Haven’t Found Ms.Right? Perhaps She Was on Her iPod and didn’t Notice

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Was riding the train the other day and noticed something very interesting. Almost all of us were pre-occupied with our electronic devices. Blackberry’s, iPods, iPhones, etc… None of us wanted to talk to one another. Granted, it’s a little weird striking up random conversations with people you don’t know, but I have to say, that used to be one of the things I loved most about New York. Yeah, New Yorkers have a bad rap for being busy all the time, but so what? We got stuff to do. Besides, any tourist will tell you, we love conversation. Just keep it short and simple. No one will be rude to you.  Those are usually the hipsters that move in from Nebraska, or Kansas somewhere and want to act like a real-life New Yorker just  like they saw on Sex in the City or CSI. I digress.

At any rate, my point is we are starting a disturbing trend, which is to want to be alone while in the company of others. I have done it countless times. At the moment the lull in the conversation appears,  I’m checking my trusty G1 for new messages or twitter updates. I know someone has just updated their status to something stupid like Jets suck, but I just have to see. I wonder what this will do to society at large? We are changing the way we interact with people. I won’t go so far as to say today’s technological advances will have a positive or negative effect. However, I will say it will definitely change the way we date and socialize. Sure, I suppose we can always meet one another at the bar or club, but for those of us who don’t really do the whole drinking and clubbing thing, there aren’t a huge amount of options left. I used to feel comfortable approaching a young lady during a commute or while at a cafe etc. Now, everyone is so into their music or video game that I now feel uncomfortable interacting with someone outside of my network of friends for fear of  annoying them.

I honestly wish I could peer into the future to see what things will be like in ten years. What will happen to the casual conversation? Will it disappear or will it be held online in a chat room while playing some game? Will it become the norm to be on the phone while at the dinner table or restaurant or will restaurants begin outlawing cellphone usage inside? Will cases of ADD shoot up, or will it level off? Have I passed my soul-mate while she was adjusting her volume to tune out the annoying guy trying to ask her for her name?

See also: From Sorry Ms.Jackson to Hello Ms. Right

The Best B-Day Gift Ever! …Well Second Best Anyway

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A good friend just shot me this link from Wired.com and I have to say, I’m quite impressed. Apparently one can own a fighter jet. Yeah, just straight pull out your fat wallet and pay someone, in Russia I presume, and take away a nice shiny new Sukhoi SU-27. Yes, that same one from Ace Combat and H.A.W.X. on the X Box 360…except in real life of course.

Now this jet was designed to go Mano y Mano with the US’s F-15 Eagle. The plane is capable of vertical acceleration because of its high thrust-to-weight ratio, and can reach speeds of about Mach 1.8 (1,300 mph). That’s almost twice the speed of sound. Now here’s the clincher. This bad boy is going for about 5 million bucks. Not bad right, considering that a mid-range Gulfstream private jet goes for well over 20 million. Plus they offer training on the jet as well in case you don’t have fighter pilot experience. Seems like a great deal to me, and if any of you readers who happens to have a few dollars to spare for my birthday – hook me up man!

Apple Tablet to be Revealed Jan. 27th?

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I’ve refrained from mentioning anything about it since there really wasn’t much concrete evidence swirling around. However, it has now been announced that Apple is hosting an even on the 27th of this month to show off its newest “Creation”! The event will be in San Franisco, and no one is willing to pay for my trip out there 🙁 so I’ll have to live vicariously through others for now. Really hope its about that tablet, or iSlate, or whatever…

via Engadget.com

MLK…One of the Manlier of Men

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Every now and then its a good thing to reflect on things. One’s life, achievements, disappointments, goals, successes. Some folks are pretty happy about the ratio of achievements to time spent, while others begin the new year with resolutions to be more efficient with the time they have. Today is that day for me, and it also happens to be Martin Luther King Day.

I sit in my “Captain’s Chair”, you know-the chair every guy has that marks him as the ruler of the house-and I contemplate the small amount of information I can recall about this great man’s life. I recall seeing somewhere that they might make a movie. Hope its a good one I remark to myself. But honestly, would I know if it were a good one or a bad one? This is the point where I have to be honest with myself. Like the Christian who follows Christ, but doesn’t really know where Jesus was born and has to sing a Christmas Carrol to get the clues, or who isn’t too knowledgeable of the details except for the whole death on the cross thing.  I begin to think about all the stuff I don’t know about the man, Martin Luther King jr. I wonder what it would have been like living in his day. Would I have taken part in any of those demonstrations? Would I have known him? Would I be too busy trying to make ends meet for my family? What am I doing now? How do I measure up to this man? What have I done with my talents and with my time? These are the tough questions. They make you want to do more, to be more. What it must have taken to do those things. To march knowing good and well people straight-up hate you and would like to do you bodily harm. To do so knowing the dangers involved for family and friends you care about deeply. What a sense of conviction.

I wonder if the stuff he was made out of is present in this world we live in today. Everyone has this sense of entitlement, thinking they deserve this and that. But the level of humility this guy had is just baffling to me. To be non-violent about it and to patiently wait while in a prison cell. Wait for things to get better, believing that your position was correct.  What faith in God this man had. I can barely wait in line at McDonald’s without getting a little antsy and short with the cashier!

What would happen if I applied myself? I wonder what my potential is and could be. What if I were efficient with my time? Martin Luther King jr. was the youngest person to win the Nobel Peace Price in the time he lived. What an amazing feat.

I sit and contemplate these things wondering if there will be another person like him. I wonder if more of us responded to our own callings, what things would be like. Or rather just me, what if  ‘I’ make a move? How would I change my own life or the lives of my family and friends? What dent could I make on this world?

Break-Dancing Robot

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This is a funky little fella. With red hoody and faded jeans, Manoi Go is all the rage. It’s creators have done a darn good job at programming this robot with enough moves to show-up anybody on the dance floor. I was quite impressed with the little nuances of the different pop-lock movements. It seemed quite authentic. Take a look at this little fella go! If ou were thinking of purchasing, your pockets might have to be deep…rumored price tag around $2,000!

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Nexusone Google “Superphone”

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If you have T-mobile and have been a loyal customer for years…than you can’t upgrade for a discount on this phone. Sorry – suck it up. Its available at 179.00 for people who are starting a new line and there is only one type of plan you can get if you are buying at discount. For ballers, you can get the phone unlocked at 529.00 and just add a simcard with whatever plan you want and be done with it all.

Here is the phone break down:

Hardware:

1Ghz Snapdragon processor with 3.7 inch capacitive display. It has 512 MB of Flash Memory and 512 MB of RAM. It comes with 4GB Micro SD card which you can upgrade to 32 GB when you get the urge. Camera is 5 Mega-pixels with LED Flash and 2x zoom. Its got Blue-tooth/Stereo Blue-tooth and Wifi as well. With all of that it only comes out to be about 11.5 mm thick!

Software: Runs Android 2.1 (Eclair). Google’s newest iteration. With such a fast processor, I’m guessing this phone will most likely see its fair share of upgrades.

Distinctions: What makes this phone different from say…the iPhone? It can multitask. Also, it doesn’t have multi-touch capabilities. It has voice recognition and dictation elements native only to this device. Not a whole lot else. What this means is that you can’t pinch to zoom in on web pages or photos, but you can say “Navigate to McDonald’s” and it will give you turn by turn directions to the nearest McDonald’s which I think is pretty sweet. You can also dictate a note or a text message which can come in handy for those who just can’t seem to stay away while driving.

Interface seems clean and snappy from what I can tell. Really like the moving wallpaper. They even respond to interactions! You can check the video below to see for yourself:

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Summary:

So all in all a pretty solid phone. Good-looking, but not terribly sexy in my opinion. Great functionality, but not quite ground-breaking or game changing. Smart phone? Yes. Superphone? Nah, not quite.

Update:

Eligible users with data plans can now upgrade to the Nexus One on T-mobile for $279. Those who paid $379 will get 100 bucks in a rebate check from Google. Sounds good to me!

Underwear in a Bunch over iPhone App

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Was sent an article from the NYDailyNews.com about adult apps that feature Asian Women. Not having an iPhone myself, I can’t really say that I’ve played around with some of the applications mentioned in the article, however, the author makes a good point that a lot of men miss.

I’m not going to go into the usual humdrum of how men treat women as sexual objects as their are extensive articles on that subject. I just think its really interesting how we as a society are are taking our sexism to new levels with technology!

We are at the point were we snack on information like Doritos. Stick with me I’m going somewhere.  Our appetite for bite sized packets of information that we can digest in a few minutes or less is beginning to grow, while our attention spans are waning. I am beginning to think this is having an effect on how we perceive information. For example, the title “Asian Boobs” would reek of sexism as well as racism in a society that took a longer time to process information. However, in this society where I can read 5 newspapers on my cell phone in the 45 minute commute to work, I don’t really have time to process the information as good or bad. It just exists. I either like it or I don’t. That is a real title for an iPhone App by the way,  and its got the writer of this article really mad. Can’t say that I blame her. I wished she were a little more broad in her topic, and I felt it was a little too one-sided, (so I shouldn’t date Asians cause that shows I have Asian Fever?)  but a good read none-the-less.

Now to my male readers – it would seem that we should be more enlightened than our great-grandparents and even our parents in matters of racism and sexism, but are we living up to the hype? Because such apps are accepted as normal and because they take up so little of our time, do we gloss over glaring forms of prejudice simply because it doesn’t take up more than 5 minutes of our day? Coming back to the Doritos analogy, can “snack apps” and or “snack pieces of information” be detrimental to our 21st Century enlightenment if we aren’t careful in much the same way as junk food can be to our health without moderation?

Google Phone Craze!!!!

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image from Gizmodo.com

Have you guys heard yet? Google is coming out with a “Google Phone” called the Nexus (as of right now). According to the rumors floating around, they will be selling the phone themselves much like Apple is doing their iPhone. Gizmodo.com seems to have uncovered the price for this puppy and its about what you would expect. According to the leaked documents, the phone can be had for about $530 unlocked and $180 with a two year contract on T-mobile’s network. The clincher is the fact that you only have one choice and its not even the best plan! No unlimited Data. I suspect Tmobile is trying to take it slow and not cripple their network and make it as sucky as ATT’s. Perhaps its a wise move. At any rate, the phone is a beast with its 1Ghz processor and snappy android 2.1 UI. Check Tmonews.com for more pics and vids.

Update:

Those bastards at Engadget have gotten their mitts on their very own Nexus phone! They also have a pretty nice video of it in action. It looks super fast, and full of interesting little UI tweeks that we havent seen before on an Android device like interactive wallpapers and a separate applications screen. A drawback in my opinion is the same old dusty keyboard (can’t they just use the one from HTC’s Sense UI???) Also saw a microphone on the keyboard…dictation abilities anyone? You can check it all out for yourself here

Behold II Review

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Hey Yall,

so I got my hands on the Behold II for T mobile and am presently testing it out. The review will come soon enough…sorry kinda got lazy over the weekend! But never fear, I have some shots below to wet the appetite (as if you haven’t already seen pics and vids already). I will leave you with this. It feels really nice, and for those who are hating on it…chances are, they either a) didn’t have the phone for very long, or b) didn’t really have the phone at all and are copying off of what others are saying. The phone really flies in some areas like picture taking and speaker phone quality, and are mediocre in other areas such as battery life (which can be assuaged by some tinkering). The full review coming up!

Update:

Check out the video Review right here:

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Tough Santas

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Its the Christmas season so I thought I’d write a quick article, before Christmas food of course, to talk about some tough Santas.

Cruisin for Jesus

Bikers for Jesus

So picture this…nearly 100 or so bikers on Harelys with leather jackets and the whole works ridin’ down the highway. All tough as nails, but one thing is different. They have a Cruisin for Jesus Logo on their jackets. They may not be going to some Biker Rally today or some town to pillage and rape…this time around, they are heading to ShelterCare’s Family Housing Program to help feed and distribute toys. These guys are my kinda guys.

Now this next one I really love. I saw the video earlier and I thought that Lupe Fiasco lost his mind by dissin’ Lebron and Kobe. I was like calm down man, but then I noticed the Nike Logos everywhere. Then I heard “Santa’s verse” I was rollin’! Plus it was really hot too!

KRS One Santa

Really didn’t realize Santa had flow like this.  Love these puppets!!! Even though KRS One and I disagree about Jesus, he still got the flow and I am glad to see him gettin’ love from Nike. Watch the hilarious videos below.

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Blitzen’s verse

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The Last Christmas

Here is a tough Santa right here. Nuclear war has turned almost everyone into zombies and its up to Santa and his homies to fix things up. One of the most comedic comics that I’ve ever read. Santa dual wielding semi-automatic weapons, and blasting at zombies. Its a great mix of yule-tide cheer, and guts.

Rick Remender is the illustrator on this one and the brilliant story-line was written by Gerry Duggan and Brian Posehn.

Give us a shout below for tough Santas that we missed!