Yeah, I know.

However, Apple has a very nice set of products:

• On the order of $500, Mac Mini, with DVI and digital audio out, full Mac functionality; it's a full Mac but useful for all kinds of things. Small enough to fit anywhere
• On the order of $200-300, Apple TV. Wireless stream audio/video from any mac (including the mini mentioned above). Rent movies and such directly from itunes. Store locally. Outputs up to 720p (which is not as good as 1080i/p; it will output TO a 1080p screen, but the video caps at 720p).
• Airport Express/Airtunes - this is a little wireless router the size of a Macbook power supply, can be had for $80 refurb. Connect it to an outlet and plug a mini-TOSlink optical audio cable into your speakers/receiver, and it will allow any itunes library on that wireless network to output to those speakers wirelessly.
• With the App Store for iPhone out, control all this from your phone. You hated remotes anyhow

Right now, I am coding and blogging down in my theater room, outputting my itunes to an airport express connected to my theater receiver, which is then pumping the music out over my Onkyo 7.1 speakers. Sounds good. I could rock the block without getting out of the chair.

I'm thinking if I got a mac mini, I could hook up 2 TB drives, one on firewire (primary), one on USB 2.0 (backup), and rip my whole DVD collection onto it and share it so any itunes in the house could play it. I'd probably connect it to the upstairs TV near the big window that faces the valley, where I could rig up an HDTV antenna and get a usb tuner. I'm still looking into it, but it looks like there are DVR solutions that will run on a mac mini. Then I can put an apple TV in the bedroom and downstairs, and be able to stream captured video off the mini, plus my entire music/movie library.

The only downside is that I can't rip Bluray discs, but I'm mostly renting those right now anyhow. And standard-def DVDs sort of look trashy on my projector, because it is outputting 1080p to a 100" screen, and at that size, DVDs actually look fairly awful. (Which is to say, Blu-ray is a theater-like picture, or better, to my eye; but standard def DVDs are weak.) And I honestly scoffed at HD, initially convinced I couldn't see the difference. Nothing like a 100" screen to change that opinion.

Anyhow, comparing to a Sonos, a combo of AirTunes + Mac Mini + AppleTV in some appropriate setup looks, well, vastly superior to me. Apple getting 1080p output and DVR functionality into a Mini would be a big win. A *really* big win if they had some easy plugin device (or a beefy enough cpu) to handle HDTV encoding. (I figure 99% of people would be happy with encoding one stream and decoding another; many would even be fine with recording tv while watching live, or playing back old, but not both)

It's not a perfect solution, but the relatively cheap Mini/ATV/AirTunes/iPhone combo delivers a LOT of functionality for a relatively low price, it seems. Certainly, I'm quite happy with my first step. Once Kathy is done closing her warehouse down and we can reorg the house a bit, there's a good chance I'll get the other components. (I'm always filing on an extension for my taxes, so I'm stimulus-free so far, but I'll file soon. It would probably be relatively stimulating to blow it on apple, even though the mfging is done in China.)

It feels like America has been binging, and we haven't yet reformulated our thinking to realize: wait, maybe this is our fault.

John McCain has just suggested we suspend the gas tax. Okay, so this is clearly political pandering, but you have to ask: why should we do that? Let's look at this:

• For years, environmentalists have decried our reliance on fossil fuels, but the response was: it's the most economic form of energy, and the free market will force us to use alternative energies
• For years, people have purchased massive SUVs as people talked about their terrible gas mileage and lack of safety. If your car gets under 20 mpg, you simply have no business talking about the price of gas. (And if you start to say something about kids and groceries, my response is: minivan.)
• We are shipping metric tons of money overseas to import oil. Enough. We have the technology to produce all the energy we need from solar power. Bite the bullet, and do it. Expensive now, perhaps, but awesome in the long term.

In short, we made our bed. Why should the government encourage us to continue on the binge? We need to adjust our behavior, not subsidize bad choices.

This is just another instance in a long line of issues:

• Irresponsible borrowing drove home prices through the roof and created an enormous bubble of debt which simply will not be repaid
• Our energy dependence has led to irresponsible foreign policy, and a multi-trillion dollar "real" cost that would have been better spent building a renewable energy infrastructure
• Our nationally irresponsible trade policy has led to a ballooning and consistent trade deficit

So, what do we do to fix it? It's not that hard. Get ready for the pinch.

(1) End the War. We cannot afford it, and it's that simple.
(2) Take next year's supplemental, and stick it into renewable energy instead. Perhaps Solar Electric Thermal.
(3) Listen to the Oracle of Omaha, and end the trade deficit. We can do it quickly and equitably.
(4) Balance the damn budget. Seriously. I don't care if you have to put the military on a shoestring and eliminate medicare. If government programs are an unfortunate necessity, debt-financed government programs are an abomination.

This is it. We're entering an Era of Accountability. At this rate, we'll be back to a cash economy without N-tiered debt derivatives soon. Live within your means, and that includes your energy consumption. It has to be a mantra, now, rather than later.

The iPhone continues to rock muh sox. The fact that no pressure is needed for this keypad is a huge ergonomic benefit that, with all the talk of "text thumb", I'm surprised we haven't heard more of. The autocorrect on this thing is genius.

I got to meet a guy today I only know online from coh, which was cool.

I have seriously had my main two book ideas percolating, and I think real writing is near. I need to do some physics research for one. When I get home I will likely be doing some consulting work again. Seems like I will be quite busy, but opportunity doesn't let you pick your schedule.

A guy from work has been pushing me to take swim lessons and swim on a regular schedule, and I think I'll jump on it... I am by no means in the worst shape, but I'd like to get back to a fully fit weight and tone, and I'm feeling empowered lately. I will be busy... Have to cut some game time. Oh well.

I r a blogger!!

Check it

Note to producers/writers, and this one is free: Story arcs have to end. I don't know if Wil watched Alias, but it drove me nuts with this. Smallville drives me nuts. But Heroes is different.

Abraham Lincoln

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