Geek Corner: Apple provides a slim fit
By MATTHEW MAHONEY
Columnist
MLMSO39@PSU.EDU
Mac World cometh; Mac World
goeth
Mac World came and went this
January, and Machead enthusiasts
around the word celebrated as the
one thing that defined their existence
once again reaffirmed their belief that
Steve Jobs is the ultimate power in
the universe made flesh.
Among the announcements at
Mac World were an update for
existing Apple TV owners and a new
firmware upgrade for the iPhone.
The Apple TV update will now
allow users to rent movies from
iTunes, a service previously not
allowed. Also, these rented movies
can be transferred over to other Mac
devices like the iPhone, iPod and
Mac laptop models. Just be careful
that when you download or rent the
movie, you have a full 24 hours to
watch it. After the file self erases,
you are entertainment-less.
The iPhone upgrade allows better
usage of the menu options and a
better way to organize apps and files
on the touch screen interface. Some
users may find this update unwanted
as it will certainly destroy and render
useless all your other third party
apps, such as iApp, game emulators
and even your flashlight app. Yes,
someone made an app that has a
solid white screen so you can have a
"Lost" has found a followi
By ALLISON MILLS
Staff Writer
MXA932@PSU.EDU
Despite the seemingly never
ending writers' strike, one
popular, award-winning show
returns to our television sets as
scheduled. "Lost," created by
Damon Lindelof, J.J. Abrams and
Jeffrey Lieber, premiered on ABC
in a special two-hour episode on
Thursday, Jan. 31 at 9 p.m.
"Lost" is brilliantly created and
artistically filmed. The entire
show is based on a plane crash,
a fascinating concept one
that surely every traveler has
contemplated during even the
smallest bouts with turbulence.
Oceanic Flight 815, flying from
Sydney to Los Angeles, crashes
on an unknown island in the
Southern Pacific. It is in this first
episode where the terrifying and
gruesome scenes of wreckage and
death captivate the viewer. The
pilot episode is certainly not one to
watch before your next flight.
Now premiering its fourth season,
Writers fight for fa
By BEN BRANSTETTER
Layout Editor
BBBSO34@PSU.EDU
"Entourage", was the WGA strike
When writing a lengthy paper late over interne residuals.
into the night, or cramming for a The Writer's Guild of America
huge exam tomorrow, shows such (WGA) is the union of most writers
as "The Daily Show" and "The in the entertainment industry. Their
Colbert report" have helped many main complaint is that they are not
a student procrastinate. But, alas, recieving money for clips of their
during the last two months of 2007, shows now available online. Yes,
new episodes of those programs while some of these shows can be
were missing from our regularly found for free on Youtube, many
scheduled programming, forcing networks are now offering full
many to either watch the annoyingly episodes on their websites in glori
outdated re-runs the stations were ous HD quality and with "limited
running or actually do their work. commercial interruption". Just as
Luckily, 2008 borught back those well, iTunes sales episodes of many
shows (sans the writers), as well as NBC and FOX programs and has
shows hosted by Jay Leno, Conan just released a new online video
O'Brien, and David Letterman, rental service.
who were also amiss. The reason Similar to the way they recieve
$4OO flashlight.
All of this paled in comparison to
the new Macßook Air. What is so
cool about this product that it wowed
the masses of Mac Fanatics? Allow
me to tell you in the words of Steve
Jobs himself, "It fits inside a manila
envelope."
The Macßook Air is the world's
thinnest and lightest laptop to date.
It is no thicker than your finger and
is also the lightest laptop to date. It
asy C.. 4Fcko..
The Macbook Air premiered at Mac World and currently starts at $1799. The
laptop is an astonishing 0.76 inches thick and weighs a measly 3.0 pounds.
comes with a 13.3-inch screen and
a full-size keyboard packed in that
tight, little frame. It also has an 80
GB hard drive or an optional 64 GB
Solid State Drive. The SSD is a safer
means of data storage since it has no
moving parts but comes at a higher
price.
As with any Mac product, price
is an issue. People are willing to
the show's first three seasons
consist of basic survival issues
including finding food, water and
shelter, keeping peace among
survivors, building and launching
a raft, surviving a mysterious
monster in the jungle, combating
the Others and their kidnappings,
making sense of 16-year-old
distress signals and the DHARNIA
Initiative. Slightly more intense
than "Gilligan's Island," the
characters of "Lost" must work
together to survive, hence the
show's much repeated theme "Live
together. Die alone."
With approximately 14 main
characters at any given time, it
would simply take too long to give
a rundown of all the talented actors
who play these complex characters.
Not to mention the plots involved
are entirely too complicated to
even attempt explanation. Trust
me when I say there is never a dull
moment in this show. With each
new episode, the plot thickens
dramatically.
For those worried about a lack of
action after the initial plane crash,
have no fear the crash is only the
for their absence, as well as new
episodes of other hit shows such as
"Scrubs", "24", "The Office" and
pay outrageous sums of money for
whatever Steve Jobs creates. (Insert
your favorite inappropriate joke
about Steve Jobs' excrement being
sold on eßay, here.) The Macßook
air is no exception, starting at $lBOO
This notebook isn't a powerhouse
item either and is being catered
more for business individuals on the
go. There is no optical drive and a
handful of ports.
In your humble narrator's opinion,
get this thing if you have money to
blow and a serious computing station
already at home. Otherwise this will
be a lousy solo computer, especially
for those who want to be part of that
multimedia experience that Mac
seems to have a stranglehold on.
For not much more you can get a
Macßook Pro that has more power,
more bang for your buck and is still
first of many life-threatening, and
claiming, adventures. "Lost" has
something for everyone. There's
romance, drama, fights, horrific
death scenes and archaic bodies.
Dogs, hunting, drugs and even
polar bears can be found in this
show. If you're into foreign films
Cast of the critically acclaimed and obsessed-about ABC show "Lost." Season
premiere of "Lost" aired Thursday, Jan. 31 at 9 PM.
money for DVD sales, the WGA is
demanding they recieve a slice of
the ad-revenue pie that has emerged
from online video. The only
problem with this request is, as the
Alliance of Motion Picture and Tele
vision Producers (AMPTP) claims,
the web is too "new" of a market
and is considered "unproven". Es
sentially, the studios that own these
shows are claiming that they cannot
yet negotiate a way to pay the writ
ers for online content because they
do not yet know the worth of post
ing content online.
This would have been a proper
argument opposite the writers' if
there were not several details that
showed the studios do, in fact, know
how much online content is worth.
One very damning fact is the current
lawsuit Viacom (owner of Com-
just as portable.
It's all about how you work it
A new PC laptop that has become
commonplace around the same time
as the Macßook Air announcement is
the Asus Eee laptop. The difference:
the Asus is available now.
The Asus is a very small laptop,
having only a seven-inch screen.
The keyboard size is reduced but
manageable. This does mean one
thing though. No Fatties with over
sized fingers are going to be able to
use this one. That means you Polish-
Sausage-Finger-Man.
The Eee laptop has a very limited
SSD space. It has 4, 6 or 8 GB
models, but once again the SSD with
no moving parts makes for a more
energy efficient (extra battery life)
and safer data storage system. It also
has a flash drive expandable memory,
much like the cards used in most
digital cameras that can add another
4 gigs of storage.
It comes preloaded with a Linux
operating system and will soon have
a Windows model available. Like the
Macßook Air it cuts down on size by
eliminating the optical drive.
Don't plan on running your WoW
raids from this machine however;
it's not that kind of powerhouse. It is
another laptop model that is meant
for basic document productivity on
the go. Catered more for traveling
students and business professionals
who need to type reports, it allows
things that don't require too much
hard drive space.
and reading subtitles, dialogues
between a Korean couple may
interest you. There are medical
mysteries and marvels, and for
those interested in the paranormal,
the island holds many mystical
secrets.
After finding out Kate (Evangeline
edy Central and NBC) is holding
against Youtube. For those of you
who have forgotten, Viacom is suing
the online video site for $1 billion
it claims it has lost due to Youtube
allowing users to post their content,
making it available for free. How
ever, this places a number on the
value of online content, something
the studios are trying to tell the
writers is impossible. As the WGA
has pointed out, this would make it
appear that the AMPTP is lying to
either Youtube or the writers.
Until either side bends, Ameri
cans are left without many of their
beloved shows, including some
award shows. The Golden Globes
were picketed by the WGA, but,
without writers, the show was not
much more than the reading of a list
and about as exciting as reading of
THE CAPITAL TIMES
The best part: the price. This
is the best buy for your dollar
when it comes to simple baseline
productivity. It retails for around
$4OO depending on where you go.
On a side note, it used to sell for
$l5O until it became so popular, but
man I sure do want one.
The memory lives long, but thou
shall not prosper
A Star Trek MMO that was in the
works by Perpetual Entertainment
has now cancelled the project. For
uncited reasons they have decided to
sell the Intellectual Property off to
another studio called Cryptic Studios
This creates a bit of problem
because Perpetual Entertainment
has retained the rights to all the
code involved in programming it.
Basically this means that Cryptic
Studios is back to square one with
nothing but an idea on the drawing
board.
Nerds like myself were eagerly
awaiting this MMO, but it looks like
another five years or more will pass
before we see anything from this
again.
In the meantime I will drool over
the released footage and news
from Sony's spy genre MMO, The
Agency. You can build your own in
game NPC (If you don't know what
that means, I don't why you are even
reading this article.) spy agency that
will send you text alerts about their
status when you aren't even playing
the game.
Lilly) was a fugitive escorted by
a U.S. marshal on the flight, Jack
stoically and romantically tells
her, "It doesn't matter, Kate. Who
we were, what we did before the
crash. Three days ago we all died.
We should all be able to start over."
Unfortunately for Jack, this is not
even remotely close to the truth.
The characters are developed
through flashbacks that reveal
pivotal moments in their past that
brought them to Oceanic Flight
815. Through these flashbacks we
see a smattering of crimes, cons,
drugs, murders, lottery winnings,
psych wards and quite a few
dysfunctional families.
Searching for "Lost" global
groups on Facebook brings
two large groups: "Addicted to
LOST" with 39,816 members and
"ABC Lost Fans!!" with 25,923
members. My brief search yielded
no groups opposing "Lost," with
the exception of "Jack Bauer
Could Escape the Lost Island in
24 Hours." Even this cleverly
named group approved of "Lost;"
the members only declare "24" the
greater entertainment.
r share
a phone book. This odd spectacle
shook Hollywood to its core as
they imagined a similar fate for the
beloved Oscars.
However, the strike has not been
all bad news. Ratings are up for
the aforementioned "Daily Show"
and "Colbert report". Hosts of both
shows have shown their support for
the WGA, but they have returned
to the air without them and have
done surprisingly well. The rise of
viewership has been attributed to
the ongoing primary season which
has provided both hosts with plenty
of material. A more ironic explana
tion could be that news coverage of
the strike has actually brought more
attention to the show. In either case,
it's bad news for the WGA who
need the reverse to happen.
February 4, 2008
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420
ey Mia (MALLEY
Columnist
AEOSOO2OPSILEDU
"What if you find out everyone
that's in your life is only being paid
off by a T.V. studio. And every
conversation everyone's had with
you was scripted by the writers
living in Los Angeles. Smile for the
camera."
This is the opening verse of the
newly released Armor For Sleep
album, "Smile For Them".
"Smile For Them" is a unique
album filled with intriguing lyrics
that beg the listener to open their
minds up to many new questions.
For instance what would you do if
you found out that your entire life
was scripted and the only one not
aware of the reality was you?
The album has a great kick off
with their first song, "Smile for the
Camera". The song plays out a tale
of a twisted reality. The music and
lyrics compliment each other quite
well.
However if you are in search
of something a bit more
depressing, please continue on
to "Willamsburg". On this track
you will hear lyrics that follow
along the lines of, "Hold your
own jacket please, I'm not in the
mood. Millions of trains under the
ground, this city was the blueprint
for hell." Though the lyrics are a
bit aggressive the song is still quite
wonderful!
The album slows down a bit
once we hit track four, "Hold the
Door". The mellow music allows
for the lyrics to take front stage. It
is a strong song of progression and
growth - slow, yet powerful.
The album picks back up on the
next track, "Run Right Back In".
This track delves into how humans
lack the ability to run away from
self-destructive behavior. The music
compliments the lyrics perfectly and
makes for an enjoyable listening
experience.
However I am not quite sure what
the band was trying to prove with
their track, "Snow Globe". It is
one minute and forty-nine seconds
long. The lyrics are minimal and the
drums are quite distractive.
But the album gets better when you
hit the next track, which many of
you may be familiar with thanks the
phenomenal movie, "Transformers".
The track is called "End of the
World" and is probably one of my
favorites! Though the lyrics seem
rather negative it makes one truly
appreciate our lives as they are.
"I was chasing comets with a
butterfly net, thinking I could pull
one down again but I was just
slipping into my little day dream."
These are lyrics from "Stars in Your
Eyes", a creative tale of daydreams.
The instrumental on this track is
rather bland but the lyrics make up
Unfortunately, the next two tracks
are a bit on the not so wonderful
side. "Lullaby" is a miserable
feeling track about how anyone
can survive if they simply learn
to settle for what the world offers,
rather than fighting for what they
truly dream of. This is followed
by the track, "Chemicals", a sadly
unpleasant song that talks of drug
usage and death. This song is bound
to leave you a little down.
Therefore we should all be
thankful that the album ends with
two wonderful tracks. The first
one being "My Saving Grace",
which tells of a tale of a man who
finally lets go of something that he
wants very much but knows that
he is better off without it, Which
is then followed by "Stand in the
Spotlight". This is a great track that
begs one not to change themselves
because some day everyone will
finally see how wonderful they are.
The album "Smile For Them" is
absolutely wonderful! The lyrics are
spectacular, the variety of moods
is uncommon, and the way it is all
compiled makes it edgy and easy to
listen to.