I am amazed that this is 2009 and they are still talking about this. I began surfing Malibu in 1985 and everyone knew then Malibu Surfrider is the most polluted beach in all of California. I have gotten sick numerous times surfing there and I know of at least 3 people that almost died due to complications that were largely caused by the polluted water at Surfrider beach. (LINK BELOW)
I have been doing these for years. Funny that I found a YouTube video with one of my favorite TV personalities. Trust me, do a whole 10-set of these and you will throw up.
So I sat with bated breath during Apple’s WWDC to hear an announcement about PC/Mac tethering with the upcoming iPhone OS 3. Tethering for those that don’t know is the ability to share/use the phone’s internet connection through your PC/Mac. This is a great tool when you cannot find a WiFi connection.
So during the WWDC keynote speech it was announced that iPhone OS 3 would have the ability to tether to you PC/Mac and that 25 carriers would support it. Except for one HUGE exception… AT&T. Not only does AT&T not support tethering but they also delayed the ability to use the MMS feature in OS 3.
AT&T went on the record saying tethering & MMS would be allowed at a later date but let me decipher AT&T’s definition of “later date”. Basically they are trying to figure out how much extra to charge us for both features. Some have said that tethering will cost between $40-70 extra a month. I can understand $20-25/month for tethering but $40-70? That is a higher price than what you would pay if you just got a broadband USB card and signed up for a 2-year contract. WTF?!?!
So I am fed up with AT&T and their never ending price gouging so I am going to stick it to the “Man”.
I have jailbroken my iPhone and installed PdaNet (link) and I am tethering for the one time price of $30. You could actually use PdaNet for free if the only thing you want use it for is web browsing (the un-registered version is limited to http traffic only). It does have a 14-day trial for you to see all features and see if you want to pay for it.
You can use PdaNet in two ways; WiFi or USB tethering. With WiFi you are basically turning your iPhone into a de facto wireless router. You create a ad-hoc network connection and you are set. I prefer USB tethering since WiFi will drain your battery extremely fast and with USB the drain will be slower as your iPhone is being recharged via the USB at the same time that you are tethering. USB tethering is only supported on Windows right now but I am sure that a Mac solution will be coming soon.
How fast is the connection while tethering? See for yourself:
Download speeds are great but do not try to upload big files or you will waiting a very long time.
You have to hand it to Microsoft. They sure can make great commercials. Their search engines…not so good.
Monsters Inc. was scheduled to be released in the US last month alongside with A Bug’s Life. For some unexplained reason it was cancelled and pushed back to either Sept., Dec. or even 2010 depending on who you ask. In Japan, it was released last week and in the UK it will be released in July.
So, I bit down and went to Amazon.jp and ordered it with several other titles not yet available in the US. This set me back about $50-55 with shipping for this title alone. The main menu is in Japanese so they will be hard to navigate. I will not spoil the fun but the first option is the “Play Main movie” and the third option is the Chapters selection with small thumbnails. I will let you explore the rest. It’s fun trying to guess what comes with each menu.
In few words, the video transfer is pretty much perfect. The colors and saturation is beyond beautiful. I would even venture to say that it may be better than A Bug’s Life. The 1.85:1 transfer comes in AVC that averages about 31.76Mbps. The total disk is 28.65GB in a dual layer.
The audio is as good as the picture. The main audio track is a stunning 24bit/48kHz DTS-MA English track that comes in at about 4060kbps. There is also a Japanese DTS-ES track at about 1509kbps and also a commentary track in standard DD 2.0 at 192kbps. With the DTS-MA you will be treated with a full rich audio experience that will envelope you in goodness. The room of doors scene is by far the best use of rear channels that I found in the movie.
(Click to see full version PNG’s)
“Total Eclipse of the Heart” is a brilliant, beautiful song but the video was all sorts of wacked. This version really makes me understand what all that craziness was about.
