David's Blog

I saw WALL-E last night.

I really liked it...and I am not alone. It currently has a 96% tomatometer score, which is really good. For comparison, Iron Man (my favorite of the summer), has a score of 93%.

This movie has a different feel than previous Pixar films. The main characters don't talk, so communication via expression is the focus...and it works.

Ben Burtt (responsible for R2-D2's chirps, light saber sounds, Darth Vader's breathing, among others) did the sounds of the robots in WALL-E. The sound is one of the reasons I really liked the film.

Sigourney Weaver gets a chance to see other side...she is the voice of the ship's computer and gets to do the "this ship will self destruct in 5 minutes" line.

The movie opens with an animated short called "Presto". It was fun...one of the better shorts. It reminded me of PDI's Gabola The Great from 1997.

So where does this fit in with Pixar's other 8 films? I put it in the top half along with The Incredibles, Monster's Inc. and Toy Story...which means it is a *very* good film.

Technorati Tags: WALL-E, Pixar, Review

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Posted on June 28, 2008 11:58 AM | Permalink| Comments (2)

Apple fanboys believe their beloved Mac is impervious to viruses. The commercial above certainly seems to make that point.

I thought of this ad when I learned about a new exploit discovered this week for the Mac. It is a Trojan horse that can be bundled with a downloadable Mac application. The Trojan will install a keystroke logger and give someone remote access to your Mac.

The part that *really* caught my attention was the discussion of what Apple should do to protect its users from harmful software:

MAKE MAC SECURITY MORE LIKE WINDOWS VISTA

The author suggests 5 things that can be done to make the Mac more secure against these attacks...all 5 are already done in Vista.

Cupertino, start your photocopiers!

Just like to stir up the nest every once in a while. :)

Technorati Tags: Mac, Trojan horse, PC, Vista, Security

Posted on June 26, 2008 12:31 AM | Permalink| Comments (11)

Impressive...most impressive...

Technorati Tags: Star Wars, Imperial March, Floppy Disk

Posted on June 23, 2008 10:33 PM | Permalink| Comments (0)

This is really cool. A paper dragon that appears to always be watching you...

Click here to read about it and get a print-out of the dragon so you can make your own.

Technorati Tags: Dragon, Paper, Optical Illusion

Posted on June 23, 2008 10:27 PM | Permalink| Comments (6)

I was really excited about the new iPhone 3G that will be out July 11th.

Two things that were requirements for me were missing in the original iPhone: 3G and Exchange support.

I care about Exchange support because I have my own Exchange server via 1&1. This lets me use Outlook on my desktop, and a web browser anywhere else to access my email/calendar/contact list. My AT&T Tilt supports Exchange, so I also have access on my phone. With Exchange, you don't have to sync anything...update data in one place and it is automatically updated everywhere.

The new iPhone adds 3G and Exchange support.

Now there was nothing stopping me from getting an iPhone...until I started digging a little deeper.

iPhone is missing several features that I currently have on my AT&T Tilt and I'm not prepared to give up. These missing features are enough for me to change my mind and pass on the new iPhone.

What's missing from the iPhone 3G (but my current phone has)?

• iPhone can't be used by a laptop to connect to the Internet (tethering/internet sharing). My Tilt uses Bluetooth to connect my laptop wirelessly to the Internet...works great and it doesn't cost anything extra because I have unlimited data downloads.
• Can't run multiple apps at the same time. I think this is a *big* problem with the iPhone. The last time I used an OS that couldn't run multiple apps at the same time was DOS! A typical usage pattern for me that won't work on the iPhone is:
• Start reading mail
• Click on html link in email
• Continue reading mail while web page loads
• Click on attached picture in next email to download
• Switch to web browser to see html link
• Switch to see downloaded picture
• Switch back to email
• Doesn't fully support Exchange. The iPhone supports email, contacts, and calendar. But it *doesn't* support task lists and notes.
• Web browser doesn't support Adobe Flash. That means a lot of web sites won't work on the iPhone (like youtube.com, for example).
• No copy/paste support
• No hardware keyboard
• Writing software for iPhone requires a Mac (who has one of those?!?!) and programming in Objective C (who knows that?!?!?) Hey Apple...how about the other 99% of the market that has a PC and knows C++?
• The iPhone is a closed platform...the only applications you will see are ones that Apple approves. If Apple doesn't want Adobe to make Flash work on the iPhone, then Adobe is out of luck (which seems to be the case).

The best thing about the iPhone is how much focus mobile phones are getting now...I expect to see some interesting developments over the next year from Google's new phone OS Android and the next versions of Window Mobile.

Technorati Tags: iPhone, 3G

Posted on June 20, 2008 12:50 AM | Permalink| Comments (17)

Wow! This *really* changes how I use my cell phone.

Skyfire is a web browser that works just like the web browser that runs on your PC. It supports Java, Javascript, Flash, Quicktime, etc.

I haven't had any trouble with any website I've tried: facebook, match, youtube, davidlenihan.com/ORIGINAL_davidlenihan.com, espn...all sites that wouldn't work or had formatting issues with the mobile version of Internet Explorer that comes with Windows Mobile.

With Skyfire, you use the normal website, not the dumbed down versions designed to fit on a small screen. Audio and video work as expected.

I downloaded the beta for free...but considering how much utility this brings to my phone...I'd pay a lot for this software...it's worth it! I feel like I got a new phone...probably because the web browser was the weakest part of Windows Mobile.

Check out the demo to see it in action...

Technorati Tags: Skyfire, Windows Mobile, web browser

Posted on June 19, 2008 9:10 AM | Permalink| Comments (4)

This is so outrageously wrong that it seems like a joke...but I think it may be real.

A new game called "Limbo of the Lost" blatantly uses content from several other games.

Here is an article comparing Limbo of the Lost to Oblivion.

Here is a thread of where people uncover more lifted content from other games and movies.

When tourist guy first hit the Internet, parodies soon followed.

And let the parodies of "Limbo of the Lost" begin!

My favorite is Zork...

Technorati Tags: Limbo of the Lost, Oblivion

Posted on June 19, 2008 8:18 AM | Permalink| Comments (1)

I got a new laptop last week. It is a Lenovo IdeaPad 110. Lenovo was previously IBM's laptop division responsible for ThinkPads.

The main reason I went with this one is how light/small it is and it still has a good keyboard. It weighs less than 2.5 pounds and easily fits in my backpack.

I am writing this from a restaurant. I have been running with the extended battery (comes with a regular and extended standard). I've been here for more than 2 hours and my battery indicator says I can go for another hour. I haven't done any tweaking to conserve power, so I could probably go longer. With the settings I have on now, the computer is very responsive and the screen is nice and bright.

I am using my AT&T Tilt's Bluetooth connection for Internet access.

It has a very unique/engaging look...which is very important around here when you have to do battle with all the Apple-fanboys.

The face recognition (via integrated web cam) login works surprisingly well, as long as the light is decent. At first I thought this would be a gimmick, but I rarely type my password anymore. As soon as I sit in front of my laptop, it logs me in. You also have the option to use your face for Internet passwords, which is very handy.

I got my laptop from J&R. I bought it for $1999, which was $100 more than what you get if you order from Lenovo directly. Currently, you can't configure the laptop. However, the version from J&R has integrated Bluetooth and 3GB of RAM (Lenovo's site is selling 2GB of RAM with no Bluetooth). Bluetooth is critical for me because I expect to use it for my Internet connection and I don't want to deal with add-on cards. The extra RAM is nice, but I don't actually need it for what I'm doing

So far, I love it.

I plan on using it for email, Internet, blogging, and a C# project I've been planning for a while.

Here is a video to get an idea of what it looks like. It definitely draws attention.

Posted on June 14, 2008 9:06 PM | Permalink| Comments (8)

I saw The Happening tonight.

I went in with low expectations based on what I read on rottentomatoes.

I also already knew the plot and had seen most of the special effects (ILM did several).

I still wanted to see it.

When the movie was over, I actually heard several people booing.

However...I actually liked the movie (I think I was the only one).

It is *very* creepy, which is what I liked most about it.

The movie reminds me of Night of the Living Dead.

The acting is bad, but it fits in with a B-grade horror movie. It's debatable whether the bad acting is by design or it is just bad acting. I want to believe it's the former.

The *previews* were really good. I saw previews for several movies that look interesting that I didn't know about:

• Eagle Eye
• X Files: I Want To Believe
• Blindness

Technorati Tags: The Happening

Posted on June 14, 2008 12:25 AM | Permalink| Comments (0)

Coming to a theater near you...

Technorati Tags: Cockpuncher

Posted on June 11, 2008 11:42 PM | Permalink| Comments (0)

Resizing a partition used to require PartitionMagic...but no more! Vista has shrinking/growing partitions built into "Disk Management."

I bought a new laptop this past week and it came with the hard drive broken up into a C: drive and a D: drive. I *hate* multiple drive letters, so I deleted D: and extended C: to take up the extra space using Disk Management. Works great!

To bring up Disk Management:

Start->Control Panel->Search->partition->Create and format hard disk partitions

Right click on a drive letter and you should see two new menu options in Vista:

• Extend Volume (if you have unallocated space)
• Shrink Volume

This is the dialog box you get with Shrink Volume...

Technorati Tags: Windows, Vista, Disk Management

Posted on June 11, 2008 12:05 AM | Permalink| Comments (0)

Is anybody going to do anything about the mayhem in Liberty City?!?!? The police don't seem to care. Read this article that perfectly articulates the issues of the sudden rise of murders...830,000 people or one tenth the population since April 28th!

Technorati Tags: Grand Theft Auto IV, The Onion

Posted on June 9, 2008 11:32 PM | Permalink| Comments (0)

I did some digging over the past week to figure out how to password protect a section of my blog.

My blog is hosted with an Apache server.

I read this article about how Apache supports access control of files on a server.

There are two parts:

1. An .htaccess file that contains all the settings for access control. This file also points to a password file.
2. A password file

The .htaccess file impacts everything at the same level as .htaccess and below. The documentation page for .htaccess is here.

A sample .htaccess file looks like this:

AuthType Basic
AuthName "Password Required"
AuthUserFile /www/passwords/password.file
AuthGroupFile /www/passwords/group.file
Require Group admins

I found that I had to start .htaccess with "<Files DIRNAME>" and end with "</Files>" in order to make it work for me...not sure why. I only learned about this after I called my hosting company (1&1) for help. It may be particular 1&1.

Then I had to create a password file (password.file in the above example).

This page explains how to set up a password file with the command "htpasswd."

I used PuTTY to login to the server and vi to edit the .htaccess file.

Technorati Tags: password, blog, apache

Posted on June 8, 2008 10:23 AM | Permalink| Comments (0)

The Police Squad! intro, recreated in GTA4. Big ups to my bro for this.

For comparison, here's what the original intro looked like in the Naked Gun movie.

Technorati Tags: Police Squad!, Naked Gun, Grand Theft Auto IV

Posted on June 7, 2008 5:32 PM | Permalink| Comments (3)

Kung Fu movie auditions...thanks to Neil for the hookup.

Technorati Tags: Kung Fu

Posted on June 7, 2008 5:21 PM | Permalink| Comments (0)

I probably started nuking the fridge when I started using twitter.

Technorati Tags: Nuking the Fridge

Posted on June 4, 2008 10:53 PM | Permalink| Comments (0)

Technorati Tags: Cell Phone, Microswave

Posted on June 4, 2008 12:26 AM | Permalink| Comments (1)

Give this a try...

1. Go to this page
2. Type your first name on the 1st line
3. Type your last name on the 2nd line
4. Skip the next two lines
5. Click on "Visualizar" at the bottom left
6. Enjoy the show!

Technorati Tags: Flash

Posted on June 3, 2008 10:03 PM | Permalink| Comments (2)

I made the plunge yesterday and picked up a PS3 to use as a Blu-ray player. From what I've read, it is the best player out there and it is relatively cheap ($400).

There are some things I really about the PS3 when compared to an Xbox 360:

• Quiet operation! I don't notice the PS3 at all...and that is my #1 issue with the 360.
• Web browser...I can watch glorious 320x240 youtube videos stretched out on my HDTV
• Slot loading drive...no tray
• Solid unit...360 feels cheap in comparison
• No power brick like the 360 has...just a cable to the wall outlet

I picked up the remote for the PS3 and figured I would use it to program my universal remote.

But you can't do that.

The PS3 does not have an IR port...it does its communications via bluetooth!

The cool thing about bluetooth is you don't have to do line-of-sight like you do with IR...which is nice.

The *bad* thing about bluetooth is...no other universal remote can send out those signals! So now I'm stuck with two remotes....grrrrr!

Help is on the way, though. There is a product called IR2BT that will take IR codes from your universal remote and convert them into bluetooth signals that the PS3 can understand! The product is out of stock, but I'm getting one as soon as they are available.

Now that the format war is over, I am switching to Blu-ray as my primary format. I picked up several discs this weekend including:

• Digital Video Essentials
• The Shining
• Terminator 2
• Memento
• Blade Runner
• Reservoir Dogs
• 2001
• Close Encounters
• Full Metal Jacket

I am going to continue to use my 360 for gaming. The PS3 doesn't have anything that I'm really interested in with their current line-up.

In October, Little Big Planet comes out for the PS3 exclusively...and I *will* get that. It looks amazing...

Technorati Tags: Playstation 3, Little Big Planet, Blu-ray

Posted on June 2, 2008 10:44 PM | Permalink| Comments (5)

Technorati Tags: Numb Nuts, Spelling Bee

Posted on June 2, 2008 10:02 PM | Permalink| Comments (1)