The first is that I’ve begun hosting a quick little segment on the newscasts of the TV station I work for.  It’s called “Plugged In”, and it focuses on everyday tech headlines.  I try not to make it too “geeky” or over anyone’s head.  It’ll just be the “news you can use” type of tech news;  mobile phones, social networking, video games, etc.

You can see the videos and links to what was in each show at:

• http://pluggedin.news25.us

Another thing is I got another credit on my IMDb page last week.  The short film “Silence of the Belle” was accepted into IMDb’s database, and a trailer was added to the site.  It’s a comedy blend of film styles, including silent film and 70’s kung-fu. 

Finally, I have a new roommate at my apartment, who only needs two cubic feet to live, so it won’t be too cramped.  I got a juvenile Tokay gecko shipped to me from Oklahoma.  I haven’t been able to identify the sex, so I’ve gone with a nice, asexual “Sam”.  That’s also the name of my favorite Tom Clancy character.

Anyway, I’ve had to replace the mainboard and the memory.  I ordered the Gigabyte EP45-UD3P and 4GB of RAM from a brand I’d never heard of; Mushkin.  I got a deal for ordering them together from NewEgg, plus $30 in total mail-in rebates that I hope I’ll get back.

I’ll have to install Windows 7 clean on it.  (Have you ever tried to switch mainboards on Windows?  It’s gets TICKED.)

So, hopefully I’ll be back up and online later tonight, perhaps even in 64-bit glory.

• Driver’s side window wouldn’t stay up
• Passenger’s side door lock rusted shut
• No air conditioning
• Gas needle was WAY off
• Brakes sounded like pliers on a spinning nail
• Internal ceiling fabric drooped and sagged
• Paint peeled off of hood and roof
• Turn signals didn’t blink (just stayed on solid)
• Brights wouldn’t stay on
• Hole where radio should’ve been
• Cupholders stuck shut

It was time to go, but it was weird seeing it leave.  If you’d like to share your favorite moments with the Sweet Van, feel free to leave a comment.

First off, I have an iPhone 3GS, and I really like it so far.  Secondly, I didn’t even pay the discounted retail price for it, so my sentiment about the price not justifying the features still stands.  However, for what I paid for it, it’s definitely worth it.

My dad recently joined the ranks.  When he was deciding what kind of phone to get, I showed him my iPhone, and he seemed genuinely impressed.  He decided to get one.  Then, in looking at pricing, he debated the 3G for $99 or the 3GS for $199.  Then he thought of a third scenario.  He’d get the 3GS, and let me pay the difference, then he’d take my recently replaced 3G with a brand new Apple Care plan on it, and I’d take the new one.

Dad has a 3-week old 3G and I have a 3GS now.  When we separated this morning from the AT&T store, he was confident he could make and answer calls.  After a brief session with some of the apps last week, we now know that Dad wants the Google app, Vlingo and a few others neither of us could remember.

Saturday, I’ll be heading over to his place to get him fully set-up, with Wi-Fi at the house, the apps he wants and an overall comfort level with his phone.

With the enhanced camera and video camera, I’ll try to get some more stuff up on my site more often.  Maybe I’ll put up a cool image gallery or something, instead of the turd of a photo page I have now.

By the way, looking at some site data for my blog, I found that a few dozen people found my site by a goofy joke I’d typed in the last post about the iPhone 3GS+.  This is how rumors get started…

As much as I love my current phone, I’m going to pass on this new one, at least for now.  Here’s why…

First off, I’m not saying that I wouldn’t take one if someone handed one to me and said “it’s on us”, but at the price point, the features it offers are not enough to justify the cost.  I suppose my post’s title could be a little misleading, but “iPhone 3GS – I Would Want It Either Offered More Features or Took a Price Cut” wouldn’t fit in many RSS readers.

Arguably, the biggest feature of this new phone is its camera.  Both the video feature and the fact that it’s more than just a cell phone camera are compelling.  In demos, they showed off the ability to click an object on the screen that the camera is looking at, and that object will be what’s in focus.  So if you had a foreground, a subject and a background, clicking on any one of those elements would make THAT element crystal clear.  It’s also a 3 megapixel camera, which is leaps and bounds better than the turd on my current 3G.  However, I don’t take enough pictures with my phone for a better camera to be an attractive feature.  It’s not REMOTELY what I bought or use my iPhone for.

A feature that I WOULD want, if the price were right, would be the voice activation/dialing/etc.  However, a week before launch, I’m not completely assured that the voice activation isn’t in, or can’t be added to, the new 3.0 OS that EVERY iPhone will be getting soon.

I guess if the phone was more attractive to me, personally, I’d be more up in arms at the fact that as a 3G owner, I’d have to pay full retail price for one, starting at $399, instead of what NEW owners get to pay, starting at $199.  But that’s if I wanted one.  As it is, I’m not upset because I don’t think it’s a worthwhile upgrade for what I want out of the phone now.  As time goes on, I might change my mind.

Now, my friend Chris is looking forward to getting one, and for good reason.  One, he’ll be getting it at the acceptable price, and two, he’s moving up from his EDGE phone.  He’ll have the jump in features that made the 3G so attractive, PLUS the bells and whistles of the 3GS.  Hell, the jump from EDGE to 3G in itself was the most attractive thing to me about switching phones last summer.

Maybe I’ll wait for next year, and see what the iPhone 3GS+ can do…

This is also a eulogy for the 1990 Plymouth Voyager, known by Luke and Liv as the “Sweet Van”.  It’s coming up on its 20th birthday this year, and has been a loyal vehicle, albeit without a lot of features used commonly for driving, such as power brakes, an aim-able driver-side mirror, a driver-window that rolled down, a functioning oil gauge, AC, heat, a radio, a functioning lock on 2 of its three doors and several others I’m sure I’m forgetting.

I’ll put a picture up next time I’m home and near the van.

Share your memories of the Sweet Van in the comment section.  (If you’re having trouble, pretend it’s Bunny or something…)

I’d messed with Ubuntu around 10 years ago, when a vendor sent Sean a kiosk display of free CD’s for the counter of the computer repair shop where we worked. Then, it seemed more of an uber 1337 super-system for Linux fans, maybe bored of Red Hat.  Now, Ubuntu’s installation of apps, GUI and system is incredibly inviting to me, as more of a day-to-day sort of software.

As a die-hard Windows guy (minus my phone), I generally need my Windows desktop to really feel ‘at home’ with my computer.  My games, my desktop ‘gadgets’, Windows Media Center and several other things keep me coming back to the Microsoft mothership. 

But since I was wanting to get more familiar with it so I could be fluent when I get my OLPC, I installed Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex) onto a spare hard drive I had.  I’ve liked it very much so far.  I’m learning how to tweak it to what I want it to be, but in five days, I haven’t had to switch back to Windows… yet.  I’ve been able to do instant messaging, web-browsing & several other things with apps that I can find that are comparable to Windows counterparts.  I know it makes me ‘uncool’ in the tech world, but I DEFINITELY prefer IE to Firefox.  It still gets around fine, but just doesn’t seem as intuitive to me.

Now, going back to a previous topic, my phone, cannot sync to Ubuntu through what I’ve found.  I need it to sync MORE than just songs.  I need apps, contacts, photos and more to sync, and I cannot find a viable option for that, so though my Ubuntu journey has been fun, it may be seeing an early end.

That’s not to say it won’t work for the OLPC.  I think it’ll be ideal there.  I just don’t think I can do it on my main machine.  Perhaps dual-boot?  Who uses Ubuntu out there? 

What apps should I get?

A game night has been scheduled at Craig’s this weekend.  I haven’t seen some of those guys in a while, so that will be FUN.

Tonight, I plan to release what’s left of my tree frogs at Angie’s pond.  Sean had taken several of them earlier, and I plan to keep the two bright green ones, but the rest will hopefully grab mosquitos out of the air around the pond.  Also, tonight is Beef Stroganoff night.  Luke was asking what my favorite food was over the weekend, so I told him I’d make it for him one night this week.

Our podcasts keep getting delayed for one reason or another.  I hope we can get back on the stick soon and crank out some more, or maybe just go ahead and make the leap back to video.

The App Store on iTunes is really growing quickly, with new stuff coming out all the time.  Most recently, I’m using:

• Twinkle
• Labyrinth LE
• Enigmo
• Tap Tap Revenge
• iWant
• ReQall
• Pandora

The Dark Knight was a good, not great, movie.  (Spoiler-free) I really liked it, but wish he’d pick a style.. hyper-realistic or goofy technology/fantasy.  It was all over the place.  And I thought Ledger was a really good Joker, but will be surprised if he gets an Oscar.  Vote in my poll and tell me if you agree.