O-Dark-Thirty

Why a Smart Watch isn't Smart for Me  or My Pebble goes Bamm Bamm Well, I thought it was clever... I still think my Pebble™ watch is one of the coolest pieces of tech gear I ever owned, and I've owned a few. I was one of the 68,000+ Pebble Kickstarter backers. If I think of it, I'll post a picture of the back of my Pebble so you can see where it says so. Classic. I love collectibles. So I got my watch in March after waiting, waiting, waiting - which was really okay since the Pebble people were working hard at getting all the details perfected and they kept everyone informed. Note to Project Managers - keep your stakeholders informed of your milestones. First of all, let me say that I really love watches. I have no idea why. It might be genetic. My Dad loved watches. My brothers loved watches. My sons love watches (though I don't think my daughter really cares). For a few years I was enamored of pocket watches, though I didn't buy any. I never...

I also mentioned that we upgraded our iMac to OS X Mavericks. There were some issues: I needed to re-install java so that some of the games on Facebook worked (yeah, Candy Crush again!). Other people had differing problems with the upgrade. Here are some other fixes from Wired .  A complete review of OS X Mavericks by ARS Technica is online now . It's an awesome review and if you have a Mac of any kind, you need to spend some time with the review. And if you have a Mac you might want to take a look at the new Pixelmator 3.0 . At least look at the cover picture. Oh, my. You certainly might want to think about making a bootable OS X 10.9 Mavericks USB install drive . Computers keep you from thinking, though . (Well, so does television.) Think about that. I thought about it - a lot. I just bought a new computer - and I'm going back to a PC. I'll publish more on that in the future. I love the Mac, and maybe I simply forgot all the troubles I used to have ...

Before I even start, Storybundle has a new Thriller Bundle. I've written about these folks before. As far as I'm concerned, they are a good enough reason to buy an electronic reader. You have a bit less than three weeks to get this bundle. I just bought it, and I'll post reviews of the books when I finish them. Go check them out - and no, I don't get affiliate or commission fees! http://storybundle.com/ There is news in the world, of course. Something happens somewhere every day, but you can catch most of them on your own. Yeah, I really want this coin For instance, Prince George is getting christened! There are only sparse details on the shooting in the Nevada middle school . You might think I'm nuts if I tell you I do think it is End Times and Evil is multiplying across the world, but that's where I am. Give me something that better fits the data. Until then, that's my opinion. (You can have your own; that's okay with me.) In breakin...

The USA government shutdown is over and the debt ceiling raised with a bill that the President signed at the last minute last night. Nothing was accomplished except headlines. Millions of government workers will be paid again. The folks I work with at NASA should be shuffling out of their bedroom slippers, finally taking showers and be back in the office today. But our government failed us. They did precisely what I said they would - they voted for a measure that simply pushes the problems into the not-so-distant future. All the issues will be visited again in January. "We think that we'll be back here in January debating the same issues," John Chambers, managing director of Standard and Poor's rating service, told CNN on Wednesday night. "This is, I fear, a permanent feature of our budgetary process." Oh, and the bill didn't just fund the government and raise the debt ceiling. In the short, 35-page bill were a few funded pet projects too....

We're at Day 16 of the government shutdown. I don't think our leaders are embarrassed by this. I think they are all simply posturing , except for the tea party ones, and nobody likes them except their constituents . The debt ceiling needs to be raised by midnight tonight. The GOP could change their collective minds. Nah. Congress could raise the debt ceiling without doing anything to curtail spending. Democrats are pushing that line because they don't want to be blackmailed by Republicans. Nah. The two parties might agree to a short-term deal. Which is no resolution at all, of course, except to push the issue further into the future and put off making a concrete decision for a government going broke and out of money. But they'd wave a flag, pound their chests and declare victory. Yes, they would. They surely would. We might see no deal, and our government would essentially run out of credit. That's less likely to me, because it sounds like failure to everyon...

The New York Post has an article titled "Crew members: 'Captain Phillips' is one big lie." Okay, fine. It's the published people who write history and Capt Richard Phillips wrote the book. Hollywood made the movie. It's "based on a true story." Is it worth watching at the theater? Well, I think so. I don't know why, but I'm not a big Tom Hanks fan. I mean, I like him. I can't recall a movie I didn't like him in, but he doesn't normally compel me to buy a movie ticket. There's been a shortage of film outings this fall, though, so Captain Phillips looked like a good reason to go to the movies. Besides, it was raining outside. True or not, I have to admit the movie had me on the edge of my seat for most of it. The movie tells the story of the 2009 hijacking of the MV Maersk Alabama, the first US ship captured by pirates in over 200 year. It was based on "A Captain's Duty: Somali Pirates, Navy SEALS, an...

If you're expecting a long review of the Google Chromecast HDMI , you'll be disappointed. I ordered this from Amazon a few days after it was announced, on July 29.  Immediately they sent me a backorder notification. That didn't disturb me. I knew I missed the very short window after they advertised the device. On August 9 I received a notice that the device would take longer than anticipated. I have to admit my enthusiasm had waned at this point, but I still wanted to take a look at the device and see how it works. After all, it's a geeky toy. Amazon shipped the Google Chromecast HDMI to me on Sept 9 and I received it a few days later. You had to wait more than a month for me to write my review, didn't you? I'm sorry. I thought everyone had one by now. My buddy here at work just asked me what I thought of it, so whoops… Let's review: Easy to set up - absolutely. If the back of your TV doesn't have an open USB port (mine doesn't) y...

About the movie Gravity , one reviewer put his title as "Don't bother reading this review. Just go see the movie." I didn't read his review. We did go see the movie. If you haven't seen Gravity , please do so. There are spoilers here. I think this is a powerful film. Let's get something clear right off the bat. I think Sandra Bullock is an amazing actress. If she's in the movie it's pretty certain I'll go see it at the theater. Not so with George Clooney. I think he's a good actor, but I won't bother buying tickets for a film just because he's in it. Darling will. So we both expected great things from Gravity , for different reasons. I'm a fan of space. Lord knows I have plenty of it between my ears and a growing sense of it in my memories. When we left the movie I told Darling "I think that might be the best movie I ever saw." Please take that as it sounds, in combination with that memory comment earl...