The Possibilities for the Future are Limitless

It’s fascinating how we always seem to get to a point in life where a great invention is made and it’s a wonder how that’ll ever be topped. Yet, there are people with amazing ideas, who strive for perfecting and creating that next gadget that will have everyone oooh’ing and aaah’ing only to be replaced by the next successor.

Well...for now, meet the io-Jacket!

I’m sure that at some point you’ve been to a department store and have noticed a particular pair of jeans and even sweatshirts that have been designed to accommodate iPods and cell phones. Backpacks especially have been doing this for quite sometime, even having added compartments some years ago for the long forgotten CD players.

The io-Jacket, which is obviously not on the market yet, might someday be on many Christmas lists in the future.

It’s not your everyday jacket.

Londenfrey is the German company we have to thank for this wonderful invention/apparel.

The jacket has a Bluetooth and MP3 player as well as touch sensitive control pads on the sleeve to control these devices.

Sure, this all sounds pretty nifty so far, but as usual the best is always saved for last.

The most clever and absolutely fascinating aspect about this jacket is its compatibility with GPSoverIP.

What in the world is GPSoverIP? (You may ask).

GPSoverIP stands for Global Positioning System over Internet Protocol. In other words, it is the transmission of GPS data via the internet. It provides geographical coordinates over the Internet. (http://www.gpsoverip.de/international/).

Now let’s just say that this could possibly hold the solution to some of the everyday critical problems, we as people tend to face.

GPSoverIP, in my opinion, should one day win the Noble Peace Prize for creating the possibility of making situations, like kidnapping, a thing of the past.

A person wearing this jacket will have the capability to make their every movement and present location known to friends and families with internet access. This could prove to be quite useful unless you have a psychotic ex-boyfriend/girlfriend you're trying to avoid.

Even inside buildings where signals tend to drop, the io-Jacket will have the ability to stay connected.

An interesting idea that was brought up by http://www.gizmophobe.co.uk/, was the fact that these jackets could serve to assist those who work in certain fields where it would be critical to know ones location. For instance those who might do undercover work and even the technology itself could be used for those working in Fire Departments.

Luckily the io-Jacket looks just as trendy enough to wear without looking ridiculously out of place. Sure enough these will probably be available in the color of your choosing.

No price has been provided for this item, but no doubt it will definitely come with a hefty price.

According to http://www.gizmophobe.co.uk/ only 10 of these io-Jackets have been produced and one has been sold to benefit a charity. I’m sure it will be quite awhile until these are made available to the public, at your nearest Nordstrom perhaps, but when they are this will definitely change the daily lifestyles of many.

Obama & McCain Go For Round 2!

            Ready…set…go! The 2^nd Presidential, and unusually humorous debate is on, ‘my friends.’

 

            While tuned into this debate, many American viewers may be looking to see what our candidates for Presidency have to say about our obviously deteriorating economic situation.

 

            How many times are we going to cover the same issues and hear similar and sometimes contradicting responses? When will we stop talking and whining about our situation and actually act on improving our circumstances in the United States?

           

            So, unlike those viewers my interests leaned towards their mannerisms, witty, pointless and remarks that contained a hint of inconsistency. 

 

Although this is not usually the key importance of Presidential debates it does in some ways reflect their individual characteristics and it portrays how they are as a person rather than a candidate with semi-prepared speeches by people behind the curtains.

 

            First, what was really interesting about the beginning is how Sen. John McCain had his back turned away from the audience at various times during the debate, whereas Sen. Barack Obama used continuous eye contact with the audience and individuals asking the questions.

 

            Not to pick on McCain, although he seems to be the expert with his smart-alecky remarks towards Obama, but is it me or does he portray a spitting image of a cross between President George W. Bush and Bilbo Baggins?           

 

            Unfortunately it just seems as though McCain is so old and frail that he may not even make it through the first Presidential term.  

           

            Unlike Obama, whose confident posture and strong presence gives off the vibe of someone who portrays the stature of a true leader, which our country is in dire need of.

 

            However, the witty remarks and immaturity portrayed by these two grown men during the debate had me thinking back to the good ol’ days of elementary.

 

 It wouldn’t have surprised me if Tom Brokaw would had ended up acting as a playground monitor to break up these two candidates from the subtle name calling, mainly carried out by McCain.

 

“…[T]hat one,” said McCain and emphasizing its meaning toward Obama.

 

Wow, how mature.

 

On second thought, the maturity level of a Kindergarten class is probably much more higher than what these two combined possess.

 

Besides the pointless name-calling there were also the ridiculous and sometimes contradicting answers.

 

At the beginning of the debate, Brokaw asked each of them whom they would prefer as Treasurer.

 

“Not you Tom,” said McCain.

 

Ok…obviously not Tom. Now that answer was pretty pointless.

 

At the beginning of the debate Obama explained how our economic situation is at its worst since the great depression.

 

Fast forward through some of the debate and Obama later claims that he is pretty confident about our economic situation.

 

I’m not so sure about everyone else, but by the looks of it, there is no reason to be confident about the financial situation this country is in and has been in for years and years. Especially since it’s, “the worst since the great depression.”

 

Brokaw also had to keep these two, especially Obama in check and from abusing the amount of time given to each of them for their responses. 

 

Something as simple as abiding by time restraints says a lot about a person. It shows the amount of respect one has for rules, regardless of how small and insignificant they are.

 

These two have a lot to learn as far as knowing how to act professionally and respectably towards one another.

 

Hopefully they’ll do a little growing up prior to Round 3.

‘Easy Money’ Tries To Get Just That

The commercials that ran on CW, channel 31, prior to Easy Money’s season premiere on October 5, made it a point to state that this particular show was being brought to us by the producers of The Sopranos, (Diane Frolov and Andy Schneider).

How anyone could possibly put these two shows into the same category is beyond my comprehension because…

…the apple sure fell from the tree on this one.

This show is centered on a family of loan sharks. The Buffkins.

No, not the kind often portrayed in movies. The sleazy, sneaky guy in a suit, who will collect his money by any means necessary and by any means meaning, death threats or even murder.

These loan sharks are the people you would literally find at your nearest Check into Cash. They run a legitimate business, Prestige Payday Loans, making money from high percentage fees being charged to people who seem to be stuck in a rut from advancing money on a continuous basis.

Unfortunately only the first ten minutes were slightly entertaining and sort of enjoyable with the first customer of the day being rejected from taking out any more loans due to non-payment and NSF checks.

He threatens Bobette Buffkin, (Laurie Metcalf of Desperate Housewives and Roseanne), the cashier and head of the family it seems.

The customer takes a plastic chair and flings it across the room hitting the window shielding Bobette and repeatedly demands her to give him a loan, “I need that money b*#$%! Give me the money! Give me the money!”

Her sons, Cooper and Morgan, escort the irate customer out the door only to be arrested by a cop with a grudge. The car he and his girlfriend share was re-possessed because of his inability to pay back the loans he too had taken out. The cop manages to blackmail the two into getting his car back along with $3,000 to, “…recover from his humiliation.”

Morgan stands out from the rest of the cast because he tends to be the brawns of the family and also seems to possess what every other member in his family lacks, a conscience.

A private investigator is hired by Morgan to get some dirt on the cop. Turns out the cop has a wife who is oblivious to her husband’s extra-curricular activities. Morgan takes the cop’s car and rear-ends him at a parking lot and is victorious in collecting their debt in exchange for keeping his mouth closed about the other woman he has on the side.

Unlike the people who work in Check into Cash, these characters tend to take matters into their own hands by using blackmail and the occasional fist fight to their advantage.

In the end, the show makes it all about family in the cheesiest way possible and the results of a DNA test that Morgan and his sister took left questions as to who in the family didn’t quite belong.

Considering how bad the economic situation is now, there might be more and more people who will probably be able to relate to the show and be all too familiar with some of the terms being used, like ‘NSF’ for instance, (insufficient funds).

However, simple minded and just plain dumb one-liners were used sporadically through the show and it eventually had me questioning myself. How was it that an hour of my life could have been given up so easily?

Then again I’m not exactly sure where my mind was when assuming that this network, which brings us Smallville and now Valentine would be able to grace us with another great show like The Sopranos.

Yeah, not happening, atleast not anytime soon.

The Search for a Late Night Coffee Fix

After my sister took a bite of her velvet chocolate cupcake she took a sip from her iced caramel macchiato.

"This is pretty good," said Nancy.

My carrot cupcake and mocha frappuccino was also delicious; Starbucks wasn’t my preferred coffee place, but was nevertheless there for us at a time of need. Our unfailing fall back plan.

The night slightly, but not remotely close, felt like a cheap re-make of Harold & Kumar go to White Castle.

At about 9 p.m. our plan was to head to True Love Coffeehouse on K st. and obtain a cup of their tasty mint mocha frap. We were giving it a second chance.

True Love had undergone some remodeling to house a Mediterranean eatery. It wasn’t the same after the make over. Like a case of plastic surgery having gone terribly wrong.

It was September 13th. A second Saturday, which meant only one thing.

My sister drove down J st. at about 10-15 m.p.h., due to traffic of course. The sidewalks were packed with people. Mainly art enthusiasts walking in and out of shops and galleries displaying various types of art.

A live band was performing on a platform attached to a trailer.

This night was unlike anything we had ever experienced in midtown. Probably because we don’t get out much, but that’s beside the point!

A lady had hopped out from the passenger’s seat of a neighboring vehicle on 20th and J. Boy was she trashy. She had on a pink strapless dress that stopped just slightly below her bare ass. How do you not remember to throw on some underwear before you walk out the door?

Looking at my sister it dawned on me that she wasn’t staring at the skank, but at the reactions on people’s faces as the lady crossed their paths.

"I find it kind of funny how people react to those type of situations," she said, somewhere along those lines.

From my window it was easy to tell who my sister was referring to. The shock on a passerby’s face was unmistakable.

Luckily my sister managed to find parking just around the corner from True Love.

Nothing could have prepared us for what we saw next. We made our way to the white picket fences that bordered the front of True Love. A belly dancer was outside entertaining customers who were sitting at the round iron tables and chairs. Some of them smoking from what appeared to be hookahs.

When it was solely True Love in this white, two-story, possibly Victorian home, we could have entered from ground level and surely wouldn’t have been wierded out by a belly dancer who, by the way, seemed a bit out of place.

We made our way through to the left, up about five steps, a sharp turn to the right and higher up a longer flight of stairs.

Once in line my sister glanced at a sign.

"Are they still only accepting cash?" she asked.

A Barista answered her question.

"There’s an ATM downstairs."

Last time we had to literally find a bank. Now, we were to head back down the stairs and pay a $2.50 fee to dispense cash for two coffee drinks. Who doesn’t accept plastic?

We were defeated. We gave up. Goodbye True Love.

As we finished our Starbucks’ drinks and tasty pastries my sister said, "we need to find a new coffeehouse."

Is it so hard to find a nice coffee shop, besides Starbucks, where we could get late night coffee fixes from?

The search continues.

Urban Outfitters Holds Onto the Past

It always struck me as sort of odd whenever my eyes caught sight of vinyl records next to the CD rack at Hot Topic. Weren’t we past all this? My guess is no because a trip to Urban Outfitters just the other day made me feel as though it were some sort of time machine.

For starters, customers are being re-introduced to the old fashioned turntable. Believe it or not, there was a turntable that looked as though it had come straight out of the 70s just propped up on a counter as if it were the latest craze. This Crosley portable turntable does in fact play LPs and is thankfully USB ready. Yes, it’s PC and MAC compatible, but the most shocking tid bit about this device is the price.

If someone is really intending to go out of their way to own one of these ridiculous contraptions then the price is $160.00. This is not only absurd, but strange considering that the newest iPod nanos are going for $149.00. It may not seem like much of a difference, price wise, but when you’re taking into consideration what’s new versus what’s been done then the difference is absolutely outrageous. Their website description for this item states that one could get started as a DJ using this turntable. Do we really need a turntable to be a DJ when so many DJs use iPods instead?

Moving around the counter something else stood out, only this object was far more atrocious than the turntable. A boombox! Really?!? Really? Are you kidding me? Where’s Ashton? Maybe this was another one of his lame shows. Wasn’t our intention to consistently move forward into the future by creating new gadgets with advanced technology? The boombox has a spring-loaded door for your iPod, no not for a cassette, which serves the same purpose as an iPod stereo dock. Only the stereo docks would probably cost about $99 now, whereas this stereo would cost you $220. That’s about how much someone would have to pay me to help compensate for the embarrassment that lugging this thing around will cause. The boombox is 14.5’’ high and 25.5’’in width. It’s pretty enormous compared to all the small objects we have all become accustomed to. So to be quite honest, that amount of money may not be nearly enough to cover the humiliation. Why not bring out the parachute pants to match? At this rate it’s probably not that far along. Better yet, when are the 8-tracks coming back in?

Oh it gets better, only this next item may seem more reasonable in other aspects, which will be covered in just a moment. Lo and behold, it’s the good ol’ typewriter. When these first came out and before the magic of tape correction came into existence, one error would send you straight back to type out another page and more than likely that mistake would be fixed only to find another error elsewhere. Writing this column alone there have been a minimum of 40 mistakes and counting. Luckily this was done on a PC where fixing a mistake is as easy as highlighting an incorrect set of words and re-typing the corrections. Even Microsoft Word will automatically switch letters around on a word that has been misspelled. As inconvenient as the typewriter may seem, authors have been known to still use them. This may be for security reasons. No one can hack into a typewriter. This reason alone is pretty understandable. The price is $140 and is reasonable compared to the previous items mentioned.

Maybe it’s difficult for some to let go of the past’s treasures, but with nifty gadgets being created why not venture out and explore a little.

Apple Stays on Top of the Game

As the hype begins to subside from the outrageous price markdown of their specialized iPhone, Apple ensures to secure their popularity by bringing us the latest technology all wrapped up into their new iPod nano. Aside from the appealing color variety these iPods usually tend to come in, nine different colors now to be exact, it’s the nifty features that have you thinking a little on the Wii side.

These iPod nanos are slightly more on the interactive aspect. Just picture the Wii controller in your right or left hand, which ever you prefer, and imagine yourself shaking it as you play Zelda and you’re slashing away with your sword. Now envision an iPod nano in the place of that controller. That’s right, shuffling songs are now as easy as giving the nano a little shake. Even the games available on these new gadgets will let you use the tilt and shake options to play. According to Apple.com these games respond to the way you move. Although only one game (Maze) is included, the iTunes store will provide a wider variety of games to purchase.

The tilting option also gives you a couple of different viewing choices for your photos, landscape or portrait. Viewing videos might also prove to be more enjoyable on the high-resolution 2-inch widescreen display.
As featured on the iPhone, the iPod nano will also allow consumers to see album art in Cover Flow just by tilting it horizontally. Adding a song to the on the go playlist is now as simple as pressing the button in the center once the desired artist or song is found.

Alright, now for the greatest function this iPod has to offer, a built in DJ. Well, sort of. This nano provides you with Genius, a feature which will choose a song from your library that will complement the song you have just previously listened to all the while creating a playlist at the same time.

Conveniently enough these nanos only weigh in at 1.3 ounces and is 1.5 inches wide. Its physique is a curved aluminum glass design. Very svelte indeed.

The nanos start at $149.00 with 8GB, which technically translates into 2,000 songs, eight hours of video or 7,000 viewable photo downloads. For $50.00 more (taxes are obviously not included in these prices), the iPod nano will double its package in mostly all aspects, 16GB, 16 hours of video, 4,000 songs and 14,000 photos! Shipping will take a little longer on the 16GB nanos, but luckily shipping is free as well as the option to engrave. Apple is known for their price drops so it might be wise to hold off on this little number, at the very least for a few months, but then again that’s just me.

To accompany these iPod nanos will also be iPod touch. Its name says it all. Like the iPhone you will be able to scroll through playlists with the simple touch of your finger and it will also include built-in speakers for the gamer’s enjoyment. Genius will also be featured and prices start at $229.00 for the 8GB.

My iPod mini is now what you would consider obsolete. Usually it is my tendency to wait on purchasing these sorts of gadgets until they’ve gone through complete transformations, which obviously they have tremendously done so in the last couple of years alone. This nano has certainly won me over and is definitely going be my mini’s replacement.
With all of these new fascinating features and obviously in the color of your choosing, it’s a wonder what Apple might come out with next.

The Pointless Cell Phone Law

As many Californians know by now, talking on the phone while driving is absolutely prohibited. Oh... that’s right, it’s not. Not completely anyway. If you’re lucky enough to be 18 or older then this law is for the most part, irrelevant to you. Talking on the cell phone while you’re going 50 or even 70 miles per hour is still a possibility, thanks to the wonderful contraption known as...a Bluetooth.

A thought that had crossed my mind initially was whether or not this cell phone law was just a scheme derived from companies, who manufacture Bluetooth devices, to get into the wallets of consumers. Remarkably enough the NPD Group just so happened to have a press release on July 23, 2008, (http://www.npd.com/press/releases/press_080723a.html), explaining how "[s]ales of Bluetooth headset devices surged in the months prior to the new law going on the books." Also on that press release was an interesting quote from Ross Rubin, director of industry analysis for NPD, "[l]egislation has given a helping hand to hands-free technologies." Well they didn’t get a dime from me because it just so happens that this law also allows you to use the speaker phone option.

In most cases with the speaker phone you would still have to hold onto your phone and place it just inches away from your ear. This doesn’t make all that much of a difference then just simply using your phone.

Although it may seem unlikely, this law has more options as to what you can do versus what you can’t. The most shocking of these, and to my disbelief, is still having the option to text message. Text messaging has become just as popular as, if not more so, making calls from your phone.

It was a month ago or so when my eyes caught sight of a vehicle making slow zig-zag motions from one lane into another. Luckily there was minimal traffic. It was early in the evening so there was a probability that this was a potential drunk driver, but not exactly the case in this situation. It was an older man who looked as though he were in his mid to late 50s. He had been glancing up and then down, but his eyes were for the most part diverted from the road. The top of the cell phone finally made its appearance. Although this law doesn’t necessarily encourage you to use the text messaging option, it doesn’t really discourage you either.

A slap on the wrist is all you’ll receive if you dare break this law. A mere $20 for the first offense and some court fees. Not even a violation point on your license according to the California Department of Motor Vehicles. Any offenses thereafter are $50, but yet again no violation points.

This law is not only pointless, it’s ineffective. It makes no sense having a law like this unless there are restrictions that could potentially make the roads even more safe from reckless drivers and would actually pertain to those who are 18 and over.

Why not make a cell phone law that would actually make sense? A law that would require people to turn off or leave their cell phones either at home or in the car before they step into a movie theatre. It’s bad enough having to sit through a movie you’ve been wanting to see with a baby screaming their lungs out just a few rows behind you, but to also have to hear somebody carrying a conversation with a person who isn’t physically present, is ridiculous.

We can all thank Senator Joe Simitian and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for providing the state of California with yet another pointless law to add to the list, right along with women not being able to drive in a house coat!