Last week there was a story about a woman who caught a fellow subway rider pleasuring himself on the train. Disgusted, she took a photo of him with her camera phone and contacted the police. After filing the police report, she wasn’t hopeful about any resolution. So she posted the pictures on the Internet to humiliate the guy.

This story is very similar to one in Korea where a woman’s dog pooped on the train and her camera phone picture was posted on the Internet. On one hand, it is great that these people are taking such an active role in crime in our society. As more and more people are armed with camera phones, there should be a decline in these types of crimes. In the subway wanker’s case, the NYPD even praised the women’s quick thinking that should help catch this guy.

But there is another hand to consider. This guy was convicted in the court of public opinion without due process as guaranteed in the constitution. In this case it wasn’t a problem as he was caught red handed in the photo. But consider a similar case where the photographic evidence isn’t as clear, or even worse has been Photoshopped. In a court of law the accused is given a chance to defend himself. In the court of public opinion, this guys life is ruined in minutes as everyone assumes he is guilty.

In closing, I think the woman did the right thing. She took photos to document the crime. She reported it to the police and submitted her evidence. But she should have stopped there and let our legal system handle it. That is what it is there for. If you were the accused in this case, you would want your chance to defend yourself, which the court of public opinion won’t give you.

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Deep down everyone knows that those pictures they see in magazines have been retouched. You know nobody can look that perfect. Now you have a chance to see exactly how much retouching work goes into those photos. Things like:

• Shadows Removed
• Belly Bulges Removed
• Breasts “Enhanced”
• Nail Polish Color Changed

Glenn Feron - The Art of Retouching (via neilgaiman.com).

Tags: mlp // Comments (0) // Trackbacks (1)

There has been a lot of discussion lately due to a rather lackluster summer season at the box office. Lots of theories thrown around about why exactly that is happening. Bad Movies; High Ticket Prices; Rude People at Theater; Advertising before and during the movie; Movie Piracy; Competition with HD TV’s and Surround Sound Systems. Personally, I think it is probably a bit of each of those (expect Movie Piracy. If you have ever seen how BAD those pirate copies are you would understand). But rather than discussing in general why people aren’t going to the movies like they used to, I’m going to tell you why I don’t go to the movies that often anymore.

I’m going to sum up my reasons in a simple phrase: The PITA principal. In short, going to the movies is a Pain In The Ass.

First, you have to get to the theater, park, get tickets (hopefully they are available for the movie you wanted to see), get in, and then try and get seats together. All before the movie starts. A Pang in the Posterior!

So the lights are down and the curtain has opened. But the pain has not yet subsided. You have already shelled out around $7 (national average) for your tickets, but you still have to sit down to see some ads before the show starts. And I’m not even talking about the previews. I’m talking about the full fledged Coke ad that you are forced to watch so the theater can cover its expenses (or the owner can pad his pocket). The previews don’t bother me except when you are there to see a blockbuster movie like Harry Potter or Star Wars and it seems like the previews will never end! A Hurt in the Hindquarters!

And don’t get me started on the 5 year old running around at the 11:30 showing of R rated “Wedding Crashers”? Or the person answer the cell phone in the middle of the love scene? Or the kid behind you kicking your seat? Or crying? People today don’t think about anyone but themselves anymore, so we have to put up with this kind of Fever in the Fanny.

Now lets talk about the movie itself. You have endured the arrival. You have parted with your money. You have survived the other people. And the movie SUCKS! You get through this entire ordeal to waste your $7 a person on a complete stinker of a movie. A Strain in the Seat!

Add all these problems up and you can see that it is not that surprising that people are staying home. As the tech gets cheaper and cheaper, more and more people will have HDTV’s and kick-ass surround sound systems in their home. Rent a DVD ($5, probably less) and you can (in the comfort of your own home) enjoy a movie with out having to apply a salve to your buttocks afterward. And with theater sizes shrinking as they try and fit more theaters into the multiplex, it is quite possible that your 101″ screen at home is bigger and better than the screen you see when out.

So what can the industry do to save the movie theater? I don’t think there is a whole lot that can be done. Some of my complaints can easily be addressed by theaters that care, but there isn’t anything that can be done with some of my other complains (like getting there on time). I think movie theaters as we know them today are on the way out. I think some will survive by adapting to the change and attracting a more sophisticated crowd. By doing things like making it 21 and over (ie. serve drinks and gourmet food like the Alamo Drafthouse Theater in Austin, TX) so we don’t have to worry about kids running around. Cut out the extra ads at the beginning and pass the cost onto my ticket price if you have to. If you have a nice place, people who can afford to will pay the premium to have a more enjoyable experience. And probably the best thing movie theaters can do is to enforce common decency. Have your ushers actually DO something and “Shush” talkers. Warn people who’s phones ring. Throw them out if they answer it or it rings again. I really think the next opportunity in the movie theater business is this whole idea of a Premium Movie theater (like the Arclight in LA). Make it fun to go out and see a movie again, and (surprise!) more people will come out and see movies.

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Margaret is currently is in Switzerland for business, which means that I’m home alone (well I’ve got the animals to keep me company). But we still talk every day (sometimes more than once). So how do we do it without going broke? Read on for my traveling tips…

1. Get a “World Capable” cellphone.

Margaret and I both have “World Capable” cellphones. These are either tri-band or quad-band GSM phones (you need the 4th band if you are going to Japan). For US providers, this limits you to T-Mobile, Cingular, or some of AT&T Wireless. The easiest way to tell if you have a GSM phone or not is to look for the SIM card in the phone. This is the little card that the network uses to identify this phone as you. It also means that you can just move that card to another phone and this new phone is where all you calls will ring. GSM phones are the only phones that use this technology to identify the phones (CDMA and TDMA both have numbers in the phone that map to your phone number).

So you have a GSM phone. How do you know it will work while traveling internationally? Read the product packaging or do a Google search for it. You want to see that it lists 3 (or 4) frequencies that it works on. This means your phone should work throughout the world. Or you could ask your provider, but I find that can be hit or miss depending on how good the person you are talking to is.

NOTE: Make sure to contact your provider and activate “World” service before your trip or you won’t be talking to anyone.

With T-Mobile, it is around $1 a minute to make (or receive) a call while in Europe. Due to this cost, we only use it for emergency contact or work communications (which gets reimbursed by the company). Instead, we use SMS to send messages back and forth for only $0.05 a message (I think). It is handy because it doesn’t require access to a computer or Internet like e-mail, it is short, and the recipient doesn’t actually need to be there to get the message. We do chat with it a little bit, but its main use for us is in coordinating some other kind of communications.

2. Use a 1010- dial around service.

One I’ve established that Margaret is in a location to receive a land-line call (like in her hotel room), I can then give her a call. Since a lot of the 1010 services charge a connection fee, the “going to be there” step is vital since it costs $0.50 to find out that she isn’t there. I use 1010-345 ($0.04 to Switzerland), but you can compare other 1010 phone rates for your destination country. It is a lot of buttons to press to make the call (1010-345-011-42-22-xxxxxxxx), but it makes a big difference over the default rates you phone company charges (I think it is actually cheaper to use my cell phone at $1/minute than just make a call from my home phone…).

3. Use Skype

This is where I got really cheap. While I did use the 1010 number to call her once when having computer problems, most of the time I call her using Skype. You can’t beat the rates. It works out to be about $0.02 a minute to call and you have to buy $12.33 chunks (all their rates are in Euros…). Even with the conversion rate where it is, $12 gets you about 10 hours of talk time. And it has other benefits. I can call her from work without having to worry about billing the call back to the company or any other such nonsense. And that is key to working with the timezones (I can call her at night when it is only3:00 EDT).

But not all is perfect with Skype. It is a VOIP service and suffers from all the troubles that VOIP providers have (and some that places like Vonagedon’t have). Most of the difficulties I experienced with it were setup problems. The wireless on my kitchen computer was flaky, which made it hard to call from there (it would drop out every once in a while). The upstairs computer has a nice Soundblaster card in it, which was a real pain to get to work right. I think this second problem I had is going to be the thing that costs Skype the most. Due to the proprietary nature of their product, they don’t have any hardware products out yet so you can’t use your regular phone with it. Vonage uses standard protocols, so companies like Linksys have hardware products that work with it.

The call itself sounded great. There is a little bit of a delay, but I don’t think it is any worse than a cell-to-cell call or any other kind of international call. It is a little strange to put this headset on to call my wife, but I get used to it (since it goes over the head, I have both hands free which in some ways is better than a traditional phone).

That’s all the long distance communications tips I have for now. If you have any to add, add a comment down below!

Tags: cellphone, skype, travel, voip // Comment (1) // Trackbacks (0)

I want an XM MyFi Radio. I mean I reallywant one. The money was ready, I was ready, I had found a good price (My Radio Store), but then I found out some of the current versions major flaws. And I passed. Maybe the next version will address those problems.

The MyFi is a handheld XM Radio receiver with built in antenna. While it comes with a car kit and a home kit, it is really meant to be taken with you (so you can listen to XM wherever you may be). All of this is really exciting to me. I already have a Roadyin the car and an XMPCR at the office. The Roady is great in the car, but it pretty much stays there because it is too much of a hassle to unplug all the stuff from it, take it with you, and then hook it up again when you get there. The XMPRC was awesomewhen I first got it. It attaches to my computer through USB and allows all kinds of cool things. But getting the sound to be right on the computer is difficult. My old work computer did it really well, but my new one gives a lot of static. And I never could get it to work with Margaret’s laptop. The MyFi could replace both of those radios.

As just a handheld unit, the MyFi is wonderful. It does exactly what it needs to do and does it pretty well (maybe a little more than 5 hours of battery would be nice, but that is being picky). But for just a handheld unit, the price is a little steep (lists at $299). Luckily, the MyFi does a bit more to justify its kinda hefty price tag (for comparison, the Roady can be gotten for $50). The MyFi has up to a 5 hour recording capacity so you can listen to XM in places that you normally couldn’t (ie. subway, etc). In my mind, that justifies the price tag (when considered with its other features). But here’s the problem and why I won’t be getting one any time soon: Good Idea, Flawed Implementation.

Before doing any research into the MyFi, I assumed that the recording feature was just like Tivofor radio. I figured one could FF and REW as I wanted withing a 30 minute buffer or even just record a song or a program I like, as long as I stayed under 5 hours. I wasn’t even close to how recording works. In short, here is what I discovered:

• You can record either one 5 hour show, or two 2.5 hour shows
• You can’t FF, REW, skip or do any trick functions on a recorded show

I had such high expectations that were hopelessly dashed when I discovered those facts. I cannot bring myself to purchase any of the existing MyFi’s until those problems are fixed. Or at least the lack of trick functions (Which I am sure were left out because XM doesn’t want you to skip over their commercials…). I could probably make due with only 2 recordings, but without some way of navigating through those recordings I am going to have to pass.

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Ivy League signs multi-year contract with Sirius. According to this DP Article, the Ancient 8 have signed a deal to get one football and one basketball game on Sirius each week during the season (and also a handful of hockey games thrown in for the Cornell fans).

At least the Ivy’s are getting some exposure. I just with it were on XM where people would actually listen to it. I also wish it was for more than one game a week…

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Why is Podcasting so popular right now? Apple adding Podcasting support into ITunes 4.9 helped Podcasting “Cross the Chasm”, but what brought Podcasting to the brink of the Chasm? How were those early adopters hooked into it? Real easy answer: The IPod and other portable digital audio devices. They took Internet audio (which previously could only be heard on a computer) and brought it into a context where people can enjoy it: Their IPod in the car, on the walk to work, at work, on the subway, etc. You no longer had to be tethered to your computer or open up your 15lb laptop, you just had this tiny little device to carry with you.

So what is Video Blogging (or vlogging? sigh…) and what does it need to be as popular as Podcasting? Video Blogging is using a video camera of some sort to record a “broadcast” and then to use some Podcasting technology (RSS/bittorrent) to syndicate it to people podcatchers. Very much a “seeing” analogue to Podcasting.

But Video Blogging doesn’t yet have its IPod. There are currently no devices on the market that can take a syndicated (RSS) video feed and allow the user to watch it in a good context. For watching video, this context usually means the sofa. There are a few products that this kind of feature could be added to. KiSS(recently acquired by Cisco/Linksys) has a line of networked PVRs that this kind of VideoCatcher feature could be added to. Gateway used to have a (pricey) networked DVD player that could stream video off a PC that could do VideoCatching. There is also a Linux based HD box with an extensive API that can do it (I can’t remember what it is right now. We have one at work so I’ll check on it tomorrow).

But all those products have one thing in common: Nobody owns one. KiSS probably has the best chance, as they have a strong non-US market share, but they currently only have one US distributor and the box runs $300! But I don’t think Gateway even sells their DVD player anymore, and I can’t even remember the name of the last product in my lineup!

Somebody needs to design and sell a reasonably priced (like $200) box on which VideoCatching can be implemented. But for $200, I would expect a hard drive and to not involve the PC at all to use it. At $100, I could get by with the device having no hard drive and always needing the PC to serve up content.

A media adapter like I described could really set fire to Video Blogging. Just like Podcasting brought niche interests to people who are interested in hearing about them, imagine whole TV shows not picked by TV executives to cater to the lowest common denominator, but rather shows that are intelligent and entertaining. You don’t need a PVR anymore, because you just subscribe to the 24 feed and the program shows up on your device every week. But of course, people would still be complaints about there being nothing on…

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I just applied to be accepted into the Google Adsense program. This is a program from Google to put targeted ads on your web pages. While there are a lot of ad providers out there, I liked to non-intrusive, super targeted nature of the Adsense ads. They are text based ads, so no annoying flash animations or even eye-popping graphics. You fully control the color scheme of your ads. And Google uses their Search Engine power to provide super targeted ads. Write about Dance Dance Revolution, you will get ads about Japanese Music and DDR pads. In short, they don’t annoy the users and may actually be very useful.

But the first rule of Adsense is “Don’t talk about Adsense”. Try and find some information on how much money you can make using Adsense. You can’t. Their TOS has a gag rule in it that keeps you from talking about specifics about how the program works. For me, that means I just have to try it and see. But on the high end, WebLogsInc claims to have made $1M in year, and have peeked at $2,335 in one day. Of course, they employ 103 bloggers so they have a lot of content to serve ad impressions on. And also some the most popular blogs out there (Engadget, Autoblog, etc.). So that number is probably the pinnacle of what you can get. Reading some of the comments on that post, it seems that for a smaller blog like mine more reasonable numbers may be $0.20 a month.

So (if accepted into their program), I’m going to give it a try. But if it takes me a year to make enough money for them to actually cut a check, I don’t think I’ll be staying with them for long. We will see…

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If the driver in front of you is talking on his cell phone using a bluetooth wireless headset (which seem to be all the rage right now), or even that tool walking around with the bluetooth wireless headset always on his ear, let them know what you think! This hack uses a linux laptop and a direction antenna to snoop onto bluetooth wireless headsets and can also inject audio into the connection.

trifinite.blog: Introducing the Car Whisperer at What The Hack

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Margaret went to the salon this weekend, so while she was getting worked on, I made a little trip to BBQ Galore to pick up some stuff. Since I had some time, I decided to do some window shipping there in addition to picking up the things that I came for.

I noticed that Steven Raichlen (who’s How To Grill is my grilling bible) now has a line of grilling products. The most interesting thing I saw from him were Wine Barrel Staves. These are the pieces of the wood barrel the wine ferments in when you make wine. As a result of sitting in the barrel so long, some of the wine flavor is embedded into the wood of the barrel. Looking at the staves, you can see the dark red color of the wine. You then use the stave as a smoking source when cooking your meat. This way you not only get the wood flavor, but also a bit of the wine flavor from the smoke.

Rather than getting that fancy, I just picked up a bag of hickory wood chips (BBQ Galore Brand). I’ve tried both their Apple Wood and Mesquite Wood chips and was very happy, so I thought I would try something a little different. The last time I made ribs (July 4th), I didn’t have any wood chips at all! The ribs still tasted good, but that smoke flavor would have really put it over the top. I won’t have this problem the next time!

I also picked up a sauce mop, so I could apply mop sauces to my meat while cooking. And since there is nothing more embarrassing than running out of propane, I got one of those magnetic propane level indicators so I could see how much propane I have left.

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