A list of the books I’ve read this year. It looks like I’m slightly behind on my “Two books a month” resolution because of Fortress of Solitude taking me a month to complete, and a false start on Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man. Out of curiosity, I also tried to recall all the movies I watched this year (Only movies I had not seen before).
Books
Movies
The official release of the Apple iPhone has been confirmed for June 29th. Apple has put out three TV ads that will be running to help promote the new phone.
I have to admit, even these TV ads are making me want one. Despite the fact that I have a cellphone that must be three years old and doesn’t have a camera (yes, it’s that old), I’m still very happy with the phone because it does everything I need it to do. But the interface of the iPhone looks so intuitive and fun to use, plus my iPod is dead and I could certainly go for a new one. There’s a 99% chance I won’t be getting this iPhone on launch, but I could definitely see myself with a pared-down version in the future.
This is where things get tricky though, because as much as I want Apple to succeed with the iPhone, I remain rather skeptical about just how well it will do. I don’t doubt any of its functionality or pure awesomeness, but rather the fact that it seems like it’s aimed at the treo/sidekick market, especially with its $500 starting price.
I don’t know many people who are willing to abandon their contracts and hop onto a two-year contract with AT&T all for a shiny new phone. Don’t start calling me an iPhone hater though, just an iPhone skeptic. Besides, my investment is riding on consumers defying my logic and snatching those bad boys up.
Kurt Vonnegut passes away at 84.
This may be the first time a famous person’s death has made me sad. Reading “Slaughterhouse-Five” in college wasn’t just about “getting” the message of the novel, it also showed me the power of writing and how it can affect an individual. While Vonnegut may not be around anymore, his books will always be read.
A couple of fun things I wanted to discuss.
Google launched Google Voice Local Search. I gave it a test run just to see how well it works, and the voice recognition is pretty sweet. I haven’t tested it extensively to see if it can narrow down a coffee shop in a zip code or anything like that, since so far it only asks for city and state. It’s got potential, though.
Farecast is a cool new airfare site that will tell you when to buy tickets. Technically they’re not really new, but I believe when they launched they only supported a few airports, and now it’s over 75. I haven’t had to fly anywhere myself, but it seems like a good site to keep around.
Apple announced their Mac Pro computer now comes with two four-core processors, making it an eight core machine. I affectionately refer to it as “The Ocho.”
I’ve begun season three of BSG, and it is awesome. Unfortunately, since the season’s already over, I’m aware of two spoilers that happen during this season and I’m kinda sad/angry. Now I just want to hurry through this season and get it over with before I’m spoiled any more.
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