The laughter continues at the expense of corporate pop confection Ashlee Simpson with this hysterical riff on Apple’s U2 special edition iPod. It even comes with enough money to use a payphone to call your daddy when you get caught lipsyncing live on national television. Talk about getting caught with your ultra-low-rise jeans around your ankles. Yikes!
Cyborg-in-Chief’s New TiVo Book
My latest book is called Leo Laporte’s Guide to TiVo (part of Leo’s new LeoVille imprint for Que). Unlike other TiVo books, mine is designed to appeal to users of all levels, from beginners shopping for TiVo to those wishing to do hardware upgrades and peak under the hood of their box. The book includes a CD-ROM with a number of the best TiVo open source apps (for both S1 and S2 TiVos), the indespensible MFS Tools 2.0 (for hard drive backup and restore), and a mini-distro of Linux you can boot into from your PC.
The book was somewhat of a Street Tech community effort, with ST staff photographer Jay Townsend snapping the pics, my son Blake doing some of the illustrations, ST patron saint Mark Frauenfelder providing awesome cartoons/icons, and ST webmaster Tim Tate offering some tech backup. Tech editing for the book was done by our good pals at Weaknees.com.
Dumb, Yet Addictive
In the past three weeks, I’ve been attacked by an undead can of tomatoes, completed the quest of the Deep-Fat Friars, and stormed the lair of the Ninja Snowmen with my trusty balloon monkey by my side. It’s the only online RPG populated by black-and-white stick figures, but I’ve become hooked on the Kingdom of Loathing.
Brain Cells in a Dish Fly Plane
As Keanu would say: “Whoa”
When can I get a TV like this?
HP has a prototype of a flat screen display printed on flexible plastic. The display retains an image without power; the article on ZDnet UK mentions an image still displayed on a screen that has been unplugged for two years. Sadly, the abysmal refresh rate renders it unfit for use as a monitor in its present state of development. HP expects commercial products based on the technology in three to eight years.
What’s will replace the CD?
Ever wonder why new audio formats like DVD-Audio and SACD aren’t catching on? Engadget says Consumers, manufacturers and the music industry all have to get behind a standard. Okay, so maybe I have an opinion or two about new audio formats.