Things take shape

After some careful deliberation, I've settled on a name for the blog -- we're gonna call ourselves "Open All Night" and dress the place up like one of my favorite places: an all-night diner. The topics of discussion? Well, whatever you might want to talk about at 3 in the morning, of course. If you're an old member of the Exton / West Chester Diner Krew, you know what I'm talking about. Happy Days, bitches.

Apple unveils iPhone, AppleTV

Apple blew everyone out of the water today, with the unexpected iPhone announcement piggybacking on the official, very expected, Apple TV. After two years of rumors about an Apple Cell Phone, a widescreen iPod, and a few here and there about the return of the old Newton, Steve Jobs took the stage in San Fran today and spent approximately an hour hyping up the new device that combines all those functions.

While the phone doesn't really bring that many new must-have features to the table when compared to, say, a Windows Smartphone, it easily jumps to the head of the pack if it can do everything Jobs said it can do (just like the iPod did with the MP3 player market). If they enjoy the amount of success they've had with the iPod, it will make the iPhone a formidable opponent in a field that has not had to field top-quality hardware or software since, well, forever.

To start off their 31st year, the company showed it's commitment to their new cell phone and home theater line by changing it's name from Apple Computers to Apple, Inc. It will be very interesting to see what happens now that this innovative company has expanded beyond being just another desktop computer manufacturer.

iPhone
Apple TV

How about this...

I know the Eagles beat the Giants yesterday, but I just came across this beautiful meltdown from a Cowboys fan. Apparently he's got a whole list of these up on Youtube. Enjoy.

video via [Kissing Suzy Kolber]

Obama != Osama: The Running Count

A running count of how many times the media has "accidentally" mixed up these guys:



1. CNN: "Where's Obama?" - Jan. 1
2. Yahoo! News: Top Stories Photos: Osama Bin Laden & al Qaida - Jan. 3

It's going to be hard to believe after we count 30 more of these that the news outlets are doing this by accident. The more they make out of the "How will his name hurt his election chances" topic, the more it actually will, um, hurt his election chances. They're creating news about this guy when there is none to be reported, and it's irresponsible.

links from [Salon] and [TPMCafe]

Give 'em hell, Nancy

First female Speaker of the House.

Two heartbeats away from the Presidency.

Most Powerful Woman In America.

Let the 100 Hours commence!

Not only does he read the news, he reads your mail

So Bush affixed another one of his patented signing statements to a new postal reform bill, granting himself unchecked authority to open your mail. Not sure what the purpose of these signing statements are when a). they don't give him any more legal grounds to do this sort of shit than if he had just started breaking the law, and b). they do nothing but piss off concerned Americans by highlighting the fact that hey, he's breaking the law!

The President asserted his new authority when he signed a postal reform bill into law on Dec. 20. Bush then issued a "signing statement" that declared his right to open people's mail under emergency conditions.

That claim is contrary to existing law and contradicted the bill he had just signed, say experts who have reviewed it.

...

"Despite the President's statement that he may be able to circumvent a basic privacy protection, the new postal law continues to prohibit the government from snooping into people's mail without a warrant," said Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), the incoming House Government Reform Committee chairman, who co-sponsored the bill.

Well, whether he intends to do it or already has been doing it and is covering his ass now, the joke is still on him and his Administration. People don't use the USPS for anything but sending anthrax nowadays.

W pushes envelope on U.S. spying [NY Daily News]
via Crooks & Liars

XM / Sirius merger coming?

from Stereogum:

Speculation of a Satellite Radio merger is nothing new, but an increasing number of pundits are weighing in with scenarios of how the possible transaction would play out, and whether it'll benefit anyone (aside from Mel Karmazin).

With only about 13 million subscribers between the two major providers, XM and Sirius, satellite radio isn't reaching nearly the amount of ear-holes that radio big-wigs thought they would be at this juncture. A lot of folks I've spoken to see the service as a high-priced stop-gap between the old technology (the FM dial) and the new one coming down the pike (wireless internet radio). In fact, satellite radio could be jumping the shark faster than satellite television did while bridging between old basic cable and services like Verizon's fiber-optic TV.

The fact that these companies are considering a merger less than a decade after both services were launched is a clear indicator that subscription-based audio content, no matter how it's delivered, will not work as long as there are free alternatives. A merger between XM and Sirius will mean more content for listeners, but at what price? Will fees go up, or will the new Frankenstein service insert ads to create what will effectively be a CD-quality radio dial with more stations?

Why were radio executives ever under the impression that people will pay for radio? Listenership on FM and AM has been in steady decline for years -- so why would people want more of the same (even at a much higher quality) and want to pay good money for it? It's a wonder that both companies still exist here in 2007.