Faraway, So Close: February 2006 Archives

Apple Event Today - New Fun Stuff

There's a invite-only Apple event going down in Cupertino this morning/afternoon that's crashing Apple related sites all over the net as the Apple fanatics try and catch a glimpse of what's to come from the big 'A' today:

So far: (recapped from ilounge.com)
New Mac mini:

Based on Intel

Intel Core Solo, Intel Core Duo versions

2.5x - 3.2x faster

Same exact form factor

Front Row software

IR sensor on right of disc slot

Six button Apple remote

Shared Music - Bonjour technology, allows devices to find themselves automatically over a network, access music library wirelessly.

Shared Photos - Same idea only for photos.

Shared Photos and Video - Same idea only for photos and videos. Can stream iTunes TV shows.
"Front row with Bonjour" is the software's name.

Media from any other mac or windows computer running iTunes will be piped over to the Mac mini hooked up to your television set.

Mac mini comes with iLife '06.

Standard features: Tiger + iLife '06, Apple Remote + Front Row, Airport Extreme + Bluetooth, DVI Video Out, USB, FireWire, Gigabit Ethernet.

1.5ghz Core Solo 667 mhz fsb, 512mb memory, integrated graphics 60GB drive, combo drive - $599

Second model with Core Duo - 1.67, 80GB drive + SuperDrive - $799

Both available today.

iPod Hi-Fi:

Home stereo, reinvented.

Insert Apple marketing mumbo jumbo about $350US home stereo for an iPod

That's it. No new iBooks unfortunately. But the Mac minis should be pretty sweet.

Posted by iChris at 12:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Settlers with Kev and Luanne

Settlers with Kev and Luanne
Originally uploaded by iChris.

Great game of Cities and Knights last night with everybody getting within a victory point of winning at some point in the game. Luanne spoiled my come from behind attempt by taking the victory.

I feel like the Canadian Men's Hockey team.. I've let down the country.

Posted by iChris at 7:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Travelling UK

Heather and Libby

Friends of ours, Troy and Heather and their baby Libby, are travelling Scotland right now and heading to N. Ireland. Making me very jealous and rekindling the travel bug in Sue and I.

Posted by iChris at 3:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

iPod Packaging by Microsoft

What could have been so beautiful.

Posted by iChris at 9:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

MySpace Fakesters

An oldie (relatively speaking) but a goodie:

MySpace Fakesters from the Jon Stewart show.

Posted by iChris at 9:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Apple Wishlist

PowerMac G5 Wishlist

Every so often I like to tortue myself and see what the top end, money's no object, throw caution to the wind type of computer Apple costs. Sort of a Apple wishlist if they had that type of thing. I could've saved around $9,000 by going with 8GB of RAM instead of 16GB, but it's a wishlist - you don't have to have common sense. It went up from the last time I did it, but I think it's just because I didn't include a fibre card previously. You gotta have your fibre!

Realistically I'd be waiting until the Intel PowerMacs (MacTower Pro? UberMac?) come out later this year along wtih the required updates to Final Cut Studio/etc. But then realistically I won't be buying this anytime soon either way. :)

Posted by iChris at 10:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

And A Great Groan Was Heard Across Canada

Canada Loses in Olympic Men's Hockey Quarter Final

We lost 2-0 to Russia - our old nemisis. Start throwing out the blame now. Gretzky's wife's betting issues certainly deserve a big portion of it. As does Pat Quinn for being a coach. Goalies are good for blame so throw some at Brodeur. Jet lag definitely deserves some blame too, can't let it get off unscathed. At least we won't be able to blame jet lag in 2010.

4 years of debate and worry coming up as Canada's hockey (inferiority) superiority gets questioned yet again. I think it'll make 2010 more interesting as there will be more at stake and revenge to be had. Underdogs always make for a better story.

Posted by iChris at 3:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Card Games for the Mac

Apple has a list of various card games available for OS X. Most are 30 day trial versions but you can pick up a decent game for around $20.

Posted by iChris at 3:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

iTunes Billionth Song Content

Apple is counting down to 1 billion songs sold on their music store. The grand prize (the person who buys the billionth song) is an iMac, ten 60GB iPods and $10,000US Music gift card. Also, Apple will create a full-ride scholarship in your name to a world-renowned music school.

Pretty cool. Maybe once it gets close I'll just start buying box sets of music. It's a lot like gambling - hoping the song you buy is the billionth one.

$10,000US is a lot of music. I suppose you can also buy TV shows (in the US, not Canada yet) but still, that's a lot of "stuff" to buy.

Update: The contest is over. I knew I should've bought an album last night!

Posted by iChris at 1:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Uh Oh - About Me

I've added an about me page to the blog on the right hand side. I've realized that if someone wanted to find out who was writing this site, it wouldn't be too hard so why not provide people with the proper information. We'll see how long it lasts... and more importantly how often it gets updated.

Posted by iChris at 11:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Canada's Men's Hockey Team Wins!

Squeaked out a 3-2 victory over the Czechs. And there was much rejoicing all over the Great White North, eh.

Posted by iChris at 4:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Scanner Darkly Trailer - Or What A Difference a Picture Makes

I found this trailer on a site I read, One Digital Life and watched it mainly because the author of the blog had taken the time to post a picture from the trailer. The interesting thing is that I had read about the trailer a day earlier on another blog I follow, Binary Bonsai, but didn't watch it even though Michael's description was inviting enough.

Back to One Digital Life for the description:

A new movie from Warner Independent Pictures, called A Scanner Darkly, is scheduled to be released in the summer of 2006. It’s a scifi film starring Keanu Reeves, Robert Downy Jr., Woody Harrelson, and Winona Ryder. The movie is a composite of live-action photography and Interpolated Rotoscoping, giving it a very unique, “graphic novel” look.
“A Scanner Darkly is set in suburban Orange County, California in a future where America has lost the war on drugs. When one reluctant undercover cop (Reeves) is ordered to start spying on his friends, he is launched on a paranoid journey into the absurd, where identities and loyalties are impossible to decode. It is a cautionary tale of drug use based on the novel by Philip K. Dick and his own experiences.”

Posted by iChris at 9:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

That's My Newphew

5
Originally uploaded by Jamita.

We'll have to see how Matteo takes to playing in the snow when they come home in a couple weeks.

Posted by iChris at 7:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A Retreat That We Actually Retreated At

Sue on Christopher Lake

We're back after a fun and strangely relaxing weekend at Kadesh. Sue was the guest speaker for Tim Thiessen's jr/sr high youth retreat. It was a bit weird to not have to worry about what the kids were up to or what was happening next. Usually we come home from our own retreats and are exhausted. Instead, we got a lot of reading/sleeping/walking around that we don't normally do while at Kadesh. We saw the new 'uber' jungle swing but couldn't talk Jim into letting us go for a ride - maybe this summer. Sue did an awesome job inspiring and challenging the kids to think about what/where they get their identity from.

You can see more photos from the weekend here on flickr.

Posted by iChris at 5:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Ferrell Day: Burgundy Application, Harvard Speech, New Trailer

Ron Burgundy applies for ESPN.

http://video2.harvard.edu:8080/ramgen/pluto/ClassDay2003.rm - 2003 Harvard College Class Speech. Fastforward to around 1:30.

Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby trailer.

Posted by iChris at 1:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Kelly's Black Eye

Kelly's Black Eye
Originally uploaded by iChris.

Kelly and I disagreed about something and look what happened to him. I reckon you'll think twice about disagreeing with something I say.

Posted by iChris at 12:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Happy Valentine's day!

Happy Valentine's day!
Originally uploaded by iChris.

Go to flickr and add a note around your name.

Posted by iChris at 9:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I Wanna Camera Phone

Me at My Desk on Carlos' Phone
Originally uploaded by iChris.

Too bad Sasktel currently sucks as far as camera phone options. This was taken on Carlos' Audiovox 5600 on Roger's.

If you have a cameraphone, you can upload pics right to flickr by setting it up on this page. Then, you can have it automagically post the pics to your blog. It's a crazy world we live in.

Posted by iChris at 11:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

My First Podcast in iTunes

FGCC on the iTunes Music Store

I've published my first 'podcast' on the iTunes music store. It's not technically my podcast, it's just the first one I've tried. It's actually a podcast of recent sermons and videos from Forest Grove Community Church. Thanks to Feedburner.com it was really easy to publish an appropriate RSS feed from the FGCC media site and get it accepted on the iTunes music store. Click on the image below to go to it on the iTunes music store.

Posted by iChris at 6:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Photos of Mexico City

Aerial Photos from a Mexican helicopter pilot/photographer.

Posted by iChris at 11:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Junk or No Junk

I've turned off the authentication system for comments to see how bad it is these days. At the same time I bumped up the junk filter so let me know if your comments aren't getting through. If you haven't commented before, it may take a day or so for your comment to appear as I still have to approve you as a trusted 'commentor'.

Posted by iChris at 11:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)