I have made no secret about how much I hate the HP Compaq 8510w in the past. The very laptop I blog from given to me by work sucks, and I’m generally ok with it because I don’t have to pay for it. I have to admit HP must have brought in some solid outside consultants or their efforts to build an in-house team are really paying off because this low end media server is pretty slick, albeit in a very Darth Vader way. Even though I may not need one, or cannot afford one part of me wants to go out and buy an HP LX195. This may go down in history as the first time anyone would ever want to keep a server in plain sight, possibly because it looks like a modern radiator painted black. Either way: Thumbs Up from a random design-minded blogger…..
Monthly Archive for April, 2009
best trapper keeper cover ever!
Even as a child I knew that I shouldn’t pine away for the Porsche 911s, Ferarris, or Lamborghinis that I saw on the fancycar calendars I had on the wall every year. Knowing I was middle class gave me a sense of reality in that even my dream car should be somewhat attainable. Case in point was the Pontiac Fiero, which I thought was the coolest thing on the road. Well, at least the coolest thing I ever saw in person outside of the auto show that is.
Regardless, I gravitated toward the hardest angled aggressively styled vehicle I could see myself (and not more than one other person) in. The Fiero was an icon of 1984, regardless of the number of engine fires that occurred leading to factory recalls and hard tooling changes. This is still a car I would still want someday completely gut and overhaul with a hybrid engine, you know when I have the imaginary time. Assuming I wouldn’t do so on an old-school beetle that is….
So now onto what to me was the canary (no pun intended in yellow above) in the colemine for this branch of GM, the Aztek. From the standpoint of letting a designer sell you on something that you ‘just don’t understand’ someone really probably lost their job and their department’s jobs on this one. Or at least I hope so, although if this individual or group of individuals ended up joining operations or was put in charge of the integrated supply chain that might explain some things wouldn’t it?
In an bizarre similarity between one of my favorite cars of the 80s and most hated of all time it turns out that they have a similar rear end. Just goes to show that you can’t take things and just scale them up or down and expect them to work in different categories/types of products. Whoever thought this was the future should be beaten with a rusty ass muffler repeatedly.
I spent all morning working with a laptop limited to 4-bit display capabilities due to a ‘madatory system update.’ Bear in mind if you ever want to induce nausea go ahead and surf today’s web in 4-bit, which was raster-rific. I tried to see if tight rolling my jeans would help. It did not.
I love these fan built video game pop-culture homages. Another case of unemployment resulting in entertainment because it took some time to put this together, even for a few college kids. Via Fazyluckers.
Good times brought to you by the folks at Marriedtothesea.
Okay, this is where ‘Green’ being undefined and largely contextual in nature is detrimental to us all as consumers. In this case ‘Green’ is an excuse for the hotel to save money because having your room cleaned/sheets washed/towels washed is now ‘Opt-In’ for those that are guests. It’s a slick way to reduce your overhead and to reduce the expectations of those staying in your facility, but do I need to now do the same thing with my dishes and utensils? Of course not, but the same principle being applied is only one step away from a cost viewpoint. Normally the next step would be to use paper plates and plastic sporks but that wouldn’t be ‘Green’ now would it?
http://www.vimeo.com/4305226
Add two parts Beatles Yellow Submarine, one part Hasbro pre-K block toys, dash with Adobe After Effects, shake, serve over ice and get this video. Nigel Dennis of ElectricHeat just premiered the video he created for his band A Lull’s first single ‘Skinny Fingers’. It’s a quirky little video for an equally quirky little song and I like the fit. Via Cpluv.
FYI if you want to eat something for breakfast before a five hour meeting I would strongly discourage you from eating a Fiber One bar. This is not a granola bar, this is not a breakfast bar, this is not a power bar. Should you avoid eating this and take the $1.43 hit of purchasing a breakfast bar instead? Absolutely….take my word on it.
At about 6% of vehicles on the road one can only hope that manufacturers will keep making manual vehicles. Since their price point is usually lower I don’t see them going away any time soon. This post goes out to good friend Joe Hajek who needs to teach his wife how to drive his xb….Go Jalopnik for posting this!