The Original Bottle Rocket

I love Wes Anderson. His films were something my old manager Zausch and I found in common and helped make us good friends. Bottle Rocket has always held this sweet place in my heart. When I first saw it I had no idea who Wes Anderson was, all I knew is that it was a hilarious story of wannabe criminals that felt like the sort of film my friends and I would make if we ever put our minds to it.

Truely Digital Camcorders

Now that part of my new life will involve shooting a lot more video, videocameras are demanding a larger share of my attention. In case any of you hadn't figured it out by now, linear storage models are going the way of the videogame cartridge. Cast your gaze across the electronic landscape and what do you see? Answering machines: If anyone hasn't offloaded this task to a hosted service, then the box on their desk is using RAM. Music and videos: CD/DVD, iTMS, and BitTorrent are all digital delivery methods, and that's leaving out all the nex-gen malarkey.

Why then are Kevin Smith and George Lucas the only guys who actually care about putting an end to all this film? I know the argument for the superior quality of film, but all those advantages are on ticking clocks, and the sooner people move on is the quicker the digital world evolves.

Eric is on his way to getting his hands on the beautiful Sony DCR-SR100, which will record 7 hours of DVD-quality video onto it's 30GB drive! That should have people throwing their MiniDV cameras out the window, "Seven hours and I don't have to stop for anything but batteries? Ring me up Selley-I'll take seven!" If that weren't enough, the thing will shot 3 megapixel stills and it's got USB 2, so the cats at Make are bound to find a way to extend the camera's storage without a computer.

The other piece to this puzzle is whether now is the right time to start shooting in HD. While Sony is trying to maintain some sort of market lead with things like the HDR-HC3, that sort of price point is is slamming its head against the ceiling. Plus it goes against our first rule: It runs on tape. If you can do without 1080i, and honestly I think I can, then the Sanyo HD1 is the business. It fits in the palm of your hand (perfect for concert bootlegging), has a 2 inch OLED display to preserve your precious battery life, and records 40 minutes of 720p on 2GB of SD!

The early adopter in me is jumping on his bed like a nutter, and even though I know that in another product cycle I'll get 1080i recording straight to a 30GB drive, I so desperately want to piss away my first paycheck on one of these.

$30 DIY Powdercoat Gun

ZapWizard has built his own $30 powdercoat gun. Honestly who isn't sick and tired of having to spend their hard-earned cash on store-bought powdercoat guns?! I think we'll put aside the fact that such a contraption is what most people would call a fixed cost and instead ponder this: When electrically charging paint, isn't it best to leave that to professionals and focus on repainting your friend's car to resemble that of the Joker's henchmen?

(via Make)

Eavesdropping on Terry Semel

Jeff Jarvis sits in as Ken Auletta interviews Terry Semel. This is an interesting format for reporting; don't be the guy people want to hear from, and don't be the journalist. Instead just hang around and transcribe the whole thing for your blog, and in doing so probably scoop your friend.

I'll warn you that it is a long interview, but there are rays of light that when taken out of context can be quite hilarious:

“We don’t have the ambition to do a lot. We have the ambition to help lead the way and help others to do the work for us,” he says. “We don’t aspire to have 2,000 creative people working for Yahoo.”

--Terry Semel, Yahoo CEO

Dover Expeditions finds new ground

Most of you probably, no actually, I'm certain that you all absolutely loved the video of Monzel and I going down Adobe Creek. While I was down in the valley last weekend we did some scouting on the San Francisquito, which should be glorious when Monzel and our other recruits ride it this month. He sent out the scenario report, and it made me a bit sad that I would be missing out.

Well the sun did shine up here today on my way home from work. I decided to try a new route, and what did I find--The beautiful Juanita Creek! Keep in mind, down in the valley suburban urban rafting only has a small window within which the water levels are high enough. Up here in Washington though, hell, these guys invented rain.

Halo Tre trailer

Everyone get to work now, because we're going to need to block out a good chunk of vacation time to play this game next year. Enjoy the trailer, and go get the higher quality WMV version and the official Bungie announcement.

Playstation 3 Announcement Fallout

Sony has let their big black cat out of the bag. I think it's hilarious that after their nonsense boomerang controller concept, they reverted to decade-old design for the PS3. It's nice to know that when presented with an opportunity to improve on product design, Sony would rather...

Also interesting is the fact that they have removed the Dual-Shock force-feedback technology from the controller, replacing it with motion detectors. There was some bad press a while back about Dual-Shock, but when your competitors are doing at least force-feedback, if not that plus motion detection...

The crema here though has got to be the little nugget of letdown in the spec sheet (PDF) on the SCEI Japan site. The elements that are left out of the entry level $500 platform are the MemoryStick/SD/CF reader, 802.11 b/g connectivity, and HDMI output. So three simple steps to a lower-priced console: Take out in-house interoperability, ease-of-use network interfaces, and futureproofing output compatibility...

Anticompetitive Innovation in Vista

CNET this morning is covering a Yankee Group report (Report: Vista to hit anti-spyware, firewall markets) supposedly hitting desks today that addresses the potential effects Vista will have on the market for Windows security software. "Yankee Group expects Vista to significantly shrink the aftermarket for antispyware and desktop firewalls," says Andrew Jaquith in the report. The article goes on to address the difference between security and antivirus software, as Windows Live OneCare will be sold as a seperate product and not bundled with Vista.

The fun starts over at Techdirt, where Mike reminds us of a question they asked almost a year ago (Caught Between Bad Security And Antitrust Questions):

However, late last week, the company began to talk about how it would offer a complete security package for a fee... leading some to mock the company for causing the pain in the first place, and then selling the solution. Of course, the situation might not be that simple. Given Microsoft's trouble in the past with anti-trust violations, it's easy to see how Microsoft could then be accused of using its monopoly position in operating systems to wipe out the desktop security business.

In this morning's post (Will Vista Decimate Third Party Security Sales? Is That An Antitrust Issue?), Mike tells of how this shouldn't worry anyone, as Microsoft doesn't ship squeeky-clean code:

If Microsoft is including all this security software in their operating system, do they get accused of antitrust violations for "bundling" this security software with the operating system? After all, isn't that what they're repeatedly accused of doing with things like Internet Explorer and Windows Media Player? Of course, this seems a bit absurd when you think about it. Would the same accusations hold in a fantasy world where Microsoft produced perfectly secure code (remember, I said a fantasy world)? It would seem like the act of making their products secure would leverage their monopoly power to suppress a thriving industry in security software...

This whole thing smacks of Lessig's article in the latest issue of Wired, which addresses the danger of preserving inefficiency in government. He tells an amazing story about California's tax experiement (Wired 14.05: Posts - Crushing Competiton):

In 2005, the state of California conducted an experiment. Hoping to make paying taxes easier, it launched a pilot program for people who were likely to file "simple returns." The state already had the payroll information some taxpayers needed to file their returns, so it filled out 50,000 of those forms for them. Way in advance of the filing deadline, the state mailed the taxpayers their completed ReadyReturns. Like a Visa statement, the ReadyReturn itemized the taxes due, making the process easier for the taxpayer and more accurate for the government. People could either file the ReadyReturn or use the information to fill out forms on their own. Of taxpayers who hadn't yet filed, 30 percent used the return; more than 95 percent of that group said they would do so again. Praise for the program was generally over-the-top.

Soon after ReadyReturn was launched, lobbyists from the tax-preparation industry began to pressure California lawmakers to abandon the innovation. Their opposition was not surprising: If figuring out your taxes were easy, why would anyone bother to hire H&R Block? If the government sends you a completed form, why buy TurboTax?

The conclusion of Lessig's article is exactly the point for anyone who has concerns about Vista's security software:

And efficiency is good regardless of who it might hurt; it is especially good if it hurts those who feed off inefficiency. Thus, lawyers are good, but a world that needed fewer of them would be much better. Doctors are great, but that's no argument against better health. And TurboTax is fantastic, but it shouldn't prevent the government from making paying taxes easier.

So there it is. For those of you keeping score at home, yes it is much easier to write astute posts when rely on excerpts from professional journalists and Stanford law professors ;)

Secret Machines at the Independent

I've never been more happy about having a headache than this morning. After flying down to Cali on Friday evening, there was plenty to take in. Los Charros on Cinco De Mayo was a circus, Pat Neal should soon be released from his D.O.D. contract, and MI:3 was a Tom Cruisathon like no other. By far though the most important part of this past weekend's journey was the Secret Machines show in San Francisco.

They melted the walls at the Independent, and impressed me so much that I've already got tickets to see them again tonight at Neumos in Seattle! While I wait for another chance to hear Rock as it was meant to be played, take a look at the photos from Saturday.

1.21 Gigawatts of homage

Sure $450+ is a lot of money to pay to show tribute to your favorite 80's film. And yes, you are going to look like an absolute tool if you don't already own a DeLorean to install it into. I don't care, an authentic Flux Capacitor for sale on eBay is something I really really want to own!

Lost is Tivo-proof?!

Lost is leading us down a strange and new high-tech path. The only real important part of this article is that last night's episode has show hints sprinkled throughout the commercials. I wonder if the torrent community will pick up on this in time?

10 relaunches with new layout

10 got a major facelift last night. Check it out and use the contact form to let us know about any little bugs or recommendations. Today's video, Macintosh at Microsoft, should prove to my friends at Apple that the 10 team are equal opportunity geeks.

Han shoots first!

The Original Unaltered Trilogy on DVD. Lucasfilm has finally seen the light-letting George constantly revise the Holy Trilogy isn't the best idea. The discs go on sale September 12th and will include the 2004 remastered ediitons as well as the original theatrical versions. The only downer is that the theatrical editions are filed under 'bonus material', but at least I can finally throw out my VHS copies!

Mix 06 online

The complete MIX06 sessions are online! There's some real excellent content in there, particularly Joe Belfiore's talk on the future of the living room. Check it out!