M$ once again BLOWS it.

So Halo 3 came out today, you can get the regular version for a mere 60 bucks or the Deluxe "game disc scratched" version for $75. Being that my nephews are avid 360 players I decided it would be cool to order them the deluxe version and have it shipped to them on a day it was released, I'm just a cool uncle like that. Well to my dismay I hear from my brother that they got the damaged disc version and after a call to Gamestop HQ that the boys would have to pack up the game and send it back to Micro$loft. M$ is well aware of the problem and their answer is fill out this form, send you discs in and wait .... wait ..... and wait some more. That kinda kills the fun and anticipation for the ole' Master Sarg. M$ should act IMMEDIATELY and send out replacement discs to retailers so you can exchange the disc instead of waiting for M$ paper shuffling. M$ is still wondering why the Wii is kicking their butt, this is one reason why...

The War

Wow! Ken Burns did a great job explaining the events leading up to the war tonight. He quietly reminded us that the US didn't want to get into war as we were recovering from the Great Depression. He also showed it was a very tough battle in the Pacific, we didn't win for almost a year and when we did, it was the first defeat for the Japanese in 350 YEARS. He showed that war is not a politically correct exercise, sometimes war causes the good guys to, looking from the outside, do very bad things in a fit of retaliation or just for survival.
Another interesting note that The War covered was the politics, yes even during WW2 Roosevelt had to deal with upcoming elections. Roosevelt relented in invading Europe first and instead went with the British plan to invade North Africa. This was to show the citizens that we were finally doing something, the Japanese attack did a lot more damage than the public was lead to believe. Americans were beginning to wonder what, where and when we were going to answer the declarations of war from the Axis nations. What we know now is how ill prepared we were for the coming war, in the documentary it stated that our military force was smaller than Romania's with only 170,000 by the end of the war 5 million Americans served.

It's something you should watch, its on PBS for the next week or so, I believe there is 6 episodes.

The most beautiful Apple store in Texas

Last weekend I had the pleasure of visiting what I consider the most beautiful Apple Store in Texas. Most Apple stores in Texas are regulated to the usual mall front store so this one in Austin's "The Domain" is quite unique. This also one of Apple's new "cash registerless" stores, meaning that you find an Apple employee and they have a handy hand-held scanner and card reader. While I was there I took a look at the new Nano and Classic iPods both look beautiful with the Nano being very very thin. Also I picked up my 9th Mac, a 15" Macbook Pro, it's not as exciting as it used to be, but I still love em and would never consider anything else.

Random Randomness

Tim Gunn's Guide to Style - It's a new show on Bravo featuring style guru Tim Gunn and Supermodel Veronica Webb. It's a great and uplifting show, think "Extreme Makeover - Home Edition" for your clothes and style. Tim starts the show with a contract with subject of the show and he does warn them that its going to be a tough life changing experience. Tim and Veronica seem to bring out the hidden beauty in the women they help, in new style of clothing, hair, makeup and a little life coaching. It's a show you should check out.

Terrell Owens - In the after game interview "T O" wore a hat that advertised his personal website, funny I thought he was a member of Cowboys. When you go to his website you are treated to his "rap" song about being baaaaaack, getting all this money and about how great he is for only $2.99, can we say narcissistic. You can buy "Touchdown Towels" with his logo in Cowboy colors. I really miss the days of Laundry and Stabuach when football played fairly was the important thing.

NBC Today - Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is coming out with an new book about his life titled "My Grandfather's Son: A Memoir", Today's response? Let's have Supreme Court Justice Thomas come interview about the book, oh wait, he's conservative that doesn't fit into our "template" who was that whats her name, the one that was widely discredited oh yeah lets book her to talk about Judge Thomas' new book. Lazy agenda based journalism plain and simple, why didn't they have Monica on to talk about Clinton's book "Giving"?

Apple iDid it again!

The new iPods are great evolutions of the breed. First they kept the Shuffle the Shuffle people love, just some fresh new colors. The Nano isn't so nano anymore with a bigger screen, screen looks to be about the same size as the iPod. The new Nano features all the stuff the old iPod video could do, tv shows, games and movies in a almost square size. The iPod we knew is now the iPod Classic, gone is the scratchy cover, in, rounded clad aluminum. The new Classic comes in 80 and 160 gig (44,000 songs). Finally the iPod Touch, the iPod without the phone. Everything the iPhone can do the Touch can do, net browsing, handful of widgets and new iTunes store. With the new store you will be able to buy tunes on your Touch, then transfer them back to your Mac or computer. Maybe a useless feature is the "Starbucks" button, it allows you to buy the music you are listening to at a Starbucks BUT all Starbucks won't have this feature till 2009, I suspect they will have new iPods with even more features by then.

With this product line Apple is breaking their rule of 3. The rule of 3 for Apple is 3 lines, consumer, pro-sumer and pro. With the iPod you have the Shuffle, Nano, Classic and Touch, I suspect the people in the market for the Classic and Touch will pick the Classic for capacity and the Touch for the gadgetry.

On another note, the other product line that breaks the rule of 3, Macbooks and Macbook Pros. The Mac Book offers 3 models the upper 2 being 2.16 ghz. The only difference between is the hard drive and color. So here's my question, is the MacBook in black worth $200 more for the color and 40 gigs more in hard drive (120g v. 160g)?