Jared Look | Cosplay?

yeah, I've never heard of "Cosplay" either... but this is kind of cool/creepy (and has good music!).  Tiffani sent me this article from Huffington Post:

"If you have just six minutes and 27 seconds to watch something style-related this Sunday, this video is for you. A girl totally transforms herself into Jared Leto using makeup techniques we learned in our tenth grade Drama 2 class, but never knew how to put to good use.  Her end look is truly spot-on, but next time, we hope she goes for the blond fauxhawk."




Weird--yes.  Impressive--to each his own I suppose.  Music choice--excellent.

Largest Lego Ship

Gizmodo (@Gizmodo) 10/11/10 8:23 AM The largest Lego ship ever built is bigger than three queen-sized beds http://gizmo.do/d24Dug Truly giganormous

well this is awesome.

The Gizmodo story links to these other impressive lego ships as well:
http://gizmodo.com/279074/lego-aircraft-carrier-has-small-gravitational-pull

http://gizmodo.com/5214510/lego-battleship-yamato-is-biggest-lego-ship-ever

Apparently these giant ships keep getting bigger than the last so i'm sure before too long we'll see an even bigger one.

Babby Monkey

These two videos are hilarious.  I've been quoting or singing them for the last few weeks.  enjoy.





Try and get that out of your head now, lol.  right click and select watch on youtube if you want to see the comments or the sources for the videos.  I can't really explain them anyways...

RIM Playbook

I know I'm a little late with this one but I had some trouble getting the post to forward and save.  An overview, partially from Gizmodo.

  

The BlackBerry PlayBook Tablet:  10 Things You Need to Know

The BlackBerry tablet is here, and it looks astoundingly nice. Nicer than anybody expected it to be. Here's what you need to know about the PlayBook, in 10 easy steps.

It's a 7-inch tablet with a 1024x600 screen that weighs 0.9 pounds

Meaning it's smaller and lighter than the iPad, with a more pixel-dense screen (i.e., text is gonna look cleaner and less pixel-y). It's a little bigger and heavier than the Samsung Galaxy Tab, on the other hand. (Then again, the Galaxy Tab looks more like a really big phone.)

It's running BlackBerry Tablet OS

As rumored, the BlackBerry PlayBook isn't running "BlackBerry 6," but the BlackBerry tablet OS, which is "powered by QNX technology." QNX is a software company RIM bought in April, whose software is used in products by Cisco and GE, among others. The OS is built on QNX's Neutrino microkernel.

It supports a whole bunch of standard platforms and technologies, like POSIX OS, SMP, Open GL, BlackBerry 6, WebKit, Java, Adobe Flash and AIR, along with RIM's new BlackBerry WebWorks platform. Apps written for WebWorks will run on BlackBerry 6 or the PlayBook, while Java makes it easier for developers to port Java-based BlackBerry 6 apps. Oh, and OpenGL means there's serious potential for graphically intense games.

It's got a tablet-optimized UI and multitasks out of the gate, unlike the iPad. And unlike Android, it has a nicer interface for navigating through applications, like a cross between webOS's cards and Apple's CoverFlow. It's got an onscreen keyboard for typing. The snippets of App World in the preview video look a lot like what you have on BlackBerry phones, a grid of tiles. The music player looks a bit like the iPod app on the iPad, but skinned in a slate color.

Dual-core 1GHz processor and 1GB RAM

That means it's got the horsepower to multitask, output 1080p video and run high-powered apps. The 1GB of RAM is particularly important for running applications in the background, and opening multiple tabs in the web browser, as iPad owners know from opening more than a few tabs in Safari and watching them get flushed as the iPad runs out of memory.

It's got "true" multitasking

By saying the PlayBook has "true" multitasking, RIM seems to be pointing at the fact that multitasking on the iPad is still limited in a lot of ways. Apps can't fully run in the background on the iPad like on a full computer, they can simply perform select actions, like playback audio or finish a download in a given amount of time. The implication is that the PlayBook will let things run willy nilly in the background, more like a standard BlackBerry phone.

"Flash-Loving," with Adobe Flash 10.1 and Adobe AIR built in

It runs Flash and AIR, which means Flash sites that don't work on the iPad will at least be viewable on the PlayBook. It'll be interesting to see how well Flash works on the PlayBook versus less powerful Android phones, where it can run into performance issues. AIR, on the other hand, opens the door for some app opportunities. Combined with the WebKit browser, it should be a pretty decent web experience.

Dual cameras with video conferencing and lots o' ports

This is swanky. The rear camera is a 5-megapixel shooter, while the front is three megapixels. From the back, it shoots video and from the front you can video chat.

It supports a handful of video formats—in 1080p—like h.264, WMV, DivX and MPEG, and it'll output video through a mini HDMI port. Also, it's got a standard micro USB port.

There's a Kindle App on the way

The PlayBook is more book-sized than the iPad, so fortunately a Kindle app for reading is already on the way, Amazon confirms. We're very excited about this.

Integrated with BlackBerry stuffs

It'll pair with a BlackBerry phone, so you can use the tablet to look at anything that's on the phone, like email, calendars or BBM without syncing the two. And it connects with BlackBerry Enterprise Server out of the box, along with all that entails.

It's coming out next year, but don't ask how much it costs

Specifically, RIM says it's coming out in the US in early 2011, with other places getting it sometime after March. There's gonna be 3G and 4G models in the future. RIM's not saying how much it's gonna cost yet, but since RIM loves the carriers, expect it to be offered through them for a discount. (In the preview video, it's mentioned that it works with existing BlackBerry smartphone data plans, so we'll see what that means.)

Overall, the PlayBook is a lot more exciting than anybody expected a BlackBerry tablet to be, especially given how thoroughly mediocre their last major product, the BlackBerry Torch, was. In fact, we're a little more amped about it than the Galaxy Tab. Now RIM's just got to carry through the ball forward.

Official Specifications

• 7” LCD, 1024 x 600, WSVGA, capacitive touch screen with full multi-touch and gesture support
• BlackBerry Tablet OS, powered by QNX technology with support for symmetric multiprocessing
• 1 GHz dual-core processor (capable of symmetrical dual-core processing per the OS)
• 1 GB RAM
• Dual HD cameras (3 MP front facing, 5 MP rear facing), supports 1080p HD video recording
• Video playback: 1080p HD Video, H.264, MPEG, DivX, WMV
• Audio playback: MP3, AAC, WMA
• HDMI video output via standard Micro HDMI port and DLNA media streaming
• Wi-Fi – 802.11 a/b/g/n
• Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR
• Pair with a BlackBerry smartphone via secure Bluetooth connection for full access to:
• Push technology systems/services
• Email, Calendar, BlackBerry Messenger (BBM), tasks, documents, more/etc.
• BlackBerry security and data efficiency

• Connectors: micro HDMI, micro USB, charging contacts
• Open, flexible application platform with support for WebKit/HTML-5, Adobe Flash Player 10.1, Adobe Mobile AIR, Adobe Reader, POSIX OS, OpenGL, Java , SMP.
• Ultra thin and portable: 
• Measures 5.1”x7.6”x0.4” (130mm x 193mm x 10mm)
• Weighs less than a pound (approximately 0.9 lb or 400g)

• Out-of-the-box compatibility with BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES)
• Seamless pairing for a secure window into your BlackBerry smartphone
• 3G access via existing BlackBerry smartphone service plan.
• Corporate data access
• Secure and manageable.

• Additional features and specifications of the BlackBerry PlayBook will be shared on or before the date this product is launched in retail outlets.
• RIM intends to also offer 3G and 4G models in the future.

Looks pretty cool.  I currently think the iPad looks useful and a lot of fun so I'm excited to see this as well.  Regardless, I don't have the money for either so it'd be cool if I got one to use for work or something.  I could legitimately use the iPad with all the PDF articles I read.  If I had an iPad, I'd probably want to make it more excessive by getting the ColorWare "Grip". 


Gizmodo's rant about it is kind of funny.

anyone else want a tablet, something in between your phone and computer?

Speedtest.net iPhone Result

WOW.  Ran this test while Tiffani and I were sitting outside at the Stone event on Wednesday. 

-71dBM

Test Date: October 6, 2010 8:20 PM
Connection Type: Cellular
Server: Charlotte, NC
Download: 5307 kbps
Upload: 1237 kbps
Ping: 183 ms

External IP: 166.137.15.197
Internal IP: 10.54.202.217
Latitude: 35.1699
Longitude: -80.8502

A detailed image for this result can be found here:

http://www.speedtest.net/iphone/63980104.png

Ookla operates Speedtest.net using a massive global infrastructure to minimize the impact of Internet congestion and latency. With over a million tests performed every day across hundreds of servers, Speedtest.net is the ultimate resource for bandwidth testing and related information. Visit it on your computer today to find out why.

My signal is quite strong at -71 but wowzers are those results impressive!  1237kbps is about 1.21 Mbps which is what everyone talks about, "megabits" (not megabytes btw).  Anyways, 1.21Mb upload is more than twice as fast as the RoadRunner TURBO that Kyle and I pay $70/mo for.  The download speed is also quite impressive at over 5Mbps.  The RoadRunner Turbo is twice as fast as that but still...  must be that sweet HSPA AT&T has been rolling out.   Also, just for reference, my ping at home was 33ms versus the 183ms on my phone.  I think either the mobile speed is impressive or it's sad that its coming so close to the wired home connection, or both.

Antonov FAIL pt 2

So the biggest plane in the world was back in Charlotte this week, the Antonov AN-225.  It was here near the end of June to drop off some turbine equipment from Thailand to Siemens for repair.  I'm guessing the repairs were completed and the plane was here again to pick them up.

Kyle and I tried going to see the plane take off when it left before but there ended up being some kind of delay or mechanical problem so we waited for about an hour and half before we gave up and came home.  This time it was much less publicized and Flight Aware listed it as having filed a flight plan for 4:00pm departure 10/4/10.  So I got to a good stopping point with work and headed over about 3:40--hoping to just get lucky; get there right in time to see it and then come back home.  I did get to see it sitting on the tarmac on my way in which was cool, but I wanted to see it take off right in front of me!  Of course it was delayed again.  I waited about an hour and then decided I was going to come home, get a hair cut and go for a run.  Stopped by the hair cut place--a new little place two blocks away--but they're only open Tuesday-Saturday.  sigh, my run was alright though.  I'll try getting a hair cut tomorrow or try and convince Tiffani to do it again :)

anyways, here's some pictures I got from my mentor at work--he's also enjoys planes.

phones are cameras or cameras are phones?

Engadget Mobile (@engadgetmobile) 9/30/10 5:39 PM Nokia N8 vs. iPhone 4: camera showdown http://bit.ly/bJXr4A

Really cool article and comparison!  interested in thoughts and opinions of other people that know about photography--kind of goes over my head with some of the stuff they talk about.  But, I can see the pics and do think that the iPhone 4 does look kind of fake sometimes--makes things prettier and better looking than they are.  The N8 definitely looks different, I think its better, I think I'm noticing the extra MP count if that's what makes it look so detailed.  But, maybe there's something to be said for making our memories look better than they actually are?  lol, idk...

The N8 looks like a stunning piece of hardware, wish they'd open up to Android and make both Android and Symbian.

Interesting Chad Johnson Article

@OGOchoCinco: A must read.... http://rock.gs/85fs  great article and so true!  Read it y'all!! actually a good article and i agree with the writer about how he used to dislike Chad.  I was the same way--thought he talked too much and should just play football instead of making news any other way he could.  But, then because of how "real", normal, fun, and accessible Chad is I realized he really is a nice guy just trying to be different and have fun with the game and life.  you might think he's annoying or don't care what he has to say which is cool, sometimes i do too... however, i really respect him for being original and so open to his fans since other celebrities aren't or they fake it when they do.   i guess Rob Dyrdek is too, i like him as well. Chad Ochocinco: Why the Cincinnati Bengals WR Is Ready To Become World-Famous By Kevin Jones (Contributor) on October 1, 2010   Ninety percent of professional athletes loathe the limelight that their high-profile jobs thrust upon them. They hate the cameras, they hate all the interviews, and they don’t understand why fans care so much about their day-to-day activities. These are the guys who consider sports to be a job; any extracurricular activities outside their respected playing fields are like chores to these guys. About 99.9999 percent of professional athletes learn to accept and understand their role in the sport and entertainment society. They make the right public appearances, they stay after to sign the extra autographs, and they grasp the level of their superstardom among fans in their respective cities. Then there’s this one guy. He’s been on the cover of dozens of magazines. He’s changed his last name à la a rock 'n' roll phenomenon. He helped make Twitter.com mainstream in the sports world. He’s starred on a reality show on VH1. He’s launching his own cereal and video games. He is recognized by just one name, similar to Tiger, Elvis, Madonna, and Prince. Ochocinco. Three years ago, I couldn’t stand Chad Johnson. He constantly bitched about the Cincinnati Bengals organization, and I thought he was overrated on the field. His touchdown dances were hilarious, but I thought he was a glorified clown. Two years ago, when he changed his name to "Ochocinco," I, along with millions of others, thought he was headed down the Ron Artest/Mike Tyson "la-la land" road. Football seemed to be the last thing on his mind.  But Ochocinco knew exactly what he was doing; he was becoming a marketing machine. The change of the last name spurred sales for his new jersey. He won over the majority of his nay-sayers in his 2009 Hard Knocks performance. HBO did an amazing job of catching the character of Ocho—his monstrous truck, his McDonald's addiction, and his famous phrases like “Child, please!” and “Kiss the baby.” But what the cameras also caught was Ochocinco’s essence: connecting with all of his fans. Practically every week, Ochocinco will Tweet out his location. It might be a movie theater, a shopping mall, or a restaurant. He will command on the first 80 people to show up where he is. There he will treat them to entertainment, buy beverages, and kick it with his extreme supporters. He literally has "followers" who will respond to him all around the United States. He’s taken two fans out in Baltimore on $10,000 shopping sprees. He gives out his Xbox Live username on the Internet to play video games with his fans. He’s even put up his personal phone number to his 1.3 million Twitter followers.  Who else on the planet Earth would do this?  Chad Ochocinco willingly lets his adoring fans enter his life.  He isn’t a partier. He isn’t a big intellect. In fact, every single time he talks, you think he’s pranking you.  He may be a goofball, but Ochocinco is also a businessman. I’d argue he has strong enough support to become one of the most influential sports figures in America.  Ochocinco is willing to let the world enter his life. This is something we need to take advantage of. So if he follows these two steps below, I think Ochocinco could reach Oprah-esque fame among men in the United States. 1. Launch the OchoCinco News Network (OCNN) Those who follow Ochocinco closely know that he’s a big proponent of "Ustream," a free live video stream available on the Internet—almost like a live YouTube. But this just isn’t enough of Chad. He needs a real camera crew on him majority of his days. The OCNN started as an online stream this past Super Bowl with Chris Cooley, Ray Rice, and Ochocinco participating in media day, asking the players numerous hilarious questions. An exclusively players-run network like this would introduce fans to a whole new side of the modern athlete.  Think about every channel you watch. ESPN, ABC, FOX, etc. are all run by CEOs and executives. Obviously, the OCNN will bring in some television experts, but Ochocinco will have final say on all programming decisions. This type of control from a non-media head could change the way we watch television. The OCNN could start with a morning talk show hosted by Nabeel and I (think Mike and Mike or Dan Patrick), with regular appearances from Ochocinco himself. By bandwagon effect alone, several famous players will want to appear on the “Players Network,” which would be one potential slogan for the new channel. Different NFL players or other influential athletes could partake in a roundtable discussion (think a dude’s version of The View) about the labor dispute, concussions, overrated and underrated athletes—anything! All of Ochocinco’s games would be broadcast later with a camera on him at all times, even in the locker room. There could be a Twitter-based show where fans all across the world could steer the direction of the program.  This type of access would mesmerize his absurd number of current fans and would bring in millions more. It almost would be like a real life version of Jim Carey’s The Truman Show.  The best part about this network is that it would be 95 percent reality. There would be live mistakes and goof-ups, but that’s why we love Chad. He’s as real as us.  2. The OCNN Could Become a Legitimate Challenger to ESPN ESPN forces certain views and opinions down the throats of its viewers. We all love ESPN, because we’re compelled to—we have no other options.  There’s ESPN2, ESPN3, ESPNEWS, ESPN Classic, ESPNU. Let’s take an idea from the movie Dodgeball and literally create ESPN the Ocho.  Today’s athletes all need to unite together, opposing the unfairness and scrutiny in which ESPN portrays certain competitors. If Ochocinco were able to bring Nabeel and I onto his staff, we could put together a compelling case on why the monopoly of ESPN has become more like TMZ. The OCNN will give the players' perspective, not the media's. Ochocinco needs to bring together the NFL (just for starters) and tell players and agents to stop breaking news to ESPN.  Imagine if Ray Lewis was retiring and he broke the news on OCNN. This would truly make Ocho’s network an excellent source for news.  ESPN needs a competitor—they have not one character working for their network as charming, as entertaining, as controversial, or as real as Chad Ochocinco. Once OCNN expanded, we could try and purchase rights to actual games, make a magazine, etc. ESPN paved the way for how to make a sports network, now Ochocinco needs to rally his army to challenge their authority.  Ochocinco realizes the direction mass media is going. With the right staff of people in place, I think he could take over our little sports world.

Engadget Mobile Editorial: Firmware, forums, and desperation -- the dark side of Android hacking

Interesting article.  kind of makes me wish I had an Android phone to play with--an extra phone though, this doesn't sound like fun if it's your only/primary phone.  i think that's why the writer actually enjoys it--cuz it is for fun if it's not your daily driver.

Engadget Mobile (@engadgetmobile) 9/23/10 3:58 PM Editorial: Firmware, forums, and desperation -- the dark side of Android hacking http://bit.ly/9eTH1d

www.engadget.com/2010/09/23/editorial-the-dark-side-of-android-hacking/

That picture above is no joke -- that's where I ended up last night trying to revive my Droid X review unit. It was fun, in a hacky mad-scientist sort of way, but it's also really sad -- a testament to how Google approves Android device hacking with a wink and a nod, but doesn't provide any safety nets for its most passionate users.

Let's back up, though. How did I end up in such dire straits? It started when I had the nerve to update this Droid X to the leaked Android 2.2 build -- a simple process that involved installing the file on a microSD card and restarting. Unfortunately, since Motorola refuses to provide a sanctioned upgrade path from the leaked build to the official 2.2 build released earlier this week, I was forced to downgrade back to 2.1 to get back on track. Based on how easy the update was, this would be a piece of cake, right?

Well, no. The original 2.1 build for the Droid X isn't actually available from Google, Motorola, or Verizon, so I was stuck wiping my phone and reflashing it entirely to a leaked build of 2.1, this time with the confidence-inspiring name of the "the_gift.sbf." Where did it come from, and what does it actually contain? I still have no idea -- but lacking any officially-approved options, I held my breath and restarted the phone in bootloader mode to begin the flashing process. Things seemed to be humming along, until, of course, the phone decided it had a dead battery in the middle of the flash and died. Oops.

Yes, the two hours it took me to sort out the hacked flashing software had been too much for my poor Droid X's previously-full battery, and even though it was plugged in the whole time, it doesn't charge when it's in bootloader mode. I'd gone and bricked my phone. At this point there was nothing to do but take a picture and laugh -- things had gotten wildly out of hand.

That's when I hit upon another forum post describing a way to trick the phone into thinking the battery was charged by splicing the power leads from a USB cable to the power terminals. It was late, I'd been drinking, I had a wire stripper handy... you all know what happened. Miraculously, it worked -- I got the phone to re-flash and boot into 2.1, although the flashing utility insisted that it had ultimately failed. (The battery also reported being 75 percent full, so I have no idea what the actual problem was.) Next thing you know, I was pulling the official 2.2. OTA update down, and hey -- we're back in business.

Like I said at the top, I actually had fun doing all of this. It was interesting and nerdy, and, well, come on -- I totally got to hotwire a phone battery with a sliced-open USB cable while reflashing it with leaked firmware. High five. And a double high five for the Android community, which is about as enthusiastic and creative a group of people as I've ever encountered online. But hold up: I don't trust this phone at all anymore. I don't know anything about the system software I've installed or where it came from, and I have no idea what the leaked flashing utility actually did to it. I can't rely on a device that I don't trust. If this was my actual phone and not a review unit, I'd be completely screwed -- I need this thing to do my job.

Of course, hacking any device carries its risks, and I definitely knew them when I installed that leaked build of 2.2. But Google goes on and on about how Android is "open," and the amazing Android community is a proud credit to how tinker-friendly the platform is at its best -- there's a cooked ROM for everything. We wait with bated breath for every Android phone to be rooted and hacked, and every time we review an Android phone and deduct points for a lame manufacturer skin we're repeatedly told by Android fans that it doesn't matter because "real" power users will just hack their devices anyway. Google has to know that its most passionate users are hacking its OS to hell and back -- it's become the defining strength of the platform.

Google can't keep implicitly condoning Android hacking unless it requires manufacturers to provide restore tools for every device.

But hacking can definitely go too far, and Google doesn't provide any way for you to return to the original Android experience that shipped with your device -- you're at the mercy of the manufacturer and the carrier. Some manufacturers are better than others -- HTC provides updaters for many of its phones -- but some, like Motorola and Samsung, provide nothing at all. Once I left the reservation and installed that leaked 2.2 build, I was gone for good -- no official path back to the fold exists. That's not true on other platforms: if I was running a jailbroken iPhone, I'd just restore it with iTunes, and it would be factory-fresh with known software. That's simply not the case with Android, and it's a problem -- Google can't keep implicitly condoning Android hacking and trading on the enthusiasm of its community unless it requires manufacturers to provide restore tools for every device. Sometimes you just want to go home again.

In my ideal world, consumers would be able to download official stock Android builds for their devices directly from Google, but I'm not ignorant of the carrier- and manufacturer-driven reality we live in. For better or worse, Android's only "open" until the carriers get their hands on it. But Google should insist that every Android manufacturer and carrier release images of their customized firmware for every device as well as tools for easy restoration. It's the only fair way to treat the people who are hacking the platform and giving it the amazing momentum it has, and the only fair way to continue promoting the platform as "open" when in reality the carriers and manufacturers are doing everything they can to lock it down.

FW: @Gizmodo, 9/14/10 2:00 PM

Wonderful article about GSM and CDMA from Gizmodo.  http://gizmodo.com/5637136/.  Educate yourself if you want to feel less overwhelmed by the carriers, plans, phones, etc.

Also, while I respect this article:  http://www.tipb.com/2010/09/14/iphone-android-carriers-wrong-wrong-fight/ it's a bit too Apple/iPhone fanboyish for my tastes.  It fails to recognize the power and influence of radio/chipset manufacturers as well as the carrier/customer equipment subsidy business model that has entrenched itself in the US/NA market.  I still talk to people that balk at $100 or $200 for a phone, even a high-end HTC or iPhone—so don't completely blame Google in the Nexus One situation.  To that point, just because they stopped the Nexus One before introducing a similar situation with another phone doesn't mean they won't but would I have I liked to have seen a longer effort, yeah sure. 

Gizmodo (@Gizmodo) 9/14/10 2:00 PM Giz Explains: What's the Difference between GSM and CDMA? http://gizmodo.com/5637136/