It looks like Microsoft has finally hopped on the ‘aesthetics matter’ bandwagon. Thank god. The new design actually looks like something that I wouldn’t mind holding in public. The new flash-based PMP will feature an industrial look, versus it’s previously plastic-matte direction. It has the iPod touch in it’s sights, and it doesn’t look to be pulling any punches.
This new Zune HD will feature multitouch, a web browser, and several new media features. It’s namesake (HD) comes from it’s HD radio and it’s HD (720p) video-output, granted the video-out only comes with an optional docking station. The Zune HD will include an accelerometer, a 3.3” 16:9 OLED widescreen, featuring a 480×272 resolution.
It’s HD radio is worth noting, as this will be the only PMP featuring an HD radio, which means song and artist info, as well as excellent sound quality compared to traditional radio.
Since you can get all this information else where, you’re probably wondering why I am posting it here. Well, I have always had high hopes for the Zune platform (not enough to buy one, obviously), and I think that if the software components are solid enough to be able to play a wide variety of formats; the Zune could win out. The Zune HD has to not only feature everything the iPod touch has, it has to 1-up it for it to be successful, I think that’s the next piece of information that Microsoft has to release.
Looking forward to it Microsoft, I’m pulling for you.
The first season of Dollhouse is over and I’m near stunned, for multiple reasons. I’ll hit on those reasons through out the post, but Dollhouse deals with so much that I am not confident that I will be able to do it justice with one post. Honestly, my main point in writing this is “Go watch Dollhouse, now.” I will be buying the DVD set, and I really hope Fox renews this.
Dollhouse immediately sets the audience up with a cast that you can’t help but like, but the guilt still lingers. The Dollhouse is wrong, plain and simple, even the show makes this abundantly clear numerous times. The audience is constantly bombarded with the concept of slavery, murder, and prostitution and the similarities are apparent. However, the staff of the Dollhouse feel differently in that they believe that the ‘Dolls’ have willingly signed over their lives for a period of five years, and when that five year period is over they will be rendered a payment for their services. The problem is that it simply changes from slavery to consensual slavery, which arguably doesn’t make anything much better.
The ethics behind the Dollhouse are most visibly reprehensible when the character Sierra was introduced. Sierra was not someone who signed a contract and willingly became a ‘Doll’. No, she pissed off someone very rich by refusing to have sex with him, and he spent a lot of money to have her put in a mindless state where he and his buddies could exploit her whenever they wanted. Not only was she forced into the Dollhouse against her will, but she was also raped frequently by the person she was programmed to trust and obey. Sierra represented not a fluke in the Dollhouse modus operandi, but the essence of it.
However, the complicated ethics of the Dollhouse extend past simply right or wrong, it delves into a morally ambiguous and uncomfortable zone. This is what makes Dollhouse special, this is what makes Joss Whedon genius. When you look past the initial plot, the story structure, and the characters, you see the brilliance of the message. It delves into what truly defines us as humans, it shows us what our core is as a species and as an individual. Dollhouse showed us that who we are is not confined to our bodies, but is represented in our personalities. The final episode displayed this vividly, when FBI Agent Ballard (I’ll come back to him shortly) is arguing with Topher and says that a person’s Soul cannot be removed, and Topher is quick to point out how wrong that is. The Dollhouse simply redefines the meaning of Humanity. It begs the question, how unique, how special, are we really?
Everyone in Dollhouse has their hand in the pot, and no one is in the right. With the exception of agent Paul Ballard, suspended FBI agent, with his sights on the Dollhouse. That is, until Friday’s episode. It seems Ballard had a change of heart and now feels the obligation to ‘save’ Caroline out of some unrealistic sense of chivalry and justice. However, instead of letting Echo/Caroline go in exchange to work for the Dollhouse, he lets November go instead. Much more amicable, for both Ballard and the Dollhouse I suppose. This leaves no one untainted by the Dollhouse, it seems to be the ultimate source of corruption.
Dollhouse represents the extremes in human behavior, something that resides in all Humans; the Dollhouse is the physical form of selfish human behavior. It presents a moral dilemma with emerging technology in a modern age, it forces us to ask the question “How far will we go?” The Dollhouse may be the culmination of what is wrong with humanity, but it’s a burden that every human shares.
All that said, I thoroughly enjoyed Dollhouse, and Fox you better gorram renew this show. Now, go watch it.
So, I heard about this awhile ago, but I never really gave it much attention. I then learned that Peter Jackson is producing it, and of course, I perked up. So, watching the trailer, I was instantly intrigued. I like the story line, and the political juxtapositions are brilliant as well. I can’t wait to see more, check it out and leave your opinions in the comments.
It’s Free Comic Book Day today, and you all should go out and participate! Here’s how it works, at select comic book stores throughout North America (mostly the United States and Canada, sorry my international friends) are offering a selection of, yes, free comic books. io9 has a great article on the subject, and does an awesome rundown of what you will be seeing,and what you should get.
Don’t be a dick though, buy a couple more comics and support the store for being so awesome as to provide you with free comic books. So, yeah. Be sure to check it out, I will probably be picking up either Marvel’s Free Comic Book Day Avengers (created by Brian Michael Bendis and Jim Cheung) or Oni Press’ Resurrection #0.
Feel free to leave a comment telling us what you chose for Free Comic Book Day as well as other remarks.
Coffee, something lots of people seem to enjoy. As a matter of a fact, Starbucks has capitalized on coffee fanatics since 1971 and currently has over 8,500 locations (I couldn’t find an exact number, if you can feel free to let me know in the comments. I’m interested to know.) From the farming of the beans, to the roasting, down to the brewing itself, people treat it as an art.
Now, as I have both an Italian heritage and a healthy(?) addiction to caffeine I have grown up around coffee and my general thoughts have been “Meh.”. I’ve never really had an amazing cup of coffee, from my humble beginnings at Folgers moving to drip brew, espresso, and finally Starbucks. Throughout the entire experience, it’s just been hype to me. Since then, I’ve been blowing through energy drinks like a madman.
Recently, I attended the Specialty Coffee Association of America Expo (SCAA) 2009 and the World Barista Championship 2009 (WBC) in Atlanta, GA. I went as the press to cover it for BNO News, and while I was looking forward to going, I wasn’t too familiar with the product nor was I a huge fan. Needless to say, I wasn’t really excited to go. After I arrived, I went in and observed the competition. It was much more professional than I had imagined, they had it set up very similar to ‘Kitchen Stadium’ from Iron Chef.
At the back of the huge expo hall where the competition was being held were coffee booths, where these professional competition level cafes and baristas were making competition grade cappuccinos, espressos, and specialty drinks. Over the course of the two days that I was there, I had all three. Let me say to those of you who think you have had good cappuccino at Starbucks, “No, just… no.” I took that cappuccino expecting something mediocre, but something amazing happened when I began to drink it, I wish I remembered because I think I blacked out.
Anyway, yes, it was that good. My eyes were opened, so to speak. I was shocked, I had been missing out on a small piece of paradise for the earlier parts of my life. After watching the competitions and the like, I went to check out the SCAA exposition, which was mostly vendors showing off new technologies for making coffee. I saw the professional equipment, and learned what one really needs to make coffee. I also attended the after-party of the WBC, and I was talking to a barista from Seattle and he was telling me how to get into coffee.
So, I went home relatively inspired, and decided to try making some espresso for myself. I have a Moka Pot, which is a stovetop espresso maker. At first I started playing around with sugar and shortly thereafter I discovered that was a bad idea, and then attempted to make my own cappuccino. See, the problem is that I don’t have a milk steamer, so I attempted to solve the problem using a double pot with milk on top and water on the bottom. Heat, stir like there is no tomorrow. That generally works pretty well to get the foam on top, but it still isn’t a cappuccino, more like a pseudo-cappuccino.
So, I am currently investing in a Burr Grinder which crushes the beans rather than chops them, for better flavor. Also a milk steamer, which will allow me to make a proper cappuccino. So, I have effectively picked up a hobby.
It occurs to me that this now currently ends my random as hell blog post. So, yeah. Look at some coffee porn.
Tonight was the season finale of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles tonight, and all I really have to say is ‘wow’. Well, that’s not true at all. I have quite a bit to say about it, and I will. This is going to be a winded post, so those unprepared for time travel paradoxes, spoilers, robot sexual tension, and multi-season story arcs need to fetter off back to Lost or something (wuss). That said, let’s move on.
I have been following Terminator: TSCC since the beginning of the second season. However, I watched them all consecutively. I mainly started watching because I heard that the excellent Summer Glau was staring as a emotionally dead terminator, which contrasts so well with her character in firefly who was always in some sort of emotional fit. So, that said, I watched the entire first season in order at around five or six episodes a night trying to push through the (pretty good) first season to catch up.
The first season was pretty damn good, not amazing, but good. However, around the second or third episode of the second season, I was blown away. The series turned from the ‘Summer beats up other terminators while the Connors cleverly escape’ arcs that lasted two or three episodes (which mind you, are still great) to the season stretching arcs, of which some (at the time of writing) have not yet been answered.
Back to the season finale, if you have been following the show, you will be familiar with Zeira Corporation. The group headed by Catherine Weaver, or at least, her T-1001 replacement. The story in the finale in a way revolves around her relationship with John Henry, her ‘son’. She states multiple times throughout the series that she would do anything to ensure his survival and development. The story is definitely a juxtaposition of the relationship John Connor has with his mother, Sarah Connor.
The episode starts off with Sarah Connor in prison, being interrogated and antagonized by the agent that is currently handling her case. She has refused a lawyer, and is the same cold and distant Sarah Connor that we have grown to endear (maybe pity). She pretty much blows the agent off, and gives him nothing to work with. He states later on that he believes her, about the robots and the post-apocalyptic future, based on the evidence that they don’t look eight years older. Sarah is obviously not convinced, and sticks to her story. It’s not really clear if the agent knows what’s up, or if he is just playing Sarah to get what he wants. It doesn’t really matter, because Sarah Connor ends up breaking out of prison before the agent can gain anymore ground.
The focus of the episode then shifts from Sarah Connor to John Henry, who (unbeknown to Sarah Connor) helped Sarah escape. He had been watching her through government channels that he had evidently been monitoring. He unlocked the cell doors of the entire prison, during the chaos Sarah managed to escape. John Henry is doing all this, while being very engaged in a game of Dungeons and Dragons.
Ms. Weaver is much more perceptive than she lets on, as she reveals that she knows that James Ellison is aware of Cameron’s nature as a terminator. She requests him to set up a meeting with John Connor, when Ellison inquires as to why, she retorts that Sarah Connor sees him as the ‘messiah’ and she wants to know why. She seems to understand a lot more about the bigger picture than previously indicated, and she is indefinitely setting a plan in motion.
The story shifts to John Connor and his relationship with Cameron, this is where things get wonderfully disturbing. He begins to question her, and even accuse her of causing his mothers illness, since Cameron points out that she has lost weight. He wants to know if Cameron could be the source of the problem, as she has a contained nuclear power source. He points out that she has become a problem in the past, she twitches, she kills birds, and she tried to kill him. “You’re not perfect, you’re a machine.” Which is an interesting point, because humans are far from perfect as well, and John would know that.
Ellison shows up and he tells John that Catherine Weaver wants a meeting, John refuses stating that he will when his mother has been broken out. Ellison knew that would be his answer, and he follows up by asking Cameron a familiar question, “Will you join us?” and says that she would know what that means. She lies and says she doesn’t know. She then threatens Ellison and tells him to leave. Again, John brings into question Cameron’s emotions and potential humanity. He then proceeds to rescue his mother from prison.
However, not before getting a terminator anatomy lesson from Cameron, who states that John needs to learn how the terminator body works and proceeds to remove her shirt and bra and instructs him to get on top of her. She then tells him to make an incision to the breast plate to see the temperature of the metal, after feeling that it’s cold (which is good, evidently), she notices that he has got caught up in the whole ‘topless Cameron under me on my bed’ situation and tells him softly that it’s time to go. That was easily one of the hottest, well written, and most disturbing scenes in the entire series. Well done.
We shift back to what seems to be another T-888 that is hunting Catherine Weaver this time, he fires two clips into her. They have no effect on her, and she impales him as well as a power conduit and acts as a conductor to destroy the terminator.
The Priest that Sarah requested previously comes back to see Sarah in her cell, alerting her that Cameron is on her way. Cameron proceeds to raise hell through the entire prison.
The Connors go to Zeira Corporation headquarters to finally meet Catherine Weaver face to face. At the same time, Cameron is heads down to meet John Henry. He asks her “Will you join us?” and she gives him her chip, presumably to allow John Henry mobility. When Sarah and John are speaking with Weaver, Sarah quips at something Weaver says and Weaver makes a point of saying that she was talking to John, not Sarah. That conversation is interrupted by the drone seen in the previous episodes, which crashes into the side of the building. They just nearly escape that, and they make their way down to John Henry.
They do not find John Henry in the basement, instead they find Cameron’s body with her chip missing. A message is looping on the wall screens “I’m sorry John.” John questions where John Henry is, and weaver retorts “Not where, but when.” John Connor notices ‘The Turk’ that was built by Andy Goode, and Sarah Connor accuses Weaver of building Skynet, and she says that she was not and was building something to fight it.
The Connors begin to notice an electrical sphere forming, and Weaver, Sarah, John, and Cameron’s body are in the area. Sarah steps out, promising John that she will stop it. They are transported to the year 2027. Where John runs into some resistance fighters whom Derek Reese calls off, Weaver is nowhere to be found. He tells Derek that his name is John Connor, expecting some sort of response. Derek informs him that he doesn’t know who he is. Behind him walks Kyle Reese, and is followed by Allison Young (the human Cameron was based off of).
Overall, this was a fitting end to an epic saga. However, as it closes the chapter of one arc, it opens an exciting new portion of this series. The future for this series will be in the creation of new relationships with familiar faces, and the coordination of efforts through multiple timelines. There are many unanswered questions, and hopefully many answers to come.
I am now excited to say that I am apart of the BNO News staff. The BNO News team is a news wire that will soon be offering their wire services to consumers as well as commercial entities, but at the moment they are posting breaking news as it happens on twitter. They are the largest (non-bot) news service on twitter to date, and I am excited to be associated with these guys. Check them out on Twitter or at http://www.bnonews.com/. As I am now apart of BNO News, I will be ceasing the morning news segment of Alt-Tab Online as I will be doing that for BNO News on a regular basis. So for all your news needs, check out @BreakingNewsOn on Twitter.
Ok, so your morning news is a little bit wacky. You take what you can get, here it is.
Five on trial for 9/11 seek to justify the attack which left nearly 3,000 people dead in a series of coordinated attacks on the United States. The five men who were charged with war crime say they are “terrorist to the bone” and refer to Sept. 11th as “the great attack on America.”
Wholesale inventories drop for fifth straight month, longest stretch of weakness since 2001. Source
US intelligence chief says Iran does not yet have highly enriched uranium and has not yet made a decision to make it.
Intelligence official says Somali extremist group al-Shabaab is poised to formally merge with al-Qaeda.
United Technologies Corp. to lay off more than 11,600 people. Source
A major suicide bombing attack in western Baghdad has caused at least 33 deaths, and 46 injuries. Source
That’s your morning news, slightly depressing. Here’s to hoping for a better rest of the day.
Are you kidding me? Ten?! Ok, Microsoft listen. You only need two version, three at the very most. Ten is ridiculous.
It looks like there are going to be four netbook versions of Windows 7, and six regular versions. The six regular versions will consist of: Starter, Home Basic, Home Premium, Professional, Enterprise and Ultimate. I mean, that alone is four too many. Should just be Home Premium and Ultimate, there is no other reason for the rest. Especially since everything can be turned off, as Gizmodo featured here.
If Microsoft spreads themselves too thin, they will end up bombing this and making this another Vista. Don’t cripple the Operating system and tell people “Oh, it’s ok, if you get the $399 version you can safely have almost every feature.” That’s just damned annoying.
Here is your morning news, with a little weekend recap.
President Barack Obama has reversed former President George W. Bush’s limits on funding stem-cell research. Source
Pentagon says Chinese ships harassed unarmed Navy ship in international waters, US protests. Source
Cypriot-flagged cargo ship sinks in the Red Sea, 17 crew missing. Nine other crew members have been rescued off the coast of Egypt.
State-run news agency says police have detained five people suspected of planning to attack Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Merck & Co. to buy Schering-Plough for $41.1 billion in cash and stock. Source
Greek media is reporting a bomb blast outside a Citibank branch in Athens, no injuries reported at this time.
Zimbabwe Prime Minister says the car crash was an accident, and no foul play was involved. Source
Illinois pastor killed by church gunman during sermon.
North Korea puts forces on alert and orders to prepare for combat. North Korea says that the interception of it’s satellite during launch would mean war with the United States, Japan, and South Korea. Source
That’s the most important news. I hope you have a good day, keep an eye out for more posts on the blog.
Hey! I'm Joda Thongnopnua, journalist, web designer, and writer. I currently live in Chattanooga, Tennessee working for an awesome international news wire based out of New York City called BNO News. I will be writing about stuff that interests me, I'd start listing things but honestly it can get pretty random. Regardless, I hope you enjoy what you read. If you do, subscribe to the RSS feed up above to stay on top of the blog posts as soon as they are posted.
Thanks for reading!
Dollhouse immediately sets the audience up with a cast that you can’t help but like, but the guilt still lingers. The Dollhouse is wrong, plain and simple, even the show makes this abundantly clear numerous times. The audience is constantly bombarded with the concept of slavery, murder, and prostitution and the similarities are apparent. However, the staff of the Dollhouse feel differently in that they believe that the ‘Dolls’ have willingly signed over their lives for a period of five years, and when that five year period is over they will be rendered a payment for their services. The problem is that it simply changes from slavery to consensual slavery, which arguably doesn’t make anything much better.
However, the complicated ethics of the Dollhouse extend past simply right or wrong, it delves into a morally ambiguous and uncomfortable zone. This is what makes Dollhouse special, this is what makes Joss Whedon genius. When you look past the initial plot, the story structure, and the characters, you see the brilliance of the message. It delves into what truly defines us as humans, it shows us what our core is as a species and as an individual. Dollhouse showed us that who we are is not confined to our bodies, but is represented in our personalities. The final episode displayed this vividly, when FBI Agent Ballard (I’ll come back to him shortly) is arguing with Topher and says that a person’s Soul cannot be removed, and Topher is quick to point out how wrong that is. The Dollhouse simply redefines the meaning of Humanity. It begs the question, how unique, how special, are we really?
Everyone in Dollhouse has their hand in the pot, and no one is in the right. With the exception of agent Paul Ballard, suspended FBI agent, with his sights on the Dollhouse. That is, until Friday’s episode. It seems Ballard had a change of heart and now feels the obligation to ‘save’ Caroline out of some unrealistic sense of chivalry and justice. However, instead of letting Echo/Caroline go in exchange to work for the Dollhouse, he lets November go instead. Much more amicable, for both Ballard and the Dollhouse I suppose. This leaves no one untainted by the Dollhouse, it seems to be the ultimate source of corruption. 
So, I went home relatively inspired, and decided to try making some espresso for myself. I have a Moka Pot, which is a stovetop espresso maker. At first I started playing around with sugar and shortly thereafter I discovered that was a bad idea, and then attempted to make my own cappuccino. See, the problem is that I don’t have a milk steamer, so I attempted to solve the problem using a double pot with milk on top and water on the bottom. Heat, stir like there is no tomorrow. That generally works pretty well to get the foam on top, but it still isn’t a cappuccino, more like a pseudo-cappuccino. 
