How fun! The question of generic soft drink names has plagued me ever since Tim Minnesota moved to my hometown of St. Louis in the seventh grade. Perfect brown curls, sexy brown eyes, a body to die for, and... and pop?
The cognitive dissonance produced by hearing a northerner refer to my precious soda as "pop" was almost too much to bear, and ever since I've judged people just the tiniest bit by the word that they use to casually refer to soft drinks. It makes me a bad but interesting person, and now thanks to the power of computing I can simplify the process of potable persecution by taking a look at this handy, linguistically fascinating map.
Mama Tiny always said "Coke," which I can now see is appropriate if you come from western Arkansas like she does. But I grew up saying "soda" - and low and behold, what do we see in the middle of the map but a big yellow "soda" circle hovering right over eastern Missouri. Yet my fellow Missourians in Kansas City clearly prefer that most hideous of words, "pop!"
It's a whole new world of red and blue states! The only difference is that this time I'm rooting for the red states. "Pop?" Are we in Pleasantville? I think not!
You say soda, I say pop -- U.S. soft drink generic name map [BookOfJoe]
Apple may be heading toward "failure" with the iPhone 3G in Japan, according to UBS senior analyst Inui Makio, having sold only 20% of its projected one million units.
Apple and its Japanese carrier, Softbank, are both keeping mum on the actual figures as a matter of discretion - but sales seem to be quite a bit short of Makio's own projected figure of 350,000 by year's end. In fact, Softbank has already lowered its pricing plans in a move calculated to increase sales.
What's holding the iPhone 3G back? Most Japanese cell phones come with certain standard features such as pictograms in text messages and emails - and in Japan, texting is an entire order of magnitude more important, not only culturally but financially (it's cheaper).
Another blow is the ubiquity of the Felcia technology in most Japanese phones that allow the phone to act as a virtual wallet, which along with the 1Seg mobile television feature popular on some Japanese phones is a trick that even the iPhone 3G can't pull off.
With cultural differences making the iPhone 3G look like a device designed for the western market (which is true), it looks like the iPhone 3G will not be turning Japanese any time soon.
Analyst: 3G iPhone Headed Towards Failure in Japan [DailyTech]
Microsoft has released the first in a series of ads featuring Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld to combat Apple's Get a Mac adverts, and the results are... well, you really just have to watch how strange it is:
As our own tiny dancer predicted, the ad tries too hard to seem viral while making it painfully obvious that it misses the mark. It's like Microsoft is *that* dad that tries to be "cool and hip and 'with-it'" but just ends up embarrassing both himself and his progeny with a failed terrorist fist jab.
Typical Microsoft.
I love me some pretty phones. I really do. We've talked about the beautiful (but utterly useless) Gergio Armani phone before, but it seems that we somehow missed talking about the Prada phone! But that's ok, we'll skip past that one and go straight to the Prada II.
Specifically designed fo those that really wish the iPhone weren't so damned cheap, the Prada II takes in some interesting features:
- Quad-band GSM/EDGE, dual-band HSDPA (850MHz/2100MHz)
- 950mAh battery
- 240×400 3.0-inch screen
- 5 megapixel autofocus camera with flash and VGA recording
- Bluetooth 2.1
- Wi-Fi b,g
- Infineon MP-EH + M180 chipset
- Motion sensor
- FM Radio
- 104.5 x 54 x 16.8 mm
Add in a touch screen interface in a slider design, and you have one pretty sounding phone. This is all leaked info from the Boy Genius Report, so things could potentially change between now and the actual release, but this sounds like a pretty solid spec sheet. For you serious label queens out there that have realized that too many people have iPhones now, the Prada II may be just what you're looking for. Although no price information is available just yet, I'd put it in the $500-$700 range as a safe bet.
Continuing with my DVR theme today, a recent survey commissioned by the NDS Group (a digital technology service provider) shows that not only do households with DVRs value them fairly highly (I've said it before, and I'll say it again: you'll pry my TiVo out of my cold, dead hands!), but that DVRs have even saved many of their relationships!
Out of those surveyed in the US, a full 79% said that DVRs have helped their relationships with their significant others (I, and I'm pretty sure tiny dancer, can attest to this):
In the US, UK and Australia, respondents attributed this improvement to having the ability to watch their own programmes while sharing their favourites with each other," says NDS. "Surveyed Italians feel that their improved relationship happiness is due to the DVR allowing them to plan their evening's viewing better.
DVRs also stacked up pretty well when rated against other gadgets in the household. When ranked against other electronics for highest priority (if someone were to say, take away all their other gadgets) the DVR came second only to the mobile phone amongst those surveyed.
Yeah, I'd say that's about right for me too.
Hit the link for more information nuggets, including differences among US, UK, and Italian sentiments regarding household appliances.
Survey: DVRs more important than dishwashers, iPods [ArsTechnica]
I'm going to go out on a limb and say that companies should stop making products that spark, smoke, explode or in any other way use the power of combustibility to wound, kill or panic their customers. Crazy, I know, but it seems about time that someone stood up to Sony, Apple, and everybody else who insists upon selling electronics that will scorch your groin area.
My pro-groin agenda has been attacked by more than 440,000 TZ series Sony Vaio laptops, which Sony says have incorrectly installed wires and a flawed circuit board that may team up for a testicle-searing overheating situation. A number of people have been burnt by the faulty Vaios, all of which were sold between May 2007 and July 2008. There have been 209 reports of overheating.
What's worse - Sony is targeting the whole world! Nearly 373,000 of those 440,000 recalled Vaios were sold to 48 countries.
In all honesty, this is an unfortunate bit of business for Sony, who saw a previous laptop immolation in 2006 when a Sony-made faulty battery began exploding in Dell, Hitachi, Appl, Lenovo and Toshiba laptops. Sony lost a lot of money that year, and having 440,000 laptops recalled for similar issues (albeit totally different root causes) can't be a good sign for 2008.
Sony recalls 440,000 Vaio laptops [BBC News]
With the discontinuation of the TiVo Series 3, TiVo was lacking a high-end option for those rolling in a little more money than the rest of us plebs, but as of today - no more! TiVo has just released the TiVo HD XL: their new premium DVR option.
The TiVo HD XL looks exactly like the TiVo HD I know and love, but it comes with a few extra goodies: a 1TB HDD (compared to 160GB on the TiVo HD), back-lit TiVo Glo Remote (fancier remote), bundled HDMI cord (yeah, they don't include that with the normal TiVo HD), and... THX certification!
With 1TB of space, you can record up to 1,350 hours of SD TV, or up to 150 hours of HDTV.
The TiVo HD XL is now available on TiVo's site for $599.99.
My opinion? Not really worth it if you have someone around who is relatively skilled with computers. It's fairly easy to upgrade a TiVo HD (I upgraded mine to a 750GB drive) yourself, and with the price of 1TB drives dropping like flies, you can have all the goodies of a TiVo HD XL at a lower cost (minus the THX certification, but since it's practically the same hardware as the TiVo HD, who cares?).
However, if you're deathly scared of a little TiVo surgery and are rolling in some extra cash, the TiVo HD XL is definitely your choice.
Press release after the jump.
TiVo Juices The TiVo HD - Meet The 1TB TiVo HD XL [Gizmo Lovers]
I can't wait to be so disgustingly rich that I can afford to blow money on super-cool stuff like this personal submarine shaped like a dolphin. Seriously, I only need to get people to click on my Google Ads, like, 53,477,634,111,236 more times… you know, just a round about figure.
This Seabreacher Mini-sub acts as both jet-ski and submarine all in one, getting up to 45 mph on the surface and up to 20 mph under water. You can even pop out of the water and do "tricks," which is just damn cool. If you go too far or stay under too long, the craft will auto-float to the top, and it will even itself out automatically if you flip over. All this for the low, low price of about $60,000.
I think this is pretty spiffy, and personally can't wait for the cheaper, inflatable version to hit the market. It will do just about everything this one does, except go fast, or dive, or sit multiple people… Or be cool. But whatever, it'll still rock!
Dolphin speedboat makes a splash [Ananova]
[via: Slashdot]
With less than $2,000, Gremlins 2 fan Sascha Feiner has updated the fantastic fourth-wall-breaking film room scene from that movie (without Hulk Hogan, alas) for a new generation: the DVR generation.
These gremlins overtake your DVR and insert themselves into any number of classic films, from The Exorcist to Batman to Indiana Jones. To see such imaginative, gremlin-y invasion scenes is really remarkable - and on the cheap!
Check out the making-of video after the jump to see the incredibly cute French-speaking Feiner explain his technical genius.
[via Boing Boing Gadgets]
Ah, those crazy Singaporeans: apparently not content with leaving their cocks alone during the day, they've devised a way to stroke your cock via the magic of the Internet.
By putting a special jacket on your cock, you can use tele-presence technology developed by the National University of Singapore to keep track of, and pet your cock over the Internet:
The idea was inspired by acts of pets and animal abuse through lack of welfare. This system enables humans to provide care for pets even though they are physically not together. The system enables a human to remotely touch her pet which is kept at home while she is away(in her office), and at the same time monitor the movement of the pet. This is realized by using a doll, which resembles the real pet located remotely, sitting on a mechanical positioning table. The pet owner interacts with the real pet by touching the doll.
Oh, the possibilities!
Poultry Internet [National University of Singapore]
[via: Neatorama]
"Let's Rock" indeed - that's the official title of the invitation sent out yesterday by Apple for an event on September 9 at San Francisco's Yerba Buena Center for the Performing Arts. It's the September event at which everyone expects Apple to unveil a new slate of iPods and iPod Touches, as Apple is wont to do during its September events.
A new Nano is expected as new Nano cases have already been spotted in the wilds of Spain.
We'd also be surprised not to see a refresh of the iPod Touch, with a new iPhone 3G-esque backplate and lower pricing to match.
Perennial iTunes subscription rumors have also been circling, hungry for the blood of a recurring charge on your credit card bill.
Apple makes September 9 iPod event official [CNet]
That picture you're looking at? That's the world's first THX certified... door.
Not satisfied with just certifying actual you know... theatre equipment, the THX folks seem to have branched out into the home improvement category by handing the QuietHome door a shiny THX certificate.
Why, you ask? Simple: the QuietHome has a STC rating of 51! Typical solid core doors only have a STC rating of 27; that's 47% more STC! (Don't worry, I had to look up what the hell STC meant on Wikipedia as well.)
How much will really quiet doors cost you? $1500-$2500 per door.
I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that if you spend $1500 on a door, you're an idiot beyond help. It doesn't matter if you have the money.
Press Release [Quiet Solution]
[via: Engadget HD]
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