Information Overload

Vicks NyQuil LiquiCaps

Dear P&G, please do not discontinue your NyQuil Cold & Flu Relief LiquiCaps! The new NyQuil Cold & Flu Symptom Relief Plus Vitamin C caplets don't work nearly as fast. The new solid DayQuil pills with Vitamin C are also slow to kick in compared to the fast-acting DayQuil Liquicaps. Adding Vitamin C to cold relief medicine is gimmicky, and not worth the added delay.

Avatar - IMAX Grand Theatre 3D

Finally got a chance to checkout Avatar in a "real" IMAX theater at the AMC Loews Metreon 16. The immersive experience of IMAX GT 3D's massive screen totally compensates for the lack of digital projection having first watched James Cameron's masterpiece in a theater equipped with RealD. Space and aerial scenes are breathtaking on such an expansive canvas! The only nit came at the end of the movie when an AMC employee abruptly paused the film before the credits to instruct the audience to exit at the top of the stairs. Someone needs to update their SOP to accommodate Hollywood blockbusters.

Paranormal Activity

The only Paranormal Activity in this film was its ability to gross millions of dollars at the box office. Rented it over the weekend having recently lamented with friends that there hasn't been a truly scary movie since The Ring. Almost stopped watching this snore fest, which makes The Blair Witch Project seem like a masterpiece. Paranormal Activity runs rife with poor decision making by the two main characters. It's difficult to sympathize with a couple who capture compelling evidence of bad mojo on tape only to stick around hoping they'll be able to ward off the supernatural without taking any extraordinary measures.

2010 Apple Shareholder Meeting

Apple shareholder attendance appeared to be up at this morning's annual meeting. All of the board members were present. Steve Jobs was back this year. He chose to stay back stage during the formal business after welcoming everyone, and then returning for Q&A. There was the usual shareholder objection to Al Gore's board seat, and the obligatory defense of it by another shareholder. Shareholder resolutions by environmentalists were thankfully down to two although Steve was still provoked into citing Apple's industry leading actions.

Dan Frakes has a pretty accurate summary of the proceedings at Macworld.

Happy 55th Steve!

Happy Birthday!

Can't wait to order an iPad!

Looking forward to watching you shut down the silly questions at tomorrow's shareholder meeting!

Apple Works In Mysterious Ways

Despite having Parental Controls on the iPhone and iPod touch, Apple has begun subjectively purging sexually suggestive apps from publishers such as Chillifresh that aren't well-known companies. Judging from their continued presence in the App Store, companies known to Apple include the publishers of Cosmo (Hearst) and Playboy. Alpha Media Group's Maxim, Bauer Media Group's FHM, Time's Sports Illustrated, and Limited Brands' Victoria's Secret all still have their relatively racy apps available. Apps can be easily restricted by parents or employers so it's not clear what triggered Cupertino's chastity.

budsock

budsock is a clever and inexpensive little doodad that keeps one's earbud cables untangled by isolating the earbuds and stereo jack in a sock. Unfortunately, it's about as stylish as storing headphones in an actual sock. The budsock is also limited to accommodating headphones similar to those included with an iPod or iPhone, as the hole at its vertex is too small to fit larger earbuds. Maybe budsock II will be more flexible...

Make A Face

Make A Face is a fleetingly fun little web app by @markpasc. The idea seems to be that people from around the Internets can share a random webcam photo of themselves. (Not sure how he prevents abuse.) Make A Face snaps and posts a pic immediately upon clicking the "MAKE A FACE" button—there's no countdown—so make sure to be ready with a pose.

San Pellegrino Aranciata

First tried San Pellegrino Aranciata @mdowney's place. The cans feature an ingenious aluminum foil lid cover, which protect the tops from rat pee, etc. The beverage itself is reminiscent of refreshing Orangina. Aranciata is even available in glass bottles although the canned versions taste slightly better for some reason. S.Pellegrino also produces a Limonata flavor, which isn't quite as good as the orange version, IMHO. Costco carries bulk flats, but they're split evenly between both Aranciata and Limonata cans.

Surrogates

Surrogates is no substitute for what is probably a better graphic novel, but it's not a total let down. Jonathan Mostow directs Bruce Willis who plays an FBI agent in a near-future world where the majority of society lives through android avatars. Big Brother monitors the data feeds between humans and robots, which enables them to thwart crimes in progress by terminating the wireless connection between would be criminals and their avatars. This system somehow enables people to "live" free of homicides and accidental death until someone starts killing human operators via their avatars...