tempest in a teacup

You can read about the new product announcements here.

The main things that have me interested are the new iteration of the Apple TV software which (FINALLY) adds support for buying stuff straight off your set-top box, as well as the HD movie rentals that go along with it (although I have no idea if the store is going to get HD TV show rentals as well). The lower price point is neat too. I might be convinced to get one of these some time down the road (although for regular TV watching it still works out pretty expensive compared to a cable subscription).

Other than that, though, it was mostly a snoozefest. I couldn't care less about the iPhone and iPod touch as long as there's no SDK for third-party apps, and the new MacBook model honestly looks like a product without a market. Seriously, who will buy a $1799 notebook that doesn't have an optical drive or Ethernet, and only a single USB port? Not to mention the abysmally slow 4200rpm hard drive (although if you're insane, you can add $1000 to the price to get a 64GB solid-state drive). I do like the LED-backlit screen and the multitouch trackpad, though, not to mention the sleek form factor (although one suspects that the latter was the reason for many of the unit's shortcomings).

The biggest Mac news for me today was that Call of Duty 4 and Spore will be coming to the Mac (although it's courtesy of Transgaming's wrapper rather than a native port of the games). Not that it matters to me or anything, seeing how I don't own a Mac, but it probably is good news for Mac owners who want to get their game on without having to reboot their computer.

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In other news, I bought Super Mario Galaxy for Wii around the New Year, and have been playing it for the last 3 weeks. I must say it's easily the best Wii game I've played so far (although that may not be saying much, seeing how my library only consists of three games). Very solid mechanics, nice use of the Wii remote (although I will say manta surfing makes me want to hurt something) and the best graphics on the Wii, period. I've got about 94 stars so far, and will not really consider the game “complete” until I get all 120 stars as Mario. And looking at the remaining levels, that could take a while…

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Finally, there's this piece of news that hit recently:
Amazon chooses to pay fine rather than eliminate free shipping in France

I'm sure there's some company policy that prevents me from expressing an opinion about this (and if there isn't, then, well, I guess I don't want to tell you what my opinion is :P) but I was wondering what you guys thought of it.

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Sonic RPG, now called Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, details from Nintendo Power

Screenshots and concept art from Sonic CuLT

Come on, Bioware! Make a great story-driven Sonic game that makes up for the shit of the last 6 years! I BELIEVE IN YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

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Tata Motors unveils its $2,500 car

I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, it's admirable that Tata has decided to come out with a vehicle that the average middle-class family can realistically afford, particularly since the default mode of transport for the average family of four in India is a two-wheeler of some kind, which, given the terrible state of traffic in most Indian urban areas, is incredibly risky. A car would undoubtedly be safer. However, I have to wonder if it really is a smart idea given that pollution in Indian cities is, well, pretty bad. In addition to that, adding even more cars to already strained infrastructure in cities like Bangalore is only going to cause problems down the run. If you thought the roads were bad now, try increasing the number of cars that roll over them every day. Given the penchant for lousy maintenance of public infrastructure in India, I can imagine that its state will only deteriorate further.

As for the car itself, well, I'm not really a fan of the bug-eyed flat-faced look, but that might just be a matter of personal taste. I suppose the low horsepower makes sense for a car meant for city driving at a relatively low speed limit, but since Tata is touting the safety of this new car, the omission of airbags seems like a rather glaring one. In addition, given the rather compact profile of the vehicle and the materials used in its construction, I have to wonder how the vehicle would fare in a head-on collision, perhaps with one of India's notorious Ambassadors (picture an average sedan, only built like a Panzer minus the gun barrel). I can only assume that Tata has done the necessary testing.

In other India-related news, I'm 99% sure that this is going to cause some fireworks, and as usual, I have no bloody idea why.

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How about a political meme?

92% Barack Obama
92% Bill Richardson
90% Hillary Clinton
88% John Edwards
85% Chris Dodd
77% Joe Biden
74% Dennis Kucinich
71% Mike Gravel
47% Rudy Giuliani
42% John McCain
35% Mike Huckabee
34% Mitt Romney
27% Tom Tancredo
23% Fred Thompson
14% Ron Paul

2008 Presidential Candidate Matching Quiz

LOL @ Ron Paul being at the bottom.

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So, these Iowa primary results. I have significant doubts about exactly how indicative they are of anything (a pastor winning the evangelical vote? Surely you jest). If you absolutely must know, I have doubts about both winners (moreso about Huckabee than Obama). I also agree with Paul Krugman's reservations about Obama, in that his tone of building consensus doesn't jive with the fact that his opponents in Washington will be ideologues who will attempt to get in the way of anything even remotely progressive-sounding. In any case, Iowa isn't going to determine the winner by itself, so I'll be keeping an eye on events for the next few months.

And before you ask, no, I don't really have a preference for any candidate, although if I did end up supporting someone (inefficacy of my doing so be damned), it would most assuredly be a Democrat. I do not share what seems to be the average techie's fascination with Ron Paul, for various reasons.

Actually, I don't even really know if any of the candidates running right now would be agreeable to me either. Not that I can vote or anything, but it does matter to me who runs the most powerful country in the world, for reasons that are hopefully obvious to most people.

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