Absurd Singularity

Damn, just noticed that I haven't posted in a bit over a week. Probably won't post anything substantive until I finish transferring all my 2007 photos (~140GB worth) onto my external backup so I can clear out my MBP drive for this year. You would think it'd be something easy like dragging and dropping my iPhoto Library folder to my external drive but no, nothing in technology's ever that simple. For some unknown reason my external drive doesn't seem to like one-time transfers of data greater than ~12GB. More than that and it just craps out. It doesn't disconnect from the MBP, it just becomes unresponsive. Can't unmount it, can't do crap except do a hard reboot of my MBP. So I have to manually copy over data in bite-size chunks. *sigh*

Anyways, hope everyone had at least a good 2007 and best wishes for the new year! =)

Hmm... it appears that hard drive manufacturers are on a roll with their notebook drives this past year. It's been what, a month and a half since I upgraded my MBP's drive to what was the latest and greatest then, a Western Digital 320GB. Today, Hitachi announced their new 400 and 500GB models due out in February. Half a freakin' terabyte. In a laptop. Freakin' A. Normally, I'd be all over that come February but unfortunately, this new drive is 12.5mm thick which won't fit in the slim MBP (9.5mm). Curse Apple and their 1" thick laptops! ;-p

But, these new drives will probably fit in the new Lenovo IdeaPads. It's been a couple of years since Lenovo took over IBM's notebook business and in that time, the quality of the Thinkpad line has suffered a bit (if our experiences at work with them is any indication). But Lenovo's finally venturing back into the consumer market with this IdeaPad line that looks not too bad. Gone is the distinctive matte black that was the signature Thinkpad style. It's still black, just a bit glossier. Gone also is the red trackpoint that was another staple of the Thinkpad line. It's definitely not light, with the 15" weighing in at 6.4 pounds but that would explain why it's also pretty cheap. I'm not sure why they bothered pointing out their "Frameless Screen" though since it's not frameless and it's not even that thin. Anyway, it's not something I would get for personal use but I could see myself looking into it if my parent's wanted to upgrade and I wound up not moving them to Apple.

First quarter of this year has the potential to be wallet-lightening of epic proportions with MacWorld starting on the 14th and then the PMA on the 31st. If everything that's supposed to be announced is actually announced, I'm freakin' screwed. =)

[UPDATE]: Awwwww yeaaaaahhhhhh!!!!! Looks like I'll be having that half a terabyte in my MBP after all. Just gotta wait an additional month.

We brought this back from Taiwan to use as a toy box. One day Erin decided to dump him in it and now he'll climb in a few times a day. Even while his toys are in it. Only after he climbs in will he start throwing the toys out. Apparently efficiency isn't his strong suit.

So I've been mildly addicted to Amazon's recommendations page for quite some time now. When I'm really bored or vegging out in front of the boob tube while web surfing I'll go there and "improve my recommendations" by flagging anything they recommend that I'm not interested in or rating stuff that I already have an opinion of but just don't want. For the most part their recommendations are pretty on the level but every now and then it'll notify me of some interesting things.

But then, just the other day, they hit a new low. Advance warning, may be mildly NSFW. When I first saw this I thought it was a joke. But alas, it is not. There's even a part 2. And who can resist Star Ballz? C'mon, you know you're at least just a little bit intrigued. ;-p I know Amazon didn't used to deal with pr0n but apparently, after a little poking around on the site, that seems to have changed. Granted for the most part it's not Amazon themselves selling the stuff, it seems like it's more a result of them allowing third-party vendors to use their site as a storefront. But these products are working their way into other aspects of the site. Now it doesn't bother me that they've gone that route but fer cryin' out loud, at least recommend to me some good pr0n! ;-p

in midair. Exhibit #1:

Was a big fan of US fighter jets in my younger days (F14, F15, F16 in order of popularity) so the vid above was a bit disturbing. Stilll a great jet for its day though that F15. =)

So this year's MacWorld keynote has come and gone and what does Apple have to show for it? One ridiculously slim laptop. As expected, the new laptop "looks" phenomenal. 13.3" is a good screen size and while the memory is fixed at 2GB, that's not a huge issue for a laptop of this class. However, its lack of hard drive options is a downer (although potentially fixable) and the non-swappable battery is going to be a huge issue for a decent number of people.

In my ideal setup, I'd replace my current 15" MBP with a mid-range Mac Pro and this new MacBook Air. But realistically, that's a huuuuge chunk of change to be dropping at one time so it probably won't happen. Maybe I'll write it off as a business expense. ;-p But yeah, while it'd be nice to have one, it's not essential. Maybe I'll pick up one of the new Time Capsules instead to assuage my gadget craving. *sigh*

Ah well, now it's up to Canon to announce something irresistible to me for the PMA at the end of the month. ;-p

A certain product was brought to my attention recently that I think would be quite appealing to point and shoot photographers: the Eye-Fi. It's basically a 2GB SD card with built-in wireless that automatically transfers photos via 802.11 to your computer or a whole gaggle of online photo sites. Unfortunately for me, this first iteration doesn't support sending videos or RAW files so it's not a workable solution since the only camera we have that uses SD cards (Powershot TX1) we use mostly for video and I shoot RAW with my 5D but if they get around to adding the functionality then I'd be all over it. It's also rather pricey, coming in at $99 when you can get a regular 2GB SD card for under $15. What if you have a camera that only uses CF cards? Then this SD to CF adapter should do the trick. While for the pro photog it's probably no replacement for dedicated wireless transmitters that are around for dSLRs, it also doesn't cost a freakin' grand either.

So I'm hoping these guys do well cause then they'll have the ability to add the functionality that I need into it as well as maybe branch out into other memory card types, namely CF. =) Although I wonder why they don't have a CF version as well. If they can cram the wireless transmitter into the size of an SD card, CF should be a cake walk then.

start Devon's training soon, huh? ;-p

So at the end of my last post about earphones for the iPhone, I wished that Etymotic would just get off their hineys and make an iPhone-specific pair of earphones already. Last week, thanks to a certain someone, I was clued in to the answer to my prayers: the Etymotic hf2, announced and released during the MacWorld Expo. Given that Apple's announcements during the Expo weren't awe-inspiring enough to make me throw my wallet at Steve Jobs' feet, I ordered one (right in time too since they're currently out of stock).

And it arrived today so this will just be a brief post on my impressions of the audio quality between the hf2 and the previously reviewed ER-4p and V-Moda Vibe Duo. Between the hf2 and Vibe Duo, the Vibe Duo's bass production is far meatier and sounds more expansive but it overpowers the mids and highs to a noticeable degree. As expected from an Etymotic set, the hf2 has sparkling clear highs and mids and because of its ER-4p and not ER-6i pedigree, the bass is more than good enough (for me at least) but you don't feel it like with the Vibe Duo.

The usual caveat to getting that "good" bass with the Etymotics still apply. The earbuds need to be sealed pretty well in your ear canal. Oddly, even though the hf2 comes with a triple-flange rubber tip by default like the ER-4p, the widest flange seems just a bit smaller so that you need to really cram the thing into your ears to get a good seal. Something that I'm already pretty used to but others might find it a pain in the ass.

Between the hf2 and ER-4p, I think the ER-4p still sounds just the tiniest bit better but it's very close. I'll also be looking further into this later.

I'll comment some more after I kick the hf2 around for a few days but right now, I'm lovin' it. =)

My first shot ever taken with the 85mm f/1.2 II and attached EF 25 II Extension Tube. The idea of a f/1.2 macro-like lens was too tempting. And then I remembered why I had sold my old 100mm f/2.8 dedicated macro lens: you really need nerves of titanium and/or a monopod/tripod to do this stuff right. At this range and f-stop, any movement in any direction will ruin the shot.

Also tried to stick the extension tube onto my 35L. Practically unusable (unless I'm missing something) since it makes the minimum focus distance like less than an inch as far as I can tell.

When you see this face, you know he's up to something...

Then he tries to pretend that nothing's going to happen...

But of course he can't help himself...

Seeing Fe's stainless steel cloth wallet last week reminded me to start looking for a new wallet yet again. For the last couple of years I've been puttering around with "slim" wallets that I can fit in my front pocket. I started off with a black leather Guess bi-fold that looked pretty much like this. Worked pretty well, had one full-length bill pocket, an ID window, 3 single-card slots, and 2 hidden pockets. Used that for awhile before trying out my current Dopp Regatta 88 Series Front Getaway Pocket which I loved at first. However after a year or so of use there are some things I don't like so much about it. Inbetween those two I also bought a Jimi which I still use. But it's where I cram all my extra, less-frequently-used cards so it's usually in my desk drawer until I know I need to visit Costco or something.

So why am I looking for a new wallet? Well, because leather wallets really suck after awhile. They start getting too soft and wrinkly and dirty and generally just looks like crap. From a storage capacity in relation to size viewpoint, the Dopp is really pretty darn excellent, with everything that I could possibly want in a thin wallet. It has one main folded-bill pocket, a windowed ID pocket on one side (that I currently have crammed with all my transportation-related cards: bus passes, driver's license, PATH cards, MetroCard, etc.), a reasonably-sized hidden pocket on the other side (currently holding infrequently used but important to have cards: health insurance, AAA, WageWorks, etc), and then 3 single-card slots on top of that. All in a non-folding unit which is great. So what's wrong with it? Well it's leather so the edges are starting to curl (which bothers me a lot for some reason) and it's looking rather worn. Since it's not a bi-fold, the cards that you put in the 3 single-card slots are pretty much exposed to the elements so they start looking really bad on the outward-facing side. And since it's thin leather, the front of my top-most card slot now shows raised areas where the raised areas of the card that's in the slot are.

So, what am I looking for in a wallet? Definitely not leather again. Currently I have it narrowed down to either the Checkered Texture Bi-Fold Wallet w/ ID window or the BigSkinny Thin Multi-Pocket Wallet, neither of which is perfect really. I like having the bi-fold to protect the cards in the card slots from extraneous wear but my ultimate wallet would have the ID window facing outwards instead of in. That way I don't need to flip open the wallet to show the window. I'm leaning towards the BigSkinny because the 3 card slots on the left are top-down instead of right-left. Easier to get the cards in/out with the top-down layout. Doesn't hurt that the BigSkinny is $55 cheaper either. Plus I wish the steel cloth one had the double wave pattern instead of checkered. *sigh*

Anyway, I'm not in a huge rush to replace my wallet so will poke around some more I guess but I haven't run across anything yet that's better than the two above for my purposes at least. If anyone has any other suggestions, let me know.

Since I'm too cheap to dish out for the "premium" channels (Comcast already leeches enough money out of me as it is), this is my first exposure to Flight of the Conchords.

That's some funny shit. Oh yeah, I wouldn't mind having this bed either.