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I’ve always said if it’s only available at WalMart, then I don’t need it.  This video reinforces my belief.

HD - High Definition. Usually synonymous with television or video, HD is one of the new digital broadcast standards that will be fully implemented by February 17, 2009. But one of our local news stations has taken HD to a new level…and I’m not sure what to think of it.

Take the time to know me and you’ll soon find out I can be a bit critical of the local new stations in this market. West Michigan is the 38th largest television market in the United States and I swear we have some of the cheesiest newscasting in the country. We have reporters and anchors that get so involved with a story that it’s as if they have a personal stake in the outcome. It’s rare, but it happens. And when it does happen, it’s painfully obvious. I recall when Grand Rapids wanted to sell some city owned property near the water treatment facility on Monroe Ave.

Not five minutes ago a friend of mine located me via Google Talk. Seems he was having difficulty with a computer he built and wondered if I had any ideas. Specifically his Creative Audigy2 soundcard wasn’t working in Windows Vista. Thinking I better blame Vista right off, I started searching for updated drivers from Creative. What I discovered was rather amazing. It seems Creative’s products - almost all their products - won’t work very well if at all with Windows Vista. But it seems owners of Creative soundcards have a savior of sorts - his name is Daniel_K and he’s a contributor in the user forums on Creative’s site. At least he was. It seems he discovered Creative had crippled the Windows Vista drivers from almost their entire product line (as you can see from this screen shot). So he decided to hack the Creative drivers to make them work properly in Windows Vista - as well as add additional functionality that was inherent within the Creative cards but was never implemented by Creative.

Is it me or has Google grown? I know that’s sort of a rhetorical question but I guess I get so accustomed to utilizing Google from my browser’s toolbar I never took the time to really notice what Google has been up to. And I’ve got to say, I’m rather impressed. I know there are plenty of people convinced that any company that large and with that much control is too large and has too much control. But come on - at least Google doesn’t treat their users like Microsoft (can you say Vista?) or even Apple. I found it pretty interesting that Google makes much of their code available to outside users - even for profit companies. I’d like to see Microsoft or Apple do that (without asking for an arm, leg and your next born in return).

A few things about Google that really intrigue me:

This has nothing to do with technology - other than I’m embedding a YouTube video in this post.

Good Friday, the day we turned out backs on Jesus Christ. The only thing good about that is he didn’t do the same to us. He took our cross (yours, mine) and died upon it so that we may live eternally.

It’s simple really - Accept, Believe, Live and Live Again.

I have to admit, today I really wanted to thrash Apple. Specifically the Apple Store in nearby Woodland Mall. A week or so ago my wife and I were just walking around the mall with nothing specific in mind. Being that I love technologies of any kind I generally gravitate to the Apple Store knowing full well my IQ will slowly be sucked through my right ear in their attempts at assimilation. When were were there I started to play around with the new iPod Touch -and I have to admit, it’s a nice little device. The touchscreen keyboard left a lot to be desired - I don’t care how intuitive it is, my fingers just aren’t that small. Anyway, while I was playing around with the iPod Touch, my wife was listening in on a sales pitch from one of their borg drones and I overheard a interesting tidbit: “Nope. You don’t have to worry about viruses. They don’t exist for the Mac.” Interesting. Granted, there aren’t many but there are viruses specifically written to attack Apple’s OSX - LeapA being the first. And it’s not as if OSX is the most secure Operating System on the market, it’s not if the recent security update from Apple is any indication.

After finding my last foray into the world of blogging to leave a rather bitter taste in my mouth - I’m back. Bigger and better than ever! Well…at least better. Rather than commenting on life through my eyes - my thoughts, my feelings, my triumphs and trials - something that got me in hot water with a few people, I’m going to focus this site on technology - the good, the bad, and the ugly. Blogging on technology suites me - my BA is in Telecommunication-Media Arts and I’m pursuing a Masters in Digital Media Arts and Technology through Michigan State University. But that doesn’t mean I won’t comment on other things - but my focus will be on the technoworld.

Technology helps us every day - but it can also be very pervasive. It can detract. It can be annoying. And it can simply get in the way. Technology can also be manipulated to the needs of those hawking the technology (think Comcast…I’ll revisit my thoughts on them soon enough) - manipulated in such a way that the given technology appears to be more than it truly is.