Steve Jobs and Mom
The iPhone opened the world of computing to my mom, Steve Jobs was a man of the people, Apple products make it possible to create without worrying about behind-the-scenes computing processes.
¿Vamos¡ or vamos?
Vahl expresses his love for Rio, and picks on George Lopez for his pronunciation of Vamos. (Ed. Note: Vamos is a word in Portuguese, it's just pronounced differently. Vahl is so crazy!)
Vahl also talks about movies that have replay value.
Darker than Black, Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Chinese Connection, Moribito
Here are some thoughts on recent movies and anime shows Tony Vahl has seen:
- Darker than Black
-- cool, urban setting
-- took a couple of episodes to understand what was going on; definitely worth it
-- "Support Japan. Watch anime."
-- reminiscent of Rising Stars
-- Hell's Gate, Contractors, and Dolls
-- good escape from reality
-- the main character eats a lot of food in order to recharge his power; Vahl thinks his price to pay for his powe if he was a contractor would also be eating tons of food
-- great rock/metal sweeping glorious theme song; closing credits theme also great - slow piano theme
-Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
-- finally decided to read it after continuing to hear about it and the novel
-- Lisbeth is definitely symbolic of modern day anti-hero types; would fit in Frank Miller's Sin City
-- sex scenes are graphic and matter-of-fact; must be a European sensibility of "porn is normal"
-- speaking Swedish with English subtitles
-- acting was terrific
-- the settings were terrific
-- lot of CL innuendos and hints; LME broad daylight scene where drunk bastards try to pick on Lisbeth; Vahl was reminded of the time he was mugged in broad daylight; realistic, gritty scene; Lisbeth scared off the cowards with a broken beer bottle
-- The actor playing Bloomquist was terrific, too
- Chinese Connection
-- Great fight scenes; you can see how film makers have borrowed from Bruce Lee over the years
-- The China/Japan rivalry is really apparent in this movie
-- Add $10 to your phone bill; text TSUNAMI to 20222 to donate to the Salvation Army today to help the Japanese people
-- Tragic ending; "Wow. This was not just some schlock storyline."
-- Bruce Lee had a great sense of humor, too. He knew how to joke around and ham it up, with his many disguises
- Moribito
-- Set in 16th century Japan (something like that)
-- Protagonist is a woman in her late 20's who wields a common soldier's spear; she's a brilliant fighter
-- Best anime show Vahl has watched lately
-- She rescues a Prince who was sentenced to death because of superstitions; apparently, there's a Water Spirit inside him (or Water Demon, depending on your point of view)
-- Very interesting watching the Prince, who cares about animals and is a good kid, learn to live amongst the town folk
-- Big mystery that slowly unfolds about the woman who walks the world as a female bodyguard-for-hire
-- The anime shows on Netflix are broken up into small volumes of 3 to 4 episodes each; almost like a chapter in a novel, in terms of story length
-- The music: "Soaring rock intro."
For more, listen to the podcast.
Oh, and Save A Life.
Kanye West Dark Fantasy Album Truthful Review
With the Rdio app blasting Muse, Tony Vahl discusses the latest Kanye West album.
Highlights:
- explicit album
- choking
- Chris Rock: "Did you think you were having a private conversation?"
- Rihanna = no self-respect
- this album is all about the urges
- Kanye is rooting for America to pay it's karmic debt for slavery, and he is happy to participate in living a life that is leading to the end
- China is not big on immigration
Listen to the podcast for more thoughts on this album.
If you want to do some good, Google "Simon D COTA" to learn how you can help a child in need of a transplant.
How to watch Netflix on your Android phone
On today's Updates podcast, Vahl talks about how he tested out the playon app for the Android phone, and was able to successfully watch Netflix on his Samsung Captivate.
Highlights:
- the Froyo update allows Samsung Captivate users to download and use the playon app
- Playon is software that you run on your computer; it turns your computer into a Media Server, allowing you to watch Netflix, Hulu, and other video on devices like Wii, XBox 360, Playstation, and other systems. Now, you can access the Playon Media Server on your Android phone
- Netflix has an app for iPhone, but has thus far refused to create an app specifically for Android OS
- You've got to have space on your C:\ if you're running Playon (5 gigs is recommended, but Vahl is getting by with 1 gig)
- You can run Playon if you have an older PC like Vahl, but you've got to optimize your system as much as you can
- After some trial and error, Vahl was able to watch Netflix using Wi-fi.
- Vahl also tested the 3G connection with playon, and was successful in watching Netflix using the 3G network. So, Vahl can be anywhere watching Netflix on his Samsung Captivate
- Playon has video from many services, like Sy-Fy, CSpan, MLB, ESPN, Fox News, and Bloomberg, just to name a few. MLB is a subscription service, like Netflix, so you have to be a paying customer to use that service through Playon. With Playon, you can enjoy MLB.TV while you're on the go. Vahl doesn't know if there are other ways to watch MLB.TV on an Android device, but the Playon method does work
- Playon is not free, either. There's a one time fee; Vahl paid $40 at the time. He doesn't know how much it is now
Blekko and The "Virtue" of Ever-accelerating Technology
On today's Updates podcast, Tony Vahl discusses:
- Blekko search engine meeting its goal of 1,000,000 users.- laughing like The Riddler over Blekko raising $27 million for a free service. "Can you say tech bubble 2?"- NASDAQ getting hacked, and how slowing down the adoption of advanced Internet services in certain places like the stock market might be a good idea.- "If we were to follow the logic that technology that is faster is always better and apply that to driving, we would think that the solution to any problem on the road was to press on the gas pedal. Sure, you might get from point A to point B faster if you floor it, but there are safety issues to consider when you're driving fast...."What is the price of overexposed fame?
Magnavox Dtv Converter: Scam against Elderly?
The product: my mother's Magnavox tb110mw9 Dtv digital to analog converter
The problem: my mother lost the remote control for the Magnavox Dtv box while moving to her new apartment. There is no power button on the box. The only way to turn the Dtv box on is with the remote. It's impossible to program the tb110mw9 with an universal remote without a power button to turn the box on.
A product designed for the poor and elderly to access free over-the-air television channels is rendered useless when the remote is lost because there is no power button on the box. This forces the poor or elderly person either to buy a new box or order a new remote.
The solution: you can buy a new box for $60. Since the Dtv coupon expired a long time ago, the poor or elderly individual is forced to pay full price.
Another option is to buy a new Magnavox remote for (wait for it) $37.99. This was the"fix" (ha ha hee ho) offered online and by the customer service call center.
So, originally, Magnavox got the $40 government subsidy for each Dtv box they sold, plus an extra $12 or so from the elderly consumer out of their pocket. Then comes the profit time bomb.
Magnavox is counting on consumers who bought their box to shrug their shoulders and buy the $37.99 remote control at some point in the future. After all, that's cheaper than buying a $60 Dtv converter box.
This is yet another example of a corporation taking advantage of the poor, the uneducated, and the elderly. Magnavox sells a cheap remote for the outrageous price of $37.99, which is about the same amount they received from the government for that Dtv box during the analog to digital conversion. Magnavox set up a profit time bomb where they would get a Government subsidy on the front end, and then the same amount again from consumers on the back end.
I truly hope consumers will ignore Magnavox products, and the government will investigate this situation. Otherwise, the joke is on us.
For the record: my mother bought a new Dtv box from a different manufacturer.
Tron Legacy: Brilliant or Sleeping Pill?
On tonight's Dailyskew Mobile Podcast, Vahl discussed the new Tron
sequel. Specifically, he discussed:
"da club" while mixing it with Goth looks and video game surreal vibes - man, there were a lot of talking scenes in this movie - great updated sequences for 2k10 - a safe, satisfying sequel for the Tron fans - if the original put you to sleep, then don't bother SPOILER:
- One thing he forgot to mention was how Emcom was portrayed as
Microsoft or Apple, and Flynn was portrayed as a guy who wanted to
give his operating system away for free, ala Google Android or Linux.
So Disney supports open source, as long as it sells movie tickets.
Good. I'm glad they're on record with that.
Tony Vahl's New Smartphone
On today's Dailyskew Mobile Podcast, Vahl talks about the purchase of his brand new Samsung Captivate Galaxy S Smartphone!
Sent from my Samsung Captivate(tm) on AT&T(wooooooh. I love Swype!)
About Me
Tony VahlDailySkew co-founder, along with Damian Hospital. Writer of worlds, politics, parodies, tech, and more. Podcaster of opinions, true stories, cover tunes, and satirical readings. Vahl does voices. He sings. He drives while videocasting. Mr. Multitask.
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