Who Pays?

If your car has automatic parallel parking and it backs into another vehicle while automatically parking, Who Pays the Damages and Ticket?

Adobe CS5 is here, well almost

Adobe Creative Suite 5 is almost here, Adobe is hyping its main features and new components as I write this. At Adobe they are constantly working to improve things but these are totally awesome, background fill in so you can remove things and the program fills in the background for you so you can move or remove foreground objects.

A guy just selected a horse in a pasture, added background automatically and then moved/removed the horse with the trees and fence filled in behind the horse by the program with no cloning by the operator. Totally awesome tool called Content Aware Fill In.

More later as the launch of Adobe CS5 continues.

iPad, All The Hype

I have been following all the hype and hoopla about the release of the Apple iPad and snickering in my own private way.

While as a techy I have envied those that did receive one and would really protect and cherish it if I did get one for reviewing you gotta love the guys that did get one and tossed it around. PCWorld went so far as to stress test one and uploaded the video to their site which you can see here: Apple iPad Stress Test.

I think those that are buying it only because its the next best Apple or just expensive product need to have their head examined by a professional but it does have its uses. But a product that can go so bad so quickly on more than one occasion does make one think that it may not be the great thing Apple is pushing.

David Letterman couldn't get his to work right live on his show and even a few drops onto carpeting is enough to start the RMA process for repairs. I won't even get into washing the coffee off the iPad or the baseball, Apple aficionados may not want to watch the video.

Sony takes back feature they sold as part of PS3

Sony once sold the console system PlayStation 3 as "It Only Does Everything"

Now it seems they are taking back this little promise by removing the Install Other OS feature with the next update coming in April 2010.

Sony should be wary of doing things like removing features that people use as this is a direct violation of features they marketed their product for when they sold it. It's a class action lawsuit waiting to happen in my opinion.

Why would you remove a feature from a product when it was part of the marketing and sales campaign when you first started selling it.

Cut off the nose to spite the face comes to mind.

Starting up again & IPodMeister.com

I thought I would start up my Blog again and see if there is anyone listening.

I just received an interesting email and wanted to share it, this is an advertising type release from ipodmeister.com.

All you do is send them a few hundred CD's or DVD's and they will send you an iPad. Sounds simple right? They are making a fortune at this I am sure.

It' all in the math, 220 unscratched CD's or DVD's will get you an iPod Nano 8GB with AM/FM radio. You send them 220 store bought CD's or DVD's with jewel case or DVD case and they will send you an iPod.

Now lets do the math and see if you really want to do this or head directly to your local music store to cash in there.

220 used CD's at lets say $1 a piece will net you $220 for a trade in. I have traded CD's for more than this and several DVD's for much more, $3 to $5 for current ones. But for simplicity we'll stick with a nice round figure of a plain dollar.

A new iPod Nano 8GB costs about $125-$130 from the many places you can purchase them and we will be generous with the top figure of $130.

Add a few dollars for shipping and handling, say $15 and the site that offers this great deal is making about $75 or more.

$220 trade in value-$130 cost of iPod Nano+$15 S& H = Profit of $75

Any more they can sell their CD's or DVD's wherever they are selling them at makes them even more money. I have seen a local buyer of DVD's and CD's easily pay me cash in hand $3 to $5 a piece for discs as long as they are in good shape. At $2 a piece for someone to buy my good CD's would net this website $295, not bad for having a store somewhere selling used CDs and DVD's with a few minutes of handling and shipping in between.

I recommend you go to your local used music store and cash in those CD's & DVD's without the hassle ans fuss of shipping. I have heard of several reputable stores that easily pay cash or simple checks for even slightly scratched CD's and DVD's.

Everything you are told is not always the good deal it sounds like so think hard before jumping into so called deals.

Moving IN

We are almost done moving in, but not quite there.

We are almost out of our old home and have to clean it this weekend as well as move the last of our outdoor stuff, potted plants and things like that. Cleaning won't take long but we also have to move our stuff out of a storage unit. We were storing things in anticipation of moving and also have to move that in, not much room for it though upstairs.

Our garage is great, but needs work, and will fit most of the outdoor stuff and bikes as well as our collection of junk that we have collected over the years. My wife is really into crafts and has her own craft room and will have her stuff in the basement when we get to unloading the storage unit which has a good amount of her things in it.

We also have a couple of bench seats from our vans and other stuff that will also fit in the garage which is big. There is room for two vehicles as well as all our stuff once we get things organized. We will have to do some extensive work on the garage and have already started on the house with rewiring and fixing all those small things.

We will move the washer and dryer from the kitchen to the upstairs room that my wife is using for her crafts that was an upstairs apartment kitchen. It is perfect for her craft room as it has a sink and the power for her stuff that a kitchen would need for appliances. I am also going to be doing some work on the roof with adding vents and repairing siding but nothing real exciting.

I am really tired and have much more work to do. I'll write back soon.

Our New Home

We closed, now its time to move. We spent yesterday worrying and waiting for 2 and went to closing, it was quick.

After signing about 50 times we then left and picked up our son and started moving, cleaning and packing. We have spent the day moving and cleaning and will start on the big move, lots of boxes and furniture. My office will wait till Thursday as our phone and internet will not be in till Friday so that will probably be the last stuff, maybe.

Well, we have more stuff to move and pack away.

Happy day...