Category Archives: Technology

Technology

Buy yourself a Personality: MacBook

September 4, 2009 d dot b Leave a comment

Associative Qualities of the Mac Culture

Buy Yourself a Personality: MacBook

In my little opinion, Macbooks are not much superior to Windows and/or Linux based computing systems. The price of a Macbook can range anywhere from the $1300-$2500 and they are only optimized for their performance in memory intensive usages such as audio recording/editing and video rendering. If you are even doing Photoshop image manipulations, and you are not working with RAW files, then you do not necessarily need a MacBook. If you are reading this, and don’t even know what Final Cut, Compressor, Avid, Motion 4, Pro Tools, then you are one of those people that I like to call ‘Buying a personality’.

Cool & Trendy Factor
There is some statistic that states that out of the Personal Computing market, Apple has like less than 5% of the market share; so having a MacBook will automatically make you stand out from the pack; combine with Apple’s sleek and stylish design, people will gravitate and ask you asinine questions about your MacBook. Which essentially forces the individual to become a ‘Mac Ambassador’; someone that can give advice and their opinion about their Mac experience – and resoundingly enough it will bend toward the positive. Thus, when people become the Mac Ambassador they are embracing and becoming one with the ‘Mac Culture’; which can be defined as a free-spirited, creative, liberal, defying convention, eager individual – whom values his/her individuality from conformity (conformity being Windows culture). Those qualities will then be expressed in their clothing and swag; which is perfectly captured in the popular ‘”I’m a Mac, he’s a PC” ads.

Now, this isn’t ‘Mac resentment’ or ‘hate’; the Apple OS is a unique user experience that in my opinion is slightly better than Windows, but the cost differential is not worth it if you plan on using iMovie or iLife, or watching video on YouTube. You have to give Apple some props though, they have done a creative maeouver in giving the perception that when you buy a MacBook – which is essentially a plethora of computer parts made by other manufacturers (just like Windows machines) – you are not only being a computer, but you are buying a lifestyle. And that ‘lifestyle’ is priceless.

.:: LiBM ::.

Entertainment, Popular Culture, Technology

Defining an Era or Error: Nintendo

August 13, 2009 d dot b Leave a comment

Nintendo

Being an “80’s baby”, the original Nintendo system was a staple in every kid’s home; I still recall the day that I got it – it was christmas, and I was up for several hours playing Super Mario Bros & Duck Hunt. I recall learning the special cheat codes for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2, Super Mario 3 and other games. You have to give Nintendo some credit for popularizing the video game industry and by pushing change & innovation; not only in technology, but in popular culture. Way back in the 80’s, Atari was actually the first home video gaming system, but was vastly archaic, Nintendo introduced a system that was cheaper than the Atari, inexpensive, and had a bunch of fun & interactive games. From the 80’s to the current era, Nintendo has sustained the competition with the defunct Sega console, and even the Microsoft X-Box, and Sony Playstation. And now with the Wii, Nintendo has redefined the gaming experience and even though the X-Box and Playstation 3 has faster processors and better visual graphics, Nintendo is the leader because of the interactivity the Wii has as it immerses the video game player into the actual game. An interesting fact is that the actual company Nintendo has been around since 1889, dabling in various ‘playing game products’, such as the Nintendo Playing Card Company before launching into the video game industry in the mid 70’s with the release of Donkey Kong, and the first generation Nintendo system in the early 80’s.

Donkey Kong Arcade Video Game
Popular arcade video game introduced to North America in 1981, surprisingly to my knowledge, was also the first introduction of ‘Jumpman’ – now known as ‘Mario’

Super Mario Bros 3
Released in 1990, one of Nintendo’s most successful game ever … much better than that sh*t that was Super Mario 2, right???

Definitely Nintendo is not an error in our culture, they have become a household brand that has provided with fun & entertainment experiences that have shaped our personalities.

.:: LiBM ::.

Social, Technology

Defining an Era or Error: The Walkman

August 2, 2009 d dot b Leave a comment

Defining an Era or Error: The Walkman

A look at the first portable music device

The Walkman was an essential item to have growing up in the 80’s and 90’s; it was today’s equivalent to the iPod. The Walkman allowed one to bring their music with them in a handy portable device, as the popular format of the day was the tape cassette. The tape cassette was, and still stands as a unique format that allows for easy recording and playback. Think about it, to record music to a CD, you got to start your computer, load CD Burning program, wait for it to write – for a tape cassette, just put it into the tape player, connect to an input source, and hit record. Voila, you have an instant portable piece of music. I think that the tape cassette will be around for a few more decades as it is still useful, and since car manufacturers have only stopped building tape decks from around 2005, they will still be relevant.

A bit of history for the Father of the ‘iPod’:

Walkman is Sony’s portable audio cassette player brand, now used to market its portable audio and video players. The original Walkman introduced a change in music listening habits, allowing people to carry music with them. The device was built in 1978 by audio division engineer Nobutoshi Kihara for Sony co-chairman Morita, who wanted to be able to listen to operas during his frequent transpacific plane trips. The original Walkman was marketed in 1979 as the Walkman in Japan, the Soundabout in many other countries including the US, Freestyle in Sweden and the Stowaway in the UK.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walkman

Sony was the obvious pioneer for the portable digital music player, and I believe the brand name (Walkman) still lives on in Sony’s line of digital music players (competing with the iPod) and their partnership with Ericsson Mobility (bringing the Sony Ericsson Walkman phone). But Sony is far, far, far behind Apple’s iPod as they got on the digital music player bandwagon too late – if Sony had marketed their iconic Walkman brand as a digital music device a bit earlier, they could have maybe impacted the affect of the iPod, and garnered a greater share of the billion dollar digital music industry that Apple dominates.

I still have my Walkman, and it still works, but I mess with the iPod Touch … sorry Sony! Another fail – as Sony is currently losing a market that they CREATED.

.:: LiBM ::.

Technology

Artifical Brainis 256GB of Apple Hate – Nerban’s week in tech July 24/09

July 24, 2009 d dot b Leave a comment

Nerban’s week in Tech – July 24/09

Its been awhile, but better late than never right? Some interesting links from the world of technology to keep you up to date on the ever changing technological landscape for better, faster, and quicker access to the things we love (__________ insert that here).

Artificial brain ’10 years away’ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8164060.stm– Just a precursor to when robots will enslave us, and then every race will have had that ‘slavery feeling’

256GB Memory Drive
http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/20/kingston-unveils-256gb-thumb-drive-for-well-heeled-memory-fiends/– It would be like carrying a hard drive on your key chain, for some it would mean and endless supply of adult entertainment

World’s First 3D Webcam Tested
http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/09/07/16/2213224/Worlds-First-3D-Webcam-Tested– Never really was a webcam person, never had one, but for those that are on lonely nights on dating sites – I am sure they will find some perverse use for this

First Microsoft retail stores to open this fall
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10287499-56.html
http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=3358– Trying to go at Apple’s neck, but until they get the ‘cool’ factor, people will still be fascinated by the Apple Store

Apple demands Microsoft stop its Laptop Hunters ads
http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2009/07/apple-demanded-microsoft-to-stop-its-laptop-hunters-ads.ars
– Apple is crying like little b*tch*s over Microsoft’s clever ads; I don’t recall Microsoft crying foul over the “I am a Mac” ads, they just clapped back

.:: LiBM ::.

Logic, Social, Technology

tan(009) – Broken earphones cost 5 cents in exams

June 19, 2009 d dot b Leave a comment

Tangent 009 – 5 Cents a bag, phones in exams, earphones

5 Cents a bag

Before, it used to be certain grocery stores that would charge you 5 cents per bag; the tradeoff was that the grocery store offered lower prices and didn’t invest in things like food sampling, bagging your groceries, and the like. Now, all commercial stores imaginable from grocery to retail, now have to charge 5 cents per bag. It is really starting to become a nuisance as I will go to one of my regular stores, shop, and then get shocked when the cashier asks me if I want bags – then I do the usual, ‘Oh yeah, I forgot’ thing, and privately cuss to myself that this is asinine.

Phones in Exams

I am sure that everyone can relate to an exam situation in school where the prof said “everyone turn off or silence your phone”, and half-way through the exam, a loud annoying polyphonic sound emits from some student. The student tries to coyly turn it off, but it never works, and the class is disrupted. Whenever I go into class, exam or not, I have the common sense to say to myself, “ok, its time to turn off or put the phone on vibrate”. I don’t understand how other people can simply forget this common act of courtesy and decency. You have to be an idiot or a moron to not have the foresight that your phone might ring in class, and it would be wise to check before you enter class. Simple respect for the prof and your classmates, you lame.

Earphones

The earphones for your iPod/mp3 player will never function properly for more than 1 year; I think there is an exact science to it. Earphones are designed to only last a few months before one side of the earphones ceases to work properly – one side may not produce sound at all, or it may produce a reduced sound. I have had walkmans, Discmans, various iPods, and over time the earphones will crap out. Always. I never thought of investing in expensive earphones, but I may just have to pay the price to enjoy ‘ear to ear’ continuous sound.

.:: LiBM ::.

Economics, Logic, Technology

Cheap E-Way

June 17, 2009 d dot b Leave a comment

Cheap E-Way

Ways to save and cut back

Most of this is logical (hopefully), but in a tight economy, there are many ways that people can save their money and cut back.

Write-Off

Register a small business. Do it. Regardless if you have no idea of what product you plan to sell or what service you want to offer. Then, any activity/purchase you do for your business, can be a write-off – transit fare to meet clients, food purchases, clothing, wireless/internet expenses … the possibilities are endless.

Shop at a Dollar Store

– they have the everyday household items for $1, body spray deodorant, binders, lotions, drinks – and all the name brands; no ‘Acme’ or generic never-heard of brands

Bring your own beverages to work

– let’s do the math; let’s say you bought a Coca-cola beverage everyday at your work cafeteria for $1, 5 times a week. Over a month period, that equates to $20. If you went to the grocery store, and picked up a 12 pack of coca-cola for $5.99, you would save around $.50 per day rather than buying it at the cafeteria.

Cloud Computing

– This is working and storing information into the cloud (essentially a server) where you can access the data from any machine; no longer being restricted to a specific computer. Google offers many free cloud services like ‘Google Docs’ (wordprocessing, spreadsheet, powerpoint) and if you need a desktop software suite, Sun Office has a bunch of applications that are compatible with Microsoft and the best thing is that it is FREE.

.:: LiBM ::.

Economics, Health, Social, Technology

Peri-Urban Farming

June 17, 2009 d dot b Leave a comment

Urban Farmers

Sustaining urban agriculture

If ‘green’ is the new ‘black’ (don’t know what the new ‘black’ really was), then part of the green initiative that may actually do some real good is the phenomenon known as Urban Farming or Urban agricultures – which is the practice of cultivating, processing and distributing food in, or around (peri-urban), a village, town or city. In North American cities, these practice has picked up steam in the past 10 years as you can go to many dense populated areas to find portioned areas (that have a bit of grass) with all sorts of vegetables and fruits. With some of the following stats compiled by the U.N., it is clear why the practice of urban agriculture is growing:

* 50% of the world’s population lives in cities.
* 800 million people are involved in urban agriculture world-wide and contribute to feeding urban residents.
* Low income urban dwellers spend between 40% and 60% of their income on food each year.
* By 2015 about 26 cities in the world are expected to have a population of 10 million or more. To feed a city of this size – at least 6000 tonnes of food must be imported each day.

Urban farming is generally practiced for income-earning or food-producing activities though in some communities the main impetus is recreation and relaxation. Urban agriculture contributes to food security and food safety in two ways: first, it increases the amount of food available to people living in cities, and, second, it allows fresh vegetables and fruits and meat products to be made available to urban consumers. A common and efficient form of urban agriculture is the biointensive method. Because urban agriculture promotes energy-saving local food production, urban and peri-urban agriculture are generally seen as sustainable practices.

Cuban Urban Farming

Pacific Rim Farming

Chicago Urban Farm

New York City Urban Farming

Not only will you be saving money from shopping for produce, but you will be helping produce oxygen into the air as most of these urban cities are smog infested. This is a ‘green’ movement that I can ‘see’

.:: LiBM ::.

Cre8ive Abstract, Entertainment, Hip-Hop, politics, Popular Culture, Social, Technology

Great CD Artwork

June 10, 2009 d dot b Leave a comment

CD’s tangibility

Great CD artwork

The Audio CD will soon be replaced by digital downloads (iTunes, Napster) or by credit card sized items that act as a prepaid phone card; go online, scratch the back of the card, and download the album to your digital music player of choice. These steps are inevitable as the Internet age has made the physical CD obsolete as the medium’s message has changed, digitally speaking – the audio digital music device is the message (iPod, Zune), no longer the CD. One thing that will be missed from the tangible feeling of CD’s is the album artwork – which in the past few years have made a resurgence as record labels look frantically for ways to hold onto the traditional model. I am sure we all can recall a time when one of the best part of buying a CD was ripping the plastic, and opening the album artwork to see the credit, the pictures, lyrics, etc. That was a personal feeling and connection between the purchaser and the artist; which gave the CD far more relevance than the audio on the optical disk could ever have. Enough about that, here are some classic album artwork, all the way from the vinyl to the plastic:

Michael Jackson – Dangerous

Smashing Pumpkins: Zeitgeist

Kool & the Gang – Still Cool

Radiohead – Hail to the Thief

Van Halen – 1984

Kanye West – Graduation

I will miss this aspect of the music experience – as the last CD I recall buying was Kanye’s Graduation … even thought the iPod’s Cover Flow is cool, it just can’t ‘touch’ the affect of a physical CD.

.:: LiBM ::.

Logic, Relationships, Social, Technology

tan(008) – Medicine Toast with the Green

June 5, 2009 d dot b Leave a comment

Hyrbrid Parking, burning toasters, self-realization

Sorry to go on a tangent but …. and I don’t spot the danger in the pic above

Green Parking Spaces

There are some grocery stores that have taken upon themselves to push the idea that certain parking spots will be reserved for ‘green cars’; specifically hybrid vehicles such as the Toyota Prius. I guess this kind of hurts as I recently had a Toyota Prius, lost it in an accident, but now I have a Diesel vehicle – which is not a hybrid, but burns the diesel fuel cleanly. My gripe with this policy may be biased; especially since I did not have a chance to utilize the ‘luxury’ of a shorter walk to the grocery stores. I wonder what would happened if anyone parked a non-hybrid vehicle in those spots – what is the worse that could happen? Its not like these spots hold the same weight as disabled parking spots – as you can actually get a real, expensive ticket for illegally parking there. I will test out the theory.

Toasters

I’m not a really big fan of toasters and/or toast foods, but when I do use a toaster, I feel I encounter the same problem repeatedly – I always end up burning my fingers trying to grab out the bread OR I have to use a knife to pull the bread out of the toaster. Can’t they design the toaster in a way where we won’t have to dig too deep to try to pull out the bread? Or make some adjustable handles so that the sides of the toaster can easily open up? Its asinine that I have almost burned my hand three times in the past week just for trying to pull out some bread, SMH.

Good Medicine

First, sorry for the bad picture. But anyways, I love it when people reach a state of realization of something that they complained about you, but they themselves are now exhibiting that same behavior that made them so mad and vocal (i.e. like when your girl hates on you for being sarcastic, but yet she does the same thing). They get real quiet, like the opposite of a barbershop, like what happens when a minority steps into a room and is the minority – a heightened sense of self-awareness. All that you complained about, griped, moaned, about someone’s behavior is not so foreign anymore – it now feels like a natural reaction to natural events. Any lack of comprehension is now clarified like a crisp clear day – and it only took a dip in the ocean to understand, as the best medicine to understand something probably needs experience. Rhetoric is nothing and I guess can not be fully understood by most without some practical experience. I am sure we have all been in this experience as either the recipient of the realization or the viewer – either way, its not good to ‘revel’ in the feeling, but keep it as a wild card, to pull out when that same individual wants to return to primitive ways.

.:: LiBM ::.

Life in B Major

Category Archives: Technology

Defining an Era or Error: Nintendo

Nintendo

Artifical Brainis 256GB of Apple Hate – Nerban’s week in tech July 24/09

Nerban’s week in Tech – July 24/09

Cheap E-Way