Who here likes buttons? Like, honest-to-God buttons that you push and then something happens? I do. It’s one of the reasons why I’m fairly nonplussed by the iPhone. (All the pre-launch THIS WILL CHANGE THE WORLD nonsense also bothered me, too.) I’m not trying to be all “unreasonable” or anything, but I simply prefer the feeling I get when pushing a physical button. Hence, before they go the way of the Knicks, my endorsement of buttons today. Rule Britannia.
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Continuing with this week’s festival do Linux, I’ll be endorsing open source software today. Not so random, no. Only software that’s free as in freedom has been considered; freeware that I can’t futz around with the source code, not that I would know what to do, rightly, was ignored. Devastating, yes.
This endorsement is a twofer. First I’ll try to answer the tough question as to why, pray tell, you should give a damn about open source source, hereafter referred to as OSS. I write that sentence knowing full well that, oh, say, all of you already know what OSS is and why it’s worth your while. I’m merely following orders. Anyway, part two will be a few applications that you might want to check out… again, knowing full well that you’re probably aware of lots of them. Have you heard of Firefox? I hear it’s all the rage these days.
Anyhow, OSS. It’s cool. Use it.
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We’re endorsing the George Foreman Grill today. This is how I spend my spring break.
Before using the GFG, I didn’t know how to cook. After using the GFG, I still don’t know how to cook! Is that the fault of the grill, or the fault of my own faulty upbringing and complete lack of ambition? I’m gonna guess it’s my fault; the grill was cool.
Being that it’s 2008, I’m sure most, if not all, of you have seen the GFG advertised on TV. Some of us may have sat down for the entire half-hour infomercial, largely out of a lack of anything better to do. I say that because, given that, there’s no reason to explain exactly what the GFG is and does. Briefly, it’s a small, cramped NYC apartment-friendly grill that cooks food quickly. There’s no built-in Bluetooth nor does it feature haptic technology in any capacity.
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There wasn’t an endorsement last week—frowny face—because head whip cracker Biggs had me write that cute Usenet primer. As a result, one of you wants me thrown off the Internet for good, which I wouldn’t be altogether opposed to.
But we’re back to basics today; another plain jane, vanilla otherredundantword endorsement for your Wednesday afternoon. Digital SLRs are the focus of my attention today.
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In about two hours I will be watching either Manchester United tear apart Olympique Lyon or Barcelona and its Fantastic Four give Celtic a lesson in… losing to Barcelona. In the meantime, I just have to make with my random endorsement, which has become less and less random as the weeks have gone by. I actually have to think on the subway to myself, what in God’s name am I going to extol today?
The answering to that question today is satellite radio, specifically XM since I’ve never listened to Sirius except for Oakenfold’s radio show (which I download). I assume Sirius is just as swell, but I’m not sure. I’m only one man.
So yes, XM is okay by me. Why, you ask?
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Back to tech today. Well, software. Whatever. It was raining hard and windy and I dropped my umbrella in a garbage by accident earlier. I’m not kidding*.
Today I’m giving a “shout out” to some the smaller Mac apps that make my life a little easier. Small apps, not the big obvious ones like iTunes or Firefox.
Aurora, Unison, NetNewsWire, PithHelmet and Growl are all little Mac wonders. If you use Apple’s OS, be sure to check them out after reading the following chicken scratch.
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Watch this video first. Listen to the words, man.
/me Clears throat.
/sings 18 and 0 (18 and 0) one more to go (one more to go), SuperBoooooooooowl.
Patriots fans no doubt heard that song a few times between when they beat the Chargers to clinch the AFC and Sunday night. Too bad they’ll now have sing, 18 and one (18 and one) what have we done, we suuuuuuuuck. Get real, Pats fans, the Giants absolutely destroyed your little team.
Today’s endorsement is given, with great pride, to the New York Football Giants. Dynasty!
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Big deal, Kennedy endorsed Obama. Today I endorse surround sound and I fully expect sales to increase one million fold.
Yes, after a brief hiatus in which I spent my time watching Home and Garden TV and refreshing Drudge every eight seconds, I return today with the endorsements. No doubt many of you don’t give a damn what I think—you have something in common with my father—but pay attention to this endorsement. It’ll win you friends.
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There was controversy when I endorsed the movie “Once” last week, primarily because some folks (where “some folks” is defined as one of my friends) argued that movie reviews have no place on a tech site. Well, hater(s), this is my column and I’ll endorse whatever the heck I want. Today, though, I’m bringing it back to tech.
Wikipedia, you just got endorsed.
Wikipedia has replaced Google in my life, as far as looking up information is concerned (as opposed to maps and e-mail and so forth). I use it both for work—when did that phone come out? what studios exclusively support Blu-ray?—and for fun—which Crash Test Dummies did I have growing up?, how much is De Beers worth?, how great is Arrested Development?—which makes me both a nerd and jerk.
On top of that, Wikipedia helped me ace my political science final exams that I took on Tuesday and Wednesday. So much for it being inaccurate.
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Well, well, I’ve just been giving permission to expand my “Random Endorsement” column beyond the world of tech. That’s fantastic news for everyone, because, if you couldn’t already tell, I was running out of tech-related things to endorse.
Today I endorse the movie “Once,” easily the best movie I’ve seen all year, and that includes “American Gangster.” (Here’s a fun game: every time Denzel Washington throws a cup or knocks a cup off a table, take a shot of your liquor of choice. All Denzel does these days to show he’s angry is knock over cups.) Please note that I haven’t seen “There Will Be Blood” or “No Country For Old Men” yet. My opinion may change when I see those.
Spoilers!!! (Not too many, though.)
Set in present-day Dublin, the movie tells the story of a street performer, “Guy” since we never learn his name, and a Czech girl, “Girl.” They meet when Guy is playing one of his own songs at night (as opposed to a cover). Girl likes the song and comes back the next day, thus beginning their friendship.
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After throwing Peter under the bus last week with my random endorsement defending e-books, I felt it was necessary to return the random endorsement to its roots. That is, giving me an opportunity to take everyday objects and laud their capabilities, often hating on other present-day “tech” in the process.
Today I endorse umbrellas, albeit somewhat reservedly.
I’m mainly endorsing umbrellas because of their simplicity: they block stuff, be it rain or the sun’s harmful rays. That’s it. No shoe-horned whiz-bang features or embedded ads for you to deal with. There’s no built-in social networking—not everything needs to be a social network; frankly, I could give a damn what my stupid friends are up to at all hours of the day, nor do I care what junk they’re buying online—nor crappy GPS (like in that episode of “The Office”). It’s a gadget (at least I’m considering it one for the purposes of this wonderful column) that works out of the box, no assembly required, no Engrish manual to sift through.
Held in one hand (or two if you’re crazy!), the umbrella is activated with the touch of a single button. By pressing it, the one part instantly shoots up from the other part, granting you protection from the elements all in one slick motion. It’s sort of like sliding to unlock, only better. Better because I think the iPhone is dumb.
No, the umbrella isn’t perfect—they break too easily. Like, if there’s even a hint of wind prepare to have it turn inside-out, possibly even blow away, making you look like a complete boob in the process. You’d think after however many thousands of years someone would have invented an umbrella that doesn’t turn inside out at the drop of a hat. (I guess engineers are too busy working on integrating Web 8.0 into my cup of coffee.)
If anyone wants to send me endorsement ideas that’d be great. I think I’m scheduled to endorse potato peelers next week.
This endorsement is by no means random. It is a direct challenge to one of the many well thought out theses put forward by Peter Ha in his terrific Kindle review:
I’ll be the first to admit that e-books suck. They’re great in theory, but they’ll never catch on. There’s nothing that screams dork more than an e-book. I, like many others, enjoy the real thing. There’s just something comforting about having a paper book to carry around, to bunny ear, scratch notes on, highlight words/phrases and whatever else you may like to do.
I’ll spare you the rest.
Imagine you could resurrect Christopher Columbus. You’d be all, “Yo, Cristobal, what’s up? Check this out.” Then you point upward at an airplane. “How’s this grab ya: we’ve invented these things called airplanes that can take you clear across the Atlantic Ocean in six hours. Oh, and check this out. It’s called the Kindle. On this little plastic thing, we can read every book ever written anywhere we want. If we’re on the beach and want to read ‘Black Hat‘ we can; if we’re on the train and want to read ‘State of Emergency‘ we can.”
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Like I said last week, my random endorsement column will be a little unorthodox sometimes. It won’t be all Product A is great, I endorse it. No, sirs.
Today I endorse you all, the CrunchGear readers. And a special endorsement+ to all you who leave comments. Aside from our delightful chat room, y’all make it worth getting up stupid early to do this.
Take a bow.
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I see myself as slightly less corrupt Krusty the Clown. I won’t put my name on just any product, no sir. There won’t be any Deleon Brand Grade F Meat Substitute nor will you see my name on books I don’t approve of. So when I endorse a product, rest assured that you can say to yourself, “Hey man, if Deleon’s down with that, I need to be down with that.” Then we can throw our hands in the air and party like it…
Anyhow, today I throw my good name behind the iPod nano. I know, it’s not exactly breaking news for someone to speak highly of the iPod nano, but as the weeks go by, this column will probably become Dennis Miller-like in its obscurity, so best to start as simply as possible.
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