ClownCo

ClownCo, the NBC/Fox competitor to YouTube, has a name: Hulu. Not much better. I doubt its going to work. YouTube is not just "premium" content. A lot of it is user generated. More than that, Hulu is me too. I think they are going to be surprised how little people care about clips from 24 and how little advertising they can really generate. This reminds me of them the music companies came together to form those music services, the names of which I can't even remember any more.

Global warming destroying the bread basket

Time reports that global warming is causing floods and droughts that are starting to impact wheat production. Ironically, the other thing driving wheat prices up is biofuel. We need to aggressively develop other sources of biofuel and move fast to reduce CO2 emissions before wheat becomes so costly, we starve a good portion of the world.

Larry Craig

Lot of news about Larry Craig and his arrest for trying to pick up an undercover cop in an airport bathroom. Mitt Romney has dropped him from his campaign and called his behavior "disgusting". He also may have harassed underage pages and has for years been suspected of homosexual behavior. But the interesting twist is that Craig was one of the Senate's most virulent anti-gay rights members.

Is Larry Craig gay? I think its more complicated than that. Craig is confused. He obviously feels guilty about his homosexual urges and like Mark Foley his outspokenness in Congress against gay rights is a clear act of self-loathing. Its hard to feel sorry for someone who has done and said the things Craig has, but I do. It just goes to show that this culture of asking people to hide who they are is wrong. Ironically, Larry Craig is the biggest victim of a culture he helped to perpetuate.

Don Rickles...

Is on Regis and Kelly. I think he's always been the same age. He's immortal.

Walt Explains Multiplane camera

Must watch. Thanks The Disney Blog!

OMG, Wayne Newton is on Dancing with the Stars!

Jobs and Woz...as Legos

Poxbrix.com is releasing this limited edition 300 unit piece with a Young Jobs and Woz as Legos. So cool. Too bad with only 300 the odds are I'll never get one.

Thanks FSB via Gizmodo!

Penguin

Got to meet the Club Penguin guys yesterday. What nice people and a great company! Lane Merrifield is like the Walt Disney of online worlds. He worked at Disneyland when he was 16 and never forgotten the experience. Its amazing how he's taken the Disney philosophy and applied it to online worlds. If Walt were alive, I think he would be very, very intrigued by what Penguin is doing.

The area they are located in Canada is called Kelowna. Its like the Napa Valley of Canada. Apparently, it never gets below 40 degrees and never gets above 80. Its beautiful. We went to a place called Summerville Winery and had an all organic meal. Tremendous incredibly fresh food! The star of the show were the blackberries. Everyone was talking about them and none of us had ever had berries so tasty and so fresh.

Mary Blair's Cinderella

Mary Blair is one of my favorite Disney artists and one of the most unique artists in Disney history. Now Disney Editions has released a re-telling of the Cinderella story with illustrations from Mary Blair pulled from her work on the film. If you have girls, buy this. Its a treasure.

School Bus

2719 Hyperion has a post on this vintage Disney lunch box and I would be remiss in not posting it to this blog.

George Lucas' Tomorrowland

There's a lot of talk on Disney blogs about rumors that Disney is trying to cozy up to George Lucas. Rumors has it that Disney wants to get the Star Wars animated show as well as the live action one, and now Jim Hill is saying that as part of the deal, Disney is wants to have Lucas re-design Tomorrowland. God I hope this is true!

The animated Star Wars would be a huge shot in the arm for Disney's cable properties and give it something to build a boys block around. I'm not sure how well ultimately Star Wars would do on ABC, but I think it is definitely worth a shot. And a George Lucas Tomorrowland would be tremendous!

Tomorrowland has always been problematic. When the park opened, it was half finished. And Its always been rocky from there. In the '90s, Imagineers decided to give up on the future and decided to re-theme around the nostalgia of futures-past like Jules Verne and HG Wells. I like parts of that. But it would be nice to get back to the future. No one knows futuristic like George Lucas. He invented modern Sci Fi. Every male born between 1965 and 1980 would have to make a pilgrimage to George Lucas' Tomorrowland.

Just don't touch Space Mountain. They should make that John Hench-designed attraction a national landmark.

Gateway bought

On this blog I have written several times about Gateway and some of my old pals there. I have said that Gateway did not make sense as a standalone company and would eventually be swallowed by a Taiwanese manufacturer looking to grow market share in the US. Well, that happened a few days ago.

What does this mean? As I have said before, there was nothing really wrong - other than they screwed up the direct channel - with Gateway. They have a great sales and product planning team. Their problem was really that there's no sense being public and the 3rd banana PC company. They are really a sales company and now they can focus on that. Their biggest issue was always that Wayne Inouye destroyed direct and if Acer is smart, they will fix that, but once you loose that traffic, its hard.

Apple Remote

I complained a little bit earlier this week about the iPhone keyboard and Steve Jobs' design blind spots. Now let complain once again about Apple TV....

I lost my Apple TV remote today, for the zillionth time. Its too damn small. Apple doesn't get that people can't keep up with a dinky little remote like this. Its bad design. The major design problem on iPod is portability, so small is good. But no one needs to put their remote in their pocket. The design problem on TV remotes is that they get lost in the couch cushions. They misunderstood the need. But more than that, it has no functionality and that just sucks.

Apple should look at the Tivo remote. Its the best remote I've ever had. Its easy to use, you don't even have to look at it to use it, but its got all the functionality you need right there at your fingertips.

Disneyland

Took the kids to Disneyland late yesterday afternoon. I really like going late in the day after their naps because it starts to cool down and they have more energy. Its also fun for them to be out at night. Its probably been six months since we went and it was a lot of fun. We rode the Pooh ride 3 times, went on the Jungle Cruise, and saw the Enchanted Tiki Room.

The highlight was the fireworks show. Its themed to each of the lands. Really amazing show. I was holding my youngest son when peed all over me. I had to hold him another five minutes, covered in pee, so he could see the end of the show. Now that's love!

Mr. Rogers' $20M speech

Kim Klaver brings us this video of Mr. Rogers 1969 hearing before Congress to try to secure funding for PBS where he talks about the importance of what he did. If you watch this and you aren't moved to tears, you aren't human.

The iPhone keyboard sucks

This has been reported all over the Web, but a group called User Centric has tested the iPhone keyboard and found that it is 2x slower than a QWERTY keyboard like Blackberry. Duh. I couldn't believe it when Steve Jobs got up and told everyone that their soft keyboard was better than a physical one and then started deriding Blackberry. Even the RDS can't spin that hard. I think its an embarrassment and shows that Apple has a big blind spot. The iPhone would have been 10x better and only slightly bigger if they had made it a slider with a real keyboard. The whole device is about the web and when you can't type it really defeats the purpose. Pinching is cool and all, but its a gimmick. They need to get the fundamentals right.

I want my VOD

Its catch-up day at Casa De Luxe. Good article on how ridiculous it is that Hollywood won't put VOD in the same window as DVD because its afraid of the cannibalization boogey man even though you can rent a DVD from Blockbuster on day-and-date - tell me how that's not the same thing - and even though the studios makes 3x profit off VOD over DVD rentals. And to top it off, Time Warner tested it and found that when VOD was available day-and-date with DVD, that VOD demand went up 50% while DVD sales ALSO WENT UP 5-10%.

Chery

Chrysler just announced that it will begin importing Chinese made cars in 2008. Good timing, Chrysler. With all the news about lead in toys and killer toothpaste and dog food, I've been wondering what scheme China had up its sleeve for killing us next. My question is answered.

Reich on Bush

Readers of this blog know that I love Robert Reich and agree with a lot - but not all - of what he says. Today, he couldn't have said it better on Iraq:

"For Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and others who lived through (but, notably, did not fight in) Vietnam, America’s tragedy there was always a failure of nerve rather than a failure of wisdom. But most Americans know the truth. Not only did we have no strategy once we got to Vietnam but we had no good reason to be in Vietnam in the first place. Tens of thousands of American lives and countless Vietnamese lives were lost because we wrongly assumed that communism in Southeast Asia was a contagion that would spread unless eradicated by force. Yet for the last four years we have heard the same words we heard from Lyndon Johnson and Robert McNamara forty years ago – that we are “winning” in Iraq, that we must “stay the course” there, that “leaving would be tantamount to defeat,” that “America’s credibility” is at stake, that a “pullout would be disastrous.” And today, seemingly without comprehending the close parallels between the bloodbath America caused by entering Vietnam more than four decades ago and the bloodbath he caused by entering Iraq, our president has the audacity to tell us that our withdrawal from Iraq would result in a bloodbath similar to that caused by our withdrawal from Vietnam."

iTunes widget

You may have noticed that I added Apple's new iTunes widgets to this blog. This may not have been a smart idea. It displays all my guilty pleasures to the world. For example, today I saw it scroll names like "Brittany Spears" and "Matt Dusk". In my defense, I have 15GB of music. I have a LOT of music. Its can't all be good.

Rhapsody

My favorite quote on the Real Neworks-MTV-Verizon digital music hook-up comes from Fake Steve Jobs: "There are few companies more obnoxious and incompetent than Microsoft, but Real Networks is one of them." Too true.

The Giuliani Effect

Good article from Time about Giuliani's credentials, or lack thereof, on terrorism. I have always felt America gives him way more credit on terrorism than he deserves. Its a sad example of the power of TV and spin control. Giuliani may have kept is cool on 9/11 and made a good show for the cameras. But as Time says "But being a victim of terrorism, or the steely leader of a recovery, is not necessarily the same as understanding terrorism." The article points out that prior to 9/11, Giuliani did little to prepare for a terrorist attack. And in fact many firefighters died on 9/11 because of poor coordination and preparedness, a problem that was known and reported to Giuliani by his head of emergencies. Yet Giuliani did not resolve the issue. It also points out that Giuliani was originally on the Iraq Study Group but didn't show up for the meetings, including an Iraq Master Class, and eventually quit. He was too busy making paid speeches and trying to run for President to serve his country. The truth is that Giuliani knows little about terrorism and has done even less in counter-terrorism.

I love Joe Biden's quote on Giuliani's claim that he is most qualified candidate on terrorism. "Give me a break. I'm more qualified than him by a mile. I think he gets away with this because the most catastrophic event in modern American history saw him at the base of a building demonstrating some personal courage and taking command."

Nanotechnology

My son heard Batman talk about nanotechnology today. Now he won't stop talking about it. He told me wife "I know all about nanotechnology, mamma." She said, "What is it?" He said, "Mamma, don't ask me questions like that about nanotechnology. Its a secret."

Fashion Rocks?

I just got the new Wired. It comes with a....fashion supplement with J Lo on the cover? Why in the name of God would they think the Wired reader would want that?

It also comes with a big fallout card for Men's Vogue. Conde Nast must be desperate.

Jekyll

New show on BBC America. Incredible show. I must admit, I was skeptical at first, now I'm hooked. The basic premise - Dr. Jackman has a secret double life, as Mr. Hyde. Only this is not a redux of the novel, its a sequel. Jackman is the decendent of the original Dr. Jekyll, who was also a friend of Robert Louis Stevenson. The government covered up the existance of the real Jekyll/Hyde and apparently, there have been many. I know it sounds goofy, but its really awesome.

The Geek Hierarchy

Click through to see where you fall in Geekdom.

Behold, the iPhone Shuffle!

Thanks Gizmodo!

How's it working

I've been doing this whole Twitter-esque thing for a few weeks now. Any thoughts? Is it better than the long format?

Going to Pixar today

Can't tell you what for. But I'm going to buy some exclusive Pixar merch in their company store.

Greek

If you aren't watching this ABC Family show, you should its great. Its basically Animal House with a love triangle done right.

My favorite quote from this week comes from a scene in which the head of the Animal House frat has to get a noise permit for their big party, but to get it, he has to go through Gladyis, a late 40 year old embittered administrator and he says:

"Pledge, bring me my cougar kit...and don't forget the Old Spice"

The World's Best First Class

23-inch dining tables that sit two. Fully reclining beds with duvets, sheets, and feather pillows. Concierge service through security and passport control. An exclusive check-in terminal with a spa and gourmet restaurant. Bulgari travel kits. Givenchy sleep suits. 25" personal LCD TVs with 400 videos on demand. And god forbid, actual cooked - not just warmed - food. These are just some of the comforts that await the first class traveller on Forbes list of the 10 airlines with the best first class service.

But guess who didn't make the list? Shit ass United, where you are greeting by worn down broken seats that only recline at 120 degrees, elderly staff who ignore you half the flight, crap food (who many filet mignon must be turned into shoe leather before the UN Security Council takes action), and my favorite, the 5" video tape player with your option of any 5 movies you want.

Fuck United!

Castle

Its early in the morning and we are getting ready to come home. Its been a very fun week for everyone and a good chance for the kids to see their grandparents. I know they will miss them a lot.

I can't believe I'm only blogging about this today, but one of the highlights of the trip was a 2-story castle the grandparents build for the kids in the big 3 acre backyard. It was really a dream come true for these kids. They don't know how lucky they have it.

I have a few better pictures on my camera, but these will give you the idea.

Domo arrigato, Mr. Roboto

Its my mother-in-law's 70th birthday. Someone gave her one of those musical cards that plays "Domo Arrigato, Mr. Roboto". My 4 year old has been playing it again and again and again. He says its his favorite song.

Voltron: The Movie

Fueled by Transformers mania, they're making Voltron as a live action movie.

iLife

Okay, maybe I was a little harsh on Apple. I just installed iLife '08. Its incredible. Events is a godsend and the new iMovie is so damn easy it puts the old one to shame. Such an improvement.

Bourne Ultimatum

Saw it today at the Birmingham 8, an old movie place near Detroit. Beautiful place and great movie. Non-stop action. No love story. No stopping. Just ass kicking. I could totally see it again.

Suburbia

Went to a party this past weekend in the suburbs around Detroit. This ain't just white picket fences folks. Try gated communities with names like "The Woods" and "Hunter's Point" and humongous McMansions. All this less than 10 miles from some of the most devestating poverty in the US.

Imagineering at the DIA

Okay, so it wasn't the ghetto. We went to the Detroit Institute of the Arts. Its been closed for years due to a massive refurbishment. A friend of ours, Sven, has been hired as VP of Operations and is overseeing the refurbishment. He comes from the hospitality industry, not the art industry. They wanted someone with his background to re-do all the service aspects of the museum. He's the perfect guy to do it because of his background at Ritz Carlton and Kimpton Hotels.

He gave us a sneak preview and it was pretty interesting to see some of the innovation they are bringing to the museum world.  Each collection now lives in a themed environment and is crafted around a story. For example, he showed me an Italian collection with the theme of a trip through Italy that followed the real life journey of two Renassiance boys as they travelled to see the great works of the masters, somewhat of a rite of passage for their day.

There were also a lot of ways in which technology was woven into the exhibits. Another example, the DIA found that no one looks at the dinnerware especially china when they are at museums. So they decided that the dinnerware displays needed more context. They have a table in the center of the room and an actual dinner service is projected on it to show how the dinnerware was used. It made the topic much more interesting. They are also using directional sound effects, motion sensors, etc throughout the museum.

At one point, I turned to Sven and said "hey, this is Imagineering!" He said "That's funny, we call these our Disney effects". It was really interesting to see how the universal concepts of themeing, story, show, and immersion translate into and really improved this very different type of environment.

The museum looks beautiful and very accessible for laymen now. Sven and the DIA should be proud. The museum opens in November and I'm sure everyone will be amazed.

Going downtown

I'm headed to downtown Detroit to go to the Cass Corridor, one of the shittiest parts of town, to go to an art gallery and ask for a guy named "Sven". I left my Tech9 at home. Shit! Wish us luck!

Apple Wrap-Up

The Apple "Event" just ended. Apple's stock is down $2. Had Apple just announced these products on the web, the stock might be up. But Steve didn't - as I predict - part the seas and the speculative run-up this morning was for naught. The new iMac is more of an evolution than a revolution. Mac Mini speed bumps hadn't but didn't even get talked about. And iLife and iWork updates were ho hum. Pretty boring Steve-note really. Is it obvious by now that all the R&D this year went to iPhone?

Most disappointing was .Mac. Okay so it now has Flickr two years after Flickr and 10GB of storage. So what?

Game time

Its a few hours to the Steve-note. Here's the rumors - new iMac, new iLife, new iWork with a spreadsheet app, and speed bumps for the Mac Mini. I'd say those are all going to happen. Apple always releases new iLife revs with the new OS so it makes sense to do so now and do it on iWork too. Other rumor is a big overhaul to .Mac. God knows what it will be. As it is, .Mac sucks. Maybe there will be some fancy integration with Google. Would it be too much to ask for iWeb to integrate with Blogger? I'd pay for that.

Fairly Oddparents Best Quote Ever

"This may sound cliche, but you need to throw my severed head into the clearance bin NOW!!"

Fetishes

Standing at a Panera Bread, one of the hottest "fast casual" restaurants, which basically means fast food without the hobos. Never eaten here before, but heard all about it. They have a little sampler of bread out front and man is it tasty. Panera is just another in the early 21st century craze of food fetish restaurants. Love coffee? Try Starbucks. Love bread? Try Panera. They've got full loaves, danishes, muffins, sandwiches and of course, smoothies. Because nothing washes down carbs like more carbs, particularly when they're sweet. But hey, its healthy, right?

Joost is awesome

As readers of this blog know, my oldest son recently got in Transformers. For work, I have been testing Joost and I knew that they had Transformers and GI Joe on the service. Last night, on vacation in Detroit, we watched GI Joe via WiFi. At full screen, the quality was great with the perception of full frame rates. There were some glitches here and there, but overall, I'm very impressed. It blows away Real streaming. If they had the shows I wanted to watch, I might even cancel my TV subscription.

This is what Apple TV needs. Apple TV is great, but let's face it, no one wants to buy TV. Ad supported is the way to reach the masses. The problem is that rather than integrate something that works like Joost, Apple will either try to do it on their own or won't do anything and will say some bullshit like "we think that people want to own their content and they want it at higher quality than you can do with streaming".

Apple Event

There is an Apple Event this Tuesday. Most are saying that it is Macintosh focused and everyone is expecting a new iMac. If this is all it is, I wonder if its that big of a deal. So they'll introduce a new design that's slimmer. Ho hum. Is that really a new milestone in the history of Apple? If there's nothing more to this event, it could be a redux of the iPod Hi Fi. Remember that one?

I'm beginning to think Apple, and Jobs personally, are overexposed. When Jobs show up, people expect the parting of the red sea. Product announcements aren't enough any more. Apple's stock dropped after WWDC because many analysts found it to be ho hum with few stellar new revelations. Apple needs to watch how it uses these events and Jobs or it is going to lose its halo. You can already see an Apple backlash forming.

Other things that could get announced...

All the buyers I know think that a new Nano is coming. My guess is that Apple will put video in the nano. Expect a 2.5" screen and I slightly wider design. And I bet this will move the current Nano down in price. Also, we could see this new iPod UI everyone is buzzing about.

As for the iPod itself, I think its only a matter of time before we get a widescreen iPod with muti-touch a la iPhone. Rumor is that it won't happen until WWDC to keep the iPhone special, but I don't know.

So we'll see. Will this be a ho hum "event" or does Jobs have something up which black turtleneck sleeve?

In Detroit

We're in Detroit this week visiting the in-laws. Its hotter here than LA!

The kids' grandparents built them a castle in their backyard. They say it has 48 windows. That's some project!