Geek and a Half

September 14th, 2007 by Jake

At least that’s what I’ve been calling Apple’s latest media device. Because that’s what it is. An iPhone minus the phone part. Hence, iPhod.

Regardless, I’ve preordered one. This will be my very first iPod. Ever. And I’m excited. I’ve used iPhones before, and they’re really amazing pieces of technology. They live up to all the hype that they’ve been given, and I think the new iPod touch will, too. Now, I’m not saying this because I’m an Apple fanboy or anything (in fact, I sold my Mac Mini to pay for the new iPod, hardly a replacement, but we’ll see), but they really are neat. I think one of the big selling points for me was that it combined a lot of PDA elements into it, besides being a music player. It’s got a calendar (supposedly, you can’t add events on the fly anymore, though), clock, address book, alarms, calculator… all the little things that come in handy when you least expect them to. And it’s not to say that the old iPods didn’t have these features, either, they’re just presented a whole lot better on the touch.

Oh, and we can’t forget about the revolutionary web browser that’s in it too (yeah, the device has built-in WiFi, in case you haven’t guessed). Full-sized webpages, just like on your computer, but on that neat little screen with all the pinch and tap functionality. Like I said before… It’s an iPhone without the phone. Perfect for me, someone who’s stuck with Verizon Wireless on a family plan.

One more point of interest, as well… “supposedly” these things are fully hackable, just like the iPhone is (and Apple doesn’t even care that you’re hacking their stuff!), or at least, that’s what I’m hoping when I get it. From what I hear from friends who have iPhones, the hack process really isn’t a hack at all. It’s pretty much download, run, and it’s hacked. Feel free to install whatever apps you want on it at that point. I can only hope the touch is as hackable as the iPhone is, but I have a pretty good feeling it is.

I’ve just now preordered the 16GB model, and with shipping the price tag comes out to be roughly $430. You can also get the 8GB model for $300. They ship Sept 28 and arrive in homes starting Oct 2. Personally, I can’t wait.

September 10th, 2007 by Jake

So normally I don’t do this sort of thing (recipes), but this is absolutely delicious geek food, so I wanted to share the recipe with you. It’s pretty simple, you have to really suck at cooking to screw this up. ;)

What you’ll need:

• 2-4 cups powdered sugar
• 2/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 stick unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1 box Rice/Corn Chex Cereal

And here’s how you do it:

• Get a small pot, put it on the stove. Turn the heat on to the lowest setting.
• Pour into said pot the following: butter, peanut butter, chocolate chips.
• Cook on LOW HEAT until fully melted. This is important, if you cook it too fast you’ll burn the chocolate and it’ll smell/taste like crap.
• After it’s all melted, get your cereal and pour the whole box out into a big bowl. Get the chocolate mixture and pour it over the cereal as you mix it. Try not to crush the cereal ;)
• After all the cereal’s coated with the chocolate mix, pour it into a bag of some sort. I use a clean garbage bag, but a paper bag works, too.
• Pour some of the powdered sugar in, close the bag and shake. Repeat this step until all of it is coated with powdered sugar.
• Pour into serving bowl(s) and enjoy.

If done right, this is a really delicious geek treat. Enjoy. :)

September 4th, 2007 by Jake

I was recently invited to join the Trillian Astra Alpha Preview, and I must say I’m impressed. While it’s still an alpha release, and there are bugs, there are also MAJOR improvements over Trilian 3.x.

Their central theme is “one contact for all contacts”, if that makse sense. So, you have one contact which in turn holds all your other contacts. My “AstraContact” is SpikeX, and it holds all my IM account information, for AIM, MSN, Google Talk, etc. They have strict privacy controls, as well, allowing you to restrict who can view what.

They’re also going mobile (in two ways). They have a very nice flash-based website that will act as a Meebo-like clone, and then they have this “TrillianMini” thing, it’s pretty much a forum signature banner that shows off your contacts. Oh, and they have an iPhone site set up, too. Whoop-de-frickin-do.

Here’s my Trillian Mini:

(Requires Flash)

Not much, I know, but I’m sure it will be perfected im time for the final release.

There are quite a few bugs I can point out still, but overall it’s coming along very well. If Google Talk doesn’t get its act together and release some updates, I might just switch to Trillian.

August 30th, 2007 by Jake

I’m sorry to report this, but I’ve broken down and gotten ads for the blog. I know, I know… I hate them as much as you do. But a college studen’t got to live, too, you know. :P

Within the next few days, you’ll see an AdSense box appear in the right navigation. If you have a web content filter, don’t sweat it: it’ll get filtered out.

On another, semi-related note: I’m thinking about re-skinning the blog to give it a bit more modern-esque format. Stay tuened over the coming week(s).

August 24th, 2007 by Jake

A little contradictory considering my last entry, I know. But I just recently found out that Comcast, using a special network application, is blocking BitTorrent seeding. Using specific software known as Sandvine, it allows Comcast to allow upload traffic, but only when a download is in progress. As soon as you start seeding, this application tags all BitTorrent traffic with the “RST” flag (read more about the RST flag at Wikipedia).

I’ve recieved mixed reports about this. Some of my fellow Comcast subscribers say they have been affected by this new software, others closer in proximity to my location have reported that this is not the case (yet).

Either way, this is the beginning of the end for the internet, as far as I can tell. First one protocol, then another, then it’s $5/mo extra to access YouTube, then it’s $1/mo/service you want to use on their lines (HTTP, FTP, SSH, etc). Okay, maybe it won’t be that bad, at least not for awhile. But it could be the future of the internet for your kids… and guess who’s gonna pay that bill? :)