Storming the iPhone

RIM is introducing the Blackberry Storm to (finally) counter Apple's iPhone line. Years ago I thought BB's were da bomb. Problem is even the Storm is still a yesterday model.

E.g. they are hyping that it can play mp3s. Big whoop. That is ancient functionality at this point. Part of the greatness of the iPhone is the ability to do so many things effectively. iTunes brings with it movies, videos, video podcasts, etc. I can sync family photo albums - no more dealing with crappy wallet photos. And all this is so easy and for syncing is completely automatic.

Bored in line or some other twiddle-thumbs situation? Play a game. Don't have one you want to play? Fine, download one. 

The RIM browser totally sucks...

For those completely committed to RIM, or stuck with it because of corporate rules, Storm is a minor step forward. For the rest: skip this one.

A huge advance for Civilization...

In a huge advance for civilization and peace and understanding for the world, Monty Python now has a legit channel on YouTube that includes high quality images. They are still getting started adding content but I just saw one of my all  time faves, Black Knight, is already there. Killer Rabbit is too. I'm laughing just thinking about it :-)

Go forth and waste time laughing. Oh, wait. Laughing isn't a waste of time at all!

Spam be Gone???

I've seen several reports lately, such as this one, about spam machines being cut off.This kind of news has been reported in the past and I never paid much attention to it since my spam has been ever increasing. 

This time I'm a believer. My various anti-spam tools had been showing a running accumulation of junk mail totaling around 1,000 items - stashed neatly in a single folder to smolder and then be sent to oblivion on a rolling basis after being in purgatory for 1 week. A few weeks ago the count suddenly dropped to under 500 and held there.

After this latest anti-spam effort my junk folder has - incredibly - fewer than 100 items. I can't remember when I've seen such little junk mail. I never pay much attention to the junk mail folder but the crap does slow things down and occasionally causes false "new mail" notifications and other minor annoyances. Plus I'm a neat freak and just hate junk. I'm quite happy by this turn of events! Wonder how long it will last?

Ford & GM - Pathetic Leadership

Well for the second time this year Ford and GM have their hands out for billions of dollars of taxpayer money to help them do what they've fought and ignored for what seems my entire lifetime. Getting 25 billion dollars earlier this year isn't enough. Now they want another 25 billion. 

These companies have consistently and obstinately refused to produce fuel efficient cars - something that would have benefited their employees and shareholders as well as the climate. Laws were passed many years ago to "encourage" them to move in this direction but instead they chose the crack cocaine (producing large SUVs not classified for passenger use to bypass the laws). Now they are paying the price (for the second time in my life) for their totally shortsighted decisions and inefficiency. 

While I doubt that a standard Chapter 11 filing by these automakers would be the right thing I certainly think just handing over more money is absolutely the wrong thing to do. There must be real accountability and real pain for the stakeholders and, unfortunately, pain for the employees is unavoidable if this vicious near nationalization of the US automakers is to ever end. Problem is I have trouble seeing Democrats making this kind of tough decision since their re-elections are tied strongly to unionization. 

He's here!!!

Starting...

Hopefully we will fill this later today...

G1 Android Phone - G1 must mean

I finally saw the Google G1 phone yesterday. After doing so I think G1 must have been chosen as the name due to the fact it is Gawd-awful ugly. The photos don't really do justice to its clunkiness. That fact is this thing is butt ugly. 

The fact the first instance was allowed to be so uninspired sure highlights the difference between a Steve Jobs run product conception and that of the average techie...

Lovely...

way to spend Sunday.