Inklings and Impressions

We've Moved

2006-07-21T09:52:00.000-04:00

We're now independent of Blogger. Same great material in a new place. Please now mark the following link as your favorite:
http://www.inklings-impressions.com

MoGo Mouse

2006-01-26T07:17:00.000-05:00

This might be one of the slickest accessories you can get for your portable computer. It's a wireless mouse that's stored (and charged) in your PC card slot. Should make good friends with my Fujitsu tablet.

OQO Available With Tablet OS

2006-01-06T07:58:00.000-05:00

The Model 01+ from OQO is available with the Windows Tablet operating system. This is one of the coolest, smallest new tablets on the market. The Model 01+ has a sliding keyboard and a touch screen monitor. It easily fits into lab coats and purses. The new model also now supports screen rotation. This 4.9" x 3.4" x .9" beauty backs a good punch of performance for a great on the go device. The following picture is shown right on the OQO home page. What an announcement!

Santa, I've Been Good...

2005-12-22T13:46:00.000-05:00

I’ve come up with my top technology wishes, just in time for Christmas (and for those still looking to get me a gift or two). Perhaps a little more clarification is needed; this wish list is created with the assumption that money is of no concern. After all, Santa’s elves have never been restricted by money. From “Inklings and Impressions”, may everyone’s holiday be blessed with good health, fortune, and cheer.

Fujitsu Stylistic ST5032D Tablet PC – For all the Inklings, this Fujitsu tablet makes the top of my wish list. Of course all the trimmings must be included (tablet dock, dvd writer…). Fujitsu Tablet

Panasonic AG-HVX200 Handheld HD Video Camera – Although it appears to need both hands to hold this camera, the quality of home videos produced by this handheld camera, makes it among the most drool-friendly of all Christmas wishes.
Panasonic Camcorder

Sony VPL-HS51A Projector with HCS-W80 80" ChromaVue Screen(image placeholder)VPL-HS51AKIT – With many of the other wishes supporting high definition, this wish list can’t be without a high definition television, or in this case projector.
Sony Projector

Microsoft Xbox 360 – Now here is a wish that I already have (I suppose I could sell another on eBay). I have added this to my wish list as I feel it should be on everyone’s wish list this year. High definition Xbox 360 gaming is awesome.
Xbox 360

HP iPAQ hx2795 Pocket PC – The only thing that appears to be missing on this wish is the phone ability. This pocket pc is cranking and is hot enough without the phone.
HP Pocket PC

Panasonic Biometrics Access Control Iris Reader BM-ET330 – Ok, so this wish may be a little overkill, but how cool would it be to have the security and the ease of entry from this door access device on my front porch.
Panasonic Biometrics Access Control

Voodoo Aria HTPC Media Center PC – I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again… I want this pc.
Voodoo Aria HTPC Media Center PC

Bose 201® Series V Direct/Reflecting® speaker system – Bose makes sound systems that offer audio clarity like no other. This speaker package sure would sound nice in my living room.
Bose Speaker System

Technology In 2010

2005-12-20T10:47:00.000-05:00

The Microsoft Research web site points to a great article that looks at some innovative visions for technology in the not so distant future. My favorite includes the electronic touch screen coffee table. The table will access the internet and rearrange text on the screen if you set something down on the table (like a cup of coffee). Built into the database would be every board game imaginable. No longer is there a need to go find stored away board games and no need to clean up after playing. Check out this and other great technology visions here: Technology's just getting started

Inklings Google with Ink

2005-12-14T20:48:00.000-05:00

Inklings are now able to search the web with ink. This is something I’ve been waiting to see. The web page has a bit of needed improvement, but has extreme potential to be a winner among inklings. Currently the site works only with Internet Explorer and .NET 1.1. The site recognizes hand writing and performs a Google search based on what is written. The writing input section is nicely sized and recognizes the wipe out gesture. Click the picture to check it out.

Perfect Dark Zero is Perfect

2005-11-28T11:20:00.000-05:00

Over my vacation, I had the pleasure of spending many hours playing Microsoft's XBox 360, first person shooter debut, Perfect Dark Zero. The graphics and game-play are extremely phenomenal, blowing away any other first person shooter available to date (yes, that includes all versions of Halo). Coming from a huge Halo fan, this means a lot. I did enjoy some Halo parties over vacation and it made me want to get back to Perfect Dark Zero all the more. The bright clarity and graphical attention to detail, provided by the XBox 360 and Perfect Dark Zero, is surpassed by no other first person shooter.

Along with the best available graphics, the game control of Perfect Dark Zero is unsurpassed. The 'Cover' feature, seen in similar fashion by James Bond first person shooters, is greatly useful, and easy to use. It is also very attractive by a graphic standpoint. The weapons are of the best and most realistic you will find in first person shooters, often providing great secondary functions (silencers, look through walls, grenade launchers...). The weapons offering scope ability display range that is pressure sensitive to the left trigger on the controller. As the left trigger zooms, the right trigger prepares for fire. This leaves both thumbs easily available for movement in either scope or non-scope mode.

Yes, combat arena is awesome as expected. Blast your friends in a ton of multi-player games with Perfect Dark Zero.

XBox 360 owners have put aside Halo games for the new generation of online, high definition, first person shooter, Perfect Dark Zero.

Qbe Or Not Qbe

2005-11-17T20:10:00.000-05:00

Qbe Technologies currently offer two innovative tablet slate computers. These computers are not offering the Microsoft tablet operating system, but do however provide software for handwriting recognition and voice recognition. These stylish computers have impressive specifications, of which includes a built in 180 degree pivot digital video camera, and a 10.4" TFT XGA touch screen. We're going to keep our eyes on Qbe Technologies, as they are offering great information tools for Inklings.

Inkling, Within Your Means

2005-11-15T08:40:00.000-05:00

Become an Inkling with the Connoi T 2300, the newest tablet pc on the market. Announced yesterday, this tablet is hoping to help customers discover more than a notebook at an affordable rate. This information is hot off the press, so there are not many pictures of the tablet available yet. However, the picture provided does offer a nice glimpse of what we can expect in this stylish convertible. The pen appears to be held on the monitor in a similar fashion to the Fujitsu Lifebook convertible tablets. This provides great access to the pen in either tablet or laptop modes.

Stay tuned for more information regarding this new tablet. You may click on the picture to view the specifications provided with the tablet announcement.

amBX Game Play Environment

2005-11-08T08:39:00.000-05:00

One of my friends passed a very interesting link along to me. The link outlines an exciting approach to the future of gaming and home entertainment. The technology is being introduced by Philips and is called amBX. The amBX technology is being produced for ambient gaming, and perhaps home entertainment as a whole.

The technology sends signals to compatible hardware within the home to provide an atmosphere similar to the game play atmosphere. If you're playing a game within a jungle and the screen atmosphere is of color green, then the lights within the room turn the same shade of green. Strobes of light may simulate lightening, and fan blasts may simulate a rapid fall. The affect will provide us with a full sensory game play experience.

Philips is leading the way with advanced discussions with top videogame producers and peripheral manufacturers. Be on the look out, this technology may be available to us in May 2006! Find more information here: http://www.pro-g.co.uk/news/nid/1784/

XBox Live Ranking

2005-11-08T08:29:00.000-05:00

A squared plus B squared equals C squared?

Microsoft has provided a research paper on their process of ranking the skill of players in XBox Live. Apparently this was not an easy task and had never been done before by other game systems (of numerous player gaming). As Microsoft points out, it is a lot different that ranking players from two player matches (like chess).

Not because you can find a way to cheat the system, but because the mathematician inside you wants to follow this link: The Details of the TrueSkill™ Ranking System

Fujitsu Media Center

2005-11-01T09:00:00.000-05:00

Fujitsu announced that it would begin offering the Windows Media Center operating system with select laptops. The Lifebook N6220 (shown here) has a 17 inch monitor and is now available with the media center operating system. With the fujitsu portable media center paired with the arrival of the Xbox 360, we have an ultimate portable and in-house media experience.

Now we just need these media center systems to support pen-based computing, so us Inklings can be completely satisfied. Fujitsu seems to be on the ball... but the ball is in Microsoft's court. Vista we await your arrival.

Dream Machine Reviewed

2005-10-27T13:01:00.000-04:00

The Voodoo ARIA Media Center PC is reviewed on PCMAG.COM (click image to go to review). This machine is loaded with goodies including a touch screen panel and the ability to rip and store DVD's onto twin 250gb hard drives. This machine is the ultimate in digital entertainment. As we gear for the release of the Xbox 360, media center personal computers are being kept close on our watch list.

Revamped Xbox.com

2005-10-25T08:33:00.000-04:00

You may have noticed the Xbox site was down for most of the day yesterday. That is because it was given an overhaul in preparation for the release of the Xbox 360. The site is now looking more like the next generation of gaming, next generation meaning next month of course. There are only 28 more days until the Xbox 360 is released to the masses of eagerly awaiting gamers. A ton of new information regarding the coming console may be found on the revamped website.

Cross-Platform Gaming Controller

2005-10-20T22:22:00.000-04:00

Microsoft announced it would ship a wired controller with core Xbox 360 that will also be compatible for Windows PC gaming. This is the first cross-platform game controller made available by Microsoft. PC gamers just need to download an update to take advantage of the new controller. See details here: Cross-Platform Controller

PS3 Preview: Kill Zone 2

2005-10-19T08:47:00.000-04:00

Warning, if you read this post and follow the link to the preview, you may just add the PlayStation 3 to your wish list. The preview of Kill Zone 2, mixes movie and game-play modes to give us a glimpse of future gaming. I must admit, Kill Zone 2 looks much better than any previews I’ve seen for Xbox 360 (and I’ve seen quite a lot). The preview does a great job of making you want to see more, and to take control yourself. The sounds in the preview are amazing; they add realism to this shooter. If Kill Zone 2 deploys for the Xbox 360 as well, then I will be a very happy gamer.

Sony Vaio FJ Series Adds Color

2005-10-13T09:12:00.000-04:00

New Sony Vaio laptops (FJ Series) offer custom colors to fit buyers preference. Individuality is always a big request from buyers. Dare I say they almost look like the customizable Dell covers? I'm kidding, it really is what we want. Can't wait to see these models in person.

New Paint.NET Beta Release Available

2005-10-10T21:30:00.000-04:00

If you have yet to check out the free Paint.NET program, you are missing out. This program gets my vote for one of the best and most powerful free programs. A new beta release is available for download with a couple great new features. Text may now be moved to a desired location before it sticks to the canvas. Some performance improvements are added and a few other enhancements which are detailed on the web site.

The application comes with features normally found only in expensive editing software, such as layering and advanced effects. This program is also excellent for Inklings as the canvas paints with a pen sensitive environment. Paint.NET produces complicated results in an extremely simple way.

You'll be so pleased with this program that is will replace your standard Microsoft Paint program as it has mine. Click on the picture to take you to the Paint.NET web site and download yourself a copy of this excellent software.

Windows SideShow Preview

2005-10-08T01:20:00.000-04:00

A great demonstration of Windows SideShow is now available in video format at Channel 9 (click image to watch). Windows SideShow allows hardware manufacturers to put displays in new places in hardware. This offers great benefits in ease of computer use, extreme battery saving capabilities and more.

SideShow can be used to provide a small screen displaying quick access to important calendar or e-mail information, media player control or other customizable features programmed into the screen. The screen may be placed on closed laptop lids so users won’t need to open their laptops to get to quick information. This may be incorporated to other hardware as well, as in a small monitor on a remote control, or on the side of a laptop, or on an area of the keyboard. These possibilities are going to make for some great user experiences on top of great hardware.

Inklings Enjoy The MiniBar

2005-10-06T14:15:00.000-04:00

Office 12 will feature a floating MiniBar as a method of formatting. Jensen Harris describes the MiniBar in the web link associated with the picture on the left. I feel this feature will be very useful to Inklings. In tablet mode it will allow for quick formatting that would otherwise require a keyboard shortcut or a move of the pen to the top of the screen. With the MiniBar, formatting features are available near the pen tip. The MiniBar also features a stylish animation as it fades in and out as the mouse hovers near and away.

Panasonic Frames

2005-10-04T13:50:00.000-04:00

Panasonic is taking the lead on developing flat screen television “frames” that will decorate our modern homes nicely. The frames allow users to create their own unique plasma experience. Eight different frame styles will be available to fit select Panasonic plasma television models. Frame colors include gold, black, pewter, mahogany, walnut and antique white and will run from suggested retail of $399.95 to $499.95.

Connect these televisions to a computer or media device, and have framed slideshows of our digital art or our family pictures; displayed as if in a museum. It seems that this should have been available all along. Although pricey from the start, Panasonic wins the race to decorative plasma styles in our modern homes.

Battalion Wars

2005-10-03T18:38:00.000-04:00

"Battalion Wars" is a new single player real time strategy action game, released on September 19, 2005. The game allows you to take control of your forces in battle and manage against clever enemy AI that adjusts to your game play. Many attack vehicles may be piloted and many war weapons may be used. The reviews are coming in quickly and are looking extremely positive. This snippet of a review from ign gives us a real overview:

"If books are judged by their covers then Battalion Wars is very likely to give gamers the wrong impression. Despite its cuddly graphic style and humorous presentation, it is at its core a battle-heavy war game. Gunfights rage. Buildings explode and yes, soldiers do die."

A Great Graphic Film

2005-09-30T18:30:00.000-04:00

Sin City is a movie that will keep you captivated with extreme graphic art, acting and story. Prepared for graphic vivid content, this movie seamed so artistically real, yet it also felt like I was reading straight out of a graphic novel. It was fun, exciting and there were a couple moments of laughter at the right times. Much of the acting performances were up to par, including Benicio Del Toro, Bruce Willis, Clive Owen and Mickey Rourke, all of which impressed me with their performances. Most amazing was the style in which the film was produced. It was far more intense than any comic book turned movie. The artistic methods used to create this film were as novel as the graphic art of the stories. Frank Miller's Sin City is a great graphic film.

InkIE for Inklings

2005-09-28T09:45:00.000-04:00

InkIE Address Bar 3.0 is available for download. This internet explorer add-in allows Inklings to write web addresses into an Internet Explorer toolbar, to be recognized and opened. I'm going to continue to give this add-in a try but can't guarantee I will stick with it. InkIE currently does not support the pen eraser or the scratch out gesture, although there is a clear button that may be utilized. The performance of the recognition seemed slightly slow.

This add-in is a great concept and future versions have the potential for being very useful to Inklings. Another web log post on InkIE may be found here: Randomelements

If you would like to get a copy of InkIE, you may go here: http://inkieaddressbar.tripod.com

Sharing Notebooks in OneNote 12

2005-09-27T09:15:00.000-04:00

OneNote 12 has some more new features that are worth mentioning. In the next version of Microsoft OneNote, we will be able to have multiple notebooks rather than just the one that is currently available in OneNote. This will make for better organization of notes.

OneNote 12 will also allow us to share notebooks among other specified users of OneNote. This will allow a team of people to have access to a notebook and share notes at the same time. The notes other people are taking will be on your computer as well (and searchable) in shared notebooks. These shared notebooks will sync and be auto-merged as note takers go offline and come back online. Microsoft is passing the grade for offering premier forms of communication and knowledge sharing. The following blogs share detailed information regarding these new features:
Chris_Pratley's OneNote Weblog: OneNote 12 - Working as a team with shared notebooks
Owen Braun: OneNote 12: A squadron of notebooks

Microsoft and Palm Partnership

2005-09-26T13:50:00.000-04:00

Microsoft and Palm partner to provide perhaps the best of both worlds in the next Treo (available in early 2006). The next Treo will be packing Windows Mobile 5.0.

Thousands of One Unite The Haunt

2005-09-24T10:56:00.000-04:00

It was a great pleasure for me to have my first run in with the spirited performers, “Thousands of One”, last night at The Haunt, in Ithaca, NY. Thousands united their fans through rhythms straight out of Congo Square, New Orleans. The atmosphere was fronted by Jhakeem Haltom capturing me with groups of lyrics sung with affecting improvisation and free-style. Saxophone player Regan Carver provided hard bop measures that united the band in groove. Brent Eva was most impressive with solid droppings of bass lines from funk to soul. Brent’s expressions gave him away as having a great time. Tom Sayers’ Telecaster guitar manner gave me glimpses of a subdued Tom Morello, as he experimented with sounds that bounced around the rest of Thousands of One. The backbeat, provided by drummer Joel Blizzard, paced the rhythm.
If you have yet to experience the music of Thousands of One, don’t wait any longer. You can see them perform with John Brown’s Body, on November 19, at Magic City Music Hall, in Binghamton, NY. Don’t wait that long, pick up their new self-titled album at I-Town Records.

Nintendo Revolution's Remote Controller

2005-09-23T15:14:00.000-04:00

I can’t wait to get my hand on the new Nintendo Revolution game controller. Yes I did say “hand”. Nintendo Revolution is developing their next console system with an innovative wireless controller. The controller will be held by gamers in a single hand and will detect hand and wrist motion to determine operations within the game. On top of the remote, I mean controller, will be the standard D-pad (movement detector shaped like a plus sign) and operating buttons. Below the controller is positioned a trigger. We’ll have to wait to see if gamers take to the new controller or if they will prefer to keep their arms motionless when playing games.

Flick Inklings

2005-09-22T11:52:00.000-04:00

Windows Vista is adding some exciting new features for Inklings. One feature in particular, users will be able to “flick” their pen in any direction to make the system perform a specified operation. The operations associated with the direction of the pen flicks may be customized by the user. The screen shot shows the configuration screen where Inklings will be able to customize each flick direction and the associated operation the flick will perform. This is allowing for fast and easy computer use for Inklings. With just a flick of the pen, like a wand of a wizard, I am able to perform a computer task; perhaps pasting something I’ve copied. These added benefits make tablet users Inklings forever. We seem to be just scratching the surface.

The Adirondack Forest Festival

2005-09-21T09:21:00.000-04:00

The Adirondack Forest Festival has a great lineup this year. The spotlight for the event is on legendary reggae musician Burning Spear. I was fortunate to see Burning Spear in 1999 in Poughkeepsie, New York and the show was a sight to behold; it was dreadfully spiritual. Their performance alone will be worth the trip to the beautiful Adirondacks.

That’s not all you will see at this festival. Also showing will be the hip hop group, playing “Life Musik”, Arrested Development. The Slip, Mecca Bodega and other great bands will be performing as well.

Also, comedian Jim Breuer will be performing. Jim is known for his work with Saturday Night Live. His standup comedy is among my favorite. It’s a treat to have the opportunity to see a standup from Jim Breuer in person.

The festival is on September 23, 24 and 25, in the Adirondacks, New York. The event is coming soon so you will want to pick up your tickets right away.

Now You See Me...

2005-09-20T21:50:00.000-04:00

The Microsoft Research lab in China put their new photo-editing software on display at the Professional Developers Conference. The software is capable of removing images from the foreground of a photo and then replicate the background of the object that was removed. I'm not sure how this could become useful, but as Ina Fried writes "It's photo-editing software Joseph Stalin would have loved. "

Acer's New Tablet

2005-09-20T00:17:00.000-04:00

By the end of the year, Acer will be offering a new tablet pc; the TravelMate C200. Unique to this convertible tablet pc is the lack of a hinge mechanism. Instead, the pc transforms into a tablet by a sliding mechanism. First opinions of the tablet are saying that it is a sturdy machine and that the new tablet sliding mechanism may take hold over the hinges that have had many skeptics (despite much durability in new models).

This tablet will also wow us with it video card. It has an option of packing the Nvidia GeForce Go 6200 chipset with 256 MB of VRAM. Not many pictures of the machine out there yet, but expect to see many more soon. Let's hope to see this machine on the market soon and into the hands of inklings.

New Site to Sell Motion Tablets

2005-09-20T00:14:00.000-04:00

Tablet Authority is a new web site geared to sell Motion tablet computers. Tablet Authority is hoping to assist the tablet market by increasing the sales of the advanced Motion tablet. You'll never turn back once you become an inkling and this web site wants to make you one.

XBox 360 Release Date

2005-09-17T13:46:00.000-04:00

The countdown to the release date may begin. Microsoft has announced that the XBox 360 gaming console will be available in stores on November 22. Mark your calendars.

Inklings: Tablet PC Show #24

2005-09-17T12:00:00.000-04:00

The Tablet PC Show #24 was released yesterday. This show features Mike Jetter, the founder and CTO of Mindjet; producer of the mind mapping program MindManager. Tablet PC Show

Shipped From Shanghai

2005-09-16T23:23:00.000-04:00

My wife and I are excited because her new laptop was shipped from Levono today. I called IBM and was told that it should be here the middle of next week. The ThinkPad laptop comes with 512 MB of additional free RAM, which is far better than the normal free printer promotions. I can only store so many printers away in my closet as it is.

OneNote 12 More Searchable

2005-09-15T08:17:00.000-04:00

One of the great features Inklings have with OneNote is the ability to search hand written notes. Before I had a tablet there were countless times that I would ravage through my various notebooks searching feverishly for a note I had taken months ago, most often to no avail. With Microsoft OneNote I no longer have to do the searching. I enter text into a standard search box (like the one below) and OneNote finds every instance of the handwritten or typed notes.

Chris Pratley provided some great information on features planned for OneNote 12 (codename for the next version of OneNote). In this new version Inklings will have enhanced searching capabilities. Through Microsoft research technologies like “OCR” (optical character recognition) and audio/video indexing, OneNote 12 will allow us to search anything we put into our notes.

We will be able to search the contents of scanned and printed documents, screen clippings, and our recorded audio and video within OneNote 12. I thought searching hand writing was cool; these new features will be amazing!

OneNote 12 uses the new Windows Desktop indexed search engine, which means we get our search results instantaneously! You can see Chris Pratley’s article here: Chris Pratley’s Article

Fujistu Makes Inklings Drool

2005-09-13T20:12:00.000-04:00

Today, Fujitsu announced that they will begin offering the Microsoft Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005 operating system with their Lifebook P1500. The Fujitsu Lifebook P1500 is the industry's smallest and lightest convertible notebook on the market. Offering this hot notebook with the Tablet 2005 operating system is a very wise decision and will have the Inklings drooling. Fujitsu continues to be a pioneer in the pen-enabled computing market. Lifebook P1500

Microsoft Unveils Next Office User Interface

2005-09-13T14:35:00.000-04:00

Today Microsoft released some great screen shots and information pertaining to the user interface changes in the next Office Suite (currently in development). You may find information pertaining to these changes (including an address from Bill Gates) here: The Future of Microsoft Office: Be the first to know

The coming interface is highly graphical and gives users functionality on-demand. We're hoping to have features that are easily accessed in the new interface, without being invasive on our working real estate. The screen captures (like the one above) show an interface that is driven by command tabs rather than menus and toolbars.

The command tabs are dynamic (smart) based on what the user is doing at the given moment. Dynamic previews will also be available to allow the user to see if the changes are desired before they apply the change.

I believe Inklings (tablet pc users) in particular will have a much better experience with the command tabs and the graphical selections provided in the coming Office Suite. Larger selections make for much easier and efficient use with the pen and touch sensitive screens. We'll keep our eyes open for additional features and screen shots.

High Tech Homes

2005-09-12T19:45:00.000-04:00

Surfing the internet brought me to an interesting video link on the Microsoft website. The video takes us on a tour of a futuristic high tech home. Although not too far off in our future, much of what is seen in the video will become real only on the basis of ease of use.

There are some great family and home ideas within this video clip. Our microwaves and other cooking devices should be able to scan bar codes on food packages to determine exactly how to cook the food (taking into account altitude and other variables that impact cooking). We should have instant access to our favorite food recipes, displayed onto our counter tops, based on the ingredients we have in our house at any given time.

Now that’s just the future potential of technology playing a role in our kitchen. We could spread that potential to other rooms within the house, and/or spread the potential to larger scale operations such as restaurants and food service industries.

The high tech homes of the future are in sight. The concepts will take hold based on ease of use. I think you’ll find interest, anticipation and excitement in the following video clip: High Tech Homes

Schultze Gives the Blues

2005-09-12T09:33:00.000-04:00

Schultze Gets the Blues, a film by Michael Schorr, is purposefully slow. Schultze drags viewers along. The little emotion we see through Schultze is a lot in comparison to his surroundings, but far less than we hope for. The amount of music we are given (including Schultze) through the film, is never enough to satisfy. We push on and search for the music that may bring new life to Schultze (and the film)... and we push on.

The movie documents Schultze's slow search for a new beginning. It slowly captures Schultze's life after retirement. The movie fails to surround viewers in the new music that captures Schultze.

Schultze Gets the Blues distorts viewer’s senses of proportion. The smallest bit of emotion was significant and large. The slightest change to environment would have such a large impact to the life within the film. Each expel of emotion from the characters seemed to be slightly more than the last. It is difficult to determine if the characters cast too much or too little emotion considering their surrounding and circumstances.

In all, I felt the movie fell short in providing me (and Schultze) with an abundance of music I was hoping for.

Microsoft Continues Teasing Gamers

2005-09-11T12:32:00.000-04:00

I often enjoy opening the Microsoft main web page to see if I'm missing anything new to the market. As of late I've been spotting their same old teasing ad of the Xbox 360 and that it's "coming soon". We already have known this, Microsoft. We want to know more though. How soon? When is soon? Next month? I know there are a lot of gamers that are getting very anxious to step into the new world of gaming that is "coming soon". Maybe it’s just that I go there all too often to find any news that may burst my bubble of anxiety, only to find another tease ad.

One thing I do like about Microsoft is that along with their long awaited systems (Vista, Xbox 360) they do sometimes pull a trick or two out of their hat, off the cuff. I’m reminded of the Education Pack for the tablet pc. I open their web page one day and out of thin air is free software for Inklings (tablet pc owners).

Well Microsoft I’d say we’re ready for another trick; something new off the cuff. Or maybe let “soon” become “now’. Let the heads stop spinning 360 degrees in search for your new product… we’re waiting.

Apple Offers New MP3 Player

2005-09-09T11:09:00.000-04:00

Apple is offering a new MP3 player with a color screen. This new device looks very sharp and is bound to catch the eye of your friends. Apple enthusiast or not, this new gadget should do well on the market; the soaring market of MP3 players.
http://www.apple.com/ipodnano

Music From Ithaca, NY

2005-09-09T10:54:00.000-04:00

Here is a great website that offers some great music from local Ithaca, New York. I’ve downloaded some great live music including Plastic Nebraska, Sim Redmond and Samite. Just go to the Funky MP3s link to download some of the live music.
http://funkyside.com

Birth of Inklings and Impressions

2005-09-09T09:04:00.000-04:00

Inklings and Impressions is born to the world of blogging. It is a host for ideas (inklings) and for impressions of those ideas. It may be used as a selective knowledgebase for enthusiasts with the same interests as the poster to the weblog. Emotions often flow freely as a result of inklings and impressions and that is a great reason to post to the blog.