The Seattle Post-Intelligencer's Todd Bishop reports on what's billed as an iPod-killer: the Microsoft Portable Media Center line of digital media players that 'will store and play back video, music and photos.' The devices are expected to be demonstrated at CES this week. Hardware manufacturers Samsung, ViewSonic, iRiver, and Creative are apparently developing versions of the devices that 'will run a specialized version of Windows CE.'
[ Slashdot ]
More like a PSP killer if you ask me. Rather sexy. If this thing does any kind of wireless and web browsing or emailing stuff then I expect it will completely trounce the PSP. Of course the PSP will play games, but I've got a GameBoy for that...
People who tank up on coffee may reduce their risk of developing type 2 diabetes, new research suggests.
[ Yahoo! News ]
Of course they do want to make it clear that
the researchers warn their study "cannot prove a cause-effect relationship" between caffeine consumption and a lower risk of diabetes. And, they add, "it is premature to recommend increased coffee drinking as a means to prevent type 2 diabetes."
And they also seem to have a bit of distain for coffee drinkers, making wild accusations like:
People who drink lots of coffee often have other unhealthy habits, including smoking, drinking alcohol and leading a sedentary lifestyle.
So I exepct to increase my coffee habit, in order to stave off type 2 diabetes, and continue my sedentary lifestyle, since I don't drink or smoke, and have no plans of starting either.
Kinda nifty:
Time magazine has scans (you can buy prints) of the covers of their old issues. The mag closest to my birthday was The Bugs are Coming.
[ Joe Grossberg ]
As long as you were born after 1923 or so, you should be able to see what was on the cover of time the week you were born. You can get an idea of what the country was “all a buzz” about, when you made your debut. Apparently around my birth the country was concerned about missiles.
In and around my birth there seemed to be international tension and discussion about outer space. Plus some hype about an up-and-coming actor named Dustin Hoffman.
Beyond Good & Evil:
You'll play as Jade, a beautiful photojournalist who lives in a lighthouse that overlooks an island chain under constant attack by merciless aliens, the DomZ. Though your starting assignment is to take pics of local species, you'll soon join an underground resistance that believes that your planet's military, the Alpha Sections, is conspiring with the DomZ.
[ Nintendo ]
UBI seems to be on fire. Prince of Persia, although a bit short, was a masterpiece. BG&E doesn't look quite as artsy, but it appears to be visualy above average, and a bit of a unique storyline.
If you are a frequent visitor to my site, you should notice that pages are loading quite a bit faster. Originally I had my “Wishful Thinking” item pulling from Amazon.com directly and caching the results for a short period of time. Now I have this pulling from a database. Eventually I expect to fill the database automatically, but for now it is just manual (of course since Amazon.com has frozen my wish list in November 2003, it won't need to refresh ever).
Tee hee hee:
Everyone will want to dive in and soak up every second of this full-length animated feature when SpongeBob ... makes a huge splash in his first venture onto the big screen.
[The Spongebob Squarepants Movie ]
Although the site is a bit light on the details:
You could meet three friends for coffee at any Starbucks in the world.
[ Starbucks ]
Which is just exciting enough to have me switch from Caribou back to Starbucks, at least during said promotion. Not that I have any expectation of winning, but it sounds so sweet that I can't resist.
And, props to Dari for directing my attention to this newsworthy item.
Big ups to the Big N:
We surprised ourselves when we realized that, of the five exceptional games we chose as the best on their respective platforms this year, the finest among them truly was The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker.
[ GameSpot ]
Proving, once again, that if you don't have a GameCube, you should think about getting one.
Oh, and they game out some other awards too.
I went to download some fonts for my laptop, so I could view a page I made that relies on one of Microsoft's free webdings fonts, and I find out this:
Microsoft's TrueType core fonts for the Web are no longer available for download from www.microsoft.com.
[ Microsoft Typography ]
And this has been true for over a year?
I expect that the “core” fonts can only be guaranteed installed on Win2000, WinXP, and possibly WinMe. I feel like I have to redesign 1/2 a dozen website that I've developed to rely on one of these fonts. How disappointing.
Update: The fonts are available on sourceforge, which “they” claim is acceptable under the EULA.
Old-school RPG fanatics have longed for a return to Secret of Mana's brilliant splendor, and with Sword of Mana, they finally can. Gamers unfamiliar with the series, along with fans of the Zelda series, will also enjoy the Sword of Mana's fast action and fathomless depth.
[Nintendo]
The more I see, the more I like. I have always disliked the turned based combat of Final Fantasy, but always enjoyed the depth of story and therefore the game. This appears to have Square Enix's talent all over it, with real time combat to boot. I believe that this is a “must buy”.
Rock musicians and food lovers Dweezil Zappa and Lisa Loeb are hitting the road in search of musical and culinary adventures. From dining on Southern specialties with the Indigo Girls in Atlanta, to chowin' down at the Zappa family's breakfast pancake party, this dynamic duo is out to find good times and great food. Join them as they discover new regional culinary delights with famous chefs and friends across the country.
[ Food Network, courtesy Dari ]
When did Dweezil and Lisa Loeb get married? Do they have any kids? How messed up are their kids going to be? Will they have weird names? So many questions, so little answers.
AP - Calling all metrosexuals: Get rid of that bling-bling — or at least find another word for it. In its annual compilation of language irritants, Lake Superior State University singled out 17 words and phrases that it says ought to be banned as overused, trite, euphemistic or just plain inaccurate. The 2004 losers were chosen by a university committee from more than 5,000 nominations from around the world.
[Yahoo! News - Oddly Enough ]
It seems to me, that if this is going to be news, everyone should get a lot more say in the list. I'd also like to point out that AP hasn't even supplied us with the full list, or directions on how to find the full list.
First, the list of words that I expect that they could be correct about: METROSEXUAL, BLING or BLING-BLING, RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES, and SHOCK AND AWE.
Second, the list of words that they might be correct about, but since they've been around so long, I doubt that we'll see them disappear anytime soon: PLACE STAMP HERE, SMOKING GUN, SHOTS RANG OUT, SWEAT LIKE A PIG, IN HARM’S WAY, and CAPTURED ALIVE.
Now the rest I take issue with:
X: Perhaps people are using X-this and X-that too much. I don't think that's anymore irritating than e-this and e-that or i-this and i-that. Eventually the letter becomes un-cool and we move on to the next letter. My vote for next cool letter is J or V.
PUNKED: Seriously, anyone used this word? Heard someone use it? I didn't think so. Ashton Kutcher isn't even doing the show anymore, and it will likely be canceled, so I think we're panicking a bit early on this one.
COMPANION ANIMALS: Perhaps someone is using this one, but I'm hoping that the distinction is for a reason. Certainly retirees and “shut-ins“ have long taken on a pet to assist with staving off the impending depression, and perhaps “companion animal“ is a better way to phrase that.
LOL: IMHO, since you can't say these out loud without sounding like a dork, we have little to worry about here. However I would like people to reserve chat abbreviations to chat (and IM) and stop using them in emails or online forums. (Though emoticons (aka smileys) seem acceptable in any online communication).
EMBEDDED JOURNALIST: I'm rather certain that this one has been used where it makes sense. It is a different approach that the military is using with journalists, and I guess the nuance is important to them. As long as this doesn't leech over to other professions, we'll be fine. However I am hoping to have my company make me an embedded programmer at some point.
HAND-CRAFTED LATTE: Seriously weak this one. A bit more research into espresso drinks, and sodas for that matter, would reveal that there is a wide difference between things called lattes. Some are hand crafted, some are automatically made by a push-button espresso machine, some are reconstituted from a powder. I think it is an important enough distinction that there is no point in freaking out here. And, as for the soda, compare a Jones, Hanson's, IBC, or Stewart's to a plain old Coke and I think you'll find there's a difference. Or order a french or italian soda from your barista, and savor it's hand-crafted goodness.
SANITARY LANDFILL: All I have to say is that once you've seen an unsanitary landfill, you'll realize why this makes sense.
Nintendo has released versions of their classic Zelda games, ported to the GameCube:
It also includes a demo of Wind Waker and a Wind Waker movie, plus a “Retrospective”.
I am rather disappointed with the “retrospective”, I guess I was expecting a lot more. I have yet to check out the Wind Waker movie, and I assume that the Wind Waker demo is the same that was previously running in the stores.
The Ocarina of Time appears to be the same version that came on the previous bonus disc, free for preorders of Wind Waker. That disc also had the “master quest” version, which didn't impress me too much, and that's been shipped off to my mom, so it's good to get a copy of Ocarina of Time again.
The Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask have both had a bit of sprucing up since their N64 version. Not a reworking of character models, or anything complex, but the 3D rendering is a bit more organic, and the colors look better.
The Classic Zelda and Zelda II are faithful to the originals, to the best of my memory. The only must-have Zelda game missing from this disc is the Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, which of course is out for the GBA.
Since the price is free, and this brings back a few classic games that I should never have parted with, I am quite happy with this addition to my library. I'm not sure if it's worth snagging this one off of eBay for $50, but if it comes down to $10-$20 and you're a big Zelda fan, you might want to pick it up. It is, of course, also available via 3 legitimate means:
- Buy a GameCube while the offer still stands for this disc bundled for free
- Subscribe to Nintendo Power, while supplies last, and choose this disc as your “freebie”
- Buy any 2 games from the following list, and register them at Nintendo.com: Mario Party 5, 1080 Avalanche, Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, and Mario Kart: Double Dash
I did #3, since I had planned on buying 3 of those titles anyway (I'm not a big snowboarding fan).
AP - Adding that seventh earring before going to work for the county could get you into piercing trouble. Administrators have decided that three earrings per earlobe is the maximum amount of "facial jewelry" employees will be allowed to wear in Orange County offices, and that all other facial piercing will be forbidden.
[Yahoo! News - Oddly Enough ]
Now this is repressive. Especially since nose piercings can be so sexy. But I will have to agree that tounge piercings can make it hard to understand some people.
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