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So – after the dust has settled, here is my impression of the thing:

Yes, it is an iPod touch on steroids and that is the perfect thing for it to be. It is not for replacing your laptop or your phone. It is simply a media delivery device with some extra computing power.

Right now, I am not its target market. My mom is. I gave her an iPod touch and she loves it. She’ll check her email from the living room, play some games, etc. Giving her a larger platform to do so on is going to thrill her. It can turn into a digital picture frame? Perfect! Electronic photo album that she can hand around to people and not drag out the laptop? Awesome! Color ebook reader? Sweet!

Yes, we the cognoscenti are picking it apart. With all the hype how could we not be disappointed by some aspect of it. And yes, Apple is famous for features driving revisions. I’ll bet they have a cameraPad already in the works, along with multitasking, just waiting for the better power consumption the new A5 chip will have next year.

Will I buy one? I don’t know. Definitely not right now. But I have a feeling the evolution of it, along with the new apps it is going to spur, will be pretty tempting…

tags: Apple Inc., iPad, Technology/Internet

So I am trying out this app, Sleep Cycle for the iPhone.

It claims that it can sense your sleep patterns from your motion in bed, and after calibrating over a few days, wake you up within a half hour time frame when you are sleeping the lightest, therefore giving you the best wake experience.

Last night was the first night, and as such, it waited until the end of the half hour period. I had actually woken up 10 minutes prior.

The chart it produced was fairly right on. I was in and out of sleep early in the night and wide awake at 2am. Not sure if this app can address those issues, but any edge I can get on sleep, I’ll take it.

I’ll let it go for a few days and update with the progress.

tags: iphone, Sleep

tags: atheist

As the weather turns brisk, I figured it was time to start experimenting in the vodka lab again. Besides a couple of tried and true cinnamon vodkas, I am going to try some “unconventional” flavors.

First up, Spiced Cider Vodka. The good folks over at Infusions of Grandeur have already done the hard work on this one. It will definitely be my most involved creation, using 5 different flavors (apple, orange, cinnamon, clove, and nutmeg), all added at set times. I followed their recipes before, so I am sure it will all work out.

The other one…. well, here’s where we might guinea pig a few iterations. Reading this blog entry, inspired me to make Pumpkin Pie Vodka. Not just pumpkin, but pumpkin pie, with all the spices. The ratios given are far from exact, so I think I will start with a whole can, and back down from there on future batches if necessary. If anything this should be easy. Besides, my friends are all drunks, so even the bad batches usually get consumed. (OTOH, the Habañero vodka is slowly eating through the bottle on the top shelf)

Hopefully I can fine tune these and have some good gifts for this season’s holiday parties.

tags: cider, infusion, pumpkin pie, vodka

I must have stumbled into a memestorm, because following up on my post about physical theories as men and women, here comes comparisons to Harry Potter, dog chew toys, and relationships.

Maybe I need to write one comparing them to indie bands or microbrews.

an oldie but a goodie from McSweeney’s :

3. Quantum mechanics is the girl you meet at the poetry reading. Everyone thinks she’s really interesting and people you don’t know are obsessed about her. You go out. It turns out that she’s pretty complicated and has some issues. Later, after you’ve broken up, you wonder if her aura of mystery is actually just confusion.

prompted by Cocktail Party Physics where she counters with “Physical Theories Are Men” :

7. String Theory is the sensitive, complex emo guy with an impossibly brilliant mind and lots of emotional problems. In fact, he’s been in therapy practically since birth. He constantly complains that nobody understands him, and he’s right: sometimes it’s like he’s speaking an entirely different language. You’re fascinated because he’s got so many dimensional levels and seems to vibrate with a mysterious energy. Besides, you think you can help him overcome his intractable problems. You are deluding yourself. His interest in your simplistic three-spatial-dimensioned presence wanes in record time, and he starts passively-aggressively acting out. You suspect he wants to break up with you but just doesn’t have the balls to say so. He denies this when you confront him, insisting you can “work things out,” but then you find out he’s been having a fling with Loop Quantum Gravity, after swearing he hates her GUTs.

both are good reads, but McSweeney’s is the winner with their number 8. Go on… go read it.