blessingx

New favorite app... Http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-19512_7-10445835-233.html

Stereophile's list: Stereophile: 2009 Records To Die For Lots of safe choices, but some good ones too.

Rumor: MacBook Pro refresh imminent, SKUs dropped from Best Buy systems

7 Political Ads That Might Be Weirder Than Carly Fiorina's "Demon Sheep" - New York News - Runnin' Scared

Two fun quotes... Charlie Rose & Apple iPad

I'd only use I-40 for making up time and allowing more stops elsewhere. Too many adventures possible on your route. Rt. 66 runs so close (sometimes feet away, sometimes same road) for half your trip. US-50 for the other half. Couple times I've done it Road Trip USA was very useful. Looks like they have a website too now: ROAD TRIP USA

Depending on possible OS support (no doubt the iPad OS will vary from the iPhones), there's the potential Airport Express printer output. That said I think the last printer I owned was six years ago.

Liquid Scale is cool... Liquid Scale - Content Aware Image Resizing

This is likely old news, but just came across these this morning on a Google. Anyone know the background? Search on both sites came up empty.

Who doesn't love Tom Selleck, waterfalls & sandwiches? Selleck Waterfall Sandwich

That's Persepolis right?

iTablet launches from UK company - Pocket-lint

That's the problem. There isn't much if this segment and price range that will play high rez, including the Duet. You pretty much have to wait for the Touch or move up in price considerably.

Thanks for the opportunity Al. Note to self: next time use a word processor with spell check.

I was originally on the Squeezebox platform, and then moved to a iPhone controller/Airport Express approach. With the Squeezebox Touch I was planning on moving back, but with iPad introduction and the below news, it's looking less likely. For those waiting... Logitech Squeezebox Touch delayed, again -- Engadget

What I posted over at HF... Here are some very, very brief thoughts. My time with the P1u was limited and I selfishly spent more time listening than detailed comparing. I was a fan of the 'powerful reserves, but polite' Luxman P1 presentation and the P1u continues this. They are very, very close in sound (spent some time comparing Al's P1) and I'm afraid I don't currently own a dynamic headphone amp that competes closely with either. Much of the differences may come down to balanced operation, and their prices ranges certainly differ greatly, but using the Tony Bennett and Bill Evans XRCD (ripped and Airport Express to Parasound 1600 HD) the P1u has a larger and seemingly more accurate soundstage than my Headamp GS1 with both HD580 and K701. This was further confirmed by the more problematic, though best I've ever heard them, CD3000. A better extension in both ends (including lower presence), a more organic (though may or may not be accurate) decay were more obviously also added to the mix there (then confirm back with other cans). Overall though, the most immediately recognized difference, and all-emcompassing trait, was a more life-like atmostphere with all three cans. Shifting over to tubes and Ennio Morricone's*The Best of 50 Years of Music (previous B&W Society of Sound club and future CD release), the Singlepower Extreme Platinum (with RCA 6SN7/IBM 5998s mostly) immediately falls behind the P1u in instrument separation and resolution (clearly can pick out more separate strings) and overall signiture balance. The Exteme seemed a bit peaky and plain uncontrolled in comparison. And again the soudstage grows. On the discussed blackness levels, I don't have the cleanest electrical system, but I only heard slight noise when maxing the volume, and once disconnecting my source, heard nothing all the way up. I know these trait differences are rather simplistic, but from my limited time comparing, the P1u clearly stood out above the others. More importantly it eliminated the issues I occasionally have with either, which arguably are their greatest strengths. If you feel the GS1 is a bit neutral/flat, the P1u is will bring life to the music with some signiture tweaks, if you feel the energy of the Singlepowers can often step on the music, the P1u will tame that down. While doing both it will dramatically create a more belieable soundstage. Course this is at minimum triple the cost and sacrificing a little functionality. I've been pretty focused on Stax and K1000s the last few years, however if I was looking for a solution for conventional dymanic cans, this is where I'd start. I'd easily recommend the same for tube or solid state fans. It's probably my favorite headphone amp.

The Carlos Saura’s Flamenco Trilogy is really great. As is the biggie, Grand Illusion. Suspect many here would like Le Trou and, of course, Alphaville. Shame they are going OOP. Sure most will reappear, but I have my doubts about the Flamenco Trilogy.

Unsure where to put this, but may never have seen a video sum up the strangeness of the '80s so well. Directed by James Cameron and starring his soon to be ex-wife (and director of Hurt Locker) Kathryn Bigelow, Cameron veteran Bill Paxton, and a few others you're likely to recognize. Anyone ever heard of Paxton's Martini Ranch band? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KusApBvbxuM&feature=player_embedded

Forget politics, just don't look into its eyes... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yo7HiQRM7BA

Installing Mac OS X on the HP TC1100

Seems relevant to this conversation... Op-Ed Contributor - Microsoft’s Creative Destruction - NYTimes.com

Nice. Speaking of icons...

If you know someone who crys at movies... Cryingwife.com videos http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCV7qn3bTvs&feature=player_embedded http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQ_H13NgXaM&feature=player_embedded

And the competition heats up... Amazon buys touchscreen startup Touchco, merging with Kindle division -- Engadget