The Force Forever

The anticipation for the Star Wars Trilogy release will never be equaled in my lifetime! And it was with hyperactive enthusiasm that I collected the DVD set, from the postman, this afternoon. Thanks Amazon UK.



Over the next few days I intend to watch the saga, listen to the Sony soundtrack release and impart my reviews here.

Club 33

This is my 100th post and it fittingly coincides with an invitation to orkut, which is to Google what Club 33 is to Disney! Orkut was established by a Google employee as a means of social networking or, in marketing vernacular, hot working.

In US TV network parlance; 100 episodes is considered to be the magic number at which point many television series are viable for TV syndication!

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow

There are already excellent blogs that cover PVR (Personal Video Recorders). However, I want to chime in with my user experiences!

In December 2000 I bought a TiVo machine (manufactured by Thomson) and within a month sent it back! Not because the equipment was flawed, no, I lamented the lack of a built-in decoder and shelf space was at a premium. In early 2001 I interviewed for a TiVo guide editor post at sky. Prophetically, within a few months TiVo decided to withdraw from the UK market (continuing support for existing customers only). And sky focused on its own branded product that lacked TiVo’s signature feature - suggestions.

In 2003 I subscribed to sky+ as part of an upgrade package. However, following the ‘failure’ of two Pace V1 STBs (replaced with reconditioned kit) and ongoing technical issues including crashes, failed recordings and the inability to download recorded content to VCR/DVD – it appears that there may be sky+ software glitches that undermine its reliability - I decided to cancel my subscription. Question to sky: Do you seed software updates to testers during R&D?

As an avid Apple user, I’d welcome a digital lifestyle application that records directly to HDD/removable media along the lines of Elgato’s award-winning EyeTV. Coupled with QuickTime (H.264/AVC) and technology licensed from TiVo, the potential for another Mac OS X killer application is not that far fetched! Perhaps Apple will have the insight to add a TV tuner (included in my Performa 5200) in future revisions of the new iMac and claim the Media Center throne.

Firestarter

Regular visitors may have noticed the Firefox plug under Post Editor! This browser, whilst not without flaws inherited from its forebears, works hand in glove with Blogger and is on the eve of reaching a developmental milestone. Give it a whirl and "rediscover the web" as their marketing urges.

On a separate note. Apple has started to seed new developer builds of OS X 10.4 Tiger. This major revision to OS X looks very promising.

Back to writing the first of those two large editorials I mentioned.

Groucho Club

For sometime I have admired the talented writers behind Friends, Seinfeld and Will & Grace! Last night's Funny Already - A History of Jewish Comedy was insightful and entertaining.

From a personal point of view I can clearly see the origins of my Mother's rapier sense of wit, self-deprecation and comedic timing. Priceless.

9/11

Ate donuts at Sainsbury's and concede that they'll take some beating. Should give Krispy Kreme a good run for their money.

Peace.

Minority Report

The announcement of the second Cruise/Spielberg collaboration, The War of the Worlds, is a compelling proposition. H.G. Wells, alongside authors J.R.R. Tolkien and Lewis Carroll, enriched my childhood literary experiences and had a profound impact on my thinking. I discovered Wells' opus via Jeff Wayne's seminal "The Musical Version Of" LP - Sony UK is preparing a 5.1 surround sound edition for release in 2005 - belated thanks to Kevin Simpson's Dad, Nick. The first movie adaptation (1953) was a thinly veiled anti-communist subtext, which secured an Oscar for special effects. With Wayne's filmic endeavour suffering from a protracted gestation, Spielberg has an opportunity to revisit The War of the Worlds as post 9/11 allegory.

Don't miss the chance to download the latest single of the week from iTMS (Europe only). Baby (Off the Wall). The sensuous Sirens hail from Newcastle, UK, and their sound echoes the urban grooves of All Saints and the Sugababes with added feistiness!

The last few days have afforded me little opportunity to post! However, over the next few weeks there will be a duo of major editorials concerning a couple of my hobbies.

Cat Capers

From this evening novelist Nick Smith's web site is now live. I'll be updating it on a regular basis, so please bookmark.

Glow

Now that the dust surrounding the release of the new iMac has settled. I stand by my assertion that Apple has done the brand a short-term disservice in the choice of GPU!

Last year the nVIDIA GeForce 5200 appeared in the final revision of the iMac LCD. Therefore the GeForce 6600 would have delivered considerably more 'bang' and improved future proofing. Yes, the consumer desktop is aimed at the so-called lower end of the market, but that doesn't preclude it from being a versatile gaming and publishing platform.

And Apple appears to have missed a further trick or three. The new machine has enough urban chic to silence even the most demanding of the style-obsessed! The 20" model should be the jewel in the crown of any digital lifestyle centre. And replace or supplement TiVo and Sky+! Of course Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger may contain further surprises in this regard and kick Microsoft's so-called Media Centers into a cocked hat.

Pinch Punch

Added a new hit counter as Google has ceased supporting bSTATS.

Aspyr's Brad Oliver has updated the Macintosh edition of his Jedi Academy SDK (download link). This fixes bugs in the initial release.