Month: October 2008

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I Voted for Barack Obama Today

I took off from work today to head to the early voting location near the Iconfactory. I arrived at the Leonard Recreation Center on Ballinger Rd. around 4pm. I went inside to find a line of about 100 people stretching from the voting room to the gymnasium, and so I took my place at the end of the line. As I settled in, I started the chronometer on my iPhone to see just how long it would take to get to the front. Although the line was long, it did seem to move right along. People were in good spirits and I saw many young and African American voters come into the gym and head to the back of the line.

While in the gym, I was able to check my tweets and email and generally stay busy playing games and surfing the web. As I got near the front of the line more and more people started to come in, presumably trying to beat the rush before 5pm. When I reached the voting room, the nice volunteers took my name, printed my voting confirmation sheet and then asked me to wait for a free machine. To my surprise, the gentleman who showed me to my station recognized me and said “I know you, you’re the “icon man!” I’m not sure if he recognized me from past years voting in Greensboro or from the Fox 8 piece that aired a few months back. Either way it was a pleasant surprise and he and I chatted for a bit before I actually set about the business of voting. He explained to me that the rec center had been processing about 900-1100 voters per day for the last week and a half.

He gave me my instructions and warned me about voting separately for the presidential candidates if I chose to do a straight ticket and then we parted ways. I was very proud to press the button that was labeled Barack Obama / Joe Biden for President and Vice President of the United States. I double, then tripled checked it was correct and then set about voting on the rest of the ballot. I skipped many of the local judges since I wasn’t familiar with them.

When I confirmed my choices and stepped out the exit, I looked at my iPhone’s chronometer and it read 38 minutes. Time had really flown by there in line and the poll workers knew their job very well so all in all I had no problems. I was pleased to see so many of my fellow North Carolinians voting early. But most of all, I was happy that for the first time in recent memory, I actually had a candidate that I was proud to cast my vote for as President. Many people in line were smiling while they waited, I could tell the mood was upbeat and positive. I think many of them were voting for Obama too.

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It’s Sarah Palin’s World. John McCain is Just Living In It.

The cracks started to show several weeks ago when Palin disagreed with the McCain’s idea to pull out of Michigan. The cracks grew into fractures when it was reported that the campaign spent some $150,000 of GOP donor money on clothes and makeup treatments for Palin and her family so they could “look good” during the run up to the election. Accusations flew, and some within the McCain camp started leaking nasty things about Sarah to the press. “She’s gone rogue” said one advisor. Then this week came the infamous “whack job” comment. Now from ABC news comes the icing on the chilly cake that is the Palin/McCain campaign. Sarah’s ready for 2012!

“Gov. Sarah Palin suggested that if the Republican ticket is defeated on Tuesday she expects to be a player in the next election four years from now, saying “I’m not doing this for naught.”

In an interview with ABC News’ Elizabeth Vargas, the Republican vice-presidential nominee was asked about 2012, whether she was discouraged by the daily attacks on the campaign trail, and would instead pack it in and return to her home state of Alaska.

“I think that, if I were to give up and wave a white flag of surrender against some of the political shots that we’ve taken, that would bring this whole & I’m not doing this for naught,” Palin said.”

It seems that someone has a taste for their new found, conservative popularity. It would be a shame for all that stumping to go to waste if and when McCain loses. So Sarah seems to be hedging her bets for the next go around four years from now. The fact that she’s talking about 2012 six days before the 2008 election is nothing less than stunning. If I was John McCain, I’d be positively livid, but all things being equal it serves him right. This is what McCain gets when he listens to the likes of mr-thinks-he-knows-everything-but-really-knows-nothing Bill Kristol. Palin is turning out to be the single best thing Kristol’s ever done for the left in his long and illustrious career of being completely and utterly wrong. You betcha!

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Apple Freak

Lately I’ve found myself addicted to apples. No, not the kind that I usually write about, but an actual piece of fruit. You know, the kind you eat? I only recently discovered Gala apples and ever since I first had one at Panera Bread a few months ago, I can’t get enough of them. Ask any of my friends if I’m the type of guy that can be seen with a heart healthy snack in his hands and they would likely belly-laugh and tell you to go away.

Lately I’ve been warming up to the idea of eating more fruits and vegetables and the unassuming Gala apple has been leading the charge. If you’ve never had one, next time you’re in the produce section try and pick one up. They are softer than most apples with a thinner skin and a slightly sweeter taste than most. Developed in New Zealand in the 1920s by orchardist J.H. Kidd, Gala apples are a cross between a Golden Delicious and Kidd’s Orange Red. They resist bruising and are quite easy to eat. Even if you don’t particularly enjoy apples give them a try. They’ve easily become my new favorite snack and they could become yours too.

Bidi-bidi-bidi, Sucka!

Since Dave and I had so much fun theorizing about Kirk vs. Picard in last week’s episode, and the ladies were not available this week, we decided to go all-out geek this time around. Episode 14 of The Sci-Fi Cast is a rapid fire discussion of classic science fiction “Versus!” scenarios including such timeless classics as Twiki vs. Bender and the Borg vs. Aliens. I’m not ashamed to say that if you are a geek like we are, then this is your episode. I can practically hear the imaginary phasers getting set to stun right now! Any sci-fi nut will really have fun with this one so don’t miss it. Head on over to The Sci-Fi Cast and check out episode 14 today!

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Ranking the Sublime

Around the office we often get into conversations about our favorite movies, what we’ve seen recently and what’s worth watching or avoiding on DVD. On more than one occasion the topic of Pixar films have come up, which ones are our favorites and why. After encountering a post I found from Airbag on the Metacritic ratings for Pixar films, it seemed only natural that I jot down my own ratings for these lovable movies. Feel free to post your own ratings in the comments if you’d like to play along.

UPDATE: I’ve updated my list to include Up, Cars 2 and Brave. No, I’ve still not seen Toy Story 3 yet. I know, I know.

1. The Incredibles – I own every Pixar movie on DVD (except WALL•E since it’s not out yet) and The Incredibles is the one that gets popped in the most. The story moves along at a great pace, all of the characters are treated equally, the action sequences are worthy of blockbuster live action flicks and the art direction is to die for. Love it.

2. Up – Full of heart and original storytelling, Up is a tour-de-force for Pixar. The first 15 minutes will have you blubbering like an idiot, but you need that emotional attachment in order for the rest of the story to have meaning. Up also has one of the best end-credit sequences of any Pixar flick.

3. WALL•E – The only reason why this isn’t number one on my list is probably because I can’t watch it whenever I want. Once the DVD comes out, it may supplant The Incredibles at my favorite. Amazing what the folks at Pixar did with little if any dialog, a desolate, future Earth and a potted plant. Not as funny as some of the other Pixar flicks, but every bit a classic.

4. Toy Story – The one, the only, the original. Although the computer animation is starting to show its age, the story, characters and humor can hardly be beat. Woody & Buzz make the best comedy duo since Abbot and Costello and are surrounded by an incredibly funny cast of sidekicks to boot.

5. A Bug’s Life – For lots of people this one is usually farther down on the list, but I really liked Bug’s Life. The story is original, the misfit saves the day and PT Flea’s troop of traveling bugs manages to completely steal the show. I wish Pixar would have made a sequel for this instead of the upcoming Cars 2.

6. Finding Nemo – Overall I like Finding Nemo a great deal, but over time I found it really is geared more for children. Unlike The Incredibles, much of the comedy is childish and the incessant worrying of Nemo’s dad, played by manic Albert Brooks, gets on my nerves after the first hour.

7. Cars – I enjoyed Cars more than I thought I would, especially the lovable tow truck Mater. The movie suffers from the creator’s obvious indulgence with a love of automobiles and runs a bit too long for my tastes. That being said, it does have the most infectious song of all of Pixar’s flicks – Cheryl Crow’s Real Gone, which I love.

8. Toy Story 2 – There are lots of parts about Toy Story 2 I love like Buzz and Woody’s journey through a huge real-life toy store. Then there are parts that kill the movie for me like the depressingly sad montage of Jessie being discarded by her owner. This single scene makes me second guess myself whenever I go to put the DVD in, which is a bad thing.

9. Brave – Brave starts out fresh and bold and full of promise but soon devolves into what is basically an elaborate chase sequence. It does have strong characters and tons of humor going for it, but the lead character isn’t treated with the respect she deserves and the story suffers because of it. Here’s my review.

10. Monsters, Inc. – I love the concept behind Monsters, Inc. as well as the characters and the voice work by Billy Crystal and John Goodman. And although Boo is terribly adorable, I’ve never cared for the way Sulley seems to throw away his life-long relationship with his best friend Mike just because this little girl follows him around and calls him “Kitty!”. There’s a real mean streak at the heart of Monsters, Inc. that I think many people overlook because of the humor and the adorable little girl and it bothers me.

11. Cars 2 – Lots of people thought the sequel to Cars was evidence that Pixar was slipping. Overall I disagree with that assessment, but there’s no denying that Cars 2 isn’t as strong as the first. There’s very little grease on these gears, but that doesn’t stop the movie from being a good popcorn flick.

12. Ratatouille – Critics loved it. I didn’t. Sadly, it’s the only Pixar film I regret buying. I didn’t go to see it in the theater which could be part of the problem. Despite this, I was sure I was going to love it on DVD at home but again, I didn’t. I’m not sure if it’s the whole “rats & cooking” thing, the focus on location rather than story or what, but Ratatouille left me cold. That being said, it’s still 100x better than many animated flicks out there.

As a bonus, I’m also including my 5 favorite Pixar short films here as well. I’ve been in love with these little movies since I first saw Knick Knack at RIT. Amazingly, Pixar keeps cranking out winners with their short films, although some are more successful than others.

1. For the Birds
2. Knick Knack
3. Presto
4. Jack-Jack Attack
5. Luxo Jr.

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True Change

This seriously has to be the best video of the entire campaign season. This is so funny I nearly wet my pants. Like most comedy it’s funny because it’s true.

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My Election Predictions

With 11 days left until the 2008 General Election, I thought now would be a good time to get my predictions out. I usually hesitate to do this kind of thing so I don’t end up jinxing anything, but the older I get the more I realize just how superstitious such an attitude is. The only way I can personally effect the outcome of this election is with my single ballot, and so I’ve decided to take the plunge and get my picks out there now. Some of these may be no brainers but at least I’ll be on record so I can see how I did after all is said and done. In no particular order they are:

• Barack Obama will become the 44th President of the United States. I predict He’ll end up with at least 320 electoral votes.

• Obama will win the contested states of North Carolina, Colorado, Ohio, Indiana and Missouri.

• Obama will win the popular vote by at least 3%.

• John McCain will win Florida, Georgia and Virginia.

• John McCain will win West Virginia, but I think it will be much closer than polls indicate.

• Liddy Dole will defend her seat here in NC, but just barely.

• Pat McCrory will defeat Beverly Perdue for NC Governor.

• Al Franken will beat Sen. Norm Coleman in Minnesota.

• Senator Ted Stevens will lose in Alaska. Badly.

• Democrats will pick up a total of 4 seats in the Senate.

• Democrats will pick up a total of 32 seats in the House of Representatives, one of which will be the idiotic Republican Michele Bachmann of MN.

• When all is said and done, the VP choice of Sarah Palin by John McCain will be the overwhelming reason why McCain loses. I do think she’ll attempt to run again in 2012, we haven’t seen the last of her unfortunately.

• National election turnout will end up around 66%.

So what happens if I’m wrong about Obama winning? Will I move to Canada or Europe? Will I spiral into a deep depression and curl up into a ball for months? I might be angry for a while but I’ll live. This country survived eight years of George W. Bush, and it can survive at least 4 of John McCain and Sarah Palin.

In my heart of hearts, I firmly believe we are on the cusp of something historic. Millions of people will be casting their vote for the very first African American for President of the United States. Barack is a good man who has the temperament, wisdom and values to lead this awesome country. Will he make mistakes? Undoubtedly. Does he love his country? Without question. I have faith that he and Joe Biden will do what’s best for the American people to keep us safe, get our economy on the right path and do what they can to bring the red and the blue together once again. We’re ready to start healing and we’ve gotta lot of work to do. It all starts on November 4th, 2008.

UPDATE: An insightful post over at The Anonymous Liberal seems to echo my thoughts about Palin as the soon-to-be scapegoat for McCain’s upcoming defeat – “If McCain loses, the GOP will quickly descend into recriminations mode. Many conservatives who have been holding back thus far will unload their frustrations about Palin.” That about sums that up. He’s not as convinced about Palin’s chances in 2012. Only time can tell.

NC ‘Straight Ticket’ Votes Not Counted for President

If you reside in North Carolina and are getting ready to vote in the 2008 elections, then you need to be aware of a potential problem that is giving both poll workers and voters alike, headaches. Due to an obscure law passed back in 1967, when you vote a so-called “straight ticket” (pressing the button on the electronic voting machine for all Democrat or all Republican), no vote is recorded for President of the United States or judges.

In order for your vote for President to count, you will have to manually select the candidate of your choice in addition to the straight ticket choice. A Daily Kos diary of a poll worker in North Carolina has outlined the problem and the worker personally saw at least 200 votes that were meant for one candidate not counted because of the confusion. Spread the word about this NC voting quirk if you can, the more people that sound the alert, the better.

Hat tip to David Miller for this post.

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Mini-Review of The Force Unleashed for the Nintendo Wii

I like it, you should go buy it. How’s that for “mini”? In all seriousness, I picked up The Force Unleashed for the Nintento Wii last weekend and it’s turned out to be a great purchase. Much has been written about the game, so I’m not going to outline the plot or bore you with technical details about frame rates. I bought the game because I wanted to discover if all the hype that has been spun around the Force Unleashed was deserved. Incredibly enough, it is.

After running through the tutorial, the game quickly earned major geek points as I was able to play as Darth Vader himself! Any game that has the balls to put you in the evil driver’s seat up front isn’t messing around. Although you soon become Vader’s apprentice “Starkiller”, the ability to manipulate the dark side of the Force and wreak havoc on those around you was just as potent as playing as the Dark Lord himself.

Pick up huge objects and hurl them toward your enemies. Toss droids and storm troopers like rag dolls. Hurl your lightsaber across a hanger bay with pin point accuracy to impale your latest victim. After playing for just a few minutes, the appeal of The Force Unleashed becomes clear. Even on the Wii, with it’s less than perfect graphical engine, game play is immersive and tactile. The Wiimote and nunchuck controllers make dueling hand to hand immensely satisfying and almost second nature. The music, story line and straight forward controls all contribute to make The Force Unleashed the first Star Wars game in years I’ve actually liked. I have had to fight with the camera on occasion, and defeating bosses seems too easy for my tastes, but overall it’s a winner.

Unfortunately IGN says the single player levels only took them a total of 6 to complete which is disappointing. I have a feeling that just when I start to really get into it, the game will be over. At least playing on the Wii, I have the Duel VS mode to look forward to which isn’t available on the PS3 or XBOX versions of the game. If you own a Wii and are a Star Wars fan, then I definitely recommend picking up a copy of Force Unleashed. It may not be as good as Nintendo’s home-grown offerings, but it is still solid fun for wannabe Jedi of all ages.

Vote For Hope

An incredible music video with a message that I feel very strongly about. It’s a great example of how good design can communicate an idea effectively.

Hat tip to Andy Brewer for this.

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Obama Visits North Carolina. Again.

Fresh off his St. Louis, Missouri rally where over 100,000 supporters showed up, Barack Obama once again visited North Carolina. This time Barack headed to Fayetteville and after his scheduled stop decided to head for a local diner to meet some folks and grab some food. Politico reports Obama’s visit to the diner was met with some angry shouts from some McCain supporters of “Socalist!”. One woman called him a “closet Muslim”.

Despite these jeers, Obama made the rounds in the diner and attempted to shake the hands of the supporters, answer their questions and quell their fears. The pool of reporters said that Obama could have chosen a predominately black diner just down the street, but instead chose the diner frequented by white Republicans as if to meet resistance head on.

There’s been a great deal of talk about Obama’s “character” from the McCain camp lately, but I think it speaks volumes that he has the strength of character to “enter the lion’s den” and answer tough questions from voters face to face. Not bad from a candidate that some local bloggers said would be abandoning North Carolina early in the race. Just another conservative prediction that hasn’t panned out the way they hoped. Something tells me this won’t be the last one.

UPDATE: Police say that while that rally was going on, someone slashed the tires on at least 30 parked cars of Obama’s supporters. I guess lashing out with cries of “Socialist!” weren’t enough for McCain fans, who had to resort to vandalism to vent their frustrations with Obama.

UPDATE II: For those of you keeping track at home, the Fayetteville stop was Obama’s sixth visit to North Carolina since the primaries. It may come as no surprise then that the NYT reports that Obama is basically tied with McCain here, something that, at this late stage in the race, the paper calls “unfathomable”. Indeed.

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Colin Powell’s October Surprise

I’ve written before about the elder statesman, Colin Powell, who served as National Security Adviser and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Today, Colin Powell officially announced his support for Barack Obama for President with a little more than 2 weeks to go until the election. Good for him.

His statement, which was released on NBC’s Meet the Press, goes to the very heart of the matter about why the GOP will lose on November 4th, and not just for the Presidency, but across both houses of Congress. Powell forcefully criticized his own party for what he called its “narrow focus” on irrelevant personal attacks instead of the major challenges to the American people. Powell went on to say McCain’s choices in the last few weeks — especially his selection of Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska as his vice presidential running mate — had raised questions in his mind about McCain’s judgment:

“I don’t believe [Palin] is ready to be president of the United States. By contrast, Obama’s running mate, Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware is ready to be president on day one.”

Powell also expressed disappointment with the GOP’s apparent determination to question Obama’s religion and heritage, speaking directly to members of the right who seem to think Obama is a Muslim or an “Arab”. Although Powell once again reiterated that Barack is neither, he addressed the larger question which was brought up in the comment thread of one of my earlier posts – “The really right answer is what if he is?” Powell said, praising the contributions of millions of Muslim citizens to American society. “I look at these kind of approaches to the campaign, and they trouble me,” Powell said. “Over the last seven weeks, the approach of the Republican Party has become narrower and narrower.”

That’s exactly right Mr. Powell. What if he was? In this incredible country of ours, your race, religion, sexual orientation or heritage shouldn’t be the litmus test for job fitness. This nation needs to move beyond the fear and mistrust of the “not like us” promoters. Colin Powell thinks Barack Obama is the man that will help us do just that. I happen to agree with him 100%.

You’ve Got Red On You

We had been taken such a long break from recording our weekly podcast, that when Jen, Dave, Krystyn and myself finally got together last week to record the latest episode of The Sci-Fi Cast, I had forgotten just how much fun it was. That’s right folks, we’re back at it and have served up a special Halloween episode just in time for Samhain. Episode 13 is now live at a newly improved website and ready for your listening pleasure. We run down our favorite vampire, zombie and slasher flicks and throw in the usual assortment of geeky fun that our nine listeners have come to know and love. Starting next week, we’re going to try a new recording process suggested by Dan Benjamin, one half of the voices behind The Talk Show, to see if we can ratchet up the quality level prior to the start of the new season of Battlestar Galactica. Swing on over and check out Episode 13 or subscribe in iTunes today.

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McCain’s Pride & Joy

In last night’s final Presidential debate, John McCain said he was “proud” of the people that come to his and Sarah Palin’s rallies. While I have no doubt that vast majority of these people are fine, upstanding Americans, some are not. When I watched this video capturing the reaction of McCain / Palin supporters after a rally, I literally felt sick to my stomach. A list of just some of the hateful, bigoted words that were hurled at Barack Obama follows. I pray for the souls of these poor, ignorant folks. They are the antithesis of what America is all about.

“I’m afraid if he wins, the blacks will take over. He’s not a Christian! This is a Christian nation! What is our country gonna end up like?”

“When you got a Negra running for president, you need a first stringer. He’s definitely a second stringer.”

“He seems like a sheep – or a wolf in sheep’s clothing to be honest with you. And I believe Palin – she’s filled with the Holy Spirit, and I believe she’s gonna bring honesty and integrity to the White House.”

“He’s related to a known terrorist, for one.”

“He is friends with a terrorist of this country!”

“He must support terrorists! You know, uh, if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it must be a duck. And that to me is Obama.”

“Just the whole, Muslim thing, and everything, and everybody’s still kinda – a lot of people have forgotten about 9/11, but… I dunno, it’s just kinda… a little unnerving.”

“Obama and his wife, I’m concerned that they could be anti-white. That he might hide that.”

“I don’t like the fact that he thinks us white people are trash… because we’re not!”

UDPATE: Since McCain and Palin are unwilling to quell the fear, bigotry and loathing they themselves have helped spread, things are getting worse, not better. Hate is an ugly, ugly thing and unfortunately John McCain and Sarah Palin have preyed on it to advance their weak agenda. Something tells me however, this time it’s not going to work. At least I have to keep telling myself that or risk total despair for my fellow Americans.

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RIM: What, me worry?

There are very few surprises left in the world, so when something outside my experience comes along, I prick up and take notice. Lately the shock of the new comes in the form of commercials from Research In Motion (RIM), makers of the BlackBerry line of smart phones.

Before April of 2008, RIM never saw fit to advertise its products or services to the general public, instead relying on its core business of Enterprise users to carry them to profitability. Despite calls from BlackBerry surrogates to build brand awareness, RIM was content to go about their business confident that nothing could erode their firmly entrenced army of “CrackBerry addicts“.

Then came the iPhone.

When the iPhone was released in June of 2007, RIM CEO Jim Balsillie shrugged off Apple’s entry and denounced the iPhone as a light-weight consumer device that would have little, if any effect on their core business market. At first this might have been true, but as the success of the iPhone grew and owning a smart phone became “cool”, even Research In Motion could see the writing on the wall.

In June 2008 Apple released the second generation iPhone, the 3G and again the media reported that RIM “wasn’t worried” about the iPhone. Deon Liebenberg, regional director for RIM actually said that the iPhone’s release would be good for BlackBerry since “BlackBerry will offer a serious [Enterprise] solution that Apple can’t.” Strangely enough these comments came just about the time RIM aired its first consumer commercial to the public.

In September Research in Motion missed sales targets for the BlackBerry device despite having recently expanded their product offerings. The addition of new (and potentially confusing) models to its already complex product line includes a phone with no physical keyboard, something that Co-CEO Mike Lazaridis had publicly stated wasn’t for RIM. Now come commercials that profess the BlackBerry to be more than just a tool for corporate email and Enterprise calendering. RIM wants to be hip.

In the end, all of these developments increase competition, and that is a good thing. It spurs innovation, lowers prices and gets companies like RIM and Apple off their complacent asses to develop and market better products. RIM’s recent moves will hopefully spark improvements to the iPhone as well as encourage Apple to correct service problems with Mobile Me. But the next time you hear an arrogant CEO brush off Steve Jobs, Apple or the iPhone just remember to take what they say with a huge grain of techno-salt. They probably have a commercial in the wings ready to advertise the stuff they just railed against.

UPDATE: Apple released its financial information for Q3 in 2008 this week and in terms of total revenue, Apple’s iPhone has outsold RIM’s Blackberry handily. Not bad for a company that has only been in the smart phone market 15 months.

Becoming A Statistic

Since my wife and I have privacy blocking on our home phone, I usually don’t answer unknown calls after dinner time. I would have ignored tonight’s phone call too if it hadn’t been for the fact that the Red Sox were getting their can kicked by the Rays for the second straight night and I desperately wanted a diversion. So I answered the call, which was cool since it was a survey group collecting data for their latest political poll.

They asked me all kinds of questions. How familiar I was with the candidates for both President and North Carolina Senate, how likely I was to vote for them and how I felt about a range of issues. They also asked me some interesting questions about Dole and Hagan’s advertising, what I took away from the ads and what my overall impression of the candidates were based on what I had seen. Needless to say I was all too eager to voice my opinions on all of these subjects.

When it was over, the poll had taken about 10 minutes in which time the Rays had managed to score another 4 runs on the Red Sox so all and all I think it was time well spent. I look forward to seeing the latest polls at FiveThirtyEight.com and knowing that I did my bit to push Barack’s numbers just a tad bit higher for the week. I do what I can.

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iPhone Wallpaper Problems Persist

I’ve written before about the problems the iPhone has regarding synched photos and wallpapers. Basically, in order to save HD space, Apple employs a custom dithering algorithm to compress any image that is synched to an iPhone or iPod touch. This has the effect of adding a slight grain to images that contain smooth gradients. I previously posted a workaround for this problem, but it only was effective if you were willing to jailbreak your device.

With the release of the 2.0 version of the iPhone firmware, I was hoping Apple would have improved the quality of synched images, but sadly that didn’t happen. I also got my hopes up too high when a new feature arrived in 2.0 allowing users to save images displayed in Mobile Safari to the photo library. Press and hold on any image and you will receive a dialog to save the image for later use, including as iPhone wallpapers. However, as I recently discovered, this new feature mangles images even worse than synching them.

You can see in the above example three magnified portions of a free wallpaper we offer at the Iconfactory. The image on the far left is the original JPG image saved with 100% quality from Photoshop. The second version is what happens to your wallpaper once it is synched via iTunes to your photo library on the device. While this version isn’t optimum, it is passable (barely) thanks in part to the dense pixel density of the iPhone’s display. The third example illustrates what happens when using the new “Save Image” option after you surf to a graphic, tap and hold. Due to high JPEG compression, image quality drops dramatically. Artifacts abound and for some reason, the OS even scales the picture up from its original dimensions creating interpolated pixels and a fuzzy image.

While the new option of saving images directly from the web is quicker and easier than manually saving and then synching images via iTunes, in my opinion, the poor quality negates the ease of use. Until Apple gets its act together regarding photos on the iPhone, users will have to put up with sub-standard images. This is a problem made all-together more frustrating considering the iPhone was lovingly designed to display stunning graphics, be they photos or videos.

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Dole’s Swan Song?

The election is still three weeks away, but Kay Hagan has taken a 15 point deficit and turned it into a 3-6 point lead in her race for Liddy Dole’s Senate seat. Her core message of Dole ineffectiveness combined with perfectly targeted poltical commercials, have completely destroyed Dole’s once commanding lead. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, North Carolina is poised to spring several blue-tinted surprises on the country come November 4th.

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Stage 3: Bargaining

Before last night’s debate, I had a vibrant discussion about the Presidential race with a close friend. I love talking politics, especially with people on the other side of the aisle. We were both enjoying the verbal sparring when my friend said something very telling. He said that he was starting to come to the realization that Obama would most likely win the election, and unless he somehow managed to screw up, Barack was riding a wave that would easily carry him into office. Then he said something which I think you’re going to be hearing a lot more over the next three weeks – “It’s okay though, I never liked McCain any how.”

This is the unspoken truth behind GOP supporters this year. From the very beginning, conservatives have had to put up or shut up with John McCain. I’ve said before that he’s never been a true hero of theirs. In the past, he would disagree with his party at the most inopportune times and throw a political monkey wrench into the works, seemingly just to spite the Malkins and Hannitys of the world. As a friend of mine on Twitter recently said, this year conservatives are not voting for McCain so much as they are voting against Obama.

So if the current polling keeps up, and Obama manages to pull away with this race, expect to hear much more of the “we never liked McCain” meme from the right. They will use it to console themselves and deflect criticism until a “real” conservative can run in 2012. You know, someone like another Bush.

UPDATE: Dave points to a handy post that highlights the five stages of loss conservatives are feeling over at FreeRepublic.com. This is political gold folks.

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TV’s Chicken & The Egg

Last week IO9 reported that rumors of the death of FOX’s Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles were greatly exaggerated. Don’t watch The Sarah Connor Chronicles? That’s okay, neither do I. I know nothing about the show, who stars in it or even what it’s about other than it has something to do with the Terminator movies and Wil Wheaton auditioned for a small part. I know that last bit because I used to follow him on Twitter. I stopped because he never, ever responded to any of the @replies I sent him (and I sent him a few). Seems to me you could at least try and answer your fans every now and then Wil. Where was I? Oh yeah, I don’t watch the SC Chronicles.

I also I didn’t watch FOX’s much-hyped “Drive”, or the X-Files rip-off Fringe, nor the lame-ass Sci-Fi Channel remake of Flash Gordon. I’m a total science fiction fan and these shows are made for geeks like me, so why didn’t I watch these shows? The answer is simple. I didn’t want to get hooked because I knew they had about as much of a chance of surviving as a Red Shirt on a routine away mission. Ratings for Fringe are nowhere near what FOX wants, Drive lasted a grand total of 2 episodes and Flash Gordon got cancelled after one season. And although IO9 reports that T:SCC has another 13 episodes coming, somehow I don’t believe it anymore than I believe Knight Rider will survive to make its first turbo jump.

So herein lies the problem. Viewers don’t want to emotionally invest in shows they don’t think will last. But if no one tunes in, then nothing ever becomes successful enough to survive and flourish. I didn’t watch the first season of Heroes partly because I thought it was all hype. Of course the hype was deserved and season one became a mega-hit. When the DVD’s were released, I plunged in and enjoyed season 1 from start to finish. Sadly, season 2 was a waste and I’m starting to get a sinking feeling about season 3 as well.

Given the fact that science fiction shows usually have life spans of Tribbles instead of Trills, how do you as the viewer, decide which series get your attention? I never watched Firefly when it aired, but fans often tell me that it was one of the best sci-fi shows on television. Despite the piss-poor treatment FOX gave it at the time, they say it was well worth the abrupt cancellation to enjoy the few episodes that aired. I find this very difficult to believe.

Often, the fatal flaw for these series are networks that disintegrate them before they have a chance to develop and grow their core audience. What TV shows have you passed on for fear of having the remote snatched away? There’s no guarantee, for example, that the historic ratings success of Battlestar Galactica will translate to the new spin-off series Caprica. But if I know the Sci-Fi Channel, viewers may not even get a chance to set a season pass for Caprica before it’s blasted out the nearest airlock. A note to trigger-happy network executives: if shows like Sarah Connor or Caprica are to earn a place on my TiVo, you have to learn to say “I’ll be back”, and not “Hasta la vista, baby.”