At least let me backup my files first!

OK... so you're sitting there on the train listening to tunes, minding your own business..when some dickhead comes at you trying to steal your iPod. Sounds crazy right!?!? Well, it happens all the time now, especially in NYC. A recent article on the Mac Observer talks about how students, specifically kids with the signature white earbuds trailing from their ears, have had to fend-off felons lately.

"A South Brooklyn transit officer reported a near doubling of student iPod robbers on subways in recent months, The New York Post reported Tuesday. One week ago, a high school student required 44 stitches after being stabbed for his iPod on a Q train."

Needless to say, we here at Methodshop find this extremely troubling. Can't we all just get along... come on people! Stabbing someone for an iPod? For those of you with iPods be careful. And those of you in the market for one, PLEASE don't buy one from "some guy" with an iPod for sale. Now, more than ever, it could be stolen.

iPod Safety Tip: It's crazy, we know, but sometimes it might just be better to listen to your iPod with those crappy old headphones so a would-be robber gets the wrong idea.

Labels: computer, Ipod, mac

"- You have to check out this Jewish guy sing Reggae, it's amazing." [Via abum.com]

"Combining the sounds of Bob Marley and Shlomo Carlebach, yet remaining wholly original, Matisyahu's performance is an uplifting, powerful experience for all in his presence. Even the most pessimistic in his audience is inspired by his ability to so honestly convey such a delicate, topic as faith/spirituality. It is his dedication to his belief and openness to others that compels one to respect his artistry and message. It's in that fleeting moment when our skepticism melts and our souls open up, that Matisyahu enters with his booming sound of faith. " [Via hasidicreggae.com]

Who will rule the digital living room of the future? If rumors serve true, it could be Apple.

TiVo's CEO, Michael Ramsay, claims that his company is not for sale, but with a market cap of only $300 million, TiVo is basically a garage sale bargain. This is especially true for a company with a massive cash stockpile like Apple. Other companies considering scooping up TiVo include Comcast, Time Warner Inc., Sony and Liberty Media. Surprisingly Microsoft hasn't jumped on the bandwagon yet.

However, the idiots running TiVo have yet to make a profit despite having a great product. It's hard to believe Apple would want to acquire such a money-losing business unless it would fit into a bigger plan they secretly have in the works. In fact the only thing Apple and TiVo seem to have in common is a focus on the customer.

One potential hurdle for Apple, would to maintain their darling status with content providers. The enormous success of the iTunes Music Store has made everyone happy from the artists and record companies to the consumer. TiVo, on the other hand, has pissed off everyone from TV and Film studios with their sloppy DRM strategy to advertisers with their commercial skipping abilities. Buying TiVo would require Apple to fix TiVo's DRM problems and please both content providers and consumers. Currently this is beyond the skills and vision of TiVo management. TiVo can't even enable AAC audio playback on their settop boxes or Macintosh compatibility for their TiVoToGo feature. Maybe it is time for someone with brain cells to take the reins at TiVo.

So will Apple buy TiVo? Could there be an iTunes like Movie/TV download store in the future? Rumors continue to fly while representatives from both companies continue to decline comment.

In the meantime, shares of TiVo have shot up 17%.

Labels: computer, Ipod, mac

"In today’s New York Times, Lola Ogunnaike profiles Jeff “Chairman” Mao, Elliott Wilson, Gabriel Alvarez and Sacha Jenkins, the mad geniuses behind the late, lamented hip-hop and humor magazine Ego Trip and VH1’s ‘Ego Trip’-branded programming.

One of the shows discussed is Dude, Where’s My Ghetto Pass?, all about white folks who are embraced by the African American community. As Ogunnaike explains:


For his work in “Scarface” and “The Godfather,” arguably two of hip-hop culture’s most beloved films, Al Pacino earns a ghetto pass. Bill Clinton, with his offices in Harlem, gets one, too, as does that bottle-blond rapper from Detroit, Eminem. It turns out that the singer Justin Timberlake, who a scant two years ago held honorary soul-brother status, has since had his ghetto pass revoked for abandoning Janet Jackson during their Super Bowl brouhaha.
Poor ofay JT! Well, he’ll earn back that ghetto pass by starring in Edison with Morgan Freeman: he’s got street cred to spare.

Then again, maybe not, according to the same article:

“That’s what happens to black male actors when they get older,” [Sacha] Jenkins theorized. “They can’t be sexual and they can’t be scary, but they can be your father." [Via gawker.com]

According to The Drudge Report, Paris Hilton's T-Mobile Sidekick cellphone was hacked and its contents were posted on the Internet!

Scores of A-list celebrities' private cell numbers, including that of Lindsay Lohan, Christina Aguilera, Andy Roddick, Victoria Gotti, Vin Diesel, Eminem, Anna Kournikova, and Ashlee Simpson, were published!

We suspect that all of Paris' Sidekick buddies from the T-Mobile commercials (Snoop, Wayne Newton, Wee-Man...) are going to think twice next time before they throw their numbers out there hoping to spend a night in Paris.

One angry celeb grunted to Drudge, "I gave her my number after we met in Miami, I did not know she f**king kept it on her cellphone!"

Paris' cellphone also had a built-in color camera. The hacker was able to download all her personal photos.


We're guessing that hacking her Sidekick was more invasive than stealing her homemade porn tapes!

Labels: CellPhone, Sidekick, SidekickNews

Newcomer Michael Lord scores big with his debut album of melodic modern rock, Sway. The multi-instrumentalist wrote, produced, sang and played on his album, which cradles sumptuous arrangements in a fragile, but rocking sonic embrace. Michael's "Smile" is an upbeat and atmospheric piano-and-guitar tune about the light at the end of the relationship tunnel.

Download the free song here:

Apple has shaken up its the iPod world again and unveiled a new iPod Mini lineup including a 4GB model priced at just $199 and a new 6GB model priced at $249. Several improvements have been made to the new iPod Mini.

Both iPod Mini models feature a better 18 hour battery. This should be good news considering battery life has been a common complaint against the iPod.

In an effort to cozy up better with PC users, the iPod Mini can now charge and sync via one simple USB 2.0 connection.

The iPod Mini includes the following accessories:

• earbud headphones
• a belt clip case
• USB 2.0 cable
• CD with iTunes software.

Additional accessories include:

• USB power adapter
• iPod Dock
• in-ear headphones
• arm band
• lanyard
  
• FireWire
  

Our friends at iPoditude.com report that "The Mini armband will be available in five new colors (grey, orange, yellow, blue, and pink) in addition to the existing black one. These fancy blood pressure monitor cuffs will be shipping in 5-7 weeks for $29. Wouldn't it be a good idea to add some reflective material on them for added visibility at night when jogging or during drunken stumbles?

Apple also announced a new iPod Mini lanyard. This device looks pretty handy but details are scant. It attaches to the dock on the bottom and has an adjustable length lanyard... It ships in 5-7 weeks and will run $19."

As always, you can get a free laser engraving on your iPod if you purchase it from the Apple Store. Just be careful what you ask to get engraved. Apple has a history of rejecting certain engravings (Article: Rejected iPod Engravings). Think it through ahead of time, your engraving is limited to two lines of text with a maximum of 23 characters per line.

Both the 4GB and 6GB models are available in the following colors: silver, pink, blue or green.

As of today, the new iPod lineup is:

• iPod Shuffle 512MB, $99
• iPod Shuffle 1GB, $149
• iPod Mini 4GB, $199
• iPod Mini 6GB, $249
• iPod 20GB, $299
• iPod U2 20 GB = $349
• iPod Photo 30GB, $349
• iPod Photo 60GB, $449
  

Labels: computer, Ipod, mac

"What is wingwomen.com?
Wingwomen.com is a revolutionary service for men who want to meet women. Every guy out there knows that it is much easier to meet women when you're around other women. Here at Wingwomen.com we are able to provide you with those women.

At Wingwomen.com we provide "Wing Women" to help you have a good time and more importantly to assist you in pick up those girls who always seem to slip through your fingers. We've all been there, out with one of your buddies standing against a wall watching everyone else have fun and meet women. Well now you can be one of those guys who are having fun and meeting women.

Advantages to having a "Wing Woman"
In the game of meeting women, it is understood that in most cases, it's the man who does all the work. Unfortunately, women have not made it any easier for men to approach them. As a result, men have learned to work together in order to increase their success rate. The solution to the male dilemma is the "Wing Man" pickup strategy, which usually has some level of success. But some women have learned to recognize the "pack" mentality and have developed reactive strategies to counteract the wingman's pickup mission. The guy's response to such female defenses is the Wingwoman. Here are a few reasons why the wingwoman approach is so effective:

Domino Affect
Women are attracted to men who have women around them more so then men who have other men around them.
Limited Resources
Women want what they can't have.
Let The Games Begin
Women are very jealous and love to compete with one another.
Icebreakers
Women tend to lower their defenses around men who have other women around them. Most women tend to see these men as having a seal of approval and being less hostile." [Via Wingwomen.com]

Keep Your Pimp Hand Strong and Stack the Deck!

It seems like the world is stuck in a permanent iPod fever. First everyone couldn't get enough of the iPod Mini at Christmas time. Then after the holiday shopping season calmed down, iPod demand seemed to get back to normal. But not for long. The iPod Shuffle was announced and we started all over again.

Myself, like plenty of other people I'm sure, ordered the iPod Shuffle the day it was announced in January. It was a pre-order, but I had a gift certificate for Amazon that I wanted to use. Plus, Apple said they had already produced enough to satisfy initial demand... or so they thought. The iPod Shuffle proved to be a little popular than they first predicted and once again, only a month after Christmas, there's an iPod shortage.

I'm trying to be patient. I keep checking my online order status. The current ship date is estimated around March 19th. Great, two months later I might get to see my iPod Shuffle. I contacted Amazon about canceling the order and getting a refund for my gift certificate. Apparently that's a little too difficult for them to coordinate. After getting the run-around by Amazon's customer service department, I decided just to be patient and wait. I hope there's not another iPod announcement before my Shuffle shows up.

In the meantime, I continue to be tortured by everyone else's iPod fever. The iPod Shuffle is selling like hotcakes. This past Saturday I visited the Apple Store in Short Hills, NJ. Store employees couldn't bring carts full of the iPod Shuffle to the check-out counter fast enough. People walked into the store and got right in line. I just watched while quietly regretting placing the pre-order in the first place. Sometimes gift certificates can be more of a pain than they are worth.

The fever for an iPod Shuffle can probably be understood at an Apple store, but the craze has expanded to other retailers as well. People like me who pre-ordered the Shuffle the day it was announced are probably still waiting. If you are thinking about ordering an iPod Shuffle, don't. Just go buy it at your local Apple Store if they have any in stock (I suggest calling them first). Every other retailer is sold out of the iPod shuffle including Amazon. This is what it says on Amazon's iPod Shuffle page: "In stock soon. Order now to get in line. First come, first served." I ordered mine 10 minutes after Steve Jobs got off stage. You would think I'd be somewhere in front of the line. Guess not.

Apparently the only people able to get their hands on iPods are the dorks up in Redmond at Microsoft HQ. A report on Wired.com by Cult of Mac reporter Leander Kahney, details the popularity of the iPod with Microsoft employees and how upper management at Redmond keeps trying to discourage their use. It's estimated that about 80% of the 25,000 Microsoft employees in Redmond, Washington have iPods.

"About 80 percent of Microsoft employees who have a portable music player have an iPod," said one source, a high-level manager who asked to remain anonymous. "It's pretty staggering.

So concerned is management, owning an iPod at Microsoft is beginning to become impolitic, the manager said. Employees are hiding their iPods by swapping the telltale white headphones for a less conspicuous pair."

Maybe Microsoft will all together ban the iPod and help relieve some of the market demand. I'd like to get my Shuffle in the mail before Spring if possible.

Labels: computer, Ipod, mac

This morning I hit a breaking point. I had 124 spam emails. Over half of them weren't even in English. I wish spammers in Korea and Russia would figure this out. An email titled "Á÷ÀÇÑ Á÷ÀåÀÎ(ÃÖÀú±Ý" isn't going to get their message across to me. I wish I could just tell these jerks that I'm not interested in their crap. Apparently I'm not alone.

Here's an open letter to Spammers by a blogger named Tian:

Dear Scumbag Spam Mongers,

Thank you for taking such an interest in me. I regret to inform you of the following:

1. My penis is just fine, thank you for asking.
2. I don't own a home, so why the f**k would I need to re-finance my mortgage?
3. I don't require any medication, and even if I did I wouldn't buy it from someone who can't spell the name of it.
4. I deeply regret your situation in Zambia (or whatever 3rd world coutnry you and "your millions of dollars you need to transfer" live in) but you're barking up the wrong f**king tree.
5. I already have a degree (again, last time I checked you didn't spell diploma with a 1 in the middle).
6. Posing to be the institution I do my banking with, wow, that's f**king admirable. No, you can't have my account information.
7. Re: I don't remember sending you a fucking email in the first place.
8. "Your PC is infected". No it sisn't, I have a Mac which doesn't open your fucked up .exe files you dick.
9. Thanks for the stock tip, unfortunately I didn't see a listing on NASDAQ for: bLo6Wjob GraNNy99.
10. Chicks banging horses is sooooo 1999.

"Trillian is a fully featured, stand-alone, skinnable chat client that supports AIM, ICQ, MSN, Yahoo Messenger, and IRC. It provides capabilities not possible with original network clients, while supporting standard features such as audio chat, file transfers, group chats, chat rooms, buddy icons, multiple simultaneous connections to the same network, server-side contact importing, typing notification, direct connection (AIM), proxy support, encrypted messaging (AIM/ICQ), SMS support, and privacy settings.

Without stealing your home page and with no other included software, pop-ups, or spyware, Trillian provides unique functionality such as contact message history, a powerful skinning language, tabbed messaging, global status changes (set all networks away at once), Instant Lookup (automatic Wikipedia integration), contact alerts, an advanced automation system to trigger events based on anything happening in the client, docking, hundreds of emoticons, emotisounds, shell extensions for file transfers, and systray notifications.." [Via Trillian.cc]

Once you go Trillain you will never go back!

I have used this messenger since 2000 and it allows you use 5 major im netowrks if you so choose. Along with logging all instant messenging conversations which can be used in a variety of ways;-) !

"Motorola SLVR V8 It took a bit of doing, but Sid managed to get a few moments with a SLVR V8 while at a Motorola sponsored dinner at 3GSM in Cannes, France. We don't have an awful lot to show you since the lighting conditions were less than ideal (yes, that is a table cloth the phones are sitting on), but the photos are still worth taking a look at.

For one, you can get a real feel for just how tiny the SLVR V8 is. Thinner than even Motorola's RAZR, and not all that much longer than a closed RAZR, the SLVR is really a very slight phone - one you are sure to forget about after you place it in your pocket.

The black color scheme seems to work pretty well with the SLVR, too - the name is sliver, after all, not silver. We do have a few concerns about the size of the keypad, though. It uses the same nickel plated copper material as the RAZR, but the effective key size has been reduced quite a bit to get it to fit into the much smaller form factor. The display is a lower resolution unit than is found in the RAZR for the same reason.

But there is one thing that you get in the SLVR that is not found in the RAZR: a TransFlash memory card slot. By the time the SLVR is available from retailers, 512MB TransFlash memory cards should be widely available.

No matter how you look at it, it appears that Motorola has found its muse. The new V series "four letter word" handsets are mighty fine." [Via Mobileburn.com]

"More than 22 million US adults have an iPod or an MP3 player, with men more likely than women to be carrying the digital music devices, according to the Pew Internet and American Life Project.

The number amounts to 11 percent of the U.S. adult population that's 18 years old or older, the research firm said in a report released this week. Taking teenagers into account and it's safe to say there are several million more people carrying the popular iPod from Apple Computer Inc. or a competing MP3 player.

Men are more likely have a music player than women, 14 percent versus 9 percent, respectively; and nearly 1 in 5 people under 30 have the devices, Pew found. Fourteen percent of adults between the ages of 30 to 48 had music players.

The devices were mostly for the well to do. A quarter of the devices were owned by people in households earning more than $75,000, with 10 percent living in households earning $30,000 to $75,000. Households making less than $30,000 accounted for only 6 percent of the devices." [Via tomshardware.com]

Labels: computer, Ipod, mac

"A contestant in the upcoming NBC boxing reality series "The Contender" fatally shot himself in the head early Monday while sitting in a parked car in West Philadelphia, police said.

Middleweight Najai "Nitro" Turpin, 22, killed himself around 4 a.m. in front of his girlfriend, police said.

He was only weeks away from the show's March 7 premiere.

"The Contender" chronicles boxers' efforts to win a television tournament, with a prize of $1 million. It also follows their personal lives, including their relationships with spouses and children. Turpin's girlfriend also appears in the series, NBC said. They had a two-year-old daughter." [Via CBS NEWS.com]

Perhaps NBC should start screening their reality show contestants a little better. This is what trainer Percy "Buster" Custus had to say about Turpin, "Fighters want to fight. He was frustrated, because he was, like, training for nothing. He had no motivation."

The Contender premieres March 7th on NBC. The show stars Sugar Ray Leonard and Sylvester Stallone and chronicles several amateur boxers as they try to win a $1 million dollar tournament.

" Koenigsegg manufactures exclusive super sportscars for a select elite of enthusiasts. Spaceage materials and uncompromizing quality both in finish and function make these cars among the very best in the automotive history. They reach higher top speeds and are more powerful than any other series-produced car today.

Two models are currently in production; the CC8S, which now holds the Guinness World Record for the most powerful streetcar, and the magnificent new 806 hp CCR. Both Koenigsegg models are built to excel on the road or racetrack, yet are still highly comfortable for long distance travelling.

Machined For Speed. Koenigsegg's design seeks to give an interpretation of strength and flowing motion. The body of a Koenigsegg is formed for one ultimate purpose; speed. Its beauty is the beauty of speed itself. The surfaces are shaped to perfectly aerodynamic, an appearance that does not deceive. All aspects of this machine serve its one fundamental objective.

Both the body and chassis of a Koenigsegg are made of extremely lightweight carbon fibre composite, reinforced with Kevlar and aluminium honeycomb. Its race-bred suspension system brings the driver in control of all movement, even under the toughest racing conditions

A Machine For Safe Driving. Koenigsegg creates each car specifically for each costumer. They are individual pieces of art. Leather contrasted with futuristic controls and refined surfaces encloses the occupants. It is an environment for adventure. The Koenigsegg hardtop is stored under the front bonnet during roofless driving. And crash-tests have verified that at least in terms of safety, a Koenigsegg is a truly Swedish car."[Via Myautoworld.com]

" LATE RAPPER'S CLOTHING LINE FINALLY GETS UNVEILED

The NOTORIOUS B.I.G's clothing line, BROOKLYN MINTT, will finally be unveiled to fans in the coming months - eight years after the rapper's death.

Rapper Jay-Z responsible for getting the clothing line in the stores

T-shirts from the collection will debut at the MAGIC FASHION convention on Monday (14FEB05) in Las Vegas and hit stores on 9 March (05), the anniversary of the hip-hop star's murder.
The late MC's mother and managers are now spearheading the project and received help from JAY-Z to get the company off the ground, reports MTV.

Brooklyn, New York, natives Jay-Z and B.I.G - real name CHRISTOPHER WALLACE - will appear together on a Brooklyn Mint T-shirt called "Brooklyn's Finest" [Via femalefirst.co.uk]

"YOU have to understand, I am just a regular dude. At the end of the day, this is all an incredible dream come true." So says Pharrell Williams, who was asked by Marc Jacobs to collaborate with his friend, Bathing Ape founder Nigo, to create a new set of eyewear for Louis Vuitton. Describing shades as "like a steroid to your personality", Williams created a colourful collection all of which were endowed with plenty of gold detail, exotic names like Elvira, Lady Tiger and Havana, and price tags in the region of $300 to $500. Sitting next to Catherine Deneuve during the spring/summer 2005 show in Paris, he wore a bright red pair. And while he is clearly reveling in being Jacobs' new partner in style, he says it was all the designer's idea. "Marc had seen a few pictures of me in sunglasses," he told Women's Wear Daily. "He wanted to know what my take on sunglasses would be like for Louis Vuitton. He pretty much let me go into my own world. I thought that was great. At the end of the day, he is Marc Jacobs and it is Louis Vuitton, and who am I for that matter?"[Via dressforsuccess.nl]

"Revolutionary All-In-One Design
Brilliant 37" TFT/LCD Full Color Wide Screen Display
Powerful Intel® Pentium® 4
Dazzling Graphics from ATI Radeon®
Toshiba DVD-ROM/CD-RW Drive
Digital Video Recorder
Dolby Digital AC-3 Sound
Klipsch Promedia 2.1 Speakers
120 GB SATA Hard Drive
Wireless Keyboard and Mouse
Multimedia Input Rich
Built-In 125 Channel TV Tuner
On-Screen Menu Controls
Ultra Thin 4.5" Profile
Efficient Wall Mount or Free-Standing Design

TEK PANEL 370 converges powerful Pentium 4 computing, dazzling ATI multimedia graphics and a revolutionary (37") TFT/LCD panel into a single wall–mountable unit. This all-in-one, fully integrated unit is the ultimate multimedia resource. It’s perfect for multi-taskers, conference room presentations, video editing, home theater/gaming and PC computing." [Via tekpanel.com]

"Of all the social services available to disadvantaged individuals looking to rebuild their lives, virtually none are targeted to men. Career Gear, a nonprofit organization based in New York City with satellite programs in Cleveland, Houston and Miami, was founded to change that. Its sole aim is to assist low-income men in becoming more self-sufficient and economically independent.

Career Gear provides its clients with the clothing they need to make the right first impression on an interview. But that’s only the start. By partnering with a variety of job-training programs, Career Gear also delivers career counseling, job retention and advancement skills, and access to other vital agencies and resources–all of which can help these men find and keep jobs that will support them and their families.

Visit www.careergear.org for more information.." [Via cargomag.com]

Helping others get on and get a tax break!.

Push the Button daily for your chance to win an extremely limited edition Chemical Brothers iPod iSkin, featuring the debut of the first-ever click wheel protectors from iSkin and the first blue screen to come with an actual skin. One grand prize winner will receive an entire home recording studio with all of the gear approved by Tom and Ed. It's your chance to make your own Chemical Beats - all you need to do is Push The Button.

Grand Prize: A Home Recording Studio set up hand-picked and approved by The Chemical Brothers!

Studio set up includes: Apple PowerMac G5, Apple 20inch Display Monitor, Korg MicroKorg Midi keyboard, Logic Express 7, Tapco S8 Moniters by Mackie, Motu Midi interface Micro Liteand a M-Audio Soundcard Delta 44.

30 Runner Up Winners will recieve a Limited Edition Chemical Brothers iPod iSkin.

The contest ends February 28, 2005 at 7:00 p.m. EST.

Labels: computer, Ipod, mac

See the Never Aired Second Commercial For GoDaddy.com

Here she is again...this time shaking her rump and promoting the site that will go down in Superbowl history as the only commercial banned WHILE the game was going on!!!

For more commercials, click here.

Bushwick Bill, formerly of the rap group 'The Geto Boys' felt the need to speak out regarding Houston's recent self mutilation. The 4' tall Bushwick knows what he is talking about. Back in 1991 he had a very similar and even more gruesome botched suicide attempt resulting in the loss of an eye. He 'forced' his then girlfriend to aid him in committing suicide by having her shoot him in the face. (How do you force someone to shoot you?) He amazingly survived, losing only an eye. Fucking wild eh? Anyhow, here's what he had to say.

"Fame will make you crazy. Fame isn't for everybody. There are people who have a fear of fame, those who want fame, and those who don't understand fame. It drives them crazy, because it is a lot of responsibility to be all things to all people, and you can lose yourself in the shuffle, where there are no longer fifty-two cards in the deck." [Via celebritysmack.blogspot.com]

"Alright, alright, alright, this war between Samsung, LG, and whoever else to see who can build the world’s largest plasma TV has got to stop right now. Samsung, you just rolled out your new oversized 102-inch display, that’s great, but we’re already having trouble scraping together the $45,000 we’ll need to buy the 80-inch plasma display you came out with a few months ago, so don’t make things any worse for us, ok? How could we possibly be happy with the 80-incher knowing there was something a bigger and badder out there? You know we’ve sort of got this problem." [Via engadget.com]

"This is like the adult-equivalent of a kid's race car bed. Ruf-Betten's
Ruf Cinema Bed houses a complete home theatre system including a fold-out
screen and a projector (both seem to be included). The bed also has room for a
subwoofer, DVD player, DVDs, and conduits for all your cables. You'd
think a home-theater-in-a-bed would look god-awful, but there's something oddly
appropriate about the retro-space age styling on this one. The price
definitely is not retro-it'll set you back £11,000 (over $20,000 US).."


That is serious!

Good morning sunshine!

Britney, Note to Self: When the Paparazi follow you around everywhere and camp outside your hotel room, put on a shirt before going out on the balcony.

"CinemaNow is set to complete a deal with most of the major television networks (only Paramont/Viacom is a hold out) to provide per-episode downloads of television shows—maybe even before they hit DVD. Up to this point, CinemaNow hasn't had much success (by my estimation), namely because it takes so long to download a high-quality, two-hour movie. People are probably more willing to accept a lower-quality video file for television, though, especially for something like a 30 minute sit-com. The real question will be price, of course. $1 to $3 sounds about right for an episode (especially if we don't ever have to buy that copy again to download it to different devices), but as is typical with legal download services, it'll probably be more expensive than buying the real-world media option (in this case, DVD Season Packs)." [Via gizmodo.com]

"Paris Hilton is a hard parting rich girl whose family owns the Hilton Hotel empire. She recently filmed herself sharing an intimate moment with Shannen
Doherty's ex-husband Rick Solomon. The video features both Solomon and Hilton engaged in several activities. But their relationship didn't last long. After they broke up, Solomon started bragging to friends that he had a "home movie" of him and Hilton.

When asked to comment about in early August 2003, Paris denied the tape existed and had this to say,

"He's a complete liar and scum bag. He is a very sick man. People love to talk s--- because they're jealous. I don't care. Whatever.”

"Whatever" indeed. Ms Hilton has apparently made at least 10 videos with numerous "friends" both male and female. And now you can even buy them on eBay! Here's a review of the Solomon video by an anonymous reporter who emailed us.

Read full review here!

[Via Methodshop.com]

"
One Man's pick for the Super Bowl 2005

In 1999, a guy was in Las Vegas on vacation. He had fifty dollars of gambling money left and he was on his way back home. He decided that he would wager his last fifty bucks on the Rams to win the Super Bowl. Sure enough the following January, the Rams won the Super Bowl by two yards. The odds were only 256 to 1. He took the house. Its the thing that all of us want to do. We want that one hit that is gets ahead and we want to walk away with the house’s money.
The ironic thing about this year’s Super Bowl is that odds makers aren’t going to lose their shirt. The Eagles were the pick for the NFC and the Patriots were the pick for the AFC. You’d be lucky to double your money with Patriots. There were some who believed that this was the Seahawks’ year, but deep down everyone knew that the road to the Super Bowl went through Philly.
As predictable as the Super Bowl was this year, we sit three days away from a modern day battle of David & Golliath. A game that people have been waiting for since August and yet we know that it is not the colliding of two powerhouses. We are confronted with two choices we are looking for the miracle or the dynasty.
The Patriots destroyed and decimated two of the best offensive teams, on its way to the Super Bowl. They made the league MVP look like he was wearing an Arizona Cardinals’ jersey. Then there was the Steelers. Some say that Big Ben was a rookie and he was over his head. I think he was dominated. Then the Patriots put up points at will against the Steelers. They imposed their will on them and did whatever they wanted to do. Being in their third Super Bowl in four years, the Patriots have the makings of a modern day dynasty. They don’t have all their money invested in one person, so they can work and keep every guy they have on their roster. They know how to win the big games, they don’t make mistakes and they only seem to get better. They look like they could win another two or three Super Bowls.
I am not writing off the Eagles, but I am calling for a miracle to make it possible for the Eagles to win. They were the most dominant team in the NFC, but that is not saying much. Their defense and all its blitzing has potential to give the Patriots trouble and even cause some turnovers. Their defense dominated each of their playoff games and they have the personnel to give the Partiots trouble. Donovan McNabb is one of the most impressive players in the league in that he gets better and better each year. He has all the skills and at a time where he is peaking, he is missing people to throw the ball to. They have had two key injuries to their offense that leaves them at the mercy of the Patriot defense. They are not going to run over the Patriots. I think they could run the ball successfully if McNabb can complete some passes to keep the Patriot defense honest. They are in need of a miracle to make this happen. They need Terell Owens and whoever is injured to step up and make something happen.
If you asked my pick, well against logic, I am picking the Eagles.
First, I want a close game. The Super Bowl is too long and tedious to have to have nothing to look forward to besides the commercials. Without only the possibility of Paul McCartney’s nipple flying out due to costume malfunction, I really need a good game.
Secondly, because when my team is not in the Super Bowl, I always pick the underdog. I like the drama and the surprise of the impossible and unthinkable happening. I would like to see Terell Owens limp on the field and have the game of his life on his miraculously healed ankle. I am all about putting $50 on 256 to 1 odds and taking the house and then laughing all the way to the bank. I love seeing the looks on the face of the favorites when they get thir lunch handed to them by a team that most believed don’t even belong on the same field as they do.
Thirdly, when it is not my team, I think that dynasties are facist. No team should be dominant like that. I think winning once every five years is good enough. Let’s spread the wealth shall we? Otherwise I lose interest in the season because I know who is going to win. I might even sell-out watching the super Bowl for the wife’s Sex In The City marathon in protest of the Super Bowl.

In the end I am looking for a trifecta and the miracle.