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Friday, 31 March 2006
Later That Fool
It's been way too long since we last did this, but, in case you missed it, we posted a an Easter Egg stripto go with new Hatbag.
Giving It All They've Got
The Falcon 1 rocket that failed last week? If it had been the second flight instead of the first, apparently, Scotty would have been buried at sea instead of in space.I'd failed to make the connection, but the contract to send the ashes of James Doohan and Mercury 7 astronaut Gordo Cooper into orbit was for the second flight of the Falcon (Turns out this was reported at the time, I just missed it).
The SpaceX team is hoping to fly the second Falcon 1 within six months.
Making The Cut
I have to admit I was a bit disappointed yesterday to read that Apple had announced it is shipping Final Cut Studio 5.1.Don't get me wrong; I'm all for new software and all, even if it's something I won't use myself. So I'm not disappointed that it's shipping; I'm disappointed about the announcement. FCS 5.1 is the first Universal Binary version of the suite, and, I believe, is the first major Apple "pro" software to be released for the Intel chip. For that matter, I think it's the first major new Apple Universal software since the January MWSF. So it seems like this is exactly the sort of thing that would be announced in a Stevenote if there were one coming soon -- say, for example, an anniversary event.
It's not a sure sign that there's not any sort of announcement coming in the next few weeks, but it's certainly more of a bad sign than a good one in terms of the prospects of seeing a major new product in the first part of April.
NASA Kids' Club
I first got involved in the NASA Kids' Club over three years ago. At the time, Kids Club was a project of the Marshall Science Directorate, and it was being transitioned over to Education. I ran the Kids site singlehandedly for months as they worked to figure out exactly what that transition would look like. At the time, the target date for having the new version up and running was September.As it turned out, the transition ended up being more complicated than anticipated. After studies of what to save and what to ditch from the old site, it was decided to completely start from scratch. My Kids' Club duties became watching the gradual death of the site.
Work began on the new site, but it was clear that it was going to take longer than initially anticipated. Eventually, the deadline became September again, but this time '04 instead of '03. The deadline would remain September, but the four would turn into a five. As completion of the work neared, it was decided to hold off until a major announcement of its launch could be made.
My involvement in the new Kids Club has been semi-limited. I've participated in several ways, from editing to content meetings to providing a very little bit of artwork; but I don't really feel much ownership for any of it besides this maze I drew for the non-Flash version (meaning that next to no one will see it).
That said, while the official announcement is still pending, after years of a lot of work by a lot of people, the NASA Kids Club is now online.
Thursday, 30 March 2006
Apple Fools
This week's new Hatbagis actually somewhat topical, or at least timely. Go check it out. Please.
Apple Versus Apple Update
Per The AP:LONDON (AP) -- Lawyers for Apple Computer Inc. on Thursday asserted the company's right to distribute music through its iTunes music store, rejecting claims by The Beatles' Apple Corps Ltd. that doing so violated a 1991 trademark agreement.
Apple Computer lawyer Anthony Grabiner said the "distribution of digital entertainment content" was permitted under the agreement, in which the two companies promised not to tread on the other's sphere of business.
Grabiner said "even a moron in a hurry" could distinguish between the computer company's online music business and a record label like Apple Corps.
"Data transmission is within our field of use. That's what (the agreement) says and it is inescapable," he said.
Holy Starship!
In a vein somewhat similar to New Voyages producing the fourth season of TOS, and yet, also not like that comes the fan-film version of the greatest 1960s television crossover that never happened -- Star Trek Vs. Batman. In three 15-minute episodes, the crew of the Enterprise finds itself in 1967 Gotham City.
Dying Legacy
Cult of Mac has a link today to an article about a teacher who is retiring -- and the Apple II lab that's being retired with him. As the school had gradually bought new equipment to replace the Apple IIs, they'd been placed in a storage room, which was later pressed into service as this guy's classroom. When he got the room, rather than ditching the computers, he got them all running and networked them. Which his retirement, though, nobody seems to want to take on maintenance of the Apple II lab.Wednesday, 29 March 2006
There's A Giant Black Spot On The Sun Today
From a Space.com story about today's eclipse:Superstition accompanied this eclipse's path, as it has for generations.
One Indian paper advised pregnant women not to go outside during the eclipse to avoid having a blind baby or one with a cleft lip. Food cooked before the eclipse should be thrown out afterward because it will be impure and those who are holding a knife or ax during the eclipse will cut themselves, the Hindustan Times added.
In Turkey's earthquake-prone Tokat province, residents set up tents outside despite assurances from scientists that there was no evidence of any link between eclipses and tremors.
Apple Versus Apple Note
Following the Apple Corps versus Apple Computer lawsuit that started in a London courtroom today, I was struck by something kinda sad.I went back and did some research about the settlement that was reportedly almost reached two years ago before falling apart, which was said to have involved a "mind-boggling" amount of money.
Back in 1985, Michael Jackson bought The Beatles' catalog of songs for $47.5 million. In today's dollars, that's somewhere between $65 and $135 million. Counting past settlements, the proposed 2004 settlement almost certainly would have boosted the amount of money Apple Computer has paid Apple Corps to well over that amount.
In other words, thanks to Steves Jobs and Wozniak, with everything The Beatles accomplished -- all their brilliant songs -- the most valuable thing they ever created may well have been the name of their label.
That's just kinda weird.
Expedition 13
Per NASA:Expedition 13 Commander Pavel Vinogradov and Flight Engineer Jeff Williams launch today at 9:30 p.m. EST aboard a Soyuz rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Joining them for several days before returning home with Expedition 12 is Brazil’s first astronaut Marcos Pontes. Live coverage of the launch on NASA TV begins at 8:45 p.m.
Tuesday, 28 March 2006
The Answer
I'm not going to say flat-out that I'm too dumb to understand this article; the problem could just be my unwillingness right now to do anything more than skim it. On the flip-side, I really may just be too dumb.That said, I thought I'd share it for those that might appreciate the following bit:
This unexpected connection with physics has given us a glimpse of the mathematics that might, ultimately, reveal the secret of these enigmatic numbers. At first the link seemed rather tenuous. But the important role played by the number 42 has recently persuaded even the deepest skeptics that the subatomic world might hold the key to one of the greatest unsolved problems in mathematics.
A New Day For Dawn
Per Spaceflight Now:Less than a month after falling victim to budget and technical concerns, the Dawn asteroid explorer was brought back from the grave Monday by a decision to restore funding to the mission and launch the probe by next summer.
NASA announced the reinstatement, a complete reversal of the decision three weeks ago to kill the mission, after an appeal from project officials at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The objections prompted yet another review of Dawn, which had undergone a series of investigations since October that assessed the state of the mission after various problems and cost overruns came to light.
Monday, 27 March 2006
More iPhone Rumors
MacOSRumors has a mock-up image showing what an Apple iPhone might be like, looking very much like an iPod in the front with a phone keypad that slides down from behind the iPod facade (which is fun to say).It's a nice idea, but it seems sort of behind the times. Personally, I would love to see an iPod-based iPhone in which you do actual old-school dialing with the scroll-wheel, but that's beside the point. With all the rumors pointing towards a touch-screen-based video iPod coming soon, why on Earth would Apple have a pull-out keypad on an iPhone. A touch-screen iPhone could look like an iPod, but switch easily into phone mode, with the keypad appearing on the touch screen. The result is a device that's easy to use and has a very simple formfactor, both of which are high priorities for Apple.
I'm not entirely convinced the iPhone will be a future generation of iPod, but, if the two lines have common ground, I would hope that the MOSR mock-up is a product of limited thinking.
Failed Falcon
Friday's launch of the first Falcon 1 rocket? Eh, not so much.After months of delays, the rocket did, indeed, launch. Turns out a bit more delaying wouldn't have been a bad thing.
A few seconds shy of half a minute into flight, a fuel leak caused a fire around the top of the main engine, causing the engine to cut off prematurely. The rocket tumbled into the ocean about 41 seconds after lift-off.
SpaceX founder Elon Musk has said the company will not give up after Friday's failure. (In fact, he hopes to fly again within six months.) Still, it's a rather inauspicious beginning to the new era of spaceflight. SpaceX has announced a lot of plans for the future, from an orbital crew vehicle to a much more powerful launch booster. But first they gotta get something off the ground.
Live Long And Prosper
Since Shatner's birthday was recently noted on the ATW Board, it seems only fair to mention that Leonard Nimoy turned 75 yesterday.Here's hoping he enjoyed some tasty salsa.
To iBe Or Not To iBe
It's now less than a week until April 1, and still no news of an Apple 30th anniversary announcement. Which makes Dave sad, for several reasons.That said, there's continuing evidence that a big announcement looms just beyond the horizon, the latest being that retailers are beginning to try and move out their iPod stocks.
Apple Versus Apple
Apple's going to court this week. Against Apple.The lawsuit filed by The Beatles' Apple Corps record label against Apple Computer is scheduled to go to court in London on Wednesday, the third time the two companies have met in court.
A 1991 settlement prohibited Apple Computer from "distributing content on physical media," according to a report posted at MacNN, which means it seems like they have a decent chance of winning.
Personally, though, I would like to see the two figure out a way to put aside their differences and work together for mutual benefit, which would be much more helpful all around. (Of course, I'd also like to see Steve Jobs acquire the Beatles catalog owned by an increasingly financially troubled Michael Jackson.)
Friday, 24 March 2006
iLaw Update
Per MacNN:The US government is backing Apple's stance on a draft French law that may force the company either to open up its FairPlay digital rights management (DRM) technology in iTunes or pull out of the country. US Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez backed angry protests by Apple, saying that companies need to protect their intellectual property: "But any time something like this happens, any time that we believe that intellectual property rights are being violated, we need to speak up and in this case, the company is taking the initiative," Gutierrez said on CNBC. "I would compliment that company because we need for companies to also stand up for their intellectual property rights."
Take ... Uh... Whatever
UPDATE: Make that today, 3 p.m. CSTSpaceX's Falcon 1 could be an important milestone in ushering in a new era in commercial spaceflight, if it ever gets off the ground. Months after the first attempt, they're ready to try it again. The fourth launch attempt is scheduled for 3 p.m. CST today.
Thursday, 23 March 2006
Five Words. Just Five Words.
Users of the ATW Board may find the concept behind this week's new Hatbag somewhat familiar.
Trek Rereleases
After years of the Star Trek seasons being horribly overpriced compared to box sets of most other television shows, Paramount was kind enough recently to give fans a break, marking down the first three seasons of TNG and DS9 so that they were only mildly overpriced compared to box sets of most other television shows.There was speculation, though, that maybe there was more to the markdown than just Paramount being nice, as hard as that is to believe. This year, after all, is the 40th anniversary of Star Trek, so could it be that they were just trying to eliminate some inventory in order to release special new anniversary editions of the shows?
Now comes evidence that that's exactly the case. In the UK, at least, Paramount has announced new packaging for the Trek series. TNG will be the first of the new releases, which will come in a smaller packaging and at a lower price, but with no extras. (Also, The Animated Series has been withdrawn as a 2006 R2 release, which may mean we should expect the same Stateside.)
I'm curious as to whether this means special features on the current version will no longer be available, or whether they'll give viewers the choice of the horribly expensive feature-rich versions or the mildly expensive stripped-down version. Personally, I already have the two series I'm most interested in -- TOS and DS9. If I were ever to get TNG, I don't know that it'd be worth paying a premium for the extra features to me, and the only reason I would ever get Voyager would be if I owned all the other Trek and could get it for dirt cheap. I would kinda like to have Enterprise, and would be interested in special features on it, but not enough to go out now and spend $400 for the series.
That said, this might be the time for anyone who is interested in DS9 or TNG, and who wants the special features, to look at grabbing them up when the entire runs are available on DeepDiscountDVD for under $320 each. (Enterprise is similarly priced for its entire run, despite the much smaller set, VOY is just under $600, and TOS is at $256.) On the other hand, there may also be new R1 sets that are even more feature-rich and reasonably priced, so who knows?
The Loneliest Man At Apple
This has started coming up occassionally of late, but Microsoft program manager Stephen Toulouse has now publicly challenged Appleto hire a security expert to help fight malware and tackle vulnerabilities.The first time I heard it, my initial reaction was that they don't really need it -- unlike, say, Microsoft, at Apple the entire OS team seems to be concerned with these issues, and, frankly, I don't know that the sort of person they recommend, with outside experience elsewhere with these issues, would really find that at experience as relevant at Apple.
Seeing this challenge again today, I'm beginning to think they really ought to do it, though. Hire the Apple virus-fighting guy. It'd be the 21st century equivalent of the Maytag Repairman ad campaign. Make commercials featuring him. Let him start a blog -- "Thursday, March 23 -- Still no viruses for OS X." Meet the challenge and then turn it around -- challenge Microsoft to publicly record their vulnerability issues in the same way.
So, yeah, Apple: Take the bait. Paying for the expertise may or may not be worth the money, but the publicity impact would be worth every penny.
Wednesday, 22 March 2006
LBJ And The Helium-Filled Astronaut
To be honest, I thought the idea of President Johnson talking to a helium-filled Scott Carpenter would be kind of a cheap laugh, funny more for the concept than the reality of it, but's it was actually hard listening to it not to laught out loud. Good stuff.
iLaw Response
Per Reuters:Apple Computer Inc. said on Tuesday a proposed French law that would force Apple to make sure that songs bought on its iTunes music store can work on any portable player would result in "state-sponsored piracy."
"The French implementation of the EU Copyright Directive will result in state-sponsored piracy," said Apple spokeswoman Natalie Kerris. "If this happens, legal music sales will plummet just when legitimate alternatives to piracy are winning over customers."
The National Assembly, France's lower house of parliament, passed the law on Tuesday, which French officials said is aimed at preventing any one company from building a grip on the digital online music retail market.
The new legislation would require that online music retailers provide the digital rights management software that protects copyright material to allow the conversion of music in one format to another.
But Apple said the law, which it opposes, would likely actually increase its sales of iPod music players. "iPod sales will likely increase as users freely upload their iPods with 'interoperable' music which cannot be adequately protected," Kerris said. "Free movies for iPods should not be far behind."
The thing I don't understand, at least as far as the iPod side of the equation, is that the iPod isn't closed to only working with iTMS. I mean, I have songs I got from other online music services on my iPod, so it most assuredly does work. In addition to AAC, the iPod does still work with mp3, which at one point was the industry standard before the move to all these proprietary codecs.
In other responses to the law, AAPL stock took a pretty sharp plunge after the announcement. For what it's worth, I've now lost over $40 on my investment last week. And, yeah, I regret buying it then, but only because I wish I'd waited until this week.
Tuesday, 21 March 2006
iLaw
Breaking news, with no details yet, but:From The AP:
PARIS (AP) -- French lawmakers voted Tuesday to approve an online copyright bill that would break open the exclusive formats behind Apple's market-leading iTunes music store and iPod players.
The draft law -- which also introduces new penalties for music pirates -- would force Apple Computer Inc., Sony Corp. and Microsoft Corp. to share proprietary anti-copy technologies so that rivals can offer compatible services and players. French Senators are due to vote on the bill in coming weeks.
Back Of The Sun
Right now, the sun is quiet.We're at solar minimum this year, the point in the sun's 11-year cycle when activity there is at its lowest. But, even though Solar Max is still five years away, scientists are already looking ahead. All indications are that the 2011 Solar Max will be the worst in over 50 years. And, of course, even if the activity level is lower than it was then, the impact will be far, far greater -- back then there was a grand total of one satellite in orbit, no cell phones, a much smaller power grid, no humans in space, etc. Even if there are fewer flares and CMEs, there's a lot more for them to disrupt.
There's another difference between now and then, though. In 1957, there was exactly zero warning when a solar storm disruption was coming. Now, we have good data on what's going on on the face of the sun, and have a little bit of advance notice when something's coming. And, for Solar Max 2011, we'll have even more notice, thanks to a new technique that allows scientists to know what's going on on the far side of the sun, giving warning of sunspots before they rotate around toward Earth.
By 1959, solar activity was so great that the Aurora Borealis could be seen in Houston. While there will inevitably be some amount of disruption in 2011, hopefully, with enough information, the thing most people will remember about that Solar Max will be the light show.
Monday, 20 March 2006
What Woz Will Be
Here's a bit of strange bedfellow news:Turns out Steve Wozniak's venture Wheels of Zeus closed down on Friday, and he's now going to work at Acquicor Technology, where he'll be working for Gil Amelio, who founded the company. That's just weird.
'Drive Or Die' Update
Per The Pasadena Star News:A wheel on one of the twin rovers exploring Mars has stopped working, jeopardizing the rover's ability to continue gathering data during the martian winter, scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory said Friday.
The right front wheel of the rover Spirit broke down last week, on the 779th day of the Mars mission, which was only supposed to last 90 days, according to JPL.
Scientists said the wheel's failure will make it harder for the solar-powered robot to get to a slope dubbed McCool Hill, which is necessary for it to catch enough sunshine to keep operating through the coming martian winter.
Life After Death
Earlier this year, the Stardust spacecraft completed its mission. After seven years in space, it returned to Earth, dropping off a canister containing samples of comet material and interstellar dust. The canister landed safely on Earth and is being studied, and Stardust, its mission completed, headed off into the void of space for retirement.Now, though, there is talk of calling upon the services of Stardust once more. Rather than a spacebound decommissioning, there is talk of diverting the spacecraft's course and sending it instead to visit comet Tempel 1, the target of last year's Deep Impact mission.
When the Deep Impact spacecraft collided with Tempel 1, it unleashed an eruption of materials which vented into space during the entire time the imager spacecraft was able to record the effects of the collision. The mission was a success in that it provided unexpected (by some) information about the compositions of comets, but, as a result, it did not produce one thing scientists wanted -- an image of the crater caused by the impact, which was obscured by the material venting into space.
The Stardust overtime mission could provide just that -- by revisiting the comet after the impact, scientists could get a clear picture of its effect.
The proposed mission is currently under review, but sounds like it could be rather cool. And that's what really matters, right?
SSME RIP?
It appears that the last vestige of the space shuttle orbiter may be on the way out. The clock is ticking, of course, for the space shuttle system as a whole -- the last flight is about four and a half years away. But while the STS will stop flying, elements of the system will continue to be used. The solid rocket boosters will be, in modified form, key parts of both the crew and heavy launch systems, while the external tank will serve as the core of the heavy booster. Of the orbiter, however, it appeared in initial information that only one component would survive -- the third part of the STS propulsion system, the space shuttle main engine.
Now, however, it appears that even the SSME may be on the way out. It's already been ditched from use in the crew launch vehicle in favor of the Saturn-era J-2 engine, and now there is discussing of abandoning it from us in the heavy launch system in favor of the RS-68 engine.
So it's entirely possible that, 10 years from, the J-2 engines currently seen only in museums will be flying again, while the SSMEs flying today will be seen only in museums.
Used tags: ares, constellation, nasa, saturn, space, space_shuttle
First iPhone Update For A While
From MacRumors.com:According to Mobileread, Barron's online published an online exclusive (subscription required) reporting on comments by Johnny Chan, a Hong Kong based J.P. Morgan analyst, about the looming possibility of an Apple iPhone.
Last week, a Piper Jaffary analyst claimed they felt there was a 75% chance that Apple would release an iPhone in the next 12 months.
The J.P. Morgan reports adds a bit more substance to that claim. According to the article, Apple is working on "an iPod with phone functions" and is shopping around for a electronics manufacturer. Meanwhile, Taiwan Green Point Enterprises, the current manufacturer for the iPod plastic cases is also said to be in talks with Apple about the phone.
"The chatter about the product is all over the food chain," says Bill Shope, Chan's colleague in New York who follows Apple. He believes Apple will likely introduce a cellphone by the fourth quarter of this year.
Apple has long owned the domain iPhone.org and also trademarked the term "iPhone" in Australia and the UK.
Video iPod Evidence?
As discussed here (ad nauseum), there are rumors that Apple may be close to releasing the "true video iPod," that would be way cooler than the current one. There have been bits and pieces of information that supported speculation, but nothing hard and fast saying a change is coming.Well, now, a change is coming.
Well, probably, at least. And that may not be the change, but, hey, you take what you can get. AppleInsider reports: "Without explicitly stating so, Apple has taken measures to allow itself room to make changes at the top of its iPod product line this spring, if it chooses to do so. The Cupertino, Calif.-based company recently informed some of its partners and big box retailers that it has placed the top-of-the-line 60GB fifth-generation iPod on its 60-day 'at risk' list. ... The 60GB iPod was placed on the 60-day at risk list about a month ago."
They explain: "According to sources, when Apple makes note of an item being placed on an 'at risk list,' it could mean one of many things, or nothing at all. Simply, it's the company's way of warning resellers that it may make changes to that product, replace it with a newer model, offer a price reduction or discontinue it, among other things. Therefore, resellers should keep a close eye on their inventory management of such products."
So, yeah, it's not hard and fast proof of anything. But it is an action by Apple that is consistent with the rumors. So we shall see.
V For Vendetta
Went and saw V For Vendetta this weekend. Entertaining but:- I can see where, with a movie dealing with subjects like this in this day and age, there would be a real temptation to be heavy-handed with it. But not the V4V filmmakers -- they refused to give into the temptation to be so subtle as merely heavy-handed.
- After nearly seven years of bullet-time rip-offs and Matrix parodies, it was nice to see the Wachowskis saying enough is enough by pulling off their own take-off that should show any self-respecting filmmaker that well is now officially dry.
- And, for Episode III fans, (Mild spoiler): It was awfully nice of them to bring a more upbeat closure to the tragic Amidala/Anakin relationship by faithfully reenacting the Vader redemption scene from Episode VI with Padme in the role of Luke.
Back To The Futurama
The bad news is, apparently the straight-to-DVD full-length Futurama movie series project is dead.The good news is, that's because the show appears to be heading back to TV.
Which makes Dave happy.
Connections
I was almost really impressed with Amazon this morning. I got one of their little new release update e-mails:As someone who has purchased books by Kevin Smith, you might like to know that CSS Hacks (Hacks) will be released in paperback soon. You can pre-order your copy at a savings of 37% by following the link below.At first, I was trying to make the connection work -- have it be some new book by or about Kevin Smith or someone connected to him, but I was coming up blank. So I read further.
This is the book you have been waiting for. Having learned to use CSS to control the look and feel of your web pages, you're ready for hot tips and new techniques to streamline the design process and add a new level of style and sophistication to what you produce. This is exactly what "CSS Hacks" gives you.Well, you know, yeah. I wouldn't necessarily by this book, 'cause this is the sort of thing I research online, but, actually, I do use CSS for my Web sites, and have done CSS research in the past, and really could stand to know more about CSS. And they could tell that just because I like View Askew stuff? That's some pretty refined data. I mean, I guess, sure, maybe Kevin Smith fans tend to be kinda geeky, and, so, yeah, a lot of them would probably be the same sort of people that would spend a lot of time on the internet and everything, so it kinda makes sense. But that's a pretty sophisticated correlation engine. But then I keep reading more:
CSS is ultimately a script-like language, with lots of undocumented corners and niches, and author Kevin C. Smith has captured 100 original tips and tricks for using CSS in new and unusual ways.So, no, they're not recommending the book because of a correlation between View Askew fans and Web coders; they're recommending it because the author's name is also Kevin Smith. So the computer is actually saying, since you like stuff by one guy named Kevin Smith, you'll probably like completely different stuff 'cause it's be a completely different guy also named Kevin Smith. Not quite as impressive.
Friday, 17 March 2006
V For Velour*
So I'm hoping that this image means that Natalie Portman is going to star in a new Star Trek TOS reimagining.
'Drive Or Die'
Per NASA:Regarding Spirit’s future agenda of exploration within Gusev crater, "we are now in a ‘drive or die’ situation," Squyres said.
...
NASA’s Spirit Mars rover has wrapped up exploration of a baffling feature called "Home Plate" but now faces the onset of martian winter while dealing with dropping power levels and fighting a balky right front wheel.
"Our current focus is to drive like hell … and try to get [Spirit] to safe winter havens before the power situation gets really bad," said Steve Squyres, lead Mars Rover Exploration scientist at Cornell University.
Thursday, 16 March 2006
Apple Trader
After nearly a decade of talking about it, today I finally put my money where my mouth is.I now own Apple stock.
Same Old Song
It's that time once again. This week's new Hatbag is now online.
MacWindows
So Apple has said all along that they don't care if people run Windows on their Intel Macs, but they've also kind of indicated that they didn't think it was really going to happen.Well, it has. A contest has been won to boot Windows XP on an Intel Mac, and the winner plans to make the solution available and start an open-source project to help anyone turn their Mac into a dual-boot machine.
It's still short of what I consider the holy grail -- running Windows apps with something like native speed in the Mac OS -- but it's a step forward, and one that, theoretically, could impact Mac marketshare, if a solution can be provided that would be accessible to the mainstream audience that would want to do such a thing.
The Series Continues
Per The BBC:The TV series spin-off of the Stars Wars film franchise will run to at least 100 episodes, according to producer Rick McCallum.
He told BBC Radio 1 the writing team would soon be meeting to start on the project, which would begin filming in 2008 and be ready the same year.
"Hopefully if we can make it work and everybody's excited and watches it we will keep on going," said McCallum.
The series will be set between episodes three and four of the film saga.
It would cover the 20 years in the life of Luke Skywalker growing up that remains a mystery to most film-goers.
McCallum said there would be "a whole bunch of new characters" and the series would be "much more dramatic and darker".
He added that it was unlikely any of the stars of the movies would be involved in the TV series.
Star Wars creator George Lucas has just completed writing the script for the next Indiana Jones film and will then begin work on Red Tails, about African-American pilots in World War II.
Following completion of that film, work will begin on the Star Wars TV series.
Hey, Lucas is actually making Red Tails? Does that mean we can hope to actually see "Blue Harvest: Horror Beyond Imagination" in the next decade or so? That's more exciting that finally getting to see Ep. III!
Wednesday, 15 March 2006
And So It Begins
It's one of those Apple rumors that had moved beyond mere rumor into accepted fact -- Apple will sell full-length films through iTMS.It's been expected at each of the last several Stevenotes, and was making the rounds again for the Apple anniversary Stevenote that, itself, is only a rumor at this point.
This morning, though, it moved beyond rumor. No Stevenote. It just happened. Apple posted the first full-length movie for sale on iTMS.
To be fair, it's not really a feature film, but rather television content, which, of course, is already available on iTMS. However, it's not priced as a TV. This morning, added to iTMS was High School Musical, an hour-and-39-minute TV movie originally broadcast on -- yep -- the Disney Channel. The movie is priced at $9.99.
So, it's happened. The question is, is this a sign that the deals are basically in place for this to start happening for real, or is this just Steve's way of showing the studios how this will be done?
Tuesday, 14 March 2006
STS-121 Update
UPDATED 3:19 p.m. Tues.Per NASA:
NASA announced today July 1 to 19, 2006, is the new launch planning window for Space Shuttle Discovery's mission (STS-121). The window gives the agency time to do additional engineering work and analysis to ensure a safe flight for Discovery and its crew.
Space Shuttle Program Manager Wayne Hale made the announcement during a news conference from NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. The decision to target July followed a two-day meeting on the external fuel tank's engine cutoff (ECO) sensors. The sensors indicate whether the tank still has fuel during liftoff. During testing, one of the four ECO sensors had a slightly different reading than is expected. Shuttle officials have decided they will remove and replace all four liquid hydrogen sensors.
EFI Word
If I were less lazy, I would try and go back and find one of the articles talking about Windows Vista supporting EFI booting, which would have, theoretically, allowed it to boot on a Mactel machine.In light of Microsoft's announcement that Vista won't support EFI, I'm trying to remember if Microsoft had ever indicated it would, or if that was just pure speculation.
Given the timing of the announcement that it won't a little while after the revelation that a EFI-friendly Vista might run on a Mac, I'm curious whether it's just coincidence or not -- whether Microsoft might have made the change to prevent that from being possible. At first glance, on the most superficial level, it seems that they would want that. A larger potential installed base, of course, means more potential sales.
Of course, there's also the fact that Microsoft owns Virtual PC, which requires people to buy both that and Windows in order to run Windows apps, and native booting would eliminate the need for people to buy the emulator. However, I don't know whether the market is as simple as that -- there may be people who would buy Windows if they could run it natively so that they could run software (read: games) that would suffer in emulation. So only selling one piece of software instead of two might not be a loss for Microsoft if it increased sales of one of them.
Anyway, long story short, I have no idea what the real situation is. But there's room for plenty of interesting uninformed speculation.
Sound Of You & Me
The new Garrison Starr album, Sound Of You & Me hits shelves today, and is also now available on the iTunes Music Store.Also new on shelves today is the DVD release of Good Night And Good Luck.
Monday, 13 March 2006
Knight Ridder Purchased
Per, heh, The AP:The McClatchy Co. has reached a deal to buy Knight Ridder Inc., the second-largest U.S. newspaper publisher, for about $4.5 billion in cash and stock, the companies announced Monday. McClatchy will also assume about $2 billion in Knight Ridder's debt.
The deal will add several major newspapers to McClatchy's portfolio, including The Miami Herald, The Kansas City Star and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. McClatchy's papers include The Sacramento Bee and The News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C.
At the same time, McClatchy plans to sell 12 of Knight Ridder's 32 newspapers, including The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Philadelphia Daily News and the San Jose Mercury News, saying that those papers don't fit the company's longstanding criteria of buying newspapers in growing markets.
Survivor Post-Mortem
collectSPACE has a great interview with Dan Barry, the astronaut who was voted off of Survivor in last week's episode.Used tags: collectspace, space, television
MRO MOI Update
After a successful 27-minute main-engine burn on Friday, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is in a near-perfect elliptical orbit around the Red Planet. MRO will now spend time adjusting its orbit and then will go through a period of check-out and calibration of its science instruments before beginning a two-(Earth-)year science mission in November.On a related note, Google today has launched Google Mars, which, obviously, is kinda like Google Earth or Google Moon, but with Mars. The site is being launched today in honor of the 151st anniversary of astronomer Percival Lowell's birth.
How William Shatner Changed the World
Per TrekToday:How William Shatner Changed the World, originally aired on the Discovery Channel in the Captain Kirk actor's native Canada, will premiere on US television this Sunday.
"You've got a cell phone at one ear, an iPod at the other...but just how did we get here? Blame William Shatner," declared LinuxElectrons, which explained that Shatner meets "the brightest minds of Silicon Valley and their Trek-inspired inventions that have changed the world" in the documentary. The actor speaks to such people as Marty Cooper, an engineer at Motorola who helped invent the first mobile cellular phone, and Seth Shostak, Senior Astronomer with the SETI Institute which searches for extraterrestrial intelligence in outer space.
Er... whoops... Turns out this was yesterday, not this coming Sunday. Oh well.
Anniversary Rumor Watch Update
Per Apple Insider:Apple Computer plans to draw analysts and members of the media to the west coast this Spring for yet another special media event, AppleInsider has learned.
True to industry-wide speculation, the event is expected to fall around the iPod maker's 30th anniversary, which takes place on April 1, 2006. However, Apple is considering holding the event immediately before or after the 1st -- not on that date -- because it falls on a Saturday, people familiar with some of the company's plans have said.
Apple Insider speculates that new Intel iBook-class computers will almost certainly be announced, and that a high-end 17-inch MacBook Pro is possible, along with a "high-profile iPod-related product."
They also note that "In contrast to the most recent Apple media event, which dished out 'medium sized' products and was deemed lackluster by a number of analysts and members of the press, the Spring event is expected to give way to 'larger' product introductions that should have a more material impact on the company's results."
If that's the case, they better have something more substantial than just a new laptop that everyone knows is coming or a tweak on an existing laptop. If we don't see a substantially different new iPod or a major change to iTMS, I think people are going to be disappointed. (And, since, as the story notes, this is the third media event in as many months, the media are going to start taking Stevenote invitations a bit less seriously.) We shall see.
Shadow Moon
A partial penumbral eclipse of the moon will be visible in the eastern United States around moonrise tomorrow night.Friday, 10 March 2006
MRO MOI
The Mars Reconnaisance Orbiter begins its orbital insertion burn today at 3:24 p.m. CST. The burn will be completed at 3:51 p.m., while the orbiter is LOS on the far side of Mars, so it won't be known whether the orbital insertion was successful or not until the probe comes back around at 4:16 p.m.The 27-minute burn is key to the mission -- it's the difference between successfully becoming a Mars orbiter and becoming just another piece of junk littering the Martian spacecraft graveyard. The event will be covered on TV and online via NASA TV.
More Microsoft Innovation
Seeing this the morning after my big post about the Newton/Origami similarities, I found it particularly amusing that a Windows reviewer using Vista says Microsoft's next generation operating system looks more and more like Mac OS X:Thurrott expresses some "misgivings" about Vista resembling Mac OS X. In a general observation Thurrott says the new build features Mac OStyle translucent windows and applications. "But Vista's similarity with OS X goes well beyond window dressing. Certain applications, such as Calendar, Sidebar, and Photo Gallery, appear to be directly, ahem, influenced by similar applications in OS X." Acknowledging that Microsoft will be "eaten alive for the similarities," Thurrott also mentions the complexity of Microsoft's latest build, saying that Apple got it right by releasing just two versions of Mac OS X--one for desktops and one for servers.
Thursday, 9 March 2006
Single Hippie Seeks Same
Oh, yeah, be sure to go check out this week's new Hatbag.
MS Newt
Hey! Look:
Microsoft's invented the Newton!
Weighing about 2 1/2 pounds, the 1-inch thick device sports a 7-inch touch-sensitive screen that responds to a stylus or the tap of a finger.A bit bigger than the Newton's 6-inch touch-sensitive screen, but heavier than it's 1 1/2 pound. Awfully close to the 1.1-inch thickness, though.
Krammer said device is expected to retail for between $600 $1,000.From Wikipedia: the Newton's high price (which went up to $1000 when models 2000 and 2100 were introduced)
Origami, Mitchell said, support Bluetooth and Wi-Fi wireless technology.Granted, since neither protocol existed at the time, the Newt didn't originally support those, but can use either now.
The screen is wide, bright and easy to see, even in low light.Check, though eight years of development have given Microsoft the advantage of having a color screen.
It doesn't have its own keyboard, but ... one could be plugged in as needed.Check.
For users who don't want to jot down notes with the stylus, the Origami has a built-in program called Dial Keys that splits a standard QWERTY keyboard into pie shapes on the lower corners of the screen so that input can typed — or thumbed in.Uh, check to the on-screen keyboard.
The battery power averages about 2.5 to three hoursWell, that's almost close to the MP2100's 12 to 36 hours. You know, considering we're talking about Microsoft.
So, yeah, I'm not really under the impression that a Newton is as powerful as Origami. That said, it's similarity to everything the Newton supposedly did wrong is astounding. It'd be interesting to see what would have happened if Apple hadn't killed the Newton, and had continued development for the last eight years. How cool would a modern-tech Jonathan-Ives-designed Newton be?
Of course, that said, there's nothing saying that Origami won't join the legions of other unsuccessful attempts at marketing nontraditional computers. It may sink for the same reasons the Newt did. (To be honest, if I had to bet, that's what I would bet on.)
Seeing that picture at the top just kinda amused me. You have to admit, it does look kinda familar.
Otherworldly Water?
Yeah, yeah, we've been through this before, but there are rumors that NASA may announce today that liquid water has been found somewhere other than Earth. The interesting bit is that it's not Mars this time, but Saturn's tiny moon Enceladus, which was also discovered last year to have an atmosphere. Because the moon is so small, it can't hold on to its atmosphere, but rather appears to be continuously generating it.The water in question is reportedly in the form of sub-surface reservoirs that erupt into geysers. The full details are embargoed until the announcement, and there has been media reports describing it as "a huge announcement" about "possible life in our own solar system." If so, it's almost certainly only in the context of "where we've found water, we've found life," which has been true on Earth. I can't imagine that anybody would be willing to say that life has been confirmed on Enceladus -- I don't think the tools are there to make that sort of find.
Anyway, the announcement is scheduled for 1 p.m. today CST.
Another Step?
Conventional wisdom has it that, in order to establish a feature-film service through the iTunes Music Store, Apple is going to have to bow to studio demands to sell them through a subscription service.If that's the case, two recent changes may show that Apple is looking at the possibilities. First, Apple has set up a monthly "Multi-Pass," which allows users to pay a flat monthly fee to download certain content, most notably The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. Rather than paying $1.99 per episode, Multi-Pass buyers get all 16 new episodes each month for a $9.99 fee. It's not really a subscription service, since you get to keep the episodes without continuing to pay a monthly fee, but it is a change in the way they're doing business.
Another change is that Apple has set up restricted access podcasts of the Rush Limbaugh show. The show had a paid service which allowed subscribers to download shows, but was interested in using iTunes for distribution. Apple refused to change its policies to charge for the podcasts, but agreed to restrict access to the free podcasts. Again, seems like free access to content for paid subscribers (even if Apple's not being paid in this case), could be another step closer to the interface that would be needed for a subscription movie service.
Wednesday, 8 March 2006
Huh
According to ITAR-TASS, a new agreement between Roskosmos and NASA will, among other things, let U.S. astronauts command Soyuz spacecraft. The times they are a-changin'
STS-121 Update
Testing has begun on the external tank for the next space shuttle flight, which recently arrived at Kennedy Space Center. Initial tests have revealed a problem with one of the tank's engine cut-off sensors, which were involved in a delay of last year's STS-114 Return to Flight mission. It's not clear yet whether the recently discovered problem will require a fix before launch, in that it may be within nominal specs, but, if it does require action, it could push the launch back beyond the May 10 target date.
Trek 2.0
Per G4, Via Yahoo:As fans worldwide anticipate the 40th anniversary of the original television voyage of the Starship Enterprise, G4 announces the world premiere of "Star Trek 2.0," the first TV airings of classic Star Trek episodes to feature ground-breaking interactive components, allowing viewers to boldly go where no network has gone before.
Premiering on Monday, April 10, "Star Trek 2.0" will air Mondays through Fridays at 11:00 PM ET/PT, as part of the network's popular late-night programming block. G4 will also air the Star Trek episodes in their original, non-interactive and uncut form during Saturday marathons from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM ET/PT, beginning Saturday, April 8.
G4's unique, multi-faceted format beams viewers into the action and makes the original series relevant to a whole new generation of fans. The network has created and produced innovative, on-screen features such as: live chat, through which viewers can comment on the episode and interact with each other online; an accumulating tally of "Trek Stats" that highlights the patented Star Trek quirks and plot devices that audiences have loved for decades; a variety of insider "Trek Facts"; and G4's exclusive "Spock Market," through which viewers can "buy" and "sell" stock in the characters online.
The Continuing Rumor Watch
So this year, instead of the usual June, the the Apple Worldwide Developer Conference will be held from Aug. 7-11. I don't see any official word on why, so let the speculatin begin?Clearly, the most obvious explanation is that Steve intentionally scheduled it to begin on my birthday.
Of course, there's always a decent chance that they want to showcase something that won't be ready to show by June (as the MacNN article speculates).
The third possibility, and the one that I personally would like to believe, is that there will be an anniversary-timeframe announcement of such magnitude that two months later would be two soon for another major Stevenote.
Anyway, we shall see.
The Next Round?
From MacNN:Macs should be able to run Windows applications as seamlessly and as fast as they run on current Windows PCs once a small number of technical problems are solved, according to the study, and an online survey of 255 college students revealed the possibility of a dramatic increase in users switching to Macs. When presented with the possibility of a Mac running Windows applications, the mean liklihood of purchasing a Mac rose almost 20 percent, while the percentage of Windows users who would definitely buy a Mac rocketed from 1.8 percent to 13.5 percent.
First off, you gotta take that for what it's worth. College students, I would imagine, are probably more likely than the average public to switch over to Macs, so there's nothing saying those numbers have any significant meaning for the mainstream.
That said, would it be worth it? Would you be in favor of the platform boundaries dissolving if it meant increased marketshare for the Mac?
On a related note, here's bit of a slap in the face of outdated conventional wisdom:
One Network World columnist has concluded that owning a Mac is much less expensive than a Windows-based PC--after including total cost of ownership over three years: "The results of this TCO astounded me. For my small enterprise, owning a WinTel box for three years costs twice as much as owning a MacTel. When I talked with several of our clients, I found that the burdened cost of ownership per PC - just for support - ranged from $1,300 to $4,000 per year If I can cut down on the burden of monthly and annual subscriptions, and dramatically reduce my annualized per-seat support costs, not only does my TCO go way down, but as an added plus my technical headache factors decrease, too."
Happy To Download
By now, "My TiVo thinks I'm gay" is a part of the zeitgeist.This morning, when I went to get this week's free songs from the iTunes Music Store, I encountered the latest version -- apparently, iTunes thinks I'm gay.
Upon opening the store, I noticed that in the recommendations section, three of the four albums were Willie Nelson's "Cowboys Are Frequently Secretly (Fond of Each Other)" single, the Brokeback Mountain soundtrack and the Queer As Folk soundtrack. To top it off, a song by Melissa Etheridge was number two on the list of individual song recommendations, which also included Elton John and Heather Small's "Proud," from the aforementioned Queer As Folk soundtrack.
It's the first time, I believe, that the recommendations didn't include a large number of things I already have. I'll have to go back now and look at what I've purchased recently to see what might have tipped the scales.
Odd
Monday, 6 March 2006
The Flying Car
Per Discovery Channel:A small, lightweight airplane the size of an SUV could bring into reality those personal transports we've been waiting for.
...
The Transition's 27-foot wingspan can be collapsed, allowing the plane to be stored in most garages. It's designed to be 18.75 feet long and 6.75 feet high, and drivable on any road.
That gives the pilot the flexibility to land at any number of the 5,000 public-access airports around the country and finish the trip by highway.
MRO Approaching
Per NASA:Mars plays a mean defense. The red warrior has overwhelmed nearly two-thirds of all international spacecraft that have sought its mysteries. For NASA's latest encounter with Earth's testy neighbor, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter team will be going into battle armored with discipline, training and experience.
After seven months of flight, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is preparing to attampt to enter orbit around the Red Planet on Friday. I'll be watching this one with particular interest, since this is the spacecraft that I almost got to watch launch back in August -- I was standing at the viewing area at Canaveral when the launch was scrubbed with only minutes left on the clock. (I did see it on television the next morning, for what that's worth.)
MRO is an incredibly complex spacecraft, which promises to send back as much detailed information about Mars as all previous orbiters combined. Here's hoping everything goes as planned on March 10.
Blackstar
Wanna read something funky?Aviation Week & Space Technology published an article yesterday presenting evidence that not only may the U.S. have worked on developing a secret military orbital spacecraft, but that the system may actually have been operational and flown in space.
The article proposes that the "Blackstar" was a system like a much-souped-up version of the X-15 or SpaceShipOne -- a small spacecraft launched in-air by a larger mothership.
The Next Step
Everybody talks about private orbital spaceflight, but nobody does anything about it.Until now, that is. In the race to be the first to carry a paying passenger on a suborbital spaceflight, some of the contenders have talked about their plans to eventually build orbital vehicles. At this time, none of them even have suborbital capability. There's also been talk about private commercial spaceflight companies providing launch services for NASA. t/Space has some the closest to moving out of the talk phase, but that's about it.
Now, Paypal founder Elon Musk has announced that his SpaceX has been, for the past 18 months, using its own money to fund the secret development of an orbital spacecraft. The company is now asking NASA to help fund a demonstration of the vehicle, with an eye towards the "Dragon" being used to ferry crew and/or cargo to the International Space Station beginning in 2009.
The cynic in me will take the news much more serious when SpaceX finally, after a series of failed attempts, manages to get its Falcon I rocket off the ground. Still, it's exciting news just that more people are working seriously towards making the next step in spaceflight a reality.
Finding Content
Per ThinkSecret:With the debut of Apple's true video iPod on the horizon, sources have told Think Secret "the eleventh hour" has approached in negotiations between Apple CEO Steve Jobs and major powers in the industry over how to offer movies on-demand and that the situation is not looking good for larger deals.
According to a highly placed industry executive, talks between potential partners from movie distributors and Apple have been in "the fast mode" for the past three months on how to sell full-length feature films through Apple's iTunes service. Major obstacles remain to a finished deal, however.
...
The biggest hurdle to overcome remains the competing desires between the movie industry and Apple over which model an online movie store should adopt, said the source, who has been involved in talks with Apple directly and indirectly and spoke on the condition of anonymity. Mr. Jobs is insistent that content be sold as a download-to-own model, as music is with the iTunes Music Store, but the movie industry as a whole favors the subscription model and appears unwilling to budge.
On a related note, I'm surprised that, in the news outlets I read at least, there hasn't been any speculation that last week's "fun, new products" announcement was at some point intended to announce the U2 iPod. I'm not necessarily saying it was, but it just seems like that would be the sort of rumor you would see springing up. Oh well.
Creeping Toward The Moon
The Chinese space juggernaut, which some in the space community have held up as a model of the sort of bold program the U.S. doesn't have and have said will embarass America by beating us back to the moon, has announced that the intrepid pace of one spaceflight every two years is just too much for them, and that Shenzhou VII won't launch until 2008, two and a half years after Shenzhou 6.Which will faze those who have fallen under the spell of the Chinese space hype machine exactly none at all.
Sunday, 5 March 2006
Johnny Cash At Space Camp
From The Huntsville Times:Hello. He's Johnny Cash. And he's a graduate of "SpaceCamp" - the movie.
Joaquin Phoenix, who could take home the "best actor" Oscar tonight for his role as Cash in "Walk the Line," made his big-screen debut 20 years ago as "Max," the youngest in a group of campers accidentally lifted into orbit aboard a shuttle - you don't really want to know how that happened - in 1986's "SpaceCamp."
During "SpaceCamp" filming Joaquin was 10 years old and called "Leaf" Phoenix. He had already been in some television roles, but was far less well-known than his older brother, River, or cast members Kate Capshaw, Lea Thompson, Kelly Preston and Tom Skerritt. Still, Joaquin left an impression on those who met him during location shooting at U.S. Space Camp in Huntsville and on the set in Los Angeles.
Also: Film gave big boost to real Space Camp
Friday, 3 March 2006
Regular Richie Feature
So, yeah, top hatbag.net search strings for the first few days of March 2006 (not sure how the server move will change this:- funny kitten (this was number the last two months)
- kicked in the face
- huntsville high school
- "knight rider" birthday
- barefoot+pregnant
- tanning humor
- "Saturn-
- Bill Anders explorer's prerogative
- Bill Cosby's lifespan events
- How fast is tyrannosaurus
- Rocket planes
- borg pony
Wiki By Volume
In light of previous discussions about Wikipedia, I thought this was kind of interesting:
New Voyage News is holding a contest to inspire people to contribute to its new Space Tourism Encyclopedia Wiki.
To encourage people to populate the Wiki, first prize goes to the person who posts the most entries.
It's not quite as bad as I first thought -- The "most entries" factors in both length as well as number, and there's also an attempt to ensure accuracy. You lose points for errors, but you get them back if people correct them.
Beyond that, though, there doesn't seem to be any effort to take quality into account. (Second place prize goes to a random wiki writer, again with no recognition of quality.)
The contest just seems to promote everything bad about the Wikipedia concept -- encouraging posting without really being concerned about quality or accuracy (And it's worth noting that the only errors that count against you are the ones other people catch).
I'm really not that anti-Wiki. There are flaws in the concept, and I would never take an entry to be 100 percent authoritative, but I believe that, in general, the community will work for the greater good to create a decent result. When things like this contest, though, turn the focus from community interest to self-interest, it seems the final result comes into question.
Chubby Rain
When one looks back on the movies over the past decade that were not only entertaining, but also were centered around a strong, factual scientific basis, one should not, as tempting as it might be, forget about Bowfinger.According to New Scientist, it's been reported that in 2001, 50 tonnes of alien life forms rained down from the clouds over India.
Perhaps this was just some new form of alien love.
The Schedule Update
Per Spaceflight Now:NASA and its international partners unveiled a new space station assembly sequence today, one that takes into account the looming 2010 end of the shuttle program by deferring science operations in favor of construction flights to ensure completion of the orbital outpost.
While not addressed by the assembly sequence, a proposed shuttle mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope, if approved, would come after the launches of European and Japanese space station modules, sources say.
The new schedule shows the station capable of supporting a crew of six by the 14th flight in the assembly sequence. Two additional flights are listed as contingency missions.
Board
Yeah, the board doesn't seem to be working. Not sure why. Will update you as I learn more.
Tutor Nights
Ain't It Cool News has review of Talladega Nights, the Will Ferrell movie in which the Tutors got parts as extras last summer. Unfortunately, though, it doesn't appear the review actually mentions the Tutors.Thursday, 2 March 2006
Anniver-Sorry
OK, sure, it's a bit late in the day for us to be posting this week's new Hatbag, but with craftmanship like this, sometimes you just gotta be patient.
The Shirt Of Leonardo
In my regular reading of the Space Pragmatism blog, I came across a link to this site that will create word cloud t-shirts for your blog, featuring a group of words that apear commonly on your Web site. So I tried it with ATW:
To be honest, I was a bit disappointed at just how skewed toward The Leonardo Code it was, but, while it's not what I was looking for from a ATW shirt perspective, it's kind of cool from a Leonardo Code shirt perspective. I ran it again using The LC site:
So, the question is, would a shirt like this actually be worth $14-$21 to anyone?
The Schedule Update
Despite earlier reports that NASA was only looking at flying a maximum of two shuttle missions in 2006, shuttle program manager Wayne Hale said this week that if STS-121 flies successfully in May or July, that three shuttle missions could fly this year.In related news, the modified external tank for STS-121 arrived at KSC yesterday.
Mini Reviews
Reviews of Tuesday's announcement:MacNN on American Technology Research article:
"At first, we felt a little underwhelmed with the product announcements," Wu said. After more careful thought, however, the analyst concluded that Apple is making less apparent progress in building a broader digital entertainment portfolio. Wu believes the Mac mini has evolved into a competitive compact digital entertainment center with faster Intel processors, and said that the new Mac "screams connect me to a TV" with the included remote control, multiple networking options, DVD burner, enhanced FrontRow software, and more robust display options. Commenting on the new Mac mini, Wu added that "we find its price point at $799 a little steep. In addition, we would like to see Apple add more features in the future, including PVR recording capabilities which would arguably make it the most powerful digital entertainment center in the market."
Also from MacNN:
Apple may be becoming a victim of its own success, as both users and analysts were disappointed by the announcements at Tuesday's invitation-only media event. Based on the product introductions and reaction by media and users, analyst Richard Farmer of Merrill Lynch said that Apple needs to be more careful about hyping its invitation-only media events: "We wonder if the announcements were substantial enough to merit an invitational media event and suspect Apple needs to be judicious if it expects to continue to convert journalists into marketing instruments with its aura of secrecy." Farmer also offered some caution about Apple's strategy to grab a larger share of the iPod accessory market.
From The HDTV Tuner:
The new Intel processors are just one of the elements that make the new Mac mini interesting from an HDTV perspective, however. Also important are the new version of Front Row (Apple's Media Center style front end for iLife) which supports the Bonjour networking technology built into Mac OS X, and the info Apple has posted on its website regarding connecting the mini to a TV set.
...
On their own, none of the improvements mean a great deal in HDTV terms, but together they suggest Apple is well on its way to turning the Mac mini into a high definition media center. All it needs now is to start selling high definition movies and TV shows on iTunes. Watch this space.
Wednesday, 1 March 2006
MS iBox
If Microsoft designed the iPod box.Friday, 31 March 2006
Later That Fool
(Read Entry)
Giving It All They've Got
(Read Entry)
Making The Cut
(Read Entry)
NASA Kids' Club
(Read Entry)Thursday, 30 March 2006
Apple Fools
(Read Entry)
Apple Versus Apple Update
(Read Entry)
Holy Starship!
(Read Entry)
Dying Legacy
(Read Entry)Wednesday, 29 March 2006
There's A Giant Black Spot On The Sun Today
(Read Entry)
Apple Versus Apple Note
(Read Entry)
Expedition 13
(Read Entry)Tuesday, 28 March 2006
The Answer
(Read Entry)
A New Day For Dawn
(Read Entry)Monday, 27 March 2006
More iPhone Rumors
(Read Entry)
Failed Falcon
(Read Entry)
Live Long And Prosper
(Read Entry)
To iBe Or Not To iBe
(Read Entry)
Apple Versus Apple
(Read Entry)Friday, 24 March 2006
iLaw Update
(Read Entry)
Take ... Uh... Whatever
(Read Entry)Thursday, 23 March 2006
Five Words. Just Five Words.
(Read Entry)
Trek Rereleases
(Read Entry)
The Loneliest Man At Apple
(Read Entry)Wednesday, 22 March 2006
LBJ And The Helium-Filled Astronaut
(Read Entry)
iLaw Response
(Read Entry)Tuesday, 21 March 2006
iLaw
(Read Entry)
Back Of The Sun
(Read Entry)Monday, 20 March 2006
What Woz Will Be
(Read Entry)
'Drive Or Die' Update
(Read Entry)
Life After Death
(Read Entry)
SSME RIP?
Shuttle main engines are on the way out. (Read Entry)
First iPhone Update For A While
(Read Entry)
Video iPod Evidence?
(Read Entry)
V For Vendetta
(Read Entry)
Back To The Futurama
(Read Entry)
Connections
(Read Entry)Friday, 17 March 2006
V For Velour*
(Read Entry)
'Drive Or Die'
(Read Entry)Thursday, 16 March 2006
Apple Trader
(Read Entry)
Same Old Song
(Read Entry)
MacWindows
(Read Entry)
The Series Continues
(Read Entry)Wednesday, 15 March 2006
And So It Begins
(Read Entry)Tuesday, 14 March 2006
STS-121 Update
(Read Entry)
EFI Word
(Read Entry)
Sound Of You & Me
(Read Entry)Monday, 13 March 2006
Knight Ridder Purchased
(Read Entry)
Survivor Post-Mortem
collectSPACE has an interview with Dan Barry. (Read Entry)
MRO MOI Update
(Read Entry)
How William Shatner Changed the World
(Read Entry)
Anniversary Rumor Watch Update
(Read Entry)
Shadow Moon
(Read Entry)Friday, 10 March 2006
MRO MOI
(Read Entry)
More Microsoft Innovation
(Read Entry)Thursday, 9 March 2006
Single Hippie Seeks Same
(Read Entry)
MS Newt
(Read Entry)
Otherworldly Water?
(Read Entry)
Another Step?
(Read Entry)Wednesday, 8 March 2006
Huh
(Read Entry)
STS-121 Update
(Read Entry)
Trek 2.0
(Read Entry)
The Continuing Rumor Watch
(Read Entry)
The Next Round?
(Read Entry)
Happy To Download
(Read Entry)Monday, 6 March 2006
The Flying Car
(Read Entry)
MRO Approaching
(Read Entry)
Blackstar
(Read Entry)
The Next Step
(Read Entry)
Finding Content
(Read Entry)
Creeping Toward The Moon
(Read Entry)Sunday, 5 March 2006
Johnny Cash At Space Camp
(Read Entry)Friday, 3 March 2006
Regular Richie Feature
(Read Entry)
Wiki By Volume
(Read Entry)
Chubby Rain
(Read Entry)
The Schedule Update
(Read Entry)
Board
(Read Entry)
Tutor Nights
(Read Entry)Thursday, 2 March 2006
Anniver-Sorry
(Read Entry)
The Shirt Of Leonardo
(Read Entry)
The Schedule Update
(Read Entry)
Mini Reviews
(Read Entry)Wednesday, 1 March 2006