Just Do It.
August 31, 2002“The person who says it cannot be done should not interrupt the person doing it.”
Chinese Proverb.
Archive for August, 2002
Game Console Timeline.
August 28, 2002In May I started a Game Console Timeline. Here is the latest version.
August 28 2002 - Sony and Microsoft announce 17% price cut in Europe
June 25 2002 - Video games industry on track for projected increase of sales by 12 percent to $US31 billion
June 14 2002 - Sony cuts PS2 price to $399.95 in Australia
May 20 2002 - Microsoft announces it will invest $1 Billion in XBox Live game network
May 20 2002 - GameCube price cut in US (25%)
May 17 2002 - Gamecube hits stores in Australia
May 15 2002 - Electoric Arts plans to support Sony PS2 Online Gaming (articles : 1 2 )
May 15 2002 - XBox price cut announced for US and Japan (~30%)
May 14 2002 - PS2 price cut announced for US (~30%)
Apr 23 2002 - Gamecube price cut announced for Australia (~17%), pre-release
Apr 18 2002 - XBox price cut announced for Australia and Europe (38%)
Apr 18 2002 - Microsoft announce lower forecast for FY2002 from 4.5 - 6 Million to 3.5 - 4 Million units
Mar 2002 - XBox hits stores in Europe
Feb 2002 - XBox hits stores in Japan
Nov 18 2001 - Gamecube hits stores in US
Nov 15 2001 - XBox hits stores in US
Sep 26 2001 - PS2 price cut announced for Europe (~30%)
Jun 2001 - PS2 price cut announced for Japan (12%)
Oct 26 2000 - PS2 hits stores in US
Mar 1999 - PS2 unveiled in Japan
Please let me know if you think another date should be included.
Soap Cola.
August 27, 2002Could the next Cola war be fought in the bathroom. The Pepsi Melanoma challenge.
“A study suggests that a skin lotion spiked with caffeine or with another compound found in green tea can reduce by more than half the number of cancer tumours on the skin of hairless mice exposed to brutal levels of ultraviolet radiation“. Caffeine may lower skin cancers .
That’s not a lightsaber. THAT’S a lightsaber!
August 27, 2002The Australian Census held last year finally sheds some light on why the Star Wars prequals are filmed in Australia. It seems 70,509 of us are Jedi Knights.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) said Jedi or Jedi-related responses had been categorised as not defined for census output purposes.
“However, due to interest in this matter further analysis of census responses has been undertaken since the release of census data on 17 June to separately identify the number of Jedi-related responses,” an ABS spokesman said.
He said 0.37 per cent, or 70,509 people, provided Jedi or a Jedi-related response on their census form.
Flight Club.
August 27, 2002My friend Richard’s exploits with WarFlying have hit the big time, getting an article printed in the Sydney Morning Herald, War driving takes to the air over Perth. Given the idea was his, I thought I’d give him and his club, Flight Club, another plug.
I always knew there was a reason that Pineapples were made that size.
“We made this antenna from a Golden Circle pineapple can because it’s just the right diameter“.
Buy More Bottled Water.
August 27, 2002I have a new hero. Jonathan Potter, executive director of Digital Media Association. To quote him from the article Downloads Blamed for Low CD Sales, “the way to defeat illegal music distribution services is to offer comprehensive, innovative, fairly priced legal services“. “Until the record companies offer their content ubiquitously in a consumer-friendly way, studies like this are useless.“
The article discusses the RIAA’s new study that offers proof that free downloads are the cause of the decline in CD sales.
Potter also builds a brilliant comparison, “I’d like to introduce the recording industry to something called bottled water…The point is if there were a high-quality product that was affordable and available across multiple services, they would be able to defeat the free services.“
Intellectually Underachieving Teen-Pop.
August 26, 2002Driving home tonight from work I feverishly flicked radio stations in an attempt to get a fix of some good tunes. I eventually gave up, listening to to a channel that sounded just like the others. This seems to be happening more often lately, which made me wonder if my age is effecting my music taste.
Luckily I bumped into a Slate article that suggests that today’s music is heading the same way as disco.
It turned out that home taping had not killed music. Instead, the central problem was the collapsing popularity of dance-poplively, sexy, but personality-free music whose appeal was broad but thin. They called it disco back then, and the name has never recovered from the era’s backlash. Although usually termed teen-pop, the music of ‘N Sync and Britney Spears is not unlike disco: Both are intellectually underachieving, cookie-cutter styles that have made stars of performers not known primarily for their skills as singers, songwriters, or musicians.
From “Hit Charade. The music industry’s self-inflicted wounds.“, by Mark Jenkins.
Either today’s music is bland, or Mark and I have age in common.
Mark’s article is an interesting read, giving reasons other than peer to peer file sharing for the decline in CD sales, such as changes in demographics and the state of current music genres.
HIH Royal Commission
August 25, 2002Ridiculous business practice is not just in the realm of U.S. organisations.
From The Australian newspaper, August 9.
HIH Royal Commission. Day 131. Wayne Martin QC examining Raymond Reginald Williams.
Martin: “Could you tell us please if, on your frequent first-class trips to London, you booked the seat next to you for your briefcase ?”
Williams: “I don’t recall specifically. But that may have been the case, on some occasions. “
Martin: “That your briefcase was also travelling first class?”
Williams: “That may have been the case.”
Martin: “Did you express the view to Qantas that this briefcase should be eligible for frequent flier points ?”
Williams: “I can’t recall that.”
Martin: “And were you subsequently informed that said briefcase would not be eligible for such points on the grounds that it was not, in fact, a person ?”
Williams: “That may have been the airline’s position on that issue.”
Martin: “Was that briefcase, from that point on, booked under the name of Casey Williams ?”
Williams: “Casey Reginald Williams, AM.”
DashBlog.
August 25, 2002Gadget Junkie.
August 24, 2002Last year my brother bought me a Nikon Coolpix 885 Digital Camera for Christmas. I know, what a great brother. It was my pride and joy for only a few weeks. It was stolen in January when a drug addict climbed up to our balcony and broke in to steal it, my mobile phone and the keys for my car. The car was found the next day, abandoned along with an empty syringe packet and needle swab. Unfortunately Kilee and I hadn’t insured the apartment and I couldn’t claim the loss.
Last night I finally replaced it. After several hours research on the net - many thanks to dpreview.com - I narrowed the list to the Canon PowerShot S30 or S40.
Both cameras are small, robust, and feature a good range of manual functions. In fact more manual functions that my old Nikon. The only difference between the two is the S40’s 4 million pixels compared to the S30’s 3.2, the S30 has an extra ISO setting (800), and the greater price of the S40. On closer inspection it looks like the battery life differs between them, and due to the greater image size the S40 stores less in a Flash Card.
I’m a gadget junky, and often base my decisions on price. The higher the price, the more likely I am to buy it. That’s why I surprised myself when I purchased the S30. I justified the lack of pixels because I am unlikely to print many photos that require the quality. A standard 6″x4″ only requires two million pixels. Potentially cropping images and zooming would benefit from the extra million, but not for an extra $AU400. After all, it will need replacing in a couple of years.
A great feature of the Canon range of digitals is the PhotoStitch mode. The ability to take up to 26 photos and then stitch them together to form a larger photo. Fantastic for panoramic shots or where the object is larger than a single frame will do it justice. So, using the function, here is the view of the beautiful city of Perth from my apartment’s balcony.
