3G actually stands for the third generation of mobile phone standards and technology, superseding 2G.  Rumors are abounding that Apple has ordered 10 million iPhones from Asian manufacturers that are equipped with the 3G radios.  This is on top of the 10 million that are equipped with the current edge technology that Apple has said that it will sell in 2008.

Originally, when Apple released the iPhone, my inner geek went nuts and I so wanted one.  The business side of me (who also handles the finances) convinced me that I neither needed the phone, nor could I afford.. so whatever.   After a while, the geek inside saved up enough money and we cracked the business guy upside and bought our iPhone.  At that point, there were minor rumors of 3G, and since it was the day before macworld some were even speculating it would be released there.  I didn’t care, I really wanted the phone.. right then.. I didn’t want to wait for the next gen.  So I convinced myself I didn’t need 3G.

Of course, now I know that I can not live without my iPhone, and wish I had purchased it immediately upon release, and now that I have owned it for some time, I also realize that I use the data features WAY more then I thought I would.  That means that the day they release the 3G iPhone, I am so there.

The biggest concerns about the 3G to begin with are that the battery life will be sorely impacted.  Some of the reports indicate that they will be using an OLED display rather then the traditional LCD.  OLED stands for Organic Light Emitting Diode.  The main benefits these have over LCDs is that they don’t require a back light to work, and they are significantly thinner… so less battery consumption and more room on the inside of the device.. both positives.

Oh, and for those of you who are wondering why 3G is important, it will significantly increase the speed of data transfer on the iPhone, even allowing for the purchase and downloading of music through iTunes while driving across the desert…

One word to describe meeting Chuck and Audra from the GWC crew. Woot!

Last Friday, after work, I cruised down to San Diego and met up with Chuck and Audra and a few others from the GWC forum.  We had a blast.  A few beers at the poolside rooftop bar at the hotel they were staying at, then off to the Tin Fish for dinner, and to cap it all off, desert at Mary Jane’s coffee house, where we hung out until 1 AM talking SciFi and other geek topics..

So much FUN!

Here is pic taken by Barb (bkitty)..

woot!

I am not usually excited about prequels… lucas ruined that for me… LOL   but I think that I will be definitely interested in this one…

A couple of articles about it…

[ CinemaBlend ]

[ Galactica Watercooler ]

and you can discuss here  …. [ GWC Forum ]

At any rate it is nice to know that the show will continue in some form after BSG wraps up this year…

This is a headline from back in mid February… and I know what your thinking.. “So …?”

Well, back in mid december, when I was getting back into my geek hood, I ordered personalized license  plates that say “GEEK 2U” for my ride.

Now, here in California, license plates are made at Folsom prison.  So, since they have been in lock down for almost a month, I have NOT gotten my plates.  The nice man at the DMV today said I should be getting a postcard indicating that the plates are ready soon… but he did point out that that can be garanteed due to the riots…

Ugh… c’mon on guys… I know you have “Folsom Prison Blues”…. but  I need my plates.. so can’t you all just get along… show some geek love and get my plates done… then you can go back to “Shanking” each other all day long.

Thanks

Arthur C. Clarke, a visionary science fiction writer who penned more than 100 books on space, science and the future, died Wednesday at home in Sri Lanka. He was 90.

I grew up reading Clarke’s works and, of course, watched “2001 : A Space Odyssey” as well as the follow-up 2010.

Clarke was regarded as a technological seer as well as a science-fiction writer. He was credited with the concept of communications satellites in 1945, decades before they became a reality.

Geosynchronous orbits, which keep satellites in a fixed position relative to the ground, are called Clarke orbits.

Clarke spent his life hoping to come in contact with life from another world, and while I have no such aspirations, I thank him for providing vast universes to get lost in while I was child.

“All explorers are seeking something they have lost. It is seldom that they find it, and more seldom still that the attainment brings them greater happiness than the quest.” - Arthur C. Clarke.

I am not a HUGE wii fan. I have played it several times, and as a geek, I think the technology behind it is pretty cool. That being said, I just can’t see myself playing wii tennis in my living room by myself…

Anywho, this guy below is obviously way smarter then your average bear, and he has done some pretty cool things hacking the wii.

This is a good lesson for companies out there who close off their technologies and prevent people from modding it or hacking it… Apple, I’m talking to you… The masses will always be able to think of way cooler things to do then you can, and by allowing them the access you profit from increase sales and advancement of your tech…

I love the sporty head-mounted sensor bar…. LOL

As a side note… if Nintendo chooses to incorporate this technology into some of it’s shooter games… I will definitely be buying a wii…

In recent months there have been buzz around Nine Inch Nails and Trent Reznor putting his music online and allowing it to be freely downloaded. As it turns out, and pay attention to this RIAA, he made a TON of money doing it. How you ask? He allowed the music to be downloaded for free and then offered premiums with the purchase of hard copies and other mediums for the album. Turns out, that if you allow people to download the music, they actually also want to pay the artist, and get extras..

Now, I am personally not a NIN fan, but I have to give props for the online stuff. Radiohead has also done this in the past and they have also made a grip of money doing it.

Now, R.E.M. is providing the newest single “Supernatural Superserious” as a free stream from [ remhq.com ] . They also are encouraging their listener to mash the video and make their own music video… very cool.

Unlike Reznor and Radiohead, R.E.M. is still under contract with their label Warner Bros. and therefore are limited in what they can offer, but it is exciting to see that they are being backed by the label to do this. Maybe they [the labels] have been paying attention and are learning that they are way behind and have been on the wrong side of the DRM war. Well, that may be wishful thinking, but one can hope.

In the end, props to you R.E.M. for pushing the limits with Accelerate, and you have earned a sale here.

OK, so as you know I recently bought a guitar and obviously it has not been long enough for me to be rocking out with my new “real” guitar… BUT… we did buy Rockband this weekend… OMG…

My living room, which is normally a serene place that allows me enjoy my favorite SciFi show in peace, has become a den of rockers… Sometime late Saturday night I looked around at all the empty beer bottles and empty pizza boxes (literally about 15 empty boxes , and more beer bottles then I will admit too) while we were rocking out in the Virtual Snake Pit venue located in Los Angeles.

We got the complete Rockband set (drums, guitar, and mic) and a friend brought over a guitar hero guitar so we could do the bass as well.  It was beyond AWESOME!

Currently, our band has 260,000+ fans, and we have been invited to play large venues in multiple continents…

If you have kids that are interested in playing music, especially the drums, or if you are interested, or just want to have a really great time with the family and friends… go out NOW and buy rockband.  It is TOTALLY worth it.

As a side note, they claim that on expert levels you are actually playing the drums….

AWESOME!!!

Yep .. today is 3/14… get it … 3.14 is the shortened form of Pi which goes on forever, but is commonly stated as 3.14159, at seven digits it becomes 3.1415926 making March 14 @ 1:59:26 the Pi second.

So back in 1988 Larry Shaw from the [ Exploratorium ] in San Francisco declared today to be National Pi day. The first celebration only included staff, and a few people from the public who marched in around one of the circular structures and then ate fruit pies.

So today, I will wait till 1:59 and got eat my pizza that I brought for lunch and grab a pie from the shop down the street.

Also today, it should be noted that we are celebrating the 14th anniversary of the Linux kernel version 1.0.0. YAH!

Hulu is NBC’s answer to “What will you do without iTunes?” …

It is a little late for the purposes of season 3 BSG, but for those of you who do not want, or can’t buy the Season 3 DVD’s on the 18th (yes, yes I know I got a little excited a few posts back and said the DVD’s were launching on the 11th… my bad) , anywho, you can get caught back up over at Hulu.

http://www.hulu.com/search/battlestar+Galactica

I am still miffed that Apple and NBC couldn’t get along and that they split in the first place, but I will give NBC credit for HULU, it is a very nice interface and provides a ton of nice content.  They have gotten some slack about not providing download able content, but I think that is crap anyway..  There are places for you to get your downloaded content if you must watch TV on your iPod nano.  Don’t get me started with these people..  LOL

Personally, I have tried to watch a movie on my iPhone (while on a plane) and it just wasn’t happening.  I guess I personally am partial to the big screen (such as the one in my living room) and will stick to Audiobooks, podcasts and  music on my portable devices.

Also, if you have completely missed Season 3 of BSG, SciFi also has an 8 minute vid clip to help you figure out what is going on in Season 4… I think this is a cool idea, but I really wish they would have scrapped few of their crappy faux monster movies, and just ran Season 3 in reruns over the last few months.  That would have been the best way to respark interest in the show since it has AWOL for so long.

So thumbs up to HULU, and thumbs down to watching TV on a nano.