Ryan Thomas Goodenough

Emily’s cat Chunk has adopted a new job of “space locater”–locating appropriate spaces in which he should lie. As you can see, he’s quite good at his job.

One thing that occurs to me as I watch the analysis of Obama’s victory in South Carolina is the shear power that a dominating victory like that can have over the rest of America. Between the endless pundits analyzing the situation and the constant media coverage, it’s impossible not to start thinking “Gee, the people in South Carolina must really like Barack Obama.” And if they like Barack, should I? By having these early primaries, the rest of America is unfairly affected by the way these few small states vote. Of course, nothing really matters until “Super Tuesday,” but there has to be some effect. I think everything should be held on Super Tuesday and avoid the charades and unfair biasing of the American public. It’s just not good for democracy.

You know how I say that I really shouldn’t comment on R&B/Rap songs? Well, that’s mainly because I don’t listen to them and know very little about the whole scene. On the other hand, I do like country. By “country” I mean the good ole classics. Songs with a good amount of soul and blues thrown in. Not the current state of country which is bad pop songs with a twang.

I’ll spare you the rest of my comments and just tell you that this iTunes Free Single definitely falls into this category. Boring melodies, stupid lyrics. Shepherd has a good enough (I will not say that phrase too often) voice, but not anything that saves the song.

Waiting for next week…

D

Wow, this is really a surprise. A song called “Shockwave” by a band called “Black Tide” reminds me of other hard rock bands like AC/DC and Guns N’ Roses. I mean, who would have seen that coming?

Yes, it rocks hard. But it doesn’t necessarily do it well. Repetitive and lyrically boring, this song doesn’t exactly make me want to keep it in my library. It’s not that it’s not a good hard rock song–it does rock hard. But there’s nothing else to it. You get some nonsensical lyrics and then the lead singer shouts “Shockwave” before proceeding to a guitar solo. It’s as formulaic as they come.

C-

People must have missed this during all the Macworld updates today, but the new iTunes 7.6 allows you to manually manage the music and videos on your iPhone. Yes, that means drag-and-drop functionality and using multiple computers. Pretty great!

Well, I’m typing this as I watch the keynote reporting:

• Time Capsule: back up your Mac via a wireless server-grade hard drive
• iPhone Firmware 1.1.3: new features include GPS-like functionality (locate yourself anywhere), webclips (store a specific web page, with all pan and zoom settings, directly to your homepage), text message multiple people at once, lyrics in the iPod (bout time!), and rearrange icons on your home screen.
• New Apps for iPod Touch: Mail, Map Stocks, Notes, and Weather. $20 for existing users.
• iTunes Movie Rentals: Movie rentals available from Touchstone, Miramax, MGM, Lionsgate, Newline, FOX, WB, Disney, Paramount, Universal, and Sony (all the major studios). Good for 24 hours, but can wait 30 days to start watching. Compatible with iPhone, iPods, $2.99 for library titles, $3.99 for new releases.
• Apple TV Take 2: Yay! HD support, no computer required. Rent movies, subscribe to podcasts, look at flickr photos. HD movie rentals are $3.99 and $4.99. What a great idea! FREE upgrade for existing Apple TV users, $229 (down from $299) to buy a new one.
• MacBook Air: (Wow, I can never, ever type A-I-R without typing A-I-E-R by mistake). Specs: World’s thinnest notebook (.16″ to .76″, fits inside an envelope), 13.3″ widescreen display, built-in iSight, full mac keyboard, backlit LED screen, multi-touch trackpad (whoa! pinch zoom, finger-around-thumb rotation), 1.8″ hard drive (80 GB with option to upgrade to 64 GB solid-state), 1.6 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, Bluetooth, USB 2.0, mini-DVI, no optical drive. Superdrive accessory is available for $99 and you can “borrow” a nearby PC or Mac’s drive. 5 hours of battery life. 2GB memory is standard (wow, that’s pretty impressive). $1,799.

That’s it for this year’s big Macworld event. I’m most excited about Apple TV Take 2 and the ability to rent HD movies. Additionally, the MacBook Air is pretty exciting, althought it might be a little expensive. Pretty nifty, though.

Oh, and of course I’m excited about iPhone 1.1.3. Now I just have to decide if it is worth losing ScummVM and other cool 3rd party apps to upgrade to 1.1.3–I need that SDK now!

Well, since everyone else in the Apple blogging community is doing so, here are my predictions for Macworld ‘08:

• MacBook Air–completely wireless with an induction charging station
• iPhone 1.1.3 firmware–GPS software by Garmin with a host of other features, including support for the SDK when it comes out
• iTunes Movie Rentals–can play for 24 hours after renting
• Exclusive Prediction: Wireless iTunes Store for iPhones/iPod Touches with support for Edge connections (I can wish for it, can’t I?)

I hope most of my predictions are right, but I’m really hoping that good ole Steve has some tricks up his tight black turtleneck sleeve.

Toby and Kayla had fun today checking out my parents’ new Roomba. The Roomba works great, by the way.

In this edition of (Things) Who Should Be Sent to Mars, I would like to propose that most forms be sent to Mars. Why? Because I’m tired of filling out forms where it’s very clear that the person who designed them never tried filling them out. You know what I mean–those forms where there’s enough room to write your zip code in 20 point font, but only enough space to write your email address if it happens to be “joe@i.com.”

Having to fill out all these forms for my official move to New York is a pain and I’m tired of the fact that no one has done any editing of them. My favorite example? On my application to become an in-state student, UAlbany thought it was wise to have a section called “Current Address” with “from” and “to” headers. No, it’s not a list of all previous addresses, just the current one. So why would you ever need to fill out the “to” section? Clearly, it’s my current address. “To” is today, morons…

Anyway, I’m almost done with these forms, but I really want to pack them all into a rocket and send them up into space.

On January 22nd, I will be starting my new job as the Communications Director at the American Institute for Economic Research. It should be a great experience and a wonderful opportunity. I know I’m quite excited to start!