TV on the ceiling! I’m going to have to respectfully disagree with Treehugger, who suggest you “say no to faux.” I humbly counter-suggest you say “yes” to Sky Factory’s SkyV, if only for the sake of all the tricks you could play on people who came to your place. You could anything on those screens. Space, an ant farm, or perhaps something more provocative…

And after all, not everyone has the luxury of having real skylights for an option, or indeed, having anything worth looking at through one. Here in Seattle we hug trees perhaps more than anyone south of the Canadian border, but our sky is often featureless and empty, like your mom’s face. Plus, and I just thought of this right now — oh my god, I’m such a genius — are you ready for this? Full-spectrum TVs. Get your daily dose of sunlight from the tube! I can’t believe no one’s invented this yet.

So I just updated the AppleTV and fired her up. There were no visual changes in the interface except for a message encouraging you to hold down the Play/Pause button to bring up other options. The options are, in order, Start Genius, Add to On-The-Go, and Cancel. Starting Genius brought up a big honking error. I’d like to take a closer look at the methods used by Genius to take a song’s “pulse,” as it were, because clearly this metadata doesn’t make it from iTunes proper and into other devices. Why, Apple, do we have to reproduce work? Aren’t we using computers?

Not only did Apple update iTunes overnight, but it also updated Apple TV. That must be good news for, I don’t know, maybe a dozen of you.

In addition to the usual security and bug fixes (including one that sounds pretty ominous: “maliciously crafted movie file may lead to an unexpected application termination or arbitrary code execution”), there’s now a Genius playlist feature.
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Just a quick note regarding iTunes. Apple has updated it to version 8.0.1, and this release fixes a few quirks that no doubt annoyed some of you. The bug that caused iTunes to copy over HD versions of a TV show with an SD version is now squashed. Genius also sees some attention: when creating a Genius playlist, the song you’re basing the playlist on no longer stops playing.

Just “Check for Updates” from within iTunes and you’re good to go (so come on Davey sing me something that I know).

The Joy of Tech presents, How the iTunes Genius Really works…

Cute, I guess. Then again, my sense of humor is so warped that what makes the average geek laugh may not have the same effect on me.

What I would like to see is a proper, investigative piece into how Genius works. Apparently Apple isn’t too forthcoming on the ins and outs of it, so we may just have to accept the Joy of Tech’s explanation for the time being.

Ads have invaded iTunes 8 and I hate it. Suddenly, on the right side of iTunes, the Genius Sidebar now displays at least 23 one-click buy links for me to spend my hard-earned cash through. What Apple calls a friendly recommendation is more like impulsive music buying. 

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One of the new features of iTunes 8 is Genius, a preposterously named playlist creator that seems, to me, completely overhyped. What does it do, really? Apple’s highly detailed instructions (above) say all you have to do is play a song, click the Genius button, then off you go. It scans your iTunes library for songs that “go great together,” then creates a playlist of those songs. Wonderful.

Nearest I can tell, all Genius is doing is going through my library and picking a bunch of songs of the same genre or artist, then grouping them together. How is that different from a smart playlist set up to select 25 hip-hop or classic rock (or whatever) songs?

Like, check this out. I tell Genius to make a playlist based on “Energy Bomb (Alex Gold, Adam K & Soha Mix)” by Alex Gold, a progressive house song (you can listen to it here, if you dare!). What does Genius do? It makes a playlist of a bunch of progressive house songs. (That’s when it doesn’t throw me a bunch of error messages.) Wow, thanks. I couldn’t have done that on my own.

In my estimation, Genius is a wildly over-hyped smart playlist generator. Thank you.

Where was this gadget when I was in the blur I sometimes confusingly refer to as my 20s? This thing is amazing, and I need to get one.

It’s a beer cozy with a built-in beeper. Can’t remember where your beer is? Use the included remote to page it, it responds with a burping noise, so you can locate your can like a bat locates prey, only maybe you’ll have a shirt on. Maybe.

For $20, this is a lifesaver. If you can keep track of just five half-racks of PBRs, it’s paid for itself. Look for it in the stockings of future AA member this Xmas.

Remote control beer pager [Lighter Side, via Shiny Shiny]

Genius has announced a revolutionary set of headphones that have an embedded vibrating system that boosts the quality of the sound and really puts you in the game. The headphones are small and foldable, so you can transport them to your next LAN party without fear of being detected by mere mortals. The USB powered ‘phones have a built-in microphone, noise canceling option, volume control and vibration switch. The HS-03U is set to ship in September for $39.

Product Page

In 150 years, our time won’t be remembered as the time of converting to green and renewable resources. It won’t be remembered as the time when the Internet first became totally ubiquitous and pervasive. It won’t be remembered as the time we let slutty, bratty heiresses out of jail for breaking the same laws that landed others behind bars. No, reader, our time will be remembered as the time when you could sneak booze into anything you wanted to.

This is the Softflask. A plastic pouch — essentially a large toothpaste tube — that you fill with your favorite hooch and stash anywhere you can. Because it’s soft and flexible, you can hide this flask in places that normal flasks would cause unsightly bulges. Like inside your pants.

This kind of innovation is what defines a generation, and I want to be the first to say that I’m a proud member of that generation.

Softflask – sneak your drinks anywhere [Slashgear]

Winerack [Thrillist, via Gizmodo]

Shotgunator [Thesis Page]