Movie Review: Surrogates

Last Thursday night, my wife and I decided to head to the cinema; with only a few movies currently interesting us, we selected the new Bruce Willis movie, Surrogates (PS: don't read any further if you want to avoid spoilers, or go to the Wiki link if you haven't seen the movie). We had seen the preview a few weeks ago and had decided that it might be worth watching.

The story revolves around worldwide use of a virtual "avatar" technology called Surrogates. In essence, technology was developed to help people who were paralysed or disabled by allowing them to experience walking and other physical skills virtually, through the use of a wireless neural interface and robotic surrogates. The technology caught on with the public, and due to the increasing use of surrogates in everyday life, reductions in crime rates have made their use practically "normal". The nature of the crime reduction is attributed to the freedom that surrogates have provided to the population; with the possibility to experience all that life has to offer without physical danger, there is no reason for crime.

The surrogates themselves are anatomically correct, idealized versions of their owners, although we quickly discover that this is not always the case. It actually becomes a major element in the story, as the use of surrogates can be likened to the puppeteer and the puppet; it is not always possible to know who is behind the puppet.

But there is a worldwide movement of humans who refuse to use this technology, and even refuse to interact with other humans who make use of this technology. In the movie, this is quickly touched on in news broadcasts indicating that "Dreads" have established outposts in all major US cities, and have banned the use of surrogates within their territories. This becomes a major plot point of the story.

As the story begins, we meet Agent Tom Greer (the character played by Bruce Willis), who is an FBI agent investigating the first murder in years. Like everyone else, Greer goes through everyday life through his surrogate, much like his coworkers and other people he meets. This murder seems especially suspect, as the victim, Jarod, is the college student son of the man who invented the surrogates and related technology, and who uses multiple surrogates himself (which we learn is illegal but not unheard of). The case grows more complicated, however, when several humans are murdered when their surrogates are "murdered", something which is not supposed to happen due to specific technological safeguards built into each surrogate. The technology is so reliable that it has been adopted by the military for combat use.

In effect, a discover that some humans simply refuse the surrogate technology, and even go so far as to refuse to deal with anyone if they are using surrogates. The plot quickly develops and we discover that a weapon has been created and used, which can effectively kill a user through their surrogate, a development which the authorities want to be kept quiet, as it would undermine the entire reason for the use of surrogates if users could be killed.

There are some fantastic visual effects in this movie, but unfortunately, the plot seemed a little lacking. By the middle of the movie, it is pretty easy to determine that some event will happen which will force the end to the use of surrogates. I just thought that it seemed a little silly to have such a sophisticated system, in use worldwide, to be so easy to disrupt. Even today's simple telecommunication technology is capable of this type of protection.

Nonetheless, the movie was visually entertaining, although we were both left with the feeling that perhaps we should have waited for this one to come out on video...

Online Tools review: Zamzar

If you've been working with computers for any amount of time, you have most likely run into the situation when you needed to convert a file from one format to another, but just did not have the utility or conversion application that would do the task. In comes Zamzar to the rescue. This online conversion utility has numerous options available to users, in several types of file categories, including: Document formats, Image formats, Music formats, Video formats, Compressed formats and CAD formats. There is something for everyone in here.

It's a handy resource to keep bookmarked, as you never know when you might need to perform a file conversion, but are away from your own computer, or simply don't have the tool to do the job. Go take a look at the full list of conversion types here, I'm sure you will be quite impressed.

Update on Blurb

I just wanted to update you on some personal experience with the Blurb book publishing service. After careful consideration, my wife decided to create a book of black and white architecture images she has taken in the Ottawa and National Capital region. She easily downloaded and installed the Blurb book creation software, BookSmart. After a few evenings of tinkering with the various settings offered in the application, she published her book, and ordered a copy for herself.

Five business days after her order, a very well packaged book arrived from Blurb. Having the physical specimen in hand allowed me to determine that the overall quality was excellent. Although my wife had selected a lower quality paper to reduce the final product cost, the quality of the paper that was used was excellent. The print reproductions were excellent, but my wife also determined that the picture quality might be better if she had used better source material during the creation process. This was to be an experiment in the process of creating and ordering a book from Blurb, and not a final product.

From what I have been able to observe about the process, I can safely say that I highly recommend the use of Blurb for the creation of any book idea you might have. You will get a fantastic product that you will be proud of!

New iPod Nano

Well, Apple has released a new generation of the iPod Nano, and once again, they've added features that make the device even more useful than it used to be. Taking a cue from the newly released third generation iPod Shuffle as well as the iPod Touch (and iPhone, of course), the new iPod Nano has incorporated many new features that set it above the average player. First is the Voice Over feature, which tells you the song name and who’s performing it without interrupting the music; it's available in over twenty languages, including: Chinese (Cantonese), Chinese (Mandarin), Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish and Turkish.

Second, the new Nano features a video camera with 640 by 480 pixels in H.264, up to 30 frames per second with AAC audio to boot! There are even some live effects which can be used with the video, including Sepia, Black and White, X-Ray, Film Grain, Thermal, Security Cam, Cyborg, Bulge, Kaleido, Motion Blur, Mirror, Light Tunnel, Dent, Stretch, and Twirl.

But that's just the first part; one of the interesting sub-functionality of this setup is the addition of the microphone. Apple has thoughtfully added a voice recording functionality into the menu.

Apart from this new multimedia functionality, Apple has also added another often requested feature: an FM tuner, with a few additions thrown in of course. The feed feature identifies stations and songs (if the information is broadcast) which is always a nice way to find out about new music, and the Live Pause feature, which allows you to pause live radio broadcasts, and rewind up to 15 minutes! It's like a PVR, but for radio! A nice feature in my opinion. In the past, there have been accessories that provided the same function, but it's nice to have it built-in.

One of the nice things about the iPod series is the support for several high quality audio formats, including Apple's own AAC (8 to 320 Kbps), Protected AAC (from iTunes Store), HE-AAC, MP3 (8 to 320 Kbps), MP3 VBR, Audible (formats 2, 3, 4, Audible Enhanced Audio, AAX, and AAX+), Apple Lossless, AIFF, and WAV.

The Nano now sports a polished anodized finish in 9 different colours, including silver, black, red (from Apple only), yellow (from Apple only), blue, purple, pink, green, and orange:

If you are in the market for a new MP3 player, head to your nearest Apple store, or any electronic retailer, and take a look at the new Nano. It might just be the one for you.

A new job, and a new schedule

If you have been wondering why I have not updated the blog as often as I have in the past, it's all due to a new job I started last week. It's not the most exciting place in the world, and it's surely not a job that allows me to use the skills I have, but it's a paying job, and in this economy, you can't say no to that. My only real issue is that it takes me away from my family for far too many hours a day, and I find that very hard. I know that some men make jokes about wanting to be away from their wives, but I am not one of those men. If I could, I would spend every waking moment with mine, but that is just not possible in today's reality.

Another sad realisation of being an adult....

Pick of the week: Scribd

If you've never heard of Scribd, prepare yourself for a little bit of information overload. Scribd is currently the largest social publishing company in the world. More than 60 million people visit each month and can discover and share original writings and documents with each other. In existence since 2007, Scribd has quickly garnered attention for their great interface, excellent search and upload tools, and of course, the quality and sheer quantity of the content hosted.

It's also worth mentioning that I've found Scribd invaluable for finding several out of date, out of print books, perfectly scanned and available for free. In my opinion, if a tool or site can help you find something that no one else has been able to, there must be some value to it! Head on over and take a look, I'm sure that like me, you will be completely amazed and will quickly bookmark this fantastic site.

Pick of the week: FFFFOUND!

Last week, I select a great site for finding interesting stuff online. Well, this time, I have selected a site that allows you to do the same with images online: FFFFOUND!. Take a quick look, and I'm certain that you'll end up staying for hours, looking at all of the images they've collected since they've been online.

Well worth a look and a bookmark!

Pick of the week: StumbleUpon

I like StumbleUpon; I've been going to this site quasi-religiously for several months now, and I continue to be amazed at the very cool things I find through this it. The makers and operators of the site describe it as the place to go to "find the very best of the Web", and I have to agree with them. The content is for everyone, as there is a little bit of everything, from the hilarious to the very serious, and everything in between! I am always so impressed by the things people come up with!

I highly suggest that you bookmark StumbleUpon, and soon, you'll be stumbling upon a whole lot of interesting stuff online.

Movie Review: Inglorious Basterds

Let's start off by saying that this is a Quentin Tarantino movie. Yes, as you may imagine, it is violent and shocking. And a little long by standard movie comparison. But it is a Tarantino movie, a vision if you like, of how World War 2 should have worked out, at least in his twisted mind!


Inglorious Basterds brings together Brad Pitt, as Lt. Aldo Raine,


and eight Jewish American soldiers, about to be dropped behind enemy lines in occupied France, to do one thing, and one thing only: killing Nazis!
I applaud Tarantino for telling this story in English, German and French, with subtitles when required. It is a little heavy on the dialogue, as most Tarantino movies are. But this is how he develops his characters.

I don't want to reveal too much about the movie; I invite you to go see it and judge it for yourself. Personally, I'd like to see it again, so I can make up my mind about it properly; I think I'll wait for it to come out on DVD and watch it again.

Our new kitchen gadget

My wife and I decided to purchase a kitchen appliance that I have heard a lot about, but never got a chance to try: a bread maker. And I've known several people who have had one, used it for a while, then put it in storage somewhere in the basement. Well, after doing a little research on the topic, I found one machine which met the majority of our requirements, the Cuisinart CBK-200:

The fairly large box holds several items, including:

- The CBK 200 bread maker
- The loaf pan
- The kneading paddle
- A measuring cup for liquids
- A measuring spoon for solids
- An instruction/recipe book

In essence, the bread maker is a fairly simple machine; an enclosed oven with a mixing system within the baking pan. With some simple programming, a timer and a thermostat, the bread maker can mix the dry and wet ingredients, knead them into dough, let the dough rise in a temperature-controlled environment (for as little or a long as required by a specific recipe) and finally bake the dough into delicious bread. One of the nice features is the inclusion of a convection cooking system, which allows for more even baking temperatures, and nicer shaped breads.

The CBK-200 is similar to many other bread makers. It uses a horizontal pan with the mixing paddle in the bottom to make loaves up to 2 lbs in size. Where it differs is with the exterior cladding of the machine, which in the case of the Cuisinart, is stainless steel, as opposed to the more common plastic of competing machines. Several setting buttons allow the user to vary the size of the loaf, the overall browning of the crust, and most importantly, allow various preparation methods, from basic white bread, to whole wheat and more.

We used it this evening to bake a basic white bread, using ingredients to make a 2 lbs loaf. The whole process, from start to finish was done in 3 hours and 15 minutes. Since we took the dough out at the indicated time to remove the mixing paddle, our first bread's shape left a little to be desired. But the taste was fantastic! The crust was golden and crispy, and we wound up eating half of our first bread pretty quickly!

We will continue to experiment with our new purchase, and will comment on our successes and failures at baking bread at home.

Movie Lemons: The Core

I had seen the preview for this movie several years ago, but never got around to seeing it. If I remember correctly, I found the plot so idiotic that I had made a conscious decision to not watch this movie. Fast-forward several years, and as I am watching television yesterday evening, this movie comes on, and I decide to watch it (as there was nothing else playing). Little did I know that watching the blank television screen might have proved to be a more entertaining venture.

The movie starts out with the far-fetched notion that the Earth's core has come to a stop for some undetermined reason. The consequence of this is that the Earth's magnetic field will slowly collapse and eventually disappear, leaving the planet vulnerable to solar radiation bombardment, which will destroy everything alive on the planet. Who will save the Earth, you ask. Well, scientists will, that's who! Of course, all the scientists present agree that there is no way they can dig down to the core of the Earth. Unless...

In comes a forgotten geological genius, who on his own, has come up with a new mining technology that relies on lasers (what else?) and ultrasounds, and can dig at speeds that leave the special effects crew far behind. Conveniently, our genius has also invented a new material, which has the special properties of being nearly indestructible, and with the unique capability to convert heat to energy..... Did I mention what he names the material? Unobtonium, as it's so unobtainable.....

Armed with these two ideas, in steps the US military to fund the whole project and build a ship that can carry a crew to the center of the Earth. Now, guess how they plan to get the Earth's core started. You go it, nuclear bombs. Not just one, but five of them. And not just any bombs, 200 megaton bombs..... And to top it off, the Army realises that it would not do to have any information about this problem leak out to the world and cause a mass panic, so they hire/kidnap a reputed hacker to "filter" the Internet and prevent spread of information about the issue. Of course, when a hole in the magnetic field of the planet allows solar radiation to melt the Golden Gate bridge in half, and destroy most of the city of San Franscisco, the hacker is one it, using a program he wrote in a few minutes to search and destroy any information relating to the disaster.....

You can imagine that the journey is fraught with dangers, but fear not, with a new scanning system developed by the head scientist, they'll be able to see the path ahead. With a crew of six, the 4 day journey takes them through a giant cobalt geode to fields of diamonds the "size of Rhode Island". After several fatalities, we discover that one of the scientists on board (yes, the one everybody hates within five minutes) created a weapon used to create tectonic instabilities through the Earth's core.... The same scientist that makes a mistake calculating the explosive yield required to restart the rotation of the core is able to quickly calculate that using precise placement of the bombs, they will be able to set up a harmonic resonance that will amplify the explosive yield by exactly the right amount. Right!

My perception of this story begins with the apparent lack of respect for the audience's intelligence, and the clear lack of knowledge of the writing and production teams. Good Lord, it could have been just a little more believable if one of you had bothered to open up a grade school science book! I know it's science fiction (well, it's fiction of some kind), but that doesn't mean it has to be utterly outrageous. I mean, for a second, I was almost sure Uwe Boll had directed this waste of celluloid. Do yourself a favour, and just make up your own story instead of losing the brain cells watching this sorry excuse for a film.

New Feature: Movie Lemons

Every once in a while, a movie comes out that is so terrible to watch that you simply need to warn others of their impending doom if they choose to behold it. Well, I have decided that I can be silent no more; too many times have I wished for a slow and agonizing death rather than be subject to the wasted efforts of hundreds of people, never mind the astronomical sums of money to bring me something that is the very antithesis of entertainment.

Out of this situation rose Movie Lemons, my own section on the terrible movies I have seen. I also decided that the first movie I would list in this feature is the atrocious science fiction feature called The Core. I hope that my warnings serve to at least save one movie night!

A new option from Canon

This year, Canon released a new camera that has not received the attention it should have. I'm talking about the new PowerShot D10:

They say that an image is worth a thousand words, and I believe that the above image has a lot to say about Canon's entry into a field that was dominated at the amateur end by Olympus and at the professional end by Nikon. Of course, the D10 is a point and shoot camera and nothing more, but it is designed to be rugged and waterproof, while maintaining Canon's basic PowerShot features.

The D10 is designed with the following parameters:

Waterproof to 10 meters (33 feet)
Shock resistant 1.22 meters (4 feet)
Minimum operating temperature -10 Celsius
Dustproof

This should make it an ideal solution for active people. Personally, I think it's a nice solution for everyday picture taking. Don't get me wrong, it's no replacement for my Canon SLR, but it's got decent functionality, and some pretty good specifications for the price:

Canon PowerShot D10 specifications:

Sensor
• 1/2.3" Type CCD
• 12.1 million effective pixels

Image sizes
• 4000 x 3000
• 4000 x 2248
• 3264 x 2448
• 2592 x 1944
• 1600 x 1200
• 640 x 480
• 320 x 140

Movie clips
• 640 x 480 @ 30fps [L]
• 320 x 240 @ 30fps [M]

Maximum clip length
• Upto 4GB or 1 hour [L or M]

File formats
• JPEG (Exif v2.2)
• DPOF 1.1
• MOV [H.264 + Linear PCM (Monaural)
• WAVE (Sound Files)

Lens
• 35 - 105mm (35mm equiv)
• 3x optical zoom
• F2.8-4.9

Image stabilization
Yes (Lens-Shift)

Digital zoom
up to 4x

Focus
TTL

AF area modes

• Face Detection AiAF / 9 point
• 1-point AF (center or Face Select and Track)

AF lock
Yes (On/Off Selectable)

AF assist lamp Yes

Focus distance
Closest focus distance 3 cm

Metering
• Evaluative (linked to Face Detection AF frame)
• Center-weighted average
• Spot (center or linked to Face Detection)

ISO sensitivity
• Auto
• ISO 80
• ISO 100
• ISO 200
• ISO 400
• ISO 800
• ISO 1600

AE lock
Yes (on/off selectable)

Exposure compensation
+/- 2EV in 1/3 stop increments

Shutter speed
15-1/1500 sec

Modes
• Auto
• Scene
• Movie

Scene modes
• Program
• Portrait
• Night Snapshot
• Kids & Pets
• Indoor
• Sunset
• Fireworks
• Long Shutter
• Beach
• Underwater
• Aquarium
• Foliage
• Snow
• ISO 3200
• Digital Macro
• Color Accent
• Color Swap
• Stitch Assist

White balance
• Auto (including Face Detection WB)
• Daylight
• Cloudy
• Tungsten
• Fluorescent
• Fluorescent H
• Custom

Self timer
• 2 or 10sec
• Custom or Face Self Timer

Continuous shooting
• Approx 1.1fps

Image parameters
My Colors (My Colors Off, Vivid, Neutral, Sepia, Black & White, Positive Film, Lighter Skin Tone, Darker Skin Tone, Vivid Blue, Vivid Green, Vivid Red, Custom Color)

Flash
Auto, Manual Flash On / Off, Red-Eye Reduction, Slow Sync
• Face Detection FE compensation
• Flash exposure lock
• Range (30cm - 3.2m (W) / 2m (T)
• External HF-DC1 flash (optional)

LCD monitor
• 2.5" TFT
• 230,000 pixels
• 100% coverage
• Adjustable

Connectivity
• USB Hi-Speed
• AV out (PAL / NTSC switchable)

Storage
• SD, SDHC, MMC, MMCplus, HC MMCplus

Power
Rechargeable Li-ion Battery NB-6L

Weight (no batt)
190 g

Dimensions
104 x 67 x 49 mm

Pick of the week: Design Ideas Depot

A rather special Pick of the week this week. As I mentioned last week, my wife has been working on her first blog and being a very talented amateur graphic designer, photographer and artist, she has a wide choice of things to write about and share with others. Her blog, aptly named Design Ideas Depot revolves around these topics. English is not her first language, so she took her time writing her first post, and I for one, was quite impressed with it. I find that the elegance and grace of her personality show through in her writing style.

Now, I know that you may think that I am a little biased, and I do admit to being my wife's greatest fan! But in defense of that, I am an intensely critical person, and I struggle to find anything wrong with her work. It's just not that easy; most people who view her photography are astounded by its beauty and quality.

I am keeping an eye on what she'll write about next, and I believe you'll feel the same way after reading her too.

Book review: Pocket Ref

For fans of Mythbusters, the little black book aptly called Pocket Ref is perhaps the most used tool on the show.

Pocket Ref is a book published by Sequoia Publishing, and is now in its third edition, which is a testament to its continued usefulness. It contains reference information of all types, as well as tables, charts and guides on such varied subjects as automotive repair, carpentry, construction, chemistry, physics, computers, physical, chemical, and mathematical constants, electronics, money and measurement conversions, first aid, glues, solvents, paints, and finishes, hardware, mining, milling, and aggregate, plumbing, zip codes, rope, cable, and knots, steel and metals, surveying and mapping, geology and mineralogy and much more.

Some of the information I've found in it so far has been simply mind-blowing! As the publisher indicates, they have made every attempt to avoid any errors, and I can appreciate how difficult it would be to complete this task with any degree of success. The book has been in print since 1989, and as mentioned above, is currently in its third edition (and according to my copy, the 24th printing!). The latest edition was released in 2002, and I would imagine that any errors that were discovered have been reported and corrected since then in subsequent printing runs. I have found a few omissions (specifically area codes for the Montreal and Toronto area, but the base ones listed are correct), and a decidedly USA-centric base of knowledge, as exposed by details such as the fact that most measurements are imperial unless specified, or that listed military ranks are in fact US Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines. But in no way does this reduce the value of this book.

As the name implies, Pocket Ref is a pocket-sized book and can truly be carried with you all the time, and its priced low enough to make it an excellent gift for any person on your list. It is also possible to order copies with custom covers, making this an excellent business gift for prospective customers. Trust me, they will remember you forever if you give them one of these with your business contact information printed on the cover. This book is easily one of the three books I would choose to take with me to a deserted island, and might even make my number one pick, if I was thinking rationally!! Get your own copy now, you will definitely not regret it.

Pick of the week: Rotten Dead Pool

The first time I came across the expression Dead Pool was with the Clint Eastwood movie The Dead Pool. In the movie, a lunatic has created a dead pool, a list of people he expects to die. Of course, in this case, the lunatic is conveniently killing the people on his list. But a true dead pool is very much like any other kind of pool, like hockey and football pools. Except that you pick people you think will die, rather than attempt to guess a score or a season winner.

The Rotten Dead Pool website is a fantastic resource and allows you to pick ten people you believe will die during the year. The game resets every year, and registered users have their scores kept and displayed throughout the year. The site also provides a pretty extensive database of past and present celebrities, along with any relevant information. Some basic rules about the game are also provided, and please keep in mind that any interference on the part of the player that might concern one of their picks renders the pick invalid. No, you can't kill the people on your list! Where's the fun in that?

My best score so far has been 5 out of my list of 10. I know, it's morbid, but it invokes some pretty deep thinking if you make your picks seriously. Go take a look right now and make some picks, see how you score this year!

A bike for my wife

When my wife and I moved in together, she already had a bicycle. I use the term loosely, as there are so many issues with her bike that I cannot seem to adjust or correct, and the bike is just not worth getting parts for anyway. I have done my fair share of bicycle repairs, from the mundane (like fixing flats and changing pedals) to the more exotic (like installing a suspension fork in a non-suspension bike). But that did not keep me from doing what I could to make the bike a little better.

I began by removing the rear rack, which I noticed she was never using anyway. That removed almost 0.5 kg from the rolling weight of the bike, and removed some rattles as well. I noticed that the rear wheel was a little off, and rather than correct it, I swapped out the rear wheel for an older wheel I already had, with a much better Shimano 105 hub and freewheel, a much better Ukai rim and a lighter spoke pattern overall. I made several attempts to get her Grip Shift shifters working correctly, but was never able to get it to reach the full range of gears. I know what the problem is, the cables are finished, but the bike is hardly worth the price of new shifter cables. Same thing with the brakes. After resetting the brakes and attempting to get them working correctly, they just ended up as mushy as before. I lubed up everything, wiped the bike down, pumped up the tires to an acceptable pressure and that was it.

That is pretty much the extent of what I have been able to do, and I have reached a conclusion: my wife needs a new bike. Now, what I need to do is to properly assess what she needs. It's a little more difficult than I anticipated, as her needs are very different from mine, and her tastes are also very different. When she rode my bike, her first comment was that she found it much too "nervous". I think I understand what she means, but I could be wrong.

I think she would do well with a bike that meets the following criteria:

- Light, rigid frame without suspension, either at the front or rear.

To me, this means an aluminium frame, as it provides the required rigidity, as well as the convenience of a metal unaffected by oxidization.

- Simple, direct gear change system, like Shimano Nexxus internal gear hub

An internal gear hub provides required gearing without the use of derailleurs. This provides a cleaner setup, less maintenance and improved resistance to the elements.

- Good quality brakes, with quality levers

Although disc brakes seem to be the rage, I also believe that their inherent power and modulation capabilities make them a better choice over standard rim brakes. By choosing a cable actuated model over a hydraulic system, the maintenance requirements are reduced.

- A moderate gear ratio

The Shimano Nexxus hub provides 7, 8 or 9 speeds, depending on the specific model selected. The gear ratios have been extensively studied by Shimano, so as to provide the greatest functional range for the user.

- Flatproof, leakproof tires (well, flat-resistant and leak resistant!)

Although an impossible request, the use of kevlar-belted tires has increased for urban bicycles, and have helped to reduce the number of flats. With the addition of leak-proof inner tubes, the combination is as close to flatproof as we can currently make it.

- A comfortable saddle, avoiding the racing profiles

This is a very personal choice, and I've encouraged my wife to try as many as she can. Only she can really tell me what is the most comfortable choice for her.

I've figured that with some options, like a suspension seat post, she could retain the comfort of suspension, without the hassles of maintenance, and unavoidable lack of quality of cheaper suspension forks. It all remains to be seen, but I will update here as soon as we've made more progress.

Amazon's Kindle has some competition from Sony

It was bound to happen. After the popular online book retailer Amazon introduced their ebook reader, the Kindle, it was just a matter of time before another manufacturer attempted to jump on the bandwagon of ebook readers. Well, Sony announced two new readers today, the Reader Pocket Edition and the Reader Touch Edition. Sony plans to have the devices out at the end of the month and with a pricing structure that puts it at the same price or just below the Kindle.

The Pocket Edition has a five-inch display, will be available is three colours for the moment, including navy blue, rose and silver, and is sized to fit in a jacket pocket or a purse. It will store about 350 standard eBooks and will last about two weeks on a single charge, if we are to believe Sony's claims.

The Touch Edition is a little bit larger, with a six-inch display that you can control, as the name indicates with touch, using either your finger, a stylus or the virtual keyboard. The device will also includes a built-in Oxford American English Dictionary as well as Memory Card and SD card slots, for additional storage space. Sony has indicated that both models make use of an E Ink Vizplex electronic paper display, that according to Sony representatives, "mimics the look of ink on paper.

The software provided will be compatible with both PCs and Apple platforms and allow users to read documents in several formats, including PDF, Word, BBeB and other text files. Sony has also created an eBook Store online, and new releases and New York Times bestseller titles will be priced at $9.99. The readers will also have access to the 1 million free public domain books that Google has currently digitized. What remains to be seen is Sony's response to the public pressure against their draconian DRM application.

It will be interesting to see what Amazon's response is to Sony's step into this market. I can only anticipate price reductions on current Kindle models, and perhaps some hardware revisions in the near future? It remains to be seen.

New Feature: Classic Movie Review

It's come to my attention that many of the movies I've enjoyed the most are in some cases several years old. With that in mind, I decided to create a new feature called Classic Movie Review, where I will review movies that I have seen over the years, and that I believe might be enjoyed by others. I have pretty eclectic tastes, but foremost, I enjoy a good story. I am not a fan of movies that attempt to disguise bad writing with special effects.

I hope that this new feature will prove to be an interesting addition to this blog, and provide some new choices from older features. Enjoy.

Pick of the week: Meosphere

I browse through a lot of sites on any given week, and a few weeks ago, I ran into Meosphere. Essentially, Meosphere is over 2500 check lists and maps for marking where you've been and what you've done, and to help you plan where you want to go and what you'd like to do.

Some of the lists include selections such as Strangest Foods You've Eaten to Subway Systems You've Ridden On and all sorts of things in between. With the possibility of adding new items to many lists, and the chance to discuss with anyone willing to share their lists, Meosphere is sure to be an interesting browse.

Go ahead and take a look, you might find a few things you'd like to try.

Movie Review: In The Name Of The King

Good Lord, what was I thinking? I've been buying movies for a while now, and only once or twice do I consider that I've been had. The first time was when I found the Bourne Identity for dirt cheap, bought the DVD, and realized once I got it home that it was a full screen edition as opposed to the wide screen editions I prefer. I know that's not much of a difference, but I really dislike full screen aspect ratios as it does not match what the director saw when he or she filmed the movie. The other time I feel that I was suckered was when I purchased a Superbit edition of the Fifth Element; I was lured by the idea of a very high resolution version of what I considered a great movie. Well, the movie quality is exactly the same as any other DVD of the same film I've seen, except that it only contains the movie, nothing else. I've come to expect a few extras with the DVDs I purchase, and in many cases, these extras have provided just as much entertainment as the original material itself. The official explanation is that these features are removed in order to make space for the main feature at a higher bit rate. Right.

So yesterday, as I was going through the bin of DVDs on sale at the store, browsing through such great movies as The Abyss, The Green Mile, and yes, even Commando (I know it's not really a great movie, but it is funny, and entertaining at the very least!), I saw In The Name Of The King, with Jason Statham, and I thought, why not? I mean, although Statham is not exactly an Oscar winner, he's been in some pretty decent action movies, like the Transporter series, Crank, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch. So I thought, at the very least, there will be some decent action scenes, and for the price of five dollars, how could I lose? I even went as far as to read the summary in the back: family man, wife kidnapped, boy killed, evil wizard, evil army, rescue, revenge, etc... Sounds like a decent fantasy-type story to me, and being a fan of fantasy stories, I thought the deal sounded good. And so I return home, happy as a clam with my purchases.

My wife and I decided that we would watch this movie yesterday evening. The movie starts, and for the first minute, it looks pretty convincing. Nice scenery, medieval-type architecture, father farmer tending to his crops with his son. The wife comes out of the quaint little farmhouse, and that's when I start wondering. She is quite attractive, and practically wearing makeup! Well, it's a fantasy story, I tell myself, it doesn't have to be historically accurate. Then they begin to speak, and I wonder about the dialogue within the first several sentences. Who wrote this drivel? Well, a movie can't be perfect, so we continue watching.

All I can tell you is that around the halfway mark, my wife got up and returned to browsing the Web, and I just, well, dozed off. I can't begin to tell you how utterly dreadful this movie is; the dialogue is terrible, and at some points, I get the impression the actors are looking at each other and really wondering what the hell they are doing here? The plot is convoluted, and twists and turns at all of the wrong moments. It's like someone decided to do Lord Of The Rings in two and a half hours, with one tenth the budget, and the Coles Notes to the book. I picked up the DVD case from the living room table and looked at the director. In the fraction of a second before I looked at the back of the case, I wondered about some of the worst directors I've ever experienced, and one name stood out, Uwe Boll. Then I saw the movie's director: Uwe Boll. I just laughed. At least I can say one thing about him, he is consistent. I can now safely say that yes, ALL of his movies are absolutely terrible, just complete rubbish. It's not that he doesn't know about the technical aspects of movie making. But he just can't tell a story.

I've been trying to come up with a way to describe how bad the storytelling is, but words fail me. I read up a bit on Boll, trying to figure out how he had managed to get people to put up money for him to make movies, and I discovered some interesting facts about the German entertainment industry. Apparently, due to some interesting tax incentives, it makes sense to invest in a movie made by a German company. Any money invested becomes 100% deductable, and taxes will only be garnished on any profit the movie makes. If the movie loses money, the loss becomes useful tax wise, and since the investment had been deducted beforehand, any profit losses can still turn out to be advantageous. Wow.

Under no circumstance should you even see this movie. I paid five dollars for it, and I now realize that I would gladly pay ten dollars to get rid of it. Good Lord man, Boll, what's wrong with you? Did you actually watch this movie and think: yes, I'm proud of this work, I'm sure people will like it? Do you do this for all of your movies? I'm not saying I could do better, but I sure as hell would not do worst! If you did, then perhaps you might take a lesson from George Costanza, and do the opposite. It might be the best thing you'll ever do.

Movie Review: Shaun of the dead

I have always been a fan of zombie movies; there is just something about zombies that makes me laugh. Most zombie movies are not comedies to begin with, but are usually so laughable that at some point, most people begin to believe that they are. There have been a few notable exceptions (such as 28 Days and 28 Weeks Later) that have been truly scary, but most are not.

And then, there are movies that just like to poke fun. I guess that the best way to describe Shaun of the Dead is to label it a parody of zombie movies. Directed by Edgar Wright, and starring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost (of Hot Fuzz), and written by Pegg and Wright, the plot of Shaun of the Dead revolves around Shaun, a young man who is trying hard to get some kind of focus in his life as he attempts to get back together with his ex-girlfriend and settle his various life issues. At the same time he has to cope with an uprising of zombies.

If you enjoy British humour, Shaun of the Dead is sure to please. There are some brilliantly scripted moments, and some truly humorous situations. If you like zombies and comedy, you have to see this one.

My wife's new blog

After discussing the topic for several weeks, my wife Elena has decided to start her won blog. I can't wait to see what she will write about, as we have many similar interests, and I am usually quite amazed by the things she shares with me on a regular basis.

So keep your eyes peeled; as soon as her blog is online, I will post a link and review here. I think I may even make it my Pick of the week for next week!

Online Tools review: XE Universal Currency Converter

If you've ever found yourself having to convert currencies, you are probably aware that there are numerous tools available to help you in the process. But one of these, an online tool called XE Universal Currency Converter is billed as the most popular currency exchange site in the world. With a number of tools for currency transactions of all types, as well as charts and more, XE is truly an amazing resource for anyone that requires currency conversion tools and help.

(Foreign currency & coins image©bradipo)
I've recommended this tool to many of my friends when they were travelling internationally, and they have all praised its ease of use and access. Take a look for yourself, and I believe you will quickly want to add this bookmark to your travel links.

Pick of the week: VersionTracker

Like almost every computer user today, I sometimes struggle to get all the updates to the software titles that I use on my computers, let alone find out about new software. There are many software repositories available online, but sadly, they are mostly for the Windows platform, and that is not too helpful for me, being an Apple user (my wife and I are both Apple users). But there is one that I have found to be helpful, well organized and current and that site is VersionTracker.

VersionTracker provides a list-type interface, as well as separate tabs for Windows, OS X, iPhone and the Palm OS.

If you use any of these software platform and didn't know about Version Tracker, head over right now. You'll be glad you did.

Online Tools review: Block Posters

Have you ever wanted to create a wall-sized print of an image? It's not such a complicated feat using software like Photoshop, but it is not necessarily an easy task either. As I was searching for a solution to this problem, I stumbled upon Block Posters, a free online tool that promises to "create any size wall poster from any size image". A rather bold boast, but from my experience so far, I have been very impressed. An easy to use interface, enough options to create your poster the way you want, in all, a really great tool.

Go take a look for yourself, upload an image and print out a large poster; I'm sure you'll appreciate the ease of use immediately.

RAIS Woodstoves

When I was younger and living at home, we lived in a beautiful house in Markham, Ontario. Since my father had decided to remodel the house, one of the elements he wanted was a wood stove. A fireplace would simply not do, as my father was raised in the country, where fire was all important for heating during the winter. It was during that time that he learned that a fireplace was mostly a decorative home element rather than a true source of heat. With a wood stove, the closed combustion chamber and the heavy mass of metal that make up the stove structure increase the efficiency of any wood burned within by capturing and releasing heat over time.

When most people think of a wood stove, the image of a small, black, horizontal, front-loading stove comes to mind. But these types of stoves are what I refer to as the basement stove; it works well enough, but it sure isn't pretty to look at, so might as well hide it in the basement! Well that is not the type of stove my father wanted. He told me about a stove he had seen in an old home, a vertical design, covered in enamel, with front and top loading. I had never seen anything of the sort, but lo and behold, my father returned home one evening with a receipt for delivery for the stove he wanted, the Petit Godin cast iron wood stove:

Although Godin stoves are no longer made, it is possible to find them through specialized dealers and other sources, including antique stores! Although I always found that little stove very nice, it just didn't appeal to me aesthetically. I prefer cleaner design, with less clutter and decoration, but higher manufacturing quality and more efficient functionality. My research led me to discover RAIS, a Danish company that designs and manufactures wood stoves in several different models based on the original RAIS wood stove, designed by the architect Bent Falk in 1970. He took on the challenge of designing an environmentally-friendly series of “green” homes that made use of effective fireplaces. For his designs, he was awarded the Danish Design Award that year for his stove, the RAIS 1.

Some of the models offered include several freestanding soapstone wood stoves. Yes, the same type of stone used in Inuit carving! Soapstone has many advantages to offer from a heating perspective. It is quite dense and retains heat long after the fire has died down. It radiates that heat in a gradual and diffuse manner, avoiding unnecessary hot areas in the room. It allows for the construction of smaller wood stoves that maintain very high thermal efficiency.

If you are looking for a new fireplace, whether a freestanding model or an insert, with or without soapstone, head over to RAIS and take a look at what they offer.

A fantastic first anniversary dinner

Yesterday was my first wedding anniversary, and I decided to treat my wife to a five star meal. We settled on Le Baccara, one of the restaurants at the Casino Lac Lemay, in Gatineau. Seeing as we had a reservation for 18h30, on a Sunday evening, we were the very first patrons to arrive, and received what we considered the best table in the house, with a fantastic view of the Ottawa skyline. It is not the first time that my wife and I visited this restaurant, and our previous experience was good enough to warrant a second visit. Le Baccara is a five-diamond establishment, and has maintained this rating since its opening several years ago.

Like many fine dining establishments, the menu is limited and seasonal, but wide-ranging enough in flavour experiences to suit almost every palate. We began our meal with some fantastic little amuse-gueules, including some Gruyere tuiles, with carraway seeds and some delicately flavoured crab and lobster bread. As I was finishing the freshly roasted almonds and walnuts , our waiter arrived with a another amuse-gueule, this time, a slice of cold marinated beef served over a slaw of root vegetables and drizzled with a herbed oil. The beef was quite good, with a great texture and flavour courtesy of its delicious peppercorn crust.

Next were the appetizers. Elena, my wife, had selected the Tartare of bison from la Petite-Nation with ewe's cheese and truffles, quail egg tempura with raspberry vinaigrette. The presentation was quite lovely, with the bison and ewe's cheese mixed together and served in a small tower, ringed with the rasberry vinaigrette. Bison has a delicate flavour when raw, and we both found that the dish might have been better with a stronger tasting cheese, perhaps even a goat cheese. I also found that the vinaigrette was perhaps a little too strong for the mildness of the bison, and I might personally have reduced it with champagne so as to reduce the acidic properties of the rasberries.

One the other hand, my Terrine of duck foie gras on a thin slice of grilled gingerbread quatre quart served with ginger and rhubarb sherbet was phenomenal. The combination of the sweet crunchiness of the quatre quart was wonderful with the rich, smooth and mild flavour of the foie gras. But what really made this dish standout was the absolutely amazing ginger and rhubarb sherbet, with a beautiful taste that clearly completed this dish. I commented to our waiter on the brilliance of the sherbet's flavour combination and he promptly returned with a small bowl of it, along with two spoons, and a smile, compliments of the chef.

Once we were done, our plates were removed and we waited for the main course. Elena loves seafood, and selected the Seared red tuna in a crisp roll, warm asparagus and artichoke salad, eggplant caviar with asparagus and walnut oil vinaigrette while I opted for the Fresh loin of lamb from la Petite-Nation with confit vegetables, fingerling potatoes and chanterelle mushroom fricassée, watercress with lemon and virgin olive oil vinaigrette. Our plates arrived quickly arrived and we began to eat. Suffice it to say that although both dishes were quite nice, I believe that my lamb was truly the better of the two. It was perfectly done, and flavourful, served over the fingerling potatoes and surrounded by the chanterelles and jus. Elena's dish was also beautifully presented, although milder in taste in comparison to mine. We slowly finished our plates and when we were finally done, our waiter returned to remove our plates and leave us the desert menus.

At this point, we were both quite contented and chose to skip desert and simply have an espresso to finish our meal. By this time, the restaurant had several customers, and as the peaceful ambiance was now disrupted by the sound of too many conversations, we settled the bill and we returned home.

A great anniversary meal in an excellent restaurant that provided outstanding service and quality once again. If you are in the region and would like to have an excellent meal, make reservations at Le Baccara, and I am certain you will not regret it at all.

Pick of the week: Strobist

I've been an amateur photographer for almost 20 years now, and the one thing that I've discovered is that as a photographer, one is always learning. Whether learning new techniques, or revisiting something that hasn't been done in a while, there is something new each and every day. And with the digital revolution that has taken place, there is an entire new chapter to the art of taking pictures.

During my quest to learn more about flash photography, I came upon what I consider to be the most advanced amateur flash photography web site, Strobist. The site describes itself as being about one thing and one thing only: "learning how to use off-camera flash with your DSLR to take your photos to the next level. Or the next ten levels". Quite a bold statement, but with over 1000 articles on using lighting to improve your photography is no small achievement.

If you are into photography, do yourself a favour and head over to Strobist and learn something new today!

A new way to look at mobile homes

My wife and I are hoping to move into a home one day, but we both feel that the quality of most homes today leaves a lot to be desired. Spurred by a belief in self-sustainability, environmental friendliness and value, we are looking at home builders that provide these types of features in their design.

One company that caught our eye is the Canadian design firm, Sustain, that provides numerous designs based around a mobile platform. As such, many of their homes are classified as mobile, and may bypass several issues involved in typical residential construction, such as foundations and more. We have known about this company for a while now, and I've even posted some information about the MiniHome Solo, but we wanted to make sure that they would stay in the business and actually build some of the great concepts they came up with. It is nice to see that they have continued the premise of building on a mobile platform. One great advantage of such a design includes the possibility of moving the entire home to another location, which can be an attractive option.

The model above, called the MiniHome Solo, is a bit on the small side, but is fantastically appointed and one of the greenest and most eco-friendly homes available for production today. Take a look here for a gallery of images. And Sustain is expanding and improving, in more ways than one:

Many of the newer designs are based on the experiences learned with previous models and most of the designs share some common ideas, such as external materials that do not require any maintenance or painting, low power consumption and more.

Head on over to their website and take a look a what they've got to offer. So far, we have been pretty impressed and will inquire to get more information.

Kidrobot Futurama Series 1

I am a huge fan of Matt Groening's Futurama, and since my wife and I have been collecting vinyl toys for a while now, you can imagine how happy I was to find out that Kidrobot and Groening were teaming up once again to create a series of Futurama vinyl toys.


The series will be a blind box assortment, and will comprise a total of 12 figures, with 2 chase figures to boot. Each figure will be retailing for $8.95 USD and will release on August 13th, 2009.

From one of the pictures I've been able to find, it's been determined that the series will include the following figures:

- The Devil robot
- Nibbler
- Leela
- Morgo
- Zapp Brannigan
- Mom
- Fry
- Bender
- Lrrr
- Dr.Zoidberg

and what looks to be Hermes and Hypnotoad (all hail Hypnotoad) as the chase figures. I can't wait to see them for myself!

Building your own arcade cabinet

I've always thought of myself as young at heart, but I am starting to notice that I am physically a little older than that! The other day, I was reminiscing (yes, that was one of the first things that clued me in to the fact that I was getting older) about an entertainment venue that has literally disappeared: the arcade and arcade cabinets. I spent a large part of my youth dropping quarters into these gaming machines and there are days when I really miss it.

Of course, in a fit of sentimentality, I installed the MAME emulator and thousands of ROMS on my iMac, easily replaying the great games of my youth. But something was missing; part of the fun of the arcade was getting to play on a stand up console, with controls that were meant to be used forcefully. And that got me thinking. Wouldn't it be possible to build a stand up cabinet that would essentially be a large PC case running MAME (and/or other existing emulators), with hard drive storage to hold thousands of ROMS and more. That idea really got me going, so I began to do a little research into the hardware that would be required to make this gaming cabinet a reality and any other related information.

The cabinet

The cabinet itself can be built using MDF or another similar material, and is not beyond the skills of most people. Several plans are available online, but it is quite easy to design your own cabinet. A friend suggested using cardboard from furniture and appliance boxes to build a life-size mockup, as it would allow the designer to refine the cabinet design before actual construction can begin.

The monitor

It is possible to purchase monitors in the required sizes, for these exact purposes from manufacturers like Vision Pro. Nowadays, it is also possible to get an LCD panel of the correct dimensions, for a more energy-saving cabinet. For some cost savings, it is possible to substitute a regular tube television, which are now available for a fraction of what they were worth only a few years ago. If you do choose this route, make sure that you select a flat tube television, as it will make your cabinet look that much better.

The CPU

For the CPU, the sky is really the limit; any system that will run MAME or any other emulator, with support for USB, audio and video will do the trick. An astute builder might also consider that the CPU and motherboard will determine the overall limitations of the cabinet, and could also help to provide additional functionalities (the gaming cabinet could also be a modern jukebox!).


The controls

This is the portion that I thought might be difficult to find, but was I ever wrong. Several companies build hardware for arcade consoles, including the best I found, X Arcade as well as other manufacturers, such as Arcade Controls and Suzo-Happ.

This is commercial quality hardware and should help to build a durable, high quality cabinet.

Other hardware

It is even possible to get a coin-operation panel for your custom-built arcade cabinet. Yes, you can make your machine coin-operated as well (in my opinion, it would be an excellent way to keep your kids off of your cabinet!!!)

Why not try your hand at a project like this? A quick Google and Wikipedia search revealed dozens of related sites, images and tutorials, so go ahead, build a little flash from the past and have fun. Take a look at some of the following links for more information:

BYOACWiki - A fantastic resource for the DIY Arcade cabinet builder.

Webb's MAME Arcade Cabinet - A DIY guide to a great MAME cabinet.

MAME Arcade Cabinet - Another DIY site, with lots of information.

Using the Garmin Nuvi 250

I've had the the Garmin Nuvi 250 for about a month now, and have used it several times in order to get a feel for how the device operates and how accurate it is for everyday navigation. So far, I have been very impressed with the ease of use of the device, and its navigation accuracy. Now don't get me wrong, the device has its bugs. For instance, I have not been able to get the device to map out a route to my father's residence. No matter how I select my dad's address, the Nuvi just hangs at 80% completion, and will not begin navigating. It's odd, and I've been able to get it to map a route to an address on a neighbouring street, and that seems just fine.

I've also used the device on foot for geocaching on several occasions, and have found that it was just as accurate, and more useful than my Garmin eTrex. I have been able to connect it to my wife's iMac without problem (it is recognized as an external drive) and it has been very simple to add waypoints using the computer instead of entering them manually into the device. The most pleasant surprise was to find that the Nuvi recharges when it is connected to a computer through USB. A truly useful feature. I have also been very impressed with some of the useful software utilities provided by Garmin. These tools can make route planning a little simpler, and uploading these routes to the device a piece of cake.

I will post more information on my experiences as I continue to use this fantastic gadget.

A couple months with my netbook

I've been using the Asus EeePC 900HA for a couple months now, and I am still quite satisfied with my purchase. As with any other electronic device, there are changes that I would appreciate in a future replacement, but they don't make the netbook any less usable. I have used it on pretty much daily basis for almost 2 months now, and it has stood up to that use, and more. Most of my use currently is being done outdoors, so although cooling has not been a problem, exposure to dust and other particulates has.

Like most plastic devices, the EeePC is a dust magnet, and I have not been able to keep it clean for the life of me. Another factor that has been bothering me is my inability to turn the touchpad off. Since I am using a wireless mouse with the netbook, the touchpad has only served to cause typos when my thumb inadvertently touches it and moves the cursor in mid-sentence. The battery life has also been much less than anticipated or claimed by Asus. At most, I'm able to get 4.5 solid hours of use from the device, under low load conditions, mind you. Personally, I count on 3 hours of actual, everyday use, with some reserve power to save files and shutdown the system adequately.

Other things I've noticed include flickering of the backlight at the lowest setting; as I've mentioned, I often use my netbook outdoors, and frequently at night. The second lowest brightness setting is more than required in these circumstances, but that is when the flickering is the most obvious. A more annoying bug has been the reconnection to a wireless network after coming back from a suspend mode; about once out of three times, I need to reboot the computer to get the wireless to work again. This last issue might have more to do with the operating system (I've been using Eeebuntu with the Netbook Remix as my OS) than the actual hardware, but I have no real way of confirming or denying such a claim.

I will continue to post more information on my experiences, but so far, I am quite satisfied with my little machine.

Pick of the week: 43 Things

Ever write a list of life goals? It is a demonstrated fact that writing down goals can help one visualize the goals in question, and plan a positive way to achieve them. I know that I've done it more than once in my life, but the sad fact is that I've misplaced that list more times than I care to remember. I've thought about keeping such a list online, but then, I've tended to forget about it, and never really consult it. Well in comes 43 Things to provide a solution to this problem.

Essentially, 43 Things is an online tool that allows you to write down your goals (take a wild guess at how many?), get inspired by other peoples goals, and read and write about those goals and the things you've done in your life. Personally, I've found that reading about other peoples goals has helped me to focus more on my own. From the frivolous and funny to the serious and profound, there are a lot of things that people want to do during their life. The ability to browse those other goals, quickly select whether or not you've done it, and then share some information about it, is in my eyes what makes 43 Things a fantastic idea.

Head on over and take a look, add a few items to your own list and start getting them done. You'll be glad you did.

New Macbook Pro 13"

The Macbook Pro product line has just received some minor upgrades and a new model, the 13" Macbook Pro. And although initially, it did not look like a huge change, after further consideration, it seems like Apple has really hit on a great combination of functionality, design and price, making the Macbook Pro 13 available to almost everyone.

Here are the specs for the two new models of the 13" Pro:

Size and weight

Height: 0.95 inch (2.41 cm)
Width: 12.78 inches (32.5 cm)
Depth: 8.94 inches (22.7 cm)
Weight: 4.5 pounds (2.04 kg)

Connections and expansion

* MagSafe power port
* Gigabit Ethernet port
* One FireWire 800 port (up to 800 Mbps)
* One Mini DisplayPort
* Two USB 2.0 ports (up to 480 Mbps)
* One SD card slot
* Audio in/out (combined)
* Kensington lock slot

Communications

* Built-in AirPort Extreme Wi-Fi wireless networking (based on IEEE 802.11n draft specification); IEEE 802.11a/b/g compatible
* Bluetooth Built-in Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR (Enhanced Data Rate)
* Built-in 10/100/1000BASE-T Gigabit Ethernet (RJ-45 connector)

Audio

* Built-in stereo speakers
* Built-in omnidirectional microphone
* Combined optical digital output/headphone out (user-selectable analog audio line in)
* Supports Apple Stereo Headset with microphone

Display

* 13.3-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit glossy widescreen display with support for millions of colors
* Supported resolutions: 1280 by 800 (native), 1152 by 720, 1024 by 640, and 800 by 500 pixels at 16:10 aspect ratio; 1024 by 768, 800 by 600, and 640 by 480 pixels at 4:3 aspect ratio; 1024 by 768, 800 by 600, and 640 by 480 pixels at 4:3 aspect ratio stretched; 720 by 480 pixels at 3:2 aspect ratio; 720 by 480 pixels at 3:2 aspect ratio stretched

Graphics and video support

* NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics processor with 256MB of DDR3 SDRAM shared with main memory3
* Dual display and video mirroring: Simultaneously supports full native resolution on the built-in display and up to 2560 by 1600 pixels on an external display, both at millions of colors
* iSightBuilt-in iSight camera
* Mini DisplayPort

Input

* Built-in full-size backlit keyboard with 78 (U.S.) or 79 (ISO) keys, including 12 function keys and 4 arrow keys (inverted “T” arrangement)
* Multi-Touch trackpad for precise cursor control; supports two-finger scrolling, pinch, rotate, swipe, three-finger swipe, four-finger swipe, tap, double-tap, and drag capabilities

Processor and memory

Intel Core 2 Duo

* 2.26GHz or 2.53GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 3MB on-chip shared L2 cache running 1:1 with processor speed
* 1066MHz frontside bus
* 2GB (two 1GB SO-DIMMs) or 4GB (two 2GB SO-DIMMs) of 1066MHz DDR3 memory; two SO-DIMM slots support up to 8GB

Storage

* 160GB or 250GB 5400-rpm Serial ATA hard drive; optional 320GB or 500GB 5400-rpm hard drive, or 128GB or 256GB solid-state drive4
* 8x slot-loading SuperDrive (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
* Maximum write: 8x DVD-R, DVD+R; 4x DVD-R DL (double layer), DVD+R DL (double layer), DVD-RW, DVD+RW; 24x CD-R; 10x CD-RW
* Maximum read: 8x DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-ROM; 6x DVD-ROM (double layer DVD-9), DVD-R DL (double layer), DVD+R DL (double layer), DVD-RW, DVD+RW; 24x CD

Battery and power

* Built-in 60-watt-hour lithium-polymer battery
* 60W MagSafe Power Adapter with cable management system
* MagSafe power port

And here are a few more images, including a comparison shot between the previous unibody Macbook and the new Macbook Pro:

Pick of the week: Bourque Newswatch

The tag line reads: Canada's Matt Drudge, after the American Matt Nathan Drudge, who runs the Drudge Report, a news aggregation website. As fantastic as is the site, it deals with mainly US related news and that is of little use to most Canadians.

In comes Bourque Newswatch. A fully Canadian news aggregation site, Bourque is a fantastic news site, updated several times a day. It also provides links to every news media in Canada, which is a great service in and of itself.

Keep Bourque Newswatch bookmarked, it will easily become a daily read and your first source for Canadian news content and a great news reference site.

It's Canada Day

Today is Canada's 142nd Canada Day, which commemorates the day that Canada became a nation. The holiday is usually observed on July 1 (and a little known fact is that if the date falls on a Sunday, Canada Day is observed the following day).

On July 1, 1867, the British North America Act united the British colonies of Upper Canada, Lower Canada, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia into "one dominion under the name of Canada." These four colonies became Canada's first four provinces; Lower Canada was renamed Quebec, and Upper Canada was renamed Ontario.

This year, my wife, son and I are staying home. I think our boy is a little too young for the festivities and might be a little scared of the fireworks this evening. But I think next year will be a great time to introduce him to our national day.

So, to all Canadians, here and abroad, I wish you a happy Canada Day!

Movie Review: Pink Panther 2

"I would like a rhumb". Whenever I've heard those words pronounced, even without the outrageous French accent, in any hotel lobby, I can't help but laugh. I've been a Peter Sellers fan since I was a young boy and those words always remind me of the bumbling Inspector Clouseau. Many people have found Sellers interpretation of the inept detective as pure comedic genius, and as such, it is to be expected that anyone trying to reprise the role would have some rather large shoes to fill. And as funny as Steve Martin is, I just don't believe that he is up to it.

When many think of Clouseau, they mention several traits that Sellers used to define the character: the outrageous French accent that even the French don't seem to understand, the sexist and racist remarks that are pronounced regularly and the massive ego of the bumbling detective. Personally, I've always thought that what made Seller's Clouseau tremendously funny was his outrage at others less than gallant behaviour and his nonchalance when faced with the most embarrassing mishaps. But the true genius behind it was the delivery. Deadpan, and believable. And sadly, Martin is anything but.

Although I laughed on a few occasions throughout the film, I was also reminded how unfortunate it was that Sellers died so young. Martin has seized on what the average person knows about Clouseau, bumbling ineptness, and given his take on it. I hate to critique someone of Martin's comic calibre, but in this case, I can't do anything but. Whereas Sellers seemed a natural, Martin is nothing short of forced in this role. He is just trying too hard, and that just takes away from the comedy. And in a movie with a cast that also includes another comedic genius, John Cleese, the result is simply not what I expected.

My recommendation really depends on your tastes. If you like Peter Sellers, then don't bother with this film. Otherwise, take a look, you might find something to like about it.

Pick of the week: Wayback Machine

I have been browsing the Web on a daily basis for almost 10 years now, and was browsing irregularly for the 5 years before that. Although I have a pretty extensive collection on links and try to keep it sorted, refreshed and updated, I still run into a problem on certain occasions; when a site is no longer hosted, and simply disappears! We lose real gems this way!

In comes the Wayback Machine to the rescue. Browse through over 150 billion web pages archived from 1996 to a very recently. And it's easy to use too. To start using the Wayback Machine, just type in the URL of a site or page where you would like to begin, and press Enter. Then select from the archived dates available. The resulting pages point to other archived pages at as close a date as possible. Unfortunately, keyword searching is not currently supported, but it may be in the future.

If you've "lost" a site you really liked, do yourself a favour and head over to the Wayback Machine. You might be surprised at what you find!!!

Movie Review: Knowing

I've always liked end of the world disaster movies, like The Day After Tomorrow and Deep Impact. There is something a little satisfying in seeing the reaction of the masses to some implausible but potential scenarios of global doom. But Knowing takes this concept one step further; what if you knew in advance about the end of the world?

Starring Nicholas Cage as a widowed and less than believable astrophysics professor. Spoilers are provided below, so if you haven't seen the movie, do yourself a favour and wait before reading the rest.

During the historic opening of a time capsule placed at his son's high school, students unseal letters written by students from fifty years ago. Cage's son receives a strange letter covered in numbers, without any obvious sense. Piqued by a curious encounter with a mysterious being and strange whispering, the son brings the letter home. That night, after confronting his son concerning the theft of the letter, which Cage considers school property, and during one of his nightly drinking bouts as he slips into a depressive state due to the death of his wife, Cage discovers within the letter a sequence of numbers that corresponds to the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Centre. More importantly, a number following the date corresponds exactly to the number of victims.

Furious research through the night allow Cage to discover that the letter is a complete list of all of the major disasters of the last fifty years, in perfect sequential order. But is it a coincidence? As one of his colleagues points out, there are also sequences of numbers between each set of dates that are unaccounted for, which could indicate that Cage is simply finding meaning in random numbers. And the odd ending of the letter, which provides a date and the number 33 do not really correspond to anything. Since there are three sets of dates that indicate future events, Cage proceeds to investigate and eventually attempt to stop the disasters that indicated by the dates and numbers of victims, and what we eventually discover are the exact coordinates for each happening. We also learn that the little girl who had written the letter fifty years ago had locked herself in a closet in the school and scratched something else into the door. After meeting with the daughter of the letter writer, Cage discovers that the 33 are actually upside down letter E, and that EE stands for Everyone Else and we finally understand that the final catastrophe will be global in scale and will mean the end of humanity. Being an astrophysics professor, Cage quickly determines that an unusually strong solar flare will destroy all life on Earth.

The mysterious stranger has now multiplied and we begin to realize that they are not from this world, and that they are here for a purpose. This is when the movie begins to take a turn for the worst as we quickly learn that the Strangers are here to save some humans, specifically certain children, including Cage's son and the daughter of the daughter of the original letter writer. All along, the Strangers had sent messages, warnings if you like, to allow the descendants of some chosen people to survive the next fifty years in order to be "picked up" just before the impending disaster.

The story ends, and we witness the destruction of the Earth but not before watching the alien spaceship lift off from the surface, and from our bird's eye perspective, we see that several ships are leaving the surface of the planet in the same way. Moments later, these ships quickly "warp" away from Earth's orbit and the flare hits the planet, eradicating everything on the planet's surface. The children are dropped in a field of bulbous, wheat-like plains, where they immediately begin to walk towards a lone white tree, as we see other alien ships in the distance, we assume dropping their "cargo" in the same manner.

The movie was an enjoyable visual experience, and although the story has some elements of drama, the story telling was simply not up to par with the possibilities that this story held. Cage provided adequate acting skills, but his role did not really allow him to display anything other than utter depression, or utter terror at the impending doom! It's worth watching at least once, but that's about it.