Off to Vegas baby, Vegas!
Have fun while we’re gone.. plenty of photos to follow. 
Gizmodo Photoshop Contest
I’m happy to report that my late-night photochops on notorious iPhone line-sitter Greg Packer made it into the contest:
http://gizmodo.com/photogallery/packer/
My entries:
I got out of street racing at exactly the right time
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19339955/
Makes me miss the old days - nobody got killed, cars didn’t get crushed - but I now realize that they’re long gone. Still, I don’t have much sympathy for these guys because ‘back in the day’ we weren’t in danger of having our vehicles crushed (impounded maybe.. but even that was rare). Had that been an option I would’ve stayed home.
Granted, there might be some cases of mistaken identity or innocence here but I’d argue that they’re almost guilty by association. The lesson? Keep your street car stock and put your money into something that is only used off of a public highway or street.
I only wish I could listen in when these assclowns call their employers and explain why they won’t be making it to work tomorrow.
In case you missed it..
Yeah, it’s basically a really fancy cell-phone. No, it won’t make you immortal or get you laid (it couldn’t hurt though) but this day does mark the start of the mobile application race and is one of the few times I’ve A) been aware of a technology shift and B) been in a position to do something about it.
There’s a whole new realm of possibilities now, including mobile advertising (how exactly would one see a Google campaign on this screen? This needs to be revisited) or even social networking- I’m sure Myspace/Facebook will have a mobile edition but it’s definitely in someone’s interest to beat them to the punch by offering an application that is better tailored to the device rather than just offering a version that is viewable. Interestingly, I’ve only found one person thinking ahead in this respect (so far): http://www.iphonecolony.com/
For more brain candy on the above check out the following links:
http://lifehacker.com/software/lifehacker-top-10/top-10-iphone-applications-273407.php
Hilarity Ensues
Note to self: If Lori offers a shot, politely decline and leave the room (in haste).
Emo kid humor
Kevin & Bean had a segment this morning where users call in with Emo kid jokes:
How many emo kids does it take to change a light bulb?
Three. Two to replace it and one to write a poem about the bulb that burned out.
How do you stop an emo kid from drowning?
Take your foot off of his neck.
What do you call an emo kid buried up to his neck in cement?
Not enough cement.
Clothing hangover
We went to the semi-annual Rock and Republic sample sale last night. I consider myself to be a normal guy (meaning I don’t follow fashion at all) so I woke up this morning and it occurred to me that I may have ‘enough’ of this product. But hey.. they fit me well and I actually get unsolicited compliments on them from the opposite sex (something that never happened in the prior 28 years) so maybe I’m not really out of my mind.
Still, two pairs of these at retail = one iPhone. <shudder> Maybe I’ll just hawk some of them on eBay instead.
iphonelove.com
I’m on the fence about this domain. On one hand, it could be a pretty kick-ass community (designed to be browsed on your iphone as opposed to a normal PC/Mac) or something completely different (that my hungover imagination can’t conceive of yet).
The dilemma is probably further confused when I ask myself if I really want an iphone or if I should just wait for something else (V2.0?). I realize that it’s a ridiculous question because it’s not even out yet and here I am with a blank canvas that hinges on a product I may or may not buy, that may or may not work.
Why do I even care? A couple of reasons:
- I never bought a (real) iPod because I knew that something like this would eventually come along. Now it’s finally here and I’ve had an itchy trigger finger for the last two years.
- Looking forward, web design won’t be the same after this- we’re all going to be mobile soon enough and this is just a massive push towards that idea. Anyone in this industry is going to have to learn some new rules and it would suck to get left behind or completely ignore a good portion of the web population because you don’t have a platform to test on.
- My current phone sucks. If phones were supermodels, Apple’s latest would be Marisa Miller. Mine is closer to Rosie O’Donnell (and just as annoying).
Firefighters inhaled as ton of pot burned
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/06/22/pot.blaze.ap/index.html
EDINBURG, Texas (AP) — Firefighters who spent half an hour fighting a blaze in which 2,000 pounds of marijuana went up in smoke breathed so much of it that they would have failed a drug test, a fire chief said.
It took more than 35 firefighters, 1,000 gallons of water and five gallons of chemical suppressant to extinguish the warehouse blaze on Wednesday, Fire Chief Shawn Snider said.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were investigating the origin of the drugs.
The Hidalgo County fire marshal was investigating whether arson was the cause.
Snider said Thursday the firefighters were exposed to so much marijuana smoke that they would not be able to pass a drug test, despite wearing air packs to prevent them from inhaling toxic or hazardous fumes.