The Sudden Curve

The Sudden Curve looks Beautiful on the iPhone

Try it and see for yourownself!

posted by tom Novak who says look for the mobile optimized versions of TSC and ROM coming soon to a device near you....

Gnomedex 6 starts tomorrow

Pretty sure Gnomedex 6 is sold out. This year I'm taking the Kolchak : The Night Strangler underground Seattle tour. To walk in the footsteps of TSC's favorite actor Darren McGavin ( not to mention, Jo Ann Pflug - woooba wooooo!).

posted by Tom Novak, who is leaving on a jet plane and don't know when he'll be back again ...

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow ... (how did I miss this before?)

Okay, okay - give a guy a break!!! Yes, I went out and got it. Yes, Wally and Tom are right (ouch that hurt). Yes, it's cool with old school fighter planes and giant robots and hot babes who you could affectionately greet with a "Hiya, Toots" ...

Great CGI look in this movie also - it's like a graphic novel has just popped up in front of you.  So if you missed Sky Cap at the theater like I did (and you miss old school action adventure on the big screen, like I do) then by all means watch it.  You'll be glad you did.

posted by Tom Novak, who approves of Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow  and Adventure (and Gwyneth)

Danger! Will Robinson! Danger!

I have a model of the Lost in Space YM-3 robot. Later, I found he was also called B-9. Huh? What's his real name, then?

Turns out he was only called B-9 once in the program. Another name for him was Class M3. Hey, what's going on here?

Apparently he's supposed to be "Robot model B9 of the Class M3 variety." So where did YM-3 come from???

Well, apparently the Japanese company that made the models engaged in a bit of creative Engrish and turned M-3 into YM-3. His real name, according to bits and pieces of the program, is "Robot model B9 of the Class M3." But nowhere in the program is he referred to as YM-3.

Posted by Bob Wallace, who doesn't even want to talk about Robbie. Or is it Robby?

We're moving to Podtropolis

Wwwellll, not really. But it sure looks like a cool place.

posted by Tom Novak, who says that everyone who moves to Podtropolis gets body-snatched and bit-torrented ... FREE!

Bill Gates says, "All your base are belong to us"

Photo stolen from Niall Kennedy, who is actually there.

posted by Tom Novak who is isn't allowed to attend these things anymore because of that fish tossing incident at the last one ...

Gada.be is the best Online Search

Search is important. It must be, because by giving away free search to innocent people somehow or other a company with no product can have a 7 bazillion dollar valuation. How is that possible? We don't know. But it's true ... at least it was true.

Enter, stage right - Chris Pirillo's Gada.be

How's it work - uhm, well we're not sure persactly... but however it works - it works GREAT! It searches everything! Including websites, blogs, browsers, portals, and probably border crossing stations. And you don't have to look at goddamned ads created by robot monkeys' so their fake websites can grift money offa Google either.

Take that, you network vandalizing, Search Engine Optimizing, S-blog Spamscummers.

I suggest you search for The Sudden Curve. That's always jumbo fun for the retro-noir set.

posted by Tom Novak, who's Attention XML span aint what it used to be ...

Mini Robo Sapien reviews mini Rios vs. mini iPods

Talk talk talk. 

So what's the story with these competing brands anyway?  We've all heard the hype coming from cultists, techsites, his Steveness and assorted shills  bloggers.   None of whom can be trusted as far as they can be heaved because they are all on the take one way or another.  So here's the realworld skinny.

the Hardware winner is Rio.  The thing is just great.  Wonderful form factor and the dials and screens and buttons are naturally easy to use (even for humanoids) .  It feels just right and sounds just fine with the provided earbuds too.  Nothing wrong with the Ipod Mini's design or form factor either,  for that matter. The iPod Mini's wheel will seem odd at first.  But both models are easy to handle and work well as soon as you are used to them. 

the Software winner is iPod- or iTunes to be more specific.  Drag and drop is a breeze with the iPod Mini and half the time it does what you want it to even when you aren't sure what it is you want...  The Rio's software is a  PIA.  Doesn't synch right out of the box with Windows Media Player either - which seems stupid.  And, last we looked, the Rio doesn't work with iTunes without some major hacking- forget that.  We've better things to do - like frequent synthohol holes for happy hour.

The stylish accessory winner is iPod.  But not really.  Why? With all those cool Griffin thingees out there? Because with only 4-6 gs for the iPod Mini hard drives you can't load your whole library on it anyway- so you should get a player with more capacity before spending as much as it cost to begin with for add - ons.  You dopes!

Whats the Verdict - its all a draw.  Get whatever. Trust me... I'm cybernetic and I say they both work great.  Both have some limitations.  Tough, that's life with robotics. It's not like you people are exactly perfect, you know.

Here at Underground Parking and Publishing and Podcasting we're using the iPod Mini with OSX and the Rio Carbon with XP.  Primarily, music is going on the iPod and voice on the Rio.  It's just easier that way if you're multi-platformated.

The real determining factor on mini players, we've decided, is (gasp!)price.  $124.00 for a Rio Carbon like this one we snagged from WOOT! (but you had to be quick) beats anything that we've seen up until now.  Amazon with free shipping is about the same for these things as  the best bargain-bin discount sites offer.   Shop around.

posted by Mini Robo, who gets assigned all the tough  reviewing jobs around the lab now.

Klaatu Barada Nikto

In the '50s to get really huge military-style reactions from the folks in DC took the threat of international communism, or a giant menacing space robot with a murderous death ray (in the movies).

Today . . . .
it takes a Cessna !

Plus, then Patricia Neal was a Space Babe . . .

The Fox Movie Channel is showing The Day The Earth Stood Still  (Starring Michael Rennie and Patricia Neal) on Saturday May 14th at 8:01 PM EDT.

That and other movie listings are available at the This Weekend page.

I was a child in the '50s and the world seemed considerably different. I truly expected to have a flying car when I grew up. Bob Wallace isn't alone in having had such expectations.

I thought I'd travel in space. Now, I doubt I'll ever board an airplane again.

Posted by Tom Ender, who wonders how much the idiots in DC have cost us, besides the obvious taxes and wasted time.

The TSC fish pond and MOON POOL

Those lazy robots are good hydraulic engineers- when they are not all lubed out on synthohol.

It's these guys anniversary

Everyone is reading FIDEL

  Besides reading FIDEL~ Hollywood's Favorite Tyrant along with Robo and everyone else you can read the latest fontova column over at

humbertofontova.com

Mini on Mini

The Supreme Uber Junker is going to kill us when he finds out what we did last week with all that google money that's been rolling in ... Well, we're sure it will be rolling in now that we've broken the seventeen unique hits a day threshold... and he said we could get a Mini.

Heck, we don't know how that iPod Mini got in the same order as the Mini Sapien.  Honest! Gosh, it must have been a clerical error of some kind.  But it's here now and look how cute it is and we just have to keep them both.  They've bonded. We promise to feed it and take care of it and take it for walks and it won't get too big for the office.  So, we can keep it right? Okay?

posted by NOBODY, who says "Oh sure, blame me you snivelly cowards! Hmmm, how much is a Mini Cooper? "

Ghost Apple

Do the iShuffle

Screw you, Jobs! We hate you and your whole damn commie-company.  "You skinny, boney jackasses!"

Uhmmm, there goes our G rating.  Oh well, that being said... WOW! Looky at the cool new toy we just have to get, for uh - business reasons- yeah, that's it.  It's a 1gb player to listen to Sudden Curvecasts.    Price points are 99 and 150 dollars.  Availailailable now.  Over in the left hand margin of this page as a matter of  factoid.   Check it out.

Yes, dear readers,  we've put off getting a mega-mp3 player for the Underground Parking and Publishing offices and Deck Pond Construction company for a couple of reasons.  One is that they are too pricey and confusing and two is that with these GPS ankle bracelets they make us wear we can't hardly get a block and a half away before people wearing black suits hunt us down and bring us back.  So what's the point of dropping 600 smackers on a portable hard drive with a viewscreen, earbuds  and six days of songs in it?  There isn't one.  But for a hundred and fifty bucks we'll get an Apple  iPod Shuffle just to be part of the trendy popular crowd.

And how come it's those Maoists who keep driving these break through products onto the market and not their capitalistic competitors at Creative or  IRiver, or even Dell?  Hmmmmm? Come on you short-horned windows-wma-developing  losers,  get your beehinds in gear.   

The real question that all of Apple's competitors should be asking themselves, ala Jack Nicholson, is,  "Where do they get those wonderful toys??"

Unstuffed this from the stocking

... we've been  Blue Toothed! teethed?

A Logitech MX900.

Weeeeee!  Now we can post annoying things to here from farther out than where no man has ever gone before ...

(BTW, check out the price drop for these babies right now over in the TSC.Amazon Moola Box in the left hand margin )

Copernic kicks Desktop Search Hiney

Ho - Lee - CATS!!

That oh-so-secret-we-can't-talk-to-you-peons-about-this-desktop-search-thing that Gooooogle had been disavowing any knowledge of for the last two years is officially obsolete!

And it only took a month. Wow. Download Copernic

posted by ROBO, editor who says, lookout you lusters-in-the-hearts. You can run, but you can't hide those naughty email affairs anywhere on your desktop no mo...