bikes are fun

Track Bike Times Edit #1 from Matthew Rice on Vimeo.

iPhone 2.0: the saga continues

some friends have asked "how is the ol' iphone working?" or "what'd you switch too?" well, i have yet to switch, but i will next month. i kinda thought maybe the G1 Android-based phone from T-mobile, but it looks kinda outdated, and as much as the Android software holds promise, it'll experience some first run glitches and THOSE are the things STILL driving me crazy about my iphone.

yeah, the iphone 2.1 software came out, and Steve Jobs said it would get rid of crashses and bugs. uh, NOPE, try again AGAIN. it DID get rid of some of my glitches, but it replaced them with others. now my phone won't download my email unless i tell it to, in spite of it being set to automatically fetch every 15 minutes. is my email THAT critical? NO, but the phone isn't doing something it's suppose to do. it also still likes to close whilst i am typing a text message, and the predictive type seems to not be working as well, or quickly as before-and i CAN'T type that fast. 

so my search continues, i am pretty close to pulling the trigger on going back to a blackberry. hmmm.

Goodbye, My Friends I Love You All

*so let me start by hoping (and uttering a silent prayer) that this silly posting doesn't somehow become an ironic and untimely post... ps - nerd alert! pps - i am eating thrifty chocolate malted crunch a i type this. it'll make sense in a sec.

i like science. if i didnt suck at math i just might be a nuclear physicist. some of you might have read that the world is going to end on wednesday. i for one say, bring on the science, collide some sub-atomic particles, show us the video footage and LAUGH whilst doing it all. i know those CERN scientists have a sense of humor, the proof is in the puddin'.   

i for the record, do not believe the world is going to be swallowed into a man-made blackhole, but i do think it is slightly possible, though not probable, that come wednesday parts of europe may need new class photos taken for google earth. i pray it all goes according to plan and we discover even more about our little 'verse. if that youtube vide wasn't enough i'll let brian cox explain, he's better at science than I, and he's got better hair. watch his TED video here. and if you don't know what TED is, you just found out, go watch, learn and be better for it.

oh and tell all the people you love how much you love them then go eat your favorite food sometime today, because i guess there is the slightest chance that we'll all be gone wednesday.

kisses, 

Aaron

flashin' chrome

i pretty much dig everything google has brought into the world. gmail, maps, google sketchup, today they launched their very own web browser, Chrome. i have been a firefox user for quite some time now but after less than a day of use, Chrome is my new browser. i know that i have only begun to discover the tricks and features, but i like it. it is designed with the web in mind. i know, you are thinking aren't all web browsers made with the web in mind? yeah, no. somehow Chrome just works, it imported all my bookmarks and passwords from firefox, and somehow i haven't had to go install all those plug-ins, like you do when you first use a new browser. somehow it all just works. of course this version is called a beta(test/develpoment version) and i have discovered one bug, when scrolling vertically via "virtual scrolling" on my trackpad, Chrome let's me scrool down but not back up a page. hope that gets fixed quick. other than that, my only complaint is certain online accessibilty issues i am having with my school's network, it doesn't recognize Chrome yet, so i have to use firefox to access online classes. go download Chrome and give it a rip.

Good Morning

i am not kanye's biggest fan, but i am a huge fan of the "Good Morning" video, which is finally legally available for download. I had the chance to see this at the Takashi Murakami MOCA exhibit earlier this year and loved it on the big screen. Here it is, yeah you have to pay a $1.49 for it but I think it's a great addition to your media library. (beware the link leads to iTunes)

R2-KT

sorry, blogger is being wonky, there is supposed to be a cool picture here

If you've read my blog, or have heard me talk about robots, you know how much I love them. My all time favorite droid is R2-D2 (Artoo for those living under a rock) because I am also a HUGE Star Wars nerd. H U G E. In my "research" i found this touching story about a VERY special Artoo unit, you should take the time to read.

the honeymoon is OVER!

Okay, I'll admit it. I am a Gadget whore. I love new technology, new phones, new mp3 players, new computer gizmos, all of it. I loveD my iPhone, I was an early adopter, and it WAS the perfect phone for so many reasons. One reason I have loved my iPhone so much is that it has succeeded where others have failed. Ask Matt, I am cellphone kryptonite. I don't kill phones by dropping them, swimming with them, or throwing them at ex-girlfriends, they just simply die after being too near to me (and my magnetic field altering genetic make up) for too long. My iPhone has lasted ONE year, I thought that never possible.
Now it would seem, one of two things has happened. Either my super(techno-destructive) powers have kicked in, OR Apple totally dropped the ball on the 2.0 software update. At this point it REALLY could be either. What is certain is that I currently HATE my iPhone, it is crashing on a nearly daily basis, I have re-installed several times and even met with a Mac Genius (he just simply said, "sorry dude, 2.1 is already in development"). SO the honeymoon is over, the love has soured, and I am officially looking for a new phone. Gulp. Yeah, Apple, uh, it's not me it's YOU. I just can't do this anymore. And iPhone, just to be clear, I'm not leaving you to go to iPhone 3G, I have no faith in her either, I don't know where my search will lead, or how long it will take but I need a phone that works, that lives up to it's claims. Maybe Apple engineered it this way, but I am not biting, as sexy as that white 16gig iPhone 3G looks, I am not buying it. Hell, I might not even get a phone with a QWERTY keyboard. Ok, that's a lie, I don't think I can go back to alpha-numeric, but I am keeping my options open. I am ready for a new gadget to run my finger over, to whisper sweet nothings to. Any recommendations?

go watch this fun video, and rate it

my friend mikey made this video. i like it a lot and so should you. watch, enjoy.



uh, the embed isn't working for some reason, but click on mike's name and go watch on imeem.

Phoenix, Say Cheese

i am not the first to make this observation, nor the last but it is so amazing to this space geek that i had to share. this photo is from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter OF the Phoenix Lander on its final descent gently cradled under its open parachute.
why am i so amazed? a few reasons, first, this image is from ANOTHER planet. second, this image was taken BY a robot orbiting aforementioned OTHER planet, OF another robot descending towards yet again aforementioned OTHER planet. third, this image of a robot taken by another robot on another planet, is SO far away that it takes anywhere from 5-22 MINUTES (depending on earth's orbital location relative to mar's) for a radio signal to reach it. that is just plain amazing.


P.S. this is yet one more example of what i mean when i say "hey, if we can put robots on mars then we can solve...(fill in the blank with any problem we face)"

Summer is the PERFECT time to snowboard

so summer hasn't even officially started and the teasers for fall's snowboard dvd's are already poppin' up. get you some here at the official site, (or watch my crappy blogger version below). this is from Mack Dawg's new "DOUBLE DECADE". MDP always ups the ante, and yes it makes me want to snowboard right NOW.

beep bleep bleep boop (that's robot talk)

My friend Corey recently got reacquainted with an 80s film she loves and ordered herself a copy of the DVD Monster Squad. Watching the original trailer for Monster Squad made me all nostalgic for some of my faves from back in my 80s-hood. One gem was a robots-in-love flick which I could only vaguely remember and was having trouble finding, well searching paid off, I found it and it's called Heartbeeps. My very own shiny new dvd copy of it came today, it's as great as i remember and we all will be better humans for watching it.



Oh on a robot geneaology note Heartbeeps came out in 1981, Short Circuit in 1986, so for everyone claiming Wall-E (coming in June) is a rip off Johnny 5, it really goes something like Philco begat Johnny 5 begat Wall-E. (but yeah Philco and Wall-E look way more similar than Johnny 5) Just so you know.


PS - this nerdpost probably just solidified my marital status as "(eternally)SINGLE"

now ain't that shiny

the princeton casa 2.0, bigger, better, stronger, prettier-like a real house

PS- since these photos were taken the carpets have been cleaned and look brand new too.

really? REALLY?!

now don't get me wrong, i heart my iphone, and i use it for all kinds of things including text messaging. but dear sweet holy st. pete's gramma, if you gotta start padding things like lampposts to protect people from themselves whilst texting...what's next cellphones with airbags or proximity alarms?! read the uk yahoo newslink here