Cold Chillin...

So I was just checking out CNN.com and I saw this article explaining that Zoo Officials in Japan figured out why their two Polar Bears are not mating after repeated attempts…they’re both FEMALE Polar Bears.

Now while I don’t know thing one about bears, I am fairly sure I can pick out the boys, they’re the ones that have a wang. In fact not just any wang… I would imagine like other animals of that size, like say a horse, that the wang in question is probably rather large and scary.

After being wrong about the sex for 3 years, how did they figure it out? These Polar Bear Specialists had to actually put the Polar Bear under anesthesia and flip it over to check out his junk only to find out SHE has an ‘innie’ not an ‘outtie’.

I know that these bears are covered in hair all over…but you guys did go to school for this and apparently you suck at it. So if these ’scientists’ are the best hope Polar Bears have for survival, well I am sorry Polar Bears, but you’re fucked.

Obviously this one is a male…

Now how hard was that??

Read more about what passes for a Polar Bear Specialist in Japan on CNN…

I came across this calculation. Pretty interesting. 

In a “now your shit is outdated and worthless” move reminiscent of something Apple would do, Flip Video has released the Flip Video Mino HD (720p). Like a month after I purchased the Flip Video Mino, which I still love for it’s portability but loathe for it’s inability to focus on any kind of fine detail such as print.

Anyhoo, I got a great deal on an HD camera during the Circuit City fuck up fire sale last week, so I am not necessarily in the market for a 3rd camera in a month. However once this thing drops below $199, I am sure I will be replacing my Mino. Here is hoping they work out that fine detail issue, then it would really be perfect.

It looks like the casing is nearly identical to the original Mino. Now it has 4GB of storage instead of 2GB to accommodate the 1 hour of HD video. As usual, pop out USB for sync and charging.

$229 on Amazon

This is how media viewing was supposed to be all along, local files and internet media living together in 1080i (mostly). I think that the Apple TV should be free, and Boxee should be $250; because the Apple TV is pretty much a doorstop until you install it. The ATV fulfills almost none of my media viewing needs until this beautiful application is introduced.

This makes me want to get rid of my cable service, but who knows what will happen if and when Apple releases a new update? Let’s not think about that now. This is indeed a major step forward in integrating all the media you would ever want into one place. And as far as installation and usability, I have no complaints. I mean it is still in alpha and it is this good! The install was not bad at all as long as you follow the instructions on the Giz, and make sure that you update all the components of Boxee before running it. So take a look at the video below, as I detail the install and the usage of Boxee on the Apple TV.

It has been confirmed, they are saying there will be an Arrested Development movie! It was certainly one of the wittiest, creepiest and most awkward shows ever made! I was a big fan of it, and feel that it was canceled way before it’s time. This was the show that brought us the frozen banana stand, the never-nude and the stair truck as a family car! There have been rumors of a movie for years now, but this one looks like it might actually happen. Oh please Oh please Oh please!

 
I leave you with some of the greatest scenes ever shot for television.

I have had a few complaints about the quality of some of my videos, so I am going to try to do a bit better.

So as you might have heard Circuit City is not doing too well. And though I prefer them to Best Buy, it looks like the time for CC might be coming to an end. Last week they announced they would be closing 20% of their stores, just days before announcing that they would be filing for bankruptcy. Ouch.

Well one of the stores being closed is the one near me, and they have 10% to 30% off of most things, so I thought I would go and see what kind of open box goodness I could enjoy. A few weeks back I reviewed the Flip Video Mino camera, take a look here. I love that little camera, and the video quality is pretty nice for something that fits in your pocket. The downside? It can’t read displays or text off of my computer or iphone or anything printed at all. It just won’t focus on it. So that is the only disappointment in a pocket sized video camera, fine with me. But still I had a gap to fill. 

I walked into circuit city and it was a mad house. I saw a nice little flash based camera that would be fine for recording short blurbs and it would certainly be able to zoom in on small text of all kinds. It was open box and was going for around $150. It still had the battery, charger and manual; just no box. I thought about what a great deal I was getting as I took it up to the counter…

Anyway, I paid and I was on my way. Once home I pulled out the manual to check out the functions, and noticed a second battery in the plastic bag. Score! Free spare battery! Then I saw something wasn’t right, the model number on the manual did not match the model number on my camera.

It turns out they had this camera grouped with the wrong set of cameras. They were trying to keep all the same model open boxes together, however a lot of the Samsungs use the same casing, and you have to check the model number on the inside of the screen to tell the difference. Well I paid about $150 for a $400+ HD (720p w/ HDMI) Camera. Not the top of the line by any means, but way above what I paid for!

I thought this was a nice change after years of being over-charged by retail, now it is my turn to taste a little victory.

Thank You Veterans!

Great news everyone, it’s my lucky day!! Someone nice was listening, and I was able to get a Boxee Alpha invite. I can’t tell you how exited I am about this! I just went out and purchased my Apple TV; I have been waiting for something like Boxee to make it worth it to own one. Anyway, I have hacked my ATV and installed Boxee and I will post a full review of it tomorrow in the next day or two! So far it is amazing! I am watching Starship Troopers on Hulu as I type this.

Click here for an update!

I decided in my article ‘Apple TV or Western Digital TV or Windows Media Center‘ that I would go with the Apple TV. I went with the ATV because of the recent ability to hack it into playing all formats, and files over the network or external USB. That sounds like exactly what I need, and without the crappy interface of WMC to piss me off!

Well in order to live the dream with my ATV I need to first hack it with Boxee. With the addition of Boxee to my ATV I will be able to use a multitude of online video sites, such as Hulu. That in itself is amazingly cool, and add that to the reasons I mentioned above and I am sold! 

Well Boxee is not for sale. It is currently in alpha, and as much as I want to hack the shit out of my ATV to start enjoying my media again, I am stuck on a waiting list for alpha testers. Which after this article on the Giz, I can only imagine is about a bazillion people long. 

Anyway, Patience is a good thing, so I will wait. But hopefully Boxee won’t make me wait too long. A nice picture to look at while I am waiting…

A perfect rainbow over the Boxee offices in Tel Aviv, Israel. I have been to Israel a couple times, going again in 2009. I need to get to Tel Aviv this time!

Click here to jump to the update

This music application Ocarina by Smule is amazing and only $0.99! It is so easy to play and it is linked to hundreds of other people playing around the world. A portable musical instrument and social networking tool in one!

Take a look at how easy it is, and how bad I am at it!

I have a bunch of movies and tv shows, so much it takes up about a Terabyte. Sure I have them, but how do I play them on my beautiful LCD TV? Not just play them, but play them conveniently. Currently I am using an HP media PC I picked up for about $500 a year and a half ago. It is Vista based, and uses Windows Media Center to play video. WMC is alright, but I don’t really find it easy to use. And as far as searching through 400+ movies by icon, not by name, well that just sucks.

As you can see I am not thrilled with the use of WMC, so I want to move on to another option like the Apple TV or the Western Digital TV. But which?

OK first, Apple TV which is already into it’s 2.0. It is small and easy like most Apple products, it can play HD and now with a little hacking (1 or 2) you can play all xvid and divx videos on it. Also you can download movies directly from the apple store for $2.99 and $3.99. There is a 40GB for $229 and a 160GB for $329. However with the same hack you can hook up an external hard drive via usb, so get the 40GB and save some money. Also it seems you can now get Hulu on your Apple TV, that is a major bonus.

OK so next, the Western Digital WD TV. This is a bit of a different take on a media player than the Apple TV. There is no built in storage, it is all provided via your attached USB drive(s). The cost is $129, so you are saving some money, and chances are you already have a usb hard drive around to hook up to it. But here seems to be the catch, in order to play most of your videos you will have to convert them with the included software. Which is kind of the reason I am using the HP still, I can play all formats without any conversion. Something not possible with the Apple TV up until recently via the hacks (1 or 2) I talked about earlier.

They both look good and have slick interfaces, they both do 1080P, both have HDMI, both can accept USB hard drives and I am sure there is or soon will be a rental service for the WD to match the Apple. But when it comes down to it, I don’t want to convert thousands of files over to a proprietary format. I would rather convert the Apple TV to play all of my files just once. I guess that is my answer.

I think I am going to get a 40GB Apple TV and give it a try. I will let you know how it goes.