Absurd Singularity

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!! Hopefully everyone will get plenty of sleep this year. Devon definitely will. ;-p

As most of you may have heard by now, yesterday at approximately 9:40 am PST Apple fans the world over collectively soiled themselves upon the introduction of the quite impressive iPhone. Unfortunately a little over an hour later this state of orgasmic bliss was rudely punctured by subsequent revelations that the iPhone would be (initially at least) locked to Cingular, would cost $499 (4GB) or $599 (8GB) (and that's AFTER selling your soul to Cingular for 2 years), and be available "in June" (which means the last day of June).

My prediction? If the UI is half as good as they make it out to be, it'll sell like weed in an upscale suburban neighborhood. People will still bitch about the price (as they do already) but they'll buy it anyway. Cause this is consumer America, baby.

Apple better incorporate the new UI features from the iPhone into their iPod line though. I think that will effectively snuff out third-party MP3/media players. Save for the few that survive cause of the diehard Apple haters out there.

But it seems at least the financial market is betting big time on the success of the iPhone. Apple stock jumped $12 yesterday and today combined. That's just insane.

Whether the wacky weather we've been having this winter is a result of global warming or just a natural cycle in Mother Nature's grand scheme of things, it's still a good idea to do as much as possible to support alternative energy sources and reduce carbon dioxide emissions (yes you can still breathe as much as you want wiseass). All I know is I can count on one hand the number of really cold days we've had in the NY/NJ area this late fall/winter. And even though it snowed for like 20 minutes today, it also hit 72 degrees just 5 days ago. 72 DEGREES. In JANUARY.

So if you have the means, support alternative energy. If your utilities company allows you the option of choosing to purchase electricity from alternative energy providers, do so. It doesn't cost that much more (I average less than $5 more per month). A good site to check out would be Green Mountain Energy.

Also visit TerraPass where you can learn how to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide you emit in daily life and purchase passes which go towards funding alternative energy sources. An interesting way to balance out your carbon footprint. Every little bit helps.

not mentioned during the keynote.

And why Colbert hates the iPhone.

Knowing some people out there they probably would need space for 150 kabillion contacts...

Every so often while watching Devon do his thing, I keep being reminded of something I heard awhile ago about babies and children being more sensitive to the paranormal. After observing Devon for awhile now I can certainly understand why it would appear that way to some people. The tendency to stare around people and at seemingly blank white walls can be a bit peculiar if you think about it too much. But at this age it's just them getting comfortable with their new senses. Apparently I'm not the only one who's ever wondered about this as a quick Google search turned up this rather interesting forum thread.

He also shows an interesting fascination with the large glamour wedding photo of Erin and I that we have framed. He'll just stare at it intensely every single time we point him in its direction. He can be whining or crying but when we move his line of sight at that picture, he'll immediately stop whatever he's doing and just stare. I think it's cause it's pretty much entirely black and white (with Erin in a white wedding dress and me in a black tux) and newborns supposedly find black and white very interesting things to look at.

But anyway, I think he's already starting to consciously smile at his current age. Prior to now, I was never sure if his smile was just one of those things he randomly did or if he was actually happy/content. Actually I'm still not 100% sure now but he does seem to do it a bit more often than before.

When you grow up lil' guy, you're gonna have to pay good money for this type of treatment.

Anyway, if there's one silver lining to the dark cloud that is having a newborn that sleeps during the day and loves to keep you up at night, it's that you can take him out on afternoon excursions without a problem as he pretty much just sleeps through a good chunk of it. Letting mom and dad do whatever they need to get done. It's not that he doesn't sleep at all at night. It just feels that way.

Something seems amiss... ;-)