Whither Blu-Ray

I'm not surprised by the news that Blu-Ray has thus far failed to gain customer acceptance. I speculated toward the beginning of this year that Sony may have won the HD-DVD battle, but that they've possibly lost the High-Def disc war. I've upgraded to HD Cable with on-demand programming. I can rent the same HD movie content from my cable box that I would be renting in the video store. There goes my need for another expensive disc player.

8K627BTDTXL is stolen!

Question: Apart from obvious reasons, why is an iPhone better than an iPod?

Answer: When you report your iPhone as stolen to your wireless carrier, the carrier immediately puts the electronic serial number of your iPhone on a stolen list, and nobody can activate it. You just *might* get it back, or you *might* deter thieves from stealing it, if they know nobody will buy a cell phone they can't activate.

As for the iPod, Apple will in no way assist you with any attempt to recover your stolen iPod. You can register with Apple as the owner of a new iPod by providing Apple your new iPod's serial number, and your iTunes content is associated with the serial number of your iPod. But even with that kind of information in-hand, and with your express consent, Apple won't stop somebody from taking your stolen iPod and attaching it to iTunes on their computer.

So, my 60 GB 5th Generation iPod has been stolen, and it's serial number is listed in the title of this post. Apple won't help me recover it, and stolen911.com seems to be out of commission. stolenipod.com echoes my sentiments about Apple not maintaining a stolen registry.

(Luckily, I found a couple on craigslist who were selling their well cared-for 60GB iPod, along with product packaging, and other verification that I wasn't buying somebody else's stolen iPod.)

blingmenot, not!

Earlier, I alluded to the type of excess that runs counter to my blingmenot ethos. Here is a prime example. This is, no kidding, a $1,800 power cable. Before you rush out and spend that kind of money, consider giving it instead to somebody who needs it. Here's my elevator statement for anybody remotely considering high-end cabling: "We put men on the moon using spacecraft constructed with nickel-plated copper wire. What makes you think your sound system is so important?"

(For my technical friends: Notice how they don't even bother to give you a 30-Amp Twist-lock plug on this cable: the one thing that might have made any difference by increasing the current-carrying capacity of the power cord.)

I could pardon somebody for wanting this as some sort of objet d'art. I've never seen such a beautiful power cord before. But, please, just encapsulate it in a plexiglas cube and put it on display.

Oh, and one last thing.. If you just have to buy this power cord, always remember that you'll be plugging it into a thirty-nine cent electrical outlet. That outlet's being fed by solid copper romex wiring that costs less than fifty cents a foot..