| Rants + Raves
Write a tough story about Apple and the Macolytes will attack. We learned as much from our November issue, in which we dinged the ROKR handset from Apple, Motorola, and Cingular. "Apple doesn't call this the phone of the future," ranted one loyalist. "Blaming Apple for this crappy phone is just pedestrian Apple bashing at its worst." Hey, when Steve Jobs trots out something on a giant videoscreen, it's fair game. Other grumps took issue with a quote we attributed to Mark Twain: "Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it." Wrote one aspiring fact-checker, "This remark was actually made by his neighbor and good friend Charles Dudley Warner." Actually, Warner did say it, but it's believed he was merely quoting his pal Twain. Now, about that cold winter he spent one summer in San Francisco … .
24-inch iMac Core 2 Duo/2.16GHz
But the new iMac completed our suite of 14 tasks using Adobe Photoshop CS2 in 24 percent less time than the old 20-inch model—a respectable jump. Quick operations For general operations, the 24-inch iMac's overall responsiveness was excellent. Opening, dragging, and resizing windows was very quick. HD video playback was smooth, and working in Intel-native applications such as Final Cut Pro ( ), Motion ( ), iMovie ( ), and iWeb ( ) was snappy. (You can custom configure a 24-inch model with a 2.33GHz Core 2 Duo processor for an extra $250. Our benchmark chart shows the performance improvements you'll see with this faster chip.) The 24-inch iMac also has an upgraded sound system, with a 24-watt digital amplifier (twice that of the other models) to power the built-in stereo speakers.
Black Francis Plays Impromptu Gig, Police Intervene
Police had to step in and escort Black Francis away from the scene of an impromptu street performance the former Pixies front man was putting on in Dublin, Ireland, NME reported Monday.
Francis, alias Frank Black, had attracted the attention of about 1,000 Dubliners who amassed in a park Saturday, where he was performing solo material as well as the stray Pixies number. It seems rather than play encores at his normally scheduled shows, Black has taken to playing what he calls pre-cores in random locations, which he lets his fans choose this according to Indie Corner, which also hosts a digital camera video of Blacks police car trying to navigate through a swarm of Irish Pixies fans, who are slapping the car and hollering, rock and roll!
Despite the appearance that Black was being arrested, NME reported that police were only moving him along in an attempt to disburse the crowd.
No one is safe in Falcons’ rebuilding project
Watch they are going to draft a bigger line so they have some beef up the middle get a QB in free agency then Vick will be back in 09 and as a season ticket holder I can't WAIT!!! Those games were completely boring with out him and showed that he was the bubble gum that held that team together in the first place!!! .
DirecTV still covets DISH
DirecTV is still interested in buying smaller rival EchoStar but doubts U.S. regulators would allow such a deal. The two companies tried to merge in 2002, but the deal collapsed under opposition from the Federal Communications Commission, which believed it would be anti-competitive.Mike Palkovic, chief financial officer of DirecTV, said a merger would be "desirable but not feasible" as the market environment had not changed.
"We'd be nuts not to look at it," Palkovic told Reuters. "But the regulatory issues haven't gone away." According to Leitchman Research Group, DirecTV has 55 per cent of the satellite TV market, or 15.1 million subscribers, and EchoStar Communications Corp. has 45 percent, or 11.9 million subscribers.
DirecTV said in February it was in talks with EchoStar to create a wireless high-speed network, which would put them in a stronger position to compete against cable operators and telephone companies that sell Internet, video and phone services.
Hot air: Fox's replay man preps for big game
Here's a name to know going into Sunday's Patriots-Giants Super Bowl: Artie Kempner. Kempner doesn't throw, catch, run, tackle or kick. He won't be in the booth with Joe Buck or Troy Aikman. Still, his impact could rival anyone's at University of Phoenix Stadium. Kempner, who will be directing his second Super Bowl for Fox, is in charge of replays. Two feet in bounds? Knee down? Ball across the plane for a touchdown? It will be up to Kempner to have the replays ready for the game officials and viewers at home. "My greatest nightmare is not having the definitive angle and finding out someone else does," Kempner said the other day from Phoenix. That angle could show up later courtesy of a sideline cameraman from a local TV station or a newspaper photographer.
|
