Dave Caolo

Killer workspace: The upside down Mac

I first came across the lovely Zooey Deschanel in the movie Elf. Now I’m seeing her everywhere, except that it’s not her.

Singer Katy Perry resembles Zooey so closely that I thought they were the same person, since Zooey has an album out now, too. Additionally, actress Alessandra Toreson, who also bears a striking resemblence, played a character named Zoe in the SciFi Network’s “Caprica.”

It can only mean one thing: Hollywood loves girls who resemble Zooey Deschanel. Good news for doe-eyed brunettes with ambitions for the big screen.

As usual, Repbulicans are only concerned with one thing in life: Their money. Spurned by the failure of their “gay people are evil” tactic, they’re now marketing gay marriage as an assault on small businesses:

“Now all of a sudden I’ve got someone who wasn’t a spouse before, that I had no responsibility for, who is now getting claimed as a spouse that I now have financial responsibility for,” said GOP Chairman Michael Steele. “So how do I pay for that? Who pays for that? You just cost me money.”

That’s right, Michael. That couple’s right to marry and be happy is all about you and your wallet. What a jerk.

Beautiful 50′s sci-fi movie poster-style iPhone wallpapers from Poolga

Text highlighter for the web

Twitter ruffled everyone’s blue feathers yesterday by removing an option that let users see @ replies sent to those they don’t follow. I don’t care if the move was right or wrong, but how they did it was a rookie parent mistake.

Let’s say I’m at the playground with Jr. and Sister. We’ve been cheerfully playing for an hour and then I decide it’s time to go. I’ve got two options.

The first is to say, “OK, kids. Time to go. Everybody get into the car.” I could do that, but it’ll elicit a core breach from Jr. and Sister. Every time. When the fun they’ve been enjoying is cut off in an instant and without warning, they flip.

Instead, I give them what I call “The Countdown.” It goes like this: “Kids, five more minutes and we’re going to go.”* Then, “OK, kids, four more minutes are we’re going to go home.” They’re able wind down, do what they really want to do before we leave and it works like a charm. Every single time. When I finally move from “One more minute” to “Say goodbye, it’s time to go,” they comply.

I don’t care if we do see @ replies, don’t see @ replies … who cares? That’s not what got everyone in a lather yesterday. A few days warning would have saved the folks at Twitter a huge headache. But that’s OK. They’re still new parents.

*Tip: It’s tempting to do “One more slide down the sliding board and we’ll go,” but if you do you’re screwed, because Jr. will just sit at the top of the slide. And sit. And sit. He can control his descent down the slide, but not the passage of time.

Make bread with an Apple

People on Twitter will lie to you until you are penniless and alone, and then they will kill and eat you.

PZ Myers:

“The rise of Idiot America today reflects … the breakdown of the consensus that the pursuit of knowledge is a good … the words of an obscure biologist carry no more weight on the subject of biology than do the thunderations of some turkeyneck preacher out of Christ’s Own Parking Structure in DeLand, Florida.”

Critical thinking is certianly being replaced by knee-jerk responding. Can’t wait to read the book.

“It isn’t the best music player, but it’s the cheapest!”

That’s the sentiment in Microsoft’s new Zune ad (as you might have noticed, that’s Wes Moss from season 2 of The Apprentice in the role of “Certified Financial Planner.” Who trusts a financial planner these days?), which claims that it costs $30,000 to fill a 120GB iPod classic* with music from the iTunes store. Let’s examine that claim.

The assumption is that all of the music on an iPod will come from iTunes. Most of my music came from CDs that I purchased years ago, which transferred for free. That’s sunk cost, yes, but those tracks consume storage space just as greedily as new iTunes tracks do. Also, they’re assuming that you buy all of your music one track at a time. An album is cheaper than the same 10 songs individually.

As an alternative, the ad promotes the Zune Marketplace. For $15/mo., you may download and keep as many songs as you want, as long as you maintain your subscription. Additionally, you may keep 10 songs a month for good. So, you’re purchasing 10 songs at $1 each, and paying $4.99 to rent unlimited songs. It sounds like a good deal but I don’t ever want to rent music.

The ad also assumes that there are no videos, TV shows, movies (rented or purchased) photos, free podcasts, audiobooks or data stored on the iPod. Those who buy the 120GB model are certainly using it in disk mode.

In the end, price is the deciding factor here so let’s talk price. I’ve recently canceled my Netflix, Sirius Radio and a few other subscriptions in an attempt to save money. If I don’t want to spend money in iTunes during a given month, I don’t. My music library is unaffected. If I cancel my ZunePass subscription, the vast majority of my collection goes with it. Finally, my friends have set goals for themselves other than “Fill my iPod to the brim with music from the iTunes Store.”

*Microsoft calls the 120GB iPod classic “…the lastest iPod.” Actually, that model was released on September 9, 2008. The latest iPod is the iPod shuffle, which was introduced on March 11, 2009. At 4GB, it would cost $1,000 to fill the shuffle with new iTunes tracks at “…a buck a song.”