Gundam and Anime in Japan

I spent some time in Japan recently and while I was there I had the chance to see 1st hand the popularity of all things anime. The stores are filled with merchandise based on popular anime series. When I was a kid I loved the Macross series so I really got a kick out of looking through all of this stuff - I even bought a Gundam Fix Figuration model (similar to the one pictured on the left) to display in my office.

Female figures (like the one pictured below) are even more popular than the mechanized (robotic) figures - very serious looking Japanese business men spend more time than they should browsing the aisles at the local hobby/toy stores for the latest GoodSmile (great pictures) collectible - it's a little odd but you've got to give the manufacturers props for attention to detail, the models look great. All of these models are from cartoons that both kids and adults watch.

Danny Choo spends a lot of time taking macro shots of his collection - it's worth a look if you have any interest at all in the mechanized or female anime figures. You can also see quite a few pictures of these figures on Flickr.

Apologies, this post is a little off the tech topic but Gundam and Japanese anime are both popular with the Geek Squad so I took a chance on it. Most of this stuff is available in the U.S. if you look around a bit but it tends to be on the expensive side - a Gundam figure will cost you about $70 and the selection here is poor relative to what you can buy in Japan - the female figures are even harder to find.

Akihabara News

Bumped into Akihabara News ad while browsing Danny Choos's site - Akihabara News is a great place to read up on gadgets coming out of Japan and Korea before they show up here and a lot of them never will.

Danny's site is great - we share some of the same interests. He's a big Gundam fan and he likes walking around Tokyo dressed in Stormtrooper garb - my kind of fun. Keep it up Danny.

Swissbit - SwissMemory USB Victorinox Multiple Choice

Swissbit Swissmemory USB Victorinox Datasheet PDF

I'm not a big fan of USB flash drives - there are a lot of others ways to move big files around and they usually feel too fragile to be trusted. The Swissbit Swissmemory USB Victorinox caught my attention on Engadget because it looks cool and it sports a 2GB capacity - see the press release. Still not a fit for my needs but I can see why students and travelers might like it.

They're including the usual scissors, knife, nail file, and screw driver on the rubyRED and retroALOX versions, while the rubyRED version -- which is looking a tad chubby these days -- also adds a ballpoint pen and an LED light for extra geek cred. You can even pop out the drive part for flying, since the TSA isn't so hot on knives these days, or just make a run for it at the security gate and see how far you get.
via - Engadget

RSS 2.0 Template for MovableType

Clean RSS 2.0 template for MovableType via Aardvark Speaks - I the PalmIt.com RSS 2.0 feed.

Google China

Google and their role in China took the stage this week. IMO - the Chinese are better off with limited access to Google than no access to Google. Keep letting them lick the surface of freedom and eventually they'll demand a meal. More leaks in the Great Firewall.

Recommended reading:

Google will face Congressional hearings over China
Google: China decision painful but right
Google founder defends China portal
[Image] Google search results for "Tienanmien" on Google France (left) vs Google China (right)

Adding your Podcast to iTunes

The PalmIT podcast is now available as a subscription via the iTunes Music Store. Getting an RSS feed configured to meet Apple's schema was the hardest part about making the podcast available in the iTunes Music Store. Here are the resources I used to make it happen. Become the 3rd person to subscribe to the PalmIT podcast now.

Podcasting and iTunes: Technical Specifications
iTunes Podcast - Jake Ludington
Brandon Fuller - MT-Enclosure - added support for ENCLOSURE element to MovableType

PalmIT Podcast #2 - Thoughts on Japan

I thought it would be a good idea to podcast some of my thoughts on my recent trip to Japan before I lose track of the details. So here we go, my 2nd podcast.

PalmIT Podcast #2 - Thoughts on Japan (14:15)
Flickr: Japan 2005 Photoset
 

 Toto toilet control - beware squirting stream

 Akihabara - gadgets galore

 Awesome Phones

Commenting and Blogs

Commenting on blog posts, reading the comments associated with one of your own blog posts, and responding to the comments left on your posts, is an important part of blogging. The discourse between author and commenter often results in the original author refining or further clarifying his/her post as it did in this case in a recent MobileCrunch post.

"Ryan Daigle, took the time to comment suggesting that perhaps I was mistaken and that Yahoo was far from being in such a predicament. Ryan, thanks for putting me to rights. - mobilecrunch.com"

Unfortunately, blog commenting is under attack and bloggers are losing the war. Comment spam, off-topic comments, and flaming for the sake of flaming, are destroying the forum. Many bloggers, like Jason Kottke of Kottke.org simply can't keep up and they're disabling their commenting systems. More recently, the Washington Post disabled their commenting system.

"But there are things that we said we would not allow, including personal attacks, the use of profanity and hate speech. Because a significant number of folks who have posted in this blog have refused to follow any of those relatively simple rules, we've decided not to allow comments for the time being. It's a shame that it's come to this. - washingtonpost.com"

Somebody needs to develop a technical solution for this problem ASAP. 1st we lost Trackback functionality, commenting is under attack and the casualties are stacking up - to top it off, blogs are being attacked by splogs on all fronts. Whose going to lead the fight. Dave Winer's comments about the recent WashingtonPost.com announcement were surprising. Please comment ; )

Windows Vista User Interface

I'm just starting to get excited about Windows Vista. These aren't new videos but they do a good job of showing off some of the cool new U.I. enhancements that will be part of Vista.

Kam Vedbrat - Looking at Windows Vista's user interface

Sean Alexander (and others) - Windows Vista Sidebar and Gadgets

Shell Team - Exploring and Using Windows Vista

Japan Trip Photos

PalmIT Podcast #1 - It's a First

I produced the 1st PalmIT podcast tonight - It's a First - and I had a great time doing it. It isn't long, it doesn't feature anybody famous, and it doesn't have any special effects to offer but it's a 1st and worth a listen. I hope to do more in the future - we'll see where this goes.

PalmIT Podcast #1 - It's A First (7:44) PalmIT Podcast Feed

What's PalmIT all about?
My PodCasting Tools
PalmIT Review: TeleFlip

Viagra

Adsense watching - you know, posting content just to see the ads Google's Adsense serves up. So I'm in my "golden years" and I use lots of Viagra to keep things up. Florida is great - loving the Cadillac. Get it? Adsense ad below - click it!

Update: Well, I expected an ad related to Viagra or something similar to appear almost instantly - I'm a little disappointed. We'll have to see how this develops.

Pot and E-mail

E-mail it totally out of control - reading my e-mail makes me feel stoned. "I didn't inhale!"

"e-mail might do more damage to your brain than smoking pot" "multitasking is worse for your ability to concentrate than getting stoned"

VIA - Discover.com

gapingvoid - Top Ten Reasons Nobody Reads Your Blog

Top Ten Reasons Nobody Reads Your (my) Blog - VIA GapingVoid

 #10 is my favorite

Apple's Market Value

Last Friday Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO, sent the following e-mail to his team.

"Team, it turned out that Michael Dell wasn't perfect at predicting the future. Based on today's stock market close, Apple is worth more than Dell. Stocks go up and down, and things may be different tomorrow, but I thought it was worth a moment of reflection today. Steve."

Last Friday Apple's market value was $72.3 billion, Dell's was $71.97 billion. I'm amazed. I still can't believe Steve saved Apple from what most people thought was certain doom and with the Ipod (an MP3 player) for that matter - who would have thunk.

Maybe I'll be using an Apple as my primary machine before the year is up - or maybe I'll just be using their OS. Is a real OS alternative going to emerge from the Jobs hype cloud? I think it's possible. I think Jobs might be secretly planning an all out attack on Microsoft and the OS they've been struggling with for so many years. I think he wants Tiger to work on the PC hardware platform. If he can eliminate the hardware problem (technically and from a business perspective) he can use the Jobs hype cloud to move the masses towards his OS. Compare the Tiger home page to the Vista home page - you can see Steve in the Tiger home page and Bill in the Vista homepage. Culturally, the two companies are very different - people are tired of Windows - if you give them a sexy alternative with low switching costs they might just jump ship. Time will tell.

Update: Chris Pirillo speculating on Apple's future - Apple's OS Comes Bundled with Windows on all Dell Machines - Apple Financial Results Q1 2006 Jan 18th

Update: Om Malik - 22 Days of Apple - blogging about historical trends in Apple stock

TechCrunch Network - Quarterly Goals

Michael Arrington of TechCrunch launched MobileCrunch today - it's a TechCrunch Network blog. MobileCrunch is the 3rd blog to join the TechCrunch Network (kind or laughing) of blogs - the 2nd was CrunchNotes. Here's a link to the official announcement.

Launch chronology - quarterly goals?
TechCrunch June 2005 >> CrunchNotes October 2005 >> MobileCrunch January 2006 >>
[ ? ]Crunch April 2006 >>

Oliver Starr (that's a resume + some) will be heading up the new blog so Michael can stay focused on TechCrunch. Michael is expanding quickly - maybe too quickly. This might sound crazy to some of you but I've started to relate TechCrunch to the old Industry Standard days we all so fondly remember.

Is TechCrunch still a blog? IMO - CrunchNotes is a blog, TechCrunch is a business venture. Technically, it fits the definition - but does it fit the "spirit" of what blogs are supposed to be. When does a blog become just another content site? Will TechCrunch be associated with a 2nd bubble much like The Industry Standard is associated with the 1st? Time will tell.

Tag Clouds

John Herren commented recently on my News Cloud post - his Tag Cloud project makes it really easy for anyone to build a Tag Cloud [definition] of their very own from an RSS Feed or even an OPML Feed. I created my 1st Tag Cloud from the RSS feeds of the Feedster Top 100 blogs.

Aardvark'd:12 Weeks With Geeks

I watched  Aardvark'd:12 Weeks With Geeks on Chritmas Eve while I was wrapping presents - a documentary about a group of progamming interns and their summer at Fog Creek Software. Fog Creek Software is captained by Joel Spolsky - a software developer out of New York City and author of the popular blog on software development - Joel on Software. I ordered the DVD thinking it would reflect the same kind of quality content I find over and over again on Joel on Software - boy was I wrong.

Don't order or watch this movie thinking you're going to learn something about software development - especially if you're already in the business. Don't expect the same kind of quality content and insight you'll find on Joel on Software. Watch the movie if you want to see a "coming of age" piece about a group of young programmers going to "the big city" for the 1st time. Personally, watching this movie was a waste of my time - order now and form your own opinion.

Sorry Joel. Produce a 2.0 version of the movie this summer - a movie that actually documents your software development process.

Related:
Aardvark'd Trailer
Aardvark'd P & L (Joel on Software - Joel calculates P & L for project)
O'Reilly Rader: A Review of Aardvark'd:12 Weeks With Geeks 

My "Wired" Series 2 Tivo

I've had a Tivo for over two years (1st post) now and I have to say it's still one of my favorite gadgets. It's one of the few gadgets my wife and I both see eye-to-eye on - the Tivo saves us (busy parents) precious minutes everyday. This week I finally managed to "Wire" my Tivo - it's now connected to my home network and the Internet.

Until recently, I just didn't have a reason to justify the expense or the effort required to run wire to the closet where my Tivo lives - it was connected to my analog phone line (to retrieve the TV schedule) and that was good enough. TiVoToGo, Tivo multimedia features, on-line scheduling, and other features supported by the Series 2 Tivo weren't enough to motivate me to "wire" my Tivo.

Tivo recently announced that the Tivo Desktop (software that lets you transfer stuff to and from your Tivo over your home network) will soon support video transfer to the Apple Ipod - this feature announcement  was my motivation for wiring my Tivo.

Wiring my Tivo took about as much money and effort as I thought it would. After doing some research, and making a failed trip to Best Buy (poor inventory AKA Worst Buy), I settled on and purchased a D-Link USB 2.0 Fast Ethernet Adapter – I ordered it on-line because Best Buy doesn’t have any inventory. Did I mention that Best Buy doesn’t have any inventory. The Ethernet Adapter was required to connect my Tivo to my home network – for some reason the Tivo doesn’t sport an Ethernet port, instead it has two USB ports. Connecting the Tivo to my network and the Internet was as easy as plugging in the adapter, connecting it to an Ethernet cable (which is connected to a router, etc. etc.), and adjusting a setting within the Tivo Setup. My Tivo is now more powerful than ever and I’m anxiously awaiting the new version of Tivo Desktop which should make it easy for me to transfer video content to my sexy little Apple Ipod.

By the way, I don’t regret my decision to put this off for two years – I haven’t used any of the existing features yet – I just want to transfer video content to my Apple Ipod.
 

News Cloud

Clicked into a cool tool today that helps you get a good perspective on what's currently the hot topic in the news. NewZingo builds a "News Cloud" from the tags associated with Google News stories - the most popular tags come to the top and start to stand-out from the rest of the cloud. Pretty cool visual aid.

NewZingo - your map to Google News