went into this, and I don't have anything against Mortal Kombat, and I love the DCU...but this isn't chocolate in peanut butter and vice versa.

MTV Music FTW!

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Huberd) — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 14:38:00 +0000

It looks like MTV has fired their shot across the YouTube bow with their own hosted website with around 16,000 videos at mtvmusic.com. Clever, Viacom, clever...and quite welcome. It's not perfect, it doesn't have everything, but a good start. So hopefully more 80s goodness to come. In the meantime...the first video played on MTV:

The Buggles |MTV Music

This new Star Trek thingy...

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Huberd) — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 05:41:00 +0000

I'm still fairly optimistic about the new Star Trek movie. I am. It's got the Leonard Nimoy seal of approval! I was really enthusiastic about it, then the first pictures hit the Internets...

At first glance, it looks like this movie's set and costumed designers weren't just barely familiar with Star Trek, but were in fact, actively hostile towards Star Trek. How else could you explain the very white and antiseptic look of the Enterprise bridge? It looks cheap, tacky, plastic and will be instantly dated. Not a clean, classic line to be found there for the eye to follow. Someone saw a picture of the Discovery from 2001 and went "Spaceships are white and clean!" and then went nuts. The Enterprise is a light grey with black consoles and the colors pop off the screen from the controls and lighting. Bah. They did get in a slight nod to the gooseneck lamp viewscreens used in the first two Star Trek pilots. Fine. +1 for that. Minus several million for bad taste. My opinions may change when I see the final movie, and the trailer is out on Friday which may show more of the set design.

Yes, everyone has the right colors on their shirts, but the costume designers took it upon themselves to add the current vogue of patterning everything in sight. Look at the Spider-Man costume for an example of them doing it right and it working. Look at the Superman costume from Superman Returns for an example of making changes that are just mistakes. The arrogance of the costume designers and their stated disdain for the very large "S" didn't help matters (Funny...it's worked in the past and currently in the comics...sorry you didn't have the talent to pull it off here...better luck next time).

Maybe I'm nit-picking here and the pattern on the uniform tops aren't that bad. It's certainly sorta in the spirit of the original series...if not quite in line with the dreaded specter of continuity...

Not quite the same uniform tops here for something that takes place before the second pilot pictured above...and the first pilot uses pretty much the same uniforms. They are of course echoes of the classic original series uniforms most people are familiar with and are shown in the top side by side comparison picture. We'll let that pass...because then this picture got put out there for all to see...

OK...so that's Spock in front of the Enterprise viewscreen... That's a pretty big screen there. Much bigger than any version every shown on TV. Pilots, regular series...whatever...it's about the shape and size of the viewscreens from the TOS movie series. Now I'd love more than anyone to be seeing this bridge on the big screen...

Because after 40+ years these designs still work and still look good! I suppose it would look a little cramped on the big screen, but when they rebuilt the TOS bridge for an Enterprise two-parter, boy was it nice to see that rebuilt set back in action one more time.

Then the first shot of the Enterprise came out:

WTF? So...this movie isn't a prequel to TOS and that continuity at all...it's a prequel to Star Trek the Motion Picture (and now I know why Scotty spent 18 months redesigning the Enterprise...). Because there's no way they can make all this fit into something where you've got the Cage and Where No Man Has Gone Before's Enterprise that looks like this:

Big bridge dome on top and spiked nacelle caps and all... Which has got to mean that, yeah...they're jettisoning TOS for the most part out of Star Trek continuity and this is gonna be a big old reboot come next year. Sure, that stuff happened...but now they can try to shoehorn it into a visual continuity that matches up more closely to Enterprise and the TNG era (because let's admit it, TOS looked great, but it doesn't sync up with the style changes for TNG that well, and Enterprise throws a bigger spanner into the works).

Yes. I am a continuity nut. I make no apologies, and these are the issues you run into when you go back in the timeline to tell a story.

So in the meantime, I get to tell myself it's just a TV show and that I really should relax. But I reserve the right to grumble slightly and console myself with my TOS DVDs like a little baby. Because I'm grumpy today. The real acid test is going to be the first full trailer on Friday. Once we see that new Enterprise zooming around on the screen all bets are off.

Some commercials...

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Huberd) — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 02:36:00 +0000

I was poking around YouTube, like I am want to do when bored and found this:

I'm not quite sure what to make of that. It's clever, I'll admit...and it isn't like Star Trek is high art...

Then I saw this for those of us feeling a bit more sentimental and would actually like to see the classic crew again...

A recap...

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Huberd) — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 04:34:00 +0000

It's been a while...

Working backwards: The Amazing Race has started back up. Watching the opening I almost thought that they would have the racers begin at Griffith Park Observatory. That would have made for some interesting moments as they tried to quickly make their way down the hill to the freeway to get to LAX. Survivor also started up. In HD this year. It looks weird in HD. But I attribute some of that to what has to be a fairly rugged HD camera type in use compared to a show like Mythbusters or even American Idol in HD. They also seem to be using some different editing techniques. It's almost documentary-like in the first episode. The camera movements and zooms where much more noticable when the crews were back with the teams in their respective camps. They also managed to get rid of the two most annoying people right off the bat. Who will I learn to hate now? What is Survivor or The Amazing Race for that matter without the ability to be all judgemental based on an edit of footage shot of a person in a new, unfamiliar situation? That said, I expect Michelle to be annoying at all times now matter what sort of edit she got on the show.

The new season of Sarah Jane Adventures also started this week. I almost forgot. Is that bad?

The Torchwood radio show from BBC Radio 4 - Yeah. That was...bad. It was like the first draft of a regular Torchwood script. Some good could have come of it if they took their time and re-wrote it a bit. But that didn't happen. Martha was also there apparently to ask everyone how they felt. I thought she was a medical doctor, not a psychologist or a therapist.

I may be doing a day trip to LA in a couple weeks for a special project for work. No details and specifics yet. Fingers are crossed.

I also got an iPhone app to post blog entries from. Naturally I haven't tried it. What were you thinking?! Perhaps one day.

Lost has finally become semi-interesting late in the first season. I'm still at the "meh" stage.

Finally saw the first two Dr. Mabuse films. The original silent movie in two parts was better - and considerably longer - than the sequel which started to take a somewhat unwanted supernatural approach towards the end. I think this is a concept ripe to be re-explored again and to ressurect this forgotten character.

The iPhone 2.1 software - Oh, so that's what you meant all along isn't it, Steve Jobs? The 2.0.1 version is to show us the potential, the 2.0.2 was to keep all those nice apps from crashing every five minutes and the 2.1 version was to baby us in luxury and make us feel loved. Cell phone reception with it is also amazingly improved. Example: the comic shop I go to is traditionally a cell phone black hole. My previous phones were like this, the iPhone with the 2.0.1 and 2.0.2 were like this. You could get a call in there...maybe...and you had about 2 bars if you were lucky. New version? Full strength. Awesome. Lovin' my iPhone and I'm finally gonna drop my land line once and for all, which will invalidate something that's in Red Rocket 7, but progress is on the march.

Soon to be gone...

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Huberd) — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 04:18:00 +0000

Tris that is, gone from the iTunes app store that is for iPhone and iPod Touch users. It will be removed from the app store tomorrow. So let's see what's hot for free games for the iPhone and iPod Touch right now this instant, shall we?

Thought so. Well, everyone's grabbing this while they can because the official Tetris client for the iPhone and iPod Touch is apparently lame. Oh, and $9.99 too. Can't beat free... Even though I do acknowledge that the company that owns the rights to the game does have a bit of a legitimate gripe here.

I got a new toy...

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Huberd) — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 03:47:00 +0000

Thanks to a combination of waiting for the right moment, gift certificates and free super saver shipping from Amazon.com, I find myself now the proud owner of a Logitech Harmony Remote 550 for a mere fraction of its suggested retail price.

So...what do I think of this miracle device? Actually, now that I think I have it set up correctly, I quite like it. Sure there was some trepidation about the initial setup and install of the software to program the remote. The new 7.5 version was released just a few days ago, and the comments on Versiontracker.com worried me about the stability and usability of the software. Then I remembered that I was reading comments from users on Versiontracker.com and carried on with the install of the software. Software which, unlike was written about to the point of near-hysteria on Versiontracker, worked perfectly for me. Some of the more strident comments were amusing enough since they were criticizing Logitech for emphasizing work on the Windows version of the software over the Macintosh version. However, the software is primarily browser and Java based...so really fairly platform agnostic. Sometimes my Macintosh brethren do need to pull their heads out of somewhere and seriously get a grip.

For those of you who may be unfamiliar with Harmony remotes, it's a universal remote, and if you know me at all, you know quite well that I've been in need of one for some time. However, instead of the TV/DVD/VCR/CD function-type buttons that you'd find on a typical universal remote, the Harmony-series is instead task-oriented. Post-setup, you use an LCD screen (with a lovely blue glow on my model) to select from a menu of what you would like to do. For instance, if I want to watch TV, I scroll to that on the LCD screen, click the button while pointing the remote at the equipment like any other remote and then the TV will power up if need be, flip to the HDMI input, turn on the receiver and set that input appropriately and then control my HD cable box to change channels, watch shows on the DVR and turn the volume up or down on the receiver. If I want to play my XBOX 360 after that, I just scroll to that selection, push the button and then the input switches over to my VGA input, the audio switches over appropriately and it will even power up the XBOX for me. When I'm done, a single button powers down everything I want powered down. Clever. Very clever.

So basically instead of reaching for four or five remote controls, all I need is the one and instead of flipping between different modes to switch over inputs and so on, it does all the work for me. I like it! I like it quite a bit! In fact, anyone with a whole mess of equipment to control and enjoys LCDs with a soft blue backlighting should pick one of these up. There are more expensive models of this remote, but this one was perfect for my needs and budget.

Oh so very, very recommended...

A couple more ComicCon observations and memories...

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Huberd) — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 23:39:00 +0000

Watching Robert Culp walk across the dealer room and looking like he could still take on half the people there and kick their asses at age 77.

Did I mention the astounding number of people in full face masks that were also carrying rather unnervingly realistic looking weaponry? Up to and including firearms?

Warner Bros. were giving away each day rather large bags made of Tyvek for people to use to carry around their swag. Some enterprising people took it upon themselves to use these bags to create wearable clothing. A full suit pants and jacket in one case out of I believe Watchmen bags. I sat near them on one of the shuttles and they commented that they were going to get extra bags from WB next year to make clothing in advance of the show. That sorta takes the spontenaeity out of it...

Wow...traffic...

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Huberd) — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 04:52:00 +0000

So I was looking at my traffic stats for the past couple weeks, and I should go to San Diego Comic Con every month it seems...were they to have San Diego Comic Con monthly...and if I were in Southern California to make it even semi-feasible. But there wasn't a slight uptake in traffic to the site here, there was an exponential increase in traffic. People must have been looking for pictures from the show floor. I do hope that everyone enjoyed the pictures as provided. I also hope that nobody things I came away from the con this year with a negative impression of the show. There were lots of great things to do and see. In fact, there was an embarrassment of riches to be had at San Diego this year (and likely the past few years, and I expect going forward into the future). The issue I have is with the size of the venue as even with taking over the whole convention center, all 125,000 of us were packed in fairly tightly.

Tonight I watched my traditional birthday viewing of Star Trek II. This time, however, I rented a HD version of the movie from iTunes and watched via my AppleTV. So a brief report may be in order. It looked KINDA better than my DVD. But this is a movie from 1982, so while it is on film and theoretically could be scanned in for HD, there is only so much that you could expect from it. It's also the theatrical print as well, not the extended version currently available on standard definition DVD. I may have to try again and rent a more recent movie in HD to see if there is a strong, noticeable difference in picture quality.

Speaking of Star Trek...the Las Vegas Star Trek convention unveiled another set of four posters with the rest of the recast Enterprise crew...

For those playing at home, clockwise from top left are the new Mr. Sulu, Scotty, Chekov, and Dr. McCoy. Of course, at San Diego, we had the first set of four posters made available to the public...

Top left clockwise are the villain of the movie, Nero, Uhura, Kirk and Spock. I'm back to running a little cold on this movie to just hoping that it doesn't suck. My fingers are crossed...

ComicCon ramblings

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Huberd) — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 02:38:00 +0000

Back from ComicCon (obviously) and now that a week has passed and I am caught up and rested from my rest and relaxation, I can discuss calmly and sanely, my days in San Diego.

It was insane.

Insane, but fun. The trip down as mentioned was uneventful, if not a bit illogical. There are direct flights from Eugene to San Fransisco. There are direct flights from Portland to San Diego. My flight was from Eugene to Portland to San Fransisco to San Diego. Find the logic. Please. I certainly wasn't able to. My room in San Diego was just that. A room. Four walls, a window and a door. Plus bed, table and a place to put your clothes. Realistically this was all I needed while down there, but it was still somehow a bit off putting, even though it was amazingly cheap. I believe the accurate term used to describe this is a hostel. Do not let the very nice lobby of this location fool you. It worked very hard to earn that star and a half.

But the important thing is of course the show itself. I reiterate, it was insane and sold out all four days with 125,000 people milling around the dealer floor, conference rooms and the Great Hall H where all the pronouncements of cool for the upcoming year were made. Now the last time I went, many years ago, they convention was not using all of the space available in the convention center and I commented that it certainly was a bit busy on Sunday, the last day of the show and usually the slowest. This year the convention was bursting at the seams and taking up every square inch available in the convention center and if there was slowness anytime I didn't see it and nobody chose to bring it to my attention.

I did meet up with some guys I work with who are in Symantec's Culver City office, and I got to touch base with my pal Bill and my new pal Jane (who is totally awesome). Dinner with Bill, his wife Kayre and Jane was fantastic and the iPhone's GPS saved my bacon when I was getting oriented in San Diego to walk to the restaurant (along with being able to get my email, etc. while I was down there without having to lug my laptop). Twinkle on the iPhone was also handy to see what other people were up to locally and answer any questions on the fly if possible.

Friday night I had Sophie's Choice with going to the Mystery Science Theater 3000 reunion or the first live taping of The Totally Rad Show. I opted for TRS since I figured that MST3K's line would get capped fast - and I was right. Of course I completely blanked that the Eisner Awards were also Friday, and not Saturday as I was assuming. So I missed out on Bill hosting the ceremony. Ah well...

The show floor was fairly clearly divided between comics - what the convention was obstenibly about, and media - games, television and movies. Sure, artists alley was down next to video games, but that was just throwing crumbs to the people who were there strictly for the comics. In fact, once you walked past the Image Comics area at the show you were squarely in multimedia land and the traffic was honestly a little more crowded. No thanks to G4 television, who at least tried to keep traffic moving past their booth, and even less thanks to Paramount who encouraged people to cluster around their booth waiting for freebies (unlike other booths who were getting orderly lines formed to keep everyone moving). As a result the Paramount booth, sitting right along the main aisle for that side of the show was responsible for some massive traffic jams.

But I did have fun and left Sunday afternoon to make it back home. Sure, I made it to the airport in time like a good little traveler. I even got through security with a minimum of fuss. No thanks to Delta who had a delayed flight out of San Diego, making my trip from gate 1B to 12D in Salt Lake City an insane mad dash with me pulling my wildly flailing bit of luggage behind me as I didn't even have time to swing carry on in front of me to push and not pull. On the second moving sidewalk I heard the final boarding call for the flight to Eugene. When I saw the escallator heading down to the gate I very nearly gave up. But if there was anywhere I was going to be stranded due to a missed flight, it sure wasn't going to be Salt Lake City.

Pictures are available as mentioned before in the gallery...

One more thing...

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Huberd) — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 05:15:00 +0000

Before I retire for the evening for a good night's rest...

Home from ComicCon

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Huberd) — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 03:47:00 +0000

...and have been for a few days of course. It's been hectic getting back into the swing of things back in the real world. For those who are interested, pictures of the show are now available for your viewing pleasure. I would say more here, but I need to continue to upload these pictures to various and sundry social networks...my work never ends.

However, I do have some things to say, positive and negative about the show, and that will most likely be tomorrow evening.

Enjoy!

I'm at the airport...

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Huberd) — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 12:41:00 +0000

I got up at the ungodly hour of 4:00 am to finalize getting ready for my flight to San Diego for ComicCon. I'm so tired right now I could throw up. Nobody should have to see this time of day ever. It's inhuman. But I think I remembered everything for the trip. If not, there is a convenient Ralph's near the convention center. Hopefully the sense of dread and unease I feel is just due to sleep deprevation. Getting thru security in Eugene was a snap. Hopefully I'll have a similar experience leaving San Diego, but I doubt it...

Almost time to board. Better shut everything down now....

100th post

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Huberd) — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 17:03:00 +0000

It was just like yesterday, or a year ago that I started this mess as I went off to India and circled the globe in search of adventure and mystery. Look where we are today. I've add in social networks in the links on the right and now you can even follow me on Twitter. Where will the fun stop?
My next travel destination will be lovely San Diego, California for the San Diego Comic Con. Let's hope this year that the Fire Marshals won't be called in due to overcrowding. Since it's been about 5 or 6 years since I last went, it will be interesting to note the changes from my last trip. Apparently it takes over the entire convention center now, and with the stories of the overselling of the tickets and hearing all four days are sold out, I expect a crowded time. But I get a chance to see my pal Bill again and hopefully check out the TV Batmobile if it's there again this year.

I'll be leaving bright and far too early on Thursday morning and arriving back in town on Sunday. Get yer requests in...
I've also been working on something new as well that's been getting positive notes from Mike and Jamie. As soon as I finish the second pass at the treatment, I think we're good to go for scripting. Fingers crossed.

Not much else to say, other than I now have a lovely ghetto iPhone stand as seen above. Krusty the Clown and Batmobile not included. Actually, the stand is more clever than ghetto. Instead of paying an outrageous sum of money for some stand that the seller would describe as "hand crafted from the purest titanium and custom molded to the contours of the iPhone itself" I just went down to Wal-Mart and found a cell phone/PDA stand for a car instead. Adjusted the bendy arm bit to move the center of gravity around when the phone is put in the cradle and boom. Instant iPhone cradle. Exactly what I needed and less than $10.00!

Do you like video games?

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Huberd) — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 04:33:00 +0000

Hey kids!

Do you like video games?

Do you like swearing loudly?

Sure! Who doesn't? We all do!

Then you'll love Super Monkey Ball for the iPhone! Buy it today from the iTunes App Store. Brought to you by our friends at Sega.

Really. It's a fun game, but vicious. You need finesse to move the Monkey Ball around the play field using the iPhone's accelerometer. It's tricker than it looks. But, hey - 100 levels for $9.99? Cheap!

Next up is magic post number 100...

I got my iPhone 3G

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Huberd) — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 17:02:00 +0000

It took an extra day, but I managed to get one. This time I was first in line. Lucky me. So now that we have this...

Let's ponder briefly what next year's iPhone model will bring while I wait for all my music to load up. I'd say realistically (because a hardware keyboard just isn't going to happen unless Steve Jobs gets replaced by a Pod Person) we might see:

1. Better battery life - this is a given. They love to tout battery life and how it's much better now than it was. With the addition of the battery-sucking 3G technology, you'd better hope they're working on adding in some higher capacity batteries.

2. Double the storage - another given. I'm going to a 16 gig iPhone from a 16 gig iPod Touch. They have 32 gig iPod Touches now, and while I'm actually quite comfortable with 16 gigs, I'm sure I'm like most people and wouldn't turn down double the storage.

3. Haptic touch screen feedback. This will help with people trying to type on the virtual keyboard as they would get feedback that they can feel as they type. It could also be used for other programs on this theoretical iPhone, but for those who complain about the current keyboard situation, it would be a boon.

4. Stereo Bluetooth. Now I could get a little envious of this. Stereo Bluetooth means I can listen to the iPod portion of the phone without all those pesky wires tethering me to the device. But this wouldn't make me sell my soul in a year to get one if it were true.

These are all keen things, but not killer apps for me if these were to appear in an iPhone refresh in a year or so. This is why I took the plunge this morning and I'm not waiting another year. The software updates have been free so far, so no worries there. So I'll just wait for the model after the next one when my new AT&T contract expires in two years.

But this thing is gonna rock...

Top Gear - US Edition will suck...

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Huberd) — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 02:59:00 +0000

This was pointed out to me by a Mr. N. Worth, and I quite agree. Top Gear is a rather brilliant motorcar show on BBC 2 that will be brought to the US with new hosts for NBC. This is why it will fail. Spectacularly. In that US version of Coupling sort of way. It may not be apparent at first, and the hosts I have no doubt will know what they're talking about, and might even get the same level of energy and chemistry that Clarkson, Hammond and May have in the UK. However, as the BBC is an broadcaster that gets funding from the TV License in the UK, NBC relies on advertiser revenue. The moment that the US version goes out on a limb while reviewing, say, a Ford or a car from a division of Ford, and gives a very honest and critical review if they don't like the vehicle calls will be made to NBC corporate the very next day, if not that evening and discussions of sponsorship and current and future ad sales will be made, and it won't be pretty.

Which means that a US version of Top Gear will be limited to the challenges, the star in a reasonably priced car and so on, but if you're going to go in and expect an unbiased review of a vehicle, don't hold your breath.

Getting an iPhone?

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Huberd) — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 03:42:00 +0000

I sure am. Or I hope I am. They go on sale this Friday and I'll be in line at my local AT&T store to pick one up, because going to an Apple Store in Portland really is too far to drive for this sort of thing. Of course, AT&T has provided a helpful guide for everyone who will be wanting to get their iPhone with a minimum of fuss come July 11th...

Fan-tastic. Thanks AT&T! I did especially enjoy the important note there about getting your old phone number from a different carrier ported over to AT&T. While the movie was playing I heard this important note - which was to make sure to bring in a copy of your bill to the store to get the account number and so on to help with the number porting. This was playing while I was in the middle of shredding documents. Specifically at the time my Verizon bill. I believe this may count as irony. I'm not sure right now. However, I will not let this small issue stop me. Somehow.

I forgot to mention...

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Huberd) — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 03:48:00 +0000

Episode 12 of Doctor Who this year was fantastic... My all time favorite episode used to be Steven Moffat's The Girl in the Fireplace from series 2. While I'm still looking forward to Moffat taking over the series in 2010, The Stolen Earth just left that episode in the dust. Total Fanservice...

...and to prove what a nerd I am, I've got the Doctor's cell phone number in my address book and synced to my phone and iPod... 07700 900461.

Actually, that would technically be Martha's cell phone, wouldn't it? Hate to see any roaming charges on that bill...

Hello, it's me again...

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Huberd) — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 04:03:00 +0000

Contrary to what some may say or think, I do tend to keep somewhat busy. The past couple weeks have been no exception. Especially since I am preparing for my return to Nerd Prom 2008 this summer. I've tried a few attempts at creating a new entry, but none of them were really any good, and I only want to present the finest quality words, hand selected with you, the reader, in mind.

I have been watching Lost, or The Lost as I call it to annoy fans, or Crappy Version of Gilligan's Island as I refer to it personally. I'm still on the first season and finished up the 2nd episode on the 3rd disc. I'm completely convinced that at least up to this point they were making it all up as they went along.

Yes. I realize that the point of a weekly dramatization on television is indeed that the stories are made up. It is my firm understanding that I have not been watching a documentary and it is a "story" created by "writers." However, as is the current trend in dramas, and something you think would be pretty much a requirement for Lost, most shows have an overall story arc, goal for the season, and a logical game plan to take the characters to this narrative's finish line. It's my guess that the writer's room for Lost at this stage is "Yeah! Then they find a POLAR BEAR!" "OK! Then...let's see...how about this? A monster made out of smoke!" "Sure! Then they can find someone who's been on the island for 16 years!"

Sure, this is fine when plotting out your season's arc...but when you're in the thick of writing scripts after being picked up by a major television network could prove problematic if you aren't fully prepared.

Fortunately, even though they do seem to be playing things fast and loose and very much be ear, they do have the masterful Paul Dini on board. The first major reveal has also happened as well and I am assured that things turn into a tighter ship down the road. So I'm still on board and won't give up on this just yet. I promised Mike Allred I'd watch it anyway since he's watching Doctor Who now. A promise is a promise after all.

I also just finished up about a half hour ago or so a new wallpaper for Mike's site. It's set up for widescreen monitors and should look quite nice (I hope) on a 30 inch Cinema Display for those lucky owners. It's from the cover of the second printing of Madman Atomic Comics #1 and the guys on Mike's forum asked for a wallpaper ages ago, but I didn't have a copy of the 2nd printing to use...but I've got one on loan.

A second little side project was also completed this past week. Still not ready to talk about it. I need to give it one more look over and tighten things up a bit with that. Then maybe I can pester Jamie S. Rich for some feedback. It's more than dashed off notes, but it's not what I'd call a finished state yet.

The iPhone 3G as we all know by now also comes out on the 11th of this month. Yes, I will be getting one. This saves me from having to lug a Lenovo laptop down to San Diego later this month and I'll be able to check my email on the road and hopefully post from the show. I can also play Super Monkey Ball with it too! What fun! That makes it worth the investment right there!