Mark Evanier on libraries — I too was issued an adult library card before I was old enough to have one, mainly because I’d outgrown the stuff in the childrens library. One of the first things I remember checking out was a science fiction anthology that contained Harlan Ellison’s story “I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream”. It was the scariest thing I’d ever read, by far. (Up until that point, I’d mostly been reading Hardy Boys and Encyclopedia Brown books.)
SDCC 2011
Comic-Con registration crashes for second time – SignOnSanDiego.com — Well, I *tried* to get a 4-day pass for Comic-Con today. It didn’t work out so well, for me or anyone else apparently.
And wow, the NY Times covered this too!
Motorola DROID Pro
Motorola DROID Pro first impressions | BGR | Boy Genius Report: “Something we can’t move past, though? The ear speaker. Talking on the phone with the DROID Pro is probably the worst of any handset we can remember.” — I was thinking about picking up a Droid Pro as a replacement for my BlackBerry Storm. But one thing I consider critical is being able to use the phone… as a phone. So maybe not.
Time to drop eMusic?
As eMusic Embraces Major Labels, Its Indie Core Is Leaving | Techdirt — I’ve been thinking about dropping eMusic. It might be time. I don’t get around to downloading stuff every month, so there are a lot of times where I’m paying the fee and not getting anything for it.
TV fix
The remote for my TV stopped working today. Neither my cable remote nor the remote that came with my TV would work on the TV, so I knew it was a problem with the IR receiver, rather than the remote. I figured I’d probably have to get LG to replace the IR receiver, but I went ahead and Googled for problems with LG remotes, and found this. AVS Forum rules! I just sprayed some CRC 2-26 on a headphone jack, popped it in and out of the remote port in the back of the TV a few times, and everything works fine now. Sometimes, the internet is exceedingly helpful.
A Big Book
75 Years Of DC Comics: The Art Of Modern Mythmaking
Wow, here’s a book I’d buy, if it were a lot cheaper. I’m sure it’s worth the price, considering the size — 720 pages and 16 pounds! And written by Paul Levitz, who is probably the man most qualified to write such a book, given his long tenure at DC.
AdSense
On a lark, I signed up for AdSense a while back. I haven’t really bothered looking at my account in a while though. I got a message today that they’re changing some stuff around, so I looked at my account. It appears that I made a penny in May, another penny in June, nothing in July, then sixty-one cents in August. Oh, and nothing since then. I wonder what I did in August? If I can manage to do it again, on a consistent basis, I could maybe make enough money for a coffee and bagel by the end of 2011!
mashups
It looks like I will be working on a mobile app (iPhone and Android) at work soon, and I’ve been vaguely interested in mobile development for a while now anyway, so I spent some time this weekend looking around for ideas for a small project to work on, to get my feet wet. I spent some time on Programmable Web, and was interested to see this article wondering why there aren’t any great mashup apps for Arlington National Cemetery. Having recently attended a funeral there, I can see how a good mapping app for the cemetery would be really useful. It’s a huge place. There’s an interesting comment following the article from someone who tried to work with the cemetery to try and get something done, but he didn’t get too far.
Newsweek
I’m not sure what to think about this development. I canceled my Kindle Newsweek subscription a while ago, but I’ve been keeping an eye on what’s going on with Newsweek since it got sold for $1. It might be interesting to see what Tina Brown would do with it.
SSMS Tools Pack
Stumbled across the SSMS Tools Pack today. How has this been around since 2007, without me knowing about it? I installed it at work, and I’m already finding it useful.