Weekly round-up

Work has been crazy for the last couple of weeks, hence the lack of blogging. Here are a few cool things I've seen that I haven't had time to blog about yet:

Burnout 3 was, by far, my favorite videogame of 2004. This year, we get two Burnout titles. Burnout Revenge, for PS2/Xbox, adds a "revenge" mode to the game, and appears to allow collisions with "civilians" without the insta-crashing from Burnout 3. Burnout Legends is a remixed version of all three Burnout games, for the PSP. I just wish it would come out before my multiple trips to China scheduled for this summer...

Burnout Revenge preview

Burnout Legends preview

The Powerseed is an extremely-overpriced and unnecessary gadget that some of us could probably really use. I always scarf my meals, and although in theory I could use "self-control" to keep the scarfing in check, this little gadget seems like another, more-likely-to-suceed option. I'd buy one, if I didn't know that I could build this thing for about $3 in parts. Maybe I'll buy one anyway.

Powerseed

Yahoo has launched a $4.99/month all-you-can-eat music subscription service. This seems to be about the right price, but you should get unprotected music - as it is, the music becomes unplayable once your subscription lapses (or once the service goes away).

Link

My friend Adam built the ultimate Mac-based media center using a G4 tower and a pile of other hardware. He is truly living in the future at this point, with live videoconferencing, PVR, HDTV, Music (with neato graphics), all controlled via wireless keyboard and mouse from his couch and displayed on a widescreen LCD HDTV. He wrote up his setup and posted it on xlr8yourmac.com.

Link

In politics, Avedon, posting at Eschaton wonders if all the voter conspiracy theories might be true after all:

One reason I don't think it's at all paranoid to suspect that the Republicans have deliberately taken over the voting system in order to cheat is that they keep doing things that don't otherwise make sense. There's a rather long list of things you just wouldn't expect them to think they could get away with unless they really thought they could control the ballot box, because otherwise they would have to expect that the public would kick enough of them out to not only end some political careers but also make impeachment - and prison - a distinct possibility.

Check out that list for a refreshing dose of renewed outrage.

And, in personal news:

1. We got a house



2. My wife got a new job as chef de cuisine of Boulette's Larder. If you are in downtown San Francsico, be sure to stop by for some amazing organic breakfast and/or lunch. Or you can pick up something to take home for dinner, especially if you are trying to impress...