I can't beleive I'm confessing on my blog that I am actually watching America Idol for the first time in my life and I actually enjoying it. Past few weeks were pretty entertaining with all the humiliation and belittling (sad fact of our human nature). But anyways, I've never watched the show before . I saw 15 minutes of Fantasia performing when I was in India in 2004 and otherwise I really have not found many "Idol's" very impressive. So last night the final 24 (12 girls and 12 boys) were selected. And the picks made for some possible interesting television.

During the auditions Indian siblings, Shaymali and Sanjaya Malakar both made it. And even though both thought the older sister (Shaymali) was the better singer, her brother proved to be the shining talent when she was cut. However sadly for this desi, this is American idol and as much as I think he's a good singer, I doubt he'll make it. After all america wants people like Katharine McPhee who sit very suggestively on the cover of their debut CD's.

Otherwise outside the obvious indian talent, I'm rather impressed by Chris Sligh - the christian wanna-be rocker who's got a killer sense of humor. Sadly he reminds me of Jack Osbourne and I think he'll struggle in the sex-appeal department as well. And even though I doubt I'd ever buy her music, I was very much impressed with the vocal ability of Melinda Doolittle. An honorable mention to Sundance Head, who had an awesome audition but really went south during the infamous "Hollywood Week".

Oh well, there are some obvious one's who won't get very far including bare-foot boy and the young Antonella. But I'm sure there will probably be some fun with the i-can't-beleive-i'm-not-beat-boxing Blake Lewis. And I feel sorry for the kid who apparently his mother didn't love him until he auditioned for American Idol, too bad he got cut.

I can't believe I've been sucked into this gimmick. What have I become?

Posted in: Music, Television,

From Microsoft's own website. In order to run Windows Vista in any other mode than Home Basic (i.e. no effects, and with removed functionality) Microsoft recommends the following:

• 1 GHz 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor
• 1 GB of system memory
• 40 GB hard drive with at least 15 GB of available space
• Support for DirectX 9 graphics with:
  • WDDM Driver
  • 128 MB of graphics memory (minimum)
  • Pixel Shader 2.0 in hardware
  • 32 bits per pixel
• DVD-ROM drive

Huh?

Most personal computer manufacturers cut costs by shipping lower quality hardware that runs pretty well (since Windows XP is over 5 years old now). Microsoft has tried pushing their otherwise unpopular Windows Media Center Edition (MCE) and Windows Tablet Edition stimulating different software/hardware usage. But I guess no one really buys it because they don't need it or just plain don't care. Video gaming in Windows hasn't changed much in the past few years (hello Xbox 360!!). And for the most part people don't do much more on their PC's than they did a few years ago. Even video editting was perfectly useable in the pre-XP days (anyone heard of a Macintosh?). The bottom line is that if you bought a new computer in the past 2 years or so it should run Windows XP pretty decently and other than space issues (downloading "stuff", taking pictures, etc.) it probably meets all your needs.

When the Pentium processors came out (1993?) originally people used Windows 3.1 (3.1.1 32bit if you were lucky). Windows 95 was revolutionary in many aspects and finally allowed you to do significantly more from your computer than ever before. So 12 years later ... Windows has not really changed much past Windows 95. Sure there are plenty of improvements, but realistically it is essentially the same. So can this Vista do for XP what 95 did for 3.1? That's easy to answer.

And yet, hardware manufacturers see that people eventually stop caring for the most wham-bam latest-greatest hardware (64-bit, Dual-Core, etc.). A $500 computer from Dell seems to work just fine. Ahhh, so now a new revolution begins. Having unnecessary software just to use your unnecessary hardware. Progress at its finest.

The whole push for obscene requirements just for the basic operating system seems so idiotic it just boggles my mind. Microsoft really has given hardware manufacturers something to smile about. Will this Vista cause sales for hardware and computers to increase? I doubt it.

There's something to be said about innovation. How about - it should be innovative? I know it's wishful thinking.

Posted in: Technology,

"Nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there." Everytime I visited a friend or relative with digital cable, I always thought "how cool". Yeah, so I have digital cable now, I didn't choose to get it, it's sort of just there, so I sort of use it. And it's somewhat of a disappointment. Yeah, not as nice as the brochure.

Biggest pain: It effectively killed my urge to channel surf. You know when there isn't anything on, but you just want to flip? Now it takes like 2 seconds for the image to display and for the "information" to show. And worse, sometimes the channel doesn't update on the screen, so it jumps like 2 or 3 channels. A co-worker recommended I start flipping through the "tv guide" menu and read the words. Unfortunately, its not quite the same.

The On Demand Movies feature is very disappointing. The free movies are either all black and white or they are those movies that no one really wanted to watch. Chances are if it's good, I have already seen it. So the new movies are all $3.99 - but in 10 minutes I can rent the DVD for $3.00 in wide screen and 5.1 surround sound. Worse yet, the fast forward and rewind are incredibly non-responsive. And to add insult to injury the sound sometimes "blips" and on occasion there is some digitization or loss of frames.

So you pay more for a premium service right? The TV channel guide actually has ads!!! It shows 3 channels and their schedules and in the forth row is a little banner for another TV show or movie. And I watched a (free) On Demand horror movie and every 30 minutes at the bottom flashed an advertisement for Fear.net. Not small - taking up a quarter of the screen.

So everyone who has had digital service probably already knows this, but to me I'm shocked how pathetic it all is. I remember reading in the early 90's how cool this technology would be, unfortunately it has quite a ways to go.

Posted in: Television, Technology,

Yesterday night my youngest brother landed in California ready to start a new job and new life. Just last month he was sitting in an arena listening to speeches from a clueless kinesiology student, random honorary graduates and the university president which he really didn't like too much. However the final talk by David Bing, a former Pistons basketball player, was very sincere and in many ways enlightening. Mr. Bing said that one of his coaches once mentioned the "5 P's" to him: "Proper Preparation Prevents Poor Performance". I liked it. Unfortunately my brother in his quasi-euphoric mindset wasn't really paying attention.

After a few days of hurredly packing 2 suitcases, a dozen cardboard boxes and plenty of last minute shopping all was done. Not much time to relax, not much time for anything I guess. Oh the irony.

Anyways, I'm not in any position to exclaim my great accomplishments (or lack there of), but I know my brother knows he could have done a little bit better in the past few years. I know I did my best to encourage him (the iPod incentive failed miserably), but realistically I knew he was not too much different than me. Except for the fact that he had more avenues for advice, better car to drive, high speed internet, his own computer, cooler stuff and a guitar. Of course, not that I'm jealous or anything ... but ANYWAYS, before he left I made sure to tell him the important stuff.

I started off by listing all the things he forgot to do, and that it pretty didn't matter much anymore. But the one thing I made sure to express was that he could now put aside all the fumbles and missteps of college and other disappointments. He was given a clean slate. Just that he should realize that even though there are plenty of mistakes to be made, he's now free to finally pursue something real. Who cares what, perhaps playing a (seldom used in 3 years) guitar, a sport, grad school, community service, perhaps a real hobby (collecting beer bottle caps and key chains don't count) - just that he should have something to show for himself.

This isn't about me, but sometime at the end of 2003, I told myself that I wanted to redeem myself, not like some wrongfully accused man in Shawshank but just more along the lines that I had too many regrets. I honestly want my brother to feel that when he gets older that he did something productive with his time. Of course you can always lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink (or her, I'm not sexist). I doubt he'll do all the things he promised, but then again neither did I.

It's funny I write this in the first person, but the target audience is specific. ... Yeah. I'll miss him.

Posted in: Life,

Just days before the new year, I came down with some bad sinus headaches. As much as I looked for a cause (lack of sleep, computer, alcohol, etc.), I could find nothing. So I tried my best to avoid any unnecessary medicine but only a day into the new year, most of that pain had shifted to my right ear. I took some aspirin, hoping to be okay for work the next day, and slept.

On the morning of the 2nd, ready to go back to work, I turned on the radio to check the weather and traffic. For whatever reason, the radio sounded like it had bad reception as I could hear an echo in the broadcast. I ignored it to eat my breakfast. Moments later someone else asked me how I was feeling and they're voice caused an echo as well. ... Great! After a flu shot and almost 2 weeks of perfect holidays, I figured I had an ear infection. A trip to the doctor later confirmed it. So I was given a perscription for anti-biotics and vicodin for the pain. I filled it and tried to get some rest. Ear-aches really really suck by the way.

Funny thing about that vicodin. I know its a pain-killer and that in can make you drowsy, which upon the first few times it did happen. So I thought I would take it at night to ease the pain and let me sleep. The first night I took it, I had some weird dreams. Not to sound like a dead-head or anything, but I was hoping for a repeat the next few nights, but nothing happened.

The anti-biotic on the other hand, was just too week and now after the dosage is almost over I feel only minimal improvement. Most of the sinus pressure at my eyes and ears has resided, but I still have a 24 hour ringing and pain in my ear and on a quiet night I can hear the pulsing of my heart (either that or its my brain, but brain pulsing sounds a little gross).

So now a second trip to the doctor has provided me with a much stronger anti-biotic. And I'm pretty sure that will fix my banging ear, but I am left a little upset. Why didn't I get the stronger stuff on the first visit? The doctor renders his prognosis rather quickly with minimal investigation. Was he correct? And what about costs? Primary care visit co-pays can be between $20-$30 per visit (if you have insurance). And to add, I really don't feel happy knowing that I was taking unnecessary drugs for the past week. And I'm disappointed I didn't have any more cool dreams with the pain-killer.

Ah well, in the end, money is trivial when it comes to your health. From now on I will be more careful when sticking foreign objects in my ear.

Posted in: Life,