Eee Stick

I like Asus. Even before their Eee PC shenanigans, I've always considered myself an Asus fanboy. But what the hell is this? The Eee Stick? It's like the lovechild of a Nintendo Wiimote and Logitech MX Air. I'm not sure how I feel about this. The positive: it'll come bundled with select Eee PCs and desktop Eee PCs. The negative: the hell am I supposed to do with it?

Asus, like I said, I'm a fanboy, but let's go back to the original Eee blueprint and make Eee PCs that are cheap and good. No more of this funky Eee branding business.

Dream Phone

I'm in the market for a new smartphone. I've been rocking the same Motorola Q for the past 2 years now. It's time for a change. But I'm on Verizon so I don't have many good choices (my best bet right now is the BlackBerry Curve). My plan was to hold off till mid to late Sept when the new BBs come out, but I gotta say, I'm very tempted to jump ship right now and head over to AT&T. I know they're evil too, but in my opinion they have *the* best smartphone on the market right now, the Nokia E71. The iPhone pales next to this baby.

The E71 has a full QWERTY keyboard, aGPS, 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth A2DP, a 3MP camera, supports POP3/IMAP, and Microsoft Exchange, and has an insane (removable) 3-day battery. I know, that keyboard looks painfully small, but I used it and I actually found it to be very comfortable (and I have some pretty big paws). This phone is flying under everyone's radar right now — even more of a reason to want it. I'll have a phone few people have! So what's stopping me. The $500 price tag. I believe none of the carriers have picked it up yet (tho like I said, it'll work with an AT&T or T-Mobile SIM card). Man, I so want this phone, but until some carrier subsidizes the price, I can't justify dropping $500 clams on a smartphone.

Comcast: Part II

I hate Comcast. So I called them up today asking about their new Triple Play/Wii promotion. The promotion is $99/mo for Internet/VoIP/Cable + a free Nintendo Wii. Sounds good, right? Wrong. Turns out existing Comcast members (of which I unfortunately am one of) must choose the $129/mo Triple Play plan (I didn't know there was more than one), which automatically includes HBO, Starz, blah, blah, blah. Plus — this is my favorite part — I have to leave a $330 deposit while they run a background check on me. Then I get the Nintendo Wii. $330, huh. Interesting considering the Wii costs $249! I tried inquiring a little more about the $129 plan (it jumps to $159 the second year), but my sales rep was a complete grouch so I declined the "upgrade." I'm not giving up on this tho. I'll call again another day till they explain why they need to run a background check (esp since I'm already a customer).

Selling My Soul

So as I mentioned on this week's podcast, I'm gonna sell my soul to the devil (aka Comcast). I hate Comcast, but their new Triple Play deal is just too sweet to ignore. Sign up for their plan (which includes cable, Web, and VoIP) for $99/month and you get a free Nintendo Wii. I'm paying $120/mo right now for just Web and cable so I'd have to be silly to let this one go by. So I'm making the leap this week. I'll update this blog and let everyone know how easy (or hard) it was getting my hands on that free Nintendo Wii.

Restaurant Week

I love eating out. In fact, I eat out so much that every week is restaurant week in my life, but this week I don't feel so bad about it 'cause it's "Restaurant Week" here in NYC. Up until August 1st, some of NY's top restaurants will be offering prix-fixe dining with $24 lunches and $35 dinners. Drinks aren't included, but $35 for a 3-course meal ain't so bad when the average dinner for two at some of these restaurants goes for about $90 or more. So this week I'll be checking out Megu in Tribeca and next week I'll be eating at Town. I've been to the lounge at Megu, so I have a sense of what to expect, but I've never been to Town, so I'm psyched about that one. Sadly, I remember back in the day when Restaurant Week used to cost $28 for dinner. Inflation everywhere!

Dark Knight

So I saw the new Dark Knight movie Friday night. I usually don't like "blockbuster movies," but I wanted to check this one out 'cause of the buzz surrounding the new Joker. First off, the movie was kinda long. It was good (in a predictable, mindless kinda way), but coulda been shorter. As for the Joker, with all due respect to Heath Ledger, I didn't like him. I like the Joker's new persona, he's a lot darker and more homicidal, but something about Ledger's Joker was too feminine. Maybe it was his voice, but I just didn't like him as the Joker.

Compared to the first Joker, I think Jack Nicholson was a better actor, but Ledger had a better role. Nicholson had the 80s Joker. Lighter, funnier, clownier. Kinda like the original Joker — Cesar Romero's Joker — which I remember watching on TV as a kid. Nicholson's Joker picked up where Romero left off. On paper Ledger's Joker is better, both as a written role and better costume designers, but in the end, he came across as a smart, depressed criminal with clown makeup. My verdict: Ledger's Joker needs more crazy.

iTunes App Store: First Impressions

So I updated my iPod touch this weekend to the new 2.0 software. Since I'm on an iPod touch and not on the iPhone, I had to pay $10 for the upgrade (grrrr). I avoided all the commotion and updated on Saturday afternoon. The upgrade went smooth, but took exactly 30 minutes. My iPod is now short 200MB. That's not a lot, but it made me wonder how big future software updates will be. So anyways, my iPod is updated. I can now download apps from the iTunes Store. Here are my first impressions:

1)My iPod touch is now a mini-Mac
Seriously. I can do things on my iPod that I never imagined doing before. I can browse the Web, watch videos, play Pac-Man, check up on the weather, browse through my photos, read my Gmail, add in my friends' contact info, and, um, listen to music. I'm very happy with my iPod touch.

2)The app store is half baked
Ok, here comes the bad part. Yeah, the app store is cool. But unfortunately, many of the apps in the app store suck/crash your iPod/or don't work. Was Apple asleep when they uploaded these apps onto the store? They should all work! I downloaded one of them (uLocate Communications' Where), which in theory sounded cool. It uses a Google Maps-style map and Yelp to show you when you're near a bank, Starbucks, restaurant, etc. Guess what? It didn't work. It failed to load. The company has posted a note essentially saying "sorry, we're working on a fix." Granted, it's a free app, but if an app is in the iTunes store, it better damn well work.

3)Apps are over-priced
$10 for Ms. Pac-Man! $8 for Platinum Solitaire! $40 for anatomy flash cards! Are you serious? Apparently the latter is supposed to be "a steal" so I'll let that one slide, but I think the prices for these apps are too high and too inconsistent. I realize the apps can't all be free or cost 99 cents, but some of these prices are steep for what they actually do/are.

4)Gimme demos
Some of these apps are cool, many of them are a complete waste of time. Case in point the New York Times app which pushes NYT headlines and stories onto your iPod/iPhone. Sounds cool in theory, but it's actually slow as molasses. Not to mention those articles, um, they come with banner ads. Not cool. Not cool at all. The NYT app is free, but if in the future I buy an app and I quickly find out that I hate it, I'm down $xyz dollars. Let me try before I buy.

5)Install/Uninstall is wonky
So like I said, I downloaded a bunch of apps to my iPod. The ones I didn't like, I uninstalled from my iPod. That was easy. But when I went to sync my iPod with iTunes later in the evening, it installed the apps again. Needless to say, uninstalling apps is a little wonky, although I'm sure that can be easily fixed.

That's it for now, tho I'm sure I'll have a lot more praise/gripes as I toy around with it more.