Topic of the day: ESPN360

Just read an article about ESPN charging ISPs a fee so that their customers could watch videos on ESPN360. How comes it is news? I have been watching ESPN360 for more than one year (for Canadian Football and Major League Lacrosse. Yeah, I know I'm a sports junkie) I could understand that people would be surprised if they are not sports fan though. I am also not surprised that the same people would be pissed because the ISP must have recouped part of the cost from them, who are not even using that service! As one of the comments say, content providers such as ESPN obviously like such deals. ISPs makes such deals to differentiate from their competitors. (Just like certain channels are exclusives to a certain satellite/cable TV provider) The only loser seems to be customers. In the past, I always tell people that if they don't like the way they are charged by all those satellite/cable TV providers, stop watching and terminate the service, but it is much harder for internet access because it is not just for entertainment. Can you imagine not having internet access at home?

BTW, one of the comments also mentioned an interesting connection: ESPN is owned by Disney and the largest shareholder of Disney is ...... (drum roll please) Steve Jobs! I thought the man doesn't do evil (wait, that's Google.)

Album of the day: Uroboros

For a Japanese band to make it big in the heavy metal scene in USA, it is certainly quite an achievement (probably as hard as an European became a successful sumo wrestler in Japan!) And the band Dir En Grey did it. I knew about this band because MTV2's headbanger's ball showed their video "Saku." It was voted the #1 video of the year on that show in 2006! Fast forward 3 years (and 2 albums later), I saw another video from their latest album Uroboros, on headbanger's ball again. And I listened to the whole album on Rhapsody and I must say I was impressed. Their music is not the straight forward loud and rock type. Even though I don't understand a word of their lyrics, the vocal successfully conveyed a very mysterious and dark mood. It's much more interesting than either the visual rock which used to rule in Japan or the heavy metal popular here.

BTW, just for curiosity, I checked out two other Japanese metal bands from the 80s on Wikipedia: Seikima-II and Loudness, the latter being the first Japanese heavy metal band that signed with an American label. So glad to hear that both are still active after 20+ years!

Tech of the day: $10 laptop from India?

When my dad asked me about a piece of technology, you know it has really generated a lot of interest, not just from the circle of tech geeks or gadget freaks, but from the general public. He was very amazed by the news about India will be releasing a $10 laptop (perhaps he recalled spending ~$150 on my first computer, a Apple II+ clone)

Oh well, if it's too good to be true...... (you know the rest)

Details from The Hindu:
1) the device will cost $20-$30.
2) the device is not a laptop. It needs to be connected to an input and a output device to be useful (i.e., more like a desktop)
3) the device could be used for accessing the web (e.g. download e-content by e-learner)

And according to The Guardian, the device has 2Gb storage and wireless networking capability.

With such details, I guess the general public won't be excited anymore. Still, I'm interested to see a working demo of it.

Star of the day: David Beckham

I guess it is more likely than not that Beckham will leave LA for Milan, judging by stories like these. As a fan of Beckham (actually, a fan of all current and former Man U players!), I am torn. On one hand he is doing so well in Milan (and in Europe in general) That level of playing is definitely more beneficial to his career. On the other hand I wish he would stay in the States, to fulfill the expectation of him lifting MLS to a higher level.

In any case, I will respect his decision and wish him well wherever he plays!

Album of the day: Traced in Air

Last year Guns 'N Roses (or I should say Axl Rose) released his first album in 15 years . Around the same time, another metal band also released its first album in 15 years. I am talking about Cynic here. Cynic certainly is much less well-known then GnR but in their genre, progressive death metal, they are very highly regarded (if not more than GnR in its respective genre.) Cynic's Focus, released in 1993, was a ground-breaking album, fusing jazz and elements from other genre into death metal. Half of the band played on Death before, which lend the band a lot of credibility for sure. I am glad to see them back together and releasing new material. Cynic is currently on tour with Meshuggah now. Coming to SF tomorrow but the show is sold-out already :(

Game of the day: Batoo

This post is not about that game but about a new board game which is a variant of my favourite game: Go.

The creator hopes to draw more young players by making the game more "computer game"-like with graphics and additional scoring rules, inspired by the popular game Starcraft. See screenshots and description of rules here.

I will definitely give it a try when it gets easier to access (without requiring registration)

每週冷飯﹕冬

摘自00年2月1號

本來以為今個冬季的主題曲會是“這個冬天不太冷”﹐原來卻是遲來的冬天﹗上個月我還在為沒有白色聖誕而失望﹐怎知前幾天一早出門竟然遍地積雪﹐天氣真像女人心情一樣難以捉摸﹗

事實上我對雪的感情也是又愛又恨﹕前幾天我在紐約中央公園玩雪﹐霎時間有一種重拾童真的感覺﹐心情頓然開朗起來﹔但上班下班時走過濕滑的積雪﹐又感到懊惱不已。唉﹗這個世界真是沒有絕對美好的事物。

其實想深一層﹐如果沒有肅殺的冬天﹐又怎顯出春天的可愛﹖相信很多人像我一樣抱怨嚴冬減少了很多出去“蒲”的機會﹐不過從另一個角度看﹐它也令大家有更多時間留在家中和家人一起﹐而且令人更珍惜和欣賞你的關心。朋友﹐不要錯過這樣的機會啊﹗

筆者希望在此向各位讀者好友及家人傳送一點暖意﹐祝福各位被病魔打擾的朋友早日康復﹐龍馬精神地迎接龍年﹐在新一年萬事勝意﹗

其實每年冬天都是生病的旺季﹐不過一年後又忘得一乾二淨﹐只覺今年特別慘﹗還有﹐我對本文完全沒有印象﹐迎接龍年似乎不覺特別興奮﹖不過從描述的情節看﹐寫的應是本人。