OT: Technology and Geek Stuff Thread

[Newbomb Turk]

About the ad? It was a story on CNBC a few weeks ago. I thought is was funny. The story said that Apple was retooling the commercials to star John Hodgeman (the dumpy PC) guy alone or possibly hiring a new "Mac" guy.

from: http://techfilter.net/index.php?a=214

Poll: Mac Guy, PC Guy Both Need Cock Punch

LOS ANGELES--According to a recent poll conducted by Arbitron Media Research, 73 percent of Americans think the ?Mac guy? and the ?PC guy? from the popular Apple TV ads, both need of a cock punch. The poll also suggested that most viewers didn?t know which character is supposed to be likeable and which is supposed to be the asshole.

?According to our research, most people in America would like to deliver a savage beating to both of these supposed ?opposite? characters,? said Alex Freemont, a researcher at Arbitron. ?Most feel that the PC Guy is a hopeless dork and the Mac Guy is a smug hopeless dork, and that they could both benefit from a nice, strong cock punch. Personally, I like the PC guy a little better because at least he combs his hair and shaves once in a while. I mean, you?re in a television commercial, asshole. At least try to look presentable.?

[-Deborah-]

haha

I loved the one where PC Guy is going in for his Vista upgrade lol.

[Coop]

I'll take bewbies instead of a cock punch thank you

[Larsky]

I finally did it—I bought my first iPod. My employer gave me a gift card to Best Buy for my Xmas bonus (hey, we work for the county hospital, not a lot of money to go around), so I was able to get a 8gb iPod Nano for pretty damn cheap.

Gotta say, this thing is pretty sweet.

[bimmer84]

Congrats Larsky! I love my iPod. Use hiking/walking, then plug it into the trunk where my 6 cd changer used to go.

[Malto Marko]

I finally did it?I bought my first iPod. My employer gave me a gift card to Best Buy for my Xmas bonus (hey, we work for the county hospital, not a lot of money to go around), so I was able to get a 8gb iPod Nano for pretty damn cheap.

Gotta say, this thing is pretty sweet.

I bought iPods for all of my kids and the wifey for their birthdays a just after they came out. Kids all have Minis and the wifey has the second generation Mini. Mr. Unsociable wore out his headphone plug and just got a Nano for his 18th birthday. They all love them. Everyone has one but Dad.

[Larsky]

I actually bought one of the first (i.e., pre-iPod) hard drive-based MP3 players—an Archos Jukebox Recorder. It was big (larger than a pack of smokes or a Palm Pilot) and heavy (a whopping 12 ounces!), but it had 6gb of storage. In fact, I took it with me to the Forum game in 2001! Terrible user interface, but it did plug and play with my Mac, which I suppose has more to do with the Mac than the Archos. I stopped using it after a while, and it sat in a drawer for a few years.

So I pulled it out the other day, and started looking around online to see what it was selling for these days. Despite all its limitations, it turns out that my particular model of the Archos JBR is much in demand. First off, some people developed an open-source OS (called RockBox) for it that's much nicer and more powerful than the original Archos OS. Very cool. Secondly, you can take it apart and upgrade the hard drive with a standard laptop drive, and suddenly you have, say, a 120GB MP3 player with USB connectivity. So, anyway, I think I'll be holding on to it for a while.

The only other MP3 player I've ever owned is a Creative Labs Muvo N200 512MB Micro. I picked it up off eBay, brand new, for about $40. It's actually quite excellent for what it is. It's about the size of a small Zippo lighter and uses a standard AAA battery (I have one of those 15-minute battery chargers). It plugs in using a standard USB cable. It has an FM receiver. Most interestingly, it can record voice (to a .wav file), from a line source (encode as an 160kps MP3), or off the radio! It did need a firmware upgrade to fix some playback problems, which I had to do off a friend's Windows machine (Creative Labs ignores Macs). It also has a very poor user interface, with lots of options buried within endless directories and sub-directories. And of course it has a very tiny capacity compared to the Nano. But I like it for its low cost and its versatility. Oh, and it came with an armband and a nice rubber protective case that has a belt clip—things that you have to pay extra for when you get an iPod.

[-Deborah-]

I've never gotten into the MP3-player thing. I don't like wearing the headphones/ear buds.

[Newbomb Turk]

now if they ever come up with a hand cuff model...........

[CGVT]

I've never gotten into the MP3-player thing. I don't like wearing the headphones/ear buds.

I'm with you on the ipod, Deb. I can't understand how people that are out doining things want to turn their senses off to what is going on around them. I guess I can sorta understand runners using them, but part of the enjoyment of running for me is feeling and enjoing my surroundings. I don't want to shut out what is going on around me. I don't know, maybe it would make a treadmill more bearable. I couldn't imagine going for a hike wearing one. I enjoy music but not to the point of shutting out the rest of the world.

[Coop]

I don't use mine just for portable music listening with headphones - that's actually the least amount of use it gets. It sees more usage in my car and hooked up to the home stereo...

[-Deborah-]

That would be the only use I would have for one.

CG, agree completely. I received one for Christmas a year ago with the thought of using it during my hikes in the state park, but I just couldn't get into it. May as well be on a treadmill if I'm doing that.

[Larsky]

Ditto. I'll use it a lot in the OR as well. When I fly, I wear noise-canceling headphones (Sennheiser PXC-250, they're excellent) and it'll be good to listen to music during that. When I travel I also watch videos on my repurposed Palm Zire 72s—kind of a poor man's video iPod.

But I agree with Deb and CGVT—I've always thought it's kind of rude to walk around in public wearing headphones.

[Larsky]

Oh, and I like using headphones when I'm writing. I can really get into a good mental space if I can "tune out" distractions, and the words just flow....

[Larsky]

And I'm also going to try to make a little extra money as one of those dancing silhouettes on the iPod commercials.