Perseid Meteor Shower
Who was up last night (this morning) watching the meteor shower? Last night was the start of one of the most predictable meteor showers; the Perseid Meteor Shower. Although the rate has slowly been declining, you can average seeing about 30 meteors sweeping across the sky like a finger rippling on a lake (what do you think, not a bad simile right…right?), an hour. Now, the time with the most activity will be 11GMT today. However, for those of us on the east coast, that puts us at 19:00 (7pm), leaving us in complete sunlight. That will not work out too well. Hope for clear skies and go out tonight around 3am or 4am (if possible, those of you who work). Even if you go out around 12am, you should see a good amount of activity. Try out some star gazing too while your out there. For those interested in star gazing and have an iPhone, try out this application called Starmap. It is worth every penny if you are interested in such an activity, and it will only get better with time. That’s all for now, I have been busy with work lately, so have had very little time to post here. I’ll be back, I promise.
Vista’s View No Longer Promising?
According to Gizmodo, all of Vista’s “security features” are all for nothing based on a new find at this years Black Hat. Black Hat is, ” The World’s Premier Technical Security Conference.” It seems that all of the Vista’s security can be bypassed by using JAVA and .NET which will execute a malicious code. This can be done through any browser. I know what you are thinking, “Well it’s only a matter of time before they can patch this flaw.” If only it was that simple.
It seems that this is not just a flaw in Vista’s security, but this “little” hole is apart of Vista’s architecture. So long Vista. Microsoft; It’s time you start working on Mojave.
Barcelona Game
Today is the big day, for after all, it is 12:01. In just 12 hours I will be off for New York to see Barcelona and, my favorite, Lionel Messi, play at the Giants stadium (OK so technically it’s New Jersey). I don’t know how many readers are soccer fans but I will be keep a (hopefully) up to date (fairly…) briefing of the game to the best of my abilities, which might not even be possible, but if you were big enough fans, you’d be watching it or finding the score on an official sports sight, or you can just read it here 
. Just tune in for the game, which I am not even sure when it starts. I will post that up here too when I find out. Just a heads up.
Well I’ve been in New Jersey all day. Got some bowling in, and a blizzard. Yum. Game starts at 7. Row 13. Sorry for the delay. I just got the wordpress app. working. I’m arriving at the stadium now. Can’t wait.
I’m in!! Pictures later. This really is amazing. Teams are leaving the field after some warm up.
Well the updates aren’t coming like I would have hoped but it’s half time now and wow. What a game. It is 4-1 Barcelona at half time, and they are destroying the Red Bulls. Sitting in Barcelona’s side, and they will be attacking away from us next half. What a great first half. That’s all for now. I’ll update on the, what will probably be, a very long ride home. =]
Game over. 6-2 Barcelona. Brilliant game. I can’t believe you weren’t there. Pictures to come later. Thanks for staying with me on this. More tech stories to come later.
iPhone 2.0.1 Released (Updated)
Finally, an update to the very buggy (and yet somehow, still, sensuous) firmware. It’s main thing seems to be bug fixes, and I plan to see how stable this new build is. Right now, the firmware is downloading onto my Phone as we speak. I will post back here with an update after I have tested it out and played around with it.
Update: Alright, so after being able to spend some time with the new 2.0.1 update I must say, I am quite happy. First thing you will notice with this update is that backups no longer take hours. I backed up my 8GB phone with about 30 3rd party apps in about a minute or two. Very happy by this. Next thing, I find that the the phone is much more stable, less laggy, and overall very much like before the bugginess of the 2.0 firmware. I even seem to be getting better coverage in my house, although I am not sure if this is coincidence or not. Overall, anyone running 2.0 firmware virginized should definitely update as soon as they can.
How To #3: Take Screenshots While in DVD Playback Mode
This is just a simple how to and this time, it is only for Apple computers running OS X.
Just today I was watching the Simpsons season 4 on DVD (one of the best seasons if you ask me). At that same moment, I wanted to take a screen shot of something from iTunes to show to a friend (I take maybe 30 pointless screen shots a day). Well I pressed the keys (command, control, shift, 4 for those who do not know), and was startled by an error message saying I could not take a screen shot while DVD player was open. I always forget that little flaw, however I did remember a little shortcut to get around this. If you want to take a screen shot while DVD player is open, open up Terminal and type in (or copy and paste)
“ screen capture -i ~/Desktop/dvd.png ” (without the quotations).
Your mouse should turn into the normal cross hair and the picture will be taken and saved to your desktop under the name dvd. If you wish to change the name of the file, or the location, just switch that up where it says “Desktop” and “dvd.” For example you could put in ” screen capture -i ~/Desktop/iTunes.png “, and the file will be saved on the desktop under the name iTunes, as opposed to dvd.
X-Files: I Want To Believe
I want to believe, like everyone else, that this X-Files movie held up to the glory days of the TV show, and even to the last movie. Truth is, it doesn’t, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a movie worth watching for the die hard fans. It is worth it enough just to see David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson together again. Both David (who turns 49 August 7), and Gillian (who, ironically, turns 41 on August 9), both look great and play the parts almost as well as they did 10 years ago.
The plot of this movie involves Fox Moulder being brought back to the FBI by a new squad to help solve a case that, they believe, only he can solve. Moulder obviously brings Scully along on the ride. They are aided by Billy Connolly, who plays a ‘psychic’ pedophile priest whom no one by Fox believes in. Connolly’s ‘visions’ bring the FBI to places no one would have thought of, in search for the missing persons.
Getting past that, this movie had a $30 million budget, and it is easy to tell. However, the movie seems to be less about the money and plot intricacies, and more about bringing the X-Files gang together for one last run.
I would recommend this movie for any die heart fans of the original X-Files. Anyone else may want to just watch the TV show instead, however that doesn’t mean anyone can’t enjoy this movie, for afterall The Truth is Out There.
If It Looks Like a Steve, Acts Like a Steve, and Uses the Same Products as a Steve, It Must Be a Steve
So how many of you ever watched a Stevenote and thought to yourself, “Wow, I wish I knew what Steve was wearing so I could purchase it for myself and be just like Steve.” I know, I do it too. But how many of you wake up wishing you could dress like Steve Jobs, from the black turtleneck down to the blue jeans? Oh…that many…
Well now, thanks to Steve’s Outfit, you can dress just like Steve Jobs from the iPod Touch in hand, to the shoes which you worship he wears. How he pays for such expensive clothing on $1 a year; well, only Steve Jobs…
Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog
For those of you who have never seen Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, where have you been!?! See it here for free!
Uncle Sam Says: I Want You…r belongings!
About a week ago, I posted a story about how you may be held up at the airport as they search for pirated music. New reports coming in share an equally absurd story, only this one has made it to the light of day, and is being practiced already. According to The Washington Post, read the article here, the next time you go through the airport coming back into the country, whether you are a citizen of the US or not, your laptop may be seized and brought to an off site location for any amount of time seen fit, for examination. For those of you thinking; ‘They can’t do that. I have the right to say no to any unwarranted search and seizures,’ your right, but your wrong. Your laptop, iPod, Zune, or any electronic device that allows for the storage of data can be taken from you without any warrant, and for absolutely no reason. That means profiling will be accepted, in fact, they do not have to have any reason or suspicion for taking your belongings, and you can’t say no. According to the Department of Homeland Security, this is all for the sake of counter terrorism; however, this seems to be going a bit too far…
