Apple's new ads are stupid

Compared to my previous phone (HTC Evo 4G), my new phone (HTC Evo 4G LTE) is both bigger (4.7" screen vs. 4.3" screen) and smaller (8.9mm thick vs. 12.7mm thick). In fact, the same is true of almost all new smartphones with bigger screens--They've pretty much all gotten bigger screens, became thinner in profile, as well as gotten lighter. Do they all defy the laws of physics?

In one of Apple's recent ads for the iPhone 5, the following statement was made:

"There are laws to physics, right? So, explain this--How can something get bigger, and smaller? There's more of it. And... less of it...? Well, I guess the Laws of Physics are, more like, general guidelines."

I think anyone with a basic understanding of science and physics should feel insulted by this ad. What they're talking about has absolutely nothing to do with physics. If they think anyone should truly buy into their idea that what they've done to the new iPhone, which they're implying breaks the Laws of Physics, they must be assuming these people lack the intelligence to know the difference.

Ten years ago, I had a 27" CRT TV. Today, I have a 50" LCD TV. The CRT was probably around 4' deep, and weighed a lot more than my 50" HDTV, which is less than an inch thick. There's definitely "more" of my new TV, not only does it have a larger display screen, it also has much higher resolution. And there's definitely less of it, because it is not only significantly thinner, it is loads lighter, as well.

But then, even before the advent of high definition television, you could have gotten a bigger display from something smaller and lighter. It's called a projector.

Another one of their ads posits that because "your [left] thumb" goes from the bottom right corner of the iPhone 5's new 4" screen to the top left corner, it's "either (A) an amazing coincidence, or (B) a dazzling display of common sense."

Now, my thumb does the exact same thing, except I can reach both corners on my phone's 4.7" screen. Imagine that!

Common sense tells me that, just because my hands are big enough for me to reach both corners with my thumb, doesn't mean that everyone else has hands the same size. Some people will no doubt struggle to do the same thing and have no choice but to use both hands, while others will have bigger hands than mine. At six feet tall, my hands might be slightly bigger than your average male.

Their other two ads are barely worth mentioning. The ear buds ad suffers from the same lack of common sense as the thumbs ad--It basically assumes that everyone's ears are shaped the same. If they were really trying to make sure the ear buds fit comfortably in everyone's ears, they should have included multiple ear bud options, like Jawbone does with their bluetooth headsets.

As for the panorama pictures ad, that functionality has been available elsewhere for quite some time now...

Download this from your iTunes Store

Sprint 4G

So, apparently, I do get Sprint's WiMAX network in my area, although just barely. And as Sprint has yet to announce service in my area, that means they're still in the testing phase.

Nevertheless, I've run some speed tests, and after 15 tests, the average download/upload speed is 2905.6Kbps/630.9Kbps. That's not too bad, but there were also several times where it could not connect to the test servers at all--in fact, that happened during my first three tests. It seems that during those tests, it tried to connect to some very far away servers, perhaps the GPS could not properly locate the location... So when I made the video, I was fully expecting the same terrible result, and to my surprise, it got the highest download speed (4493Kbps) of all my 4G tests--I haven't been able to replicate that speed at all. (The fastest upload speed in my tests was 988Kbps, by the way.)

Compared to Sprint's 3G, the average after 10 tests is 1785.1Kbps/795Kbps, with the fastest being 2598Kbps/922Kbps, and the slowest at 661Kbps/637Kbps.

It is also interesting to note that, when Wi-Fi is enabled, while the speed tests consistently showed around 9.xMbps/0.9xMbps at the same test server, the phone only showed up to around 6Mbps for download, though it did get around 1Mbps for upload. So perhaps the actual download speeds when not on Wi-Fi could be faster. When I get the Froyo update next week, I'll try the USB tether and test it from the laptop, and see if it makes any difference.

Crush your enemies

Command me, lord

A completely revolutionary device

A Geography Lesson

...brought to you by CNN.

Let's play some Tetris, mother******

A compilation.

Trolololololo

In case you missed it, this is a clip from the Jimmy Kimmel Live show that aired after this year's Oscars. It's a parody of a recent viral video, which I'll embed below...

Dicapac Waterproof Camera Case

Back when I was checking the prices of the ZS3 with Google for price drops, I would always see underwater cases listed. Of course, their prices being almost as much as the camera itself (and now with the camera's prices having dropped, they cost more than the camera) meant that I would never consider them. I would rather just buy a waterproof camera than have to deal with the extra hassle.

However, recently I decided to see if there were cheaper alternatives, and found the Korean-made Dicapac. They're not so much camera "cases" as they are camera "bags." But they are waterproof (up to 10m/33ft), and much more affordable, so I decided to give it a try.

The bag is quite a bit bigger than the camera, but it was basically designed to work with almost all compact ultra-zoom cameras, rather than for one model specifically, which I'm sure also factors into the lower price. With exception of the mode dial, the camera's buttons are fairly easy to operate, but of course more difficult than if the camera wasn't in the bag. The camera's flash is partially blocked by the lens enclosure, but this will most likely be used mostly in the daytime, so probably won't be an issue. For recording video, audio will be somewhat muffled, which is hardly a surprise--you're basically wrapping the microphone inside a bag.

You just got slapped... across the face my friend

You just got slapped. Yes, that really just happened.
Everybody saw it. Everybody laughed and clapped.
'Cause it was awesome the way you just got slapped.


A fake commercial from the TV show How I Met Your Mother...

I don't need you poking me

My cousin Rickie posted this song to Facebook about a week after an ex sent her a friend request. She didn't want to add him, but wanted to reconnect with some mutual friends. The singer's name is Kate Miller-Heidke.

Why won't you call me back?

So this video has been making the rounds for the past couple of days.

Cliffs Notes version: Guy tells girlfriend he's going on vacation for two weeks, keeps phone off to avoid roaming charges, girlfriend forgets/never listened, so doesn't know guy is gone. She then proceeds to leave various email messages as the days go by, escalating in level of insanity.

Original blog posting here (moved, new site here).

Some people are saying the story's fake, I think it's plausible.

It probably wasn't a very healthy relationship, anyway...

• She never listened enough to him to know he's going to be gone.


• He didn't even bothered to call her to let her know he landed safely.


• At no point did she wonder about his safety, like maybe he couldn't respond to her because he was injured, hospitalized, etc.--That would have been my first thought, if I were in her position.


• That she jumped to only one conclusion (that he dumped her) meant one of three possible things, in my estimation:
  
  1. She was too insecure.
  
  
  2. She was too self-centered.
  
  
  3. The relationship was in a bad enough place that she believed he would dump her at any time.

Ultimately, they are both better off that the relationship ended. Some people wonder, as do I, if she really slept with someone else, or if she only said that to spite him... but it doesn't really matter.

Some people have also been wondering about the songs used in the video. I recognize two of them from the soundtrack of the movie Snatch. Anyway, I'll embed them below:

By the way, if you haven't seen Snatch, you totally should.

Path to Destruction

So NBC is airing their two-part mini-series called Meteor: Path to Destruction, which is about a large meteor that's on a collision course towards the earth, which, if unstopped, could cause global destruction...

Didn't we already see this movie... twice?!

In the Year 3000

On his new role as host of The Tonight Show, Conan has brought back one of his old bits, with an updated name.

Speaking of Super Mario...

Beginning in June, Conan took over for Jay Leno as the host of The Tonight Show on NBC. A few days later, the blog Serious Lunch posted about the resemblance between a backdrop of the set and the designs of Super Mario Bros., complete with edited background from the game (actually, it looks more like the design from Super Mario World). By the end of the week, the above clip aired.

Poor Mario

Transforminators

"Why are you trashing my scene? You are trashing my scene!"

It's not lupus!

I've watched this four times already, and I can't stop laughing...

Bold claims... Bold, stupid claims

One of the recent Mac commercials (above) have a woman searching for a computer "that works without crashing, or viruses, or a ton of headaches." PC then leaves, leaving the woman to Mac. It's Apple's response to the recent "laptop hunters" commercials by Microsoft.

As if the Mac never crashes... Anyone rushing out to buy a Mac thinking that they'll never had to deal with crashes or headaches are in for a rude awakening. And even though they are rare, Macs also have viruses. So Apple marketing, you're 0 for 3. WTF were you thinking?

I guess for those who hail Apple as the second coming would simply ignore the fact that the Mac crashes just like every other OS, because in their eyes, the might Steve Jobs would never steer them wrong. And iPhones have absolutely no glitches or problems at all.

The sad fact is that... every computer crashes, 'cause every OS sucks.