Yes, Another Blog

The world can always use another blog.

I said that I was working on a project and it seems that it is getting closer to completion but a few simple items have not been released and they are just killing me. I guess I better reveal some of the details since showing this will pretty much let the cat out of the bag.

I am in the process of moving my home theater from a stand-alone system to an HTPC solution. I prefer to have an HTPC for several reasons but the main one would be the ability to keep various components upgradeable without getting all new hardware every time they come out with new technology. I’ll go into more details later on this.

But right now this is what I am waiting for:

The ASUS Xonar HDAV1.3 Deluxe is the first  true HD Audio card to hit the market. This card will decode all Blu-ray audio codecs (DTS-MA, Dolby TrueHD and LCPM) and either bitstream them via HDMI or you can use the additional daughter card to output them via analog outputs. Right now the drivers cannot bitstream True-HD but they are working on it.

Not only does the audio card handle unmolested HD audio but it will also process the video internally and enhance the output video. How this will look compared to unmolested video is still unknown but I am very jazzed to do an A/B comparison of the processed video.

The Xonar was scheduled to come out in mid August but of course one thing or another delayed it will mid-Sept. It appears that Sept 10th will be the official worldwide launch as some overseas merchants have already began taking orders.

Price varies between $250-375 but I am sure that the final price will be much lower once the real launch gets here.

I am planning to not only be an early adopter but I am breaking my own hardware rule and become a "first-adopter" I will definitely be a guinea pig for this card and do a full review/report when I finally get my grubby little hands on one.

Four reasons why the iPhone is Evil.

So I wake up this morning ready to take on the world when I discover that my high speed internet (HSI) is down. Noooooooo!!!!!

How am I supposed to get any work done without HSI?

Using my iPhone to surf once in a while is great but doing every day tasks at 3g speeds is not my idea of fun. How did we ever survive using dial-up? For those younger than 20, there was a time when we actually connected to the Internet using our land phone lines at the incredible speed of 19-56kbps. Yes, kbps. That’s nearly 100 times slower than the iPhone’s 3g connection.

Of course when HSI is down it also means my cable TV is down… Wait!!! I don’t have TV? Just shoot me now.

The Corn Refiners Association (CRA) launched a gauntlet of new ads trying to counteract the negative public opinions of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS).

It just makes me wonder what the CRA is afraid of? Could it be the fact that America has been getting fatter and fatter every single year that HFCS has been used to replace sugar in everyday products? Or could it be that the obesity level in the US has ballooned (no pun) due to the ingestion of HFCS products? Oh yeah, those last two points are redundant.

Why is it that in their commercials they fail to explain that their products are NOT the cause to the increase in obesity in the US or the rest of the world for that matter? Why is it that they do NOT try to defend the health benefits of their products compared to plain sugar? Why do they NOT tell us that their product is natural and do NOT use any chemicals to process HFCS before used in foods/drinks?

Gee, I wonder why? Sometimes what they do NOT tell you speaks louder than what they do try to tell you.

I grew up on MTV. I grew up on the VMA’s. They were THE awards show for my generation. But last night they lost every single shred of credibility they had left.

First of all, every single performance was lipped synched. Badly lipped synched I may add.

Second, the show was a third-rate, public-access caliber mess. It was boring, the host was dreadful, and the performances were phoned-in except for a couple notable exceptions (ie, Pink, Kid Rock).

But the ultimate disgrace was the fact that Britney Spears got 3 awards (Video of the Year, Best Pop Video, and Best Female Video) for "Piece of Me". WHAT!!!

You have got to be kidding me. "Piece of Me" was by far the worst video of the year. If you look closely it was edited so heavily to hide Britney’s obvious lack of talent and interest. Yes, I said interest.

Britney stopped caring years ago and her career and performances (if you want to even call them that) show it.

It is obvious that this trio of awards was an MTV plan to get Britney back on the road to normalcy, if that is even possible. They gave her (yes, gave her) the awards in hopes that she will start performing again (did you noticed that I didn’t say performing well) and hope that she will use MTV as her vehicle to promote anything she does.

It may pay off in the revenue department in the months to come but MTV lost something a lot more important. Any and all credibility.

I’ve been a busy little boy and have neglected my blogging duties.

I will soon post details on my projects as they will make for some interesting topics.