I'm now blogging for Savings.com! Check it out:

http://www.savings.com/user/profile.html?id=46774

Wow, has it really been almost a year since I posted anything new here? Probably because I'm writing six posts per day for five different blogs.

Seems like the perfect time to clear out all the old stuff and make some practical use of this place. Stay tuned...

For Reading on the Run, iPhone Trumps Kindle

Dear Steve Jobs:

Earlier this year, you were quoted as saying "people don't read anymore." This was in response to Amazon's Kindle, the electronic-book (e-book) device you dubbed a "flawed" concept.

As someone who loves to read (and has plenty of friends and family members who feel the same way), I am seriously disappointed in you.

Obviously there's nothing flawed about the concept of the Kindle, which has been a sell-out success since its debut last December. In fact, the hardware itself has some notable flaws, not the least of which are its high price and rather ugly design.

And, yet, people love the thing. They relish a lightweight, paperback-sized device that holds hundreds of books and can download new ones on the run, no PC required.

Now let me clue you in on a little secret: The iPhone is a better e-book reader than the Kindle. (Same goes for its similar sibling, the iPod Touch.)

Consider: The Kindle is a single-purpose device.

Sure, it can display newspapers and blogs in addition to books, and even access Wikipedia, but ultimately it's a text viewer.

The iPhone is - well, duh. But it's also a music player, movie theater, photo viewer, game system, Web browser, e-mail client, GPS navigator, and a lot more. (The Touch isn't a phone, but does most of these other things.)

It's smaller, thinner, lighter, and way, way sexier than the Kindle. And it taps the same high-speed data network for on-the-go downloads.

Granted, the iPhone's battery life isn't great, but most people recharge daily anyway. It also has a smaller screen - 3.5 inches versus 6 inches on the Kindle - but I find it perfectly comfortable for reading.

Plus, it's much brighter, and it's a touchscreen: You can turn pages by swiping your finger, just like in a real book.

And let's not forget the most important consideration: price. The iPhone starts at $199; the iPod Touch, at $299. As noted, both models perform significantly more functions than the Kindle - which costs $359.

Consequently, I think the iPhone and iPod Touch could blow the Kindle out of the water.

There's just one problem: The iTunes Store doesn't sell e-books.

Why not? It sells audiobooks. (Apparently people don't read books, but they do listen to them.) By not offering e-books, you're missing an incredible opportunity. Two of them, actually.

First, there's money to be made. The Kindle is proof of that. You've already got a store in place; you just need to make the content available. I'll bet book publishers would line up down the street for a chance to hawk their tomes on iTunes.

Second, you'll encourage more people to read. Anyone packing an iPhone could also be packing a novel - perfect for those unexpected "down times," like a long line at the post office or the doctor's-office waiting room.

If, as you say, people don't read anymore, it's because we have limited time and countless other distractions. By making books available on a device you'd no doubt like everyone in the country to own, you might just change that unfortunate truth.

One last thing: I'm already reading e-books on my iPod Touch thanks to a third-party service called eReader. I don't particularly care who gets the money I spend on books. Do you?

Hugs,

Rick

"Hey, your blog is really out of date!"

That's because I devote most of my blogging energy to Business Hacks and The Cheapskate, where you'll find daily posts on business productivity and tech bargains, respectively. Check 'em out!

Thanks to the glory of DVRs, I almost never watch commercials. So it was freak chance last night that I spotted the latest iPod ad during American Idol -- and was completely stoked to hear a Brendan Benson soundtrack! Maybe this will give the guy the recognition he so deserves (and help him get his much-delayed new album released).

See for yourself:

E-books on iPods! Steve Jobs says people don't read anymore, but he's wrong. I've started a petition to encourage Apple to offer e-books on iPhones, iPod touches, and other devices. Who knows? More people might read if books were readily available on their favorite gadgets.

Please add your name and let Steve Jobs know that you not only like to read, but would appreciate the chance to read on your iPod!

Petition powered by ThePetitionSite.com

What is it about American Idol that is so ridiculously entertaining? Is it the seemingly endless parade of deluded, often frightening people who think they can sing? (Please, please let it be true that some of these whack-jobs are actors.) The shameless but effective pandering that makes you root for singers like the one with the disabled little girl? (Cruel, cruel world!) The incomparable looks that cross Simon Cowell's face? (You just know he's thinking, "My god, why must I sit here and endure these sad, pathetic Americans? Oh, right, the millions and millions of dollars. Carry on, then.")

This is only the second season we've watched, but we're completely hooked. I wish I could explain why.

Here's the video I put together to celebrate my parents' 50th anniversary.

Brendan Benson has a new album coming out! You can hear four tracks here. I could listen to this guy sing the phone book. Just great, great stuff.

I Hate TicketMaster
Hate is a strong word. I dislike a lot of things, but there's very little I actually hate. Here's a quick list:

• The war in Iraq.
• The incredible suffering of people in third-world countries.
• TicketMaster.

Now, I don't mean to make light of the first two, but rather to illustrate just how deeply I hate TicketMaster. This is such an evil organization. Take the Fountain of Wayne tickets I just ordered: At $16 apiece, I thought they were pretty darn reasonable. But then I get to the "convenience charge" of $6.10 per ticket. Well, okay, grumble grumble, they're still a pretty good deal at $22.10 apiece. But wait, there's more: Now TicketMaster wants $18.50 for shipping! Give me a cotton-pickin' break.

This is a family blog, so I can't fully articulate how I feel about this. But I've got two middle fingers fully extended and pointed squarely in TicketMaster's direction. I hate you, TicketMaster. Kindly rot in hell.

Sigh... one more movie I need to add to my list of sequels/prequels that don't exist in my universe: Spider-Man 3. It's hard to believe this was made by the same guy who made the first two. Just an off-the-rails disaster.

No, thank you, Mr. President

Was I dreaming, or did Dubya and Mrs. Dubya actually appear on American Idol last night to thank the country for their donations to Idol Gives Back? It musta been a dream, because here's what I heard: "Thanks for helping all those kids... because we here in Washington ain't about to. Because, you know, we're not so much into helping people. Our money? It goes into the war that gives debacles a bad name."

Sigh. Bitterness is really tiring.

What to do with the time saved by your DVR

A one-hour TV show contains 22 minutes' worth of commercials. Half-hour shows serve up eight minutes of ads. If you watch two hours of TV per night, you're wasting anywhere from 32-44 minutes on commercials.

By adopting a digital video recorder (such as a TiVo, Media Center PC, or DVR from your cable company), you can instantly jump past those commercials--and get that wasted time back. Here are some suggestions for what to do with those "found" minutes:

• Read for pleasure - You always complain that you never have time, right? Now's your chance.
• Run around outside with the kids - Treasure these moments while you can; they'll have outgrown this kind of playtime before you know it. Plus, it's extra exercise for you and them--always a plus.
  
• Sleep more - Who couldn't use a little extra sleep?
• Listen to music - Put your headphones on, fire up the iPod, and sit in a comfy chair. Seriously, when was the last time you just sat and listened to music, without doing something else at the same time? It's an underrated indulgence.
• Accomplish something - Clean out your car, organize your desk, pull some weeds, or whatever. You get deep satisfaction from accomplishing a small but necessary task.
• Call your mom - I'll bet she'd love to hear from you.
  

In my universe, these things don't exist...

• The three Star Wars prequels.
• The two Matrix sequels.
• George W. Bush.
• Star Trek Enterprise.
• All the cruel things people do to each other.

How's that for totally random!

I think Heroes has rapidly turned into must-see TV. What started as a fairly tame, slow-moving show now ranks as one of the most exciting, compelling hours of the week. It's like the first season of Lost, with a seemingly nonstop supply of mysteries and surprises. Here, however, the revelations come fast and furious, rather than in a trickle. Great stuff.

I need winter to be over. Now. Having just returned from a cruise in the warm, sunny Caribbean, I can no longer tolerate these cold, gray Michigan days. Seriously, why do I live here? Oh, right, family and friends. Dangit.

Okay, I am now officially sick of the iPhone buzz, backlash, and bickering. Let's wait till the product actually ships, can we? Personally, what excites me most about it is the interface. It looks slick, innovative, and usable. Virtually every other smartphone interface I've tried has been poor at best. If nothing else, I hope the iPhone causes other phone makers to get a clue and start designing models that everyday humans can use.

I just set up a new, separate blog for my upcoming book, How to Do Everything with Your Microsoft Zune. It's not much to look at yet, but hopefully it'll serve its purpose.

Five Things You Didn't Know About Me...

So apparently I've been "tagged" by my friend Wendy at Lifehacker, meaning I'm supposed to cough up some revealing information about myself. Althought this goes against my introverted nature, I'll comply to avoid party-pooper status. However, I draw the line at tagging others, as I'm vehemently opposed to anything that even remotely resembles a chain letter. Plus I don't know any other bloggers to tag. Yeah, sad.

1. I despise sprawl. Everywhere I look I see half-empty mini-malls, yet builders continue to build new ones--and those sit half-empty too! More and more I'm starting to understand the eco-terrorist mindset. This stuff makes me furious!
2. I love television. And I make no apologies for it. Movies just don't do it for me anymore; most of them are over-hyped, predictable, or just plain rotten. But when I sit down for an episode of Battlestar Galactica, Scrubs, The Office, The Shield, or any of the other awesome shows on TV right now, I know I'll be entertained. And I won't have to pay an extra $9 for the privilege.
3. My proudest professional achievement--starting and running Handheld Computing magazine--is also my biggest disappointment. If I had it to do over again, I would--but I'd do a lot of things differently.
4. My "most embarrassing moment" is something that happened nearly 20 years ago, yet I still find myself thinking about it sometimes. The funny thing is, the other two people involved probably don't even remember it.
5. I don't make New Year's resolutions. I think if you want to do something or make a change in your life, you should just do it and not wait for some arbitrary date on the calendar. So a few years back I made a resolution to stop making resolutions--and I've stuck to it!
   

I've discovered the perfect show to watch while exercising on my elliptical: The Shield. It's gritty, grim, and often gruesome, but it sure does make 40 minutes fly by! You can rent the first four seasons on DVD. Great stuff!

Endless, endless grief with Windows Vista.

• IrfanView, the freeware image editor I use daily, won't install.
• My USB Wi-Fi adapter seems to "time out" every so often, forcing me to unplug and reconnect it to get back online.
• Media Center has turned into a soupy mess, devoid of the clean, intuitive organization it once possessed.
• Windows Media Player 11 is a disaster. I truly hate it. Nothing about its operation makes sense.
• Oh, and, no joke, while I was composing this post, I suddenly found myself face to face with a Blue Screen of Death. Such progress!

Yeah, yeah, the software compatibility issues will get ironed out, and eventually I'll get used to the stupid new Media Center interface. But for now I feel compelled to grumble, gripe and groan.

You know the really hard thing about writing? You not only have to think up all the words, you have to put them in the right order.

What do I want most for Chrismukkah this year? Aside from world peace (I'd settle for a single bloodshed-free day in Iraq--sheesh!), I'd really like a Nintendo Wii. It seems to solve the problem I have with consoles, which is that the controls are nearly impossible in most games. Swinging a virtual bat, rolling a virtual bowling ball, slashing with a virtual sword--it all sounds like a blast to me. And I think the kids would love it. Anyone who wants to send me one, just let me know--I'll give you my address. :)

TV is such a rollercoaster, isn't it? First you have Lost, which has taken a nose-dive this season (though the cliffhanger was a good one). Then you have The Office, which just keeps getting better. I'm enjoying this while it lasts, because it seems most shows use up their best ideas in the first two seasons.

And then there's Scrubs, which I've been re-enjoying on Comedy Central. I don't think I gave this show enough credit during its initial run. It's hilarious! Also, Heather Graham was such a perfect fit during her eight or nine guest episodes; I really wish they'd made her a permanent addition. Come back, Heather! Come back!

Four new GPS reviews.

Are there a better pair of comedies on TV right now than My Name is Earl and The Office? Hells, no! I never thought I'd be so gushy about the Americanized Office, seeing as the BBC version was just about the funniest show ever. Can't believe they managed to turn this into something equally clever (though perhaps not as laugh-out-loud funny).

Saw The Illusionist over the weekend. Fine, fine movie. Way above average. Highly recommended.

Having pounded the pavement for a full month in search of a steady writing/editing job, I'm starting to feel like I should channel George Costanza and "do the opposite." Instead of applying for jobs for which I'm thoroughly qualified, I'm going to start going after those that are just ridiculously wrong. Like astronaut, maybe, or auto mechanic. Can't do any worse than I'm doing now.

I'm not trying to toot my own horn, here, but exactly how many books and magazine articles do I need to have published before I can get as far as an interview for a job? I kinda thought that a dozen and a thousand-plus would be enough...

What, me bitter? :)

Sudafed

So quite by accident I discovered that CVS-brand 12-hour allergy relief tablets (which are equivalent to Sudafed) make an excellent appetite suppressant--for me, anyway. After taking them for a couple days straight, I discovered that I simply wasn't hungry anymore. Thirsty, yes, but there were absolutely zero other side effects. And so I've lost about 10 pounds in the last few weeks.

That's cool, but is this safe? From what I've learned online, Sudafed contains a "synthetic cousin" to Ephedra, which the FDA has banned. But apparently the amount of the ingredient is lower than in the Ephedra weight-loss pills that the FDA targeted. Soooo... what next?

I'm equal parts elated and concerned. I've stopped and started the Sudafed a few times with no noticeable ill effects. If I can drop five more pounds, I'll be very satisfied with my weight and kick the pills for good. I managed to maintain 185 for years and years, so I should be able to maintain 170, right?

Of course, I could keel over at any moment.  Probably I should schedule a check-up with my doctor, just to be on the safe side.

Man, has it really been a year since I posted? Just what the heck kind of technology journalist am I, anyway?

A busy one. In addition to taking on a new contract job with General Motors, I've been wrapping up a sixth edition of the Palm book and writing regularly for CNET, PC Magazine, and a few other choice outlets. Sleep? I'll sleep when I'm dead (which may be any time now).

I've made an interesting pharmaceutical discovery, but I'm not ready to share it yet. Need one more trial. No, it's nothing weird or illegal.

My 1.5-second movie reviews:

Cars: B+
Superman: B

Back to life...

I just got done writing a review of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (verdict: hated it), and had to edit out a few of the more proselytizing passages. Fortunately, my blog has no length restrictions, so I can get those paragraphs off my chest here:

Critics assert that violent videogames, along with violent movies and music, contribute to violence in our society.

I don't agree. But I do believe there’s a cumulative effect, meaning the more people--especially teens--are exposed to this kind of thing, the more they glamorize it, accept it, and ultimately overlook it.

Ugh. Don't you hate people who don't update their blogs regularly? :) Just been too busy with work and my other, significantly more interesting blogs: Budget Computing (still in beta) and Head2Head with my old arch-nemesis, Dave Johnson.

Could this be the end of Musicmatch? Today Yahoo--which acquired Musicmatch many months ago--announced its Music Unlimited service, which, among other things, undercuts competing services like Napster and Rhapsody by quite a bit. But it also brings forth a new music-management program; Musicmatch isn't part of the equation. Furthermore, "Yahoo! Music intends to eventually combine Musicmatch's offerings with Yahoo! Music Unlimited to create the industry's best end-to-end suite of music services," according to the news release. Methinks this means the end of Musicmatch; Yahoo will eventually discontinue the software and service in favor of its own.

Good riddance. I recently uninstalled the software from my PC, having grown extremely tired of its sluggish performance, bugs, and generally ugly interface. Haven't tried the Yahoo software yet, but I'll wager it's a decent enough replacement.

I love Zicam. It has saved me from not only many a stuffy nose, but also, most recently, allergies.

Random rants and thoughts from the day...

• H&R Block's TaxCut Deluxe will not be invited to my hard drive next year. I just about pulled my hair out trying to get my taxes done.

• PalmOne's just-announced Tungsten E2 is the successor to one of my favorite PDAs, the Tungsten E. The "big" news is the addition of Bluetooth--yawn. Once again PalmOne is pushing the technology nobody wants instead of the one everyone does: Wi-Fi. But the addition of non-volatile RAM is a huge plus. A lot of people simply don't "get" that if you don't keep your PDA charged, your data goes bye-bye. NVR eliminates that problem.

• It's Matzo-ball soup season, and I just got my first taste. Mmmm...matzo balls!

I think surround sound is overrated. Most of the time I find it distracting. When I finally break down and buy an HDTV, I'm going consider "upgrading" to a really good three-piece speaker system (two satellites and a subwoofer) in place of the mediocre five-piece system I have now. Wonder if anyone else feels the same way?

Arrested Development was so funny last night. We had to rewind a couple times just to catch some of the jokes, they come so fast and furious. Best one-off line: "Roast beef." Man, that show just keeps getting better. And to think Fox hasn't decided whether to renew it! Idjits. Meanwhile, I've been re-watching the Freaks and Geeks series (on DVD) while exercising. What a truly fantastic show. One of the all-time best. How dumb was NBC for not renewing that? Idjits.

Podcasting is going to be the Next Big Thing. It's gonna be huge--maybe not blog huge, but still major. Wonder if Apple's legal department is gearing up to try to gain control over the name. I mean, I know it's not called "iPodcasting," but it's only one letter away from some sort of copyright infringement, right?

Sony really needs to strike a deal with Blockbuster to carry UMD-format movies for its new PlayStation Portable (PSP) system. I suspect very few people will be willing to shell out $20-30 for movies they can only watch on a 4-inch screen--especially if they already own the DVDs. Ah, but a week-long rental for $3.99? That would make all the difference. Let's see if Sony can figure out this obvious move and really help usher in the area of "personal video."

Certain words in the English language should never be strung together. "The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood," for instance. [Shudder] Makes my skin crawl.

Caught up on some movies this weekend. Best of the lot: Shaun of the Dead. What an unexpectedly well-done and hilarious parody of zombie movies. More proof that the British know how to make genuinely funny movies and TV shows, whereas Hollywood, well... you know.

Okay, uh, I just realized the previous post comes across as major sour grapes relative to the one before it. I'm really not anti-Apple; it just bugs me when PR people jerk me around. (Over the years I have dealt with literally hundreds of them; some are gems, and some are just plain useless.)

Apple suddenly reminds me of Palm. I think they're going to alienate their own marketplace by offering too many iPod models (four new ones joined the family today). What's more, iPod cachet goes away when everyone has one. And how long will it be before Microsoft jumps into the fray (I'm surprised they've waited this long) with an iPod clone to go with its new music service? Sure, it will be an inferior device, but they'll be able to slowly nip away at Apple's market share, just as they did with Palm. The iPod is at its pinnacle; I predict a decline from this point forward.

After six weeks of jerking me around, Apple has declined to provide me with either a Mac Mini or an iPod Shuffle for review. Talk about squandering goodwill (they must have studied the Dubya playbook). Here I was genuinely excited to cover the products in my Tech Savvy column (which reaches 325,000 readers), and now I'm just irritated. I understand that they have a limited number of eval units, blah blah blah, but don't keep me waiting six weeks with hat in hand.

Did I actually list The Apprentice among my favorite TV shows?! Ugh. The second one turned out to be truly obnoxious (what a loathesome bunch of candidates), and I haven't bothered with the third.

That said, I was discussing TV with my buddy Craig last night and was mildly embarrassed by how many shows I watch. 24, Alias, Lost, Desperate Housewives, Scrubs, Arrested Development, the new Battlestar Galactica (great sci-fi!), The West Wing, Third Watch... man, thank goodness for Replay! The thing is, these are all great shows! Say what you will about the vast wasteland that TV has become; there's an unusual abundance of good stuff.

Finally got around to watching "The Office," the British sitcom now out on DVD. Oh. My. God. It is either painfully hilarious or hilariously painful; either way, it's brilliant. Can only imagine how Hollywood will screw up the American version that's coming out next season. Just look at the train wreck that was "Coupling" (another hysterical British import that I've also just started).

Gareth and Tim look frighteningly similar to my friends Dan and Pat.

By request... I think The West Wing has been exceptional this season. In fact, save for the first few post-Sorkin episodes last year, the show hasn't suffered nearly as much as I thought it would. The most recent ep, with the three candidates out stumping in Iowa, was great, thought-provoking stuff. I love the notion that you can't affect change without getting elected, and you can't get elected without pandering. And how funny that the Republican candidate was the one who "did the right thing." We all know that never happens. :)

A Quiznos just opened a quarter-mile from my house. I am so happy!

So the new Mac Mini has a starting price of $499 (without a mouse or keyboard--what's up with that?!). Could this be the machine that brings Macs to the masses? Maybe, but one thing is for certain: the $499 iPod Photo suddenly seems insanely overpriced (not that it didn't before).

Most of my past experiences with Mac systems have been painful, but it's been a while since I did more than glance at one, and I have to admit to being intrigued by the iLife suite. Hoping to get some hands-on time with one to see if an old Windows dog can learn new tricks--and not go insane in the process.

Zuma is now available for Palm OS PDAs. Danger, Will Robinson, danger! What an awesome, addicting little game. I think $20 is a little steep, but as with all Astraware titles, there's a free trial version available for download.

One of the things I miss most about Handheld Computing is doing the Head2Head column with my good friend and longtime sparring partner Dave Johnson. Well, to prove that all good things needn't necessarily come to an end, we've resurrected our slugfest in blog form. Why limit our rantings to Handheld Computing readers when we can annoy the entire world with them?

So Kerry lost. Half the country apparently thinks Bush has done a great job over the past four years. The mind boggles. The sad part is, I think everyone wants the same things out of life: jobs, safety, killer schools, a healthy environment, affordable healthcare, and so on. But Republicans seem to think Bush can provide all that, when there's zero evidence to support it. The world hates us, society is crumbling, soldiers are dying in Iraq...and all that is apparently A-OK with half the population. As I said, the mind boggles.

Gonna have to buy my kids brooms to clean up this generation's mess. Sad.

I have always loved TV (sue me--I read plenty of books, too), but how much does television rock these days? This season alone, we've got the new gems that are Desperate Housewives, Lost, and Boston Legal (though in my book, this Practice spin-off is a gem only because of William Shatner--the rest of the smarmy kooks I can do without). Meanwhile, I just watched the West Wing season opener, and it was easily as good as anything Aaron Sorkin ever penned. Survivor, The Apprentice, Alias (when it returns in January), The Daily Show...too much good TV, not enough time! (Thank goodness for Replay, a.k.a. TiVo).

Seriously, I'd say 9 of the last 10 movies I saw were disappointing at best (Garden State a notable exception). When I carve out an hour or two in front of the tube, it's guaranteed good entertainment. I don't understand why TV gets such a bad rap (oh, right, its numbing effects on the brain) when it's so much better than the movies.

Okay, obviously I haven't touched this thing in months, for reasons too boring to go into. But now that PalmOne has officially announced the Tungsten T5 (I was briefed on it several weeks ago), I must vent: WHY NO WI-FI?!?!?! The T5 looks to be the killer PDA, with all sorts of cool memory features, the perfect form factor, a big screen, and a fair price. But why Bluetooth instead of Wi-Fi?!? It has, yawn, Bluetooth instead. I'll wager good money that 9 out of 10 people have never heard of Bluetooth, and that 999 out of 1,000 of those who have never use it.

Lots of the latest Pocket PCs have both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi--PalmOne made a critical mistake in not offering the same in the T5. They're going to get lambasted by the media and user community alike. WHY, PalmOne, WHY?!?!?!

Okay, turns out Mailblocks wasn't to blame for all the lost e-mail (though they did experience a service outage at the same time as the responsible party--weird). The culprit is 1&1, my domain host. I signed up for three free years of hosting during their big promotional blitz last year. Unsurprisingly, you get what you pay for. Tech support is virtually non-existent. You have to wade deep into to the help pages just to find a support form, and then it takes days before they reply--if they reply at all. But to my surprise, they actually did admit to having problems with forwarding, hence my lost mail.

My all-time favorite blog? Engadget.com, by a mile. A must-see for any true gearhead!

Sometimes I really despise technology. For all its wonders and merits, sooner or later it turns around and bites you in the butt. Case in point: Mailblocks, a spam-blocking service I have loved and written many positive things about, has swallowed countless e-mails over the past week. It was only yesterday that I actually realized there was a problem. What potential assignments and/or urgent messages have I missed from editors? No way to know. The mail just isn't getting through. So I've had to take Mailblocks out of the loop--and now I'm getting the regular deluge of foreign-language spam and virus-infected mail.

Meanwhile, I'm reviewing a new photo-album application (though it's not really new--it's version 5), and it's absolutely terrible! The interface is unintuitive, it has problems getting photos from memory cards, and its print features are just plain confusing.

On an unrelated note, I'm now amending my opinion of Third Watch from "really good show" to "most underrated show on television." It's better than ER ever was, IMHO.

What am embarrassing day. About six weeks ago I was interviewed for a video news release being put out by Coke. You may have heard the story by now: they're doing a contest that involves a GPS-enabled Coke can. (No, I am not making this up.) Anyway, I was interviewed for this educate-people-about-GPS VNR, then told last week that the segment would be on today's Today Show. Idiot that I am, I passed this news along to friends, family members, colleagues, and other people I know. And naturally Today did a live interview with someone else and didn't use one iota of my segment. So much for my GPS book getting promoted on national TV. I was also told the segment would air on CNN, but now realize "would" means "might." No idea if it actually did air; was too depressed to watch the news all day.

"Ali" -- what an incredibly disappointing movie. Nearly three hours of tedium punctuated by the occasional overlong fight scene. And speaking of overlong, what was with that endless run through the streets of Africa? Talk about a filmmaker indulging himself. There were many scenes like that, shots of Ali doing the same thing over and over again or just looking dour--for minutes at a time! As an avid kickboxer, I really wanted to enjoy "Ali," to learn something about one of boxing's most colorful and controversial characters. The only time that happened was during Will Smith's handful of scenes with Jon Voight, who did an incredible turn as Howard Cosell. But this movie is an hour longer than it needs to be and not nearly as illuminating as it could have been.

Had the chance to speak at the Detroit Palm User Group meeting last week--my third appearance in as many years. What a fun and lively group! What really amazed and impressed me was that out of the 40 or so people in attendance, half were women. I bet you wouldn't find numbers like that in any other UG, which are traditionally male-geek affairs. Much credit obviously goes to Tracy Dreslinski, the group's tech-savvy leader.

Just found out my good friend Doug, a freelance TV journalist, is going to Iraq for a month. He was there about a year ago at the start of the war, covering it for Fox News. Now it's even more dangerous, so I have even more cause to worry about my old college roomie. Be well, Doug!

Just finished reading House of Sand and Fog. (The movie sounded interesting enough that I decided to try the book first.) Excellent, excellent novel--gripping, moving, and definitely thought-provoking. Now I'm off to NPR.org to listen to the Fresh Air interview with author Andre Dubus. (Oh, and I read the book on my Palm, having purchased it from Palm Digital Media. Ain't technology grand?)

When I was in Vegas for CES last January, I happened to catch an episode of Third Watch, a show I'd never seen and really had no interest in. But by the end I was hooked! Since then I've been catching episodes on A&E (they run them every five minutes or so). It took a little time to grow on me, but I now regard it as one of the best, and most underrated, shows on television. Great acting, likeable characters, smart scripts...what's not to like? If you like intelligent TV, this show is not to be missed!

Slow going here in blogville. I guess a full-time writer who's deluged with paid assignments doesn't have much time or inclination to write even more for free. Now, if I could find someone willing to pay me for these updates...

Ethan, our 17-month-old, was a fantastic sleeper for nearly a year. He'd go to bed at eight without so much as a peep, then sleep a solid 12 hours straight. We'd gotten very accustomed to sleeping in until almost 8 a.m. every day. Now all of a sudden he's up at six, chattering like a madman. Well, it was nice while it lasted.

Freelance work continues to come in at a steady clip, which is very gratifying given the sudden demise of Handheld Computing. My work life is happier than it's been in years. Unfortunately, pay rates aren't what they used to be. I'm doing as much work as ever, but making less money. So it's two parts joy, one part frustration. Not a bad ratio, I suppose.

Cool CD Alert: In the Buff is an a-capella group that performs hit-single covers--everything from the Kinks to Billy Idol to Verve Pipe. Very nifty and amusing; worth a listen.

Peace!

Okay, looks like we're live! So it was a couple things that led me to hop on the blog bandwagon. First, my thoughts regarding Mel Gibson's controversial new movie. Second, my desire to chronicle various goings-on with my writing life. And, finally, the hard-drive scare that almost took down my entire system this afternoon--but, thankfully, didn't. Lesson learned: make backups! In fact, I'm going to go do that right now... so more later.

Testing.. and a-one, and a-two...