Great track by Common

check this out.

Something cool on Surface

Microsoft seems to have a lot of inertia with Surface apps and I think that we've seen a lot of great things out of their newer user interfaces. They kidnapped abducted recruited some great people from Adobe, Apple and Frogdesign and it's really starting to show. The new Zune software is brilliant and so is the Virtual Earth interface.

What they need is some equal talent on the hardware side. To date most Wintel laptops, media players and mobile devices have form factors that basicly suck ass. HTC seems to be changing that on the mobile side but there aren't too many more companies pushing those boundaries. PC hardware is mostly the equivalent of GM cars from the 90's - fugly, cheap and flakey. Luckily there seems to be a wave of much cooler stuff coming out. Here's my wish list;

- PCs that look like they were made by Bang and Olufson
- Media players that look like they were made by Prada
- Laptops that look like they were made by BMW

Having said that, the questions that those suppliers would ask is would I be willing to to pay a premium for that? I'd say yes, by probably about 10% and not 35% like Apple demands.

Cool

Check this out.

Tethering a Blackberry Bold with Rogers

So I have this 6GB package with Rogers that I barely use but is still less expensive than the 500Mb package for reasons only known to Steve Jobs and the marketing fools @ Rogers.

I always thought that there was an extra charge for using the wireless data package with my laptop but as it turns out there isn't. So.... I gave it a try and it works well. 350Kbps up and down and essentially free because it's paid for. One more thing, I upgraded my firmware to .168 and it's rock solid and the battery life is great - highly recommended. Now it never crashes and works flawlessly.

Here's how to tether taken from Howard Forums;

Task 0: Connect your BB to your laptop using a USB cable or bluetooth* (* haven't tried yet)

Task 1: Install Blackberry desktop software on your computer.

Task 2:

Set up Internet APN.
1. Go to Start>Settings>Control Panel.
2. Double-click Phone and Modem Options.
3. In the Phone and Modem Options window, click the Modems tab.
4. Select Standard Modem and click Properties.
5. In the Standard Modem Properties window, click the Advanced tab.
6. In the Extra initialization commands field, type the following:
+cgdcont=1,"IP","Internet.com"

1. Click OK.
2. In the Phone and Modem Options window, click OK.

Task 3:

1. Go to Start>Settings>Network Connections.
2. Double-click New Connection Wizard. The New Connection Wizard opens.
3. Click Next.
4. Select the Connect to the Internet option. Click Next.
5. Select Setup my connection manually. Click Next.
6. Select Connect using a dial-up modem. Click Next.
7. If the Select a Device screen appears, select the Modem - Standard Modem check box. Click Next.
8. In the ISP Name field, type a name for your connection. Click Next.
9. In the Phone number field, type*99#. Click Next.
10. Indicate which users will have access to the connection. Click Next.
11. Enter the user name and password provided by your service provider. Click Next.
12. Click Finish.
13. In the Connect window, click Properties.
14. In the Properties window, verify that Modem - Standard Modem appears beneath the Connect using heading, and then click Configure.
15. In the Modem Configuration window, clear the Enable hardware flow control check box and make sure none of the other check boxes are selected. Click OK. In the Properties window, click OK.

Task 4:
Connect the BlackBerry device to the computer and verify that BlackBerry Desktop Manager displays Connected. The BlackBerry device must be identified by BlackBerry Desktop Manager in order for the modem to establish a connection

Task 5:
Connect to the Internet using dial-up networking.
Note: During this procedure, do not operate the BlackBerry Browser or any third-party applications on the BlackBerry device. An active data session may interfere with the modem connection. Also, make sure an ethernet connection is not active at the same time.

1. Connect the BlackBerry device to the computer.
2. Open BlackBerry Desktop Manager.
3. Click Start>Settings>Network Connections>.
4. Enter the user name and password provided by your service provider. (BLANK for Rogers)
5. Click Dial.

Congratulations to the USA

Congratulations for doing something incredibly brave. For the first time in decades I admire the USA.

More Thoughts on Obama

Southern Fried Liberals

I was in the Bahamas last week and there was a bunch of fat pink mustached southern sounding Americans swilling beer around the pool. Looked like a bunch of rednecks to me and I didn't think much of it until I saw that two of them had Obama t-shirts on. I must say that I was a bit shocked.

On the Web

Since I got back, I've been reading the news websites and reader comments go on about how great Obama is, either that or a bunch of obscure foil hat inuendos like how he's not an American, french kisses Castro and square dances with terrorists. There aren't many people praising John M, just shooting down Obama and about the same number calling Palin a dumbass whacko.

Running the Stand

Both candidates would make reasonable leaders but I'm terrified of Sarah Palin and for that reason above all others I think that McCain lacks judgement and isn't fit to run a hot dog stand. From a Canadian perspective, it's probably better that McCain wins but I can't think of a single Canadian that I know that isn't hoping for an Obama landslide.

Good luck my American friends and please don't fuck it up again.

My Prediction

Given the huge voting lines and massive early vote turnout I'm venturing to say that Obama will win by a big margin. People don't go to that much trouble unless they're really passionate and I think people are really passionate about change this time around. The lineups from what I can see seem to be civil and actually pleasant so I'm guessing they aren't filled with people scared to let a black man win.

Lets revisit this tomorrow, my gut feeling is that people are very anxious and excited about a new beginning.

How Prolific Was 2Pac?

When he said way back in 1995:

"I see no changes all I see is racist faces

misplaced hate makes disgrace to races
We under I wonder what it takes to make this
one better place, let's erase the wasted
Take the evil out the people they'll be acting right
'cause both black and white is smokin' crack tonight
and only time we chill is when we kill each other
it takes skill to be real, time to heal each other
And although it seems heaven sent
We ain't ready, to see a black President, uhh"

We're on the eve of change, are we really ready?